Form & Substance

This podcast is presented to you by Pastor Jason and Liz Burns in Access Church in Lakeland and Bartow, Florida.

For more information, visit Access.tv.

Well, family, it's so good to be with you.

Around 30 years ago, Jesus and I did an exhaustive thematic study.

And we went Genesis to Revelation and looked in one topic.

The topic was worship.

And from that study, the message I'm about to share began, began to grow.

I want to encourage you today that as you listen, that you apply this message only to your own souls, as opposed to those that perhaps you think should have been in the room.

Yes?

Now normally when we begin to study a passage in the scriptures, we begin with questions of context.

Who said what, to whom, when, where, and if possible, to discern how and why.

Then we identify a timeless biblical principle and we seek to apply that timeless biblical principle to our 21st century lives.

This morning I'm going to slightly alter that sequence.

We're going to answer most, but not all, of the questions of context.

We're going to identify the timeless biblical principle.

We are going to expend a good amount of energy wrapping our minds and wrapping our lives around that principle.

And then in the end, we're going to take that principle, go back to our verses, and ask the final contextual question, the question of why.

So I invite you to join me today in considering some of the less than heartwarming words of Jesus that perhaps we shouldn't be surprised that Hallmark has not made a card out of.

Matthew chapter 15, verses 7 through 9.

Matthew 15:7–9

Jesus says, You hypocrites.

Who Jesus is speaking?

To whom?

He is speaking to religious leaders that have come from Jerusalem to evaluate him.

What is being said?

Jesus is quoting from Isaiah 29, verse 13, where some 700 years earlier, God through the prophet Isaiah said, These people come near me with their mouth, and they honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

Isaiah 29:13

Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.

When did this occur?

The timing of these verses is interesting to me.

Immediately before this, Jesus fed the 5,000, and he turned to Peter and said, You have little faith.

Immediately after these verses, he turned to a Canaanite woman, and he said, Woman, you've got great faith, and he fed the 4,000.

So these verses are in the middle of what you might call a miracle and faith-teaching sandwich.

Where?

We're at Gennesseret, which is on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee.

How I think we can safely say that the tone is confrontational.

And as I mentioned, we'll leave the Y for later.

Again, our text, Matthew chapter 15, verses 7 through 9.

Matthew 15:7–9

Jesus says, You hypocrites, Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you.

These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

They worship me in vain.

Their teachings are but rules taught by men.

That word vain, it means fruitless, to no avail, without any result, to no end, worthless.

So it would appear that the people in the Old Testament faced a challenge.

That the people in the New Testament also faced, that is faced by us today.

It's the challenge of being able to distinguish between forms and substance.

Jesus said that the people, they honored God with their forms.

He said they honored God with their lips.

They said the right things at the right times.

They did the right things in front of the right people.

But their hearts, the substance God is looking for, hearts that worship him in spirit and in truth, their hearts were far away from the living God.

And so Jesus passed his hand over forms that lack substance.

And he said, vanity.

He passed his hand over forms that lack substance.

And he said, vanity, which brings us to our timeless biblical principle.

Forms without substance.

Our vanity.

Now allow me to layer some illustrations to help us begin to wrap our minds and our lives around the timeless biblical principle.

Pastor Liz, can I pick on you?

All you have to do is stand.

All right.

Let's say that Pastor Liz was thirsty.

And I said, Pastor Liz, I can take care of that.

And so I go to the kitchen and I get a form.

Is there any substance in it?

No, it's just a form.

But I hand it to my friend and I say, here you go.

She takes it and she says, Well, thank you.

But the form without any substance was useless to meet her real need.

And I say, Ah, I don't know what I was thinking, Liz.

I've got it now.

And so I put my form down, I run back to the kitchen, turn on the faucet, I cut my hands under some pure substance.

Now I don't have any real transferable form to carry it in, but I've got substance.

And I go to my friend and I say, Here you go.

Right?

So whereas the form without any substance was useless to meet her real need, the substance without any form was unusable.

We need both.

They're dependent and yet distinct.

Thank you, Pastor Liss.

Another illustration.

Consider the modern orange.

Yes?

Now to my rather un-agricultural eyes, this orange only has two parts.

It's got the form, it's got the peel.

And then it has the substance inside, the stuff I want to get to, the stuff that tastes good, the stuff that's going to give me my daily dose of vitamin C.

Question for you.

Is the form necessary?

Yes.

Yes, it is.

The form protects the substance.

The form preserves the substance.

The form prolongs the substance's life.

But is the form the substance itself?

No.

They are dependent and yet distinct.

Now what if I were to get confused?

What if I were to start thinking that the form was the substance?

That the form was the most important part?

That the form was what would nourish me and strengthen me.

I'm so convinced that the form is the substance that I'm going to take a bite.

Are you ready?

What do I taste?

Bitter?

Because form without substance is just that.

Form without substance is bitterness.

Form without substance is vanity.

But how easy it is to confuse the two in our daily lives.

How easy it is to confuse singing for worship.

How easy it is to confuse reading the Bible for obeying God's word.

How easy it is to confuse going to church with being the church.

How easy it is to confuse experience with love.

And how easy it is to see form and substance confusion in other cultures or in other generations, and yet miss form and substance confusion in our own culture, in our own generation.

Especially to miss how we are passing on hand-me-down forms to the next generation and wondering why they're just not as excited about it as they should be.

Now, this timeless principle that form without substance is vanity, it saturates the teachings of Jesus.

We could spend a month of Sundays seeing this principle in Jesus' teachings throughout the gospel.

But this morning I would like to focus upon three areas in which form and substance confusion causes complete chaos.

The first area in which form and substance confusion causes complete chaos is in our pursuit of unity.

Right after I graduated from college, I thought I was headed to law school, got rerouted to do a couple of years of service in the Far East.

Now, this is back when Moses was a baby, so just reach back with me if you don't mind.

And I wanted to present myself in that culture as a modest, sincere woman of integrity.

And so modesty in South Texas at that time meant these really long dresses.

We call them granny dresses.

I know they came back, but they're much cuter now than they ever were then.

But it's South Texas.

And so the hemline hit the floor, but everything was sleeveless.

And we gave ourselves some breathing room because of the heat.

Anyway, I packed like a whole wardrobe of granny dresses.

And I got off the plane and I was greeted by these beautiful female Chinese ministers whose skirts were above their knees, but who would have never, ever in that culture at that time bared their arms or had a neckline below their collarbone.

So we're in the airport, we're staring at each other.

And we had a couple of choices.

We could have looked at one another and said, well, her form is different.

Her substance must be too.

Or we could have looked at one another and said, maybe modesty in South Texas takes on a different form than it does in Hong Kong.

Which is what we did.

We looked at one another, we laughed, and then we did the only appropriate thing you could possibly do under such circumstances, we went shopping and got me an appropriate wardrobe.

And what's funny is I couldn't wear one piece of it when I got back home to South Texas.

So much of what divides us has nothing to do with anything Jesus died for.

So I'm eating and just listening.

I'm fascinated.

And they talked about how this music was just contrary to the rhythm of life.

I'm thinking, what on earth?

Studies have been done where this music was played on farms, and it was so contrary to the rhythm of life that when the music played, cows stopped giving milk.

And when the music played, chickens, sorry, chickens just up and died.

Just died.

So I'm eating and I'm thinking, first of all, poor chickens.

And then I'm thinking, what kind of way out industrial?

What are they listening to?

I'm so sorry.

And then they started naming specific songs.

And I thought, oh my goodness, what kind of crazy music they're listening to is my music.

That's that's that's my song.

And as I sat there in silence, which was definitely the wisest posture I could have personally ever had at that moment, I thought, this is an issue of form and substance.

The forms that carry true worship for me just couldn't do the job for them.

And vice versa.

Family, when we think about the churches across our land, there's a lot of churches that enjoy the hymnal, yes?

And then there's churches kind of like us that would rather sing off the wall.

But what is the hymnal?

It's a book.

What is the projector?

It's just a machine.

They're both forms.

And unless those forms are filled with the substance God is longing for, hearts that worship him in spirit and truth, Jesus is going to pass his hand over the hymnal and the projector equally and say vanity.

So when it comes to our pursuit of unity, form and substance confusion, it creates short-sided judgments and long-lasting divisions.

Secondly, consider the chaos form and substance confusion causes in our pursuit of ministry.

And by that I simply mean service, wherever it is you happen to serve Jesus in the business, in the home, in the church, wherever it happens to be.

In all of these spaces, can you remember a form that used to work and now not so much?

Right?

Used to be effective, used to be valuable, used to be necessary, but now it just doesn't seem like it's doing the job.

But our natural tendency is to keep dragging that old form with us and to keep putting it in place, standing back, hoping that it's going to give birth to the substance we remember, the substance we long for.

However, form is not the creator of substance.

Form is the caregiver of substance.

Form is not the source of substance, form is the servant of substance.

And without substance, even the best of forms is going to dry up pretty quickly.

So some of the religious leaders in Jesus' day, they loved their forms.

They're just so much more quantifiable, aren't they?

They likeding forms, they liked measuring forms, they liked measuring other people by forms.

So with this principle in our heart, I'd like us to return to another teaching of Jesus in Luke chapter 5, verse 36 through 39.

Luke 5:36–39

Jesus says, No one tears a patch from a new garment and sows it on an old one.

If he does, he'll have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old.

And no one pours new wine into old wineskins.

If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, and the wine will run out, and the wineskins will be ruined.

No new wine must be poured into new wineskins, and no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says the old is better.

I wonder if the religious leaders of Jesus' day prayed the kind of prayers that we do.

Oh Lord, would you do a new thing?

And I wonder if they like us had an unspoken addendum.

And while you're doing the new thing, would you mind using the old forms?

We just really finished our flowcharts.

And Jesus says, I am doing a new thing.

Even now it springs up.

Do you not perceive it?

But some of the old forms may not be able to carry the new wine.

The religious leaders of Jesus' day, some of them, they weren't willing to release what they could control to embrace what could set them free.

And what a pity.

Truly, in any age, to treasure the cup more than the life-giving water that it can hold.

When it comes to our pursuit of service, form and substance confusion, it creates tired practices that are fought for, even after they become lifeless.

And third, consider the utter chaos form and substance confusion causes in our pursuit of personal integrity.

The harshest words of our loving Jesus were reserved not for unbelieving sinners, but for religious hypocrites, for those of us who hoped that our forms, our religious acts, the things that other people see would somehow be a substitute for what only God can see.

So turn with me please to Matthew 23.

And we'll start with verse 23 through 24.

Jesus says, Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, same group as Matthew 15, you hypocrites, same charge as Matthew 15.

You give a tenth of your spices, mint, dill, and cumin, but you've neglected the more important matters of the law: justice, mercy, faithfulness.

You should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former.

Woe to them.

Woe to me.

Woe to us.

We tithe, we give generously, and we need to continue.

But are we neglecting the more important matters of the law?

Are we fighting for justice for the helpless?

Are we showing mercy to the broken in mind and spirit and body?

Are we being faithful to covenants?

Ours and others.

Jesus continues, verse 25 and 26.

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites.

You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they're full of greed and self-indulgence.

Blind Pharisee.

First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside will be clean as well.

Woe to them, and woe to me, and woe to us.

Oh, on the outside we may represent well.

We may spend a significant amount of time and money and energy making sure that what other people see shines.

But there are no substitutes for substance.

So, family, what is within?

Is there greed?

Is there self-indulgence?

Is there pride?

Jesus continues, verse 27 through 28.

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites.

You're like whitewashed tombs which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean.

Woe to them.

Woe to me, woe to us.

We may be the hope, the star of our family.

We may be the darling of the office.

We may be the one that everyone depends upon, but God searches the interior of our souls.

And he does that for our own good.

Family, for God to expose sin, it is a mercy.

It's a mercy.

Because if we still have breath to hear Jesus' rebuke, we still have breath to heed Jesus' rebuke.

It is a mercy.

His eyes rest upon who we are when we think no one else is looking so.

So are we caressing anything Christ was crucified for?

Are we caressing anything Christ was crucified for when it comes to our pursuit of integrity?

Form and substance confusion, it creates this arrogant religion.

It creates a polished hypocrisy.

For without substance is vanity, a timeless biblical principle, a challenge for the people in the Old Testament, in the New Testament, and us today.

Now let's take this timeless biblical principle, return to our text, and ask the final contextual question, the question of why.

What prompted such a reply from Jesus?

What prompted Jesus to call down Isaiah 29 upon his listeners?

Let's return Matthew chapter 15, now verses 1 through 2.

Matthew 15 · chapter mention

Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders?

They don't wash their hands before they eat.

Now, at first glance, I remember thinking, you've got to be kidding me.

Washing your hands, are you serious?

Form?

How obvious is that?

Form, but it wasn't obvious to them at all.

The tradition of the ceremonial washing of hands was a sacred tradition.

It had been passed from generation to generation.

Eventually it was recorded in the Mishnah.

It had become a matter of conscience and it was enforced with fervor.

To break this tradition was seen as a transgression against God himself.

In the Babylonian Talmud, a rabbi, he was commenting on a verse in Proverbs chapter 6.

Proverbs 6 · chapter mention

He stated, Concerning anyone who eats bread without washing his hands, it is as if he was committing, and I'll paraphrase here, adulterous acts.

And there's another well-known story about a rabbi Akiva who was imprisoned by the Romans, and a student daily brought him enough water to drink and to wash his hands.

Well, one day the guard spilled around half of his ration.

And so when it was sent to him, what do you think he did?

Do you think that he drank the water because you need water to live?

Or do you think he washed his hands with it?

He washed his hands, and I'm quoting, he said, What can I do?

For transgressing the words of the sages and eating without first washing hands, one is liable to receive the death penalty.

And if so, it is better that I should die by my own death by thirst, rather than transgress the opinions of my colleagues for them.

This form had become substance.

Form and substance confusion.

And no doubt their form and substance confusion placed roadblocks in their pursuit of unity and made ineffective some of their practices in ministry and service and created chasms in their pursuit of integrity.

But what grieves me the most is that their form and substance confusion caused them to miss the manifest presence of God in their midst.

They couldn't see Jesus.

They couldn't see Jesus.

They were so worried about the dirt on his disciples' hands that they missed the eternity in Jesus' eyes.

May God help us.

May God help us be flexible with forms.

Oh, but stubborn in substance.

Stubborn regarding the substance God is longing for, hearts that worship him in spirit and in truth.

May God help us to not spend our daily amount, our limited amount of emotional energy being offended by things that do not offend him.

May he help us to honor the forms and the traditions of those, the generations that have gone before us, who have carried the torch of faith and handed it to us.

May he help us hold our own forms rather lightly, and may he help us free the next generation to follow him as people of substance in a new day.

Now, as an application family, I'm going to offer you some reflection questions that will just be up on the screen.

I encourage you to take a screenshot of them, write them down, take them into your mentoring relationships, your small groups, your devotional time with Jesus.

And then I have a specific ask of one specific group that is here today.

The reflection questions, Father God, in your mercy, please reveal to us any way in which we devalue other sincere souls simply because of form.

We ask that you would reveal to us any circumstance where our hope in service and ministry is in forms instead of in substance.

Reveal to us any hypocrisy that we have justified and rationalized in our lives.

Reveal to us any way in which our focus on form is blinding us to the manifestation of your presence in our midst.

Now, one question for one specific group.

And that specific group, both here and at North Lakeland and at Bartow, my ask is for those of you that for whatever reason you've pressed the pause button on your decision about Jesus.

You're just not sure yet.

And it may be because of something you've seen, it may be because of something you've experienced.

I spent the first chunk of my life as an adamant and argumentative atheist.

For me, I had sincere scientific and philosophical doubts about God's existence, whatever it may be.

I haven't asked for you.

On behalf of all sincere followers of Jesus Christ, would you please forgive us?

Would you please forgive us?

Would you please forgive us for any way in which our focus on forms has distanced or wounded you?

Would you please forgive us for how our own form and substance confusion has distracted you from the treasure of our faith, which is Jesus Christ.

We're ideally supposed to be like these clean windows through which you can see past us and see our Savior, but with our own hands we muddy that window.

My heart is clean, but I'm still in process and I'm still imperfect.

And so with our own hands, we muddy the window, we muddy your view of Jesus.

Would you please consider forgiving us?

And would you please take another look at him?

Because he's pure and he loves you.

And he will never leave you and he will never forsake you.

He's been pursuing you, he's been calling your name.

Forgive us for being a distraction to him.

Hear once again his calling.

And if you would choose to say yes to him, I'm sorry we come as part of the package.

I and I wish I could say that we'll never distract you from him again, but it just wouldn't be too because it wouldn't be true because we still need a savior.

We still need our savior, but we will be safer together than alone.

Would you please forgive us?

And would you please take another look at him?

Would you all please just join me in simply closing your eyes as we pray?

And here in North Lakeland and in Bartu, I would like to ask if you were willing to take another look at Jesus.

If you're willing to say yes to him and follow him and his perfection and his love and his hope and his justice and his truth.

I see you.

Thank you.

Simply raise your hand.

I see you, love.

Welcome home.

Just raise your hand.

Yes.

Yes.

I see you.

Welcome.

Welcome.

Yes.

And if also if you are aware of some form and substance confusion in your own life, some forms that maybe Jesus might pass his hand over and say, Ah, son.

Oh my daughter, I know you didn't see it before, but you see it now.

There's some vanity there.

Would you mind just raising your hand to the Lord as a way of saying, I hear you.

I hear you, Lord.

Yes.

He only reveals to heal.

He never reveals to mock us.

He only reveals to heal.

Please join me in a prayer before we receive more guidance.

Lord, you have heard our hearts.

You've seen our thoughts to those who are saying yes for those who are saying yes to you for the first time or perhaps after a long time away from home.

Oh, may your welcome resound within them.

For all of us, Lord, we ask that you would make us a people of substance.

That you would make us a people who honor you with our lips and are near to you with our hearts.

That we would be a people whose worship is never in vain.

That you would grant us wisdom, that you would strengthen us to honor the traditions that have served previous generations well.

That you would grant us the humility to hold our own forms and traditions rather lightly.

And God, as people of substance, may we free the next generation to run with you, to follow you in a new day, so that the world will see you more clearly.

May they see through us to see you, our Savior, more clearly.

In the name of Jesus, for the glory of Jesus' name, we pray, Amen.

Amen.