My Dear Friend,

For a long time now, too many American churches have used sophisticated advertising methods to create an "image," or brand, as we put it, that represents who they are and what they offer.

Everything done must project a certain idea, look, and feeling to attract new would-be, sinner-friendly (and sadly, still-sinning) congregants. Slowly but surely, by imperceptible degrees, this has caused us to shift our focus from substance to show.

We have projected less and less who we truly are (or should be), what we truly believe, and what our mission truly is: to preach the original, undiluted, New Testament gospel and train selfless, devoted, cross-carrying disciples of Christ in this intensely self-worshiping world. As a result, we have grown less interested in what we are before God and more interested in what we appear to be before men.

This slow, steady, seemingly harmless shift in focus has led to a tragic, crippling, even deadly error: we have forgotten that we should be putting on a show for an audience of One - our Lord and Master, Jesus - and offering only the solid spiritual substance of biblical teaching to this dark, confused, lost world.

That tested, foundational, biblical substance - God's inspired, inerrant Word and all things pertaining thereto - consists of things that contradict, not coddle, our intensely self-indulging, materialistic, post-modern culture.

For instance, it advocates eternal, not relative, truth. It presents New Testament, not faddish, standards. It calls us to follow the Holy Spirit's, not our culture's, ways and works. It leads to a separated, godly lifestyle, not a herd mentality that believes the voice of the majority is the voice of God. It discusses the eternal facts of heaven and hell, which our culture so carefully avoids and heartily mocks. It lifts up the unique salvation God offers through a living, personal Savior, not a dead religion or ritual.

It calls for total abandon to God's sovereign call and guidance. It cultivates a sweet, close, private fellowship with Jesus - in His reviving, powerful, joyful presence! - that is so wonderful it renders worthless every other person, treasure, goal, or aspiration this world offers. This supernatural fellowship becomes a flowing inspiration that grows our fellowship with other believers, our use of the spiritual gifts Christ gives us, our pursuit of His holy orders, and our building of His eternal kingdom for the establishment of His glory. This, and nothing less, is the substance genuine Christianity still offers this empty, dysfunctional, dying world. It doesn't need our show.

Our entertainment-mad culture is already loaded with interesting but futile amusements of every kind. The last thing it needs is the church of Jesus Christ trying to get in on the act by projecting a religious image which draws sinners as sugar does insects, but requires no change from them and, in the end, proves false, unable to save, and spiritually catastrophic in the fast-approaching day when Christ judges the living and the dead at His appearing and kingdom (2 Timothy 4:1).

So, let's get serious. Let's stop the show. And let's preach and teach substance. Biblical substance. Eternal substance. Not what the people want but what they need. Without any glossiness, bells, or whistles. And let us live this substance! In private, where no one but Jesus sees our obedience, sacrifices, giving, cross-carrying, and humble service. And in public, where we fulfill our individual ministries and shared commissions. And let us passionately share Jesus' cross and return wherever we go with whomever we meet whatever the circumstances. That is enough.

The God of substance, who is the only substance, and who offers only substance will respond. And when He does, look out!

He will put on a real show, the like of which this world has not witnessed for a long, long time. Say, twenty centuries! Christ will shine the light of His glory - the startling, attention-grabbing, brilliant, public rising of the Sun of Righteousness to shine on us as we walk in simple Christian substance. This is the act, the entertainment, the drama the world really needs, to behold the unique wonder of our wondrous Jesus - the living Substance it so determinedly avoids yet so desperately needs. It's time to pray.

Say with me, "Heavenly Father, may we walk in uncompromising trust and obedience to the eternal substance of your Word and Spirit from this moment forward. And as we do so, we pray, 'God be merciful to us, and bless us, and cause your face to shine upon us, that thy way and thy saving power may be known among all nations' (Psalm 67:1-2)."

And may a new slogan become popular among us: "Substance!" "Depth!" "Reality!" Where no one but Jesus sees. And may we then trust Him, as He sees His substance growing in our humble, refocused lives, assemblies, and ministries, to put on a show.

For our substance, and His show,

Dr. Greg Hinnant

GREG HINNANT MINISTRIES