That's What You Think
Notes
Transcript
Scripture Intro:
Scripture Intro:
Scripture Reading (“Please stand…”)
If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
Pray...
Intro:
Intro:
Clemson is way better than Carolina.
“That’s what you think.”
McDonald’s the best.
“That what you think.”
Living up north is great.
“That’s what you think.”
When someone has an opinion that just doesn’t seem right...
misguided, misled.
“that’s what you think”
"thinks he is religious" v. Religion that God thinks is religious (before God)
"he thinks" or "God thinks"
The Life of Counterfeit Faith
The Life of Counterfeit Faith
(Timer: ___ minutes left)
(Usually between 8:15 and 12:30 to get to 1st point)
“if anyone THINKS he is religious”
James does this throughout the book.
You think you’re faith is real… BUT
You say you have faith… BUT
"think" - to believe, but also "to appear" or have an appearance of something.
This source of self-deception is in saying and doing.
Religion (θρησκεια [thrēskeia]).
“religious worship in its external observances, religious exercise”
outward practice of ceremonies in honor of a god
“religious” (adjective)
zealous and diligent performance of religious services
Religion - right sounding words,
not before the Lord,
not acts of obedience and faith,
often, following the ways of the world
Gerhard Kittel: “Religion offers a partial answer by pointing to the divine world.”
Worthless
From (v. 22-25)...
Be a doer of the word, not just a hearer
This passage builds on that theme...
Be a doer of the word (orphans/widows/unstained),
not just a speaker about the word.
“worthless”
“idle, empty, fruitless, useless, powerless, lacking truth.”
... so futile that it might as well be nonexistent or lifeless.
This theme is all over the Bible
Thus says the Lord: “What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?
God HATES false acts of faith.
“When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts?
Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations— I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.
Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.
mátaios means “worthless because deceptive or ineffectual.”
“does not bridle his tongue”
V. 26 unpacks the remaining command from v. 19—that we must be “slow to speak.”
Why is this important?
B/c we know that Scripture consistently addresses that...
the words that come out of mouths...
reflect the state of our heart.
So this becomes a litmus test for genuine faith.
An unbridled tongue can also deceive the speaker himself/herself.
That we start to believe the very thing we are saying.
The Life of Genuine Faith
The Life of Genuine Faith
(Timer: How much time left?)
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
In Relationship with Our God and Father
In Relationship with Our God and Father
“before God the Father”
God’s fatherhood.
(v. 18) “he brought us forth” (gave us birth)
This is purposeful.
We are saved, made new creations, given eternal life...
AND we are in relationship with God the Father.
“Father” - deeply relational.
Men’s Dinner - “What’s one thing you loved about your dad?”
He was the best gift giver.
He watched and noticed what you enjoyed.
He worked across the street from a mall...
so he would go over for lunch and then walk the mall.
So for the entire year,
he walked the mall with us in mind.
“father” is such an amazing word to describe God.
As flawed as our fathers are,
we intuitively understand relationship b/c of them.
Run to the Father
Ex. From our Men’s Study on Thursday morning (talking about a meme)
Religion - "I messed up. I hope my Father doesn't find out."
Faith - "I messed up. I need to run to my Father."
Heart for the broken and hurting
What "seems" to be... is not reality.
Who you are "before God the Father" is who you are.
Talk is cheap.
Do something.
Do what God has on his heart (orphans/widows, not swayed by the world)
The first test case is the tongue (26),
James connects with the heart;
the second and third tests (27) are both linked with God … the Father.
Reflects the Heart of Our God and Father
Reflects the Heart of Our God and Father
‘Like father, like son’
Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.
Lives in the World but Not of the World
Lives in the World but Not of the World
"look after" orphans/widows AND "keep watch" over yourself
"to visit" - take care of, look after
“to go see a person with helpful intent”
Love people who can't offer you anything in return.
Care for those who have been burdened by life's circumstances
Visit and look out for the ones who can easily be forgotten or alone.
In the ancient world, these people were unable to make money...
there was no welfare.
Unable to provide for themselves.
A mark of Israel’s obedience, therefore, was to be a special concern for these helpless people.
You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child.
And the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance with you, and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your towns, shall come and eat and be filled, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.
learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.
Another place in Isaiah
Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high.
This is the fast (worship) that God desires...
“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
“keep oneself”
The basic meaning of this word is “to keep in view,” “to watch over”;
it takes on such nuances as “to guard,” “to keep,”
“to protect”
Derailed by the world:
Not bridle tongue (deceived)
Stained by the world
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.
Back to Isaiah 1...
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil,
But it’s both..
“keep yourself unstained” AND “visit widows and orphans in their affliction”
to keep oneself unstained from the world - easy to think you should withdraw from the world,
But that’s not right.
Called to be actively looking to reverse the wrongs of the this world.
the only way to do that is to be “in the world”
Faith in Action
Guard the Vulnerable
Guard Yourself
Liberal Church v. Bible -believing church
Both personal holiness and social responsibility are manifestations of the character transformation that genuine faith effects.
Keller: “liberals talk about social morality and the conservatives about personal morality”
“helpless” in our world—
whether they be widows and orphans,
immigrants trying to adjust to a new life,
impoverished third-world dwellers,
the handicapped,
or the homeless.
Put Isaiah 1:16-17 together
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.
Close in Prayer
Close in Prayer
Closing Song:
Closing Song:
Benediction:
Benediction:
