Religion
Notes
Transcript
What do you call a cows knees?
Burger Joint.
VBS Board in back donations volunteer spots
When we talk about the word ‘religion’ it can elicit a vast string of emotions in people. In fact, if you are of a certain age there are two things you are not supposed to bring up at family gatherings, politics, and religion. Of course, those rules are from a time when conversation seemed to be more valued, and of higher importance; a time when people respected others more and wanted less argumentative behavior and to keep the peace. I’m not so sure we live in those times anymore. Today, it seems politics is a conversation we love to have around the dinner table with total disregard for anyone who may think differently than us, because they need to know the truth and we can’t bear the burden of them not being on the right side with us.
Religion is a little different, most people will still stay clear of those conversations, probably not because they don’t want the argument, but maybe because we don’t want to feel ill equipped. Religion is a word that has power not just outside the church with people we would call non-believers, but also with those in the church.
You may have invited people into church, and their reason for not coming may be something like, “Look, I don’t want anything to do with religion. I am a spiritual person, but I don’t want to be a religious person. Just look at the world around you, don’t you see how many wars are being fought in the name of religion? I don’t want any part of that at all.”
There are some of you, and even myself who could hear this and our retort would be something like, “Man, I’m with you, I don’t want anything to do with religion either, what I’m really concerned with, and what Jesus is concerned with is relationship.” And I have said some things very similar to this before, because Jesus is concerned about relationship, something deeper, and I think it is something closer to what James is talking about in our verses this morning. Most of you probably aren’t aware, but James does say, “religion is worthless,” but those three words in themselves aren’t exactly what James is saying and we have to read it in the full context of what he has said so far. So let’s dive into the word this morning and read through the last two verses of chapter 1.
By the way, we will be ending our study of the Book of James here this morning, and I am sure at some point in our future together we will pick this study back up in chapter 2, but next week we will be moving on to a series I have really been looking forward to, I have called Summer on the mount. See what I did there? We will be looking at what might be some of the most condensed sermons of Jesus in one place. I am looking forward to starting next week with what we commonly call the Beatitudes.
Anyway, here is what James said in the last two verses of chapter one.
26 If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless.
27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
Did you catch it there? Out of context, James says religion is worthless, but there is much more to the sentence than those three words.
In Verse 26, James is saying look there is a person who thinks they are religious, but doesn’t handle himself in the right way, that man’s religion is worthless. But the other side of that, verse 27 will tell is is there is a type of religion that is acceptable to God. So, maybe that is what you are wondering, what does that look like? What kind of religion is actually true and acceptable to God? I’m so glad you asked, let me show you.
Really, this is what our response should be to those who are frustrated with religion, with whom we may normally say, look God isn’t concerned with your religion, what he is concerned with is your relationship. What we should really be saying is, “God isn’t concerned with some fake religious practices, external things we use to mark whether we are actually in Him or not.” You see, the problem isn’t those external things we often use to mark whether we are religious or not, the problem is when we think those things are what make our religion. I know that is a lot of the same words back and forth in a weird way, so let me break it down for you a little bit with some examples.
For so many years, we would mark our religion maybe not even with the things we did, but with the things we didn’t do. For instance, God christians didn’t:
Smoke.
Drink.
Cuss.
Watch Rated R movies
Gamble.
I bet you can’t guess the one I’m going to say next, I got $1 no one gets it. I kid; I kid.
Wear Hats inside the sanctuary.
So our religion was marked by those things, look I am a good person, and my christianity, my religion is marked by the fact that I don’t do any of these things. Now some of those have changed over the years and we don’t hold them in the same way we used to, for instance, much to the chagrin of some, people will wear hats in the sanctuary, but most of us would never say that is the true mark of a christian anymore.
So this is what our religion becomes, it is us asking ourselves if we are keeping order and making sure we are keeping our religion up. It reminds me of the story while he is giving a bunch of criticism to the Pharisees in Matthew 23. Matthew 23:27
27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.
28 “So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
He is telling these guys, look you are keeping up this religious acts and making sure your religion looks good on the outside, people can see it, they can judge your actions and your life based on these things you are doing. In fact, he says you are doing such a good job, the outside is white and clean and people looking at you are really impressed by it, but on the inside, bro, its dirty.
I want to warn you a little bit this morning, when we get to verse 27 what we may think James is doing is what we have already seen, we may feel like what he is doing is reducing true religion to charity and morality, take a look.
27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
So we may think, oh, I get it, all I have to do is visit orphans and widows, and make sure I am a moral person the world hasn’t corrupted. The reason it is dangerous for us to think this is the only think James is talking about its because a Type A person will immediately think, “Perfect, I have my list,” and these will be the only things that I need to do to have the religion God is happy with. The whole thought is comical, but the way the language reads here James is not saying thats the only thing, what he is saying is, if your religion doesn’t involve these two things, its not real.
So you may ask, what is James saying here and I think it is most important to read in the whole context of everything He has said thus far. I think in order to understand what is going on in verse 27 we have to look very much at verse 18, because I think a lot of What James says in these verse hinge on this verse lets look back
18 In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.
So, we talked about this a few weeks ago, God gave us birth, it wasnt us that initiated it, He did, and remember he gave us that birth through His Word. I think what we are seeing is in verse 18 he talks about the birth, and then in 19-25 he is talking about the new life, and in verses 26 and 27 he talks about the characteristics of what this new life looks like.
it seems to me that verses 26 and 27 are telling us what the new life in him looks like. He is telling us what the evidence will be that we are part of the family; part of the right religion. As you go on in this book, and as you look back what you are going to see time and again is James is telling us you cannot say that you are born again, a christian, a part of the family, a child of god, and not be changed. Its almost reprehensible to James for someone to even think it is possible. So we can’t say the Christian life doesn’t involve morality and charity.
Its just as insane of a thought to think James here is saying the only thing needed in a Christian life is morality and charity. That cannot even be close to what he is saying here, there is so much missing if that is all we think it is, even if you look at the rest of his letter you could never lead yourself to believe this thought. With just these two things we miss out on the importance of getting into the word, which he told us we needed to do in this exact chapter, we miss out on the fellowship of the saints, we miss out on living a life in right relationship with Jesus, and so much more.
Its not all encompassing, its illustrative what he is telling us here. He is most definitely telling us what religion is, but he is not saying ALL religion is. Let me show you, if it was all it was, people may be able to say, “Look, I am not coming to service tomorrow, because last week I went and helped at the nursing home with all of the widows, and then I went down to the children’s home and spent an hour, in fact, we are so religious about it we have signed up for doing this service week after week, so I don’t need to come and sing to God and learn from his Word each week, I’m good; I’m religious.” I think many of us in this room if someone where to say those things we would think, “Well thats a bunch of malarky.”
So, I think it becomes abundantly clear James is not giving us an exhaustive list of what religion is. So, then what is this? I love the way one author says this, he says by saying this James is giving us a sufficient test. Not the only test, but a good test of our faith, and its three-fold, 1. how do you control your tongue, 2. how compassionate is your heart, and 3., how clean is your life. These are the tests you can see if your faith is true and honest in the sight of the Lord.
Seems easy enough, right?
26 If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue …
And listen, this idea goes deeper for James later in Chapter 3
James 3:6-
6 And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell.
7 For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race.
8 But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.
Look, this whole idea of not bridling your tongue and it deceiving you, is so much nicer than what will happen to us when we hit chapter 3 head on. James is telling us what we say is important. He says, you may think you are a religious person, but if you can’t control what you say… its not good. You can do all the things you think are right, you can feed the hungry, you can show up to church every single Sunday, you can show up on Wednesday nights for Bible study, but if you can’t control your tongue, your religion… useless - you’re deceived.
Like you leave here, and you go to lunch and you’re standing in line over there at McDonalds, they have those lines a lot, and someone jumps in front of you, and you are starving because the guys doing meditation talked so much it made it go long,(What? It isn’t me going long) so they cut in front of you and you just let them have it verbally. You know, how could you, and maybe you let some wirty dords out, and you can’t help it, because you know, they deserve it and all. James says, deceived.
And it would be easy to leave it there and think, ahh, I don’t cuss, but thats not all taming the tongue is, taming the tongue and keeping it bridled is also keeping it from gossiping. Listen, James is saying you can’t come in here and sing the praises of God and then walk out and Gossip with the same tongue, he says it doesn’t work that way. The other thing is this, somewhere along the way, we have gotten the idea gossip is only when you say something that isn’t true; that’s gossip - passing falseness. No, nope, not all it is, gossip is also sharing truth to people who weren’t around who don’t need to know it. Just because you were there and you saw something happen and you know a truth about someone, doesn’t mean you have to share it with every person you know, even if you try to use it under the guise of wise ministry so the other person can know what you know. Naw, not every person needs to know every intimate detail of another persons life you know. Just stop it. (Too harsh? How can I tame that)
Sometimes we have to just check ourselves before we wreck ourselves when it comes to our tongues. Take a breath, think about it.
Here is where all my introverted people smile a little bit, because we think, “Ah, I never say a word.” Uno momento por favor. You are not in the clear just yet. In the end, we will not just be judged for the words, but the thoughts. Yes, those thoughts, and those ones, because its the thoughts that give birth to the words. Oh, and if thats not enough its the motive in your heart you will truly be judged for, because the motives give life to the thoughts, who give life to the words. You’re welcome. Thats why I am always saying, Jesus doesn’t just change what we do, but what we WANT to do, its the motives of our hearts he is getting to.
So the second test he tells us, is do you have a compassionate heart? So, the question may be when we see James identifying widows and orphans, are those the only people with whom we are supposed to help, and think that is a silly presupposition but what we are seeing here is those who were most needy in the society in which they are living. Women were looked down upon so poorly in that society, so when their husbands died they had no way in which to provide for themselves so they would find themselves poor and destitute and without any hope if no one was looking out for them. I think we understand that side of the orphan as well. So, he is asking us are we taking care of those who have the most needs amongst us. The questions is supposed to look inside yourself, because remember the Bible is a mirror to check ourselves with, so the question for your faith is do you have a compassionate heart, or do you look out for only yourself. This can be a bit of a double edged sword for so many of us because we can get to a place where we give to check off hte list like we talked about before, not because our heart is compassionate and loves and wants to take care of those who are the least amongst us, but becasue we want to check that item from our list. So, the test of your faith, of true religion, what the characteristics of a good Christian life, is are we being compassionate to those who need it most. Does our heart long to make it better? Is our heart broken when we hear the stories and so moved to make a difference.
27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this… to keep oneself unstained by the world.
So, not only are we to hang on to our tongues, and be helpful in society, but we are supposed to live a holy life. This is kind of the old saying we are supposed to live in the world but not be part of it. Right, our holiness should not look like the holiness of the world around us. So, I think what he is urging us here is to have this place where we are looking out for thigns that may come against us spiritually. WE have to be watchers spiritually. 1 Peter 4:3
3 For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries.
4 In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you;
5 but they will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
This is in essence what James is telling us, looking you have to see what is going on around you, you can’t go back to living that old life and allowing those things to come against you anymore. Are you being a watcher? Are you moving forward in what God has called you to? Are you living the life God has called you to in the holiness and are you doing everythign you can to keep the old ways in the past?
So this morning, are you after true religion, the Kind that Makes God pleased, or are we living this false religion…
Prayer.
