Sermon Tone Analysis

James 1:26-27

 

The late A.W Tozer minced no words when he proclaimed: “We have too much religion!”

He was absolutely correct if we view religion as the outer work of man to earn the favor of God.

Christianity, as we know, is not essentially religious.

While it may be grouped in the category of world religions, Christianity is not a man-made system to earn the favor of God.

It is the God-made declaration that His favor rests upon Christ alone and all who believe on Him for God’s acceptance will be received.

Another way to put it is this: /Religion/ is man’s effort to reach up to God by his own means; /Christianity/ is God raising man up to Himself by means of faith in His beloved Son.

Spurgeon said: “If your religion doesn’t make you holy it will damn you.

It is simply pageantry to go to hell in.”

In that sense, religion is like an empty husk.

It may have an appearance of godliness on the outside, but it’s hollow on the inside.

The word ‘husk’ is defined as “an empty shell; a remnant.”

But Christianity is the true kernel that alone can satisfy the empty heart.

A kernel is defined as “The central or essential part of something.”

The husk of religion may resemble the true kernel of Christianity at certain points, but unlike a filled heart set aflame with a passion for the supremacy of Christ, religion is just empty at the core.

In James 1:26-27, James is talking about the difference between false religion and true religion (which is a life of obedience to God).

You’ll notice that he uses the word “religious” in the positive sense of one who is devoted to God.

And instead of being theoretical, James gets very practical.

It all boils down to a unity between the inner and the outer man in submission to God.

Let’s look at these two verses in James, 1:26-27.

In honor of God and His Word, let’s stand…

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26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion /is/ useless.

27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, /and/ to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

[NKJV]

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[Prayer] In these two verses at the end of the first chapter of James, we’re going to learn about two different kinds of religion.

James is assuming that God-centered religion in its most altruistic form can be a good thing, but only under God’s dominion.

He mentions two kinds of religion.

First…

 

*I.

The worthless husk of religion manifests a lack of self-control and a deceived heart* (26).

That’s what verse 26 is all about.

“26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious [that is, he /thinks/ he’s devoted to God], and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion /is/ useless.”

Without personal holiness exhibited by self-control, religion is just a worthless husk.

It may resemble the true kernel of life-changing Christianity, but that resemblance is only superficial.

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In verse 26, James addresses the whole church in his audience: “If anyone among you…” The Bible is wise to the fact that many people who associate with the visible church are not really devoted to Jesus Christ.

These are people who “think they are religious” and indeed they may be religious, but not Christian.

The problem this religious person has is that he “does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart.”

So what’s the big deal about bridling one’s tongue?

What does that have to do with religion?

Well James says a lot about the tongue in this letter.

The tongue is a reference to our speech… the words that come out of our mouth.

To control your tongue is really to control the words that come out of your mouth under any circumstances.

The first 12 verses of chapter three is all about the difficulty of controlling the tongue.

One of the reasons this is important is because controlling our tongue is an indicator of self-control in general.

The tongue is a little obvious microcosm of your ability to discipline every other part of your life.

When I go to the doctor for a check-up, my doctor is always wanting me to have my eyes examined.

The reason for this is that the circulatory health of the eyes is an indicator of the circulatory system of the whole body.

The eyes are the first place where problems show up.

If the eyes are good, then the rest of the body is usually good too.

James applies this same concept to the tongue.

If the tongue is under control, then you have learned to master the strongest impulses of the human nature.

But the tongue is extremely difficult to control.

It’s been estimated that the average person will speak about 18-thousand words in a day; that’s enough for a fifty-four-page book every day.

In a year that amounts to sixty-six 800-page volumes!

Many people, of course, speak much more than that.

Up to one-fifth of the average person’s life is spent talking.

James and Jesus both say that our mouths display our hearts.

The problem for the man in verse 26 is that he /doesn’t/ have control of his tongue and yet he thinks he’s religious.

If we insist that we are devoted to God while living a life of unbridled impulsive living, we are clearly deceived.

James says it is the heart that is deceived, not the mind.

The heart is the inner man where your conscience convicts or acquits you in every behavior.

James seems to be saying that if we keep living in an unbridled way while insisting on our own religiosity, we are deceiving ourselves and searing our own conscience before God.

James is so convicting!

The person who cannot control their tongue and shows no remorse for speaking rashly is manifesting confidence in the worthless husk of religion.

James says, “This one’s religion is useless.”

So what does the “real deal” look like?

That’s verse 27…

 

*II.

The pure and undefiled kernel of true religion manifests outward and inward devotion to God* (27).

Verse 27 says, “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, /and/ to keep oneself unspotted from the world.”

Now wait a minute!

I thought he was talking about the tongue.

James went from talking about the tongue and religion to visiting widows and orphans.

What’s the connection?

It is this: for several weeks we’ve been talking about how trials can build our faith in this first chapter of James.

The trial of bridling our tongue is like the trial of inward and outward devotion to God.

The same reason we can’t control our tongue is why we can’t keep our /selves/ unspotted from the world around us.

All of us are going to be tempted in more or less the same ways.

To state it positively, the same power that enables a person to control their tongue will also enable them to remain unspotted from the world.

For example, we are all going to be tempted to lose control of our tongue when we’re angry or to turn the other way when we see someone in need.

If it’s all the same, we’d rather not get involved; we’re all busy with other things.

The reason one man doesn’t get angry and curse-out another man who has just cut him off in traffic or why one woman doesn’t just rail against another woman at Dillard’s because she just let her shopping cart smash her car isn’t because they don’t know how to use those words… It’s because they are restrained by a power greater than themselves, holding them back when they’re nailed to the wall of anger.

That’s verse 26.

When the chemicals of adrenalin (or epinephrine) are flooding your system, whatever you say or do /feels/ justified at the moment, but that doesn’t make it right.

We all have the same natural fleshly impulses that must be controlled.

You’re not alone is this; we’re all in the same boat.

But the Christian is not to be enslaved by the impulses or chemicals of the body.

That’s why that same man or woman who controls their tongue is also willing to set aside their own preferences and go out of their way to help someone who can’t help them back—just because it will honor God.

 

James says: “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, /and/ to keep oneself unspotted from the world.”

Pure and undefiled are synonyms, so they mean the same thing.

The first word emphasizes cleanliness; the second denotes freedom from contamination.

In using these two words, James isn’t talking about what /feels/ right to us, or of what /looks/ right to the world; he’s talking about what is best in the sight of our God and Father.

If we think of religion in purely altruistic terms, whatever true religion is, it must be that which is right in the sight of our God and Father.

If it isn’t right before God, then it’s useless… like a worthless husk.

The religion that honors God is Christ-centered, not man-centered.

It is established by faith and demonstrated by works.

And it is internal as well as external.

In verse 27, the first element of pure and undefiled religion is its /outward/ devotion to God: “to visit orphans and widows in their trouble…” This is outward so people can see this devotion with their own eyes.

This individual is actually doing something to help people who have no way of paying him back.

He does this to honor God.