This is the transcript of the sermon I preached this past Sunday, re-formatted for easier reading. It’s more lengthy than my usual posts, but i think it summarizes well the general attitude toward religion in our society today and the way Christian leaders should respond. May we realize our need for God more each day, and may “others see our good deeds and praise our Father in Heaven.”
I love writing, reading, and language. I’m fascinated by words. I’m fascinated by how words change meaning over time. Can I point out a few examples?
The word “artificial” used to mean “full of artistic or technical skill.” It means something very different than that now.
The word “awful” used to mean “full of awe” referring to something wonderful, delightful, or amazing. Now it means the opposite.
The word “nice” comes from Latin meaning “not to know.” Originally a “nice person” was someone who was ignorant or unaware. So calling someone nice was an insult.
If someone uses the phrase “write on your wall,” you know they’re not talking about coming over to your house with a Sharpie and going to town. Hopefully you know they’re talking about Facebook.
Then there’s the word “gay.” That word has certainly changed meanings.
And when a word changes meanings the emotions that it triggers and the picture it brings to mind changes too.
There’s another word I want to focus on today that has changed meanings, and that is the word “religion.” It has changed meaning because public opinion of religion and religious people has changed. Here’s an example from music history of the change in meaning: there was a popular gospel song from the late 1800’s called “Old Time Religion” and the chorus was:
“Just give me that old time religion, its good enough for me.”
Fast-forward to the late 1900s and punk music. I’m a child of the 80s and 90s, and I loved punk music. There’s a punk music band with the name “Bad Religion.” They’re making a statement with their name and their music that people should shrug off the yoke of oppression, put there by society, government, and religion.
So is religion good or bad? That is exactly the question we’re confronted with in this passage from James chapter one. Starting in verse 22:
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. 27 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.
So is religion good or bad? According to James, that depends on the person. But let’s back up a little here. What is religion?
A good working definition of religion is “a set of rituals demonstrating devotion to a higher power or ideal, often for the purpose of earning favor or merit.”
“A set of rituals…” These are activities we do repeatedly.
“…demonstrating devotion to a higher power or ideal…” And these are outward indications that we are committed to something or someone bigger.
“…often for the purpose of earning favor or merit.” Many religions emphasize that these rituals of devotion also result in personal reward for the religious person. Maybe heaven or something similar to that.
For Jewish people, this means following the holiness code of the Old Testament. For Muslims, this means following the Five Pillars of Isalm. But what does religion have to do with a follower of Christ, who is saved by grace and not by the things he does?
Our society now—really my generation and younger—has begun to view religion as a blight on society. Those born since 1980 are twice as likely to claim no religious affiliation. Spirituality is OK but religion is not.
Why is this? If I had to put it simply, I would say these days being perceived as intolerant is much worse than being theologically wrong or unethical. Many of us would rather be hazy on the whole God-thing and maybe compromise our values here and there, rather than be seen as mean. What’s the quickest road to being an intolerant person? Many people would say religion.
Not only that, but many Christians have begun to see religion as the enemy of the amazing grace of God. If you have a Facebook account you most likely saw the spoken word video that took the country by storm a year ago. Jordan Bethke’s video, “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus” today has been viewed almost 24 million times.
In the video Jordan says, “What if I told you Jesus came to abolish religion” and, “I mean if religion is so great, why has it started so many wars? Why does it build huge churches but fail to feed the poor?”
I’ll admit it, I’ve even used the expression, “Christianity and following Jesus is about relationship, not religion.” I really don’t like the word religion. It brings to my mind stuffy churches and empty rituals and oppression.
In fact, Paul used this word “religion” in Acts chapter 26 to describe the Jewish rituals that he had pretty much abandoned for freedom in Jesus. And then he used it again in Colossians chapter 2 to describe pagan worship practices that were poisoning the church in Colossae.
And didn’t Jesus challenge the religious people of his day and call them hypocrites?
And then I read these verses and I think, “James, old buddy, why did you have to use that word? Don’t you know that it is a very controversial word?” But what is James really saying here? Maybe we should take another look.
Verses 22-25
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
James uses the illustration of a mirror to point out that there shouldn’t be a disconnect between what we believe and what we do. In fact, that is the main message of the book of James: “closing the distance between what we say we believe and what we actually do.”
Ok, we’re with you so far, James. We should practice what we preach, right?
But then there’s verse 26:
26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.
You could probably think of someone right now that goes to church regularly and does other religious-y things, and yet has a foul mouth. Maybe that person is you or was you? I can tell you that I would have fit that description for many years.
Chalk another one up for the bad religion advocates.
But then James goes on to say “this person’s religion is worthless.” Like there is supposed to be a positive outcome to religion but it just isn’t working right in this particular person’s life. There’s a sense here that what is being called worthless used to have value at one time.
My family took a trip down south to Tennessee when I was kid, and I remember visiting Civil War battlefields and buying replica Confederate money. Yeah, I was that kid. The money that the Confederate States printed during the war was completely worthless when the war was over.
I was reading this week about Lance Armstrong. Now that he has admitted to doping, Lance Armstrong autographed memorabilia is now becoming less and less valuable.
Used to be valuable, now just worthless.
I don’t want to come across mean or anything, but it does seem like there is a lot of worthless religion out there. Religion that doesn’t make any kind of positive difference in the world, but simply serves to imprison the religious person.
But James seems to see religion as valuable. But what is it valuable for? Certainly our religious rituals can’t save us. We can’t go to church, pray, read the Bible, pursue holiness and all that and expect it to earn us the favor of God. We know that the Bible teaches that only through trusting in Jesus Christ can we be saved.
So what value is religion? I think James gives us a clue when he says “…but deceives his heart” in verse 26.
Here it is: religion at its purest level is supposed to make us honest. Brutally honest. It’s supposed to make us realize our need for God. Because if we’re totally honest with ourselves, we need God. Religious people should be the most honest, least self-deceived people on the planet. God gave the Old Testament laws to the Jews so they would realize their deep need for Him.
Of course the irony is that many of the religious leaders instead became self-righteous and condescending. They flaunted their self-sufficiency. They said, “Look how good I am; how much better I am than that person.” And Jesus shook his head and said, “You still need God!” He said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit;” essentially, “Blessed are those who realize how much they need God.”
So, in this understanding, religion becomes invaluable. Not to save us, but make us realize our need to be saved. Religious practices show that we have a devotion to God and demonstrate our faith in Him, but they also serve to remind us every day how much we fall short.
Why is that a good thing? Because it causes us to trust more and more in the unfailing love and grace of the Father. We don’t deserve His favor, but He gives it anyway. Praise God for His amazing, messy, unfailing grace!
But it goes even deeper than that. James identifies three key results that come from having religious honesty. There are probably more, but James names three big ones.
The first one we’ve already mentioned: “bridling the tongue.” Maybe one of the reasons many of us struggle with gossip or using foul language or always speaking negatively (which are all sins by the way), is because we don’t realize how bad our tongue needs a bridle.
Sometimes our words carry an even bigger negative message. I’ve lost count of the people who’ve said to me, “I don’t mind Jesus, but I really can’t stand organized religion.” Maybe the reason they don’t like organized religion is because it always seems to be organized against something. Many Christians are known more for what they’re against than what they’re for. And many times when Christians open their mouths it’s only hateful speech that comes out. It’s important to take a stand, right? But the way we speak matters.
Make no mistake: we can do some major damage with our words. And we need help controlling our tongues. We need a bridle.
I’m not a horse person. To be honest they kind of freak me out. But this much I know, it’s much easier to control a half-ton animal with a bit then without one.
The tongue is no different.
So the first key result of religious honesty:
Admit that you need help from God to control your words and tone of voice.
The next two key results are found in verse 27:
27 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.
James even lets us know that he’s about to define what pure religion looks like. This is religion that hasn’t been corrupted by our insecurities, our self-righteous tendencies, our habit of trying to make ourselves look better at the expense of others.
This is honest-to-God religion. Literally.
Visiting orphans and widows in their affliction. James specifically names widows and orphans because they are always the most vulnerable of any society and usually the neediest. Sometimes we read commands like this in scripture and say, that’s a great idea! Someone should do that. But what if a church actually took this seriously? What would that look like? What kind of impact for the gospel could we have?
Did you know that in Ethiopia there are 5.4 million children who are considered orphaned or vulnerable, meaning they’re likely to be orphans soon? Many of these their parents are dead or dying because of the AIDS epidemic.
There are 250 plus children in Ecuador sponsored by my church (Ten Mile Christian Church in Meridian, ID) folks through Compassion International. Many of these children come from single-mother homes. The sad reality in developing countries is that widows are usually destined for poverty.
A group of students and adults from TMC are going to Haiti in June to run a VBS in an orphanage and work in a nearby medical clinic.
If you want to find the people in the greatest need, look no further than the widows and orphans of the world.
Notice that James uses the word “visit.” When he uses that word he takes away our option to simply write a check and let others do the hard, messy work of actually going to them and helping them. Now we should definitely support worthy causes financially, and we can’t all go to Haiti or Ecuador or Ethiopia. But this about seeing a need around us and meeting it.
Why? Because God saw us in need of a Savior. And helped us by sending Jesus. We help others who are in need because we know our own neediness.
We don’t help because we’re rescuers, but because we’ve been rescued.
There are over 1,300 kids in the foster care system in the state of Idaho. There are single mothers in this church and community who are doing the best they can in their situation, but I bet many would love help with childcare and housework so they can get a much-deserved rest. Maybe we have more opportunities to help than we realize? All of us can recognize a need and help meet it.
Second key result:
Admit that God met you in your time of need, and so you should do the same for others.
Lastly, James says that we should keep ourselves unstained by the world.
Getting stained is so easy to do. Living day to day can make us so bitter, so angry, so full of worry and anxiety. One bad decision leads to another until guilt and shame consume us. We have struggles and hang-ups that we’ve never shared with anyone, and it eats us up. We get stained and corrupted by this world that surrounds us. We are just a fraction of the people God would have us be.
What’s the key to remaining unstained? Complete honesty with God, and complete honesty with other believers we are in relationship with.
We need the kind of relationships that we find in HOME Groups and small group Bible studies. When we’re honest about our struggles and our need for grace with God and others, it becomes easier to remain unpolluted by the world. When we’re honest, the Holy Spirit gets a chance to work in our lives and produce the fruit of the Spirit which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
I remind the high school students in my youth group of this fact all the time. They are probably sick of hearing this, but I tell them, “The best thing we can do for each other is stop pretending like we have it all together.”
Bad religion leads to the denial of our faults and struggles, true religion leads us to honesty and healing.
Get in a group, get honest, and get ready to see God go to work in your life. So, that’s James’ final key result of pure religion:
Admit that you can’t remain unstained by the world on your own, and you need the help of God and other people.
Which leads me to one final closing question:
If Christians were religious in a way that caused them to only build others up with their words, to have a heart for those in great need, and to live to a higher standard, do you think the world would notice?
People see religion in a negative light because they’ve never had the chance to see it in a positive light. You have a great opportunity to show a skeptical world that knowing Jesus Christ and following Him really does make a difference in a person’s life.
And if it takes religion to make us recognize our need for God more every day, and that leads us to an even deeper walk with Jesus, then maybe I’m cool with religion after all.