“Religion" gets a Bad Rap James 1: 26-27 April 09, 2003
"If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth
not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's
religion is vain."
"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is
this; To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction,
and to keep himself unspotted from the world." (KJV)
1. Talk is cheap.(James 1: 21-27)
The epistle of James, the brother of Jesus Christ, contains references
to men attempting to live the Christ life without outward proof of faith
in Christ. The central part of our discussion here is in verses 26-27.
When one fails to keep control of his tongue, speech, his heart is
deceived or darkened. As we see in other places in the Scripture,
all issues of life emanate from the heart. (Proverbs 4: 23) Therefore,
if the heart is dark, that one is without true religion. If the heart is
not regenerated by the indwelling Spirit, mankind is trying to be reli-
gious on his own, or in the flesh. The tongue, or speech, is an outward
manifestation of the heart. Beginning in verse 21, we see the manifes-
tation of salvation, or heart change, is laying aside the works of flesh,
such as vulgarities or illicit behavior. This will be considered negative
proof. The positive proof is a meek spirit acquired through implanta-
of Jesus Christ, in the soul of a man.
2. Secondly, A man is deceived when he hears the Word of God and
fails to act upon it. He is an unfaithful hearer, not a “doer.” If he
does not act upon that Word, it is taken from him and he forgets
the Word he heard. (Christ is Lord of now and exists in the present.)
If one is blessed of God he must act upon the Word of God in a timely
manner rather than wait for a convenient time. ( I have learned this
dear lesson from experience.) In verse 27; a definition of pure reli-
gion. True religion is evidenced in the life of one who follows Christ
in service to those who are not blessed as is he. He sees to father-
less and widows and keeps himself clear of contamination by the
world. “World,” here, refers to things that take our focus from the
Lord, when we become concerned with temporary pleasure, rather
than getting joy from serving and pleasing our Lord by seeing to the
needs of others. When one is a hearer or talker and not a doer of the
good, he is hypocritical. One reason the word “religion” is misunder-
stood is because of those of us who "talk the talk" without "walking
the walk."
3. God does not practice partiality, nor should we. (James 2: 1-7)
Our Lord could be illustrated by earth’s sun. The sun does not
change it’s path on a given day. The sun’s brightness is consistent
and shines on everyone without partiality. You and I as God’s chil-
dren, His representatives here, are to be like the sun. If we are to
represent Him to a lost and hopeless world, you and I must share
Him impartially with those whom God sends our way; poor, wealthy,
homely or attractive. If we are like Him, the standards of the world
are not ours. We have adopted the standard of Jesus Christ who,
when He was on the earth, reached out to all men, but seemed to be
more successful dealing with the unfortunate and outcast of the cul-
ture. This simply means we should do like-wise. We reach out to all,
but work with those who respond. You and I do not have the ability
to look upon the heart as does the Lord. The lord calls and He
chooses. Ours is to go and tell, leaving the results to Him.
4. This Scripture reminds us many times the wealthy will exploit us,
and we must take care not to “cast our pearls, ‘The Pearl of Great
Price,’ before swine,” lest they turn on us. This little bit of wisdom
simply means we must always follow leadership of the Spirit when
exercising a gift of the Spirit. (Matthew 7: 6) Unless our trust is in
the Lord , as in Proverbs 3: 5-6, we will fail miserably. If we are
led by the Spirit (Galatians 5:18) of God, we are his children in His
service. God has a plan for each life. When we fail to wait on Him
for direction, we will be operating in the flesh, not in the Spirit of
God and there will be grave consequences. We will then be on our
own, casting our pearls before swine, giving Holy things to dogs.
The price for disobedience is dear. If we fail to wait on the Lord for
direction in any area of life, or if we give preference to individuals
or groups for reasons of the flesh, we are judges of evil thoughts or
motives as in James 2:4. Then, in 1 Corinthians 2: 13-16 we find;
as Spirit filled children of the living God, we may have the mind
of Christ. This simply means we are able to apply, properly, the
Holy Scripture in life situations; as did our Lord Jesus Christ; an
invaluable Spiritual gift. (The metaphor of swine and dogs used
in Scripture is a Word from God. We must never use such meta-
phors to describe any individual or group; that would be judging;
and forbidden in God's Word.) The Lord God is the Judge of all.
5. God does not want our empty talk, but our obedience. (James 2:
8-13) When the tongue is unbridled, we spend our energy condemn-
ing. We are "advised" not to judge motives, even our own. We are
commanded to follow our Lord. The law of love overcomes evil in
our lives. Contempt for a fellow citizen is sin and is especially repug-
nant when vocalized in judgment. In other Scripture it says; he who
judges shows he is guilty of the thing in which he condemns another.
(Romans 2:1, James 2:4) If we are to be shown mercy, we must first,
show mercy to our fellowman. One who judges or condemns, is not
showing mercy. When we condemn others our underlying motive is
highly suspect. It is possible, even likely our condemnation of others
is used as a cover for our own sin; as we attempt to make ourselves
look good by comparison. It is my observation when we judge,
scorn or condemn another; instead of improving our image in the
eyes of an astute friend, we make ourselves to look petty. One who
appears so, has a difficult time making and retaining friends.
(Psalms 1)
CONCLUSION: The word “religion,” is a perfectly good word; mis-
used over the years. It seems to have lost the original meaning for
all practical purposes. To be religious is to be faithful; to be religious
is to be true. To be religious is to fear God. To be religious is to go
about unselfishly, doing good as did our Lord Jesus Christ, without
partiality or hope for reward or recognition. This is a good word, and
Proper understanding of this word must be restored by consistent
preaching, teaching and practicing pure religion. This culture can no
more afford to lose this concept any more than we can afford to
lose sight of the many doctrines we hold dear in the faith of our Lord
Jesus Christ, God the Son. There are endangered word "species,"
and words do have meanings.
ed. 11.27.14, 8.15.16, 9.10.12 edited 8.16.16, 3.27.17
donporter,sr
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