AUTHENTIC RELIGION
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on May 8, 2024 under AM Bible Study |
AM Bible Study Group: May 8, 2024 from James 1:26-27
Theme: We must not merely ‘think’ ourselves to be ‘religious’—but actually be so in the sight of God.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
We come now to a passage in which Pastor James takes up the subject of ‘religion’.
That might come as a surprise. After all, hasn’t he been talking about religion all along? Well; no … not really. What he’d been talking about thus far has been the inward expression of our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that shows itself in action—especially in times of trial and difficulty. He’d been teaching that the inward expression of this faith must be put into actual practice in everyday life. He said that we’re to put aside all of the residue of sin in our lives, and be open to hearing the word of God (vv. 19-21); and then make sure we’re not merely hearers of the word, but doers of it (vv. 22-25). But so far, he hasn’t really spoken of ‘religion’ per se.
It would help if we understood the word “religious” … as James used it anyway. It’s the Greek verb thrēskos, which only appears here in James’ letter. It’s used in the phrase, “If anyone among you thinks he is religious …” The noun form of this Greek word thrēskeia is found in Acts 26:4-5 when the apostle Paul was standing trial for his ministry in the gospel. He spoke of his accusers before King Agrippa; and told him,
“My manner of life from my youth, which was spent from the beginning among my own nation at Jerusalem, all the Jews know. They knew me from the first, if they were willing to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion [thrēskeia] I lived a Pharisee” (Acts 26:4-5).
In other words, Paul was saying that, if his accusers wanted to, they could testify to how strictly he followed the rules and regulations of his and their ‘religion’—that is, Judaism. His obedience and conformity to Judaism was something that could be measured by outward acts of Judaistic piety and devotion. But this word didn’t apply just to Judaism. This same Greek noun is also found in Colossians 2:18-19 with reference to paganism. Paul was speaking of those who seek to judge others on the basis of outward acts of piety and pseudo-spirituality. He wrote;
Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship [thrēskeia] of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God (Colossians 2:18-19).
In other words, Paul was urging his fellow believers not to allow themselves to be cheated out of their rich rewards in Christ by those who follow mere outward patterns and rites and forms of piety and spirituality in a way that was separated from a true relationship with Jesus Christ.
So then; what James is addressing is the outward forms and patterns and rituals of religious worship and piety—something that basically has to do with what someone displays on the outside. An accurate way of thinking of thrēskeia, as James is using it, would be as ‘measurable acts of religious devotion’; and to think of thrēskos as the ‘devotion’ and ‘piety’ from which those acts would flow. Those kinds of things are not necessarily bad—if they are indeed genuine expressions of a true spiritual relationship with God through Jesus Christ. But they are very bad if they are what someone relies on apart from a genuine, soul-transforming relationship with Jesus Christ.
It’s that false trust in ‘religion’ that James is dealing with in James 1:26-27. He wrote;
If anyone among you thinks he is religious [thrēskos], and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion [thrēskeia] is useless. Pure and undefiled religion [thrēskeia] before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world (James 1:26-27).
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Dear brothers and sisters; our God and Father wishes to see ‘authentic religion’ in us. It’s a terrible thing to be merely ‘pious’ on the surface without the genuine reality within the heart. It makes us think of the kind of thing that the Lord Jesus once strongly rebuked the Pharisees and the Sadducees for. In Matthew 23:23-28, He told them—among other things;
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness” (Matthew 23:23-28).
These mere ‘outward’ acts of ‘religion’ may be exactly what our Lord was warning about in His Sermon on the Mount with reference to the Day of Judgment. In Matthew 7:21-23, He said;
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Matthew 7:21-23).
That’s terrible to think about! Many will stand before Him on that day—having believed that they would be accepted by Him for their very visible, very-measurable forms of ‘religiosity’—but who will be terribly surprised because of their lack of true, authentic relationship with the Savior. And so; we need to pay careful attention to James’ words to us in this passage. He warned us that we must not merely ‘think’ ourselves to be religious—but actually be so in the sight of God.
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Now; what James tells us first in this passage, in verse 26, is to beware of what not to do. And then what he tells us, in verse 27, is what to be sure to do instead. And we can look at it all as the two sides to one coin. On one side is what characterizes a religious profession that’s useless; and on the other side what characterizes a religious profession that’s the real thing in the sight of God.
So; let’s begin by looking at …
1. WHAT CHARACTERIZES ‘FALSE’ RELIGION (v. 26).
In verse 26, James said, “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.” And here, he points to just one thing that makes someone’s ‘religion’ useless. But it’s a very important thing. It’s the use of the tongue.
Now; there are four things to notice in this verse. First notice the kind of person he’s talking about. It’s someone who considers themselves to be ‘religious’—that is, faithful and praiseworthy in their conformity to the outward acts of devotion in an attitude of piety and godliness. Notice that, in some translations, James says, “anyone among you”; so—if those words are genuinely a part of the text—James is talking about someone within the household of faith that thinks themselves religious because of their outward performance. Think here of the Pharisee that Jesus spoke of once in His parable—the Pharisee who stood in the temple and prayed with himself; saying, “God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess” (Luke 18:11-12).
But then, notice the one great failing that’s mentioned. It’s that they do not ‘bridle their tongue’. To ‘bridle’ the tongue is a figure of speech for bringing the tongue under control—just as bridling an animal brings it under control. (James will have a lot to say about that in 3:1-11.) This isn’t merely meant however to say, “Control your tongue and all will be well.” The real problem isn’t in that flexible piece of physical muscle in our mouths. The real issue is the condition of the heart, which is only being revealed by the tongue. As Proverbs 4:23 warns,
Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life (Proverbs 4:23).
As our Lord has explained;
“What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man” (Mark 7:20-23).
Because the word that James uses for ‘bridle’ is put in the present tense, this refers to an ongoing practice of ‘unbridling’—that is, an ongoing habit of letting what is in the heart reveal itself through the tongue. Have you known someone like that? They are very careful and disciplined about the ‘duties’ of the faith. They have their confession of theology all in order. They attend church regularly. They tithe sacrificially. They sing all the hymns on key. But the way they speak to others—and the things they say when they speak—show that an inner transformation has not really occurred. They may even boast about how they ‘say what they think’. Such people’s mouths are like a bucket on the rope of a well, and what the bucket pulls up from the well reveals an untransformed heart.
This leads us thirdly to notice the self-deception they are under. They believe themselves to be ‘religious’; but the things that their mouth reveals show the corruption within. It reveals such things as lying. The Lord hates lying. In Proverbs 6:16-19, we’re told;
These six things the Lord hates,
Yes, seven are an abomination to Him:
A proud look,
A lying tongue,
Hands that shed innocent blood,
A heart that devises wicked plans,
Feet that are swift in running to evil,
A false witness who speaks lies,
And one who sows discord among brethren (Proverbs 6:16-19).
It also reveals “corrupt” or “rotten” speech. Ephesians 4:29-30 tells us;
Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:29-30).
Such an unbridled tongue reveals oaths before God that are not kept. In Matthew 5:33-37, our Lord said;
“Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.’ But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one (Matthew 5:33-37).
An unbridled tongue brings forth evil speaking about other people. James said in James 4:11-12 that this is the same as sitting in judgment of God’s law:
Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another? (James 4:11-12).
And from an unbridled tongue comes talk that is not at all fitting of saints. In Ephesians 5:3-5, Paul wrote;
But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God (Ephesians 5:3-5).
Anyone who thinks that they’re religious—and yet has such things coming out of them through an unbridled tongue—is only deceiving themselves. No wonder the fourth thing James points out, at the end of verse 26, is the uselessness of their religion; or, as we could think of it, the uselessness of all their outward acts of piety and devotion. They don’t accomplish what the one professing to have it thinks they’ll accomplish. It is a “vain” or “ineffective” or “useless” profession of religion because the product of the mouth betrays what’s really in the heart.
Now; we all will occasionally fail in this area. We will all occasionally use our tongues wrongly—and will all, at times, show that we’re not what we should be in our hearts before God. But the true test of our religion is in our ongoing practice. Do sins with the tongue characterize our regular habit of life? Or do we confess our sins of the tongue—along with the sins they represent within us—and repent of them?
So then; that’s what characterizes ‘false’ religion. But it’s not enough to simply state the ‘negative’—that is, what someone must not do so that they won’t be hurting others and making their religion worthless. As a good pastor, James sets forth a ‘positive’ statement with respect to religion—that is, what someone must do to do good to others in an active, practical sense … and thus prove their religious life to be “pure and undefiled”.
That leads us, then, to consider …
2. WHAT CHARACTERIZES ‘TRUE’ RELIGION (v. 27).
In verse 27, he wrote, “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.”
The two words “pure and undefiled” are meant to express the same basic idea—but viewed from two different angles. When we speak of something as “pure”, we mean that it’s the real and essential thing. And when we speak of it as “undefiled”, we mean that there’s nothing mixed into it that will lower its quality. “Religion” that is “pure and undefiled”, then, would speak of acts of religious practice and piety that are the “real and essential” outward demonstration of a reverent attitude toward God—with nothing of this world mixed into it that would lower its quality.
Note that it must not merely be “pure and undefiled” in the sight of men. That alone will not be pleasing to God. To be what our ‘religion’ should be, it must be pure and undefiled in the sight of “God” (which points us to the sort of sovereign and righteous Judge that He is) and “our Father” (which points us to His compassion and mercy when we fall short).
And note very carefully how James goes on to describe such religion in action. To be an expression of religion that would be truly accepted by God as “pure and undefiled”, it must be “to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.” It must therefore involve two broad characteristics:
First, it must be characterized by an open hand to those in need. To “visit” is a figure of speech for coming to someone in their distress and doing what is necessary to minister comfort and relief to them. To “visit” those in need therefore implies sacrifice and effort on our part. And it would direct itself toward those who are the weakest and most needy and least capable of doing anything in return. It’s a vivid way of describing practical acts of mercy and kindness.
And second, it must also be characterized by a holy life. True religion keeps itself free from this world’s system of sinful values and priorities—“unspotted from the world”. As John said in 1 John 2:15-17;
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 lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever (1 John 2:15-17).
These two things—visiting orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world—must not be separated. Some folks think that it’s sufficient to have an open hand in relation to the needs of others; but also to, at the same time, keep an unholy grasp on the sinful aspects of this world. Others keep themselves closed off from the sinful aspects of the world; but also, at the same time, tightly close their hand toward those in need. Both things must be occurring for religion to be “pure and undefiled” in the sight of our God and Father.
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Now; obviously, James’ words about these two “characteristics” are not meant to describe everything that’s involved in true religion. It doesn’t, for example, mention faith, or worship, or humility, or prayer. But these two characteristics—visiting orphans and widows in their trouble, and keeping oneself unspotted from the world—encompass two main areas in relation to our contacts with others when it comes to the outward expression of what we call ‘religion’.
So; let’s be very careful about our ‘religion’. With the help of the indwelling Holy Spirit—for the honor and glory of our Savior—let’s make sure that we don’t merely think ourselves to be religious—but that we actually are so in the sight of God.
AE
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