As we continue our Summer Service Series let’s turn to one of the most practical books in the New Testament: James. This little letter is packed with instruction and wisdom for Christian ACTION and SERVICE.
James is big on application. A few weeks ago I did a lesson entitled “Do to Understand.” Do you remember? There are times when we don’t have the answers we want up front. There are times when the most important thing is not to figure out why or puzzle with whether we are comfortable with it or feel like it or want to do it, there are times when we simply must take God at his word and DO WHAT HE COMMANDS without any explanation or negotiation.
My final example for that lesson was Luke 5 where Jesus told Peter to put out into deep water and let down his nets for a catch. Peter had been fishing all night and caught nothing. He had just been generous enough to let Jesus use his boat to stand in and teach the crowds while he and James and John mended their nets. Peter objected at first, but finally said, “Because you say so, I will let down the nets.” Peter decided to do what Jesus said without any expectation that it would do any good. He didn’t want to, he didn’t feel like it, he didn’t think it would work. So why did Peter obey? Why did Peter do what Jesus said? Because JESUS SAID SO. Peter was simply submitting to Jesus’ authority. And this one act of obedience changed forever Peter’s understanding. Peter came to know who he was and who Jesus is.
Doing God’s word is vital to knowing God and understanding our Christian faith. Those who do not do God’s word, are deceived if they think they are saved. James ends his first chapter telling us this.
James 1:26-27 is our text for today’s lesson.
26 If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Three points come out of this text:
1. Doing Christian Religion requires careful talking.
2. Doing Christian Religion requires caring for the needy.
3. Doing Christian Religion requires clean living.
Let’s look at these in order and see if we can’t hear God’s word and do it. Number one: Christian religion requires careful talking. Verse 26. (Watch your tongue, control your language, take charge of your talk).
Most of us think of religion in connection with things we do at what we call worship services, or when we come to church or in our daily devotions and prayer times. Paul uses this word in reference to the Jewish religion in Acts 26:5 speaking of how he was a Pharisee according to the strictest sect of the Jewish religion. Religion in this sense is the PRACTICE of the faith. Even here James has chosen a word that carries with it the idea of DOING the faith not simply having faith, but practicing it. What James describes is someone who thinks of himself as religious. If you asked this person, “Are you a man or woman of faith in God?” They would not doubt answer, “Yes!” But then James points out that this person has a problem: they don’t watch their language or their speech carefully. They don’t control how they talk.
Wow. He had to pick that one didn’t he? I mean, of all the things James could have chosen, why this? Because our tongues, our talk, tells more about us than we think. How much of God’s word warns us and instructs us about our talk? It’s all over the place! Jesus tells us that the only sin that you can’t be forgiven for is one that comes out of your mouth! James puts us to the test here. He says that if we think we are religious but don’t watch what we say our religion is WORTHLESS. Did you get that? What did he say your religion is worth if you don’t control your talk? It is WORTHLESS. Not weak, not in trouble, not just barely alive… James says that your religion is worthless if you don’t watch your language. He goes further than that. James says that we deceive ourselves. In other words, we don’t take it seriously, but think we are ok, when actually we are not ok, we are lost. We are living with a worthless religion that won’t save us.
Jesus said at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who DOES the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophecy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and in your name do many mighty works?’ (Now all of these seem to think that they were religious. They even did lots of impressive things in the name of Jesus. But they were not saved.) And Jesus said that He will reply, “I never knew you! Depart from me you workers of lawlessness!” Ouch!
Do you think you are religious? Do you consider yourself to be saved? James gives us all a simple test: how do I talk? Do you lie? Do you slander? Do you gossip? Do you say things that dishonor God?
I think all of us could do a better job at controlling our tongues. God tells us in Colossians 3:17 Whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
Jesus tells us: Matthew 12:34-36
34 You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. 36 But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.
Acts 5 tells of Ananias and Saphira. Why did God strike them dead? Because of something they SAID. Even Peter explained that they had freedom to do with the money what they wanted after they sold the property, but they lied... Peter says, "How could Satan have so filled your heart to do this? You have not lied to men but to God." Oh be careful little lips what you say!
There’s more, lots more!
1 Cor. 10:10 says: 10 And do not grumble, as some of them did —and were killed by the destroying angel. Why were they killed? It was for what came out of their mouths!
So God’s word instructs us:
Ephesians 4: 29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.
Do we need help from God to deal with an unruly tongue?
So what should we do? Pray with Psalms 19 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer! And Ps. 141:3 Set a watch, O Lord, over my mouth; keep the door of my lips.
We need to lean on God and give Him our mouths and use them for His service only and always! Like Isaiah in chapter 6, We need to see the Lord and recognize that we are a people of unclean lips and that without God’s cleansing work we are under the curse. But when God cleanses our mouths we can open our lips with praise and thanksgiving and use them to declare God’s grace and goodness.
Ok… Now for part two of Christian religion in James 1: 26-27. Christian religion requires caring for the needy. Look at verse 27 the first part again.
Pure religion and undefiled before the Father is this: to visit the widows and orphans in their affliction… Christian religion requires caring for the needy.
Do you know how many times God’s word tells us to take care of the needy? This theme goes from cover to cover in our Bibles. In fact, the great judgment day scene that Jesus depicts for us in Matthew 25 has one single focus. In that message, Jesus says that when He comes again He will gather all of us together and then separate us as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will say to those on his right: Welcome! You who are blessed by my Father! Enter the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the earth! For, I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me to drink. I was naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me. (That’s it! No talk about how well you memorized all those passages or how you never missed a church meeting. Not that those are unimportant). Those who are righteous in that judgment scene are simply those who cared for the needy. So what happens to the church that gets everything right about how we carry on our worship and how we obey the gospel to become a Christian and how we set up the church leadership but if we don’t visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, what will Jesus tell us on the great day of judgment?
On the other hand, what if we spend ourselves in caring for the needy and use our tongues to tell the good news of Jesus Christ and praises of our God? That’s the first two requirements of the Christian religion in James.
The third requirement is this: James 1:27, the last part, “to keep himself unspotted by the world.” This is simply CLEAN LIVING. Christian religion requires clean living.
Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Peter explains to us: “you are a chosen people, you are a royal priesthood, you are a holy nation, you are a people belonging to God.” That we may declare the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His wonderful light! We are to live clean lives in a dirty world.
Living a clean life in a dirty world is not easy. Just ask your kids who swim in the swamp of dirty talk at school, or around their not so Christian friends. Just ask the construction worker who hears God’s name abused all day at work. Just ask anyone in the public who work around people who talk at all! We live in a dirty world, with dirty lips. Jesus told us: enter the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the path that leads to destruction and many go that way. But narrow is the gate and difficult is the path that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Be among the few! We are given the words of God here so that we can do His will and know Him! It all starts when we hear His word, believe and begin to practice our faith in obedience. God gives power and grace to us to grow and do more than we could ask or imagine.
Let’s go back to what we said at the beginning: We DO so we can KNOW and understand. We obey on the basis of FAITH IN GOD, FEAR OF GOD and FOLLOWING HIS WORD, not on the basis of whether we THINK we can do it, or whether we FEEL like it, or are COMFORTABLE with it or WANTto do it, or LIKE WHO ELSE IS DOING IT. We must obey out of respect of God’s authority and out of fear of God’s wrath and out of hope of God’s glory and as we DO GOD’S COMMANDS we discover that we come to know and love God and His Son, Jesus Christ. God empowers us as we trust Him enough to obey. God says, “control your tongue, care for the needy, keep your life clean.
DO and you will come to KNOW God and He will open the eyes of your heart to the power of His love. Listen to Ephesians 4:14-21. (read).
