James 1:26-27
“Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.
“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.”
One of the things we as Christians need to be careful about is to know the Scriptures.
Cults that want to appear to be Christian love to use Scriptures from the Bible.
By taking them out of context they make them say what they want them to say.
For instance, a cult might take these verses and say that in order to be a religious person you must take a vow of silence and that in order to be holy all you need to do is take care of orphans and widows (only the distressed ones) and don’t swim in polluted water or breathe polluted air or eat non-organically grown food.
Now, we know that the people to whom James is writing are Christians who have been scattered throughout the known world of that time and to all Christians who have lived in the 2,000 years since that time.
We know this from James 1:1
“James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings.”
Here James is speaking to Jews who have recognized Jesus as the Messiah and have placed their faith and trust in Him for salvation. The entire letter is built upon this understanding.
In the book of James the word “faith” is used 11 times in the NIV and each time it is used in a way that assumes that the person reading the letter understands what faith is and that they have already placed their faith and trust in Jesus for salvation.
Now, the words religion on the other hand is only used 5 or 6 of times in the Bible. That’s not a lot for such a “religious” book!
So, if faith is something that these believers already have what is this religion that James is talking about?
Let’s make a premise here and see if we can prove and disprove it from Scripture.
Faith is the human response to God’s grace that establishes our relationship with Christ as our Savior and true religion, or “deeds” are the outpouring that comes from that relationship with God.
First, does faith save us? What do the Scriptures say?
John 3:16-18
“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.
“Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
Ephesians 2:8-9
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.
Romans 10:10
“For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”
OK. So we know this is foundational to what we believe the Bible teaches.
In mercy God extends His grace to us calling us to Himself for salvation.
God’s grace enables us to respond to Him with confession of sin, repentance and asking for His forgiveness and cleansing from sin.
God saves us and we become the sons and daughters of God.
OK. So, let’s look at our premise again:
Faith is the human response to God’s grace that establishes our relationship with Christ as our Savior and true religion, or “deeds” are the outpouring that comes from that relationship with God.
James 1:26-27 once again says
“Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.
“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.”
Could the actions of “keeping a tight rein on your tongue”, “looking after orphans and widows in their distress” and “keeping oneself from being polluted by the world” be considered religious deeds?
James has some more to say on this subject in Chapter 2.
Let’s move on and take a look at James 2:14-26
“What good is it, my brothers, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food.
“If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
“But someone will say, ‘You have faith; I have deeds.’ Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.
“You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that - and shudder.
“You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is dead? Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?
“You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.
“And the scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,’ and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.
“In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?
“As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”
So, let’s look at the premise again
Faith is the human response to God’s grace that establishes our relationship with Christ as our Savior and true religion, or “deeds” are the outpouring that comes from that relationship with God.
What about deeds without faith? Can our deeds or religious activity save us if we don’t have a personal relationship with God?
Matthew 7:21-23 (Jesus is speaking here)
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.
“Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name and in Your name drive out demons and in Your name perform many miracles?’
“Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from Me, you evildoers!’”
What James is arguing here is that true relationship with God WILL result in actions that are consistent with the desires and passions of God!
If I TRULY have been crucified with Christ and I no live but Christ lives in me how can I NOT be living in a way that is consistent with the desires and passions of God?
In James 1:26 James talks about controlling the tongue.
Suppose we had a detached human tongue here.
What would it say? Nothing!
Suppose that tongue was still in a living human what would it say?
It would say whatever the person attached to that tongue would want it to say!
Why?
Luke 6:45 says
“A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”
Now, if we, as Christians, are in Christ and Christ lives in us, what should our tongues be saying? Things which are beneficial to the kingdom of God.
Here’s Jesus speaking to the Jewish rulers and religious leaders who were outwardly very religious and yet most of them were not living in relationship with God! Even though they repeated the ancient “heart, soul and strength” Scripture multiple times each day they were not living in the relationship. So, Jesus says,
Matthew 12:34 NKJV
“(You) brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”
Proverbs 25:11 KJV says:
“A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.”
Proverbs 25:11 NLT
“Timely advice is lovely, like golden apples in a silver basket.”
Pastor Karenlee called Trish to pray for her before her surgery and Trish ended up praying for and encouraging Pastor Karenlee. What a gift a “word fitly spoken” is.
Do my deeds convey my deep loving relationship with Christ?
Do the “religious” activities of my life flow from a desire to be like Jesus and to please Him?
Freedom!
Before a relationship with Jesus religion and religious deeds are heavy. They are burdensome. They are frustrating.
Once you have a relationship with Jesus through salvation and surrender your life to Jesus in sanctification by loving Him with all of your heart and all of your soul and all of your mind and all of your strength the doing is miraculously transformed into being?
No long doing but being. And that is freedom!
Sundays of “obligation” will turn into Sundays of celebration.
Prayer will become communion
Devotions will be transformed from religious duty to worship
Giraffes eat from trees because that’s what giraffes do. That’s the way God created them. If a rabbit tried to exist by reaching up to eat from trees it would be hungry and frustrated at first and then it would die.
Could God transform a rabbit into a giraffe? Of course He could and then it would be perfectly natural for the newly transformed giraffe to eat from trees and live.
Fish spend their lives in water because that’s what fish do. That’s the way God created them. If a pig tried to live in water it would drown and die.
Could God transform a pig into a fish? Of course He could and then it would be perfectly natural for the newly transformed fish to live in water.
Many sinners spend their lives trying to live their lives in hopeless desperation because that is what sinners do. That is not the way God created them but that is the path of sin and rebellion against God that humanity has chosen.
Could a sinner find his salvation in doing enough good things? No.
Could God transform a sinner into a son or daughter of God, completely transformed from the inside out? Of course He could! That’s His plan!
When He does that all of the good things a person was doing before salvation out of a vain duty become acts of worship and the newly transformed, born again Christian lives in freedom and the enabling presence of Christ!
That my friends is the awesome transformational power of Jesus and that is the true religion that James is writing about!
Concluding remarks and invitation if the Spirit leads.
