Theme: Pure Religion
Text: James 1:19-27
Greetings: The Lord is good and His love endures forever!
Introduction: "YOU WILL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY, THE LORD YOUR GOD." In Jan we have learned the attributes of God as Holy. In Feb we have seen that the worshippers God must be holy. The holy individuals recognise one another and create a distinct identity, community, and known as Holy Race. Now, in March we would learn what it means religion and a pure religion.
James, the half-brother of Jesus (Matthew 13:55), and the brother of Jude (Jude 1), who led the church in Jerusalem (Acts 15:13). James says that Holy God expects this Holy Race with specific morals, spiritual practices, and a useful social existence (James 1:27). I would like to share with you the religion of Empathy, religion of Experiment or doer, and a religion of Empowerment.
1. Religion of Empathy (James 1:19-21)
We must quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. The word Tachus means quick, swift, and speedy. Akouo means exercise the faculty of hearing to understanding that which has been heard. Bradus means take a relatively long time to act with deliberation. Slowing down is a blessing. In the digital world, quick to speak means quick to respond through our comments, our text responses, our emoji, and any other forms of communication on social Medias.
Jewish Fathers saying goes like this: "There are four characters in scholars. Quick to hear and quick to forget; his gain is cancelled by his loss. Slow to hear and slow to forget; his loss is cancelled by his gain. Quick to hear and slow to forget; he is wise. Slow to hear and quick to forget; this is an evil lot."
Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in his book ‘Life Together’, "The first service that one owes to others in the fellowship consists of listening to them. Just as love for God begins with listening to His Word, so the beginning of love for the brothers is learning to listen to them."
Rabbi Simeon said: "All my days I have grown up among the wise, and have not found aught good for a man but silence...Whoso multiplies words occasions sin." Zeno said:"We have two ears but only one mouth that we may hear more and speak less."
We are not following a religion of condemnation but a religion of love, care, and concerns. We listen, we encourage, we never react with anger. Millions and millions have embraced Christianity and followed Christ for one reason of its love concept exhibited in Christ. The forgiveness offered to all.
Proverbs warns on hasty speech. "When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but he who restrains his lips is prudent" (Proverbs 10:19).
"He who guards his mouth preserves his life; he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin" (Proverbs 13:3).
"Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise" (Proverbs 17:28).
"Do you see a man who is hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him" (Proverbs 29:20).
Anger is a human emotion that everyone experiences, and it can be justified. But, we need to learn to control and slow down angry responses. We lose our integrity, the trust of others, and our self-control when we live by anger. Human anger is nearly always an expression of human selfishness, fear, or desire to control the world around us. It affects our relationship in the community.
“Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city” (Proverbs 16:32 ESV). “A man of knowledge uses words with restraint, and a man of understanding is even-tempered” (Proverbs 17:27).
The spiritual house cleaning. Take off filthy clothes after a long day working outside. To take off something is a choice, a conscious action. The true Christian does not allow immoral, filthy behavior to remain in his or her life. James taught we are lured and enticed by temptations because of our own desires and weaknesses (James 1:14).
2. Religion of experiment or doings (James 1:22-25)
James uses the Greek word poietes to indicate doing. Doer describes one who does something as his occupation, a poet, a farmer, a carpenter.
A Teacher may have many students but he may have a few Disciples. Students are the hearers but disciples are doers. Jesus was looking for disciples or doers, and not mere listeners or hearers. Jesus concluded His Sermon on the Mount challenging the hearers to become His disciples comparing to the builders of the houses on Sand and on Rock, and the inevitable storms of life and the judgment of eternity will come and lasting is important (Matthew 7:24-27).
Spurgeon says: “I fear we have many such in all congregations; admiring hearers, affectionate hearers, attached hearers, but all the while unblessed hearers, because they are not doers of the word.”
Jesus emphasised,"Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!" (Luke 11:27–28). The church should be a communion of listeners and a communion of doers.
A Christian could hear the Word of God do accordingly to demonstrate his trust in God. Those who don't obey prove that they don't really trust Him.
The transformed life of a disciple reflects who God is, and how his kingdom looks like. Speaking to God in public through prayer and what practiced in the inner life must coincide. Your walk with God is useless if it does not translate into the way you live and the way you treat others.
Oswald Chambers said: “There is a danger with the children of God of getting too familiar with sublime things. We talk so much about these wonderful realities, and forget that we have to exhibit them in our lives.”
The Greek word observing in the Mirror communicates the idea of a careful scrutiny, we must have a careful scrutiny of God’s word. A healthy person looks in the mirror to do something, that is a penetrating examination, not just to admire the image.
Even so, a healthy Christian looks into God’s Word to do something about it, not just to store up facts. The word of God exposes our lives and we are made aware of the flaws and mistakes that we have in our lives.
There is an ethical law which the Christian must seek to put into action. The Christian law is the law of love, the law of liberty, law of will of God as a way of life. “So long as a man has to obey his own passions and emotions and desires, he is nothing less than a slave. It is when he accepts the will of God that he becomes really free” (William Barclay).
3. Religion of Empowerment (James 1:26-27)
Religion (threskeia) (James 1:26) means worship or religious service (Colossians 2:18) and can refer to a system of external observances (Acts 26:5).
Threskeia expresses the worship of God, especially in religious service. THRESKEIA refers to worship in the sense of the outward expression in ritual and liturgy and ceremony.
The word "religion" tends to be associated with keeping of rituals or rules in hopes of earning some divine favor. The religion can be a good thing before God if it is focused on the correct things.
William Barclay: The real worship is practical service to mankind and personal purity, and not in elaborate vestments, in magnificent music, and in the beauty of buildings, and the splendour of liturgy. The finest ritual and the finest liturgy we can offer to God is service of the poor and personal purity.
Matthew Henry: “In a vain religion there is much of show, there is much of criticising, insulting, and negative of others, a man deceives his own heart, making himself seem somebody, at last his religion is consummated by the deceiving of his own soul.”
Katharos means purifying, cleansing, a term used in psychology and counselling for a cleansing of the mind or emotions a "soul cleansing". Purging with chemical agent to cleanse a wound or infected area in order to make it pure.From a biblical standpoint the concept of cleansing is deeply rooted in both the Old and the New Testaments.
Deuteronomy 10:18-19 says, “He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. Love the sojourner, therefore, for you we’re sojourner in the land of Egypt.”
“Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause” (Isaiah 1:16–17).
“If anyone has this world’s goods and sees his brother in need but closes his eyes to his need—how can God’s love reside in him? Little children, we must not love with word or speech, but with truth and action” (1 John 3:17–18).
"God is a father of the fatherless, and protector of widows" (Psalms 68:5).
Prophet Zechariah demands to execute true justice, to show mercy and compassion every man to his brother, not to oppress the widow, the fatherless, the stranger and the poor. Also entertain not evil thoughts in the heart (Zechariah 7:6-10).
Prophet Micah complaints that all ritual sacrifices are useless without doing justice, not showing love and kindness, and not walking humbly before God (Micah6:6-8).
True religion does not means giving something for the relief of the distressed. But it means the empowerment of the widows, fatherless and needy.
Conclusion:
I would like to share with you the religion of Empathy, religion of Example or doer, and a religion of Empowerment.
