REAL RELIGION
THEME: REAL RELIGION MAKES A REAL IMPACT ON A PERSON’S LIFE
TEXT: JAMES 1:27
INTRODUCTION
The women of the congregation were trying to pull my hands from the pulpit in the church building. My family never went to church with Brent and me. Every Sunday my family would drop Brent and me after at the local church building. To this day I still have no clue which denomination it was. The parents would take us to Bible Class and then pick us up after Sunday school. We never attended the worship services. At the age of 12, this was the last time I would attend church until I was 18.
On this particular Sunday the family dropped me off for Sunday school. For some reason unknown to me even at this time I decided to skip class. Instead I spent the hour running around outside of the church building while the other students were learning. I was looking in windows and causing other types of mischief. Finally, one of the ladies came out and grabbed me and took me inside. There I waited until my mother came to pick me up. When the hour was over one of the ladies was going to march me outside to inform my mother of my behavior. But I knew that this was one walk that I did not want to make. So I bolted towards the pulpit and grabbed a hold of it for dear life. If you could have been there that day you would have witnessed me kicking and screaming and crying as I was fighting of the women trying to grab my legs.
Finally, after some of the theatrics died down. I knew I had one chance. If I could run to the door jump in the car and get my mother to drive away everything would be alright. So I took off running for dear life to the door with a woman after me. I jumped in the car and took my mother to go quickly. Everything would have worked well if it was not for the woman behind me waving and screaming to get my mother’s attention. The lady informed my mother of my behavior. That was the last time I attended church for the next 6 years. Some people run away from religion.
James 1:27 is a verse that causes people to run away from real religion. The verse states “This is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father, to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” James provides a partial definition of what real religion is. The terms pure and undefiled are similar in meaning. Pure represents cleanliness and undefiled means freedom from contamination. Religion that performs these following functions of caring for the widows and the orphans is a belief system that is not spotted with human impurity of selfishness. God can see the thoughts of the heart. When the Lord looks down upon our true motivations he can see us uncovered by pretext. James tells us the religion that is pleasing to God the father is a working and serving religion. There is no fooling the Lord. He knows if a person’s heart is in the right place. James states that if a person is truly converted to God than is actions will prove his thoughts in his heart. Pure religion is living a life that visiting the nursing homes and orphan homes. James 2:17-18 “Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.
But someone may well say, "You have faith, and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works."
Unfortunately, religion is filled with self-satisfaction. People are not dedicated to service and action but more on fulfilling the flesh. In the typical youth group or church there are more people attending services than are traveling to the nursing homes. The numbers of teens increases for pizza devotionals than singing at the orphan homes. Many times the bus heading towards the ski resort is packed while the car heading to the service project has empty seats.
One spring we were going to have a spring clean up day at church for the youth group. There were other service projects that the youth did which often no one to one or two teens would show up for. This seemed sad because many times there would be fifty teens for the annul ski trip. So this time, I told the teens and the parents that every child is expected to be there for the spring clean day. I understood some of the teens had prior commitments so I allowed the parents to simply write a note to let me know about this prior obligation. The reason I did this was that I was going to pick a fun event that a teen that did not show for the clean up day could not go on. Since the teen was too busy to serve than they must be too busy for the fun stuff in the youth group. I thought that the parents would have supported this action but there was a lot of complaining against my actions. In fact all we did was clean out a storage building on the church property and move some storage from a storage unit that the church had to rent. In fact this saved the congregation 75 dollars a month. But some of the parents were upset with this work. They came to me to let me know that their children should not clean up this building because there could be spiders in there that could hurt the teens. It was too dangerous of work for them to do. Maybe they were right. It is wrong to risk a child’s life to clean up a storage building. It could have been serious hurt. Maybe even more than a spider bit, a teen could have cut him or broke a bone. There are hundreds of dangers in working. Maybe I should have cancelled the work day. But I could not help wondering why the parents did not send their children on the dangerous ski trip that winter. Trees, other skiers, bones, concessions, there are hundreds of dangers associated in skiing. Wonder why no one complained about that trip?
Why is this so? James gives us the answer in this verse. What is the answer in James’ words? What James? Are you saying that these people do not have real religion? I believe so.
James continues to instruct us on how to remain unstained from the world. The world has such a powerful influence on our lives. The world tells us to place ourselves first. The world screams into our ears to serve self above service to others. The actions that James details give us the method of keeping oneself unstained by the world. James wants the Christians to have the right priorities. To be unstrained means to be without blemish. He says that the blemish comes from the order of the world. The values of the world can influence the behavior of the Christian. The Christian lives by different marching orders. James wants the Christians to be concerned with compassion and helping his follow man. Real religion has real results. Look at what James tells us in 4:14-17 “Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and also do this or that. But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do, and does not do it, to him it is sin.” Most people know what the right thing is to do in religion but they choose to do nothing.
The middle section of James 1:27 provide the proof of true religion. These two acts of supporting the widows and the orphans show God that you are genuine about your faith. In the first century these two groups usually did not have any representation. Most women in that world had to completely rely on a man to prove for her. The widows were helpless. Also, the orphans were in the same situation that the widows were in. Like children today, they need parents to care for them. A child cannot supply the basic necessities of life. These two groups were the neediest people in the early church. There were no life insurance policies or welfare programs to support them. There was not Social Security or many jobs available to them. If these widows and orphans did not have any family that was able and willing to care for them then they had no one besides the church.
Helping the widows and the orphan is an ultimate sign of service. In the first century there was no way that either of these two groups could pay you back. They would be poor and needy. Helping both of these groups showed true sacrificial love. God always had a special place for the orphans and the widows in his heart. The Old Testament law states Exodus 22:22-24 “"You shall not afflict any widow or orphan. If you afflict him at all, and if he does cry out to Me, I will surely hear his cry; and My anger will be kindled, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.” God is plain and firm on how he expects us to treat the widows and the orphans. Look at this verse “’Cursed is he who distorts the justice due an alien, orphan, and widow.’ And all the people shall say, ’Amen.’” God is serious when he is talking about helping those who need support.
This mind of looking after the widows have not is taught to us. One time in a congregation I was working with. I planned a trip to the nursing home after Sunday morning services. Some adults were coming and the youth were supposed to come also. But very few of them were coming. One set of parents were going to bring their boy to the nursing home for the devotional. This devotional was going to last for 30 minutes only. All the teens had to do was to sing and listen to a short talk. I am very sure that none of the residents there would bite, kick, or throw anything at the young people. But this one boy did not want to go. It was more than saying he did not want to go. His parents were going to force him to go. Since this is the right thing for Christians to do and this work would not hurt him in anyway. I remember walking outdoors and seeing this 14 year old boy crying because he did not want to go to the nursing home. His tears seemed like he was going to be taken to be shot in cold blood. The boy was throwing a fit. The next thing I know is that he is fighting his father who is trying to put him into the car. He is pulling and pushing away from the car. All of this just because he did not want to go to the nursing home, then we arrive at the home with the boy finally in the car. Now that he is in the car he will not get out. He must have thought there was a deadly plague in the home. But once again the father was trying to pull him out of the car with the boy holding on with dear life. All of this drama over going to a nursing home for 30 minutes.
Real religion makes a real change in the heart. This is why James states that pure religion is serving. God can see the motives of the heart. Many times it can be easy to appear religious. Those who attend services and those who are here for the majority of activities seem committed. But the next level of faith development is this service to others. The heart is changed with the power of God. When God starts to work on the heart the heart becomes tender towards the needs of others. This is the example of Christ. Mark 10:45 “"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." The real religion makes a real sacrifice. This sacrifice costs just like it cost Christ his life. Jesus was not into religion for what you could gain from it. He was into religion for what he could give. You can spend the rest of your life looking for people to serve you. But this mindset will never make you happy. You will always expect more. But the mindset on service is the way to happiness. True and pure joy is found only in service. This service that is rendered to the widows and the orphans is completely sacrificial. It is pure and holy.
Another time when I planned a trip to the nursing home for a devotion of 30 minutes there was little response to come, in fact no one was even going to make an offer except some of the adults of the congregation. There was no even one teen that was coming. I knew that the problem was that none of the leaders of the youth group were going. The two major leaders were Steven and Clark. These were good boys but just did not want to make coming to the nursing home a priority that Sunday. So I knew if I could get Steven and Clark to come then the rest of the teens would come too. I went to Steven and Clark and was very honest with them. I told them that I was disappointed in them. They just wanted to go out to dinner with their friends instead of coming for the devotion and talking with some of the residents. I told them that I expected more from them. Steven and Clark had good hearts so they agreed to come. When they said they were come the rest of the youth made plans to be there also. I pulled out to the building and Steven and Clark were already there. We went into the home for the devotion. In fact Steven led the singing and Clark had the prayer. Then after the devotional both of the boys were going around talking with the people there. Following their lead, the rest of the teens were visiting also. On the way out Steven and Clark was standing outside. I walked up to them and started thanking them for coming and leading so well. I told them I was very proud of them. As I was continuing they stopped me. These were both 6’2, 200lbs football players. They each gave me a big hug and thanked me for getting them to go. You could tell in their hearts that they truly loved serving that day. It was great to know that they did real Christianity.
James 1:27 “This is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father, to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”
