James: Where Faith and Life Meet
Pure and Undefiled Religion
3/18/12
Introduction –
A few months ago the YouTube video poem “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus” by Jefferson Bethke went viral. In just four days the video had over 10 million views online. This video sparked a lot of discussion and controversy pertaining to Jesus and religion. For those of you who wish to watch this video you can watch it by clicking here. The point Bethke made with this poem was to show the differences between being a genuine follower of Jesus and being a person who trusts and relies on an empty or false religion.
Since I won’t be showing the video I’d like to read a couple of stanzas so you can get an idea about the premise…
What if I told you Jesus came to abolish religion
What if I told you voting Republican really wasn't His mission?
What if I told you republican doesn't automatically mean Christian
And just because you call some people blind doesn't automatically give you vision
I mean if religion is so great, why has it started so many wars
Why does it build huge churches, but fails to feed the poor
Tells single moms God doesn't love them if they've ever had a divorce
But in the Old Testament, God actually calls religious people whores…
Now back to the point, one thing is vital to mention
How Jesus and religion are on opposite spectrum
See one's the work of God, but one's a man made invention
See one is the cure, but the other's the infection
See because religion says do, Jesus says done
Religion says slave, Jesus says son
Religion puts you in bondage, while Jesus sets you free
Religion makes you blind, but Jesus makes you see
And that's why religion and Jesus are two different clans.
Many have chimed in with their criticisms and critique of this poem but I think the general attitude behind it resonates well with most Bible believing Christians…. Love Jesus, follow God and don’t rely on man made institutions for your salvation. However the question has been raised, “Can we hate religion and still love Jesus?” “Can we be religious and still love Jesus?” or better yet, “Is there a significant difference between having religion and following Jesus?” I believe the answer lies in making our distinction between what it means to be religious and following Jesus. If we define religion as mans attempt to earn God’s favor by being moralistic, keeping the rules, being self righteous, self serving and forcing people to believe the way we do then the answer is no we cannot be religious and love Jesus. I know if I were to ask anyone (even in this congregation) to use one word to define religion I am certain I would hear words like, institutional, dogma, piety, priests, hypocrisy, dead, Pharisaical and oppressive. The reality is this is what most people associate with religion. But I do not believe that’s what being religious means.
I have found there are at least 20 – 22 major religions in the world and many of them have in one form or another been connected with one or more of the words above. It is believed that the top six religions in the world are as followed…
1) Christianity with 2.1 billion followers (33% of world pop.)
2) Islam with 1.5 billion followers (21% of world pop.)
3) Agnostic/nonreligious/Atheist – 1.1 billion (16% of world pop.)
4) Hinduism – 900 million followers (14% of world pop.)
5) Chinese Traditional or Folk Religion/Confucianism/Taoism – 394 million followers (6% of world pop.)
6) Buddhism – 376 million followers (6% of world pop.)
Among these religions there are scores of other sub religions, cults and others. People by nature are religious as the numbers above promote, whether it is the belief in one specific God, an unknown god(s) or no God at all.
The Tongue and Religion
In today’s passage James talks about being religious and religion in particular (Read James 1:26 – 27). He picks up where he left off in verse 19 when he wrote about the importance of having a controlled tongue (and will continue talking about it again in later chapters) and being a follower of Jesus. He says, “If anyone thinks himself religious, and does not bridle his tongue… his religion is useless.” Here James speaks of the importance of using words that are edifying, controlled and gracious as an evidence of faith.
Now, before we go any further some of you may be thinking, “In all this talk about religion and the negative connotation it suggests the last thing I want to be associated with is a religious person.” The words religious and religion are used seven times in the New Testament (three of those occurrences are in these two verses). In these passages the words religious and religion are very general in meaning.
1 a : the state of a religious <a nun in her 20th year of religion>
b : (1) : the service and worship of God or the supernatural
(2) : commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance
2 : a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices
3 archaic : scrupulous conformity : conscientiousness
4 : a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith[1]
As noted above there are numerous religions in the world and as Christians we believe Christianity is the one true religion and James speaks to us concerning this line of thinking. If we consider ourselves to be people who worship the one true God in our outward practices then the words we use should line up with the God we worship. James uses the imagery of a bridle or rein on our tongue. The bridle along with the bit is used to control a horse and in the same way we should have a controlled or bridled tongue. As believers if we cannot or refuse to control our tongues and go about destroying people with our hurtful and destructive words he/she not only has an empty faith but also deceives himself/herself. They think they are children of God but in fact are not. As we will see in chapter three the words we use and how we speak to others are very telling about who we are as individuals.
There are a couple of stories I read about John Wesley the first was when someone approached him and said, “My talent is to speak my mind.” Wesley replied, “That is one talent God wouldn’t care a bit if you buried!”[2] Another story was when a woman came up to John Wesley after he preached a sermon and said, “Mr. Wesley, the strings on your bow tie are much too long. It’s an offense to me!” He asked if any of the ladies present had a pair of scissors and one lady handed him some. He gave them to the woman who was offended and told her to clip them to her liking. After she clipped them off near the collar he said, “Are you sure they’re all right now?” “Yes, that’s much better.” “Then let me have those shears a moment, I’m sure you wouldn’t mind if I also gave you a bit of correction. I must tell you, madam, that your tongue is an offense to me – it’s too long! Please stick it out… I’d like to take some off.”[3]
Pure and Undefiled Religion
Pure and undefiled/clean/untainted religion (or worship) is evidenced by caring for widows and orphans and keeping oneself unstained from the world. Here James is not defining religion as being only these things he is reminding the recipients of this letter that if they are practicing followers of Jesus they have a responsibility to care for those who are less fortunate AND not walk in the ways of the world. Let me dissect this a little. James solidifies his previous statement that we must not just be hearers of the word but doers of the Word. Simply stated he says our outer being of the appearance of being religious on the outside and not doing what the Word says makes our religion futile and empty.
James mentions orphans and widows specifically here because the people he was writing to may not have been caring for these less fortunate people. In Biblical times widows were often overlooked because they had no source of income. There were no such things as women in the workplace. If a woman was widowed and her husband did not leave her anything to live off of then she had nothing. They depended on others to care for and provide them. The same goes for orphans; they could not support themselves as children since they were abandoned. Unfortunately there were rare cases of success stories about orphans who worked to become something of significance in life. Generally if a child was orphaned he was destined for a life of poverty.
The Old Testament has specific rules for caring for the widows and orphans (Exodus 22:22 & Deut. 14:29) and these rules applied to the Christian Jews James was writing to. He reminds his readers they have an obligation to care for those less fortunate. The same applies for us today. We can no longer turn the blind eye to those who are needy in their times of trouble. As Christians we do have an obligation to social justice in the name of Jesus. We are not called to do everything and fix the problems of those less fortunate we are called to do something (especially within our own congregation or body) when the times are tough for them.
Not only are we to care for and help those in need but we are also reminded that we must keep ourselves from being influenced or spotted by the world. We are to pursue and practice holiness. The world, as you may recall, is often referred to as the world systems, views or beliefs that cause us to not be dependant on God. In short it means that we are to be completely dependant on God and walk in his ways and statutes in all areas of our lives.
Conclusion
These two verses are packed with a lot of practical advice for us as believers. However I think it is very important to understand that James is not saying your outward actions and words make you Christian. Jesus, Paul and James to an extent are specific in talking about complete faith in Jesus, living a life completely submitted to him, and the centrality of the cross as essential to our salvation. Our outward actions are only evidence of the Jesus in you and yet necessary. Apparently the people he was writing had a problem with putting their faith into action. James makes it a point to remind them and us that who we are as followers of Jesus is reflected in what we do and do not do in his name.
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