When Religion is Useless

When Religion is Useless

“When Religion is Useless”
(James 1:26-27)
Series: Living the Faith (James)

Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD

Henderson’s First Baptist Church, Henderson

•I invite you to take your Bibles and join me in the Book of James, chapter 1 (page 812; also YouVersion Bible app).

We are preaching our way consecutively through the Book of James, verse-by-verse and we are at the end of chapter 1, the last two verses, in a minute reading verses 26 and 27.

We looked last time at the preceding passage where James talks about our being not just “hearers” of the word, but also “doers” of the word. We are to both hear or read the Bible—and I do hope that you were in the Bible each day of last week—and then we are also to be “doers” of what the Bible teaches. So we’re not gathered together merely to hear, but to do.

And what James does next in these last two verses of Chapter 1 is to provide practical examples of what “doing” the word looks like. In fact, James provides three actions we are to take if we are to be doers of the Word. Let me invite you to listen to those three actions, or three behaviors, as I read the passage.

•I invite you to please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.

26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.
27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

•Pray.

Introduction:

One of the things that is immediately evident in these two verses is that the word “religion” or “religious” is not a bad word. Religion is not a bad word; it is a Bible word. James uses the word three different times here in these last two verses of chapter 1.

He says in verse 26, “If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless,” or worthless as some of the other translations read.

Then in verse 27 James describes what he calls a “pure and undefiled religion.” So religion is not a bad word; it is a Bible word.

I mention this because as evangelicals many of us resist using this word. We are known for saying frequently that we are not interested in a “religion, but a relationship,” meaning of course, a relationship with Jesus.

And I understand that statement and have, in fact, used it myself on more than one occasion. What we mean, of course, is that Christianity is not a man-centered works-based self-improvement system of religious rules and regulations. It is rather a relationship with Jesus Christ. So we stress rightly that, “the world has many religions, but only one Gospel.”

But we must remember that James is talking not so much about becoming a Christian as he is talking about behaving as Christians. He is talking about living out our faith. So when James uses the term “religion,” or “religious” here, he is talking about a faith in Christ that is lived out through practical expression.

James’ use of the word “religion” here is synonymous with “faith in Christ.” We know this because of the context. It wasn’t that long ago—back up in verse 18—where James writes of God the Father’s birthing us of His own free initiative. Verse 18, “Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.”

So in verse 18 you have this wonderful summary of God’s work in our lives; God’s granting the new birth to Christians, the initiative— “of His own will He brought us forth,” then the instrument— “by the word of truth,” and then the intention— “that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.”

So James’ use of the term “religion” or “religious” is understood as that which describes God’s bringing us forth of His own will. Religion, as James is using the term, is God’s bringing us forth of His own will—initiative, and doing this by way of the instrument of the word of God—by the word of truth, and then to the intention of our being a kind of firstfruits of others God will bring forth.

And we also know that when James uses the terms “religion” or “religious” here in verses 26 and 27, he is describing those who have faith in Christ because of the way he writes the verse immediately following verse 27, the first verse of chapter 2 (remember there are no chapter divisions in the original Greek).

James has just written about “pure and undefiled religion,” in verse 27 and then look at the very next verse in chapter 2, verse 1: “My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ…with partiality.” So “religion” is “the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

And James’ whole point is if a person says he has faith in Christ but does not live it out, does not act like it, does not demonstrate that his or her life has been truly changed by the power of the Gospel, then this person’s religion is useless. And James will flesh out this teaching more fully in Chapter 2 and verse 14, “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?”

So I want to share with you how we as Christians can keep our religion, our faith in Christ, from becoming useless or worthless. Why? Because that’s what James is teaching here. As preachers and teachers of the word, we share the same teaching that is in Scripture. Expository preaching is to expose the plain meaning of the text we are studying. James is teaching how to keep our religion from becoming useless, so that is what I will be teaching, as well.

There are three behaviors James addresses here. First,

**Keeping Our Religion from becoming Useless:

I. We Must Have Godly Conversation (26)

Look again now at verse 26:

26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is—what?—useless.

James says Christians must bridle their tongues. Bridle, like controlling a horse so we must control our tongues. So he’s not calling for silence; he is calling for control. Bridle, control your tongue.

And he is teaching that if we have faith in Christ we will do this. If we do not bridle our tongues, control our speech, then we are “deceiving our own hearts.” We’re fooling ourselves. Note that carefully there in verse 26, “If anyone among you thinks he is religious (or thinks he or she has faith in Christ) but does not bridle his or her tongue, and thus “deceives his or her own heart,” then you see, this person’s faith in Christ is useless.

Make no mistake: Christians are to be known as those who have godly communication; godly conversation.

Ephesians 4:29, “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.”

Colossians 4:6, “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.”

I love the little poem by the unknown author, the poem entitled, “Our Lips and Ears.”

If you your lips would keep from slips,
Five things observe with care:
Of whom you speak, to whom you speak,
And how and when and where.

If you your ears would save from jeers,
These things keep meekly hid:
Myself and I, and mine and my,
And how I do and did.

You’ll remember a few weeks ago James led us in a “Checkup from the Neck up,” writing to us in verse 19, “So then my beloved brethren let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.”

These short verses on the dangers of the tongue are like appetizers before the main course. The main course comes a couple chapters later, chapter 3, where James addresses the untamable tongue.

James’ instruction to “bridle our tongues” suggests that we have a natural, fallen tendency to allow our tongues to go on without being bridled, without controlling our speech, our communication, our conversation.

And there are many ways we may allow our tongues to go unbridled, one of the most dangerous ways being that of gossiping. Gossip has the potential of destroying a person’s reputation and bringing shame upon the name of Christ and His bride, the church. Gossip is talking about others in an unhelpful way, unhelpful to them and unhelpful to the church.

Jerry Vines says the gossiper’s favorite song is “I Love to Tell the Story,” and he’s not talking about the Gospel story, but stories that tear down, stories that do not build up.

Christians will find that when they do not themselves talk about others behind their backs, that those who engage in gossip are not as likely to share gossip with them. If you are the kind of person who is on the receiving end of a lot of gossip, it may be because the person sharing with you knows—that you enjoy it.

The best thing you can do when someone begins speaking to you in hushed tones about another person like, “Did you hear about so and so…” or, “Do you know what so and so did?” The best thing you can do is to say, “I’m not interested in talking about so and so unless so and so is here. And so and so can speak for himself.”

You can also tell the truth about another person in a way that is unhelpful and ungodly.

In the words of English Poet William Blake, “A truth that’s told with bad intent (is worse than) all the lies you can invent.”

It’s so easy for us to attempt to disguise our gossip in religious garb, dressing it up in religious language: “I want to share with you something to pray about,” and then here comes the juicy gossip.

Jesus says that what comes out of a man’s mouth is a reflection of what is in a man’s heart.

Matthew 15:18-19, “Those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart…defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.”

So again, help out others by not listening to gossip and by directing someone with a complaint about another person to go directly to that other person and tell them. It honors that person. Someone talks to me about another church member, I direct them to the other church member. That is the biblical way, Matthew 5 and Matthew18 for starters.

If we are to keep our religion from becoming useless, we must have godly conversation. Secondly:

II. We Must Have Godly Concern (27a)

The first part of verse 27 calls for the need to show mercy and love to people in need and to the oppressed.

In James’ day, fewer people were in greater need or were more oppressed than widows and orphans. So James says in verse 27:

27 Pure and undefiled religion (that is, pure faith in Christ) before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble…

The word “visit” there is more than just a physical visit or dropping by. It means to “look after,” to “care for,” which would include, of course, visiting, but it connotes the idea of showing practical concern and compassion for those who are less fortunate.

In New Testament times, widowed women were especially vulnerable to poverty and neglect. You’ll remember that Paul instructs Timothy in 1 Timothy 5 to see that the immediate family of widows care for their mother. But where there is no family, the church family has a responsibility to step in. So Paul talks there in 1 Timothy 5 about a particular list of those widows who are in genuine need for help form the church (1 Timothy 5:3-16).

And many of you know that the office of deacon, or literally servant, is an office that arose out of the need to care for neglected widows. You can read about it later in Acts, chapter 6.

Orphans were also an example of those who were neglected in both Old and New Testament times. And the same is true today. While we have good public and private social programs to care for widows and orphans, the primary responsibility rests with the local church—and especially within our own congregation and community.

One of the reasons many Christians in our own church are involved in the ministry of Marsha’s Place is precisely because of the “orphaned state” of the unborn; an unborn child whose life is at risk because its parents may not want it to live, and children who are born, whose parents feel they are not in a position to care for it.

Of all people, Christians in particular must show a godly concern for others, promoting life and human flourishing.

And our teaching and training of “Everyday Evangelism” is another way to show our concern for others, learning how to pray for others and talk to others about their greatest need, their need for Jesus Christ.

If we are to keep our religion from becoming useless, we must have godly conversation and godly concern. Thirdly:

III. We Must Have Godly Conduct (27b)

In the second part of verse 27 we note a call for personal holiness:

27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

It’s a helpful visual: “To keep oneself unspotted from the world.” It pictures a man or woman with a spot on himself or herself; a man or woman who is corrupted by worldly influences.

Later, many of you know that James will speak more pointedly to this. He asks in James 4:4, “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

The New Living Translation has, “Refuse to let the world corrupt you.” Godly conduct. Personal holiness.

When we engage in worldly behavior such as the previously addressed behavior of gossip, or moral impurity, looking at pornography, engaging in salacious stories or watching filth, or joking about ungodly things, we are going along with the dirty flow of our moral culture.

And, whenever we engage in ungodly behavior, if even just for a moment, we are in jeopardy of losing our Christian influence. People are not won over to our faith in Christ because we say one thing with our testimony and we say another thing altogether different by our actions.

Remember a couple years ago that Tide commercial? There were these commercials for a laundry detergent stick by Tide. It was this stick called “Tide to go.” And these are really great, by the way. You just take this stick and rub it on a spot and most of them will go away.

But there were these commercials of a guy with a spot on his shirt. And the guy might be on a date or in a job interview and he’s trying to talk, but all the while the little spot on his shirt is drawing attention to itself. So the guy is on a job interview and every time he tries to talk, the little stain or spot on his shirt is talking at the same time. And it’s going like, “Blah, blah, blah,” so that the guy conducting the interview can’t hear what the interviewee is saying because he can’t get past the spot. And the commercial ends with a picture of Tide to go and the words, “Silence the stain instantly.”

So the whole point of the commercial is that people can’t really hear what we’re saying if we have a spot on us that is keeping them from hearing what we say. And you and I can never hope to point people to Jesus when we have allowed ourselves to be spotted by the world. The spots of worldliness in our conduct speak louder than the words of our Christian testimony. We must “silence the stain,” by confessing our sin, repenting from it, and endeavoring to walk in moral purity. We must have godly conduct.

It is vitally important that we understand the differences between justification and sanctification. Justification is one of my favorite doctrines. Justification is about how God sees us in Christ. If we have turned from our sin and turned to Christ, trusting Him as Lord, confessing Him as Savior, then God declares us righteous and forever regards us as righteous.

In this sense, all of our “spots” or the stain of sin is forever removed. We exchange the filthy clothes of our own righteousness for the righteousness of Christ. God clothes us in Christ’s garments of righteousness. There is no stain upon Christ’s righteousness. He is the “spotless” Lamb of God.

What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

That’s justification. It’s a one time deal that lasts forever, praise God.

And the act of justification by God begins the work of sanctification—our becoming more Christlike—in our lives. There is no justification apart from sanctification. While justification is complete; sanctification is not. We go on, day by day, growing in our holiness, growing in our sanctification.

Dr. Joel Beeke is helpful here. I read this in my devotion time this past week. Listen to this:

Every Christian finds himself living out two realities: what he is in Christ, and what he is at present, wherever he happens to be in his earthly pilgrimage. The one reality is the fact of his justification “by faith alone in Christ alone” from the guilt of all sin and his personal union with Christ crucified, risen again, and received up into glory. The other reality is the Christian’s degree of personal sanctification. Unlike justification, sanctification is never complete in this life. A substantial first step is the regeneration of the heart that marks the beginning of all true Christian life. But the way forward is rife with difficulties. We can go backward as well as forward in this way; and we all pass through seasons of stagnation and declension.

And this is why we are clean on the one hand, and yet always in need of a stain remover on the other hand. From the standpoint of the cross, we are forever forgiven by God. God the Father has forever declared us righteous. He has justified us. And yet, at the same time, we still struggle with the sin that remains in this fallen world.

Like shoveling snow and ice from the driveway—as many of you did Thursday morning. As I shoveled that snow and ice I was stuck by the fact that wherever the sun shone the snow was easy to remove. And wherever the pavement was covered in shade, that was where the ice had set in and it was harder to remove. It required constant effort.

And in our Christian lives, God has removed instantly and forever the stain of sin in our lives through the righteousness of Christ. But there is also that remaining sin, that ice-covered ground in our lives that requires constant work and effort. We must continually, daily, confess our sin and repent of our sin in order to grow in our sanctification, to be more Christlike. This is what James means when he says that the Christian must keep himself or herself unspotted from the world.

So is your religion genuine, genuine faith in Christ? Or is your religion useless? Useless because you do not bridle your tongue; engaging in godly conversation, godly concern, godly conduct?

•Let me invite you to stand for prayer.

 

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