James

James 1 vv 19-27 -  “You’re quite religious, aren’t you?”

Listening and Doing

A few months ago, a colleague of mine said to me:

“You’re quite religious, aren’t you?”

It’s an odd question, and one which immediately puts you on guard. Because you’re not sure what it means. She probably meant that I’m one of those odd people who go to church each week - the world sees “religion” as ritual – those things we do on a Saturday or Sunday, those ceremonies that we believe in.

Alternatively, she might have meant that she thinks I’m not quite all there. Here are some people who the world might commonly refer to as “religious nut cases.”

We might not like being associated with these types of people, but an unfortunate fact is that “being religious” is often associated in our society with being out of touch with reality. The phrase “religious fundamentalist” is used in our TV and radio news broadcasts every day, and there was a recent Channel Four documentary which looked at the emergence of a new breed of Christian religious fundamentalists, putting a point of view that the world has as much to fear from those who believe what they read in the bible as there is from terrorist groups who purport to follow other faiths.

The point is that when this colleague of mine said to me “you’re quite religious, aren’t you”, I felt rather uncomfortable. I said “well, I’m a Christian”, but wanted to explain that I thought that “being religious” was irrelevant, that I don’t believe in doing religion for its own sake. I was rather ashamed that someone should think that I was religious, because I felt that meant that they thought that Christianity was all about what you do on a Sunday. I’ve come to dislike the word “religious”, because of what the world tells me that it means.

But I’ve realized that actually that attitude is totally wrong. In today’s passage, James puts forward an entirely different definition of “religion”. It’s probably not one that our world would recognize. James writes in verse 27 that as far as God is concerned, the religion that he accepts as pure and faultless is:

Or you could say that true religion is about:

True religion is to care about other people

James gives us some very clear guidelines here about what it means to be “religious” in our dealings with other people. Verse 19 of our reading: My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry

Quick to listen How good are we at really listening to other people? I don’t know whether you’ve ever met one of those people who, no matter what experiences you share with them, has always gone one better, or been through a more horrendous experience, or known someone else who has. They don’t listen to you, because they’re always determined to tell you about themselves.

But to some extent I think we’re all guilty of this – we have our opinions and we’re determined to share them. Rachel tells me that one of my worst faults is that I always try to come up with answers to the things she tells me about, when what she really wants is for me to listen.

The challenge here from James is to stop and put others first. If we are to know others and care for them, we need to listen.

He goes on to say that we should be Slow to speak – have a look at verse 26: If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless

James seems to focus on this quite a lot in his letter, so there was obviously a bit of a problem with gossiping in the early church. In chapter 3, there are 12 verses on the dangers of the tongue, and in chapter 4 verse 11 James writes: Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it.

James is concerned about how our words can cause division with other people. Using words carelessly is not showing care to others, and careless speech can drive us further away from God – it is not consistent with “true religion”.

When I speak, is it to build up and encourage, or to undermine or belittle? James is saying that if we can’t keep a tight rein on our tongues, then our religion is worthless. How often is this true of us – when the words I speak are hurtful or judgmental, and they undermine my faith and suggest to those around me that my religion is just for Sundays! And this is part of our problem. Society sees religion as ritual, not fundamental to the way I live – so if I act in a way that shows a lack of care to others, then this just reinforces that viewpoint.

Thirdly, we must be Slow to become angry There is such a thing as righteous anger – God’s judgement is an example of righteous anger. We tend to think of this as being an Old Testament trait of God, with the banishment from Eden, the flood, Sodom & Gomorrah. But in the New Testament we see Jesus clearing the temple, and in Acts we see Ananias and Sapphira being struck down for trying to lie to God.

Ultimately the Easter message of redemption only makes sense in the context of God’s justice and the fact that our sins need to be atoned for – God’s righteous anger cannot accept our sin.

But James is not referring to God’s anger here – this is man’s anger – and it is clear that mans anger is not righteous – “20for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.”

Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5: But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.

What a standard for us to live up to.

So in verse 19, James sets out pretty clear guidelines for the way in which we should relate to other people:

These are to do with our dealings with other people, and if we want to be people whose “religion” is pleasing to God, then we need to care for others. We especially need to care for those who are in need – so James says we need to look after orphans and widows in their distress. When we see Christians actively helping those who are suffering and those who are on the margins of society, these people are practicing what God expects of them as religious people. And we must do the same.

True religion is remaining true to God our Father

But James also makes it clear that true religion is to do with our personal, spiritual condition. True religion is remaining true to God our Father. Religion that God our Father accepts is to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent

James was worried about the moral condition of his age. As we look at our world today, it’s very easy to think that things have never been so Godless as they are today – but it’s clear from James’ writings to his fellow believers in the First Century AD that there were temptations which could lead the early Christians into Sin.

James is saying: don’t kid yourselves. Don’t believe that because you’re a Christian, you’re immune or protected from the immorality in our society. James has just asked the believers to act with righteousness towards others, but he recognizes that this is tough in a world which doesn’t know God.

True religion sees us keeping ourselves from being polluted by the world. And sometimes we need to be honest enough to realise when we’ve allowed our lives to be polluted, when our standards have dropped.

I think it can also help to realise that you’re not on your own. In British churches, sometimes we can be very good at putting up our defenses and pretending that we’re alright. We’re terrified of being judged and that people will think less of us. We’re also scared at the thought of those things we really struggle with becoming public knowledge.

Sometimes it can be helpful to share our weaknesses with another Christian we can trust. We tend to be very nervous about the idea of “confession” – but do we have a church where we can trust one another with our weaknesses? Where we have an attitude of prayer not just for the circumstances people are faced with, but also for the personal struggles? Do you have people in the church, or elsewhere, maybe just one person, who you can trust to listen to you? It can be helpful to have someone to hold you accountable, to help you to keep yourself from being polluted by the world. But this can only happen if we have a church of people who are quick to listen and slow to speak.

So – true religion is to care for others: look after orphans and widows in their distress; and to keep ourselves in a position where we can be in relationship with God: to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Does this ring any bells? This is what Jesus said was the most important commandment, in Mark 12 vv 30-31: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' 31The second is this: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.'There is no commandment greater than these.

These are very tough standards God sets us. How can we possibly achieve them?

True religion is not only hearing, but doing

Verse 21: “humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.”

The good news of Jesus, the message of God in our lives, which we find in the bible and which God speaks to us through the Holy Spirit – do we allow it to be planted in us? How often do I pick up the bible during the week? Am I really allowing it to be planted? Because True religion is not only hearing, but doing:

Verse 22: “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says”.

This is one of the key messages of the book of James – perhaps the key message. If we believe the good news of Jesus Christ, then our lives should change as a result.

But how many times have we heard God’s word on a Sunday, and been convicted that our lives have to change. And come Monday morning, we’re back at square one.

I really relate to the illustration that James uses:

“Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.”

Do you ever find that you look at your watch, and then look away and realised that you have no idea what the time is? Or is that just me? Which might explain why I always turn up late for things. The point is that looking into a mirror, or looking at your watch, is pointless if you’re just going through the motions. Instead you need to be taking in the information so that it can influence your actions. And James is saying that when we look at God’s word, we need to do the same.

Let’s be frank here. When I come to church and listen to a sermon, what are my expectations? When I open my bible to read it, what am I expecting to happen? How often do I do these things because I fell that is what I ought to do – I feel that it is “the religious thing to do” – but with no commitment on my part to actually put any effort in. It’s like watching the London Marathon, with the expectation that you’ll lose half a stone. It’s like playing a language tape while we sleep and thinking that when we wake up we’ll be able to speak fluent Mandarin.

Remember the parable of the sower from Matthew 13:

"Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."

As James says: you need to humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

Let’s get real. We can’t just listen to God’s word, but we have to do what it says. We have to come with an expectation that we will be challenged, that we’ll have to put some work in. And then we will see the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.

To paraphrase verse 25: Look intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continue to do this, not forgetting what you have heard, but doing it— and you will be blessed in what you do.

Do you believe that promise? – You will be blessed!

So Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is

And we have a promise – that if we pay attention to God’s word, to His message as he speaks to us through the bible, through the trials that we face in life, and as we do what He says – if we commit to putting our efforts into serving Him – we have the promise of a blessing. We will find that we start to live the righteous life that God desires – that is the promise of this passage. We will start to get rid of what James calls the “moral filth and evil” from our lives, and we will find freedom in the life which God intends for us.

These are verses from Psalm 15

    1 LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary?
       Who may live on your holy hill?
    2 He whose walk is blameless
       and who does what is righteous,
       who speaks the truth from his heart
    3 and has no slander on his tongue,
       who does his neighbor no wrong
       and casts no slur on his fellowman,
    4 who despises a vile man
       but honors those who fear the LORD,
       who keeps his oath
       even when it hurts,
    5 who lends his money without usury
       and does not accept a bribe against the innocent.
       He who does these things
       will never be shaken.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could understand and put into action in our lives that true religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless? Wouldn’t it be great if the next time someone said to you: “you’re quite religious, aren’t you?”, we could look that person in the eye, and say in all honesty: “you know what – I think you’re right.”

Richard Giles

 

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