PURE RELIGION

“If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.  Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” (James 1:26, 27).

 

Many Christians would tell you that God does not want His followers to be merely “religious.” He doesn’t want us busy with religious activities, but missing the personal relationship that He wants to have with us.  They quote James 1:26 to support this belief.  While there is a measure of truth in what they say, it misses the real intent behind what James is teaching in this verse and the one following it.  The NIV puts it this way, “If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.  Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”  James isn’t condemning the practice of religion altogether, but just vain religion that is more word than deed.  He supports this conviction in the verses preceding 26 and 27 which read, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.  For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.  But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” (James 1:22-25).   

 

To begin with, it is good for us to have an understanding of what James means when he uses the word “religion.” The Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible translates the Greek word used in these verses to mean “religious worship, especially external, that which consists of ceremonies, religious discipline.”  In other words, it is the outward expression of our inward faith or belief.  It is how our faith translates to the real world around us.  There are many whose religion dwells more in words than in deeds.  They talk a lot about their doctrines and beliefs, but those things do not turn into actual good works or charitable acts.  True religion is based first on loving God with all of our heart, soul, strength and mind; and then loving our neighbor as much as we love ourselves.  

 

We must always be mindful of the man (or woman) in the mirror.  We deceive ourselves when God speaks to us and shows us our need, and then we go our own way and forget what He has revealed to us.  The Word of God is transformative.  It has the power, if we let it, to change us into the image of the Son of God Himself.  We must, however, be willing to first surrender our will to the Father of spirits and allow Him to make the changes in our lives that He sees fit to make.

 

The Law of Liberty is the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus that releases us from the law of sin and death.  Paul talks much about this in Romans 8 where he urges us to walk in the Spirit so that we don’t fulfill the lusts of the flesh.  As we continue in this glorious liberty that we have in Christ we will be truly blessed in our deeds, and our actions will witness to the things that we say we believe.  At the end of the day, pure religion will manifest itself through good works and holiness.  It isn’t what we say we are that carries weight with God, but what we truly are in action and in deed.  Faith without works is dead.  We see many who are full of religion, ritual and tradition.  They are often the ones wearing the biggest crosses around their necks and shouting the loudest “Hallelujah’s,” but they can’t seem to hold their tongue when it comes to gossip, judgments on others, and hurtful comments.  They are often too self-absorbed to see the needs of others, and they can’t seem to keep themselves untangled and unsoiled from the pollutions of this world. 

 

Imagine someone buying a rundown house in a distressed neighborhood.  In order to flip it quickly and make a hefty profit, the owner chooses to ignore the bad foundation, structural and insect damage, mold, and water leaks, and just hide everything with paint and drywall.  The house may look good to a casual, prospective buyer, but it is a dangerous place to live.  At the heart, it is still a bad house.  To do the job right, the owner should repair the foundation, replace the structural elements that are bad, exterminate the insects, and kill the mold.  Then the house will be a good, safe place to live and will elevate the value of the entire neighborhood. 

 

Religion can be very similar to these two houses.  We can either seek to hide all of the flaws in our character by applying a thin layer of religion – not enough to change our vile, carnal nature but just enough to hide it from the casual observer; or, we can yield ourselves to the Master Builder and allow Him to correct the foundation of our life, rebuild a firm structure, and illiminate the things in our life that are “eating” at us and making us unhealthy.  Then, our lives can begin to elevate the lives of those around us.  They will be able to discern that what we say and what we do are things that are real and come from our hearts.  This is the pure religion which can only be ours through faith in the finished work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

 

Life is all about choices.  We make them every day.  Those who exercise true religion are those who are learning to deny themselves, take up their crosses, and follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ their Lord.  Ordering our steps after the example of the Savior is what we’ve each been called to do.  This is the thing that must inform every choice that we make in life.  Anything less is just vain religion and will not secure us entrance into the Kingdom of God.  Jesus said that there would be many who would call Him Lord of whom He would say, “I know you not” and who would be thrust out of the Kingdom (see Luke 13:25-28). 

 

Before his death, Joshua gathered all of the Israelites to him and demanded that they make a clear choice as to who they were going to worship and who they were going to serve.  There were a host of other idols to choose from which the inhabitants of Canaan worshipped and reverenced.  Then there was God Almighty, the Creator of the Universe, the Father of spirits, and the LORD of all.  Joshua stood before the people that day and said, “Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve Him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.  And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:14, 15).  God is calling all those who name His name to make a clear choice as well.  The time for wishy-washy and teeter-totter is past.  God is saying, “Choose you this day.”  Jesus said that we cannot serve two masters at the same time; and we can’t serve God and mammon (treasures; riches) simultaneously either.  The things that we “treasure” in our lives are the things that will ultimately crowd God out.  Vain religion will repel true religion as surely as similar poles of a magnet will repel one another.  True religion, on the other hand, will expose all that is false, and all that is vain. 

 

It is good for us to be religious, then, but only as long as our religion is true and it is pure.