“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. 27 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.”
A pope and a president once found themselves in a very public and heated argument about religion. This pope called this president’s faith into question. This president responded saying that, “For a religious leader to question a person’s faith is disgraceful… No leader, especially a religious leader, has the right to question another man’s religion or faith.”
I’ve removed the name of the pope and the president because I’m not here to talk about the individuals. I want to talk about that president’s statement, “For a religious leader to question a person’s faith is disgraceful… No leader, especially a religious leader, has the right to question another man’s religion or faith.”
James would disagree. He said, “If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.” Now none of us have the right to put ourselves in God’s place and play the judge, but none of us has the right to ignore what the Judge has said about the worth of one’s practice of religion.
A singer and a vice-president once found themselves at odds about religion. This singer called this vice-president, “the worst representation of what it means to be a Christian.” She said, “I am a Christian woman, and what I do know about Christianity is that we bear no prejudice, and everybody is welcome. So you can take all that disgrace, Mr. [vice-president], and look yourself in the mirror and you’ll find it right there.” That singer condemned that vice-president’s religion because that vice-president refused to bow to the sexual revolution that was then underway.
James would disagree with her too. He said that, “religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this… to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
There are marks of genuine religion. You have no right to judge someone’s religion by your own prejudices, but you also have no right to ignore what the Judge has said about what makes for genuine faith.
Do you think there is such a thing as worthless Christianity? Do you think that there are people who think they are Christians to whom Jesus will say, “I never knew you”? Jesus said there are. He told you that there are so that you wouldn’t be one.
There are marks distinguishing acceptable religion from the unacceptable. Check yourself. That is the claim of this sermon: There are marks distinguishing acceptable religion from the unacceptable. Check yourself.
We see this in two points. First: unacceptable religion. Second, acceptable religion. We see unacceptable religion in verse 26. We see acceptable religion in verse 27.
First: unacceptable religion. James was teaching this early church how to distinguish true faith from self-deception. He has focused on what happens inside a man when that man hears God’s word. A man’s mind, affections, and will respond one way in faith and another way in self-deception. That has been the focus of our past two sermons. Now James puts his focus on what comes out of a man.
The man in question is religious. Verse 26, “If anyone considers himself religious…” This man does religious activities. He might regularly come to worship. He might give financially to religious causes. He might consider religion to be an important bulwark against moral decay in the culture.
Notice that James wasn’t using the word ‘religious’ as a slur. Even Christians today tend to use the word ‘religious’ that way. We talk about Christianity as a relationship and not a religion. The fact is that you can’t have a relationship with Jesus without being religious. If you have a relationship with Jesus that relationship will show itself religiously. You will worship him. You will subscribe to a particular set of ethics. Your faith will come out of you and what comes out of you will be religious. So the term ‘religious’ is not in and of itself a bad thing. The question is whether a man’s religion is acceptable to God.
So James wasn’t talking about irreligious people. He was talking about religious people when he said, “If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.”
Now some of you are concerned because you let a few choice words out when you hit your thumb and finger with a hammer. Some of you are concerned because you swore in the van with your children the last time you hit black ice. That’s not what James is talking about. James is asking if you feel any compulsion to censor what is inside you.
There is a categorical difference between the man who swears when the van hits black ice and the man who speaks evil out of the evil overflowing from his heart. There is a categorical difference between the man who is learning to keep his tongue in check and the man who sees no need to keep his tongue in check.
The difference lies in the inner compulsion that we studied two weeks ago. The first man has God’s word written on his heart and so he wants to obey. The second man doesn’t have the Holy Spirit and so he doesn’t want to obey.
Now this second man might do religious activities, but he does them with no inner compulsion. His religion is self-imposed from the outside. He does religious things because he feels like he should and not because he wants to. He never desires to praise God even if he likes to sing. He never considers that he is hearing from God even if he prefers this preacher to that one. He does religious activities out of custom and habit. We shouldn’t be surprised that so many who grow up with such religion leave the church when it is no longer imposed on them from the outside. It never came from the inside. They were never born of the Spirit, who is the only one who can change the inside.
James focused this early church’s attention on the inside; your speech reveals what is on the inside. That’s what James’ half-brother said. “Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.”
Your words reveal what is inside of you. Women who are content give thanks. Young men with prideful hearts boast. Young women who care about others give verbal encouragements. Old women with little sympathy for anyone else gossip. Men who are kind build others up. Men who are selfish tear others down. Your words reveal what is inside you.
The words of a man with worthless religion reveal that he has no desire to love others as God shows love. The words of a man with worthless religion reveal that his life is about him and not about God. The words of a man with worthless religion say something about him even if his presence in a worship service appears to say something else.
Don’t deceive yourself in this matter. The man in verse 26 deceived himself. James says, “he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.”
I’m afraid that too many men, women, and children in the church interpret any willingness to give God the time of day as a sign of saving faith. I’m afraid that too many men, women, and children in the church interpret their own willingness to give God the time of day as saving faith. I’m afraid that many men, women, and children are deceiving themselves and their faith is really no faith at all. It is just custom. It is just habit. It is not of God or for God. It is, as James says, worthless. You might need to hear that this evening. You might be deceiving yourself.
Now, the hard thing about being deceived is that you don’t know that you are deceived. The man James had in mind didn’t think he was deceived. He thought his religion was acceptable to God, but he isn’t the audience of his own faith. His parents are not the audience of his faith. ‘Our son goes to church; of course, he is a Christian.’ God is the audience of that man’s faith and God has said if that man has no compulsion to restrain his sin, then his religion is worthless.
If you have no desire to keep a rein on your tongue, if you have no desire to restrain your sin, you need to hear what God thinks of your religion. “I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me,” God said through Amos. “Even though you bring me [offerings] I will not accept them.” God isn’t interested in you giving Him lip service. He is interested in you giving him yourself, including what you say with your lips.
You need to be born again. The Christianity of a man who is born again isn’t imposed on him from the outside. It comes from the inside. It comes from the Holy Spirit. You need to be born of the Spirit. Ask God for that. Then you can offer God acceptable religion. That’s our second point.
I chose this language of acceptable religion because that is the language James chose. “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this…”
Some religion is acceptable to God. Other religion is unacceptable to God. You see this throughout Scripture. God didn’t accept the Canaanites’ worship of Baal through shrine prostitution. He also didn’t accept the Israelites’ sacrifices offered with no intention of repentance. He didn’t accept the prayers of those who asked for forgiveness without forgiving. Some religion is unacceptable to God.
Other religion is acceptable. He did accept the prayers of the tax collector who said, “God have mercy on me, a sinner.” He did accept the confession of David after he repented. He accepts the religion that James will delineate.
When it comes to religion, the final assessment is not its beauty. The final assessment is not its results. The final assessment is not the feelings that it brings. The final assessment is whether it is acceptable to God. Any man’s religion is only as valuable as God thinks it to be. How could it be otherwise?
God considers some religion to be pure and faultless in the words of verse 27. Some Christians have a problem with that. They seem to think that they can offer God nothing that is pure and faultless. They think even the best of their religion is just filthy rags, as Isaiah put it. They seem to think that Jesus couldn’t have meant it when he said, “well done good and faithful servant.” If you are born by the Spirit and you think that God is never pleased with what you offer, that is not a mark of humility. That is a failure to listen to the God who tells you what he finds pure and faultless.
You can offer God more than filthy rags. When Isaiah spoke those words about filthy rags, he was talking about worthless religion. Worthless religion is as unacceptable to God as filthy rags, but that isn’t the only kind. Verse 27 tells you about another kind. “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 gives us two marks here. First, acceptable religion cares for those in need and second, acceptable religion runs from the sin of this world. Now, don’t take these as the only marks of religion that God accepts. You can find a Buddhist who helps those in need and flees sexual immorality. James’ purpose was not to give you the total picture of right religion. He was calling those who call themselves Christians to inspect themselves.
Inspect yourself. Do you give practical help to people in genuine need? You can’t be a Christian and dispositionally snub those in need any more than you can be a Christian who glories in sexual perversion or a Christian who delights in murder. There are no born-again Christians of the mass murdering stripe. There are no Christians of the compassionate-less stripe. Some genuine Christians will abound in compassion while others are growing in compassion, but they all have some compassion for people in need.
This is why Jesus paints the final judgment in terms of caring for the least of these. To those on his right he will say, ‘“Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?” The King will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”’
That isn’t salvation by works. That is merely a recognition that salvation will invariably lead to good works. It will lead to looking after orphans and widows in their distress, as James puts it.
How could it do otherwise? How could a man who has received help in distress not give help to others in distress? Christ looked after you in your distress. You were far worse off than any orphan or any widow has ever been. I don’t say that to minimize the plight of orphans. I say that to help you see the grace of our Lord Jesus, who although he was rich for your sake became poor so that you might become rich. If you have his Spirit in you, you will care about others in their distress.
Don’t imagine that serving at The Banquet as above-and-beyond-Christianity. That type of act is unavoidable Christianity. Don’t imagine that working with orphans in Romania is super-Christianity. Charity like that is inevitable Christianity.
The Holy Spirit urges the Christian towards those in need. The Holy Spirit also urges the Christian away from the sin of the world. That’s James’ second mark of acceptable religion in verse 27, “religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
The very idea of fleeing sin has fallen on hard times. We look back and laugh at previous generations who shunned television, movies, the theater, and novels. I’m not saying a total ban was necessary or wise; I am saying that those generations were serious about trying to keep themselves from being polluted by the world. They were serious about verse 27.
The song, “be careful little eyes what you see,” is a serious song. Be careful little eyes what you see. Be careful little ears what you hear. Be careful middle age eyes what you see. Be careful middle age ears what you hear. Be careful elderly eyes what you see. Be careful elderly ears what you hear.
Now, as with every mark of genuine faith, there is a continuum. As we just saw some genuine Christians will abound in compassion and others are growing in compassion, but they all have some compassion for people in need. Don’t ask yourself if you are compassionate enough to be a Christian. Ask yourself if you want to treat others the way Christ has treated you. Don’t ask yourself if you are sufficiently keeping yourself from the pollution of the world to call yourself a Christian. Ask yourself if you have the compulsion to keep yourself from the pollution of the world. Do you think that you should flee from sin? Don’t ask yourself if you have these marks of true religion to sufficient degree. Ask yourself if you have them at all.
James says that one mark of true religion is keeping yourself from being polluted by the sin of the world. People who do that will be peculiar people. In other words, if you are born again, you will stand out as different. It has been that way throughout church history. It was that way within the early church. It was that way in the history of Israel. Many of the professing people of God have always been fine with the sin of by the world just like large swaths of Israel were fine being polluted by the Canaanites. Don’t think that the capitulation of today’s church to the current sexual revolution is anything new. Those who flee the world have always been peculiar people.
Now you might think that fleeing the world would make life dull. Well, there is nothing particularly life-giving about movies that urge you to mock other people. There is nothing enlivening about lifestyles that are all about you. There is nothing particularly invigorating about whichever sin entangles and you know it. What you find invigorating is the good that the sin has polluted. That’s why Augustine asked, ‘Do we say to you, “love nothing”? God forbid! Dull, dead, hateful, miserable shall you be if you love nothing. Love, but take care what you love.’
James isn’t telling you not to enjoy this world. He is telling you to be careful what you enjoy in this world. If you love the sin that the world loves, then you will be dull, dead, hateful, and miserable. Keep yourself from that. Keep yourself from the pollution of the world.
Now it should be obvious why every genuine Christian will have a compulsion to flee the sin of the world. Jesus died to cancel sin. If you love Jesus, how can you love the sin that required his death?
The cross is the symbol of James’ acceptable religion. The cross calls you to flee the pollution of sin. The cross calls you to care for others in their distress because Jesus has cared for you in yours.
Is that your religion? Do you follow the way of the cross? The cross that saves is the template for the saved life.
That’s the religion that you need to inspect this evening. We can talk about the religion of that president and that pope, that singer and that vice-president, but tonight I’m talking to you. What does God think of your religion?
Don’t say that is between you and God. It isn’t. It is only God’s to decide. He has told you how He will decide. Amen.