Social Justice

James chapter one, as we have
coursed through this first chapter, we have seen on many occasions
where James is addressing the nature of our faith and the quality
of it, if you will. He is not only calling us to
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, but faith of a certain kind and
an active faith, the living faith, a faithful faith, and This passage
that we come to today, verses 26 and 27, is not out of concert
with the rest of what James has been saying. He echoes essentially
what he said in verses 19 through 20, that we are to be doing as
well as hearing. And here, he just uses a completely
different application. Even in verses 22 through 25, He talked about those and even
chided those who hear without doing and challenges those to
do as well as to hear. But here in this particular passage,
he warns against the different kind of deceit that affects even
the person’s own heart. He talks about those who are religious on the outside
and yet on the inside remain largely untouched by God’s grace. We’re in verses 26 and 27. And if you would look to those
verses this morning. If anyone thinks himself to be
religious and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own
heart, this man’s religion is worthless. This is pure and undefiled
religion in the sight of God and Father, to visit orphans
and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained
by the world. What James does, as he so often
does, not just in chapter 1, but throughout this epistle,
is play one against another. He sets up a contrast. Even last
week, one of the devices that he used is this simple reference
to this man as opposed to this man. And he presents them before
us as characters perhaps that we might even conceive in our
minds as he says them. We don’t know for certain that
James had anybody in particular in mind. He doesn’t name them.
But we know people like that. We know people who are hearers
of the word and not doers. We know that there are people
who talk much about faith, but live it very little, if at all. And so what he does here is essentially
talk about those who are outwardly religious, But in reality are
phonies and those who are humble and serious and genuine in their
faith there. There is a simple contrast here.
Once again, look at verse 26, where we see phony religion.
If anyone thinks himself to be religious. Now that little phrase
right there bothers us because from the time that we first heard
the gospel, people have been telling us that Christianity
is a relationship, not a religion. And I understand that insofar
as it goes. We’ll talk more about that word
in a moment. But James does utilize that imagery. He talks about the phony worshiper. And he looks, first of all, at
his personal assessment. This is what the man thinks about
himself. Look at the verse. If anyone
thinks himself to be religious, he is self-congratulatory. He is pleased with his own efforts. He’s happy the way that things
are coming about in his spiritual life. It isn’t how he seems to
come off to others, although he is in everyone’s view. This
isn’t the intentional hypocrite. This is someone who really does
think that he’s doing a good job, spiritually speaking, and
that’s what makes it so cautionary for us. This is what makes it
such a great concern. He thinks himself to be religious,
and I would say that everyone in the room thinks we’re doing
a pretty good job. But we’re also seen by others
And so if anyone thinks himself to be religious could also point
to the man who perhaps has been encouraged and affirmed by others.
He’s learned the language of Christianity and he uses those
occasional buzzwords. He fits right in and others affirm
that. He seems to be religious. His intentions seem to be appropriate
and pure. He has a good reputation in the
immediately local community, the church. As I said, the focus
here isn’t on the one who is a hypocrite. This is the person
who is religious in every regard. He would carry a Bible, he would
go to church, he would do all the things, and everyone would
look at him and they would assume likewise that he is legitimate. And he’s gone so far as to to
convince even himself. And in that he’s self deceived,
as we’ll see. He has a completely different
perspective of himself than God does. He’s religious. The little word
which concerns us just talks about a serious, a genuine, a
passionate effort in spiritual things. And we know many people
like that. I would say even most professing
Christians that we know are like that. They’re serious about serious
things. They’re passionate. One described
it as a scrupulous observance of religious exercises. Well,
I know many that would fit into that convenient category. They’re
careful about spiritual things. We hear from them often how they
do their quiet time. They take their own attendance
on everything that goes on. They are quick to point out that
they are faithful. But. Even though they are zealous,
it hasn’t it hasn’t sunk down roots into their heart. These efforts betray what lies
within. It’s not genuine. It’s not sincere. It’s not deeply
rooted. It isn’t representative of the
real man. It is merely external. careful characterization of this
tendency goes like this. One pastor said its meaning is
not so much religion in our 21st century view of the word as the
outward expression of religion in ritual and liturgy and ceremony. And so in that sense, we are
religious as much as you might dislike the word, it’s our outward
Worship, all of life becomes an act of worship for the believer
and it’s how we are perceived on the outside. I would describe
it in these simple words, the outward and observable aspects
of our spiritual lives. And so even walking into a restaurant,
sitting down at a table, ordering food, and before the food arrives,
or as soon as it’s placed in front of you, bowing in prayer.
That is exactly what James is talking, and it’s not wrong.
In fact, I would encourage you to do that. I think it’s the
right thing to do. But it’s those outward and observable
aspects of our spiritual lives, church attendance, things like
that, Whether it is intentional or inevitable, there are some
things that are inevitable. You can’t help but have your
neighbors see you getting into the car on Sunday morning and
driving down the street in the direction of the church. You
can’t help but see piling out of the car and coming into the
church. That’s inevitable. There are other things that are
more intentional and praying at table would be one of them.
Doing things in only in order to be seen would be among those
things. This is the faithful churchgoer.
This is the one who’s involved. This is the one. I don’t know
what happened to this word. It fell by the wayside. This
is the one who is plugged in, right? And on the face of it,
we see such a person as that’s a good thing. This is a good
guy. He’s religious. He’s serious
about spiritual things. But look at his practical sin.
Verse 26, if anyone thinks himself to be religious and yet does
not bridle his tongue. And James goes to the most simple
and most common error known to mankind. It’s the sins of the
tongue. And he’ll spend an entire chapter,
as you know. Some people are really looking
forward to me getting to that chapter. But it’s another one
of James’s very creative words, this little phrase, bridling
his tongue. It’s not used anywhere else in
the New Testament, but James uses it twice in three chapters. And it’s an idea, or at least
an image, perhaps even coined by James himself, because it
was almost, it’s completely unknown in the Greek world. to speak
of putting a bridle into a person’s mouth. And yet James uses it
twice. It’s another instance of James
using creative words and creative word pictures in order to drive
home a point. And what he basically says here
is that this man’s mouth, this religious guy who sees himself
as having arrived and really has convinced many people around
him that he is such, this man’s mouth is like a wild horse. That’s James’s picture. The psalmist
used the image of the wild horse in a negative way also. Psalm
32 9, do not be as the horse or the mule, which have no understanding. But that’s not how James uses
this. He uses it in a negative way, but it’s even more graphic
than the Psalms. Likewise, the Psalms frequently
address the sins of the tongue. Psalm 39 one, I will guard my
ways that I may not sin with my tongue. Psalm 143, they sharpen
their tongues as a serpent. But James’s particular illustration
is fresh. It’s new. It’s cutting edge. It’s a bit and a bridle for our
own wild horse of a tongue. That’s new. And in that sense,
James captures to varying degrees, he captures every one of us.
Every one of us has sinned with our tongues and possibly even
already this morning. This is the guy who’s always
voicing his own opinion, always criticizing others, and unrestrained,
he’s like a wild animal, a wild horse. And James says, you let
this creature run wild, it will wreak havoc. One faithful pastor, Robert Johnstone,
said, almost before we are conscious that a thought has entered our
minds, doesn’t this happen? I know it’s not just me. Before
we even are conscious that it’s entered our mind, it’s already
on the way out, right? The gate is open. The horse is
out of the barn. Before we have taken a moment
to ponder its nature or its consequences of uttering it, it has leaped
into our outward life as a spoken sentence. And now the horse is
free and running wild. He concludes by saying, nothing
but a deep, decided piety will habitually, thoroughly, on all
subjects, in all circumstances, bridle the tongue. Jesus warns us that we will give
an account of every idle word. And so this is the man who just
by speaking begins to betray himself that maybe the roots
aren’t as deep in his Christianity. Maybe it’s it’s not so sincere. As his outward appearance. Look at the passage. He’s fooled
everybody around him for some time, but the the biggest fool
of all is himself. He’s he’s deceived even him himself. Look at verse 26 if anyone thinks
himself to be religious and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives
his own heart. As bad as it is to go about tricking
other people, in our day and age of these phone scams and
email scams and every other kind of scam. I got an email this
past week, I had two large chests of money Right? Dude, you got
the same email. It just seems like there are
a plethora of different ways that people go about trying to
deceive others, but no one sets out, at least we would believe,
no one sets out to cheat themselves, no one sets out to deceive themselves,
but that’s what this man has accomplished. He’s lived this
lie long enough and well enough and consistently enough that
even he has begun to believe it. That he’s a faithful, upright,
godly man. This passage is used, this word
rather, this deception is used several times in what I would
call related passages. I’m always cautious about what
passages I say are parallel passages because they’re not always parallel.
But in related passages, Paul himself uses this word. In Romans
16, 8, Paul says that it’s possible, this is no surprise to you, it’s
possible to deceive others. Romans 16, 18, such men are slaves,
not of our Lord Jesus Christ, but of their own appetites, and
by their smooth and flattering speech, they deceive the hearts
of the unsuspecting. It’s possible to deceive others,
but it’s self-deception that James is focused upon. That’s
what he’s addressing, and Paul likewise warns of the same concern
in 1 Corinthians 3, 18. Simple admonition, let no one
deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that
he’s wise in this age, he must become foolish so that he may
become wise. In other words, don’t think that
your human wisdom is greater than God’s. And then in Galatians
6.3, he makes it even more explicit, that we can deceive even ourselves. If anyone thinks he is something
when he is nothing, he deceives himself. And so we make, we need
to make an honest assessment. We need to ask ourselves from
time to time, whether we are deceiving even our own selves
in our assessment of our heart. One pastor put it this way, the
man’s tongue is like a wild horse that he does not hold in check,
cutting criticisms of others, uncleanness, dishonesty. He fails
to see the inconsistency between his assumed acceptance before
a holy God and his evil words directed at those around him.
which leads to an erroneous evaluation of his contact. He thinks he’s
okay. He thinks he’s morally upright. And so James leads right up to
the door and says, let me tell you what God thinks of this man’s
religion. Look at the passage. If anyone
thinks himself to be religious and yet does not bridle his tongue,
but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worth less. It’s a common word. In the New
Testament, it doesn’t match up to the desired end. It’s it’s
not good for him. It’s not good for it’s absolutely
worthless. Feudal. Titus 3.9, avoid foolish
controversies, genealogy, strife, disputes about the law, for they
are unprofitable and worth less. 1 Peter 1.18, Peter used the
same word. You were not redeemed with perishable
things like silver and gold from your futile way of life. Not
one of us who have placed our faith in Christ would look back
and try to hold on to any aspect of our previous life, just like
Paul in Philippians 3. Paul lived an upright, Great life as a Jew and yet he
was eager to let go of that to grasp Christ Well The what Paul is addressing or
what James is addressing here is a the principle of worthless
Religious effort and that was a theme that was replete throughout
the Old Testament where you would have this outward religion that
didn’t have roots down deep in the heart of the individual,
and as such, it made them to be futile. Their effort was futile, their
lives were futile, utterly worthless. 1 Samuel 15, as the Lord as much
delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as obeying the voice
of the Lord. Here is the dichotomy. You have this outward religious
ritual of doing exactly what God commanded, offering up these
burnt offerings. And yet the burnt offerings were
not commensurate with the life lived. There was no humility. There was no religious life connected
with it. And so it just came off as empty
religious practice. And even though I could turn
to dozens and dozens and dozens of examples, I want you to turn
to one. It’s in Isaiah chapter one. Isaiah chapter one and what we’re
looking at again is just this simple dichotomy that James has
presented this principle of worthless religious effort. We have this
tendency to think that merely coming to church merely carrying
my Bible. We used to hand out rewards,
you know, in our in one of the churches we served, if the young
people would only bring their Bibles. We have a tendency to
think that these outward things are meritorious. And God says, if it doesn’t reach
down and touch and change the heart, if it doesn’t orient from
within and spill over to the outward conduct, It’s utterly
worthless. I want you to begin in verse
10, if you would. Hear the word of the Lord, you
rulers of Sodom. Give ear to the instruction of
our God, you people of Gomorrah. What are your multiplied sacrifices
to me, says the Lord. And you would start to begin
to think that God is totally contrary to the whole sacrificial
system. which laid the groundwork for
our own savior to pay for our sins. God hasn’t changed his
mind. What he was talking about was
the heart attitude of these people did not match. They were going
about doing all this religious duty and it wasn’t oriented from
within. What are your multiplied sacrifices
to me, says the Lord? I’ve had enough of your burnt
offerings of rams, the fat of fed cattle. I take no pleasure
in the blood of bulls, lambs, or goats. And you would conclude,
if that’s all you read, that God had changed his mind about
the sacrificial system, and we had better hope that he comes
up with something else. But look at verse 12. He sets
the context when you come to appear before me. He’s talking
about church. He’s talking about religious
activity. He’s talking about their approach to the temple
and to worship of God himself. When you come to appear before
me, who requires of you this trampling of my courts? Bring
your worthless offerings no longer. Incense is an abomination to
me. That was commanded by God himself.
New moon and Sabbath, the calling of assemblies. I cannot endure
iniquity and the solemn assembly. You see what God is after, he’s
after the heart. And what he says is they were
very good at the outward expressions of their religion. They were
very good at sacrificing bulls. They were very good at burning
incense. They were very good at religious
practices. They were utterly horrible about
letting it touch their heart and change their heart. Look at verse 14 for God’s assessment,
I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts. They
have become a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them. So
when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes
from you. Yes, even though you multiply
prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood. You say, what on earth? What
on earth did these people do? Why is God so angry when they’re
doing the very things he told them to do? Look at his call to repentance
in verse 16, wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, remove
the evil deeds from my sight, cease to do evil, learn to do
good, seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan,
plead for the widow. That is practical religion. That is religion whose roots
have come down and touched deep into the heart. God says what
we need is social justice. What we need is a faith-based
initiative. What we need is for religion
to come from the heart and to rise to the surface of the individual. And so having dismantled this
phony religion, this outward act that didn’t come from the
heart, James turns very quickly Very abruptly to true religion. What does it really look like?
What is religion? That pleases God really look
like. What are those outward manifestations? We find it in verse 27. Or James
says this is pure and undefiled religion. In the sight of our
God and father. to visit orphans and widows in
their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world. Now this is, as you know, as
we started our introduction to the epistle of James, this is
a fascinating focus by James himself. Practical godliness. And as this leader of the Jerusalem
church who had long known of the hypocrisy and the wafer-thin
veneer of the Jewish religious life, James is justifiably concerned
so that their Christianity doesn’t end up looking just like their
Judaism. James is concerned not with formal
worship here. He’s not talking necessarily
anymore about church, but he’s talking about the outworking
of the individuals spiritual life where the rubber meets the
road. And is it any wonder that this
particular church leader should have such a grave concern? He is the very one who would
come to be known as James the just known for his practical
godliness. This was a good and godly man,
one whose life itself had been touched. By the Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to note that when
he talks about pure and undefiled religion and visiting orphans,
keeping oneself unstable, it’s not like he’s setting out to
give a comprehensive airtight list. This is Christianity. What James is doing is just taking
a snapshot. of one aspect. It’s not that
he’s saying this is all there is to Christianity, but instead
it’s an articulation of one clearly observable contrast. Phony religion
versus true. Not that, but this, which is
James’ pattern. One pastor put it this way, devout
godliness does not consist merely of regular and punctilious praise
of God and scrupulous obedience to his rules. Do you know what?
That’s how most people would describe their Christianity.
I go to church every Sunday. I go to this, I go to that, and
I’m obedient. I try to do what God
tells me to do. That’s how most people would
describe their Christianity. He goes on and says, the spirit
of religion and service of God must also live in our lives. Nor is this intended to be a
denial of the value of true worship. He’s not downplaying the fact
that we’re here on Sunday morning. He’s simply insisting with the
prophets that our worship is only acceptable to God when it’s
accompanied by love to our neighbor. And so religion Again, in its
outward sense, it’s practical observation of spiritual principles. And we begin to see the spiritual
standard presented to us here in verse 27. This is pure and
undefiled religion. Religion in its genuine sense,
pure, free from false motives, free from moral pollution, free
from any kind of human corruption. The sad thing is people have
taken this and turned it into a call to a social gospel as
if the social gospel can throw out other elements of our spiritual
life. What Paul basically tell or what
James basically tells us here is that where there is a real
active spiritual vibrant life. It will issue forth in a what
is known as a social gospel. It will issue forth in a genuine
care for our neighbors. Look at the standard that God
puts forth in genuine worship. It’s in the sight of God, our
God and Father. It’s pure and undefiled religion. And he presents both sides, negative
and positive, of this element of purity. It’s pure and it’s
completely unalloyed, it’s untainted, it’s not rusty, spoiled, it’s
not ruined or destroyed. In fact, one paints the picture
of something that is incapable of pollution. Your heart is so
touched by God himself that it is incapable of slipping into
that deceptive mode. Look at the practical outgrowth
of genuine worship. This is pure and undefiled religion
in the sight of our God and Father to visit orphans and widows in
their distress. Now there have been those throughout
church history that took this, created hospitals, created orphanages,
created other ministries, forgot about worship, forgot about their
own personal piety, forgot about all other aspects of Christianity,
but they figured if they ran the hospital well, if they ran
the orphanage well, that too is deceptive. And it cannot be
a drug to our conscience to say that if we do this, We don’t
need to do that. We don’t need to pursue a personal
relationship with Almighty God. We don’t need to cultivate fellowship
with Him. That’s error. This orphans and widows, it’s
a general category, we know that. He’s not talking that God’s concern
is only about orphans and widows. It’s about all who are downtrodden,
all who are helpless in some way, shape, or form. It is all
who are, to varying degrees, victims of some kind of oppression. The care of such was clearly
commanded in the Old Testament. This is from Exodus, the law,
chapter 22. You shall not afflict any widow
or orphan. If you afflict him at all and
he does cry out to me, I will surely hear his cry and my anger
will be kindled and I will kill you with the sword. Your wives
shall become widows and your children fatherless. God takes
this business very seriously. How sad was it then that the
Pharisees ultimately would be charged by Jesus himself for
devouring widows’ houses? In Luke chapter 20, Jesus said,
beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes.
Here’s your outward religion. They like to walk around in long
robes and love respectful greetings in the marketplaces and chief
seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets who devour
widows houses and for appearance sake offer long prayers. Well,
how did they devour widows houses? They would come in and under
the auspices of granting them financial advice, Slowly but
surely, they would encourage large gifts to the so-called
ministry. They would accept these delicate
widows hospitality. They would encourage these rich
presents from them. And then when all was said and
done, what they would do is trick them out of even their own homes
and property. And instead of doing it uprightly,
doing it without a stingy hand. They would literally steal from
these destitute widows. They forgot all about the fact
that God is the father of the fatherless. God is the judge
of the widow. It was a mark of God’s loving
kindness in the scriptures. Deuteronomy 10, 18, he executes
justice for the orphan and the widow. He shows love for the
alien by giving him food and clothing. Psalm 68, five, a father
of the fatherless. Psalm 146, nine, the Lord protects
the strangers. God is the one who is concerned
about social justice. And there’s a special curse on
those who afflict the fatherless and the widow, those orphans.
Zechariah 7, 6, when you eat and drink, do you not eat for
yourselves and do you not drink for yourselves? Are these not
the words that the Lord proclaimed by the former prophets? When
Jerusalem inhabited the prosperous along with its cities around
it, then the word of the Lord came to Zechariah and said, thus
says the Lord of hosts, dispense true justice and patience and
kindness and compassion with his brother and do not oppress
the widow and the orphan. They had to be warned and reminded. So this religious activity that
is not supported By a life that issues forth in a concern for
those around you is worthless in God’s assessment. You know
the passage Micah 6 verses 6 or 8. With what shall I come to
the Lord and bow myself before God? Shall I come with burnt
offerings with yearling calves? He’s told you a man what is good
and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice to
love kindness and to walk humbly with your God. As a result, many New Testament
exhortations in the church are built on that very backdrop,
looking at God’s admonition to his own people and seeing how
it was chronically abused throughout Israel’s history. And so when
Paul writes to the Thessalonians and says we never came with flattering
speech, he was setting himself up clearly standing in opposition
to those men who had. First Timothy 3, free from the
love of money, a qualification of an elder. First Timothy 3,
8, of deacons, not fond of sordid gain. They’re not those that
are going to trick a widow out of her life savings. And then we have the ministry
of deacons established in Acts chapter six, born largely out
of the need to care for widows. Paul issues an entire chapter
on it in first Timothy five, the need to care practically
speaking for widows. Look again at the passage, though.
This is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of God and Father
to visit orphans and widows in their distress. Well, what is
this kind of visit? How you doing? You know, do you need anything?
Which is really kind of a worthless It’s not just a social call. It’s not just a visit. The word
means literally to look in on, not just to go and see them,
but to discover their needs and to meet them in so far as it’s
even possible. Used of visiting the sick in
Matthew 25 verse 36. It was visits made in the Father’s
name in order to meet whatever possible need there could be. One pastor said that James strikes
a downright blow here at ministry by proxy. I’ll talk more about
that in a second. James strikes a downright blow
here at ministry by proxy or by mere gifts of money, pure
and undefiled religion demands personal contact with the world’s
sorrow. Well, for 25 years, more than
that now, I’ve had a concern in the church and I’ve talked
to the men about it. We’ve sought to remedy this. In one of the
churches in which I served, we had all kinds of missionaries,
and from time to time, I would just say, do you know so-and-so? Do you remember his wife’s name,
this missionary that we have? No, I sure don’t. And I’d talk
to other people. Do you know, how many kids do
they have? Oh, I don’t know, I don’t know.
Or I’d say, what is their particular ministry? I don’t know. What town are they in? I don’t
know. Do they have retirement? I don’t know. That’s a concern. That’s exactly what James is
talking about. And so for 25 years, I’ve longed to have a
missions liaison that cultivates that information, cultivates
our need to know it as a body and cultivates with our missionaries,
you know, a lifeline. that actually shows that we care
about them, that it’s not just a check that we write monthly. There’s another ministry that
we support, the Alpha Center, and we’ve talked to a lot of
different people in this body about it. And I’ll just tell
you, it’s not a perfect ministry. It’s not perfect. But it’s something. It’s something. And as I did the math, we don’t invest that much money
in the Alpha Center. But let’s just imagine, let’s
pretend for a minute, that it’s $10,000 a year. And we did that
for 10 years, that’s $100,000. And say that in that, 10 years time, investing $100,000,
only one mom, only one mom relented from her desire to get
an abortion. I walked into the office center
last week. The room where they take the
young ladies to get an ultrasound is immediately adjacent to the
initial counseling room. It’s easy now for them to get
an ultrasound. It’s the right thing to do. And I wish that the Alpha Center
preached the gospel more vigorously to everyone that walked in the
doors, and they don’t. But I think for our purposes,
To support the Alpha Center to the degree that we do, I came
away and I told the men, I think we ought to be supporting the
Alpha Center more, not less. We need to put our money where
our mouth is. This is pure and undefiled religion in the sight
of our God and Father to visit orphans and widows in their distress.
Is there anyone more in distress in our God-forsaken society? than the child in the womb? I
don’t think so. Would you humble yourself before
our God? Our merciful King, we humble
ourselves in your glorious presence. And Lord, we might have begun
into this passage thinking it was about someone else. It’s
about us. It’s about each one of us. And each one of us to
a degree has engaged in phony religion. And we haven’t let
it touch us. We haven’t let it come from within. We haven’t responded as we ought.
And that really is. Indicative of our entire society.
Lord God, we pray let it be different with us. Change us from within. Starting today. We pray these
things in Jesus’ name.