True Religion - Week One: "This Is True Religion"

We are beginning a new sermon series, "True Religion: Lessons for the Church from James."  This series on the book of James will serve as a guide to the essentials of being a Jesus follower in our current culture. 

Today, we'll start with a pretty challenging question: Is there such a thing as true religion? 

Religion has had more than a few critics over the centuries.  Here are some quotes from a few of them: 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” - Voltaire

“All religion, my friend, is simply evolved out of fraud, fear, greed, imagination, and poetry.” - Poe

“Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet. Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.” - Napoleon

“Religion. It's given people hope in a world torn apart by religion.” - Jon Stewart

I could go on, but we haven't got all day, more's the pity.  

The search for true religion transcends the confines of religion in our current culture.  

Perhaps you've heard of the True Religion clothing brand. It was founded in 2002 by Jeffrey Lubell, who said, "There's only one real religion, and that's people." According to Lubell, everybody wears jeans, hence the company's name. 

When I went to college, I could take courses on "Comparative Religion."  In fact, you could even major in it.  But those courses have primarily vanished from academia because how can you compare religions objectively?  Any approach would have a bias of some sort.  

And then you have the rise of the Religious Nones in America, which continues to be the fastest-growing religious affiliation in our country: None.  People will say, "I am spiritual, but not religious," to identify where they land regarding such matters. 

All of this brings us to the book of James in the New Testament. 

The author of the book of James had some clear ideas about what constituted true religion.  

An interesting side note on James is that it almost didn't make it into the Protestant version of the Bible because Martin Luther opposed it.  He had serious issues with James' take on true religion and how the author juxtaposed faith and works, which we'll get to in this series. 

Scholars are divided on who the author of James actually was. Some feel that it was James, the brother of Jesus, while others believe the author used James's name for the letter, which was a common thing to do in the early centuries of the Church. 

Let's assume then that the letter was written by Jesus' brother James.  Can you imagine being Jesus' brother?  That's a good argument that Jesus was who he said he was and that he could convince his brother, don't you think?

So, we're going to dig into the first chapter of James, see what the author says about true religion, and start this series off with a bang. 

Here's what I want us to hang on to today: 

TRUE RELIGION LIFTS UP INSTEAD OF TEARING DOWN

James 1:19-27

Most of James reads like a book of wisdom.  It's as if you had a collection of Christian memes all in one place or a short book filled with inspirational quotes.  It's very rabbinical in it's construct because it was written to Christians who were also Jewish.  

The section we will be reading is divided into three parts that lead to a central point.  

Pt. 1 - Govern yourself; Pt. 2 - Do the right thing; Pt. 3 - This is true religion

19 You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness. 21 Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls. 

22 But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. 23 For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; 24 for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. 25  But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing. 

26 If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

So James asserts that true religion (pure and undefiled) to God is caring for orphans and widows in their distress and keeping yourself unstained or unpolluted by the world. 

A bit about widows and orphans...  What does James mean here?  A historical connection can be made here between this phrase and ancient Israelite prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah.  

The idea is that when a society no longer cares for widows and orphans, it has lost its way.  It has abandoned its religion, so to speak.  You see, in the ancient world, widows and orphans were the most vulnerable.  What Jesus would have called "the least of these." 

The language used to describe being unstained or unpolluted is exactly what you might think it would be. The image is of clear, life-giving water being made murky and stagnant.

In the end, James asserts that true religion cares for the least of these and maintains a life-giving life.   If you want to claim a religion, he essentially asserts that you should claim that. 

Questions We Need To Ask 

1. Is our religion getting in the way of our relationship with God? 
2. Is our religion getting in the way of our relationship with others?
3. Is our religion keeping us from embodying God’s kingdom on earth?

Imagine if the Church began to grasp this.  What would it look like?

TRUE RELIGION LIFTS UP INSTEAD OF TEARING DOWN