James 1:17-27 "What Is Religion"

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I. Spirituality vs. Religion

In today’s world it is not always en vogue to be “religious.” I have heard many a person say that they would describe themselves as spiritual but not religious. Usually they mean this as a putdown on religion. They feel connected to some higher power but they want nothing to do with a religion with its rules and strictures. They want to believe in God but they don’t want to have to follow him.

I have heard Christians take this same argument on, as well. When I was in high school we were fond of making a distinction between Christianity and other religions. We would say that other religions were religion but Christianity was a way of life. We would go on to say that religion was about earning your way into heaven, which other faiths attempted to do, but Christianity was about accepting the fact that you cannot. This is a fair distinction, but I’m not sure that religion is the best word to use to make this distinction.

Last spring a group from our church went to Omaha to see the Saint John’s Bible. It is a Bible being written and illustrated by hand and it is absolutely amazing. The main artist who is working on the project had a PBS special done about him. On the special he made the distinction between spirituality and religion. I found myself rolling my eyes as he began to say that he didn’t feel that he was a religious person but he did feel that he was a spiritual one. “Here we go again,” I thought, “someone pretending that their own spirituality is better than what religion has to offer.” But then I was surprised by his next comment. He went on to say that he believed in God but he wasn’t committed to following God in the deep way that religious people were. He felt that he didn’t put enough energy into his relationship with God to consider himself religious.

Wow, he just flipped the paradigm over. And he got it right in a way that many people fail to see through their whole lives.

Religion and spirituality are connected in a way that we aren’t often willing to admit. People claim to be spiritual but have no religion. When this happens they discover that they really don’t have very much. Others have religion but no spirituality behind it. When this happens their actions have no meaning to them.

II. The Early Church

This struggle between spirituality and religion may seem new but it is something that the church has been struggling with from the beginning. The book of James is about that very struggle. You see, there were people back in the early church who claimed to be spiritual but not religious. They defined this with different words, but they were basically saying the same thing. They said that all you need is faith. They said that no matter what your actions are, it is what you believe that matters. They thought that it was your intentions and not your decisions that defined you.

And to a certain degree, they were right. But James came to them and told them that intentions are not enough. He told them that it wasn’t enough to say you believed. James understood that if you truly believed in the message of Jesus it would show itself in your life. James was convinced that faith without works is not really faith.

It is worth pointing out that there were others in the early church, Paul refers to them as “those from James”, who went to the other extreme. They felt that Jesus’ message was one of rules and laws only. They felt that you needed to work if you wanted to earn salvation. This is the way it had always been, this is the way that it shall always be. These people took James’ message to its extreme in the same way that the “belief only” people took Paul’s message to its extreme. But both sides missed the point that we are saved by grace, through faith, and this not from ourselves but a gift from God. But once saved by grace we are called to change our lives and live out the life that God calls us to.

Did you know that Martin Luther wanted to throw the book of James out of the Bible? He did. For him, it stunk of works righteousness and ignored the power of God’s grace. But he was reading it in a time where the church had moved all the way to religion without spirituality and they were so works focused that they didn’t understand the concept of grace any more. The church as a whole had moved all the way over on one side of the issue and here was Luther, trying to pull them back to the center. Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed and the book of James remained in the protestant Bible. And it’s a good thing because the message of James is one that we dearly need to hear in today’s world where anything goes and actions don’t always line up with words.

III. James’ Commands

James has a simple message for us in the passages we read this morning. He is talking about how we need to follow God’s commandments if we truly want to consider ourselves Christians. Later on he makes it clear that these aren’t things that we are supposed to do to earn our salvation. Rather they are things that will help show what it is that we really believe and who it is that we really follow. But it is worth looking at the commands that James gives. They aren’t your normal dos and don’ts. He isn’t telling people to follow the Old Testament laws. He isn’t telling them that they need to eat kosher (as the people who Paul argued against did). What he is telling all of us is that there are certain things that we should do if we truly want to live the life of a Christian. These are worth noting:

First, we should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. I like to think of this as not allowing our passions to rule us. I also like to think of this as listening to someone you disagree with and trying to understand where they are coming from instead of attacking them right away. You know, it’s very sad but people often treat those they are closest with in ways they would never treat a stranger. People treat their families, their spouses, their closest friends in a way they would never think of treating someone they do not know. If someone started yelling or screaming at someone in a store or in a public place, people would wonder what in the world is wrong with that person. But often we feel like we can act horribly when we are at home with those who we are most familiar with. Don’t you think, especially with our families, we need to take these words of James to heart. Don’t be quick to get angry with people. Instead listen to what they are saying. This is a powerful message and one we need to learn to follow.

I knew a guy in college who would every now and then erupt in seething anger at his girlfriend. Our college was small enough with thin enough walls that everybody knew what was going on. A number of us worried about them when they got married. It wasn’t the fact that he got angry and yelled that truly bothered us, though. It was the fact that he seemed to think that he could not do anything about it. Both he and she would say, you know he has a bad temper and he just gets this way and there’s nothing to be done about it. That may be how it felt to him but there was something that could be done. James wouldn’t tell us to control our anger if it wasn’t possible. But this guy I knew would try and try and his anger would overtake him. Well, it is only through the grace of God and learning to follow in his footsteps that we will learn to be listeners and cool our anger.

James goes on with more ways we should live. He tells us to get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Again, the call is to turn away from the sins of this world and focus on the truth and love that God has already placed in your heart. Perhaps this means not reading some of the magazines you read. Perhaps it means turning off the television. I’m sure it means that we should all at least hit mute during commercials. Do you realize how much filth there is in commercials? Well, I don’t need to go there, it is a pet peeve of mine. Perhaps it means you need to be more careful with the websites you browse. Perhaps it means you need to stop the gossip you hear. James isn’t talking about what we are doing, here. What he is talking about is what we are taking in. If you consume a bunch of junk you will start to produce junk. If you consume that which is Godly, you will become more Godly. Surround yourself with the things of God, not the things of this world.

James continues. Don’t just listen to what God says… do it! James has just told us to consume the things of God not the things of the world. But he goes on to tell us that we need to act upon these things that we have consumed.

Lastly, James tells us that God does expect us to be religions people. But the religion that he expects from us is not necessarily the religion that we would think. The religion he expects from us is this, to take care of those who are in distress and to keep yourself from being polluted by the world.

Last week I told you that we are not to think of this world as our enemy. Those around us who are not Christians are not the enemy we fight… they are the people who still need to hear the good news. We need to go out into their world to share the good news with them. Now, this week, we are reading James which tells us to protect ourselves from being polluted by the world around us. Well, which is it? It is both. It is all about our mindset. If we enter situations to be influenced by the things going on around us we are going to stray away from the truth. But if we enter this world with the intent to influence it with God’s love and God’s truth, then it won’t be polluting us, we’ll be polluting it. And the pollution we have to offer is a glorious one.

So, God wants us to be both spiritual and religious. He wants us to believe and act out our faith. James offers us some very practical ways to do this. Things we can begin to work on this very day. Be slow to anger. Listen to those around you. Avoid pollution from the evils of this world. Don’t only listen to God’s word, act upon it. Care for those who need to be cared for. Wow. Quite the list. Where to begin? The place to begin is with God’s grace. God loves you. He wants what is best for you. He is there with you to help you through as you work to make these changes in your life. He will give you what you need to do this. God doesn’t expect us to fix ourselves. He offers to come beside us and help us work through these things together. What a good God we have. And how I want to be the child that he has planned for me to be. So let us all open ourselves up to him and his help so that he can work in our lives and make us new in him. Amen.