If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. 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.
Religion. What words come into your mind when you hear this word? Your family of origin and your training, your experiences - both past and present, your geography ... all this effects your emotional response to the word, 'religion'. What images come into your mind? Ceremony? Elaborate buildings? Rituals? Tradition? Hierarchy? Denominations? Casual or formal? Relevant or irrelevant? World religions? We could go on and on with our reactions to this rather volatile word.
The Greek word James used is threskeia. Its meaning, according to James Strong, is:
1 religious worship. 1a esp. external, that which consists of ceremonies. 1a1 religious discipline, religion.
Don't miss that the word 'worship' is included in the Greek definition of this word. James does not condemn religion or religious practice. He wants to clean it up! He wants his readers to understand how God defines the term. He knew how prone we humans are to substituting ceremony and ritual for heart and behavior. Remember, he was a Jew and well acquainted with Jewish 'worship'. Remember, he had heard his brother condemn the Pharisees who had cut the heart out of God's law and out of their faith walk. He also had all the Jewish prophets from which to pull. He knew God's heart from things such as ...
Zechariah 7:8 - 10 "The word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts: Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another; do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the alien, or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another.'"
Micah 6:8 "He has told you , O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"
I think James also knew the way God was described in Psalm 68:5 ... "Father of orphans and protector of widows, is God in His holy habitation."
William Barclay said:
All through history, people have tried to make ritual and liturgy a substitute for sacrifice and service. They have made religion splendid within the church at the expense of neglecting it outside the church. This is by no means to say that it is wrong to seek to offer the noblest and the most splendid worship within God's house, but it is to say that all such worship is empty and idle unless it sends people out to love God by loving one another and to walk more purely in the tempting ways of the world.
So, my friend, how is your religious life? Don't let it be a worthless activity. Don't do it just so you can feel good. Make it real, and relevant, and Godly, and meaningful. Make it pure. Remember, we don't really "go to" worship ... we "live" worship. Being religious in the eyes of God means much more than going to church. I want my religion to reflect the heart of God.
Are you going to "worship" this week? Think about how ...
Lord and Father ... increase our wisdom in understanding Your heart in these matters. We desperately do not want our religion to be worthless. Show us this week how to make it real ... show us just whom You would have us serve. Show us exactly where we are allowing the impurity of the world to pollute our own souls. You are worthy of our worship ... and we long to give it!
I am not purposely avoiding James' comment about our tongues ... wish we could ... but we can't. He goes into much more detail in Chapter 3 ... so we will save comments about our tongues until we reach that point.
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