Real Religion

Real Religion

Rogation Sunday (Fifth after Easter)

Collect of the Day: O Lord, from whom all good things do come; Grant to us thy humble servants, that by thy holy inspiration we may think those things that are good, and by thy merciful guiding may perform the same; through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Epistle: St. James 1:22-27 (KJ21)

22 But be ye doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

23 For if any be a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror;

24 for he beholdeth himself, and then goeth his way and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

26 If any man among you seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.

27 Pure religion, undefiled before God and the Father, is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Religion involves beliefs, liturgy, and lifestyle - doctrine, worship, and a way of life. Make no mistake about this: The Christian religion is not a set a rules to follow. It begins with faith in Jesus Christ. It is practiced in liturgy. But it will always be expressed in life.

St. James tells us three ways real religion is expressed.

1. The first way is by obedience to the Word.

In worship we hear the Word of God in the readings and the preaching of Holy Scripture. No church does more reading and hearing of the Word of the Scriptures than Anglicans. This morning we’ve reading from the Old Testament, the Psalms, the New Testament Epistles, and the Gospels. And that does not count all the quotations and paraphrases of Scripture in the liturgy.

But the Scriptures are not magic. The mere fact that a reader reads and we are in a room where the reading takes place does not mean the reading does us good - if we shut our minds or allow them to a wander. It’s not even enough for us even to hear and comprehend the Words of Scripture. Jesus said some seed is sown on hard ground, some on stony ground, some on thorny ground.  That’s why we pray that we may read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the Scriptures so that by them we may embrace everlasting life.

If we truly hear, we will be doers of Word - who believe its teachings, claim its promises, accept its rebukes, obey its commands. God means his Word to have a practical impact on our lives. If the Word teaches us that God is Three in One, then we believe the truth of the Trinity. If the Word promises us that our sins, no matter how bad can be forgiven, through faith in Jesus Christ, then we let go of our guilt and believe our sins are forgiven. If the Word rebukes covetousness and malice, then we repent those sins of the heart. If the Word commands us not to lie, then we put away falsehood and speak the truth.

If we don’t do the Word, we are self-deceived. We are like man or woman of James’ day who looks in a mirror and soon forgets what he or she looks like. In James’ day mirrors were made of polished metal, and did not give the clear images of today’s glass mirrors. There were no phones for your selfies to see anytime, no mirrors everywhere you go reflecting your image. So a person could easily forget how he or she looked. God’s Word is meant to be a mirror that lastingly shows us ourselves and our need for God’s grace. When we come to church and hear the Word and don’t do what it says, we are like that person who takes a fleeting look at himself in the mirror in the morning and goes his way with what he saw making no difference in his life.

The person who hears God’s Word and does what it says does not find it a straightjacket but a law of liberty, because real freedom is found in doing what God tells us to do. Doing the Word is the life of true blessing.

2. The second way is by control of the tongue.

When we think of sin that would raise questions about a person’s faith, we tend to think about crimes that will get a person sent to prison. Or we think about sexual sins like adultery. We don’t usually think of sins of the tongue, or if we do, of using filthy words and profanity.

But James takes sins of the tongue very seriously and not just profanity and filth. He devotes a large portion of chapter 3 to use of the tongue:

...If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man and able also to bridle the whole body...the tongue is a little member and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a wood a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. So is the tongue among our members that it defileth the whole body and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire from hell.For every kind of beast and bird and serpent and thing in the sea is tamed, and hath been tamed, by mankind. But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

9 Therewith we bless God, even the Father, and therewith we curse men, who are made in the similitude of God.

10 Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.

A person may seem to be religious - a true and serious Christian - but, if he cannot control his tongue, he is fooling himself. His religion is empty. The tongue is not meant to be an instrument of gossip and slander but one by which we bless God and others.

3. The third way is by our relationship to others and the world.

St. James has told us that a person can appear religious when his religion in empty. What counts is how God the Father sees our religion. Does he see it as pure and undefiled?

One way to answer that question is in our treatment of those who are the weak and needy. In Biblical times if a woman were widowed and children were orphaned, they were very vulnerable. There were no government assistance programs, no insurance or pensions. If they did not have relatives who would take care of them, they were in dire straights. From early days after Christ’s Ascension the church took responsibility for widows and other needy persons.

Some people can be quite outspoken about public and private corruption and immorality, but indifferent to their brothers and sisters who need their help. Jesus warned us that when we are indifferent to the needs of his people, we are among the goats who will be separated from the sheep on the last day. James warns against the false compassion that says to the cold and hungry, “Go, be warmed, be filled.” John told us that anyone who has this world’s goods and sees his brother in need and shuts up his heart of compassion, cannot say the the love of God dwells in him.

The person whose religion is real will also keep himself unspotted from the the world. What James means not that we must not have contact with the physical world or the people of the world. But there is the world which is sinful and corrupt and in rebellion against God, that calls good evil and evil good. If our religion is real then we must say no to the corrupting influence of the world. St Paul told us that God calls us to come out from among the wicked and be holy unto him. We are not called to self-righteousness or judgmentalism, but we are called to purity.

When we come to the Table is a good from time to to ask ourselves. Is my religion sham or show or is it the real deal?