True Religion - What does the Bible say about it?

True Religion - What does the Bible say about it?

This passage in James 1 is so powerful! I read it over and over as a challenge for myself. 

I wanted to share my thoughts on what these verses have spoken to me.

I am a firm believer in finding 2-3 verses about a subject to give a clear picture of what the Bible is saying to us around a topic. Therefore I will break up these verses with other ones to show that this is not just one statement regarding these topics in the Bible. God often repeats ideas to get points across to us, just like when you teach children, repetition is one of the best teachers.

James 1:19-27

Hearing and Doing

19 Remember this, my dear friends! Everyone must be quick to listen, but slow to speak and slow to become angry. 20 Human anger does not achieve God's righteous purpose.

I want to cross reference vs. 19-20 with a couple Proverbs that I believe reinforce these verses in James:

Proverbs 22:24-25 

(NLT)Don’t befriend angry people,or associate with hot-tempered people,or you will learn to be like them and endanger your soul.

(NKJV) Make no friendship with an angry man, And with a furious man do not go,Lest you learn his ways and set a snare for your soul.

I once knew a woman that said this about her husband, "You don't want to make him angry he is like the hulk..." She was saying it with an admiration. Immediately those verses came to my mind along with these:

Proverbs 29:22 (KJV) - An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression.

Proverbs 22:10(NKJV) - Cast out the scoffer, and contention will leave; Yes, strife and reproach will cease.

This women was speaking truth, however, as I watched this man so filled with anger and rage at times it was borderline scary to be in the room with him. In those angry moments he said things that were so extreme that you could not even reason with him or come to a peaceful solution. His viewpoint was the only one that he could see. He stirred up strife and contention in many situations in the churches he attended. Should this be how we are known as Christians?  

...and now back to James 1...

21 So get rid of every filthy habit and all wicked conduct. Submit to God and accept the word that he plants in your hearts, which is able to save you. 22 Do not deceive yourselves by just listening to his word; instead, put it into practice. 

How do we "put the Word into practice or be a doer of the Word?

I believe we must bear the fruit of a Christian lifestyle. 

Galatians 5:22-26 But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23humility, and self-control. There is no law against such things as these. 24And those who belong to Christ Jesus have put to death their human nature with all its passions and desires.25The Spirit has given us life; he must also control our lives. 26We must not be proud or irritate one another or be jealous of one another.

This Fruit topic will be for another blog though :) I'm sure you can see where this is going. 

Act like a Christian, not because you have to but as a result of your relationship with the Living God.

...Again back to James who shows us more regarding our Christian life...

23 If you listen to the word, but do not put it into practice you are like people who look in a mirror and see themselves as they are. 24 They take a good look at themselves and then go away and at once forget what they look like.

25 But if you look closely into the perfect law that sets people free, and keep on paying attention to it and do not simply listen and then forget it, but put it into practice—you will be blessed by God in what you do.26 Do any of you think you are religious? If you do not control your tongue, your religion is worthless and you deceive yourself.

27 What God the Father considers to be pure and genuine religion is this: to take care of orphans and widows in their suffering and keep oneself from being corrupted by the world.

So we see that the pure and genuine religion is caring for orphans and widows and not be corrupted by this world.

Let's look at these things through the eyes of other Scriptures.

There are a couple scriptures I would like to reference:

Jesus is in Nazareth on the Sabbath at the Synagogue and He opens the scroll of Isaiah and is quoting Chapter 61:1-2

Luke 4:18-19 -  “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has chosen me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed 19and announce that the time has come when the Lord will save his people.”

Isaiah 58:1-3, 5-10 - The Lord says, “Shout as loud as you can! Tell my people Israel about their sins! 2They worship me every day, claiming that they are eager to know my ways and obey my laws. They say they want me to give them just laws and that they take pleasure in worshiping me.” 3The people ask, “Why should we fast if the Lord never notices? Why should we go without food if he pays no attention?” The Lord says to them, “The truth is that at the same time you fast, you pursue your own interests and oppress your workers. 
5When you fast, you make yourselves suffer; you bow your heads low like a blade of grass and spread out sackcloth and ashes to lie on. Is that what you call fasting? Do you think I will be pleased with that?6“The kind of fasting I want is this: Remove the chains of oppression and the yoke of injustice, and let the oppressed go free. 7 Share your food with the hungry and open your homes to the homeless poor. Give clothes to those who have nothing to wear, and do not refuse to help your own relatives.8“Then my favor will shine on you like the morning sun, and your wounds will be quickly healed. I will always be with you to save you; my presence will protect you on every side. 9When you pray, I will answer you. When you call to me, I will respond.“If you put an end to oppression, to every gesture of contempt, and to every evil word; 10if you give food to the hungry and satisfy those who are in need, then the darkness around you will turn to the brightness of noon. 

Wow! 

So Israel's sin was that they pursued their own interests and oppressed their workers. They did not care for the hungry, or give homes to the poor. They didn't cloth those in need and did not even help their own relatives.

In conclusion we see that God is very clear that we are to live the lives of True Religion - caring for the poor and oppressed, loosing the chains of injustice.

It is not all about going to church, going to prayer meetings, mission trips, and singing our spiritual songs or even fasting, especially if they are done with wrong motives which only God can evaluate or judge.

I love this quote from "When Helping Hurts" by Steve Corbett & Brian Fikkert:

Personal piety and formal worship are essential to the Christian life, but they MUST lead to lives that "act justly and love mercy" Micah 6:8

In fact Micah 6 is about What the Lord requires of us:

Verses 6-8What shall I bring to the Lord, the God of heaven, when I come to worship him? Shall I bring the best calves to burn as offerings to him?7Will the Lord be pleased if I bring him thousands of sheep or endless streams of olive oil? Shall I offer him my first-born child to pay for my sins? 8No, the Lord has told us what is good. What he requires of us is this: to do what is just, to show constant love, and to live in humble fellowship with our God.

In conclusion we need to look at these points:

• be quick to listen
• slow to speak
• slow to become angry
• get rid of every filthy habit and all wicked conduct
• submit to God and accept the word that he plants in your hearts, which is able to save you.
• do not deceive yourselves by just listening to his word; instead, put it into practice
• control your tongue
• care for widows and orphans
• keep yourself from being corrupted by this world 
• be humble
• love mercy

Imagine these are your New Years Resolutions this year. Pure and Godly goals!