True Religion

Religion has become a bad word even among people who are the church. I myself am prone to think that, as not being religious but more relational.

I see being a Christian as relating to the Father through a relationship with Jesus. In that respect I see Christianity as more about relationship and less about rules, rituals, and traditions.

In James 1:26-27 James talks about what true, pure religion is.

The word he uses for religion has as its root word a crying out to God. When James talks about religion he is not talking about rules and rituals. His talking about relationship.

James 1:26-27
If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this; to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

James gives us three ways to measure our relationship with God, our religion, and see if it is acceptable to God the Father.

#1: Do we have a tight rein on our tongue?

In 2 Timothy 1:7 Paul tells that we have not been given a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control.

Peter mentions self-control in 2 Peter 1:6. Self-control is one of the flavors of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23.

One of the indications that we are filled with the Spirit is that what we say is being controlled by God's Spirit.

Colossians 4:6 tells us that our speech should be seasoned with salt.
Ephesians 4:29 tells us that our talk should be wholesome.
Ephesians 4:29 tells us that our talk should also build others up.

The only way our words can conform to what God's Word tells us they should be is by applying the truth of Ephesians 5:18. We are to be continually controlled by the Holy Spirit.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is allowing the Holy Spirit to direct and control what we say.

#2: Do we help the powerless?

James mentions helping the orphans and widows in their distress.

Orphans and widows were the most helpless and powerless people of James' day.

Truly being a follower of Jesus means that we help, defend, and fight for the helpless, the powerless, the hurting of our day.

The powerless people of our day would include:
Orphans
Widows
Homeless
The Oppressed
The Persecuted
The Hungry
The Fearful
The Abused

God's people, the church, are to be the champion of the powerless.

Jesus in Matthew 25:31-46 gives very strong emphasis to helping these very types of people. He indicates that He measures how we serve Him by how we serve the powerless.

 Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is serving the powerless people as Jesus did.

#3: Do we keep ourselves from being defined by the values of the world?

In Deuteronomy 14:2 and 26:18 God calls Israel to be His peculiar people. They were to be different than all the rest of the people on earth to picture to the world God's unique character.

In 1 Peter 2:9 God's people the church are called:

A Chosen Race
A Royal Priesthood
A Holy Nation
A People for His Own Possession

The purpose of being a unique people is to proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. We as the church are to display the awesome character of Jesus.

The word polluted means to be stained.

Jesus is pure, faultless, and sinless.

When we surrender our lives to Him He declares us righteous (pure, faultless, free from the penalty and power of sin.)

We are not to let the world put its mark on us but we are to let Jesus, by the presence and work of His Spirit, mark us as belonging to Him.

It is possible by the work of the Holy Spirit to reflect Jesus to a world that needs Him.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is to be marked by the Holy Spirit as belonging to God and not the world.

Religion not characterized by these three characteristics is worthless.

It is worthless because being a Christian is having the image of Jesus formed in you and being used by Jesus to impact others to surrender their lives to Him.

Only when our lives are characterized by:
Speech controlled by the Holy Spirit
Lives spent serving the powerless
Lives marked by the Holy Spirit
can we reflect Jesus and share Jesus with others.

People will not listen to what we say we believe until they first see what we believe. Many people know what we as followers of Jesus are against. We need to show them what we are for.

Jesus in John 14:6 says that He is the way, the truth, and the life. We as His followers have been given the privilege to show the world that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

With Pure Religion Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                                            Joe