Strong Christianity Fights for the Weak – James 1:27

There is a huge difference between outward religion and what James calls “pure religion.”

When the book of James was written, the Greeks had come up with an elaborate system of religious rituals that supposedly appeased their false, man-made gods.  (Gods like Zeus, Hermes, Apollo and Artemis)  The word James uses here for “religion” is usually used in reference to secular, man-made (and meaningless) religious rituals.

James is making a point here that some professed believers are using outward religious rituals to worship Jesus, but they don’t seem to have a genuine belief in Jesus.  The may go to church, sing along with the songs, listen to Biblical teaching and take communion, but these things are nothing more than religious rituals to them.  Their faith in Jesus is not any more real than the faith the Greeks had in their false gods.  They are worshiping Jesus kind of like secular people would worship Zeus.  It is an inauthentic faith.

James is making a startling statement in this text.  He is drawing a distinction between someone who simply practices religious rituals and someone who is a true follower of Jesus.  He is daring to suggest that merely going through religious motions is not what makes someone a believer.  Pure religion or real Christianity is the kind of faith that gets dirty.

The love of Christ compels believers to get their hands dirty in the intentional actions of loving other people.  Biblical Christianity is really messy.  It engages people in the midst of their needs.  We live in a society that thinks that love is only an emotion, but the Bible teaches us that love is putting the needs of others first and acting in their best interest.  Pure Christianity is lived out in serving others sacrificially while keeping ourselves unstained from the influences of this fallen world.

James 1:27 says, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”

The Greek word used in this passage for orphan is the word, “orphanos.”  From this word, we get our word “orphan.”  It obviously refers to a child who has lost both parents, but it is also proper to translate this word as ‘fatherless.’

In that day, losing a father was especially bad because it meant that the primary means of support was missing for the family.  Single moms who were widowed or abandoned often found themselves in a extremely difficult financial position.

Orphans and widows represent needy people who are unable to help themselves.  The widow, the orphan and the fatherless child have a special place in God’s heart.  Psalm 68:5a says that God is the, “Father of the fatherless and protector of widows.”

When we begin to think of all the young people in our city who are without parents because of death or prison as well as all the children who have been left fatherless for various reasons and all the low-income widows and single moms living in the Verde Valley, it is overwhelming to think about all the ministry opportunities we have.  There are so many different ways we are all called to invest in others.  There is a seemingly endless supply of needs.  The call in scripture to help the “least of these” is so clear that there is no reason that the church should stand aside and hope someone else will take care of these people.

It is fully appropriate to begin ministry to orphans and widows if they exist in your own family.  1 Timothy 5:8 says, “ if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”  But the opportunities to show the love of Christ certainly don’t stop with just family.  James is saying that true religion shows itself in looking out for our neighbors in need.

This morning, you may or may not be compelled to take in orphans (although some of you may decide to) but I hope that you are motivated to reach out to those in need in some way.  I hope to encourage you to get your hands dirty, to be a little uncomfortable in the name of loving and serving Jesus our Savior.

1 John 3:18-20 says, ‘”Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our hearts before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.”