Truths About True Religion
James 1:26-27
James 1:22 (NIV)
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
James 1:26–27 (NIV)
26 If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.
27 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.
1st Criteria: Our Conversation
James 1:26 (NIV)
If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.
1. Realize we will be judged by our words
James 2:12 (NIV)
Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom,
“Speak in such a manner and act in such a manner as those who are about to be judged by the law of liberty.”
James 3:1 (NLT)
Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly.
James 4:11 (NIV)
Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it...
2 Corinthians 5:10 (NIV)
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
2. Recognize the power of our words
Proverbs 18:21 (NLT)
The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences.
THINK Before You Speak
T Is it True?
H Is it Helpful?
I Is it Inspiring?
N Is it Necessary?
K Is it Kind?
Ephesians 4:29 (NIV)
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
2nd Criteria: Our Compassion
James 1:27a (NIV)
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress...
Psalm 68:5–6 (MSG)
5 Father of orphans, champion of widows, is God in his holy house.
6 God makes homes for the homeless,
Exodus 22:22–24 (MSG)
22 "Don't mistreat widows or orphans.
23 If you do and they cry out to me, you can be sure I'll take them most seriously;
24 I'll show my anger and come raging among you with the sword, and your wives will end up widows and your children orphans.”
Deuteronomy 27:19 (NLT)
'Cursed is anyone who denies justice to foreigners, orphans, or widows.'
Isaiah 1:17 (NLT)
Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows.
1 Timothy 5:3 (NLT)
Take care of any widow who has no one else to care for her.
1 Timothy 5:4, 8 (NLT)
4 But if she has children or grandchildren, their first responsibility is to show godliness at home and repay their parents by taking care of them. This is something that pleases God.
8 But those who won't care for their relatives, especially those in their own household, have denied the true faith. Such people are worse than unbelievers
They [widows] represent the poor, defenseless member of society. They suffer poverty and exploitation.
—Daniel M. Doriani, James
3rd Criteria: Our Consecration
James 1:27 (NIV)
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.
1 John 5:19 (NLT)
We know that we are children of God and that the world around us is under the control of the evil one.
James 4:4 (NLT)
Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.
1 John 2:15 (NLT)
Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.
1 Peter 2:11 (NLT)
Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls.
How do we stay clean?
1st Repent
2nd Replace
3rd Recommit
