Religion that is Pure and Undefiled

“If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. 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.” (James 1:26-27 ESV)

There are a lot of religious people in the world but not all of them Christian. And even among all those who call themselves “Christians,” not all are Christians in the purest biblical sense. Many are Christian in name only but not in biblical practice. Many go through the rituals of religious practice but are not true followers of God – Father, Son (Jesus Christ), and Holy Spirit. For they do not obey our Lord’s commandments (New Covenant), not in practice, but sin is their practice, instead.

All of this stems from what is stored up in their hearts, so this all comes down to who is truly their Lord (Owner-Master). If Jesus Christ is their Lord, then their worship of him will be sincere, and it will be according to the Scriptures. But if Jesus is not their Lord, then their religion will be of man and not of God and so their religion will be worthless in the sight of the Lord. So it all really comes down to who is on the throne of their lives – self, sin, and the flesh, or Christ Jesus our Lord.

Now this is not saying that if our religion (faith in Jesus Christ) is pure that we are going to be absolutely perfect in every way and that we will be totally without any error at all. I don’t believe any of us have reached that point, and I don’t believe we will be entirely perfect until Jesus Christ takes us home to be with him for eternity. But lack of perfection is never to be used as an excuse for continued and deliberate sin, and true faith delivers us from our slavery to sin so that we will now walk in holiness and in righteousness.

So, it isn’t that all of our words are going to be perfect all of the time and that we will never falter in any way in what we say. But we should be those who have our tongues under Holy Spirit control and who are guarded in what we say and in how we say it. But on the other end of this, our words should not be so guarded that we fail to speak the truth in love to one another out of concern of offending others with the truth. And Jesus set a good example for us in what we should say and what we should not say.

So, we need to think about what we say before we say it, as a matter of practice, to see whether or not what we are about to say will be honoring to the Lord or if it will be dishonoring to the Lord. And it doesn’t even have to be horrible stuff we speak, but it can be what some people might consider normal or humorous. And we should be people who speak the truth, but we should speak the truth in love and not in hate and not in mockery of others nor to bring humor to situations which are to be taken seriously.

And this isn’t just about the words that we speak, or don’t speak, but this has to do with our actions, our behaviors, and how we treat other people, too. For pure religion that is undefiled before God the Father shows itself in how we treat other people. We should be people who care about the needs of others and who are reaching out to others in their needs. But we cannot be all things to all people, so we must just follow the leading of the Spirit as to whom he would have us minister to in their needs, and in what ways.

And for our religion to be pure, in the sight of the Lord, we are to keep ourselves unstained from the world. And this can cover a whole lot of ground (subject matter). For first of all the obvious is that we are not to be those who make sin our practice, but righteousness and obedience to our Lord should be what we practice. But we are also not to take on the character, the attitudes, the values, the thinking, the philosophies, and the behaviors of this sinful world and of the ungodly of the world.

So, we must be those who examine everything that we are doing and thinking and speaking and valuing, through a spiritual lens, which is the word of God, to see whether or not God is being honored by our lives, and to see if we are serving the Lord in the ways he would have us serve him, and to check to see if what we are doing or thinking or believing or viewing or listening to is honoring or dishonoring to our Lord. For many professing Christians are living very worldly lives, at least here in America.

And then we must respond to the conviction and to the leading of the Holy Spirit with regard to what changes need to be made in our lives. And then we must, by the Spirit, begin making those changes, putting off what should not be part of our lives, and putting on love, faithfulness, honesty, integrity, moral purity, kindness, compassion, truth, righteousness and obedience to our Lord and to his commands under the New Covenant. And then we must be following our Lord in surrender to his will day by day until the very end.

For if sin is what we practice, and not righteousness, and not obedience to our Lord, the Scriptures teach us that we will not inherit eternal life with God, regardless of what faith in Jesus Christ we professed with our lips. So we need to take this to heart, for not everyone who says to Jesus, “Lord, Lord,” is going to enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one DOING the will of God the Father who is in heaven. For he also said that to come after him we must deny self, take up our cross daily, and follow (obey) him.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg 

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