True Christianity

 True Christianity is not merely affiliating with a certain church or denomination. It’s really about what God has done in your heart through faith in Jesus Christ.

James talks about “pure religion” in James 1:26-27. Belief shows itself in action.

True religion is a matter of the heart toward God, not a rigorous adherence to external rules and codes and traditions. Being truly righteous without pride is winsome; it attracts other people. But arrogant legalism that condemns and confronts at every opportunity to aggrandize one’s self, is an abomination in the sight of God.

Spurgeon said: “If your religion doesn’t make you holy it will damn you. It is simply pageantry in which to go to hell.” In that sense, external religion is like an empty husk. It may have an appearance of godliness on the outside, but it’s hollow on the inside.

The word ‘husk’ is defined as “an empty shell; a remnant.” But living faith in Christ is the true kernel that alone can satisfy the empty heart. A kernel is defined as “The central or essential part of something.”

The husk of religion may resemble the true kernel of Christianity at certain points, but unlike a Spirit-filled heart set aflame with a passion for the supremacy of Christ, external, self-righteous religion is empty at the core.

In James 1:26-27, he’s talking about the difference between worthless religion and true religion (which is a life of joyful obedience to God). You’ll notice that he uses the word “religious” in the positive sense of one who is devoted to God.

And instead of being theoretical, James remains very practical. It all boils down to a unity between the inner and the outer man in submission to God. Let’s look at these two verses in James, 1:26-27.

26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. 27 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. [ESV]

These two verses describe two different types of relgion. One is true, one is false.

James is assuming that God-centered religion in its most altruistic form can be a good thing, but only under God’s dominion.  

The worthless husk of external religion manifests a lack of self-control and a deceived heart (1:26).

That’s what verse 26 is all about. “If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.”  

 In our modern usage we would say, “that person’s religion is a joke.”  

Without personal holiness exhibited by self-control, especially control of the tongue, religious conformity is just a worthless husk. External acts and deeds may resemble the true kernel of life-changing Christianity, but that resemblance is only superficial.  

In verse 26, James addresses the whole church in his audience: “If anyone thinks…” The Bible is open about the fact that many of the people who associate with the visible church are not really devoted to Jesus Christ. 

They may be devoted to religion or a tradition or a denomination or a system of theology and nothing more. You can do all of that and still not know Jesus Christ. 

For some, church is a social outlet. For others, it’s a way to network and market yourself. For others, it’s a family tradition. But none of this is about Jesus.  

There are many people who “think they are religious” and indeed they may be externally religious.

The problem this religious person has, according to James, is that he “does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart.”  

In the Hebrew mindset, to deceive your heart is to be morally wrong and not just intellectually wrong. Worse than mental deception is heart deception.  

This self-deceit is manifested in the inability to bridle the tongue. They talk and talk and talk when their greatest need is to be quiet and listen. The more they talk, the more deceived they become.  

So what’s the big deal about bridling one’s tongue? What does that have to do with religion? Well James says a lot about the tongue in this letter. The tongue refers to our speech in general… the words that come out of our mouth.

To control your tongue is really to have a heart controlled by God’s Spirit under any circumstances. The heart is the foundation of the tongue. The first 12 verses of chapter three are all about the natural difficulty of controlling the tongue.

One of the reasons this is important is because controlling our tongue is an indicator of self-control in general. The tongue is a little microcosm of your ability to discipline every other part of your life.

Where the tongue is critical, divisive, self-righteous, or angry – James indicates that there is usually great sin hidden in that person’s heart.

When I go to the doctor for a check-up, my doctor is always wanting me to have my eyes examined by an ophthalmologist. The reason for this is that the circulatory health of the eyes is an early indicator of the circulatory system of the whole body. 

It’s a microcosm. The eyes are the first place where problems usually show up. If the eyes are good, then the rule of thumb is that the rest of the body is probably good too.

James applies this same concept to the tongue. If the tongue is under control, then the heart is probably under the restraint of God’s Spirit as well.

When your tongue is bridled, you’re revealing that the strongest impulses of the human nature have been mastered by God’s Spirit.

But the tongue is extremely difficult to control. It’s the easiest place for sin to occur.

It’s been estimated that the average person will speak about 18-thousand words in a day; that’s enough for a fifty-four-page book every day. 

In a year that amounts to sixty-six 800-page volumes! Many people, of course, speak much more than average. Up to one-fifth of the average person’s entire life is spent talking. James and Jesus both say that our mouths display our hearts.

We need to set a guard over our thoughts and words as Christians.

Guarding with you,
Pastor Kevin