B, Post Pentecost 15 Proper 17 - James 1:26-27 "The Heart of the Matter"
The first is the Song
of Solomon, with its characters, a man and a woman, yearning to be with each
other, physically and emotionally — sexually.
The epistle of
James, appears to dive into a justification debate where James seems to contradict
Paul in saying, “You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.” (James 2:24 ESV) James claims
that just being a hearer of the word is insufficient for those who have been
brought forth by the word of truth.
Finally, we hear
Jesus engage with the Pharisees who question why Jesus’ disciples do not wash but
rather eat with defiled hands. To which Jesus gives a list of evils that comes
from within the heart and defiles a person.
One might ask, “What
is the heart of the matter?” in these seemingly random texts here before us
today.
However, these
texts can engage us in what is arguably one of the most confused areas of the
Christian life, which surround two of the simplest words, “be” and “do”!
What is it to be a
Christian? What is it to do Christian things,
or activities? Does your identity, who
you are, come from what you do? Or do
your deeds happen because of your nature?
If you were to ask
someone, “why don’t orange trees produce apples?” I suspect after strange looks they would
reply, “because orange trees produce oranges and apple trees produce apples!”
In the same way,
we are called human beings! Therefore, from
our being human we do human things!
Who upon waking up,
had to tell themselves to wake up? That’s
the job of an alarm clock, or a full bladder! Who here having woken, had to tell themselves
to breathe? No! You were breathing
already before you thought about doing anything. The doing of human things occurs because we are human beings, being human!
So why is it we
get the being and doing of Christianity so confused and back-to-front? How do
you hear the following?
“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)
What do you make of
the word “religious” here in the text? Are
you religious? What is your
religion? Most of us would think of religion
as what is our denomination; our religion is Lutheran! Or failing that; our religion is Christian! But is this what the text is asking of religion?
Let’s hear the statement
again, but with a variation. If anyone
thinks he is Lutheran and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart,
this person’s Lutheranism is worthless. Or,
if anyone thinks he is Christian and does not bridle his tongue but deceives
his heart, this person’s Christianity is worthless. Is Lutheranism or Christianity, the same as religion,
as being religious? Understanding, what is
being religious, will remove the confusion of the doing and being of Christianity?
Many people are
religious, but most are not Christian.
Then again those who are faithful Christians are not necessarily
religious at all. Those on the fringes
of the congregation are often heard saying, “Pastor, I’m not very religious!” And
they’re surprised by my standard response, “that’s good I’m not religious
either!”
So, what is the
heart of the matter? What is religion? What is Christianity? Is there a difference? I believe there is!
This is where we
can look at the relationship of the man and woman in the Song of Solomon. Not just the physical/sexual relationship but
the spirit of the relationship that blesses the proper workings of a relationship
in marriage.
The yearning of
the couple to be with each other is exactly that… to be with each other! This is more than just sexually but to be a
part of each other’s lives. The
blessings of doing things in the relationship are in addition to being in the
relationship! The spirit of a healthy marriage
is to be with each other.
Or picture a poet,
a writer and reciter of verse. How dysfunctional
would it be for a professional poet to never publish what he’s written. Or, to never recite it in the hearing of
others. The heart of a poet, the spirit
of a poet is to produce poetry for public pleasure.
What is the spirit
of religion, and is it the same spirit that’s found in Christianity? The reality is Christianity is religiously
extreme. Christianity and religion are similar
but they’re spiritually different and it’s what brought Jesus into conflict with
the Pharisees. The same similarity but
spiritual difference is where we find it difficult to differentiate between being
religious and being a believer in Jesus Christ.
At its heart the
spirit of religion is a yearning to transit death into an afterlife of sorts. All religions have some set of works for this
to occur, be it Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and the various new age religions in
vogue today. However, Christianity is
different in that at its heart only one man was ever religious, in the true
sense of the word, and that man is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Greater than the yearning of a man and woman
is the spirit of Jesus’ love for humanity and for God.
Jesus came into
conflict with the Pharisee party, not because they and he were different, but because
they were the same. Although the same, their
spirit, their yearning, was for a very different purpose. Remember that Jesus said at the sermon on the
mount, “unless your
righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter
the kingdom of heaven.”
(Matthew 5:20 ESV) To put it
in terms of religion, Jesus wants you to realise that unless your religion or
deeds exceeds that of the Pharisees, you won’t be going to heaven!
That disqualifies
every one of you, and me too! The
righteousness of the Pharisees was exceptional, but it was not good enough! Similarly, if you seek to be doers of the word
like a Pharisee, that too, is not good enough either, despite what James seems
to tell us! However, Jesus’ righteousness
exceeds that of the Pharisees! What he
did as the Word incarnate in flesh was, a deed, “a doing of the word” second to
none.
The heart of the
matter is the spirit of desire that dwelt in Jesus is different to all others who
seek to be doers of the word, or doers of anything for that matter! Jesus tells us the heart of every human
produces evil things and these defile every person. The heart of the matter is the spirit of a
person is not a doer of what pleases God.
In this way Jesus
is the only one whose religion exceeds that of the Pharisees. He not only exceeded their righteousness, but it
was done in the spirit God intended it to be done. Unfortunately, all pharisaic righteousness
done in Jesus’ day, right through to today, is a righteousness or religious
activity that glorifies the self, and says, “Look how good I am because
of what I’ve done!”
The spirit of
Jesus’ religiosity or righteousness says, “Look at what I’ve done for
you, because I love our Father, and seek to do his will!” Yours and my religion or deeds are worthless,
whereas Jesus’ religion or deeds are worthy!” His deeds gift us and grace us with our Christian
being!
But what of James’
command to be doers of the word and not only hearers? This is where we are to know the heart of the
matter. To not only be hearers of God’s
word but to believe the word is implanted within. The Holy Spirit works in you, so you allow it
to work. The Holy Spirit wills you to
believe in the one the Father has sent, namely Jesus Christ, implanted within.
The heart of the
matter is not your human heart, that’s the heart of all your trouble. For us to be doers of the word, requires us
to believe, allow our human being to be daily drowned in repentance, so a heart
of faith in Jesus might be lived in us by the Holy Spirit.
“Every good gift and every perfect
gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.” (James 1:17a ESV) What are these gifts? Forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation, in
Jesus Christ.
In the weeks to come,
James continues to differentiate, in following chapters, between the dead deeds
of unspiritual religiosity and the deeds of those who trust in the implanted word,
which allows us to endure in the gifts of God that lead to eternal life!
Humans do sinful human
things because we’re being human. But you do Christian things because the Holy
Spirit is making you holy, having heard and received the implanted word, Jesus
Christ the word made flesh.
The heart of the matter is: you not only do the works of faith; that is, believing in Jesus Christ (John 6:29). But trusting in Jesus, you do even greater works than the works he did while on earth (John 14:12). Amen.
