1. Last week we looked into the mirror to see if our religion or faith is real. We looked into God’s word and then we looked at ourselves to see if we reflect the image of a genuine believer.
2. James shares with us three marks, evidences or signs that our faith is authentic. The first one we talked about last week.
3. One sign of true faith is to keep a reign on our tongue or to control our tongue. Our tongues are to CONTROLLED by the Holy Spirit.
4. This week we consider the other two marks. And to help you remember all three - lets describe them as CONTROLLED, COMPASSIONATE, CLEAN. If you remember anything from these two messages - remember these three words - CONTROLLED, COMPASSIONATE, CLEAN. As said, we have talked about control last week.
5. And so let us consider the second mark. COMPASSIONATE. If our faith is true we will be compassionate.
6. James says that religion that our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress.
a. We are to look after - the Greek word for this is episkeptomai. Jesus used this word in Matthew 25
Mat 25:36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
Mat 25:43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
This word is translated as "visit" in the KJV - that we are to visit the orphans and the widows. The words means more than to simply make a social call. We are to visit them so that we may be aware of their needs and in order to take care of their needs.
b. In other words we are be concerned about them and have compassion for them that moves us to action.
7. The reason why this compassion is a mark of true religion is that this compassion is something that reflects the heart of God. Throughout the Bible, God cares for the orphans and the widows. He cares about those in distress and tells us to care for them.
a. And so, although James is talking about orphans and widows specifically, God calls us to care for all those in need
Deu 10:17-19 For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt.
b. And this love is to be expressed in action
Deu 14:27-29 And do not neglect the Levites living in your towns, for they have no allotment or inheritance of their own. At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year’s produce and store it in your towns, so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
c. God says a couple of verses later
Deu 15:4 However, there should be no poor among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you,
d. Later he says in Deu 24:17 Do not deprive the alien or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge
e. Things do not change in the New Testament. In Matt 25, from which we quoted Jesus says that when we provide for those in need we are providing for Him.
f. In fact our love for Him cannot be separated from our looking after, our loving, the poor and the needy.
g. And so James reminds the early Christians and he reminds us that we must continue to act in compassion. To all people but especially to other believers in need
Gal 6:10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
8. Does this mean we have to give, to look after, all people in distress? Are there not those who would become dependent on us or abuse us?
9. In our passage from 1 Timothy we receive some specific instructions that show we must use discernment in looking after widows. And we should use discernment in all acts of compassion.
10. In regards to believing widows, Paul gives the following guidelines. I don’t believe these guidelines are guidelines to be following in each act of kindness since they have to do with those who are placed on the list of widows - those who receive regular, ongoing care. Not deal with single time of need, although we then also need to be wise.
11. And so as we consider the specific guidelines for helping widows, we learn some principles as well.
12. 1st - her own family should put their religion into practice by looking after their own family. See much of this in our church - how well families look after older parents. I could share many examples I see. You show your faith is genuine in doing this. And not only that, but you are saying thanks to your parents for what they have done for you and are pleasing God. Today, in helping others, we must not overlook this family responsibility.
13. - 2nd - the widow herself needed to qualify. Some of these qualifications were cultural - because of the times. She was to be over 60, faithful, known for her good deeds, hospitable, a servant at heart, and herself help those in trouble. I believe this means that she does not become dependent and feel she has nothing to offer.
a. Those we help often see themselves as victims. As receivers rather than as givers. And so we must let them know that they also have responsibilities. And if our helping them is abused then we do not help. We don’t give money to a person to buy alcohol so he can feed his addiction. We need to help person remember their own responsibilities .
14. 3rd - younger widows are encouraged to remarry. Being a widow could lead her to sin. Her own desires might overcome the desire to live for Christ, as she may have pledged when she was placed on the list of widows. Not only that but they develop bad habits - gossiping and others. Again, we need to let those whom we help break their dependency and take responsibility for themselves, if they can. Seen those with needs become lazy and take no responsibility for themselves. Given a home to live in but do nothing to look after it.
15. If you are like me, I find it hard to deal with those in need. Sometimes I feel they are a bother and they use me. Then I might feel guilty. What is important is that I feel compassion towards them. But if I have clear guidelines which I try to apply to situations, then I can make sure that I am acting responsibility and not due to a lack of compassion.
16. Is your religion genuine? Oh, you pray, worship, study the word, teach - but do you look after those in distress? If not, is you faith genuine? CONTROLLED, COMPASSIONATE
17. Now the last mark. CLEAN. James says that a mark of a true believer is that he keeps himself from being polluted by the world. The Greek here says that we are to be unspotted or without spot. We are to be unblemished with the ways or pollution of the world. By world is means the world’s system, the world’s ways of doing things.
a. 1 John 2:16 For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world. And so the world, according to John is the cravings of sinful man - our worldly desires, the lust of the eyes - false desires, and boasting - our ego or pride.
b. Paul refers to the following the wisdom, ways, and principles of this world:
1 Cor 1:20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
Eph 2:2 ..in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
Col 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.
c. As Christians, our values and ways did not differ from those of the world we live in. We could follow God’s way and worlds way - for most part. But society is changing - and there is less and less overlap between God’s way and the world’s way. And that means we need to decide whose way we are going.
d. Jesus said Mat 6:24 "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. The word for money is mammon or world good or profit. The world’s ways becomes gods to us.
18. And so I ask you are you clean or polluted, spotted? The world pollutes us through television, music, books, radio. We are bombarded by worldly pollution - acid rain is the least of our problems. When I was young one would never hear a bad word on televison. Now anything goes, and ungodly relationships like that of Ellen Degeneris are flaunted before our eyes.
19. If we let it. We need to look at what we are taking in. We need to look at selves and say - what is of God and what is of the world? We live in the world but we are not of this world. "Do I bring God’s purity into the world or is it polluting me? Am I a light on a hill that all can see or has the pollution within me blocked the light of Christ?"
20. Paul tells us what to do. Rom 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Our mind is renewed by the Holy Spirit, but we must listen to the Spirit. We must take in the word of God.
21. Well, we have looked at the three marks of pure and faultless religion. Is your faith genuine? Read James 1:26,27. We will all fail at times, need to confess and ask God to cleanse us and purify us, through and through. But if we do not live according to these three marks, subject to some failures, is our faith real?
22. Each day you wake up this week remember three words - CONTROLLED, COMPASSIONATE, CLEAN. Ask God to enable you to control your tongue, to be compassionate, and to be clean of the worlds pollution. At end of day ask - "Was my tongue controlled? Was I compassionate? Was I clean?"
