Sermon Tone Analysis

“If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.”[1]

Someone has said, “You can’t believe half of what you hear, but you can repeat it.”

This points out a real problem in the church today—we have too many people with unbridled tongues.

James surveyed the churches of his day and drew a similar conclusion.

However, he did not merely stop at noting the existence of the problem; he exposed the still deeper problem that an unbridled tongue is a symptom of a darkened heart.

In fact, James demonstrates that an unbridled tongue indicates that an individual has never been born from above and is a pretender within the Family of God.

In order to have a more thorough understanding of James’ concern, I invite you to listen to the verse before us as treated in other translations.

“Anyone who sets himself up as ‘religious’ by talking a good game is self-deceived.

This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air” [*The Message*].

“If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless” [*New Living Translation*].

“People who think they are religious but say things they should not say are just fooling themselves.

Their ‘religion’ is worth nothing” [*New Century Version*].

It is difficult to find an English word which precisely captures the intent of the Greek.

The Greek noun */threskeía/* refers properly to the external rites of religion, and thus speaks of over scrupulous devotion to external forms; it speaks of “ritualism.”

It is the ceremonial service of religion.

It is perhaps significant to note that in the *English Standard Version* of the Bible, the word “religion” occurs only five times.

Three times it is used in a negative or pejorative manner [*Acts 25:19*; *Colossians 2:23*; *James 1:26*].

Once it is used in a neutral fashion [*Acts 26:5*].

And once, following our text, it is used in a positive manner after it is defined [*James 1:27*].

In the text, and in the verse which follows, as well as in *Acts 26:5* where Paul presents His defence of His past worship, the term */threskeía/* or a cognate speaks of external practises of worship.

When Festus laid his argument before Agrippa, he used a different term that could be translated “superstition,” though it was not necessarily meant to be negative [e.g.

Paul, addressing those assembled at the Areopagus, *Acts 17:22*].

The passage in Colossians uses yet a different term which could be translated “will worship,” referring to a self-made religion.

Undoubtedly as result of our fallen condition, people tend to practise */eisegesis/* rather than */exegesis/* whenever approaching the Word of God.

That is, we tend to read our experience into the text instead of permitting the Word to define our experience.

We are more comfortable adding to the Word through applying a hermeneutic of our own instead of permitting the Word to hold us accountable to God.

The text before us this day can easily become one into which we insert our imagination about what James is saying rather than hearing what he is saying if we are not careful.

However, let’s permit the Word to speak to us today so that we will be equipped to honour God.

 

*Man’s Religious Efforts are Corrupt* — Broadly speaking, religion is either the external, observable evidence of our life in Christ, or it is an effort to make ourselves acceptable to God.

Thus, religion is indispensable to the Christian Faith.

However, the religion we are taught in the Word of God is, like all true aspects of our relationship to God, liable to counterfeiting.

James is concerned about those who have deceived themselves.

When we talk about accountability to God and accountability to one another in the church, we are really talking about the reality of our religion.

The text focuses our gaze on an individual who thinks he or she is religious.

James’ use of the word implies that he has in view people who are careful to fulfil their religious duties.

They have the ritual down pat; they know all the right words to say.

They know all the things that are required to make others think of them as mature Christians.

We should determine what is involved in selling oneself as religious.

As we explore this thought, keep in mind that such individuals are said to be self-deceived.

James is confronting people that are comfortable with their religion, stripping away the façade that they have carefully erected in an effort to make themselves acceptable to God, or at least to divert unwelcome attention from true followers of Christ.

Have you ever had someone accuse you of being religious?

This is normally stated as an accusation and often in a dismissive manner when someone is attempting to explain your actions.

On several occasions, especially when I have spoken to an individual concerning their relationship to Christ, the person responded by saying, “Oh, you must be religious?”

What they mean is that I must go to church and take seriously the various acts of worship that are associated with a church.

Man tends to define religion by the external practises of the Faith.

The liturgies of the churches are what most people use to identify religious people.

A religious individual is someone who does what is required by his or her religion.

Religious people know the */vocabulary/* of the church, they know all the */social conventions/* that define what a Christian is, they are adept at */worship/*.

These three areas of life—vocabulary, social convention and worship—must be addressed if a person is to be thought “religious.”

James makes us uncomfortable precisely because he exposes these activities as deceptive, especially when they are carried out in the absence of a vital relationship to the Father.

In fact, one can participate in all the activities of your religion, with the sole result of self-deception.

Think of these three areas of religious expression.

Primary among the activities that qualify an individual as religious is the appropriation of religious terminology—religious people learn to speak religiously.

During the days of the judges, a regional civil war broke out between the Gileadites and the Ephraimites.

Jephthah led the men of Gilead in capturing the fords of the Jordan, trapping the warriors from Ephraim and Manasseh on the wrong side of the river.

The Ephraimites, of course, tried to escape by crossing over the river.

However, whenever they tried to pass the men of Gilead they would be seized.

The Gileadites developed a password in order to detect Ephraimites who pretended to be Gileadites when captured.

The word was */Shibboleth/*, which the Ephraimites (who had trouble with the “*/sh/*” sound) could only pronounce */Sibboleth/*.

This worked perfectly on the unsuspecting enemy [*Judges 12:4–6*].

We Christians have our */Shibboleths/*, but they are much easier to pick up.

Use these passwords with the right inflection and you will be considered */Christian/*.

Let’s explore some common “born again lingo.”

Whenever a Christian says, “That blessed my heart,” they mean, “I enjoyed that.”

Another common expression is “bless the food,” which is the prayer before a meal.

We don’t pray, we “go to the Lord.”

We Christians “share,” except in our experience “sharing” allows us to spread news without being gossips.

An “unspoken request” allows us to ask for prayer without giving the messy details of why we are in trouble.

“Fellowship” is when two or more Christians get together to talk, to have fun, or especially to eat.

It is truly amazing how quickly people learn the argot of Christianity, and religious people know how to put other religious people at ease by using the proper language.

In the same way, if you show the “right” socio-religious attitudes toward alcohol and tobacco, social issues, and modesty and style, you will be thought religious or pious.

The behavioural mores of evangelical Christianity sadly have been made easier by the gradual alignment of many Christians with the materialism and hedonism of the secular culture in which we are immersed.

We are practically indistinguishable from the world!

I am astonished at how precisely many Christians conduct their lives outwardly, while justifying a disgusting witches brew of wickedness that is condemned by the Word of God.

On one occasion, I precipitated a firestorm in a church when I rebuked the congregation for gossip and bitterness toward one another.

I accomplished at least one thing.

They quit castigating one another and focused their rage on me.

I pointed out that they were proud of the “purity” of their lives.

I commented that they boasted, “We don’t smoke; we don’t chew; and we don’t go with the girls that do.”

Pointing them to *Jude 19*, *Titus 2:12*, and *1 Corinthians 3:1-4*, I reminded them that jealousy and strife, malice and maledictions, to say nothing of a divisive attitude were marks of worldliness.

The rage of that congregation toward me was palpable.

That was many years ago, and since that time I have learned that they were probably not the exception; rather they exemplified the rule among professing Christians.

We make artificial rules, and when we attain the standard we have set, we announce to all and sundry that we are pure and godly.

However, it is obvious throughout Christendom that we always reserve the right to invoke an unwritten “exception rule” when our friends or family fail to meet the standard we have instituted and approved.

Earlier, I pointed out that the word “religious” as James uses it in our text denotes */outward worship/*, speaking of the external actions associated with our various liturgies.

“Worship,” in the estimate of a surprising number of the professed people of God, means enthusiastic singing with just the right instrumental mix; and we must leave the church feeling good about ourselves.

It has been well said that it is easier to introduce heresy than it is to change the liturgy of a church.

Consequently, if people do not “feel” right, they are prepared to go to war to ensure that they can feel good about their “worship.”

May I suggest that if the criterion for worship is how you feel afterwards, you are deceived, and it is a deception of the most egregious sort, for you are self-deceived.

Nevertheless, we ardently pursue “worship,” never realising that ultimately worship is the spontaneous response of an individual who has met the Risen Son of God.  “Worship” cannot be worked up, worked out or worked down, it happens when God meets with us.

If we carry a Bible and are somewhat familiar with it, if we read the “right” books, if we attend church regularly, sing the hymns, apparently listen, and especially if we give generously, we can easily deceive ourselves into thinking we are properly and adequately religious.

Our efforts can produce a deadly religious delusion!

How many Christians insist they go to church for to “worship,” yet look for more exciting “worship” because they quickly grow bored with what they currently have?

Like addicts searching for the next high, too many “worshippers” flit from church to church seeking the best “worship.”

Worship, if it is truly New Testament worship, brings us face-to-face with the Living God through His Word.

When we depend upon a hypnotic rhythm and repetitious cries, we are scarcely different from the prophets of Baal.

Refresh your memory of that incident by turning to the account in *1 Kings 18:26-**28a*.

The prophets of Baal “prayed to Baal from morning until noon, shouting ‘Baal, answer us!’

But there was no sound, and no one answered.

They danced around the altar they had built.