Religion that is pure

James 1: 17-27, page 229 Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures. You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness. Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act – they will be blessed in their doing. If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. Sermon This is a strong metaphor about the mirror: “For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like.” It’s wonderful to have an ancient metaphor that makes sense to modern readers like this; whereas not all of us have seen the things that Christ used to explain himself, a mustard seed or a buried treasure in a field, every one of us has a mirror and knows what it is used for. The mirror has been a fixture in human civilization since 5000 BC, although it’s only been relatively recently that glass mirrors have been used. The Apostle Paul talks about seeing in a mirror dimly, which makes sense as ancient mirrors were mostly made of polished brass and the very best you could hope is to see your reflection dimly. Regardless, mirrors have been a big part of human civilization, to the point that in the story of Snow White the mirror is not a prop but an important character. The evil queen goes to her mirror for affirmation: “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” But when she doesn’t hear what she wants she is enraged calling a woodsman to murder the woman fairer than she. We all look in the mirror, and maybe ask the same question, using the mirror not just to admire our greatest physical features, but to consider just how great those physical features are. So we look to the mirror to compare how we look with how we think we are supposed to look, determining whether we measure up to the image we have in our head or not. “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” In a way, it might be nice to avoid this question – it might just be a gift to walk away from a mirror and forget how you compare, to stop worrying about it - to go away and immediately forget what you were like. Unless forgetting what you were like means seeing that piece of spinach stuck in your teeth, but not doing anything about it, instead seeing it and upon walking away forgetting it was there. But this metaphor isn’t about spinach in teeth, our passage doesn’t say, “for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what was in their teeth”. It says instead, “for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like” – not just their appearance, but their selves, their essence, on going away they immediately forget who they are. This kind of forgetfulness is common enough – kids go to school and act so uncharacteristically that when the teacher calls home to report on bad behavior their child’s actions aren’t just out of character, they’re unrecognizable. “That’s not my son you’re talking about, there must be some mistake. My little Miller would never draw a red Rudolf nose on his face with a permanent marker!” Kids go off on their own, get around a different group, and suddenly it’s as though they become different people, doing things you’d never imagine possible. Kyle Kilgore’s bald head is a case in point. Unfortunately, adults are guilty of the same thing – mild mannered dentists buy a Harley Davidson and suddenly become a do-rag wearing biker gang. Las Vegas markets itself based on the assumption that we’re all looking for a place where we can go and act completely out of character without any damage to our reputation back home with the slogan: “What happens here stays here”. Then there’s Atlanta, Georgia, who during the past decades, has worked to rise in status as a convention city where business men and women come for big meetings and expositions, but with this rise in convention status came also a rise in prostitution – for too many people, when away from home, away from the mirror, forget who they are. “Be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.” Do not be one of those who deceive themselves into thinking that who they are is separate from how they act, for it is your actions, even your actions away from home that more than anything else defines who you are. And who you are – that’s not something that you can see or know by looking at your reflection in the mirror, and maybe that’s why so many find it so easy to forget. To really know who you are you must look into the perfect law of God. When you look in the mirror, maybe what you see is what’s not quite right, what could be better, and what needs to be fixed, but when you look into the perfect law of God you see grace, and define yourself not by shortcomings, but by God who calls you beloved despite all that. Coming to terms with who you are, not in the eyes of the world who desires your anxiety and self-dissatisfaction, but in the eyes of God who desires that you live in peace and security demands that you live differently. So while you can look in the mirror and choose what to see and what you ignore, choosing to see only today putting aside whatever happened last night, life as a child of God demands that you take seriously the gift of your salvation, the gift of Christ’s sacrifice for your sake, and the implanted word that dwells in you not only when you want it to but all the time and everywhere. For you are more than you think you are. You are worth more than you realize. Therefore you cannot live a haphazard life but must be deliberate in what you say and what you do for you represent the God who saved you. Back in High School, every summer my church’s youth group would go to Mexico to build houses. Every year the night before we left I was often too excited to sleep, and I know that the leaders of our group must not have slept too much the night before either, as the reality of taking a large group of teenagers to Mexico must have been terrifying. Anything could go wrong, and often it did. In high school I had a problem with sleep walking, and late one night I woke up, only to find myself in my pajamas, a group of Mexican men laughing at me, just outside my hotel room locked out. That’s a helpless feeling right there – no keys, no knowledge of the language, and no appropriate clothes, but some helpful adult leader helped me settle back in for the night, and while I was embarrassed sleep walking is nothing compared to the trouble we all had the potential to get into there in the land of cheap cigarettes, drug cartels, and no age restrictions for the purchase of alcohol. Every year, before we were allowed to board our bus and start off on our trip, the Senior Pastor of my church would address us all, and it’s easy to remember what he said to us every single year, “ladies and gentlemen, know that while you leave this place you go representing your church, your families, and your faith. What you say and what you do will represent where you come from and what you believe, so remember who you are, and remember whose you are.” Religion that is pure, that means something, that matters, is a life lived in response to the grace we all confess God has given. Religion that is pure honors the one who we worship in spirit and in truth. Religion that is pure not only thinks good thoughts on Sunday morning, but on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, is mindful of orphans and widows, in their distress, concerned not only for your personal needs, but the needs of all God’s children. Let your life represent the God who saved you, and may everyone who listens to your words and watches your actions be amazed by the God who you serve. Amen.