True Faith Involves Showing Character
True Faith Involves Showing Character
If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
—James 1:26–27
An inordinate amount of counterfeit Christianity seems to be cropping up. James was striking at this when he said, “If anyone among you thinks he is religious.” Many people do, indeed, consider themselves religious. However, many approach religion like some kind of ecclesiastical cafeteria line. Some think they can go through the Bible picking and choosing commands they want to obey and leaving others for someone else. There are those who come across “Do not steal” and put it on their tray while passing up others like “Do not commit adultery.” And, in the words of James, they still consider themselves religious, but their Christian faith is a sham.
As we’ve seen, credibility in the Christian life involves knowing Christ and sowing consistency. It also involves showing character. And genuine Christian character is evident in three ways: by our conversation, our concern, and our conduct.
THE EVIDENCE OF OUR CONVERSATION
Our Christian character is shown in the way we converse. James said that those who consider themselves religious but don’t “bridle [their] tongue” are deceiving themselves, and their religion is “useless” (James 1:26). In short, it’s just an empty show.
The word we translate deceive can also mean “cheat.” People who cannot control what comes out of their mouth—whether it is vile speech or gossip or slander or lies or whatever—are cheating themselves in the process. We have all known people like this and seen how they are actually deceiving themselves about their spiritual health.
When James said this type of conversation results in being “useless,” he picked a word that literally means “without achieving its intended result or goal.” A futile, fruitless religion is of no value to anyone.
Our character is often revealed in our conversation before anyone has a chance to observe our conduct. In James’s words, it is therefore wise to “bridle [our] tongue.”
THE EVIDENCE OF OUR CONCERN
True faith is demonstrated by our character, and our character is evident in what concerns us as well as by what we talk about. James continued: “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble.”
Did James mean that proof of a pure religion is occasionally paying some of these folks a friendly visit? Not at all. James chose two of the most recognizably needy groups of people: orphans and widows. Remember, in the first century there were no life insurance policies or Social Security benefits, no orphanages or retirement homes. If the breadwinner died, orphaned children became victims of the street, often abused and traded by slave owners. Widows had no social standing, and some turned to immorality to provide for themselves. As Christians, we are to show mercy and kindness to people in such great need, especially to those who can never reciprocate.
But don’t misunderstand. James wasn’t suggesting we can be saved by good works. Salvation never results from good works, but it always results in good works.
James’s command to visit those in need is a call to “look in on, to inspect.” The Greek word literally means “to care for” these individuals. The word means much more than paying a simple visit to these people. After all, a true sign of Christian character is a genuine concern for anyone in need.
THE EVIDENCE OF OUR CONDUCT
James completed this initial chapter with an admonition to us to keep “unspotted from the world.” The world system swirling around us has its own way of polluting many who are called by His name.
My wife often shops in a clearance center of a well-known national department store that is located not far from our home. Everything is marked down in price. She delights in telling me how much money she saves by shopping there so often. On an occasion there was a huge table with all sorts of odds and ends, shirts and shorts, sweaters and sneakers and the like piled upon it. A sign on the table read something to the effect, “Slightly soiled . . . Greatly reduced in price.” How those words should penetrate your heart when you think of them—“Slightly soiled . . . greatly reduced in price.” How many Christians have had those words written across their lives because of their inconsistent and ungodly conduct? Christians who allow their lives to become spotted and stained by sin lose much of the value of their Christian witness.
When James challenged us to keep “unspotted from the world,” it was not a call to some kind of monkish isolationism. James was talking about insulation, not isolation. After all, Jesus Himself called us to be in the world but not of the world (John 17:14–17). As always, He is our example. And Jesus did not die wearing a starched white shirt with a nice tie, on a golden cross, on a mahogany communion table, or in an air-conditioned church with a high steeple and lots of stained glass. Jesus died out there among people who were sweating and cursing and gambling. And that is where He has told us to take His glorious good news, the gospel.
And so that our character shines brightly and credibly, we insulate ourselves from the world’s influence by first knowing Christ, then by sowing consistency in our lives, and, finally, by showing godly character in our conversation, our concerns, and our conduct.
As we, the church, seek to win new generations to Christ, one of the greatest issues we face is a credibility crisis of our own making. Are we credible witnesses for what we say we believe? The world is watching and waiting to see.
Just Do It! Our Lord ended the greatest sermon ever preached—the Sermon on the Mount—by telling the story of two different men who took the same architectural plans and built identical houses. When construction was complete, the houses looked alike . . . until the storm came. The winds blew with galelike force, the rain pelted the houses, and one fell flat while the other stood firm. Jesus explained that the house that fell flat had been built on shifting sand, and the one that still stood had been built on a foundation of solid rock. Jesus then revealed that the wise builder represented those who hear the Word of God and put it into practice, who do it (Matthew 7:24). In the words of James, “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only” (1:22). Just do it!
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