Can I Worship God Without Loving Orphans?James 1:27
From the title of my message, it might appear that I will focus all my thoughts on the ever-increasing orphan crisis in the world. I’m not going to do that. But rather I am speaking about the growing crisis of religious activity that does not impassion us for social justice and personal holiness. Therefore, what appears to be a crisis among orphans may actually be a crisis of inauthentic worship.
The best way to describe inauthentic worship is a display of religion that focuses on going into and out of a religious service without being motivated to a life of practical compassion and personal purity. If our religious activity does not include those two components, the Scripture says that is neither authentic nor acceptable;
James 1
(27) Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
James uses the word religion because it’s a word that is universally understood. Everyone agrees that religion involves the worship of God. Obviously there is much debate among competing religions about the right path that takes us to God. As revealed by the very next verse James declares that this path is a person. Here he describes those who know God as;
James 2
(1) believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ,
Even though James knows that the way to the Father is surely through the Son, it is not His goal to explain why Jesus Christ is supreme above all other religious leaders and philosophies. Rather than focusing on religious teaching He focuses on religious behavior. His primary concern is whether or not our religious devotion leads us to behavior that honors God and reflects the values of His heart.
For those people who say that the heavy-duty theology of Romans and Galatians is difficult for them to understand, they should love the book of James. For instead of delving into deep doctrinal discussions about justification by faith, James shows us what true faith looks like. Rather than defining terms like sanctification, he illustrates how a sanctified life behaves. In this case he says that an authentic relationship with God will always produce two things, social justice and personal holiness.
James 1
(27) Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Now when James mentions caring for the poor and avoiding moral pollution, he is not providing an exhaustive description of Christianity. Following Christ is more than this but it will always include this. And if it doesn’t include this, it’s not acceptable to God.
The best way to understand the concept of acceptable religion is to look at its opposite. Which in this case is worthless religion – a phrase which James uses in the preceding verse.
James 1
(26) If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.
In verse 27 James spoke of religion that was acceptable and now at the end of verse 26 he speaks of religion that is worthless. In this situation what makes the religion worthless and unacceptable is unhealthy, unholy, uncontrolled speech.
Many people demonstrate by what they say outside of church that they do not believe what they said inside the church. If you consider yourself religious yet allow your tongue to say whatever it wants to say, you are deceived about your relationship with God. In fact God says that kind of religion has no value at all. It’s worthless.
This is the third time in this chapter that James has cautioned people about being deceived by claiming something to be true that is not true. Avoiding a deceived life is the theme of this section of Scripture. He first told us not to be deceived by thinking that other people are responsible for our sin – especially God.
James 1
(14) but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed…(16) Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. (17) Every good and perfect gift is from above,
Don‘t be deceived. God would never lead you to sin. He wants you to experience higher pleasures than sin can ever offer. We sin not because God leads us there but because we submit to evil desires within us.
He then offers a second caution against the deceived life by pointing to an unresponsive heart.
James 1
(22) Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
Here James is saying that if you consider yourself religious simply because you enjoy observing what takes place in church, you have deceived yourself. The true condition of your heart is revealed not because you think a song or message was great, but because the truth you heard greatly affected your life. If your heart is not submissive and obedient to the words you hear, you are deceiving yourself if you say that you have worshiped God.
And then as we as stated a moment ago he concludes this section on deception by referring to an improper use of the tongue.
James 1
(26) If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.
So after three strong cautions against living a deceived life, and after concluding that behavior like this demonstrates that our religion is worthless, he then shifts gears and describes the kind of religion that is acceptable to God. This brings us back to our opening verse.
James 1
(27) Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Do you now see why it was necessary to examine the context of these words? Because now we understand that one can be very religious yet very unacceptable to God. There is a type of religion that He accepts and there is a type of religion He does not accept. And the type of religion God accepts is marked by social compassion and moral purity.
As I studied this verse I found myself asking two questions;
1. Why does acceptable worship include ministry to the weak?
2. What is the connection between ministry to the weak and moral purity?
1. Why does acceptable worship include ministry to the weak? (a) It reveals God’s heart for the world
Of the dozens of Scriptures which describe God’s attitude toward a hurting world, the following is one of my favorites;
Psalm 68
(4) Sing to God, sing praise to his name, extol him who rides on the clouds--his name is the LORD-- and rejoice before him. (5) A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows…(6) God sets the lonely in families,
We are commanded love orphans and widows because they represent two of the most needy groups in ancient society. And God loves them and cares very much about meeting their needs. At the heart of the Universe is a God of mercy who bends down in active sympathy to extend kindness to those in need;
He clothed Adam and Eve when they were naked and ashamed.
He relieved Hagar’s fear when there was no water for her weeping son.
He was moved by Israel’s misery as they cried out from their slavery.
He answered Elijah’s prayer and restored the life of a widow’s son.
The story of Scripture is the story of God extending mercy to the weak. As the song writer says
Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above,
Would drain the ocean dry.
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.
Not only did God reveal mercy through His actions. He commanded it in His foundational instructions to Israel;
Deuteronomy 14:27-29
(27) At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year’s produce and store it in your towns, so that…(29) the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied
Deuteronomy 15
(4)…there should be no poor among you
Deuteronomy 24
(17) Do not deprive…the fatherless of justice
And of course the entire ministry of Jesus Christ was a constant display of God’s mercy. Every time he gave sight to blind eyes, He revealed the mercy of God. Every time he gave strength to crippled legs, He revealed the mercy of God. Every time He touched a leper, spoke to the outcast, or pardoned the guilty, He revealed the mercy of God. Jesus told His disciples that anyone who has seen Him has seen the Father. Nothing persuades us of the merciful heart of God in heaven as the merciful life of Jesus on earth.
The weak are so near to God’s heart that when someone ministers to them, Jesus said it is regarded as kindness extended to Himself;
Matthew 25
(35) I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to eat, I was a stranger and you invited me in, (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.’
(37) Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord when did we [do all these things]…” (40) The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”
(b) It reveals our gratitude for God’s mercy to us
Out of all the Old Testament passages that command us to embrace the weak, there is one in particular that provides unique motivation
Deuteronomy 10
(18) He [God] defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. (19) And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt.
This verse is quite significant for it says that the very thing that motivates us to give is the mercy we have been given. The New Testament version of this is even more clear;
2 Corinthians 1
(3) Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, (4) who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
The will of God for every person who has received His mercy is to become a funnel of that mercy. When the disciples reported to Jesus that a large crowd of people was hungry, He replied, “You give them something to eat.” He wanted them to see the crowd through his eyes and then feed them through their hands.
History is a complex yet beautiful symphony which God conducts according to His wisdom. Our bodies are like musical instruments through which God plays songs of mercy for a broken world. Every time the church obeys the Lord in serving and giving, someone in the world’s audience will experience the rescuing and renewing power of His mercy. The church must long to see brokenhearted people dance to the music of hope in the presence of God.
Now when I speak of a broken world, I am specifically referring to that world of broken families manifested by an epidemic and even pandemic orphan crisis. In order to illustrate the magnitude of this, I must share with you a substantial number of statistics. I regret doing that because as one person stated, if we are not careful, statistics can become people without tears. In other words, it is possible to become so inundated with statistics, we actually get further removed from people. But the problem I face is this. I can’t afford to tell only one story about one orphan; I need to tell you about 143 million orphans.
- Twelve percent of children in Afghanistan are orphans
- Fifteen percent of children in Haiti are orphans.
- China has more than 20 million orphans.
- One out of ten children in India, 35 million, are orphans
- Within the 40 nations that form sub-Sahara Africa, 43 million are orphans.
- The total number of orphans world-wide is 143 million.
- AIDS is a powerful contributor to the orphan crisis. It is the leading cause of death worldwide for people ages 15-49.
- Of the 43 million orphans in Africa, 12.3 million have become orphaned by AIDS. This number was only 1 million in 1990.
- By the year 2010 at least 18 million children in sub-Sahara Africa will have lost at least one parent to AIDS. This is more than all the children who live in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
- Although AIDS brings much pain to children in this world, unclean water and insufficient food are equally powerful threats.
- Every eight seconds a child dies from drinking contaminated water.
- Malnutrition plays a part in more than half of all child deaths worldwide.
- Every minute, sixteen people die of complications due to hunger – twelve of these are children under five years old.
- More people died of hunger in the last two years than died in both world wars combined.
So what do we do with all this information?
Refuse to listen to it?
Live in guilt when we eat an ice cream cone?
Burn out by trying to solve it all ourselves?
None of these are good. What is needed, however, is for every believer to walk in whole-hearted devotion to God so that the Holy Spirit can lead us to the most beneficial assignments. The misery of the world is so widespread that it requires the constant prayers and partnership of every single Christian. This is not a time when any follower of Christ can afford to be distracted. Too many doors are open. Too many people are waiting. Too much is at stake.
2. What is the connection between ministry to the weak and moral purity?
The very fact that we have to ask this question reveals a problem that must be addressed if we will ever make a significant impact in our world. For the tendency of many is to say, “What does the condition of my life matter as long as I am helping people?” Yet James says the condition of our hearts matters as much as the activity of our hands.
James 1
(27) Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
So why does the Bible connect ministry to the weak with a life of moral purity? I think there are two reasons.
1. To send the right message to the world
How grotesque it is when you see a celebrity go to a third world country, reach out in the most beautiful demonstrations of kindness, and come back to Hollywood and get in bed with a very wild world. I will not deny the good they do while they walk through sewage-filled slums extending love to children and families. But the good they do will be undone by the sin they promote.
It is so easy to justify sin while doing good. In fact, sin is often more inviting when service to others has left us exhausted or overwhelmed. Yet yielding to sin and the destructive lifestyle it promotes will eventually increase the pain of the people we are trying to help. Let me explain why this is so.
Almost 1700 children per day become infected with HIV. In infants this occurs through the mother’s pregnancy, child birth, and breastfeeding. But in adolescents this occurs through sexual activity and drug use. Adolescent orphans who have suffered through psychological and economic distress are especially drawn to a lifestyle of promiscuity and substance abuse.
Half of all the orphans around the world are twelve years old or older. Their eyes are watching the lifestyles of those who serve them. Their ears are listening for truth from those who have befriended them. It is not enough to give food and medicine and water to hurting children and families. We must tell them of Christ’s salvation. And we must reveal to them that Jesus Christ offers more pleasure than any temptation the world will put before them.
Without the message of Christ’s hope and without the power of the Spirit’s blessings, our efforts will be tragically small in relation to the good that needs to be done. And in eternity our efforts will truly count for nothing. We must remember that the power to do great good is very much connected with the message of Christ from our lips and our lives. Apart from the power of the gospel, we will see momentary flares of relief yet no everlasting joy.
The ultimate goal of our merciful acts is to persuade others to know and love the God of mercy. And to receive that mercy that has been purchased for them by Jesus Christ. If a doctor is able to cure a patient’s disease yet only relieves his pain, that doctor is not merciful. He is mean. Likewise, if I plan only to make people comfortable on the way to everlasting destruction, I am not a merciful person; I’m an infinitely mean person. The goal of our merciful actions is not simply to relieve the temporary suffering of the world around us. But to so reveal the God of mercy that the nations will turn to Christ and be healed of the sin that would cause them infinite pain in eternity.
2. To receive clarity and strength from God
Again, let me state that James is not stating that we are to remove ourselves from the world but to remain unstained by it. We are to say yes to the suffering of the world while saying no to the sins of the world. To paraphrase Maclaren, we are to walk among its muddy streets yet keep our garments white. We are like doctors in a hospital who treat those who are ill without becoming infected.
A doctor who becomes sick is of little use to his patients. Likewise, when sin invades our lives we will become of little use to the world. In fact, sin so often hardens our hearts, blinds our eyes, and plugs up our ears that we will not even notice the world. You can live in sin and still be moved enough to grunt and grimace over the condition of the world. But unless God has control of your heart, you will certainly not be inclined to significantly give of yourself and your resources in order to serve the poor of this world.
So what is the final conclusion of all this? According to Hugh Brantley who oversees a Christ-centered foundation dedicated to social justice in Spartanburg, the answer can be wrapped up in one phrase, “Listen to God and do what He says.”
A man in our church sells dogs through the internet. And on his website he states that a portion of all sales will go to world missions. Just recently a woman paid for a dog by sending a check for $5000. She requested that all the profits go to the mission of his choice. Another family in our church gave up several Saturdays to organize a yard sale for Rescue Children Orphanage in Haiti. And as I read about one report from that ministry’s website, I am grateful that this ministry is receiving report.
On one occasion the director of the orphanage was approached by a woman who asked if he knew of a place where someone might take a baby. She didn’t even know that she had stopped in front of an orphanage to ask that question. The woman explained that the baby's mother had left this child at home and never came back. Because of her own poverty this woman was carrying the baby to the trash dump which was the only thing the locals knew to do. The director took the baby in his arms. Her name is July-Angela Bellevue and she is daily growing in health and wholeness as she learns to be a child of God and a little sister to Jesus.
How can you be a part of a blessing like this? It’s simple; listen to God and do what He says. If every believer in every church in every nation would do this, a wave of hope and power would saturate this world. As Rick Warren said in a recent global missions conference;
The greatest need of the 21st century church is to release the pent-up power of the average believer in churches around the world. If we can figure out a way to turn an audience into an army, to turn consumers into contributors, to turn spectators into participators, it will change the world.
Before moving on, let me clarify one important issue so that I do not put a burden on you that God is not putting on you. One of the most influential leaders I have ever known is Barry Bouchillon. For 25 years he has served as the director of Campus Crusade for Christ at Clemson University for over 25 years. Through his ministry dozens of individuals have entered the mission field upon graduation. Yet God has never moved him to serve in a full-time capacity overseas. He has spent most of his life one on campus, yet in doing so he has greatly impacted the world. How is that possible? Anything is possible when we listen to God and do what He says.
So how can you enlist in this battle for hope? How can you contribute to the joy of the nations? How can you leave the stands and enter a competition that is more important than any game that has ever been played?
The easiest way to start is through a ministry called Rice Bowls. Their motto is
“Collect change. Fill a bowl. Fight hunger.”
The ministry was begun in 1980 after a mission trip lead South Carolina pastor, Alastair Walker, to see the devastating effects of world-hunger first hand. With the help of friends and staff, Dr. Walker developed the plastic rice bowl coin bank.
Rice Bowls helps families, churches, and organization to raise money by providing plastic bowls at no cost. The purpose of the bowls is to be a collecting point for change and a symbol of the world’s poor for whom we can pray. When the bowl is full and the money is counted, a check is mailed to Rice Bowls who will then send the money to one of its reputable orphanages around the world.
Can one bowl really make a difference? One ten-year old boy at our church thought so. He took the bowl that his family had received and brought it with him to a high school football game. Through the course of the evening he walked the stadium asking if anyone would like to help feed orphans. He returned home that night with a bowl so full it could not hold one more coin.
So let me conclude by offering this simple invitation. Take a bowl and worship God by loving an orphan.
Richard W. Smith, Pastor
Hope Point Community Church
September 30, 2007