Purity of Faith

This past week we talked about the tensions between the "spiritual but not religious" and the "religious but not spiritual" and saw James proposed middle road. You can listen to the audio by following the link or read the text below. Don't forget to join us Wednesday, June 30th at 7:00 pm for our first DiG Group gathering. We'll be discussing the sermon, studying the Scriptures, praying and fellowshiping together. Look forward to seeing you.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/2kidvmo1dym/Purity of Faith.mp3

“Purity of Faith” / June 27, 2010 / James 1:19-27

INTRO –S.B.N.R.
Have you ever heard anyone say, ‘Hi! I’m spiritual but not religious’? I know personally I have run into people like this from time to time. Sometime when I do a funeral, people will say I don’t know to church but I am spiritual. I never thought too much of it, figured people were having preacher guilt. Then, I did some research online this week to discover that the ‘spiritual but not religious’ movement is quickly growing, not just an excuse for skipping church. The new trend is to affirm spirituality but to reject any form of organized religion. In fact, the SBNR movement is launching a website next week at http://www.sbnr.org/. As I read their Facebook page, most people affirming ‘spiritual but not religious’ do so because they have been turned off by organized religion at some point.
While the name may be new, the ‘spiritual but not religious’ movement is now a new phenomenon. In fact, many early movements within the early Church leaned towards the spiritual but not religious camp. Movements like the Ebionites, Gnostism, and Montanism pushed against the accepted beliefs about Jesus. In the fourth century, a group of monks called the Desert Fathers, retreated into the desert because they felt the institution had been corrupted. In short, ‘spiritual but not religious’ is nothing new.
Ancient and contemporary critics can easily name the plights of the Church. Today’s critics point to the Church’s and Christians’ hypocritical ways, anti-homosexual attitudes, focus on money and building projects, and irrelevance to modern society among many other things. The criticisms are certainly not unfounded nor are they unfair. Many Christians and churches have indeed become dead, lifeless, corrupt religion, and are worthy of criticism. I share some of the same complaints with the ‘spiritual but not religious.’ The reality is that many United Methodist Churches have been rightly accused of being dead religious institutions in their time and we have probably aided a few people to adopt the ‘spiritual but not religious’ title.

R.B.N.S.
The Church gets criticized by the SBNR because of church people who are ‘religious but not spiritual.’ The church warrants much of the criticisms leveled by the SBNR group because it contains the opposite group of people, the ‘religious but not spiritual.’ The ‘religious but not spiritual group is not a new criticism of organized religion. Rather, the issue is as old as the Scriptures. In the New Testament, the criticisms of religion are the same as they are today. It is important to note that the criticisms of Jesus and the New Testament are more towards the corruptions of religion and the people than they are towards religion itself. Jesus, in fact, rails on the religious people of the day because they are ‘religious but not spiritual.’ The main group of ‘religious but not spiritual’ people was a group called the Pharisees. They were the pious people and the enforcers of religious law. Jesus labeled them hypocrites and he essentially accused them of acting religious without having any real connection with God. Religion, for the Pharisees, was about power, control, and prominence.
Jesus frequently spoke against the Pharisees and told parables and stories condemning them. In the classic Parable of the Good Samaritan, it is a religious Pharisee that leaves the wounded man on the road for dead. The negative feelings towards religion continued with Jesus’ followers. In the New Testament, the Greek word for “religion” is only used three places in the New Testament, two are negative.
As I mentioned, the plight of ‘religious but not spiritual’ did continues to be a problem within the church today, hence the reason for so many people being ‘spiritual but not religious.’ One study I found stated that 17% of people said they were ‘religious but not spiritual.’ That is close to 1 in 5 people that attend some form of organized worship, most likely Sunday morning church, are not spiritual people.
Before we continue on, I think we need to acknowledge that our presence in worship this morning makes us more prone to being ‘religious but not spiritual people.’ Religious but not spiritual folks are people that are overly attached to certain rituals and traditions. They only like those old hymns and preachers in robes. Religious but not spiritual people often use their religious practices to gain power and prominence in society. They believe themselves to be better than those that don’t practice their religion. Folks that simply practice religion miss communing with the divine. So I want to ask you: How do you tend to be religious but not spiritual?

PURE RELIGION
While we have railed on the ‘religious but not spiritual’, being ‘spiritual but not religious’ has its share of shortcomings as well. In many cases, ‘spiritual but not religious’ folks resist organized religion because they like having spiritual freedom and independence. They don’t want any parameters placed upon their spiritual pursuits. Instead, they want “Burger King Spirituality: Have it your way,” spirituality. If spirituality is about connecting with the divine, you can see how this self-centered spirituality cannot be sustained. Many SBNR folks achieve spiritual experiences that are inward, personal, and moving, but they fail to connect it with the rest of their lives. They is no continuity to their spiritual philosophies and it leads to people being devoid of any true spirituality. To be ‘spiritual but not religious’ leaves you vulnerable to divorce your spiritual life from the rest of the world.
James, as we have seen over the past several weeks, likes to find the middle ground between to erroneous ways. In this passage, James first speaks to the religious but not spiritual, then to the spiritual but not religious before showing us a better way: spiritual and religious.

#1. James sees errors in being religious but not spiritual.
James begins the section with: “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.” While James addresses everyone, I think these words are especially pertinent to the religious but not spiritual. Folks that get caught up in their religion tend to talk too much, listen to little and get anger at sin too easily. We all know people like this because this person is in each of us. When religious people get on their soap box, we easily turn people off to organized religion and the church. I think of people picketing and protesting in the name of Christ. I see people angry and yelling condemning messages to their adversaries. It seems to me that these folks would benefit their cause if they listened to the words of James: be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.
James then encourages the ‘religious but not spiritual’ to: “get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you…” James recognizes that the religious have the word of God planted in them, but their pride has prevented them from accepting it. They are too concerned with following the rules and maintaining power to actually connect with God and receive the salvation of the Lord. Are there places in you that lean towards being ‘religious but not spiritual’? I think it is important that we examine ourselves for parts inside of us that behave in this manner.

#2. James sees errors in being spiritual but not religious.
While James advises the ‘religious but not spiritual’ to watch their pride and their temper, he has advice for the ‘spiritual but not religious’. He says in verse 22: “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” When a person becomes spiritual but not religious, it typically means they practice their version of faith privately. There is no shared community, no accountability, no encouragement from others. As a result, a person can have an authentic spiritual experience but they immediately forget it because it is never shared. James says it this way: “Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.”
I can tell you from personal experience that I have had numerous spiritual encounters. If I had not been in a community of faith and discussed them with other people, I would have missed the true meaning of them. Part of the value of being active in a church is that you have other people to share their wisdom and discernment with you. Any time I feel that the Lord has spoken to me or is leading me in a certain direction; I always talk to someone about it. It helps me to understand the word and then to do what the word says. If I don’t share a revelation from the Lord with someone, I will never actually do it. James understands that spirituality cannot be effectively lived out apart from a religious community. Other people help to remind us who we are and how we are supposed to behave.

#3. James encourages us to be both spiritual and religious.
James sees the value in being both spiritual and religious. In verse 25 he talks about the importance of being connected to religion. “25 But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.” The perfect law for James is a reference to the laws of Judaism but also the new law of Jesus. In Matthew 5:17 Jesus says, “I have not come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it.” Jesus, then, fulfills the law by calling people to “Love God and to Love others.”
When divided, spirituality becomes about God and religion becomes solely about people. Jesus calls us to be about both. We cannot love God or people unless we are both spiritual and religious. Therefore, James exhorts us to pursue spirituality that is grounded in pure and true religion. He reminds the religious community to speak words of love and encouragement. He calls us to true religious community because reminds us that we must put our faith to action, that we must do the word of Jesus Christ, that we must love God and others. I
James seeks to reclaim religion by defining it in v. 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.” This is the law of love and the true spirit of religion.



CONCLUSION
In short, James does not believe we can fulfill the law of Christ, the law of love without both true religion and true spirituality. Spirituality without religion leads to forgetfulness and inaction. Religion without spirituality leads to abuse of power and corruption. Both are needed to fulfill the call of God on each of our lives. The call to love God and to love others. The call to be pure in faith and to care for those in need.
I don’t know what side you tend to lean towards. There is no formula to determine where your heart and soul are. Church attendance, prayer, devotion to God… I would encourage you to examine yourself. If you simply come to church and go through the ritual every week without connect with Christ, you are probably more ‘religious but not spiritual.’ For you it is time to reconnect spiritually. Spend some time in quiet solitude with God.
On the flip side, if this is the first time you’ve been in church in months, maybe you are ‘spiritual but not religious.’ Maybe it is time you surround yourself with other Christians in order to be encouraged to put your faith into action. Where ever you are, I encourage you to pursue the perfect law that gives you freedom, the law of Love, the call to love God and others, the call to unite both the spiritual and the religious.