Bible Study
His religion is worthless…. James 1:26-27
The adjective James uses is the Greek word mataios, which literally means 'empty of result' and elsewhere in the New Testament there is a perfect example of its use in the same kind of context. When Paul healed a crippled man at Lystra, the crowd went wild with excitement and shouted out ‘The gods have come down to us in human form!' (Acts 14: 11). In the ferment that followed, the priest of Zeus brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas, but the apostles shouted “Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human beings like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them” (Acts 14:15). Here is the same word, and the incident at Lystra gives a perfect illustration of its meaning. Paul and Barnabas were insisting that the worship of idols, and of themselves as men, was worthless, because it could produce no positive result. It could never achieve the purpose for which it was ignorantly practised; it could never make a man right with God. Now this is the word that James uses in the verse we are studying. He says that in the matter of a man's relationship with God, superficial religious activity that is marred in the ways we have noticed in this verse is 'worthless'; it can have no results. Let me underline that in two ways:
In the first place, it is worthless to man.
This is the personal tragedy of it all. The person who acts in the ways we have seen will not get any spiritual benefit from that kind of religion. There may be a lot of activity in it, but there will be no advance. Unless we have a hunger and thirst for reality in our religion, unless we are determined to apply God's Word to our daily lives in Godly discipline, there is a terrible danger that we shall settle for the religious roundabout, the organised orbit which fills the diary but not the heart.
In the second place it is worthless to God.
To put it bluntly, that sort of thing cuts no ice as far as God is concerned. To the God who searches our hearts, superficial religious observance is utterly ruthless. Listen to this devastating indictment of the kind of religion James has in mind ‑ 'Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah! "The multitude of your sacrifices ‑ what are they to me?" says the Lord. "I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to meet with me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations – I cannot bear your evil assemblies. Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen . . . " (Isaiah 1:10‑15).
Let us examine ourselves in the light of those words! All outward religious observance that is divorced from a genuine spirit of worship is an abomination in the sight of God, utterly worthless as far as he is concerned. It brings no glory to his name, no joy to his heart. It therefore fails in the very things which should unite to be its first aim. It is surely no wonder that here in James's letter and elsewhere in Scripture false religion is so roundly condemned.
See GRACE also - Truth for Life (John Blanchard) ISBN 0 85479 047 0 (pp 98/99)