Real and Worthless Religion

None of us wants to be considered religious, but none of us can stop being religious. James 1:26-27 invites us to self examination as it describes the difference between fake religion and the real thing.

1. Do you think of when you hear the word "religion"?

2. Why is our use of words an important indicator of the authenticity of our faith?

3. When you think of your own spiritual maturity, do you tend to emphasize personal holiness

or the practice of justice and mercy? What happens to us when we neglect one or the other?

4. For Christians who know salvation is by faith not works,

how might these verses be unsettling? How do we reconcile this?

5. How do warnings against worthless religion show the grace of God for people in the Church?

6. What do these warnings communicate about God to skeptics and unchurched people?