Pure and Undefiled Religion

Well, thank you to the quartet. Very much appreciate the special music. And thank you to Mr. Hanson. I got a little nervous as he was going through his scriptures. He got dangerously close to where I'm headed today, and I thought, boy, did we manage to come up with the same topic? It's slightly different, a little bit of a different take. I think you'll find that it leads into what I'm going to be talking about today very well.

In August of 2016, I took my very first trip to West Africa. It's hard to believe that this coming year, 2026, marks a decade that I've been traveling back and forth with Mr. Moody to Nigeria and Ghana and assisting in the Church's work in that part of the world.

I can still remember that very first trip in August of 2016 for the first summer camp that we went over with. That year, I was accompanied by Caleb Janisic and Jennifer Iam, soon to be Consella. So a couple of our locals were along on that trip. We spent just over two weeks in country, a combination of helping out with the camp program and getting to know the brethren and having the opportunity to do a little bit of sightseeing.

There are so many wonderful memories from that first trip, but the one that sticks out to me is a visit that we made to the Iqitun market near Dari's home in Lagos. Nigeria, for those that haven't had an opportunity to go and visit, has supermarkets that are similar to our own in that sense. ShopRite is one of the major retail supermarkets in the country in Lagos, but what was interesting is even visiting that, it didn't seem to be too terribly busy compared to the sheer mass of humanity at the open-air markets all over the town of Lagos.

You'd go into ShopRite, and there were very few people in ShopRite. I've never seen so many people in one place in my life, as I did in the Iqitun market. It's incredible how many people were in that open-air market. In those open-air markets, there's a number of street merchants selling a massive variety of things. In many ways, it's a lot like Fred Meyer or Kroger. It's a one-stop shopping experience. One stall you might stop at is selling textbooks, used textbooks, typically books, other things. The next one right next to it carries clothing items and sporting goods, and the next one over carries cleaning supplies.

The next one over is selling tomatoes and onions and peppers. A few stalls down, you can buy the pot to cook all of it in. Just a little further, and there's a guy butchering the goat that's going to be the protein in that soup. All in one spot, anywhere you want to go. You can find almost anything that you're looking for in one of these open-air street markets. I remember at one point doing a double take as I walked by one of the stalls because there was a pair of Jordans sitting on the table.

Now, for those of you that know sneakers and know shoes, there was a pair of Jordans on the table. And I'm looking at the exchange rate and I'm thinking, whoa, that's really cheap! That's an incredible deal for a pair of Jordans. Right next to it was a really nice-looking pair of New Balance, which you might have guessed is a little more my speed. They were brand new in the box.

They were brand new in the box, and with the exchange rate, they were like one-eighth the price of new. And so I did a double take, and I slowed to a stop, which, you know, in retrospect was a mistake. Because at that point, the vendor came out to meet me and began his attempts at selling me a pair of shoes. I protested, nah, I'm just looking. Yes, we can be friends. No, I don't want to buy a pair of sandals. Yes, I'm from the United States. No, I don't have anything for you. But it was then that I noticed it. It was then that I had an opportunity to look just a little bit closer.

The swoosh on the Jordans was backwards. The point of the swoosh faced the front of the shoe, and the little hook faced to the back.

I thought that was a little odd, but it was then that I noticed that the end on the new balance was also reversed. It wasn't the right direction for an end. It was a backwards mirror image, and I realized neither of these shoes were quite what they seemed to be. They were fakes. They were not authentic. I thanked him for his time, and I walked away to go check out the next thing in the market. Unfortunately, in parts of West Africa, it's not just clothing that has been counterfeited. China has made very significant inroads in recent years into that part of Africa, and what that's done is created this pipeline of cheap knockoff items that can be found at street vendors throughout the country. Prescription drugs, food products such as rice and bagged sugar, auto parts, building materials, pirated movies, fake cosmetics, jewelry and electronics that are not what they seem or what they describe, unfortunately, in the street markets in Africa are a regular occurrence. Worldwide, counterfeit products are a 250 billion dollar industry. 250 billion selling counterfeit items. Sometimes, in the case of the sneakers that I saw in the Icketun market, because after you've seen it, you'll see them everywhere. That's like the old white car syndrome or whatever it is, a blue car syndrome. But every time I would look later, I would see a very obvious tell. Again, the N would be backwards, or Nike would be spelled N-I-C-K-E. Some other major identifying feature isn't present, but at other times, some of them were much more sophisticated, and it was really difficult to tell the real thing from the fake, and it was a lot more challenging. Enough time and enough experience, a person could identify that and authenticate the real thing based on its characteristics. If you turn to me, please, to the book of James, we're going to begin today in James' epistle. We're going to begin in the epistle that James wrote, and we believe, based on the background and the context of this particular book, that it was written by Christ's brother James, who was serving during the time period of the book of Acts, and beyond that, until his death in the middle of the first century as the pastor of the church in Jerusalem. James' epistle is uniquely Jewish in its teething methodology, teaching methodology—there's the word—using a system that was known as charaz, and that system was a very Jewish way of teaching known as the stringing of beads. And the idea is that there would be a bead of wisdom that would get strung onto this common thread, this common concept, and then it would jump to the next bead of wisdom. And you read the book of James, it seems like it jumps around a lot. It seems like it moves in a certain direction, but if you look very closely, you can see the thread that those beads are being strung onto. That concept of charaz was a way that rabbis taught during that time period. But when you read it, it can feel disjointed, even though there is a very specific theme that, frankly, brethren, is important for us to consider as we come into this Passover season. That question and that theme of what James is working towards is, what does it mean to be an authentic Christian? What does it mean to be an authentic Christian? What are the characteristics of someone who is following Christ? What are the actions that accompany their faith? What are the things that are being expressed as they live this way of life? How do they treat their fellow man? How do they interact with others? How would we be able to know and to identify someone who is yielding themselves to God? And throughout James' epistle, he has quite a bit to say on this particular topic. What I'd like to spend today doing is to take a look at one of these characteristics, one of which is found in James 1 verses 26 through 27, which is where Mr. Hansen went and made me a little nervous.

But what I'd like to do is take a look at it from a standpoint of what we can learn in our own experience today from this concept. So if you would turn over to page one or page one, James 1, rather, if you would turn over to James 1, and we're going to go ahead and pick it up in verse 19 for a little context as we come into this particular section. So James 1, and we're going to go ahead and pick it up in verse 19. James 1 and verse 19. James writes in verse 19 of James 1, he says, So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath. For the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore, he says, lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls. Verse 22, But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man, observing his natural face in a mirror. For he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in and is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this one, James says, will be blessed in what he does. And then we get to verses 26 and 27. 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. He says, 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 begins here in chapter one and talks about these trials that we experience. He begins to transition from that idea into the qualities necessary as we experience these trials and as we navigate this life. He says, as Christians, we are to navigate this life being swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath. And unfortunately, it seems as humans—and I made my own share of mistakes on this—we have these things backwards at times. Often we are slow to hear, we're quick to speak, and we're quick to anger. But James emphasizes these as qualities of whom he calls beloved brethren of Christians, people who follow Jesus Christ and who follow and obey the Father. When we do the opposite of these things, when we are slow to hear, quick to speak, and quick to anger, we're yielding to our own humanity. We're yielding to our own carnality, not to the Spirit of God, which is dwelling in us. And the fruits of that Spirit that is dwelling in us are not being expressed. He goes on in verse 21 to talk about what we should be putting aside. He says what we should be laying aside. And here it's the idea, the word here has the idea of like removing clothing, stripping off clothing to lay it aside. It says we must lay aside filthiness and overflow of wickedness. The word that he's using here to describe filthiness is the Greek word ruparia, which means to make filthy to befoul or to defile. He says so it's through these things, this wickedness, this abundance of wickedness, that we can be defiled. It's through these things that we can be defiled. Instead, he advocates that we need to receive the Word of God with meekness. We need to receive it with gentleness and humility. We need to ensure that we are becoming more like him and that we are becoming a doer.

James jumps into kind of one of the more well-known concepts from this section, describing the need for action, describing the need for us to follow through on the belief that we hold. He says if we are doers, then we have action and follow through which accompanies that internal belief. He brings about the idea that if we truly believe these things, then our actions will follow. And if we do so, we will be imitating Christ. We'll be putting on his character. We'll be becoming more like him. We'll be becoming a doer. What does that mean? What does that mean? What does that mean? And what does that look like in this life? In many ways, it means becoming the embodiment of Jesus Christ in this life. What do I mean by that? The word embodiment is defined by the Oxford Language Dictionary as a tangible or visible form of an idea, quality, or feeling. It's also defined as the representation or expression of something in a tangible or visible form. When we do these things, when we follow the instructions that God gives us, when we go through these things that James is talking about, we become the tangible representation or expression of the idea or the quality of Christ in this life. That when people see us, they see him. That we see the world through his eyes. That we work to express his character in our interactions and in our circumstances. And then finally, James describes what the religion or worship as that term can be translated, kind of the outward expression of a person's faith, looks like. He says if you're unable to bridle your tongue, if you're unable to stop the words that come forth which cut and cause offense, if those words are opposite of the belief that resides within, James says our religion, our worship, that outward expression of our faith is worthless. Brethren, it's that important. It's that important.

Verse 27, he describes pure and undefiled religion. He says pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this. He says to visit orphans and widows in their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. James writes you want to experience true religion, true worship, authentic Christianity. He says visit widows and orphans in their troubles and keep yourself unspotted from the world. This is a pure and undefiled expression of our faith.

William Barkley writes in his daily study Bible series on the epistles of James and Peter. He writes the following on pages 61 and 62. He says all through history men have tried to make ritual and liturgy a substitute for sacrifice and service. They have made religion splendid within the church at the expense of neglecting it outside the church. He says this is by no means to say that it's wrong to seek the offer or to seek to offer the noblest and the most splendid worship within God's house. But it is to say that all such worship is empty and idle unless it sends a man out to love God by loving his fellow man and to walk more purely in the tempting ways of the world.

As Barkley is pointing out, it's not to say that what we do on the Sabbath is not important. It's commanded. It's critical. God commands us to come before him. He commands us to praise and to worship him, to learn about him, to fellowship with one another on the Sabbath.

But what James is saying is that if all of that, that doesn't cause you to go out and be the embodiment of Christ among your brethren and in your communities, that it's all for nothing.

That that stage and that shift into action is so critical. And that's what James is bringing out here. That authenticity in the Christian life means putting it into practice and going outward and doing these things. On the other hand, forsaking assembling is commanded by God in lieu of just being spiritual and only performing good works in the community and loving others. That's not the answer either.

It's both. Both are critical. You can't focus on one at the expense of the other. So what does verse 27 mean for us today? We're going to take the time today to break this concept down so that we can understand what it is that James is bringing to us about this important aspect of our faith.

Title of the second split today is Pure and Undefiled Religion. As we brought out earlier, the term that's used for religion here in this particular passage is the Greek word threskia. It's the Greek word threskia, which is used four times in the New Testament. It's just four times in the New Testament. It's used in Colossians 2 and verse 18. You can jot this down if you would like. It's used in Colossians 2 and verse 18, when Paul uses the word to warn against the worship of angels. Threskia is the word that's used.

He's warning against the worship of angels. In Acts 26 and verse 5, Paul uses the word to describe the tenets of the Pharisaical religious system. Paul is speaking to, in his religion, a Pharisee. He says, the tenets of my practice are those of the Pharisees, as he is describing these things in Acts 26.

In some ways, it's the system of how they expressed their faith. In James 1, 26, and James 1, 27 are the other two uses, and it's used to describe the expression of the faith of an individual. So this word is translated as religious worship, especially the external expression which consists of ceremonies. The ancient and the modern Greeks use the word specifically to reference religion, particularly the practices which make up that faith, the practices that make up that religion.

So there is action that is inherent in this word. There's action that's inherent in this word, regardless of its use case. In Colossians 2 and verse 18, Paul is warning against the actions taken in worship of angels. In Acts 26 and verse 5, Paul is referring to the system of worship, the actions that are taken by the Pharisees as a part of their sect. And James is speaking to action in verses 26 and 27 of James 1.

So in that sense, these are not academic. They're not philosophical. They're not spiritual concepts. They are the actual expression of these things. They're the actual expression of these things, the expression of one's faith or worship, which is outlined in verse 27 is twofold. It says, that expression of that faith and that worship is pure and it is undefiled. So it is pure and it is undefiled. Pure is the Greek word katharos, which translates to clean or pure. It's actually where we get the English word for catharsis.

You might be familiar with that concept of catharsis. It's the idea of purification or purgation of an emotion from the body, but katharos is a cleansing. It's a purifying that takes place. And in this case, the word is being used to describe something which leaves an individual ceremonially clean, so to speak. Now because James was the pastor of the congregation of the Christians in Jerusalem, he was in the thick of the strongholds of power of both the Pharisaical sect and the sect of the Sadducees.

James was in the hotbed of these political back and forths between these different groups of people during that time. The Sadducees had control over the temple. They had control over all of its ceremonial requirements. The Pharisees were the political power, so to speak, that were in charge at the time. And as part of its expression of faith in the Pharisaical sect, there were numerous requirements, many of which, if they were not done correctly, would result in sin or would leave a person unclean.

If they didn't wash their hands in a certain way, if they didn't wash their dishes in a certain way, if they didn't perform certain rites and rituals in a certain way, they would be considered to be acathartos or unclean, which is the opposite of catharos. They would be considered to be unclean, and that was the term that was used to describe foods which were not to be eaten, spirits that were unclean, etc. It's the word that we see used in Scripture for unclean. So it was to be pure, it was to be undefiled in that sense. That word undefiled is amientos. That means it's free from stain, it's free from taintedness, it's especially in a ritual sense. Scripturally, what we see that word used to describe is Christ's status as our high priest, that he is undefiled. We see it used to describe the marriage bed, which is undefiled, and we see it used to describe the inheritance that we've been promised that Peter describes in 1 Peter 1 and verse 14. So we see this to describe the inheritance that we've been given. You know, as we go back and we look through the Old Testament, we see that God instituted a series of laws which governed the clean and the unclean. He instituted a series of laws which govern the difference between the holy and the common, and he gave charge to the priesthood through Aaron, the need to teach these things to Israel. Leviticus 10 and verse 10 establishes this. Let's go ahead and turn over there. Leviticus 10 and verse 10 is where we see it. We'll grab 8 for the context. Leviticus 10 and verse 8 for the context. We see God here explaining to Aaron the requirements and the serious responsibility that he had as high priest of Israel at that time and those who were a part of that priesthood to be able to do these things. Leviticus 10 and verse 8 it says, then the Lord spoke to Aaron saying, do not drink wine or intoxicating drink, you nor your sons with you. When you go into the tabernacle of meeting, he says, lest you die. This shall be a statute forever throughout your generations that you may distinguish between holy and unholy, between unclean and clean, and that you may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord has spoken to them by the hand of Moses.

You know, we see a number of things that were laid out for Israel at that time. You could see that touching of a corpse would make someone unclean, touching of a discharge, touching of an unclean person, touching of an infectious disease or something that would spread in that way in a home would defile or would make a person unclean. A person who had just given birth was unclean, and there were a series of other things that would make a person unclean or defiled ceremonially. That unclean person, as a result, would be prohibited for a time from coming to the temple to worship, and until there was a cleansing or a purification ritual that took place, they would continue to be unclean. Now, the Pharisees added a number of things to those rules, to those laws. They added a number of traditions of the elders that resulted in additional things that would defile a person. Now, it's possible that in service of someone who were in need, a person might become ceremonially unclean. Christ and his disciples did on multiple occasions. They went through the process of not... the disciples in particular were kind of accused by the Pharisees of not washing their hands in the prescribed fashion, so they ran afoul of the Pharisees... the Pharisees, I guess, viewpoint of what made somebody ceremonially unclean. Christ touched the leper and healed the leper. That was something that would have made someone ceremoniously or ceremonially unclean. He healed a woman with the discharge, though to be fair she touched him, but he healed the woman with the discharge. He took the hand of Jairus's dead daughter and raised her to life. The potential for being ceremonially unclean by Pharisaical definitions did not prevent Christ or his disciples from doing the good that needed to be done.

He spoke out against the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. He said they were unwilling to lift a finger to relieve the burdens of the people. And Jesus Christ and his disciples expressed an authentic faith in the Father through these actions, through these things. Turn with me, please, to Luke 10.

Luke 10. Beginning in verse 25 of Luke 10, we see a series of questions in which Christ was tested on the law, tested on the application of the law, and there's a lawyer that asked Jesus how to inherit eternal life. Christ says, what do you think? Not in so many words, but he asks, how do I inherit eternal life? He says, what do you say? What does the law say? What do you think of the law in this case? What are your thoughts? He replies with the two great commandments, and Christ says, you got it. You're right. Now go forth, he says, and do it. And he says, you will live. Then it says, the man wanting to justify himself said, well, who exactly is my neighbor? Who exactly is my neighbor? In other words, to whom do I owe this responsibility? Everybody? Or just the guy who happens to live directly next to me? Who has this work? And so Christ answers in a parable. Christ answers in a parable in verse 30 about a man who is set upon by robbers. Verse 30 of Luke 10, Jesus answered and said, a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance, a certain priest came down that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

Likewise, a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked and passed by the other side, or on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was, and when he saw him, he says he had compassion. He went to him and he bandaged his wounds. He poured on oil and wine, and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii. He gave them to the innkeeper and he said to him, take care of him. And whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you. And then Christ asked the question of the lawyer, so which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among thieves? The lawyer replied, he said to him who showed mercy on him. And Jesus said to him, go and do likewise. He said go and do likewise. The man was in dire need. The man who had been attacked on the side of the road was in dire need. He had been attacked. The scripture states that he was wounded and he was dying on the side of the highway after receiving that wound.

We see the example here. A priest came down the road and he crossed. He saw the man off in the distance, perhaps, and says he crossed the road so as to not be on the same side of the road. We see that a Levite did the same. This time he came to look at the man before he crossed to the opposite side of the road and continued on his way. The Samaritan, we see, stopped and he cared for him and he had compassion on the man. You know, there's a number of potential interpretations to this passage. There's a multitude of lessons that we can draw from it. What we do see is that of the three men, only one stopped. That man was a Samaritan who was a person who was universally derided and considered, by the Jews at the time, to be unclean, completely and totally. The two men that decided to cross over to the other side, maybe they feared being attacked, maybe they felt it was a trap, there were others lying in wait. That's certainly a possibility. Maybe they just couldn't be bothered. Maybe they were in a hurry. They had something that they needed to do. Or maybe, maybe, that they had no compassion whatsoever despite their elevated status in Jewish society. I mean, that's a possibility, too. Another possible interpretation is that the two men did not approach the man because they would have potentially been made unclean by the interaction. And we know the man who was attacked was headed from Jerusalem to Jericho, so he was actually headed away from the temple. It's difficult to know for certain whether the two men were headed to Jerusalem or toward Jericho. I think you can make an argument for both in the wording of the passage. Either way, whether they were headed toward the temple or away from the temple, is it possible that they didn't want to risk becoming unclean by touching what may have been a dead body or touching blood or touching something along those lines? It's a possibility. Can we prove it one way or the other? No, it's speculation. It is speculation. But either way, what we see as a result of this is that neither man provided the necessary service for the man who was in need. And Christ's point that the Samaritan did was a radical example that would have caught the attention of those who were gathered. Again, speculating here, but if the reason that they didn't stop was because they may have been defiled in the process, James's words in James 1 and verse 27 might relate back to this concept and to the traditions of men that were so prevalent in Jerusalem at that time of his pastorship. James's point is that service in this person's time of trouble is pure and it is undefiled. It is clean and it does not defile a person because in God's sight it is one of the purest expressions of our faith, one of the most purest expressions of the love of God, which is service to someone who is in need. It's the real deal. It's authentic, is what James is saying. It is outward focused. It is giving. It is loving. Let's go back to James 1 and verse 27. We also see that the expression of this religion, the expression of this worship, is before God. It is in his sight. It is in his judgment.

And so James says the expression of our faith, our worship before him in that sense, is clean and untainted in the sight of God or in the judgment of God when we do the things which follow, when we visit widows and orphans in their trouble, and when we keep ourselves unspotted from the world.

As we mentioned before, both of these aspects are important. You can't have one without the other.

It's not enough to do well in caring for widows and orphans and then allow yourself to be conformed to the world. You have to have both. You can't just do one or the other. Pure and undefiled religion, as James describes it, requires us to remain unspotted without stain or without blemish from the world, which requires a close personal relationship with God, requires us allowing God's Spirit to dwell in us and to express that love and care to those who are around us. It requires us to remain clear of the staining influence of the world and its system, and to be able to tell the difference between the holy and the common, between the clean and the unclean spiritually. Now, with regards to visiting widows and orphans, it needs to be noted the way that James has written this particular passage, it isn't necessarily referring to a social visit. It is talking about visiting widows and orphans who are typically in need of some additional help in their time of trouble. That word means under distress or under affliction. So in their time of trouble, when they are at need, in most at need of assistance. Now, with all that said, it is very possible, as Mr. Hansen brought out, that their time of need is due to loneliness. And what they need is an emotional connection with someone. They need an opportunity to talk. They need a chance to sit down and play cards with someone and just visit. And in that case, a social visit absolutely fits the bill. Absolutely fits the bill. Caring for a person's emotional well-being is important, but it's important to recognize James's words in this, thylipsis, which is the Greek word, is referring to affliction and distress. But this is someone who's in need. And in love, we need to be looking how we can fill it. I want you to turn with me to Acts 9, please. Acts 9, we see a description of a disciple named Tabitha in the city of Joppa. Acts 9, we see this example of Tabitha. She was a disciple. She had become sick and she had died. They cleansed her body. They laid her in an upper room. And because Peter was near to Joppa, they sent for Peter and he came at once. Acts 9 and verse 36, we see the story. It says, at Joppa there was a certain disciple named Tabitha, which is translated to Dorcas. And that name means gazelle in both languages. The name itself means gazelle in both languages. And this woman was full of good works and charitable deeds, which she did.

It happened in those days she became sick and she died, and when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. And since Lytta was near Joppa and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent two men to him, imploring him not to delay and coming to them. When Peter arose and went with them, or then Peter arose and went with them, when he had come, they brought him into the upper room. All the widows stood by him, weeping, showing the tunics and the garments which Dorcas had made while she was with them, showing the care that she had provided. She had made tunics. She had made garments for the widows. Those widows stood by Peter in this upper room, with Tabitha's body, weeping, crying at the loss that they had experienced, showing him the way that she had served them, the way that she had cared for them, holding them up to Peter, going, look, look at what she did for us. Look at the care she provided us. Verse 40, Peter put them all out. Sounds maybe a little abrupt. I'm sure he asked nicely, but he ushered them out of the room in that sense, and it says he knelt down and he prayed. And turning to the body, he said, Tabitha, arise. She opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up.

It says, then he gave her his hand, and he lifted her up, and when she had called, or when he had called the saints and the widows, he presented her alive. And it became known throughout all of Joppa, and many believed on the Lord. So it was that he stayed many days in Joppa with Simon, a tanner. Peter quietly had everyone leave the room. He knelt down and he prayed. He turned to her lifeless body, and he said, arise. Tabitha arose from the dead. He helped her up. He called the saints and the widows into the room, presenting her to them alive. And as you might imagine, perhaps the statement that the word went out from there was an understatement. You can imagine people were telling anybody and everybody as that word went out in the old version of Facebook, which was face-to-face, right? The old version of word of mouth, so to speak, as that word went out. Tabitha was someone who made a significant impact on those she cared for. In this case, the widows in this particular example, she provided them with clothing in their time of need. She expressed her faith through service to them, and I am sure that this is not the only thing that she took care of. Tabitha cared deeply for the saints and the widows in Japa, and their reaction to her death speaks volumes as to her life. You know, this afternoon after services, we're going to be commemorating Lois's life. We'll be sharing our love. We're going to be sharing our memories, and we've been reeling a little bit as a congregation since her death this past December. In the months since her death, we have been uncovering so many things that Lois just quietly took care of and didn't tell anyone. Just the little things that happened, all these little bits and pieces. She just made it happen. She saw a need, and she filled it. She checked in on widows. She was our ear to the ground, so to speak, when there were service projects that needed to be done. She had a way about her in which people would just share their needs. They would connect in that way, and she would let all of us know what needed to be done. She'd give us a quick text. I love that she texted. That was one of my favorite things. She would shoot a text to us or something and let us know what needed to be done. Frequently, some of those things, those needs, never even got to us because she just went and took care of it. At 93 years old, she just went and took care of it. She saw the need, and she filled it. You may not know this, but she donated each year to our local camp fund a couple of tuitions so that kids could go to camp. She felt very strongly that kids that might otherwise not be able to afford to go to camp should have the ability to do so. And so she donated so that kids, especially those that might be spiritual orphans, had opportunities to grow in their relationship with God. She wrote to brethren around the world, encouraging them to stay strong in their faith despite the trials they faced in their home countries. She encouraged brethren locally. She was probably one of my primary encouragers over the past years. She cared for people's needs, visiting with and calling people in a variety of ways. And as I mentioned before, she was so involved in so many aspects of our function of the local congregation services that even now we're going, wait, how did this particular thing get done? Oh, Lois did it! Okay, well we need to figure that out, I guess, you know, in that sense.

When I think of James 1 verses 26 through 27, I think of Lois Bauman. That's who I think about when I think about that particular passage. You know, we have so many examples of people throughout the history of the faith who served the people of God admirably over the years. We see the example of the disciples. We see the deacons that were selected in Acts 6. We see the love of Tabitha in Acts 9. We see the generation of Cornelius, or the generosity, rather, of Cornelius in Acts 10. You know, we see Paul and Timothy and Titus. We see the apostles, Peter and John. And you know, I I didn't know any of those individuals personally. I can read their exploits. I can academically understand, perhaps. I can understand a little bit about them based on what I read. I can see those exploits that have been recorded for our benefit and conclude their authenticity.

But I knew Lois. I saw her in action, and her example spoke volumes. The love that she shared, the service that she provided right up to her last days she was serving others. And you know, as a result of seeing that example with my own eyes, there's a question in my mind as to her authenticity. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their troubles and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. You know, brethren, as we come into this Passover season, let us all strive to express our faith and our belief in such a way. Let us work to remain unspotted from this world as we yield ourselves to God, and let us focus on the service of others who are in need, allowing the love of God to reflect to those who are around us.