“Yoda’s Biblical Advice”

James 1:22-27

22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 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. 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.

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. 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.

The only Biblical thing Yoda said in Star Wars: “Try not! Do or do not. There is no try”

You see, we don’t simply try to do the right thing. That’s just listening to it. When we do what it tells us to do, we are changed.

Verses 23-25

  • The Law was never designed to save us but to show our need of a Savior.
  • Gal 3:24, NLT Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith.
  • The Law’s purpose was to show us God’s standard of living so we could experience the “good life” He wants for us.
  • John 8:36, NKJV Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.
  • God’s Law actually provides, then, blessing!
  • Ps 19:7, NIV The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.

Verses 26-27

  • If anyone considers themselves religious (full of piety; practicing of worship rituals) and yet doesn’t control their tongue, they are deceiving (lying) to themselves. Worse than that: his religion (pious acts) is worthless (empty or an idol; a façade designed to trick other people).
  • Religion that God expects is not pious ritual but is to show compassion for those who need it and be unstained by the sin and practices of the world
  • Our example, our witness, is not to bring people into a religion, but into a relationship with Jesus Christ.
  • Greg Laurie said, “I am not a religious person, nor do I desire to be a religious person. I have not come here to make you a religious person but to show you a relationship with the creator of the universe who testified of His love by sending His Son, Jesus Christ to die for you.