5.5.44 9.25.2022 1 John 2.15-17 The Things of this World
Belonging to the Believing Community • Sermon • Submitted
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15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.
17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
Entice: This might be the heart of John's little address to the Church. Much of what he said before and after really revolves around the powerful assertions of these three verses.
Engage:What is the face of evil? How does one describe a fallen culture? When I go about in the world is the impact of sin truly obvious? How do I learn to not love what it seems obvious and natural to love? How do I really come to grips with what it means to be
"in the world." which we cannot help, and
"from out of the world" which is the very decision John enjoins upon us here and now?
Expand: Let me say this again.
The words are easy.
The words are easy.
The message is hard.
The message is hard.
Not hard to understand
Not hard to understand
Hard to accept
Hard to accept
If I taught all'y'all about 2 hours of koine Greek you would be able to read this text as John penned it. The message would still be hard--hard to implement. Hard for you and hard for me. Our human nature is largely defined by the specifics of the "world." Every nation, every language group, every culture has its particularities but they all share the fallenness of the world. So,
don't fall in love with the world
don't fall in love with the world
Excite: We could spend our entire lives trying to take these verses to heart using the rest of Scripture to reinforce its message and strengthen our resolve. In the end Joh says starkly:
Explore:
We must not be captured by or fall in love with the fading, failing world culture.
We must not be captured by or fall in love with the fading, failing world culture.
Explain: John provides very basic steps that will keep us from being captured by the fallen, and dying culture of the world.
Body of Sermon:
First he gives a
1. Direct Command
1. Direct Command
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
1.1 What he commands us
1.1 What he commands us
Do not fall in love with the world or its totalizing systems.
1.2 Why he gives this command
1.2 Why he gives this command
to love these things indicates that the love of the Father is absent.
Next he clarifies the worlds
2. Dead Conditions.
2. Dead Conditions.
16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.
2.1 The source of these conditions:
2.1 The source of these conditions:
It is from the fallen world
2.2 A Description of these conditions.
2.2 A Description of these conditions.
The lust of the flesh
The lust of the flesh
The lust of the eyes
The lust of the eyes
The vain, arrogant pride of life
The vain, arrogant pride of life
Finally John provides
3. A Definitive Contrast
3. A Definitive Contrast
17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
3.1 Love the world and lose.
3.1 Love the world and lose.
3.2 Do God’s will and live.
3.2 Do God’s will and live.
Shut Down:
(Intellectual) We should already know this. Coming to Christ requires a decision. In this decision we renounce the world. The entirety of God's revelation reveals the true nature of the world. However, forming our character and action based upon what the Scripture teaches us, and our own Christian experiences can be hard. Why?
(Emotional) We are emotionally invested in family and community. We live in a city, state, and nation. We speak a specific dialect of a common language. We have affection for people whom we know to be lost and intellectual assent to the reality of our fallen world does not lesson the pull it has upon our heart strings.
(Volitional) Our decision to not be "from out of the world" must be continual, deliberate, and resolute. We must be embedded in the redeemed community which gives us strength and a sense of belonging. The church, when it functions as intended provides the nurture our new, redeemed nature needs. It will sometimes sting but the temporary pain is offset by our eternal destiny.
He begins with a direct order. He continues by reminding us that the allure of the world is temporary, dying, and decaying. What we share in Jesus is eternally durable. In choosing Jesus we leave behind that which is disappearing anyway. Let's choose together to seize the immortal, eternal will of God and live together the redeemed life He honors. TIGWFU.