Do Not Love The World

INTRODUCTION:

Good morning and happy Reformation Sunday. Reformation Sunday is a day, commemorating what was perhaps the greatest move of God’s Spirit since the days of the Apostles. For the protestant Church it is a day where we remember through the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit, Martin Luther recaptured the biblical view of the priesthood of all believers, showing all people that their work had purpose and dignity because in it they can serve their Creator. Today is also a significant day because it is confirmation Sunday. This morning at each one of our three services we have students giving their testimony of their desire is to serve their creator by confirming their baptism in Christ. It says in Romans 6:4, “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” Each of these students’ testimonies are a bold declaration of the transforming power of the gospel. Today is a day of celebration because of their desire to follow Jesus with their life, walking in the newness of that life as a part of this congregation.

As we continue the sermon series “Follow Me” we are going to be looking at how we as follow Christ, in submission to the will of God, in a world hostile to God. In 1 John 2:15-17, the apostle John gives a warning that we are not to love the world, or the things of the world because they are temporary and passing away. He warns us that if we pursue the things of this world- pleasure, self-glorification, greed, pride will lead us away from God and to the consequence of our destruction. This world is temporary, and it is under the curse of sin, which is unescapable, but the good news is that as followers of Christ we live for the eternal. One day all the hurt, pain, sadness, and injustice that we have received in this life will be gone and all will be made perfect. We will live out eternity with our creator who knows exactly what we need before we know we need it and loves us with a love that is beyond our human comprehension.

READ 1 JOHN 2:15-17

OBJECT OF LOVE

The apostle John begins with a bold declaration and a command. He gives a warning about the destructive power and influence of the world. “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.” As we begin, it is important to define some of the terms that John uses in this statement. What does John mean when he says the world? He is not telling Christians not to love creation or our planet. When John uses the term, “world” he is describing people, attitudes and behaviors that are hostile to the things of God and His people. Jesus says in John 15:18-19, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” The truth is that as followers of Jesus we are set apart from the world because we are being sanctified by the Holy Spirit daily.

The Holy Spirit helps us to resist and forsake the values, morals, and wisdom of the world because everything that the world believes is against God’s original plan for creation. As followers Christ we are given the ability to choose a different way to live that does not reflect the values of the world. Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” However, as followers of Christ we live with the hope of Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” We cannot love the world, or what the world loves because it is against what God loves. The Love for God and the Love for the world are mutually exclusive which means that they cancel each other out. It is impossible to walk the line in between and there can be no middle ground. A true follower of Jesus, who demonstrates love for Him, will seek to do His will, not our own.

Ultimately, the love of the world really means a love for self. Making sure that you can get everything possible that the world offers for yourself. It means trying to make a name for yourself and to bring Glory to yourself. This has been the problem since the fall, we seek to make ourselves out to be our own gods, neglecting our creator in our pride. However, God has demonstrated it over and over throughout history. He will not compete with mankind’s pride. James 4:4-6 says, “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? But he gives more grace. Therefore, it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

God will not compete with us, and He does give us the freedom to choose to love Him, follow Him and listen to Him or we can reject Him. We can, absolutely, go our own way and do what we think, and what we feel is best for us. The truth is that if we seek a life in line with the world, God will not stand in our way. He will continue to love us even if we reject Him but the life that we chose for ourselves will be our reward in this life. However, when it comes to the end of our life eternity will be very different. Jesus tells of that terrifying day in Matthew 13:41-42, “The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” The Apostle John warns followers of Christ to avoid the trap and temptations of this world because it will lead us away from God and to our destruction.

LOVE OF THE WORLD = CONSEQUENCES

So how do we avoid becoming worldly? As followers of Christ, we avoid what the world values as important and to resist temptation to give in to our natural sinful desires. “16For 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.” The truth is that we do have a cunning and powerful enemy, Satan. He will use everything at His disposal to distract us, entice us, to tempt us to forsake God. He wants us to rely on ourselves, to do what we want to with our life, and to live it on our terms. To avoid becoming worldly we must resist the desire of our own flesh.

The desire of the flesh in one of those Bible terms or Church terms that we use that simply means- do not give into your own desire for self-gratification. Every one of us is born with a sin nature that automatically sets us against God. In our sin nature we all have eternal desires that we may lean towards. The apostle Paul speaks about some of these desires in Galatians 5:19-21, “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

God has specifically commanded us not to act on our natural impulse to do what we want to do because there are always consequences. There is no such thing as a sin without a consequence. Most of the time we are the ones who must deal with the consequences but sometimes our action for self-pleasure hurt others. God has commanded us not to do these things because they are bad for us and only seek to hurt us. God’s desire in prohibiting self-gratification is not to make sure that we have no fun in this life or that he just wants us to miss out on what everyone else gets to do. He commands us not to sin because it leads to death and destruction. God loves us too much to allow us to hurt ourselves and others. Sin is dangerous and destructive, and follower of Jesus cannot live a life of open and unrepentant rebellion to God’s law. The good news is that God has given as a gift, the Holy Spirit, to lead us, guide us and sanctify us into the image of God. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in every person who believes in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. 1 Corinthians 10:14 says, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

The second way we avoid worldliness is to avoid the desire of our eyes. This is John’s way of saying do not covet. When we see other people succeed, when they post their vacations of Facebook, a friend gets a new car, then we often feel that we deserve to have the same thing. We judge ourselves as just as good or better than our neighbor so for everything to be fair, you feel as if you should have that thing as well. Covetous is a cancer and it is destructive to us and to our relationships. Often, when we want something that does not belong to us, it is because we think it will make us happy. We want a new cell phone because it will be better than our old one, or a new job, or a new relationship or a bigger house, because we think it will make us happy. The sad truth is that we want things because we love, trust, or fear something more than God. Covetousness causes us to doubt that God loves us and will provide for our every need. When we covet, we are essentially saying, “God you really do not know what you are doing, you really don’t love me, and I need to take care of myself.” When we doubt God’s faithfulness and trustworthiness, we are loving what the world says about us, more than God. The truth is that as followers of Christ we trust that God knows what the best for us is and that we will provide all that we need, He always has and always will. The cure for covetousness is contentment and thanksgiving for all that you have been given, because it is all a gift from you loving Father who wants to give you good gifts.

The final way we avoid worldliness is to avoid what the apostle John calls the “pride of life”. The original word that this is translated from is the Greek word, “αλαζονεία (ALAZONEIA)”. A better translation for “pride” word be “pretense of life”. This word pretense is where we get the word pretentious. This means that we are not to be prideful and arrogant. One definition I saw for (SLIDE 5) ALAZONEIA is to boast about your possessions and bragging about controlling your own destiny or future events. If there is any way to spit in the face of God it is in ALAZONEIA. This is pride in being a self-made man/woman. Have you ever met people like this who will tell you how amazing they are, all they have done and all they are going to do in the future. In 1969 Frank Sinatra released the song “My Way” and it became his signature song. It depicts this principle of the pretense of life so well. The final verse goes like this,(SLIDE 6) “For what is a man, what has he got? If not himself then he has naught (or nothing). Not to say the things he truly feels. And not the words of one who kneels. Let the record show I took the blows and did it my way.” This is an anthem for the world and stands in contrast to the follower of Christ who submits to God’s authority and trusts that every step of the way God will lead him/her. There is no place in the kingdom of God for a man or woman to do it “my way”. As Christ followers we believe that there is a greater purpose and meaning to the temporal things of this world and that is the final truth that we see in our Sermon text today. As followers of Christ, we live for the eternal.

LIVE FOR THE ETERNAL

John writes in verse 17, “And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” The truth is that everything living in this world will die someday. This world is passing away. This means the things that the world says are important will someday cease to exist. In fact, most of what we know passes away in a single generation. I mentioned Frank Sinatra, earlier. Some in this congregation probably do not even know who he was, even though he was one of the most influential men in Hollywood and the entertainment industry for over 60 years. In 100 years, most likely, no one will remember him. Even thou he did it “his way”, he really did not do anything special. He lived his life on his terms, making sure that people knew how great he was. He lived for himself. He did whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted to, and he did not care about what anyone said or how many people he hurt. He lived for the temporal. He like millions sought to make themselves happy by the things in this world only to find that it does not do what they thought it would do. So, they move on to the next thing and so on till they die.

This principle of living in the temporal is evident all over our culture. People who struggle with depression, anxiety, substance abuse, gender confusion they think the solution for their problem is to run to the temporal things of this world to find help only to be let down. As followers of Christ, we can come along side of them, point them to Christ and to help them to know that they can trust that God can restore them and give their life purpose and meaning. We are so blessed in our country. We have more than most of the people on the planet. Yet despite that fact many people do not feel that their life has meaning or purpose and unfortunately, many choose to commit suicide because they have concluded that there is no hope. This is tragic.

As Christians we have an opportunity to tell people who have lost hope in the things of this world that there is a solution. However, this solution will not be found in what the world offers, it is only in the freedom that Jesus Christ died for. This is not how it is meant to be. This is not the reason nor the purpose that God created them, but these are often the consequences of living a life outside of the will of God. As followers of Christ, we have a living hope, we have a living faith, we have a living God, and God’s word is living and active sharper than a two-edged sword.

CONCLUSION

Following Christ offers an alternative to the selfishness of the world. We live for the life beyond this one. One day all the suffering, trial, pain, and grief will pass away but our life will go on for eternity. I want to encourage you all today, especially you, confirmands, God has a specific and intentional plan for your life. I want you to live your life. Not for the temporary and meaningless things that this world offers, but for the eternal. Your life has meaning, your life has purpose, you are not just a cosmic accident. God has already given you everything that you need to be successful. He has provided you with a specific path and given you an opportunity to truly impact the world for the Kingdom of God. As Christians we have a solution to the problems of the world. We have a message of hope. However, that message will be lost if we do not set ourselves apart from this world. Unfortunately, this is where Christianity is in our society today.

A great number of churches who claim to be followers of Christ look just like the rest of the world. As a society we have placed so much emphasis on educating ourselves in the things of this world that the message of Christianity has become diluted. We have in our minds outgrown our need for power of God and we have become educated beyond our usefulness. By doing this we have become fools because we have sold the world on a version of Christianity that does not cost anything and that has created a powerless faith. Christianity costs you something. When you become a follower of Christ you give up your right to self-identify, to seek complements and applause from the crowd, you give up your right to be liked. When we go all in on Jesus, we create a desperate need for the power of God in our life. We become reliant on Him, we trust that He will guide us by His mighty right hand of strength and power. It is the power of God manifested in us that produces hope in any situation in our sphere of influence.

If you here today if you are exhausted of trying to control your life, control the people around to and control every situation. If you are exhausted from trying to receive the praise of all the people around, you. If you are exhausted from trying to figure out the solution for every problem, you face. I want you to know that there is good news. As a follower of Christ, you have the full power of God at your disposal, but it does come at a cost. However, what you will find is that it is worth the cost, and you will never regret it.

I want to encourage you today to give up. Give up trying to make the world your friend, give up trying to be everything to everyone, give up trying to be in control. Give in to making Jesus the Lord of your life and follow Him. In a moment we are going to be closing this service with hymn “Not in Me”. The first verse of says captures the true essence of a life not in pursuing the things of the world, but a life in surrender to the will of God. “No list of sins I have not done, No list of virtues I pursue, No list of those I am not like, Can earn myself a place with You. O God! Be merciful to me— I am a sinner through and through! My only hope of righteousness Is not in me, but only You.”

PRAYER