Misdirected Loves: John’s Warning to the Church

Sacred text: John 15:12–14 ““This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.”

Introduction: A story or illustration that brings up the overall theme of the text.

Context: A couple of weeks ago we saw that John was exhorting the church to be those who walk in the light by way of loving one another. John wrote this short poetic section reminding the people of the church that because they know God, they are forgiven, they have overcome the evil one, and that they are strong; not because they have just found ways to manage but because the Word of God dwells in them. It is not anything that they have done for themselves but everything that God, in Christ, has done for them. And listen, that should bring us a level of comfort, because it is the same for us. Then we get to our passage for this morning, and it is only three verses, so we are going to read it all and then walk through verse by verse.

1 John 2:15–17 “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. 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. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”

Defining terms

Is love an action? Time to define terms.

I want to start by defining a couple of key terms for this passage. A couple of weeks ago, Pastor Ricky mentioned this type of love that John refers to as agape love. It characterizes who we are and resembles the very love that God has shown us in Christ. This love is not defined so much by the things we do, but by the posture of our hearts toward an object. It is displayed for all to see in the actions that follow. God doesn’t love us based on His actions toward us, but because He has set His heart on us. Not because we do good things, but because we are His people, created in His image, and we belong to Him. Christian, God loves you for you, not for what you might do for Him. If you know me well, then you know I often cringe at these Christian clichés and phrases that are tossed around. One is this: “love is a verb (action).” Scripture disagrees. 1 John 4:8 states, “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” God is love. Agape love is the very essence of God, displayed through the Son of God and manifested by the Spirit of God in the hearts of the people of God. Love is not about the things we do; it is about who we are called to be as we are conformed more and more into the very image of Christ. An example I often use in the counseling room is that I love my wife, but my love is not based on how many good things I did for her today. I love my wife because God has transformed my heart from one filled with lust to one filled with love for her and this love grows within me as the sanctification process continues on.

Contrast that the idea of agape love with a worldly love. Worldly love is nothing more than lust, because without God transforming our hearts, we do not truly know how to love. Lust is nothing more than a strong desire for something. The idea of lust is usually tied to sexual things and for good reason; it has a very strong magnetic like pull on people. This distinction is why John can safely say that if we love the world then the love of God is not in us. The ungodly live in lust, not love. It is practical atheism. Their god is this world and the things in this world. Remember John is fighting against those in the church who claim to know and love God yet their lives tell a very different story. We can only have one love; God or this world. The love of God drives us towards himself and his glory while loving his people along the way. Now that we have defined those terms let’s move into our passage starting in verse 15.

There can only be one true love (1 John 2:15)

1 John 2:15 “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.”

The warning shot.

It is as if John is coming out swinging at this point. We have seen John mention this new commandment, that isn’t actually a new commandment but an old commandment, which is renewed in Christ. We have determined that this commandment is to ultimately love God and love people. Deuteronomy 6:5 is a reminder of this commandment, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” Jesus himself makes the same point in answering the Pharisees about which commandment is the greatest, Matthew 22:34–40 “But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”” A couple of weeks ago, Pastor Ricky showed us how the ten commandments connects to this and the first four of those ten commandments show us how to love God and the remaining 6 show us how to love people. Now, John is building on this thought of loving God as our primary focus and tells us something that is really hard for us today, and it was obviously a problem in his own time as well, so this really is not anything new. John tells us not to love the world or the things of this world. This leads us to the question of “Why not?”

Answer to the question “Why not?”

Jesus makes it clear in Matthew 6:24 saying, ““No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” The point being is that we can have only one true love in our lives, and Jesus presents us with this sort of ultimatum: either love the world and its things, like money, or love God—there's no room for both. In fact, John takes it a step further by stating that if we do love the world, then the love of the Father is not in us. Keep in mind that John is challenging the agnosticism prevalent in the lives of many during his time, a trend that still exists today. It can essentially be described as practical atheism, the belief that there isn’t enough evidence for God, so one can believe anything about God without true commitment to God. In other words, God may or may not be real so, don’t take it so seriously. One question for today is this, “Are we practical atheists?” Here lies an uncomfortable truth for us: because John consistently drives us towards assurance, we can confidently say that those who are genuinely saved not only recognize what God has done for them but also desire nothing more than God in this life and the next. Christian, what do you love more—God or this world? Are you prepared to give up everything you have in this world for the sake of following God? If you truly love God, the answer to that question is simply yes. Unfortunately, sin has distorted our thoughts, feelings, and actions, preventing us from loving God perfectly as He desires. Thus, the answer to that same question is often a very difficult no. However, Jesus loves the Father perfectly and does so in our place. In John 14:31, Jesus tells us that he obeys the Father completely, making his love for the Father evident. In John 10:17, Jesus says that the Father loves him for his willingness to lay down his life for the sheep. Moreover, in John 15:9, Jesus reminds us that as the Father loves him, so he loves us, urging us to abide in that love. In Christ we have been given new desires, one is a love for God, but we still struggle with this don’t we? To better understand why this is, let’s look at what John means by the “world or the things in the world.”

The world or the things in the world.

Because John distinguishes between the world and the things in this world, we must consider this distinction. John Calvin, one of the great reformers, is helpful in this regard. “By the world understand everything connected with the present life, apart from the kingdom of God and the hope of eternal life. So he includes in it corruptions of every kind, and the abyss of all evils. In the world are pleasures, delights, and all those allurements by which man is captivated, so as to withdraw himself from God.” John Calvin refers back to the passage in Matthew 6 where Jesus himself declares that we can only have one love because we will love one and hate the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. We can become so captivated by the world and its offerings that we essentially become slaves to it, withdrawing ourselves from the presence of God, while at the same time calling ourselves devoted Christians. Practical atheists. When our desires for the world begin to outrun our desires for God, we show who or what our master truly is and we devote our time, energy, and love to it. This is the uncomfortable truth we must wrestle with. To whom or what are we truly devoted to? But, John doesn’t stop here and here gives us a glimpse as to what exactly he means by the world and the things in this world.

Lust for the world (1 John 2:16)

1 John 2:16 “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.”

Connections to the garden and the desert.

Let’s begin with lust of the flesh. What is meant by the the lust of the flesh? A desire to live content on ones own advantages. It is a desire to live selfishly and for oneself rather than living for God and the people of God. It is the desire to elevate ourselves above God; essentially its the same situation we saw in the garden when the serpent deceived eve and told her that they could become like God if they ate the fruit. Eve saw the opportunity to elevate self to the same level or above that of God and took the bait. Another part of the deception that Eve fell into was that of this lust of the eyes. Genesis 3:6 says, “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.” This is a desire for the things of this world which bring delight and empty splendor rather than a delight in God himself. God has given us everything in himself and yet we run to the things of this world. The third aspect that John is pointing out is this pride of life in which we arrogantly boast in ambition of our own power to get what we perceive God is not giving us. This leads us into a vain trusting of ourselves rather than trusting in the God who created us and cares for us. John goes on to say that these desires are not desires given by God but they are desires given by the world. It is the world that tells us to go in the direction of self-love rather than loving the One who loves us, to desire and run after that which gives temporary satisfaction rather than running to the One who satisfies eternally, to depend on yourself for achievement rather than resting in the One who has achieved all there is to achieve. Do you see how these things can be so distorted and idolized that they take us captive and drag us away from God? It isnt that things of this world are somehow evil in themselves but our distortion of the good that God has given us is evil. Augustine says, “Let the Spirit of God be in thee, that thou mayest see that all these things are good: but woe to thee if thou love the things made, and forsake the Maker of them!” Let us cling to Christ rather than the things of this world. This brings us to verse 17.

Choose your way (1 John 2:17)

1 John 2:17 “And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”

The bad news.

The world and the things of this world will never endure time itself. Love for these things is pointless and fleeting.

The good news.

The eternal God will endure all time and space and our hope is in him.

Circle back to the idea of love being an action.

The point that John is making overall in this text is that if we truly love God, that love will be put on full display for all to see, by way of obedience to the will of God. Jesus himself says, John 14:15 ““If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

Conclusion: Augustine says, “But this is true love, that cleaving to the truth we may live righteously, and so may despise all mortal things in comparison with the love of men, whereby we wish them to live righteously.”

Prayer: