This World is not for us

Three reasons why believers are not to set their affections on this world system

Explanation: John moves from giving encouragement to the believers to warning them about love for the kosmos. The word is used in several ways in the Scriptures, and it is important to understand the correct sense. The created world has its origin in God (), and God has love for the world and the people in it (cf. ). Kosmos, however, has another meaning, and this is the one being warned against. In context, kosmos refers to the world-system that lies outside the dominion of God.

As a whole it is a realm that does not (or will not) recognize Christ (3:1) and that despises people who follow Christ (3:13). It is shot through with the influence of dangerous deceivers like false prophets (4:1) and antichrist himself (4:3), the evil one “who is in the world” (4:4). “The world” is conceived of as the stronghold of those who ignore the apostolic testimony Yarbrough, R. W. (2008). 1–3 John (p. 127). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.

Because love for the Father and love for the world are mutually exclusive ()

Explanation: John expounds on his warning not to love the kosmos by giving several reasons for the imperative. The first reason has to do with the exclusive nature of God’s love.

The first two of the ten commandments addresses this very issue.. There is only one God, and His image cannot be reproduced because He is not able to be limited. A fashioned idol limits who God is, and He declares Himself to be jealous of His nature and His glory. () God will reveal Himself to all, but He is exclusive in His worship.

Illustration: Consider a marriage. When a man unites with a woman in marriage, he is saying YES to her. At the same time he is saying NO to everyone else. There are to be no shared affections in a marriage.

Exodus 20:3–4 ESV

“You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

Argument: The exclusive nature of the worship of God saturates the Scriptures.

Exodus 20:3 ESV

“You shall have no other gods before me.

James 4:4 ESV

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.

Matthew 6:24 ESV

“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.

Matthew 6:

“To pledge allegiance to one side is to declare opposition to the other” Danny Akin

Application: As believers, we have pledged our allegiance to the Lamb of God. It is imperative then, for us to remain free from entanglements with the enemy.

We need to recognize the kosmos for what it is - our sworn enemy

We are not to buddy up with the enemy

We are to engage only in activities that will not bring our allegiance into question

Because the desires of the world system do not have their origin with the Father ()

Because the desires of the world system do not have their origin with the Father ()

Explanation: The second reason John gives for believers not to set their affections on the kosmos is because the world views stem from different sources, and will lead to different conclusions. John addresses “3 streams of sin in which fallen humans are prone to pervert the goodness of God’s creation.” (Akin, p. 109)

The desires of the flesh -things originating in innate human nature regarded as unredeemed by God (Yarbrough, R. W. (2008). 1–3 John (p. 132).

The desires of the eyes - the tendency to be captivated by the outward show of things without inquiring into their real values” (Dodd)

The Pride of Life - the arrogance of life as seen by what people toil to acquire in vain pursuit of earthly goods

Argument: This arrangement of vices is reproduced from the earliest sin encounters in humanity. In , Eve was seduced by the serpent in these three very areas, and the corresponding destruction to humanity cannot be over stated.

Genesis 3:6 ESV

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.

Genesis 3:

Legal recognition of same-sex marriage and the celebration of sexual immorality is an insult to the Creator who designed men & women and instituted marriage

The widespread and growing intolerance of Christianity is alarming. Freedom of worship is being suppressed

Because the world system is temporal, but following God is eternal ()

Explanation: John gives the third reason for believers not to set their affections on the kosmos, and it is because the kosmos is only temporary. At the Return of the King, the world and its things, all that opposes God will be completely destroyed.

Illustration: Think of the foolishness involved in rearranging deck furniture on board the Titanic. The boat is sinking! It’s time to get off!!

Argument: It doesn’t make sense to invest in something you know is not going to last. Jesus was very clear about this in the sermon on the mount.

Matt 6:

Matthew 6:19–21 ESV

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.