LETTER FOR SEPARATION

Introduction: Separation is a word that many do not like. The concept of avoiding something or someone truly goes against our culture. We want to be inclusive. Certainly, these are excellent desires. We want everyone, for example, to feel welcome in this congregation. We desire all to know the love of our gracious God. At the same time, there are things from which we must separate. To give you an example from health care, when individuals get sick they tend to avoid people. They do not want to get everyone else sick, and so they separate from healthy people. Likewise, when individuals commit serious crimes, they are separated from the rest of society until they can undergo reform.

Separation, a normal and needed part of society, is also found throughout the Scriptures. For instance, in the opening chapter of the Bible, God separates light from darkness (), He separates water from water (), and He separates day from night (). Moving on through the Scriptures we see the separation between God and people. God, a holy God, who is, as John says, light, separates from sinners, or those who walk in darkness. Old Testament books such as Leviticus and Deuteronomy illustrate the separation between the thrice holy God and sinful people.

Likewise, when individuals commit serious crimes, they are separated from the rest of society until they can undergo reform.

Were that to be our main focus this morning, we would have great reason to despair. However, as John makes clear several times earlier in his letter, we have an Advocate. We can confess our sins, and God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

When God saves us, He changes us. Paul tells us that we have become new creatures (), we have become children of God, as John will tell us later in his later (). With this remarkable, life-giving, nature-changing new birth comes responsibilities. We, as Christians, are to progressively separate from evil. We work to avoid those things which God tells us to avoid, and to do those things God instructs us to do.

One aspect of this progressive separation is separation from the world. Now, the word world carries many connotations, not only in the present but also in the Bible. We will be discussing this in more detail in a few moments. However, our goal this morning is to show that, according to , we must be separate from the world.

I. THE ORDER TO SEPARATE-

This is an order, a command given by John under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. That is, God is speaking through John to his readers, including those original recipients and to us today. And the way John is describing this command is to say, “Stop loving the world!” We should have no good for the world. Think of , one of the most practical descriptions of the biblical idea of love, and flip it to its negative. That is how we are to treat the world.

Inherent in this prohibition is the idea of progression. As God saves us, we noted a few weeks ago that we are delivered from the power of sin but not the presence of sin. That is, we are progressive becoming more like Jesus Christ (our ultimate goal, see ). Imagine a master-craftsman, slowing chipping away the stone on a large rock. He slowly chips pieces away, all the while forming this rock into a beautiful work of art. This is a perfect picture of the process of sanctification. That is, the progressive growth in Christlikeness. Within the idea of our growth toward Christlikeness is also the separation from the world. Now, for the sake of our understanding this morning I want to offer a helpful definition of world. David Wells defines world as,

“the collective expression of every society’s refusal to bow before God, to receive his truth, to obey his commandments, or to believe in his Christ.”

David Wells, God In the Wasteland: The Reality of Truth in a World of Fading Dreams (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1994), 39.

With that understanding, of which we shall unpack momentarily, we must be separate from the world. As we become more like Christ, or, to borrow John’s graphic descriptions, as we gain more light, we will flee further from the darkness, from the world. And this, for the Christian, is not an option. Jesus, though using different language, describes the binary choice we have:”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.” () Or, to give it a geographically appropriate metaphor, you cannot root for Clemson and Carolina. This is an order, it is non-negotiable.

II. THE ORGANIZATION OF THE WORLD-

Now that we understand the order, that is, do not love the world, we can begin dissecting this idea of the world.

I mentioned the definition given by Mr. Wells, but I want to highlight it again. Wells writes, “the collective expression of every society’s refusal to bow before God, to receive his truth, to obey his commandments, or to believe in his Christ.” Verse 16 provides a biblical expression of the refusal to submit to God. It comes in three expressions:

A. The lust of the flesh

The first expression of the world’s system, the world’s view of everything, flows from the lust of the flesh. But before we dive deeper into this section let me remind you that when God created the world in Genesis chapter one, everything was good. As Danny Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary reminds us,

“The problem is not that God created the material things of the world. The problem is that people have made these things into idols.” - Danny Akin

Daniel L. Akin, 1, 2, 3 John. Vol. 38. The New American Commentary (Nashville: TN, Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001), 109. So, while our bodies have natural and good cravings (food, sleep, sex, relationships, etc.), the world transfers our focus from God to our own satisfaction. We can search the Scriptures for example after example of individuals who gave into the lusts of their flesh. We could comb article after posting of present day lusts of the flesh. While God is to be worshipped as the good Creator, the sole-provider for all our happiness and physical needs, the world says to give in to the lusts of the flesh.

B. The lust of the eyes

Akin, Daniel L. 1, 2, 3 John. Vol. 38. The New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001.

The next expression of the world’s systems is displayed in the lust of the eyes. That is, what our eyes see. Jesus gives an example of the wickedness of this lust in . Our eyes are God’s good gift to behold the beauty of the physical world. states, “The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handywork.” When we see the wonders of creation we engage in worship. But, as with everything, our eyes can be used for evil. We can use our eyes to lust after other people in a sexual manner. We can covet the possessions of our friends. We can desire the prominence and popularity we see others have. Our world is geared toward this idea. Just a quick glance at commercials, billboards, and magazines at grocery stores provide you with enough proof to drown you. They may not all be bad, such as a commercial for a burger. But they illustrate how visual we are, and this is not lost upon that collective expression of rebellion against our Heavenly Father.

C. The pride of life

Now, commentators disagree with what exactly this phrase means. Several translations offer different takes, but ultimately I think it involves more than material possession.

The pride of life involves more than mere possessions, it involves a displacement of God and a replacement of one’s self. Consider Satan in . He is described as a beautiful, wise, and powerful creature. And then God says, “Your heart was proud because of your beauty,” which led the devil to say in , “I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of hte clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”

It is the same sin which led Adam and Eve to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they wanted to be like God (, ).

These three expressions, then, the lust of the flesh, the eyes, and the pride of life, are bound within this collective rebellion against God. It is this world that we must hate and flee with unending love to the almighty and good arms of our God.

III. THE OPTION OF SEPARATION-

The choice we have is to love the world and disobey God, or to love God and obey His commandment.

John, in consistent fashion, offers two options: obedience or disobedience, light or darkness, love or hate, and God and the world.

With this offer he provides the end results of our choice: passing away or abiding forever.

We are prone to think, as human beings, that this world is all there is to life. We focus on the physical aspects of life: food, comfort, retirement, those toys that we enjoy playing with, etc. However, what John is tell us here is that this world, this system of rebellion against a holy God, is focused exclusively on the physical pleasures of life. This system of rebellion is vanishing, slowly, but completely. The judgment of God is coming, Jesus will return and judge the earth ().

The flip side of this, though, is that God and His children, those who “do the will of God” abide forever. They remain forever, they dwell forever. And this is not some happy thought that is not attached to reality. God will remake the heavens and the earth, removing all sin and attachments to this difficult life, and establish His Kingdom for all eternity. Revelation chapters 21 and 22 provide a discussion of what this world will be like.

So, Christian, whom do you love? Are you attempting to balance your love to the world and to God? It cannot be done.

Perhaps you have thrown in the proverbial towel. You are seeking all your joy and fulfilment from the world. There is time to repent and to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Or, perhaps you have never loved God in the first place. Your life has been enslaved to the passions of your mind and your flesh. You always give into your cravings because you are enslaved by sin. Jesus provided us with freedom through His death, burial, and resurrection.