Do Not Love the World

1 John 2:15–17 NASB95

15 Do not love the world nor 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 lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

Focus: Define ‘loving the world’ and ‘love of the Father.’

Function: For the listener to love the Father and turn away the desires of the flesh.

KILL FILLER WORDS

Preliminary

We will look at few different things today

What is loving the world?

Lust of the flesh

Lust of the eyes

Boastful pride of life

What is the love of the Father?

Doing the will of God

Consequences

Consequences of loving the world

Consequences of doing the will of God

For the most part, we will go verse by verse and see what this exhortation means for us.

Loving the world

Lets first look at what loving the world means here.

First, the author lays clear that whoever loves the world does not have the love of the Father in them.

From this, it is clear that we cannot love the world and love the Father at the same time.

Jesus made this clear in Matthew 6:24

Matthew 6:24 NASB95

24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

Though Jesus is speaking in the context of money, the argument still stands.

You cannot have two masters. Either you pursue the world or pursue God.

So what is loving the world or things in the world?

Lust of the flesh

In some translations, they use the word “cravings” in place of “lust.”

The problem is that we enter the world with skewed and bent desires due to our sinfulness.

So naturally, when we are outside of God, our cravings, lust, or desires is outside of God.

So John here, when speaking of lust or craving of the flesh, it is improperly fulfilling fleshly desires.

Entertainment

Drunkenness

Pleasure

etc.

Lust of the eyes

This can be seen as an aspect of the first, “lust of the flesh.”

Eyes are often the means by which sinful desires are introduced and become desired.

For example, you don’t desire smoking until you see it dramatized in movies or someone you look up to doing it.

Once that enters you through your eyes, you begin to slowly desire it.

Jesus taught that your eyes are lamps to your body. Matthew 6:22

Matthew 6:22 NASB95

22 “The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light.

What we behold, we desire. What we desire, our heart will pursue.

The desires of the flesh becomes desires mostly when we behold them with our eyes.

Boastful pride of life

“Having and doing things this worldly system deems important.” Akin, Daniel.

Akin goes on to say, “World possession…leads to glorification of the self and a failure to realize the dependence of humanity upon God…Individuals make idols of their livelihood, social standing, and any other status symbol that the world determines is important but that matters little to God. Pride, prestige, power, and position count for nothing in the kingdom of God. The value system of this world is turned on its head when God provides the evaluation.”

Possessions, place of power, wealth, even doing good such as charity and giving have zero value outside of God.

Love of the Father

John, the author, doesn’t exactly describe what the “love of the Father” means, however, in v. 17 he writes “one who does the will of God...”

So let us look at what doing the will of God means.

What is God’s number one will for all of us? Remember, your place of ministry, whether that’s out in the 9 to 5 job, business owner, doctor, lawyer, whatever is your ministry, not your grand calling.

Everyone sitting in this room has the same grand calling.

Loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

While living life from the place of your main calling, loving God, you enter into your ministry.

This is doing the will of God.

Loving God vs. Loving the world

You see, you getting a job at Google and earning six figures doesn’t mean you love the world.

You becoming a successful doctor, help the sick, and receiving recognition from the world isn’t loving the world.

There is a very big difference between loving the world and becoming rich or earning recognition as a result of your ministry.

If you love God and not the world, does that mean you need to give up everything and live out in the desert? No.

The thing that separates loving the world and result of ministry is found in the question, “WHY”

WHY are you pursuing what you are pursuing?

WHY pursue education?

WHY pursue your goals and desires?

WHY do you want to pursue a certain career?

See, Jesus never once said that all believers must be dirt poor and live as a social outcast.

But you cannot know what ministry you are called to until you love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength first.

God must become your most desired thing, most important possession. Where your confession is “EVEN if to gain You is to lose EVERYTHING, I still say yes.”

When God takes the first place in your heart, that is when you can enter into your ministry, career that He is calling you into.

I personally know billionaires, stock market giants, and real estate moguls. Do they love the world? No. It was actually divine guidance that got them such wealth.

However, if you the desires are of the flesh, lust of your eyes, and boastful pride of life, it will all fade away into nothing.

The painting Mona Lisa is valued at 800 million dollars. But if it was put into fire and burned, it’s value would literally be not even 1 cent.

Everything you earn and achieve because of the desires of your flesh, lust of your eyes, might have value today, but will become nothing where it’s not even worth 1 cent.

So why invest so much of your limited time and strength into earning that will profit you nothing in the end?

Pursue God, pursue eternity.