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Intro:

• Intro: Portland pastor reminded me

• Napster days

• Remember when steeling was okay

• How do we get to a place where taking someone’s art is okay

• Metallica

• Test case of loving the world vs. loving the Father. John has provided this church with several assurances. Those who are in Christ love God and love each other. These are the litmus tests, the fruit of faith. And John is beginning to flesh out the implications for truly loving God. What does it look like to love God? And we’re going to look at three questions.

What Can’t you Love?

John makes a command and says not to love the world. This is not pious advice. John is not saying, church, you might want to consider not loving the world. He just comes right out and says not to love the world. How do you respond? Okay John don’t love the world. Got it. No, we want to know what John means when he says don’t love the world, because the bible uses the word the greek word cosmos in different ways.

There are words in the English language, that take on different meaning depending on context.

Similar to the word bar. Have you ever heard the old joke, I walked into a bar, it really hurt. The same word depending on the context could mean a drinking establishment, or a metal bar. So we have to pay attention to the context and how words are used to understand their meaning.

So what does John mean by world?

What is the world?

Earth - Romans 1:20 “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”

People of the world - John 3:16 ““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

World is also used to refer to system of ideas that are anti God. These are ideas, practices, and ethics that are opposed to God, but are baked into our cultures. The idea that stealing art on Napster is okay.

John is saying you can’t love the world, because its ideas, and desires, and morals, and practices are opposed to God.

Okay that is meant by world, but what is meant by love?

What it means is that your longings, imagination, view of goodness, and human flourishing, are not only informed by, but you are captivated by World. And when you faced with the choice to pursue God’s ways or the worlds, you choose the worlds, continually. He is saying do not have an unwavering affection for the ways of the world.

This does not mean that you won’t ever sin. Remember 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” But what he is getting it what grabs your heart, the way of the world or God.

Why you can’t love it

1. Don’t love the world because you can’t love both.

Illustration: Matthew 6:24 ““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.”

We cannot serve, be captured by desires that are contrary to God’s will and his ways.

What captures your imagination of the good life? What does human flourishing look like to you? Is it more formed by what the world declares good, or what the Father declares good. Is it Napster? Or is it holiness.

because if you love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. That’s a big statement, but John is saying it has to be one or the other. If you are in love with the world, then your love for God isn’t there. It’s absent. You can’t have your cake and eat it too.

This does not mean that we sell all our possession and live in a commune and protect ourselves against the big bad world. It means we let God guide us, we set our hopes, desires, and affections on him and him alone.

2. It’s contrary to God

John points out three big temptations of the world as he fleshes out why we can’t love both the world and the Father. These three are the desires of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.

So what does he meant by the desires of the flesh.

First we must be reminded that the reason why we even has these desires is because we possess a sin nature. As one commentator puts it, We are not sinful because we sin, We sin because we are sinful.

We have a nature that is bent toward sinning. Romans 3:9-12 “What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.””

Your first instinct may be thinking that this is referring to sex. And it is certainly a part of desires of the flesh. And this can include any category of sexual sin. But it can also include over indulging in food. Being gluttons. Over consuming alcohol, self medicating, retail therapy (shopping for the dopamine hit) looking for ways to have power over others or to control situations, staving off boredom by going to your phone again and again.

So our sin nature, gravitates towards fulfilling the lust of the flesh. Finding ways to satisfy our own desires.

So fleshly desires are any cravings that arise from within. The temptations we struggle with. Self-inflicted temptations.

lust of the eyes - Whereas the desires of the flesh are more internally directed, the lust of the eyes are more outwardly. This is the kid on the playground that sees someone having fun with a toy and they walk over, push the kid on the ground and take the toy for themselves.

I see it, I want it.

Sin of Achan.

These are the sins of greed, coveting, being fueled by materialism because we don’t have enough. We need bigger, newer, faster, etc.

Pride of life

This is the sinful bent to go our own way. Our way is the right way. We glorify ourselves and we think who are you to tell me what to do. I am going to live my own way.

This is our culture is it not. We struggle with the Pride of life. We don’t want anyone telling us what to do, how to think, or how to live. We have constant messaging saying, your missing out on all the fun. You need more stuff so you can be satisfied. You need to work just a little bit harder, a little bit longer, make just a little bit more money and you’ll be happy. And then we have our own issues, our own flesh to battle with.

Though our culture is different, and the temptations come in different ways and forms, the root of these are the same. They are as old as Genesis 3.

Any parallels

We see the three-fold love for the ways that are contrary to God in the garden.

Lets look at Genesis 3:6 “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.”

good for food. The desires of the flesh. An inward change had been made, a decision to satisfy her flesh.

pleasing to the eye - This is the i want it, so I am going to take it.

able to make one wise. Self-wisdom. I don’t want to live for God anymore. I am going to live for myself. I know what is right for me. Who are you to tell me how to live.

The love of the world is not new. It is ancient and it is a continue temptation for us. But it is a temptation that we have the power to overcome. Do you know why? Because Jesus faced the same temptations. Yes in the wilderness temptations he faced the three-fold temptation to choose to love the World or to love the Father.

Jesus

Bread - lust of the flesh

4 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written,

“ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone,

but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”

Your hungry Jesus, come on, just make a little bread for yourself. It’s okay. You’ve got to be hungry. I would be hungry if I hadn’t eaten all this time.

pride of life

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,

“ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’

and

“ ‘On their hands they will bear you up,

lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ”

7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”

Jesus think of all the people that will worship you if you were to jump and not hit the ground. Not even David Blaine or any other illusionist can do that. No body would be able to tell you what to do, and everyone would listen to your wisdom.

desires of they eyes

8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,

“ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God

and him only shall you serve.’ ”

Look at all the kingdoms that you could have. You are a hungry lowly carpenter that hasn’t eaten in days. I will make you rich.

As we consider what Jesus did, look at how he love the Father instead of the world.

Jesus responds to show us how God’s way is the opposite. How to love the Father instead of the world.

The word of God

Faith, I am going to trust what God said and not the world says. I am not going to test God’s truth.

I will worship God alone. He is the only one worthy of my devotion and my worship.

And this leads us right into the good news of the gospel.

Where Adam and Eve caved and fell into sin and disobedience Jesus withstood the temptation. He did not waver and Satan tried the big three of the world. Flesh. God will take care of me. Pride of life. I’m not going to test God. Desire of the eyes. I am going to worship God alone.

Jesus Christ underwent the big three and came out the other end unscathed. This is good news for you and for me. It’s Christ’s obedience that we receive. His ability to undergo temptation and not sin. His overcoming, his victory, we share in it. When you are in Christ, when you trust in him, you receive the gift of his obedience. Which means that God sees us as in right standing with him. Not because we never succumb to the temptations. We do. But because we are found in Christ and we share in his righteousness.

We are found in Christ. His victory over temptation becomes our victory. We are empowered and equipped to love God and not love the world. And since we have the spirit of Christ indwelling us, we are able to say no to the world, and yes to loving the father. And when we do fail, we remember 1 John 1:7 “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”

Illustration: The early church understood that they couldn’t love both the Father and the world. So how did a small insignificant Jewish sect gain so much influence that in just a few hundred years, they became the official religion of the Roman empire. It wasn’t because the Christian faith was relevant. It wasnt’ becauase they were entertaining. it wasn’t because they were the most strategic. It was because they didn’t give into the way of the world.

They didn’t participate in the worship of Romes gods. Now we don’t have the same type of gods as the Rome, but what if we didn’t participate in our nations idolatry of celebrity, materialism, political power, etc.

They were willing to sacrifice their reputation for declaring Jesus as Lord. They were faithful to the Lord and it came at a cost.

They were hospitable. All types were welcome in the church.

They knew the faith. They read and wrote books to defend the Christian faith. To counter the love of the world.

The only box you put the early church in is the Christian box. They were distinct, yet not separatist. They weren’t vying for power or influence. They were just faithful

Application: Isn’t that what God is calling us to do. We are called in this passage to not rely on the big three, but to just be faithful to the Lord.

To do that we need to starve the lusts and feed the faith. When we focus on loving God with our whole being. Word, faith, worship. These three feed our hearts, minds, desires with the fuel we need to love God and we starve the temptations brought by the world. And as we do this, we need to develop the ability to look at what captures our attention and assess, is which three does this belong to? Worldly three or Fatherly three?

3. Real quickly another reason why we can’t love both is because one way is fading away and another is here to stay.

The reason why is that things are passing away. We’ve seen John address this before in his letter. 1 John 2:8 “At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.”

What John is getting at here is that the kingdom of God has arrived, though not in its fullness. King Jesus is on the throne. And his reign and rule will be forever. The ways of the world will not last forever. And those that set their hearts on the world and its ways are going to follow along with it. They will not last. They will pass away along with the world. But those who follow God. And lets remember only those who have ahd their hearts changed are able to do this. Those who God has acted upon by his Spirit, those who God has brought to life are able to to the will of God. And the this will is simply loving him and loving our neighbors.

He is closing out this section to really give the full outcome of living for ourselves and living for God. One has lasting significance, the other is vapid, empty, and fading away.

Jesus Christ has made it possible to abide forever. He defeated the world, its ideas, practices, and ethics by through not only his death but his resurrection. They could not defeat him. AS one commentatory puts it, “Victory is assured, resistance is required.” We have the assurance of victory because of Jesus, but we also need to resist the ways of the world.

Illustration - Have you ever lost money on something that was supposed to be sure thing. You were so sure you were going to make money on this investment. And you wake up one day and you see that it is going down. Next day its going down. And it continues to dwindle. Would you continue to invest in it? Some might, with the hopes that it is just a temporary drop. But for the sake of argument. Let’s say it was blockbuster video. Yes I am continuing to date myself, first Napster, now blockbuster. But Netflix has come out, and is competing and were not really sure what’s happening, but there comes a point where blockbuster is not going to make it. They are the titanic and their ship is sinking and all that will remain is a store in bend, or. You would be foolish to invest in blockbuster, it is fading away. Invest in something that will last.

Application:

We need to choose to invest in what lasts. What is eternal. So what lasts? In a few minutes we are going to end our service and some of us are going to watch a football game. Some will watch it if for the commercials, some will hang out for the friendship. Others will do it for the food. But in a few years, very few will remember that game.

I am not saying don’t enjoy it. What I am saying is not to love it. Not to arrange your whole life around a game. This does not mean we check out, and just wait for Jesus to return. That is not what this passage is saying, nor what I am saying, nor what Scirpture calls us to. What it means is that we have the tendency to arrange our priorities and our lives around some pretty trivial stuff. And we should invest our affections and desires on what is lasting.

Big Idea: And Johns point is that a love divided will sink you. So you have to choose one or the other, you can’t have both. And he is writing to the church. So he is writing to keep them from having a divided love. To keep them from wavering. He wants them to continue to have a love for God versus a love for the world.

How can I have an undivided love

To do this we need to remember our core value of Community Focused. We we were never supposed to do this alone and we don’t have to do it alone. We have a myriad of ways here so you don’t have to be alone.

Sunday is one of the ways where we encourage you in the body. It’s not just us praising God, but our confessions and our reading together, and our sharing of the supper is meant to be communla activities where we profess our joint and individual love for the Father.

encouragement - We also have community groups of and Women’s Bible study, and Men’s gatherings that are meant to build each other and be in the Scriptures together so we can walk together in loving the Father.

prayer - we don’t only have to pray for illness and ailments. One of the biggest ailments we face is sin. What if we used our prayer groups, text messages, or the men’s group or people that we trust and took the risk of sharing ways in which you are struggling with Sin. …You can pray for me.

holiness.

But all of these must be rooted in Christ not ourselves. 1 John 4:19 “We love because he first loved us.”