Don't Take the Bait!

1 John 2:15–17 NKJV

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 lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

Prayer

Last week we examined Christian identity and John’s understanding of the position of the believer.

We also saw how John was encouraging the believers to grow up into Christ.

To grow up into mature manhood and obedience of faith.

The passage for this week and two weeks from now will show us the reason why he begins by reminding them who they are.

This week is about not loving the world and the next is about the anti-Christ.

1 John 2:15 (NKJV)

Do not love the world or the things in the world.

The Pitfall of Loving the World

Also known as the pitfall of taking the bait!

Now a couple of things to call to mind.

Defining “Love” properly

We need to remember what we talked about a couple of weeks ago...

When John says love, he does NOT mean a feeling toward something else.

Love begins in our thought processes, and moves to our affections, and finally is shown in our lives.

This is the kind of love that regards something as precious.

Love is more than a feeling.

Its the kind of love which has an attitude of preciousness toward an object.

The warning here for John is simple: don’t regard the world as precious.

Don’t set your heart and your affections on this world.

Don’t love the things that are opposed to God and His kingdom.

John goes on and says that...

1 John 2:15 NKJV

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 of Taking the Bait

John is warning these believers not to regard as precious this world or anything in the world.

The warning for these believers is that everything that is in this world is not of the Father.

Meaning, that if they seek to set their hearts upon something that is not of the Father, it will lead the destruction.

When we see a warning in Scripture, we need to understand what it is trying to do in us.

The purpose of warnings in the Scriptures is like a “Curved Road Sign Ahead”

The warning from John to us is to look out!

There is a love that God hates.

Don’t set your heart on something that is not of the Father.

Don’t set your affections on something that isn’t lovely.

Don’t regard something as precious that is evil.

We need to love what God loves.

And we need to hate what God hates.

The secular lie is that this world is neutral.

News flash, there is nothing in this world that is neutral.

Politics

Public Education

Medical World

Everything we interact with in a normal day, is a part of this world system.

Don’t take the bait!

So before we go any further, we need to define, “the bait”

Defining the Bait “the world”

1 John 2:15 (NKJV)

Do not love the world or the things in the world.

What does John mean when he says “the world”?

Now to be fair, John uses this word multiple different ways.

Defintion #1

He uses it describe the world and universe in Genesis, John 1:10

John 1:10 ESV

He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.

It can be referring to universal understanding of the world, or the entirety of the cosmos without comment on the moral bend.

This is anything that we have in the world that James actually tells us to be thankful for because it comes from God.

James 1:16–17 NKJV

Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

SO James’ warning is that they be not deceived but actually give thanks for the good gifts all around them.

This is NOT how John is using “the world” here...

Defintion #2

Another way he describes the world is the need for Christians to evangelize the world.

He uses it to describe God’s love for the world, John 3:16

John 3:16 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Definition #3

But what John is describing here is different from other places he uses the word.

When John says “Do not love the world”

What he has in mind here is EVERYTHING which is in rebellion to God.

The idea here is of the world of men in rebellion against God and therefore characterized by all that is in opposition to God. This is what we might call “the world system.” It involves the world’s values, pleasures, pastimes, and aspirations.

Another translation says, “Do not set your hearts on the godless world or anything in it.”

At the end of 1 John he says, 1 John 5:21

1 John 5:21 (NKJV)

Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

An idol can be defined as anything which has our ultimate love and affection.

It is not simply a big pole of wood that we sacrifice to, it is anything that we place as primary or ultimate in our lives.

Here it in another place...

James 4:4 (NKJV)

Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

Here’s the thing: the human race has been in a war since the beginning of time.

There has been a war far greater than anything that Hatfield’s and McCoy’s could imagine.

It has been a war between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent.

Two Categories of People

A war between the seed of Adam and the seed of Satan.

The Father is opposed to the seed of the serpent.

This seed of the serpent is in complete rejection of the Father and His plans and purposes.

The two categories are of unbelievers and believers.

Those who are opposed to God and His mission; and those who are in submission to God’s mission.

Those who love the world; and those who love God.

Matthew 6:24 NKJV

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

What Jesus is saying here is that everyone only has one master.

Now respectively, Christians can be ensnared in this world for a season.

Don’t take the bait!

But that is why John is warning us.

Part of the definition of the bait “the world” is what John describes this world to be like...

1 John 2:16 NKJV

For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.

So there are three components which make up “the world”

The Desires of the Flesh

Now the word for desire in the New Testament is generally a neutral word.

But the context tells us how to understand if it is good or a bad thing.

1 Timothy 3:1 ESV

The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.

We see an example of a good desire.

A desire to serve the people of God.

So desire ISN’T the problem here.

We don’t try and get rid of desire.

To desire is to be human.

But every human desires something, the question is: what are you desiring?

For John, the desires of the flesh could also be understood as the desires which come from the flesh.

Which is showing us that these desires are a BAD thing.

What John is describing here is any and every desire that comes from man that is in rebellion to God and His Kingdom.

These could include anything from lust, gluttony, or a numerous amount of addictions.

Picture with me if you will a king who throws an elaborate party for his guests.

He invites guests to his party.

He is the one who provides all the food, all the drink, everything.

Picture at this said party, that the king has his servants bring out miles and miles of food.

At this party, it would be natural and even good for the king to feed his guests.

Now picture with me the guests coming to get food.

And picture one group of the guests eat until their full and are thankful for the king who invited them.

But another group of the guests eat until their full but rather giving thanks for the great food.

And rather than eating the food, what they do is start storing up the food in the back corner of the party.

Rather than giving thanks for the food, they begin stealing food from other guests.

And if you were to pull a guest aside and ask, “Why are you doing this?”

They would respond, “You never know how long the food will last.”

There are two groups of people given the same situation, but their responses are strikingly different.

One group gives honor to the king while the other group uses and abuses these gifts from the king.

He knows we need to eat, and we need to have desires that are nature and we should be thankful when they are provided for.

This not saying that you can’t eat food, but what it is saying is the food can’t consume you!

But what John has in mind here is the ruling desire to have more and more and more.

1 John 2:16 (NKJV)

the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life

The Desires of the Eyes

John gives us another category which is NOT all together different from the desires of the flesh.

He says the desires of the eyes.

Now Jesus said in Matthew 6:22-23

Matthew 6:22–23 ESV

“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

What Jesus is saying here is that our eyes are like windows to the heart.

They allow us to gaze upon what we see and for good or for ill they affect our hearts.

What you behold is what you become.

So if you’re beholding worthless things, then so you will become worthless.

These include anything like covetousness, lust, or any number of things.

Proverbs 4:23 NIV

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

Guarding Our Hearts

We need to be careful what we set before our eyes.

Envying what our friends have on social media.

Or watching wickedness on our Netflix account.

This is the tendency to look at things without giving any reference to what God thinks of it.

John gives one more category for us to think through...

1 John 2:16 (NKJV)

the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life

The Pride of Life

The word for pride can also be understood and arrogant boasting.

What does “of life” mean?

Another translation says...

1 John 2:16 (CSB)

the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s possessions

This is the exact same word which is used in 1 John 3:17

1 John 3:17 ESV

But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?

So clearly John has in mind here the possessions of ones life.

Now again, go back to this party again that the king is throwing for his guests.

And this time, the kings servants bring out his guests go-carts to drive around.

The only reason is for them to be thankful for them and to enjoy them.

But rather than doing that the guests decide its not fair that everyone can’t have their own go-cart.

SO they become envious of everyone else’s go-cart.

And the ones who actually have a go-cart, they begin to keep it all to themselves.

And the ones who don’t even have the go-cart, they begin to hoard all the party favors the king has given them.

This example shows what our hearts are like.

You are allowed to have things, but you’re not allowed to have those things have you.

“I was holding onto a baseball for my whole career, but it turned out that it was holding onto me.”

Selfish human desire is brought about by what the eyes beholds and shows itself through the things of this world.

James 4:2–3 ESV

You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

It’s our story.

And it is exactly what Eve is presented with in the garden.

Satan came to Eve in the garden and tempted her with, “Did God really say…?”

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.

In this moment we realize that the way that Eve was deceived in the garden mirrors the way that you and I are deceived all the time.

Since the fall, we have been like our first father Adam.

Bound by our own desires and temptations toward sin.

James 1:13–15 ESV

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

This text from James shows us that this bait that I mentioned, it actually resides in our own hearts.

He is saying that our desires which come from within us as fallen creatures is contrary to God Himself.

Then John lays out the reasons not to take the bait.

1 John 2:15–16 NKJV

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 lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.

Reasons Not to Take the Bait

The Bait is NOT of God

The reason that John gives for why we shouldn’t take the bait is because this world and its desires are not from the Father.

He is showing us that if we really are children of God,

then we will recognize that these things are not from God.

Take an example of an employee trying hard to be the best at his job.

This can be done in a God-honoring way and in a sinful way.

If he has been given ability and talent by God and applies his talent with humility and thanksgiving so that God might be honored and praised, then it is good.

But what about if he begins to use his talent to show how superior he is to everyone else.

He uses his talent, which is a gift from God, to boast in his own intellect and wisdom.

He uses his talent, which is a gift from God, to gain is his own wealth and importance.

1 John 2:17 NKJV

And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

The Bait is PASSING AWAY

This world and all its desires are passing away.

Everything of the seed of the serpent is coming to nothing.

This world is not evolving, it is devolving.

This world is coming undone.

The desires of this world are passing away.

And John’s warning couldn’t be anymore clear: if you are succumbed to these desires then you will be passing away as well.

1 John 2:17 (NKJV)

but he who does the will of God abides forever.

How Not to Take the Bait

1 John 2:17 NKJV

And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

The Obedience of Faith

This goes right back to what we have been hammering at for weeks in 1 John.

That love for God is not simply what we say.

It’s what we do.

It’s how we live.

By way of closing, can you turn to Luke 4 and I will give us a few applications from the life of Jesus...

Now the way we don’t take the bait of this world is not pulling ourselves up by our boot straps.

Jesus has walked this path before us.

Jesus has been tempted in the same way we have.

Luke 4:3–4 ESV

The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’ ”

Establishing the Plumb line

Notice how Jesus responds to the devil.

He uses the Scriptures.

Luke 4:6–8 ESV

and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’ ”

Replacing Old Desires with New

The enticement from Satan is that he will give Jesus his whole dominion but not according to God’s plan.

Basically, he is offering him another way to becoming a king of the universe without the cross.

But Christ is reminding Himself of His mission.

Of His purpose, and His purpose is to go to the cross.

His purpose is to die in the place of sinners.

His purpose is to rise again to newness of life on behalf of those wicked and sinful individuals.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer ministered in the shadow of the Nazi machine, where friendship with the world captivated many believers, as it seemed to promise safety.

April 9th, 1945, Dietrich Bonhoeffer died

In obedience and faith alone the church took up the struggle ordained for her. From the Word alone she may be led. For her Lord she gladly gave up all cares, all security, all friendship with the world.

Yes, our way leads also through distress, but the Lord bound us not to yield. Do we want to yield today for the sake of friendship with the world, do we want to sell our calling for the mess of pottage of a safe future? Through our own behavior we are making the Gospel of our church unworthy of belief!

Luke 4:9–12 ESV

And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’ and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ” And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”

Guarding Our Heart

Notice that Satan uses Scripture to attack Jesus for the third time.

Discernment is not distinguishing between a falsehood and a truth.

It is the difference of a half-truth and full-truth.

We need to guard our hearts with all vigilance.

Don’t take the bait!