What we are Not to Love

“World” defined

Above all things, believers are to be known for their love. John is pretty clear about that in this epistle (2:8-9). Love is the distinguishing factor between the lost and the saved. However, John shows us in these verses that there are things that the believer should not love. That may sound odd to an unbeliever or a new believer, but nevertheless, it’s a biblical truth. Psalm 97:10 says “Ye that love the Lord, hate evil”. There are things the believer is called to hate because there are things that the Lord hates. Proverbs 8:13 says “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, arrogancy, and the evil way, and the forward mouth do I hate”. Proverbs 6:16-19 gives a list of seven things that the Lord hates. The implication is that if the Lord hates those things His children should hate them as well. As we study God’s word we discover His passions. His passions then become our passions. Psalm 119:104 says “Through Thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every evil way”.

In this section of Scripture John tells us not to love the world. What does he mean by that? Let’s think about that first.

* He does not mean the physical creation. There is no reason for us to hate the heavens and the earth. There is no reason for us to hate the planets and the constellations. All of those things are the creation of God. God pronounced them “good” when He created them (Gen. 1:31). The physical world is inanimate. It hasn’t committed any acts of rebellion against God. There is no reason for us to hate the physical world.

*He is not talking about the people in the world. John tells us that if we hate people we are not believers (1 John 4:20). Jesus even told us to love our enemies (Matt. 5:44). God loves the people in the world (John 3:16). So obviously “world” does not refer to the people in the world.

The term “world” and the phrase “things that are in the world” refer to an evil and wicked system that has great power and influence in this world. It is orchestrated by Satan. He is called “the god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4). Satan and his demons are continually deceiving the nations. Every unsaved person is under the deceiving power of God’s greatest enemy. Ephesians 2: 2 says “Wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.” Believers are called to cast down imaginations that come from the fiery darts of Satan (2 Cor. 10:5). Those “imaginations” are ideas, belief systems contrary to the will of God. Unbelievers do not have the power to cast those imaginations down. Therefore, they adopt them and live their lives by them. So “world” and “things that are in the world” describes the false philosophies, religions and worldviews that the majority of the world govern their lives by. The origins of these things are Satan and his demons that are operating in the world even now (Eph. 6: 12).

The danger of loving the world

John says that if a man loves the world then the love of the Father is not in him. To have the love of God in us means the same thing as being saved (Romans 5:5, 1 Cor. 13). If we are void of God’s love it equates to being unsaved. So John’s point is that if we love the world we do not love God. James basically said the same thing in James 4:4. He said if we were a friend of the world that we are an enemy of God. They were merely echoing the words of Jesus who said “No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one, and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other”. To put it in our terms “You can’t have a wife and a girlfriend”. The fact that a married man has a girlfriend proves that he does not love his wife. If we love the world, it proves that we do not truly love God.

That does not mean that there is not a struggle in the believer’s life. There certainly is. John would not have commanded us not to love the world if that were not the case. The world is continually trying to seduce us. However, the believer resists that temptation and even hates the very desire to yield to the world’s advances. Sometimes we yield to the world’s seduction. When we do, we feel terrible. The knowledge that we have been unfaithful to God by embracing what He hates compounds our guilt. We respond in repentance.

It is not difficult to determine if a person loves the world or simply yielded to it in a time of weakness. Those that love the world, accept the lies of the world. They believe the false philosophies about sin, self, religion, etc. Therefore, they continue to indulge in the sinful things of the world. Their lives are characterized by continual celebration in sin. They have no intention of leaving their sinful lives behind. They are convinced by the lies of the devil that they are in no danger of judgment.

How the world deceives humanity

John shows us three areas that humanity is tempted in. They do not change with the times. These areas reveal the weakness of humanity throughout every generation. Let’s look at each one.

The lust of the flesh. “Flesh” refers to our humanity. We are made up of flesh and blood. “Lust” refers to an unholy appetite. Because we are humans we have natural desires. We have the desire to eat, drink, be comfortable, worship, have intimate relations, etc. When sin came into the world it corrupted those natural desires (Jeremiah 17:9). Think about how sin does that:

It is natural to eat, the lust of the flesh tells us to over eat. It tells us to binge out while watching TV. We know we are full but our lust compels us to keep eating.

It is natural to want to live comfortably. The lust of the flesh convinces us to live above comfort. Instead of money to pay the bills, we need money to live lavishly. We need a home far too large for us. We need a television in every room. We need the newest car. All of these things usually come at the expense of serving the Lord with all our whole heart.

It is natural to want to worship. The lust of the flesh convinces us to fashion a god after our own image. We want a god that will allow us to please the flesh. Therefore, we create our own truth or find a religion that allows us to worship without sacrificing any pleasure.

Intimacy is natural. The lust of the flesh convinces us to over indulge in intimacy. Multiple partners, sex before marriage, adultery, and homosexuality are all a result of the lust of the flesh corrupting a natural desire.

So the world finds a very natural desire we have, and then corrupts that desire. That’s what Satan did to Eve in the garden. She had a natural desire for food. Satan tempted her with the one piece of food she could not have. He used her natural hunger to cause her to indulge in something unnatural (Gen. 3:1). He does the same thing with us today.

The lust of the eyes. What a blessing it is to see. God has given us a wonderful gift in giving us sight. However, there are things that we are not to look upon. Our sinful nature corrupts the wonderful gift of sight by tempting us to look upon things we should not look upon.

We look upon material things. Achan looked upon riches that he should not have looked upon. As a result he stole them and brought devastating consequences to himself, his family and all of Israel (Josh. 7:21). When we begin to covet after material things we reveal that we are not content in the Lord. When we are not content we are weak. We will go outside of God’s will to fulfill our desire.

We look upon forbidden things. David looked at Bathsheba and fell into great sin. He saw the beautiful woman bathing and decided to stare. That stare led to sexual immorality which ultimately led to death and destruction in David’s kingdom. Jesus warned us about looking with lust. He said to do so is to commit adultery (Matt. 5:27-29). Many people are destroyed because of what they choose to look at. Sight is a wonderful thing but sin has corrupted it. It causes us to look in an ungodly way which leads to sinful actions. The lust of the eyes is a serious thing we should guard against. In Genesis 3 Satan used sight to tempt Eve. The forbidden fruit was “pleasant to the eyes”.

The pride of life. What a blessing it is to have life. Because we are created in the image of God, we are amazing beings. We have the capacity to reason, build, paint, make music, etc. Sadly, because of sin, that ability often leads us to sin. We become arrogant and self sufficient. We give ourselves the glory for who we are and what we have accomplished. That’s what happened to Nebuchadnezzar. He gave himself the glory for building Babylon (Daniel 4:30). As a result God judged him. Jesus described another self made man in Luke 12:16-21 that amassed a fortune for himself. He thought he would simply hoard his goods and enjoy life. God judged him as well. In Acts 12:20-23 Herod put forth himself as a god and the Lord judged him as well. It is in our hearts, because of sin, to be honored as a god. Satan tempted Eve with that concept in Genesis 3. He promised her that if she disobeyed God she would be like a god. It was that ungodly desire that pushed her over the brink.

We want the world and we want the credit. That desire is the result of sin. We either want to be god or we want to reinvent Him. Both of those things reveal great pride on our part. God has called us to humbly recognize His greatness and our need of Him.

The foolishness of loving the world

Verse 17 tells us why it is foolish to love the world. John tells us that the world and everything in it is passing away. If our hope is in this world our hope will soon fade away. This earth will be destroyed in the end (2 Peter 3:10). Satan, his hosts, and unbelievers will be eternally destroyed as well (Rev. 20:15). The only thing that will remain is the word of God and the children of God. John says at the end of the verse that those that do the will of God will remain forever. How foolish it is to love a dying world. Let’s close with three things we should love.

We should love God. He is not going anywhere. He has always been here and will always be here. We don’t have to worry about him leaving or even changing. The greatest commandment is to love God because it is the greatest and most rewarding thing that we can do. Instead of finding our pleasure in a dying world, let us find our pleasure in the living God.

We should love believers. Believers will live eternally. We will have fellowship forever and ever with one another. We are called to love one another more intimately than we love the lost world. That’s because we are a part of an eternal family that will worship the King of Kings throughout all eternity.

We should love the Word of God. Jesus said that the word of God would endure for eternity (Matt. 5:18). The false philosophies of this world will pass away with this world. God’s word will abide. We need a serious love for His Word. It contains His commands, His comforts, His promises and His will. We ought to dig into. We ought to long for it. We ought to love it. If we live our lives by it we will have victory over the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.