For the Love of God
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
Mickey Mantle 1952 Topps card, the 'finest known example' of its kind, sells for record $12.6 Million
Mickey Mantle 1952 Topps card, the 'finest known example' of its kind, sells for record $12.6 Million
1962 Ferrari 250 GTO - in 1962 the car cost $18,000 In 2018 this car was auctioned off for $48.4 Million
1962 Ferrari 250 GTO - in 1962 the car cost $18,000 In 2018 this car was auctioned off for $48.4 Million
The One, Bel Air, California $350 million
The One, Bel Air, California $350 million
So what do you think? Is this Scriptural behavior or worldly?
If we are going to love God it will require full devotion to Him and no devotion to the world or the things of this world. So what does today’s passage say?
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.
So Verse 15 tells us not to love the world nor the things in the world. But what does it mean when we say love?
Well the Oxford dictionary defines love as a noun: 1. an intense feeling of deep affection 2. a great interest and pleasure in something as a verb: 1. feel deep affection for (someone): 2. like or enjoy very much
In reading these definitions it can be very easy to love everything and anything. Love has become a very over used word since people love their cars, houses, a color of paint or anything else they own or see.
But what does the bible say about Love? Well since the New Testament is primarily Greek there are different kinds of love to differentiate the object of the love. There are between 4 to eight kinds depending on how you look at things. I am going to mention the four primary kinds.
Eros - Physical or sexual love
Philos - Brotherly love
Storge - Family love (primarily - parent to child)
Agape - Sacrificial, unconditional love of God (selfless)
So we can differentiate between kinds of love. Everyone has the capacity to exhibit each of these kinds of love to some degree. But it is the Agagpe love that we should be striving for - sacrificial, unconditional love just like Christ demonstrated to all those who believe upon his name. And Agape love is the kind of love that is really only possible for those who walk in the Light.
These are all nice definitions but what does the Bible say love is?
4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,
5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,
6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;
7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away.
Now that is what Love IS! That is how we should treat others to show how much Christ loves us.
Verse 15 also tells us not to love the world or the things in the world. Why?
Well with love comes devotion. Devotion holds our heart and we act accordingly. If we love the world and the things in it, there probably isn’t room for the Father. And since we are to love the Lord with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength then we should be giving all of our devotion to Him. But what happens if we do love the world and the things in it?
Well verse 15 goes on to say that the love of the Father is not in him. Can we avoid loving the world and the things in it? Well we can do our best not to love things. The idea is to always put God first. Jesus said it this way:
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.
According to this we can’t split our loyalties. It’s one or the other. If you love God completely you won’t have room for things of the world. Or if you love the things of the world you won’t have room for God. Choose this day whom you will love and serve.
That was the translation in the NASB but the King James version says it this way:
Matthew 6:24 KJV
24 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. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Do you see the difference? The last word; the newer version, the NASB, says wealth the older version, the KJV, says mammon. Does anyone know the difference? I always thought mammon was wealth or stuff, but it’s more than that. mammon is also the Greek name for the Demon of wealth and greed. Hench you can not serve two masters.
So love God and seek His kingdom before everything else.
Verse 16 goes on to say:
1 John 2:16 (NASB95)
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.
Now John is telling us why we should not love the world. All the love for the things of this world are actually just lust. It’s our senses lying to us. This stuff doesn’t come from the Father. It comes from another source. But what is lust?
The Oxford dictionary defines Lust as: Lust - Very strong sexual desire for someone but in the bible lust is defined as a strong desire for sexual immorality or a strong desire for idolatrous worship. Well that changes the meaning a lot. The dictionary version makes it just about sexual desire for someone but the bible version is for sexual immorality, and idol worship. In other words the bible is making lust about something that draws your heart away from God.
Remember mammon - the demon for wealth and greed. Well if you lust after wealth then you are actually worshipping an idol. You are worshipping mammon the demon behind wealth. If you take this idea a little bit farther than your lust for other things is idol worship because there is an idol behind all of it. These desires are the demons gift to us. Our lusts for things, based on our senses in this world are a distraction to draw us away from God and to worship idols - the idols hidden behind the stuff. Don’t chase after the idols chase after the real thing - God Himself.
Verse 16 also mentions the boastful pride of life. So here is one more definition for you: Pride - a feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired
Pride now that is a hard idea. The world has made pride so acceptable. It’s good to be proud of yourself and your accomplishments and others too. But if we take it to far then what happens. We begin to worship ourselves. Our pride makes us start thinking about how great we are or how great others are. The more we think of ourselves the less we think about God and the less we look to Him to meet our needs. We begin to make ourselves the idol. If this is the case then what can we do about it. Well Jer 9:23-24 says:
23 Thus says the Lord, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches;
24 but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord.
If we are going to have boastful pride, boast not of yourself but of the Lord. Because He provides all things - any other boasting is of the evil one. In other words give the glory to God for what you do and are able to do. So that you may be commended by the Lord.
So the things of verse 16 are not from the Father. The worldly things that show we do not have the love of the Father in us come from the world. Remember what verse 16 says:
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.
The Father doesn’t give us these things - they come from the evil one. According to Jeremiah the Father cares about lovingkindness, justice and righteousness. These things He delights in. He doesn’t delight in baseball cards, cars, fancy houses or any of the other stuff people seem to like to collect - or worship.
The question at this point is why? Why should we avoid all the stuff and chase after the Father. The answer is in verse 17.
17 The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.
The World is passing away! All of this stuff is fleeting. It all rusts, rots and breaks. There is a reason someone was willing to pay 12 million dollars for a baseball card. The answer was in the head lines that went along with the photo - “finest known example of its kind.” All of the others are damaged. They were played with, traded and stuffed in shoe boxes. Most of the kids that had the same card didn’t look into the future and see the possibility of being a millionaire because of a topps baseball card.
But what does it mean when it says the world is passing away? Well everything dies. The boastful pride that we have in ourselves departs this world when we die. Our pride doesn’t hang around and wait for us to return for it. The things we lust after die, break or just loose their appeal. It passes away. Not only are the individual things passing away but the whole world is doomed. 2 Peter 3:7 says:
7 But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
The heavens and the earth are being reserved for fire. Fire consumes everything. So when the day of the Lord comes fire will consume all of this. Therefore all those who place their trust in the things of this world will loose everything they trust in. The money won’t help, the fancy cars, houses, clothes or anything else that people value will help. There will be nothing left except judgment, judgment with no hope.
Who then will be saved? All those who do the will of God. But what is the will of God? There are two types of will for God.
His sovereign plan - the plan that was set in motion before the foundations of the earth were laid.
His command - God has commanded certain things and His will is that we follow those commands.
There are a lot of scripture verses that point to the will of God. Here are a few of them:
8 He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?
John 6:40 (NASB95)
40 “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”
3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality;
4 that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor,
5 not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God;
3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,
4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,
4 who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
That brings us to the final point. God wants to rescue us from this present evil age. He wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth and He wants all men who behold His Son the Lord Jesus Christ to have eternal life.
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
This is the big picture for God’s will in every single life. To know the Son and to believe in Him. Following His commandments, doing justice, walking humbly before Him and everything else comes after the believing. First comes the believing and then all things will come about in due time each according to the grace that He has given each of us.
But what is eternal life? John 17:3
3 “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
Eternal life begins with the knowledge of the Father and Son Jesus Christ. It is also the resurrection from the dead that we may be with the Father after all of this passes away and is consumed by fire. Eternity in heaven in the presence of God is the ultimate goal.
But to get there we must Love God and believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ. Our trust must be in Him alone. The things of this world are deceitful. There are demons lurking behind everything drawing us away from the Father. The demons make the things of this world look good. They make us think that we will be saved by the stuff in some way. They make us want more… more money, more fame, more stuff. More doesn’t help - the One helps, the one name by which we may be saved. Jesus the Christ. If he is not the one that you put your trust in then get up here on your knees at the alter and fix it.
Pray