Don't Love The World
Introduction
It’s amazing how God works out the timing on things. As you know, we began a series of sermons through the book of 1 John about two months ago. Well, it just so happens that today is High School Graduate Recognition Day; and our text in 1 John for today could not be more appropriate for these young men and women who are graduating from high school and moving on to the next chapter in their life. However, these verses apply not only to them but to all of us.
Read them with me beginning in the fifteenth verse of the second chapter. (Read Text)
Let me share something with you that really breaks my heart and ought to break your heart too. In 2002 the Barna Research Group found that up to 70% of all students who regularly attend church during high school leave the church after they leave home.1 That is seven out of every ten. That means that potentially nine or ten of the young men and women who we are recognizing today will decide to leave the church and not come back for a very long time…if ever.
Have you ever thought about why that happens? Why does a person who has grown up attending church and being involved in the life of the church decide to leave the church at such a critical age? Well, there are probably a myriad of answers to that question but I think the apostle Paul put his finger on one of the most common reasons when he wrote to his second letter to Timothy, his young son in the ministry. He said: “Make every effort to come to me soon; for Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.” 2 Timothy 4:9-10 (NASU)
Demas was most likely a man who had been a partner of Paul’s in the ministry for many years. He had worked and ministered with other great men of the faith like Titus, Luke, Mark, and others who had worked alongside Paul. Yet in spite of being in the company of such committed Christians, Demas left them. And what was the reason? Paul made it very clear: Demas left because he loved this present world. In other words, he loved this present world and the things of this world more than he loved God and the things of God.
And you know, when you get right down to it, that’s the reason so many young people leave the church and the things of God behind when they leave home. They are lured by this present world and the things of this world and grow to love this world and the things of this world more than they love God and the things of God.
In fact, it’s interesting to me that when Demas left Paul and the other believers he went to Thessalonica. Thessalonica was a large, cosmopolitan city on the main trade route of Asia Minor. It was a city that offered all the materialistic, immoral, and philosophical allurements that the world had to offer. And it was the allurement and his love for those things that ultimately led Demas to leave the family of God. (Reinsert Title Slide)
It is not very difficult to see the parallel in our day, especially where we live. For example, we see this happen all the time with college students when they come to the university. They come by the thousands from towns and cities all over Alabama and other states. Many of the kids who come to Tuscaloosa to go to school are young people who grew up attending church; but when they leave home and come to Tuscaloosa many of them also choose to leave the church. And one of the reasons many of them do so is because of the materialistic, immoral, and philosophical allurements of this present world. And so they become a lover of the world and the things of the world rather than a lover of God and the things of God.
Now I know what some of you are thinking. “Pastor, ease up here just a little. College is supposed to be a time of sowing oats and having fun. Besides, can’t you love God and love the things of this world too?” Well, not according to the Word of God. The Bible says it this way in James 4: “Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” James 4:4 (NASU)
Here’s what the Bible is saying: You can’t love the system of this world with its sin and secular wisdom, moral and ethical corruption, satanic deceptions and decadence, and love God at the same time. That is why John says very clearly in the text we just read a moment ago: Don’t love the world! (Reinsert Title Slide)
So I want to say to these young men and women who are graduating from high school and about to leave home: Don’t love the world! Obviously, you have to live IN the world but you are not to be OF the world. Don’t love the world and the things that belong to the world – love God! In fact, Jesus said that we are to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. In other words, love God with everything you’ve got!
Of course, the first question that follows such a radical statement as that is, “Why? Why are we not to love the world and the things that belong to the world?” Well, of course, one reason is simply because God says so. But since that doesn’t seem to satisfy most people today, John gives us three more very specific reasons in the verses we are studying this morning.
First he says…
I. Don’t Love The World Because Of What The World Is
1 John 1:15a
In the Scriptures the word translated world can mean a number of things. For instance, it can be used to refer to the physical world or the created order that we read about in Genesis. It can also mean humanity in general such as in John 3:16 where the Bible says: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…”
But here in verse fifteen of 1 John 2 it refers to the spiritual system of evil in the world that is governed by Satan. In fact, John later says in the fifth chapter of this letter that “the whole world is under the sway of the evil one.” (1 John 5:19)
It was under the sway and control of the evil one that Paul reminded the believers in Ephesus that they had once lived before they became Christians. He said, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.” Ephesians 2:1-2 (NIV)
Following the ways of the world is what people without love for God do. But when a person has a genuine love for the Heavenly Father he will not love the things that belong to the world and its spiritual system of evil.
So the first reason we as Christians are not to love the world and the things of the world is because of what the world is – a world that is presently under the sway and control of our Adversary. Second, John says…
II. Don’t Love The World Because Of What The World Does
1 John 1:15b-16
What the world does is described by John in three ways – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s lifestyle.
First of all, he mentions the lust of the flesh. The word translated lust is a word that refers to desires. Those desires can be positive or negative; spiritual or sinful. But because John says that these particular desires are not from the Father we know that he is speaking of negative or sinful desires.
He also describes this first desire as a desire of the flesh. The word translated flesh refers to sensual or sexual sins but is certainly not limited to that. In fact, lust of the flesh can result in a variety of sins committed in the flesh. The Bible refers to them in the fifth chapter of Galatians: “Now the (sinful) deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:19-21 (NASU)
Twice in these verses Paul uses the word forewarn. In other words, the Bible is simply forewarning us that those who practice such sinful deeds of the flesh are people who love the world and the things of the world more than they love God and the things of God. As Rick Burgess said a couple of weeks ago, Paul is not talking about stumbles. We all stumble and fall on occasion. But he is talking about people who practice a lifestyle of such things.
Second, John mentions the lust of the eyes. The things of this world know how to catch our eye and draw us into sin. Our Adversary knows just how to package and market his deceptions so that they will appear attractive to us.
It’s exactly what he did to Eve in the Garden of Eden. The Bible says: “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 desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate.” Genesis 3:6 (NASU) It was the lust of the eyes that led Adam and Eve to sin.
It was the lust of the eyes that led King David to commit the sin of adultery with Bathsheba. It was the lust of the eyes that caused Lot’s wife to look back at Sodom and Gomorrah and be killed. It was the lust of the eyes that led Achan to take the forbidden spoils of Jericho.
It is the lust of the eyes that enslave men today to the addiction of pornography. It is the lust of the eyes that entrap men and women alike in materialism. It is the lust of the eyes that leads a person to greed and covetousness. And the list goes on and on.
That’s why it’s so important for us to guard what our eyes see. The Psalmist said it this way: “I will set nothing wicked before my eyes.” Psalm 101:3 (NKJV) That’s exactly what Job meant when he said: "I have made a covenant with my eyes.” Job 31:1 (NASU) I wonder how many of us today are serious when it comes to protecting and guarding ourselves against the lust of the eyes? (Reinsert Point 2 Slide)
Be careful about what you let your eyes see on television. Be careful about what you let your eyes see at the movies. Be careful about what you let your eyes see on your computer or IPod or cell phone. In the fifth chapter of Matthew even Jesus said that we are to be careful about what we see with our eyes.
Third, John mentions the pride in one’s lifestyle. Some translations read, “The pride of life” or “the boastful pride of life.” In other words, an unholy pride in what one has or does. It’s an unholy pursuit of wealth, position, or stature in society. And what makes that pursuit unholy is when the pursuit of those things replaces our pursuit of God.
That’s why John says for us not to love the world – because the love of the world and the pursuit of the things the world - are not from the Father but from the world. And those things are not what the Father does but what the world does. So don’t love the world and do what the world does. Love the Father and do what the Father does! That’s what Jesus did! Finally, John says…
III. Don’t Love The World Because Of Where The World Is Going
1 John 1:17
The third reason we should not love the world is because this present world and its desires are passing away. That is, the world and all its evil desires and works are going to be destroyed. In fact, Peter speaks of that ultimate destruction in his second epistle: “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.” 2 Peter 3:10 (NASU)
It may not seem like it right now but this present world system with all its evil and rebellion toward God will not last forever. It’s going to be destroyed and pass away for eternity. And as we learned in our study of the end times in the Book of Revelation those who love the unbelieving world system and the things of the unbelieving world system are destined for eternal death in hell. But those who love God and the things of God and do the will of God are destined for eternal life in heaven. (Reinsert Point 3 Slide)
So I want to lovingly, yet straightforwardly, forewarn and challenge everyone under the sound of my voice this morning to think hard about where your love and commitment lies. Before you sell out to loving this world and the things of this world I hope you will consider what this world is and what this world does and where this world is going.
What do you want to be in life? What do you want to do in life? Where do you ultimately want to go in life? Do you want to be what this world wants you to be or what God wants you to be? Do you want to do what this world wants you to do or what God wants you to do? Do you want to go where this world wants you to go or where God wants you to go?
It’s a choice each one of us must make for ourselves. In fact, I feel a little bit like Joshua when he challenged the people of Israel many centuries ago. He simply said: “Choose today who you will serve – God or the gods of this world. But as for me and my house we will serve the Lord!”
I want to ask you something this morning: Who are you going to serve? Who are you going to live for? Who are you going to follow in life? Who are you going to love with all your heart, soul, and strength? And when it’s all over, where are you going? Where will you spend eternity?
1 Barna, George, The State of the Church: 2002, Issachar Resources, Ventura, California, p. 110, 2002.