thoughts and ruminations while in exile (1 Pet. 2:11)

Sermon Manuscript: 1 John 2:15-17

V.15- 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. V.16- For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. V.17- And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Introduction

What causes a husband and a wife with two small children to leave the comfort of their home in the United States and become missionaries in Nigeria? And what is that caused Jim Elliot, when he could have defended himself against his killers, yet chose not to because, as he said, he knew he was ready to meet God face to face, and he knew that those who were killing him were not ready?

And in the final analysis, who do we think has really led the fabulous life? Is it Andy and Heidi? Was it Jim Elliot? Or, is it Paris Hilton and Donald Trump?

When we look all around us and see all that this world has to offer, and then we see what John says to us here, how is this even possible?

What is that leads normal people to leave their jobs and become missionaries? What is that leads a man who could of made thousands of dollars being an engineer, resign from his job, and go to seminary to train for ministry?

A true love for God causes all that is in the world to lose its appeal.

Recap

I mentioned last week that I wanted to spend this time looking at the results of justification in the life of the believer. What does it bring to a believer? My assertion today is that one of the fruits of justification is a repudiation of the things of this world. What I mean by that is a heart that has been transformed by God no longer finds what this world offers attractive.

And, further, it does this willingly, joyfully, and not begrudgingly. They would say as John does in 1 John 5:3, “his commandments are not burdensome.” Rather, the justified person would say with David in Psalm 27: “One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD . . .” Or they would say with Paul: “to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21).

Exposition

This brings us to First John. Throughout this letter the Apostle gives us a series of tests: they are both doctrinal and moral. The one before us today is a moral test. And what John is telling us today is that if you want to separate the true believers from the false believers, look for the one who loves God. John says that a true believer cannot love this world because to do so would be diametrically opposed to his new nature. Now, is John saying that true believers do this perfectly? No. He’s already told us in Ch. 1 that if someone says they don’t sin, they make God out to be a liar.

John is saying that a true Christian does not continue to love this world. He does not continue and make it his habitual practice to love the world. It is not an unbroken pattern in his/her life. A true believer may find this in his character from time to time, and when he does, he hates it, he despises it, he repents of it and asks God to free him from this sinful behavior.

So let’s look at our text.


The structure of the text is very simple: it’s made up of one command and three supporting arguments. The command is, “Do not love the world.” And what follows is John’s argument for why we should not love the world.

The command to not love the world.

V.15- Do not love the world or the things in the world.

This is easy to understand. However, we do need to be clear on what John means by “the world.” He is not talking about the “earth.” Rather, he is using it in the sense of the “world system,” a way of doing things. He’s talking about the world’s ideas, activities, and purposes. That “world system,” John says, is opposed to God. And because of that, there is no way a true believer can love both God and the system that is opposed to him.

So that’s the overarching command of this section: Do not love the world.
Why? He continues in v. 15.

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

If you love the world, you don’t love God.

Again, this is fairly simple to understand. It’s black and white with John as always. The word “Love” here is very important. It is the Greek word “Agape.” It is a self-sacrificial love. So what is John getting at here? He is talking about a fondness; an affection for something because of its value. This is an appetite, a desire, something you take pleasure in.

If you have a love like that for the things of this world, you do not love God. We need to do a self-audit. This causes us to ask ourselves: What is the ruling principle of your life? What drives you from the deepest part of your life? What do you find precious? What do you treasure?

John is saying that if we’re true believers, the answer to all of those questions must be God.

A true love for God causes all that is in the world to lose its appeal.

You may have many things in your life that are precious to you, but everything else must be subservient to your love for God. Jesus illustrates this to us in two parables in Matthew 13.

He says in v.44- The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. V.45- Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

Jesus is highlighting for us the preciousness of the kingdom. He says a true believer, in seeing the greatness of God, is so enraptured with who God is, that he gives up everything in order to have God.

This is what Paul means when he says in Phil. 3:8, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Notice, “the surpassing worth,” the “value.” It is a grevious sin not to value and treasure God. He is infinitely worthy of our praise. He is supremely valuable. As John Piper has pointed out, it is only right that we value that which is supremely valuable. It is only right that we enjoy Him who is most enjoyable.

Piper is absolutely right when he says, “We glorify what we enjoy most,” and “sin is . . . dishonoring God by preferring other things over him, and acting on those preferences” (Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die 20). And loved ones, this is no small sin because “it is not against a small Sovereign (21). This sin is, as Sproul calls it, “cosmic treason.”

And John says if we value the world more than we value God, we do not love God.

So, we’re not to love the world because if we do not love God. And next, we see that we’re not to love the world because:

What the world offers is not from God.

I don’t think John is giving a comprehensive list here, but rather he is giving us a snapshot of a heart that is infatuated with this world. Any sinful desire of man puts one at enmity with God.

The desires of the flesh—This means any sin that arises out of man’s fleshly or sinful nature. It’s probably a broad term encompassing sins that speak of a person living by their senses. And so in that respect it could be everything from sexual sin to gluttony. A life that lacks restraint in any fashion we might say. This would be a life that doesn’t allow fleshly cravings to go unfulfilled. In context God is asking us: What does what you have an appetite for reveal about who you are and what you love?

The desires of the eyes—He is hinting at it in a way that is speaking of covetousness. A person that wants to possess things just for the sake of possessing them. You know our eyes can get us in a lot of trouble sometimes? And again, taken in context, God is asking us: What does what you look at and how you look at it reveal about who you are and what you love?

Pride in possessions—This is the heart of the Pharisee we looked at last week. This is the person who takes their stand in themselves and all they’ve accomplished. This is the climax of sensuality, covetousness, and pride. This person is all about the show they can put on for other people. I love what John MacArthur says about these three stages of sin: “By sensuality, man sinks to the level of animals; by covetousness he competes on the level of men; by pride he tries to reach to the heights of God.”
You know, people say it’s hard to be a Christian in our day. In reality it’s always been hard, but our trouble is compounded because of the media. Rarely do we ever find anything on TV that is particularly edifying or God-exalting. Rather, we find things are trivial and petty.

Christian author Harry Blamires wrote a book called The Post-Christian Mind and in it he writes:

There is a campaign to undermine all human acknowledgment of the transcendent and to whittle away all human respect for objective restraints on the individual self. The hold of this campaign on the media is such that masses are being brainwashed as they read papers, listen to radio, [and] watch TV.

In books, on TV and on the radio we see what the world has to offer. And God says, “All of that is not from Me.” We, as those who love God, must joyfully disconnect ourselves with this world system and saturate our minds with the Word of God so that we can properly live our lives for His glory.

So we’re not to love the world, because if we do, we show that we do not love God. And we’re not to love the world because what the world offers is not from God. And finally, we’re not to love the world because:

All that is in the world is transitory.

V.17- And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

John says, “Why would you want to follow the world when what it offers you is not going to last?” You see, the world offers us instant gratification, but it will eventually fade away. This is like putting your stock in a company that is sure to go bankrupt.

What’s worse is that if you put your hope in this world, it will take you down with it. Notice John says, And the world is passing away along with its desires. So, if you share those desires you will also pass away.

So to summarize this section we might say: To love God and the world is impossible. Simply put, to love God is to love what He loves.

But the question is: How is this possible? How, with all that is in the world, are we able to stand against it? To receive Christ, to trust in Him alone for your righteousness and pardon is to love God. It is not possible any other way. It is a love that gives everything a way to have Christ.

This type of loving and trusting of Christ is expressed perfectly in Paul’s letter to the Philippians 3:1-11. How is Paul able to do that? How was he able to turn down the respected life of a Pharisee, a respected Jewish Rabbi, of relative ease and then embrace the shame that was to come? The only way he could sustain such treatment was by having a love for Christ that was so deep that he was able to look the shame in the face and say, “bring it on,” was because he had a love for God that caused everything else to pale in comparison.

He wasn’t moved by safety. He didn’t care if he lost friends or the respect of his community or even of his family.

This is why I say that trusting in Christ and loving Christ are somewhat synonymous.

In 1 John 5:3-4 we read: “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.”

So, loving God enables us to keep His commandments. Therefore a love for God enables us to not love the world. John Piper writes, “it is our love for God that overcomes the obstacles of disobedience and makes the commandments of God a joy rather than a burden.”

So when we take what we’ve just read and apply it to the verses we are considering today, here is what we find:

A true love for God frees us from loving the world. God’s love in us produces the ability to forsake what the world offers.

As I read the Bible I’m convinced that this truth is what enabled all the people in the Bible to endure what they did. We saw what the Apostle Paul said, and for the rest of our time today I’d like to give you a few more examples.

Turn to Hebrews chapter 11. Look with me at verses 23-27.

Moses could have simply stayed with the Egyptians in the palace living what the world would consider “the good life.” But it says that he chose “rather to be mistreated with the people of God than enjoy the fleeting pleasure of sin.”

Now, who chooses to be mistreated? And what was it in Moses that brought about this desire to willingly undergo this type of treatment, and how was he able to stand it.

It was his true love for God that caused all that was in the world to lose its appeal.

All the money and easy-going life no longer held Moses captive. He had a superior pleasure. And his pleasure was an all-satisfying joy in God. That’s what enabled him to endure. It says, “He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt.”

This truth is what sustained all the prophets as well. You wonder how Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel and Daniel were able to stand strong. It was because all that was in the world no longer moved them. The same is true with all of the apostles. Each of them was martyred, except John, and even he was in exile. Since they had a superior satisfaction in Christ they did not resist execution because they did not fear those who could only kill the body.

In his book Future Grace John Piper writes: “It is this superior satisfaction in future grace that breaks the power of lust. . . . Our chief enemy is the lie that says sin will make our future happier. Our chief weapon is the Truth that says God will make our future happier. And faith is the victory that overcomes the lie, because faith is satisfied with God.”

The problem with our culture is that it assumes that happiness, joy, satisfaction and all other pursuits are man-centered, when in reality they are God-centered. God has made it this way. He has wired human beings in a way that we will never find true happiness apart from a relationship with Him.

My prayer is that we would experience this truth.