Loving The World Series

Sermons from the Book of 1 John January 29, 2010

Sermon #5 LOVING the WORLD:

Scripture Ref: 1 John 2:15-17

‘Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man 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 & the pride of life is of the world

Introduction:

STUDYING THESE SCRIPTURES this past week I began to REMINISCE about the LITTLE LOCAL CHURCH that SHARON & I were BROUGHT UP IN as TEENAGERS & YOUNG MARRIEDS.

It was a VERY CONSERVATIVE CHURCH.

Well, to be QUITE HONEST, whether we REALIZED IT or NOT at the time, we had ADVANCED BEYOND being CONSERVATIVE & had TRAVELED OVER into the AREA of being JUDGMENTALISTS,although we WOULD NOT ADMIT to it.

We were SPIRITUALLY CONDITIONED to JUDGE OURSELVES as well as OTHERS by a LIST of CERTAIN THINGS that we DID or DID NOT DO.

We had a LIST of DO’S & DON’TS. & the MAJOR EMPHASIS was PLACED upon the THINGS that we were NOT TO DO, ---- the DON’TS.

We had our FILTHY 5 & our NASTY 9 & our DIRTY DOZEN.

& we DIDN’T DARE DO ANY of THEM. Do you KNOW WHAT I MEAN?

We REFERRED to them as “ADVICE” but they were BASICALLY USED to GAUGE whether or not a PERSON was SPIRITUAL or NOT. & they were FOUND VERY VALUABLE in JUDGING WHERE ONE WAS in their WALK with the LORD.

They were USED as a TESTIMONY of OUR FAITH & they HELPED us to DISTINQUISH OURSELVES from OTHERS & HELPED to MAKE US UNITED as a GROUP of PEOPLE.

(I’m being COMPLETELY HONEST when I say this.

We were BROUGHT UP as NEW CHRISTIANS with the MAIN EMPHASIS being on us ALL LOOKING & THINKING ALIKE as a GROUP of PEOPLE rather than upon us ALL LOOKING & THINKING LIKE JESUS!)

I was MORE CONCERNED with DISAPPOINTING & UPSETTING these CHURCH PEOPLE than I was DISAPPOINTING & UPSETTING JESUS.

I had SEEN SOME of THEM being CRITICAL & CORRECTIVE & it WASN’T SOMETHING I wanted to be a PART of. It wasn’t long UNTIL I JOINED THEM & I was JUST as CRITCAL & I was just as JUDGMENTAL TOWARD OTHERS that DID NOT LOOK & BELIEVE LIKE US as THEY were. They had been EXCELLENT TEACHERS in HOW to BE JUDGMENTAL & CONDESCENDING.

But as I began to GROW UP & SEEK GOD MORE in MY OWN & I began to UNDERSTAND MORE, I began to REALIZE that in MANY CASES there were PEOPLE who KEPT MOST ALL the RULES of the CHURCH that SAID WHAT you SHOULD DO & WHAT you SHOULDN’T DO but they weren’t VERY NICE PEOPLE.

They were RUDE & ORNERY & MEAN SPIRITED & while they WERE NOT COMMITTING the SINS of the FLESH like MANY they CONDEMNED; yet they were COMMITTING the SINS of the SPIRIT.

They WEREN’T VERY GENTLE or SWEET in their SPIRIT.

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& it has become APPARENT to me SOMETIME SINCE – that it is NOT POSSIBLE for ANYONE to GAUGE the CHRISTIAN LIFE on the BASIS of a LIST of DO’S & DON’TS.

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Now I don’t have ANY INTENTION this morning on GOING DOWN a LIST of ALL THOSE THINGS & then COMMENT on EACH of them. That is NOT MY PURPOSE to do that.

But WHAT I want us to UNDERSTAND is this:

The CHRISTIAN LIFE CANNOT be LIVED FROM the OUTSIDE IN.

The CHRISTIAN LIFE is LIVED from the INSIDE OUT.

& WHO WE ARE & WHAT WE DO; comes as the RESULT of WHERE WE ARE in OUR WALK with GOD & HIS SON, JESUS CHRIST.

& THOSE THINGS which we ABSTAIN FROM, we ABSTAIN FROM BECAUSE we REALIZE that they are DANGEROUS to us SPIRITUALLY & they GET IN the WAY of OUR WALK of HOLINESS & we DO IT OUT of OUR LOVE for the LORD & NOT in order for us to MEET SOMEONE’S EXTERNAL CODE so we can BE ACCEPTED by them.

In other words – WHATEVER SPIRITUAL CHANGES WE MAKE --- SHOULD BE MADE to HELP US BECOME MORE LIKE CHRIST – rather than DOING THEM to PLEASE a GROUP of SELF RIGHTEOUS PEOPLE.

While we SHOULD NOT be INTERESTED in BEING LIKE PEOPLE to PLEASE THEM, we SHOULD BE INTERESTED in BEING MORE LIKE JESUS & in PLEASING HIM with OUR SPIRITUAL LIVES. There OUGHT TO BE that SPIRITUAL HUNGER within us! The LORD CANNOT TAKE US ANYWHERE we DO NOT WANT to GO!

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But WHY IS IT that we ALL AGREE about the IMPORTANCE of OUR SPIRITUAL GROWTH & at the SAME TIME we SEEM to get STALLED SO OFTEN in the PROCESS?