TEXT: 1 John 2:15-17
TITLE: The way of the world
SERIES: Letters from John
TOPIC: Worldly living
OCCASION: Burnside Christian Church, Jan 23, 2011
PROP.:
INTRODUCTION: Good morning! Our text is 1st John 2:15-17 today. We are still continuing in the sermon series: Letters from John. If you’re new with us today, allow me to catch you up. These three letters are written by John. At the time John writes these letters, he is the last living apostle. That means that he saw everything that Jesus did. That means that he had his feet washed by Jesus. That means that he saw Jesus die on the cross. That means that he saw Jesus rise from the dead!
John is now an old man. He is in his 80’s. And he now has the task of being the over-seer of several churches throughout Asia Minor. His main purpose for writing these letters is to ensure that these churches stay on track. That they remain focused .
You may have noticed that for the past few weeks, John has really been hammering this idea of being a SPIRITUAL ADULT. To grow up. To mature. It kind of all started back in 1st John 2:3. John was giving us the measure of what it means to walk as Jesus walked.
Well in our text today, John continues in this vein of Spiritual maturity!
Let’s read our text this morning
1st John 2:15-17
15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.
PARENTS: Have you ever had a sick feeling in your gut because your son or your daughter was making a poor decision that in the end would ultimately hurt them? And you pleaded with them and your urged them to change their direction and their mind.
Then you can fully understand John.
T.S.: In our text today - John has the heart of a parent as he is urging and pleading with his children in the faith, to be on the lookout for the WORLD.
First, John talks about
I. The Description of the World (vs. 16)
You would think that the world that John was living in was so much different than the world that we find ourselves living in. I mean, John lived nearly 2000 years ago!
But what we will discover is that what was in the world is what is STILL in the world. It hasn’t changed that much!
And Satan uses the things of this world to distract, disrupt and paralyze God’s people from growing up in their faith!
Let’s read it again. Verse 16 - “For everything in the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - comes not from the Father, but from the world.”
3 things in the world…
A. the lust of the flesh - Let’s call it CARNALITY.
It makes perfect sense that FLESHLY living is included in worldly living. The flesh and the spirit are always at odds. They are in perpetual conflict! You see, living according to the Spirit is Godly living.
And you know you are living according to your flesh if you become fixated on satisfying your PHYSICAL NEEDS.
You see, our bodes have many needs or desires (food, sex, love, shelter, clothing). And these needs and desires are not wrong. However these needs can transform into WORLDLY LIVING if they are taken to the extreme. For example, the need for food when taken to the extreme is gluttony. Or again, the God-given desire for sex becomes fornication when it is taken to the extreme and instead of having a meaningful, God given sexual relationship with your spouse, you have casual sex with whomever, whenever.
Instead of being led by the Spirit, you are controlled by your flesh! “If it makes me FEEL good - I’m gonna do it!” When you are living by the Spirit and not the flesh, you understand that your purpose I this life is not to satisfy what makes you feel good, but instead to do the will of your Heavenly Father!
But then John talks about
B. the lust of the eyes - let’s call it COVETOUSNESS
Covetousness is part of worldly living as well. This world is filled with things that glitter and shine. Advertisers understand this concept all too well. If a company can convince you that life is greener on the other side of the fence -- that your life will be enhanced and enriched and flat out BETTER if you had their product, then they have achieved success!
James describes the extremes of what people will go to in order to get the things that they desire: (James 4:2) “You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight.”
And the problem is that when you get what’s on the other side, you are never satisfied. The object of your desires never lives up to it’s billing and you are left feeling empty, unsatisfied and so you WANT more and more!
It is lust of the eyes that caused King David his trouble. He saw this beautiful woman taking a bath and wanted her for his own. He became a liar. An adulterer. And a murderer.
C. the pride of life - let’s call it COCKINESS
Arrogance. The pride of life consists of bragging about your accomplishments. What you’ve achieved and accomplished in life. If you’re not careful and cautious, the pride of life can be found in the brand name of your clothes. The pride of life can be found in “how many acres you farm.“ You can find the pride of life in the “new car” smell of your SUV. You can find the pride of life in the title before your name “PhD”.
We can feel pretty important about ourselves based on what we’ve achieved or acquired in life. But we need to e careful. Such pride causes you to put your faith in yourself rather than in God. “Well look what I’ve achieved. I’m pretty impressive.”
The Bible makes it pretty clear that pride will lead to our downfall. “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18) If you are of the mindset that you can do anything and achieve anything on your own power - be on the lookout for God to show you exactly how small you are!
CARNALITY…COVETOUSNESS…COCKINESS! That is worldly living. If you are chasing those things - you are not chasing the Father. You are not living by the Spirit of God!
“Well I wish there was an example of someone who dealt with worldly living and was successful in living by the Spirit.”
Well today is YOUR day! We are not limited to just merely suppose what it looks like to live life according to the Spirit - we can read about someone who lived life perfectly according to the Spirit of God.
D. The description of living by the Spirit as demonstrated by Jesus!
Look at Matthew 4:1-11
1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’[a]”
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”
11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
In these verses, Jesus was tempted with WORLDLY LIVING. Look at the first temptation of Christ.
--Satan tempted Him with the lust of the flesh in verses 3 & 4: “Take these stones and turn them into bread.” “Use your power selfishly to make your flesh feel better…”
Jesus said in verse 4 “Man shall not live on bread alone…but on God’s word!”
--Jesus was tempted with the lust of the eyes in verses 8-10. “See all these kingdoms? See all of this STUFF? Riches. Women. Good food. You deserve it! You can have it! Just bow down and worship me, and I‘ll give it to you.” Satan said. And
10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”
--Jesus was also tempted with the pride of life. Look at verses 5-7. Jesus had a title that none of us have - Jesus is God’s one and only son! And yet, Christ didn’t take great pride in that title. Satan tried to get him to take pride in that. “Come on, Jesus. You are God’s Son! Prove it! Show the world how important you are. Jump off this temple in front of all of these people and God will send Angels to protect you.”
So Jesus didn’t let his position cause him to get a big head! That’s the message of Phil 2:6-8
6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!
So that’s what’s IN the world. And notice John’s warning. Let’s talk about
II. What to DO with the world? (The Dealings of the World) (vs. 15)
You see, John has identified this enemy known as the world - Carnality, Covetousness and cockiness…it’s in direct opposition to how God wants us to live. So now John says exactly what we are to DO with the world.
Verse 15 says: “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.”
A. What do we mean by “THE WORLD”
You guys are pretty smart, so I won’t spend a lot of time on this question. The Bible speaks of the WORLD in three ways.
1. WORLD MEANS: PEOPLE. John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” The term WORLD refers to the people living on planet earth. It’s clear that it’s ok to love the people living on this planet. God loves them. We are told to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. So this is not what John is talking about.
2nd way the word WORLD is used is:
2. WORLD MEANS: PLANET EARTH - One example is found in Matthew 13:35 “So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: “I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.”
God wants us to be good stewards of this planet. God wants us to love this planet that He has given us. So this is not what John is talking about…
The final way the word WORLD is used in the Bible is the way that John uses it in our text.
3. WORLD MEANS: type of PHILOSOPHY…A SYSTEM OF LIVING UNDER THE EVIL INFLUENCE OF SATAN.
Worldliness has been used to describe the way many people choose to live. It was this system of living that caused Demas to abandon his friend and partner in ministry Paul. You can hear the heartbreak as Paul wrote a letter to Timothy
2 Timothy 4:10 “Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica”
What do you do with the world? What do you do with this system of living?
B. Don’t LOVE it!
That seems extreme doesn’t it? That’s just preacher rhetoric. You’re being a fanatic. Let’s tame it down a bit, Mark. I can love God AND the world can’t I? No! No you can’t!
There is no middle ground. Or as we learned last week - there is NO middle road! There is the broad road and the narrow road. One leads to destruction. One leads to life. Make your choice!
Because if you love the world; your love for the world will trump your love for God each and every time! You will choose money over God. You will choose pleasure over God. You will choose to have your ego stroked over God each and every time…that is, as long as your love for the world is in place where your love for God needs to be!
And WHY does John not want us to love the world? Because…
III. The Destiny of the World (vs. 17)
Will lead to dis-satisfaction.
If you chase after the world and everything that it has to offer, you will catch it. You will probably be wealthy. You will have comforts. You can have everything your eyes desire. Isn’t that the American way? Haven‘t we all been promised - “Life. Liberty. And “The Pursuit of Happiness”???
And so we spend our hours and days and years building wealth. Accumulating possessions. Becoming comfortable. And we teach our children that a successful life is one that filled with a big house. An expensive car. And lots of STUFF.
But that life is meaningless if you don’t have Jesus Christ!
Let’s read the last verse of our text this morning.
17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever
ILLUSTRATION: Casting Crowns - wrote a song on their first album called: American Dream. They hit it on the head. Listen to their lyrics.
All work no play may have made Jack a dull boy
But all work no God has left Jack with a lost soul
But he's moving on full steam
He's chasing the American dream
And he's gonna give his family the finer things
Not this time son I've no time to waste
Maybe tomorrow we'll have time to play
And then he slips into his new BMW
And drives farther and farther and farther away
So He works all day and tries to sleep at night
He says things will get better;
Better in time
And he works and he builds with his own two hands
And he pours all he has in a castle made with sand
But the wind and the rain are comin' crashing in
Time will tell just how long his kingdom stands
His kingdom stands
His American Dream is beginning to seem
More and more like a nightmare
With every passing day
"Daddy, can you come to my game?"
"Oh Baby, please don't work late."
Another wasted weekend
And they are slipping away
'Cause he works all day and lies awake at night
He tells them things will get better
It'll just take a little more time
He used to say, "Whoever dies with the most toys wins"
But if he loses his soul, what has he gained in the end
I'll take a shack on the rock
Over a castle in the sand”
Powerful lyrics! A modern day story from John’s words of wisdom:
CONCLUSION:
1st John 2:15-17
15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.
You see, John loves his children. He doesn’t want them to be disappointed. To be hurt. He wants us to find joy. Satisfaction. Fulfillment. And the world is NOT it. This world will pass away. And if your hope is in this world -- you have no hope. But…if Jesus Christ is your joy, your reason for living, your hope…THEN YOU HAVE LIFE!
Jesus said in Matthew 16:26:
“26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
There are more important things at stake than your portfolio or retirement fund. Your soul. The souls of your loved ones!
We come now to our time of decision.
