In this time in history the basic desires, the basic drives of the human being are pretty much the same as they have been for all of history. In John’s first letter of three which incidentally I’m working through a series on, we get this directive from this great Apostle, who walked along side Jesus. This man who as a young fisherman followed Jesus, saw Jesus crucified and risen from the dead. He gives the church he was writing to this directive. This is it!
In 1 John 2: 15-17. Now that’s two pretty powerful verses.
For John talks about what this love of the world looks like: three things become evident that show love for the world:
• The cravings of sinful man
• The lust of his eyes
• The boasting of what he has and does
Then John goes onto say that this – “comes not from the Father but from the world.”
Now there are a lot of things we can talk about here like those first two points I could easily talk about sexual attraction, or the lust we sometimes have for things. I could talk about William Booth and how “sometime during his fifteenth year, William was invited by a Wesleyan couple to attend chapel, where he was converted. He wrote in his diary, "God shall have all there is of William Booth." http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/131christians/activists/williambooth.html, sited 18/09/2012. But, I’ve decided that I’m not going to. I’ve decided to discuss two different liquids. One of them is water and the other is Coca Cola.
The two I’m going to compare in this way:
Let’s just pretend that water is the God’s kingdom stuff, the things that come from the Father. (repeat)
Let’s also pretend that Coke on the other hand is the world.(repeat)
By my own admission, there’s always some Coke in the Moffatt family grocery trolley. We are Salvationist’s we don’t smoke, we don’t drink, or gamble – but hey we have Coke in the fridge.
1) When I see a Coke bottle or Coke advertising I’m keen for a Coke. On a hot day I could be said to be craving a Coke. Water might be better for me, the truth is water is better for me, but Coke contains carbonated purified water, cane sugar, caramel 150d (colour), food acid (338), flavour, and caffeine. It says that about caffeine twice, the second time in bold letters.
On the other hand water contains two hydrogen atoms to every oxygen atom, a virtual trinity of atoms. All life is dependent on water if it knows it or not.
Coke all that yummy caramel coloured, caffeine enhanced goodness. The caffeine helps fuel the craving. That this has all been in the fridge – ice cold, (open the can), all enhances the craving, (take a sip) – how is that craving going for you?
Now remember I’m pretending water is God’s Kingdom stuff and that Coke is the world.
2) Now the lust of the eyes, Coke comes in a “contour bottle” with its hoop skirt appearance and the “dynamic ribbon device” note the attractive red and white against the dark caramel of the liquid. With the trademark Coca-Cola, lettering. Nice! This is one of the most widely recognised designs in the world. Now red and White lettering there’s an idea, [power point of SA Red Shield.] William Booth got this out in 1901 the other was produced in 1956.
So along with the craving and the eye attractiveness thingy Coke is a must! I even found this bottle that has my name on it, have a Coke with Andrew, that’s clever.
Water on the other hand, well its always close, we see it in creation, it sustains life, it cleans us, allows growth, it rains down on us. All life is dependent on water whether it knows it or not. You could deny all knowledge of water but it still sustains you.
Like Coke / the world comes in different flavours; mmm vanilla, with or without sugar and it’s on special often. Water / that kingdom of God stuff is always there, the benefits of it are always there, the life sustaining growth that it brings is always there, you could almost take it for granted, how often do we pass it over for the Coke? Coke that liquid that comes in a variety of sizes, continually costs, not to mention the litter, the rubbish that is left behind. When if we just turned the tap on, if we just leapt into a lake of water we would have a supply that would never run out and the price of which has been paid for us.
The other thing about the world is that just when you believe that you have found satisfaction in Coca Cola, you discover Dr Pepper!
But back to John’s letter, this love of the world thing, the word love in this case is agapaô which can be translated from the Greek two ways. “It is argued that when the word is used in its ‘Christian’ sense it should be translated ‘love,’ but when it is used in a negative way it should be translated ‘take a fancy to’ or ‘to place a higher value on.’ The difference in these uses is not the emotion that is felt by the individual but the application of that emotion, or attraction, in a positive or negative manner.” Akin, D. L. (2001). Vol. 38: 1, 2, 3 John. The New American Commentary (108–112). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
We are in love with the world when we place a higher value on, or when we fancy something over the will of God for our lives.
Boasting about what we have and do also puts us in this place. Proverbs 27:1-2 say; “Do not boast of [yourself and] tomorrow, for you know not what a day may bring forth. Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.”
1 Corinthians 13:4 reads; “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.”
1 Corinthians 1:31 states “Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."
Glory is too be given to God for all that we have; for he is the one who supplied us with the abilities and raw materials that we have. It is he who provides what sustains us. We are to live honouring God for what he has given us. The man who does the will of God lives forever . 1 Samuel 2:30b Reads- “But I will honour those who honour me, and I will despise those who think lightly of me.” We are to honour God by doing the will of God.(SBI
This is where the sermon takes a bit of a twist because,the Jam Time kids (Sunday School) are currently discussing honour. The definition of which is “letting someone know you see how valuable they really are.”
There’s a depiction of this in the gospel of Luke, where a man who was a tax collector for the Romans, and thereby hated by his fellow Jews. Because he worked for the enemy was honoured by Jesus. Jesus while recognising the man had cheated his fellow Jews out of money and became rich in the process, did the will of His Father – the will of God and accepted this man, a man who had craved, lusted after and no doubt boasted of his ill-gotten financial success. But this man also knew that he was missing something. Let’s have a look at this man’s encounter with Jesus.
Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.’ So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter, ‘He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.’ But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, ‘Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.’ Luke 19:1-10.
This man, this Zacchaeus, had it all. He was wealthy but in the presence of Jesus he knew that something was missing, he knew that he had cheated people out of their money. The world no longer held the fancy it did before his meeting Jesus face to face. Now what mattered was doing the will of God. For Jesus had honoured Zacchaeus with a visit, and Zacchaeus saw where true value lay. That his value was not in the things he owned, the clothes he wore, the esteem he was held in by his Roman masters, but his true value was in doing the will of God. What was it John said, “The man who does the will of God lives forever.”
The interesting thing here is that it was Jesus visit to Zacchaeus’ house that brought Zacchaeus back to a place of honouring God. If we are to do the will of God it is in part to reach out to those lost in their sin like Zacchaeus. Not to always be involved in the comfortable ministries. Mother Teresa said this, “If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.” And this “We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.”
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/mother_teresa.html#cL6xWBCPVpcBKzvZ.99http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/mother_teresa.html#cL6xWBCPVpcBKzvZ.99
Zacchaeus gave half of what he had to the poor and paid back those he had cheated four times what he took. Here was a man who had been lost to the kingdom of God who encountered salvation in meeting with Jesus.
3) We as individuals can change many things by doing as Jesus did, with just one individual. What we don’t see in that encounter is the lives changed when Zacchaeus gave half of his money to the poor, when he gave back four times what he had cheated people. I’m sure the answer included “he meet a bloke called Jesus”. In helping one person encounter life change in Jesus, many things happen as that person is honoured in outreach as they encounter honour perhaps for the first time in meeting Jesus – through our actions.
The thing is that like my bottle of Coke, like my can of Dr Pepper, the things of this world, the world and its desires pass away. But we are to honour God by doing his will in honouring others. The person who does the will of God lives forever (SBI). The effects of their life spread out like ripples on a pond.
So where does that leave us. You might like Zacchaeus realise that other things have got in the way of God’s will for your life, the desires, and lusts for the things of this world may have enticed you in a direction that leads away from life to things that don’t last or pride might have trapped you into boasting about things with no eternal value. You may now see a way to reach someone honouring them as someone who will be different when they encounter Jesus – make it about them!
Zacchaeus encountered Jesus, as Jesus let Zacchaeus know how valuable he really was he was never the same again. If you never have before maybe today you wish to encounter Jesus, “the living water” and come into the will of the Father.
Response.
Thanks for reading, the spelling might be interesting to some honour, colour, flavour, and recogise and the derivatives of are all NZ English. Enjoy that Coca Cola!
