“It’s A Trap”
1 John 2:15-17
Intro: How many Star Wars fans do we have here this morning? My wife, Pam, is queen of the Star Wars fans. I remember when we first got married, one of the movies came out and we went and stood in line for quite some time to see the movie. To say that she is a fan is an understatement. In the star wars saga’s, one of the movies is Return of The Jedi. What’s sad is that spell check recognizes Jedi as a word. There is one scene in this movie that features Admiral Gial Ackbar, a fictional character of course. He appears very briefly in this movie but has garnered many fans with his one famous line. There is a battle starting and we see space ships and all kinds of things going on. The people and ships that he commands have been lured into thinking that they can win a major battle. Things start going crazy on the battlefield and he realizes something. They have been set up. He then states his most famous line. “It’s a trap” he realized that what they had thought was wrong.
.As I was studying our scripture for this morning, it occurred to me that the apostle John is telling us to watch out, there’s a trap out there that is being laid for you.
. When we were last in 1 John, we looked at our spiritual maturity and how each one of us is in a different place.
. John was telling us that even though you are at different levels of spiritual maturity, what I am about to tell you pertains to all of you Christians.
. As you grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, avoid falling into this trap.
. There’s a trap out there and I need to warn you about it.
. Our scripture this morning warns us about part of the trap.
. 1 John 2: 15-17
. 15Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.
16For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world.
17And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.
. The first thing we see here is:
. How To Recognize The Trap
. When I ask people what God means by “the World” I will invariably get something like, “you know bars and honkytonks and wild parties and orgies and such.
. We will address that in a minute because our scripture does speak to that but not in context of loving the world.
. What John is talking about here is belief systems, ranging from simple animal sacrifice to complex world religions. They represent ideas that go directly against the true knowledge of God.
. The apostle Paul tells us about this world that we are to watch out for.
. Look at Ephesians 6:10-12
. 10A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
11Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil.
12For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
. Jesus talked about this world and its evil system in John 15:18-19
. 18“If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first.
19The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.
. This world that Jesus was talking about was the worship of pagan gods and all the debauchery that went along with it.
. The world is in constant battle with Christians.
. There is a full spectrum of beliefs out there that are in direct contradiction to God’s word.
. There is an attack on the traditional family led mostly by feminism.
. There is an active promotion of sexual promiscuity and homosexuality.
. There is a steady decline in the standards of personal integrity and ethics.
. The concept of right and wrong is under attack by the world.
. The concept of what I call universal salvation is rampant in our world.
. That is the concept that we all go to Heaven when we die.
. If that’s the case Jesus died for nothing.
. That’s the world folks. That’s what’s out there. Perverted systems that will try to lure you in with just a little bit of truth.
. I watched a TV show the other night called the following. It was about a serial killer that took over a cult and changed their belief system. He was teaching them that without the shedding of blood there could be no redemption for the soul. Straight out of the Bible right? The only problem was the shedding of blood had to be through murder of innocent people. A perversion of what God’s word teaches.
. John is telling Christians, no matter where you are in your spiritual walk, watch out.
. Do not believe what the world is telling you.
. It’s a trap
. If we start believing what the world is telling us, then everything is fair game.
. What happens when we fall into the trap of accepting or loving the world systems, we begin to examine the things that this world system offers.
. This is:
. How The World Perpetuates The Trap
. Look at verses 15&16 again
. 15Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.
16For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world.
. Verse 16 highlights many things this world offers to bring us more in line with the world.
. A craving for physical pleasure.
. Remember what the world was telling us back in the sixties and up until now?
. If it feels good do it.
. That’s the craving for physical pleasure that the world attempts to satisfy.
. There are physical desires that God gave us and there are nothing wrong with them.
. God gave us a sexual desire that is good. As long as we satisfy that desire with the spouse that God has placed us with.
. This desire for physical pleasure has probably torn more marriages apart than anything else.
. That’s because the world tells us that it’s ok.
. Back in 1970, there was a song written by Stephen Stills of Crosby stills Nash and Young went all the way to number 14 on the billboard charts.
. The title of the song was “Love The One Your With”.
. Part of the lyrics were:
. “If you can’t be, with the one you love, love the one your with.”
. That’s what the world teaches.
. Physical pleasure is more than sexual though. Paul wrote to the church in Galatia about these things.
. Galatians 5:19-21
20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,
21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.
. John tells us to watch out, don’t get trapped into believing that these things are ok.
.The world will tell you that they are, don’t believe them.
. Next he writes about covetousness.
.Look at verse 16 again:
. 16For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world.
. This goes all the way back to the Ten Commandments.
.Deut 5:21
. 21“You must not covet your neighbor’s wife. You must not covet your neighbor’s house or land, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.
. The world systems will tell you that you have to have things to be successful or to be part of the in crowd.
. When we get so focused on things, we lose sight of what God wants us to do and be.
. This desire to have everything is not from the Father vs 16 says it is from the world
. Then we are cautioned about Pride in our achievements.
. The world will tell you that you are judged by your accomplishments and how successful you are.
. Look at Philippians 2:3-7
. 3Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.
4Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
5You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
6Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
7Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,
. The world will tell you that you get ahead by doing things that impress others.
. God’s word says that we are to consider others better than ourselves.
. Yes we are to look out for our own interests but we are also to look out for the interest of others.
. The world teaches us that we are to look at for number one.
. How many of you have seen movie “O Brother Where Art Thou”?
. There’s a scene in the movie where Pete Hogwaller and the other two escapee’s are at Pete’s cousins farm. They go to sleep and in the middle of the night the police come to get them. They have been betrayed by Pete’s cousin. Pete ask him why and this is what he said.
. “I got to watch out for me and mine”
. That’s the prevailing philosophy in the world. Watch out for you and those you love and the rest of the population be damned.
. Thank God Jesus was watching out for more than himself.
. He was concerned for the whole world.
. Watch out folks, it’s a trap that the world is setting for you. There is more to this life than what we can accomplish here on this Earth.
.Finally, John tells us:
.How To Avoid The Trap
. Look at verse 17 again.
. 17And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.
. All these things that the world teaches you.
. All these things that pull you toward the world will fade away.
. This life is like puff of wind. Here today and gone tomorrow.
. You avoid the trap by focusing on eternity.\
. When we avoid these world systems and focus on what pleases God, we will be focusing on eternity.
. I saw a message on a sign in front of a church on Friday morning.
. It had this message on it.
. “Live like Jesus is coming back today”
. Do we live like that?
. Christian, do you believe that Jesus is coming back?
. Jesus taught us how to live until his return.
. Don’t fall into what the world wants you to do and believe.
. It’s A Trap.
Invitation
*** To my Christian brothers and sisters, thank you for taking the time to read this sermon. I ask that you take another second and score this for me. I am always open to feedback so that I can continue to grow in the proclamation of God’s word.
May God bless you as you continue to strive to walk worthy of His calling.
. Sources: The Holy Bible, NLT
John MacArthur, New Testament Commentary, 1-3 John
