Living the Christian life in a world that is opposed to all things Christian is not easy. The morals and the values of a Christian living out their faith will stick out like a sore thumb. We are in a battle. Every day, every hour, every minute. As we had already studied:
Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. (all Bible quotes are from the NASB95)
Today, we will look at the battle we fight with the world around us. This world is ruled by the devil and appeals to our flesh, or rather to our sinful nature. Herein is the problem: Many Christians have been stuck with “Demas Syndrome.” What is the “Demas Syndrome?”
The Apostle Paul was in prison and in need of help. He writes in his final letter to Timothy (the last thing he wrote) at the end of his letter he appeals to Timothy:
2 Timothy 4:9–10a Make every effort to come to me soon; 10 for Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica ...
Loving this present world is the Demas syndrome – and it will destroy our Christian witness, our Christian service, and our whole Christian life. What does the Bible say about loving this world?
1 John 2:15–17
The Huntington River Gorge, near Richmond, Vermont, is beautiful but deadly. In the last forty years, twenty persons (mostly young adults in their twenties and thirties) have lost their lives in the gorge. Hundreds of gorge swimmers have been injured. On the surface the water of the gorge looks calm and placid, but beneath it are strong currents that run swiftly over treacherous waterfalls and whirlpools. Public safety officials have designated the gorge “the single most deadly place in the state.” Warning signs have been posted on a side of the gorge, reading, “When the water is high due to rain or snowmelt, especially powerful currents can easily sweep you over the falls and trap you underneath the water.”. [1]
That is just like the world we live in. The attractions of the world entices us, appeals to our sinful nature, then pulls us underneath the surface, drags us along the rocks and destroys us. The Bible has placed warning signs, but with many Christians, the warnings go unheeded resulting, not in loss of salvation, but in loss of rewards, loss of our witness, and loss of our service to the Lord.
John is writing to believers. In the verses preceding our focal passage, John is addressing different people in the church, calling them children and fathers and young men, assuring them of things they already know. John warns them:
1 John 2:15a Do not love the world nor the things in the world.
Let’s stop and consider for a moment, who or what is the “world” in these verses. The word “World” in the Greek is “kosmos.” To the Greeks – this word means order, in the sense of human order, and also in the sense of order in the universe; Comic order. But biblically speaking and in Jewish though kosmos was looked at in terms of heaven and earth. The heavens is where God resides and the earth, or the world is the realm of human existence. "Komos" in the Bible, is always used in this sense – the realm of human existence. Komos/world is then used in several different senses in the Bible.
The Physical world – the planet earth.
Acts 17:24a God, who made the world and all things in it …
“Komos” also means Human-kind – mankind, the people in the world.
John 3:16a For God so loved the world …
But in context of our passage today, komos/world means the moral world – the people, culture, environment of the culture that is indifferent or opposed to God.
In the Bible, God is never spoken of as God or Lord of the “komos,” but rather as God or Lord of the heavens and earth, because the komos/world in in opposition to God. And 3 times in the gospel of John alone, Jesus plainly tell us it is this world that Satan rules. for example:
John 14:30 “I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me;
The question quickly becomes, are we part of the world that Satan rules? So John instructs us:
1 John 2:15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
The fact is, things in this world are opposed to God. This world competes for our love, and God alone wants our love. That last part of verse 15 says: “the love of the Father is not in him.” Does that mean our love for God or His love for us? We can either way with that. If we love the world then we do not love God, or if we love the world, then God’s love cannot be found in us. Either way, it is conditional – “if” we love something other than God, “then” our love for God or God’s love in us is missing.
If we love the things of this world – it means that we are not placing God first. God does not want to be second fiddle to anyone or anything. We cannot have it both ways. Jesus says:
Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
This is nothing new. Remember the 10 Commandments? The very first on is not to have any gods before Him. Expounding on this commandment, the Scriptures further say:
Exodus 34:14 —for you shall not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God—
God will not fill us with his love if we are loving the world. In fact, our friendliness with the world and things in this world is regarded as hostility to God.
James 4:4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
Why is that? John explains in verse 16:
1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.
Three things is clearly against God, and they are from the world.
1. “Lust of the flesh” – the NIV says “the cravings of sinful man” We covered this about the flesh last week. We have a sinful nature. All people do. People are not basically good according to scripture. We are not sinful because we sin We sin because we are sinful. It’s our nature. Since all people sin, the world is sinful – and against God.
2. “Lust of the eyes” – this is covetousness - number 10 of the 10 commandments. The craving of sinful man is activated by what he sees. This not just happening today, it began in the garden.
Genesis 3:6 (NASB95) When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
Notice here that Eve’s covetousness led her to sin and no one like to sin alone so she drew Adam into that sin. Covetousness is never having enough. Malcolm Forbes once was quoted to have said, “He who dies with the most toys wins.” But here is the drawback, “He who dies with the most toys, stills dies.” Remember the words of Jesus here:
Mark 8:36 “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?
We forget that nothing lasts on this earth. Only what is eternal matters. More on that in a moment.
3. “The boastful pride of life” – word “life” used here in the Greek is “bios” where we get our word bio or biology – study of life. Used in the Bible as the means of life, one’s livelihood, property and possessions. It is our pride or in the boasting of these things in our lives, For example we hear ourselves say, “I worked hard for where I am today,” and “I earned all that I have,” and not giving any of the credit and glory to God.
In Daniel 4, Nebuchadnezzar made a boast and God took him down.
Daniel 4:30–31 “The king reflected and said, ‘Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?’ 31 “While the word was in the king’s mouth, a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared: sovereignty has been removed from you …
This pride that results from and in [having] worldly possession is an affront to God, for it leads to a glorification of the self and a failure to realize the dependence of humanity upon God, the Creator, for existence. In this area of temptation, individuals make idols of their livelihood, social standing, and any other status symbol that the world determines is important but that matters little to God. Pride, prestige, power, and position count for nothing in the kingdom of God. The value system of this world is turned on its head when God provides the evaluation.[2]
You see these things, lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life, these things “is not from the Father, but is from the world.” But the world creeps up on us unaware.
Ill. Some years ago, musicians noted that errand boys in a certain part of London all whistled out of tune as they went about their work. It was talked about and someone suggested that it was because the bells of Westminster Cathedral were slightly out of tune. Something had gone wrong with the chimes and they were discordant. The boys did not know there was anything wrong with the peals, and quite unconsciously they had copied their pitch. So we tend to copy the people with whom we associate; we borrow thoughts from the books we read and the programs to which we listen, almost without knowing it. [3]
Because we have grown accustomed to the world around us, and as a result we have become more like the world than like Jesus.
Addressing a national seminar of Southern Baptist leaders, George Gallup said, "We find there is very little difference in ethical behavior between churchgoers and those who are not active religiously... The levels of lying, cheating, and stealing are remarkable similar in both groups. Eight out of ten Americans consider themselves Christians, Gallup said, yet only about half of them could identify the person who gave the Sermon on the Mount, and fewer still could recall five of the Ten Commandments. Only two in ten said they would be willing to suffer for their faith. [4]
As followers of Christ, who are we supposed to look like? The world? Or like Christ? How much of the world is in us? We can quote lines from movies; We can quote lyrics to popular music; We can quote famous authors; But how many Bible verses can you quote?
1 John 2:17 The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.
This world will not last – Would you invest in a failing company? The fact is, this world is failing, life is temporary.
James 4:14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.
Jesus tells us what is eternal:
Matthew 24:35 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.
And here John tells us: “but the one who does the will of God lives forever.” This was DL Moody’s life verse and it is etched into his tombstone. Jesus makes it very clear that it is doing His will that will be seen. It is in the accomplishing of His will that has eternal significance.
Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
Jesus asks us where are our treasures?
Matthew 6:19–21 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
The fact of the matter – we are not of this world:
Hebrews 11:13 All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
Do we consider ourselves as strangers and exiles on this earth. Or do we feel very comfortable in this world? So where are we calling home? Many may say “I believe in God,” and “I believe in Jesus.” James tells us the even the demons believe and shutter. Yet there are those who love the praise of men rather more rather than the praise of God.
John 12:42–43 Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.
But, Jesus says . . .
Matthew 10:32–33 “Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. “But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.
Jim Elliot – a Missionary to Ecuador in the 1950’s and was martyred in January 8, 1956 while trying to reach the Woadina Indians there. He was quoted to have said said: "He is not fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what we cannot lose."
What do you have today that is eternal? Things of this world or the things of God?
[1] Craig Brian Larson and Phyllis Ten Elshof, 1001 Illustrations That Connect (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2008), 147. —Katie Zezima, “An Enticing Gorge Poses a Deadly Problem,” The New York Times (July 16, 2006)
[2] Daniel L. Akin, 1, 2, 3 John, vol. 38, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001), 111.
[3] www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/nine-marks-of-worldiness-i-john-2-15-16-paul-fritz-sermon-on-sin-hurtful-to-god-51779?ref=SermonSerps
[4] ibid
