Illus: For example, I have seen folks actually fall in love with cars, houses, boats, campers, flowers and etc.
There is not anything sinful with liking these things, but there is definitely something wrong when a person fall in love with these things.
You see love is something special above everything on the face of the earth.
It is an emotion that we humans share in a human relationship with each other, not with a car, a house, a boat or a camper or flowers.
People all the time use the term LIKE AND LOVE inter changeable frequently, but they are wrong in their use of these two emotions as being the same.
It is almost certain that you like someone whom you love, but it is not necessarily true that you love someone whom you like.
Illus: This fellow on television called the pillow guy (Mike Lindell) sells pillows and sheets and in one of his advertisement he has a woman sitting on the side of a bed and she says, “I DON’T JUST LIKE MY SHEETS, I LOVE THEM!”
When we say we love these things we are putting these things on the same level of a human relationship.
The word love is a very special word for a very special relationship.
Illus: For example, in the South it is not unusual to go into a restaurant and the waitress will say, “Darling, what do you want! They use words like Darling, Sweetheart, Honey all the time in addressing their customers especially.
Illus: Except when you go in the Waffle House and the waitress has been smacking on a piece of chewing gum she has had in her mouth for the last three days, and she says “Hey buster! what do you want!”
However, years ago I remember the first time I heard these very special words like Darling, Sweetheart, or honey I was dining in a fine restaurant with some preachers at a dinner and I was the first to give my order to the waitress and she said to me in a loving voice, “Sweetheart what do you want!”
Now I am use to my wife calling me SWEETHEART but not some other woman and she caught me off guard.
And several of the preachers looked at me funny and suspiciously like I had something going with this waitress, and I said in front of this waitress and these preachers,(And I felt like Bill Clinton) I do not know this woman and they started laughing at me!!!
You see these words are special words that we use in addressing our spouse. So I think it is appropriate to say I like my home, my car my boat, camper, I like flowers but it is inappropriate to say I LOVE THEM.
But there are people who actually love the things of the world. God tells us to LOVE NOT THE WORLD!!!
Let me illustrate…
God told Abraham in Hebrews 11:8-10 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
In these verses God said to Abraham. I have a plan for you Abraham but for you to enjoy this wonderful plan I have for you, you are going to have to leave this pagan land Ur in which you now live. That is…
• If you want to see where I am taking you, you have to leave here.
• I do not care how much you love the land of Ur, if you want me to bless you, you are going to have leave here.
• In other words God was saying to Abraham you will never know where God is taking you unless you are willing to leave here.
When it comes to LOVING THIS WORLD God tells every Christian you have got to be willing to leave this pagan land in which you live.
When God tells us to LOVE NOT THE WORLD, He is not talking about a physical world in which He created.
He is talking about the evil world that governs this physical world.
For example:
• We have the world of finance
• We have the world of sports
• We have the world of entertainment
• And we also have the world of evil that tries to lure us from loving God and putting Him first in our lives.
It is this world that God says LOVE NOT THE WORLD. The Bible warns us not to fall in love with this evil world.
And many in our society and in the world has fallen head over hills in love with this pagan world. They do not just like it, they LOVE IT!!!
What is worldliness? The Bible defines worldliness as:
1) The lust of the flesh (a passion for sensual satisfaction). This generally has to do with sex. There is not anything wrong with sex but we can make it a sin if it is not carried out in the way God intended for it to be carried out.
2) The lust of the eyes (an inordinate desire for the finer things of life), There is not anything wrong with having nice things but we can make it sin by craving material things.
3) And the pride of life (self-satisfaction in who we are, what we have, and what we have done). There is not anything wrong with wanting to be someone special or popular. But we can make it sin when we live for the PRIDE OF LIFE.
God said LOVE NOT THE WORLD.
The world that God is talking about is a WORLD THAT IS AT ENMITY WITH GOD.
There is no nice way to say this but the world in which we live HATES GOD!
• They do not want anything to do with Him or His Church.
• They want to take Him out of our schools
• They want to take down every statue that represent him.
• They do not want the ten commandments to be in our public buildings.
• They do want “IN GOD WE TRUST” to be on our currency.
No, there is not a nice way to say this, this PAGAN LAND IN WHICH WE LIVE HATES GOD.
This world in which we live is govern by a hate for God.
And we Christians are to recognize that and not fall in love with this ungodly world allowing these things to take the place of God in our lives.
God could not bless Abraham until he was willing to leave the land of Ur. And God cannot bless us while we cling to a world that is at enmity God.
On e of the ways you can tell that you are growing in God:
-your love for the world is diminishing
-And your love for God is increasing.
(2)One of the ways you can tell that you are not growing in God:
-Your love for the world is increasing.
-Your love for God is diminishing
The problem Abraham had about leaving was;
• This is where he was born
• This is where his family and friends were
• This is where his business was, he was a rich man but God is saying I have a wonderful plan for you but that plan will never come to fruition unless you are willing to leave this PAGAN LAND.
But the Bible tells us when he heard the voice of God everything that this pagan land had to offer him was not as important as his inheritance he had with God and he left.
What is wrong with the world?
Look at Genesis 1:10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called the Seas: and God saw that it was good.
The world was created by God and He said it was good.
And it is good but it become a sin in our life when our life reflects over and over again that WE LIKE GOD BUT WE LOVE THE WORLD.
There is nothing inherently sinful about the material world itself.
But we can make it sinful, by loving the things of the world more than we love God.
When men and women love the things of this world more than God they are engaged in the idolatrous sin of worldliness.
Let’s look at WORLDLINESS as the Bible describes it and once we do we can see why God tells us LOVE NOT THE WORLD.
First, let’s look at…
I. TEACHINGS OF WORLDLINESS.
Look at I John 2:16, we read, For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
God mentions three things and the Word of God tells us these things is not of the Father.
Notice that word “Lust”.
What is wrong with loving the world is that we LUST FOR THE THINGS OF THE WORLD AND THESE ARE THE THINGS IN OUR LIFE THAT WE SEEK TO MAKE TIME FOR IN OUR LIVES. There are folks who are lustful:
• They cannot get enough of the world’s pleasures
• They cannot get enough of the world’s Material things
Worldliness can take many forms, such as:
• The lust of the flesh,
• The lust of the eyes,
• The pride of life.
Adam and Eve were guilty of the sin of worldliness when they chose to believe Satan's lie instead of God's truth and ate the forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden.
Look at Genesis 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
Eve saw what was pleasing to her eyes and good for food and chose the fruit over obedience to the Creator.
The lost world’s motto is:
• If it feels good do it!
• If it is popular do it!
• If the lost world has something you want…take it!
Instead of Adam and Eve becoming a good steward of God’s creation, they began to love and worship the CREATION INSTEAD OF THE CREATOR.
Notice Eve, SHE SAW, SHE DESIRED AND SHE PARTOOK.
Eve had eye problems.
Illus: Did you know…
• That the eyes can have desires?
• That the eyes can have passions?
We use that terminology sometime — we say “feast your eyes on this.”
You see, a lot of what you do comes in by means of the eyes.
Illus: That’s why you need to remember the little song you used to sing as a child: “Be careful little eyes what you see.”
Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-38 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.
In the garden of Eden God made it clear to them they were not eat of this tree. But as Eve looked at the fruit on the tree it became more important than God’s commandment.
This does not mean that we cannot enjoy the good things that God has created.
Look at 1 Timothy 6:17 Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;
This verse is simply telling us we can enjoy the things of the world but when we start loving these things of the world more than out love for God we have a A CLINKER IN OUR THINKER! We have a messed up mind that needs to renewed by the Holy Spirit.
Although we are not called to retreat from the world in seclusion like the monks.
Illus: Did you hear about the monastery's bell ringer died and the monks put an ad in the paper for a new one.
The next day a man comes to the door to apply and he has no arms.
• The head monk says: "Sir, how can you ring our bell if you have no arms?"
• The applicant replied, "Just give me a chance, take me to the bell tower and I'll show you."
• They all get to the bell tower and ask him to show them how he plans to do it. The applicant gets a running start and slams his face into the bell "RINNNNNNGGGGGGGG"
• Before anyone could stop him, he backs up and runs smack into the bell again and falls to the ground dead.
• The head monk spoke up, "Did anyone catch his name?"
• Another monk said, "No, but his face sure rings a bell."
But when God tells us not to LOVE THE WORLD He was not talking we are to live in seclusion like a monk. He was talking about the physical world that He created and said was good.
1 John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
Now there is something that I could say that you would have a hard time believing. In fact, what I could say you would leave here saying I cannot believe the pastor said such a thing. But I am not going to say it, I am going let God’s Word says it, and God’s Word says it this way, If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
Now you can say seven days a week, twenty four hours a day that you love God, but God says the LOVE OF THE FATHER IS NOT IN YOU!
Illus: Our churches today are filled with people who profess to love God. But their life does not reflect that they love God, they love the things of the world. They put the gods of the world ahead of the God of heaven over and over again.
Illus: You husband try and convince your wife you love her and you put another women a head of her over and over again.
Illus: You see when you are in a boat, there is not anything wrong when you are in the water, the problem is when the water is in the boat.
There is not anything wrong with the world that God created. He said it was good! But there is something wrong when our lives are filled with the things of the world that these things squeeze God out of our lives.
In short, we are to be in the world but not of it.
We have looked at the MANY FORMS OF WORLDLINESS but also we need to consider God’s Word tells us we are not to LOVE THE WORLD but also it tells us not to be…
II. Conformed to the world
Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Illus: According to an African fable, four fingers and a thumb lived together on a hand. They were inseparable friends.
One day, they noticed a gold ring lying next to them and conspired to take it. The thumb said it would be wrong to steal the ring, but the four fingers called him a self-righteous coward and refused to be his friend. That was just fine with the thumb; he wanted nothing to do with their mischief.
This is why, the legend goes like this, the thumb still stands separate from the other fingers.
There is always a danger of giving in to the temptations of the world to just feel like being “normal” in our modern society.
Today it is easier to:
• Try to fit in,
• Blend in
and give in to the popular trends in the world rather than to live by Biblical principles.
Psalms 1:1-3 which said, “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and who leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.”
God tells us to Love not the world and God is saying to us, DO NOT LET THE WORLD MOLD YOU AND SHAPE YOU IN WHAT THEY HAVE BEEN SHAPED INTO BEING.
Illus: A young girl that was a virgin was made fun of by some other girls.
• They told her she did not know what she was missing.
• Day after day they made fun of her because she was a virgin.
One day she got tired of them picking on her and she said to these girls, you laugh and pick on me because I am a virgin, but she said to them, “I can be what you are anytime I choose, but you can never be what I'am !!!”
They did not pick on her again.
I want to say something but I am going to have to be careful how I say this:
Hear me as a Christian…
• I can cheat on my wife all I want to cheat on her.
• I can cuss all I want to as a Christian
• I can get drunk all I want to as a Christian
• I can tell lies all I want to as a Christian
But here is what I want you to hear, I can do all these things as a Christian as much as I want to, but since I have been born again I DO NOT WANT TOO!!!
Worldly people mind is messed up. The Bible tells us they need their minds needs to be TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWING OF THEIR MINDS.
• We must always remember that we are strangers and pilgrims in this world (Hebrews 11:13).
• We are to obey the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ, rather than the prince of this world, Satan.
• We are called to set our minds on heavenly things and not worldly things. Colossians 3:2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
• We are to store up treasure in heaven rather than in this world by being rich in faith and good deeds
• We are to overcome the world through faith in Jesus Christ (1 John 5:4–5).
For unlike this world, which is passing away, those who love God and do His will abide forever (1 John 2:17).
Illus: When I met my wife and fell in love with her I have never been the same person I once was.
And when I came to know the Lord Jesus as my Savior I have never been the same person I once was.
I want to live the remaining days God allow me to live on this world to live for Him.
I never want to break His heart by LOVING the things of the world more than I love Him.
Conclusion:
The devil 24 hours a day doing all he can to lure us into evil world.
I know of preachers who once preached the Word of God but they let their guard down and now they are no longer preaching but now living in the sins of the world they once preached against.
Illus: The apostle Paul had a servant of God that worked with him but the said one day in a jail cell, DEMAS HATH FORSAKEN ME LOVING THIS PRESENT WORLD.
The world is anti-God. That is this world is govern by evil and do everything they can to oppose God.
No wonder God’s Word tells us to LOVE NOT THE WORLD!!!
The Bible tells us that the world is at ENMITY WITH GOD.
As a Christian do you really want to join hands with God’s enemy that oppose God twenty four hours a day and seven days a week.
Illus: C.H. Spurgeon has the best answer why we should not want to support the world.
He tells it like this…"If I had a brother who had been murdered, what would you think of me if I ...daily consorted with the assassin who drove the dagger into my brother's heart; surely I too must be an accomplice in the crime. Sin murdered Christ; will you be a friend to it? Sin pierced the heart of the Incarnate God; can you love it?"
In this sermon we have looked at…
I. TEACHINGS OF WORLDLINESS.
II. TRANSFORMATION FROM WORLDLINESS.
