A LOVE THAT HATES 1 John 2:15-17

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1 A LOVE THAT HATES 1 John 2:15-17 A teenager shocked his parents by announcing that he was going on a date to the movies. It did not matter that his parents knew his date and her family. It did not matter that he was going to see, The Sound of Music. As he prepared to leave, his parents blocked the doorway. They pleaded with him not to go. They argued it would go against all they stood for as a family. He went anyway. Decades later, as a respected Christian leader, he reflected on that night. He was amused as he replayed the scene of his parents blocking the door. Yet his respect for his parents were reinforced as their actions that night taught him that there are some things in life worth blocking the doorway for. In 1 John 2:15-17, the apostle John stands in the door. This is the heart of a true pastor. In verses 12-14, John expressed his confidence that his readers possessed true saving faith. But a faithful pastor must give admonition, as well as affirmation. This is what we find in our text, as John exhorts the church to resist the seductive influence of the world. John was confident about their relationship to the Father. But he was concerned about their relationship to the world. So he writes: Do not love the word or the things in the world. I John is about assurance of salvation. It gives a series of tests to let the professing believer if he or she is truly saved. These tests fall into there categories: doctrinal, moral, and social. 1 John 2:15-17 is a moral test that confronts us the fact that saved people have a love that hates. You are not a true Christian if you are not zealous. Zeal is a consuming passion that so loves a thing that it hates anything that is against the loved thing. This is the test of true saving faith. You cannot love God and love the world at the same time. These verses teach us that children of God must not and should not love the world. I. YOU MUST NOT LOVE THE WORLD. This text begins with a categorical prohibition: Do not love the world or the things in the world. A. WHAT IS THE WORLD? John 3:16 is the most famous verse in the Bible: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. God loves the world. God demonstrated his love for the world by giving his only Son to pay for our salvation. So why would God command us not to love the world? To make sense of this command, we must understand what John means when he speaks of the world. The Greek word is the same. But the word is used in different ways, depending on the context. It may refer to the world of nature. Genesis 1:1 says, In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And God sanctioned all that he 1

2 created as good. Creation has been cursed by the fall. But it is still beautiful and beneficial and should be loved by the people of God. Or it may refer to the world of humanity. This is the meaning of John 3:16. God loves lost humanity and sent his Son to save us from our sins. 1 John 2:2 says, He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. Lost people matter to God. And they should matter to us. We should hate sin. But we should love sinners. It may also refer to the world of values. This is how John uses it in our text. It is the false values system that is alienated from God and in opposition to God. In John 12:31, Jesus says, Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. This verse tells us two important facts about the world. It is under the judgment of God. And it is ruled by Satan. This is the system we were a part of before Christ saved us. Ephesians 2:1-2 says, And you were dead in trespasses and sin in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. Salvation in Christ delivers us from the world. 1 John 5:19 says, We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. Christians are in the world, but not of the world. We belong to God. As a result, Christians are engaged in a spiritual warfare against three enemies: the flesh, the world and the devil. 1 John 2:15 is the key to victory over the world: Do not love the world or the things in the world. B. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO LOVE THE WORLD? 1 John 2:15-17 is a condemnation of worldliness. Worldliness is a neglected and misunderstood concept in the church today. There was a time when the church had its guard up against worldliness. Now we are so busy courting the world that we no longer contend against it. Instead of calling prodigals home, we are making the far country more inviting. Preachers used to complain about Christians being so heavenly minded they were no earthly good. The pendulum has now swung to the other extreme. We are so worldly-minded that we are no heavenly good. This is the reason why we are not making a greater impact on our community, culture, and country. When white sheep become a dingy grey, all black sheep feel more comfortable. What ever happened to worldliness? It has been virtually deleted from the lexicon of the church. Or it is greatly misunderstood. This is a dangerous mistake, because it causes us to fight the wrong battles. Because we mis-define worldliness to be primarily about behavioral, cultural, social, and political issues, the heart of the matter is left unaddressed. So let me be clear. Worldliness is about a system of values, not a code of conduct. Contending against worldliness is about more than keeping a list of do s and don ts. Then what is worldliness about? Verse 15 answers: Do not love the world or the things in the world. Love is the typical New Testament word. It is used in 1 John 4:10 for loving our brother. It is the word used to describe God s love for us. It is goodwill that acts on the behalf of the one loved to the point of self-sacrifice. But it is negated here. We 2

3 are not to love the world or the things in the world. The world is a comprehensive system of values that operate independent of God and is hostile to God. But it is made up of constituent elements we must also reject. We must not denounce the world s system while embracing elements of it. We must not love the world or the things that are in the world. This is worldliness. CURTIS VAUGHAN writes: It is to court the world s favor, follow its customs, adopt its ideals, covet its prizes, and seek its fellowship. This is what it means to love the world. As Christians, we are to love what God loves. We are also to hate what God hates. Therefore, we must not love the world or the things in the world. If you are not a Christian, this is not a command you can obey. This command will not really even sense to you. 1 Corinthians 2:14 explains: The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. If you are not a Christian, it is natural for you to love the world. Yet this prohibition is a call to repent of your sins and run to the cross to put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. To do so is to have a new beginning. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. If you are a Christian, God commands you not to love the world. It is categorical. You cannot love the world even a little. You must not love the world at all. In fact, the grammar of the text forbids an action that is already in progress. John assumes his readers are harbor affection for the world and he says, Stop it. This is the word of God to you: Stop loving the world! WARREN WIERSBE writes: Anything in our lives that dulls our love for spiritual things or that makes it easy for us to sin is worldly and must be put away. II. YOU SHOULD NOT LOVE THE WORLD. The text begins with a categorical prohibition against worldliness. Then John gives three reasons why Christians must not love the world. A. THE LOVE OF THE WORLD IS MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE. Verse 15 says, Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. This verse presents the matter in black-and-white terms. Either you love God or your love the world. You cannot love both at the same time. The world wants you to think you can love it and God without any complications. But once you buy this lie, the seductive influence of the world will lead you far away away from God. This is what happened to Demas. In 2 Timothy 4:10, Paul reports: For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. The word of God makes it clear that it is impossible to love God and love the word at the same time. Scripture always leads us to a fork-in-the-road. In Matthew 6:24, Jesus says, No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve 3

4 God and money. You cannot serve two masters at the same time. You cannot go in two directions at the same time. You cannot love the Father and love the world at the same time. LOVE FOR THE WORLD UNDERMINES LOVE FOR THE FATHER. James 4:4 says, You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Friendship with the world is spiritual infidelity. It is adultery against God. In divorce, a person forsakes his mate for another. In adultery, a person takes lover while trying to hold on to his mate. How would you respond if your mate announced he or she has fallen in love with someone else, but it doesn t change anything in your relationship? You would not accept that. It changes everything! So it is with God. LOVE FOR THE FATHER UNDERMINES LOVES FOR THE WORLD. In Matthew 5:6, Jesus said, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. This blessing is an indictment. If God promises to satisfy your righteous hunger and thirst, you are as close to God as you want to be. You will not experience the blessed life until you change your spiritual appetite. A young man walks down the street embarrassed, carrying flowers his parents made him pick up for the dinner table. Later, that same boy walks down the street excited, carrying flowers for the girl he loves. Same boy. Same street. Same flowers. But loved changed his attitude. If you love God, it will change your attitude toward the world. B. THE NATURE OF THE WORLD IS SELF-CENTERED. Verse 16 says, For all that is in the world the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life is not from the Father but is from the world. There is a major thought and a secondary thought in this verse. The major thought does not get the most attention. But it is clearly the primary idea of the verse. To see it, read the verse by omitting the parenthetical statement that sits in the middle of the verse: For all that is in the world is of the world and not of the Father. The value system of the world is not motivated by anything in God. Parenthetically, it also tells us what motivates the world: the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions. These characteristic elements of the world are not behavior-oriented. John does not address the things you do or do not do. He looks past your actions and focuses on your attitudes. This is what worldliness is all about: your attitude toward life. The nature of the world can be summarized in three attitudes. SENSUALITY. Verse 16 calls it the desires of the flesh. Older versions translate it the lusts of the flesh. But lusts is a loaded term. We associate it with illicit sexual desires. While the Greek word is often used that way, it refers to any perversion of a natural desire. The desire for sex is natural. The desire for sexual fulfillment through fornication, adultery, or homosexuality is sinful. The desire to eat is natural. Gluttony is sinful. The desire for rest is natural. Laziness is sinful. The desires of the flesh are any sinful perversion of a natural desire. 4

5 There are three enemies of the soul against which every believer is engaged in spiritual warfare: the flesh, the world, and the devil. Verses speak of our victory over the evil one, the devil. Verses discuss the world. And verse 16 mentions the flesh. The flesh is often used as a synonym for the body. But when it is used metaphorically, as it is here, it does not refer to the body. Romans 12:1 says, I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice. Philippians 3:21 says that upon his return, the Lord Jesus Christ will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body. COVETOUSNESS. Verse 16 calls it the desire of the eyes. Like sensuality, the concern here is about our desires. But there is a distinction here. The desires of the flesh is to live by what you feel. The desires of the eyes is to live by what you see. One desire is physical, the other is aesthetic. This is what caused Eve to fall into sin. Genesis 3:6 says, So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the three was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. It is bad enough that there are desires within us that lead us into sin. Even worse, there are enticements in the word that stir up the inward desires that lead us to sin. Psalm 119:37 must be our prayer: Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways. In Real Christian s Don t Dance, JOHN FISCHER writes of a late-arriving couple that caught his attention, as he taught coeds in a dorm. The young lady was beautiful, like she had walked off the cover of a magazine. The young man was a nerd, a sure candidate for getting sand kicked in his face. Before Fischer caught himself, he thought, What in the world does she see in him? Then he noticed the young lady was blind. But the thought remained: What does she see in him? Answer: Everything. She saw all that she needed to see to know what a real man is and what true love is. Fischer coined a beatitude: Blessed are the blind, for they are the ones who can really see. But woe to those who have their sight, for we are often deceived by images. PRIDE. Verse 16 calls this the pride of life. Pride is the original sin. Pride is a root sin. Pride is a deceptive sin. There is no sin in scripture that God punishes more quickly or severely than pride. Proverbs 16:18 says, Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Pride acts like your best friend. But it is really your worst enemy. It is setting you up for personal failure, broken relationships, and divine judgment. You must guard your heart from the pride of life. The pride of life is the pride of livelihood. The same term is used in Mark 12:44 for the widow with two mites who gave all her livelihood to God. But if you are not careful, your livelihood can pull you away from God. It is pride of possessions. In Luke 12:15, Jesus said, Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one s life does not consist in the abundance of his possession. Mark it down: You are more than what you have. You are more than where you live. You are more than what you drive. Do not let pride make you think you are more than what you have because of what you have. It s a setup! 5

6 C. THE END OF THE WORLD IS COMING SOON. Verse 17 says, And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. This is the economy of scripture. Scripture places the greatest value on the things that last the longest. This is why you should not love the world. The world is passing away; but the will of God endures forever. THE WORLD IS PASSING AWAY. This is not a prophecy. It is a fact. It is not a prediction of what is to come. It is a declaration of the way things are. The word is passing away. 1 John 2:8 states: the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Verse 17 adds: the world is passing away. By its very nature, the false value system of the world is in the process of self-destruction. When Christ returns to consummate his kingdom, he will destroy this world of sin. But even now, the world is passing away. The desires of the world are passing away along with it. This refers to the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and all the desires of the world. The world, with its accompanying desires, is passing away. Yet this process of self-destruction is not obvious to the naked eye. Many look at society and conclude things are getting progressively better. Their error is great, perilous, and unsurprising. In Matthew 24:37-39, Jesus says, For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. The blind cannot see it. But the world is passing away along with its desires. This is why we must not love the world. There is no future in it. Its appearance of permanence is a deception. The world is passing away. Why build on a foundation that cannot endure a storm? Why invest in a company that is going to go bankrupt? Why buy a 1 st -class ticket on a ship that is doomed to sink? THE WILL OF GOD ABIDES FOREVER. 1 John 2:17 was the life passage of D.L. Moody. Inscribed on his tombstone are the words: He who does the will of God abides forever. We often treat the will of God as a mystery. What is the will of God for my life? we ask. Scripture is not preoccupied with this question. It presents itself as the answer to the question. Every time scripture speaks, it reveals the will of God. The will of God is not a puzzle to be solved. It is a divine truth to be trusted and obeyed. Proverbs 3:5-6 says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. The Bible does not teach us to find God s will. It is not lost. The Bible teaches us to do God s will. Here is a great motivation for doing the will of God: but whoever does the will of God abides forever. The will of God is his sovereign, eternal, and redemptive purpose. It cannot fail. Proverbs 19:21 says, Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. The will of God abides forever. Therefore, whoever does the will of God abides forever. This is not a lottery that rewards the person who selects the right numbers at the right time. This is a lifestyle. It is a continual practice. It is long obedience in the same direction. Of 6

7 course, John is not saying that doing the will of God is a prerequisite for eternal life. Ephesians 2:8 says, For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God. We are saved by grace through faith in Christ, plus or minus nothing. But practical evidence that you have been saved by grace is that you willingly submit your life to the will of God. I M PRESSING ON THE UPWARD WAY, NEW HEIGHTS I M GAINING EVERY DAY STILL PRAYING AS I ONWARD BOUND, LORD, PLANT MY FEET ON HIGHER GROUND. MY HEART HAS NO DESIRE TO STAY WHERE DOUBTS ARISE AND FEARS DISMAY; THOUGH SOME MAY DWELL WHERE THESE ABOUND, MY PRAYER, MY AIM, IS HIGHER GROUND. LORD, LIFT ME UP, AND LET ME STAND BY FAITH ON CANAAN S TABLELAND A HIGHER PLANE THAN I HAVE FOUND, LORD, PLANT MY FEET ON HIGHER GROUND. 7