Love Not the World By Mary E. Caruana Scripture quotations taken from THE AMPLIFIED BIBLE, Copyright 1954,1958,1962,1964,1965,1987 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Used by permission. (www.lockman.org) Page 1 of 5
Love Not the World The World is Established. The concept of the world is a hard one. Does it include the earth, the heavens, people, animals, plants and things? Or is it more organizations and social structures? By studying the following two scripture verses one can obtain an idea of what meant by the world. The first verse from the book of Jeremiah speaks of how the world is established and compares the concept of the world to the earth and the heavens. He made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heavens by His understanding. Jeremiah 51:15 The first part of the verse says that God made the earth with power. A person can think of science how a Big Bang started creation. This is a statement of power making the earth. Also when elements of the earth are made into something, power is needed to make them, for instance the forming of iron or steel. Factories that produce goods out of materials require some form of power, for instance electric or gas. So the earth or things of the earth are made by power. The last part of the verse, the heavens are stretched out by God s understanding, can be seen by man s attempts to see into the heavens. It takes a lot of scientific study to begin to understand the reaches of the sun, moon, planets and stars. There is not much hands on work to do to get knowledge of the heavens, instead a person must use understanding to comprehend them. Mathematical figuring is important in grasping the sizes of the heavenly bodies and the distances between them. God s place in the heavens is described by the idea that outer space is awesome to scientists. The portion of the verse most interesting to this study is the middle phrase that the world is established by wisdom. In the book of Proverbs, wisdom is said to be at the beginning of the world. Here the psalmist wrote that wisdom established the world. The world is not made like the earth or understood like the heavens, it is established by thinking something through. Godly wisdom is comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God. God is spirit and the establishment of the world with wisdom is the spiritual word that connects the world into an interactive whole. Wisdom was at the beginning of creation. Creation came about in the words of God. Wisdom connected creation together. So the idea of the world is the interconnection and interaction of creation, whether it is man or animal or plant or organization or social structure. The second verse to study in this section is from the beginning of the ninety-third psalm. This psalm is about the reign of the Lord over the world. The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty; the Lord is robed, He has girded Himself with strength and power; the world also is established, that it cannot be moved. Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting. Psalms 93:1-2 The authority in the world is specified as coming from the Lord. It is a kingly authority according to the description of what the Lord wears, a majestic robe. The rule is strong and powerful such that the world Page 2 of 5
is established. The established world is so steady that it is fixed in place. The throne of the king which represents his authority is from the beginning of the world and is to everlasting. David wrote this psalm predicting Christ s reign. His inspiration is that the Lord is from the beginning of the world, reigning in the world David knew and will reign in the future. The reign of Christ is prophesied in the Old Testament and entered into in the New Testament with the coming of the kingdom of heaven. By Christ s reign the world is established. Jesus Came to Save the World. The world was established in the Old Testament. In the New Testament Jesus is born as predicted. He came to save the world. John the Baptist was the first to recognize Jesus as the Savior of the world. The next day John saw Jesus coming to him and said, Look! There is the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world! John 1:29 John was calling the people of the time to repent and be baptized. He baptized with water to signify their repentance from their sins. But he announced Jesus as the one who actually took away their sins. He called Jesus a lamb which is the Old Testament Passover animal that was sacrificed alluding to the death Jesus world suffer to become the Christ who takes way the sins of the world. In the gospel of John, the apostle wrote this famous verse. For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trust in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life. John 3:16 The point here is that God so loved the world that he sacrificed his own son to satisfy the requirement of death when a person sins. By belief in the Word of God which started with Abraham s obedience to God to sacrifice his son Isaac then became the Passover lamb the Israelites sacrificed to avoid death in Egypt and after this teaching of the law became Jesus sacrifice as the lamb and son of God on the cross. The verse says that if a person believes in this concept started in the Old Testament and fulfilled in the New Testament, he or she will have eternal life and not die in sin. God loved the world that much to save the world form sin and separation from him. The apostle John also clarified the concept of sacrifice for sin that it was not done just for God s chosen people but for the whole world. And He [that same Jesus Himself] is the propitiation (the atoning sacrifice) for our sins, and not for ours alone but also for [the sins of] the whole world. 1 John 2:2 Jesus atoning sacrifice is not just for his disciples but for everyone in the world. He died while people were still sinners. In the twelfth chapter of the gospel of John, Jesus is quoted as saying he did not come to judge the world. If anyone hears My teachings and fails to observe them [does not keep them, but disregards them], it is not I who judges him. For I have not come to judge and to condemn and to pass sentence and to inflict penalty on the world, but to save the world. John 12:47 Jesus came to save the world even those who disregard his teaching. When a person follows Jesus teachings he is a disciple. Jesus came not to condemn the world for not following his teaching but to die for the sin of not following such Page 3 of 5
that he would save people out of the world so they could become his disciples. Jesus took the penalty of judgment for wrongs on himself when he went to the cross and so saved people from sin. Jesus Prayers Before He is Crucified. Jesus knew his death was coming. Just a little while now, and the world will not see me any more, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. John 14:19 He would no longer be seen by the people of the world only his disciples would see him. When he was resurrected he only appeared to his disciples. He did not appear to crowds of people any more. Jesus also knew he would be resurrected. The knowledge did not make the cross any easier to take. But he knew going to the Father was life and he would live and because he did his disciples would live also. The Father had commanded Jesus to die on the cross. Jesus had decided he would follow the Father s orders because he always did what the Father instructed. But [Satan is coming and] I do as the Father has commanded Me, so that the world may know (be convinced) that I love the Father and that I do only what the Father has instructed Me to do. [I act in full agreement with His orders.] Rise, let us go away from here. John 14:31 His love for the Father controlled his action. When he followed the instructions of the Father the world knew he loved the Father. After talking with his disciples, they left the Upper Room. Jesus came from the Father into the world. I came out from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and going to the Father. John 16:28 When he died he left the world and went back to the Father. Jesus only prayed for his disciples not for the whole world. I am praying for them, I am not praying (requesting) for the world, but for those You have given Me, for they belong to You. John 17:9 His disciples were those his Father had given him. Jesus disciples belonged to God. That is why they were given to Jesus to teach and love. In his last prayer for his disciples before going to the cross, Jesus asked the Father to keep them in the knowledge of God. And [now] I am no more in the world, but these are [still] in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, keep in Your Name [in the knowledge of Yourself] those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We [are one]. John 17:11 Christians are preserved in the knowledge of God. Jesus asked that even though he was leaving his disciples still in the world, that God would keep them one as the Father and Jesus were one. Jesus Sends His Disciples Into the World. The twelve disciples did not accompany Jesus in death and the resurrection. They remained in the world. In Jesus prayer before he died, he spoke to the Father about this. Just as You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. John 17:18 The disciples were sent into the world as Jesus had been and were not taken out of it. The reason Jesus sent his disciples into the world was to have them make more disciples. And He said to them, Go into all the world and preach and publish openly the good news (the Gospel) to every Page 4 of 5
creature [of the whole human race]. Mark 16:15 This instruction Jesus gave to His disciples after he was resurrected. Jesus left the world but his disciples were to now go into the world and preach the gospel, even publish it. They were to preach not only to those who heard Jesus while he was on earth and who believed in him but also to everybody, the whole human race. Quite an undertaking was begun. Disciples of Jesus are to be In the World But Not Of the World. Jesus sends His disciples into the world. They are to live in the world but not love the world. Do not love or cherish the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. 1 John 2:15 Jesus commands His disciples to love one another and not to love the world. The interconnection and interaction of people and things is not to catch a Christian s love. A Christian is not to love the world or things in the world in the sense of cherish. People are to be cherished in the sense of love one another. In this way Christian are to not be caught up in a worldly manner instead taking time and attention with people. This is love of the Father who created the world. To separate the ideas of love of the world and love of the Father further, consider the next scripture verse. We know [positively] that we are of God, and the whole world [around us] is under the power of the evil one. 1 John 5:19 Christians belong to God and not to the world. They are at one with Jesus and the Father. The world is pressured by evil. To be held in oneness with God, the cares of the world are avoided. God knows what a person needs and provides it. Christians need only to look to God. Love of the world produces conformity to it. Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for ourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you]. Romans 12:2 Christians are not to be superficial but genuine with one another. Actions are not to be external but from the heart. A thorough transformation is to take place. Christians are to be renewed mentally with new ideals and new attitudes. A concept of goodness is forming. Christians prove what God s perfect will is. To live in the world but not love the world, Christians concentrate on being satisfied with food and clothes. For we brought nothing into the world, and obviously we cannot take anything out of the world; But if we have food and clothing, with these we shall be content (satisfied). 1 Timothy 6:7-8 Food and clothing is all that is necessary to provide satisfaction. All the things in the world will not satisfy a person s soul. Only a relationship to Jesus and the Father is complete happiness while in the world. Page 5 of 5