Who Do You Love? (Part I)
Text: 1st John 2: 15-17
Proposition: The caution to not love the world is a warning to beware of the one who controls the world, for the world and antichrist are both Satan’s seductions.
Introduction: In 2003 a new concept was created, it was called The World. It’s a cruise ship that is detailed with all the luxuries you could imagine. It’s 12 decks high, 650 feet long and 100 feet wide but what makes it unique is that it is owned by the residents who live on it year round. To put things into perspective a typical cruise ship this size carries about 3000 passengers for an average stay of 10 days. This ship has 165 residents and a crew of over 250. The World, that’s one image of it, a tempting expression of luxury that is very exclusive and yet very artificial. We use the term ‘world’ in a variety of ways… “He was in a world of pain, it means the world to her, where in the world have you been, it’s not the end of the world.” So we use the word to refer to many things, often as hyperbole. In much the same way we use the word ‘love’. We love ice cream, love to sleep in, love seeing a great movie or love the person you have married. You can love a pillow, a gold fish or an entire nation of people. That word ‘love’ has a ‘world’ of meanings. In the passage we’re about to read this morning the Apostle John is going to take these two words and direct us into a discovery of truth. In a sense John is going to ask us, ‘Who do you love?’ and though the immediate thought is it’s not a ‘Who’ but a ‘What’ meaning pleasure, luxury, possessions… it really comes down to one of two persons. You can’t love them both, it’s one or the other so you’d better take a closer look at ‘Who do you love?’… 1st John 2: 15-17.
I. It Begins With a Command That’s More Than a Caution, It’s a Promise.
In verse 15 it simply 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.” You see the command, and as soon as you do there’s this pull in you to do the very opposite. It’s like a sign that says, ‘Wet paint, do not touch.’ The forbidden becomes a temptation, where do you think that came from. Remember that John has been taking to us about sin, how to see it, how to be forgiven from it, how to overcome it, how to stand firm by knowing the truth of who you are in Christ. So now he gives us a command and it’s not just a caution like a warning about paint that may or may not be wet, it’s a promise that if you love the world or things in the world the love of the Father will not be in you. So two things immediately come to mind, this love is an exclusive love, it’s either /or, if you love the world there is no capability within you to also have the love of the Father in you. Please note that this does not describe the Fathers love for you, it describes the capacity of your heart to love others with the Fathers love. Your heart can’t carry two opposite loves at the same time, it’s one or the other. That’s the first thing that catches our attention but here’s the second. We know about the love for the world and its things, but what is the love of the Father, why is it more valuable than the forbidden fruit? Is it possible that John is speaking here especially to the church? If so is it possible that a Christian can be saved but not have the love of the Father in him because the love of the world and its things have taken that place? I think the answer is, ‘Yes it is possible’. So what exactly is the love of the Father and why is it more valuable than a love for the world?
II. Whatever Love of the World Is, the Love of the Father is the Opposite.
Have a look at verse 16, “For all that isin the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.” In three short phrases the Holy Spirit inspires John to nail down what the love of the world is made up of.
The Lust of the Flesh… this speaks about that which we crave without really knowing why we crave it. It could be food or drink, it could be the lust of the flesh for belonging, for sex, for being seen as being desirable. The lust of the flesh is seen first in Eve who is tempted to see what is forbidden as being good, desirable, within reach. So how could the love of the Father be the opposite of this? Since God is the Creator He knows the environment we live in, physically and spiritually. He knows the limits of our body, soul and spirit and He knows what we need for life. The love of the Father sets boundary, He knows where the edge is for us in terms of sin. He is like a father who sets limits because He loves us, who has boundary points that He establishes knowing that we will live well inside those boundaries but if we go beyond them it will lead to the knowledge of good and evil and death is in that. For you and I to have the love of the Father in us means we choose to live inside the will of God. We seek to help others to do the same for we can only really love them well if we help them to see the truth that God’s intentions for us are really, really good. It’s John 10:10 in living color.
The Lust of the Eyes… The pull of our sin is to see what we should have done, could have had, ought to be. It accuses us with yesterday and tempts us with tomorrow, keeping our eyes off of today. The general tendency of the lust of the eyes is that it generates a dissatisfaction with everything. It promotes greed, jealousy, envy, bitterness, malice and anger. The love of the Father does the opposite, it exposes the endless appetites for power, it reveals the carrot on the stick that can never be reached. The love of the Father for us is not based on our performance but rather on the truth of who we are. Where the world sees us as ugly, weak or undesirable, the Father sees in us the preciousness of His handiwork. In Christ He calls us more than conquerors (Romans 8:37). The love of the Father creates in us a deep sense of being satisfied in Him. 1st Timothy 6:6 says, “But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment.” The love of the Father in you ought to evidence the fact that you are satisfied deeply in Christ and in God the Father. He loves you beyond what you would ever imagine. Then there’s this last description of what the love of the world looks like.
The Boastful Pride of Life... It’s been said the first two traits, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes happen in your head. The third one, the boastful pride of life, requires the presence of others around you. It uses comparison in order to establish identity. It’s like that story Jesus told of the two men who went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector (Luke 18:10). As they stand there the Pharisee prays, “God I thank you that I am not like other people, swindlers, unjust, adulterers or even like this tax collector.” The Pharisees’ measure of righteousness, of being right with God and being a good person was how he measured up against others. The lesser others were the better he was. The boastful pride of life has no true sense of identity or worth so it seeks to extract that by trampling the souls of those around them. The love of the Father sees the truth of the matter, sin has made its presence in us known and the Father has sent His Son, His only Son to take it away. ‘Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’, said John the Baptist when he saw Jesus. The love of the Father in us sees people the same way God sees them… irrespective of rank, wealth, race or gender or gender confusion, people to whom God has been merciful in Christ, people who need Jesus every bit as much as we need Him.
III. It Ends With a Command That Is Encased In Great Promise.
In verse 17 John writes, “And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”The cruise ship ‘The World’ is rusting, every month they need to scrape it and paint it, the engines are wearing down, the seaworthiness is getting to the point that one day it will be cut up for scrap. It’s all subject to Einstein’s Second Law of Entropy, everything is in a state of decay, everything is wearing down. That includes not only this cruise ship called The World, it includes you and I. Our bodies furiously race to generate new cells everyday and yet the race is slowly being lost in each of us. When sin entered into the world then death also gained an entry point. The only recourse to death is eradicating sin. The only way to do that is to take refuge in Christ. The only means to eternal life is to yield your lives to the will of God. If you would abide forever in Him that is the only way. The immediate will of God for you here today is to have Christ as your Savior. That being in place the next most immediate will of God for you and I here this morning is that the love of the Father be in you.
It will come down to the question of ‘Who do you love?’ It will either be the Father who has given to you hope and life in Christ or it will be the one who seeks to take the place of Christ. The love of the world ultimately will lead to a love for anything that takes the place of Christ, it will lead to a love of the antichrist. As we read further in 1st John that will be the next part to Who do you love?