Grace Community Church, Arlington, TX

Last week I talked about the difference between being like a jelly fish and being like a dolphin.What I want to emphasize during these weeks leading up to the Fall Series is, don’t be like a jelly fish and be swept along by the tides of culture. Be like a dolphin and cut through the cultural tides and lies, and think like you should think, and go where you should go, and do what you should do.

Last week we talked about being able to resist the current of worldly culture by choosing to not being conformed by the world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind with the Word of God.

This week we are going to talk about resisting the current of worldly culture by not loving the world, nor the things in the world.

The text begins with a command — it’s the only command in the text. Verse 15a: “Do not love the world nor the things in the world.” Everything else in the text is a reason for why we should not love the world.

Before we get into the reasons why we should not love the world nor the things in the world, we need to know what world he is talking about.

We’re not talking about the physical world. We’re not talking about nature. God even looked on His creation and said it was good, and even in its fallen condition, it still reflects His glory to the degree that it should lead us to give Him praise. In fact, we should love this created world for what it is, a reflection of the glory of God. The heavens, says Psalm 19:1-2, are telling of the glory of God, their expanse is declaring the work of His hands, day-to-day pours forth speech, night-to-night reveals knowledge. So, when we talk about not loving the world, we’re not talking about the physical world.

And secondly, we’re not talking about people.“God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” (Jn 3:16) What is that world that God so loved? It is the human world. God so loved people.

Well, then, if it’s not the created world and it’s not the human world, what is it? It’s the spiritual system of evil that is run by Satan, the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that works in the children of disobedience, the one who leads the course of this world. It is that evil order with all of its elements and all of its components that work against the things of God.

So, when you define the world, it is the system that is against Christ. 1 Jn 4:4“You are from God, little children, and have overcome them because greater is He who is in you,” that is, the Holy Spirit, “than he who is in the world,” that is, the evil one.

So, we are not to love the world, or the things of the world. Why? He gives us three reasons why.

The first reason John gives for not loving the world is that “if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him”(1 Jn 2:15). In other words, the reason you shouldn’t love the world is that you can’t love the world and God at the same time. Love for the world pushes out love for God.

Jesus said, “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 God and money” Matt 6:24. He didn’t say that you should not serve two masters. He said you cannot.

So don’t love the world, because “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” That’s the first reason John gives not to love the world.

Then in verse 16 he further explains what he means by the world. 1 Jn 2:16 “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.”

The Lust of the Flesh – sinful cravings for pleasure and self-indulgence. Immorality, gluttony
The Lust of the Eyes – coveting, greed,
The Pride of Life – arrogance in status, possessions, or achievements.

These things are not from the Father but from the fallen world system. We are to not love them.If we do, we push out love for God.

Not only is the world passing away, but also its lusts. Those who lust for the world. Those who long for illicit sex, long to get rich, and long for fame and recognition, will pass away with the very world that they long for. If you love the world, it will pass away and take you with it.

The opposite of loving the world is not only loving the Father (verse 15) but also doing the will of the Father (verse 17). And that connection is not hard to understand. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” Jn 14:15.

John said in 1 Jn 5:3“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.” So, loving the Father in verse 15 and doing the will of God in verse 17 are not separate things.

John is saying in verse 17, “If you love the world, you will perish with the world, but if you don’t love the world but love God, you will do His will and live with Him forever.”

Now let’s clarify something about Saving Faith and Love for God. We have been well taught that we are saved by faith! “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved!” Acts 16:31 But we have not been as well taught what saving faith is.

Can you trust Christ savingly and not love him? Evidently, John doesn’t think so, because the issue in this text is whether you love God or love the world, and the result is whether you die with the world or have eternal life with God.

But John knows that eternal life comes through faith. 1 Jn5:13, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.” So eternal life does depend on believing in Christ. But what is this “believing”?

When he says that not loving the world but loving God so much that we do his will is what leads to eternal life, we learn that saving faith and love for God are inseparable.

In Jn 5:42-44 Jesus confronts the Jewish leaders who do not believe on Him with these words: “I know you, that you do not have the love of God within you. I have come in my Father’s name and you do not receive Me. . . . How can you believe, who receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that is from the One and only God?” In other words, the reason they do not receive or believe on Jesus is that they do not love God. They love the world — the glory of men — not the glory of God.

So, Jesus taught His apostles that, where there is no love for God, there can be no saving faith;

In other words, it is our love for God that overcomes the obstacles of disobedience and makes the commandments of God a joy rather than a burden.

1 Jn 5:4. Here he says the same thing but speaks of faith instead of love. “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith.” It is faith that overcomes the world — it is faith that conquers disobedience and renders the commandments of God a joy rather than a burden.

The path of victory that overcomes the world and leads to eternal life is the one path of faith toward Christ and love for God. Saving faith and love for God are inseparable.

That is why not only John but also Paul and James hold out the promises of life only to those who love God:

John is trying to show us that loving the Father and freeing ourselves from the love of the world is not optional. It is not icing on the cake of saving faith. It is a matter of eternal life and eternal death.

Nothing in all the world is more important than experiencing love for God in your heart. This love is the first and great commandment, Jesus said. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” Matt 22:36-40.

Some of you are saying, “I don’t feel very much love for God right now.” If that is true of you, there are two possible reasons for that.

1. You Are Not Born Again. It could be that true conversion has never happened to you and that your religion is all outward form and not an inner experience of love for God. Paul said in 2 Tim 3:1-5, In the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money . . . lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding on to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power;

2. Your Love Has Grown Cool and Weak. According to 1 Jn 2:15, if your love for God is cool this morning, it’s because love for the world has begun to take over your heart and choke your love for God. The love of the world and the love of the Father cannot coexist.

Lust promises to fill you but will leave you empty.You must repent for love for the world. Repent for lust of the eyes and lust of the flesh and the boastful pride of life and set your heart to love God and Him only.