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1 John 2:15-29 "To Love or Not to Love"
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. For all that is in 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. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. (1 John 2:15-17)
John tells us "Do not love the world". The greatest
commandment of Jesus Christ is to love God and love your neighbor. The
greatest example of love was shown by Jesus when He gave His life for
us on the cross. The most repeated teaching of the New Testament is
to love one another. God’s motivation for sending His Son Jesus
was because He loved the world. Why then are we told here by John not
to love the world? In fact why are we told that to love the world actually
puts us outside of the love of God?
It is important for us to know that the language that the New Testament
was written in is much more expressive than either English or Japanese.
I believe strongly that God choose Greek as the language for the gospel
because it was the language that could express it the most clearly to
all ages. However when we translate Greek into English or Japanese we
are left with far fewer words to communicate with. John writes in Greek,
"Do not be content with the world or the things of the world."
This is very different from the Agape love that God has for the world,
the love that He demonstrated on the cross that sacrifices everything
for the beloved. John warns us not to "love" the world like
we "love" pizza or "love" a movie. Of course Japanese
do not use the word love that way, but they are just as content with
the things of the world.
The Greek word for world is "kosmos". It’s root is "kosmeo"
from which we get our English word, cosmetics. It means "to arrange".
Women use cosmetics to arrange their faces so that they will be beautiful.
I think that this is such an appropriate word for the world and the
universe because it assumes that someone must have done the arranging.
Next time you look up into the night sky, the cosmos, in wonder, marveling
at the billions and billions of stars remember who arranged them. "He
counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name. (Ps. 147:4)
And when you look at the world that God has made you simply cannot deny
that it is beautiful. God loves His creation and that is why He sent
His Son Jesus.
The fact remains that we, His creation, too often are perfectly content
to ignore the Creator altogether and just enjoy what He has given to
us. We look at beauty in a sunset, or a person, or in the marvelous
ways that nature works and instead of thinking how great God is, we
think how great that thing or person is. I have often thought that the
environmentalists come very close to a reverential worship of the things
that they are trying to protect. Godless environmentalism is nothing
more than nature worship, and many dedicate their life to the cause
more fiercely than any primitive animist. This is the first of three
reasons John gives why we should not be content with the things of this
world. If you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you.
God arranged the cosmos so that you would naturally have your eyes drawn
upward. He created it to be a witness to His hand. If you stop with
the creation you are denying God. If you never look past the things
to see God you are lost.
The second reason why we should not be content with the world is because
we are sinners. We cannot look at something beautiful and then leave
it be. There are three sins that work in us to deface and defile it.
Satan is the inspiration behind sin and he wants to destroy anything
that gives glory to God. The whole earth gives God glory, so Satan wants
to destroy any sign of God’s hand in it. The first of these sins
is the lust of the flesh. When we see something truly beautiful we start
to burn inside to consume it for our own pleasure. I was flipping channels
the other day and came across an interview with three young men of the
kind that you often see hanging out near the stations. They spent all
of their time picking up girls. When asked how they felt about these
girls one of the boys said "Omocha", "They are toys".
Another boy laughed and called them "Instant Ramen" because
the relationship was done in three minutes. Watching these boys they
pick out the prettiest girls and they are hot and excited to get them.
But once they are used they lose all of their appeal. Sexual lust is
the easiest to describe, but actually there is a much larger scale rape
going on in the world today. The environment is being systematically
raped and made worthless because of the lust of the flesh. We want to
live in comfort, pay a cheap price and have it all now. We look down
on the boys I mentioned before, but right now the rainforests of Malaysia
and Indonesia are being chopped down to make the chopsticks for our
instant disposable lifestyle. Satan wants to destroy everything beautiful
in the world that points to God.
The second sin that defaces God’s creation is the lust of the
eyes. If we cannot simply use it up for the gratification of our flesh,
the next thing we feel we must do is possess it. Someone sent me a story
about an American business man who went on a fishing trip to Mexico.
Seeing a fisherman with his catch, he asked him how long it took. The
man replied, "Not long". Then what do you do with your time?
"I sleep late, fish a little, play with my kids, take a siesta,
walk into town with my wife and play the guitar. I have enough for my
family. The American advised the man that if he worked hard he could
soon buy more boats, hire other fishermen, start his own company and
make a fortune. The fisherman then asked what he would do with his fortune.
The American’s eyes lit up and said, "That is the best part!
Then you would have enough money to take your family on vacation once
a year to a place where they could sleep late, fish a little, take a
siesta, walk into town with your wife and play the guitar." God
has arranged His world so that there is more than enough to go around.
It takes work to make a living, for sure. It has been that way since
Adam’s fall. But if you work, God will provide for you. When we
store up for ourselves things, we are saying that we do not trust God.
Not only that, we rob ourselves of the wonderful things that God is
already giving us. We trade the real treasures, time with family and
time to worship for a storehouse full of gold.
The third sin that defaces God’s creation is the pride of life.
As soon as we get a little success in the world, we start to think that
it is because of our own merit. Actually, God pours out His blessings
equally on the evil and the good. Both get to breath, both enjoy the
rain and the sunshine. Despite the cartoons, there is no personal rain
cloud that follows certain people around. God distributes the largest
part of His blessings on everyone equally. However, we think that the
reason why we are blessed is because we are smart, we are quick, we
are skillful, we are tricky, we are resourceful, and so on down the
line. But how does this deface God’s creation? Successful people
often take extreme care of that which has been given to them (they would
say "earned by them"). Pride defaces God’s creation
because we step between it and God. The whole purpose of a beautiful
garden or a well organized business is to give glory to you. Unfortunately,
the more "you" in it, the less beautiful it becomes. It reflects
you, rather than the Lord.
If we are content with the things of this world and don’t seek
God, John says that we are idolators. The love of the Father is not
in us. Not only that but we become vandals, defacing through our sin
the creation that should give honor and glory to God. John finishes
with one more reason. It is a practical one. The world is not going
to be around very long anyway. Besides that neither are you, in the
physical sense. Right now it might seem to you that you cannot live
without something. You just have to have it, or else you’ll die!
I remember using that argument with my father and my son using with
me. But it just doesn’t have the same impact after you die. Imagine
walking up to one of the angels in heaven and telling him, "Man,
if I don’t get a cup of coffee soon I am gonna die." Doesn’t
work, does it. What if your life is caught up with physical things?Å@What
if all you ever think about are the pleasures of the moment (lust of
the flesh), the things you want to get (lust of the eyes), the great
things you have already accomplished (pride of life). If this is the
sum of your life, what really will be left after all of that is stripped
away? Not much. Start on the kingdom of God now. Thy kingdom come, thy
will be done. God loves the world, He made it. But it is not everything.
It only points the way to Him who truly is everything.
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