What does the New Testament mean when it commands “love not the world?” We’ll search for the answer in 1 John 2 on this episode of Take Note.
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Love Not the World
1 John 2:15-17
- We have a big topic to discuss today, from a small passage of scripture
- Just three verses and five statements
- Each of which make us pause to consider what God is teaching
- We’ll talk about the world
- The things that are in the world
- And doing the will of the Father in Heaven
- Our topic?
- “Love Not the World”
- From 1 John 2:15-17
- When we think about “the world,” we may often think of earth
- This is not altogether inappropriate
- The Bible phrase references things that are common to people all over the globe
- In fact, it references the system, within which, people around the world exist
- We’ll define terms as we approach our first verse
- Let’s read the entire passage first and come back to have a closer look…
1 John 2:15-17
15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For 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.
17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
- The first verse of our passage of the day…
1 John 2:15
15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
- What is “the world” referred to here?
- Well, one Bible dictionary describes it this way: “the moral universe, the total system of intelligent creatures…”
- “In view of the fact of universal human failure, humanity in its sinful aspect…”
- “The spirit and forces of fallen humanity regarded as antagonistic to God and to good”
- Or “‘all around us which does not love God'”
- This is clarified in the next verse, but let’s sit with the dictionary definition for a few moments
- Do not love the system that conspires against God in the world
- Do not love that which makes up common, but ungodly thinking
- Do not love the philosophies and preferences of the masses far from God
- Do not love “the way things are” apart from God
- Human sin is a reality to be understood, but never something to be loved
- And masses of people that remain in their sin (without Christ) believe and organize society in ways that do not honor Him
- Realize this and don’t become a lover of that organization of society or its results
- This certainly does not mean we don’t love the people of the world
- We are commanded to love and to show them kindness
- Ministering to them in sacrificial ways and in far-flung places of the earth
- But the systems that sinners have devised apart from God’s wisdom is not to be loved
- Because this passage makes a definite statement about the person who does “love the world”
- That “the love of the Father is not in him”
- What kind of love does this person have?
- He is “filled with good will toward” the world’s system
- He is “well pleased” with the common worldly wisdom and the common worldly activities and the common worldly affections
- He is “contented” with the way the world works, the way it is organized and ordered
- Or disorganized and disordered, depending on your perspective
- This is a person who, instead of seeking after that which God says, has accepted that which was spoken by sinners speaking in their sinfulness
- The affections of his heart (of flesh) are sinful
- And they are satisfied in a world’s system that caters to sinful hearts
- We can see why the love of the Father is not in this person
- For He seeks not the Father’s will or to please the father, but to please self
- And the world’s system offers every opportunity for him to do so, without any fear of reprimand
- So, we must not love the world
- Or the things that are in the world
- What are those things?
- The next verse helps to answer…
1 John 2:16
16 For 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 system seeks to fulfill the lusts that reside within man
- And what are those desires?
- The lust of the flesh
- To satisfy the flesh and whatever appetites that come naturally to the flesh
- One commentary has said these are the wrong desires of the heart in the body
- It is “indulging all things that excite and inflame sensual pleasures”
- We know that this is part of the system for it almost surrounds us daily
- Also the lust of the eyes
- “That which is designed merely to gratify the sight”
- “This would include, of course, costly clothes, jewels, gorgeous furniture, splendid palaces…”
- And other “frivolous vanities of this world”
- Much that delights the eye can be purchased with money
- And if it does delight the eye, it is regarded as important, even vital, to life
- And the pride of life
- This literally means “arrogant assumption”
- It is anything that contributes to our higher opinion of self
- Of our own worth and worthiness
- Of our own intelligence
- Our own beauty or personal magnetism
- That would place us front and center
- That would indulge whatever sinful thoughts we have about self
- What is in the world?
- What makes up this world’s system?
- The lust of the flesh
- The lust of the eyes
- And the pride of life
- These are not of the Father
- They do not come from the Father
- But from our own sinful selves
- And the satisfaction of them is obviously and absolutely sinful
- Never endorsed by Him
- But they are ever in the world
- Ever promoted by the world
- The world is organized around them
- The goal of the world and the people in it (apart from God) are to satisfy them
- Why love them not?
- The next verse makes a very final statement about that…
1 John 2:17
17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
- Everything that makes up the world’s system is temporary
- The world
- All the thinking of the world
- The components of the world’s makeup
- The vain desires of the world
- Are passing away
- The people following the dictates of the world pass away too
- And there is everlasting torment awaiting them for the rejection of Christ
- But those who have embraced the Son of God and His work on the cross look forward to eternity
- In heaven
- With Him
- You see, all that the world would lead us believe
- All that the world would establish as a priority
- All the behaviors the world would lead us to think are virtuous
- Lead us to destruction
- This is why we are to “love not the world”
- Or the things that are in the world