Love Not the World

Transcript

GR 1092
1/2/1983

1 John 2:12-17
Gil Rugh

1 John. It's been a little while since we have been in our study in I John. Just about a month now and we're going to be picking up in the midst of chapter 2. Little more than one-third of the way through the second chapter.

Just to refresh our minds since it has been a little while since we've been in this study. Remember that John's purpose is to give confidence regarding our salvation in writing this first epistle. That we might know that we have eternal life. There's certain evidences or tests that are laid down that are measurable. Faith is something that is intangible and you cannot see it and even ourselves we can go through times of wondering whether we have faith or not. But there is a true manifestation of faith. When you come to trust in Jesus Christ there's a transformation of life. We're made new creatures. That will manifest itself in the way we conduct yourself in the things that we do and so John has been laying down some of the characteristics of a believer. In the first part of chapter 2 and verse 3. "By this we know that we have come to know Him if we keep His commandments." So obedience to His Word. Living our lives conformed to His Word is an evidence that we are the children of God. Also he laid down the test or a measure of loving fellow Christians.

Down to verse 10. The one who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. The one who hates his brother is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes. So our love for fellow believers and that' the issue here—for brothers. I'm not talking generally about mankind but specifically about other Christians and so what happens if you're truly a believer, you have a love for other Christians. We have been born into God's family and thus there is a love for others who are in that family as well. So those were two tests that were laid down in chapter 2. Obedience to His Word and loving fellow believers. They are evidences that we truly are children of God.

Now when you come to chapter 12, to verse 12, in chapter 2 it seems as though there is a break in what he has been saying. And he addresses children, young men, and fathers in these three verses. But really what he is doing is addressing those that he writes to as believers, that they have believed in Christ and thus they have been established in Him. Now this is important because he has been writing and the readers may get the idea from what he has written so far that they aren't believers. That he questions their salvation. That's not the case so he breaks in in verse 12 and gives a word of assurance that he's confident about their salvation, about their position in Christ and they are growing in Him. So he isn't writing to cause them to question that or because he has questions. But to give them the confidence of their salvation.

So verses 12 to 14 will develop the position they have by virtue of faith in Christ. Then in verses 15 to 17 he'll talk about the attitude that they as believers are to manifest in their relationship to the world. Verse 12 begins "I am writing to you little children because your sins are forgiven you for His name' s sake." Now what he does here is take three groups and I just mentioned—children, young men, and fathers. Not in order, though. And he addresses each of them twice. He addresses the children twice.
He addresses the young men twice and he addresses the fathers twice. Now I think that the emphases here is to spiritual condition, read it you could, take it that he is talking about physical condition. Little children, young men and fathers physically speaking. But I think you'll see as we move through the context it's easier to take it of their spiritual life and Where they are spiritually. Children are those Who are newer believers and they just have the basics. The fathers are those Who have been established and matured in the Word. With the passing of time they have the maturity that comes with growing in the Word over time. The young men are those who are in what's called the bloom of life. They are facing the conflicts and the battles. Now they have some maturity and they are on the edge of the conflict. They are battling the things that are going on spiritually speaking. Now it's also true that what you say about one group leads over or blends over into the others because the basic knowledge I have come into as a child as a new believer also is true of me as an older believer. So there are overlaps obviously. I am writing to you, little children. And that would be broad and some would view this as encompassing all the believers that he is writing to as a basic statement because John himself would be quite elderly at this point. In his nineties probably. So when you're in your nineties everybody is a kid. So that would be a possibility. But more probably he is talking here to the new Christian, the spiritual children. Not in a negative sense. Not in a carnal sense of babes with that negative flavor. But the very fact that they are just new Christians and thus have the immaturity that comes with it but also something of the knowledge that is theirs by the fact that they have come to know Christ.

"I am writing to you because your sins are forgiven." Now in the Gospel of John he wrote that they might believe. Here he is writing because they have believed and thus are forgiven. Your sins are forgiven you. Now that's a perfect tense and perhaps at the end of our study of John we are going to do a survey of the perfect tense in John. The perfect tense denotes something that happened in the past, the results continue in the present. So your sins have been forgiven in the past. The results continue. You are forgiven today, so these little children. They have entered into the forgiveness of sins. The newest Christian has experienced that. There's much we grow in as believers in Christ. The newest Christian has experienced that. There's much we grow in as believers in Christ but the moment a person trusts Christ he has experienced complete forgiveness of sin and so even these new Christians are those whose sins have been forgiven and they have been forgiven for His Name's sake. And that would go back to verses 1 and 2 where we discussed the forgiveness that we have in Christ. That Christ is the propitiation for our sin and He carries on a present ministry as our Advocate in heaven. So I have been forgiven. The present reality of that is I am forgiven today and the work of Christ continues on my behalf. So that's the basic. That's foundational. The newest Christian, the Christian who's only 10 minutes old in the Lord is one whose sins have been forgiven.

"I am writing to you fathers." Interesting. He doesn't take it in order here. He jumps from the little children to the fathers. Then he'll come back to the young men and the bulk of what he has to say is addressed to the young men, those who are perhaps what we call the heat of conflict. I am writing to you fathers because you know Him who has been from the beginning. Now they have known. Again, perfect tense. All the verbs here. Believe it's six times the perfect tense is used denoting something that happened to them in the past. The results continue in the present. You have known Him — a word that emphasizes the experiential aspect of knowledge. Now these fathers, those who are fathers spiritually speaking. They have had the privilege of walking with Christ over a period of time. They have matured in Him. They have grown in their knowledge of Him. So I am writing to you because you know Him who has been from the beginning. And I take it the emphasis on the one who has been from the beginning is on that maturity of his faithfulness. That matured in a recognition of his faithfulness and consistency. He's the one who is from the beginning. He's the one who is unchanging and that's a characteristic that comes with maturity as a believer. That ability to rest in confidence in the Lord.
I know Him as the One who has been from the beginning. Now that's their knowledge of Him. It's true He has been from the beginning. We all have a factual knowledge of that as believers but for the fathers they had that experiential knowledge that secured confidence in the faithfulness of God. Over in Hebrews just a little bit before I John.

Hebrews chapter 13. Verse 5 "Let your character be free from the love of money, being content with what you have." Note. For He Himself has said, 'I will never desert you nor will I ever forsake you.'" Down to verse 8. "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever." Now the fathers, those who are mature spiritually who had the privilege of years in growing in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, the knowledge of God have come to an appreciation of the faithfulness of His character, of His consistency and its true with the passing of time if we're growing as we should, our Christian life stabilizes in a good, sense. We lose this up and down and we're not tossed about. There's the confidence He is faithful. He will see us through. He'll be consistent. He is true to His character. The fathers have that as a result of their maturity.

Back to John, I John chapter 2. That's characteristic. He has marked out like in Ephesians chapter 4. That's a mark of maturity in the Word, that we're no longer as children tossed to and fro, To and fro. That's the ability that comes, confidence in God's character. I am writing to you young men. You know, the in-between group. They have grown beyond the new state. They're not children any longer, but they haven't come to that settled maturity of the fathers. I am writing to you young men because you have overcome the evil one. You have overcome the evil one. Now the young men are those who'd be involved in the battle. That bear much of the conflict. They are going through much of a spiritual conflict and that's true in a spiritual light. When you're a new Christian and in the initial weeks and months there is an excitement that carries on. When you are a mature Christian with years in your walk with the lord you have that settled stable: maturity. But in that in-between time, when you're growing and developing. Now I realize we're all growing and developing but those middle years of our development. There are special conflicts, special battles. Temptations being dealt with and so on. Now they need to recognize that they have overcome the evil one. Again, that’s a perfect tense. Now that's crucial because when you're in battle, when you're doing battle with the devil, it sure is reassuring to know that he has been defeated. I have overcome him. That's what he says here. You have overcome the evil one. That's been done. So they are not battling with Satan to see who's going to win. They are battling with Satan as those who have already defeated him. Like you're watching a football game and the score is 62 to nothing. And you're watching the game and the conflict goes on but the outcome is settled. It's been determined. That's the way it is with Satan. He has been defeated. I have overcome him. He is a conquered foe, not by my doing but by virtue of my relationship to Jesus Christ. But you note, I have, overcome him because of the work that Christ has done in my life. Now that affects how I
approach the battle. That approaches how I affects how I approach the conflicts, the trials, the temptations that I face. I am dealing with one who has been defeated but he doesn't give up. But nonetheless he is defeated. That effects how you go to battle.

Now he comes back to the children again at the end of verse 13. "I have written to you children because you know' the Father." You say well, didn't he already say that? Hard to say something to the children I guess but ho said that their sins are forgiven. Now there's another aspect. You know the Father. A little different emphasis but it's basic. Your sins are forgiven, you know the Father. Those things go together. What do you have to do to be saved? Well you have to know you're a sinner. You have to come to trust Christ. So you have forgiveness of sins and you have entered into a knowledge of the Father. Basic matter.

You know, you ought to note here that the word for children is a different word than used up in verse 12. Up in verse 12 it's translated little children and there the word is techna. Some of you have studied some Greek and the word technon when there's a difference emphasized. Emphasized as the family nature that we've been bom into the same family is the emphasis of that word "little children" in verse 12. I am writing to you little children, those of you who have been bom into the family because your sins are forgiven. The word used down in verse 13. I have written to you children , piedeia. The word we carry over in English in some of our words relating to children and training. Means child training or child discipline. So the emphasis in verse 12 for the children is on the fact they have become part of the family. The emphases in verse 13 on addressing the children is those who are under discipline or training. Not discipline for something done wrong but discipline in the sense of training for development. And a reminder there. I am writing to you children because you know the Father. So there is something to be confident in but a reminder in the word that he uses that there is the need for growth and training because we all know one of the characteristics of being a child is you sometimes get over-confident. You think that you know more than you really know. So a reminder here. You are piediea. You are one who is under training under the discipline of maturing.

Verse 14. "I have written to you fathers because you know Him who has been from the beginning." That's basically what he said previously. Just a repetition and a reminder and that's good. A reminder for all that they have the spiritual maturity, that they have this knowledge of God. What do you say? They are spiritually nature. In effect, John honors the spiritually mature. He recognizes the growth they have and the knowledge that they have. They are not going to face the same kind of conflicts that the young men do. And there is a parallel in the physical as well as the spiritual. Those who have the maturity of years, who have walked with the Lord and can look back as they are 60 or 70 years of age. Have a settled maturity in their walk. But the young men don't. They are not facing the same kinds of conflicts and battles that those in the younger years are and that's why we look to them and it is important to have that maturity and to look for leadership to it. So he addresses the fathers again, although he does not elaborate any further.

Verse 14. He picks up with the young men again, though. His second comment. He has addressed the children twice, the fathers twice, now the young men and you note—the young men get the longest statement. "I have written to you, young men, because you are strong and the Word of God abides in you and you have overcome the evil one." Now you note that emphasis on overcoming the evil one. Verse 13. That was emphasized there as well. Important to realize Satan is conquered. He does not have to have a hold on ray life. He should not be having a hold on my life. He has been defeated. You know, oh, I just can't get the victory in this area of my life. What do you mean—you can't get the victory? You already have the victory. Satan has been conquered. That doesn't mean there's not a battle, but I ought to fight the battle with the right perspective. I am fighting with one who has been defeated. So if he's got a hold on me, it's not because he's too powerful. It's because I am allowing him to. Because if I do battle with him in the power of the Spirit, he has no chance. He has been conquered and defeated.

Note he says, "You are strong and the Word of God abides in you." And we looked something at this issue of abide. We're going to see it again in our study of I John. They are believers. They have strength. Now, realize there's a danger if we think we are strong in ourselves. But we must realize the strength that we have in Christ. We are strong as God's children. We have the power of God at work in our lives. So we are strong. His Word abides in us because we are believers. That's true and we have overcome the evil one. That overcome, again, is a perfect tense. Denotes something that happened in the past, continues in the present.

Over in I John 5, John is going to talk about overcoming. And in I John 5:5 he talks about overcoming the world and the whole world lies in the evil one as he'll talk about in verse 19 of chapter 5. But in verse 5 of chapter 5 he says, who is the one who overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? So to overcome the evil one by believing in Jesus Christ. Thus they have become overcomers.

Back in I John chapter 4 verse 4. "You are from God little children and have overcome them, the antichrist and the spirit of antichrist that is present. We have overcome them. How do you overcome? By believing in Jesus Christ. So every person who has believed in Christ has overcome the devil but is especially crucial to recognize that when you are in that time of the heat of battle.

All right. Come back to I John 2. Those reminders to those in the different stages of their spiritual growth. John is confident about those that he writes to, that they are believers and the test that he lays down marks them out as believers. But, verse 15. And down through verse 17, he lays out what is to be the attitude of a believer and they'll be true for the children, for the young men, and for the fathers as we confront the world. How are we to live and what is to be our attitude? And it's stated very simply in verse 15. "Do not love the world." Do not be loving the world. It's a present imperative. The imperative is a command. The present tense. And it can be translated "stop loving the world." The word can simply be the command, do not be loving the world. And in light of the context here it would seem to fit that he is saying do not be loving the world rather than to tell them, stop doing what they are doing. He has just written encouragement to them regarding their walk as believers and it's all positive so here is a command of warning. Don't be loving the world. Now the "world" here refers to, and the word is cosmos. This world system and all that characterizes it. The believer is not to love it. Nor the things in the world. So this world system nor the things in the world that this world offers and some of these will be mentioned in the next verse. The delights, the pleasures, the allurements of the world. Don't love this war Id system nor the things within this world. That's a command given to us as believers and puts the pressure on because we are those who live in the world among those in the world and yet we are not to love this world system, the way things operate, the values that are placed by this world and so on. so there's a constant pressure there. I am in an environment that presses on me for my attention and yet I am not to love it and it's interesting here.

This word "love" is the word agape and true agape love is produced by the Spirit. You remember one of the fruits of the Spirit is love and there it's the word agape. Now here we are told not to love the world. There is a wrong kind of agape love and agape love is action done because of the value placed on something or someone. So we say its self-sacrifice. You do something for the good of someone else. You place a value on that person and then you do what is necessary for the good of that pe-son because of the value placed on them. Now here we are told not to value the world, not to love the world. Don't place value on the world and thus do what is necessary to obtain what it offers.

So interesting here. You can have agape love in the wrong sense. You can place value on the wrong things and thus serve those things, things of the world. Strong statement here. If anyone loves the world the love of the Father is not in him. John is so basic, so cut and dried. If you love the world, you don't love God. That's what he says. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. You cannot love the world and love God. Jesus said the same thing in Matthew. You cannot love God and mammon, or riches. That's opposed. A person who is in love with the war Id or the things of this world such as riches does not love God, cannot love God. If anyone loves the world the love of the Father is not in him. I take it that's a firm line. Now we as believers are commanded not to love the world because it' s out of character and those who are in love with the world are those who are not the children of God. So we need to be careful as believers that we are not influenced by those who don't belong to God at all. How out of character that I should love the world. I'm one who loves God, not this world system.

Over in James chapter 4. James says the same thing. James chapter 4 verse 4. "You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility towards God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the war Id makes himself an enemy of God." That's a fixed. Why? There are those who love the world and they are the enemies of God. There are those who love God and thus become the enemies of the world. But you cannot love both. So that's a word of warning to me because the world has its allurement. There is pleasure in sin. The world has its desirable treats, if you will that are held out for us. That's what John is going to develop. But those who love God don't love the world. We don't place value on the world and the things of the world.

Come back to John. See what he tells us. He tells us what this world is composed of, what it consists of. Verse 16. "All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the boastful pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the world. So this war Id has things that originate here and within this system from the God of this world. It's at the end of this letter John will say that all this world system lies in the evil one, Satan.

He says there are three things that make up this world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life. The lust of the flesh, fleshly desires, sensual desires, sexual desires. Any lust that stems from the flesh and the desire to fulfill these. That's what's in the world. Fleshly lusts. The flesh, that which is apart from God and God's work in a life. That which the world takes and corrupts such as sex which God says is honorable within the marriage relationship. But the world offers fleshly…

We see how we have degenerated in our own society so now you cannot, you know, discriminate against people living together whether they are married or not. They have rights and so on. The world holds out its lusts and all its so much more desirable to have a relationship outside of marriage than in marriage. You don't know why. Now they have marriage contracts that you enter into so that you don't have to get married, but you need some kind of binding agreement to obligate one another. You note how ridiculous the world becomes. Anything to avoid what God says. God says you must be married. You know what the world says? Anything but that. Let's get lawyers and draw up legal contracts, but we won't be married. Why? What is the reason for that? Because God says you ought to be married and the sinful nature of man rebels against what God says and God says, Walk straight. Man wants to walk crooked. God says, Paint it green. Man wants to paint it red. That's an example. He hasn't said anything about the colors. I almost said, Blue, but I was afraid it would be misunderstood. You see the lust of the flesh, so all the things that the world holds out that appeal to the old me, to the personal apart from God. And there is pleasure in that. We have to be honest. Bread eaten in secret is pleasant and stolen waters
are sweet. Look at what Proverbs says about sexual immorality. There is an excitement about sex since we are using that as an example, apart from marriage. And God said that in Proverbs centuries before John wrote. Something that brings an excitement in doing what you are not supposed to do. The lust of the flesh.

The lust of the eyes and again, these things come very close together. The lust of the eyes. When you feast your eyes on things and thus you desire them and when you attain them you fulfill the lust of the flesh. So the lust of the flesh is often preceded by the lust of the eye. And when niy eyes lust after something then I pursue it, I gratify the flesh and the lust of the flesh takes place. So they blend together. The problem begins. And how does the world operate? You watch the television. What do they have? All kinds of advertisements to make things appealing. You know, you just can't go out in public if you haven't washed with the right soap. Your life is not complete if you don't have this car or this kind of whatever. Well it's the lust of the eye. It's all presented and much money spent to make it visually attractive. And it works. Just go home and look at your house. It works. We got all kinds of things that we don't need, we don't have to have. What do I got this ding-dong thing for? Well, you know, I saw it and it appealed to me and I bought it. And I'm not saying that it's wrong to have things but we have to guard against it because you see how the world is operating. This is the world principle of operation. I have to be careful I don't get lured into that because then I begin to operate and live like the world which is a distortion. All that the world has to offer is so trite and insignificant because when you walk through and look at those things. In 100 years it's not going to matter.

So important. Have to have it and once we get it we devote time to it until it, you know, the novelty wears off. And all you got to do is go to a second-hand shop to find all kinds of things where the novelty has worn off. You read the miscellaneous items in the paper. You find all the things that people have acquired that the novelty has worn off, that they want somebody else to buy now so they can replace it with a new novelty.

All right. Now don't get the wrong idea. Not saying you have to go home and throw everything out except your bed and your things in your refrigerator. But we have to be guarding against this. This is how the world operates and the boastful pride of life. Now the boastful pride of life. Pretnetious activity. Sometimes it's a result of lusting with your eyes, lusting of, the lust of the flesh and once you get what you want, you're proud about it. Isn't that the way the world operates? That you have arrived so you move uptown or downtown or wherever you move here, you get a new car, you get a new house, you get new clothes, you get your name in the right places, you join the right clubs. There's the boastful pride of life. You know who I am? There, that's the way the world operates. Is that what it's all about? Why are people killing themselves? To get ahead. Well, there's the boastful pride of life. There is that fleshly satisfaction that comes from looking around and saying I made it. I did it. That's the way the world operates. Now none of these things are from God. They are from the world. They don't find their source in God. They come from the world. This is what the world offers us in, as a substitute for what God would offer. This is the devil's artificial peace, artificial happiness, artificial fulfillment. That's not from God. What God does is more lasting and more permanent. The world is passing away and its lusts. Now that's crucial. This world system and its mode of operating is passing away. It's in the process of passing and its lusts. Now all the things associated with it. So you look at all the world has to offer, all the lust that seems so desirable and they are in the process of passing. They are all temporal. You look and name one thing that the world offers that is not temporal. The most enduring things that men try to acquire and they're temporal. They're passing. Now that's why we say there's pleasure in sin but it's only for a season. It's only temporary. But the one who does the will of God abides forever. There is a marked contrast. The world is passing away is temporal, but those who do the will of God are eternal.
I realize all are eternal. Every person who ever lived is eternal but the emphases here is investing our lives and the way we live in that which is eternal. As those who do the will of God we shall never perish. So we are using eternal in that sense of eternal life. Now there is an eternal destruction, an eternal perishing. The enduring for eternity. But those who do the will of God will live forever, abide forever.

That's what we are to be investing our lives in. We are the children of God. We are to invest our lives in those things which really matter. I quite frankly don't know what the line is to draw here and I think everyone has to draw it for themselves but I do believe that we as believers living in a materialistic age have not been able to grapple with it. I have to say in all honesty I myself have not been able to grapple with it to my own satisfaction. Perhaps to your satisfaction either for that matter.

The world presses in and no matter what we say it influences us and it's a constant unrelenting battle. You know the most difficult thing about it? I can't fight this battle, get up in the morning, say, I fought that battle yesterday. It's done. Because you know what? The world presses in 24 hours a day with those things. It's unrelenting and we as believers get absorbed in it. Just look at how much of our time and how much of our money is spent on those things which really don't matter for eternity. Why do I have to have a different house? Why do I have to have a different car? Why do I have to have different clothes? Why do I have to have a new toy to play with? Why?

I say, well, you do earn some things. I'm not saying there's not a place for having. But we need to be careful. We need to be careful because the world presses in and the world says it's important and you know what we do? We buy it. The world says about the boastful pride of life, you have to live in the right place and I move there. The world says you ought to dive the right car and I buy it. The world says you ought to dress this way and I do it. Now I don't think we ought to go out of our way just to be odd and we build some shacks out here and all get robes and that's the way we're going to do it. There's no premium put on oddity in the Scripture but there is a premium put on godliness. So I can't draw the line for you. You can't draw it for me because I tend to look at your life and say tsk, tsk, tsk. Boy, why do you buy all those toys? But what I buy aren't toys. They're things that help my recreation to enable me to relax (laughter). You know and I find reasons for what I do so we need to be careful about looking around at one another. But look at ourselves. I need to look at me and you need to look at you and we just need to be careful. Is the world pressing in on us more than it should, making me mere like the world than I ought to be? Is there any way that I am different than the world? How am I different? What's different about my life? About the things I do in my life? How do you see in me that I am not absorbed with the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life. There ought to be a difference in us as believers. We are those who abide forever. We are those who are to be investing our lives in that which counts for eternity. You ought to see something different in me than you do in the unbeliever who is going to invest everything he has in this life and the things that this life offers.
I think there's a rationale to that. If I were an unbeliever I'd live the lust of the flesh to the fullest. To fulfill the desires of the eyes and I'd be as proud as could be with whatever I got. But as believers there's
got to be a difference. Praise God, we're privileged to live for something that really matters. You know that ought to make a difference in the way we face a new year. That I'm privileged to invest my life in the eternal. I'm one who abides forever and I am to live like it. It helps me to live like it when I recognize the difference. The unbeliever loves the world, doesn't love God. The unbeliever is absorbed in these things.

Now for me as a believer I recognize there's a difference. How is my life going to be different as I walk with God in coming weeks and months until He comes? What is going to absorb me? What values do I put down as important? What are my goals? What do I count of value? What am I striving for? You know, easy, and I need to be careful because, you know, jealousy comes in. I say, well I'll sacrifice and look, this believer got a new house. I don't mind living godly if everybody else does it. But if everybody is going to get their share of worldly things, I want them to. I need to be careful. We put an unhealthy pressure on one another even as believers we are striving for those things and I see you're driving a new car and my goodness, I have to get one. Well, maybe God wanted you to have a new car. He didn't want me to have one. Phooey. I hope it's the other way around. I hope He wanted me to have one and not you to have one. All I'm saying is we need to be careful that our lives manifest, we are those who love God, not the world. And that makes me different. That makes me a privileged person. I'm privileged to live my life in the realm that matters. God has blessed us materially and I praise Him for it. He's blessed us with things that we can enjoy. We ought to praise Him for it and if you have a lovely home and lovely furniture, lovely car and lovely bank account and everything, praise God for it. All I'm saying is we have to be careful that we don't get absorbed in those things and lose sight of who we are and what we are.

Let's pray together