This morning we start on a new series of lessons entitled:
“John Writes…”
Therefore each lesson from now until the end of October will come from the writings of John. In particular we will be discussing love. John tells us that love for one another and God, sets us apart from the world, giving us a unique identity, not just now, but forever.
The first lesson is entitled, Love the Father
1st John 2:15- 17
15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
There are two options here: love the world or love God. As Jesus said in another place, “Man cannot serve two masters, for he will love one and hate the other. That message is pretty much reiterated here: “If you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you”.
The World
The world can mean three things in the scriptures:
The planet upon which we ride and have our being
The people
Community of dwellers on the earth are by nature without religion, and act under a set of maxims, aims, and principles that have reference only to this life; that is, to the objects which they especially seek, and the principles by which they are set in motion.
In the context, John is talking about the third option: The entire creation has undergone a restructuring, a reconfiguration by sinners, so that it excludes God, this is “the world”. God is pushed out of the picture, there is no need for God, for man is in charge of his own destiny [!]. The world promotes humanistic behaviour: basically a system of thought that rejects religious beliefs and centers on humans and their values, capacities, and worth. Anything but God becomes important. Man pursues power and possessions, and pleasures, AS their god, this is the world that John talks about. And of course when its understood in those terms, we say, “Oh! That’s not us!” I believe that, really I do, but because we live IN the world albeit not PART of the world, there is grave danger! It’s such an easy thing to be enticed and lured by the world, because it lures us with things that are “good”.
For example (one of many), we talk about financial security, we want to get good jobs so that we can provide for our families and put a roof over our heads; we want to save and we want to have a pension so that we and our families are well looked-after in the future. Is that bad? Well, no, but it CAN be, because we can become so entrenched and obsessed with that, that we causes us to start to push God out of the picture… well, so Jesus said, “You cannot serve both God and money” –
Two six-letter words remind us that finance security is not the answer to life - credit crunch. Some of the biggest financial institutions in the world going to the wall. Stock values all over the world are dropping like rocks in a shallow pond. Since the speculators have nothing of value to speculate on, the buy up all the oil and hold onto it – this drives the price up and suddenly the world is in turmoil! Between gas and electricity, your are going to be paying 40% more in your bills, and that’s on top of a 15% rise in January, so your household utility bills have doubled!
I’m not saying that its wrong to get on in the world, it’s not wrong to win a promotion at work; it’s not wrong to have savings; it’s not wrong to have a pension plan… just realize that its NOT your be all and end all, its not your hope or your focus, because the nearer it becomes anything like that, the further God is pushed from the picture. As John says…
I Jn 2:16-17~
For everything in the world-- the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does-- comes not from the Father but from the world (the exclusion of God).
John has something to say about that in the latter part of the verse…
Well, let me put it to you in the form of an illustration, I can’t quite remember the exact story, but you’ll get the point. There was a sportsman who played tennis on his college team and every year the had a tournament. The trophy was displayed in a glass cabinet and naturally the young man wanted to win it. He dedicated himself to the sport, training hard, day in and day out in his quest for success. He never won the trophy, ever…
One day or night many years later, he happened to be going through the college grounds and saw something glint in a dumpster that caught his eye, to his surprise it was the tennis trophy that he never won. He picked it up, took it home, cleaned it up and displayed it in his home. People ask him, “Did you win that,” His reply is… “No, I keep that there as a reminder that the world’s trophies end up in the trash.” And just as John says, “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives for ever.”
So we can choose to pursue the world’s treasures or we can choose to pursue God. If we choose the world – then by definition, God is pushed out of the picture and all that we claim from the world will one day be lost anyway. If we choose God, then the reward is to live forever! Jesus said, “Don’t lay up treasures on earth where moths and rust get at it and you lose it, lay up treasures in heaven where it lasts forever!”
Loving the Father
I’m not saying that avoiding the world means you love God, what I’m saying is if you love God, if you love the Father, you will avoid the world. People think giving things up as Christians is where its at, but its not. Oh but wait a minute you say, doesn’t the Bible say, “live lives worthy of the calling?” Yes it does but does that mean we have to change our lives to suit our calling? NO! It means we have to heed the calling and lives will change for the better in a more (super) natural way. Getting rid of the junk doesn’t really cut it; a genuine and deep love for the Father, will get rid of the junk.
It’s like grace… we don’t change behaviour to get grace, we get grace and that empowers us to change. You see what I am saying here? I’m not saying its bad to give stuff up and to change your life, all I’m saying is, is that there is a better way to do it and that my friends is to LOVE the Father. That is altogether more positive, and I think, productive. Love God, and let him do the changing and the only way, yes the ONLY way to do that, is to give your life to God and let him do the changing.
In the movie, “Hancock” Will Smith is a super hero with a difference, he doesn’t really care, he’s a drunk and a homeless soul. When mankind is in trouble, he comes to their aid if he is sober, and when he does the collateral damage is usually very extensive, as a result of this, people really don’t like him and this of course adds to Hancock’s misery. However, one day he meets up with some guy who is in marketing and talks him into letting him change his life around. The man has a son, a young boy who loves Hancock – who wouldn’t? He can fly to the moon and back, quicker that it takes you to blink once and turn around twice! Anyway, Hancock goes to jail (don’t ask, go see the movie!) and the man’s son comes to see him. On the way out of the visiting room, the little boy hands over a toy dinosaur to Hancock, he says “I want you to have this, its my favourite.”
Clearly, a super hero has no use for a toy, but never the less, you can see in his eyes, how touched he is with this! The little boy made a sacrifice and the superhero was thrilled!
Isn’t that what its like for us? We give our very best to God, our lives, not because he needs it, but because we need to! It’s what love is all about, giving your best, because you want the recipient to know that you love them, and giving your best without regret. Trust me, the superhero’s heart will be touched and what greater superhero is there apart from our Father!?
I Jn 2:15
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.