“Do not love the world nor 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 and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.” — 1st John 2:15-17 NASB
I’m kind of stealing this from a sermon a friend of mine gave, but every good teacher and preacher very rarely comes up with his own ideas. He gets it from someone else, who got it from someone else, who learned it from his pastor, who learned it from his dad, etc. You get the picture. When it’s boiled down, it all comes from God and is found in scripture. At least it should.
I’m only giving part of his sermon, just the first point coming out of the first five words in our passage. “Do not love the world….” This really begs the question, “What is the world?”
Looking thru scripture, there are three ways that the word “World” is used. If we look at them, we can determine which one John is using here.
“All you inhabitants of the world and dwellers on earth, As soon as a standard is raised on the mountains, you will see it, And as soon as the trumpet is blown, you will hear it.” — Isaiah 18:3 NASB
The “world” that Isaiah is talking about here refers to the earth, the ground you’re walking on, the planet we live on. Is this the same “world” that John is talking about? No. To love God’s second greatest creation is not a sin, so long as we don’t forget to worship the Creator of the world and not the creation itself.
I live in Maine, USA, and it’s beautiful up here. The autumn season brings a changing of the colors. On the maple trees, oak trees, birch trees, really every tree except the evergreen trees, the leaves change from green to different shades of yellow and orange and brown and red. It’s absolutely gorgeous. We go out to the coast and look out across the water and vastness of it. All you see is water and sky, and that’s all that’s sitting between us and Europe. It’s magnificent. I’m sure there’s natural beauty in God’s creation where you are. It’s not wrong to love that. That’s not what John is talking about.
The second use of the word “world” is used here by David.
“And He will judge the world in righteousness; He will execute judgment for the peoples with equity.” — Psalm 9:8 NASB
The “world” as it’s used here is referring to the people who live here. It’s talking about us. It’s talking about the people. It’s used the same way in John.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” — John 3:16-17 NASB
This can’t be used the same way as it is in 1st John. In one place, John tells us not to love the world. In the other place, it tells us that God did love the world. So that’s not it. God’s not going to do one thing at one point in scripture and then tell us we’re not allowed to somewhere else.
The third use of the word “World” I think is the one used in 1st John. It’s explained a little bit in a later verse of the same letter.
“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” — 1 John 5:4-5 NASB
This use of the word is talking about the sinfulness and even the pleasures of the world. The parts of the world that take us away from God. There are many things that we enjoy but that are not good for us.
“But I need it!” You might feel that way now, but it’s not doing you any good. Eventually, we realize it’s not good for us, so we work to avoid it. We turn our backs on the temptation. Every time the temptation to do that sinful thing comes up, we turn away and almost yell at ourselves “No! I’m not doing it!” It’s a good thing to avoid sin, but is it enough? God has a plan for you, but if you spend your entire time fighting temptation, you can’t fulfill what God wants you to do. So what do we do? Just give in to the sin for a short time so we can get it over with and go on to do what God wants? No. The answer is given by James.
“Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” — James 4:7-8 NASB
Give the battle to God. It’s not enough to resist that sin that you still love. You give the reins over to the Lord. He’s the only one who can defeat the devil and the temptation. In a manner of speaking, you point your finger at God as you show the devil who he’s got to be fighting, and then you get off the battlefield. You prayerfully give the fight to God, and ask God to help you learn how to hate the sin like He does.
“For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” — Romans 6:14
If you’re active in avoiding sin just because it’s wrong and sinful and it’ll hurt you, then that sin still has control over you. However, when you’re avoiding sin by simply, giving the sin temptation to God and going to do something else that God has called you to do, sin doesn’t have that control over you. You’re not actively thinking about avoiding that sin. You’re just so busy in the will of God that the simple sin you were once so attracted to no longer even affects you.
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