This week we are
looking at a section of this letter that has been preserved and recorded for us
in the New Testament of the Bible, called the book of John. In 1 John 2:12-14,
John revealed the qualities that are evident in a person who has genuine and
authentic relationship and connection with God through Jesus Christ.
A person who has a
genuine and authentic relationship and connection with God through Jesus lives
in the reality that you have come into a relationship with the Creator of the
universe. A person who has a genuine and authentic relationship and connection
with God through Jesus lives in the reality that you have been released from
the moral consequences of our acts of omission and commission against God and
others that flow from our selfishness and rebellion against God and others.
A person who has a
genuine and authentic relationship and connection with God through Jesus lives in
the reality that you have come into relationship with Jesus Christ as the
eternal God and Creator who entered into humanity to have relationship with His
creation. A person who has a genuine and authentic relationship and connection
with God through Jesus lives in the reality that you have the victory over
Satan and his attempt to keep us from the relationship that we were created for
with Jesus Christ.
A person who has a
genuine and authentic relationship and connection with God through Jesus lives in
the reality that you have come into relationship with God that is an ongoing
reality in your life. A person who has a
genuine and authentic relationship and connection with God through Jesus lives in
the reality that you are called to be strong spiritually as a result of the
message and teaching of Jesus and the letters that make up the Bible remaining
ingrained in your life to develop the spiritual strength necessary to fight the
ongoing spiritual battles that occur as we live out our day to day life as
followers of Jesus here on the earth.
Now as followers of
Jesus, our identity is that of one who has the victory over Satan and his
attempt to keep us from the relationship that we were created for with Jesus
Christ. However, while the victory is won, there still is fighting left to do;
there are still battles that we will face as followers of Jesus. And as John
continues in this section of his letter, we see John turn to those battles. So
let’s discover what those battles are together, beginning in 1 John 2:15-16:
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. 16 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.
Here we see John
command the readers of this letter, and followers of Jesus throughout history, to
not love the world or the things of the world. Now to understand what John is
communicating here, we first need to understand what John means when he uses
the word world. When John uses the phrase the world, he is referring to
everything in the world system around us that is hostile to God and that sets
itself up in opposition to God and the kingdom of God.
In addition, when John uses the word love,
this word literally means to have high esteem for or to have high satisfaction
with someone or something. This love refers to what we desire to take pleasure
in. The object of this love is what we find satisfaction in. This love is what
we seek to satisfy our longings and because of that reality, the object of this
love is where we find our identity.
And the timeless
reality is that those things in the world system around us that are hostile to
God and that place themselves in opposition to God compete with God for our
total devotion and because of this reality we cannot love both. That is why
John states that if we love the world, the love of the Father is not in us.
John reveals three
different worldviews that come from the world system that sets themselves in
opposition to God and the kingdom of God that compete with God for our
devotion. Now when we talk about the idea of a worldview, a worldview is that a
worldview is how a person views the world. A worldview is a mental map that
tells us how to navigate the world effectively. A worldview is the prism that
we look at the world through to help us analyze, interpret and respond to what
is occurring around us. And it is in these worldviews that we often seek to
find fulfillment. It is in these worldviews that we seek to find value,
meaning, significance, and our identity.
The first worldview
John reveals that comes from the world system that sets themselves in
opposition to God and the kingdom of God that compete with God for our devotion
is what John refers to as the lust of the flesh. Now a lust is a desire for
something that is forbidden. When John refers to the flesh, he is referring to the
part of us that is dominated by a desire to satisfy our rebellious nature
through physical pleasure.
This desire to find
fulfillment through physical pleasure is called sensualism. People who follow
this worldview try to find fulfillment through sex. People who follow
sensualism often find themselves trying to fill the empty space in their lives
through online pornography or sexual relationships outside of God’s design of
marriage.
The second worldview
John reveals that comes from the world system that sets themselves in
opposition to God and the kingdom of God that compete with God for our devotion
is what John refers to as the lust of the eyes. The lust of the eyes is the
desire to satisfy our longing for possessions, which we call materialism.
People who follow
this worldview try to find fulfillment through their salary. People who follow
materialism often find themselves trying to fill the empty space in their lives
with possessions, but the reality is that they end up worshipping their
possessions instead of the Creator of the universe.
The third worldview
John reveals that comes from the world system that sets themselves in
opposition to God and the kingdom of God that compete with God for our devotion
is what John refers to as is the boastful pride of life. The boastful pride of
life is the desire to satisfy our ego which longs to be the center or the star
of the story, which we call humanism.
People who follow
this worldview try to find fulfillment through their status. People who follow
humanism often find themselves trying to fill the empty space in their lives
with their status, but the reality is that they end up worshipping their
position and status and place themselves above God.
John then points out
that all of these worldviews find their origin not from our Heavenly Father,
but from the world. The lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the boastful
pride of life come from the world system that sets itself in opposition to God
and the kingdom of God and are led by the devil.
And because the
desire for fulfillment through pleasure, possessions, or position are not the
way of Jesus, fulfilling these desires fail to fill the empty spaces in our
lives. Because these desires do not flow from God’s nature and character, they
are unable to fulfill our deepest needs. And the timeless reality is that when
we spend our time seeking fulfillment through sex, salary, or status, we spend
our time attempting to experience connection and community with sex, salary,
and status instead of with Jesus. However, the deepest needs and longings in
our lives; our needs for restoration, repair, and relationship can only be
never be met by anything or anyone else than through Jesus Christ.
Now a natural
question or objection that could arise here is “Well Dave why can’t sex,
salary, and status satisfy the deepest needs and desires of my life? Why can’t
pleasure, possessions, and position fill the empty space in my life?”
If that question and
objection is running through your mind, I just want to let you know that you
are asking a fair question. And fortunately for us, we see John provide the
response to that question or objection in what he says next.
Friday we will look
at what John says next...
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