1 John 2:15-17 ESV
“Do not love the world or 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 desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”
To love means to prefer. So to love the world is to prefer, to
desire, to choose, to embrace, to select, to favor and/or to like better the
world. And the world is usually symbolic of what is opposed to God, of what is
of the flesh, of what has no eternal value, but of what is passing away and is
temporary. And the world’s desires are not for God but for pleasing the flesh,
and for feeding the pride of humans, and for the lusts of the eyes.
But we are not to prefer and embrace and desire the world
and the things in the world. Instead, we are to be preferring what God prefers
and choosing and embracing his choices (his will for our lives), and obeying
them in his power, wisdom, and strength. And we are to be preferring what God
prefers, which is what is holy, righteous, godly, morally pure, upright,
honest, faithful, submissive to God, obedient to his commands, and repentant.
But many professing Christians today have this backwards.
Since many of them are being taught that God does everything for them and that
they do nothing, they are not being taught to love God and his righteousness and
holiness. They are not being strongly encouraged to walk in holiness and
godliness and in moral purity. And they are not being taught to repent of their
sins and to walk in obedience to and to submit to Christ as Lord.
Now, this is no excuse, though, for God put within every one
of us the knowledge of him and who he is, from his created works. So if we deny
him and we choose to go our own way, instead, and to not submit to him, and to
not obey him, and to not surrender to his will for our lives, we are without
excuse. And the wrath of God will be poured out on us, even if we profess faith
in Jesus Christ, for lip service is not enough to please God (Rom 1).
And much of what is being called “church” today is what is
pushing this agenda of preferring the world to God. For, they are embracing the
notion that in order to grow their “churches” that they have to do worldly
things to attract the world to their gatherings. But they aren’t supposed to attract
the world to their gatherings for then they cease to be the church, the body of
God, with Christ as her only head, but now she is a worldly mixture.
And so they convince their congregants to make compromises
with the world and to immerse themselves in their culture in order to win the
approval of the world. And they change evangelism into not sharing the gospel
verbally but to “being the gospel,” but not really, for it just means being “good
deed doers” and being nice to their neighbors and hanging out with them and
doing the kinds of things that the worldly do so they don’t think we’re weird.
So, instead of “the church” living to please the Lord, they
are existing to please humans so that humans will want to come to their
gatherings and so they can grow (in numbers) their churches, i.e. their
man-made businesses called “church.” Thus, instead of loving God, which means
to obey him, they are loving the world and they are embracing the desires of
the flesh over living holy lives pleasing to God, and in order to not offend the
world.
But this really isn’t just about pleasing the world, but it
is about pleasing one’s own fleshly appetite. It is self-centered, with a “what’s
in it for me” attitude, with no fear of the Lord, and no commitment to holy
living. And it is about denying the Lordship of Christ, and going one’s own
selfish way, continuing to live in deliberate and habitual sin, but while
professing faith in Jesus Christ and claiming heaven as one’s own eternal
destiny, which is a false hope.
1 John 3:1-3 ESV
“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.”
We are not children of God on a mere profession of faith in
Jesus Christ as Savior of our lives. For we read all throughout the New
Testament that we must repent of our sins (die daily with Christ to sin) and be
obeying our Lord, as a matter of practice (lifestyle) or we don’t know God, we
are not in relationship with Jesus Christ, and we don’t have eternal life with
God when we die or when Jesus returns for his bride.
In 1 John 1 we read that if we claim to have fellowship with
God but we walk (in conduct, in practice) in darkness (sin, wickedness) that we
are liars who do not practice the truth. In 1 John 2 we read that whoever says
he knows God but does not keep (obey) his commandments is a liar, and the truth
is not in him. And then we read in 1 John 3 that whoever practices (in conduct)
righteousness (from God) is righteous, but whoever makes a practice of sinning
is of the devil, and whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, for
if we abide in Christ, we do not make sin our practice.
The children of God, thus, are those who are walking in
righteousness, in the Spirit, and who are putting to death the deeds of the
flesh, and who are walking in obedience to their Lord. We are those who are
being led by the Holy Spirit, meaning that not only is the Spirit leading us in
the way we should go but that we are following his lead, and we are doing what
our Lord commands, and we are living our lives to please our Lord.
But none of this is generated in our own flesh. This is not talking
about self-righteousness or our own fleshly good works. For our faith and our
salvation are gifted to us by God, but to receive that gift of salvation is to
apply it to our lives. And we are saved from our slavery (addiction) to sin so
that we can now walk in obedience to our Lord in the power of God’s Spirit. So,
this is about living out the salvation Jesus provided in his power and
strength.
Now, if we are truly children of God, and so we are
forsaking our lives of sin and we are walking in righteousness and holiness, and
we are walking in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, then the world
should not recognize us as its own. They shouldn’t embrace us. They should see
that we are not like them, that we don’t talk like them, and that we don’t do
all the same things they do or listen to all the same stuff they listen to.
So, from what I have heard about the halftime show of the
Superbowl yesterday, and from other years, as well, these shows should not be
something the godly should take pleasure in or should engage themselves in, but
many do. For these shows are not only of the flesh, and of the lusts of the
flesh, but they are of the devil, for they give glory to the devil and not to
God. For, they are filled with vulgarities and sexual immorality and impurities
of all sorts. Genuine Christians should have no part in this.
For, those who are truly God’s children, and whose hope is
truly in the Lord, should be those who are purifying themselves as God is pure,
but not in the flesh in some kind of ritualistic and outward show of false
righteousness, but of the Spirit of God, empowered by God, and led by God’s
Spirit to what is holy and righteous. For God’s grace instructs us to say “NO!”
to ungodliness and fleshly lusts and to live self-controlled, upright, and
godly lives.
[Matt
7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26;
Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10, 15; Tit 2:11-14; Jas
1:22-25; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; Php 2:12-13; Col
1:21-23; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Heb 10:26-27; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn
2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Rev. 2-3; Rev 18:1-6; Rev 21:8, 27; Rev 22:14-15]
Songwriters:
Geoff Moore / Steven Chapman
How do you explain,
how do you describe
A love that goes
from east to west
And runs as deep as
it is wide?
You know all our
hopes,
Lord, you know all
our fears.
And words cannot express
the love we feel,
But we long for You
to hear.
So listen to our
hearts.
Hear our spirit sing
A song of praise
that flows
From those you have
redeemed.
We will use the
words we know
To tell you what an
awesome God You are.
But words are not
enough
To tell you of our
love,
So listen to our
hearts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqQLG_vAIow
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