Love For The Father, Or For The World?

1 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."

 

 

This passage is clear in the way it separates love for the world, and love for God. As I was thinking about it, I felt like I should try to define what exactly is meant by the phrase "the world". The Bible sometimes uses these words to describe the temporal things that have no lasting, eternal value. Things that are not a part of what makes up the kingdom of God would be called the things of "the world". Fame, beauty, success, material wealth and comfort would fall into the category of "the things of this world". One of my sons, when we were reading these verses a while back, asked something like, "So we can't love the mountains, and the trees, and everything on this earth?" My husband and I enjoyed explaining that appreciating the beauty of nature, of creation, and even of mankind and the amazing things that man is capable of doing, can actually be an expression of worship, as we bring glory to God for the things that He has done, and gifted us with. It is when we place any of those things in a higher place than we place God, and our willingness to obey and serve Him diminishes because we are holding on to earthly things, that we are in danger of loving the things of this world to a point where our love for the Father is not of first importance anymore.

Verse 15 shows us that a love for the world and a love for our Father - God - cannot co-exist with each other inside of our heart. There is only room for one of these loves inside of a person's heart. Verse 16 goes on to say that everything that is in the world comes not from the Father, but from the world. In John 14:30, when talking to HIs followers, Jesus called Satan the "prince of this world", so there is that contrast between the things of this world that Satan is still, for now, fighting to control, and between Christ, who one day will take full control and authority of all creation.  Verse 16 categorizes this love for the world (which is against the Father) into 3 different things, and so clarifies for us precisely what it means to "love the world".

 

I wanted to study what each of these three things meant, exactly. I started with what my version calls "the cravings of sinful man". Other versions word this phrase as "the lust of the flesh", or "the desires of the flesh", as well as "a craving for physical pleasure", to name a few.

I looked up the definitions of some of these words (above):

          To Crave is to have an intense, urgent, or abnormal desire or longing for,

          a powerful desire for... something

          To Desire is to wish or long for, to strongly want... something

 

          To Lust after something is to have an overwhelming desire or craving, an intense or 

          unrestrained craving or want; to be desperate for... something

To me, these words all follow a similar thread. This verse states that this intense desire or desperate want is to fulfill the sinful nature, also called the fleshly nature. In one of my previous blogs I did a bit of study on what the Bible has to say about the state of a person's heart before he is redeemed through Jesus Christ (you can read my thoughts on this in the blog titled Forgiven and Purified). God sees and knows what we often try so hard to cover up, either in front of others, or even as we try to justify our behaviors and attitudes to ourselves - that our hearts are bent towards evil (Genesis 6:5 states that every inclination of the thoughts of mankind's heart is "only evil all the time", and Jeremiah 17:9 says that mankind's heart is "deceitful above all things, and beyond cure").  The Bible has much to say about what it is that our sinful, or fleshly nature is drawn towards. Galatians 5:19-21 list the acts that will follow the fulfillment of "the cravings of sinful man":

 

"The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual

immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft;

hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions,

factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before,

 that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God."

 

There are more than one of those that hit close to home for me, things that I either struggle with, or things that I know would be a problem if I followed the easiest path, and allowed sin to reign in my life. In Ephesians 2:1-4, Paul is writing to people who are now believers, and he reminds them of where they used to be, before they were redeemed. He says:

 

"As for you, you were dead in transgressions and sins,

in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world

and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work

in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time,

gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts."

 

To continue in this pattern of sin would eventually bring us to a state where it would be very difficult for us to recognize our sin and to repent of it. That's where the people were at that Paul talked about a few chapters later. Their hearts were already hardened to God's call and they were willfully living against Him, separated from Him and from the life that God would call us to. These people were living for the here-and-now, thinking no further than what would satisfy them today. Ephesians 4:19 shows us this downward spiral that our 'natural man' is prone to taking. It says:

"Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality

so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more."

This verse leads us right into the second of the three things from 1 John 2:16, which is... "the lust of his eyes".

 

Our eyes show us the world around us. Many things that we see appeal to us and are attractive to us. When we are already in the rut of following the cravings of our sinful nature, many things that we see will be a temptation towards sin. We may start wanting, to a point of obsession, things that we think will satisfy. This is the goal of the evil one, to keep us in bondage to our sin, and he will continually try to tempt us with things that we might wrongfully believe will satisfy or fulfill us. The devil knows that the farther down this wrong path he can get us, the greater is his victory in the battle for our heart...

 

David was tempted by a woman's beauty, and he lusted after her. Having lust (which was defined before as an often unrestrained want, or desperate craving, to have something) so often causes a person to stop thinking rationally. When sound judgement and good discernment are thrown out, a person is weakened, and falling into sin is very easy, and probable at this point. We see this happening to David at this point; he committed some of his greatest sins (the ones with the most tragic consequences for him, his family, and many others that were either directly or indirectly involved) as he allowed the lust of his eyes to become his single desire. As this man took his eyes off of God, and as he gave in to the weakness of his human flesh, he fed this strong, irrational desire that brought temporal, earthly satisfaction for a moment (and a whole lot of stress afterward!!). During this low time in David's life, he was living the pattern of the verses from Ephesians that I included above: he "followed the ways of this world" and of the "ruler of the kingdom of the air", "gratifying the cravings of [his] sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts".  

 

I know that often lust is associated with this kind of desire a man feels for a woman that he finds physically attractive (or vice versa), but when I think of the lust of the eyes, I also think of wanting certain material possessions. We might desperately want that certain house that we see down the street (or in my case, out in the country), or in the pictures of a magazine. We may toss out sound judgement, making unwise financial decisions over and over again to get whatever it is we so desperately want. We may envy or covet the things that others have, from the possessions they own, to the way they look, or the travel that they can afford to do, and make it our desire to have what they have. All of these things are taken in by what our eyes see around us, and we have the choice to either let it go, or feed the initial desire constantly until it becomes an obsession. This "lust of the eyes" starts when we are young, while we are still children, and it is something that focuses us on the things that this world has to offer, taking our mind off of Christ. Proverbs 27:20 says:

"Death and Destruction are never satisfied, and neither are

the eyes of man."

Sadly, I see this tendency to "want" in my own life, in the lives of my young children, and in the lives of so very many people around me. We live in a rich society that constantly tells us what we are lacking, what we must have, what we need. It starts with something we see, and travels freely into our minds and hearts, unless we "take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (see 2 Corinthians 10:3-5). It will take a conscious effort (and the strength that we find in Christ) to break free from lusting after the things of this world.

 

The final of the three things in verse 16 talks about "the boasting of what he has and does". Many other versions use the words "the pride of life" here, or, "the boastful pride of life". Another version simply says "pride in possessions".

We might all know someone who always makes it sound like whatever he or she has or does is superior to anything that anyone else has, or does. I am ashamed to say that I have been that person, talking in that way about something that I have, or have done. This is what the world promotes, and it is contrary to what the Word of God teaches. This though, is what we are naturally like, of our own self! Augustine, a great theologian and

philosopher, defined pride as "the love of one's own excellence".

 

Jesus told a neat parable about two very different men. One man, a Pharisee, was similar to what I was describing above, and he walked about, making sure that others saw and heard about his good deeds and outward righteousness. He prayed where all could see him, in a loud voice, and compared himself to other people that he considered to be less than what he was so that his good works would shine in comparison. The other man, a much despised tax collector, faded into the crowd, his head down, because he saw that he had nothing of himself that would make him worthy before God. He prayed a prayer of humility, saying, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner." This man, in Jesus' words, went home justified before God. Jesus reminded us, at the end of this story, found in Luke 18:9-14:

 

For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, 

and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

 

Still thinking about this boastful pride in oneself, I want to share Psalm 10:3 and 4, which say:

 

"[The wicked man] boasts of the cravings of his heart;

he blesses the greedy and reviles the Lord.

In his pride the wicked does not seek Him;

in all his thoughts there is no room for God."

 

The "love of one's own excellence" pushes the Lord right out of our lives, which is why it is such a dangerous place for a professing Christian to be caught in. A person can become so prideful that he thinks he doesn't need God, like in the verse above. We become "self made" in our minds, and what we have becomes very important because it defines us. We find our identity in what kind of a "kingdom" we have built for ourselves, either in what we HAVE, or in what we can DO! There is not room in our hearts for "self worship" and "God worship".

Jesus said, in Matthew 6:24:

 

"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other,

or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve both God and Money."

 

Although the word "money" is used here, a commentary that I often refer to defines the word, which in many versions of the Bible is also translated as "mammon", as "earthly, material treasures, especially money." What I want to take from it today, as I study, is that I cannot be devoted to God while holding tightly to what 1 John here calls "everything in the world". 1 Timothy 6:10 warns us:

 

"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.

Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith

and pierced themselves with many griefs." 

 

Matthew, Mark and Luke recorded the story of a young man who came to Jesus, wanting to learn from Him what he must do in order to gain eternal life. As Jesus spoke with him, it becomes clear to the reader that this man was very religious, and that he was confident that he had kept the Law satisfactorily. Mark 10:21 tells us that "Jesus looked at him and loved him". Because Jesus knew this man's heart, and because He desired the greatest good for him, He said, "One thing you lack...Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven. Then come, follow Me." At this, the man's face fell, and he left Jesus, sad, because he had great wealth.

Scripture never tells us if this man eventually gave up his earthly riches, his comfortable life, to follow Jesus. Not wanting to be to hard on him, I ask myself, "If I was told to sell my possessions and to follow, would I obey?" This man was coming to Jesus, the One who once said, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head." (Matthew 8:20). He was asking him to give up everything that he could see in which he found his security, in order to build up treasure in Heaven. Jesus was telling this rich young ruler that what seemed so important to him, and tangible now was actually a hindrance that kept him from the eternal life he was seeking. 

 

In the last verse of today's passage, verse 17 reminds us that "the world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever". Do I believe that enough to start living like it? If Jesus came to my house and spoke to me right now (which He does over and over again through His Word), would He find a lot of "the world" in my heart, making it an uncomfortable place for Him to inhabit? Or would He find that my heart was ready to do His will? These verses from 1 John 2:15-17 have been running through my head a lot in the last month, as I have been memorizing them. The Lord has challenged me to not just read them, to not just memorize them, but to let them teach me and transform me. I know that I am helpless to do this on my own, so I ask Him to do this work in my life, and I am confident that, as long as I allow Him room to work, He will continue the miraculous work that He began in me, and in all of those who are saved by His grace! The following verses contain very helpful instruction for any believer who truly desires to do the will of the Father:

 

Romans 12:1 and 2:

 

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy,

to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God -

this is your spiritual act of worship.

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world,

but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is -

His good, pleasing and perfect will."

 

Colossians 3:1-4:

 

"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above,

where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ, who is your life, appears,

then you also will appear with Him in glory."

 

 

 

***This blog has taken shape over a number of weeks. I felt like every verse I read seemed to fit with this theme, and it was very hard for me to choose which ones I wanted to include. I can't help but list a few more verses below. I so appreciate the contrast between the kind of life we receive when we follow the ways of this world, which is temporal, and the kind of life we receive when we do the will of God, which will last forever!!!      

Romans 8:5-11:

 

"Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what
that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit
have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death,
but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind
is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.

Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit,
if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you."  

Philippians 3:18b-21:

 

"...many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction,

their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame.
Their mind is on earthly things.

But our citizenship is in Heaven.

And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,

who, by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control

will transform our lowly bodies

 so that they will be like His glorious body."

 

Jeremiah 9:23,24, followed by Jeremiah 17:5 and 7:

 

This is what the Lord says:

"Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom

or the strong man boast of his strength

 or the rich man boast of his riches,

but let him who boasts boast about this:

that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord,

who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight."

declares the Lord."

 

"This is what the Lord says:

Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength

and whose heart turns away from the Lord...

But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him."

 

 

 

In closing, I use the familiar words, from Joshua 24:15, which says:

 

"Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve..."

 

We all must choose - will we live with love for the Father, or for the world?