1 John 2:15-17 | “Love What Will Last”

Sunday morning sermon audio from Preston Highlands Baptist Church.

Investing in the Future

Some things in this world last longer than others.  When we’re thinking about investing in something, we invest in things that we think have a future, things that’ll stand the test of time, things like real estate or precious metals, or companies that produce necessities like toilet paper.  Some things aren’t worth investing in because they have no future, things like DVD’s, CD’s, crypto, or the Dallas Cowboys.  There’s no future in these things because they’re passing away.

But there are some things that will outlast the longest lasting things in the world.  God will outlast the world, so living for him rather than the world is the best possible investment you could make.  The future for the world is judgment and death, but the future for those who’re with God is joy and life.

Love God, Not the World

Last week we saw in First John 2 all the blessings that Christians have as children of God.  These blessings include: the forgiveness of sins, knowing the Father and the Son, being strong and overcoming the evil one.  John’s digression in these verses is to increase their confidence as true Christians, and to prepare them for the exhortation he gives them in verses 15-17.

John reminds these churches who they are, then he reminds them how to live.  His point is that those who know God, love God, not the world.  He’s drawing a contrast between the true believers and the false teachers.  True believers love God, not the world, because they know that God will outlast the world.

The main point of this text is that those who love God don’t love the world.  He lays out the command to not love the world in verse 15, then gives two reasons for the command.  He commands us to not love the world (v. 15a), because Christians can’t have two loves (vv. 15b-16), and because the next world is more important than this world (v. 17).

“Do Not Love the World”

In verse 15, John lays out a command for the churches, and for us, “Do not love the world or the things in the world.”  John uses the word love 51 times in First John.  This is the only place he tells us what not to love.

What does John mean by the word “world”, the Greek word kosmos?  He uses the word 23 times in the letter and his meaning varies according to the context.  It could mean the natural world (3:17), or the place where people live (4:1), or the people who oppose God and followers (3:1, 13), or to values and attitudes that are opposed to God (5:4-5).

In this verse, John is using the word in this last sense.  “World” here means “worldly attitudes or values that are opposed to God.”  It’s referring to the worldly system of rebellion that has set itself up against God.  It’s the thought patterns and inclinations and ideas and idols that the world accepts and promotes as true and good but are contrary to what God says is true and good.

Examples of these values and attitudes aren’t hard to find in our particular culture.  The “world” shows itself in our culture in ideas like the one that says children should get to pick what gender they want to be and parents and doctors should encourage their decision despite their biology, the idea that marriage can be between two people of the same gender, the idea that marriage is more like a contract than a covenant, the idea that women exist to serve men, the idea that money and success  rather than character are what really matters, the idea that some skin colors are inherently superior to others, the idea that personal happiness is the great purpose of life, the idea that authority is inherently bad and should be thrown off, the idea that you can do whatever you want as long as you’re not hurting anyone.

The larger idea over these ideas is called individualism, or more recently by Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor, “expressive individualism.”  One writer says that this phrase “captures the largest ideological shift in America during the twentieth century.  It represents the cumulative effect of secularism’s insatiable appetite to understand the self.”[1]  This idea says that the individual should place their desires above everything else.  It’s found in slogans like, “be true to yourself,” “follow your heart,” “don’t let anyone stand in your way,” and “my body my choice.”

The attitudes and values of expressive individualism are more like the air we breathe than the rules we’re taught.  For example, in his review of Disney’s new rendition of The Little Mermaid, Brett McCracken points out how the film subtly provides the foundation for ideas like transgenderism, without explicitly teaching it.  He writes, “The Little Mermaid’s themes have a natural appeal to the LGBT+ community.  The movie versions emphasize an isolated young person who is uncomfortable in her given skin, drawn to forbidden love, and more at ease among a ragtag group of outsiders than among her own family.  Ariel isn’t satisfied with the boundaries and expectations placed upon her.  She seeks transgression and expression on her own terms.  She wants to love whomever she pleases and be whatever she pleases, even if it means manipulating her body and disappointing her father.  Her desires are more determinative of her identity than her physical embodiment is, so she’s willing to do whatever it takes – however costly – to resolve her inner tension.”[2]

The great storytellers of our day are perpetuating ideas that seem innocuous, even inspiring, but are actually laying the ideological groundwork for all sorts of things contrary to God’s good design.  But, as McCracken concludes, Christians know that “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick (Jer. 17:9).  And we also know that limits are for our good, we are not our own, and self-denial (Mt. 16:24) – rather than self-indulgence – is the path to life.”

Behaviors Follow Loves

Notice that John doesn’t say, “Don’t believe the world,” or “don’t think like the world,” or “don’t do what the world does.”  He says, “Don’t love the world.”  We all struggle with thinking and believing and doing things that look more like individualism than discipleship, but whether we love them is what’s important.  Why?  Because our behaviors, thoughts, and beliefs are downstream from our loves.  What we do and think and believe is based on what we love.  As John Stott says, “Love is not an uncontrollable emotion but the steady devotion of the will.”[3]  What our will is devoted to reveals what we love.

Bart Barber, in his sermon at the annual meeting of the SBC last week, pointed out how algorithms reveal our hearts.  He said that our social media accounts and streaming services show us what we love.  He pointed out that what we “like” is what we love.

I’m not saying you should avoid all media.  The question John has for us is about what we love.  Do we love what the world loves, or what God loves?

Christians Can’t Have Two Loves

John’s command not to love the world is then grounded on two arguments.  First, loving the world and loving the Father are incompatible (vv. 15b-16), and second, eternal things are more important than temporal things (v. 17).

The first reason why we shouldn’t love the world is because Christians can’t have two loves (vv. 15b-16).  The end of verse 15 is a conditional sentence that tells us what the consequences of loving the world are.  If we love the world, we don’t have the love of God in us.

“Love of the Father” is better translated, “love for the Father,” because John’s point is to draw a contrast between our love for the world and our love for God.  His point is that “love for the world” and “love for the Father” are mutually exclusive.

He’s saying that if we’re engrossed in the outlooks and perspectives of a world that rejected Jesus, then it’s evident that we don’t love the Father.  This is why James says, “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?  Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (4:4).  And Jesus says, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other” (Mt. 6:24).  Following Jesus is about picking sides.  We have to decide whose values we’ll value: Jesus’ or the worlds.

What are the “Things in the World”?

In verse 16, John expands on what he means by “the things in the world” (v. 15).  He says that “the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life” are not from God but from the world.  What do these three things mean?

The “desires of our flesh” are the desires of our fallen and sinful nature.  These are desires “in the world” so they’re driven by the world’s way of thinking.

John doesn’t mean that all desires are bad.  Paul says that those who “aspire to the office of overseer desire a noble task” (1 Tim. 3:1).  Desires to serve, or desires for friendship, companionship, physical touch, food, drink, sleep, sex, to be seen and heard and understood are all good desires.  These are not the kind of desires John is talking about.  He’s talking about our internal cravings for sinful things, for things we want but haven’t been authorized by God to have.  These “desires” are temptations that assault us from within, “desires of the flesh.”

The “desires of our eyes” refer to the temptations that assault us from without through our eyes.  Our eyes are these inch long openings on our face that cause so much trouble.  The temptation of our eyes is to be captivated by the outward show of things.  He’s saying that our eyes are drawn to, or desire, things that aren’t good for us, that are from the world, not from God.

These desires are activated by what we see, can lead to covetousness, and can hinder contentment in God.  How many times do we jump on social media only to quickly find ourselves discouraged because someone else has something we don’t?  What we put in front of our eyes does something to our hearts.

Jesus said, “The eye is the lamp of the body.  So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness” (Mt. 6:22-23).  When Eve saw the forbidden fruit as “pleasing to the eye” and David saw Bathsheba bathing, sinful desires were activated that culminated in destruction.

The “pride of life” is probably better translated “pride in possessions.”  This refers to our boasting in what we have and what we do.  You may say, “I don’t really do that.”  But don’t we all look to things other than God for validation?  We look to our titles, positions, possessions, appearance, or skills to establish our value.  We believe the lie that our value is based on our performance.  So we work our hands to the bone to find our validation in anything but God.  This leads to exhaustion and suffocates our ability to truly love.

But as I said last week, God never ties value to performance.  God says that our value is in him, not in our performance or our stuff or our title.  Fred Rogers had a picture in his office with a quote that said, “What is essential is invisible to the eyes.”  The most important things about you are things you can’t see.

How do we know if we’re loving the world or loving God?  We need the word, the Spirit, and the church to help us see where our desires are more worldly than godly, to correct our vision, to help our eyes see more clearly what is true, good, and beautiful.

The Next World is More Important than this World

The second reason why John says we shouldn’t love the world is because eternal things are more important than temporal things (v. 17).  Loving the world is not a good investment because the world is “passing away.”

In verse 8, John told us that the new world is already making its entrance in Jesus and in his people.  Because of all that God set in motion in the coming of Jesus, the world’s days are numbered.  Everything antithetical to God and his ways is doomed.  Therefore, there’s no future in worldliness.  Loving what the world loves is a bad investment because the world has no future.

But, those who “do the will of God” will live forever.  This may sound like, “Just do good stuff and you’ll live forever.”  But John summarizes what God wants us to do in 3:23, “And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another.”

This is the opposite of loving the world.  Loving the world means letting the desires of the flesh and eyes dominate us.  It means finding our validation in what we have and what we do, rather than in who we are in Christ.  Loving God means trusting in his Son and loving his people.  It means finding our validation in what God says about us, not our performance or what others say.

The world lies to us and says that it’ll be here forever.  But it won’t.  We’re passing through a world that’s passing away.  John says we shouldn’t love the world because the next world is far more important than this one.  John is telling us to love what will last.

John says that we shouldn’t love the system of rebellion that this world is, but he doesn’t say that we shouldn’t love the rebels who live in it, because we’re rebels too.  In mercy, Jesus rescued us out of darkness and death and is brining us into his kingdom.  So we don’t see the world with self-righteous eyes, but with grace, knowing that God’s grace is available to any rebel who admits that the Father’s love is the only thing they need and infinitely better than the loves of this world.

The Lord’s Supper

One of the things we teach here is that the Lord’s Supper is for people who’ve trusted in Christ, been baptized, and are members of a local church.  This is the position that Baptists have historically taken.  It’s based on the belief that Jesus intended the Supper to only be taken by those who were following him.  And because a follower of his is someone who’s been baptized and is part of a church, we believe that the Supper is only for those who’ve been baptized and are members in good standing at a gospel preaching church.

Jesus observed the Supper with his disciples, not with the crowds, to teach us that the Supper is like a bright line through humanity that separates the church from the world.  One way we know that we love the Father and not the world is that a local church affirms that our life matches our profession of faith, or through what we call church membership.  Local churches don’t make anyone a Christian and can’t make anyone love God more than the world.  But they do recognize and affirm those who do.

Thus the Supper reminds us that our love for the Father is greater than our love for the world, that we care about eternal things more than temporal things.  Of course none of us do this perfectly.  We battle ungodly desires constantly and we struggle to love God more than this world.  But in the Supper, we’re reminded that we’re not accepted because of our performance, but because of Jesus’ performance, that his death covers all our sins, even our sins at the level of desires and loves.  The Supper reminds us that Jesus’ blood makes us completely clean before God.

So as we prepare to take the Supper, let’s pause and take a moment to confess our sins to God, receive his forgiveness, and rest in his love.

Pray for God’s blessing over the Supper (ushers and musicians come forward).

If you’re not yet a baptized follower of Jesus who’s part of a local church, we’re glad you’re here, but we’d encourage you to refrain from taking the Supper.  If you’re a visitor and you’ve been baptized as a believer and you’re a member in good standing at another gospel-preaching church, you’re welcome to observe the Supper with us.

Pass out the elements.
The body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for you, preserves your body and soul for everlasting life. Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for you, and feed on him in your heart by faith, and be thankful.  (take the bread)
The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was shed for you, preserves your body and soul for everlasting life. Drink this in remembrance that Christ’s blood was shed for you, and drink on him in your heart by faith, and be thankful. (take the juice)
Let’s stand and sing “The Power of the Cross”

[1]Church Discipline and Expressive Individualism : 9Marks

[2]Is Disney’s ‘The Little Mermaid’ a Trans Fable? (thegospelcoalition.org)

[3]John R. W. Stott, The Letters of John, The Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 104.