“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.”

Love Eternal

If you were looking for a crash course in Christian conduct, a reference point to guide you as to where the dividing line exists between Light and dark, Truth and lies, God and man, it would be hard to ask for something better than 1 John. 2 Timothy 3:16–17 tells us,

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

There are no throwaway passages in the Bible, none that merit being glossed over or discarded. John’s gospel does an excellent job in recounting these same themes I’ve listed above, in illustrating the life, ministry, and deity of Jesus, and how He bridged the divide that existed in our sin between us and holy God. But 1 John brings a different angle, and a different pace. In his letter, John is not recounting the life of Christ, but is driving home the teachings and principles of Jesus on a more consistently personal level, as an elder and Apostle of the Son of the Living God. Again in this week’s passage, we see in just three verses, John cut to the heart of the matter, toward highlighting the divide between worldliness and Godliness. This teaching is in many ways, very simple, and is an elemental piece in the foundation of our salvation and relationship with God – and yet often times, because of their simplicity, and because of the fondness we harbor for what is evil, we let them operate at a very surface level, and don’t bother to appreciate or revere the fullness they bring to bear. What we’re called to in this passage is the difference between smoke and substance, between rock and sand – it is the contrast between love, which is broken and dying, and love that endures for Eternity.

1.      Love that is Broken

“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.”

Some of the most devastating lies contain what people think of as “half-truths.” To be clear, there’s no such thing as “half-truth,” Truth is perfect and complete, and if it’s lacking, then it’s not Truth. Imagine that before you is a deep, rocky chasm, and I lie and say, “Take the bridge, it will get you safely across.” But the problem is, there is no bridge, and it’s obvious that there’s no bridge, and so you don’t attempt to cross because, clearly there’s nothing to cross on. My lie was ultimately ineffective. Now imagine the same rocky chasm, but with a rope bridge swinging over the expanse. I say, “Take the bridge, it will get you safely across.” Now there is a bridge, and so you take it. But what I neglected to mention is that the ropes are frayed, the planks are rotten, and there’s no chance this bridge will bear your weight. You fall and die. My lie was far more effective. This is the angle that Satan takes when we see him speak in Genesis 3:4–5. He begins by saying that if Eve eats the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil,

“… You will not surely die.”

Which is an outright lie, but then he follows this with,

“For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

This was true, but in a very clipped and distorted way. Sin did open the eyes of Adam and Eve, they became self-aware in their rebellion, and they knew a sense of shame in their nakedness. Satan tells them, “You will be like God,” but this neglects two things. Firstly, that they would be like God, not that they would be God. I can pick up a football and be like Peyton Manning, I can hold a guitar and be like Stevie Ray Vaughan. The first stage of Satan’s deception, beyond the outright lie, was that humanity rebelling against God would somehow be beneficial, as opposed to a curse. The other piece of this deception is that it neglects to acknowledge the fact that we were already like God. Genesis 1:27 says plainly,

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

We didn’t need to rebel to become like God, God made us like Him in that He gave us His image. This distinction lets us see what it means to be like God on His perfect terms, or to be “like” God by the standards of the world. In many respects they’re both claiming to be the same thing, but only one is genuine. It is infinitely easier to hate that which is obviously evil than it is to hate that which is evil masquerading as righteousness. But while the contrast between Light and dark is stark, the darkness doesn’t introduce itself as the thing that wants to suffocate and kill you – it tempts you and lures you, appealing to your flesh, calling you to love it.

1 John 4:8 tells us,

“Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

But if God is love, how are we able to have love for the world? It’s important to acknowledge two things. One is that “love” can function in different tenses. You might “love” fried chicken, muscle cars, and your family, but these are three distinctly different things. Even within your family, the love you have for your parents, your spouse, and your children doesn’t look the same. And so “love” that is given to the world is not the same as love for the things of God. The second thing to consider carries a bit more weight. John 1:12–13 says,

“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

Not everyone accepts Christ – not everyone is a child of God. But we are all made in His image. We are all blessed and called to Him through the miracle of life, it’s just that tragically, not all answer. It’s not that those who are separated from God have no capacity to love, but that they can’t love properly, or know its fullness apart from Him. Matthew 7:7–11 says,

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”

Can someone who doesn’t have a relationship with God love their child? It would seem to be that they can, though again, they won’t know the fullness of Love in Christ – it will always be lacking. But since we can see a capacity to love grafted into those who are made in the image of God, what does this mean when we take this blessing and give it to something else? God is holy, righteous, and perfect – He’s worthy of all praise, and love, and adoration. Just as it is right that we take the time, talents, and resources He’s blessed us with and give them back to Him, so this is true for our capacity to love. Psalm 135:15–18 says,

“The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; they have eyes, but do not see; they have ears, but do not hear, nor is there any breath in their mouths. Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.”

Worship that is given to idols is empty, broken, and wasted. It’s still worship, but it is the worship of nothing – it is water poured out on dry, sandy ground, it is hoped placed in a delusion. It is a blasphemous waste. This is what love of the world is – it is the misuse of that which is holy, its devotion to what is wicked and temporary and dismissal of that which is righteous and eternal. Jesus teaches in Matthew 6:19–21

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

If our love and devotion, if our time and attention, and our sense of assurance is directed at the world, then not only are we running in the entirely wrong direction, but we attest to the fact that the Love of God isn’t in us. This is love that is lacking, it’s perverse, it’s poisoned by darkness – it is misplaced, and rebellious, and ultimately, despite the best of intentions, it’s love that is broken, because it is love without Love.

2.      Love that is Blind

“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.”

Here, John offers a concise breakdown of what he means by “all that is in the world.” This idea of “desires of the flesh” shouldn’t be difficult to wrap our minds around. We’re called to surrender to the will of our Father in prayer, but our flesh wants control. We’re called to marriage, and sexual purity within this covenant, but our flesh burns with lust. We are told to set our eyes on the things of God, to trust in His provision and let tomorrow tend to itself, but in the flesh, we fret, hungering for material comfort. Galatians 5:16–26, which I’ve cited many times before, is always an excellent passage for understanding our capacity for wickedness in our flesh, and contrasting this against the work of the Spirit within us.

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”

Again, this should be fairly easy to comprehend – we’re looking at extreme contrast, light against dark, good against evil, peace against war. But then John goes on to say, “… and the desires of the eyes and pride of life.” It would be easy to focus on the first part about desires of the flesh and skip ahead to the last section, but this merits unpacking. Looking first at “the desires of the eyes,” there are several things to consider. My first thought is back to Genesis. God commands Adam in Genesis 2:16–17, saying,

“… You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

We know that Adam, despite his other shortcomings, was faithful in relaying this to his wife, because Eve tells Satan in Genesis 3:2–3,

“We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”

While we don’t actually see God communicate the “neither shall you touch it,” portion of this, it fits with the overall sentiment – eating of the fruit of this tree will bring death, they have no cause to interact with it. Satan responds to Eve with the lie we discussed earlier, contradicting God and then encouraging her with the promise that they will be like God. But there’s a step between the lie, and the eating of the fruit. Genesis 3:6 says,

“So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.”

Before Eve ate, she looked, she considered, she entertained the idea of sin, and when she saw that there was some imagined benefit in it, she actually sinned. James 1:14–15 tells us,

“But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”

Humans are, biologically, quite visual. There’s a reason that so many foods and beverages come in bright, vibrant packaging. This is based around a practical function in our design – ripe fruit is typically bright fruit. No one wants pale green strawberries, or dull, dust-colored apples (at least no one with any sense) – but ripe, rich colors are automatically appealing. As it relates to agriculture, this is a harmless, often helpful part of how God has made us. In the hands of a fallen world and our corrupted flesh, however, our visual nature becomes a problem. While not impossible, it becomes far more difficult to lust after someone when you don’t stop and look and drink them in with your eyes. It is challenging to grow envious and greedy for what belongs to your neighbor, when you’re not hungrily feasting your eyes on that which belongs to someone else. Dr. Jordan Peterson offered a little nugget of wisdom that I’m quite fond of. “What you aim at determines what you see.” If you honor the greatest commandment and love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, then you have set your eye on the very highest point, and God draws you to Him. On the other hand, if you set your aim on the things of the world that are trying to attract your eye and tempt you toward death, then it is as Jesus said in Matthew 6:22–23,

“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. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”

The desires of the eyes in the flesh is the darkness of the world. This takes us back to what Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3:20–21,

“For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

This again is the stark contrast, outlined so extensively in John’s gospel and driven home in the letter of 1 John – eyes filled with God are full of light and life, while eyes filled with the world are full of darkness and death. The final descriptor John gives, “The pride of life,” is again a bit more straightforward. The book of Proverbs says a good deal on the subject of pride, saying in Proverbs 11:2,

“When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.”

In Proverbs 16:18–19,

“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud.”

In Proverbs 18:12,

“Before destruction a man’s heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor.”

And in Proverbs 29:23,

“One’s pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.”

This all feeds into the teachings of Jesus, humility being a core theme of the beatitudes given during the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:2–12,

“And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

A follower of Christ is not consumed with pride, but holds the humble position of the servant. This is explicitly stated by Jesus after He washes the disciples feet in John 13:12–17,

“… Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.”

Our flesh calls us to pride, toward self-reliance, and the authority that we imagine we command within ourselves. But these things do not come from God, but from the world. They come from love of self, love of sin, love of that which is fleeting and broken. It’s the love of those who are blind.

3.      Love that is Eternal

“And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”

2 Peter 3:10–12 says,

“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!”

My wife invited some friends and their toddler over for dinner once. They politely declined – their little one was really starting to get her feet beneath her, and they didn’t want her using her newfound gift of walking to break any of our things. I told them that they didn’t need to worry. “There’s nothing she can break that, according to 2 Peter isn’t going to burn one day anyway.” Ultimately the argument wasn’t compelling enough, and they passed on dinner. But my tongue in cheek Biblical reference stuck with me, because it was very, very true. Everything around you is temporary – the grass of the field, the birds of the air, your job, your car, your house, the mountains, the sea, the earth, the sun – reality, as we know it, is temporary. Everyone knows this, though they process it in different ways. Scientists make guesses, they project the hundreds of thousands, to millions, to billions of years that the universe has existed, to how long it will exist. It’s really just dogs barking in the dark – we who marvel to see a man reach 100 years old, make estimates with numbers we can’t wrap our minds around. James 4:13–17 tells us,

“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”

We’re vapor, and in our arrogance, we look at that which is fleeting and revere it as if it were eternal. I can’t tell you exactly how many years the universe has existed, or how many more it will endure, but I do know that when the end finally comes, it does so quickly. I remember reading Revelation and getting to the start of chapter 21 where John describes the new heaven and new earth, saying that that the first heaven and earth had passed away. I stopped, because I’d completely missed the end of the universe. It happened in Revelation 20:11, and I had blown right past it.

“Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.”

God steps forward in glorious judgement, and the universe that has been stained by sin cannot endure, and it’s gone. We, those made in the image of God, don’t burn up with the universe, but will find ourselves eternally on one side of a divide. Jesus says in Matthew 6:24,

“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. You cannot serve God and money.”

While almost every translation says either “money,” “riches,” or “wealth,” understand that this is a stand in for the world. We cannot delight in the sins of the world, and love God. We will hold Light, or darkness close to our hearts and despise the other. John writes that the world, along with its desires are passing away. The fleeting pleasures that gratify the flesh – lust, and pride, and anger poured out on our fellow man, all the things that lead to death will, unsurprisingly, die. Jesus states in John 8:34–36,

“… Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

These are our eternal options – Light or dark, Truth or lies, freedom or slavery – and it’s determined by what we love. When God steps forth in judgement that evaporates the universe, we either stand in His presence, not cowering in fear, but made righteous by the blood of Christ, worshiping Him as He is worthy of, or we find ourselves exiled under the judgement that has destroyed the sinful world. Love of the world leads to pain, and death, and separation. It is the path of destruction walked proudly by the broken and blind who cannot fathom the despair they court. Love of God leads to Love that is true, refined, perfected in Him, and living in us. It is a higher calling and purpose for this life that the trivial cravings of the world, and it is a promise and a joy that endures to eternity. It is Love and Light and peace forever.

Pastor Landon’s sermon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG6uvrUkavc