1Jn 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world….

Christian Walk, Doctrine / Theology, NEW CHRISTIAN ORIENTATION, SANCTIFICATION, Spiritual Disciplines, Spiritual Warfare Comments Off on 1Jn 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world….

The two 9-minute excerpts below are about the following 1 John text. Pastor Jeff Mayfield preached the initial message and pastor Kevin DeYoung, the second [I divided the vloggers video for ease of uploading with DSL].

These men are great preachers, and it is likely that you will gain from hearing their messages on the text. I have used Mayfield’s teaching videos in numerous posts (see categories, John Owen; Jonathan Edwards; Calvin’s Institutes and Thomas Brooks to hear Mayfield’s excellent teaching) but never heard him preach. I got a lot from his message, and DeYoung’s.

Although the highlights below are from these excerpts, they do not give you the same experience, hearing the preacher is far better.

Text:

1Jn 2:15  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.
1Jn 2:16  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.
1Jn 2:17  And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Sermon highlights for part a [bracketed statements and emboldening are mine]:

  • God’s will for us is NOT merely what you should not do; but it is mainly what you SHOULD do
  • That is a good way to view the Christian life: not a list of things we cannot do but a blessing from God showing us a way to live
  • The great gift that God gives is fellowship with Himself; that is, you CAN have fellowship with Him and this is awesome
  • This gift was purchased by Jesus at the cross
  • Via this gift, it is possible for you to have fellowship with the Father and NOT the world
  • Loving the Father and loving the world is not possible
  • Many people say, “I am going to love both the Father and the world”
  • The following example shows that these loves are mutually exclusive
  • That is like a man saying that I am going to love both my wife and my mistress, that man will end up loving his mistress
  • [That example gives a picture of the inappropriateness of having both as a potential object of his love; one union is approved by God and one by the world…; however, that has been my struggle and it doesn’t seem that I’m alone]
  • 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.
  • Only when you come to love God, will the world begin to look unappealing
  • The only thing that will make the world look unattractive is to have something more attractive
  • That is, without God in your life, the world looks fine; but the closer you get to God, the uglier the world appears
  • In the text, the world is spoken of as a system, with attitudes and values that oppose God
  • The world rejects God’s standards and insists on its own ideas of right and wrong, like Adam and Eve
  • The problem with the lust of the flesh, eyes and pride, is that these are not from the Father
  • John wants us to long for things from the Father
  • If we do long for such things, then we will see the world as it is in relation to God

Part a; excerpt of a Jeff Mayfield sermon:

 

Sermon highlights for part b:

  • Lust of the flesh, is a lust that comes from within for such things as the following: sexual immorality, sensuality, revenge, anger…
  • Christ likeness is to love one’s neighbor as he loves himself; fleshliness is to love self much more than one’s neighbor
  • Ephesians 5:3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints  4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.
  • Puritan Matthew Henry said that a good man will be ashamed to speak of what many wicked men are not ashamed to do
  • The desires of the eye are outward temptations, such as: greed, envy, jealousy and sexual stimulation
  • Worldliness makes sin look normal and it makes righteousness look strange
  • Some think that being a Christian means that one is 55% for God and 45% for the world
  • Not so. These loves are mutually exclusive [like Jesus’ words above from Matthew 6]
  • In this epistle, John is trying to show us how we can be sure we are Christians
  • He provides 3 signs to help us ascertain: Theological sign – loving the Son of God; Moral sign – striving to follow the commands of God; and Social sign – loving the people of God
  • We are saved by faith alone; the above things show our direction
  • Do YOU see these things in your life?
  • Obeying the commands of God means to strive to follow them in hour human frailty
  • [The gospel enables one to err / sin, confess and be forgiven and get up and strive to follow God’s commands again]
  • If you say you love God and are unholy [not concerned with being holy, not striving…] then you don’t know Him
  • If His love is being formed in you, then it must also be flowing out of you
  • The Lordship Controversy briefly explained
  • If the love of the world is in us, then the love of the Father is not
  • Another reason one ought not love the world is that its things are passing away, verse 17
  • We have heard of examples of Christians losing their reputations for a half hour in a motel room…; when compared to eternity, this life is like a half-hour in that room
  • Like in Luke 16:19ff, when the rich man asked Abraham to warn his brothers about hell – he then knew that his life of worldly luxuries was not worth the price
  • The love of the Father is pure, self-serving; it gives, it expands one; whereas, the love of the world is self-serving, impure; it takes, constricts…
  • The more you get of the world, the less human you become
  • The more of the Father you get, the more your soul is expanded
  • The answer is to get more of the right kind of love, that of the Father

Part b; excerpt of a Kevin DeYoung sermon:

 

This video came from the YouTube site: Reformed Channel

The following link is to the video, for those using computers who may desire to explore this site:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH5MhDFAQ20&list=LL&index=1

For cell phone users, the following link will bring up 6 of the videos of this site:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH5MhDFAQ20&list=LL&index=1

The following narrative accompanied the video:

A remastered sermon from Jeff Mayfield and Kevin DeYoung about Christians loving the world. 1 John 2 : 15 – 17 | 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.

1 John 2 : 28 – 29 | And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.

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