04 What John Means by 'Do Not Love the World' (1 John 2:12-17)

Speaker 1: Welcome to Wednesday in the Word, a serious Bible study applied to real life. Today is October 2nd, 2013. Our passage is 1 John 2, verses 12 through 17. And our teacher is Krisan Marotta. This is the fourth message in our series on the book of 1 John. Krisan Marotta: Well, it's good to see all of you. Nurse? Yeah, you have to tell me if this is true. I've heard that there's a certain point in like med school and nursing school where you suddenly think you have all whatever disease you're studying. You know, that you as you're memorizing symptoms of these diseases, you self-diagnose and and think that you have all manner of wild you know, you have all the symptoms. And I think in a little in some ways, that's what we're hitting today in our passage of 1 John, because he's been going through the marks of genuine believers and the definition of saving faith and what true, what the true gospel looks like and as opposed to the false gospel. And as you learn that, you start going, hmm, maybe I'm in trouble. Maybe I I it's like that uh reaction is similar to medical students where you think, oh no, maybe I'm in, maybe I don't, I'm fooling myself. So let me just review where we are in the book and then how that relates. I think the first little part of our section today, John is writing to those fears. So he takes a little bit of a digression and says, if you think I'm writing to you because I doubt your faith, let me put that to rest. I'm not doing that. So I think he's he's like medical students where we start self-diagnosing the problem, he's putting that fear to rest. So let me just review how we got here. Remember, in the first part of chapter one, he opens the book. He's writing because there are all these heresies cropping up in the early church, and people who are are claiming to teach in the name of Jesus or aren't really teaching in the name of Jesus. So the he's the last surviving apostle. The generation that was the eyewitnesses to Jesus are dying off, and all these people are saying, Oh, you know, that's not the real gospel, this is the real gospel, or that's not what Jesus taught, this is what Jesus taught. So John's writing this letter because he has the unparalleled credentials to say, this is the straight scoop. I was there, I saw it, I'm an eyewitness, I was intimately involved with Jesus, and I can tell you this is what's true and this is what isn't. So he's writing from two kinds of authority: both his experience as an eyewitness and his commission as being given a calling to teach it. And that's how he opens the book. Then in 5 and 1, 5, he says, God is light, and in him there's no darkness. So he says, okay, if you want to know the true gospel, here's the first thing you need to know. God is completely and totally good, right, and holy. I think that's what he means by light. And then he says, Therefore, genuine believers will be marked by three things. And you'll remember this from Libby's teaching a couple weeks ago. Genuine believers will not pursue sin. Instead, they will pursue holiness or pursue righteousness. They will not deny that they are sinful, instead, they will acknowledge their sinfulness, and then they will not call sinful actions right. Instead, they will recognize sin for what it is. So that was the it takes us through the end of chapter one, and then he begins chapter two. He reiterates that while we are still sinful, we are forgiven on account of the blood of Jesus. So you remember the Gnostics were teaching that the way to salvation was through enlightenment. So, not through forgiveness, and if you just had to have the right knowledge, then you were saved. And John's point, at least in part, in that opening of chapter two, is Jesus paid the penalty for our sins, and there is no other way to salvation. So it's not like we gain salvation through Christ's death, while the Gnostics gain it through enlightenment, and the ascetics gain it through their lifestyle or of self-denial. He's saying there is only one way of salvation for the whole world, and that is through the blood of Jesus Christ. Then he goes on in the early part of chapter two to expand on that, and he's he uh expands on the principles he started in chapter one. He says, genuine believers will pursue righteousness or holiness. So those who claim to know Jesus will come to value the things Jesus valued, will strive to live the way Jesus lived, they will begin to conform their lives to the teachings of Jesus. And then in 7 through 11 he says, genuine believers will love the things of God. So those who claim to be following Jesus will love righteousness and will love those who love righteousness. So that was the Old Commandment, New Commandment section, which Libby taught us last week, how it's the commandment is old in the sense that it's not an addition to the law or an addition to the teaching of Jesus, but it's new in the sense that now we understand it more clearly and more unambiguously. So we had all this the Old Testament law which set ritual and morality side by side, said do it all, and now Jesus' teaching brought the clear, unambiguous message that the essence of what God requires is that we be loving people in the fullest sense of and the best sense of that idea, and the rituals and that part of the law are to teach us and instruct us on how to be good people, but there are morality is what's important, so it's new and that we understand more clearly. So that kind of raises the question. Well, John's been writing and saying, what are the marks of true believers and what are the marks of false believers? And that raises the question, why is he telling me this? Does he think that I'm in trouble, that I'm not a true believer? And I think at this point in the letter, then he takes a short digression to assure his readers, no, I believe you have genuine faith. So that's what 12 through 14 is, and then the rest of our passage today, um, 15 through 17, he does the flip side of what he's just talked about. So in 7 through 11, he says, genuine believers will love the things of God. He's gonna take this digression to assure them he's confident of their faith, and then he's gonna do the other side of the coin and say genuine believers will not love the things of the world. So the positive side is they will love the things of God, which we looked at last week, and now he's gonna give us the negative side, they will not love the things of this world. So that's kind of the big picture flyover where we are in the book. So we're gonna look specifically then at chapter 2, verses 12 through 17, and we're gonna start with his his little tangent in 12 through 14. Let me read that for us. So in 212, I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for his name's sake. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you know the Father. I have written to you, fathers, because you know him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. So, just as a point of Bible study, just for those of you who care, um, and probably quite a few of you, I think in twelve, where he says, I am writing, he's referring forward to what he's about to say in twelve or in um 15 through 17. And then in verse 14, when he says I have written, he's referring backwards to um chapter what he just said in one up to this point. So in 12 and 13, he says, I'm about to give you this exhortation, what's coming in 15 and following. Um I'm writing to remind you what you're about because I know you're believers. And then in 14, I wrote those earlier warnings, what I just finished talking about, not because I doubt your faith, but because I'm confident that you're believers and will heed the warning. So just in case you're wondering, I think that's what's going on there. So let's look at what he means at this little children, fathers, and young men. And I think the first thing to realize about that is that's no relation to physical age or to gender. I think he's talking spiritually. So a senior citizen could be a babe, could be a child, six months old in the Lord. A woman could be a father in the sense that's meant here, or a young woman could be a young man in the sense that it meant here, or a father or a babe in Christ. So I don't think he's writing specifically to age groups, and he's not particularly concerned with the number of years you've been alive, or um maybe the number of years since your conversion, but or even how high a position you have in the local church. Given the purpose of his letter, that he's writing to teach people how to recognize the true gospel from the false gospel, I think he's talking about spiritual age. And what's relevant to that is how mature you are in the faith. Not your chronicle age, but your understanding of the faith, and we know that God grows us at different rates. So while it's often true that those who are older are more spiritually mature, that may or may not be the case. For example, I always laughed, but my husband was an old man at 18, spiritually anyway. He grew up in a religious family, or at least a church-going family, and then his brother Ray, whom some of you know as Dr. Maratha, went off to college and found out there was more to being a Christian than going to church. And at the same time, Dave decided to read the gospels and found out that what was in the Bible was different than what he was hearing at his church on Sunday mornings. So there was a time in the family when Ray and Dave, though they were the youngest, were the most spiritually mature in the family. And then over the years, um, God drew everyone else in, his his other brother and his parents. So his age caught up now, I like to tease him, his age is caught up with his spiritual maturity. Um anyway, I'm sure you've you've run into people who are are baby Christians, but they might be quite old or they're um very young chronologically, but they're really wise beyond their years. That's I think what John's talking about here, spiritual maturity. So children are those who are babes in Christ, fathers are those who are spiritually mature, and the young men are those somewhere in the middle. So let's look at what he says to each group. And I think he's repeating them for emphasis, which is kind of a typical Jewish way of doing it. So I'm gonna look at both the things that he says both times at once. So let's look at little children. I'm writing to you little children because your sins have been forgiven you for his name's sake, in verse 12, and then in 13, I have written to you children because you know the Father. Now it is true that all Christians are forgiven. So it's not just children or babes in the Lord whose sins are forgiven. It's true of all Christians, regardless of their spiritual maturity, but I think new Christians are particularly aware of it. Because for most of us, it's confronting our sinfulness that drives us to Christ in the first place. So at some point we begin to realize that, at least I would like to say, I realized I was a failed perfectionist, and that this thing, this trying harder just wasn't working, and I couldn't solve this problem of my sin, and that's what drove me to God in the first place. And I think often babes in Christ are particularly aware of that, and that's what he's pointing out to him. You know, you've been there, you've gone through that experience of seeing you need a savior, and it's still fresh in your mind. Then for his name's sake, name represents a person's role or calling. So you'll see this a lot for when God gives someone a particular role or calling, he often changes their name. So we see Abram becomes Abraham, Sari becomes Sarah, Paul becomes Saul, uh, Simon becomes Peter, and so on. When he gives them this calling, he changes their name. And your name then represents your calling, your role, who you are, your reputation in the fullest sense. So when we talk about in the name of Jesus, we are referring to both his person and his work, his person and his saving work. So it's a metaphor, if you will, or a shorthand to refer to who he is and everything he revealed himself to be. So in Jesus' names means in who he was as the Messiah, as the atoning sacrifice. So you have been forgiven because of his name, because of who Jesus was and what he did. So just in case you're wondering, when we pray in the name of Jesus or make a request to God in the name of Jesus, it's not like being polite. It's not like you have to add this, like saying please or thank you to make your prayer acceptable. It's an acknowledgement that the only reason I can come before the Father at all is because Jesus died for me and his blood covers my sins. So when I ask in his name, I'm saying, Father, I am a sinful wretch who deserves nothing from you, can expect nothing from you apart from the blood of Christ, and I approach you on the basis of Jesus' death on the cross, paying the penalty for my sins. So that's all wrapped up in praying in Jesus' name. And I think that's what's going on here. Your sins have been forgiven you because of who Jesus was and what he did. Now, knowledge of your forgiveness is the positive side, I think, of being a new Christian, but you know there's kind of a negative side. I don't know about you, but as a new Christian, I was very rude and kind of egotistical and overly dependent on other people. And I was I was thinking about this, I thought how apt a metaphor it was, babes in Christ. Because when, you know, when my daughter was a baby, I discovered a lot of things. Like she was lazy, you know, she did nothing but sleep and eat. She didn't contribute to the household in any way. She'd burp right in your face, never apologize, you know. You know, babies are kind of utterly unconcerned about anyone else's needs or reactions, they're kind of uncooperative, waking you up in the middle of the night, you know. But what did children know? They know their mother and father. Have you ever seen, you know, how a baby, like if you watch the nursery pickup, and when mom appears at the door, the baby's whole face lights up, like she's mine, that's my mother, or they walk in the room. And I think that's the picture John's um referring to here when he says, You know the father in 13 is that picture of a child who, when they see their mother and father, they can pick their voice out of a crowd, pick the sound of their footsteps out sometime, and they know that one's mine. And that's the metaphor, like a little baby who may know nothing else, who may be, you know, a little selfish on the raw side, or you know, a little, but they know who their mom and dad is. That's what he's getting at. Okay, so let's look at fathers then. And 13, I'm writing to you fathers because you know him who has been from the beginning. And then 14, I have written to you fathers, and he basically repeats, because you know him who has been from the beginning. And I think the hymn here is Jesus, and he's saying they have come to know the message that Jesus preached, and they have persevered in that message. They have remained faithful to the gospel and to the teachings they heard originally, and they have not turned away from it, not been taken in by these other gospels or the heresies that are spreading through the church. So not that they understand it intellectually, but they know and understand and let it permeate their lives and change them. So it's not just, you know, a true how you'd answer on a true, false theological quiz, but knowing and understanding and believing it and letting it shape your lives. Um the best analogy I I have for that is is uh romance, and I often think this is the best picture of worship too. So you know how when you fall in love with someone brand new and you start thinking, you start reorienting your whole life around them. So you you get up in the morning and you put on clothes and you think, I wonder what my beloved would think about this. Or you start evaluating your actions in terms of what would he think or how would he react, or would he like this, or would he not like this, and you start changing everything in light of the person you're in love with. And that's what romance does for us, and that's what the gospel does for us. As we become to believe it, we start changing our lives, reorienting our thinking, and it all becomes about what would God think, or how would God respond, or what was his worldview, or what's the right thing. It's that kind of thing he's pointing to here. You know what was from the beginning, you've understood, and let it change your life. Okay, and then young men, 13 and 14, he says, I'm writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. And in 14, I have written to you, young men, because you are strong and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. So, what does it mean to overcome the evil one? Well, I think the evil one is Satan. Satan's goal is unbelief, and to overcome him, you merely have to believe. You just have to persevere and believe. So victory over unbelief is belief, and that's really the battle of the Christian life is to keep the faith, stand firm, and be strong. And notice in all cases he's pointing to their faith. Little children for knowing the father, that is, knowing who their daddy is, having faith, young men overcoming the evil ones, standing firm in the faith, and fathers persevering in their trust. So in all cases, he's he's commending them for remaining faithful. And I think that's instructive for two reasons. First, if like medical students were all now developing the symptom of the disease, and John's readers are beginning to doubt that they're Christian, reassuring them of their faith is exactly what they need. Because if they have faith, then they are in fact true believers. And notice what he doesn't point to. He doesn't say your outward actions, your good works, your church attendance, your eloquent prayers, your religious practices, your stellar Bible study, none of those things he says are definite signs of their faith. But um, I mean, we can do all those things and be hypocrites or self-deceived, but that trust, despite everything of remaining faithful to the gospel, that's how they know they're saved. So, how do you know you have faith if, like little children, you recognize your father's voice, like young men, you've gone through trials, battles, and struggles and come out of those with your faith intact, or like old men, you display a strong, mature trust and knowledge of your father. And I think the other reason that's instructive is because the battle in this life is over faith. So Satan's goal is not just to make you stumble here or there or have a bad day. His goal is to make you give it all up, turn your back, reject God, and start running his direction. His goal is unbelief. So now he may delight in all the minor setbacks, but he only wins, quote unquote, if when we give up the fight and we rebel against God. So we would win in that sense by persevering, by standing strong, holding fast. And that's the real battleground. All right, so now that's his digression. He says, okay, I've been writing all this about how to tell true believers from fall believers, false believers. Let me reassure you, I don't doubt you, I've seen your faith, um, you know, have have confidence. Now he turns his attention back to the subject at hand. So in the early part of the chapter in 2, 1 through 11, he claimed that we have come, if we when we come to know Jesus, we keep his commandments, and that a sign of our faith is our desire for righteousness. And now he's gonna, that's the positive side. Now he's gonna turn that around and say the other side of that coin is we won't love the things of this world. So in 1 through 11 he said we will desire righteousness. Now he's gonna say the reverse is true, we will not long for the things of this world. And this passage has been used to denounce everything from beer to buttons. You know, whatever is currently out of favor with Christians has been crammed into this passage, labeled worldliness and forbidden, you know. So dancing, disco, card games, smoking, whatever's can work considered worldly, we use this passage to warn against it. And I'm not gonna add to the list, and I'm not even gonna give you a list, but instead, what I want to look at is why is the world dangerous? What is he when he says we don't love the things of the world, why is that so dangerous? Let's look at 215. This is the the exhortation he gives us Do not love the things uh do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Okay, that's pretty scary because probably for most of us, there are things about this world that we like. So what's going on here? The first thing we have to figure out is what does he mean by world? And there are at least four options. There's probably more, but these are kind of the big four options I came up with. And actually I'm gonna boil, I'm gonna give you four and then actually boil them down to two. Um but the ones I was I was reading through all the commentaries, the ones that came up most frequently are the universe. So what he means by world is uh the universe, all physical created order, not just our planet, but the whole universe and everything that's created. The second one would be a little smaller than that, all life on earth, but still physical existence. So everything, so it's basically just the earth, but all physical life on earth. A third one was human culture apart from God. So not so much the physical existence, but the things of man, the culture we've created. And then the fourth one is those who are not born of God. So as in contrast to the church. So you've got the world and you've got the church, those who are born of God and those who are not born of God, those who have faith and those who don't. And in your study, you may have come up with some more nuances on those. But it seemed to me as I was reading through this, you could generalize those into two broad categories. Either it related to the physical created order, so that would be a combination of the first two. So pointing to the material physical world, or pointing to everything that constitutes our existence here and now. So before I leave that, so let's look at if it's the physical created order he's talking about. And that's what he means in verse 15 when he says, do not love the things of the world, then he's it's basically an exhortation against materialism. And he's saying don't get too attached to this present age as opposed to the eternal, as opposed to the transcendent. Augustine called this the lower kind of love. Instead, he wanted to be committed to a higher kind of love, the eternal things of God. And that is true. Materialism is warned against elsewhere in the New Testament, but I don't think that's not the option that persuades me here. But that that is a possibility. The other one, the other big broad kind of stroke would be world in the sense of culture, of human existence. So not American culture, but human culture in all its flavors. So the way we do things in contrast to the way God's doing things. And clearly there are many differences in culture. You know, Eastern and Western cultures are very different, but there's a sense in which people are people. We're driven by the same sorts of needs and passions and values across all time and generations. We may practice it differently, but if you wrap all that up, all the cultures of the world that are gone and that are here, so the worldviews, philosophies, the values, the systems that are from man as opposed to from God. And if that's the idea John has in mind here, then he's talking about the present culture in which we're immersed. So human culture and worldview as opposed to God's culture and worldview. And he's saying don't get taken in by that. Don't get sucked in. All of human culture beliefs and philosophies that are apart from God are lies. And I I like that better because more than the physical created our order, which you could argue was from God, God created the physical order. It's but he didn't, there's a sense in which he didn't create our human systems and worldviews and philosophies and beliefs. So it's all of that in contrast to God's revelation. And I find that more persuasive because you can like the physical world. There's lots of, you know, there's much beauty and grandeur and majesty and creation, and it's God's handiwork, and I think there's a sense in which we can enjoy it, and we shouldn't feel guilty if we love the beach, for example, or music or nature, or food. Um, so in that sense, I don't think he's saying loving the world equals enjoying life. Loving the world is, I wouldn't say, does not equal enjoying life, but it's something else. It's choosing the world, it's choosing the systems of man over the systems of God. It's choosing man's philosophy and worldview over God's revelation and what he says. So love is not an uncontrollable emotion, but it's the steady devotion of the will. It's what I'm committed to. And loving the world is not that I can't find good things in the physical creation, but it's war it's a warning, don't choose that over God. Don't choose the ways of man over what God has revealed. So that could take a lot of forms. It could be materialism, but it it could be philosophies, it could be all kinds of systems of belief, but the underlying factor that would combine them all is thinking that what the world has to offer is more valuable than what God has to offer. And when what the world says is right is correct, and what the Bible says is not. So it would be all of human philosophy, knowledge, theory, culture versus what God has revealed. So it would be loving the world would be saying, I can take or leave that stuff. Jesus said, what I'm really after is what the world says. And John sets those in opposition and says you pick one or the other, but you can't serve them both. You can't believe both in the world and in God. You have to choose. And his exhortation is don't choose the world. The world is hostile to the things of Christ. Human culture apart from God is fundamentally opposed to God, and he's saying, don't set your heart on that because it's hostile to God and his son. So it's not worldliness in the sense of materialism, it's the I think it's more the idea of serving a different master. Because the issue in this letter is will you believe the apostolic gospel or not? Will you persist in faith or not? Will are you going to listen to the voices of the false teachers or and depart from the truth? Are you going to remain faithful? So, what voice are you listening to? What voice carries weight with you? And who you listen to reveals who you love? And he's saying, you can love the things of the world or you can love the things of God. And if you love the world, you're going to reject apostolic teaching. And if you love the Father, you will embrace apostolic uh teaching. All right. I think I've so I would paraphrase that. Don't be seduced by what this world offers, such that you choose the world over God. If you put your trust in the things of the world, you cannot also trust God. So let's look how he fleshes that out with verse 16. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life is not from the Father, but from the world. So let's talk about what these phrases are. The lust of the flesh, I think, is any and all physical bodily desires. So food, pleasure, emotions, romance, beauty. It's the things of physical creation that are good and nice, but we place too much value on them. So they're not that they're wrong in and of themselves, but it's an he's speaking against an attitude that places too much importance on them so they become idols. So it's the attitude that turns food into gluttony or comfort into excess luxury or romance into the end all and main goal in life. So loving the world would put these things out of balance. When I love the world as opposed to the father, I value those things more than I should. Not that they're bad, as the Gnostics taught, you know, everything physical was bad. I don't think that's what he's saying. They're not bad in and of themselves, but it's the idea that we can want them more than everything else. So it's seeking physical gratification or pleasure rather than love, honor, mercy, compassion, or something along those lines. So the lust in the flesh would be the physical desires over and above righteousness. So the physical things are good gifts from God. Certain ones are necessary, you know, food, shelter, clothing. Others are nice to have. But all are gifts from God. And if he gives them to me, I'm grateful and I appreciate them. If he withholds them for any reason, I trust him anyway, because he knows best. So we hold them loosely. We're great if they're there, but if not, we continue to trust God. We don't put them as our goals in life. Okay, the less of the eyes, I think, is that which pleases the mind. So if the lust of the flesh is that which pleases the physical body, less of the eyes are that which pleases the mind. Eyes and seeing are frequently used in the New Testament as metaphors for knowledge and metaphors for understanding. So the less of the eyes are that which pleases the mind. So science, knowledge, academia, philosophy, all that stuff. Now, again, it's not wrong to want to learn or to be curious, but it's turning that desire to learn into a demand to know everything, or to think I have the right to know everything, or that I am somehow better than everybody else because of my knowledge. That's where you cross the line to make knowledge in and of itself or puff myself up and become prideful in arrogance because how much knowledge I have. Um, and maybe disrespecting those who don't have as much knowledge. And again, knowledge was a big thing with the Gnostics. They thought that was the way to enlightenment. And then the boastful pride of life, I think, is uh putting undue importance on our daily pursuits. So it's getting all caught up in thinking, oh, God's plan will be destroyed if I don't cross everything off my to-do list today, you know, or which is a great temptation in my life, or the desire to awaken envy or praise from other people over what you have and what they don't, or vice versa, or thinking I'm important because of who I am and what I've done and the things I've come accomplished in this life. And accomplishments are good things. Serving and serving well are good things, but it's not the end of my existence. It doesn't make me righteous, it doesn't impress God. So, you know, manufacturing a million widgets may be a great thing to do in this life. Maybe widgets cure cancer and bring world peace. I don't know. Maybe they're of great importance to society and they're dramatically changed people's lives, but in the end they're gonna burn. And there's a sense in which the spiritual reality is more important, and who I am in the kingdom of God is more is essential, not who I am in this life. And it struck me that's true of Bible teaching. I mean, that's my what makes life living for me is I just love studying and teaching, and it's my my joy in this life, but in the end, I'm gonna be out of a job. In the next stage, I'm gonna be totally irrelevant because God's gonna write all this on everyone's hearts, and no one is gonna need a pastor or a teacher. Not, I mean, it's like, okay, so whatever gift I have in this life, it's for this life. And it's just for now, and it's not gonna be a big deal at all in heaven. So I don't want to get prideful or arrogant about it or put undue importance on it because it's just for this life. Okay, so notice he doesn't say touch not, taste not, hear not. This is I don't think he's giving us a legal m a legalistic uh exhortation. He's saying, not saying don't avoid the physical entirely or avoid the world world entirely. He's saying it's a matter of priority. Don't set your heart on them. It's the idea of no man can serve two masters. So don't give yourself to amassing the trophies of this life, whether it's career or great house or computers or cars or the perfect body or superior resume or academic achievement, whatever tempts us. He's saying, don't get caught up in that. Keep it all in perspective. What's truly important? Those things are not from the Father but from the world. So all that stuff is not the ultimate blessing God has in store for us. It may be part of the richness and the value of creation. It's not entirely bad, but they're just not of value. The real gift is what's to come. These are just shadows, these are things for now. So all the things of this world are not the ultimate blessings God has in store for us. They're just the natural gifts He's built into creation. Why? In 217, because the world is passing away and also its lust, but the one who does the will of God lives forever. So all those things may be of great value for now, but in the end they're gonna pass away. So career, fortune, fame, knowledge, academic success, degrees, resume stars, however we measure success or however we measure greatness, in the end it's gonna burn. But something will last, and that's doing the will of God. So there is important work to be done in this life, and that is to come to know and love the Father and faithfully do what He's asked you to do. So to recognize who Jesus is, what he did for us, and live out that calling. And it may be helping others grow, serving, teaching, loving, encouraging each other, praying for each other, all of that is important work. And think about how much we downplay that. We tend to think, you know, that the day in, day out loving my family isn't as important as making a name for myself or gaining career success or even serving in my local church body or something. But I think John would say faithfully using your gifts in whatever arena God has asked you to use them, that's important. That's part of the plan. That's what He's put you here to do, and that will last forever. And John's saying, don't get taken in by the attitude that says, I have to have worldly success or success as the world measures it, because that's passing away. So the stuff of the kingdom is what's gonna last. The things you do that help yourself and others come to know and love the Father, that's important. That has eternal significance. No one may ever know about it, no one may ever see it but you and God. But that's important. And I think John would say choosing the world is not just wrong, it's foolish because it's gonna turn to dust. So you can choose truth or you can choose a lie. Both are gonna claim, both the world and God will claim to fulfill and satisfy you, but one is right and one is wrong. I think we can even elevate our charitable pursuits to kind of the same wrong level. Soup kitchens may do a lot of good in this life, but they are for this life. They will pass away. The lasting good are the lives that are changed by those people. And the people who come to know the Father through those soup kitchens. So finding someone a job, teaching them a skill, that's a great thing to do, but not as great as helping them find Jesus. Those job skills are going to pass away, but the love of the Father lasts forever. So it's easy to get caught up even in our nonprofit social justice causes, which are good things and necessary in a fallen world, but they're not our masters. They're not the be-all and end all. Loving the Father is what's important, doing what he asks. So, in whatever activities or causes or roles or jobs God has called us to pursue, we want to realize the important thing is coming to faith, encouraging faith in others, coming to know God. Martin Luther summarized it this way: I've held many things in my hands and I've lost them all, but the things I've placed in God's hands I still possess. And you've probably heard this quote from Jim Elliott. He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose. And I think that's the same idea here. Doing the will of God, committing yourself to what God values and striving for it, that's gonna last. So don't build your life on any on a foundation that's already decaying. Instead, give yourself to the pursuit of God. So the world, all its comforts, philosophies, those are temporal, they're passing away, but the one who puts his security and trust in God will live eternally. Alright, so let me just wrap this up and ask the question so what? So in 12 through 14, I think he reassures his readers that if you persevere in the faith, uh that and that, wait a minute. He reminds them that persevering in their faith is the real battle and it marks them as believers, and he is he has confidence in their faith. And then in 15 through 17, he says, the things of this age, no matter how wonderful they are, are nothing compared to what's to come. So put your got your trust in God and in not in the created world. So it's kind of the flip side of what he said earlier in the chapter, where he said believers will love the things of God. Now he's doing the flip side, they will not love the things of the world, they will not value that. Okay, so how do we apply this to our lives? And I suspect most of you have made some level of commitment to Christ, so you're saying, well, yeah, I already decided to follow God. I already chose Christ over the world a long time ago. So what does this passage have to say to me? And I actually I struggled with that for a long time, and then it occurred to me, what do you pray for? And I started thinking about what I pray for in light of this passage. I mean, what kind of requests comes up and how do you pray for them? And being brutally honest here, as I studied this and began kind of paying attention to my prayer life, I found I was praying for three things. And I hope you all love me anyway. But they were basically make my life easy. You know, pray for rain because I planted my garden, or pray that the auto clinic will fix my car because I really need it back by five, or that I can get all my work done. You know, they fall in this category of make my life easy. The second one was fix it. So, you know, my boss has a pain, make him go away, or my family fights all the time, make it stop, or my back hurts, make it better, or whatever. You know, fix whatever thing is caught is not making my life easy. And then the third one was get me out of a jam, usually of my own creation. You know. So I, you know, I left my study to the last minute, helped me remember, or you know, I really blew it, make it better, or whatever. So, you know, make my life easy, fix it, or get me out of my jam. And it could be that those are the exact wrong things to ask for, because God is not necessarily concerned with how easy or smooth my life is. In fact, if you remember from our first Peter study, he pretty much says suffering is the norm, not complacency. And John has just implied that the battle in this life is faith. And he commends the children, the young men, and the fathers for persevering in the faith. He warns believers to love the things of God rather than the things of the world, which in large part is trusting God to save you from your sin and make you holy. And faith is the battle in this age. So it struck me that instead of praying for fix it, make my life easy, get me out of a jam, I should pray for the faith to get through whatever is making my life difficult. Um, and that maybe that ought to be more the focus. And at least there's a sense in which that would always be right. Now, I'm not, don't take me, don't go running to the opposite end of the pendulum here. I'm not saying that if you're anxious about something, you can't pray about it. Um, but there is a sense in which our perspective ought to shift from anxiety over the issue at hand to trusting God to get us through. After all, as we remember from our James study, he tells us when we ask for faith, we will always receive it. And asking for faith is perhaps the most important thing in this age because that's where the battle is. I just do we have time now? Yeah, I'm gonna take just a couple more minutes. I wanted to end with a quote with a passage from Isaiah because I think he says essentially the same message as 1 John in this beautiful poetic style. So just to sum up what we just read, I think we get the same message. This is Isaiah 55, verses 1 and 2. He says, Everyone who thirsts come to the waters, and you who have no money come and buy and eat. Come by wine and milk without money and without cost. Why do you weigh out silver for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me and eat what is good, and delight your soul in abundance. And I think that's what essentially John is saying everyone who thirsts, come and buy. You don't need money, you don't need anything. The price has been paid for you. There's this glorious banquet out there that God is offering that's available, it's high quality, it's free, and you can delight yourself in abundance. It will satisfy you, it will bring life to your soul. And God Himself is picking up the tab. He says, buy without money, without cost. There's no, you know, check at the end of the end the meal, the gospel is free, and all the other tables are empty in comparison. Why do you weigh out silver for what is not bread and your wages for what does not satisfy? In other words, all those things of the world, that's not what's going to get you what your heart truly desires. Um, and why are you wasting your time and energies on them? Instead, come to the table of the Lord. And then how do you get in? Listen. All he says, listen carefully to me and eat what is good and delight yourself. So he says, and then in three, he says, incline your ear, come to me, listen that your soul may live. All you have to do is hear the gospel and respond. And he doesn't actually say this in the passage, but we know from other scriptures this is not a banquet we're being invited to where we're going to be one of ten thousands, but this is a table for two, you and the father, the God Himself will sit down with you at the table. So eternal life is not this abstract information you collect in your brain, it's this relationship with the Father, the King Himself, the King of Kings inviting us to a table with no crowds, nothing to distract us at this glorious feast. And that's the alternative to loving the things of the world. All right, we better stop there. Let me pray for us. Father, we just come before you grateful for all that you've done for us, humbled that you would die on the cross in our place to offer us the words of life, to offer us a way out of our sin and into your kingdom. And I just pray that you would be writing these words on our hearts, blowing away anything that is untrue, confusing, or misleading, and leaving the truth there to change us, to make us more people who know you and love you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Wednesday in the Word. For notes and study questions related to this message or more talks in this series, please visit our website, wednesdayintheword.com. We hope you'll join us again.