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1 John 2:7–17 (ESV)
How many of you have eaten a proper tomato sandwich in the last few weeks? I have. I think I’ve received more comments from that sermon illustration than anything in my life. I should have credited the source. That was an article by Sean Dietrich, otherwise known as Sean of the South.
Love is a large part of our faith. It is the focus of many of God’s promises and many of his commandments, including the top two—to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and to love your neighbor as yourself. It is the subject of one of the most beautiful chapters in the Bible, 1 Corinthians.
1 Corinthians 13:13 (ESV) — So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
In this short Letter, John uses the word “love” 36 times.
In the church, the language of love fills our preaching, our books, our counseling, our ministry, and our mission.
Even our church’s vision statement finds its center in love.
We are a church seeking to grow in love for God, love for one another, and love for our neighbor.
Interestingly, the language of love isn’t limited to people of faith. Our society treats love as a panacea for all its problems. What is the answer to our dysfunctional relationships and our divided culture? Many would say, “love.”
“Love” makes its appearance in our song titles, our slogans, our yard signs, and our bumper stickers.
It may come as a surprise, then, to hear our text say this morning, “Do not love the world or the things in the world.”
Let that sink in for a few seconds. “Do not love the world or the things in the world.”
I know some of you well enough to know that some objections or qualifications to this bold statement are already piling up in your mind. Set them aside for a bit, and let’s discover together what the Lord wants to say to us through this letter written by the very old Apostle John near the end of the first century.
We are a few sermons into our 10-week series through 1 John, which we are calling “That You May Know.” Our goal, like that of the Apostle John, is that you would grow in the assurance of your salvation.
1 John 5:13 (ESV) — I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.
One of the challenges that we face is that sometimes when we read John’s letter, we walk away doubting our salvation instead of being strengthened in our assurance. My hope is that by the end of our series, we’ll see more clearly how John’s letter is intended to build up our assurance, and not erode it.
I would encourage you to consider reading the book over the next few weeks with two different lenses. Look for two different aspects of assurance.
First, look for objective truths and facts which John tells them. The foundation for the assurance of salvation is belief in the Gospel itself—what Christ has done to secure our salvation.
Second, notice the different tests or exhortations which John gives in order to bring confirmation to our salvation. These tests are often what give us trouble. One word of caution: when you encounter John’s tests, don’t make up your own questions. Use his.
This morning, we’ll look at vv. 12-14 to find the objective basis for our assurance, and we’ll find the exhortation to us in vv. 15-17.
We’ll look at the passage under three headings.
1 John 2:12–14 (ESV)
First, let’s talk about the groups John identifies. At first glance, we might think that John is addressing three different groups. However, it’s more likely that there are just two different groups.
John addresses his readers as “little children” throughout his letter.
This is clearly a term of endearment, though it also points to John as the aged Apostle. They are his spiritual children. If you need another reason, it also wouldn’t make sense that John is identifying three different groups if he identifies them out of order like this—children, fathers, young men.
Therefore, we’ll embrace that idea into these statements to “little children” are true for all believers. If he’s addressing everyone with the term, “children” what are we to make of “fathers” and “young men?”
The two options before us are to either recognize these terms as indicating 1) physical age, or 2) spiritual maturity. These two ideas can overlap, of course. However, the simplest and most accurate interpretation, I believe, is to treat this as simply recognizing and honoring the different age brackets of members within the church.
The only other time “fathers” (πατέρες) is used in this way is in 1 Timothy 5:1.
This means that we have some statements for all of the believers in the church (little children). We also have the older believers and the younger believers.
I mentioned earlier that we want to read John’s letter with two different lenses. First, we want to see what John tells his readers is true. This is the foundation for assurance.
John makes several statements that are true about the believers reading his letter. The first is that their sins are forgiven. This is the only true basis for confidence that we are saved. Our sins have been forgiven.
Two weeks ago, Michael preached on the second half of chapter one, where John gives us this wonderful promise that…
1 John 1:9 (ESV) — If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
This is a glorious promise for us to remember. When we sin, even after we become Christians, God is ready and willing to forgive and cleanse.
Here in chapter 2, he is telling them something more foundational, more comprehensive. He is reminding his “little children” that their sins have been forgiven—past, present, and future. There is no more condemnation for them because Jesus took the penalty of their sins on himself.
1 John 2:2 (ESV) — He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
Benjamin explained this to us last week. Jesus is the propitiation for our sins—a big word for the fact that Jesus removed the wrath of God toward us. Our sins deserved God’s wrath—“the wages of sin is death”—but Jesus has removed this wrath completely—“the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 6:23).
Friend, when you put your faith in Jesus to rescue you from your sins, your sins are forgiven. This isn’t like when you got written up in school, or at your job, and the record or your wrong went in your file, only to be brought back out at some time in the future to punish you.
Colossians 2:13–14 (ESV) — And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
Not only does John remind them that their sins have been forgiven. He also reminds them that they have known the Father.
For some reason, the ESV is a little loose with translating the verb tenses in these few verses. All of the verbs except “abide” and “are strong” are the perfect tense in the original.
The perfect tense emphasizes that this happened in the past, but that the effects continue to the present.
He reminds the older believers that they have known “him who is from the beginning.” This refers to Jesus in his earthly ministry.
Of course, most if not all of John’s readers did not meet Jesus in his earthly ministry. But, they know Jesus through the testimony of John the Apostle, just like we know Jesus through the testimony of Scripture and through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
John 15:26 (ESV) — “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.
But, this is true knowledge, nonetheless.
For the younger believers, John reminds them that they are strong and have overcome the evil one because the word of God abides in them.
John is trying to encourage his readers. He is about to write to them about the false teachers who have separated and disrupted the fellowship in the church. He’s reminding these believers that they have already overcome the evil one.
It is our reality as believers that even though the victory is ours in Christ at the moment of our conversion, we will still face adversity, temptation, and difficulties. These do not, though, lesson the reality of our victory in Christ. “What shall separate us from the love of Christ?”
Before we move on to the next point, we should note that these promises—these realities for John’s readers—are the promises foretold as being part of the new covenant in Jeremiah 31.
Jeremiah 31:31–34 (ESV) — “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah… I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
These promises are the rock-solid foundation for Christian assurance.
Now let’s consider the test that John gives his readers to distinguish them from the false-professors among them.
1 John 2:15 (ESV)
Here, we come across on of John’s very stark, black and white statements about Christian living. Before we can answer the question about whether we love the world or not, we need to understand what John means by the phrase.
John uses the term κόσμος (kosmos/world) over 100 times in his writings and 23 times in 1 John. What does this word mean?
The most popular Greek lexicon (dictionary) lists at least 8 different definitions of the term κόσμος. We can definitely simplify those down for our purposes. Here are some choices.
We recently finished two different series through the books of Genesis and Ecclesiastes. In both of those, we were confronted with the rightness of enjoying the world which God created.
Genesis 1:31 (ESV) — And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.
Sometimes the Bible describes the world as this created order and its good blessings. In Ecclesiastes, this was “under the sun.”
Ecclesiastes 5:18–19 (ESV) — Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God.
We also are familiar with using “world” to refer to all the people living on earth. We could point to vs. 2 of the chapter we’re in.
Or perhaps, we would be more familiar with John 3:16.
John 3:16 (ESV) — “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
There is a third way that John uses kosmos in these verses.
The Word Biblical Commentary says it this way.
The term κόσμος appears in the letters and Gospel of John with two basic meanings: the created universe, or life on earth; and human society, temporarily controlled by the power of evil, organized in opposition to God.
- Stephen S. Smalley, Word Biblical Commentary, 81.
The command not to love the world, by itself would be significant, but the Apostle really highlights its significance with the rest of the verse.
This is how this command is used in 1 John as an indicator of the validity of a person’s confession. It’s not merely a warning not to love the world, but a fork in the road. To choose love for the world means the love of the father is not in you. We could read “love of the father” in two different ways. Does John mean our love for the Father, or the Father’s love for us? If we love the world, does it mean we cannot also love the Father, or that this makes it obvious that we have not personally experienced the Father’s love for us.
My own thought is that John means some of both.
Remember that John has specific individuals or groups in mind. He is about to talk about the ones who “went out from us, but they were not of us.” There were people in this church community who were claiming to be spiritual, yet they don’t love their brothers and they do love the world, and they’re proud of it.
Remember that I’ve warned us not to change John’s questions around. He doesn’t say, “is there any evidence of worldliness in you?” He doesn’t demand that they be immune to the temptations of the world. He doesn’t want them to sin, but if they do sin, there is forgiveness available.
This love for the world is a devotion to the worldly system in opposition to God. John goes on to describe what is in the world in vs. 16.
1 John 2:16 (ESV)
Here, we know for certain that John is not talking about the physical world. He’s not saying “don’t love the mountains or the ocean or honey bees or a medium-rare steak or a well-aged wine” unless your love for those things is redirecting your love for God.
Here is how John Calvin talks about the world.
By the world understand everything connected with the present life, apart from the kingdom of God and the hope of eternal life. So he includes in it corruptions of every kind, and the abyss of all evils. In the world are pleasures, delights, and all those allurements by which man is captivated, so as to withdraw himself from God
- John Calvin, Commentaries, 186.
There is a way, as we have seen in Ecclesiastes, to enjoy the gifts of God in a way that brings glory to God. Paul would remind us that whether we eat or drink, or whatever we do, we should bring glory to God.
But John is warning against something else. He’s reminding us that human society is not neutral toward God. Since Adam’s fall in the garden, the Evil One has been stirring up a rebellion against the Creator.
“Desires” can be translated “lust” (NKJV - “lust of the flesh”; NIV - “cravings of sinful man”). The word can be used of righteous, rightly-ordered desires, but is more often used of strong desires for sinful things.
“The flesh” can mean the sensual, bodily-appetite desires (sex, ease, food, drink), but does not need to be limited to that. In a broader sense, the desires of the flesh are the idol of personal pleasure-seeking that leads to personal selfishness.
If the desires of the flesh are the internal temptations to sin, the desires of the eyes are the temptations from outside of us. Obviously, our eyes are only a conduit to our heart. But the desires of the eyes highlights the sin of covetousness, an excessive desire for things. We might think all the way back to the Garden.
Genesis 3:6 (ESV) — 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.
This is a more difficult phrase to translate.
Robert Gundry in his NT Commentary calls it “the braggadocio of livelihood … showing off one’s material successes (conspicuous consumption).”
We could think of this as finding identity in or boasting in your influence, education, financial success, or earthly heritage.
All three of these—desires of the flesh, of the eyes, and the pride of life—are a danger to us spiritually, and they are not from the father, but from the world.
The world truly does embrace these values. In fact, it appears to be the spirit of the age to even redefine “love” to include these. There was a time where at least the world distinguished between hedonism (the unbridled pursuit of pleasure) and charity/love. The spirit of our age is to redefine love to mean the pursuit of my own pleasures and desired identity (pride of life) at all costs.
This is the air we breathe. It is the water we swim in. But, it is not from the father, but from the world.
The Christian is to love God (5) and his brother or sister (10), but he is not to love the world. And love is a fit subject for such commandment and prohibition because it is not an uncontrollable emotion but the steady devotion of the will… If we are engrossed in the outlook and pursuits of the world which rejects Christ, it is evident that we have no love for the Father.
- John R. W. Stott, Tyndale NTC, 103.
I don’t believe that John is writing these things to cause you to doubt your salvation when you experience temptations to be worldly, or even if in parts of your life you actually sin in these ways. That’s what the end of chapter 1 is about.
He’s saying to his readers, “those people who claim to be believers (the secessionists in vv. 18-19) who are embracing the world—the desires of the flesh, the eyes, and the pride of life—do not have the love of the Father in them. In our day, this might be those who claim to be Christians, but who reject the bible’s clear moral teachings on sexual morality. Or, those who claim to love God, but are clearly driven singularly by their own desire for power or success at all costs.
If you look at the movie clip of your life as a believer (not just brief snapshots of your worst moments), and what you see looks no different from the world, then turn to Christ. He will not reject you. He is faithful to forgive you of your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness.
There’s a very interesting book by James K. A. Smith called You Are What You Love. In it, he shows how our habits (which he calls liturgies) affect our loves. He makes some incisive comments about the nature of discipleship and sanctification, that we often focus on knowledge (beliefs) and doing, but we often miss the important aspect of wanting (our loves).
In short, we unconsciously learn to love rival kingdoms because we don’t realize we’re participating in rival liturgies.
- James K. A. Smith, You Are What You Love, p. 37
Where do we go from here? We’ve looked at things John wanted his readers to remember about their salvation.
He has commanded them not to love the world. Love God—yes; love your brother—yes; love the world—no.
John’s alternative to loving the world may surprise you. He doesn’t turn around and tell them to love the Father.
His answer is in vs. 17
1 John 2:17 (ESV)
Notice the second reason that we should not love the world—the world is passing away. Remember, we’re not talking about the physical earth here, but the world’s system, under the power of the evil one, in opposition to God and his ways. This will all pass away.
What will NOT pass away? Those who do the will of God.
I know that when we talk about knowing and doing God’s will, we can easily get into deep discussions about divine guidance and how God directs our steps as we live by faith. We won’t get into that discussion this morning, though this passage certainly should have a significant voice in that discussion.
The point here is that the Christian is a person who does not merely profess allegiance to God, but actually submits to God’s rule. This is not blind or loveless obedience to a set of rules, but a life of devotion
Mark 3:35 (ESV) — For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”
Matthew 7:21 (ESV) — “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
1 Thessalonians 4:3 (ESV) — For this is the will of God, your sanctification:…
1 Peter 2:15 (ESV) — For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.
Loving what God loves.
Doing what God commands.
Growing in holiness.
Trusting in Christ alone for eternal life.
John 6:40 (ESV) — For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
What do your loves say about you?
How are your habits affecting your loves?
Remember the glory of the forgiveness of sins.
Here are some other recent messages.
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