Love Not the World

“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 2:15-17).

As long as we are still in the world we can be tempted by it. This warning to not love the world is in the Scriptures to keep us alert. We dare not become overconfident and think that we are immune to the seduction of the world. The world is an arena of spiritual conflict where the children of God are opposed by many enemies. The world is one of these enemies, along with the Devil and our own sinful flesh that we still carry with us in the body. As long as we are in the body and in the world we have to be prepared for a struggle. The child of God must be suited up in the full armor of God (See Eph. 6.13-17). The world can tempt us in many different ways. Some of these temptations are subtle and may not appear at first to be a great danger. Sin often starts with a single, seemingly insignificant compromise. And the Devil has a way of disguising himself and his true intentions. Temptation always has an element of deception. Nobody would sin if they were not somehow deceived. The simple command to not love the world is designed to cut through any spiritual and moral fog in our minds.

The command to not love the world is backed by powerful incentives. The Word of God does not just give us commands that are to be obeyed without any explanation. God has a right to give us commands and He does not have to explain Himself. We are to obey without question even if we don’t fully understand the reasons. But God wants us to be mature and to be able to see the reasons for His commands. God always has our best interests in mind and He desires our ultimate good and blessing. The first incentive not to love the world is that we cannot love God if we also love the world. The world and God are opposed to each other and this makes it impossible for us to love both. We cannot serve two masters. Love for the world squeezes out love for God. Secondly, we should not love the world because the world is passing away. Why would we invest in a company that was going under? Why would we book passage on a sinking ship? Those who love the world will ultimately be in despair because they will lose all of the things they love. It is better to love and invest in what is eternal and cannot be taken from us. The final incentive not to love the world is so that we can live forever. Those who love the world will pass away with the world. Those who love God, and therefore obediently do His will, will inherit eternal life in the World to Come.

The world is all that is opposed to God. We are not speaking of the natural world or the created order. There is another world in view here. This is the world of sinful man in rebellion against God. Satan is the god of this world and he animates the world with the spirit of his cosmic rebellion against God. The world is actually opposed to God. This rebellious attitude of the world is expressed in the words of the second Psalm:

“Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us” (Psalm 2:1-3).

The pagan nations of the world are raging against God and seeking to throw off the authority of God and the King that God has enthroned, which is Jesus. The child of God lives in a world that is hostile to God. This is why the world is also opposed to the people of God and persecutes them. Jesus warned His disciples that the world would not love them:

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:18-19).

To love the world is to be an enemy of God (James 4.4). Those who claim to be believers yet love the world are liars. Those who were once believers who have fallen in love with the world again have committed spiritual adultery.

Loving the world is defined as inordinate desires that ultimately lead to pride. There are two kinds of desires or lusts: 1. The desires or lusts of the flesh. This is a desire for physical pleasure. It is a desire for the things of the world that make us comfortable and make us feel good. It includes but is not limited to sexual pleasures. 2. The desires or lusts of the eyes. These are aesthetic pleasures – the things of the world that we like to look at. These are the things that sparkle and shine. So John is covering all kinds of desires: the baser and less dignified lusts as well as the more cultured kind of sins. These desires are for the things of the world that give us pleasure of some sort. These are the things that people want and spend their energies trying to obtain. Some people obtain more things of the world than others, but it is the inordinate affection for these things that is wrong and not just owning the possessions. A person may be poor and yet still full of lust for what he does not possess. What John is describing is really the sin of greed or materialism. This is a form of idolatry that dominates the world. When we obtain some of the things we lust for then we have the pride of life. We feel a sense of satisfaction and security in our things instead of basing our hope on the living God.

Our affection for the world can only be expelled by a stronger and higher affection. It is impossible to get a person to stop loving the world simply with a commandment. A person who does not know God and does not believe the Gospel really has nothing else to love except for the things of this world and it is not reasonable to expect him to do anything else. If we are to stop loving the world and convince others to do the same, we must replace that affection for the things of the world with another, more powerful affection. The only affection that can displace a love for the world is the love of God. When we love God, we will lose our affection for the world. But how do we come to love God? We cannot love God simply because we are commanded to do so. We come to love God when we understand His great love for us, which is demonstrated in the sacrifice of Christ for our sins. Only the Gospel has the power to change our hearts and cause us to love God. If you find that your heart is still in love with the things of this world then you need to have a better understanding of the Gospel of Christ. And when you see Christ you will love Him, even if that means losing the whole world!