Text: 1 John 2:15–17
Date: October 23, 2022
Event: Proper 25, Year C
1 John 2:15–17 (EHV)
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. 16For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, boasting about material possessions—is not from the Father but from the world. 17The world and its desires pass away, but the one who does the will of God remains forever.
Love God, Not the World
What does it mean to love someone or something? People can play pretty fast and loose with that term, but in general, loving something to value it highly. In human relationships, if we take a God-like view of love, it would mean sacrificing things for them to support and equip them. When it comes to things, it might mean valuing something of that category more than other things: you might, for instance, like pie but love ice cream.
In our Second Reading for this morning, the apostle John gives us direction on who and what we should love in our lives. And this goes well beyond the things that we say we love, which may be a flippant, thoughtless expression. John urges us to really consider our hearts. What do we truly love and value? And is our value and love in the correct place?
John is probably the last of the original twelve disciple to still be alive. He’s writing at the end of the first century, probably around 90 AD or so. John is writing as likely the last-living eyewitness of the life and work of Jesus, and he’s writing to encourage a new generation of Christians. The church had been undergoing a transition for a a number of decades as the apostles handed off the teachings of the church to those who had believed because they heard the gospel through those apostles. A few weeks ago we heard from Peter who would die 20 to 30 years before John, but who wrote to encourage the people in the truth that he taught. Paul wrote a similar “passing-the-baton” letter to Pastor Timothy ahead of his death.
Now John is trying to focus his original readers, likely a broad swath of Christians, from his island of exile. While John was not executed, he was sent to the island of Patmos off the eastern coast of modern-day Turkey (as of this summer known as Türkiye [tur-ke’yeah]) because he shared the message of Jesus. We know for certain that John was on Patmos when he received and wrote the great Revelation that ends the New Testament; it’s very possible that he wrote his Gospel and his three letters while on that island as well.
At the start of chapter 2 of his letter, John had shared this comfort: My children, I write these things to you so that you will not sin. If anyone does sin, we have an Advocate before the Father: Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the whole world (1 John 2:1-2). John is intimately focused on the life of Christians, what it should look like, and what spirit should flow through it and motivate it. But John never loses track of the reason for that life: Jesus as the sacrifice for all sin.
It’s easy to get wrapped up in basic truths of right and wrong. We’re generally programmed to want rules to follow. But it’s much more difficult for us to keep track of the why we should do what we’re doing.
Even the very theme of this sermon, “Love God, Not the World” is able to be applied without the right motivation. “Right, I should love God because otherwise he’ll be mad at me. I shouldn’t love the world because I’ll be in trouble.”
What is the motivation that John gives us for loving God instead of the things in the world? Jesus! Look at how he loves you. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Jesus made atonement for us, that is, he offered himself to cover over our sins and put us “at one” with God again. Though sin had separated us from God, Jesus solved that problem. He restored us to children in God’s family yet again. Though we had been been destined for hell, Jesus’ death in our place saved us and made us right with God!
And that’s the motivation for serving God. Not because it’s right, not because we’ll be in trouble if we don’t, but because he has so loved us, how can we do anything else? How could we let sin reign in us? How could we possibly not devote every breath, every moment to the one who was crucified, died, buried, and rose from the dead on the third day? How could we ever do anything wrong ever again?
How can we not?
I look at my life and I am disgusted. Here I am, a redeemed and forgiven child of God, and how do I behave? Where are the thoughts of my heart? Here I am, a called servant of Christ, called to be your pastor and serve you with God’s Word, and what is my attitude? Where does my energy go? Here I am, called by God to be husband and father, devoted to my family and dedicated to their well-being—is there ever a night that I can lay my head on the pillow and think, “Finally, today, I didn’t fall flat on my face in those responsibilities?”
Maybe you share those thoughts. I know we share the same struggle with sin because this is what it means to be a human being in this world. Martin Luther called Christians at the same time both saint and sinner, and how true that is. I know my Savior, you know heaven stands waiting for you, and yet how do we respond?
And John points us to a huge place that causes these problems for us. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, boasting about material possessions—is not from the Father but from the world. How much time did you spend thinking about eternal life this week? How much time did you spend being grateful for your forgiveness? Or did the things around you crowd it out this week? Were the pressures at home or work so much that God’s work drifted from your mind? Were you so enamored with a sporting event, or TV show, or any other form of entertainment that is pushed thoughts of what God had done away from you and took that priority place in your life? Does a dedication to earthly wealth and treasures and toys make it difficult to focus on what lies beyond this life?
You saw the serious distraction that the things in the world was to the ruler Jesus spoke to in our Gospel. He felt he had flawlessly kept God’s law from beginning to end. Of course, that was a delusion of his own making, but Jesus went along with it. “Oh, you’ve kept all the laws. Ok, great. Well, then, there’s only one more thing to do: give away all of your stuff and then you will be welcomed into heaven.” Of course, Jesus isn’t saying that we cannot have possessions and be saved. What he was showing this man was that he actually wasn’t perfect as he thought—he loved the things in the world more than he loved God, or perhaps even more accurately, he love the things in the world instead of God, because Jesus told us last month that no one can serve two masters (Luke 16:13).
Loving God will likely mean sacrifice of the things of the world. We can’t be wholly dedicated to the fun and pleasure of life here and wholly dedicated to God. But we need God’s help understanding what our priorities should be. Do you more carefully consider the purchase of a home or lunch? Hopefully the home, right? Because it will, ideally, last for a really long time. Where as lunch, if you bought or made something bad, well, you’ll have another meal in just a few hours. It is passing and less important that the place you’ll live for several decades.
John reminds us: The world and its desires pass away, but the one who does the will of God remains forever. This life is temporary. The treasures and joys of this life are temporary. The stress and the struggles of this life are temporary. Don’t fall in the love with the fun things in this life. Don’t fall in love with fixing problems here.
That’s not to say you can’t enjoy this life or shouldn’t work to fix issues you see around you, but don’t let these things consume you wholly because they are not worth it. To give up eternity because you were so focused on the here and now is to lose your house because you were so focused on lunch—only much, much worse.
And lest we lose track of what we wanted to stay focused on, John reminds us: the one who does the will of God remains forever. But be careful—John is not espousing a works-righteousness here. He’s building off of what Jesus himself had said, as John recorded in his Gospel: “This is the work of God: that you believe in the one he sent” (John 6:29). Doing the will, the work, of God is not accomplishing some outward act. The work and will of God is trusting in Jesus as Savior.
And so that’s the reason that one doing the will of God remains forever, because that person is focused not on earthly blessings, but on eternal blessings. He’s focused not on the gifts for this life, but the gift of everlasting life. He’s focused not on earthly wealth, but on the treasure of the forgiveness of sins we have in Jesus.
Does that mean we are lacking anything? Perhaps from the viewpoint of the world, but we don’t really care about the world’s view because the world knows nothing of God’s love and forgiveness. We are not lacking for anything eternally. In the short term, we may not have everything we want or everything we dream about, but we know that God has promised daily bread to take care of our needs. But at God’s direction, we know that a life lived in thanksgiving to him is far more fulfilling than one in which we get all of the toys we want and all of our desires met.
And so, as we continue the path of this life, keep the focus on Jesus and what he’s done for you for eternity. Don’t let the shiny and the tempting of this life prevent you for holding your Savior up as prime importance. In the next few weeks, we’ll focus on the difficulty and joy of standing up for these truths as we live in these end times. May God keep us focused and faithful to him now and until the day he brings us home to himself. Amen.
