WARNING AGAINST THE LOVE OF THE WORLD
WARNING AGAINST THE LOVE OF THE WORLD.
We are continuing with our teaching series on scriptural warnings this week, and today, I want to talk about this warning that God has given us, His children, against the love of this present world. Our text is 1 John 2:15-17 “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.”
Friendship of the world is enmity with God.
In all places where we see these warnings in the scriptures, right from the Old Testament times, there is no ambiguity of any kind as to what God was saying. It has always been very clear.
Godliness and worldliness can never go together. When we choose to love the world, we create enmity with God because our heart departs from the Lord completely. God warned the children of Israel against this in so many places in the Old Testament as they left Egypt. In fact, God warned them against making friends with the people around them and getting married to them. In Israel, it’s a capital sin to go and marry the ungodly people around them, anyone caught doing that is to be given the death penalty. For instance, we read below an account that took place when Moses led the Israelites from Egypt.
Numbers 25:1-3, 6-9
And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. And Israel joined himself unto Baal–peor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel… And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand; And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel. And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand.
Think of it, why is it so serious like this, why this grievous punishment? It’s very simple, when you join yourself to the ungodly and the worldly things of this life, you will surely forget God and depart from Him. That’s crossing the red line – God cannot take it. We were told in scriptures that Demas forsook Paul because of his love for this present world – it was so sad. Let us compare what Paul said about him in the book of Colossians 4:14, “Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you.” He was well spoken of here – a man profitable for ministry. Philemon 1:24 “Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, my fellow laborers”. Take note of my fellow laborer
but later, the story has changed. 2 Timothy 4:10 For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia. He started well, but he ended following after Worldliness
What are the things that constitute the love of this world?
- Love for sinful ways of life, which is the hallmark of worldly people.
- Love and crave for worldly things that gratify the flesh.
- Love and greed for material things and worldly possessions.
- Love and pursuit of everything that makes one depart from godliness
Why did God command us not to love the world?
- You become spiritually barren – you can’t be productive again for God
- You become an enemy of God – James 4:4
- You can no longer please God, Romans 8:5-8
- You become the target of the devil as you continue to give room for him to destroy you because you are now in his camp – John 10:10
- Your heart departs from following after God as you find it easy to renounce Him and go after idols, just like Solomon. 1 Kings 3:3 – Solomon started well, and he loved the Lord
1 Kings 11:1-9 – Here, Solomon started loving many strange women, and his heart went after idols until God was angry with him and departed from him.
Solomon is a very good example of someone who loved the world, and he paid dearly for it. He was a man of peace, but later became a man chased about by his enemies. It is God’s wisdom not to love the world.
Shalom!