1 John 2:15-17 - Our Relationship With God And The World.
1 John 2:15-17 - Our Relationship With God And The World.
1 John 2:15-17 (NIV) Do not love the world or anything in the
world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the
lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not
from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass
away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
1 John 2:15-17 (NLT) Stop loving this evil world and all that it
offers you, for when you love the world, you show that you do not have
the love of the Father in you. 16 For the world offers only the lust
for physical pleasure, the lust for everything we see, and pride in
our possessions. These are not from the Father. They are from this
evil world. 17 And this world is fading away, along with everything
it craves. But if you do the will of God, you will live forever.
1 John 2:15-17 (CWR) Don't love the world. If anyone loves the
world, the love of the Father is no longer in him. 16 The evil things
of this world such as the cravings of our sinful human natures, the
lusting of our eyes and the boasting of what we have do not come from
the Father but from the world. 17 This world is passing away, but
those who do the will of God will live forever.
WORD STUDY
World: Not the world of people (Jn 3:16) or the created world
(Jn 17:24), but the world, or realm, of sin (v. 16; Jas 4:4), which
is controlled by Satan and organized against God and righteousness.
[NIV SB]
COMMENTARY
We can't love the world - its values and systems and purposes -
and love God at the same time. Clearly we should love the world in
the same sense God does (see John 3:16), with compassion for all its
people. But "the world" as John means it - with its fallen, corrupt ways
and lack of dependence on God - is passing away along with all of
its self-absorbed agendas. Many Christians try to live with one foot
in the world and one foot in the kingdom, investing their loyalties
in both and seeking fulfillment from both. Our role as we live in
this world is to impact it without being influenced by its ways. We
are to be devoted only to God and influenced only by God. [NIV Once
A Day Bible]
Some people think that worldliness is defined by what we do -
the people we associate with, the places we go, the activities we
enjoy. But worldliness can be hidden internally because it begins in
the heart. Three attitudes can help us identify it: first, craving
for physical pleasure - preoccupation with gratifying physical
desires; second, craving for everything we see - coveting and
accumulating things, bowing to the god of materialism; and third, pride in
our achievements and possessions - obsession with one's status or
importance. When the serpent tempted Eve (Genesis 3:6), he tempted her in
these areas. Also, when the devil tempted Jesus in the wilderness,
these were his three areas of attack (see Matthew 4:1-11).
By contrast, God values self-control, generosity, and humble
service. We may avoid worldly pleasures in our activities while still
desiring them in our hearts. Conversely, we can love sinners and spend
time with them like Jesus did while maintaining a commitment to the
values of God's Kingdom. What are you desiring in your heart? Ask God
to help you see the emptiness of worldly pleasures. [One Year NLT
SB]
You have to develop a taste for certain foods. Though some
people love it, liver, for example, gags many people on the first try.
It takes a commitment to continue eating this "delicacy" before you
can get over the initial taste shock.
Being a Christian involves an adjustment of appetites, John
writes. Love of the right things is an acquired taste, but worth every
bit of effort.
John's goal in this reading is to enlighten his readers. He
does this through a message about light and dark that tells a simple
truth: You can see where you are going when you walk in God's light.
Otherwise you are stumbling in the dark.
John instructed his readers to neither "love this world nor
the things it offers you" (1 John 2:15). He listed three appeals
that would drag believers down: "a craving for physical pleasure, a
craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and
possessions" (2:16). These pursuits would offer nothing of importance, and
they would all fade away. Only doing God's will would have any kind
of lasting effect.
To love the world and its treasures takes no effort at all -
we do it naturally. That is why God tells us not to love it. This
means that we must wean ourselves from it. We must set our sights on
doing God's will, and let the world's appeals fall away in importance.
All the acts you do for Christ's sake will have lasting value
- a changed life, an eternal reward, God's greater glory. Learn to
love and do what God loves. [The One Year Through the Bible
Devotional by Dave Veerman re 1 John 1:1-2:29]
When I look back on my life nowadays, which I sometimes do,
what strikes me forcibly about it is that what seemed at the time
most significant and seductive, seems now most futile and absurd. For
instance, success in all of its various guises; being known and being
praised; ostensible pleasures, like acquiring money or seducing women, or
traveling, going to and fro in the world and up and down in it like Satan,
exploring and experiencing whatever Vanity Fair has to offer.
In retrospect all these exercises in self-gratification seem
pure fantasy, what Pascal called "licking the earth." They are
diversions designed to distract our attention from the true purpose of our
existence in this world, which is, quite simply, to look for God, and, in
looking, to find Him, and having found Him, to love Him, thereby
establishing a harmonious relationship with His purposes for His creation.
Malcolm Muggeridge [Time With God SB]
My dearest child,
The world holds out to you a surface sort of happiness that
depends on favorable circumstances. But I hold out joy.
The world offers relationships fraught with hidden agendas
and self-serving motives. I offer love, gracious and unconditional.
The world holds out blame and shame and condemnation. I hold
out forgiveness and the road to a new beginning.
The world rewards you with addictions and compulsions and
momentary gratification. But I will fill you with peace that passes
understanding.
The world offers broken contracts, vows, and promises. I give
you my Word, that never changes.
The world runs hot and cold. One day you're valued and
respected; the next you're forgotten like yesterday's headlines. But my
character is love, and I am the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Oh, my child, do not fall in love with the world. It holds
out to you only an imitation of life. I hold out life, abundant and
free. Choose real life! Your God [Postcards from Heaven by Claire
Cloninger]
RELATED THOUGHT
Pilgrim's Progress is the classic tale of Christian's escape
from the City of Destruction to the Heavenly City. It is true to
experience because all of us can identify with his encounters along the
way. In the Valley of Humiliation he enters into combat with
Apollyon, his fiercest foe. At the Hill of Difficulty he meets
Adam-the-First and his three daughters: Lust-of-the-Flesh, Lust-of-the-Eyes and
Pride-of-Life. In the town of Folly he narrowly escapes its greatest
attraction, Vanity Fair. These encounters are John Bunyan's well-known
descriptions of the threefold arena of all Christian conflict - the world,
the flesh and the devil. They are the same three foes that appear
here in 1 John. [Quiet Time SB re 1 John 2:12-17]
LINK FOR FURTHER STUDY ON THIS PASSAGE:
http://www.abible.com/devotions/2006/20060605-0740.html
EXCELLENT VIDEO SERIES ON EXPERIENCING GOD:
http://sda.biggytv.com/watch/Revive!_-_Dwight_Nelson:_Experiencing_Gods_Grace/revive/
BIBLE PROPHECY SERIES ON REVELATION:
http://revelationtodaylive.com/live
LINKS FOR BIBLE STUDY GUIDES:
Lifting Up Jesus Bible Studies: http://www.liftingupjesus.net/
Amazing Facts Bible Guides:
http://www.amazingfacts.org/bible-study/bible-study-guides.aspx
Discover Bible Studies: http://studies.itiswritten.com/discover/
