Fellowship with God Part 5
Fellowship with God Part 5
1 John 1:15: 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.
· This is John’s final word about fellowship with God.
· John deals with the greatest threat to our fellowship with God and growing into maturity: It is the world and its pleasures.
· I think it’s important to understand that John is saying there is something very dangerous about the world for the Christian.
· So he warns us to, “not to love the world” or the “things that are in the world.” Two things; don’t love the world itself and don’t love the things in the world.
· John is not talking about the physical world; the world of nature. God has given us the world of trees, mountains, rivers, lakes and the sea to enjoy. There’s nothing wrong with that world.
· And he is not talking about the world of humanity, its people, and its customs. We know that because, “God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”
· But there is a world that we are not to love and John expects us to know what that is. Jesus defines it for us:
John 15:18-19: “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
· Here’s the world Jesus talks about. It’s the world that hates Jesus Christ.
· Who were they? They were mostly religious people. This is a religious world that hated Jesus, and a secular world that was indifferent to Him.
· And Jesus tells us that “the world also hates us.”
· The world wants compromise from us, but it will never be enough.
· Compromise will never make the world love you, therefore we should seek the love that comes only from God.
Ø John 5:44: How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?
· Jesus constantly challenged the basic philosophy of this world, because it is centered only in this life and this world.
· This philosophy has two ends; the cradle and the grave, and focuses completely on the in between. We focus beyond the grave.
· It was basically this philosophy that nailed Jesus to the cross, because it says that the only thing that is important is this life—is it not the same today? The world says eat drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.
· This philosophy is in everything—advertising, radio, music, television, and the internet.
· But John says we shouldn’t have this philosophy, and if you do you will lose out on the fullness of the Christian experience. And here’s why:
· You will be deceived, and you will be trapped and “deluded by the devil” just as Adam and Eve were.
· So where does the battle begin? The battle begins with “the things that are in the world.”
1 John 2:16: For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.
· The same techniques that the devil used on Eve in the Garden of Eden, he uses on us today.
· These temptations broke the fellowship that Adam and Eve had with God and they will break the fellowship that we have with God too.
· John says that we must reject these actions if we want fellowship with the Father. Let’s go back and see this:
Genesis 3:2-6: And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
Ø The lust of the flesh: The flesh in scripture usually means something other than the body, usually our sin nature which is in the body. God gave us desires, urges, and hungers that we must satisfy to live and multiply.
· We hunger for food to eat and live. We need shelter from the elements, and we desire sex to multiply our species. These things are natural to us, but there is a difference between hunger and appetite. Hunger is physical, our appetites relate to desires or lusts.
· The devil tempted Adam and Eve through their appetites and they ate the fruit, choosing it above their relationship with God. This was the result of giving in to lust of the flesh.
· The flesh always wants to add something to these natural urges, it goes beyond the things necessary to maintain life. We want the finest delicacies to eat, we want luxurious places to live, and the pleasure of sex necessary to produce children becomes something to indulge ourselves in lust.
Ø The lust of the eyes: Adam and Eve were tempted by desiring that which would harm them because it looked pleasurable. This was the lust of the eyes.
· It’s about the things we see that we want to acquire for ourselves and make them MINE! We want more and more. We want to keep up with the Joneses. We like to stand out above the rest… and make them jealous. Auto manufacturers are very good at using the lust of the eyes to get us to buy things we don’t need to impress people who don’t care.
Ø The pride of life: Adam and Eve were tempted to be their own “god.” They could do things their “own way” instead of relying on God. When the serpent said they would be like God if they ate the fruit, this was the pride of life.
· John does not get legalistic about these things because we must use the things of this world, but John is telling us not to love these things. Do not set your hearts on them, do not try to acquire these things, do not love the luxury of these things, and do not try to outshine others.
· If we love these things, our hearts become focused on them and we are in major danger because it will affect all of our choices towards worldly things instead of Godly things.
· Why? Because these are the devil’s tools. Here’s how we fight the devil:
James 4:7-8: Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
· Let’s see Jesus do this when the devil tries to do the same thing to Jesus that he did to Adam and Eve.
Matthew 4:1-4: Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. 3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’
· Here, Jesus was tempted to sin against God by pursuing worldly things rather than God.
· He was tempted by the devil to meet His own physical needs, the lust of the flesh, and He was tempted to turn the stones into bread…instead of doing things God’s way
Matthew 4:5-7: Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ” 7 Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ”
· Next, Jesus was tempted to do something spectacular by throwing Himself off the temple and having His angels rescue Him…Instead of doing things God’s way.
· He could “show everyone” who He really was… the lust of the eyes.
Matthew 4:8-10: Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”
· Finally, Jesus was tempted to receive all the kingdoms of the world if He worshiped Satan; this is idol worship and the pride of life.
· He could avoid the cross…instead of doing things God’s way!
· Jesus always used the word of God as the sword of the Spirit!
· And it worked for Him and it will work for you.
Matthew 6:24: “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
· We were created to love and to serve one master; our God.
· Therefore, our love for the world and our love for our God are mutually exclusive. If you love one you will hate the other.
· We were made to be mastered by something greater than ourselves. Therefore, our master is either the world and the darkness of the evil one, or our God. That is always the choice
· That’s why John says, “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
· There are two powerful forces constantly making their appeal to us.
· Both of them offer to fulfill us, to satisfy us and make our lives richer in the process. But one is a lie and the other it the truth.
· You cannot do both.
· One… we can see the desire for things with our eyes, and the other we must see through the eyes of our faith.
· Unfortunately there are many Christians who want to have both, but the scriptures say that is impossible therefore we walk in darkness and cannot walk in the light of the fellowship of our God.
1 John 2:17: And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
· This is another reason we are not to love the things of this world, not only does it exclude the love of God, but it is a foolish choice because this world is passing away.
· This world is temporary, “but he who does the will of God abides forever.” Abiding and fellowship are similar concepts.
· Martin Luther once wrote: “I have held many things in my hands and have lost them all. But the things I have placed in God’s hands I still possess.”
· How true that is. Nothing lasts very long. It all decays and fades away. That is the way of this world.
· Should we give ourselves to those temporary things? Should we build our lives on that kind of shaky foundation? Or should we build our foundation on the Rock?
Colossians 1:19-20: For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.
· This is God’s ultimate plan… reconciling all things to Himself.
· One of these days the world and all that we see in it shall pass away into the dust of the centuries.
· But according to the scriptures one day the Lord will stand with His own and view a universe where everything has been brought together in Jesus Christ.
· What an incredible day that shall be and we will be able to say, “I had a part in that!”
Luke 11:23: He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.
· Jesus narrows everything down to two words, are you gathering or scattering? Are you uniting and reconciling, or dividing and scattering?
· John says if you are living for the world, loving its glory, and seeking its fame and riches, and clinging to them desperately, you are scattering and dividing.
· But if you are walking with Christ and if the things that are important to Him are important to you, and giving a cup of cold water in His name is more important to you than putting another dollar in the bank, then you are gathering.
· You are laying up treasures in heaven.
Matthew 16:25-27: For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.
· He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.