WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO LOVE NOT THE WORLD?
Have you ever heard of the phrase “Love Not The World”? It is a phrase often quoted to people inside the church with the intention of them not being overtaken in worldly pleasures & desires. But the question is what does that look like? Well for starters let us clarify the definition of the word world as prescribe by the bible. The world can mean earth & physical universe, or it can also mean this humanistic system. The bible says that Satan is the god of this world. This indicates that he is the major influence on the ideals, opinions, goals, hopes, and views of the majority of people. Everything that’s in this evil system is made up in the matrix of three things, & they are
-THE LUST OF THE FLESH
-THE LUST OF THE EYE
-THE BOASTFUL PRIDE OF LIFE
These three areas are crucial to our understanding of how satan strategizes his attacks on individuals. And they have been the area of attacks used by him since The Garden of Eden. (More on that later) To back this up let’s take a look at the bible verses that support this truth. 1 John 2:15-17 states “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father[a] is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.” These verses are simply saying there are only three ways people are ensnared to carry out their sinful evil desires. But some people may ask how we are so easily enticed to sin against God and fall prey to these three sinful areas in life. Well, it’s because everyone in the world has been infected with a disease called sin. The bible gives us a clear case in the book of Genesis of how sin entered our world. Adam the first man in the world disobeyed God by eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. This one act of disobedience infected not only Adam but the entire human race with a sinful nature. This means sin rules every heart. It stains the soul and darkens man’s mind & makes him worst than an animal. Man’s mind, will, and affections are dominated by sin. I truly believe if it weren’t for God’s restraining power over sin, people would be scared to walk out their doors. Some people may think because they have never murdered, stolen, or rapped someone that they are essentially ok. But what we fail to realize is that we are all not as bad as we can be. But the ability to perform the most grotesque sin lives inside us.
To make this point a little more practical let's imagine for a moment that you’re watching your favorite program on television, and all of a sudden your show is interrupted with a major news alert saying the government and law enforcement have just passed a one day law that will allow people to get away with any crime they want to commit. After that announcement, I’m sure the level of crime would explode in a matter of seconds. And I think we would be shocked to discover how many of those crimes would be committed by law-abiding citizens. The point I’m trying to make is just because we don’t act on certain sins, doesn’t mean the ability to carry them out is not living inside of us if given the right opportunity. The reason I feel it’s important to know this is because contrary to some beliefs the devil does not make you sin. No. that ability lives inside each of us because of our sinful nature. The devil creates the environment that provokes the sin within us. So how does satan stoke the flames of the sin within us? The first way is The Lust of The Flesh – This happens when the evil outside of us attacks the evil inside of us. This is what you feel / impulse of the body. The Lust of The Eyes – This is simply what you see. The Boastful Pride of Life – This is the desire to better than everybody else. Any sin that’s ever committed will land somewhere in these three categories.
I mentioned earlier that Satan has been using this strategy since The Garden of Eden. So let’s go back to the book of Genesis to see how this strategy is played out. Genesis 3:1-6 states “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” 4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” So we can see satan’s goal is to get Eve to doubt God’s character and to think he (God) is restrictive. But the verse I want to draw your attention to is 6. I want to show these three categories within Eve’s temptation.
1.) The Lust of The Flesh – When the women saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food.
2.) The Lust of The eyes – And pleasing to the eye.
3.) The Boastful Pride of Life – And desirable for gaining wisdom.
These three categories deal with the physical, emotional, and intellectual parts of us. This is all that’s end the world and the system satan has created are opposed to God. Christians can’t love both God and the world. How you can monitor a professing Christian love for God, is in how he/she loves the world systems. Loving the world will cripple our spiritual growth. Not loving the world has the opposite effect we grow closer to God. When God truly regenerates a sinner they begin to have new desires. We are driven by the love of God. Not always perfectly, but we hate the system and the sin.