Eternal?

It's so good to be with you. This morning we're continuing our series in 1 John.

It has been a great series so far. We've learned so much.

Today we're just going to look at three verses and yet they are such incredible verses that speak so much to us

where we are as individuals, where we are as a society and a real reorientation about what it will all mean in the end.

John writes this letter of 1 John to a congregation of people that are unsettled.

And they're unsettled because a number of people from among them have gone out.

They've left. They've claimed they're superior in spirituality.

They've said, well, we're Premier League and you that remain are like the Vanarama Football Conference.

We are far better than you.

And therefore we need to go in alone if you're not going to stunt our progress.

So John writes this letter to those who remain to reassure them,

to say they aren't living some sub-pseudo-Christianity.

They're not living some shadowy existence.

But they are the real deal.

In the first part of his letter he's told them four big things.

Here's the first.

That fellowship with God and his son Jesus Christ is exclusively through the apostolic gospel.

Fellowship with God the Father and Jesus Christ his son is exclusively through the apostolic gospel.

It is by believing the authoritative account recorded and transmitted by those who saw, heard, touched and looked upon Jesus.

Those that were uniquely empowered by the Holy Spirit to write it all down.

That it is by believing that message that we have fellowship with God and Jesus Christ his son.

Secondly, John has said that the summation of the apostolic message,

this is the message that we proclaim to you.

God is light.

In him, darkness, no, not at all.

That's what he says, that God is light.

Speaking about God's absolute purity.

And the clarity of his revelation that God in Jesus Christ has fully disclosed himself.

There's no grey areas.

There's no small print.

And then he went on to say that in the church, sin is exclusively cleansed, purified, propitiated, advocated for and atoned for by Jesus Christ.

Any spirituality that says sin isn't the problem and Jesus isn't the answer is a false spirituality.

And it seems that's exactly what these splinter church is claiming.

And so John is very clear.

He says they're liars.

They're lying.

And they're making God out to be a liar.

And then last week with Graham, he was laying out for us that the gospel has necessarily a horizontal dimension.

That the fact you're a real deal is seen not in just your love for God, but in your love for the brothers.

You therefore know you're the real deal.

You really know the God who is light if you are in the apostolic gospel, dependent constantly on Jesus' forgiveness and loving your brothers and sisters in obedience to God's command.

He finishes the first part of the letter saying to them that they really have got it.

He writes twice to three groups of people.

I am writing to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven.

He says you do know God.

You have overcome the evil one.

And the word of God lives in you.

You've really got it.

You're the real deal.

Don't doubt that if you've got Jesus, you've got everything.

And so in part one, John was making the truth really big.

And now as we enter part two, he's going to hone in and get the false teachers in his crosshairs and start to tackle them on what they're saying.

Start to undo all the promises and claims that they're making.

And also the tone of the letter changes.

In the first half of the letter, John is saying it's like this.

And it's like this.

And you are this.

In part two of the letter, there's a lot of imperatives.

You must now do this.

On account of that, do this.

He gives them lots of commands.

Let what you heard from the beginning remain in you.

Do not let anyone lead you astray.

Love not with words or speech, but with actions and in truth.

Do not believe every spirit, but test.

The spirits keep yourselves from idols.

They're all commands from John.

And the first imperative in the letter is in our passage this morning.

So if you could turn to 1 John, chapter 2, verses 15 to 17.

1 John 2:15–17

I'll put it on the screen for you as well.

John writes this.

Do not love the world or anything in the world.

If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.

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.

The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

Let's pray and then we'll look at this together.

O to grace how great a debt a daily we're constrained to be.

Let your goodness, like a fetter, bind our wandering hearts to thee.

Prone to wander, Lord, we feel it.

Prone to leave the God we love.

So here are our hearts.

O take and seal them.

Seal them for your courts above.

We pray these in Jesus' name, for his sake and for his glory alone.

Amen.

Detail really matters.

Detail matters.

Specifics are important.

From the quantity surveyor to the contract lawyer to the fine artist to the civil engineer.

Details are important.

We have the phrase, don't we, God is in the detail.

Suggesting that it is in paying attention to the small things that brings great rewards.

So I was preaching at a different church last Sunday night and I went on a little bit long.

It's good to know that I keep my form at away games as well as home games.

And by the time I got to the door to shake people's hands and say goodbye, I was thirsty.

I needed coffee so badly.

So I stood there, you know, nice to see you.

God bless.

See you.

And this little woman, who I think was an angel in disguise, came and said, please could I get you a drink?

And I went, that would be lovely.

Please could I have a strong coffee, splash of milk, no sugar.

Perfect.

Two minutes later, she arrived with a styrofoam cup in a plastic holder.

Passed it to me.

I took a gulp without even looking what was in.

And what was in there was the milkiest, sugariest tea you've ever imagined.

So this morning when Karen said to me, can I get you a drink?

And I said, strong coffee, dash of milk.

And it turned up perfectly.

I thought there really is no place like home.

Detail is really important.

Or the couple who wanted a Bible verse on their wedding cake.

And so they went to the bakery, ordered a three-tier cake and requested it to be iced with 1 John 4, verse 18.

1 John 4:18

Which says, there is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear.

Unfortunately, the baker, failing to pay attention to the detail, simply wrote John 4, verse 18.

John 4:18

So on their wedding day, to their horror, they were presented with a cake upon which in beautiful writing was written,

the fact is you have had five husbands.

And the man you now have is not your husband.

What you say is quite true.

Detail is very important.

Paying attention really does pay dividends in the end.

And so when we come to 1 John, chapter 2, verses 15 to 17, every detail is important.

1 John 2:15–17

Though it is only three verses, it is jam-packed with truth that we need to hear.

And the first thing we need to hear is what does John mean by the world?

What does he mean by the world?

When he says, do not love the world, does that mean you can't stand in front of a Rembrandt and say, that's lovely?

Is that what he means?

Is it that after you have a really nice slice of marmalade toast, you can't say,

mmm, I really enjoyed that because that was worldly?

What does he mean?

And so much for our world, isn't it?

Our world is very worldly.

It would seem that John is calling the world these people that have left.

These people that are obviously quite prosperous.

And it would be very easy, wouldn't it, as those who remain to look at a church full of very affluent, prosperous people and go, they've really got it.

God is really blessing them.

So John writes this passage not to just address worldliness but to help those that remain.

Still so relevant in our day, isn't it?

Where so many would dress materialism up as the gospel.

Claiming temporal prosperity as a divine right.

Flaunting wealth as a mark of spiritual blessing.

Sowing seeds in order that investment might reap a mighty harvest in this life.

And yet closer to home, it's very easy for us, isn't it?

We've got a world that flaunts to us very lovely things.

And it's so easy as we go out into that world on Monday to listen to those lies.

And to start being enticed and enamored by the things of the world.

So John structures this very clearly.

He gives us a command.

He then gives us three reasons and one final incentive.

So let's look at the command.

It's pretty simple.

Do not love the world.

Do not love the world.

And immediately we have to discern what does John mean by the world?

What is it that we're not to love?

Well, John uses the word world in a great number of different ways in his writing.

So he says the world was made by God through the agency of his word.

He says that the world was loved by God in sending his son Jesus.

He says that the world is the object of God's saving purpose.

He claims that Jesus is the light of the world.

He says Jesus is the savior of the world.

He says Jesus is the propitiation for the world's sins.

He says Jesus is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

He seems to paint the word world in a very positive light.

But he also uses the world to describe those outside of Christ,

lost in sin, wholly at odds with anything divine or pleasing to God.

So it is the world, one John, that lies in the grip of the evil one.

It is the world that is orientated against God.

When Jesus came into the world, the world did not recognize him.

The world doesn't recognize his followers either.

The world, in fact, hates those who follow Jesus, just as it hated Jesus himself.

So in places like John 8, verse 23, where Jesus is being questioned about his identity,

John 8:23

he says this,

You are from below, I am from above.

You are of this world, I am not of this world.

So in context, John is warning his readers against love for this world.

Love for the world that is the godless world, a world conformed against God, bereft of knowledge of God,

an idol-ridden, rebellious, disobedient, self-indulgent, unregenerate world, and all its trappings.

A diabolical world orientated against God and inhabited without reference to God.

He says,

Do not love the world, the world that seeks to airbrush God out, that exchanges the truth about God for a lie,

and lives like God doesn't exist, a foolish world.

Having started to understand definition, our immediate response,

Do not love the world, is why shouldn't I love the world?

And what does the world look like in my own life?

Well, that's what John is going to go on to tell us.

He gives us three compelling reasons why loving the world is foolish, fatuous, and futile.

So here's the first.

In verse 15b,

If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.

Love for the world is opposed to love for the Father.

John is saying they are totally incongruent.

You cannot love the world and love the Father.

They are mutually exclusive.

They are antithetical.

If you're loving the world, you cannot be loving the Father.

It is impossible.

Thomas Chalmers, that famous Scottish preacher, wrote,

The love of God and the love of the world are two affections,

not merely in a state of rivalship, but in a state of enmity.

And that's so irreconcilable that they cannot dwell together in the same bosom.

It's also classic.

Jesus, not just Chalmers.

No one, not even you, can serve two masters.

Either you will hate the one and love the other,

or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve both God and money.

You cannot serve both God and the world.

You cannot be one who glorifies God by enjoying Him forever,

whilst at the same time seeking pleasure, meaning, and worth from stuff.

It is impossible, says John.

Loving the world and what it offers,

clinging to and craving something that isn't God,

is diagnostic that love for the Father is absent from your life.

Love for the world is diametrically opposed to love for the Father,

incongruent, antithetical, incompatible.

It is chalk and cheese, hips and hearts.

They cannot both coexist together.

Do not love the world, says John,

because if you do, you cannot be loving the Father.

It's very real, isn't it?

It's very binary,

because we all think we can.

We can have a slice of God and a slice of the world,

and that'll do us.

Second reason John gives us that we shouldn't love the world

is that everything in the world comes from the world,

not from the Father.

That it originates in the world.

Just read verse 16 with me.

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.

He helps us, doesn't he?

Tell us what love for the world looks like.

He gives us three things.

The lust of the flesh.

Those internal desires that well up inside us.

The cravings of the sinful, selfish self.

Pleasure, indulgence, status, respect, laziness.

I don't want to do any work today.

Gluttony.

I deserve all this stuff.

The selfish desires that make it all about us.

That self-serving, self-obsessed, self-seeking,

selfish streak that's in all of us.

That narcissistic trait we're prone to,

where we think no one loves me

quite as much as me.

The lust of the flesh,

those internal desires that well up in our hearts,

from which evil flows.

A world where beauty is devoid of goodness,

where pleasure is devoid of joy,

where identity is devoid of God,

and where worship is turned inward to ourselves.

Lust of the flesh is where worldliness originates from.

Secondly, we get the lust of the eyes.

That's not our internal cravings,

but our external covetings.

Not the wandering heart,

but the wandering eyes.

The eye seeing and the heart responding,

I need that.

I must have that.

I deserve that.

All the language of idolatry.

Eye seeking things first,

not the kingdom of God.

The desire to acquire.

I'll have one of those,

one of those,

one of those,

two of those,

because I'm worth it.

And it's fueled in our world by advertising,

enforced by materialism,

stoked by superficiality,

and spurred on by this inward desire,

we have to keep up with the Joneses,

who always seem to be running faster than we are.

Jesus again,

at the beginning of the parable of the rich fool.

Watch out.

Be on your guard against all kinds of greed.

Life,

real life,

true life,

does not consist in an abundance

of possessions.

It's the snare of our world.

You are what you drive.

You are what you eat.

You are what you make your phone calls on.

You are the make of shirt

that you adorn to your work on Monday morning.

A snare we all entangle ourselves in all the time.

It's the lies of the world penetrate into our lives.

Desires that do not originate from God,

but from the world and end

in the accumulation of stuff,

the lust of the eyes.

And thirdly,

the pride of life.

The emotional response to the previous two.

So when you get new things,

what do you want to do with them?

Well,

you want to show them to people,

don't you?

I certainly do.

The new Amazon package arrives in the office.

Undo it.

Hey,

Graham.

Guess what I got?

That's the natural response.

The pride of life.

C.H.

Dodd in his new English Bible,

he translates the pride of life

as the arrogance produced

by material possessions.

A foolish fanaticism

with replacing God

as the focus

and the source of all joy

with stuff.

Our hardwired hearts

that readily become idol factories

and latch onto things

and find our status,

our worth,

our identity from them.

Our short-sightedness

that adjusts our field of vision

to this world only

and not to the world that come.

All these are wrong.

The lust of the eyes,

the lust of the flesh,

and the pride of life.

Why?

Because they don't originate

in a good God,

but they originate

in a fallen world.

John says,

don't love the world

because love for the world

stems and flows

from worldliness,

not from God.

Don't love the world

because you can't love God

and the world.

Don't love the world

because love for the world

originates in the world.

And the third reason

he gives us is this.

The world and its desires

are passing away.

It won't last.

It's not going to survive.

We observe this

in our lives all the time.

That the stuff we buy

doesn't last as long as we want.

So in 2010,

I got my first iPhone,

the iPhone 3S.

I was really excited about it.

I thought finally

my life would be complete.

Then in September 2010,

they bought out the iPhone 4

and I couldn't even look

at my 3S anymore.

But I thought,

you've done this to me before,

Steve Jobs.

I'm going to wait.

So I waited a whole year

and got the iPhone 5.

And then,

the iPhone 6 came out

and again,

couldn't even look at it.

And so I just got a new phone,

the 6 Plus,

which is nice and big

so I can show it off

to everyone.

And I quite like it.

It's not completing my life

in the way that they promise.

But do you know what?

I don't even know

what's happened

to my iPhone 3S.

I dare say

it's in a rubbish

heap somewhere in India.

But at the time,

it was everything to me.

I had apps for everything

and isn't that the nature

of all worldliness?

That we save

and we think

and it's this one

and now I'm complete

and then it's gone

and it's passed away.

Everything is on a downward spiral

to devaluing.

It will not last.

The world

is passing away.

New cars

hastily devalued,

new houses

perpetually running down,

holidays consigned

to the Facebook album,

meals quickly digested,

gadgets superseded,

clothes rapidly worn out,

wealth consistently eroded.

Time is passing

and as time passes,

stuff passes away.

The world is

passing away.

We strive for it.

We finally acquire it.

It's quickly defunct

and eventually dumped.

That's the way of the world.

It is

passing away.

The temporal nature

of this life

makes investing

our lives in it

a bad move.

Again,

classic Jesus.

It's almost like

John and Jesus

hung out all the time

and it was

John who actually saw

and actually touched

and actually looked upon

and actually heard

Jesus

because it's classic

Jesus all the time.

Do not accumulate

for yourselves

treasures on earth

where moth and rust

destroy

and where thieves

break in and steal.

But store up

for yourselves

treasures in heaven

where moth and rust

do not destroy.

And where thieves

do not break in and steal.

For where your treasure is

there your heart

will be also.

What does Jesus say

at the end

of the parable

of the rich fall?

What does it profit

a man to gain

the whole world

yet forfeit his soul

and the answer is nothing

because the world

passes away?

All this stuff.

iPhones, cars,

houses,

suits,

the end of the day

are just going to be

moths and rust

if they last that long.

If not,

they'll be stolen.

That's what John is saying.

Loving the world

is futile

because the world

is passing away.

So John says this.

Do not love the world

or anything in the world

because it's supposed

to love for the Father.

It originates not

from the Father

but from the world.

And its outcome is

that the world ends

and then you've got nothing.

But I think this is where

John's final point

is so important

because he gives us

an incentive.

We cannot simply

avert our eyes

from adverts,

put a filter

on our Amazon account

and set up

rigorous austerity measures

in our spending.

They might tackle

the symptoms

of worldliness

but they will not

tackle the heart issue.

May alter our behaviour

but won't alter our being.

It may change

the manifestation

of our wants

but it will not

quell them

from inside us.

So I read this great rhyme

from the deep south

about worldliness.

It says this.

If you want to tackle

worldliness

do not drink

or smoke

or swear

or chew

and don't go out

with girls who do.

It's just a sticking plaster

isn't it?

It's just

dealing with the behaviour.

That's why John's

final incentive

is so helpful.

He says this.

Whoever does

the will of God

will live

forever.

If you weigh up

what the world

is offering

foolishness

futility

fatuousness

short life

and you add up

what God is offering

there's eternal life

doing the will of God

and loving

loving God

is synonymous

in John.

Whoever loves me

will keep my commands.

If you love me

you'll do what I say.

He's saying the same thing

but whoever loves God

most

will live forever.

whoever

if you keep my commands

you will remain

in my love.

Whoever

has my commands

and keeps them

is the one

who loves me.

The way to disengage

from the world

is to love God

most.

As the chorus

says

turn your eyes

upon Jesus

look full

in his wonderful face

and the things

of earth

will grow

strangely dim

in the light

of his glory

as grace.

So Chalmers

again

says this

the way to disengage

the heart

from the positive

love of one

great

and ascendant

object

is to fasten

it in positive

love to another.

Then it is not

by exposing

the worthlessness

of the former

but by addressing

to the mental eye

the worth and excellence

of the latter

that all old things

are to be done away with

and all things

are to become new.

We affirm

how impossible

it is for our hearts

through any innate

elasticity

of their own

to cast the world

away and thus

reduce itself

to a wilderness.

The heart

is not so

constituted

and the only way

to dispossess it

of an old affection

is by the

expulsive power

of a new one.

Thomas Chalmers

is saying

that the way

to love the world

less is to love

God more.

When God

takes his rightful

place

the things

that we have

and the objects

we own

find their

rightful place.

We must see

that clinging

to God

loving God

and obeying

and fulfilling

God's will

is the way

to supplant

our tendency

to love the world

and to loosen

the grip

of the world

and the things

of the world

on our fickle hearts.

If you are prone

to worldliness

what's the antidote?

Love for God.

That we might say

with the psalmist

who have I in heaven

but you

and on earth

there is nothing

that I desire

besides you.

And so the big

message is

do not love

the world

do the will

of the Father.

Do not love

the world

love God

because it pays

a far more

eternal dividend.

So how do we do it?

Well I want to give you

a mnemonic

to finish

and the mnemonic

is tag

and I think

it works

with worldliness

because of things

like price tags.

So when we look

at a price tag

remember the word

tag

and the words

tag

are to remind us

of these three things.

So when we interact

with things of the world

be thankful.

Have a thankfulness

within you

that God

you are the source

of all good gifts

and I thank you so much

for providing this

for me.

All good and perfect gifts

come from

the Father of lights

who does not change

like shifting sand.

If we can orientate

our hearts

not to worship things

but to worship

the giver of all things

that will build

a far more healthy

attitude to the world.

Thankfulness

first one.

Adoration.

Cultivate your devotional life.

Love God

most.

Love God most.

Read his words.

Spend time in prayer.

All these things

to fuel our hearts

with love for God.

And as our hearts

are as full as an egg

with love for God

we'll find that

worldliness has no room

to creep in.

I read this book.

This has been the best book

except for the Bible

that I have ever read.

It is unbelievable.

It will do so much

to stoke the affections

of your heart

towards God.

And so

I managed to get them

for two pounds each

so buy them on the way out

and I think you'll find

that affection

and adoration for God

will be fueled.

Lastly,

G.

Generosity.

Use your material possessions,

money and resources

to show that

they're not your God.

They're not your treasure

but Jesus is.

Hold your things loosely

so you're prepared

to use them

to further God's kingdom.

There is nothing wrong

with having a nice house

but to think

how can I use this generously

in order to have people

around for a dinner

to cultivate fellowship

to encourage them

in their Christian life.

There's nothing wrong

with having nice things

as long as we don't

cling to them

so much

that we think

we could never do

without them.

And how can we practice

doing without them

by being generous

with them

and lending them

and using them

to further God's kingdom

showing that

He is our treasure.

Let me finish

by telling you

the story of J.P. Morgan.

J.P. Morgan

was the first

billionaire in the world.

He had a ridiculous

amount of money

and this is what he writes

at the beginning

of his will.

Before he carves up

his estate

and gives it

to his children

he writes this

Article 1

J.P. Morgan's will

I commit my soul

into the hands

of my Saviour

in full confidence

that Him

having redeemed it

and washed it

in His most precious blood

He will present me

faultless

before the throne

of my Father.

That's a great attitude

isn't it

for a man

who had so much?

He said

I count it all rubbish

because the first thing

I want to tell you about

is that Jesus

is my treasure

and because of Him

I'll stand before God

blameless.

Don't love the world.

You can't love God

and the world.

Love for the world

originates in the world

and the world

is passing away.

But if you love God

you'll live

forever.

It's a no-brainer.

So let's pray.

You have searched me Lord

and you know me.

You know when I sit

and when I rise

you perceive my thoughts

from afar.

You discern my going out

and my lying down.

You are familiar

with all my ways.

Before a word

is on my tongue

you Lord

know it completely.

You hem me in

behind and before

and lay your hand

upon me.

Such knowledge

is too wonderful

too lofty

for me to attain.

And so we pray

search me God

and know my heart

test me

and know my anxious

thoughts.

See if there are

any worldly ways

in me

and lead me

in the way

everlasting.

Amen.