The Obediance Test (1 John 2:15-17)

From Saturday's Teen Discipleship, studying the tests of faith in 1 John

The more I read the New Testament, the more convinced I am that very early in the history of the church, a false teaching arose that claimed it didn’t matter how you lived, as long as you believed. In Romans 6 Paul wrote that some people taught that it didn’t matter whether or not we keep sinning, because we’re saved by grace alone. Paul calls these people condemned. We know that James says that faith is dead without works. We must have right belief in Jesus, but that’s not all we need. We need right living too. Right belief is confirmed by right living.

We see this in 1 John 2:15-17, read that with me.

John says is very clearly to start in verse 15. He’s not messing around, but he says ‘do not love the world.’ Now, you might think right away, well God loved the world, surely it’s ok for me to. In John 3:16, we’re talking about God’s love of the people in the world. In 1 John 2:15 we’re talking about the corrupt and sinful world system, or ethics, or philosophy. The world that will be condemned at the end of time, like we’re reading about in Revelation at the moment. This verse means, don’t love money, don’ty love success, don’t love pride. Don’t love the world or the things in the world.

Then John tells us why. If you love the world, then the love of the Father is not in you. Ouch! Spurgeon says that if there is no divorce between you and sin, there can be no union between you and Jesus. If you love the world, you don’t love Jesus. If you love the world, in all its sin, all it’s pride, all its opposition to God, you can’t love Jesus. But what’s this got to do with obedience? Well, John is saying that what you love will determine who you obey. If you love the world, and follow the world, and worship the world, then you’ll obey the world. You’ll go to the college with the best chance of getting a good qualification, regardless of how it helps you spiritually. You’ll date or marry based on how it looks to the world, or how your partner makes you fell, regardless of what their heart for God is like. If you love Jesus, if you believe in Him savingly, you’ll love Him, and obey Him. That’s the first reason we shouldn’t love the world, because the world is opposed to God, and you will not obey God if you love the world.

We see the second reason in verse 16. Because the desires of the world do not come from God. We need to follow God’s will, not the worlds will. Look how John describes the world in this verse. Full of wrong desire. Desires of the flesh, desires of the eyes, pride in possessions. We know what the desires of the flesh are. 1^st century Ephesus was an immoral city, and so is 21^st century Greenville. How amazingly patient and gracious is God that the sun rose over such an evil city this morning. The desires of the eyes and pride of possessions talk of a different sort of lust, lust for things, lust for money. All these things are the exact opposite of Godliness, purity and contentment. If you are lusting after the flesh, if you’re lusting after material things, you are not going to obey Jesus. You just won’t be able to. You obedience to God’s commands prove that you don’t love the world. Your obedience to the world’s commands prove that you don’t love Jesus. Good children obey their father, they’re not led astray by what looks pretty and tempting, but is ultimately deadly. So reason number one not to love the world is that it prevents us from loving the Father and obeying Him, and reason number two is that the world is totally opposed to God.  

We see the third reason in verse 17. Look at that with me. Again, John pulls no punches. Why should you obey God not the world? Because the world is dying. And so are the desires that go along with it. No materialistic pride in Heaven. No immorality in Heaven. No obeying the world in Heaven. It’s passing away. We need to remember this, this is something we need God to remind us of every day. The world doesn’t look like it’s passing away does it? It looks pretty permanent. Not only the buildings and the cities, but the ideas. We’re constantly being told by culture that we are moving forward, things are getting better and will continue to get better without end. No one in world leadership is focusing on the end of the world, and preparing their followers to be ready. But that’s what Jesus was always doing, and that’s what John is doing here. The world is not on an infinite cycle, it’s not an unstoppable machine, it has a definite end. And only one thing will last forever.

The children of God. Those who obey God, they live forever. Those who do what God does, those who love Him and obey Him not the world, they live forever. Not the great cities or ideas or institutions, people who obey God. It’s simple. This world will end. In the other one of John’s books that we’re looking at at the moment in Sunday School we see very clearly that there is a set time when Jesus will return and wrap up the world. Don’t build your life around what will be washed away. Don’t build your house on the sand, be the wise man, who builds his house on the rock, by obeying God’s Word.

So do you obey the world, or do you obey the world. Look at 5:1-3 with me as we finish up. ‘this is the love of God, that we obey His commandments.’ John is so tough and so straightforward. This is loving God, obeying Him. You can believe all the right things, but it doesn’t count for anything, it doesn’t matter at all, if what you claim you believe doesn’t prove itself with obedience to God. Like the kids song goes, ‘obedience is the very best way to show that you believe.’ It really is.