Beware

Matthew 6:24 ““No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

John doesn’t mean this in the sense that you should not love the people in the world but instead those things that are of the world that are not of God.

What does it mean to love the world? It means that you are seeking happiness and satisfaction in the wrong places. That where your love is places is in those things which God has revealed to us are good, right, and beautiful. And if you would rather have wordly happiness rather than godly joy than you have chosen the world over God. That our first and primary commitment in this world is to God and the things of God. If your life is filled with ungodly things, of things whose primary purpose is not to glorify God then it is for the love of the world. And it isn’t because God hates for us to have fun and to love life, but because these things are so utterly opposed to one another.

How many of you like movies about thieves? Like a movie where the main characters are robbing a bank, or they are going to steal someone’s money, or they are going after a precious piece of art or a large diamond. When you watch a movie from that perspective and you get to the end are you are like “yeah! I want to be a burglar. This looks awesome!” But to be a thief means stealing that which isn’t yours, it is to promote violence against those who stand in the way of what you want, it is lying and conning your way into receiving that which belongs to another. Everything that encompasses being a thief is the opposite of what God has called us to be. To love God is diametrically opposed to this. To love one is to not love the other.

But John doesn’t leave us wondering what it means to “love the world”, he gives us 3 things that encapsulate all that comes with loving the world.

Lust of the flesh

There are desires that come from within us that we want to “express”. Sexual desires, overeating, getting drunk, drugs.

Lust of the eyes

Sinful desired that come from what we see and would lead us to covet that thing which is not ours.

It is our heart and mind finding themselves captivated in a sinful way. The temptation to possess to take something that another person owns or is not our to take.

This can be sexual but it is also the desire to steal, the heart desire to pridefully want something even when it could hurt our family, doing whatever is necessary to get something at the expense of another person.

Pride of life

The world of life can be used to refer to possession. Stating pride in the things that we own or have.

This is boasting about things we possess and things we have done others may be jealous of. It is giving false value to the things of this world. Pride, prestige, power, position in society or with a group of people. It is looking at the value system of the world first and foremost.

It gives value to the things of this world rather than to godly things.

All that the world brings will pass away, but what God gives us never fades

Here is says that what we are seeking to gain is an imitation. Things that seem like great value to us but one day will be worthless.

It is desiring something that will go away over something that will never pass away. To seek the will of the father over the desires of the world.

It is to resist the things that so easily capture our attention.

This is avoiding the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of possession. It is loving others as much as yourself. It is loving God and what He has called us to do. It is wanting to enjoy something forever rather than just for a moment. See often we think of heaven as living forever and ever. Which is true. But is it more than that, it is the absence of time because we will be outside of it. Think about it this way. In the world we live we go through moments of joy like Thanksgiving, Christmas, our birthday, vacations, etc. And in between are the things we don’t enjoy. Schoolwork, a breakup, getting grounded, feeling sick, depression, etc. But remaining with God forever is like feeling all of the joys of Thanksgiving, Christmas, your birthday and all the other great things at the same time forever without any of the negatives. They all exist within the same moment but that moment lasts forever. But without God we just fell all those negative feelings “I’m not good enough”, “I’m afraid”, “I’m tired”. But that is because we choose these “lusts” over God. We choose these things that can’t satisfy and won’t satisfy over the one who can bring us joy forever.

Related Media

Related Sermons