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“Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.” (1 John 2:15-17 NASB'95)
The word translated here as “love” is “agape,” which most often means to prefer what God prefers, and to choose his choices, and to obey them in his power. But in some cases it can mean simply “to love” and “to prefer,” which can also mean “to take pleasure in, to long for,” which I believe then fits with this passage of Scripture. For this is really about preferring the world over and above God, and taking pleasure in and longing for the world over God.
Now this is not talking about the people in the world, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believing in him will not perish but have life eternal in him (see John 3:16). So we are to love the people of the world, just not the things of the world – the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life. We are not to be worldly minded and we are not to be worldly in our words and behaviors.
But we are to be heavenly minded, godly, morally pure, upright, honest, faithful, and obedient to our Lord and to his commands. And we should be those who take pleasure in and who long for God – Father, Son Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit. And we should love (agape) our Lord, preferring to live through Christ and to obey his will through his power, rather than preferring the world and the sinful pleasures the world has to offer us.
But the “Christian” world in America today has primarily gone the way of the world, and they are choosing its choices over God and over his will and purpose for our lives. And so they have largely altered the divine character and will of God, and his gospel message, and his church, the body of Christ, in order to appease human flesh, and in order to not offend the ungodly of the world and human flesh. And so many of them now entertain the world.
So what we have are many people professing faith in Jesus Christ who took a “shortcut” to faith in Jesus Christ, which is antibiblical. And this comes in many different forms, but it is all still centered in the desires of the flesh and in the will of man in opposition to the will of God and his requirements of us who profess to know him and to be in fellowship with him. For it does not put flesh to death, but it entertains it, and obedience to God is not taught.
So what happens to us if we put the pleasures of the world above God? What happens to us if the focus of our lives is worldly pleasures and entertainment and God gets put in the “back seat” and ignored? If the world and the sinful pleasures of the world are what we long for and take pleasure in, and if they are what we prefer over God, which is evidenced by our life choices and by our habitual behaviors, the love of God the Father is not in us, truly.
Now, we are human beings, and so we still have the propensity to sin against God, and we will still sometimes be tempted to sin against the Lord, or at least Satan will attempt to tempt us, and so it is possible that we might still fail sometimes. But if God is not the Lord (Owner-Master) of our lives, and if we are still living in sin, clinging to the sinful pleasures of this world, and obedience to God is not our practice, then we don’t have life in Him.
So, this isn’t about perfect or not perfect, which some people try to make it out to be, but an attitude of “nobody is perfect” usually is a strong indicator of someone who is still clinging to deliberate and habitual sin and they are trying to excuse away their sinful practices. And lack of perfection is never to be used as an excuse for continued and deliberate sin against the Lord and for ignoring the commands of God. For we all know better! Don’t we?
So, what is the bottom line here? We can’t love God and love the pleasures of the sinful world, too. We can’t prefer and long for and take pleasure in the sinful practices that the world has to offer and love God, too. For if the world and its lusts (desires, longings) are what captivate our minds and our time and our passions and desires, and death to sin and obedience to God are not what we long for and pursue, we will not have eternal life with God.
For it is those who are doing (obeying in practice) the will of God who will live forever with God in eternity. And this is taught all throughout the New Testament. Jesus taught it as did Paul, John, James, and Peter and others. Therefore, a confession of Christ as Savior and Lord is not what secures heaven for us. For faith in Jesus, which comes from God, leads us to die with Christ to sin and obey God’s commands. If we don’t, we will die in our sin.
[Matt 7:13-14,21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 10:27-30; Ac 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10]
I AM
By L. Wayne Hilliard / Michael W. Smith
I am the root of David,
The bright and morning star,
I am the Lion of Judah,
I am, I am,
I am Alpha and Omega,
The beginning and the end,
The first and the last –
I am, I am.
I am faithful and true,
I am the Word of God,
I am the Lamb, I am, I am.
I am the Resurrection
And He that lives,
I am alive forever, Amen, Amen.
I am the King of kings and Lord of lords,
I am holy, holy Lord God Almighty
Which was, and is, and is to come,
I am, I am, I am that I am.
I am, I am, I am!
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