Passing Away or Eternally Abiding

May 10

Read: 1 John 2:15-17

Passing Away or Eternally Abiding?

“Do not love the world or the things in the world.”

There are a handful of words used in the scriptures to represent those things which war against the Lord. These things represent the opposite of God and his goodness, opposition to Christ, and they lead to death. The word “sin” is the most familiar one to most of us. It is not only used to describe the specific “bad” things that we do, but also the state we are born into apart from Christ. (cf. “original sin”) Other examples include “the flesh / flesh”, “earthly”, “things below”, “darkness”, “demonic”, and of course “death”. One final example is here in 1 John 2: “the world.”

Now this creates some confusion for us if you stop and think about. Doesn’t “God so love THE WORLD that he gave his only begotten son”? (cf. John 3:16) I mean, isn’t the most famous verse in the bible about how much God himself loves “the world”? Why are we as his people told not to? The truth of the matter is, as Matthew Henry once wrote, “the plain meaning of these verses cannot be easily mistaken.” A closer look reveals exactly what God is calling us to and opens our eyes to what is truly at stake.

Brothers and sisters, there are really only two paths before us… two options… two outcomes. Everything we say and do will either bring death and a “passing away” or add to “life” and a participation in the eternal. In short, death or life. “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life…” (cf. Rom. 6:23) Jesus says as much when he declares, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (cf. John 10:10) We see this here in 1 John as well: “the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” (v.17) The enemy and those things which war against the Lord ALWAYS lead to DEATH… relationship with Christ and obedience to his way, the ways of the Lord ALWAYS lead to greater LIFE. Another way to look at it is temporary vs. eternal. All around us we are being torn between what is temporary and what is eternal… what is “passing away” and what will “abide eternally”. As a result, there is a way we can “love the world” like Christ and there is a way that we must never “love the world or the things of this world.”

“For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.” (v.16) This is what we must not fall in love with… these are those things which are passing away and lead to death….

We must not love “the desires of the flesh”…

These are the sensual desires that well up in us and are rooted in the flesh. Gluttony, drunkenness, lust… these are all “passing away” pleasures that do not last and bring death. (Some of them bring death more quickly than others or in more noticeable ways!) In a way, this is an example of how Satan tempted Christ in Luke 4:3 - calling him to seek the hunger of his gut more so than the purpose of the The Father. (Satan told Jesus to turn the stone into bread so that he could eat.) This is one of the things that fasting does for believers, it helps us practice denying the flesh.

We must not love “the desires of our eyes”…

This one is tricky, but we all know what it means. (Feel free to look back at our Devo on April 27 on Prov. 27) Our eyes bring about covetousness and all manner of temptation. We look around ourselves and compare ourselves to one another. We see all the things we want, and are tempted to run after them instead of Christ. I believe Satan was seeking to tempt Christ this way in Luke 4:5: “And the devil took him (Jesus) up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time…” Satan was seeking to tempt Jesus by SHOWING him the riches and power of all the “kingdoms of this world” in a moment. We cannot fall in love with the desire for riches and the “kingdoms of this world”.

We must not love “the pride of life”…

This is literally the chasing after vainglorious display. There is no room for arrogance in the Kingdom of God. Arrogance is in the category of “wasting away” and “leading to death”. The Greek word literally translates to: an “insolent and empty assurance, which trusts in its own power and resources and shamefully despises and violates God’s laws and human rights. Pride, arrogance, and earthly power are all fading away. Even the “strongest” and most powerful people die and their memories are forgotten. Satan tempted Jesus by bringing him to the top of the temple and challenging him to throw himself down. He was tempting Christ to presume he was so powerful and important that God would HAVE TO save him. (cf. Luke 4:12)

“If anyone loves (these things), the love of the Father is not in him.” (v.15) God’s love does not cohabitate with these things. It drives them out. This is what Christ is calling us to. The good news is that Christ PERFECTLY fought temptation on our behalf and has credited us with his perfect record! What are you “in love” with? Things that are passing away? Or things that will “abide eternally”? You cannot love both. “whoever does the will of God abides forever.” Love you guys. - JDP