Do not Love the World | Discerning the Church of Wells

In 1 John 2

there is a very important Scripture

with regard to the believer.

It's in verse 15.

He says, "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.

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."

Now, what does it mean to love the world?

Well, first of all, we need to
define what the world is.

The world has to do with

all that stands contrary to the

revealed will of God.

Now, also it says that the world
is passing away,

so there is a way in which we can

also add an extra definition,

but we have to be very, very careful.

And that is this,

the world is also something

that is temporal.

So the world is, first of all,

that which is contrary
to the will of God,

and secondly, it has the
aspect of temporal.

So in order to know what the world is,

we need to study the Scriptures.

And we find those things
which God is against.

Those ideas, those attitudes,

those actions, those words,

that are simply opposed
to God's Scripture.

That is one aspect of the world.

Now, there are some people who are

very serious about walking with the Lord,

and I praise God for them.

And they look at Scripture and they say,

God is against this,
I'm not going to do it.

God's against that,
I'm not going to do it.

And that's good.

But then they also get to this aspect

of this thing is passing away,

so it must be worldly.

And that's a little bit dangerous.

Why?

There are many things
that are passing away,

that are not necessarily evil.

Let me give you an example.

My body is passing away.

That doesn't make it evil.

The sunset I saw this
morning is passing away.

But that doesn't necessarily make it evil.

Even my marriage with my lovely wife

is passing away.

But that doesn't make it outside of

or opposed to the will of God.

It seems like there's always two extremes

in the Christian life.

Do you know what I mean?

Someone who does not
take the commands

of God seriously,

and simply just living continuously

like an unbeliever.

And then there's the person who

takes God's commandments seriously.

But becomes monkish,

becomes separated from life.

Becomes separated from many of the things

that are manifestations of God's

common grace in this world.

A holy man isn't someone who

just goes to church.

Isn't someone who just reads his Bible,

or just prays.

A holy man is someone who is

involved actively in relationships;

It's someone that can
look at all the grace

that God has given us in this life,

whether it's marriage or children

or friends or even food,

or creation.

So many experiences God has given us

that are manifestations of His grace.

And so many people deny those things.

They're opposed to them;

they hate them,

when actually, they are good
gifts of God.

One of the things that I would say is that

if you're just like the unbelieving world,

you're in trouble.

You're worldly.

On the other hand,

if your desire to obey God has

just separated you from almost

everything in life, even the good things,

and is gradually taking more and more

of your joy away,

and making you severe

and loveless and critical,

you've got a problem on the other side.

The Christian is someone who is not

bound by things.

Not even bound by the good things of God.

And yet at the same time,

knows how to enjoy them

and delight in them.

One of the things that
I'm so worried about

often because of the
way I preach sometimes.

There's a need to point out sin,

but you need to realize that

that which is life is not sin.

There's so much good in this world.

So many things to enjoy.

I'm overwhelmed at the goodness of God.

One time, years and years ago,

someone told me this and
I'll never forget it.

They said, "Paul,

God put leaves on trees.

He didn't put religious tracts on trees."

And what they were trying
to teach me was this,

Paul, just because it
doesn't have the title

of being religious or even Christian,

doesn't make it evil.

And I've taken that to heart,

because I see that it's biblical.

I enjoy my friends.

I enjoy even my interactions with

many, many lost people that

I want to win to the Lord.

The times that I've had with them,

the conversations,

even the laughter I've had with them.

I enjoy nature.

I enjoy hiking and kayaking.

I enjoy laughter,

and even though I may get
in trouble on this one,

I enjoy grabbing my wife in the kitchen

and doing a dance through the living room

as my children are all applauding

and laughing.

One of the things also if you're a parent,

I want to say this,

you know there are so many evils

out there for our children,

and we have to guard them

from those things,

but here's something else,

you need to replace those things

with something good.

If all you ever do is take away the world

from your children,

but you do not allow them to experience

the good graces that God has given us

throughout this planet,

then you're going to create either

a religious hypocrite,

or someone who will eventually

turn away from the faith,

or someone who is severe and

loveless and legalistic.

And we don't need any of those things.

Godliness is not removing yourself

to live on some 40 acre farm in Kansas

so that the world doesn't touch you.

Godliness is living on this planet,

interacting with Christians

and unbelievers.

Seeing all the wonderful
things from prayer

to Bible study to fasting

to walking down a country lane,

to poetry.

It's being able to take
in all these things,

and to appreciate them

while at the same time

loving the Lord your God
with all your heart,

soul, mind, and strength

and seeing that all these good gifts

come from Him.