Do Not Love the World

Good morning, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This morning we are at 1 John 2, just three verses, 15, 16, 17. Let's have some coffee, we'll pray, and we'll get into God's Word. Actually, I'm having tea. I was losing my voice. No? No tea? Okay. Let's pray. God, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for the blessing it is to get to read your word. And we pray that you would please help us to understand it. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. All right, 1 John 2, verses 15 through 17. Dan, Dan, can you read? Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is the world. All that is in the world. The lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. One more verse. And the world is p-a-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s- Abides forever right, but he who does the will of God abides forever. Yeah, right So do not love the world or the things in the world.
Thank you. Let's go ahead and talk about a what is this? That was the best for us. So I see what we call today. All right. So what do you think this passage is about? The world's not gonna stay forever. Yeah, the world's not gonna stay forever. So how should we interact with the world? Hmm Like, you need to live. To live, you have to have a house. To live, you have to have a food. But is life nothing more than the food you eat and the house you live in? No. No? Does God know you need those things? Yes. But do you live for them? Is it bad to enjoy them? No. But I thought he said do not love the world or the things in the world. No. So you can't say like I love ice cream. Ice cream God will have it in heaven. You think God will have ice cream in heaven?
Yeah. I know this is like, what's your ultimate desires and passions, right? So if you're, if it's between loving someone else and hoarding the ice cream, what should you do? Hmm. Yeah. Right. If it's between, uh, well, I really want this thing and I want this thing so much that I'm going to sin to get it. That's not good.
No. If you have the things of this world, and you see your brother in need, and you close up your heart to someone like that, because you love the things of this world so much. Do you know what John says later? How does the love of God abide in someone like that? Does that sound like the love of God?
No, it's really hard though, because there's a lot of needs in this society that we live in. but you don't want to be somebody who just passes out money because this guy could just be like, oh, I need some money and just go spend it. Yeah, there's also a lot of corrupt and thieving type people too, right?
And you have to take care of your family. God says elsewhere in the Word that if a man doesn't provide for his own family, He's worse than an unbeliever. Some people feel so guilty about a passage like this, and they'll go, oh, well, I gotta give away everything I have.
And then they can't take care of their mom when she's old. They can't put shoes on their kid's feet. And God says, whoa, hold on, that's not what is going on here either. You can't be lazy and not work. And you can't work and then give away everything you have and then not care for your own family. Neither of those are good.
And so there's this balance in life, right? We live in the world, we need the things of the world, but should we be chasing the passions of our flesh? But it is okay to ride a go-kart. Yeah, but what if you said, you know what? I really don't want to tithe this month because I could use that money and I could buy a go-kart instead. Just save up your money and wait the next week. But what if somebody else needed the money? Then you could give them the money and just keep saving. What if you never save up enough money for the go-kart? Then you say okay and buy something cheaper. Okay, you know what Jesus says about that? He says you're storing up treasures in heaven. Yeah. There are some times that we have to say, well, we need to scrimp and we need to save we can't buy everything that we want to buy.
But we see somebody in need. And so we're going to go help them. So we may not be able to drive the nicest car or have the nicest house or have the newest clothes or go on the You know, the big vacations, etc. But we're able to help somebody in need. Maybe give money to a missionary or see somebody in the community who needs something. And we're able to help them with the needs that they have. Maybe we see somebody who's hungry. Buy them some food. Somebody who needs tires and they can't afford tires. But they need to get to work, so what can we do? Fix their tires. Yeah, help them fix their tires or even maybe give them tires.
Do Christians do that because they want fame amongst people? No. No, why do we do it? Just to help. Yeah, it helps, but it's to bring God. Of course. Yeah. Do you see? Yeah, but it's not like, buy them the new Mustang. Yeah, it doesn't mean we need to buy them a Mustang. That's right. Yeah, no, no. Right. So no, we want to make sure that right, what are what are we walking after?
He who says he walks on light, but hates his brothers in darkness until now. So we need to love our brothers. We need to love our sisters. We need to walk in the light. And so we don't live on sinning, we don't live on going after the, what's he say, loving the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. So there are things that we have fleshly in our desires in us, right? We may want a certain type of luxury. We may have to say, no, I'm not going to get that luxury.
Yeah, I think it's the best knife in the world. Yeah, maybe the knife you have is a good enough knife. Yeah, it's good enough to go on. Is there always a nicer knife? Yes. Oh yes, there will always be a nicer knife. There will always be a better thing.
But we say, no, no, no. I'm going to learn the secret of contentment. I'm going to be satisfied with the good thing that God's given me. I have a good knife. I'll have this buck pocket knife, and I'll stick with that one. It's good. You sit down to ask me which What's that? I think my book, knives, and my watch. Yeah. Might be on the porch. All right, or the list of the eyes, right?
Is it easy to look at somebody else's stuff or somebody else's life and go, oh man, I wish I had their life? Yeah, maybe you might want their knives. Here's a hard one. Maybe you might think, I wish I had their daddy. Hmm. Or maybe you might think, I wish I lived in their house or had their toys or had their things. Some daddies can get covetous and have the pride, the lust of the eyes and think, oh, I wish I had that man's wife. Or I wish I had their house. They have nice sighting on their house. I wish I had nice sighting. Look at that guy's car. I wish I had a cool car like that.
And become covetous with the desires of our eyes. Pretty easy to be cooler than you. Well, it's not very hard to be cooler than Dad, you're right. Alright, well I think we've already talked a lot about what this calls us to do, but I think that's how we show our love of God. And sometimes we show our love of God by saying no to us and loving others instead. And instead of loving, what's good? So, what do you think? There's three verses there. Which one would you underline as the best verse that summarizes this? I think 15 too. Are you ready to pray? Do you want to pray or do you want me to pray? You. Okay.
God, we pray that you would please forgive us for how often we do find ourselves loving this world more than we ought. We know that you've told us to be in the world, but not of it. And yet often we find ourselves desiring, sinfully, the things that other people have. struggling, Lord, with the desires in our flesh. We want to satisfy the urges and the cravings that we have for stuff and things and people, Lord. We're covetous. We make idols in our hearts of things.
God, we pray that You would forgive us and that You would push those things out. Please sanctify us and give us a healthy balance, Lord, for how do we love You, enjoy the good things You've given us, but live for a higher love? Father, please help us to love one another and to love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Bye. Bye. Do we want to say that God blesses them first? Sure. Okay. God bless you. May you walk in the joy and contentment that comes from Jesus Christ. We'll see you next time. Bye.