Free Community Church

Jo has introduced wireless roaming to our house in Holland Village. So we can now use the laptop to access the internet everywhere in the house. As I sat down yesterday to make sense of my notes and scribbled thoughts about today’s topic, it was at the big dining room table, because that’s where the laptop was. And before I started, I looked up, at the table in from of me: It was full with ‘stuff’. My keys, my phone and my briefcase from Hong Kong. A Rockport-bag with a new pair of flip-flops I bought. Three shirts I had picked up from the tailor that morning. New DVDs of ‘Sex and the City” Season 6 (part 1) and ‘Will and Grace’ (season 2). An invitation from Cycle and Carriage to get the car ‘groomed’ for only S$388 a year.

It’s quite amazing when you think about it – how we often don’t realize how we are surrounded by and even dependant on material things.

Last weekend I was stuck in Hong Kong. Saturday was a brilliant, clear and sunny day – convertible weather. Edward was busy attending an exhibition so I met up with Sam, opened the roof and we went for a joyride along the coast – first to the small fishing village of Shek-O, then cruising the beachfront of Stanley. People were out in droves, and naturally we enjoyed the attention we got in the open car.

Was that sinful? Well, it may have been.

Let’s have a look at today’s scripture, the second in a series on 1 John:

1 John 2

1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

3 We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. 4 The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. 8 Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.

9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.

12 I write to you, dear children,
because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
13 I write to you, fathers,
because you have known him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
because you have overcome the evil one.
I write to you, dear children,
because you have known the Father.
14 I write to you, fathers,
because you have known him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
because you are strong,
and the word of God lives in you,
and you have overcome the evil one.

Do Not Love the World

15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

Warning Against Antichrists

18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.

20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. 21 I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. 22 Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist--he denies the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

24 See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is what he promised us--even eternal life.

26 I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. 27 As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit--just as it has taught you, remain in him.

Children of God

28 And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.

29 If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.

There are many messages in this chapter, but I would like to concentrate on what in my view is the key message:

DO NOT LOVE THE WORLD.

Let’s go back to Primary School. You’re 7. A cute little boy or girl in a school uniform which still fits. You are sitting next to your best friend. He is the best friend in the whole wide world. But then there is also this other guy. He is always teasing you, making fun of you, picking on you. Why does he do it? Well, maybe because he likes you. The ones that you think hate you, cannot stand you, actually often like you. It’s kind of funny isn’t it? Why do they do that? Think about it. Think about what we claim to hate. Think about what we claim to hate - but actually love. We Christians are very good at this. Just like in primary school, we act the same way with love for the world and love for sin. It’s hard to admit that we love those things, but we do.

DO NOT LOVE THE WORLD

But how? Did God not love the world that he gave His only begotten son? It’s interesting when you look at how the Bible talks about ‘world’, different words are being used in the original scripture. When the Bible says that God so loved the world – world in this sense means PEOPLE. God loves the People of this world so much that he gave his son to save them. In our context the original Greek word is COSMOS. Which means an order, an arrangement of things (the opposite is CHAOS). So COSMOS, or the World, as it is used here, means ‘an arrangement or an order of things in this world that is hostile to God.’

It is a system of ideas, of activities, and people who are in active rebellion against God.

So what does God want from us? He wants obedience to his demands. Meaning what? You know, I am very tempted not to give you examples. Because if I do, they become another checklist. You tick all the boxes and you’re home free. As long as you do 1,2 and 5, and don’t do 3, 4 and 7, you’re ok. But that’s not how it works. We are not given directions (and being men we don’t ask for them anyway) on our spiritual journey on the Love Bus, we’re given direction. C.S. Lewis expressed it this way: “We might think that God wanted simply obedience to a set of rules; whereas He really wants people of a particular sort.” It’s who we are, it’s our attitude and it’s our priorities in life that really matter.

John helps us to understand what ‘loving the world’ means and where are the traps that we can fall into.

Do Not Love the World

So here are some of the examples of worldliness:

Preoccupation with Earthly Concerns

Have you ever heard the expression “Looking out for Number One?” “Well, you’ve got to look out for Number One!” – What do they mean by number One? What do you think? Money? Maybe. But I think ‘Number One” means yourself. For most people, they themselves are the Number One priority in their lives. Everything else – including their relationship with God, is seen in this light and comes second. So who is Number One in your life?

Pride

Most of us have high opinions of ourselves. We think we’re basically ok. Which is probably true. But we also think we’re better than others. Better than conservative Christians. Better than any bigots in the established churches and in government. Better than the narrow-minded. And while we look down at the holier-than-thou, we become holier-than-thou ourselves, just with a different twist.

Pleasures

Man, we love earthly pleasures. Aren’t they what makes our life worth living? We work so hard every day, aren’t we entitled to a bit of enjoyment? Great Food. Exotic holiday destinations. The look in the mirror after a workout. Fast cars. And of course Sex. The biggest pleasure of them all. We’re in love with pleasure.

Possessions

We love nice things, too. For one it’s his latest Apple Mac or the mini Ipod. For others it’s a new watch, a new pen, a new car, a new house. Our hard-earned money. We love our possessions and get angry if someone steals them, or scratches our car, or just takes something without asking. That’s where the friendship ends. Friends and money don’t mix.

Popularity

We are very aware of the impression we make on others. We want others to love us, to look up at us. We care about what they are thinking and what they may be saying behind our backs. In the gym, in our cellgroup, at work. This quest for popularity influences how we deal with people. It makes us lie to stay popular. But who are we trying to impress? Paul said in Gal. 1,10: “Am I now trying to win the approval of men or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I was still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

Power Obsession

Some of us just need to be in control – at work, at church, wherever they go, they need to dominate the situation and discussion. Power is like a drug. Highly addictive. You experience some and want more. And like a drug addict, you do anything to get more – walk all over people in order to gain a little bit more power for yourself.

Recognise the signs? Are some or all true for your life? Have you forsaken your First Love?

I know it’s hard. The world belongs to the devil and he is using every trick in the book to seduce us. Different people are seduced by different things, but we’re all set up to fall. None of us is perfect. So let’s remember

this is not about a set of rules, some boxes you can tick and then you’re fine. This is about your ATTITUDE, your PRIORITIES

we’re all human, bound to fall. Jesus knows that. He reaches out for us, offering us his hand to help us up. We can repent and ask for forgiveness and can be sure that we will be forgiven.

And if we get confused and don’t know what is the right way and which rules to follow, John has just reminded us of the fundamental command: To love one another. That is what ‘walk as Jesus did’ means. To love our brothers and sisters.

But why should be follow his commandments at all? Won’t we be saved anyway? Should we not be loving and tolerate everything? The German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was killed by the Nazis, said the following in his book The Cost of Decipleship:

“Cheap Grace is grace without decipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate”. Cheap grace means living as though God ignores or condones our sins. But forgiveness means that sin is real, must be dealt with. We cannot ignore it because God does not ignore it. The denial of sin is not grace: It’s a lie. Cheap grace means living without the demand of obedience upon us.

When I was 16 and ran away from home to join a religious group called ‘The Children of God’, they had some pretty weird doctrines – printed on small folded papers, so called Mo-Letters. And I still remember the one that impressed me the most. It was called: “Have you packed your escape bag?”

You know, the Children of God were – like John – living in the expectation of Jesus’ immediate return. Actually, since they were big on the Apocalypse, they waited for the antichrist to rise (and that was before anyone knew George Bush) and take over. They expected to be incarcerated and tattooed with the sign of the Beast, 666, on their forehead. So they asked all members to be prepared to flee for the mountains at any time. To have their escape bag packed and ready.

Are you ready to go if God calls you to forsake all, leave EVERYTHING behind – possessions, family, friends, your LIFE? Or are you too much in love with the world?

Let us pray:

Lord, you know we love this world. We are seduced by its pleasures and possessions. But you told us this morning that these things won’t last. THE WORLD AND ITS DESIRES PASS AWAY. Instead Lord, you’re offering us eternal life with you – THE MAN WHO DOES THE WILL OF GOD LIVES FOREVER. Help us Lord, to remember our First Love. To get our priorities right. To stop caring about the world so much and to start caring more about you.

In Jesus Name, Amen.