Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him (1 John 2:15).
The phrase or the term that is up for discussion is do not love the world. First of all, In the Bible, the term world has many meanings. These are some of the meanings we can consign to the term world; the world could mean the earth, or all the people on the earth, or the lost people, or the sinful people, etc. In fact, we derive our understanding of the term world from the context in which it was used.
1 John was written by Apostle John, the brother of James, who was one of the twelve disciples. Apostle John, in particular, said so much about the world in 1 John. In his writings, John used the term world to contrast the things of God; that is to say, if something is not from God, then it is of the world. If something does not give glory to God, it is said to be from the world. See 1Jo 2:16, 1Jo 5:4, 1Jo 5:19, etc. 1 John gives us the impression that there are two factions on this earth; that is, the world and God. One is either on God’s side or on the world’s side.
In the context of 1 John 2:15, the term world could be:
- Generally, anything that does not come from God.
- Anything that does not give glory to God.
- The carnal, sin-glorifying, or sin-causing things, behavior, beliefs, etc. inspired by the devil.
Therefore, do not love the world is an exhortation inspired by God and it tells Christians that:
- They should not be followers, fans, or supporters of carnal, sin-glorifying things, ideas, beliefs, etc.
- They should not endorse or follow those things that do not give glory to God.
Human as we are, we show our love for something through our endorsement, or through the way we show support for it, or through the way we speak good of it, or through taking part in it. Therefore, a Christian is guilty of loving the world, if he is a follower of, or a fan of, or a partaker of the things, beliefs, habits, ideas, etc. that do not give glory to God. We easily identify greed, pride, promiscuity, covetousness, etc. as practices or habits of the world. Fine, but there are other worldly things, ideas, and practices that we Christians indulge in and yet overlook. This lesson is going to look at a few of them.
The world is a cradle of many doctrines, beliefs, and philosophies – there are so many of them than you could imagine. These secular opinions, beliefs, etc. are developed with the wicked intent of perverting the way of righteousness, glorifying all sorts of immoralities, and making that which is sinful appear to be less of a sin. A good example is the worldly opinion that marriage is nothing more than a contract – a contract that could be broken at any time, making divorce less of a sin. This view is in sharp contrast with the Christian belief that marriage is a lifelong union between a man and a woman.
Apparently, the views or the opinions of the world are designed to attack Christianity, or demean Christianity, or demote Jesus Christ from being a Divine being, or pervert the truth. And they are made available to us in movies, music, articles, novels, etc. An example is that the LGBT community consolidated their opinion about Jesus in a play titled Corpus Christi in which Jesus Christ was portrayed as a homosexual.
Sadly, some Christians get along with these blasphemous, sin-glorifying ideas and beliefs of the world; and that is one of the manifestations of loving the world and the things in the world.
This is a typical scene of a Jay Z concert. Thousands have flocked the venue to witness a performance characterized by profanity and indecency. Believe you me, at least a fourth of the population that has turned up for his concert are people who boldly profess to be Christians – Christians who have not read their Bibles and or prayed for days; worse yet, other spiritual activities such as fasting and evangelism are completely off their minds and their church attendance is off and on. Such Christians have little or no time for the things of God and treat their relationship with God with less regard. Rather, they make time for secular music concerts, night clubs, casinos, and other places of worldly entertainment.
Everything is wrong with worldly entertainments; they are ungodly, profane, blasphemous, and unworthy for Christian, for light and darkness should not have any fellowship. Those Christians who have abandoned prayer, Bible studies, fellowshipping, evangelism, etc. but find time for worldly pleasures, make it clear to all that they love the world and the things in the world.
Entertaining yourself is not wrong. Watching a decent movie, watching sports, etc. But oftentimes some Christians forgo their spiritual duties in order to make time to watch their favorite series, sports, etc. There are times when some Christians deliberately miss church service because of a football match or a TV series. For those Christians who respect football more than God and who forfeit church service for entertainment, you make it too clear that you do not love God, rather, you love the world and the things in the world.
A man of God was standing in the corner of the street waiting for his friend. His friend was long in coming, so he stood there for some time. While waiting, he took the opportunity to carefully observe those who were passing by. His findings were that, after some time of observing so many people, he could hardly make out the Christian women among them for all the women who bypassed were in provocative attire to his surprise.
Provocative dressing is a sin that is properly called by the term lasciviousness in the Bible. Lasciviousness encompasses anything you do with a sexual intention or anything you do to arouse the sexual lusts of others. This is the way of the worldly women because, for them, sex is one of their means of bargain to get what they want.
It is astonishing how Christian women have crossed the line in the way they dress and carry themselves about; for they identify much with the world in dressing than with the ideal Christian woman that the Bible portrays. The sin of wearing provocative attire has taken the church by storm to such an extent that the Bible’s teaching on modesty has been relegated to the background. The Bible says
9 likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, (1 Timothy 2:9 ESV)
Christianity is for decency and modesty in dressing, whereas the world stands for indecency. Dressing in provocative attire is one way Christians identify with the world and become guilty of the sin of loving the world and the things in the world.
I remember an MTV program that was meant for interviewing rich celebrities right in their homes. It showcases their lifestyle and their flashy mansions and put on display their collection of cars, wardrobe, etc. The program made me see what it means to live in excess. Secular people love extravagance.
Sad to say, some Christians are challenging secular people in their own game. Extravagance has become one common indulgence of Christians, especially, the well to do of both the laity and the clergy. Many church leaders are very guilty when it comes to such matters for they live in excess and have amassed so many material things for themselves than one could expect. Their garages display fleets of cars; they have more cars than necessary – that is extravagance and excess. They have acquired multiple mansions in rich neighborhoods and they switch from one house to another as and when they deem fit. They spend heavily on a whim and live in abundance; not forgetting the millions and billions they have to their names. Extravagance is an obvious display of the love of the world and the things in the world. Christians, both clergy and laity, who practice materialism and extravagance identify with the world and they are, undoubtedly, lovers of the world.
Jesus once told his disciples that the world would hate them because they are not of the world, and he also added, “.. the world would love his own..” Indeed, the world loves his own. Porn stars, adult models, secular musicians, etc. command an enormous number of fans and followers than you could imagine and the world hails them as if they were the best people to ever walk the earth.
It is also surprising how some Christians look up to these worldly people and hail them when, in fact, these people are nothing more than enemies of God who deliberately seek to pervert the way of righteousness and lead people astray. You do not need anyone to tell you this, for their worldly lifestyle, which is characterized by divorce, alcoholism, drug abuse, indiscipline, immorality, violence, extravagance, and profanity make a lasting impression on others, especially, the youth.
It is sad to say that some Christians are fans and followers of the likes of Rihanna, Beyonce, Justin Bieber, Miley Cyprus, etc. if you are a fan and follower of enemies of God, you eventually become an enemy of God, for the Bible teaches that love for the world is enmity with God.
You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (James 4:4 ESV).
Therefore, Christians should break free from these worldly entertainers – break free from their influence and seduction, for any Christian who follows them prove that he loves the world and hates God.
Generally, a Christian who loves the world lives a life that is not much different from that of the unbeliever and his choices and decisions seldom take God into account.
Conclusion
18 “If the world hates you (Christians), know that it has hated me (Jesus) before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours (John 15:18-20 ESV)
Jesus said it all. The world has nothing for Christians but hatred and persecution. If you profess to be a Christian and the world loves you then you are not of Christ but of the world for the world loves his own. And if any Christian loves the world and the things thereof, he will ruin his relationship with God and become apostate.