Do not Love the World!

Do not Love the World!

Last week we talked about friendship and how God's love can be experienced on a very deep level when we go on God's mission for our lives and discover friendship through a common quest. This love is at its greatest when we choose to lay down our lives for our friends and help them walk out the journey God has for them. This week we will be diving into what loving the world and its ways reveal about our love for God.

In 1 John 2:15-17, John says, "Do not love the world or anything in the world. For if you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you. For the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes, the boasting of what he has and does comes not from the Lord but from the world. The world and its desires will fade away, but he who does the will of the Father lives forever."

What does John mean when he says, "Do not love the world?" He is saying that we as followers of Jesus must be different than the world. James 4:4 says that friendship with the world is hatred toward God. In essence, there must be a significant contrast between those following Jesus and those who are not.

So the question you have to ask yourself is, "Do you love the world?"
Do you crave to be a part of the cool party crowd at school? Do you crave guys' attention? Do you love being the center of attention or the popular guy at school that all the girls talk about? Do you have the cool guy or girl self image that has to be maintained each day? Does the thought of getting the cutest guy or the "hottest" girl on campus excite you? Do you love to be a part of the in crowd at lunch that talks perverted, and as if the world is lucky to have them and should bow down in their presence?

If you're wondering if you love the world just ask yourself these questions: are you really insecure when you walk onto your school? Do you see yourself taking on the character of Dr Jekel and Mr Hyde, living a double life? Are you constantly having to look at yourself in the mirror to see if your good looking enough? Are you ashamed of mentioning the name of Jesus or being seen as a Jesus Freak? Do you crave secular music every time you get in your car? When listening to the radio is 95.1 or 97.9 the channels you love listening to? When you get home from school do you crave TV, or when your bored and lonely do you crave to be looked and lusted at or if you're a guy to look and lust at? What's your thoughts usually about? How bout what you talk about?

I'm sure if we just take a moment to answer these questions that we will discover very quickly how much we love the world. Many of us don't even realize how much we crave the world because it's become habitual in our nature.

WHAT DOES LOVING THE WORLD REVEAL?

John says that if you love the world, then the love of God is not in you. We can look at this two ways. Either our love for the world destroys our love for God, or our love for the world shows we don't love God. I believe John is referring to the latter. I believe he is saying that loving the world shows we don't love God. In other words, if God's love is not inside of you, you will love the world. You will crave that guy, the cool crowd and the security of popularity if you are lacking in God's love. Worldly love is simply due to the fact that we don't love God. Now that we have addressed this we discover the solution to the problem. The solution is not found in trying to rid ourselves of worldly love, but is discovered in filling ourselves up with God's Love. When we are filled with God's love worldliness will be distasteful.

Notice that if we love the world then we don't love God. You can't love both! You can say all you want, "But I love God." then why are you disobeying him by getting drunk? Why are disobeying him by looking at pornography, or why is that guy still on the throne of your heart? It's because you love your flesh more than God. Loving Jesus is like marriage. You either choose him or someone else. To say you're in love with Jesus and still love the world is adulterous. You're cheating on God! Jesus said, "A man cannot serve two masters." Either you choose to be married to him and have him as your love or you choose the world. There is no such thing as polygamy in the Kingdom of God. So if you say, "But I love God!" do you really?

SO WHY WE DON'T LOVE GOD?

One of the biggest reasons why we don't love God is because we don't realize how much we have been forgiven. In Luke 7 Jesus is invited to dine with a Pharisee named Simon. While eating and fellowshipping with Simon and his friends a woman known for her sins shows up and begins to cry in Jesus' presence. She begins to wash Jesus' feet with her hair and tears when the Pharisees look at him in wonder: "If this man were a prophet he'd know that a sinner is touching him! How could he allow that!" Jesus knowing their thoughts poses the question: "A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?" (Luke 7:41, 42 ESV). The Pharisees reply, "The one who had the bigger debt." "You are right." said Jesus, "Likewise, this woman loves much because she has been forgiven of much."

This notorious woman, known for her sin and impurity loved Jesus more than the "flawless" Pharisees. Why? Because she understood how great her sin was and how much Jesus had done for her.

Do you realize how much Jesus has done for you? Isaiah says that our best acts are like filthy rags in the sight of God. The Pharisees, in their pride, saw themselves as people who deserved God's love and didn't really need to be forgiven. They had grown up in religion, lived according to the rules, therefore, who would need to die for them? They had never committed the "big" sins that destroyed reputation like smoking, or adultery or murder like this notorious woman. Therefore, they were unrepentant and never allowed God's love into their lives. The difference between this woman and the Pharisees was Godly sorrow.

Paul Says, "Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done" (2 Cor 7:10-11). Until we have Godly sorrow inside of us and realize how ugly, how big and disgusting our sin is, how bad it hurts others, how selfish and filthy it is, we will remain unchanged.

I was talking to an atheist friend one time when he asked the question, "If you say there is a God, then how could this God allow Adolph Hitler to murder nine million Jews? If he's omniscient like you say, then why would he create Hitler?"

My answer to this question is this: "First, if God didn't create Hitler, it would remove freewill. Our ability to choose between God and something else is necessary for there to be love. We cannot be forced into loving God and obeying him. Secondly, God does care about sin. He hates what Hitler did. He hates sin because it separates us from him and hurts others. In fact, he died for our selfish sin so that we could live with him. We have the proclivity to focus on Hitlers sin, but do you realize that Jesus died for your sin too? He hates how your lust affects your future marriage and hurts your future kids and wife. He hates how your lying habit destroys your friendships and relationship with your parents. He hates your pride and how it keeps you from growing and how it puts others down and speaks condescendingly to others. He has done everything to stop it without forcing you! He even died for you!"

Do you realize how awful your sin is? We are born far more like Hitler than we are Jesus. It's not even a comparison. Until we realize we are more like Hitler than Jesus and receive a Godly sorrow for our sins we cannot repent and come to Jesus. Some of us need to get "unsaved" so we can get saved. Some of us, like the Pharisees, were "born" saved and have yet to repent and turn to God. It's as if you can "see" heaven and Jesus but at the same time are walking backwards straight to hell thinking: "I'm safe." when in all reality you, like the Pharisees, are simply deceived.

In Luke 16 Jesus tells the parable of the prodigal son giving us a beautiful picture of God's love. The parable has three main characters: the father and two sons.

The younger son is rebellious and basically tells his father, "I wish you were dead. I want my inheritance now." He takes his father's blessing, leaves his family and squanders the inheritance living the party life! Living all for himself. He hooks up with girls, loads up on drugs and alcohol, gets in with the cool crowd and lives the life, until the economy crashes and he has nothing. Then one day desperate for food and completely lost he comes to his senses: "My father was a really good man. I should have never have done this. Maybe he'll let me be a slave at his house. It would be far better than this."

So the young son full of sorrow, starts walking back home expecting the worse: "My father will probably reject me. There's no way, he'll probably put me in jail or put me to death." These few miles walking feel like years carrying thousands of ponds of weight. Finally, he gets to the edge of his father's land when he sees from a far way off his father running to him (something that was not dignified for fathers to do in the Middle East). The father with tears in his eyes runs up to him and embraces him: "I was wondering when you were coming home." "Hey everyone my son has returned! Let's have a party!"

The older son, who had to take up the younger son's slack came in from tending the flock an he heard the band and smelled the BBQ and asked a servant, "what's going on?" "Your brother has returned!"

The older brother goes up to his father: "What's all this about? How could you celebrate over that loser? I've done way more good than him!"
The father replies, "Son, don't be upset. Don't you realize that all I have is yours?"

Which character are you? Are you the young rebellious son that has decided to rebel against God and live for yourself? Or are you the religious, self-righteous older brother? The rebellious was had a desire to live for the world, hook up with girls, be popular, go to the parties and be the cool one at school. The older brother grew up religious, he had never really done anything "that bad." He "deserved" better than the younger. He earned his way to the fathers love and didn't have much to repent of. He deserved God's love!

Which one are you tonight? The only thing that was the same for both brothers is they both used the father for their own selfish desires. They both loved the world in their own unique ways.In the end, the one who had Godly sorrow and repented was the one better off.

The father always welcomes you back in love. If you will realize your wrong and repent, the great news is your Father will run from a far way off to meet you where you are at. There is no sin too big for him to forgive. Some of us are like the rebellious son wondering if our Father will ever accept us how could he?

What most people don't know is that there is a third Son in this story, the One telling the story. Jesus is the way to the Father. He loves the Father and is here to help you reconcile with him. He has never done anything wrong, yet he laid down his life so that you can return to your Father. Will you accept his love?

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Friendship

Friendship

Last week we talked about how love is the greatest thing in the world, and how true love is not fully experienced until there is a sacrifice. This week we will be venturing into what friendship love is, why it's so important, and how we can attain it.

What is friendship love?

As CS Lewis says, friendship love is the least natural of loves. It's the least instinctive, expressive, biologically necessary of any love. Because of this it seems to be the least needed or important. Take a quick glimpse at pop culture and you see today's songs, movies, news feeds, tabloids and books are primarily about erotic or romantic love. There is not much to say about friendship. Friendship is the least expressive of loves. It doesn't carry "I love you's", flowers, pink hearts, super expressive gratitude, or the buzz of love. Biologically speaking, we don't even need friendship for survival. Does this mean that friendship is not as needed or important as other loves?

Jesus said otherwise, "No greater love has anyone than this, that he lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). Jesus makes a very bold, profound statement here. Although friendship, outwardly speaking seems unimportant, there's something magical about it; something deeply spiritual. In friendship we can potentially discover the greatest level of love.

For example, Aaron and I are brothers and best friends. We spend every day spending time with each other. We work out together, do ministry together, live next door to each other and never grow tired of each other's company. We can spend days together talking about the Bible and triathlons. With all this we have never said I love you. We have never expressed are gratitude for each other through gifts or "thank you's." But if someone tries to fight either one of us, their getting both of us. Last week we were on a bike ride with 50 other cyclist when a fight broke out. At a stop a guy jumped off his bike getting ready to punch someone. I looked up and saw the guy coming right for Aaron. My heart started racing. I jumped off my bike to tackle this guy. Thankfully, he went for someone else. If he would have touched Aaron it would have been over! Although we aren't that expressive about are love usually, get us in a fight and you discover a love greater than you could imagine. This love unconditional and very deep.

My favorite story that expresses this love is the story of David and Jonathan found in 1 Samuel. During this time the Israelites are basically in captivity to the Philistines. A giant by the name of Goliath is taunting the Israelites and challenging them to a fight. Whoever wins the fight has to surrender their army. Every man in Israel is petrified until David shows up: "Who's this jerk that's disrespecting our God and families? I'll fight him! God will give him into my hands." Long story short, David ends up fighting Goliath and God gives David the victory, and the Israelites destroy the Philistines.

What happens next is amazing: "After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself" (18:1-2). From that moment on they were best friends. It's as if a light bulb went off; something miraculous happened.

What was it that knit the souls of Jonathan and David together as friends? Something magical happened in this scene: Jonathan was unified with David because he saw something in David he had seen once before.

Go back a few chapters and we find Jonathan in a similar situation to David's. In 1 Samuel 14 the Israelites have been surrounded by the Philistines. They have confiscated the Israelite's weapons and are taunting the them. Everyone is scared to death and unwilling to stand up to the Philistines, except Jonathan. Sick and tired of the enemy, Jonathan decides to take a stand. He looks over at his armor bearer and says, "Lets go out and see if God gives the enemy into our hands. If they say come up and fight us we'll go and fight them for God has given them into our hands. If they say wait down there and we'll come fight you we will wait for God has given them into our hands." It's a win win situation. Jonathan is convinced that God will give them the victory. Jonathan steps out and the Philistines yell at him: "Come up here sissies! We'll teach you a lesson." Jonathan and his armor bearer climb the cliff, God strikes panic into the Philistines and gives the Israelites the victory.

Now go back to David's battle scene. Jonathan was sitting by his father, King Saul, watching David stand up when no one else would. When he saw David be used by God to silence the enemy and bring about a great victory I believe he saw more than a fight. He saw something he had once felt, something he had went through and accomplished. It was this common vision that united Jonathan and David.

CS Lewis says that romantic love is discovered looking eye to eye, while friendship love is discovered standing side by side looking at a common vision or traveling along the same journey or going on the same quest. Friends are not discovered by searching for them. They are found when you one day have been pursuing something, climbing a mountain, following after a vision, and you look to your right and you see someone traveling on the same road, headed towards the same vision.

Companionship is simply the matrix out of which friendship is birthed. For example, my closest friends are a group of six of us who pray together every Thursday. We call ourselves the Living Poets Society. This group consist of Dorrell, Kyle, Aaron, Chris, Jonathan, Bryan and myself.

Besides my brother these men started off as my companions before they were my friends. Kyle was a buddy from resolution that over time felt a call to youth. This similar calling united us as close friends. Dorrell was my teammate in college. Bryan was my roommate and workout partner. Chris was my classmate. These companionships soon became close friends when I discovered they had the same vision as me to build God's Kingdom. When I looked over and saw them on the same quest as me we became one in spirit.

I encourage you to discover friendship by going on a mission! Build your own Living Poet's Society! CS Lewis says: "Those who have nothing can share nothing; those who are going nowhere can have no fellow travelers."

FRIENDS BRING OUT THE BEST IN US

CS Lewis says that friends bring out the best in us and help us to understand God's character better. For example, "Take three friends (A,B,C), if A should die, then B loses not only A but "A's part in C" while C loses not only A but "A's part in B." In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring out. I am not large enough to call the whole man into activity; I want other lights than my own to show all his facets. Now that Charles is dead, I shall never again see Ronald's reaction to a specifically Caroline joke. Far from having more of Ronald, having him "to myself" now that Charles is away. I have less of Ronald. This is the same for me when we don't have everyone at Living Poets Society.

Ecclesiastes 4:12 says that a cord of three strands is not easily broken. We become exponentially stronger when we discover friends. Without Jonathan David would have never become King. Without Sam, Frodo would have never destroyed the ring. Without my friends I would have settled less than God's best.

The enemy would love for us to settle for companionship and never dive into friendship. Without Shadrach, Meshach and Abesnego we are more likely to bow down!

WHAT GOOD FRIENDS DO

1. They get unyoked with the wrong friends and yoked with the right friends. 2 Corinthians 6 says, "Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?" (2 Corinthians 6:14). Until we get unyoked from the wrong friends we won't be able to go on the mission God has for us. My dad tells us 2 things destroy friendships: pride and girls. Pride, thinking you're better than others and you can handle life on your own, and then girls. The opposite sex cannot join your friendship circle because the matrix of companionship is different for girls and guys. Guys like playing war and football, while girls enjoy barbies. Even if the girl has the knowledge of the circle of guys she never can get into the circle because the circle ceases to be the circle the moment she comes into just as the horizon ceases to be the horizon the moment you arrive to it. Guys will not be themselves around girls. Trust me, I wish you could see how these men behave on our BOB camping trips. I can't imagine what the girls are like on their Beach trips!

2. They go on a mission. Friends are discovered when we live out God's Word; his will for our lives. Create your own Living Poets Society.

3. They lay down their lives. They make a sacrifice. Proverbs says that a friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. Jonathan and David became such close friends that they called each other brother. They were willing to lay down their lives for each other! In I Samuel 20 Jonathan is eating dinner with his father Saul. Saul who is jealous of David and trying to kill him, confronts Jonathan and says, "You son of a perverse woman! Don't you realize that as long as David is alive you'll never become king!!" Jonathan valued his friendship with David over his dreams. In the end he ends up dying so David can become king. This is the greatest love! The amazing thing is the sacrifice Jonathan made was well worth it. The man he laid his life down for was the heir of the Jesus, the King of the World!

4. True friends walk in grace and in truth as Jesus did. They confront and encourage. They can confront because their love is unconditional. They are not worried about trying to please or impress. They are friends because of the common journey and will do anything to help their friend stay on the path. They encourage each other to keep fighting and not give up. This is being yoked together for the right reason.

JESUS CHOSE YOUR FRIENDS AND HE CHOOSES YOU

The Master of Ceremonies, Christ, chose your friends He has arranged our friendships according to his divine purpose. It was no coincidence that Jonathan found David. It was no coincidence that one day Jonathan's sacrifice would lead to the Savior of the World. It was no coincidence that God places Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego together. It is no coincidence that God placed Aaron, Kyle, Dorrell, Bryan, Chris and Jonathan in my path. It is for his divine purpose.

Not only does Jesus choose your friends, he chooses you to be his friend. In John 15 he says, "If you obey my commands I will be your friend... You have not chosen me but I have chosen you." Jesus wants to be our friend. Alls you have to do is accept his offer by going along the same journey that he is going on! When you go on this quest you'll discover a friend that sticks closer than a brother!

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