Do Not Love The World
“If you love me, you will obey what I command. - John 14:15**Do You Get To, or Have You Got To?> Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. - 1 John 2:15There are somethings in this world that I love. I love the sound of wind blowing through the trees in my backyard when I have one of those quiet moments. Which are rare with a wife and 2 little girls. I love a vanilla snowball with marshmallow. I do not think that these things are what John is writing about in this verse but it could be.
The greek word in this passage is Kosmos. It means world system. This is what John is talking about. The system that would say that you can be pleasing to God apart from Christ. He is talking about a system that says to live beyond yourself as long as it is not for Christ. To give as long as it is not for Him. This world’s system belongs to Satan and we have to decide if we are going to be obedient/love to one kosmos or the other.> *May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. - Galatians 6:14> If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. - 2 Peter 2:20> I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. - Romans 7:10-11> 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. - 1 John 2:16Notice that this system uses the same formula to capture us. This is how Eve was tempted in the Garden:> *When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. - Genesis 3:5*Satan comes back at Jesus the same way:> *The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” - Matthew 4:3> “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” - Matthew 4:6> Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” - Matthew 4:8-9*Adam chose one and Jesus chose another. Which will you choose?*