The LOVE God HATES

A group of first graders had just completed a tour of a hospital, and the nurse who had directed them on the tour asked if they had any questions about what they had seen.

One little boy spoke up and asked, "Why do the people who work here always wash their hands?”

The nurse answered, “They are always washing their hands for two reasons. First, they love health; and second, they hate germs.”

In more than one area of life, love and hate go hand in hand.

A husband who loves his wife is certain to hate anything or anyone who would attempt to harm her.

Psalm 97:10 says: “Hate evil, you who love the Lord, who preserves the souls of His godly ones…”

And Paul writes in Romans 12:9 – “Let love be without hypocrisy.”

So, today, we are looking at three reasons why Christians should not love the world.

First, we need to look at what we mean when we say, “the world”.

The word “world” in the New Testament has at least three (3) meanings:

1. The physical world – and all things herein the earth – Acts 17:24: “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.”

2. The human world – that is, humankind – John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world (that He created) that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

3. Interconnected world - In one place in Scripture, these two worlds appear together – John 1:10: “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.”

This world in 1 John is our enemy – an invisible spiritual system opposed to God and opposed to Jesus Christ.

The physical world we live in – that world of finance, politics, education, and many other aspects of our lives – exists within the physical and human world.

These are the systems that allow our daily life to continue. The systems of the world include: finance, politics, sports, among others, that we encounter and depend upon in daily living.

“The world” is Satan’s system for opposing the work of Christ.

The purpose of Satan’s world is to oppose the work of Jesus Christ. It is the absolute opposite of what is godly, what is holy, and what is spiritual.

Satan is known as the prince of this world – John 12:31- and Jesus tells us there that: “Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world (Satan) will be cast out.”

He (Satan) is organized, and his evil spirits influence happenings in the world. He uses willing and unaware people to accomplish his work.

To give a simple explanation of who is “the world” – it is the people who are NOT following Christ but allowing Satan to manipulate their lives and activities.

Luke 16:8 says this: “…. The sons of this age are shrewder in relation to their own kind than the sons of light.”

As Christians, we live in the physical, human world – but we are not part of Satan’s system of opposing God.

The Christian is somewhat like a scuba diver. The water is not man’s natural habitat, because he is not equipped for life in or underwater. When a scuba diver goes under, he has to take special equipment with him to breathe.

And this world is not the Christian’s natural habitat. Heaven is our eternal home. Our source of power comes from Heaven – this is our “special equipment” for survival.

We, as Christians, have a source of power through the Holy Spirit, prayer, fellowship, and the Word – these help us to survive here in this land that is not our permanent home.

Reminds me of the song which says: “This world is not my home; I’m just a’ passing through.

Here is a second reason why Christians should not love this world.

Because of what the world does TO us.

When – or if – we let it – the world will make us worldly. What does “worldly” look like. Basically, I think we could say “worldly” looks a whole lot like everything that being in Christ is not.

Being worldly is a matter of attitude as well as one of activity. In other words, being worldly is not always doing as much as it is a matter of the mind – and in turn a matter of the heart.

To the extent that a Christian loves the world system and the things in the world – his or her love of the Father and the Son will be diminished.

We need to pause here for a minute and define what worldliness is: It is anything in a Christian’s life that causes him or her to lose the enjoyment of the Father’s love, or the loss of the desire to do the Father’s will.

There are two tests to know if you are worldly:

1.    Your personal devotional life – or your response to your Father’s love,

2.    And your daily conduct or responses to your Father’s will.

The world’s system uses three devices to trap Christians.  1 John 2:16

• The first of these traps even Christians fall into is the Lust of the Flesh.

The lust of the flesh – the cravings of sinful humankind. This is anything that appeals to man’s fallen nature.

“Flesh” means the basic nature of unregenerate man that makes him blind to spiritual truth.

Fleshly and spiritual natures are both in our human bodies – and they are constantly and consistently at war with one another.

God has provided humankind with certain appetites – hunger, thirst, weariness, physical desires.

It is when the flesh controls these appetites that they become sinful lusts.

Everything God says about the flesh is negative. A person who lives for the flesh is living a negative life.

• The second trap even Christians can fall into is the Lust of the Eyes.

The world lives for entertainment and pleasures that excite the eyes.

Look at the example of Achan (Joshua 7:16-21) – a soldier, who brought defeat to Joshua’s army because of the lust of his eyes.

So Joshua arose early in the morning and brought Israel near by tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken. He brought the family of Judah near, and he took the family of the Zerahites; and he brought the family of the Zerahites near man by man, and Zabdi was taken. He brought his household near man by man; and Achan, son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, was taken. Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, I implore you, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and give praise to Him; and tell me now what you have done. Do not hide it from me.” So Achan answered Joshua and said, “Truly, I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel, and this is what I did: when I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar and two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold fifty shekels in weight, then I coveted them and took them; and behold, they are concealed in the earth inside my tent with the silver underneath it.”

God had warned Israel not to take any spoils from the condemned city of Jericho, but Achan did not” obey that order.

The lust of his eyes led him into sin, and his sin led to him being stoned to death – Joshua 7:22-26 - verse 21 says it all – “I saw”, “I coveted”, “I took”.

So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and behold, it was concealed in his tent with the silver underneath it. They took them from inside the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the sons of Israel, and they poured them out before the Lord. Then Joshua and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the mantle, the bar of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent and all that belonged to him; and they brought them up to the valley of Achor. Joshua said, “Why have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you this day.” And all Israel stoned them with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones. They raised over him a great heap of stones that stands to this day, and the Lord turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called the valley of Achor to this day.

It is that BIG “I” that got Achan in trouble, and very often gets us today in a lot of trouble, and outside of God’s will for our lives.

In today’s world, there is pressure on Christians to think like the world thinks --- when we see what is available to see, we become conditioned to think like the world thinks and acts.

What all this culminates in is the boastful pride of life – that is, boasting of what WE have, and what WE have done – no credit to God’s working in our lives.

This thinking leads us and motivates us to be something or someone we are not. It causes us to try to outdo others, trying to make a good impression on others.

When this pride takes over, some serious consequences come about:

1.    The Bible becomes boring – prayer becomes a difficult chore.

2.    Christian fellowship becomes empty and uncomfortable.

3.    These are not sudden happenings – people – in most times – become worldly gradually:

4.    Steps leading to a worldly life:

• We become a friend of the world – a friend of the world is an enemy of God.

James 4:4 – “…do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. “

• We become spotted by the world.

James 1:27: “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this” “to visit the orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”

• We become conformed to the world.

Romans 12:2: “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

• We become condemned with the world.

Paul speaks of this in 1 Corinthians 11:32: “But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world.”

An example from Scripture of the judgment of God on His people is found in the familiar account of Lot and the downward steps he encountered when he was warned of the coming destruction of Sodom. (Genesis 19) – he pitched his tent toward Sodom because of its well-watered plains. He had to suffer because of the unbelieving sinners in Sodom. Everything he lived for went up in smoke!

The love of the world was the reason God destroyed the city. When God warns us not to love this world, there are consequences, as seen when He destroyed the city of Sodom.

• Another reason why Christians should not love the world is this:

Because of the destination of this world.

1 John 2:17 – “This world is passing away, and also it lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.”

People who place their confidence in the physical/human world challenge that message. They refuse to believe that God will cause this world to pass away.

But God has spoken, and His Word does not become void. A day will come when this world will be gone – along with all the physical attractions and possessions so many people cling to today.

We can see a contrast here of two different and truly diverse ways of life.

1.    A life lived for the here and the now.

This life is lived for the pleasures of the flesh.

• Living for the things we can see and touch.

• Living for the vain glory that appeals to our human desires.

2.    A life lived with eternity in mind.

• Living for the joys of the Holy Spirit’s presence in the life of God’s people.

• Living for the unseen realities of God – knowing His promises and standing on them.

• Living for the approval of God.

The present world system is not a lasting one.

Everything around us is changing. These are temporal things – material things.

But things which are eternal never change. What is right and what is wrong never changes. God has established those principles, and they are everlasting. God’s love and His will remain the same as always – the worldly system, as hard as it tries, cannot change what God has established.

A mature Christian can know the will of God – He can know what the Lord wants him to do.

To sum all of this up, let me say this:

The Christian is in the world – physically. But he is not IN the world – spiritually.

Jesus Christ has sent us into the world to bear witness of Him.

Like the scuba diver we met earlier, we must live in an alien body.  And, if we are not careful and mindful, that alien influence will overcome us.

As Christians – as long as life is within us – we cannot help being in the world, but when the world is in the Christian, trouble is present -and a weakened – or possibly – a non-existent relationship begins.

So, throughout our lives – even as Christians – we must ask ourselves – and decide – “Will I live for the present only, or will I live for the will of God?”

Love for the world is the condition Satan wants us to live in. But our hope of looking forward to eternity with God is the reason Jesus Christ came to the earth to teach – and then to die on a cross – pouring out His life’s blood to cover our sins.

Each of us must decide whom he/she will follow --- the world --- that invisible spiritual system that is opposed to God --- or to make the decision to follow Jesus Christ, looking forward to eternity – not in eternal fire, but in eternal peace in the presence of our Lord.