Why Christians shouldn’t Love the World

1 John 2:15-17

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world–the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions–is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. (ESV)

Why should Christians not love the world? Because of what the world is – not the created world, nor the human world, but the world of sin and evil.

Three things make up this world:

  1. The desires of the flesh – Hedonism
    Sexual sins, gluttony, pride, anger, sloth (laziness).
    Unbridled desires of the flesh, e.g. pornography.
    Social sins like hatred, contentions, envy, anger, jealousy.

  2. The lust of the eyes – Materialism
    Unlawful desiring of what we can see – greediness.
    The seriousness of it (Eph. 5:5-7).

  3. The pride of life – Narcissism
    The desire to be worshipped and noticed by other people all the time.

The young are mostly affected by the desires of the flesh, the middle age with the lust of the eyes and the elderly with the pride of life. But one must not be considered more serious than the other.
All of those are equally part of the world that we are not to love, but why should we not?

  1. Because those who practice the works of the flesh will not inherit the kingdom of God (Gal. 5:19-21).

  2. Because if you lose your love for God the Father you are not glorifying Him, but yourself, which is exactly what the love of the world leads to.
    Friendship with the world is enmity with God (James 4:4).
    Don’t love this place – it’s not your home, you’re on your way home.
    We don’t have it in us to love God and the world at the same time.
    What does it mean to love God? It’s to keep His commandments.

  3. Because of where the world is going – it’s passing away.

Do you desire to hear: “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord.”? What gives you the most pleasure in this life? Is it the Lord your God for who He is, not for what He gives you?