The World and Its Desires Pass Away

From: December 26, 2011 to January 2, 2012

Topic: "The World and Its Desires Pass Away" 1 John 2:15-17 As it is inferred from these verses, in this world there are many principles that are false. The world wants us believers to live according to their principles and that is why they hate us. But, Jesus made this clear when he prayed to the Father (John 17:14), "I have given them your word and the world hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world." Contrary to the teachings of the Lord Jesus, the world is characterized for encouraging the low desires, the false values and selfishness. Therefore, it is not proper to follow the world; we came out of there when we converted. God’s call in this first letter of John is: "Love not the world or the things in the world." This world has forgotten the God who created it. Careful, may this never happen to us who believed again. In the world there are only thoughts of vain things. When a believer leaves God it is because he ran back to the world. There is a way to be deceived by the world. It is when everything seems to go well, when apparently there is no persecution, when there is so much peace! That is when we are under the dangerous temptation of reaching an agreement with the world. The world takes advantage of that peace and offers you things, they commend you. They recognize the value of your honesty; they know you can be trusted and that you pray. Then they use you as the indicated person to perform services for the world in which they move. Brother, watch out for that scheme; that is not accepted. Be careful what you do, see how committed you are to the world and destroy those bonds. To this day, as when John wrote, the obligation of the believer is to be different from this world. In this passage we see that John saw things as he believed them, very clear. The love towards God or the world is a matter in which there is no room for neutrality; either we love the world or we love God. Jesus himself said: "No man can serve two masters" (Matthew 6:24); the reason is, that one has to be hated. The final decision to be taken remains the same: Are we going to accept the principles of the world or the principles of God? The love for the world is not compatible with the love of the Father. All that the world has to offer us can be summarized as: the desires of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the arrogance of life (I John 2:16). John had two things to say about those who love the world and compromise with it. The worldly man is the one who judges everything for his appetites, the one who is a slave of excessive ostentation, arrogant; he is a braggart who tries to appear to be someone much greater than he is. The person who is devoted to the goals and ways of this world is dedicating his life to things that literally have no future. All these things pass and have no permanence. On the contrary, if you have placed God as the center of your life then you are devoted to things that last forever. Those who decide to live for God, live for what is permanent. In God you have an assurance of joy that will never end. (I John 2:17). Sins are typical of this world. For such reason they cannot be in you. That is, to presume, to boast, the desires of the flesh and of the eyes. In occasions, they are impure sexual desires. In the New Testament we can see that flesh is a part of our nature that offers a bridge to sin when it is beyond the grace of Jesus Christ. All worldly ambitions and selfish objectives emerge from the flesh. To follow the flesh is to live a life dominated by the corporal senses. It is to live for the food, to live only for the luxury or to be a slave of carnal pleasure, to be greedy, immoral, selfish of what you have, without any interest in the spiritual life, satisfying

in life only what is material. Let us be careful with everything that wants to distance our hearts from the God who gave His Son for eternal life. The lust of the flesh does not take into account the commandments of God, or His trial, or His principles, or even that God exists. Those who take pleasure may destroy one as well as many. Those who follow the desires of the flesh do not respect the people as long as they gratify their desires. They are those who have and are not capable of giving to those who do not have. They are the ones who have made a god out of their pleasures and comfort. The lust of the eyes is the tendency to allow to be captivated by appearances. It is the spirit that seeks excessive ostentation. Nothing can be seen without wanting it. It is a man's desire to possess what is seen and once it is possessed they strut and boast about it. It is when men have thought that the things money can buy will bring us happiness. Those who live according to the lust of the eyes do not recognize other values that are not material. The vain gloriousness of life is when one pretends to have more than anyone else and to be valued more than anyone else; to visit great restaurants just to impress and not able to pay even the dessert; to boast about having a great deal of money in the bank when in reality there are economical problems; to always talk about the many powerful friends such as a rich merchant, doctor, mayor, etc; someone who can only rent a house and pretends to buy a bigger house. Their conversation is always to presume about things they do not possess and spend their life trying to impress everyone with things that do not exist in their life. Our lives should not be like this. We cannot live by these things that the apostle John warns us. May our hearts be always faithful to God, because even though we live in the world, let's be clear with ourselves; we are not of the world! John 17:16 "They are not of the world, even as I am not of it." Amen.