]COMMUNION

 

Sunday - May 6 - Communion

 

Intro:  I am so excited to be back again after a three week lay off to be sharing the Word of God with you this morning.  Today we will be looking at three truths revealed in our passage of scripture this morning. 

 

1.   In vs 15, John gives a command or statement of truth.  Do not love the world or

      anything in the world. As a Christian you have three enemies. 

     The world which we will talk about in a moment. 

 

a.  The devil, who works through accusation, temptation and deception. 

b.  The flesh which is the sinful nature within us.  This is the living force within our

      DNA that makes us sin.  It is influenced by what we see, taste, touch, smell and

      hear.

c.  John says do not love the world.  This is an act of the will.  Before you were a

     Christian loving the world was as natural as breathing.  As a Christian choosing not

     to love the world is an act of the will.  Christ redeemed us and gave us freedom from

     the power of the world.

d..  Someone may ask this morning what is this world you are talking about?  First,

     when we as believerS talk about the world we are not talking about our physical

     planet.  We are talking about the standards, morals, ideas, teachings,

     influences of society.  This society is ruled by satan.  Which we gave him when

     Adam fell. 

e.   Paul calls, satan the God of this world, who has blinded people from the knowledge

      of the truth.  (2Cor 4:4)

f.  The world is an advesary of the Christian.  John makes it clear that if a person

    loves the world, the love of the Father is not in them.  Jesus says in Mt 6:24, you

     cannot serve two masters.   Church we cannot love and serve Christ and love or

     serve the world.  It is impossible.  You cannot have divided loyalties and truly

     serve God.

g.  The Bible contains these warnings about being friends of the world.

 

I.  Jesus said in Matt 16, that a person may gain the whole world, yet will forfeit his soul.

II. Jesus stated in Lk 21:34, that the anxieties of life will close on you unexpectedly.

III. Paul exhorts the believer to set their hearts on the things above and not earthly

    things in Col 3:2

IV. Paul again says that we must say no to ungodly passions and worldly passions and

     live self controlled, upright and godly lives.  Tit 2:12

V. James is more blunt in James 4:4 when he states that friendship with the world is

    hatred towards God.  Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an

    enemy of God.  It is time the church look more like Christ than anyone else. 

 

2.  John in vs 16, then reveals the three ways the world attacks or influences people.

 

a.  First, Lust of flesh or as the NIV puts it.  The cravings of sinful man.  Lust of the

     Flesh is the pursuit of pleasure and self centreness.  It is all about what you

     want, need, or desire.  You will do anything, pay any price or give anything to be

     loved, accepted, understood.  You want significance and security.  The world

     provides this in a warp and perverted way. 

b.  The world system tries to channel these basic human needs in different ways.  John

      states that world does it  through, Lust of the Eyes.  This is materialism.  Thinking

      that money, which 1 Tim 6:10 says the love of it, is the root of all evil or 

      Thinking possessions or things will bring security.  Our whole society operates on

       trying to get things.  Yet it is foolish to pursue this because it does nothing to extend

       life, create true happiness and secure everlasting life.So many in our society

       believe that if I get enough money I will be happy.  Just look at Britney Spears or

       Howard Hughes.

c.    Lastly the world attacks by the Pride of Life.  This is man measuring his self

       worth by religious pursuits, self discipline, social, economic or ecological activism.

       They try to prove to God, others or themselves that they are worth something.  This

       is where religion, activism, intellectism, satanism, new age, withcraft, false beliefs,

       self help and so many other things fall under.  Man wants self worth, signficance

       and security.  Where they fail is they begin with the premise that it starts with them

       when in reality it starts with God.  John statess that pride of life is boasting in

      what a person has or does comes from the world.  It does not come from God or

       the Father.

 

3.   John then closes this paragraph with a statement of fact.  The world and its

      desires are passing away.  They will not last.  Your will never be fulfilled with

      pleasure, possessions or things you have or do.  They never last.  Houses crumble,

      cars rust, people leave, things change.  All that is not of God will pass away.

 

a.  The second statement of fact John says.  The person who does the will of the

     God lives forever.  God is our security, self worth and signficance.  When we

     put our trust in the Lord we will never suffer shame. 

b.  John at age 90, writing this letter had saw the folly of pleasure, possesions and pride.

     These three leave a hollowness to life. 

c.  Paul in 1 Cor 13:1-2, states that without Godly love, we produce, receive and are of

     no real value.  This morning let us as we prepare for communion choose to do the

     will of God and live forever.  Jesus did and because He did we can live forever.