1 JOHN 2:15-17 (5 OF 14)
Scripture: 1 John 2:15-17
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1 John 2:15-17 (5 of 14)
Series: 1 John: Jesus Our Light and Life
Wyman Richardson
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 of life-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.
I am forever haunted by these words from T.S. Eliot's ''Chorus from 'The Rock''':
The Eagle soars in the summit of Heaven,
The Hunter with his dogs pursues his circuit.
O perpetual revolution of configured stars,
O perpetual recurrence of determined seasons,
O world of spring and autumn, birth and dying!
The endless cycle of idea and action,
Endless invention, endless experiment,
Brings knowledge of motion, but not of stillness;
Knowledge of speech, but not of silence;
Knowledge of words, and ignorance of the Word.
All our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance,
All our ignorance brings us nearer to death,
But nearness to death no nearer to God.
Where is the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
The cycles of Heaven in twenty centuries
Bring us farther from God and nearer to the Dust.
These words speak of the emptiness and futility of the fallen world order and the ways in which we keep falling farther and farther away from God even as we try to achieve wisdom and knowledge. This is a description of what John calls ''the world.'' In 1 John 2:15-17, John cautions us about love for this world and the things of it.
The fallen world order is an unfit object for our affections.
We will begin with John's simple and foundational assertion:
15a Do not love the world or the things in the world.
We are not to love the world. However, we might immediately think of an objecti ...
Series: 1 John: Jesus Our Light and Life
Wyman Richardson
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 of life-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.
I am forever haunted by these words from T.S. Eliot's ''Chorus from 'The Rock''':
The Eagle soars in the summit of Heaven,
The Hunter with his dogs pursues his circuit.
O perpetual revolution of configured stars,
O perpetual recurrence of determined seasons,
O world of spring and autumn, birth and dying!
The endless cycle of idea and action,
Endless invention, endless experiment,
Brings knowledge of motion, but not of stillness;
Knowledge of speech, but not of silence;
Knowledge of words, and ignorance of the Word.
All our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance,
All our ignorance brings us nearer to death,
But nearness to death no nearer to God.
Where is the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
The cycles of Heaven in twenty centuries
Bring us farther from God and nearer to the Dust.
These words speak of the emptiness and futility of the fallen world order and the ways in which we keep falling farther and farther away from God even as we try to achieve wisdom and knowledge. This is a description of what John calls ''the world.'' In 1 John 2:15-17, John cautions us about love for this world and the things of it.
The fallen world order is an unfit object for our affections.
We will begin with John's simple and foundational assertion:
15a Do not love the world or the things in the world.
We are not to love the world. However, we might immediately think of an objecti ...
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