Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.

If any man love the world, the love

of the Father is not in him (1 John 2:15).

The phrase or the term that is up for discussion is do not love the world. First of all, In the Bible,
the term world has many meanings. These are some of the meanings we can consign to the term
world; the world could mean the earth, or all the people on the earth, or the lost people, or the
sinful people, etc. In fact, we derive our understanding of the term world from the context in
which it was used.

1 John was written by Apostle John, the brother of James, who was one of the twelve disciples.
Apostle John, in particular, said so much about the world in 1 John. In his writings, John used
the term world to contrast the things of God; that is to say, if something is not from God, then it
is of the world. If something does not give glory to God, it is said to be from the world. See 1Jo
2:16, 1Jo 5:4, 1Jo 5:19, etc. 1 John gives us the impression that there are two factions on this
earth; that is, the world and God. One is either on God’s side or on the world’s side.
In the context of 1 John 2:15, the term world could be:
Generally, anything that does not come from God.
Anything that does not give glory to God.
The carnal, sin-glorifying, or sin-causing things, behavior, beliefs, etc. inspired by the devil.
Therefore, do not love the world is an exhortation inspired by God and it tells Christians that:

They should not be followers, fans, or supporters of carnal, sin-glorifying things, ideas, beliefs,
etc.
They should not endorse or follow those things that do not give glory to God.
Human as we are, we show our love for something through our endorsement, or through the
way we show support for it, or through the way we speak good of it, or through taking part in it.
Therefore, a Christian is guilty of loving the world, if he is a follower of, or a fan of, or a partaker
of the things, beliefs, habits, ideas, etc. that do not give glory to God. We easily identify greed,
pride, promiscuity, covetousness, etc. as practices or habits of the world. Fine, but there are
other worldly things, ideas, and practices that we Christians indulge in and yet overlook. This
lesson is going to look at a few of them.
The world is a cradle of many doctrines, beliefs, and philosophies – there are so many of them
than you could imagine. These secular opinions, beliefs, etc. are developed with the wicked
intent of perverting the way of righteousness, glorifying all sorts of immoralities, and making
that which is sinful appear to be less of a sin. A good example is the worldly opinion that
marriage is nothing more than a contract – a contract that could be broken at any time, making
divorce less of a sin. This view is in sharp contrast with the Christian belief that marriage is a
lifelong union between a man and a woman.
Apparently, the views or the opinions of the world are designed to attack Christianity, or
demean Christianity, or demote Jesus Christ from being a Divine being, or pervert the truth.
And they are made available to us in movies, music, articles, novels, etc. An example is that the
LGBT community consolidated their opinion about Jesus in a play titled Corpus Christi in which
Jesus Christ was portrayed as a homosexual.
Sadly, some Christians get along with these blasphemous, sin-glorifying ideas and beliefs of the
world; and that is one of the manifestations of loving the world and the things in the world.
This is a typical scene of a Jay Z concert. Thousands have flocked the venue to witness a
performance characterized by profanity and indecency. Believe you me, at least a fourth of the
population that has turned up for his concert are people who boldly profess to be Christians –
Christians who have not read their Bibles and or prayed for days; worse yet, other spiritual
activities such as fasting and evangelism are completely off their minds and their church
attendance is off and on. Such Christians have little or no time for the things of God and treat
their relationship with God with less regard. Rather, they make time for secular music concerts,
night clubs, casinos, and other places of worldly entertainment.
Everything is wrong with worldly entertainments; they are ungodly, profane, blasphemous, and
unworthy for Christian, for light and darkness should not have any fellowship. Those Christians
who have abandoned prayer, Bible studies, fellowshipping, evangelism, etc. but find time for
worldly pleasures, make it clear to all that they love the world and the things in the world.
Entertaining yourself is not wrong. Watching a decent movie, watching sports, etc. But
oftentimes some Christians forgo their spiritual duties in order to make time to watch their
favorite series, sports, etc. There are times when some Christians deliberately miss church
service because of a football match or a TV series. For those Christians who respect football
more than God and who forfeit church service for entertainment, you make it too clear that you
do not love God, rather, you love the world and the things in the world.
A man of God was standing in the corner of the street waiting for his friend. His friend was long
in coming, so he stood there for some time. While waiting, he took the opportunity to carefully
observe those who were passing by. His findings were that, after some time of observing so
many people, he could hardly make out the Christian women among them for all the women
who bypassed were in provocative attire to his surprise.
Provocative dressing is a sin that is properly called by the term lasciviousness in the Bible.
Lasciviousness encompasses anything you do with a sexual intention or anything you do to
arouse the sexual lusts of others. This is the way of the worldly women because, for them, sex is
one of their means of bargain to get what they want.
It is astonishing how Christian women have crossed the line in the way they dress and carry
themselves about; for they identify much with the world in dressing than with the ideal
Christian woman that the Bible portrays. The sin of wearing provocative attire has taken the
church by storm to such an extent that the Bible’s teaching on modesty has been relegated to the
background. The Bible says
9 likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and
self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, (1 Timothy 2:9 ESV)
Christianity is for decency and modesty in dressing, whereas the world stands for indecency.
Dressing in provocative attire is one way Christians identify with the world and become guilty of
the sin of loving the world and the things in the world.
I remember an MTV program that was meant for interviewing rich celebrities right in their
homes. It showcases their lifestyle and their flashy mansions and put on display their collection
of cars, wardrobe, etc. The program made me see what it means to live in excess. Secular people
love extravagance.
Sad to say, some Christians are challenging secular people in their own game. Extravagance has
become one common indulgence of Christians, especially, the well to do of both the laity and the
clergy. Many church leaders are very guilty when it comes to such matters for they live in excess
and have amassed so many material things for themselves than one could expect. Their garages
display fleets of cars; they have more cars than necessary – that is extravagance and excess.
They have acquired multiple mansions in rich neighborhoods and they switch from one house to
another as and when they deem fit. They spend heavily on a whim and live in abundance; not
forgetting the millions and billions they have to their names. Extravagance is an obvious display
of the love of the world and the things in the world. Christians, both clergy and laity, who
practice materialism and extravagance identify with the world and they are, undoubtedly, lovers
of the world.
Jesus once told his disciples that the world would hate them because they are not of the world,
and he also added, “.. the world would love his own..” Indeed, the world loves his own. Porn
stars, adult models, secular musicians, etc. command an enormous number of fans and
followers than you could imagine and the world hails them as if they were the best people to ever
walk the earth.
It is also surprising how some Christians look up to these worldly people and hail them when, in
fact, these people are nothing more than enemies of God who deliberately seek to pervert the
way of righteousness and lead people astray. You do not need anyone to tell you this, for their
worldly lifestyle, which is characterized by divorce, alcoholism, drug abuse, indiscipline,
immorality, violence, extravagance, and profanity make a lasting impression on others,
especially, the youth.

It is sad to say that some Christians are fans and followers of the likes of Rihanna, Beyonce,
Justin Bieber, Miley Cyprus, etc. if you are a fan and follower of enemies of God, you eventually
become an enemy of God, for the Bible teaches that love for the world is enmity with God.
You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?
Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (James
4:4 ESV).
Therefore, Christians should break free from these worldly entertainers – break free from their
influence and seduction, for any Christian who follows them prove that he loves the world and
hates God.

Generally, a Christian who loves the world lives a life that is not much different from that of the
unbeliever and his choices and decisions seldom take God into account.
Conclusion
18 “If the world hates you (Christians), know that it has hated me (Jesus) before it hated you. 19
If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the
world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word
that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also
persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours (John 15:18-20 ESV)
Jesus said it all. The world has nothing for Christians but hatred and persecution. If you profess
to be a Christian and the world loves you then you are not of Christ but of the world for the
world loves his own. And if any Christian loves the world and the things thereof, he will ruin his
relationship with God and become apostate.

"LOVE NOT THE WORLD."

A. What is meant by world?
1. Not material universe.
a. It is God's beautiful creation.
b. It testifies to us of God.
2. It is that world system that is in rebellion against God.
a. That system that exhalts man.
b. That creates vertical categories for man that puts one over another.
B. "Things in the world."
1. Not referring to natural beauties that God created.
a. They too testify to us of God.
2. These are the material possessions.
C. Agape is the word for pre-eminent love.
1. Love for things in world should never be the pre-eminent love of your life.
D. Satan is a perverter.
1. He changes even the good to evil use.
a. Changed the glory of an incorruptible God.
b. Changed the natural use into that which is against nature.
E. Worldliness is an attitude of the heart.
1. Longing for and living after the flesh.
II. "HE THAT LOVETH THE WORLD HATH NOT THE LOVE OF THE FATHER."
A. No man can serve two masters.
1. You cannot have two pre-eminent loves in your life.
2. Our love for God must be pre-eminent.
III. "ALL THAT IS IN THE WORLD."
A. Lust of the flesh.
"LOVE NOT THE WORLD."
A. What is meant by world?
1. Not material universe.
a. It is God's beautiful creation.
b. It testifies to us of God.
2. It is that world system that is in rebellion against God.
a. That system that exhalts man.
b. That creates vertical categories for man that puts one over another.
B. "Things in the world."
1. Not referring to natural beauties that God created.
a. They too testify to us of God.
2. These are the material possessions.
C. Agape is the word for pre-eminent love.
1. Love for things in world should never be the pre-eminent love of your life.
D. Satan is a perverter.
1. He changes even the good to evil use.
a. Changed the glory of an incorruptible God.
b. Changed the natural use into that which is against nature.
E. Worldliness is an attitude of the heart.
1. Longing for and living after the flesh.
II. "HE THAT LOVETH THE WORLD HATH NOT THE LOVE OF THE FATHER."
A. No man can serve two masters.
1. You cannot have two pre-eminent loves in your life.
2. Our love for God must be pre-eminent.
III. "ALL THAT IS IN THE WORLD."
A. Lust of the flesh.
1. That seeking to satisfy our fleshly desires.
2. These desires can control our lives.
a. They can cloud our judgment.
b. Destroy our value systems.
B. Lust of the eyes.
1. Jesus talked about looking at a woman and lusting after her.
2. We often look at other things with strong desire, material possessions.
C. The pride of life.
1. My desire to be known by men.
2. My desire to be praised by men.
3. Be as God, to receive praise of men.
4. The desire to be worshipped.
D. These are the areas where Satan concentrates his attacks.
1. Eve in garden.
a. Fruit was beautiful to look upon.
b. Pleasant to eat.
c. Make her a god.
2. Christ.
a. Bread from stone - satisfy hunger.
b. Kingdoms of world, "glory of them."
c. Pride of life.
E. The unholy concert against the believer.
1. World.
2. Flesh.
3. Devil.
III. THE PASSING AND THE PERMANENT.
A. "The world passes away and the desires."
B. He who does the will of God abides forever.