What does it mean that we are not to love the world?

The young men are faced by a danger which, if it prevails, will hinder them advancing still further into this blessed knowledge. That danger is the world, and the love of it: not merely of the world as an abstract conception, but of the concrete, material things that are in the world. We use a great many of these things, and occasionally at least we enjoy them, but we are not to love them. That which we love dominates us, and we are not to be dominated by the world but by the Father. The love of the world and the love of the Father are mutually exclusive. We cannot be possessed by both. It must be one or the other. Which possesses us?

If the love of the Father possesses us, we shall see the world in its true light. We shall possess a spiritual faculty which acts after the fashion of the much prized X-rays. We shall get down beneath the surface of things to the skeleton framework on which all is built. That skeleton is revealed to us in verse 16 as, "The lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life;" all of which spring not from the Father but are wholly of the world.

We may say therefore that 'the world' is that which is obtained by means of 'the things in the world' - the moral principles rooted in the sinful human heart. The issue is not whether we have pleasure, power or possessions but whether we love it (them) and whether we are governed by these means of getting it (them). If so, the love of the Father is not in us. We may well have been the recipients of God's love in His unspeakable gift, but it is not in us in a practical and experimental way-enjoyed in communion with Him.

All that is in the world ... is of the world. It is not of the Father. What is the world? What are the things in the world? What does it mean that they are of the world? Young men especially but all believers generally are to take care not to love it or the things in it. We ought to take care, therefore, to know what these things mean.

'World' is used in various different ways in the New Testament. It is not a reference here to the persons who comprise the world -'for God so loved the world.' It is rather an organised system of things with an origin, motivating principle, and destiny in complete opposition to the love of the Father. In principle it began with the fall of man and was epitomised by Cain. He went out from the presence of God, took a wife, had a family, built a city, became the progenitor of urban life, of entertainment, commerce and industry. It is not these things in themselves that constitute the world, but it is the systematised way in which they support and sustain life, and absorb energy and attention, in absolute separation from and without reference to God.

Nothing in the world is "of the Father." The things of the world, the desires of the flesh within, the desires of the eyes without, and the pride or vainglory of life are "of the world;" all exclude God and exalt self. The Father's object is the glory of the Son, and the world's object is the gratification of selfish lust. No heart can love and serve both God and mammon. But while the world and its lust is passing away like a vain show, "he that does the will of God abides for ever."

If you and I love the world, it is incompatible with love to the Father. (1 John 2:15.) The Father's love cannot beam on a heart where the things have a place. Many would make, as it were, an inventory of certain things answering in their minds to worldliness; but that is not what God does; He does not say, "Fine houses, costly furniture," etc., but, "The lust of the flesh and of the eye," and the child of God cannot detect this lust save when he is in the presence of God, and with the savour of the full acceptance in the Beloved. Out of His presence there is entire inability to form an idea of what lust really is; it is not in circumstances, but lies down in the depths of the heart alike in poor and in rich.

The lust of the flesh is the desire of having — the desire to possess oneself of those things that minister to the flesh. The lust of the eyes is the desire of seeing, whether with the eyes of the head or with those of the mind, all the things that minister to one's pleasures. It would cover man's restless intellectual cravings as well as his continual hunt for spectacular pleasures. The pride of life is the desire of being — the yearning to be somebody, or something that ministers to pride of heart. This is the most deep-seated evil of the three, and often the least-suspected.

Here then we have exposed for us the framework on which the world system is built; every item of it totally opposed to the Father, and to that world which is to come, when the present world order is displaced. "The world passes away," we are told, and so does the lust of it. We are not surprised to hear it. What a mercy that it does, for what greater calamity could there be than that the world and its lusts should be perpetuated for ever! The world will disappear; the Father and His world will abide. We shall indeed be foolish if we are filled with love for that which vanishes away instead of love for Him who abides.

It appeals to the flesh, the feeling of a corrupted nature: this is the sensual attraction. But more, there is the lust of the eyes," the artistic attraction, - form, colour, perspective, all engaged to appeal to that in us which seems noble and dignified, but which calmly excludes the Father. May our eyes not wander from our holy blessed Lord, in Whom all true, pure beauty is comprehended. And thirdly, "the pride of life" is the intellectual attraction, the appeal of increasing knowledge, by which the world boasts of its ability to do without God.

(V. 15). The young men may come into conflict with the devil and into contact with the world. As the flesh is still in us, the world is a very real danger. We are sent into the world as witnesses for Christ, but we are not of the world. We are therefore warned not to love the world, nor the things in the world. Further, we are reminded that, “If any one love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” We may, alas, be tempted by it, or in an unguarded moment be overcome by it, but the testing question is, Do we love it? A solemn word for all who profess to be of the family of God and yet appear to be more at home in the company of the world than amongst the people of God.

(V. 16). The Apostle leaves us in no doubt as to the character of the world of which he speaks. He does not refer to the physical world of nature, but to that great system built up by fallen man, which is marked by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

It has been noticed that these three principles came in with the fall of man. The devil tempted Eve with the question, “Yea, has God said?” Had the word of God been abiding in her heart, she could have used it to overcome the devil. Alas! it did not govern her thoughts, so, when quoting it (or misquoting it), she was not only powerless to overcome, but she fell into the snare of world principles. She “saw that the tree was good for food”, and thus was carried away by the lust of the flesh. Moreover, she saw that “it was pleasant to the eyes”, and was thus attracted by the lust of the eyes. Lastly, she saw that it was “a tree to be desired to make one wise”, and the pride of life that craves for knowledge was awakened. Being carried away by the principles of the world, Adam disobeyed God and was driven from the garden. The world, then, is a vast system organised by fallen man in order to indulge the different lusts of the flesh, to gratify the eye, and to minister to the various forms of pride.

To the serious and thoughtful, the question comes up often and earnestly - What is the world? What is it from which we are to keep ourselves unspotted? There are three senses in which the word world can be used; literally, it means the order or system according to which human affairs are managed on the earth. The earth itself is called the world, because it is the platform on which the world-system operates, and the people who live according to this world-system are called the world also. They may thus be distinguished: the world-space, the world-people, the world-system. When we read that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, it may be understood that He came into the world-space, and in so doing He necessarily came in contact with the world-system which hated Him. He said to His disciples, "Ye are not of the world, even as I am not of the world," that is, you are not under the system governed by it, finding your life in it. He that is a friend to that system is an enemy to God, because it is self-governed, not subject to God. Take, for an illustration, the military system. When a man enlists in the army he finds everything provided for him: the paymaster's department supplies his funds, the quartermaster's department clothes him, the ordnance department arms and equips him. It is arranged for him that he shall go here, and lodge there; there are regular hours for drill, dress, parade, roll-call, etc., etc., and to this system he is bound when he enters the army. It is very significantly called a little world in itself, so complete and systematic are its arrangements. This is but a faint illustration of the all-governing system called the world, where every want of man is provided for - every faculty brought into exercise.

Fellowship with the Father and the Son and love of the world are incompatible. The world is that system which has grown up on this earth without God, and "All that is of the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." (1 John 2:16.) The world around each one of us will assume different colors according to our different tastes. That which we individually like the most, will, as a rule, be the world to us, and the world we shall least willingly give up. It is easy to give up things we do not care for, and to call ourselves unworldly and it is easy to see love of the world in other christians, and to be blind to our own love of it We may say, that anything which would not be happily carried on in the presence of God is of the world; and the word is, "If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." (1 John 2:15.) A child, while disobedient, would not have the love of his parent in his heart; for if that love were in him, he would be doing his parent's will.