Today Pastor Choi urges the congregation to follow Jesus remembering one of the marks of Jesus’ followers: separate from the world.  Expounding on 1 John 2:15-17, he warns the believers not to love the world–the lust of flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.  He exhorts them to choose God over the world keeping the end result in mind–the eternal life in the presence of God.

Separate from the World

Following is a summary of his sermon today:

Be Christ’s Disciple (2): Separate from the World

• 1 John 2:15-17
• New American Standard Bible (NASB)
• Do Not Love the World
• ¹⁵ Do not love the world nor 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 lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. ¹⁷ The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

  Introduction

• We are on the sermon series of “Be Christ’s Disciple” focusing on what makes a person a follower of Jesus.  Jesus invites us all to follow Him to Heaven.  He leaves the decision to each individual.  Do you want to be His follower?  If you do, then you had better pay attention to what He says about discipleship.  One thing is for sure: going to church doesn’t automatically make you Jesus’ disciple.  Joining the church as official member doesn’t necessarily turn you into Jesus’ disciple, either.  That’s why I am doing this series on “Be Christ’s Disciple” where I am going to tell you the several marks of Jesus’ follower.
• Last time, I talked about the first mark of Christ’s disciple: Put Christ first.  The one who follows Christ must (not a suggestion but a command) put Christ first, even before family and even before self.  Is it too tough to follow Him?  I decided to follow Him for the following two reasons: first, Jesus is worth dying for.  Next, He knows what’s best for me, so I trust in Him.
• Today, I am going to talk about the second mark of a follower of Jesus: separate (set apart) from the world.  We the disciples of Jesus are not of the world.

  Contents

• Spiritual World: Before we think about the meaning of being separate from the world, let’s think of the world we live in first.  It would be very naïve and even foolish of us to think that the world we see and feel is the only world there is.  Sun and moon, mountains and forests, animals and plants, ocean and fish and so on.  It is called the physical/natural world.  Anyone would agree that there are other worlds such as the mental world that we create/imagine in mind (E.g. Stephen Hawking with ALS disease created the universe in his head) and the spiritual world (invisible and incomprehensible without God’s help).
• Spiritual Battle: When God created the world, the original plan was for us to enjoy His creation and have a right relationship with Him through worship and service.  Something went wrong, though.  One of God’s created angels rebelled against God.  His name was Satan—Lucifer—the Evil one.  He wanted to usurp God and take the place of God himself—to be worshiped by all.  He tempted Adam and Eve in the beginning.  He even tempted Jesus saying, if you worship me, I will give you all the kingdoms, glory, and power of this world (Matthew 4:9).   Two thousand years ago, God sent Jesus to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8).  At the cross, Jesus won the decisive battle and won the victory over Satan.  Satan put Him to death, but Jesus rose again!   The Bible prophesied it this way in Genesis 3:15: He (referring to Jesus) shall bruise you (the Devil) on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.  In this spiritual world, we find ourselves still engaged in skirmishes with Satan’s followers until the Day of Judgment when God will throw Satan and his followers along with the fallen angels into Hell the eternal fire.  Today, Satan tries to deceive and destroy God’s people by all means including deception, fear, and persecution (that’s a topic for another sermon).
• Jesus’ Prayer: Jesus was fully aware of this spiritual environment in which His disciples would be.  The night before He was crucified, He prayed to God on their behalf (John 17).  This is what He said to God in His prayers:  They are in the world but not of the world.  The Evil one tries to harm them, so protect them from him.  Sanctify them with your word.  Send them into the world, not out of the world, as holy (set apart) people of God.
• Separate from the World:  We are of God not of the world.  We are set apart from the world.  Jesus said that we don’t belong to this world but to God.  Being of God means to be united with God.  We are one with God, which means that what goes well with God goes well with us.  What doesn’t go well with God doesn’t go well with us, either.  For instance, God is holy, therefore, we are to be holy.  God is the Light, therefore, we walk in the light not in the darkness.  What God rejects, we do the same.  E.g. God rejects hatred and sin.  So do we.  God practices truth and mercy.  So do we.  (E.g. 1 John 3:10–The one who doesn’t love his brother is not of God).  The same goes with us not being of the world.  We are not one with the world.  We are separate from the world, therefore, what the world loves and promotes, we don’t agree or accept.  E.g. sad reality: the worldly way of thinking permeates today’s church.
• Consequences of being separate from the world: Jesus says, since we are of God and not of the world, the ruler of the world, the Evil one, hates us.  He hated Jesus first.  Here’s an example.  We are living in an age, where the persecution of Christianity becomes more and more intense (E.g. Kindergartner was forbidden to bring his children’s Bible for show- and-tell.  E.g. 2.  Gideons are forbidden to bring the Bibles to school nowadays).  Jesus says it is normal if the world hates us and persecutes us.  Because, we don’t follow what the world promotes.  Don’t worry, though: we do have God’s protection from the Evil one.
• 1 John 2:15-17:  Now, let’s listen to John the Apostle what he says about the world we live in.
• ¹⁵ Do not love the world nor 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 lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. ¹⁷ The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.
• John is right:  In one sentence in v. 15, John sums up what the things in the world are all about: the lust of flesh (self-will), the lust of eyes (self-wanting), and the pride of life.   I think he is very accurate in his assessment.  E.g.  Recently sitting in doctor’s office, I watched two programs on TV: Who wants to be a millionaire?  & The Chew.  One promotes the love of money and the other eating pleasure.  Both the desires of flesh.   If you watch TV, movies, and internet for hours every day, then don’t tell me that you don’t get influenced by the lust of flesh, the lust of eyes, and the pride of life.
• Unpacking of v. 15:  Do not love the world nor the things in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him:   The Message Bible puts this way: Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. There’s a myth among Christians: You can love both God and the world.  The truth is we must choose either God or the world, not both.  Jesus says no one can serve both God and money at the same time.  We still try, though.  If you chase two rabbits, you will lose them both—Native American saying.  There will be a rude awakening one day if we do chase both.  I would rather choose God over the love of the world because I know what would happen to me when I love the world and fill my heart with the love of the world.  In the end, it would turn me into a monster who loves nothing but money/ loves no one but myself and I would die miserably with no hope in Heaven (E.g. Mr. Koo of LG).
• Unpacking of v. 16:  ¹⁶ For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.  The Message Bible puts this way: Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him.
• Unpacking of v. 17:  ¹⁷ The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.  Choosing God over the world is no brainer for me for the following three reasons:  First, God matters eternally; the world doesn’t last forever. Next, everything from God is good.  Third, you become more like what you love and pursue over the years.  I want to be like God.   Make your choice with the end in mind.

  Closing:

• Being separate from the world is not about rules and regulations.  It is, rather, about understanding who we are and what we are called for and pursuing the relationship with the Holy God and obtaining the outcome—the eternal life. One thing is for sure:  whatever we sow daily in our character and life, we will harvest years later: either the life eternal in the presence of God or the eternal death (simply put, Heaven or Hell).
• Are you a disciple of Jesus?  Don’t follow the world.  Do not love the world.  You are not of the world.  You are set apart by God.  Stay pure and blameless until the Day of the Lord.
• Let’s pray.