Three Traps That Hinder Spiritual Growth
Series: Study of 1 John - 1 John 2:15-17Pastor Ed Riddick - Sunday, April 18th, 2004
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Introduction
In the Chicago Tribune Magazine actor Kyle Chandler was asked a series of finish-the-sentence questions. One question was, “I’d give anything to meet___.” Chandler answered, “God Almighty. I’d like to share my favorite meal with him, and I’d let him do all the talking.”
Such an offer is open to Chandler.
Its all about relationship.
The Christian life is about having fellowship with God.
1 John 2:15-17 “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. 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 world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever. ” NASB95
John urges his readers to cultivate intimate fellowship with God who is light. He says the Christianity is a real story that offers real joy. And that joy is found in having fellowship with God.
Pastor Richard Baxter prayed, “My the Living God, who is the portion and rest of the saints, make these our carnal minds so spiritual, and our earthly hearts so heavenly, that loving Him, and delighting in him may be the work of our lives.”e zsxHe
I. Three evidences of having fellowship with God. We…
1. Confess sin.
2. Have a desire to do the will of God.
3. Have a loving relationship with other believers.
II. Three Stages of Spiritual Growth
A. Stage I: Children
12 “I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name’s sake…13b I have written to you, children, because you know the Father.”
B. Stage 2: Fathers
13a “I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning….14 I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning.”
C. Stage 3: Young Men
13b “I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one… 14b I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one”
The three stages of Christian growth are children, fathers, and young men. These categories have nothing to do with age or gender. It is possible for someone to be sixty years old and still be a spiritual child and it is possible for a female to be a spiritual father in the sense that those terms are used in the text.
III. Three Traps That Hinder Spiritual Growth
Barrier to Spiritual Growth - Worldliness 2:15-17
John next warned his readers of worldly dangers that face the Christian as he or she seeks to get to know God better. He did so to enable them to prepare for and to overcome these obstacles with God’s help. “As often in 1 John, a section of parenthesis follows a series of dogmatic statements.” John again presented three pairs, as he did in verses 12-14.
V. 15 Love of (for) the world Love of (for) the Father
V. 16 comes from the world comes from the Father
V. 17 the world passes away the one who obeys God remains
Forever
A. What Is the Controlling Center of Your Love Life?
An issue of the heart. Whom or what will be the love of my life?
There can be only one center of devotion. It will either be the world or the Father. But it can not be both at the same time. This is about the “wants” of our life.
Matthew 6:24 ““No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” NASB95
Definition of worldliness: anything in a Christian’s life that causes him to lose his enjoyment of the Father’s love or his desire to do the Father’s will. Not so much an activity as an attitude and center of affection.
2:15 The negative prohibition means to either stop doing something or do not have the habit of doing it.
The “world” (kosmos) refers to the system of values, priorities, and beliefs that people hold that excludes God. It is a seductive system that appeals to all people, believers as well as unbelievers, and calls for our affection, participation, and loyalty (cf. John 3:16-17; 18-19; James 4:4).
Satan controls this system, and believers should shun it (cf. 5:19; John 12:31; 14:30). Not creation for the “system and its values”.
“If” assumes that some Christians will love the world which is true to reality.
“The love of the Father” is the believers’ love for the Father (objective genative), not His love for us.
“In him” reflects a controlling influence means his love for God does not control him.
Phil 1:21 “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith (our part) in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” NIV
Ch 34 Piper calls this a paradox that means when we become Christians the old self dies and the new self is created.
What is this new self?
The new self is Christ living in me. It is defined by Christ’s
presence and help. He is always there giving me life and
strength.
“The new self is a Christ-inhabited, Christ-sustained, and Christ-strengthened me.” p.87
There can only be one controlling center of our lives. That center is what is the love of your life? Is it a love for the world? Or is it a growing love for God?
B. The world appeals to us through three traps
1. the lust of the flesh
2. the lust of the eyes
3. The pride of life
John summarized the appeal of the world system as three-fold. Here is a picture of the infernal trinity, the three faces of the world, three sources of worldly temptation (cf. Gen. 3; Matt. 4). Lusts are cravings or desires, and in the context they are evil because they are not in harmony with God’s will.
Therefore, worldliness is anything that causes us to lose our enjoyment of the Father’s love or the desire to do His will.
These traps have always been there:
Genesis 3:1-6 “ Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (He questioned the love of God by implying that God was withholding something good from them.)
The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” “You will not surely die,” the serpent said (Caused her to doubt the Word of God because He told them they would die.) to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, (Cause them to doubt the Person of God by saying they would be like gods) knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” NIV
Worldliness affect their response to the love of God..
Rebelled against the plan of God.
the law of God
and the character of God.
Matthew 4:1-12 “ Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.
| “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” | “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” |
| Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” | Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” |
| Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” | Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him. |
And Satan will approach you and I in the same way.
Not too creative. But he is persistent and effective.
And what is Satan’s goal in our lives?
To draw our devotion away from Christ and His mission
And to defeat the purpose of God in your life.
Sometimes we think our lives as Christians should be easy.
We just wish we didn’t have to struggle all the time.
Well, we don’t.
“Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me. My burden is light”
“Faith rest.”
“I can do all things through Christ who strengths me.”
Every stage of life has its own tests!
And notice that while John identifies 3 stages of growth.
He doesn’t apply the 3 traps to any particular stage.
Every believer is engaged in a war.
It is up close and personal. Ephesians 6:10-18
Before we became Christians we didn’t have any opposition.
The lust of the flesh is the desire to do something apart from the will of God. The first desire appeals mainly to the body. Idolizing pleasure. Gratifying physical desires as an end in itself.
The lust of the eyes is the desire to have something apart from the will of God. The gateway into the mind. Pleasures that gratify the sight and the mind. Excessive buying. Idolizing possessions or that money that it takes to have possessions. The pursuit of things as an end in themselves! Achan, Joshua 7, a soldier took some spoils “When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment and 200 shekels of silver the I coveted them and took them.”
The pride of life is the desire to be something apart from the will of God., and the third desire appeals to the spirit. The drive to control others. Idolizing power. “‘Pride of life’ will be reflected in whatever status symbol is important to me or seems to define my identity.
It can be anything…degrees, the title I have, the style or label on my clothes, And in all of this I misrepresent the truth about myself. I think I am somebody, the center of the universe when, in fact, I am not. And usually the only one we deceive is ourselves.
In SPY: The Inside Story of How the FBI’s Robert Hanssen Betrayed America, author David Wise tells of his exclusive meetings with Dr. David Charney, the psychiatrist who evaluated Hanssen. During his years of spying, Hanssen received $1.4 million from the Russians. Of the possible motives for betraying his country, Hanssen pointed to “financial pressure.” According to Charney, Hanssen wanted money for one reason: to assure his wife that he was not a failure. Dr. Charney commented:
Bonnie [Hanssen’s wife] was the one person who brought life into his life. She was the last person he would want to think he was a failure. He reached to prove to her he was a good provider and good husband. So that when she would express wishes for various things, he would always buy them for her. He felt it was necessary to sustain his image in her eyes as successful. That put him into a financial corner, because he agreed to take on various financial burdens, by buying a house out of his reach financially, in Scarsdale. It’s not that it’s wrong to say that he did it for the money; you have to go deeper and ask why he wanted the money. Why did Bob Hanssen get into a corner financially? Because he had to keep up his reputation with his wife. Because that was the one person in the world whose opinion mattered.
Ironically, Bonnie was not the sort to place burdensome financial demands on her husband. According to Charney, Hanssen did not blame her; he blamed himself.
These three basic desires come from the world system, not from the Father, and the believer should separate from them. The Father desires our welfare, but the world will destroy us (v. 17).
IV. THE SOLUTION
A. A Realization: Notice the issue
“The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.” 1 John 2:17 NASB95
A daily reminder: the world has a “shelf life”. God does not.
The New England Journal of Medicine reported a strange discovery made by French doctors in 2002. A 62-year-old man entered Cholet General Hospital suffering from stomach pain. An X-ray revealed a huge mass of metal in his stomach. When doctors operated, they removed 12 pounds of coins as well as necklaces and needles.
Despite his family’s attempts to keep money and jewelry away from him, the man swallowed 350 coins, both Francs and Euros, over the course of a decade.
Bruno Francois, one of the physicians who treated him, said, “When he was invited to some homes, he liked to steal coins and eat them.” The condition is known as “pica,” a compulsion to swallow inedible items. A person suffering from pica will swallow just about anything and Francois once treated someone who ate forks.
The coin fixation of this particular patient badly damaged the man’s stomach. Twelve days after doctors removed $650 from his belly, he died. Citation: John Beukema, Western Springs, Illinois; source: Chicago Sun-Times (2-19-04)
B. The solution is NOT the death of desire.
“All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.”
Blaise Pascal, Pascal’s Pensees
Seeking personal happiness is a simple given in human nature.
Have you made this discovery?
C. Elements of the solution
1. A evaluation and decision. Where is my joy?
Matthew 6:24 ““No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” NASB95
What determines the quality of my life? Am I really happy?
“The quality of your life will be determined by the amount of time you spend alone with God in reading, praying, and planning.
Citation: Annie Ortlund, Today’s Christian Woman, “Heart to Heart.”
City Slickers
City Slickers recounts the adventures of three friends having mid-life crises. They escape the city and head west for a two-week cattle run to discover what’s important in life. Before they leave, Mitch (played by Billy Crystal) shares what he does for a living at Dad’s Day at his son’s school. Instead of talking about his work as a salesman, Mitch bewilders the third graders with a monologue about how bleak their future is. He says:
Value this time in your life, kids, because this is the time in your life when you still have your choices, and it goes by so quickly. When you’re a teenager, you think you can do anything, and you do.
Your 20s are a blur.
Your 30s, you raise your family, you make a little money, and you think to yourself, What happened to my 30s?
Your 40s, you grow a little pot belly. You grow another chin. The music starts to get too loud, and one of your old girlfriends from high school becomes a grandmother.
Your 50s, you have a minor surgery. You’ll call it a procedure, but it’s a surgery.
Your 60s, you have a major surgery; the music is still loud, but it doesn’t matter because you can’t hear it anyway.
70s, you and the wife retire to Fort Lauderdale. You start eating dinner at 2:00, lunch around 10:00, breakfast the night before. And you spend most of your time wandering around malls looking for the ultimate in soft yogurt and muttering, “How come the kids don’t call?”
By your 80s, you’ve had a major stroke, and you end up babbling to some Jamaican nurse who your wife can’t stand but who you call mama.
Any questions?
Are we digging for gold or are we raking leaves?
If we pursue the love of the world our enjoyment of the Father’s love will diminish as will our desire to do the will of God.
No Christian becomes worldly all of a sudden.
Worldliness creeps in. It’s a gradual process
First friendship with the world…then tarnished by the world…the conformed to the world.
1 Corinthians 10:31 “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” NIV
What does this mean? It means to acknowledge His glory and to value Him above all things. It involves gratitude for the plan of God , the goodness of God, the Word of God.
2. A determination – run for your life. 1 Tim 6:11
3.The pursuit of joy in God is the key to breaking the power of sin
Quote: “The joy of the Lord will arm us against the assaults of our spiritual enemies and put our mouths out of taste for those pleasures with which the tempter baits his hooks.” Matthew Henry
Quote: “I know of no other way to triumph over sin long-term than to gain a distaste for it because of a superior satisfaction in God….God remains gloriously all-satisfying. The human heart remains a ceaseless factory of desires. Sin remains powerfully and suicidally appealing. The battle remains: Where will we drink? Where will we feast?”
Quote: C. S. Lewis, Piper, pages 19-20
Decide to feast on God!
Definition of worldliness: anything in a Christian’s life that causes him to lose his enjoyment of the Father’s love or his desire to do the Father’s will. Not so much an activity as an attitude and center of affection. Gives direction for the solution…anything that increases our love for God and a desire to do His will.
Problem Solution
The World Flee
1 John 2:15-17 1 Timothy 6:11;
2 Timothy 2:22
Lust of the Flesh
Lust of the Eyes
Pride of Life
The Flesh Deny
Romans 7:18-24 Romans 6:12-13; 8:13
The Devil Resist
1 Peter 5:8 1 Peter 5:9
Another reason we should not pursue the desires of the world is that this system, along with its desires, is in the process of passing out of existence. Really we are living in what John called the “last hour” of the world’s existence (v. 18). The world is only temporary and ephemeral (cf. 1 Pet.). Notwithstanding, those who do God’s will abide (remain, live) forever. Since all Christians will live forever (John 10:28), John was not saying we attain eternal life by our obedience. However, we abide (i.e., enjoy intimate relationship with God, experience our eternal life abundantly) now as well as after death when we obey God.
Resisting the appeal of the world is difficult for every believer. John urged his readers in view of its attractiveness to understand the avenues of its temptation and to remember four things. Love for the world indicates lack of love for God. It results in consequences that are not what our loving heavenly Father desires for our welfare. It lasts only a short time. It precludes intimate fellowship with God.