Dear Christian friends:

Our text this morning warns about a very great danger to us Christians. Not that we are in danger of giving up our faith altogether, but that we are tempted to love God and Satan at the same time.

We may think that we can love God and the world, both - be a friend of believers and of unbelievers at the same time.

St. John plainly tells us that we must not try to do that. If we do we sin, and if we persist in trying to live two-faced lives we shall be lost. So in our text St. John encourages us to

Christians should not love the world, but God. John says, "Love not the world." (verse 15) By "world" John means the false values and false ways of the unbelievers. True God wants us to love all people, even the unbelievers. He wants us to go and tell them about sin and about Jesus the Savior of sinners. We should love their souls and their persons, but not love their sinful ideas and sinful ways.

The unbelievers, according to our text sin chiefly in two ways: sexual sins and materialism. John calls the first "lust of the flesh." Sex is not sin in itself if we use that within the limits of holy marriage as God has taught us in the Sixth Commandment. But the world doesn't care to keep sex within God's limits, but makes sex a god. One young man told me once, "I live for sex." His talk and dirty jokes proved it also the books he read and the movies he watched. Another young man said, "Women are my business."

The second chief sin of the world is materialism. St. John calls it "lust of the eye". Man's eye sees many beautiful and comfortable things in the world, money and machines and luxuries that money buys. He works and plans and figures to get more and more of these for himself and his selfish wants. Money and all the things money buys has become his god.

Don't misunderstand: It is not a sin to work and earn money. God commands us to work and earn money and buy food, clothes, house and everything we need for our life. But we should not love money and trust it as god. Rather we are to be good stewards and use our money and life as God's servants.

The world knows nothing about stewardship and cares not to use money as a servant of God. The world doesn't listen to God's Word when it speaks about using money for helping the needy and for preaching the gospel. The world is displeased when asked to share.

John says this world and the lust in it "passeth away" God will condemn all who love the world on the last day when the world and its riches are destroyed.

So the Christian is a man who despises the false temptations of the world. He sees that they have no real, lasting value. He loves the heavenly Father and uses the world to give glory to God.

But sometimes Christians do love the world. A Christian still has his old Adam, the old sinful heart that loves the world and hates God. The young Christian is tempted by sex and often falls into that trap of the world. The older Christians are tempted by pride of money and position.

When the Christian is conquered by such temptation he sins because love for the world and for the Father are contradictory. Verse 15, "If any man love he world, the love of the Father is not in him."

A Christian may continue in such a two faced life for one hour, one day, one week or maybe a year or two. He may for a time think that He can love both the Father and the world. You may be trying to do that yourself. I have caught myself doing that many times and I see our church members trying to do that often.

Each one must search his heart today and confess that two faced living. Both young and old should look back on their lives and deeds and find this sin and confess it with shame and tears. Let none not despair. It is truly a hard fight and we are very weak and often fall, but let us daily ask for our Father's mercy and forgiveness for the sake of Jesus His dear Son, who bled and died on the cross for our many sins.

Then let us daily take up the fight against such temptations. St. John reminds us who we are to help us live more for God, to love only Him.

John calls the Christians "little children". We are the forgiven children of God for Jesus' sake, verse 12. "I write unto you little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His names sake."

We know how much our heavenly Father loves us because He gave His only, begotten son on the cross to pay for all our sins so that He could forgive us and adopt us as His children again. The Prodigal Son. So God has done this for us. Our heavenly Father's great love should cause us to more and more despise the world and love only Him.

Such blessing from God should cause us to fight hard. As the young men in our text: John says,"I write unto you young men because ye have overcome the wicked one." They conquered Satan with all his false sex and false money.

And they did this not by exercising their body. That might multiply sexual desires. These young men did not trust in physical strength, but in God's Word. John says of them: "Ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in in you, and ye have overcome the wicked on." (Verse 14)

The Word of God which they heard and learned regularly stayed in their hearts. With God's Word, they were strong and able to resist the devil's temptation. Without God's Word they are weak and helpless and fall, although they may have a big, strong, beautiful body.

How about you? Does God's Word abide in you? If it does you will remember who you are and will be strong against Satan; If not you will forget who you are and fall. May God help us to remember by keeping His Word in our hearts.

Amen.