What happens when the world loves itself.

“Do not love the world or 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 desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life — is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:15–17).

I scheduled this section of 1 John weeks ago. Turns out it was perfect timing.

As I write this reflection the 2024 Summer Olympics are underway. Along with celebrating sport, athleticism, and patriotism around the world, people are discussing the opening ceremonies. Controversy surrounds a scene wherein drag queens recreate DaVinci’s Last Supper as a finale to a program that began as a display of French culture before becoming a revelry of decadence, hedonism, and an unadulterated expression of all that is in the world without Christ. The desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life paraded before television audiences around the world.

Christians are up in arms. Secularists are either telling Christians to get over themselves or claiming the final scene was a tribute to Bacchanalian feasts, which to my mind isn’t any better than a desecrated Last Supper. The point is not whether the French are any more debased as a culture than any other society focused on postmodern humanism, but that Christians are surprised and offended by it. It’s the wrong point of view and the wrong question.

It’s unrealistic to expect nations that long ago abandoned any presence of Judeo-Christian ethics to respect the religions of either. France is a secular nation bending toward Islamism as immigrants from Islamic countries continue to influence society with their beliefs and governance. (It’s no accident that only Western and Christian cultures were ridiculed in the program.) Most of Europe embraces a post-Christian, progressive ethic that idolizes self and glorifies the bizarre in the name of inclusion.

What the world witnessed during the opening ceremonies was the logical consequence of loving the world and the things of the world. More so, it represented the limits of human nature. It is impossible to serve both God and Mammon (Matthew 6:24). Without Jesus, the world inevitably declines into itself. Matthew Henry put it this way, “The heart of man is narrow, and cannot contain both loves. The world draws down the heart from God; and so the more the love of the world prevails the more the love of God dwindles and decays.”

What French artists produced merely illustrated the conditions of their hearts as fully corrupted by the world and its pleasures. Henry went on to say that there is a natural affinity between the world and human nature that makes a party against God unless the body “with its affections should be swayed by religion, or the victorious love of God.” When people, whether individually or culturally align their priorities of the world, they secure themselves, not on the love of God, but on things that have no eternal value. What benefit is there to gaining the world and losing the soul?

The world systems are corrupted by the evil intent of the demonic. Corruption may begin with things that sound innocuous, or even good: love is love, inclusion and equity, individual expression, or tolerance. The problem lies in the foundation; without Jesus, love, inclusion, equity, and tolerance become words floated in service of personal power. Without the love of God made manifest in Jesus, people will always descend to opposing the holy and defending the profane because acquiescence to the authority of God requires abdicating the throne of self.

As sacrilegious as modern culture has become, Stott reminded his readers that God so loved the world — even those who participate in hedonism and debauchery for the sake of entertainment. He wrote, “This sinful ‘world’, ruled by Satan, is nevertheless the object of God’s love and saving activity. Not, of course, that he condones its materialism and sin, but his compassion embraces the poor creatures the devil has enthralled.”

This, then, should be our appropriate response: instead of outrage, pity; instead of anger, compassion; instead of vitriol, love. The world will still hate Christians. The world will still rail against Truth with a capital T. The world will not listen to us and it will continue to mock everything we hold dear, but when we are faithful to follow Jesus we know that the love of the Father is in us and He will work through us for His glory.

References

The ESV Bible. Crossway, 2001, www.esv.org/.

Gill, John. John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible. Bible Study Tools Public Domain https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/1-john-2/.

Henry, Matthew. Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Complete). Vol. 1, 1706. Bible Study Tools, www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/matthew-henry-complete/.

“How to Live Like Jesus Is Lord.” BibleProject Podcast: New Testament Letters, episode 3, hosted by Tim Mackie and Jon Collins, produced by Dan Gummel and Camden McAfee, BibleProject, 29 June 2020. https://bibleproject.com/podcast/how-live-jesus-lord/.

“The Love of the World.” Ligonier Ministries, 16 Sept. 2005, https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/love-world.

Nouwen, Henri J. M. In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership. Crossroad Publishing Company, 1989.

Palmer, Earl F., The Communicator’s Commentary Series, Volume 12: 1,2,3 John; Revelation. Word, Inc. 1982

Stott, John R.W. The Letters of John. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, vol. 19, InterVarsity Press, 1964, 1988.

Walton, John H., and Craig S. Keener, editors. NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible (Context Changes Everything), Hardcover, Red Letter: Bringing to Life the Ancient World of Scripture. Zondervan, 23 Aug. 2016.

Wiersbe, Warren W. NKJV Wiersbe Study Bible. Thomas Nelson, 2021.

Wittman, Calvin. “Where Is the Love? — 1 John 2.” Lifeway, 1 Jan. 2014, https://www.lifeway.com/en/articles/sermon-love-fellowship-disciples-truth-1-john-2.