I gotta admit.
It shocked me. It’s not like I
haven’t heard stuff like this. I’ve
heard it my whole life. But it bothered
me. It made me feel a little self-conscious. Still, I didn’t say anything. I mean.
What would she think of me?
It all began because I was talking with some other Christians
about a big event our church and a bunch of others are doing on November 4th at
the Arts Park, Hope4Hollywood. And this
woman said something like. What a great
date! It will counter that awful event
the week before.
And for a moment, I didn’t get it. What is she talking about? Then I got it. She was talking about Boo
Bash, the Halloween party in the Park. Now,
what made that event awful? It
celebrated Halloween. And Christianity
and Halloween, they can’t mix.
Now, we raise money for our Learning Centers each October
through a Pumpkin patch, so that view doesn’t fly here. In my house, we love Halloween. We put
decorations out. We buy our pumpkins (from
the patch, of course). Our son goes
trick or treating in the neighborhood. We
put out a lot of candy.
But was she right?
In just a moment, you’ll hear words from the Bible that tell you not to
love the world or the things in it.
Should that include Halloween? What
else should it include?
Some Christians think it includes alcohol. Do you know the three religious truths? Number one is Jews don’t recognize Jesus as
the Messiah. Number two is Protestants
do not recognize the Pope as the head of the church. And number three is Baptists don’t recognize
each other in the liquor stores.
Other Christians think it means you can’t wear makeup
or you need to avoid certain movies or types of music. Heck, when I was a kid, I trashed a Saturday
Night Fever soundtrack because somebody told me it was evil. I regret that. I really liked that album. What can I say? I had disco fever.
So, was this woman right? No, she wasn’t. But she had a point. If you love the world, at least the way the
Bible talks about loving the world, it will mess you up. It might blow up your life. So, what does it mean to love the world like
that? How can you make sure it doesn’t mess
up your life? In these words you’re
about to hear, God shows you the way.
Let’s listen and hear what God has to say.
It doesn’t make any sense. Right here at the beginning of what we just
read, John says, as clear as day. “Do not love the world…” But does anyone remember one of the most
famous sentences in the entire Bible. If
you went to church as a kid, you might have even memorized it. It goes like this…
For God so loved the world, that He gave his only son,
so that everyone who believes in him may not perish, but may have eternal life.
John 3:16
What? Here the Bible says that God not only loved
the world. Loving the world led God to
come to earth, to create Christianity.
Yet here, the Bible tells Christians to not love the world. And to make it even more confusing, the same
guy, John, wrote both sentences.
So,
which is it, John? Do you love the
world? God does. Shouldn’t we love it too? Or are you supposed to hate the world like
you tell us here? Here’s the answer. Yes, yes to both questions.
How
can you love the world and yet not love the world? It’s because in John 3:16, God is talking
about the world in a far different way than God is talking about the world here. What’s the difference?
Look
at the focus in John 3:16. God focuses
on people, on saving them, on rescuing them, on loving them. But in these words in I John, God isn’t talking
about people. God is talking about
desires, desires for things.
You
see, in John 3:16, God makes something utterly clear. God loves people. God loves people, you and me, so much that
God says. I will give up everything,
even my life, to bring you home, to heal you, to rescue you. When God talks about the world here. God is talking about the world God created, a
world full of people, full of all sorts of wondrous living things.
But in
I John God is talking about a way that others see this world. This way doesn’t focus on people, at least as
people. No, in this world, people become
means to an end. And what is the end? The end is acquiring something. Nothing
matters more than the things you get. It’s the message behind this bumper sticker. The One who Dies with the Most Toys Wins. And that way of seeing the world, God
hates. Why?
It devalues
people. And for God, nothing matters
more than people. That’s why we have a
value here that goes like this. All
people matter to God, and therefore they need to matter to us. If you are a follower of Jesus, nothing
should matter more to you than people. That
means when people are demeaned or disrespected, Christians should be the first
to stand up, and say no.
But
this world in which you and I live, it often goes by different values, values that are lies.
For
the first three years I lived here, a day did not pass without me seeing
one. Every day, I saw at least one car
that cost as much as my house. Every
day, I saw something that cost about 300 grand to drive. And I started getting a subtle
message. This is where life lies. Life in South Florida can do that. You see multi-million-dollar mansions. You see boats so big they have other boats
inside them. And even if you don’t have that stuff, it can
start to twist you up. It can lead you to value all the wrong
things.
My
wife is a psycho-therapist, and when she sees kids do you know what they want the
most? They want time with their parents.
But the parents seem to be working all the time, and when they’re not working,
they’re stressed about working But
when she talks to the parents, and asks them about cutting back on work. They won’t do it. It’s not because the family would starve if
they did. It’s that they would have to
sell their boat or move to a smaller place.
And that they just can’t do.
Why? It’s not because they don’t
love their kids. Of course, they love
their kids. But they’ve bought the lie.
Somewhere inside them, they hear this voice. If you don’t have these things, if you don’t
live in this place, in this neighborhood, then something is wrong with you. You have failed.
Do
you know the joke? In America, what do
you call a multi-millionaire who has been married three times, and who has terrible
relationships with his kids You call him a success.
That’s
how love of the world will mess you up.
It’s when you start basing your value on things that don’t have any
ultimate value. And it doesn’t have to
be money or stuff. You can base your
value on how you look or how someone looks at you. You can base your value on other’s approval,
how well people like you. You can even
base your value in some sort of religious thing.
So instead
of acquiring things, you start acquiring a sort of moral report card. I do these things and therefore I am
good. And usually that means, you start
thinking those who don’t do those things are bad or definitely not as good as
you are. But if you’re doing even good things to gain
some sort of value for yourself, then you’ve missed the whole point. You’re as trapped in this twisted way of
seeing the world as anyone. You’re still acquiring toys, things to give
yourself worth.
But these
things never give you the worth you seek.
They never give you ultimate value because they’re not ultimate. They don’t last. As John puts it….the world and its desire are
passing away. Or to take a riff off the
bumper sticker….the
one who dies with the most toys..still dies.
But
you don’t have to find your value there, as if you could. Why? You
already have value. You have infinite value
simply because you are. That’s the point
of John 3:16. You have such infinite value that the creator
of the universe, the creator of all reality, came to you, became someone like
you. And as that person, as Jesus,
that God gave up everything for you. And
when you know God loves you like that, that frees you. It frees you to love, to love people, to love
the world, to value it, to value others as God does. And as you experience that love, as you live
in it, you see the world for what it is, an amazing place where God’s love is playing
in ten thousand places.
That’s
why Christians should love Halloween.
Think about it. When do you see
more of your neighbors and their kids than at Halloween? Halloween gives you a chance to get to know
people, to give to people, to share with people, to love people. And that’s what this world needs. It needs to know that love, a love not based
on what you own or who you know or what you do, a love based in who you are, a
person infinitely, immeasurably, incredibly loved by God.
And
if you want to be part of a community that is working to live into that love,
to share that love with others, then this family called First Church; it’s a great place to
be. And if you got nothing else from today, get
this. You are loved. You are loved. You are loved. And
nothing can ever take that love away.
All you have to do is say yes to it.
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