Three themes that are repeated throughout the course of the letter: o The Christian is somebody who walks in the light; o The Christian is somebody who walks in love towards the Lord and towards the Lord's people o The Christian is also somebody who understands the truth of the gospel and is committed to it. Throughout this letter, these three themes are woven again and again into what John is teaching these young Christians in the first century and through his letter, continues to teach us.

Christians have a very distinct sense of time. We see things from the perspective of eternity. Look at what he says in verse 15 and then explains it in verse 17, “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. And the world is passing away along with its desires.”

Verse 16, “All that is in the world – the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes and pride in possession – that is not from the Father but is from the world.” He's saying, “All that is passing away.” Of course, the point he's making is this: the Christian when he looks at life, he looks at the things he has, she has, in life, the relationships in life, the pleasures in the life, the possessions in life. The Christian is conscious that all of these things are passing away and, therefore, the kind of devotion that I have towards them ought to take account of the fact these are not the permanent treasures of my life.

The author of Ecclesiastes puts it in Ecclesiastes 3:11, God has placed a kind of burden on our lives, “He has set eternity in our hearts.” Therefore, it's part of the way in which he has created us that the things that are passing can never satisfy the way in which we were created for eternity. Indeed, he hints here that only the love of the Father that is an eternal love, that is a satisfying love, can satisfy those who have been created for eternity.

“If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, but if the love of the Father is in him, then the love of the world will begin to be dissipated.” As Christians, of course, we struggle with the glue that seems to attach the things of this world to our lives, but John is teaching us that the struggle alone will not avail. When a man or a woman is having an affair and they say it's all over now, the question I ask is this: has the affection been broken? Because if the affection has not been broken, it isn't over yet.

We have affections for the things of this world and they fill our horizon. They are bigger than the Lord himself. What John is saying is not just we need to struggle against being overly attached to the things of this world, he is saying what we actually need is this glorious sense of the love of the Father abiding in us. The satisfaction of the gospel begins to deliver us from the tentacles of the octopus of the world, not just because we screw up our courage to fight against those tentacles but because the affection of the love of the Father in us empowers us to be delivered from them.

What is the Christian attitude toward the world? – Love not the world or anything of the world. Two senses of the world Passionately love and hate the world. World – the material, physical universe including humans World – a system of thinking where the material world is all there is. To act and to think as if the material universe is all that there is, ultimate. The only reality.

v. 15 Worldliness is not hating the material universe and the humans in it. Humanity in the image of God with inherent dignity. Jesus took on material form, continues in that human form; all manmade gods are trying to escape material form. The world passes away and the lust thereof, but the one who does the will of God abides forever. Only when you see this world from the perspective of eternity, then this world does not become ultimate. If you only see it as evil and wicked, you will be deceived. If you see it as ultimate, you are deceived.

John’s view of the world—the lusts of the body, the lusts of the eyes, and the pride of life. Three categories of Worldliness – Lust – an over-desire, has to do with intensity. The over-desires of the body and the eye and the over-desires of the ego are the heart of worldliness. – Lust of the body: Food and drink, rest and leisure, and sex Each good becomes a drive; over-drive live to eat and drink, to play and have pleasure, and live to have sex.

World-loving versus worldly Work-world-loving: how do I contribute? What is my purpose? Deeply satisfying. Worldly work-what will make me the most money and/or give me the most status? Ultimately selfish. – Eternal perspective—good things do not become ultimate things. The Lust of the Eye: the means by which I get my truest needs met in illegitimate ways.

The pride of life: the order is critical This is the worst of the three. – Applause – people must know who I am – Power – I want my way. No one gets in my way. – Control – nobody treads on me. According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.