“True Love vs False Lusts- Or If Loving you Is Wrong- I Don’t Want to Be Wrong”  9-27-09 I Jn. 2:17-19

            Christians have always drawn a line between lust and love.   Lust fades, love lasts.  Lust asks “What’s in it for me?”  Love asks, “How may I help you?”  Lust says “give me” love says, “what can I give you?”  Lust is focused on outward beauty, love is focused on the inward beauty of the soul.  Lust is afraid of commitment, love wants commitment.   Love does not go against what is right, but with it.  For true human love is a gift from God. Our world has bought into the Hugh Heffner, playboy mentality.   There was a chick flik that came out this year called, “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past”  starring Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner about a playboy who goes to his brother’s wedding and is haunted by the memory of past girlfriends.  The whole movie is about distinguishing between lust and love.   The playboy character ended up empty and unfulfilled, haunted by how he had used and abused others for his own pleasure.   He had to admit that even the effort at true love was better than efforts at lust.  The scripture says that the lusts of the world pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. 
            At one time John says, “God so loved the world” and now John says, “Do not love the world.”  He uses the same word in different ways.  God loves everyone and the creation he has made- and wants to redeem it for eternity;  Yet we are not to focus our lives and love only on what is passing away.   The world apart from and neglectful of God is not to be pursued.  If we love the world without God it quickly drifts into idolatry and the world becomes our God- our one true passion, and we must guard against living only for today and forgetting God.  In our passage, John distinguishes between 1) worldly cravings and godly pursuits; 2) lust and love,  and 3) boasting in our accomplishments and boasting in God.

I. WORLDLY CRAVINGS VS. GODLY PURSUITS-  This has been translated in different ways, and each translation gives a different angle and a fuller perspective on what the Spirit was saying: King James calls this “the lust of the flesh.”  The NRSV translates this “the desire of the flesh”; the TNIV “the cravings of sinful people”; The Message version calls this “wanting your own way.”    The basic idea is that we want more and more of the world-similar to gluttony.  When you want to fill yourself up with the things of this world, you can easily push out of your soul room for God.   Jesus said you cannot love God and mammon – which means you can’t love God and things- or money at the same time.   Christians recognize that all that we have is a gift from God, and that we are to be stewards- caretakers  of the world.  We should not fool ourselves into thinking the world is to take care of us.   If you give your life for things- then when things are taken away by job loss or loss in the stock market, there  is a sense of meaninglessness.  Two famous women died in 2007 that illustrate life- one was Anna Nicole Smith- she dropped out of high school, was playmate of the year in 1993, married billionaire J. Howard Marshall who died leaving her a fortune.  She had all the world wants- looks, millions, and popularity. But she was not happy- died of a drug overdose at 39.  In contrast is another woman who died that same year- Ruth Bell Graham- who was born to missionary parents in China,  a college graduate, married the same man for over 60 years.  The day before she died her husband, Billy said, “Ruth is my soul mate and my best friend- I can’t imagine a day without her.”  Anna Nicole Smith’s legacy is a mess- a tragedy- they are still fighting over her will.  Ruth Bell Graham left a legacy of hope in her 12 books and her children.  Which one would you really want to emulate? 

II. LUST VS LOVE-  The Message version translates this “wanting everything for yourself.”  That is a good definition of lust.  You can lust for a job.  You can lust for more power or control.  You can lust for food or for a car.  Lust often leads to unrestrained gluttony, because the only reason for restraining lust from a secular point of view is to preserve yourself for more lust later on.  Lust is constantly saying, “I need this” when we really mean “I’d like to have that.”  Luther Ingram sang a song that later Barbara Mandrell took up called, “If Loving You is Wrong I Don’t Want to Be Right.”  It was about a married man with two little children who felt guilt for lusting after another woman, but it didn’t stop him.  He chose to leave his wife and two kids to fulfill his lusts- he chose to be wrong over loving others and pleasing God.  Lust is a powerful deceiver- it gives us the illusion of true love but it is a false illusion.  The Governor Sanford fiasco has probably come to your mind clearly here.  Sanford made things worse when he seemed to think people would understand if he just explained to him that his wife was no longer his soul-mate and he just “fell in love” with a woman who was not his wife.  My friends- his soul mate was the one God gave him in God’s providence.  So many souls are left destroyed by the ravages of unrestrained lust.   Sanford should not expect us to understand.  Now, do we understand that lust is a human temptation- absolutely yes.  Do we understand it is powerful- of course.  Do we think that we have to give into it- absolutely not.  In contrast to this kind of lust- Jesus said if we want to follow him- we must deny ourselves and take up our cross.  It is not wrong or evil to deny the part of you that wants to destroy what is good and healthy.   But self-denial is only a means to stop the evil- plug the hole.  But before we can fill our hearts with love for God, we must plug up self-indulgence.  It is a bit like a ship- if a ship has a hole in one end- you can’t go full speed on the other end.  To float in the love of God we must plug up the flood of lust.  Calvin said it best-

“We are not our own, therefore neither our reason nor our will should guide us in our thoughts and actions.  We are not our own, therefore we should not seek what is only expedient to the flesh.  We are not our own, therefore let us forget ourselves and our own interests as far as possible.  Conversely- we are God’s- to him therefore, let us live and die.  We are God’s- therefore let his wisdom and will dominate all our actions.  We are God’s- therefore let every part of our existence be directed toward shim as our only legitimate goal.” 

III. BOASTING IN OUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS VS. BOASTING IN GOD- Here John condemns the braggart, the conceited person. 

The king James says we should not give into the “pride of life.”  The Message calls this “wanting to appear important.”  We did not make ourselves- God is the only one who makes us- gives us life.  We were not in control of who our parents were, or where they lived, or their ability or willingness to help us.  So much is beyond our control.  We were not in control of having the right genes so we can use our brains or our body to do outstanding things and work.  We cannot control our health- even if we wash our hands, eat right, sneeze into our sleeves.  The swine flu, the recession, and the terrorist close calls all remind us we are not in control.  When we think of it, we all know this- but we live like we did everything ourselves, and we deserve all the credit- and God deserves none- or maybe just 1%.  There is a huge part of us that wants to appear important and to have people give us respect.  In contrast to this we are not worms that ought to grovel in the dirt because of our guilt.  Pascal said that Christianity is the only religion that adequately explains the great tragedy of human beings and the great glory of human beings.  Our glory is that God made us for a purpose , and we are created in His image.   Christ came to earth for us.     Our tragedy is that we have tarnished that image with our sin, so that sometimes it is hard to tell there is an image there at all.  But the good news is that God has also provided a solution.  It is a bit like a tarnish remover- it is the blood of Christ that is given to cleanse us from our sins- and restore us to God.  Human pride is the root sin, according to most theologians.  The serpent appealed to Eve and said, “You will be like God.”  So we are not content with having his image, we want to take his place.  Setting ourselves up as demi-gods is not healthy for us.  It is only when we humble ourselves as a little child that we can accept the gift of Christ- of eternal life.   Paul said that we should imitate Christ’s humility and put no confidence in the flesh. 
In our recession, many are tempted to despair.  But the recession teaches us (as Niebuhr said) that we are not our own redeemers.  History does not redeem itself.  Each new thing in life brings new possibilities of good, and new hazards.  Creative despair may induce faith.  Or we can despair as the man, Karst Tates, who lost his job and killed six people in Holland in May.  He said his despair drove him to try and destroy the parade of the Queen of Holland. Despair may alienate us from others- because we think we are worthless- without the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life- or despair may drive us to see what is really important.

At Noyon France was born two brothers- John and Charles.  John from his earliest days was studious thoughtful and reverent.  At the early age of 27 he wrote the Institutes of the Christian Religion.  When he died in Geneva in 1564  he left the world the great principles of democracy, capitalism, and religious freedom.  The other brother, Charles, pursued a life of pleasure as worthless and as infamous as could be.  How do you explain the difference?  It is not heredity, nor chemical imbalance, nor environment.   They had the same home, the same food, the same early influences.  The difference is explained by their choice.   One chose to give into the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and the pride of life.  The other chose to deny himself- to choose to be unknown.  One is known only as the brother of John Calvin.  I invite you to make a choice – choose love over lust, the glory of God over your own pride.  Amen.