Loving God Supremely

September 4th, 2023

by Pastor Andrew Wolfenbarger
09/04/2023

1 John 2:15 - “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

In a committed relationship, there is no such thing as mingled love. A husband would be a fool if he set out to love his wife mainly but reserve a little for another woman. We would assume that man doesn’t understand love. Similarly, the love between a father and son or mother and daughter has unique rights and privileges.

Though others in our lives may be loved, those special relationships should not be supplanted by another. God desires our supreme love. Supreme love is what Jesus speaks of when He says, “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26). John admonishes the believer that one of God’s greatest competitors for your supreme love is the world. It was certainly the case in Demas’ life (2 Timothy 4:10) and it is a temptation that we all face. Since we are surrounded by the things of this life and the temptations presented by this world, our hearts are inclined to love it more than God. What measures can we take to combat this?

Suppose you were tasked to remove air from the inside of a glass. Maybe you would attempt to place the glass in its own contained environment, and you begin to vacuum the air out of it. While this probably would accomplish the task, the problem is that if something impacts its environment, all of a sudden, the air will come rushing back in. All of the work will be undone at once.

Many people have attempted to remove the love of the world by placing themselves in a sheltered environment and by removing all temptations. Many parents have attempted this with their children. Sadly, this works for only a little while, until something encroaches upon the environment and a temptation slips through, and all of their efforts are thwarted.

Another approach would be to fill the glass with something besides air. By just filling the glass to the brim with water, all of the air will be displaced. No environmental changes and no vacuums were needed. The glass may be surrounded by air, but the glass itself will have none in it. The only thing that can re-introduce the air is if the glass were to be tipped over and the water poured out. This is a better and more efficient method. This just so happens to be the principle being taught in 1 John 2:15.

The principle taught here is displacement theology. I do not mean replacement theology where the church is thought to replace Israel as the recipient of God’s covenants. I don’t believe in that. I call it displacement theology because the only thing that can displace our love of the world is to be even more filled with a love for God.

Love God supremely is the first Law according to Jesus. When this is right, our love for God fills our hearts so that our environment and temptations have no control over us. We may be surrounded by the world, yet the world will not be within us because we have a far more compelling love for God.