October 23, 2022; Sunday School

Order of Service

• Sermon
• Prayer

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Sermon Title: The Direction of the Heart in the Pilgrim Life

Scripture: 1 John 2:15-17

I. Introduction: The Tension of the Pilgrim Life

A. Believers are pilgrims — strangers, sojourners, and exiles in this world B. We have already received a foretaste of eternal life in Christ, but not yet its fullness

1. Already: new creations in Christ, possessing spiritual life
2. Not yet: still in aging, failing bodies; still fighting the flesh C. The lesson focuses on the heart and loves of the pilgrim living in this tension

II. John's Warning Against Loving the World

A. Context of 1 John: a letter of assurance and love, written to a beloved congregation B. John closes his letter with an abrupt warning: keep yourselves from idols (1 John 5:20-21)

1. Calvin: the heart is a continual factory of idols
2. John moves from what we know to what we love — head to heart C. The command in 1 John 2:15-17: do not love the world or the things in the world
3. The desires of the flesh — seeking to live softly and for one's own advantage (Calvin)
4. The desires of the eyes — what attracts our gaze and draws us to grasp for satisfaction
5. The pride of life — selfishness and independence from God's will D. These three categories echo the fall in Genesis 3
6. Eve saw the fruit was good for food (desires of the flesh), a delight to the eyes (desires of the eyes), and desirable to make one wise (pride of life)
7. John frames worldly love as the same inward-turning, self-satisfying impulse E. The reason for the warning: the world is passing away along with its desires (1 John 2:17)
8. Do not invest supreme love in what will not last
9. Believers are pilgrims — this world is not our home

III. The Rich Young Ruler as a Barometer of the Heart

A. In Matthew 19, the rich young man asks what good deed earns eternal life

1. He approaches with the mindset of self-salvation through law-keeping
2. Jesus affirms keeping the commandments, then exposes the man's failure at the tenth — covetousness B. Jesus is descriptive, not prescriptive, in commanding him to sell his possessions
3. He is not issuing a universal command to poverty
4. He is placing a stethoscope on the man's heart to reveal where his love truly lies C. The man's riches were tied to his status and the approval of others; he loved them more than following Christ D. Application: what do we love more than God? What would we be unwilling to give up at Christ's call?

IV. The Warning of Demas

A. Demas appears as a beloved companion of Paul alongside Luke (Colossians 4:14; Philemon 1:24) B. Paul's final verdict in 2 Timothy 4:10: Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me

1. Love for the present age displaced love for the Lord and the work of the gospel
2. A sobering warning for all pilgrims

V. Practical Application: Guarding the Direction of the Heart

A. Like a rooftop TV antenna, the heart must be consciously turned toward the right signal B. Like a doctor with a stethoscope, Christ invites us to listen to our own hearts C. Questions for self-examination:

1. Do you look forward more to the Sabbath with God's people or to the pleasures of the weekend?
2. Are your thoughts and affections moving you toward greater love for God and neighbor, or inward toward self-satisfaction?
3. Are good things becoming first loves when they should not be? D. The call is not to possess nothing, but to ensure Christ is the whole — not merely an addition to everything else we love E. We are to guard one another's hearts as a family in Christ