Author: Warren Berkley

Do Not Love The World (1 Jno. 2:15-17)

“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. For all that is in the world – the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life – is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” -1 Jno. 2:15-17

There was a time in my life when I thought “worldliness” was just about a few listed behaviors I was warned to avoid: Drinking, Immorality, Immodesty, Etc. My early teachers were right to warn me against these behaviors. I think they also warned me about worldliness in more general terms, I just didn’t listen well to that part. I get it now.

“The world” in the above passage is not limited to a few listed sins. It is our present existence here that can become our priority, the main thing, our obsession with only passing or occasional attention to relationship with God through Christ, now in eternally. 

John warns about this in terms of a romance that is illegitimate, going nowhere and those in such an attachment do not have the love of the Father in them.

In addition, “the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”

Joel Beeke: “The goal of worldly people is to move forward rather than upward, to live horizontally rather than vertically. They seek after outward prosperity rather than holiness. They burst with selfish desires . . . If they do not deny God, they ignore and forget Him, or else they use Him only for their selfish ends…”

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Dr. Leonard Sax: “Here’s my diagnosis. Over the past three decades, there has been a massive transfer of authority from parents to kids. Along with that transfer of authority has come a change in the valuation of kids’ opinions and preferences. In many families, what kids think and what kids like and what kids want now matters as much, or more, than what their parents think and like and want. “Let kids decide” has become a mantra of good parenting.”
Sax, Leonard. The Collapse of Parenting: How We Hurt Our Kids When We Treat Them Like Grown-Ups (Kindle Locations 151-152). Basic Books. Kindle Edition.

[Sourced Below]

I read a story in the L. A. Times a long time ago. A guy goes to the house where he grew up and knocks on the door. Because he hadn’t been there for 20 years, he finds himself getting sentimental. He asks the owners if he can walk through the house, and they let him. While in the attic, he finds an old jacket of his. He puts it on, reaches into the pocket, and pulls out a stub. It’s a receipt from a shoe repair shop. He realizes he had taken a pair of shoes there twenty years ago, and in the midst of the move, he had never picked them up. On a whim he decides to go to the shoe repair shop. Just to be funny, he takes the receipt out and hands it to the guy behind the desk, saying, “Are my shoes ready?” The guy goes back to the workroom for a minute, comes back to the counter, and says, “Come back a week from Thursday.”

That’s the mind of the sluggard; they’re always saying, “A week from Thursday.”

John Ortberg, in his sermon “Intercepting Entropy,” PreachingToday Audio, Issue #295

From Pressing On Magazine, March 2021

The Recklessness And Hopelessness

of Trying To Write The Future

{An article has recently circulated through social media, sourced as either “unknown author” or “from The Firm Foundation in a church bulletin dated Sept. 25, 1983.” It begins “It is sometime in the future.” Believing in authentic sourcing and the value of context, here is the piece that is circulating, follow by my observations, as requested by the Editor of Pressing On.}

Reprinted from Firm Foundation in a church bulletin dated September 25, 1983:

“It is sometime in the future. It could be as much as fifty years from now, or it could be less than ten. You are huddled with a small group in a ramshackle building, and it is very cold. There are no stoves in the building, so everyone is wearing heavy coats. There are no lights either and the day is cloudy enough that the dim, gray light barely illuminates the room. You are present at a worship service of the future.

“Earlier, you had all sung a few hymns very softly so that no one outside could hear. Several prayers had been uttered and you had partaken of communion consisting of homemade bread served out of a kitchen dish and sour grape juice in a coffee cup. You had gathered one by one so that no one would suspect that a worship service was beginning and inform the authorities because, you see, religion is against the law…

“All too soon, the services are over and you sit there dreading the remaining hectic week as you wait your turn to leave. While you wait, you think back over the years to your childhood. You can remember when everyone came to assemblies together — unafraid. You can remember when there were church buildings with real pews, lights and air-conditioning and heat. You can even remember when everyone sang and prayed and preached as they wanted to. You can especially recall that part of the prayer where someone would say, “We thank thee Father that we live in this free country where we can gather together for worship without fear of molestation.” Oh, how those words come ringing back!

“How did it happen? Well, it happened a long time ago when this country was still free. People began to take for granted their prosperity and freedom. Morals began to decline. Modesty disappeared. Nobody every really protested! People began losing their interest in spiritual matters. They lost their concern for the souls of the lost. And then, they lost concern for their own souls. They quit attending services — and then they quit altogether. The whole nation seemed to be going crazy. People were doing just exactly what they wanted to, no matter how evil or sinful. There were riots. A mob even burned the church building.

“Then one day it happened. No bombs fell, and no shots were fired. Early one morning, soldiers in strange uniforms simply marched into your town. The church had been swept along with the tide of the times. Christians had failed to make a stand. Religion had first become a joke, and then it was gone…”

My Observations

Imagine that I decide to apply my “wisdom” to the task of making a list of every possible calamity and oppression that could befall me and other Christians in the future. I don’t know with certainty that any of this will happen. I just have these concerns that lead to this bleak forecast and I think other Christians are not as alert and active as they should be.

I know I’m not a prophet in the authentic biblical sense. But I want to write with a prophetic flare. So I read trends, go with that thing “history repeats itself” and see if I can find an Orwellian font; then hammer the keyboard. I need to use some hyperbole. This list has to be breathtaking and must arrest the readers attention.

After making this list of future days of reckoning and catastrophe, I’ve almost given myself a stroke, it is so bad. I speak of “sometime in the future” with such dim, grey color I’ve alarmed myself. Real pews, lights, air conditioning and heating is gone (the essentials?). Choices are severely limited by tyrants. Almost everybody has quit doing what is right. I’ve painted a picture I just know will shock people.

I write that “No bombs fell and no shots were fired.” But a brood of evildoers slowly worked against righteousness, many just quit attending services and then quit altogether. The church was swept along with the tide of the times and “it was gone.” Because Christians had failed to make a stand.

I don’t quote scripture to rally people to the point of attack. I say nothing of God’s grace and providence. I write a hopeless Armageddon-like narrative of what I think might happen someday. Then I share this melancholic piece like it is breaking news.

What have I done for you? Have I encouraged you to deeper discipleship? Have I kindled your interests in serious Bible reading and study? Have I ignited your drive to take the gospel to the lost? Have you been edified by this tirade? Have I brought into question that the Kingdom of God is everlasting (Dan. 2:44)? And, will I share this with my kids, grandkids and great grandkids, telling them that things are just going to get worse?

I know people are hurting. I know a wave of more intense persecution could happen. I know people don’t know what to do. But does God really want us to pour gasoline on the fires of fear and suspicion?

The Lord’s church has survived Jewish oppression, Roman persecution, the apostasy of Catholicism, the dark ages, the sexual revolution and our own many internal conflicts. If we are headed for anything like exile, could we say this about our God? “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand,” (Isa. 41:10).

There are good families, preachers, elders, deacons and writers who speak up, press on and embrace the joy of being children of God, without compromise or conformity to the world. There are churches resisting the “tide of the times” and a host of senior saints who joyfully encourage the next generation. There are parents who refuse to give their children and grandchildren a doomsday clock. And marvelous young people who come out of the waters of baptism ready to live the gospel and share the gospel with unselfish devotion and hope.

Let’s be steadfast and unmovable without taking up some feigned prophetic mantle.

Truth Connection:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
    we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom. 8:35-39, ESV)

-Warren E. Berkley, re-printed with permission from Pressing On Magazine,

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Old, New & True … (1 Jno. 2:7-11)

Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him^[b] there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

Love in one sense was not new (see Deut. 6:5). The newness of the commandment lies in how Christ magnified what it means by His life (Jno. 13:34). The new commandment “is true in Him and in you.”

What a joy for John’s readers that as they followed Christ, darkness was passing away and true light was shining to them and truth them. This is walking in the light (see 1:9). This life has no room for hating our brothers. Animosity falls in the category of darkness, not light. But whoever abides in the light (same as walking in the light in 1:9), reduces the threat of stumbling.

John wants to be clear, however, that “whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” I had better pause here and do a comprehensive self-examination to make certain hate isn’t blinding me.

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Don’t Sin, But If You Do …

(1 Jno. 2:1-6)

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.  And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.- 1 Jno. 2:1-6

I must adhere to the purpose of not committing sin. But if I do, there is no cause for anguish, provided I confess my sin (as John instructed in the previous chapter). Jesus, by His “propitiation for our sins” is the place where I am assured of God’s mercy. This advocacy is not automatic, continual, or unconditional. This remedy is continuously available but is applied to the sinner through the sinner’s response.

Observe phrases here which further identify what it means to walk in the light(1:7):“keep His commandments,” and “walk in the same way in which He walked.” These expressions communicate to us what our purpose ought to be. We should get up every day with the intention to not sin, to keep His commandments and follow Christ. Should we fail, we have an Advocate, who – by His atoning death – relieves us of the guilt and consequence of sin, when we “confess our sins,” (1:9).

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God’s Light – Our Walk (1 Jno. 1:5-10)

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. – 1 Jno. 1:5-10

I believe it has always been so that those who profess to enjoy a relationship with God, who is light, must walk in His light. How we live must be authentically and practically connected to who God is. Under the law of Moses, a sacrificial system was in place for the very reason that there was ongoing failure to walk in the light to the full measure of the law’s requirement. Under the gospel, “the blood of Jesus,” God’s Son, “cleanses us from all sin.”

But we must identify that little pronoun “us.” The context supplies the antecedent. Those who are cleansed by His blood have stepped into the light, and as they walk in the light and fail, they confess their sins, knowing God is faithful to forgive them.

This word “fellowship” here has reference to one’s relationship with God. While those who are related to God through Christ may enjoy harmony with one another, that harmony or unity is based on their fellowship with God.

One more thing. John doesn’t want anyone to be deceived, thinking they can claim fellowship with God while living in sin. This truth brought out my John prompted me to tweet this thought the other day.

“Real relationship with God is more than knowledge, emotion, association and claim. It is sincere reverence for Him with trust in Christ that is demonstrated daily by how we live.”

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Quoting the book sourced below.

Interpretation that aims at, or thrives on, uniqueness can usually be attributed to pride (an attempt to “outclever” the rest of the world), a false understanding of spirituality (wherein the Bible is full of deeply buried truths waiting to be mined by the spiritually sensitive person with special insight), or vested interests (the need to support a theological bias, especially in dealing with texts that seem to go against that bias). Unique interpretations are usually wrong. This is not to say that the correct understanding of a passage may not often seem unique to someone who hears it for the first time. But it is to say that uniqueness is not the aim of our task.

Fee, Gordon D.; Stuart, Douglas. How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (p. 22). Zondervan Academic. Kindle Edition.

Who can tell us whether this awful and mysterious silence, in which the Infinite One has wrapped himself, portends mercy or wrath? Who can say to the troubled conscience whether He, whose laws in nature are inflexible and remorseless, will pardon sin? Who can answer the anxious inquiry whether the dying live on or whether they cease to be? Is there a future state? And if so, what is the nature of that untried condition of being? If there be immortal happiness, how can I attain it? If there be an everlasting woe, how can it be escaped? Let the reader close his Bible and ask himself seriously what he knows upon these momentous questions apart from its teachings. What solid foundation has he to rest upon in regard to matters which so absolutely transcend all earthly experience and are so entirely out of the reach of our unassisted faculties? A man of facile faith may perhaps delude himself into the belief of what he wishes to believe. He may thus take upon trust God’s unlimited mercy, his ready forgiveness of transgressors, and eternal happiness after death. But this is all a dream. He knows nothing, he can know nothing about it, except by direct revelation from heaven.

William Henry Green, The Pentateuch (New York: John Wiley, 1863), pp. 194, 195.

Quoted by – Ortlund Jr., Raymond C.. Isaiah (Preaching the Word) (p. 457). Crossway. Kindle Edition.

John’s Prologue (1 Jno. 1:1-4)

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life – the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us – that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. 1 Jno. 1:1-4

What if I said, “OK students, diagram the opening sentence of the first epistle of John. You’ve got five minutes.” First, do you think this is what John wanted his readers to do (assuming a form of this exercise was current back then)? Second, assuming John’s grammatical structure is difficult here, would a diagram exercise really help us?

Most commentaries begin their analysis by wrestling with the grammatical structure of this passage. In some cases their analysis is more complicated than the text. So here’s what helps me. I go into this knowing what John wrote in the gospel of John, and knowing what he wrote after verse 4. That’s the best help I’ve found in navigating his prologue here.

The result is my paraphrase: Jesus was a real flesh-and-blood person. Yet, He has a real existence beyond and before His earthly stay and is eternal. This truth was proclaimed by men who heard Him, saw Him and touched Him. As they gave their testimony and people responded, fellowship with God and the joy of that fellowship became real.

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