--- title: "1 John 2:15-17 | Love Not the World | TCBS | The Tree Church" url: https://thetree.church/blog/2026/10/14/1-john-2-15-17-love-not-the-world-tcbs description: "Pastor Stacey Crawford, Pastor Mary Johnson, and Pastor Chris Reed study 1 John 2:15-17 and what it means not to love the world." lang: en --- 721 N. Memorial Drive, Lancaster, OH 43130✦ Main Service: Sunday 9 & 11am✦ Movement Youth Sunday 5:30pm✦ Lancaster & Logan, Ohio✦ 721 N. Memorial Drive, Lancaster, OH 43130✦ Main Service: Sunday 9 & 11am✦ Movement Youth Sunday 5:30pm✦ Lancaster & Logan, Ohio✦ Blog (https://thetree.church/blog) Tree Church Bible Study: https://thetree.church/blog/category/tree-church-bible-study # 1 John 2:15-17 | Love Not the World | TCBS October 14th, 2026 by The Tree Church “The only one that can bear the weight of our desire is God himself.” Pastor Chris Reed What does it mean to love the world, and why does John warn against it? In this episode of The Tree Church Bible Study, Pastor Stacey Crawford is joined by Pastor Mary Johnson and Pastor Chris Reed. The group spends the whole conversation on just three verses, 1 John 2:15-17. ## A Lighthearted Start The episode opens with a fun question about everyone's favorite invention. Pastor Mary picks the washing machine, along with her KitchenAid mixer and slush machine. Pastor Chris goes deep and picks language, because it gives meaning and definition to our lives. Pastor Stacey picks the automatic start in her car. Pastor Chris jokes that his family has one too. It is him. ## Reading the Passage Together After a quick recap of last week, Pastor Stacey reads all three verses from the New Living Translation. "Do not love this world nor the things it offers you. For when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever."Pastor Stacey shares that these verses show how the love of the world is destructive, while loving God and following him leads to life. ## What John Means by the World Pastor Stacey notes it would be easy to read verse 15 and think everything in the world is bad. But when God created everything in Genesis, he said it was good.Pastor Chris points out that John uses the word world in two ways. In John 3:16, God so loved the world. Here John means the world in its broken state. Pastor Chris shares a thought from C.S. Lewis, who taught that evil is good that has been corrupted or twisted. John is also writing to faithful believers, warning them how subtly they can slip into a love of the world.Pastor Mary adds that the things of the world are gifts when they point us to God. The problem comes when those good things get twisted and draw us into ourselves. Pastor Chris says this has been his fight since he took Christ seriously at 18. Good food and relationships can become a problem when we look to them to satisfy our hearts. Our needs are not the problem, because God designed us with them. What matters is who we turn to for satisfaction. ## Honest Struggles and the Three Cravings Pastor Stacey invites the group to share where they struggle. Pastor Mary names a consumeristic mindset. She likes collecting things, so she stops to ask whether something is a real need or just the feeling of having more. Pastor Chris names success. He loves ministry, but it becomes a problem when he looks to it to prove himself or gain approval. Pastor Stacey shares that she is an achiever, and pride can settle in when she feels she has to do everything perfectly.Pastor Stacey points out that verse 16 names all three of these struggles. The first is a craving for physical pleasure, living to satisfy bodily impulses independent of God. The second is a craving for everything we see, like keeping up with the Joneses. The third is pride in our achievements and possessions, an obsession with status and looking important before others.Pastor Chris adds that the Greek word behind that last phrase is bios. It points to the pride of life, or the things that sustain life. When we try to sustain ourselves, we keep searching and collecting. He admits he buys four or five pairs of running shoes every year. The answer is to look to God as provider. ### Practices That Break the Cycle Pastor Chris says he loves how The Tree Church teaches generosity, tithing, and giving. Giving breaks the cycle and reminds us that God is the one we depend on. Community and other spiritual disciplines do the same by challenging our self-reliance. Pastor Mary adds that the world promotes these three cravings every day, which is why the battle feels constant. ## This World Is Fading Away Pastor Stacey reminds listeners that this world is fading away, and that eternal perspective matters. If we live like the world, we will die like the world. But if we walk for the things of eternity, that is what we will get to experience.Pastor Chris says the problem is not the good things God made but what our hearts do with them. Sometimes God asks us to give something up. That is not because he does not want us to flourish. He wants to be the one who gives it, and he wants to heal our hearts so we are no longer enslaved. ### When Good Gifts Become Idols Pastor Stacey shares that she loves her daughter fiercely after struggling to have children. But she has to watch that her daughter does not become an idol. Pastor Mary names the comfort of her own schedule and wants to leave room for interruptions from God. Pastor Chris laughs that as a boy he told his grandfather he wanted to be retired. Now he finds that interruptions often become the blessing of his day. ## The Blessing on the Other Side Pastor Stacey asks what blessing waits on the other side of overcoming a love of the world. Pastor Mary answers honestly. "Living a life that follows Christ requires sacrifice. It requires thinking outside of our own thoughts."Yet Pastor Mary says it is the most full way to live. We take our eyes off ourselves and focus on Christ. Blessing comes with obedience, connection with others, and serving others. It is a perspective shift.Pastor Chris adds that a psalm about God giving us the desires of our hearts really means God will reshape those desires. ### Just Enough to See Us Through Pastor Chris points to the manna God gave Israel in the wilderness. It was not fluffy bread. It was just enough to see them through to the promise. He shares that when his kids were young and Cassie stayed home, his family was simply sustained. Looking back, he says, "God is still gracious. He's still good. He's still sustaining me."Pastor Stacey says we often see how God sustained us only after we walk out of the season. She leaves listeners with an encouragement. "it's okay to enjoy the things of the world but the biggest thing is to remember don't have a love for the things of the world that's going to lead towards darkness that's going to lead towards destruction." ## A Closing Prayer Pastor Mary closes in prayer and thanks God for his good gifts. She asks him to help anyone pulled away by the things of this world to put them in their proper place. She prays for strength to take the step of obedience God is calling each listener to take. Listen to this episode 1 John 2:15–17 | Love Not the World 0:00 35:19 Subscribe and follow Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7BWiObfPjKlJR2pB4OWH7o Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tree-church-bible-study/id1557536518 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheTreeChurch1 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theTree.church/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetree.church/ ## Take your seat at The Tree Church. If you are looking for a church in Lancaster or a church in Logan, we would love to welcome you to The Tree Church. We are one church meeting at two campuses in Ohio. Join us any Sunday at 9:00 AM or 11:00 AM. Lancaster Campus 721 N Memorial Dr, Lancaster, OH 43130: https://maps.google.com/?q=721+N+Memorial+Dr,+Lancaster,+OH+43130 Logan Campus 36 Hocking Mall, Logan, OH 43138: https://maps.google.com/?q=36+Hocking+Mall,+Logan,+OH+43138 We can't wait to meet you this Sunday! Posted in Tree Church Bible Study (https://thetree.church/blog/category/tree-church-bible-study)New Living Translation (https://thetree.church/blog/tag/new-living-translation)Following God (https://thetree.church/blog/tag/following-god)Relationships (https://thetree.church/blog/tag/relationships)Community (https://thetree.church/blog/tag/community)Giving (https://thetree.church/blog/tag/giving)Tithing (https://thetree.church/blog/tag/tithing)