The Passing Shadow of Worldly Desire | 1 John 2:15-17 | Walking in the Light
John does not leave his readers guessing about what he means by the things of the world. In 1 John 2:15–17 he names them plainly: the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life. These are not merely the obvious sins. They are the respectable ones — comfort, the itch to acquire, comparison and envy, and the arrogance of self-sufficiency that forgets we are creatures and not gods.
In week five of "Walking in the Light," Pastor Mark Groen preaches through these verses, showing that John's warning is not simply a moral rebuke but a pastoral kindness. The world is passing away — present tense, already underway — and so are its desires. John exposes the futility of what we are chasing and redirects us toward the only pursuit that lasts: the will of God, which abides forever. The sermon closes with a practical word on reorienting disordered loves through the means of grace and honest self-examination before God.
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Thank you for joining us for this week's sermon from First Reformed Church in Edgerton, Minnesota. Each week we dig into God's Word, trusting that the Holy Spirit will continue the good work of sanctification in us.
It was January of 2012. I was in Holland, Michigan for some seminary intensives. And on one of the first evenings there, we— went out to eat, a few of my friends, and as we were walking down the main street back to our vehicle, or maybe we walked— I think we actually walked for some ice cream, if I remember correctly— as we were walking, we saw some decent-sized blocks of ice evenly spaced along the street. There was no way, no way that those were natural. And there wasn't any distinguishable reason that they should be there and spaced out like they were. Now, I'm not sure if we saw a sign of some sort or if we ran into a local and we asked them why they were there, but what we found out was that there had been a winter festival of some sort the weekend prior, and the blocks of ice that were spaced out evenly on the sidewalk were the remains of ice sculptures. Just a few days earlier, someone had put in substantial work and crafted large pieces of ice into beautiful artwork that would have glimmered in the light and had people stopping and admiring the beauty of this handiwork.
Now, you would think, in the climate of western Michigan, the sculptures would have lasted for a while, but the weather must have been warm, and in less than a week, they were roughly the size of a loaf of bread. This picture of my friends Al and Steve here shows what was left. Not much bigger than a loaf of bread. It looks like maybe it was one of those icebox you can buy for your cooler, and it melted weird around your food, right? But what they're holding there was once a work of art. So as we find ourselves in 1 John 2:15-17, we find John telling us that the world is passing away. And he is speaking here in the present tense. It's something that is already happening. He is telling us that the melting is underway. The things of this world are beautiful, but we should not be finding our worth or placing our hope in these things because, as John says, they are already passing away. In our time so far in 1 John, we have not only unpacked some important doctrinal truths, but John has also offered convicting calls for us to repent.
And each time, these are accompanied with the promise that we have through the forgiveness that the people of God receive in the Gospel. And now here, as we come to verse 15 of chapter 2, John is reminding us of the truth that pursuing the things of God is a pursuit of the things that last. And a pursuit of worldly things is chasing after that which is fading away, that which is already melting. And we are told here to not love the world or the things in the world. Now, it's important that we remember what we saw John telling us to love last week. Last week, we saw that he was emphatic in the importance of loving our sisters and brothers in Christ. He said that if we are in the light, we will love our fellow believers. But if we foster hatred in our hearts, we remain in the darkness. So he started out in chapter 2 with the positive— who we're to love, how we are to love. But now he turns and tells us what we are not to offer our devotion to. And we're familiar with statements like this that tell us not to love the world.
And we know what John means by this, right? We don't read this and think that he means we aren't allowed to enjoy creation. When John says, "Do not love the world," he isn't saying that you can't enjoy hiking in the mountains or watching the sunset over the lake. We also know that he doesn't mean that we aren't allowed to love people or animals or any other part of the created order. And John also isn't promoting escapism where we avoid social and political involvement and just let the world dissolve into chaos. That's not what he's saying. We know what he's driving at because we know what things that are contrary to God in the world look like. We see how His law is ignored and violated plainly. We can pretend like we aren't sure what is right and what is wrong, but the Word of God is clear. And this is why John boldly says that if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. If we are going after the desires of our flesh instead of the things of God, then we can understand why he says that the love of the Father is not in us.
In the event that we think maybe this isn't a sure, clear message that he's giving, John makes it very clear in the next verse as he speaks a certain way about the things of the world. Verse 16 makes it abundantly clear what he is saying. And it helps us to understand that this goes deep beyond just the things that we do, but it also makes it clear that this is about the position of our hearts, right? We think about what the Bible might mean by the desires of the flesh and the desires of our eyes, and our minds quickly and rightly go to things related to sexual immorality. And this has always been the case. In our highly sensualized visual age, we know these temptations are everywhere we turn. But we need to make sure that we don't simplify this and think that's all that he's talking about with the desires of the flesh and the desire of the eyes, merely putting this statement in that category of sin. Because your struggle may not be in that area, but your flesh and your eyes desire many things. Our flesh desires comfort and ease, thinking that that is where we will find our ultimate satisfaction.
And ultimately, isn't that the root of the sin of gluttony? Finding satisfaction and comfort in the temporal things of the world. There's also the itch to acquire, the sense that what we have isn't good enough, the desire to perpetually upgrade. You know, the 10th Commandment, "Thou shalt not covet." In an era when we can window shop on our phones anytime we want to, the 10th Commandment is basically forgotten. We're not coveting. We're just putting stuff we need in our Amazon wish list until we have the money. We're not coveting, right? And along the same lines, what about the sins of comparison and envy? Our technology gives us a window into the lives of others like never before. In the past, temptations like this were limited to the few people that you knew and maybe a television show like "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous." I just really dated myself with that reference, didn't I? But regardless, now your friends can send you a text with a picture of their new car, their new drapes, their new television, their new appliance, their new clothes. As if your friends showing you their stuff that you might want isn't enough, once you have a conversation with that in a text message or you search for something on Google, suddenly the stuff you've been talking about is showing up as advertisements trying to get you to buy it.
You used to have to leave your house to feel like you were falling behind. Now, it just takes one notification from our mobile device to make us feel like we're falling behind and we need more. We need to upgrade. These are just a few sins that we have made respectable in our time. But they're a distinct example of the desires of the flesh and the eyes. And as hard as those things might hit, John drawing out the pride of life probably hits us the hardest. It reminds us of the sins that we so easily justify in our minds and hearts: arrogance, self-centeredness, boasting. We are so prone to self-reliance, so prone to forgetting that we are creatures and not little gods ourselves. Eve was tempted in the garden with the promise of wisdom, and ever since, we have believed we're smarter than God. We think we can make a name for ourselves through status, accomplishments, money. But the posture of a sinner saved by grace is humility and dependence, not the pride of life. And these two verses bring us once again face to face with our own sin. As we regularly confess in our prayers of confession, we are forced to acknowledge that we do not love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and we do not love our neighbors as ourselves.
We can say with our mouths that we love God and not the world, but each day in thought, word, and deed, we often show otherwise. And John has spent this whole letter holding forgiveness and repentance together. And he does it again here. He pushes us toward putting the desires of the world to death that we might have the love of the Father in us. He does this not just by naming our sin, but by exposing the futility of what we're chasing. He knows how prone we are to run after the world, and he wants us to have hearts that will desire something that lasts, something that isn't melting. And as we read these words, it's apparent that John understands the difficult nature of what we are called as believers to do. He doesn't convict us of sin and then leave us with a statement telling us to knock it off and get it straightened out. He clearly realizes how unbelievably hard it is for us to put away the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes. Let's be honest, it's hard to live with an eye on eternity because our only experience is in the temporal.
This is what we know. Everything we know and have experienced exists in that temporary way. And we're prone to go after these things the same way a kid who has only ever had chicken nuggets in his kids meal will continue to order the nuggets. It's comfortable. It's all we know. Even though we know the sinful desires of the flesh and the eyes are contrary to God's law, we are comfortable in our sins and desires. It's what we know. We not only like what we know, but we are creatures of habit. How do we even begin to direct our desire towards that which abides when all we really know are those tangible, real things in front of us that scratch the itch of our sinful desires and lusts? We are prone to run after the stuff in front of our faces. But if we are going to walk in newness of life and pursue holiness, John drives the point home to us that the world is passing away with its desires. As we age, it gets easier for us to grasp the idea of the temporal nature of things, right? As your body daily reminds you of your impending demise with its pains and ailments, you start to grasp that you can't take it with you.
But even then, we tend to still find ourselves leaning towards a trust in the temporal as we make plans. We know we can't take it with us, so we need to plan to pass our money and our possessions onto others. We get that we can't have it, but someone else can. But John pushes us beyond that when he says that the world is passing away. He's not telling us as his readers that we are fading away. He tells us that everything is passing away. And like I said when I started, this is in the present tense. He isn't telling us that it's all good for now and someday later it will fade away. The world is a beautiful work of art, but even now it's melting, and yet we keep chasing it. It's like ordering off a menu when you know the ingredients in the restaurant are on the verge of expiring and rotten. John's statement here is a harsh reminder, but it's truly a kind one. He's like a friend who has the courage to pull you aside and tell you the truth while all the rest of the people are afraid to say anything to you.
He has the courage to tell us the truth about the state of affairs here. There's no doubt that the world is beautiful. There's no doubt that life is a blessing. But it's all perishing and will vanish. And not just the material things, but even the desires, he tells us, are passing away as well. We don't just lose the stuff. We lose the wanting as well. It's all fading. Every earthly thing we place our trust and hope in is collapsing. There's nothing any single one of us can do about this. Zero. We can't do anything. This is why John doesn't just convict us of our sin and walk away. Last week we had words that deeply convicted us of the hatred that remains in our hearts when we don't love one another. And instead of leaving us in guilt, John reminded us of the forgiveness that we have in Christ. This week, as we are forced to acknowledge the love we have for the things of this world, John points us to something better. Something that does last. John knows we are creatures that are bound to what we can see and touch. The pull for those things is real.
He doesn't say you desire the things of this world that are dark, so knock it off. He instead wants to reorientate our loves. He wants us to stop loving the things of the world and look to that which lasts. He reminds us that we are trying to hold on to an ice sculpture on a hot summer day. And so he redirects our wanting by telling us that those who do the will of God abide forever. Instead of the vanishing, he offers permanence. Instead of the melting and the fading, he reminds the people of God of the lasting and rooted life that they have in the Lord Jesus. It isn't something that has a slightly longer shelf life than the things of the world. Instead, what comes from godly pursuits abides forever. And as we close up this morning, I believe it's important that we acknowledge the difficulty of doing this. As I said, we are creatures who pursue what is in front of us. We love the quick fix. We love the instant gratification. Knowing that, we have to be deliberate about pursuing that which abides. And that isn't going to come with some sort of magic bullet solution.
Going after that which abides forever instead of the desires of the flesh is going to require us to play the long game. The answer for us then is not to just to try harder or to do better. To change our disordered desires takes work. There isn't an app. There isn't a 6-step program that will make this easy. You can't out-discipline disordered desires. Instead, it takes deliberate and persistent use of the means that God has ordained for the sanctification of his people. God works through means. He works through His Word. He works through the sacrament. He works through prayer. God's Word works through the Holy Spirit that indwells you. We need to not only be taking in His Word personally, but we need to be hearing it, not just from me, but this is why we recite, this is why we pray, this is why we sing Scripture together. So that you can hear the Word of God from outside of you, but so that you can also hear it from your own mouth. God also works through the sacrament as a means of grace. As we hear the Word and receive the elements of the Lord's Supper, we trust that the Spirit is working in us as well.
As I said, it's difficult to pursue that which abides because it is a fundamentally intangible thing. But in the Lord's Supper, God stoops down to us and gives us a way in which we can truly taste and see that he is good. We're reminded of his mercy and his grace through visible and material means. We also come to God via prayer, and this is more than just developing a habit of meditation. We have confidence that because of the work of Jesus for us, we are actually heard, because the one who saved us is our advocate and mediator before the Father. Through prayer, God hears our requests and we are shaped to be able to truly pray, "Thy will be done," instead of seeking after the quick gratification that we're prone to saying, "My will be done." God shapes us through these things because again, you can't out-discipline disordered loves. Being in the place where God has promised to be, through these means that He works with us, is replacing these disordered desires with something better. This is why the people of God gather to hear the Word, to receive sacraments, to join together in prayer.
These aren't religious boxes that we're checking off here. They're how we're shaped. They're how we're conformed to the image of Christ. The means of grace aren't a reward for people who have their lives sorted out. They are the instruments that God uses to shape his people. And a second way that we can pursue that which abides is by asking ourselves a rather uncomfortable question: What am I counting on to make my life feel safe and satisfying? What am I counting on to make my life feel safe and satisfying? The key to this is to be sure that we don't give ourselves an idealized Sunday school type of answer here. When you ask yourself that, don't automatically say, "Jesus," like you're a kindergartner in Sunday school, right? We need to be honest with ourselves. What actual habits or spending patterns reveal where we really find our security? When we feel anxiety about something, what is that saying about what makes you feel safe? The desires of the flesh and the eyes and the pride of life don't usually announce themselves to us. You got to flush them out because they hide in what we believe we need or in the things that we think we deserve.
So, name them, and not just once. Pray about them. Find a passage of Scripture to hide in your heart that reminds you of the futility of those pursuits. Daily confess that your security is actually found in those things. Even on days when you're feeling like you've been pretty successful in pursuing that which abides instead of what is vanishing, confess it. Name it and pray that you would find your security and safety in Christ instead of the fleeting things of this world. And as you do this, ground it in the hope that we find in this text. The things of God abide forever. Continually root yourself in the Gospel and the truth that you are united to Christ in His life, death, resurrection, and ascension. What you are pursuing isn't trying to earn something. It's living in the truth of who you are in Christ, and it is the truth of what you will be and are for eternity. You will not have the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes in the new heavens and the new earth, trying to hold on to them. Would be as futile as clutching a piece of ice in your hands and trying to will it not to melt.
Seek that which does not fade and spoil. The world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. Amen. Let us pray. Great and merciful God, we are so grateful for the gift of Your Word that when we find ourselves convicted by its truth, it is quickly accompanied by the truth of Your saving grace. And that is something that does not fade, it doesn't spoil, it doesn't melt. Help us to pursue those things in our lives. Help us to be honest with ourselves about where we find our safety and security instead. Grant that we would daily find our security and our safety and our hope in Your gospel. We thank You for the work of Jesus and the confidence it gives us that we will abide forever. It's in the name of Jesus that we pray. Amen.
Thank you for joining us for this week's sermon. For more information about First Reformed Church, head to our Facebook page or website EdgertonFRC.org.
“The Passing Shadow of Worldly Desire” is part of our ongoing series through 1 John, Walking in the Light. Explore the full series or browse our complete sermon archive to keep digging into God's Word.
