“Do not love the world or the things in the world” (1 John 2:15). We all know we are supposed to obey this command, but it is far easier said than done. How can we obey it? Should we develop a strict regimen to govern every waking moment of our lives? Should we follow a list of well-defined rules and regulations? Should we meditate upon the perils of the world and the torments that await those who love it? Should we adopt an austere existence, whereby we disengage from earthly delights? How do we stop loving the world?
Clearly, it is an important personal question because of our struggle with sin and temptation. The flesh—that principle of self-seeking that lurks deep within the heart—is alive and well, and we feel our hearts pulled in numerous directions, each competing for greater control and influence. It is also a significant question for pastors because our answer will ultimately shape our preaching. Our convictions about how we obey this command will be evident in both what we say and how we say it. It will influence how we see the people in front of us and how we speak to them.
In his sermon, The Expulsive Power of a New Affection,1Thomas Chalmers takes up this question.2 His proposed answer is captured in a single statement: “We know of no other way by which to keep the love of the world out of the heart than to keep the love of God in the heart.” To appreciate fully what Chalmers means, we must recognize that his assertion rests on five well-defined convictions.
First, the heart will “cling” to something. We are all familiar with the philosopher’s quip, “Nature hates a vacuum.” It means that empty spaces will always be filled with denser material. Even if that material is nothing more than air, something eventually fills the void. Chalmers believes the same is true of the heart. We might say, “The heart hates a vacuum.” Because we are wired for worship, the heart must always have an object of love to fill it.
Second, love determines what fills the heart. When the object of our love is absent from us, we desire it. When the object of our love is present with us, we delight in it. These “two different conditions” (desire and delight) are the principal movers of the soul.3 Desire compels us to move toward the object of our love, while desire causes us to repose in it. All of life, therefore, is shaped by these two affections in that they determine our choices, values, and dreams. They determine what fills the heart.
Third, love for an object cannot simply be destroyed. In other words, love never chooses to surrender the object of its desire and delight. All the pleading, arguing, threatening, beseeching, and cajoling in the world will never convince anyone to let go of what they love. Why? The heart, says Chalmers, “cannot be left void without the pain of most intolerable suffering.” It must love something.
Fourth, love for an object can only be “dispossessed” by love for something else. Since love for an object cannot be destroyed, it naturally follows that it must be expelled by a greater love. According to Chalmers, “the reigning affection of the mind” must be altered.
Fifth, the chief object of our love is self. Prior to his fall in the garden, Adam’s love was set on God and, consequently, his affections (desire and delight) were well directed. When Adam disobeyed, however, the object of his love changed. Now, in our fallen condition our love is no longer set on God but self. As a matter of fact, God has become the object of our enmity (Romans 8:7). As a result, desire and delight are in the thralls of the flesh—that self-seeking, self-loving, self-worshipping principle that corrupts our mind and will.
Chalmers applies the above convictions to the question: How can we stop loving the world? He is critical of those who believe love for the world can be displaced by simply demonstrating its vanity and impiety. That never suffices, given the heart’s longing to be filled. To stop loving the world, therefore, the heart must have something to love in its place. “The only way to dispossess the heart of an old affection is by the expulsive power of a new one,” says Chalmers. We must displace the heart’s love for the world with a greater love.
The implications of Chalmers’s assertion are manifold. In terms of pastoral ministry specifically, he believes it reveals “what it is that makes the most effective kind of preaching.” Above all else, it seeks to bring “the mastery of another affection” to bear upon people’s hearts by proposing to them “the worth and excellence” of God. That means it is not enough to denounce the evil of sin, or rail against the futility of the world, or proclaim the “threats” and “terrors” of impending judgment. While these things have their place, they themselves will never sever the heart from loving the world. Our people need a greater affection. Convinced of this, in our preaching we exalt Christ who is altogether lovely. We proclaim God’s love in sending Christ into the world, and His compassion in offering Christ for us. We proclaim the sufficiency of Christ’s atoning sacrifice, and the magnitude of His pain and suffering on behalf of sinners. We show people God’s glory in the face of Christ. We extol God’s goodness, faithfulness, and lovingkindness. We celebrate the “full pardon” and “gracious acceptance” that is available in Christ. We seek to enthrall our people with beauty, not severity; blessedness, not dreariness; glory, not melancholy. When accompanied by the Spirit of God, such truths conspire to raise up a new affection in the heart, which overwhelms the old.
In Texas there are trees known as live oaks. They are so named because they remain green all year round. Their leaves only begin to fall in spring as new leaves emerge to force out the old. That is Chalmers’s point. It is only love for God (a greater affection) that will displace love for the world.
It is only when this new expulsive affection is in place that God’s commands come alive. “Do not love the world or the things in the world” (1 John 2:15). We now have the love of God compelling us to obey—to mortify sin, to deny self, to set our minds on things above, to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. “The freer the gospel,” says Chalmers, “the more sanctifying is the gospel. The more it is received as a doctrine of grace, the more it will be felt as a doctrine according to godliness.” And that is how we stop loving the world.
- A pdf of the sermon is available at multiple websites. ↩︎
- Chalmers was born in Fife, Scotland, in 1780. After graduating from the University of St. Andrews, he was licensed to preach in the Church of Scotland. After occupying several pastorates, he returned to the university to serve as professor of divinity, before passing away in 1847. ↩︎
- Chalmers stands in a stream that flows from the seventeenth century English Puritans, who inherited this view of the affections from Augustine. See The City of God, in A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, vol 2, ed. P. Schaff (New York: Random House, 1948), 14:5–9. ↩︎
