Fighting sinful desires
Thoughts and assistance from Thomas Chalmers' "The Expulsive Power of a New Affection."
I began a book study on Thomas Chalmers’ excellent sermon, “The Expulsive Power of a New Affection.” I will share some of my teaching and thoughts as I go through it with the men at my church. You can find a copy here.
Chalmers’ sermon is an exposition on 1 John 2:15, “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.” He begins with two ways to displace love for the world.
Show the heart the vanities of this world. The heart should be encouraged to give up its love of the world because it is not worthy of it.
The heart should be encouraged to exchange an old affection for a new one.
It is the latter way of displacing love for the world that Chalmers thinks best for actually overcoming sin and the snares of the world. He delivers it is the best option for “the rescue and recovery” of the heart from disordered affections.
Our problem is disordered love.
Chalmers presents two states of love. The first is love in a state of desire. We want what we do not have. The second is love in a state of indulgence. We have what we desire but want more. Both of these unhealthy states fuel habitual sin and addiction.
We see that love in the state of desire produces an engrossing interest in gratification. The mind wanders from its task to fantasize or reminisce about the desired object or pleasure. In addiction to smoking, we see this in the person who is drawing close to his cigarette break. He cannot focus on the minutes leading up to his break because all his thoughts are on lighting that death stick the second he is outside. I’ve known those addicted to pornography say that the search for the perfect image or video is the truly exciting part of their addiction, and what they cannot prevent themselves from doing.
The danger, according to Chalmers, is that if we eliminate the disordered desire, we may have removed the object but not the capacity to desire. Humanity’s capacity to desire is not necessarily sinful. If we succeed in eliminating the wrong desire without giving the heart a better desire, we are setting ourselves up for failure. Pointing out the vanity of alcohol, pornography, gambling, etc., is not enough. Many ensnared to such disordered desires will admit their deficiencies, but without the offer of something better, why should they abandon their little pleasures? Chalmers’ put it this way, “A man will no more consent to the misery of being without an object because that object is a trifle, or of being without a pursuit because that pursuit terminates in some frivolous or fugitive acquirement, than he will voluntarily submit himself to the torture because that torture is to be of short duration” (pg 33). In other words, a person cannot choose to love or pursue, even if the pursuit is meaningless or trivial. Just like no one would willingly accept pain just because it won’t last long, no one will accept emptiness just because their current desires are shallow. They would rather have their sinful trinkets than nothing. Chalmers describes such an approach as “a state of violence” to the poor sinner.
What is the solution then? Chalmers ends his first chapter with hope, “It must be by substituting another desire and another line or habit of exertion in its place - and the most effectual way of withdrawing the mind from one object is not by turning it away upon desolate and unpeopled vacancy, but by presenting to its regards another object still more alluring” (34). Instead of destroying the desire, we should focus on dispossessing it. He will assist us on what this looks like and how to do it in the next chapter.