Christ Is Better, My Heart Must Learn That

June 23, 2022

I hate clutter. Clutter is the tracks that the demons of disorganization leave as a reminder of their unwelcomed yet regular visits.

Our family has six young children, so clutter is a fact of life for us─a daily one. Add to that the fact that although I hate clutter, I’m not the neatest person in the world, actually, I probably rank in the bottom 50 percent.

Clutter breeds. It makes rabbits look like Abram and Sarai as newlyweds. And clutter’s favorite birthing room is the one that’s most empty.

Have you ever noticed how an empty room magically fills itself with stuff? Or the garage that soon has no more room for the cars it was built to contain? Or the kitchen countertop that was just tidied up? Clutter is most fertile in empty spaces.

There’s a real reason behind this: Nature abhors a vacuum. Most of us have heard that saying, and it’s true. Most garages in our culture are living proof of that.

But this is true with more things than just clutter, though that may be the most annoying manifestation of this universal truth. Think of leadership: An organization whose undisputed leader is suddenly removed from the scene won’t remain leaderless. Another leader will fill the void, whether good or bad, weak or strong. And it will happen soon.

Twelve jurors, all with passive personalities, dismissed into a deliberations room, soon will have a leader.

Nature abhors a vacuum. Where there’s empty space, it will be filled, and sooner rather than later.

Replacing is Far Easier than Removing

Imagine a jar filled with nothing but the air of the room. Now imagine your task is to remove all the air from that jar. For this task, anything you want is at your disposal.

I’ve often asked this question and listened to people ponder about sophisticated pumps, or collapsing the jar, or other engineering solutions, but you have an advantage. I’ve already started you thinking along the lines of the solution. I’ve introduced the answer before asking the question.

The easiest way to remove all the air from the jar is so obvious that many people miss it: simply fill the jar with water.

Nature abhors a vacuum, so creating a vacuum in the jar will be a task that─although doable─won’t be easy. Nature will fight you. Physics demands the jar be filled with something.

But replacing the contents of the jar is quite different. Replacing the contents is easy. Replacing the contents is something with which physics will quite willingly cooperate. And when physics cooperates, life is markedly easer.

A Sermon to Be Remembered, and Lived

The world has unfortunately heard many forgettable sermons. I can personally attest to this. I’ve even preached many of those myself. But the world has also heard a few that are worthy to be remembered for all times. One such sermon occurred in 19th century Scotland, by a man named Thomas Chalmers.

In this sermon (or lecture, the historical context of the original delivery is uncertain), Chalmers latches on to this basic idea of physics, and applies it insightfully to the problem of the Christian’s remaining sin: Just as the jar strongly resists being emptied of content, so also our souls.

Change the analogy. Replace content with affection and the lights begin to come on. In What a Double Amputee Taught Me about My Sin, we explored the truth that Christ has “amputated” our old heart, and replaced it with a new heart, one that no longer experiences the same pleasure from sin. Yet, there remains a learned response to temptation, notwithstanding the fact that the learned response no longer produces the same pleasure.

Then, in What I Learned about Defeating My Sin by Pulling Roots, we took this further, recognizing that defeating remaining sin in our life requires “pulling it up by the roots.” The “blossoms” of sin are what our hearts find attractive. The “roots” are what give it life, and the roots hold no attraction value. Therefore, if we can trace the blossoms of sin in our life back to their ugly roots and then teach our souls to see the root rather than the blossom, we can begin to break our affection for sin.

But there’s another important piece, and we’ve already exposed it: Physic’s strong distaste for a vacuum. This applies in an equal way (if not amplified) to the affections of our heart. The Christian can gaze at the hideous roots of their sin all they want, but the affection won’t be completely broken until it is replaced with a new affection. Throwing out all the roots of the sin we dug up without planting new roots simply leaves fertile and available soil for new and stronger weeds.

This was Jesus’ point in the often-misunderstood parable of The Return of the Unclean Spirits.

When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, “I will return to my house from which I came.” And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first. ─ Luke 11:24-26

The imagery here is of a woman who tidies and sweeps her house (remember, the clean room analogy above). However, having cleaned the house, she left it clean…and empty. The result was that quickly the “unclean spirit” returns with seven friends “more evil than itself.” To borrow the words of the famous theologian Hank Williams, Jr., all his rowdy friends came over that night.

In a real sense, the woman would have been better off never to have cleaned in the first place. Jesus’ point here is the same as Chalmers’: Removing the old roots of sin without replacing the affection for that sin with a new affection results in zero forward progress. Worse, it can be a step backwards.

You are perhaps wondering about the title of Chalmer’s message that seized upon this facet of truth, it was The Expulsive Power of a New Affection.

Expulsive is an adjective that means serving to expel or drive out. Chalmers was driving at the ability of a new affection to drive out an old one, like water expelling air.

Not Just New, But Greater

Chalmers further knew that an affection of the heart that was simply new wouldn’t last long. Another new affection would quickly come along and displace it, just like the unclean spirit’s seven rowdy friends. What we need is not just a new affection, but a greater affection. We need to forget the Buttercup blossom, gaze at the ugly root, and then replace it with a Rose. Those are the steps for killing sin (Romans 8:13, Ephesians 4:22-24).

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. ─ Matthew 13:44

There are at least three crucial truths to see in Jesus’ words:

1. The treasure-finder already had a treasure. That’s what he sold. His heart already had inferior affections, just like yours and mine.

2. Those inferior affections were displaced by a greater affection: the new and greater treasure discovered in the field. The air in the jar was driven out completely, not by water, but by water turned to wine.

3. The motivating factor behind this glorious switch was joy; not duty, not obligation, not guilt. His heart had found a greater affection, and the expulsion of the old affections was pure joy for him: the physics of the heart joyfully cooperating.

You Can’t Preach Your Way Out

You cannot “preach” yourself out of sin, at least not for long. All the guilt in the world won’t kill the affection for it. All the root-gawking your soul can handle won’t make that desire die. It will help. Its part of the solution, but the essential piece is a new and greater affection.

To express it in one, solitary, glorious word: Christ.

Hate the clutter. Remove the clutter. Replace it with beautiful and functional furniture.

And just like physics willingly cooperates to replace the air in the jar with water, so also the nature of your heart cooperates to replace inferior affections with a superior One. That’s why the treasure-finder was joyful. That’s why it was neither drudgery nor remorse for him to have a giant yard sale the very next morning.

Christ is Better, but Seeing That Is Not Automatic

Delving into this has taken us from amputated limbs to plant roots to high school physics, and the reason for that is that your soul cannot simply “see” that Christ is better than your sin. It’s a process which your soul must learn. And having learned it, practice it.

It begins by teaching your soul of the deadness to sin that comes as a result of the New Birth: a deadness that comes with a difficulty─the difficulty of still retaining that old learned response to temptation.

Seeing that, we must learn to teach our souls of the ugly root of our sin. Christ will not appear to your soul as more attractive than the blossoms of your sin. The blindness of our fallen condition is not yet completely removed. We can’t see that clearly yet.

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face… ─1 Corinthians 13:12

Our infantile souls can still be like a deer-in-the-headlights when the oncoming truck of our favorite sin crests the hill. That is why we must become skilled at seeing the root. Christ will always appear better than the root. The root is not meant to attract, but to give life. The root’s unattractiveness is key to seeing that Christ is better.

The final magnificent rung is to drink deeply of the loveliness of Christ. Feed your soul upon the Gospels that narrate of Him, the Epistles that teach of Him, the prophets that foretell of Him, and the Psalms that sing of Him.

Ask of the Spirit that He teach you more deeply of His beauty (Ephesians 1:17-19). Pray to the Father that He will increasingly glorify Himself through your adoration of Christ (Philippians 2:10-11). These are prayers the Father is delighted to grant, and grant abundantly.

Don’t neglect a step.

Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. ─2 Peter 1:10

Finally, look forward with great anticipation to the day that seeing His beauty won’t be a process, it will be an enrapturing kneejerk reaction.

We know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. ─1 John 3:2

Jason Wilkerson serves Disciples Fellowship as Pastor-Elder. Jason has been married to Meredith for more than 20 years, and together they have six children. Pastor Jason holds degrees from NC State (BA), and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (MDiv, ThM). Jason has followed Christ for more than 40 years, and has a passion for expository preaching.