Chapter Three: Six Evils of Earthly-Mindedness
this upon your hearts, I trust that much honour may be given to God, and much good to you in particular.
Chapter Three:
Six Evils of Earthly-Mindedness THE FIRST EVIL: The Bible refers to it as adultery. James 4:4 calls it spiritual adultery, "You adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?" They were adulterers and adulteresses in terms of their love for the world. Even if you abhor the idea of committing adultery, you may still commit spiritual adultery. A person can be an adulterer or adulteress before the Lord, even if they do not engage in sexual intercourse with another. But if their hearts are set on someone else, they are guilty of unfaithfulness. Christ said that whoever looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery in his heart. In other words, he has broken the commandment that forbids adultery. If a man's heart is drawn more to another woman than his wife, or if a wife's heart is drawn more to another man than her husband, this is adultery before the Lord. Similarly, if our hearts are more set on something other than the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom we profess to be married and who is our Husband, this is adultery in Scriptural terms.
THE SECOND EVIL: Worldliness or an earthly mind is called "idolatry" in Ephesians 5:5. Paul lists covetousness among other sins that should not even be named among the saints. And he adds,
"greed, which is idolatry." Now, what is an earthly-mindedness but greed, which is idolatry? A person who is earthly-minded is an idolater. You all know that worshipping sticks and stones is a great sin, but be careful of another form of idolatry that may be just as bad.
This is to make the god of this world, the cursed mammon of unrighteousness, your God. It is to make earthly things your Christ by bowing down and worshipping the golden calf of the world. The thing a person's heart is most drawn to and set upon is their god.
Therefore, in this verse, it is said that they made their bellies (earthly things) their god. The voluptuous and drunkards make their bellies their god, and the sexually immoral make their partners their goddess and worship them.
Whatever your heart is most set upon, that is your God. Therefore, you must understand that the commandment "You shall have no other gods before Me" means that you must give your soul's strength to Me alone, and not to anything else. I become a God to My creation when its strength is focused on Me, lifting Me up as the highest good.
But if there is anything else that your soul values as the highest good, that thing becomes your god, and that is worse than bowing the knee.
You surrender your soul to that thing.
The more base something is that we make a God of, the more vile is the idolatry. When the Egyptians worshipped various gods, they were considered the most vile idolaters because they worshipped dogs, cats, onions, and other despicable things. So, the more vile anything is that we set our hearts upon, the more vile is our idolatry. To make unclean desires our god and to satisfy those desires is abominable.
To make any earthly thing our god is even more vile, for the earth is the lowest thing that God has created. It is the least beautiful and the most dull and unremarkable of all the elements. Making earthly things our god is the most contemptible form of idolatry.
OBJECTION: You may say, "What is so bad about this idolatry or earthly-mindedness?" ANSWER: There are two aspects that reveal the evil of idolatry or earthly-mindedness.
Firstly, the evil of idolatry lies in the fact that you turn away from God. By letting your heart be set on other things, you move away from God and reject His protection, goodness, and mercy. This is
similar to what Hosea 4:12 says about those who go after idols: they go a-whoring from under their God. When they worshiped the true
God, they were under His protection, but when they turned to idols, they went out from under His protection and care. When you lift up the infinite First Being of all things as the Chief Good to your soul, you experience God's grace and mercy. However, when you depart from Him and make other things your chief good, you forsake His protection, goodness, and mercy.
Secondly, when you choose to make the earth your god instead of the infinite First Being of all things, you are disrespecting and condemning God. It would be a grave insult to leave a Queen or Empress, the most beautiful woman in the world, and choose a base dunghill raker instead. Similarly, when you forsake the blessed, eternal God as your Chief Good and choose the things of the earth, you are insulting and rejecting God. The earth is the lowest and most insignificant of all God's creatures, and to make it your god is an abominable sin. The prophet Jeremiah calls the heavens and earth to be amazed at this idolatry, saying in Jeremiah 2:12, "Be astonished,
O ye heavens at this, and be horrible afraid. be ye very desolate, saith the Lord. Why? What's the matter? For my people have committed two evils, they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water." In this way, you forsake the fountain of living waters, the blessed God, and seek contentment and happiness in cisterns that can hold no water. This is a horrible wickedness that should leave the heavens astonished.
THE THIRD EVIL. Thirdly, being focused on earthly matters is enmity against God. No one would want to be found to be an enemy of God. However, it is true that a person who is focused on earthly matters is an enemy of God. This is made clear in Scripture, James
4:4, which states that loving the world is enmity against God. There is much to be learned from this. If God were to impress this on our hearts, we would come to realize that earthly-mindedness makes us enemies to spiritual goodness. Thus, the Holy Ghost rightly calls it
enmity to God, because anything that is against spiritual goodness is also against God. The degree to which our hearts are against anything that is spiritual is the same degree to which our hearts are enemies of God. In this text, earthly-minded people are portrayed as enemies to the cross of Christ, which means they are enemies to the spiritual preaching and teaching of Christ. They would have been content if Christ and circumcision were mixed together, but this pure and spiritual way of preaching Christ and being justified by faith alone was not suitable to their worldly hearts, and so they were enemies to it.
Oh! Earthly-mindedness makes us enemies to spiritual things. There are no greater enemies to the things of God, to spiritual matters, to the ministry of the Word, and to the work of God's grace on people's hearts than those who are focused on worldly matters. They can go up and down, and they do not care as long as they can go about their business, grow rich in the world, and indulge themselves every day like Dives, making provision for the flesh to fulfill its desires. They have an innate aversion to Jesus Christ and all goodness.
THE FOURTH EVIL. Fourthly, there are few mindsets more opposed, more contrary to the work of grace and godliness in a person's own heart than earthly-mindedness. It is so strongly opposed to the nature of grace that if earthly-mindedness prevails, you might as well ask men and women if there is any grace in their hearts. If God allows your corruptions to take over so that you commit some notorious sins, then you may begin to think, "Can this coexist with grace? How can that coexist with the workings I had before? Do I have reason to fear that I am a hypocrite, a rotten professing Christian?" This earthly-mindedness is as opposed to the nature of grace and the power of godliness in the heart as almost any sin that you can name. It is entirely contrary to the very beginning of the work of grace, not just to the degrees, but to the very beginning!
The primary work of God when first working grace in the soul is to disengage the soul from the creature. It is to detach it from the earth and from all creatures here below. It is natural that, as we are of the
earth, so we are earthly and our spirits are attached to earthly things.
But then comes the work of grace upon the soul and takes it off, and discharges the heart from the earth. Therefore you find that Christ lays this in as the first lesson: "He that wants to be My disciple must deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me." He is saying, "Never think of being a Christian unless you deny yourselves." What is the self? It is all natural contentment, natural self, and sinful self.
To be completely emptied of yourselves, creature comforts, and contentments, and take up His cross, to be willing to suffer anything in regards to earthly comforts, to be willing to give up all at His feet, to give up your interest in everything and take up His cross, this is the very first beginning of Christ's bringing disciples to Himself. The soul then says, "Let me have my sin pardoned, and farewell earth; my heart is focused on heaven, holiness, renewal in the image of God, communion and union with God, and living to the eternal praise of His name in Christ." This is the beginning of God's work in the heart.
When the work of grace is first initiated, it is referred to as "calling" or "vocation." But what does it mean to be called? One must strive to make their calling and election certain. To be called means that before, one was entirely preoccupied with seeking happiness in worldly pursuits, but then God graciously speaks to the soul and declares, "O wretched soul, your contentment is not here. There are greater things that constitute the highest good. You were made for more exalted and superior purposes than these. God has greater intentions for humankind than simply allowing them to find some satisfaction in the world."
The soul is summoned to leave behind the earthly things and pursue the higher things, and this is the initial phase of grace's work. This is the soul's answer to God's call, "Lord, I am coming," and the soul surrenders the earthly things to God, which marks the commencement of the work of grace. Consequently, how antithetical is the earthly-mindedness to God's work of extending grace to the heart?
Consider these three points.
The very process of conversion is described in Scripture as God's calling the soul out of the world. Those whom He has predestined,
He has called. When God begins to work upon the heart of a sinner, He causes a voice to be heard in the soul, saying, "Oh soul! You have been busy with many things, but there is one thing necessary. Come out of your current way of life, for you will never find happiness there. You will be undone if you continue in it." The Lord calls the soul out of the world, and this is the very process of conversion, the soul's response to God's call. One cannot answer God's call and still have a heart attached to worldly things. Such a person is not yet effectively called out of the world.
The soul's response to this call follows next. The Lord disengages the heart from all creature comforts and teaches the first lesson of selfdenial and taking up Christ's cross. What is more opposed to selfdenial and taking up the cross of Christ than earthly-mindedness? As the text says, those who are earthly-minded are enemies to the cross of Christ.
The third aspect of conversion is the resigning of the soul to God as the Chief Good. Upon God's call, the soul learns the lesson of selfdenial and taking up the cross and becomes disengaged from the creature, resigning itself to God as an infinite, soul-satisfying good forever. Earthly-mindedness is entirely opposed to this.
Now, let us turn to the work of grace upon the heart after the heart is converted and turned to God. First, grace brings a new light into the soul. A spiritual and divine light is set up in the soul upon the conversion of a sinner to God. However, the earth is a dark part of the world, and earthly-mindedness causes darkness to be upon the spirit. The interposition of the earth between us and the sun hinders the sight of the sun from us. Similarly, the interposition of earthliness in the soul of man between God and itself hinders the sight of God from the soul. A divine light is set up in the soul, and
God works grace that reveals things of a higher, more excellent, and glorious nature than those things to which the soul previously clung.
In the second place, the Scripture describes the work of grace as creating a "new creature." In the soul, everything becomes new, old things pass away. Whoever is in Christ is a new creation. Earthlymindedness is contrary to this new creation of the soul, for it is the old self that is of the earth. The first man was from the earth, earthy.
Therefore, if you are an earthly-minded person, you are still part of the stock of the first man, who was from the earth. You are not of the second man, who is the Lord from heaven. This opposition to grace is evident, for grace works a new creation in the soul.
Thirdly, grace elevates the heart above itself, the creature, the world, and even above angels, principalities, and powers, and all created things. Grace is uplifting, but an earthly-minded person sinks down to low and base things.
Fourthly, grace expands the heart so much that it cannot be satisfied with anything on earth. Even if God were to give the entire world to a heart filled with grace, it still wouldn't be enough to satisfy it. Why?
Because the work of grace is the divine nature, the image of God in the soul, and it makes the soul like God. In Isaiah 40:15, it says that to God, all the nations of the earth are just like a drop in the bucket, and like fine dust on the scales. Now, an earthly-minded person may work hard, but he will eventually get over it. However, if a person's heart is taken off the earth, even if they have never been so involved in business, a matter of conscience that is in doubt may be enough to stop them. Just a doubt that something is a sin would be enough for them to say, "Let the business fall if it will. There may be a snare in this, and I see some cause to doubt." If the heart were spiritual, it would be taken off, but an earthly mind will go through many terrible things without troubling itself. This can lead to extreme entrapment in order to acquire or maintain an estate.
THE SIXTH EVIL. The sixth problem with being focused on earthly matters is that it is one of the greatest obstacles to benefiting from the ministry of the Word. Many of you cannot help but be convinced in your consciences that you have not benefited from the Word, and sometimes you will complain of the lack of profit under the means! If only you had hearts to examine the cause of it, and why you profit so little! It will appear that it comes from your earthly-mindedness. You bring a heart full of the world, full of impurities, with you. It is no wonder that you do not see those spiritual, heavenly things that are in the Word when there is so much impurity in your eyes.
Summer travelers, traveling in the midst of dust and in company, do not have the freedom of their eyes to see things like they do at other times. Many people come to the Word with their thick mud, and a great deal of filth that clouds up their very eyes, and deadens their hearts in the hearing of the Word! You know what Christ said to Martha, when Mary was sitting at Christ's feet and hearing His
Word. Martha was encumbered with many things. So it is many times with those who come to hear the Word. Although they are in the presence of Christ and have the sound of the Word in their ears, their hearts are encumbered with many things. There's a great noise in their hearts. They are busy with the world even while they are hearing the Word. As you find in Ezekiel 33:3, there's a notable description which, I fear, may be true of many of you, "And they come to you (said the Lord to the prophet) as the people come, and they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they will not do them, for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their covetousness."
They sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, and they show much love with their mouth. They will commend the sermon. It may be that they will say, "He is an excellent preacher, it was a very good sermon that we heard today." They will show love with their mouths, but yet their hearts go after their covetousness all the same.
They heard a man speak fine things, and bring excellent expressions
to set forth the matter at hand, but their hearts are after the things of the earth, and after their covetousness.
They had worldly, materialistic hearts, and as a result, they did not benefit from the ministry of the Word. This is made clear in Matthew
13:22, which describes the different types of ground that received the seed of the Word. Only one of the types was good and faithful, while the others were unproductive. The thorny ground represents those who hear the Word but are overcome by the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches. I urge you to take note: the people that our Savior speaks of in this parable who do not benefit from the Word are not those who live immoral lives (such as drunkards, swearers, or prostitutes), but those who have materialistic hearts.
The passage says, "the deceitfulness of riches." The things of this world do not hinder in an obvious way, as thousands of people with materialistic hearts do not realize that they have such hearts. Rather, it is the deceitfulness of riches that chokes the Word. It may be that the Word affects them when they hear it, and they think it is sweet and memorable, but the deceitfulness of riches and the cares of this world soon take over. When these things come, such as worldly affairs, houses, gardens, income, and other pleasures, they take over the heart and choke the Word. The Word cannot penetrate the soul and produce fruit. It is choked.
Many of you attend church three times on the Lord's Day and hear valuable teachings, but how often is it choked by the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of material possessions? You bring with you, keep with you, and carry along with you, materialistic thoughts, and that is why the Word does not prevail in your hearts. Oh! What do you lose through this materialism? You lose the fruit of the Word that should save your souls. A spiritual heart that has received one truth is blessed by God and would not trade it for ten thousand worlds. Such a person has reason to be grateful for that moment, that day, when they received such a precious truth from God. When it takes root, it is more valuable than if God had given them thousands of worlds to possess.