The Crucifying of the World

But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. GALATIANS 6:14

In 1658 Baxter published a treatise with a title that states its whole argument: The Crucifying of the World by the Cross of Christ. It is his fullest treatment of worldliness, and he regarded worldliness as the commonest and most respectable way of losing one’s soul.

A sin that is never named

His starting observation is that this is the one great sin about which the church is habitually silent. Congregations denounce drunkenness, dishonesty and immorality. Almost nobody preaches against the love of money, and almost nobody confesses it. Baxter thought this was not because the sin is rare but because it is universal among the respectable, and because it wears the clothes of prudence, providing for one’s family, and good stewardship.

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 1 JOHN 2:15

He was careful to define the term, because it is easy to caricature. Worldliness is not the possession of things, nor the enjoyment of them, nor the ordinary diligence by which a person feeds a household. God gives good things to be enjoyed with thanksgiving. Worldliness is the setting of the heart on them. It is treating this life’s goods as our portion rather than our provision — and Baxter’s test was to ask not what a man owns but what he could not bear to lose.

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. MATTHEW 6:21

Why persuasion fails

Here is the argument that makes his treatment distinctive, and it is the reason for the title. Everyone already agrees that the world is passing. Preach a sermon on the vanity of riches and the congregation will nod; not one of them disputes it. And nothing changes, because the heart is not moved by information it already possesses.

The world’s grip, Baxter argued, is not broken by being told it is worthless. It is broken by a rival attachment, and the only thing strong enough is the cross.

By whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. GALATIANS 6:14

Paul’s phrase runs both ways, and Baxter dwelt on the symmetry. The world is crucified to me: seen from the foot of the cross, its offers lose their appeal. I am crucified to the world: it no longer has anything to hold, because the person it used to bargain with has died. The practical method that follows is not resolution but contemplation. A man who wants to be free of the love of money will get further by an hour at Calvary than by an hour of resolving to be less greedy.

Prosperity is the harder test

Baxter made an observation that is uncomfortable in wealthy societies. Scripture treats poverty as a danger and prosperity as a greater one. The reason is that adversity drives people to God while comfort quietly persuades them they do not need Him — and does it so gradually that nobody notices the transition.

But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. 1 TIMOTHY 6:9

He noted that Paul does not say the rich but they that will be rich — those who have set their intention that way. The condition is one of ambition rather than balance. Baxter’s own practice matched his preaching. He lived simply, gave away a large part of a modest income, refused a bishopric, and bought books to distribute at his own expense in quantities he could not really afford.

What to do with what you have

He was not an ascetic, and his counsel is constructive rather than merely prohibitive.

Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate. 1 TIMOTHY 6:17–18

Note that Paul commands enjoyment in the same breath as generosity. God gives things richly to enjoy, and a sour refusal of good gifts is not holiness.

Baxter’s directions were practical. Hold possessions as a steward rather than an owner. Give proportionally and regularly rather than occasionally and emotionally. Decide in advance what is enough, since a level that is never defined is never reached. And watch the direction of travel: whether your standard of living rises automatically with every increase in income, which is the surest evidence that the heart is set where the treasure is.

The most useful question this chapter puts is Baxter’s own, and it takes about ten seconds to answer. Not how much do you own? — but what could you not bear to lose?

The subtler worldliness

Money is the form of worldliness that gets named, and Baxter thought it was not the most dangerous one for religious people. The subtler form is the love of reputation — the desire to be well thought of, which operates just as powerfully in a congregation as in a marketplace and is almost never confessed, because it disguises itself as a proper concern for one’s testimony. The Lord identified it as an obstacle to faith itself.

How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only? JOHN 5:44

That is a startling sentence. Not it will be difficult but how can ye — the desire for human approval is presented as making faith impossible, because faith requires a valuation of things that the approval-seeker cannot afford to hold. John records the same disease in men who did believe and would not say so.

Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. JOHN 12:42–43

Baxter’s test for this was to ask what a person is willing to be thought. Would you accept being considered foolish, unsuccessful, unspiritual, or wrong, if faithfulness required it? He noticed that ministers and other religious workers are particularly exposed, since their standing depends on being regarded well by people whose opinion they must also correct — an arrangement almost designed to produce cowardice. The remedy is the same as for money, and it is the cross. A man who has genuinely died has no reputation left to protect.

FOR REFLECTION AND ACTION

1. Answer the question honestly: what could you not bear to lose? That is where your treasure is. 2. Decide what is enough. Write down a figure or a standard, and stop moving it upwards. 3. Check whether your giving has risen in proportion to your income over the last five years. If not, notice what has. 4. Do not try to argue yourself out of the love of money. Spend the time at the cross instead. 5. Give something away this week that you will actually feel.

A PRAYER

Lord, I have called my worldliness prudence and my grasping stewardship, and nobody has ever challenged me because everyone around me does the same.

I know the world is passing. Knowing it has changed nothing.

Break its hold by the only thing strong enough. Show me Your cross until the things I have been clutching lose their shine, and until I am dead to what I have been living for.

Teach me to enjoy Your gifts without setting my heart on them, and to hold them loosely enough to give them away. Amen.