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Aug 21, 2016

Envy: The Sin of Sorrow | Part 3

Preacher: Steve Lombardo

Series:7 Deadly Sins

Detail:

I’m not all that excited about the topic today, because it’s a sin that’s in my heart—the sin of envy.  Throughout this series, one of the things we have been dealing with is that God calls His people to holiness.  God is love, but nowhere in Scripture does it say, “Love, love, love is God.”  God is merciful, but nowhere does it say, “Mercy, mercy, mercy is the Lord God Almighty.”  God is wonderful and forgiving, but nowhere does it say, “Forgiveness, forgiveness, forgiveness is the Lord God Almighty.”  God is holy, and the Word does say, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty” (Isaiah 6:3).  That’s a superlative.  That’s the best!  God is holy, and He calls His people to holiness.

But we have sin, and as we’ve learned in this series, sin is literally missing the mark.  Sin is not hitting the bullseye.  It’s not even hitting the target.  So now we are lost in sin.  We’re struggling in our sin with no hope of beating our sin.  And that’s the joy, then, that comes in the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It’s because Jesus, Who knew no sin, became sin for us, so that we might have the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21).  We take joy in that promise today, but we’re going to look into some deeper and darker places before we come back to the joy that we have in the Lord.  I pray that God would bring conviction to your heart as He has to mine.

How have Christians dealt with this problem of sin?  Historically, in two major and general ways.  Let me describe it this way:  First, in a legalistic way.  Legalism says, “I’m going to create some rules and regulations to help me not to sin.  I’m going to have a list of ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts.’  Scripture calls us to be disciplined unto godliness, so I’m going to have my checklist, all in the hope that I can accomplish that discipline.”  We take seriously the fact that we are to be holy like God is holy.  First Peter 1:16 quotes the Old Testament:  “Be holy, because I am holy,” God says.  So, in order to do that better, “I am going to take a legalistic approach; I’m going to have a checklist to make sure I’m on the straight and narrow.” 

Now, there’s nothing wrong with rules and regulations.  The problem with legalism, though, comes in our relationship with others.  We might see somebody who has a different set of lists, or they don’t really have a list at all.  Because of that we sometimes tend to judge others, not according to God’s Word, but we judge them according to our legalism, to our lists of ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts.’ 

For instance, consider people who were saved out of a life of sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll.  Rock ‘n roll was a big part of their former lives.  Then Jesus saved them and transformed their lives.  Now they have some rules, one of which is they’re not going to listen to any rock ‘n roll music anymore.  They know that it’s a mark of their old life, and they also know that they might feel tempted, in some ways, to that past life.   Then there may be someone else who doesn’t have that background and likes to listen to rock ‘n roll music.  Not evil, sinful rock ‘n roll music, but secular music.  The problem can come in when that person who no longer listens to rock ‘n roll looks to the other person and says, “You’re not even a Christian,” or “I would question where you are with God.”  That’s the issue with legalism.

Now we go to the other end of the spectrum with the libertarian folks.  Libertarian people say, “Well, I’m forgiven by God.  Doesn’t He forgive me of my sin as a Christian—past, present, future?  So, because I’m forgiven, because Jesus died and paid for all of my sin, I’m not going to worry too much about sin.  I’m going to live my life, and if I happen to bump into a sin, well, big deal!  Jesus has forgiven me.”  The problem with that approach is that it can lead us to become lazy in our approach to how we deal with sin.  Our pursuit of holiness takes a back seat to our pursuit of freedom.  It actually can hurt our fellow Christians.

In 1 Corinthians 8:4–9, the apostle Paul is talking to the church in Corinth, and they have an issue.  The issue is that some people are eating food that has been sacrificed to idols.  And then there are other people in the church who are not eating that food and are offended by those who are.  Here is Paul’s response:

4 Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.” 5 For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”— 6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

7 However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. 8 Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. 9 But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.

It’s not a big deal.  You can eat the food.  And whether you eat it or not does not affect your relationship with God.  But be careful, because there are some people who are going to be hurt by that.  Libertarian folks need to be careful that they do not slide into laziness but that they would pursue holiness and give up their freedoms for the sake of others.

We can see positives in both the legalistic and the libertarian approach, and we probably want to fall somewhere in the middle.  God help us as we look to do that here in our discussion about envy.  The big truth that we should all be in agreement with—no matter where we find ourselves on the spectrum—is this:  Sin must be exposed, dealt with and destroyed in our lives.  We read in Romans 8:13 that we should put to death the sins of the flesh—or “the deeds of the body” —to expose sin and deal with it daily.  We don’t always do that with sin, do we?  We would rather hide sin than expose and deal with it, and that gives the enemy a stronghold in our lives! “I don’t want to expose it, because that’s going to make me vulnerable.  People are going to see my sin.  I don’t want to bring that to the light!  I’ll deal with it, and I’ll take care of it, but I’m going to hide it.”  The devil loves that, because then he’s got something on you with that hidden sin in your life.

Let me read to you from 1 John 1:5–7:

5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

Go against your natural inclination to hide and not deal with sin.  Expose your sin to the light.  The devil has no power in the light.  As you expose yourself and deal with your sin, you have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus cleanses you!  Oh that God would help us today, even as we talk of envy, that we would deal with ourselves and our sin! 

Now we come to the sin of envy.  I want to start by defining what envy is.  Second, let’s look to the Scriptures and see some of the different ways that the sin of envy hides itself.  Then finally, let’s commit to putting to death the sin of envy in our lives.

 

1.  Define envy.

If we want to achieve victory over the sin of envy, we must define it.  Envy is the feeling of sorrow at the blessings of others.  Envy is not jealousy.  Tim Badal previously preached a sermon from the book of Proverbs about the difference between envy and jealousy.  They are two different words in our Bibles.  Envy is not jealousy.  Jealousy is not always a sin.

Jealousy—in our vernacular—has to do more with the things that we have, so it can be a good thing.  God is a jealous God.  When we think of jealousy in a way that is sin, then that doesn’t make sense.  When we think of it in a good way, it is this:  God is jealous for His own glory.  Because He created all that there is, He is first in everything, and His very being demands that glory.  I can be jealous of my wife; my wife can be jealous of me.  Not like a high school boyfriend and girlfriend where you’re trying to control one another, but as one, before God in marriage, we come together.  We are one.  I can be jealous of her—she is mine.  She can be jealous of me.  That’s not a sin.

Envy, however, is always a sin.  Envy is the feeling of sorrow at the blessings of others.  Now, it’s not a feeling of sorrow to those people who are experiencing the blessing.  It’s a self-pitying sorrow that you feel when you observe the blessings that others are receiving.

Envy is pervasive in our society.

Envy was pervasive in the early church and it has been for all of human history.  Paul writes the following warning to the church in Galatians:

19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God (5:19–21).

Envy is part and parcel to who we are as sinful human beings.  In our culture today, it’s so entrenched that we can see it in some of the things we do in our everyday lives.  Take social media, for example.  Think of Facebook, or Instagram, or Twitter—any platform like that.  They’re all mass-producers of this sin of envy.  Think about it!  I know Facebook can be good as you catch up with people and see their pictures.  But let me just show you how it’s a big factory for sin.  You do something that you’re really happy about.  You bought a new toothbrush and you’re really proud of it so you post a picture of it because you want others to know how good your life is!  So other people get on social media, they see it and they experience the sin of envy.  They are desirous of the thing you have, and they feel a certain sorrow that they are not in that position.  It’s a factory of sin.  This self-pitying sorrow that comes rises up because in our own hearts we think, “That should be me!  I should have that!  I should experience that!  Why not me?” 

But it’s not just technology that makes this so much a part of who we are.  It’s also the way we’ve been inclined since “The Fall” in the Garden of Eden.  It’s our innate sin-nature.  There wasn’t much technology back in 1992 when I tried out for and made my first travelling baseball team.  Regardless, there was a lot of envy because this was my first team with good players.  But guess what?  I didn’t get to start.  The kid ahead of me got to start.  Did I cheer him on?  Oh sure!  “Yeah! Let’s go!”  But inwardly: “I hope he breaks his ankle, because I should be out there!  The coach should have me in there!”  That’s envy.  I had a sorrow that I wasn’t a starter.  It’s the way we’re naturally inclined.

Envy is a powerful weapon in the hands of the enemy.

Listen to the words of Proverbs 27:4: “Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming, but who can stand before envy?”   Wrath and anger are hard to deal with.  They are nothing like envy, though.  “Who can stand…?”  Now, why is this?  It’s because envy can masquerade as justice.  Envy is a shape-shifter.  “They’re getting a raise?  They’re getting a job promotion?  I work hard!  I’ve put in the time!  I should be in that position!”  This kind of deception is the devil’s specialty.  He would seek to deceive you this way and lead you down the path of envy, the sorrowing sin. 

Even back in the Garden of Eden, the devil said to Adam and Eve, “Did God actually say…?  You deserve that!”  The devil blinds the eyes of unbelievers tothe truth of the gospel, but the devil also deceives believers into thinking that the feelings that we have are not sinful.  “No.  You deserve that which you do not have!”  Then you begin to question God Almighty for having you in that position.

Erma Bombeck captured the heart of envy with this prayer:  “Lord, if you can’t make me thin, at least make my friends look fat!”  Envy would cause us to say, “No one should be richer than I!  No one should have more success!  No one should be blessed more by God than I am!”  Envy is the great equalizer.  It allows us to drag others down to the misery of our own lives.

Envy tends to flourish close to home.

When I was playing little league baseball in the eighties, I looked up to major league baseball stars—Ryan Sandburg, Jodi Davis, Andre Dawson—and I loved them.  I wanted to be like them, but I didn’t envy them.  I wasn’t filled with sorrow that they were there and I wasn’t.  I looked up to them.  That was good.  It was close to home where envy reigned, with the people on my team.  You might not be envious of Bill Gates, but you could be envious of that family member who married into money and is going on all kinds of extravagant trips. 

Here are the “Top Five Indicators of Close-to-Home Envy.”  See if you’ve experienced any of these: 

  1. You temper your compliments with the word “but.” “Oh man.  He’s a great guy, but…”  “Yeah.  She’s wonderful, but…”
  2. You walk the other way to avoid congratulating a friend at their good favor. “There’s so-and-so.  Something good happened.  I’ll go the other way.”
  3. You don’t walk the other way because it’s not the “Christian” thing to do, but there’s a knot in your stomach as you congratulate that person through your clenched teeth.
  4. You can’t bear to hear your friends complimented in your presence.
  5. You secretly regret that your friends have succeeded where you have not. Outwardly you may be congratulatory, but there’s a certain sorrow over their position above yours.

 

2.  Observe its subtleties.

If we want to achieve victory over the sin of envy, we must observe its subtleties.  Subtleties?  What does that mean?  It’s something that we just don’t notice off-hand.  Envy is very subtle in the way that it masquerades, in the way that it enters into our lives. 

We’re going to look at three examples from Scripture to help us identify, or observe, how envy works, so that we can destroy it.  Turn in your Bible to Numbers 11.  Here we have the nation of Israel having just been released from slavery in Egypt.  God had done miraculous things to bring them out of slavery.  Now they’re on their way to the Promised Land, but they have to go through a difficult journey.  Then we come to Numbers 11:1–3:

1 And the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes, and when the Lord heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp.  2Then the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire died down. 3So the name of that place was called Taberah, because the fire of the Lord burned among them.

In the circumstances of life (Numbers 11)

The Israelites are not happy with their circumstances and are complaining.  Their journey is difficult and not going how it should.  Then what happened?  They began to forget about the terrible things that happened in Egypt!  They forgot that they had been slaves, and they looked back with rose-colored glasses on their circumstances in Egypt!  Look at verse four:  “Now, the rabble that was among them had a strong craving; and the people of Israel also wept again and said, ‘Oh that we had meat to eat!’”   They were thinking, “We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing!  The cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions and the garlic! Now our strength has dried up, and there’s nothing at all but this manna to look at!  All that food back there! We even had free fish! And now all we have is this manna—miraculous bread of heaven given to us.  We’re sick of it!”  They’re envious of their past circumstances.  In their current circumstances of life, their envy rose.  It wasn’t just that they were complaining or that they were envious of their past circumstances.  It’s that this insidious sin led them to question the God Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth Who led them miraculously out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and was providing for their every need!  They distrusted Him; they hated God, even, in the way they were reacting.  So, what was God’s reaction?  Numbers 11:31–34:

31 Then a wind from the Lord sprang up, and it brought quail from the sea and let them fall beside the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and a day’s journey on the other side, around the camp, and about two cubits above the ground. 32And the people rose all that day and all night and all the next day, and gathered the quail.  Those who gathered least gathered ten homers.  And they spread them out for themselves all around the camp. 33While the meat was yet between their teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord struck down the people with a very great plague. 34Therefore the name of that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had the craving.

The Israelite people were envious of their past life, griping that “God would dare bring us out here and give us this manna and this meat.”  God gave them meat and struck them down. 

Are you envious concerning the circumstances of your life?  Envy is not having the desire to do better, or to excel, or to work hard, or to accomplish more things.  That’s not envy.  That’s good!  But envy is the sorrowing self-pity that would question God and be angry at Him for allowing you to be where you are in your life.  God forgive us for envy!

In competition with others (1 Samuel 18)

The next snapshot we are looking at is to observe the subtleties of envy in competition with one another.  Turn to 1 Samuel 18:6–9.  Here is the setup:  Goliath is the big Philistine ruler; he’s the fighter.  The Philistines are fighting against the nation of Israel and Goliath taunts them, saying, “We’re going to make this battle real easy.  We’re going to have one fight to determine the winner.  Not everybody has to lose their life.  Don’t worry.  There will only be two who are going to fight today.”  One of them is Goliath—a giant, towering man of war who comes out taunting, yelling and daring anybody to come and face him.  He intends to wipe out anybody.  And the young shepherd boy, David, says, “Why are you guys all listening to this punk?  Stand up to him!  I’ll fight him!  I’ll go!”  

“No, no, David.  Come on now.”

 “No.  I’m going to go fight him!”  So, King Saul—who is not fighting—says, “Why don’t you take my armor and wear that?”  David tries it on, but it does not work.  He says, “That’s alright.  I’ll be fine.”  He takes his slingshot and goes out to fight Goliath.  First Samuel 17:41–47:

41And the Philistine moved forward and came near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. 42And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. 43And the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?”  And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.”  45Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.  46This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head.  And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with the sword and spear.  For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand.”

And he proceeds to kill the giant.  The Philistines run and scatter, yet it is a great victory for the nation of Israel!  We come to the celebration of this victory in 1 Samuel 18:6–9:

6As they were coming home, when David returned from striking down the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with songs of joy, and with musical instruments. 7And the women sang to one another as they celebrated, “Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands.”  8And Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him.  He said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands, and what more can he have but the kingdom?” 9And Saul eyed David from that day on.

Envy rises up in competition.  Competition can be a good thing; it can make you work hard; it can motivate you to press on and be the best that you can be.  But observe the subtleties of envy as it masks itself to Saul.  It destroys him, eventually.  They’re singing praise to Saul, but David is getting a little more.  “That should be me.  He’s taking over my kingdom.  I’m going to kill him.”  Saul eventually dies, wasting away in the sorrowing self-pity of envy.

Who is your competitor?  There’s such a thing as healthy competition, but sin is crouching at your door.  Do you remember who first said that?  God said it to the first murderer, Cain (Genesis 4).  Cain was in competition with his brother—sibling rivalry—and he was envious that Abel was receiving the accolades from God and the reception of his offering.  Cain was getting angry about it, and envy was starting to grab his heart.  God said, “Be careful.  Sin is crouching at your door.”

In compensation given by God (Matthew 20)

A third snapshot from Scripture — If we want to achieve victory over the sin of envy, we must observe its subtleties as we talk about compensation given by God.  Turn to Matthew 20:1–16 and listen to the story Jesus tells here: 

1“For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day…”  (Or for the day’s wage) “…he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And going out about the third hour…” (So, nine o’clock in the morning) “…he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ 5 So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour…’ (Noon) “…and the ninth hour…” (Three o’clock) “…he did the same. 6 And about the eleventh hour…” (So right before they ended the work day; maybe five o’clock.  They worked from six—sunup—to sundown—six.  Maybe about five o’clock) “…he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ 7 They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ 8 And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ 9 And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received…” (A full day’s wage) “…a denarius. 10 Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received…” (A day’s wage) “…a denarius. 11 And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, 12 saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ 13 But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14 Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. 15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ 16 So the last will be first, and the first last.”

Remember, envy can masquerade as justice, or as equality, and these workers are upset.  We can understand that.  Right?  “That’s not fair!  I worked all day!  These people worked one hour, and we’re getting paid the same!”  Jesus, the master in the parable says, “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?  Or do you begrudge my generosity?”  This speaks to the very core of this insidious sin.  When we envy, we’re telling God that we know best, that our way is better than His way, that “Things aren’t fair because I’m judging them not to be fair.”  We disdain God and we push back at one of the greatest commandments.  Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with everything that you have—your heart, soul, mind and strength” (Luke 10:27), and instead of loving God, we begrudge God; we question God.  We don’t love Him because, “He’s not being fair to me,” and envy rises up.  God is in debt to no one and can do whatever He will.  Yet we would rise up in envy and disdain to God Almighty.

This can happen with everyone, so consider how the sin of envy affects those who are leading or mentoring somebody.  Probably everyone in some way, shape, or form has helped, mentored or brought somebody along, whether in an official setting or not-so-official setting.  Envy can surface when that person whom you’ve helped to raise up succeeds further than you.  When they go further and accomplish better things than you, envy would say, “How could they have that?  I poured into their life; I gave everything to them; and now they’re experiencing all that success?!  God, that’s not fair!”  That’s sin.  It’s the sin of the rebellious brother, the prodigal son’s brother.  Remember?  Jesus told the story in Luke.  The prodigal son goes out and rebels.  He lives life any way he wants, but then he comes back home.  Upon his return, his father embraces him and throws a party for his lost son!  And the older son—who was always faithful, who was always there, who always worked hard and stayed around—was angry and envious that the father would throw a party for the rebellious “jerk of a brother that I have!  I’ve been faithful, and I know what’s right and fair!”   Envy masquerades as justice, fairness and equality. 

Are you dealing with envy today?  I think we’ve defined it pretty well.  I think the Bible show us the pictures of envy and its subtleties.  Are you going to turn from envy today?

 

3.  Destroy envy

That brings us to the third and final point.  If we want to achieve victory, we must destroy envy.  Romans 8:13 says, “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

God help us, by the Spirit, let’s put to death and destroy the sin of envy.  Putting to death sins of the flesh is what the Puritans called “mortifying the flesh.”  John Owens, one of the Puritans, wrote this:  “The choicest believers, who are assuredly freed from the condemning power of sin, ought to make it their business all the days of their lives to mortify the indwelling power of sin.” 

Christian believers, since you have been forgiven of sin and cleansed by God Almighty, you have faith in Christ; you have repented from your sin; you have turned from your sin.  Why would you struggle any longer in the pattern of that sin from which you have been freed?  Would you not destroy that sin that would so easily entangle you once again?  How do you do it?  How do you destroy envy?  It’s an ongoing process.  As with all sins, it’s never complete until you see Jesus, but you must participate in the process.  You are called to this process. 

Some of you today don’t struggle with this sin as much as others.  You’re a very grateful person; you love to see God blessing others, and there isn’t sorrow and self-pity when you see God blessing others—God bless you!  But there are others who struggle with this greatly.  Even today, you’re struggling right now, and you’re feeling this angst rising up within you.  You need to soften your heart and hear what the Lord has promised to those who would turn to Him. 

By faith

The practical application is this:  Destroy envy by faith.  Repentance goes along with faith.  Maybe you’ve never repented.  That’s turning from your sin.  God calls you to repent and believe in Jesus, to turn from your sin and go God’s way, to live for the Lord and be saved.  He calls you to turn by faith to Jesus Christ for forgiveness.  We need to remember who we are as Christians, and when we’re dealing with these feelings of envy that would rise up, we have to remember that we’ve been freed from sin!  We’ve been forgiven.  Christ’s blood has set us free, and we can remind Satan of that.  “I have these feelings; I’m tempted in this way; but I remember that I am a child of the Most High God.  The blood of Jesus has cleansed me from my sin.”  On the ground of the blood of Jesus, you defeat the enemy.  That’s what it says in the book of Revelation:  “On the ground of the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 12:11). 

Faith is also grounded in future grace.  It says this:  “I will be redeemed.”  In some sense, envy is tapping into something that is wrong in your life.  You’ve been wronged or hurt, and envy is trying to sneak in that way.  Remember this:  God is going to make everything right!  God will repay.  He sees your hurt.  He sees your insecurities.  He sees that you haven’t succeeded the way you had hoped.  But He’s going to care for you.  You will be redeemed.  There’s a future redemption, a future grace that is to come when God is going to make all wrongs right.  God sees you, and He loves you, and He cares for you.  There’s a future in store for all who would believe.

When I faced disappointment in the past, my parents would say, “Just remember, Steve, the cream always rises to the top.”  God knows that.  He is a good and gracious God.  The cream will always rise to the top, but it might not happen until heaven.  And until that day, He’s calling you to put to death the sin of envy that would rise up inside you and have faith that He’s got a plan, that He’s in control, and that His way is best, even though you might not feel that way.

Put to death and destroy envy by faith.

By gratitude

Be thankful and grateful for what God has done.  Why is the church called the body of Christ?  It’s because we all have different roles and we all have different gifts.  Some have greater gifts and some have lesser gifts, but we’re all part of one body.  It’s not about equality or inequality.  They are different gifts and there are different measures of gifts, but we should all appreciate one another and be grateful to God that we’re in a church together.  We have such wonderful, different gifts that we can look up to one person and not be jealous or envious, but say, “God, we give you glory for that blessing in that person’s life.  We’re thankful to be in the same body as that person!  God, help me in my role.  I want to be satisfied in my role, but, Lord, thank You for all of the good gifts that You’ve given to Your body.  I’m grateful to be a part of it—just the little part that I have, Lord.  Thank You!”

It’s hard for envy to hide in a grateful heart.  Are you dealing with envy today?  Repent.  Turn to Jesus Christ.  Confess your sin.  Walk in the light as He is in the light and the blood of Jesus will cleanse you from all sin.

 

Village Bible Church  |  847 North State Route 47, Sugar Grove, IL 60554  |  (630) 466-7198  |  www.villagebible.org/sugar-grove

All Scriptures quoted directly from the English Standard Version unless otherwise noted. 

Note: This transcription has been provided by Sermon Transcribers (www.sermontranscribers.net).