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FIRST VISALIA CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH
SUNDAY MORNING~ MAY 18, 2008
Series: Disciples Dealing With Seven Deadly Sins #2-Envy
Sermon: Rev. George Vink
Scripture: John 3: 25-30, Psalm 73 & Proverbs 14:30
Sermon: DISCIPLES DEALING WITH THE DEADLY SINS #2
ENVY
Dear Family and Friends in Christ Jesus, Our Risen Lord,
Can you think of anything that robs us of possible joy and happiness as much as does the sin of envy? It’s one deadly sin that steals contentment, no matter how blessed we may be. It makes a feeling of serenity or peace impossible. When there’s envy in my heart, bitterness, hardness, and even physical ailments lie nearby. Envy isolates us from fellowship with God. Readily disguised, envy takes many forms. Envious people backbite. The envier gossips and complains. It leads to loneliness and alienation. Envy must not be allowed to take root in the life of a Christian!
In his 1955 publication of a series of radio messages, The 7 Deadly Sins, Evangelist Billy Graham wrote, “Envy and (wrongful) jealousy can ruin reputations, split churches and cause murders. Envy can shrink our circle of friends, ruin our business and dwarf our souls….envy is the murderer of souls.” He tells the Greek story about a man who killed himself through envy. Envious of a statue erected to honor someone else, the man went out night after night to chisel at the statue’s foundations to make it fall. He succeeded. It did! On him! That’s the nature of envy. It poisons the envier!
The Bible uses “envy” 21 times, with 20 of them referring to it as a most condemnable sin. Our Bible readings also illustrate it. Paul’s listing envy among the gross sins leaves little doubt. Only in Romans 11:14, filled with anguish for his fellow Jews, he states, “I make much of my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some.…”
We know that envying those better looking does not make us handsome or beautiful. Envying those more prosperous doesn’t add one dollar to our assets, but bankrupts our happiness and sinks our soul. Read Genesis and our beginnings and we can see the role of envy in Adam and Eve’s disobedience. In their sons, we stare at Cain’s killing Abel, and it screams “envy!” Joseph’s brothers envied his being favored and did something about it. Nothing unusual! Haman, ever so envious of Esther’s cousin Mordecai, pulled strings to destroy him and ended up dangling in the wind himself. That’s the poisonous nature of envy!
The Decalogue addresses envy in the tenth commandment when it states, “Do not covet.” It’s all about motive—Why do we do what we do? Envy is nastier than covetousness. Coveting desires; envying resents. When we envy, we don’t just covet what our neighbor has, but we don’t want him to have it at all. H. L. Mencken put it well, stating that envy means for me that I must always make $10. more than my brother in law. Envy is always a feeling that leads to doing. Remember Cinderella and her sisters….
Envy is also more than jealousy. Like any husband, God is jealous of love or honor that’s only due Him. He will not, does not, and need not tolerate it. Envy is deadly, like hate, and leads to a destruction of the soul of its owner. Envy is not as obvious as hate, but is just as deadly as an unseen cancer. When we envy someone, and it’s always someone, we magnify that person’s blessing while minimizing our own. The sun seems to shine on them at the right time and it always rains on the envier’s picnic.
Being a Christian places us in community, a body of believers. Therefore Christians are more susceptible to envy. All too often, envy thrives among the faithful! It’s that insidious comparing that we do, and envying always involves comparing. My home looks good, until I visit so & so’s house and see the stuff she has displayed. I’m happy with my car until I see someone who makes a lot less driving one that has a lot more eye appeal and snob attraction. I’m happy with my friends until I find out that the guy with not only a more attractive wife and perfectly-behaved children is friends with a town celebrity. That’s the nature of envy, the killer of our souls.
Envy is a sin of proximity. Like a shotgun, it does its damage best at close range. Do I envy a Bill Gates, far removed from my circles? Kierkegaard in his The Sickness Unto Death wrote that envy is a small-town sin, the byproduct of living so close to a set of other people that one is constantly tempted to make leveling comparisons. That’s why it’s so destructive in church communities, often splitting them as Billy Graham said. Further, I’m more inclined to envy a “successful” pastor than I am a wealthy businessman. We need to recognize that it’s generally the sin of small people, who seem all the more so because of their obvious envy.
If we’re honest, we’ll admit that we can even be envious of grace. Cain’s murderous actions began in a heart envious of God’s grace in accepting Abel’s sacrifice. We’re not the field workers in Jesus’ parable about God’s grace, envious because those who worked only an hour received as much as those who sweated all day. But, can we be honest and admit to feeling a little envy that some enter heaven’s reward after a life of spoiled selfishness while we’ve sacrificed a lot for the sake of the kingdom?
Envy takes on a more perverse form when it goes deeper and takes delight in the failures and misfortunes of others. Why do we enjoy the fall of some folks, whether actors or politicians? Does it not have something to do with our smallness, our thinking that our tree looks taller if the other trees are knocked down? Would you agree that a big share of our criticism is based on envying? The fox in Aesop’s Fable consoled himself with, “Those grapes are sour anyway,” because he could not reach them.
Paul’s frequent listing of envy as in Romans 1:29, “They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice.” and Galatians 5:21, “envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God,”makes it clear that envy is a sin to be taken seriously. There might even be those times when we envy God and His sovereignty. After all, “Why would God do or allow those things?”
The Bible’s life analyzer, Ecclesiastes, states in 4:4, “And I saw that all labor and all achievement spring from man's envy of his neighbor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” So, what do we do? Peter, a disciple who struggled with pride, envy and other deadly sins as we do, wrote in I Peter 2:1-3, “Rid yourselves of…envy… of every kind. Like new-born babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation having tasted that the Lord is good.”
What and how do we do it? How do we get rid of this deadly sin? Can we? Joseph Epstein said, “Of the seven deadly sins, only envy is no fun at all.”? It’s the sin that branches out into spite, malice, resentment, bitterness, snobbery and ultimately hatred of others and God. Do you recognize it in yourself? What is your ENVY QUOTIENT?
Help yourself to think about these things by asking yourself:
DO YOU EVER:
~Take offense at the talents, success or good situation of others?
~Engage in selfish or unnecessary rivalry or competition?
~Belittle others or take pleasure in their difficulties or distress?
~Accuse anyone falsely or slander someone, even if it’s true?
~Backbite or read false motives into someone’s behavior?
~Start, collect or retell gossip or rumors?
~Engage in unnecessary criticism, even when it’s true?
~Scorn another’s virtue, ability, shortcomings, or failings?
~Ridicule persons, institutions or ideals? (From Faith Alive Resources)
Some things we need to do if we’re serious about dealing with envy:
1. Recognize that we do envy at times. Admit its existence and then treat it. Confess them to God. Don’t hide it. He knows you’ve got it! Confess, renounce its hold on you, and repent. He will forgive. James 5:16.
2. See yourself in God’s eyes. Be open to his empowering grace and see yourself as He does, a child for whom Jesus paid the price on the cross. You’re a special person in His eyes. He loves us unconditionally.
3. Do a blessing inventory. God has given many. Are you using them?
4. Put competition in its place. Life is not a matter of always competing with someone else. Find ways to cooperate and share.
5. Remember, I Corinthian 13’s words, “Love does not…envy!”
Love and envy cannot co-exist. God is love and His Spirit is within you. Submit to His leading, listen to His Word, and walk in His ways.
Amen!
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