The Enemy Within – Envy

Joke:  Jevaun and Tarone are invited to a costume party with their girlfriends.

The party invitation says to come dressed as an emotion. After a day of deliberating, they all agree to meet at Jevaun’s place before going to the party. Just before Tarone is about to put his costume on, there’s a knock on the door. Outside is his girlfriend, Kiyana, who’s dressed head to toe in bright green scales and a flowing emerald dress.

“Oh, Kiyana. You sure look good!” Says Tarone. “What’s your costume supposed to be?”

Kiyana gives her dress a twirl and declares, “Oh I am the emotion of envy!”

Before Tarone can reply, Jevaun’s girlfriend Brianna rounds the corner in a long red dress, her hair dyed the color of flames.  Tarone looks over and says, “My, that’s quite da costume! What are you supposed to be?”

Brianna curtsies with a giggle and says, “Why, I am the flame of burning love.”

Before either of them can compliment her, Jevaun rounds the corner, wearing nothing but shorts and an old rubber tire held around his mid section. “Good lord!” Tarone says, “What on earth are you supposed to be?”

Jevaun grins and says, “Oh, me?”  “I am de spare!”

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The enemy within #2

We are in week number two of our series The enemy within.

Today we will begin in book of James.

Last week we looked at the enemy within of anger.  Today the enemy within  that  we  are  going  to look at is envy,  and  honestly I think at some level, at one time or another, envy has impacted all of us.

Think about it, even early on, you see a little child and they can be happy as can be with a toy. . .until he sees his brother or sister or somebody else playing with a different one, and then what happens?  He begins to want that one, envies that one.

Envy.  It affects all of us but is it even a big deal?

I mean, is it a big deal to kind of maybe want a little bit of something that we don’t have?  Surely it can’t be all that big of a problem can it?

Let’s look at what the Scriptures say. . .

James 3:14-16 (NIV) – But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

Now let me say this before we get started, like anger envy is as James tells us earthly, unspiritual, demonic if it is not controlled.   If it’s bitter for sure.

Remember last week our text said, in your anger do not sin.

Notice what our text says today, but if you harbor what?  Bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts.

However, like William Shatner once said, “I envy people who say, ‘oh, well, I’ve got my name in the golden book and I’m going to be entered into the pearly gates.”

So, to admire what someone else has if it inspires you to improve or pushes you to grow I think envy in that regards may not be so bad.

Unless. . .and I will talk about the unless in a few minutes.

And in verse 16 he says, For where you have bitter envy and selfish ambition. . .what do you find?  Disorder and every evil practice.

And envy is an enemy within that affects us all at one level or another, so today let’s talk about it and ask God, if it isn’t the type of envy that pushes us to do better, to deal with it,

Today, all I want to deal with is the malicious, bitter kind of envy.

The Cambridge dictionary defines envy this way:  to wish that you had something that another person has.

I want to define it a bit differently, for our purposes, what is envy?  It is resenting God’s goodness in other’s lives.

Well, they’ve got it and I want it, they don’t deserve it, and they shouldn’t have it in the first place.   God when’s it my time

But let me add one more little bit to that. . .

Envy it’s resenting the goodness of God in other people’s lives while, at the same time, ignoring God’s goodness in your own.

And that is the unless part.   If you are wanting, for example to be used in the gift of prophesy like someone else, and it’s not pushing you to pray more, seek God more but instead you just ignore all the gifts God has given you in pursuit of that one gift you want.  Then there’s an issue with your envy.

Envy, resenting His blessings to others, while ignoring all of His blessings to you.

And the truth is we find envy in all sorts of places.

For some it might be a physical envy.

For you ladies, you might see a girl who’s got a cuter figure than yours and your thinking, I wish my butt was smaller, or maybe some other physical attribute you wish you possessed.

Guys, you might see some other guy and think man, I wish I had some hair like that dude.  I wish I had less hair on my back and more on my head.

It could be relational envy.  You’ll see a couple friends hanging out having a good time and your just praying you will find a friend.

You look at somebodies marriage and you begin thinking, you know, her husband, he helps around the house, and he has this good job, and my husband well. . .I wish my husband. . .

Some people envy talent.  I wish I could sing like Carrie Underwood.  Or dance like John Travolta.   I wish I could hit a golf ball like Tiger Woods.

Other people have material envy.  If only I had a job like that his.   If only I made money like Elon Musk, then I would be happy.  I could get that car, that boat or house.   Talking about houses  man have you seen that house?

With technology seems to matter.   We need that bigger TV, or the newest phone.

Envy.  Resenting God’s goodness to someone else, while ignoring His goodness in your own life.

But besides James is envy found anywhere else in scripture?

And the answer is yes, many other places.

Let me give you just a few.  I talked about this one last week but in Genesis 4:5, Cain envied his brother, Abel. Because God accepted Abel’s offering but not Cain’s.  Cain got envious, and angry and it led to murder.

What did James 3:16 tell us. . .

James 3:16 (NIV) – For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

In Genesis 30 Rachel envied Leah.  Why?  Rachel couldn’t have a baby. then later on in the chapter when Rachel was finally blessed it reversed and Leah envied Rachel.

Genesis  37,  remember  Joseph  and  his brothers.  The brothers envied Joseph because Joseph had this coat given to him by his father.  Why did Joseph get a coat and the brothers didn’t?  Because he was the favorite.   Oh by the way Joseph was also the son of Rachel after God opened her womb.

And then on top of that Joseph  had  some dreams and visions, and the brothers envied him so much that they beat him up, threw him into a pit and sold him into slavery.

Then in 1 Samuel 18, Saul, who was the king at the time, envied David, the shepherd boy turned warrior.  And when the people started singing this little jingle about David and Saul, well, that even made matters worse.

The  little jingle went  like this. . .

1 Samuel 18:7 (NIV) – As they danced, they sang: “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands.”

It probably had a better tune, but the Bible doesn’t give the tune.

And by the way, I envy people who can sing.  Personally, I’m a prison singer.   I’m always behind a few bars and never find the right key.

In Isaiah 14, Lucifer envied God.

Which really speaks a lot about our text remember what James told us, Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said, “God’s truth judges created things out of love, and Satan’s truth judges them out of envy and hatred.”

And what does envy do in our lives?

Proverbs 14:30 (NIV) – A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.

So, a question I want you to ask yourself, Who or what do you envy?

And is it bitter envy which is earthly, unspiritual, demonic or is it an envy that pushes you to do better in some area of your life.

And what I want to do today, is look at one thing we shouldn’t be doing and two that we should in response to envy.

The first thing we are not going to do is, we are not going to compare or rank ourselves with or against others – no comparisons.

II Corinthians 10:12 tells us. . .

2 Corinthians 10:12 (NIV) – We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.

We are told we do not dare classify or what?  Compare ourselves, and yet, that is the tendency.

You know, they have a better house than me,  better car. . ,better you fill in the blank.  Well, at least I’m better looking than them.

The disciples, they did that often.

When Jesus was restoring Peter after his fall, Jesus prophesied about how Peter would one day die and then said, “Above all, feed my sheep and follow me.”

And what did Peter do?

John 21:21 (NIV) – When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?”

What about John?  What’s going to happen to him?  And Jesus basically said, Peter, mind your own business.

Look at it. , ,

John 21:22 (NIV) – Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.”

In other words Peter, you worry about you, not John.  You must follow me.

Don’t compare.

Yet that is exactly what the disciples did.

Luke 22:24 (NLT) – Then they began to argue among themselves about who would be the greatest among them.

Mark 10:35–37 (NIV) – Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.” 36 “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked. 37 They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”

Who’s the most important?  Who gets to sit by Jesus?  Who’s the greatest?

Do  you  know  how  dangerous  this  is  when we  start  to  classify and compare based on people’s rank or importance?

I mentioned that we all at some level, at one time or another have had envy impact us.

And for me I more often then I care admit have done that with other pastors and churches.   And if I’m being honest I really just need to be faithful to who God called me to be and that was me.

(Tell story of not being the other person from when I first started preaching.)

They have a list of the most influential pastors.

Smiling Joe is on there, Rick Warren, TD Jakes, Billy Graham, Andy Stanley, and so many more that I’m sure you have heard of.

And there are some on that list I had to say to myself who is that?  Because honestly, I have never heard of them.

But guess who wasn’t on that list?    Me.

And if I’m not careful I can get a bit envious.   I can look in our community and think you know I’ve met a few pastors and I think I preach a little better then them.

I can look at some churches and think why are they full and we’re not.

And it can bring out this ungodly envy whenever we rank or compare ourselves to others.

Here’s the thing church we don’t view people in hierarchy’s.  We just love people.

Galatians 6:4 (NIV) – Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else,

Without what?  Comparing ourselves to someone else.

No comparisons.  That’s what we are not going to do.

What are we going to do?  Two Biblically positive things.

Instead of resenting God’s goodness in other’s lives, we are going to celebrate it.

Romans 12:15 (NIV) – Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.

When someone is blessed we rejoice with them.  When someone is hurting we don’t say sucks to be you.   No, we mourn with them.

Maybe there’s a better example, but anyway, one movie franchise that I enjoy is Rocky.  And in Rocky 2 Rocky has a rematch with Apollo Creed they fought for 15 rounds beating on each other and yet after the fight had ended, exhausted what did they do?  They hugged each other.    Told the other you fought hard.

And so often with boxing, or ultimate fighter, other sports as well I’m sure, but those with integrity will after the fight is over give a quick embrace and say good fight.  I wanted it but you got it.  Congratulations.

And they rejoice with the one who is rejoicing.

What should we do when someone else gets something that you were hoping for, rejoice with those who rejoice.

One of the greatest example of this in scripture, and if you recall I mentioned  King Saul and how he envied David.

Well, if you know the, as Paul Harvey would say, the rest of the story, King Saul had a son named Jonathan, and David and Jonathan were besties.

And rightfully, Jonathan was the heir to the throne.   He was the son of King Saul, so he should be the next king.  And so you could only imagine, for his whole life, he may of dreamed about  one day becoming king.

But as we know God’s ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts and well God had other plans.  David not Jonathan was anointed to be the next king.

And when Jonathan gets the news what did he do?

Now think about this before you answer, Saul was jealous of David.  He came after David, trying to kill him on more than one occasion.

But what did Jonathan do?    This is absolutely profound.

1 Samuel 23:17–18 (NIV) – Don’t be afraid,” he said. “My father Saul will not lay a hand on you. You will be king over Israel, and I will be second to you. Even my father Saul knows this.” 18 The two of them made a covenant before the Lord. Then Jonathan went home, but David remained at Horesh.

Jonathan instead of saying you don’t deserve to be the next king that’s my job.  My dad is king now and  you know how this works.

No, he says I will be second to you.  I will serve you.  I’ll get your backside.

It was supposed to be mine but obviously God had other plans.  As for me, I’m just going to celebrate with you.  God had something else planned out.

You wanted that promotion, but someone else got it.  Congratulations.  You were hoping to get something.  you didn’t but someone else did, way to go.   You are praying for something that you so desperately want, and  God  hasn’t delivered on  it yet.   And someone  else  gets  that  same  kind  of  answered  prayer,  That’s awesome.  Rejoice with those who rejoice.

Instead of resenting their blessings, celebrate it with them.  That’s the first thing.  Celebrate God’s goodness to others.

No comparison. . .celebrate God’s goodness to others.

Second thing that we are going to do, instead of ignoring God’s goodness in our lives, is we are going to embrace it.

We are going to embrace God’s goodness to us.

Ecclesiastes 6:9 (NLT) – Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don’t have. Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless—like chasing the wind.

Another translation says, Better what the eye sees  than the roving of the appetite.

Better what God has put right before you. Better what God has given you, than looking over at someone else’s greener grass.

Hear this church, our appetite can easily rove.  You can always look for more for what you think is better.

They’ve got this or they got that.   They’ve got a newer or bigger.

Better what God has already given you.   I’m thankful.   I’m grateful.   I’m celebrating with you.  Than a roving of the appetite to greener lawns.

Now, truthfully, someone else may have a greener yard than you.   But what you need to understand is that just because their yard is greener all that means is that you can’t see the poop in their yard from where you are standing.  Don’t forget that.  It may be greener, but they’ve got poop in their yard, too.

Truth is I’ve had a blessed life, but you know what, there’s poop in my yard too.   My life has been blessed not always easy.

There’s hard times everywhere. And maybe just maybe if the grass seems greener somewhere else, instead of being envious of their lawn we just need to water our own.

2 Timothy 1:6 (TPT) – I’m writing to encourage you to fan into a flame and rekindle the fire of the spiritual gift God imparted to you when I laid my hands upon you.

Maybe it’s time for you to look at what God’s given you and say, “I’m thankful.”

And here’s what I have done way too many times, maybe you have done this as well.  But what I have done is I would qualify my thankfulness.

I’m really thankful for my job. . .but

I’m thankful for my house. . .but

I’m so glad I get to pastor this church. . .but

And I imagine that is insulting to the heart of God.

And if I’m being honest, I believe God wants me, wants you to kill the but’s.

No more but’s.  I am thankful for the house that God has provided, period.   I am thankful for what I do, period.  I’m thankful for my job, period.  Kill your but’s.  Be thankful.   Embrace God’s goodness to you.

Scripture says it this way. . .

1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 (NIV) – Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

If you belong to Christ Jesus, even if you don’t, but especially if you do,  be thankful, be satisfied, rejoice always.

Bitter envy.  It is earthly.  It is unspiritual.  It’s of the devil. Behind it, you find every kind of evil practice and disorder.  It rots the bones.

I told you an area in my life that I’m prone to envy.

But let me share with you how I try to handle it now most of the time with my renewed mind.  I’m not always immune but doing better.

I envy those pastors that have the Scripture memorized can tell you the Greek and Hebrew meaning behind every word.     Can preach with few or no notes.

Then there’s me.   I can have a hard time remembering my name.  But when I finally get my thoughts together, I can by the power of the Holy Spirit and the gift that God has given me, help apply the Scripture to people’s everyday life and have seen some of those that have allowed me to speak into their life’s, I have seen them changed and transformed by that same Holy Spirit.

So, I will be grateful for the gifting I do carry.  Period.

See here’s the truth church, I get to serve the greatest God, and share His love and His truth and grace with the greatest people.  And to anyone who will listen.

I have the most wonderful wife, four great kids, three grandkids, close friends, a church that I love.  I’ve got Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God, in my heart.  What more could any guy ever want?

And I can celebrate with all of you that you have the weekend off, new car, pay raise, or any other blessing that might come your way at the same time, I embrace God’s goodness in my own life.  Why?  Because Jesus is enough.

Father, thank You so much for Your  goodness  to  us.    Forgive  us  when  we surrendering to the seat of envy.  Papa if there is anyone here or online that is struggling with a bitter or malicious envy I ask You to set them free today.