Envy, drunkenness, orgies and the like Mark 7:21-23 September 29, 2013 Travis Collins Jesus told a story about a wealthy landowner who went away on a trip and left his talents (meaning large sums of money) with three people. One got five, one got two, and a third got one. There is not even a hint that the talents were distributed according to need or merit. Frankly, that kinda bothers me. It seems so unfair. But let s face it: When they were giving out talents, looks and smarts in Heaven, they weren t distributed evenly there either. Which means there are people who are smarter, better looking, more popular, more skilled, and more athletic than we are. It s just a fact. So repeat after me: I m not the best looking, smartest, most talented, richest, most popular person on the planet And neither are my kids and grandkids. Now, doesn t it feel good just to get that out there on the table? Isn t it freeing just to say it? But, chances are, just saying that out loud will not conquer our tendency toward envy. We still are likely to feel bad about what someone else has, so we have some work to do. Envy & Jealousy Maybe it would help to remember the difference between envy and jealousy, although we often use the two words synonymously. Envy is feeling badly about what somebody else has that we don t have. That could be something tangible like their job or their car, or something intangible like their popularity or position. Jealousy is the fear of losing something or someone that we have. Maybe this will help with the distinction Johnny s best friend has tickets to the sold-out Taylor Swift concert. Johnny is envious. Or Johnny finds out that his girlfriend is going to the Taylor Swift concert with another guy. Johnny is jealous. Or Johnny finds out that it s his best friend who is taking Johnny s girlfriend to the concert. Now Johnny is jeal-vi-ous. He is jealous and envious. For today s purposes we won t worry too much about the distinction between jealousy and envy though our primary focus is that bad feeling we have about what someone else 1
has that we don t. Either way, we re dissatisfied with our lives and unhappy about someone else s. Envy is more than a character flaw, more than a mere shortcoming. The Bible says envy is sin. In fact, for 1,500 years Christians have declared that envy is one of those seven deadly sins: Pride, envy, anger, sloth, gluttony, greed and lust. It s easy to see how envy could be at the root of lots of problems. In the New Testament James wrote, Where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice, (3:16). I d certainly imagine that most of our gossip and criticism of others is rooted in envy. In Scripture, envy is found among the depictions of awful stuff. As one example, note Jesus list of sins in which envy appears. We heard this in this morning s text: sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy... And Galatians 5 is the text from which the title of today s text came: The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. Envy is not just a petty offense. Envy is a deadly sin. And Envy rots our bones. Proverbs 14:30 says, Envy rots the bones! Envy and jealousy eat away at relationships and even at our own individual sense of peace and well-being. Envy cuts us off from others. Turns friends into competitors. It makes us look small in the eyes of those who know us well. Envy makes us miserable. Envy prevents us from enjoying the countless blessings we have! Envy even sets us against God. That s what James 4:4 says: An envious spirit sets you against God. Envy is nothing less than a rejection of the good life God has given me and a resentful obsession with what He has given someone else. Envy is an expression of disgust toward God because He didn t do things like we think He should have. Envy is a rebellious, unhealthy, divisive mindset. And it takes a strong heart not to be envious! Romans 12:15 says, Weep with those who weep, and rejoice with those who rejoice. It s true that the most tender hearts among us are those who are able to weep with those who weep who are compassionate and sympathetic and genuinely moved when others hurt. 2
But perhaps the strongest hearts among us are those who are able to rejoice with those who rejoice The soccer player who rarely gets in the game yet who screams and cheers from the sideline for his or her teammate who just scored the winning goal. The woman unable to bear children who is deeply and genuinely happy for her friend who gets pregnant. The father whose son has a learning disability and who is overjoyed when his friend s son gets a scholarship to a prestigious school. The one who feels stuck in his or her job who is thrilled for his or her co-worker s promotion. The woman whose marriage never did quite measure up to her expectations who is absolutely delighted when her friend and her husband celebrate their 50 th anniversary and act like teenagers. Wouldn t we all want to live a life like that? Wouldn t we all like to grow spiritually beyond envy. How do we grow beyond our envy? Jesus said, It s from the heart that envy flows. People who, in their hearts, understand their value, meaning and significance are not envious. As the English poet, Sir Philip Sidney put it, Those who have true worth in themselves can never envy it in another. So, here are two things you must know: You are fearfully & wonderfully made; You are unconditionally, undeservedly, unlimitedly and unrelentingly loved. One, you are fearfully and wonderfully made. Thursday night a little boy who is part of our church family walked out of his room to tell his mom and dad what he learned in preschool. He announced simply, Psalm 149:14. I am fearfully and wonderfully made. If he grows up believing that he is not likely to be an envious person. And you, my friend, are fearfully and wonderfully made. There should be no place in your heart for envy. Two, know that you are loved with a love beyond your imagination. Grace God s unconditional, undeserved, unlimited, unrelenting love is the ultimate answer to envy. I almost hate to go where I m about to go. I m afraid some of you will yawn. Yeah, yeah, you might say. God loves us. Yada, yada, yada. Let s wrap this up. 3
But I m more afraid some of you have not yet believed me. Here s what I think some of us have not yet believed Value, meaning and significance are not acquired through accomplishments, accolades and accumulations. Value, meaning and significance are acknowledged and accepted as gifts of grace from our Creator. You cannot earn those things. You can only accept the fact that you do have value and meaning and significance simply because God has given that to you in His incomparable love. Value, meaning and significance come with the birth certificate! I struggle with envy. Yet when I remember my worth comes from being valued by God, not from performance and accolades I find a real peace, a deep satisfaction, that comes from not comparing myself to someone else. But, what if your envy is not of someone who is smarter, more popular, more gifted, or better off financially? What if your envy is of those who seem more pure. This week I read the story of Sarah Bessey who, as a 19-year-old new Christian who deeply loved Jesus, sat in church one night and heard, If you have sex before marriage you ll be damaged goods. The minister passed around a cup and asked the teenagers to spit in it. After the cup had made its rounds and everybody had given their contributions he asked the crowd, Would you want to drink out of this? Then he made the application: This is what you are like if you have sex before marriage. You re asking your future husband or wife to drink this cup. The message was clear: If you have sex before marriage you become damaged goods. Sarah understood the attempt to discourage teens from having sex. But she had already made bad decisions with her body, and the message to her was, You, yes you, Sarah, are damaged goods. She must have sat there and envied those other teens who were pure, who had waited. Some of you here might be envying people who seem more spiritual, more holy, more clean. Perhaps you feel like damaged goods. Two things you need to know: One, those people you think are so pure might have stories that would surprise you. Two, you are not damaged goods. You are fearfully and wonderfully made and loved by God with a love beyond your imagination. We have watched our three kids sibling rivalry over the years. Of course our love for them, and their value, had nothing to do with who won the contests. I do remember the contests, though. I remember when Grant took the SAT test. Three years earlier Brennan had studied and taken a class and studied some more. Grant walked into the room and took it cold. He made a better score on his first and only try than Brennan on her third. And I remember two Christmases ago when Landon and Erin had barely sat their suitcases down after a trip home from Texas. Grant challenged Landon to a footrace, so 4
Keri went to the starting line, and I went to the finish line about 100 yards down Framar. They ran for about thirty yards, and Grant was so far ahead Landon quit. Then Grant went with Landon for one of his workouts. The workout was so intense it made Grant physically ill. When Grant was in college he was the guy on the sideline of the football game that ran out and got the kicking tee after a kickoff. When Landon saw a You Tube video of a dog at Boise State that was trained to run get the tee, he couldn t wait to show the video to us at Christmas. Landon found out how much his sister and his brother-in-law were earning right out of college, she as a nurse and he working for a marketing agency. He compared that to what he was making as a youth minister and his wife as, then, a schoolteacher And he thought ahead to what their earning potential as they progressed through their careers would be.and he said, Are you kidding me?! They engage in sibling rivalry. But their value never has had anything to do with who outdid whom. If they saw how much Keri and I loved them and I think they did If they saw how deeply their mom and I hurt when they hurt or the joy in our hearts when they were happy. If they could have felt how deeply our love flowed even when we were frustrated or even angry at them for something they d done wrong and how that love tempered even our response. If they knew how easy the decision would have been, and would be now, for either one of us to lay down our life for them They would have enjoyed the rivalry they would even have been challenged to do their best because of it but they never would have questioned whether their value depended on who was besting whom. They would not have been envious. And if one of them ever envied the others because they seemed more pure. They still would have known they were unconditionally loved. How much more must that be so of the One Who knows and loves us completely? Remember the title of this series on the 7 Deadly Sins: We can do better than that. It s true. We don t have to live a shallow life of resentment toward the good things that come to people around us. We really can become so comfortable in God s grace that we are able to rejoice with those who rejoice. Doesn t that sound like the kind of life you d want to live? 5