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| Lesson - October 2, 2004
Overcoming Envy Pastor Brad Johnson Welcome
back to session 3 of the Love series.
Today, we'll be talking about the topic "Overcoming
Envy". We're going
to do that by examining the Scripture in Matthew 20:20-28 (NIV).
MT 20:20 Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to Jesus with her sons and,
kneeling down, asked a favor of him.
MT 20:21 "What is it you want?" he
asked.
She said, "Grant that one of these two sons of mine may
sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom."
MT 20:22 "You don't know what you are
asking," Jesus said to them. "Can you drink the cup I am
going to drink?"
"We can," they answered.
MT 20:23 Jesus said to them, "You will indeed
drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to
grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared
by my Father."
MT 20:24 When the ten heard about this, they were
indignant with the two brothers. 25 Jesus called them
together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles
lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over
them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to
become great among you must be your servant, 27 and
whoever wants to be first must be your slave-- 28 just as
the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give
his life as a ransom for many." Today,
we're going to walk through this experience in the life of Jesus
that exposed
to huge issue in the hearts of His followers.
And it's a very real issue, and most of us, at one time or
another, maybe even today, it's an issue of both our heart and our
attitude. The
Bible calls it, envy. Several years ago, "Amadeus" the Academy Award winning movie, told of the destructive effect "envy" in the life of Antonio Salieri. He was the court musician to the King of Austria when he first encountered the musical genius of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart was exceptionally talented. His ability on the harpsichord was excellent, his composition was complex, moving, exciting. God had uniquely gifted him. Yet, we know that Mozart was immature and vulgar and obscene and self-absorbed. Salieri on the other hand, dedicated himself to God and only writing music to glorify God. From his youth he prayed and dreamed that he would create the kind of music that moved people to worship. But Salieri wasn't as gifted as Mozart. Despite his immense popularity, Salieri knew he would never be immortalized like Mozart and that he would soon be forgotten. He became obsessed with Mozart. Envy began to consume him. He plotted Mozart destruction but envy became his undoing. His obsession led to his insanity. In the climax of the story, Salieri curses God for denying him of Mozart's talent. Envy. You know, we don't talk about this issue in our hearts and in our character very often but did you know that God list envy as one of the seven deadly sins in the Old Testament? Let's dig in and start with the definition of envy: "Envy is resenting god's goodness in the life of others, while ignoring god's goodness in my own life." Someone once said that envy is wanting something that someone else has. No, that's coveting. Envy goes beyond that. Envy is saying, "I want what others have or sometimes get and I don't want them to have it." Now, think about it, the text we're going to walk through, shows the mother of two disciples of Jesus, asking Jesus for position of prominence for her sons in Jesus' kingdom. And the positions she asked for were specific: "I want one seated on your right, and the other seated on your left." Guess what that means: "I want that others have or one day get and I don't want them to have it." You see, if Jesus fulfilled her request, this woman's sons would be the only two that could occupy the seats, there were only two seats. What's more, we'll see as we scroll through this account, once her request was known to the other disciples, looks like envy captured their hearts. They didn't want to be cut out when Jesus started to parceling out positions of prominence and posture and power. It's not a pretty picture. Think about this question: "Who does envy strike?" It strikes everyone. Imagine, here are some men who have the unique and noble opportunity to be in Jesus' presence, listening to Jesus' teachings from front row seats, to have Him answer the questions of their souls, to see Him performing miracles. These guys were spiritual insiders and yet they weren't satisfied. Envy touched their hearts, in insipid and insinuous ways. Envy shows its green face in almost all areas of life. Gary Trudeau of Donnesbury famous was giving a commencement at Colgate University when he observed, "We live in a world where we would rather be envied than esteemed." He's right, envy is such a common part of our life that we hardly notice it. Well, look at Salome, the mother in the Scriptures that we are studying. You do a little study on this on Commentaries and you'd discover the kinship between this woman and her two sons, with Jesus. This is like a nepotism thing going on here. She was feeling like her boys were entitled to position of honor over the other ten disciples. Listen, do you think that if envy can infect this close circle of the followers of Jesus, that maybe, it could infect you? Could it infect your family? Could it infect your small group? Now, is envy really that bad? Well, let's look at the Scriptures. We see first,
that envy causes conflict. Verse
24: When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two
brothers. Why do you suppose they became upset? Perhaps they were eyeing those positions for honor for themselves. You see, with a little biblical and historical research, we've come to discover that the places immediately on either side of a ruler were the highest seats in the land and wheeled the most power, outside of the King's very own power. And now, envy was pitting these disciples against each other. That's the way envy works. When you're green with envy, you're ripe for trouble. Remember the story of Cinderella? Cinderella is beautiful and charming and favorite daughter but when her dad died, she became the target of envious step-sisters and the cruel step-mother. Titus 3:3 tells
us: " At one time we too
were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of
passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and
hating one another." Well, here's another reason we should avoid envy. It leads to other sins and it steals your joy. Do you know that it's hard to commit one sin without committing others? This is true with envy. Envy led Cain to murder Abel, the first brothers in the Bible. Envy caused Jacob's sons to sell Joseph, their brother into slavery. It was the envy of the Jewish leaders behind them, delivering Jesus to be crucified. And here in our text, envy led to a further division with the disciples. So, here's a question for all followers of Jesus: "Can you sin and be happy?" No. Oh, we can sin and have temporary moments of pleasure, but not sustainable happiness. And with envy, there's not even momentarily pleasure. You see, envy starts when you resent God's goodness to others while ignoring God's goodness to you. It starts out bad. Billy Graham once said, "I defy you to show me a person who is both envious and happy." Is there any hope or help to be discovered in this text? Absolutely. Let's take a look: 1)
We can learn here that we should trust God's provision.
Trust God's provision for you.
In verse 23, Jesus said, ,
"You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or
left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom
they have been prepared by my Father." Now, don't miss that. God is making provision. He has our life planned. He knows who needs to sit where in the kingdom, who needs to serve where in the kingdom, who needs to be behind the scenes and those who need to be more visible. Now, I don't want to totally dissed this mother in the story. Salome just wanted what's best for her boys. She didn't ask for something evil like "Jesus, I want my boys to have your seat." But in her request, she failed to remember that God will provide all boys would ever need. I remember a friend of my wife's. Providing the comfort as we were making the decision to move to California. As you can imagined, we were concerned for our two daughters: How the move would affect them; who would their friends be. You can imagine all that. Then the friend of Kim's gave her this comforting counsel. She said, "Kim, God loves your kids more than you do, He'll provide all they'll need." Do you live with confidence that God loves you and will provide all you'll need? 2) Imitate Jesus and no others. In verses 25 to 26: Jesus reminds His followers that they should not pattern their lives, their ambitions, their futures, based on the typical worldly view. Jesus basically said that most people grab for power and they like to be the boss. As a sermon illustration, Jesus introduced them to this principle where He says that He was a servant, He did not come to grab power. You see, envy works its deadly cancerous work when we begin to think, "I want what she has, I want to be like him, I'll do so and so because look where it got that person." We begin this imitative behavior that sadly looks more like the kingdom of the world rather than the Kingdom of God. I saw this
cartoon once where this little boy confessed, "Ever since I was
little, I didn't want to be me.
I wanted to be like Billy.
Billy didn't even like me.
I walked like he walked, I talked like he talked, I signed up
for classes that he signed up for.
But then Billy changed.
He began to hang around Herbie.
And soon he walked like Herbie, and he talked like Herbie.
I got confused. Soon,
I began to walk & talk like Billy who walked & talked like
Herbie. And it donned
on me one day that Herbie walked & talked like Joey.
And Joey walked and talked like Corky.
And do you know who Corky is always talking and walking like?
Of all people, dopey Kenny.
And that's when it hits me, he's the little pest who's always
trying to walk & talk like me!!! Imitate Jesus and no others. 3) Be aware of your amibitions. Jesus cuts to the heart of the matter in verse 26 when he says, "Whoever wants to become great….." Do you see it? That's what the disciples wanted. What's your greatest ambition? It shows itself in what and in who you envy. If our greatest ambition is rooted in the things of God, envy won't survive. So….Who are you looking at and envying? Or….What are you looking at and envying? Did
you know that envying is an eye problem?
It really is. I
looked it up in a Bible dictionary and the New Testament phrase for
envy is literary 'to have an evil eye'.
This is born out as we read Psalm 73:3 "For I envied the
arrogant when
I saw the prosperity of the wicked."
4) Serve, serve, serve. Jesus says in verse 28 that He didn't come to be served but to serve. This radical calling turns everything upside down. Instead of being predominantly preoccupied with what life gives to us, we're called to concern in giving ourselves in service to others. The discussion in Matthew 20 began with Salome, the mother of these two Christ's followers, talking of being seated near the throne. Jesus and His marvelous wisdom concludes the discussion by describing the highest kind of living by kneeling with a cleaning rag of a servant. Confident in God's provisions. Making the imitation of Jesus the goal of our life. Keeping a watchful eye on our motives and ambition and always serving. This is how we overcome envy. I hope you'll come to discover where, if any place in your life envy has a hold and then utilize these points we've studied to overcome it in your own life.
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