Jealousy and Envy

How many have ever heard the words, “original sin?” Most commonly the phrase references the fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit after being tempted by the serpent. But that really wasn’t the “original sin!” It might’ve been for mankind, but before that Lucifer, the archangel of worship, compared himself to God and said “I can be like the Most High.” He was jealous (or “jelly” as the kids call it) of the angels under his influence; a third of them the Scriptures tell us. He was envious of the throne of God.

**Display: the two words with definitions…**

Envy and jealousy are often conflated today, but in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the two emotions elicited different responses from child experts and moralists who believed them to be quite distinct. According to encyclopedia.com…

Envy - the feelings experienced by one who longed for the belongings or attributes of another

In contrast,

Jealousy - the emotion experienced when an individual felt that a relationship or possession was threatened

While envy was frequently associated with material longings, jealousy was more often linked with love.

Godly Jealousy

Godly jealousy is possible for man to have. Paul uses this term in 2 Corinthians 11. Let’s look:

2 Corinthians 11:1-4 NLT

[1] I hope you will put up with a little more of my foolishness. Please bear with me. [2] For I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself. I promised you as a pure bride to one husband-Christ. [3] But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent. [4] You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach, or a different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or a different kind of gospel than the one you believed.

This was a threat Paul perceived as coming against the Church. It was not against their UNION with Christ, but against their UNITY with Christ.

SO WHAT DEFINES GODLY JEALOUSY?

Godly jealousy sees things as God sees them. How does He see them? He sees things with eternity in mind. Here’s what I mean…

***Show “TIME - as we see it” Chart***

(I will talk here about how we see time broken down.)

***Show “TIME - as GOD sees it” Chart***

(I will talk here briefly about how GOD sees time.)

Only when seeing things in eternity’s perspective can we be truly righteous in our emotions. This requires having SPIRIT EYES. Since we can’t see eternity, we must walk in CLOSE fellowship with God in order to have GODLY jealousy.

However, for the rest of our time together, we must look at the main focus of this message today…BITTER jealousy. And because they are so closely related with one often leading to the other or causing the other, we will look at them together.

Three Effects of Bitter Jealousy & Envy

1.  Internal

Bitter Jealousy has internal effects. In other words, this emotion negatively affects your health.

A.  Physical Health

Proverbs 14:30 NLT

[30] A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body; jealousy is like cancer in the bones.

These are DIRECTLY linked with an understood conjunction, “but,” in the middle.

B.  Mental Health

James 3:13-16 TPT

[13] If you consider yourself to be wise and one who understands the ways of God, advertise it with a beautiful, fruitful life guided by wisdom’s gentleness. Never brag or boast about what you’ve done and you’ll prove that you’re truly wise. [14] But if there is bitter jealousy or competition hiding in your heart, then don’t deny it and try to compensate for it by boasting and being phony. [15] For that has nothing to do with God’s heavenly wisdom but can best be described as the wisdom of this world, both selfish and devilish. [16] So wherever jealousy and selfishness are uncovered, you will also find many troubles (the Aramaic uses the word “chaos”) and every kind of meanness.

C.  Spiritual Health

1 Peter 2:1-3 NLT

[1] So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech. [2] Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, [3] now that you have had a taste of the Lord's kindness.

2.  External

Romans 1:28-32 NIV

[28] Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. [29] They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They (sit in their living rooms and around tables and talk about what they didn’t like about the church, telling lies based on false perceptions, and devising what they will do about it if things don’t change to their way) are gossips, [30] slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; [31] they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. [32] Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

3.  Eternal

Galatians 5:19-26 NIV

[19] The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; [20] idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions [21] and 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. [22] But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. [24] Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. [25] Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. [26] Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

“If you love Me, you will keep my commands…” (John 14:15)

“We are God’s handiwork/masterpiece/poetry; created in Christ FOR good works…” (Ephesians 2:10)

“Work out your salvation OR work hard to show the results of (NLT) your salvation - with fear and trembling…” (Philippians 2:12)

- NOT ON SCREEN - James 2:17 NLT

[17] So you see, faith by itself isn't enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.

Conclusion

James 3:14-18 TPT

[14] But if there is bitter jealousy or competition hiding in your heart, then don’t deny it and try to compensate for it by boasting and being phony. [15] For that has nothing to do with God’s heavenly wisdom but can best be described as the wisdom of this world, both selfish and devilish. [16] So wherever jealousy and selfishness are uncovered, you will also find many troubles and every kind of meanness. [17] But the wisdom from above is always pure, filled with peace, considerate and teachable. It is filled with love and never displays prejudice or hypocrisy in any form [18] and it always bears the beautiful harvest of righteousness! Good seeds of wisdom’s fruit will be planted with peaceful acts by those who cherish making peace.

James 5:9 TPT

[9] Since each of you are part of God’s family never complain or grumble about each other so that judgment will not come on you, for the true Judge is near and very ready to appear!

Final Story

There were once two men, both seriously ill, in the same room have a great hospital, quite a small room, just large enough for the two of them, and two beds, and two bedside lockers, and a door opening on the hall, and a window looking out on the world.

One of the men, as part of his treatment, was allowed to sit up for one hour every afternoon, something that had to do with draining the fluid from his lungs. And his bed was next to the window, but the other man had to spend all of his time flat on his back and both of them had to be kept quiet and still, which was the reason they were in this small room by themselves. And they were grateful for peace and privacy, none of the bustling, and clatter, and prying eyes of the general hospital.

Of course, one of the disadvantages of their condition was that they weren't allowed to do anything. They couldn't read, they couldn't listen to the radio, they couldn't watch television. They had to just keep quiet and keep still just the two of them in that one room. But when no one else was around, they would talk by the hour. They would share with one another about their wives, and their children, and their homes, and their former jobs, and their hobbies, and the war, and vacations, and all sorts of things. Every afternoon, the man in the bed next to the window, when he got his moment to sit up, would look out of the window and would pass the time by describing to his friend what he saw.

As the other man began to live for these hours, every day when the time came, he would look out the window and describe what was going on outside. The window apparently overlooked a park, and there was a lake where there were ducks, and swans, and children throwing them bread, and sailing model boats, and young lovers walking hand in hand. And there were trees, and flowers, and stretches of grass, and games of softball, and people taking their ease in the sunshine. And behind them all was this fringe of the trees and a fine view of the city skyline. And the man on his back would listen to all of this, enjoying it as if he were experiencing it himself.

Then one fine afternoon when there was some sort of parade, the thought struck him, "Why should he have his bed next to the window? Why should he have all the pleasure of seeing what's going on? Why shouldn't I get that chance"? And he felt ashamed, and he tried not to think about it. But the more he tried, the worse he wanted to change. He'd do anything, but he couldn't make it go away. In a few days, he had turned totally sour. He should be by the window. He brooded, he couldn't sleep. He grew even more seriously ill, which the doctors could not understand.

And one night as he stared at the ceiling, the man by the window suddenly woke up coughing and choking. The fluid congesting in his lungs, his hands groping for the button that would bring the night nurse running. But the man laying flat on his back watched without moving. The coughing racked the darkness on and on, choked off, then stopped, and the man who laid on his back continued to stare at the ceiling doing nothing.

In the morning, the day nurse came in with water for their baths and found the other man dead. They took away his body quietly with no fuss, and as soon as it seemed decent, the man asked if he could be moved to the bed next to the window. They moved him, tucked him in, made him quite comfortable, and left him alone to be quiet and still. The minute they'd gone, he propped himself up on one elbow painfully, laboriously, and looked out the window and discovered that it faced a blank wall.

The friend over whom he had been so jealous had literally been ministering to his bed partner by telling him from his imagination, the stories of all the things he knew would make him better. In his jealousy, he destroyed the very thing that had come to give him life and ended up himself with nothing.

My friend, I have never heard a story that describes better the power of a jealous heart to ruin those around us and ultimately to destroy our own peace. So, I tell you today, don't just face the giant of jealousy, fight it and be victorious over it through the power of the Holy Spirit, and begin to live your life with joy as God intended.