Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Anger
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Envy—The Green-Eyed Tyrant
Holly was a bright, pretty child.
But she had a peculiar habit—she always wanted her friends' toys.
She cried when her best friend got a beautiful doll for her birthday.
She whined when the neighbor girls appeared at church in matching Laura Ashley Easter dresses.
She pouted when her sister was taken to Disney World as a reward for straight A's throughout high school.
When Holly became a teenager, she turned her attention toward boys.
She quickly mastered the use of makeup, lightened her hair dramatically, and learned to dress with a slightly sexy flair.
Her competitive drive always drew her toward her friends' boyfriends, and she made it her habit to call them, ask them for advice, and sow seeds of criticism about the girls in their lives.
Then, at eighteen, she met Jack and Tammy Jensen, a couple in their thirties who were youth leaders at her church.
At first Holly innocently joined the other kids at the Jensens' home.
They gathered as a group, watched videos, and just hung out.
But before long, Holly was spending a lot of time talking to Jack—alone.
Like any married couple, Jack and Tammy had their small differences from time to time, and Holly instinctively homed in on them.
While flattering Jack on one hand, on the other she gently questioned his reactions to Tammy's quick temper, her same old hairstyle, or her not-quite-perfect housekeeping.
Holly's divisive arts were astonishing, as were her manipulative capabilities.
She called the Jensen home in tears one night from a pay phone, hysterically claiming to have been kicked out of the house by her parents.
She asked Jack if he could pick her up.
She knew the family well enough to calculate that Tammy would be getting dinner on the table for the children and that Jack would arrive alone.
He did.
Jack listened to her story patiently, and by now he felt close enough to Holly to put his arms around her in comfort.
The truth was, he'd been wanting to hold her in his arms for weeks.
Before the night was over, the two of them had made love.
Before the year was over, Jack and Tammy had filed for divorce, Jack had left the church, and he and Holly were living together.
The tragedy didn't end with the breakup of Jack and Holly's marriage.
In fact it continues.
Holly has become disillusioned with Jack—she complains that he's too old for her.
She constantly compares him to younger men, humiliating him with caustic jokes about his weight, his thinning hair, and his middle-aged attitudes.
Holly wants a house at the beach, like the Fosters'.
She needs a new Chevy Suburban, like the Jarvises'.
She and Jack fight constantly and bitterly over her insatiable desires for more things, better things, things her friends have that she'll never get because Jack is "such a boring old man."
Jealousy and Envy—Good News, Bad News
Jealousy and envy are emotions we all feel from time to time.
But if they are allowed to become dominant in our lives, they warp our perspectives, keep us from realizing our personal potential, and in cases like Holly's, lead us into destructive behavior.
Without question, jealousy and envy impede our growth to spiritual maturity.
Although we sometimes use the words jealousy and envy interchangeably, there is a difference.
Jealousy can be used in a good sense.
Its root is zelos, the same word from which we also get zeal, or zealous.
When the word is applied to God, saying He is a jealous God means He demands that we worship and love Him exclusively.
In a bad sense, jealousy is a fear of being displaced by a rival in affection or favor.
To be jealous is to be anxiously suspicious or vigilant.
Proverb 27:4 says, "Anger is cruel and fury overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy?"
The implication of this Scripture is that jealousy is hidden.
It corrupts our motives, thoughts, and actions.
'lb make matters worse, the object of that jealousy may be unaware of it and therefore be unable to deal with it.
While jealousy can be positive, envy, on the other hand, always has a bad meaning.
Envy is defined as "a feeling of discontent and resentment aroused by another's desirable possessions or qualities, accompanied by a strong desire to have them for oneself."13
Scripture reminds us, "A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones" ().
The Story of Rachel and Leah
In the Old Testament, we have classic examples of jealousy and envy in the lives of two women who were victims of their culture.
Leah and Rachel were sisters, and they were married to the same man, Jacob.
Have you noticed how many of our lessons have been centered on Jacob and his family?
Talk about being dysfunctional!
In , Jacob was fleeing the wrath of his brother, Esau.
When he reached Paddan-Aram, where his mother's family lived, his cousin Rachel was the first person he met.
For him, their meeting was love at first sight.
He was warmly welcomed into his Uncle Laban's home and began helping him shepherd his flocks.
Jacob asked Laban for Rachel's hand in marriage and volunteered to work seven years in return for her.
Laban agreed, but then he deceived Jacob by secretly marrying him to his older, less attractive daughter, Leah.
Laban agreed to give Rachel to Jacob, too, but he would have to work seven more years.
The biblical account concludes, "Jacob lay with Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah.
And he worked for Laban another seven years" ().
One wouldn't have to be a psychologist to predict the problems that were about to arise in that household.
Can you imagine the conflicting emotions Laban's cruel deception produced?
Jacob, the deceiver who had cheated his brother of their father's blessing, was outdone in deception by Laban!
He ended up doing seven more years of hard labor without pay for a woman he didn't want in the first place.
This was not exactly a great start for a marriage—especially one with two wives.
There was a physical difference between Leah and Rachel.
Leah was older, had weak or delicate eyes, and apparently was not attractive.
Rachel was younger and had a beautiful face and figure.
Scripture simply states the sad truth: "And Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah."
An Unloved Wife
We can't blame Jacob.
He'd made his choice almost from the moment he saw Rachel, and it's impossible to drum up romantic love on demand.
Can you imagine how difficult it was for Leah to see Jacob's passionate love for Rachel, knowing that he didn't feel the same way about her at all?
This was living in daily pain.
She must have experienced both jealousy and envy.
But God has a way of evening things out:
"When the LORD saw that Leah was not loved, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.
Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son.
She named him Reuben, for she said, 'It is because the LORD has seen my misery.
Surely my husband will love me now' . . .
"When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister.
So she said to Jacob, 'Give me children, or I'll die!'
"Jacob became angry with her and said, 'Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?" (; ).
Rachel had what Leah wanted—Jacob's love.
But now she was jealous of Leah because she wanted what Leah had—children.
In that day, it was a great reproach upon a woman if she did not give her husband sons.
Jacob put the blame where it belonged, on God.
The rivalry between these two sisters increased as they tried to build their families with strategies that were normal for that culture.
Sometimes a wife gave her maid to her husband sexually, and the maid became pregnant.
When the child was born, the wife would catch the child on her knees and thus claim him as her own.
Rachel did it first, then Leah followed suit.
Both of them were in this battle to the bitter end.
But the difference in the characters of the two women is revealed in : "During wheat harvest, Reuben went out into the fields and found some mandrake plants, which he brought to his mother Leah.
Rachel said to Leah, 'Please give me some of your son's mandrakes.'
"But she said to her, 'Wasn't it enough that you took away my husband?
Will you take my son's mandrakes too?'
"'Very well,' Rachel said, 'he can sleep with you tonight in return for your son's mandrakes."
Forever Dissatisfied
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