Jealous?
Notes
Transcript
A few years ago I was getting ready to enter into grad school and I needed to find a job while I was in grad school to help Arika and I get by because we were getting ready to be married, and there are a lot of expenses that come up in life.
But I remember there was one day I went to a job fair in the area
And if you have ever been to a job fair its a really interesting thing because you have all these people who are dressed nice and have different backgrounds
And everyone is really friendly but in your head you are sitting there going that person is my competition.
and a lot of times you are waiting in line behind these people to talk with the representatives from each company
and as you are waiting you are comparing yourself to all these different people who are talking to the different jobs you are interested in.
You know there is someone who is not dressed as nice as you so you go I have a little advantage there
there is someone who looks a little more athletic then you and your going okay they have that going for them
and this whole time you are just comparing
and I had a friend at this job fair with me and I remember we were waiting in line for this one position at a glass factory.
And he talks to them first and they were having a great talk and it sounds like she was getting to offer him the position.
And so in my head I am going okay this should be an easy talk. I can definitely get this.
And so I go up to this booth they had and start talking to this women but before we even get into anything she looks at me and goes “honey do you really think this is a job can do?”
And I said yeah I am willing to work hard and do a great job.
And she starts laughing at me and said you think a city boy like you would be able to turn in your suit for a pair of jeans and a tshirt.
and I was like “Yeah I could do that!”
But you know I remember it was pretty clear at this point that I was not getting the job.
But I also remember in the back of my head going what did my one friend have that I didn’t.
Do I look to preppy
Did I handle myself wrong.
And really if i am honest I was a little Jelous of my friend
But you know often times we catch ourselves being Jealous of others
If you have ever had a friend get a new car you may have experienced that feeling.
And what they are doing is saying look
If your friend ever got an awesome job you may have experienced that feeling
And all of these places
I saw a commercial that talked about Jealousy
If your friend has a normal family and you are looking at your family and are thinking that would be nice you might have actually experienced that
And this may not seem like a huge issue... so what… I am a little Jealous?
But when we get Jealous it tells us a little about our heart and not only that but its toxic, it divides us and it imprisons us if we cannot get past our Jealousy.
So today we are going to be talking about the Jelousy that is in our life
So Turn to because this passage speaks to Jealousy and not just that but it tells us how if you are jelous or envious this is what you need to do.
Because if you have been with us in our series David we have been going through the life of David,
and last week we were in the story of David and Goliath and David kills Goliath, and now overnight David went from this Shepard that no one knows to this famous warrior.
and our passage we are in takes place as David is and Saul are coming home from killing Goliath.
So once again its and it says
When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with timbrels and lyres. As they danced, they sang:
“Saul has slain his thousands,
and David his tens of thousands.”
Saul was very angry; this refrain displeased him greatly. “They have credited David with tens of thousands,” he thought, “but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?” And from that time on Saul kept a close eye on David.
The next day an evil spirit from God came forcefully on Saul. He was prophesying in his house, while David was playing the lyre, as he usually did. Saul had a spear in his hand and he hurled it, saying to himself, “I’ll pin David to the wall.” But David eluded him twice.
Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with David but had departed from Saul. So he sent David away from him and gave him command over a thousand men, and David led the troops in their campaigns. In everything he did he had great success, because the Lord was with him. When Saul saw how successful he was, he was afraid of him. But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he led them in their campaigns.
So like I said they are on their way home from this awesome victory, and at that time all the men went to war, so as they are coming home and all the women are coming out singing and dancing.
Probably the song its raining men is one of the songs (Maybe not say…)
They are excited and you can picture David and Saul together riding into the town and you here all these people come out singing “Saul has slain thousands and David has killed his 10 thousands”
And it says this made Saul angry because he is saying they accredited David with killing 10,000 and they only gave Saul a thousand.
and it says that from that point on Saul kept a close eye on David.
and not only that but it says that he actually hurls a spear at David twice and David dodges it.
I mean this guy is Jealus!
But there are three things I want you to get out of this section, because what Jealousy does to Saul it also does to us and this is a good way for us to also tell if we have an issue here.
Because first Jealousy makes it so we cannot enjoy others victories or even our own.
Because
I mean this was a huge victory for David which is also a huge victory for Saul (thats why people are singing), but for Saul all he heres is I killed 1000 but David killed 10,000.
And he cannot get past that because he wants to be number one.
and even though he had a victory, all that he can remember is that David had a bigger victory.
Its like if you got a new car that was awesome and it was a 2019 Ford Explorer and it has the heated leather seats,
but then you have your neighbor who gets a new car the next day and his car is is the 2020 and its basically the same car, but then he says oh does yours have the air conditioned seats?
and all the sudden you go I need the air conditioned seats
Your new car was great but all the sudden you go wow, I wish I got the air conditioned seats.
But Jealousy takes away from others victories but it also takes away from our victories
And look at the second point because ultimately our Jealousy will imprison us.
Because what happens to Saul try to kill probably the best warrior he has.
and when Saul can’t do it he really starts to devote his life to killing David.
He has his daughter marry David as part of his plot to kill David, he try's to kill his own son in order to kill David, he has all of these different things where he ends up living a life imprisioned by his Jealousy.
There is a guy named Dwight Moody who founded a college in Chicago and he shared a picture of what Jealousy does here, (Story of the Eagle
And then finally this is probably the biggest thing Jealousy does is Jealousy shows us the Idols that we have in our life.
Think about that for a second whatever is driving our jealousy chances are its something that we are placing above our relationship with God.
For Saul it was being king. Because Saul is going David stole from me being the number one hero and at the end of verse 8 he says what more can he take from me then the kingdom.
For Saul his idol was him being the king, he was completely obsessed with being king and when that was compromised he would do anything to stay king (even if it meant weakening the kingdom he was in charge of or even killing his family)
And when we have things in our life that are above God we run the risk doing whatever we can to defend that idol.
So what do we do about this?
I hope as I was talking about some of this you were connecting pieces and going okay, maybe I do have a problem there
Maybe that small amount of jealousy or envy is an issue.
But what do we do about it?
Well Saul definitely teaches us what not to do.
But whats amazing is look right before this passages because Saul’s son teaches us what we should do.
And this is amazing because because if you look at this story if there is one person who should really hate David its Sauls Son Jonathan.
Because he was next in line for the thrown, and he knew that David had a good chance at taking that from him.
And so in chapter 18 verse 1 it says:
After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself.
After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself.
From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return home to his family.
And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself.
Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt.
First off Jonathan loved David and because of that he could not be jealous.
You know it is hard for us to be jealous when we are love each-other. I mentioned in the beginning how Jealousy creates division, but when we are loving each-other it binds us together.
And keep reading because picking up in verse 3 it says
And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself.
Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt.
In this passage it would have been clear on what Jonathon was doing, and it is actually unheard of for somthing like this to happen.
Because Jonathan is actually submitting to David and saying okay you can be the next king.
And you know I believe that at this point Jonathan realized what God was doing here, because like we talked about a couple weeks ago David was anointed to be king,
and so Jonathan is submitting to David, but I believe he also submitting to God.
And that is the only way we are able to overcome the Jealousy that is in our life.
The only way we can do this is by sumbitting our lives to God,
Because when we have things above Him it leaves us with holes in our life, where all we can think of is we need him.
And really Christ is the ultimate example for us on how we can submit, because it tells is in second philippians 2:7-8 that
“...he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!”
Philippians 2:7-8 NIV
Philippians 2:7-8 NIV
This morning I do not know what your life is submitted to. Because we submit to all sorts of different things, we submit to family, busy schedules, we submit to our jobs,
And these things are not bad (some our good), but if we are submitting to these things in our life over the will of God we are going to live a life imprisoned by our idols.
But I love the example that Christ sets for us because he was obedient to death on a cross, and that passage is saying we have to die.
Not physically, but we have to die to our sin and come alive in Christ.
Today you might have been a follower of Christ but there is Jelousy or envy in your life, but what would happen if you asked God to kill that part of your life and that sounds hard,
But its amazing the freedom you have when you come alive in Christ.
Will you pray with me.