Envy

Purpose of this Series:

NOT Just some head knowledge

BUT an awareness of sins

So that:

1. We can confess it and be forgiven.

2. We can gain victory over these sins by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Pride

We made a distinction between pride as a virtue and pride as a vice.

To be Like God was the original temptation.

Plantinga asks:

“What sin makes God more irrelevant?

God wants to fill us with his Holy Spirit, but when we are proud we are already full of ourselves. There’s no room for God.”

Envy

Scripture Reading

Genesis 4:1 - 12

Envy

Story of Astronaut.

Envy is the second sin we come across in the Bible.

Cain envied Abel and his relationship to God.

Envy

The word “envy”

comes from the Latin “invidia”

= “to look maliciously upon.”

Cain no longer saw Abel as his brother but his rival

The green eye of envy – changes our perspective

Envy

Plantinga:

“... The story of Cain and Abel is not just a snapshot of an isolated

incident. This story is rather a kind of paradigm, the first case in

Scripture of a pattern that will appear again and again.

Plantinga, Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be, p. 160

Envy

Joseph’s brothers envied Joseph and so sold him into slavery.

Daniel’s associates have him thrown in the Lion’s den

Saul and David

Envy

6 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 tambourines and lutes. 7 As they danced, they sang:        "Saul has slain his thousands,        and David his tens of thousands."

Envy

8 Saul was very angry; this refrain galled him. "They have credited David with tens of thousands," he thought, "but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?" 9 And from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David.

I Samuel 186-9.

Saul’s envy grew – tried to kill David

Envy

Tanya Harding

had Nancy Kerrigan clubbed on the knee.

Envy

Envy is different from covetousness:Covet = I want what she has

= I want to fill my empty hands with someone else’s goodsEnvy = I want the other person not to have what I don’t have = I want my empty hands to destroy or empty the hands of the envied

Envy

Envy is most often directed to people close to us.

To our equals

Story of demons trying to tempt a monk

Envy

Envy is rotten to the core.

Proverbs 18:30:

“A heart at peace gives life to the body,        but envy rots the bones.”

Envy

Envy kills.Story of two Greek athletes.

Rick Ezell: “Envy is deadly because it will not let us

live happily. It robs us of joy. It will not let us be satisfied with what we have or be grateful for our talents and personal qualities. It becomes a barrier to the celebration of who we are. It cheats us of blessings.” The 7 Sins of Highly Defective People, p. 37

Overcoming Envy

1. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you your sin.

2. Acknowledge envy as sin and confess it.

Overcoming Envy

3. Ask God to correct your eyesight

with respect to yourself,

others, and

God

Overcoming Envy

3. Ask God to correct your eyesight with respect to yourself.II Cor. 10:12: “We do not dare to classify or compare

ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.”

Overcoming Envy

3. Ask God to correct your eyesight

with respect to others.

I Cor. 13:4:

“Love is patient, love is kind.

It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.”

Overcoming Envy

3. Ask God to correct your eyesight

with respect to God.

Proverbs 23:17-18: “Don't for a minute envy careless rebels;

   soak yourself in the Fear-of-God—That's where your future lies.    Then you won't be left with an armload of nothing.” The Message

Envy

Story of Amadeus.

Envy

On the cross, Jesus took the place of Cain and also

Abel.“God made him who had no sin to be sin

for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Cor.5:21

The blood of Jesus on the cross paid for the sin of each of us,

who are both Cain and Abel.