PEWSLAG – The Seven Deadly Sins
Sunday Morning Sermon
September 17, 2017
1 Samuel 18:6 – 9
John McKeel
Envy will Eat You Up
“Envy is the desire to have what another person has,” Tony Campolo. It is not simply a longing to have the same kind of thing the other person has; the envious person wants to strip another of something in order to possess it completely and solely (Proverbs 14:30).
Do you remember the story of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5)?
The Problem with Envy
“Love does not envy or boast,” 1 Corinthians 13:4
Envy is a pervasive sin.
“A convincing case can be made that the entire free enterprise system is fueled by envy,” – Henry Stein, Ethics (and Other Liabilities), 1982
“We worship success but we really don’t like the successful. We are envious of them,” – Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Envy Expressed
- Envy expresses itself in all walks of life.
- Children want other children to envy their toys.
- Adults engage in “conspicuous consumption.”
- People marry a “trophy spouse.”
- The desire for envy often leads to overspending and consequent marital conflict. (Disagreements over money is the most often cited cause for divorce.)
- Envy is a major cause of unhappiness and self-contempt.
- The man who covets another man’s wife becomes discontented with his own.
- The student who envies another’s grades underestimates his own abilities.
- The woman who envies another woman’s appearance becomes a supporter of a cultural system that diminishes her own value and encourages her own unhappiness.
- Envy diminishes people’s enjoyment of life because they cannot be content with what they have.
Overcoming Envy
- The root of envy is doubting God. We need to understand, God wills the very best for you!
- We may think we need something else but God knows what we really need!
- Why did Cain kill Abel? Envy!
- Consider Moses (Numbers 11:16 – 30) or John the Baptist: “He must increase …” (John 3:30).
Wisdom conquers envy.
- Other people have made different choices than you, but that doesn’t mean you made the wrong choice.
- Perhaps, there is something in your own life that needs to change.
- Understand what truly makes you happy.
- Know that there are different seasons of life.
- Take a “reality check.”
- Ask if you are using technology wisely.
- Cultivate an “attitude of gratitude.”