How to Conquer Jealousy and Envy - Kevin Brechbill

As rust consumes iron, so envy consumes the soul of him who is possessed by it.

I quote, "If anyone will closely look into this, he will find that nothing should be more guarded against by the Christian, nothing more carefully watched than being taken by envy and malice, that none entangled in the blind snares of a deceitful enemy, in that the brother is turned by envy to hatred of his brother, should himself be unwittedly destroyed by his own sword." That we may be able more fully to collect and more plainly to perceive this. Let us consider when arises jealousy and when and how it begins, for so mischievous and evil will be more easily shunned by us if both the source and the magnitude of that same evil be known or understood.

This quote is from Cyprian, and I recently read his thesis or article on treaties, I guess it's called, on jealousy and envy. And have you ever read an article or read something, and all of a sudden all these light bulbs went off in your mind as to why you're seeing strange things over the past 40 years in people's responses?

That was my experience when I read this article that Cyprian wrote. He connected a lot of dots from a big picture that I'm going to try to communicate this morning, his thoughts and my inspiration along with it. So the title of my message is Jealousy and Envy.

Wow, what a subject going into Luffy's, right? I'm hoping till I get through it, there'll be actually a big picture inspiration as to why and how it affects all of us in a profound way, I think way more than we realize, way more than I ever realized in my life. And so it's a fun subject, actually. It's a fun evaluation. And so, yeah, let's look into it. James 3:16 says this, "For where envy and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work." Over the years, I have seen spouses and marriages, a lot of conflict and frustration in marriages and conflict. And when you talk to people, there's this massive confusion.

And I've often found that curious, why is there confusion? I've seen in church leaders making odd decisions and being easily upset and easily frustrated. And I've not always been able to figure out why. I've seen frustration between parents and children, fathers and sons, mothers and daughters.

And when I read this article, I've realized, I think, at the root of a lot of our frustration that we find ourselves in, jealousy and envy may sit at the root of that. So think about that as we move forward. The brilliance of this article is the profound impact of envy that I want to talk about is from Satan's fall to biblical history to the soul's torment to the church's unity to the final destination of the believer. And at the end, I hope to be able to show envy as a root sin and charity as the only cure. I'm going to go down over three quick definitions: jealousy, envy, and malice, just to put us in a framework of what we're looking at.

Jealousy is when you resent someone because they have something you don't. They have success and you don't. They have blessing and you don't. They have possessions and you don't. They have recognitions and you don't. At least that's what you think. It's a comparison sin.

Looking at another's good and wishing it were yours or wishing they didn't have it. The example that we're all familiar with is Cain envied or was jealous of Abel because God accepted Abel's sacrifice. What is envy? All these are slightly different and kind of increasing in nature. Envy is the pain, the resentment, or bitterness you feel at another's good because you believe their blessing takes something away from you. The sorrow at another's good. The emotion behind it, instead of rejoicing when others prosper, envy grieves, stalks, or burns inside. It is not just wanting what someone else has. It is resenting that they have it at all. Right?

It increases a little. Malice. Malice is when you actively wish harm, misfortune. You actively wish evil on someone. It's a hatred sin. So it goes from a comparison sin to a hatred sin. It's a development. The heart delights in the thought of another suffering. The example is Saul and David. Saul not only envied David, but plotted repeatedly to kill him.

This is malice. So think about those definitions as we move through this. So jealousy and envy, and it says, "Let us consider when arises jealousy and envy." So I want us to be able to look back and what is the root? Like, how does this root thing, why it's a root? What happens here? So when and how it begins. Let's look at the origin of envy.

Satan's fall. At the very beginning, the devil was the first to perish himself and to destroy others. He was exalted in angelic majesty and beloved of God. I don't think we comprehend his position. I actually, like, the best I can compare it to is a son to a father. Like, I don't think, and I think it's even greater than that, but I don't know that we can wrap our head around that well.

He looked upon man made in God's image and broke forth into jealousy with envy. When he looked at man made in God's image, it made him jealous. He was cast down before he could cast down another, captive before he could take captive, ruined before he ruined others.

By envy, he robbed man of the grace of immortality, and in doing so, lost what he himself had possessed. Think of the implications of these words. How great an evil is this? Beloved brethren, by which an angel fell, by which glory was overthrown, by which the deceiver was himself deceived. From that moment, envy raged upon the earth. Whoever obeys envy obeys the devil, imitating the author of ruin.

For it is written, "Through envy of the devil, death entered into the world, and those who are on his side imitate him." That's in the Wisdom 2:24. Envy is not just an emotion, but the gateway of death itself. By envying humanity, the devil introduced death into creation. Anyone who chooses envy shares in his destiny. Envy consumes Satan before it harmed man. The deceiver was first self-deceived. Envy was his own downfall. It becomes man's destruction. Gregory of Nysa quotes it this way, "Envy is the adversary of our salvation." John Chrysostom makes this quote, "As rust consumes iron, so envy consumes the soul of him who is possessed by it." Envy is the root sin of Satan, the source of death in creation, and it's the pattern of all envy throughout history.

Cain, Saul, the Jews. Let's look at biblical history and envy and all the examples that, not all of them, some of them that we find in the scripture. So think of this, that the envy as the root of human hatred. I'm going to repeat the verse that I read earlier, James 3:16, "For where envy and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work." When we look at the scriptures, and after Satan's fall, obviously, envy became a repeating theme in scripture. Look at Cain and Abel. Cain's envy of Abel's righteousness led to the first murder.

Jealousy, envy, malice. It's a build-up. Cain envied the righteousness of Abel. His envy blinded him to love, blinded him to the fear of God, and blinded him to the enormality, the massive sin of murder. Think of Jacob and Esau.

Esau envied Jacob's blessing, leading to hatred. Esau envied Jacob because Jacob received his father's father Isaac's blessing. In Cyprian's words, he says, "And that Esau was hostile to his brother Jacob arose from jealousy also, for because the latter had received his father's blessing. The former was inflamed to a persecuting hatred by the brands of jealousy." The outcome? Envy burned into hatred and pursuit, making Esau seek Jacob's light. Think of Joseph and his brothers. This happened, I think, when Joseph was approximately 17. It says, "Their envy of Joseph's visions," the brothers, "their envy of Joseph's visions drove them to betray and sell him." That's in Genesis 37. Joseph innocently shared his vision of future prosperity. Someone was going to be prosperous.

They become jealous and envious. His brothers' envy turned to betrayal, and they sold him into slavery. Now, these stories that I'm saying are short, right? There's a lot that happens in that process. What's interesting to me is how quick it happens with these people when you allow this to be a part of us. Think of Saul and David. Saul's jealousy of David's victories turned into murderous persecution.

After David slew Goliath, the people praised him above Saul. Remember that story? They heard the women singing in the streets, and the women were singing, "Saul killed his thousands and David his ten thousands, and you're the king?" Test, right?

Turned to jealousy, envy, and malice. Though David was innocent, meek, and merciful. Now think of Jews and Christ. The leaders, the Jewish leaders, envy Christ's miracles and his popularity. Envy blinded them, leading to rejection and crucifixion. Every great act of hatred, betrayal, and rejection of God's work is traced to envy. The cosmic sin repeated in the human story, human history. Jesus says, "For he knew that the chief priest had delivered him for envy," in Mark 15:10. Cyprian says, "Did not the Jews perish for this reason, that they chose rather to envy Christ than to believe him? In spite of these great works which he did, they were deceived by blinding jealousy and could not open the eyes of their heart to the knowledge of divine things."

Now I want to think about the soul's torment, where you and I kind of come into this potentially. So when we think of the soul's torment, it's kind of a little bit of a brutal way to think about it.

What I want us to think about is the endless self-destructive nature of envy. And like how when it starts, it just like it just keeps unfolding and unfolding and growing and growing. It's described as root of all evil, fountain of disasters, the nursery of crimes, and it's the material of all transgression. Remember, this is the Satan fell because of this. And there's a reason why we live in a world that this just penetrates every part really of our existence. I think it fuels greed.

I think it fuels ambition. I think it fuels pride and cruelty. It fuels discord. It fuels heresy. It fuels schisms. Envy is not just a sin among many. It fertilizes and multiplies other sins. It's like the fuel. Unlike other sins, envy has no end. Listen to this.

The thief stops once he has stolen. I mean, you can only steal a pack of candy once, right? It's the pack of candy. You can go back and get another, but he stops. The adulterer stops once the act is done.

But envy isn't this way. It burns continually, worsening, think of this, as others prosper. Once again, because I read the article, Cyprian says, "Jealousy has no limit. It is an evil continually enduring and a sin without end." I'm going to repeat the quote of Chrysostom.

And I love this quote because I think it just, it's very picturesque. "As rust consumes iron, so envy consumes the soul of him who is possessed by it." Think of a strong steel iron beam. Now, we work with trailers, so we see these nice, new, beautiful trailers come in, all painted up. And like two days later, after a rain, you go out and there's this run of rust.

All you got to do is go out with your finger and wipe it off. If you deal with envy quickly and you understand what it is, it doesn't take much to get it off. At the same token, we have trailers come into our shop that are many years old. And the whole steel beam that was once this beautiful, shiny steel beam, it's like this massive corrosion. And then you look corrosion and you look at it, you're like, "How do you even, where do you even start?" I mean, sandblast and it's all pitted and still looks ugly. You have to put an awful lot of paint on to make it look nice.

But it will completely, rust will completely destroy the strength of ivy. Envy is the same way. Do a self-evaluation, a self-examination. We're going into love feeds the communion this afternoon. We should live in a way of doing self-examinations in our own lives.

Think about the negative things you've thought about or the bad thoughts you've had. Hopefully, you don't have this problem. Think about towards your spouse, towards your children, between parents and children, towards your brothers and sisters, towards your neighbors when you do things that irritate you. Envy is a torment. The envy may escape, but the envious man carries his enemy within his own breast, a gnawing worm of the soul, a plague spot of our thoughts, a rust of the heart. The envious person is their own executioner. Cyprian, once again, whoever you are that are envious, you are the enemy of no one's well-being more than your own.

Did you grasp what he just said there? If you're envious, you are the enemy of no one's well-being more than your own. Envy blinds you to that. You're convinced it's something else. Now, here's the fun part. To the church's unity. And this is so powerful. I think I'm hoping I can communicate it in a way that we can continue to have conversation about it and realize what sits in the understanding of the church and its unity. I believe it's a cosmic battle. There's a cosmic battle between the church and the world. I think we all know that. There's a more important battle. It's the cosmic battle in our souls. I think it's the cosmic battle of envy versus charity.

What will roll in our souls? Envy or charity? The devil in his kingdom or Christ in his kingdom? It's the passion, the passion of envy or the virtue of charity. When someone asked Jesus about this whole subject, you know what his answer was? When asked about greatness, Jesus said, "He who is least among you shall be great." Luke 9:48. Paul says, "Let us cast away strife and jealousy and put on the armor of light." So there's envy and jealousy being cast away and the armor of light. Charity is the antidote.

Charity is patient. Charity is kind. What's interesting about this verse is it says, this is in Corinthians 13:4, "Charity, envyeth not." That's the cosmic battle. It's always charity against envy. And there's all kinds of many ways that it comes out. Cyprian says, "Even faith, almsgiving, and martyrdom are worthless without charity."

Think about that. You give your life, you give all your money and your faith. And if you don't win this battle, you lose. Envy is the likeness of the devil. Charity is the likeness of Christ. The cosmic battle between these two powers is destruction and light, darkness and light. Here's the fun thing.

Unity in the church is the opposite of envy. Envy divides, setting brother against brother. Unity unites, binding believers together in love. Cyprian says, "By this envy, the bond of the Lord's peace is broken. By this is violated brother charity. By this truth is adulterated. Unity is divided." So unity directly heals what envy destroys: peace, brotherhood, and truth. Unity in the church helps fix our eyes on Christ. Envy arises when I measure myself against another's gifts, blessings, or honors. Unity reminds us we are one body with many members. See the complexity of that? It often goes from someone said, "When God speaks, he doesn't speak individually. He speaks collectively." Paul says, "If one member is honored, all rejoice together.

In unity, another's blessing is my blessing, not my threat." Unity grounds itself in humility. Envy springs from pride and the desire to be exalted. Christ cuts off envy by teaching, "He who is least among you shall be great." Unity flourishes when we embrace humility. And I had to say this, placing we before me.

That comes from an inside joke at our business. Lifting up others before ourselves. Unity, the church of unity in the church protects the church's witness. Now think of this. We claim we want to be a witness and we want to evangelize. I hear this a lot. If we don't have unity and we don't exemplify that unity in church life, our witness will be shattered.

I don't think there's any shortcuts. We either work at unity, we work at eliminating envy from our personal lives, we work at loving one another, building one another up, and having unity, and that charity that people see as our witness. Unity protects the church's witness. Envy leads to schisms and heresy. Unity preserves the church as Christ's flock.

One fold, one shepherd. John 10:16. In unity, the church reflects the love of Christ, not the division that Satan wants. He wants everyone to be independent. If he has everyone independent, his kingdom is one. The church's unity resolves envy by this. Healing division with peace and brotherly love, turning compassion into mutual rejoicing together. Replacing pride with humility. Everything we do, rooting it in charity. Once again, Christ cut off the envy at the root.

When his disciples asked, "Who was the greatest?" Whoever is the least among you shall be great. Paul also, once again, warns us, "Let us cast away strife and jealousy and put on the armor of light." To envy is to walk in darkness, but to love is to walk in the light of Christ, who said, "I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." Christ calls his people sheep and lambs.

That's marked by innocence, simplicity, and humility. There isn't any other option. To take his name, to take the name of Christ, and yet live in envy is hypocrisy. The opposite of that, charity is patient. Charity is kind. Once again, what does charity not do? It doesn't envy. Envy leads one to despise God's gifts in others. You end up resisting or resenting God's generosity itself. The envious treat others' prosperity as their own misery. What should inspire joy becomes your torment. You hire your own executioner. And when we think of the mind, what's happening inside our mind, the corruption of the mind.

Envy enslaves the secret operations of thought, leaving no room for God's wisdom. The mind becomes ruled by bitterness instead of reason or faith. The beauty that I've seen in this article was when I realized that there's two kingdoms, light and darkness, envy and charity. And we as Christians, when we say we're going to follow Christ, we take on charity. And one of our most powerful things that we can do is build a church that we're preferring our brother and one and our brothers and sisters and one another. And I don't think we realize that that is the greatest.

The Bible's, help me out here. I'll soon draw a blank. It talks about the gates of hell should not prevail against us. So when you have the kingdom of Christ, the church that is growing in that unity is one of the ways that we combat envy in the world. Like it's always the, it's the cosmic battle between envy and charity. And in the church is where that is not only experienced, but where the battle happens.

First of all, with our own hearts, with envy, but then as how we relate to one another, it translates into unity. And that is the power. That is the witness. And if we don't capture that bigger picture of what's going on there, I think we'll lose sight of often what happens. And we look at, you know, you look at, they just sent me examples over the years of just relationship fallouts and church fallouts and marriage fallouts. And I look back at it, I'm like, at the root of this is envy. If we recognize that we are more susceptible to this than what I realized, than what I even understood. The final destiny of the believer, how we respond to each situation, how you respond to your spouse, to your children, to your neighbors, to your brothers and sisters will determine your destination.

Like your responses each day, the mundane ones, the boring ones, the people you live with in your house, it will determine your destination. To envy is to return to the devil, whom baptism renounces. So with baptism, you get a new start away from envy. And how you live from there on out will determine your destination between this cosmic battle. To love is to bear the heavenly image of Christ, it says in Colossians.

Consider, brethren, how great a plague envy is. It's the root of hatred, the source of discord, the seed of heresy, the destroyer of charity. It breaks the bond of peace. It despises the fear of God. It blinds the heart to truth. It's a gnawing worm of the soul, a rust of the heart, a plague without end. Other sins cease once committed. Envy endures without rest. It's relentless, but we can conquer it through charity and unity in the kingdom of his church. Cyprian says, "Those who live by the flesh, which he quotes, envy, die. And those who live by the spirit, charity, live as sons of God." Envy is not just a vice. It's a path to death.

Charity is not just a virtue. I think this is a cool, cool thought. It's a condition of your soul for eternal life in Christ. It's your condition. So my goal was simple today, hoping to show envy as a root sin that we all have to face and recognize. It's the way to life eternal.

And it's through charity. Charity through unity of the church is the only cure. There's no shortcut. I think that's a beautiful thought. We can conquer it through unity and through charity.