Ending Envy | The "S" Word | Trinity Sermons

Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity

Sermons. This week we are continuing our sermon

series on the S -word as we talk about the sin

of envy. Envy is one of those things that is

just always coming up in our lives. We're thinking,

you know, I want what they have. That thing looks

super cool. If I just had that, my life would

be complete. But envy really just keeps us disappointed.

So tune in as Justin Stratus takes us through

the sin of envy and how we can ultimately only

find our fulfillment in God. Today's reading

is from James chapter 3, verses 13 to chapter

James 3:13

4, verse 5. Who is wise and understanding among

you? Let them show it by their good life, by

deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.

But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition

in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny

the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from

heaven, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.

For where you have envy and selfish ambition,

There you find a disorder and every evil practice.

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first

of all pure, then peace -loving, considerate,

submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial

and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap

a harvest of righteousness. What causes fights

and quarrels among you? Don't they come from

your desires that battle within you? You desire

but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you

cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and

fight. You do not have because you do not ask

God. When you ask, you do not receive because

you ask with wrong motives that you may spend

what you get on your pleasures. You adulterous

people, don't you know that friendship with the

world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone

who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes

an enemy of God. Or do you think scripture says

without reason that he jealously longs for the

spirit he has caused to dwell in us? The word

of the Lord. So hi, I'm Justin. I'm a guy that

goes to this church, but as you can see from

the jacket, I'm also the preacher this morning.

So let's pray, and we'll get into it. Lord, we

believe. Help thou our unbelief. Amen. Well,

as the video indicated, and as others have said,

this is the second Sunday. of a sermon series

on the seven deadly sins. And the sin that's

been assigned to me to talk about today is the

sin of envy. Which is really a shame because

I actually wanted to speak about pride. Unfortunately,

Rob gave himself that topic, which is not fair

at all. I mean, I really, really wanted that

topic, but Rob got it for himself. And so I'm

stuck talking about envy. I mean, seriously,

if I had Rob's topic, this would be an awesome

sermon. I'd be happier, you'd be happier, but

there it is. In any case, envy. So I do mean

to cover the topic of envy this morning. Although

as I was kind of preparing this sermon and studying

today's biblical passage from the epistle of

James, I discovered that James' message has so

much more for us than just a meditation on this.

particular sin. It's there, of course. It's mentioned

by name in chapter 3, verse 16, and again in

chapter 4, verse 2. But in order to understand

why envy is mentioned, where it comes from, and

how we ought to deal with it, I think it's important

to understand a bit about the context of this

letter and James's overall message. So I hope

you'll indulge me. as we spend some time thinking

with James about what God might have for us this

morning at Trinity. So the book of James. Church

tradition says that the author of this epistle

is James, the brother of Jesus. If you remember,

he's a guy who, after becoming a believer, ends

up running the Jewish community of Christians

in Jerusalem, kind of like a bishop. He shows

up again, for example, in the book of Acts, where

he ends up leading kind of a council after the

apostle Peter gives this controversial report

about non -Jewish people receiving the Holy Spirit.

Now, whether or not that James is the author

of this letter is not really that important.

What matters is that the author of this letter

is writing from the perspective of James. He's

a Jewish Christian leader. who's fighting for

peace in the church as the Jewish believers were

grappling with this kind of new reality of trying

to be faithful to Israel's God by following this

bloke, Jesus of Nazareth. And so as the first

verse of James says, this letter is written,

quote, to the 12 tribes scattered among the nations.

Jewish believers in Jesus who are living far

away from their home. So why did James write

this letter? Well, if you read the whole thing,

and I encourage you to do so, it's really a good

book. I don't know if you've read it recently,

but it's really interesting. If you read the

whole thing, it seems like the author had just

a ton of different things in mind, a kind of

smorgasbord of random topics. Things like living

through trials and temptations, struggling with

sin, the question of faith and deeds, favoritism

in the church, taming the tongue, quarreling

and dissension, matters of economic inequality,

and even prayer. But does he have kind of a main

idea, a main message, a central argument? Well,

I kind of think that he does. And let me explain

what I mean. The key in this letter, to my mind,

shows up in chapter one, verses 5 through 8,

which is the passage on the screen. There, James

says this, if any of you lacks wisdom, you should

ask God, who gives generously to all without

finding fault, and it will be given to you. But

when you ask, you must believe and not doubt,

because the one who doubts is like a wave of

the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person

should not expect to receive anything. from the

Lord. Such a person is double -minded and unstable

in all they do. Okay, so what does that mean?

Well, first let me tell you what it doesn't mean.

It doesn't mean that when you ask something from

God, you need to be a super awesome, perfect

Christian. Like your faith needs to be super

strong and impressive or else God's going to

sort of find you out and withhold all his blessings

from you. Anyone ever think that? I used to read

this passage and think that. Like I need to really

clench my hands together really tightly and really

mean it or else God's not going to give me what

I'm asking for. But that can't be what James

means. Because as we all know, none of us...

has that perfect kind of faith. And yet the Bible

still encourages us to pray, right? To approach

the throne of grace with confidence, as the author

to the book of Hebrews says. Now, what I think

James is saying is something like this. He's

saying, after you pray to God, you shouldn't

act like you never prayed in the first place.

After you pray to God, don't act like you never

prayed in the first place. In other words, you

shouldn't hedge your bets as a Christian. You

shouldn't ask God for something and then try

to get that thing secretly on your own, just

in case God really isn't up to the challenge.

That's what James calls being double -minded.

Which means acting like you're relying on God

to provide for you. But you're also trying to

get what you want using your own devices. It's

kind of like saying, God, I trust you to provide

for all my material needs. But I'm also going

to keep playing the lottery every day, you know,

just in case. If you go that route, James says,

what you're really doing is you're putting like

a big target on your back. to be deceived by

the world, to be blown and tossed by the wind,

as he says. And this is a really, really important

point, particularly as regards the sin of envy.

Because envy, which is wanting what other people

have, is only activated when you're not relying

on God to give you what you need. It's like when

Peter... When he was walking on the water on

the Sea of Galilee, took his eyes off Christ

and focused instead on the wind and the waves.

That's when he fell. So what's this thing that

James is assuming his readers want? The thing

that he thinks they'll be tempted to seek on

their own rather than relying on God to provide

for them. Well, according to this passage that

I just read, that thing is wisdom. Everybody

wants wisdom. He's assuming his readers have

prayed for wisdom. Now remember, James is writing

to these fearful Jewish Christians that are scattered

throughout the Roman Empire. These were Christians

who could be persecuted at any moment. based

on the whims of whatever governor or emperor

happens to be in charge. These people are scared.

And so they wanted to make sure that they had

everything that they needed to navigate a dangerous

world. In other words, they wanted to know how

to be Christians in the smartest possible way,

and especially in light of their precarious social

situation. I don't need to convince you that

we, too, live in tumultuous times. We, too, want

to know how we should live as Christians in the

world. And maybe you, too, have asked God for

wisdom. I know I have. We've asked for God to

show us what faithfulness to Christ actually

looks like in a time like this. Do you keep your

mouth shut? Do you speak out loud? Do you serve

others? Do you focus on your family? What do

you do? You want wisdom for figuring out how

you live now. But maybe you're also scared. And

so at the same time that you're asking God for

help, maybe you're also kind of hoping that...

politician X or Y, or maybe some amount of money

might also give you the sense of peace and security

that you really want. But again, James says,

you can't say that you're relying on God while

also relying on other stuff to save you. That's

what he calls being double -minded. It's hedging

your bets. And trying to trust both in God and

the world at the same time. When you do that,

James says, you've already demonstrated where

your trust really is. And that's why you shouldn't

expect to receive anything from the Lord. So

that's the heart of the problem, I think, in

the book of James. This attempt to sort of have

it both ways. so to speak. Having it both ways

or trying to have it both ways is what generates

all the problems that the author deals with in

the rest of the letter. The mistreatment of the

poor, the preference for the rich, the slander

and the cursing and the envy. It all comes, James

says, from trying to have your feet in both camps

at the same time. So what James is trying to

get his readers to understand is this. If you

really truly believe in Christ, it's going to

change how you go about living your life in real

practical ways. So for example, you're not going

to kowtow to the rich in the hopes that when

the time comes and you need them, they'll take

care of you. Instead, you're going to take care

of people like widows and orphans, people that

can't give you anything. Because you've entrusted

yourself fully to God. You don't need to be worldly

wise. Because you believe that true wisdom comes

from God. That's what James actually means when

he famously says that faith without works is

dead. Because faith... isn't something that you

sort of possess, like an insurance policy that

you keep in your back pocket while you carry

on living just the way you did before you believed

in Christ. True faith means that you've pledged

your allegiance to a different sort of kingdom,

even when that allegiance makes you do things

that appear absolutely ridiculous to the world

that's watching you. And so we come to our passage

from chapter 3. a passage which also speaks about

a choice of allegiance. But again, it does so

in terms of a choice between two kinds of wisdom.

On the one hand, you have God's wisdom, wisdom

from above, as James puts it literally. On the

other hand, you have earthly wisdom, what we

might call wisdom from below. And you can't have

both. You can't have both wisdom from above and

wisdom from below. You have to choose. And so

James 3, 13 through 18 reads, Who is wise and

understanding among you? Let them show it by

their good life, by deeds done in the humility

that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter

envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, don't

boast about it or deny the truth. doesn't come

from heaven, but is earthly, unspiritual, and

demonic. For where you have envy and selfish

ambition, there you find disorder in every evil

practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven,

literally from above, is first of all pure, then

peace -loving, considerate, submissive, full

of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.

Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of

righteousness. Now here we see James' main concerns

in action. Again, he is presuming that his readers

have already asked God for help. Just like us,

they too want wisdom from God for how to live

their lives in hostile territory. And yet the

way their community is behaving, it seems like

God has not answered their prayers. Christians

are fighting. They're slandering each other.

They're showing favoritism to the rich and neglecting

the poor. So what's going on? Well, James says,

look at the evidence. There's obviously another

kind of factor at work here. It's not God's wisdom,

but the wisdom of the world, which he says is

earthly. unspiritual, and demonic. If God's wisdom

was in play, you'd be seeing a far different

situation. You'd be seeing peace, considerateness,

mutual submission, mercy, sincerity, and so on.

But as the great theologian Taylor Swift has

taught us, when you play stupid games, you win

stupid prizes. Now sing that song in your head.

If you try to succeed according to the wisdom

of the world, if you play stupid games, you're

not just getting the alleged good things the

world offers, the security, the success, the

power, the networks. You're also letting the

gods of the world in through the door at the

same time. And when the wisdom of the world is

just given free reign, you don't get peace and

mercy. What you get is disorder and every evil

practice. The world's promising you peace and

mercy, but the fruit that comes from that harvest

is disorder. So where did the problem come from?

How did this all start? Who let the dogs in,

I guess? The problem is, is this. We desire the

wrong things. We desire the wrong things. And

that's really what sin actually is. No one sins

because they think it's going to hurt them. We

sin because we think wrongly that sin is desirable.

That sin is good. Now hear me on this point,

right? This isn't an intellectual problem. It's

a moral failing. It's not that we don't know

something. It's that we can't act on what we

know. Our desires are messed up. Think of what

the Apostle Paul says famously in Romans 7. For

in my inner being, he says, I delight in God's

law. I know what I'm supposed to do. But I see

another law at work in me, waging war against

the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of

the law of sin at work within me. With apologies

to Jiminy Cricket, which is a really relevant

contemporary cultural reference, with apologies

to Jiminy Cricket, What this means is we actually

can't let our consciences be our guide. According

to scripture, your conscience is kind of like

a broken compass. You're relying on it to point

you north, but it ends up sending you south instead.

You can't rely on it. Likewise, we assume that

what we desire is good for us, when in truth

we can't. trust ourselves to pick out right from

wrong or good from bad. In other words, we don't

just sin, we are sinners. And that's why we need

God. God is the one who in Christ and by the

Spirit promises to show us what is good, even

though pursuing good will never quite feel right

to us. See, James is trying to help us realize

that Christians aren't better than other people

because they have something. Whether you call

that faith or salvation or whatever. Christians

don't have something. Christians are people that

realize that they have nothing. And therefore

are relying on God to lead them in every aspect

of their lives at every moment. But again, James

says you can't play both sides. And so he goes

on in chapter 4, verse 4. You adulterous people.

Actually, a better translation might be you adulterous.

It's a reference to the book of Hosea, if you

know that book. You adulterous. Don't you know

that friendship with the world means enmity against

God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend

of the world becomes an enemy of God. I mean,

that's like a serious passage. To put it another

way, you can't desire what the world offers and

what God offers at the same time. You either

throw your lot in with God and let him heal your

moral compass, or you trust the world to give

you what you need to navigate life on your own.

But again, Christians do not hedge their bets.

James says Christians go all in on God, and so

that's what we need to do. So what does this

have to do with envy? Well, I'm glad you hypothetically

asked. So way back in the beginning of the sermon,

I said I was going to tell you what envy is,

where it comes from, and how we can counteract

its effects. And in the remaining couple of minutes,

I want to take a stab at this. Well, what is

envy? Well, as I said earlier, and as Megan said

earlier, envy simply means wanting what other

people have. Another way to translate the word

envy from Greek is covet, right? It's coveting.

It's more than that, though, especially in the

context of James. For James, Envy means wanting

what other people have specifically because you

think what other people have will make your life

complete. That what they, whoever they is, what

they have will make you safe and secure and happy.

But as James says, there's nothing on earth that

can provide such things. Remember, wisdom from

below causes dissension and fighting and evil

practice. What you really need is wisdom from

above. And only God can give you that. So that's

what envy is. Where does envy come from? Again,

I think we envy because of our faulty moral compass.

To be a sinner, means to desire all the wrong

things because we think that the wrong things

are actually the right things. And so I envy

others because I think that their status, their

money, their power, their possessions, maybe

even they themselves are what I need in order

to be okay. But these desires are symptoms of

a larger problem. And we need God to heal us

of the fundamental disorientation of our moral

compasses. So that's what envy is, where it comes

from, how do we stop being so envious? I think

James gives us a couple of ways of counteracting

this particular evil desire, but all of it basically

boils down to this. Humble yourselves in the

sight of the Lord. In other words, it means trusting

that God really does know what God is doing.

It means asking God for what you need and then

patiently waiting for God to provide. You don't

hedge your bets. You don't take out a worldly

insurance policy just in case God doesn't come

through. You leave it with God. And you trust

him to do what is right, both for you and for

your neighbor. And like Peter walking on the

windy seas of Galilee, we need to keep our eyes

on Jesus lest we fall. If we can do that, not

only as individuals, but also as a community

together, we can finally be freed from the tyranny

of our own sinful desires and A worldly system

that works precisely by exploiting those desires.

So I think a good place to end is by quoting

these words from the end of this epistle. And

I'll leave it at that. Be patient then, brothers

and sisters, until the Lord's coming. See how

the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable

crop. patiently waiting for the autumn and spring

rains. You too, be patient. Don't take out a

worldly insurance policy. Don't hedge your bets.

Ask the Lord for what you need. Then be patient

and stand firm because the Lord really is coming.

Amen. Thanks for listening to this week's episode

of Trinity Sermons. This sermon was recorded

at Trinity Church Streetsville on March 16th,

2025.