Illus: It is said that jealousy started in the Garden of Eden.
That is,
• Eve accused Adam of having another woman in his life.
• Adam's reply was, "Don't be ridiculous. You know you are the only woman on this earth in my life!“
• Eve seemed pacified, but that night Eve waited until Adam was asleep and she reached over and counted his ribs.
Speaking of jealousy did you know that the Lord un-ashamedly admits that He is a jealous God.
Look at Exodus 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me
God’s admission of jealousy is something that most of us would be ashamed to admit.
This admission of God being a jealous God doesn’t sit well with us because we have a better opinion of God than for Him to be a jealous God.
Let’s talk about WHY God tells us He is a jealous God.
In this sermon I want to talk to you about three kinds of jealousy:
• The dark side of jealousy
• The desireable side of jealousy
• The divine side of jealousy
Let’s look first at…
I.THE DARK SIDE OF JEALOUSY
From what we know of jealousy we think of jealousy in a negative way.
For example we see jealousy today in three kinds of relationships. Some of the relationships we are familiar with are:
1) Boy-girl jealousy
2) Sibling jealousy
3) A friend’s jealousy
We see jealousy demonstrated in these relationships frequently in a negative way and we can not help but conclude that all jealousy is bad.
For example, If I was to ask someone in this congregation are you a jealous individual?
They would might state, “There is not a jealous bone in my body!”
But the reason you would respond to that question like that is because perhaps you do not understand that:
• There is a BAD SIDE TO JEALOUSY
• There is a GOOD SIDE TO JEALOUSY.
Let me demonstrate that in this way, for example:
• Just as there is a BRIGHT SIDE and a DARK SIDE to anger.
• There is also a BRIGHT SIDE and a DARK SIDE TO JEALOUSY.
For example:
• The DARK SIDE to anger is that many have gotten angry, and have done things they would not have done had they not been angry.
• For the BRIGHT SIDE to anger is that when it comes to politics we will get so angry with bad politicians that we will go to the polls and vote bad polictians out of office and vote good politicians in office.
There is a GOOD SIDE and BAD SIDE TO ANGER that is why God’s Word tells us BE YE ANGRY AND SIN NOT!
There is a GOOD SIDE and BAD SIDE to jealousy.
Illus: Speaking of jealousy as good makes me think of the man standing outside of Walmart. His wife had been in there for hours and he decided it was time for her to come out.
And he knew exactly what it would take to get her to come out!!!
• He saw this beautiful woman and he asked her will you talk to me for a few minutes and act like you are enjoying talking to me.
• She said why?
• He said because my wife has been in the store for hours and if she looks out and see me talking to a beautiful woman she will be out in no time!
You see, anger and jealousy has a BRIGHT SIDE and a DARK SIDE.
WHY DOES GOD DECLARE THAT HE IS A JEALOUS GOD?
• Was it because He felt inferior to the other gods that Israel worshipped and served?
• Was it because He felt insecure?
No! It was because the reason the Lord commanded Israel not to serve other gods was because He LOVED THEM.
It was a time when POLYGAMY was rampant and God did not want His people worshipping and serving other gods because He was a jealous God!!!
Look at Exodus 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.
Did you know that LOVE ALWAYS PRECEDS JEALOUSY!!! ALWAYS!
For you to say of yourself that there is not a jealous bone in your body you are actually saying I DO NOT LOVE ANYONE!
WHY? BECAUSE LOVE ALWAYS PRECEDES JEALOUSY!!!
Illus: A lady was talking to her pastor about her husband. She told her pastor that her husband does not love her.
• Here is how she knew he did not love her?
• She said to the pastor a man could walk up to her and could kiss her on the lips in front of him and he would not say a thing.
The reason God told Israel that He was a jealous God was because He loved them.
He is saying to Israel He has her staked out for him only!!!
Illus: Dr. George Morrison said, "Jealousy is the shadow cast by love."
It is because He loved Israel that He forbade them to worship other gods.
Illus: One jealous wife vowed to kill her husband if she ever found him with another woman. Then one day she did see him with another woman, but before she had a chance to kill him, he fled.
A couple of days later he was walking by the road and was hit by a car.
The car was gone when the police arrived.
• The officer asked the nearly dead man, “Did you get the license number?”
• He said, “No, but I know who did it. It was my wife, I would recognize her laugh anywhere.”
Jealousy will motivate people.
We have looked at THE DARK SIDE OF JEALOUSY but now let’s look at . . .
II. THE DESIRABLE SIDE OF JEALOUSY
From the time we are a small child we have been taught that God loves us.
Illus: Remember that song we use to sing as a child, JESUS LOVES THE LITTLE CHILDREN, ALL THE CHILDREN OF THE WORLD. RED, YELLOW, BLACK AND WHITE THEY ARE PRECIOUS IN HIS SIGHT!
God our Creator loves us, but He wants us to love Him also!!! He wants a love relationship with Him.
Illus: Most of us, have seen some of these little doll babies that the toy companies make. As these young girls hold these dolls in their arms, and these words come from a mechanism inside the play doll baby when tilted that say; “I love you!”
God could have created us to be like that if He chose to do so!
But God loves us and He wants us to love Him!!!
And Love is only REAL when it is FREELY GIVEN!
Illus: Nothing can take the place of a child jumping in their parents lap and freely saying, I LOVE YOU!
We all have to fight jealousy…don’t we? It is in our DNA!
We know a great deal about the WRONG KIND OF JEALOUSY.
Illus: There is a fable of an eagle which could out fly another, and the other didn’t like it. The latter saw a sportsman one day, and said to him:
• I wish you would bring down that eagle.
• The sportsman replied that he would if he only had some feathers to put into the arrow.
• So the eagle pulled one out of his wing. The arrow was shot, but didn’t quite reach the rival eagle; it was flying too high.
• The envious eagle pulled out more feathers, and kept pulling them out until he lost so many that he couldn’t fly, and then the sportsman turned around and killed him.
My friend, if you are jealous, the only man you can hurt is yourself.
We all know something about BAD jealousy.
Now I do not see anyone scratching their head saying, WHAT IS HE TALKING ABOUT?
You know exactly what I am talking about. We all have to deal with jealousy in our life.
Jealousy is not ENVY, we use the two inter-changeable, but they are not the same.
For example it is envy when:
• Someone get a promotion they wanted but did not get it.
• It may be that someone is jealous of a person that got a new home or car they wish they could afford to buy.
This is ENVY, not jealousy!!!
• You see, you can envy someone and not love them!!!
• But you can not be jealous of someone without loving them!!!
Illus: Dr. Gary Collins, in Homemade, July, 1985 stated, there is a distinction between jealousy and envy.
To envy is to want something which belongs to another person. "You shall not covet your neighbor's house, his wife or his servant, his ox or donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor."
Jealousy is the fear that something which we possess will be taken away by another person. Although jealousy can apply to our jobs, our possessions, or our reputations, the word more often refers to anxiety which comes when we are afraid that the affections of a loved one might be lost to a rival.
We fear that our mates, or perhaps our children, will be lured away by some other person who, when compared to us, seems to be more attractive, capable and successful.”
God loved Israel. He brought them out of the bondage of Pharoah and brought them into the promise land and in that age of POLYGAMY where people served many gods, He tells them I am a jealous God, YOU BELONG TO ME, do not put any other gods before me.
Look again at Exodus 20:3-5, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me."
HOW CAN WE APPLY THIS TO OUR LIVES?
Today’s gods may not be fashioned out of wood, or stone, but our gods take on other forms, such as:
• Sports is probably the number one god in America. Each week stadiums are packed with those who love and worship football, Soccer, baseball and basketball.
• Money is a god that many serve today. Seven days a week all that is on their mind is the almighty dollar.
Illus: Someone pointed out that we have, "In God we trust," printed on our coins, but that we should hold them up and say, "THIS GOD we trust."
The Bible makes it clear anytime we bow to any kind of statue of wood or marble, God is jealous of us putting that idol before Him.
Why?
That statue did not create us, God almighty created us. But yet when we bow to serve the gods of this world we are insulting God with these gods we serve.
God forbids us to place any of these gods ahead of Him!!! Because He said, "...FOR I THE LORD THY GOD AM A JEALOUS GOD."
We’ve looked at:
I. THE DARKSIDE OF JEALOUSY
II. The DESIRABLE SIDE OF JEALOUSY
Now let us look at…
III. THE DEVINE SIDE OF JEALOUSY
God's jealousy is certainly not the result of His feeling insecure.
It is the outgrowth of a…
A. LOVE THAT WILL NOT TOLERATE A RIVAL
God will not share His love for us with another. He carefully maintains and protects what is His.
In Ezekiel 39:25 God says, “I will be jealous for My holy Name;”
In Zechariah 1:14 He declares, “I am jealous for Jerusalem with a great jealousy.”
God is possessive of us, for good reason. He made us, and we are His.
When we rely on anything other than God, we are committing spiritual adultery.
Illus: Like a husband, God expects fidelity from us; we show our commitment by being faithful to Him. To praise God as King of the ages is to deny the claims of anybody else to ultimate kingship.
All sins are the result of putting other gods on the throne in our life.
When God’s love captivates us, we spurn all our other lovers.
If God did not care if you put all these false gods in your life, it would mean that God does not love you.
It is because He loves us that He will not allow us to have any rivals in our life.
Look at our text again. God makes it clear that, as His people; we have been "STAKED OFF" and He will not tolerate any rivals.
Illus: We all have driven down the road and seen signs in large letters that said, "NO TRESPASSING." That means that the general public has no right putting one foot on that property. Do not cross this line because if you do you might get shot!!!
In the first of the Ten Commandments, God wanted the children of Israel to know that they belonged to Him, and He did not want them to have any gods in their life because He is JEALOUS GOD.
God’s love is a love that will not allow any rivals…He wanted Israel to know that He is a jealous God.
God’s love is a love that…
B. WILL NOT TOLERATE REJECTION
As we come to the close of this message dealing with God being a jealous God, look at the two verses that precede the first commandment, which tell us that God is a jealous God.
Look once again at verses 3-5 as we read again, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me."
WHAT WILL HAPPENED IF WE HAVE OTHER GODS IN OUR LIFE?
What does God's Word say will happen?
The Bible says, “For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me."
Suppose you choose to have other gods in your life. You can do this, but as you do, your family and friends will know that the god of your life is not the true and living God.
You can choose to do this, but you and your family will suffer from that decision you made with your life.
One of the reasons we live in this sinful world today, is because dads and moms served these other gods, and now their children are doing the same thing.
Listen, when it comes to JEALOUSY:
• A jealous boy or girl is a dangerous person
• A jealous husband or wife is a dangerous person
But, I submit to you, there is no love as great as God's love and there is no jealousy is as strong and as dangerous as God's JEALOUSY.
God is telling them that He is a jealous God, and when they commit spiritual adultery with the gods of this world, He will not tolerate REJECTION!
Notice, this REJECTION will affect them and their children down to the third and fourth generations.
Conclusion:
GOD IS A JEALOUS GOD. If you do not know that, then you do not know the God of the Bible.
For those who are willing to show their love for God by placing Him first in their lives, look at the promise He makes, in Exodus 20:6, "And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments."
Do you want God's MERCY? Then love God enough to make Him God of your life.
When it comes to jealousy, we have looked at…
I. THE DARK SIDE OF JEALOUSY
II. THE DESIRABLE SIDE OF JEALOUSY
III. THE DIVINE SIDE OF JEALOUSY
