The Envy Trap

not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. (James 3:14-17)

And Paul warned: The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21)

In other words, envy can make us unclean, unspiritual & even rob us of our salvation. It is not a desirable trait to have in our lives.

II. What lies at the heart of envy?
The heart of envy is the belief that we deserve better than we’ve got.

ILLUS: Jesus told a parable that went like this:
Matthew 20:1-16 "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard.
He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. "About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. "He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing.
About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ "‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. "He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’
"When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’ "The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius.
So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner.
‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’
"But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius?
Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ "So the last will be first, and the first will be last."

Did you catch what made the workers so mad? It wasn’t FAIR that people who worked less than they did got the same amount of money that they did.
It didn’t matter that they got what they had been promised.
It didn’t matter that the money was the landowner’s to spend however he pleased
Somehow, they DESERVED better, because the other workers had worked less than they had.

ILLUS: I recently attended a seminar on Estate Planning where they talked about “Revocable Living Trusts.” They’re kind of like a will but with some significant advantages.
The lawyer who presented the seminar told of an instance where a couple of sisters had come to his office to challenge the fact that their brother had received the family farm in their parents’ trust. The lawyer had seen this type of thing before, but he was still troubled by their greed.
“Do you know why your parents left the farm to your