Jealous?

Jealousy and envy are insidious and persistent, showing up in unexpected places and at unexpected times.  Jealousy wasn’t there.  And then it was.  Even in church.  Among church leaders.  Among the faithful servants of God. 

Consider the story of Jesus in Matthew 20:1-16.

Workers arrive at the town marketplace looking for work; a landowner arrives a short time later needed workers for the day.  He hires a few, agreeing on the daily rate for their work, and they go to work.  A few hours later, needing more workers, he hires a few more who are waiting in the town center; they had nothing to do since no one hired them.  He doesn’t promise them the full wage for the day, but does promise them work and that he will give “whatever is right.”  Three more times throughout the day, the landowner does the same thing, even hiring some workers right before sunset — they might have only been able to work for an hour. 

All went to work for the master, trusting that he will give them at least something for their partial day of work.

And at the end of the day, when the owner settled up with all the workers, he gave them all the wage for a full day of work, though only a few worked the full day.  And those “all day” workers were indignant — “we worked all day through the scorching sun, and you treated even the one hour workers as equal to us!”  The complaint is indignant, self-righteous, prideful, and envious.  “They aren’t entitled to what we have (or should have).”

The owner rebuffs their complaint in several ways, but perhaps most penetratingly by asking, “Is your eye envious because I am generous?”

Are you envious?  Do you want what others have (in this case, wage without work)?  Or do you want to restrict others from receiving what you have (in this case, grace and generosity)?

Jesus applies the parable particularly to those who are serving Him:  “Can you be humble in your service of Me?”  “Can you rejoice both when you receive a gift of grace from the Lord, and when others also receive a gift (and seemingly a greater gift)?”  His questions echo what He taught the Twelve when His closest disciples complained about the ministry work done by an “outsider” (Lk. 9:49-50).

It is a reminder of the subtle temptations to envy that every servant in the church faces — can I be content with my role and reward among Christ’s people, no matter what others are doing for and receiving from Christ?  Can I resist envy and rejoice in their blessings?

Jerry Bridges has given us an explanation of envy that helps us understand the temptation:

“Envy is the painful and oftentimes resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by someone else. Sometimes we want that same advantage, leading to the further sin of covetousness. And sometimes we just resent the other person having something that we don’t have. But we don’t just envy people in general. Usually, there are two conditions that tempt us to envy. First, we tend to envy those with whom we most closely identify. Second, we tend to envy in them  the areas we value most.” [Bridges, Respectable Sins.]

Envy is an internal yearning that resents the ministry success of others.  We desire what they have.  We don’t want them to have what we have.  

Left unchecked, that jealousy will bring harm to the church and destroy the individual:

Edmund Spenser, the 16th century poet, is most famous for composing The Faerie Queene, an allegorical poem about the Christian life. In the first book, Spenser’s hero, the Red Cross Knight, encounters the seven deadly sins in the House of Pride. Envy is depicted as a man with cankered teeth, chewing on a venomous toad, poison running down his jaws. He wears a many-colored robe, rides upon a ravenous wolf, and hides a deadly snake close to his chest. Inwardly, he devours himself, weeping over the wealth of others and rejoicing in their misfortune. Envy grieves at the happiness of others and spews spiteful poison and abuse on those who practice faithful Christian obedience. [Joe Rigney, in Killjoys.]

Are you tempted to envy?  Recognize that your envy is a discontentment with what the Lord has given you.  It is anger against Him.  So repent of your anger, pride, and lack of contentment.  And cultivate humble contentment by intentionally praying for, thanking God, and rejoicing in the success of others (specifically, the ones of whom you are tempted to be jealous).  Celebrate the godly successes of other faithful servants, and your temptations to envy will begin to wane.     

Bibliothèque nationale de France, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.