Judge Your Jealousy
Habits of Happiness Part 3
Galatians 5:13-21
We all want to be happy.
I bet there is no single person who intentionally chooses to be unhappy.
However, so many people in this world are not happy for one reason or another.
In order to be happy, this is what we have to realize.
Happiness is our choice.
Happiness is something that we choose.
In order to be happy, we must do things that will bring happiness.
However, there are many who are not happy.
It is partly because of the way they think, the way they talk, and the way they act does not make them happy.
When people think negatively, talk critically, and act unbiblically, these are not something that they acquired overnight.
They are habits that they have built.
Therefore, in order to be happy, we must change the way we think, talk, and act.
We must build habits of thinking, talking, and acting biblically.
And we can form these habits by repeatedly doing them.
And today we will talk about the importance of judging our jealousy.
Why is it so important for us to overcome jealousy in order to be happy?
It is because jealousy leads to loneliness.
The Bible tells us to rejoice with those who rejoice and to mourn with those who mourn (Romans 12:15).
People who are consumed with jealously do just the opposite.
They rejoice when others mourn and they mourn when others rejoice.
In that way, jealousy is the loneliest of all vices.
It isolates us because everyone becomes our competitor.
It forces us to focus inward and makes us selfish.
When we become free from jealousy, we can be healthy and happy.
But every time we give in to jealousy, we move toward a never-ending cycle of comparison and unhappiness.
Look at the place where we work.
There are so much office politics and power struggles.
One division competes with another division.
One worker envies the other worker.
A whole company can be poisoned by jealousy.
What about the coworker who has an office down from you?
Is there jealous between you over salary or position?
Look at some churches.
Members fight to be recognized.
Pastors fight over popularity.
Look at some parents.
Parents become jealous when other kids do better than their kids.
If you do not believe me, go to some sport games and see how some parents behave.
Look at some families.
Jealousy seek to destroy the families.
It all began with Cain’s jealousy over Abel.
We saw the jealousy between Jacob and Esau.
In the New Testament, there is the older brother in the story of the Prodigal son.
And we see the disciples fighting over the superior position.
Jealousy is in every area of our lives.
However, unless we learn to overcome our feelings of jealousy, we can never be truly happy.
Then how can we overcome jealousy?
Paul gave us these three antidotes against jealousy.
I. We must renounce jealousy as sin (vv. 15, 19-21).
Verses 19-21 say this.
19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 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.
Some of us might think that jealousy is not that bad.
It is a normal human tendency.
However, that is not what the Bible says.
Paul listed serious sins in our lives, and he included envy or jealousy as one of those sins.
He listed it along with other sins; sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, drunkenness, and orgies.
In other words, in God’s sight, jealousy is as serious a sin as others.
Why?
We must understand how destructive jealousy can be.
First, jealousy can destroy others.
People lose their reputation or even their very lives because of someone else’s jealousy.
Others lose their jobs or opportunities.
We see some example of this in the Bible.
Cain killed his brother Abel because of his jealousy.
Jacob stole his brother’s birthright because of his jealousy.
Joseph’s brothers sold Joseph into slavery because of their jealousy.
King Saul tried to kill David out of jealousy.
Others in the king’s court were jealous of Daniel and threw Daniel in the lion’s den.
Jealousy can destroy others.
Second, jealousy can destroy the person who envies.
Cain killed his brother Abel because of his jealousy.
However, he destroyed himself in the process.
Jacob stole the birthright from his brother.
However, his jealousy sentenced him to years of wandering and hardship.
Joseph’s brothers sold Joseph because of their jealousy.
However, they suffered under the terrible burden of guilt for years.
King Saul tried to kill David out of jealousy.
However, the only life he destroyed was his own.
Others in the king’s court were jealous of Daniel and threw Daniel in the lion’s den.
But when he came out unharmed, they were thrown into the den and killed instantly.
Verse 15 says this.
If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
Jealousy ultimately destroys.
This is why in order to be happy, we must condemn jealousy as a serious sin.
Jealousy is not a normal human response.
It is not a personality trait that we are born with.
We must never blame social environment or upbringing.
The Bible never points to any of these factors to discuss jealousy.
Rather the Bible deals with it as sinful disobedience.
It is clear from the Bible that we must to face the sin of jealousy with deadly seriousness.
Jealousy is as serious as sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, drunkenness, and orgies.
We cannot dismiss jealousy as something that is not very serious.
We must renounce jealousy as sin.
II. We must live by the Spirit (vv. 16-18).
Verses 16-18 say this.
16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Jealousy comes from our flesh.
And our flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit.
Our flesh and our spirit are in conflict with each other.
Therefore, when we detect the feelings of jealousy, we must let the Spirit of God control us.
We must not evaluate our lives from the fleshly perspective but from God’s perspective.
But in order to do that what do we have to do?
Can we just say a magic prayer and God will just take over us?
No, it does not work like that.
Rather this is what we must do.
Jealousy implies that God has not given us everything we need.
If we live in the assurance that He has and will, we cannot be jealous.
Therefore, when we detect the feelings of jealousy, we should count the blessings of God that we have received.
Count the blessings of God and name them one by one.
When we do that, we will realize that God has showered us with countless blessings even though we do not deserve them.
We will be able to see the blessings in our lives from God’s perspective.
If we could only see the extent to which we are blessed, we would not be jealous of others.
Our attitude of thanksgiving is a strong antidote to the poison of jealousy.
We can see how it works in the Bible.
So many Psalms begin with the writer consumed with self-pity, anger, envy, or jealousy toward his enemies.
However, as he reviews God’s past blessings, God’s goodness today, and God’s promises for tomorrow, the writer closes his song on a totally different note.
Therefore, this is what we must do.
We must write a psalm of our own, based on our jealousy.
We must honestly say how we feel.
Then, after pouring out our heart feelings, review the goodness of God in our lives—past, present, and future.
After a few pages, I believe we will find our hearts changing.
Our resentment and anger will disappear.
Rather our hearts will be filled with gratitude toward God.
Gratitude transforms attitude.
We must learn to evaluate our lives from God’s perspective.
We must live our lives being led by the Spirit and not by the flesh.
III. We must do the actions of love (vv. 13-14).
Verses 13-14 say this.
13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
We must be freed from the feelings of jealousy that comes from our flesh.
Rather than being jealous, we should serve one another humbly in love.
First love God, and then let God fill us with His love, so that we can love our neighbor as ourselves.
This is how we can overcome jealousy.
What Paul is saying here is this:
Love and jealousy cannot co-exist.
Love repels jealousy away.
Therefore, love is the answer for our problem of jealousy.
But what if our love toward others has become cold as ice?
How do we rekindle it?
The answer is very simple.
We must go to God and fill ourselves with His love.
Only by experiencing the transforming work of God, can we be filled with His supernatural love.
His Spirit will give us His mind, His perspective, His loving attitude toward the people we would otherwise feel jealous of.
His perfect love drives out jealousy.
Jesus commanded us more than once to pray for our enemies.
It is because He knew that if would sincerely pray for our enemies, He will fill us with His love that we cannot hold on to the feelings jealousy.
The root of jealousy is deep and firmly entrenched.
However, if we want to drive it out, we must pray for the person that we feel jealous toward.
We must pray for that person whenever we feel the feelings of jealousy.
Then God will honor our desires and change our hearts.
He will fill us with His love.
Then we must do the action of love
Serve one another humbly in love.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Some people think we can measure our happiness by the number of people who serve us.
This is not true.
Rather we can measure our happiness by the number of people that we serve.
The more people that we serve, the happier we will be.
We must do the actions of love.
Conclusion
I acquired this habit many years ago.
Whenever I drive by churches, I pray for those churches.
“God, please bless this church, so that they can reach out to many people in this area.”
I pray for every church that I drive by.
I even pray for cult churches.
I pray, “God, please help them come to know the true God in Jesus Christ.”
I do not know how often God answered my prayers.
God only knows.
However, I know what those prayers are doing in my life.
God takes away jealousy toward other churches, and He fills my heart for the love for the people who do not know Jesus yet.
Do you have feelings of jealousy?
We must understand that it is a serious matter.
We must live by the Spirit.
We must do the actions of love.
When we learn to overcome our jealousy, we will avoid the pains of giving into our jealousy.
This is how we can build a habit of happiness.
