Introduction:

On one occasion, in the 80's, my parents took myself and a friend to Opryland in

Nashville, TN. That is now the location where Opry Mills Mall now sits. They paved

paradise and put up a mall. We came across the bumper car ride and my friend and I

were measured to see if we could drive the bumper cars. At the entrance of the ride

there always stood an attendant with a stick to see if you were tall enough enter the

ride. He was tall enough drive a bumper car, I was only tall enough to ride in car while

one of my parents drove. We went on the ride and inside of me welled up a plethora of

emotions as I saw my friend drive the bumper car around the arena. Covetousness,

Envy, Greed, Anger, and Malice. As we exited the ride I went up to my friend and

punched him as hard as I could in his shoulder. I was Jealous.

We all have dealt with jealousy. When I was given the task of teaching Sunday school a

few weeks ago Lee told me to teach on whatever I wanted. I must say that the idea was

daunting. At that time Lee was preaching through the book of Deuteronomy and I

admired the ability of Moses not to be jealous of Joshua as the leadership of Israel

passed to him right before Israel entered the promised land. To be honest, the sin of

unjust jealous is one of which I have struggled. Todays lesson is not an attempt to be

comprehensive, but comes out of my own personal struggles as the Lord has dealt with

me from his Word with this sin. It does not take an introspective genius or a Sociology

doctorate to list that ways that this emotion attacks humanity. I know many of you may

be thinking, “Jealousy is a good emotion, God himself is jealous.” I agree. We were

talking about this subject in our small group the other night and one of the ladies asked

me if I was teaching on jealousy or envy. She stated that to her jealous was good. For

example, you can be jealous for your spouses affection. That is why I have titled this

lesson Jealousy: Just and Unjust. According to the Internet, envy and jealousy are

used synonymously in the English language. I understand that language is confusing.

There were some guys in the book of Genesis that decided to build a tower and the

result of sin had a consequence of great inconvenience. For our purposes here today I

think our title serves us well.

Jealousy is a vice, it can also be nice. You can be zealously jealous (vice) or you can

be jealously zealous (virtue). How is it a vice? For the couple that can not have

children, but see others doing so. For the man who works hard to make ends meet to

see others given financial riches. For the woman who defines herself as plain

comparing herself to others. This list could go on further. How is it nice? Are you

jealous for the purity and right treatment of your children? Do you desire justice to be

administered correctly for the sake of those close to you? Ultimately, are you jealous for

one true God to be glorified above all? What we will do today is identify and observe

jealousy, explore dangers of unjust jealousy, and conclude with the rewards of just

jealousy.

I. Jealousy identified, just and unjust

A. Vicious Jealousy

1. Envy-Galatians 5:26

2. Malice-I Peter 2:1

3. Greed-Matthew 6:19,24

4. Covetousness-Exodus 20:17

5. Lust-Matthew 5:27-30

6. Anger-Matthew 5:21-26

B. Virtuous Jealousy

1. Kingdom of God

2. Evangelism and Missions

3. Family Unit bringing glory to God (Mal. 4:6)

C. Divine Jealousy

1. God's desire for His Glory-Eziekel 36:32

2. God's ownership of all things-Psalm 24:1-2

II. Dangers of unjust jealousy

A. Danger to the body of Christ

• Context of the Book of Exodus matches the context of the church.

• Do not think that this body will escape sins of jealousy unless caution is taken!

• Believers being transparent helps aid in this danger being avoided.

B. Danger to the care of others

C. Danger to your own soul.

1. Matthew 6:22-23

2. Galatians 5:19-21

3. I Cor. 6:9-10

4. “If you give reign to this unbelieving sin of envy it could so take over your life

as to cause you to make shipwreck of faith and do you in in the end.”-John

Piper

III. Rewards of just jealousy

A. Satisfaction in Christ Alone

B. John Piper on Psalm 37

1. The wrongdoer whom we are envious of will “fade like the grass.” (2)

2. Trust in God results in “safe pasture” (3)

3. Trust (delight) in the Lord results in the desires of your heart. (4)

• This idea is juxtaposed to envy!

4. The Lord will act on our behalf (5-6)

5. The promises for the people of God are great! (9-11a, 16-17)

6. The promise of peace is for God's people (11b)