WEBVTT 00:00:04.360 --> 00:00:07.320 Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity 00:00:07.320 --> 00:00:10.980 Sermons. This week we are continuing our sermon 00:00:10.980 --> 00:00:14.140 series on the S -word as we talk about the sin 00:00:14.140 --> 00:00:18.579 of envy. Envy is one of those things that is 00:00:18.579 --> 00:00:21.260 just always coming up in our lives. We're thinking, 00:00:21.399 --> 00:00:24.839 you know, I want what they have. That thing looks 00:00:24.839 --> 00:00:27.379 super cool. If I just had that, my life would 00:00:27.379 --> 00:00:31.379 be complete. But envy really just keeps us disappointed. 00:00:32.280 --> 00:00:35.479 So tune in as Justin Stratus takes us through 00:00:35.479 --> 00:00:39.539 the sin of envy and how we can ultimately only 00:00:39.539 --> 00:00:46.280 find our fulfillment in God. Today's reading 00:00:46.280 --> 00:00:50.520 is from James chapter 3, verses 13 to chapter 00:00:50.520 --> 00:00:56.700 4, verse 5. Who is wise and understanding among 00:00:56.700 --> 00:01:00.490 you? Let them show it by their good life, by 00:01:00.490 --> 00:01:04.189 deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 00:01:04.829 --> 00:01:08.969 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition 00:01:08.969 --> 00:01:13.049 in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny 00:01:13.049 --> 00:01:17.310 the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from 00:01:17.310 --> 00:01:21.469 heaven, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 00:01:22.269 --> 00:01:26.109 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, 00:01:26.760 --> 00:01:30.420 There you find a disorder and every evil practice. 00:01:31.040 --> 00:01:35.159 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first 00:01:35.159 --> 00:01:39.079 of all pure, then peace -loving, considerate, 00:01:39.099 --> 00:01:43.659 submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial 00:01:43.659 --> 00:01:48.920 and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap 00:01:48.920 --> 00:01:54.079 a harvest of righteousness. What causes fights 00:01:54.079 --> 00:01:57.219 and quarrels among you? Don't they come from 00:01:57.219 --> 00:02:01.819 your desires that battle within you? You desire 00:02:01.819 --> 00:02:06.760 but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you 00:02:06.760 --> 00:02:09.960 cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and 00:02:09.960 --> 00:02:14.460 fight. You do not have because you do not ask 00:02:14.460 --> 00:02:18.520 God. When you ask, you do not receive because 00:02:18.520 --> 00:02:22.879 you ask with wrong motives that you may spend 00:02:22.879 --> 00:02:27.090 what you get on your pleasures. You adulterous 00:02:27.090 --> 00:02:30.150 people, don't you know that friendship with the 00:02:30.150 --> 00:02:35.110 world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone 00:02:35.110 --> 00:02:38.530 who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes 00:02:38.530 --> 00:02:43.069 an enemy of God. Or do you think scripture says 00:02:43.069 --> 00:02:47.310 without reason that he jealously longs for the 00:02:47.310 --> 00:02:51.169 spirit he has caused to dwell in us? The word 00:02:51.169 --> 00:02:56.009 of the Lord. So hi, I'm Justin. I'm a guy that 00:02:56.009 --> 00:02:57.750 goes to this church, but as you can see from 00:02:57.750 --> 00:03:00.330 the jacket, I'm also the preacher this morning. 00:03:01.789 --> 00:03:10.990 So let's pray, and we'll get into it. Lord, we 00:03:10.990 --> 00:03:19.050 believe. Help thou our unbelief. Amen. Well, 00:03:19.189 --> 00:03:21.789 as the video indicated, and as others have said, 00:03:21.870 --> 00:03:24.900 this is the second Sunday. of a sermon series 00:03:24.900 --> 00:03:28.580 on the seven deadly sins. And the sin that's 00:03:28.580 --> 00:03:31.000 been assigned to me to talk about today is the 00:03:31.000 --> 00:03:35.419 sin of envy. Which is really a shame because 00:03:35.419 --> 00:03:39.439 I actually wanted to speak about pride. Unfortunately, 00:03:39.919 --> 00:03:43.479 Rob gave himself that topic, which is not fair 00:03:43.479 --> 00:03:45.699 at all. I mean, I really, really wanted that 00:03:45.699 --> 00:03:48.560 topic, but Rob got it for himself. And so I'm 00:03:48.560 --> 00:03:53.280 stuck talking about envy. I mean, seriously, 00:03:53.379 --> 00:03:56.219 if I had Rob's topic, this would be an awesome 00:03:56.219 --> 00:03:58.800 sermon. I'd be happier, you'd be happier, but 00:03:58.800 --> 00:04:04.879 there it is. In any case, envy. So I do mean 00:04:04.879 --> 00:04:08.620 to cover the topic of envy this morning. Although 00:04:08.620 --> 00:04:11.379 as I was kind of preparing this sermon and studying 00:04:11.379 --> 00:04:14.360 today's biblical passage from the epistle of 00:04:14.360 --> 00:04:18.779 James, I discovered that James' message has so 00:04:18.779 --> 00:04:21.579 much more for us than just a meditation on this. 00:04:22.279 --> 00:04:25.720 particular sin. It's there, of course. It's mentioned 00:04:25.720 --> 00:04:29.620 by name in chapter 3, verse 16, and again in 00:04:29.620 --> 00:04:33.980 chapter 4, verse 2. But in order to understand 00:04:33.980 --> 00:04:38.720 why envy is mentioned, where it comes from, and 00:04:38.720 --> 00:04:41.300 how we ought to deal with it, I think it's important 00:04:41.300 --> 00:04:44.459 to understand a bit about the context of this 00:04:44.459 --> 00:04:49.480 letter and James's overall message. So I hope 00:04:49.480 --> 00:04:52.120 you'll indulge me. as we spend some time thinking 00:04:52.120 --> 00:04:55.740 with James about what God might have for us this 00:04:55.740 --> 00:05:01.079 morning at Trinity. So the book of James. Church 00:05:01.079 --> 00:05:04.259 tradition says that the author of this epistle 00:05:04.259 --> 00:05:08.420 is James, the brother of Jesus. If you remember, 00:05:08.720 --> 00:05:12.480 he's a guy who, after becoming a believer, ends 00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:16.180 up running the Jewish community of Christians 00:05:16.180 --> 00:05:20.139 in Jerusalem, kind of like a bishop. He shows 00:05:20.139 --> 00:05:23.220 up again, for example, in the book of Acts, where 00:05:23.220 --> 00:05:26.420 he ends up leading kind of a council after the 00:05:26.420 --> 00:05:28.740 apostle Peter gives this controversial report 00:05:28.740 --> 00:05:32.079 about non -Jewish people receiving the Holy Spirit. 00:05:33.540 --> 00:05:36.939 Now, whether or not that James is the author 00:05:36.939 --> 00:05:38.980 of this letter is not really that important. 00:05:39.139 --> 00:05:42.199 What matters is that the author of this letter 00:05:42.199 --> 00:05:46.420 is writing from the perspective of James. He's 00:05:46.420 --> 00:05:49.839 a Jewish Christian leader. who's fighting for 00:05:49.839 --> 00:05:53.560 peace in the church as the Jewish believers were 00:05:53.560 --> 00:05:57.079 grappling with this kind of new reality of trying 00:05:57.079 --> 00:06:01.360 to be faithful to Israel's God by following this 00:06:01.360 --> 00:06:06.259 bloke, Jesus of Nazareth. And so as the first 00:06:06.259 --> 00:06:09.399 verse of James says, this letter is written, 00:06:09.439 --> 00:06:13.639 quote, to the 12 tribes scattered among the nations. 00:06:15.990 --> 00:06:18.509 Jewish believers in Jesus who are living far 00:06:18.509 --> 00:06:23.889 away from their home. So why did James write 00:06:23.889 --> 00:06:27.269 this letter? Well, if you read the whole thing, 00:06:27.329 --> 00:06:29.790 and I encourage you to do so, it's really a good 00:06:29.790 --> 00:06:31.470 book. I don't know if you've read it recently, 00:06:31.569 --> 00:06:34.170 but it's really interesting. If you read the 00:06:34.170 --> 00:06:36.449 whole thing, it seems like the author had just 00:06:36.449 --> 00:06:38.610 a ton of different things in mind, a kind of 00:06:38.610 --> 00:06:41.949 smorgasbord of random topics. Things like living 00:06:41.949 --> 00:06:44.750 through trials and temptations, struggling with 00:06:44.750 --> 00:06:47.800 sin, the question of faith and deeds, favoritism 00:06:47.800 --> 00:06:50.339 in the church, taming the tongue, quarreling 00:06:50.339 --> 00:06:53.519 and dissension, matters of economic inequality, 00:06:53.560 --> 00:06:58.040 and even prayer. But does he have kind of a main 00:06:58.040 --> 00:07:03.560 idea, a main message, a central argument? Well, 00:07:03.579 --> 00:07:06.720 I kind of think that he does. And let me explain 00:07:06.720 --> 00:07:12.740 what I mean. The key in this letter, to my mind, 00:07:12.759 --> 00:07:15.410 shows up in chapter one, verses 5 through 8, 00:07:15.490 --> 00:07:18.709 which is the passage on the screen. There, James 00:07:18.709 --> 00:07:22.069 says this, if any of you lacks wisdom, you should 00:07:22.069 --> 00:07:25.689 ask God, who gives generously to all without 00:07:25.689 --> 00:07:29.649 finding fault, and it will be given to you. But 00:07:29.649 --> 00:07:31.970 when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, 00:07:32.110 --> 00:07:36.269 because the one who doubts is like a wave of 00:07:36.269 --> 00:07:41.730 the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person 00:07:41.730 --> 00:07:45.100 should not expect to receive anything. from the 00:07:45.100 --> 00:07:49.519 Lord. Such a person is double -minded and unstable 00:07:49.519 --> 00:07:54.560 in all they do. Okay, so what does that mean? 00:07:55.720 --> 00:07:58.839 Well, first let me tell you what it doesn't mean. 00:07:59.800 --> 00:08:03.279 It doesn't mean that when you ask something from 00:08:03.279 --> 00:08:06.300 God, you need to be a super awesome, perfect 00:08:06.300 --> 00:08:09.860 Christian. Like your faith needs to be super 00:08:09.860 --> 00:08:13.379 strong and impressive or else God's going to 00:08:13.379 --> 00:08:17.160 sort of find you out and withhold all his blessings 00:08:17.160 --> 00:08:19.939 from you. Anyone ever think that? I used to read 00:08:19.939 --> 00:08:21.899 this passage and think that. Like I need to really 00:08:21.899 --> 00:08:25.740 clench my hands together really tightly and really 00:08:25.740 --> 00:08:27.920 mean it or else God's not going to give me what 00:08:27.920 --> 00:08:30.560 I'm asking for. But that can't be what James 00:08:30.560 --> 00:08:34.899 means. Because as we all know, none of us... 00:08:35.340 --> 00:08:39.860 has that perfect kind of faith. And yet the Bible 00:08:39.860 --> 00:08:43.340 still encourages us to pray, right? To approach 00:08:43.340 --> 00:08:46.120 the throne of grace with confidence, as the author 00:08:46.120 --> 00:08:50.059 to the book of Hebrews says. Now, what I think 00:08:50.059 --> 00:08:52.879 James is saying is something like this. He's 00:08:52.879 --> 00:08:57.700 saying, after you pray to God, you shouldn't 00:08:57.700 --> 00:09:00.179 act like you never prayed in the first place. 00:09:01.740 --> 00:09:04.720 After you pray to God, don't act like you never 00:09:04.720 --> 00:09:07.279 prayed in the first place. In other words, you 00:09:07.279 --> 00:09:12.919 shouldn't hedge your bets as a Christian. You 00:09:12.919 --> 00:09:16.580 shouldn't ask God for something and then try 00:09:16.580 --> 00:09:19.980 to get that thing secretly on your own, just 00:09:19.980 --> 00:09:23.019 in case God really isn't up to the challenge. 00:09:25.100 --> 00:09:27.960 That's what James calls being double -minded. 00:09:28.970 --> 00:09:31.710 Which means acting like you're relying on God 00:09:31.710 --> 00:09:35.049 to provide for you. But you're also trying to 00:09:35.049 --> 00:09:38.250 get what you want using your own devices. It's 00:09:38.250 --> 00:09:41.429 kind of like saying, God, I trust you to provide 00:09:41.429 --> 00:09:45.669 for all my material needs. But I'm also going 00:09:45.669 --> 00:09:48.730 to keep playing the lottery every day, you know, 00:09:48.730 --> 00:09:54.110 just in case. If you go that route, James says, 00:09:54.190 --> 00:09:56.330 what you're really doing is you're putting like 00:09:56.330 --> 00:10:00.100 a big target on your back. to be deceived by 00:10:00.100 --> 00:10:03.440 the world, to be blown and tossed by the wind, 00:10:03.460 --> 00:10:07.720 as he says. And this is a really, really important 00:10:07.720 --> 00:10:10.980 point, particularly as regards the sin of envy. 00:10:11.840 --> 00:10:15.320 Because envy, which is wanting what other people 00:10:15.320 --> 00:10:20.259 have, is only activated when you're not relying 00:10:20.259 --> 00:10:24.120 on God to give you what you need. It's like when 00:10:24.120 --> 00:10:27.120 Peter... When he was walking on the water on 00:10:27.120 --> 00:10:29.120 the Sea of Galilee, took his eyes off Christ 00:10:29.120 --> 00:10:32.539 and focused instead on the wind and the waves. 00:10:32.600 --> 00:10:40.220 That's when he fell. So what's this thing that 00:10:40.220 --> 00:10:45.500 James is assuming his readers want? The thing 00:10:45.500 --> 00:10:47.779 that he thinks they'll be tempted to seek on 00:10:47.779 --> 00:10:51.840 their own rather than relying on God to provide 00:10:51.840 --> 00:10:56.350 for them. Well, according to this passage that 00:10:56.350 --> 00:11:01.529 I just read, that thing is wisdom. Everybody 00:11:01.529 --> 00:11:05.509 wants wisdom. He's assuming his readers have 00:11:05.509 --> 00:11:12.110 prayed for wisdom. Now remember, James is writing 00:11:12.110 --> 00:11:16.070 to these fearful Jewish Christians that are scattered 00:11:16.070 --> 00:11:19.149 throughout the Roman Empire. These were Christians 00:11:19.149 --> 00:11:22.279 who could be persecuted at any moment. based 00:11:22.279 --> 00:11:24.559 on the whims of whatever governor or emperor 00:11:24.559 --> 00:11:29.059 happens to be in charge. These people are scared. 00:11:30.080 --> 00:11:32.220 And so they wanted to make sure that they had 00:11:32.220 --> 00:11:35.460 everything that they needed to navigate a dangerous 00:11:35.460 --> 00:11:38.840 world. In other words, they wanted to know how 00:11:38.840 --> 00:11:41.940 to be Christians in the smartest possible way, 00:11:42.039 --> 00:11:46.220 and especially in light of their precarious social 00:11:46.220 --> 00:11:50.970 situation. I don't need to convince you that 00:11:50.970 --> 00:11:56.649 we, too, live in tumultuous times. We, too, want 00:11:56.649 --> 00:11:58.970 to know how we should live as Christians in the 00:11:58.970 --> 00:12:02.769 world. And maybe you, too, have asked God for 00:12:02.769 --> 00:12:06.509 wisdom. I know I have. We've asked for God to 00:12:06.509 --> 00:12:10.029 show us what faithfulness to Christ actually 00:12:10.029 --> 00:12:14.620 looks like in a time like this. Do you keep your 00:12:14.620 --> 00:12:17.539 mouth shut? Do you speak out loud? Do you serve 00:12:17.539 --> 00:12:19.720 others? Do you focus on your family? What do 00:12:19.720 --> 00:12:23.120 you do? You want wisdom for figuring out how 00:12:23.120 --> 00:12:32.879 you live now. But maybe you're also scared. And 00:12:32.879 --> 00:12:35.779 so at the same time that you're asking God for 00:12:35.779 --> 00:12:39.820 help, maybe you're also kind of hoping that... 00:12:40.540 --> 00:12:44.100 politician X or Y, or maybe some amount of money 00:12:44.100 --> 00:12:48.059 might also give you the sense of peace and security 00:12:48.059 --> 00:12:54.179 that you really want. But again, James says, 00:12:54.419 --> 00:12:58.799 you can't say that you're relying on God while 00:12:58.799 --> 00:13:04.039 also relying on other stuff to save you. That's 00:13:04.039 --> 00:13:07.879 what he calls being double -minded. It's hedging 00:13:07.879 --> 00:13:13.039 your bets. And trying to trust both in God and 00:13:13.039 --> 00:13:18.080 the world at the same time. When you do that, 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:21.559 James says, you've already demonstrated where 00:13:21.559 --> 00:13:25.419 your trust really is. And that's why you shouldn't 00:13:25.419 --> 00:13:31.600 expect to receive anything from the Lord. So 00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:34.120 that's the heart of the problem, I think, in 00:13:34.120 --> 00:13:37.059 the book of James. This attempt to sort of have 00:13:37.059 --> 00:13:41.389 it both ways. so to speak. Having it both ways 00:13:41.389 --> 00:13:43.809 or trying to have it both ways is what generates 00:13:43.809 --> 00:13:47.529 all the problems that the author deals with in 00:13:47.529 --> 00:13:49.210 the rest of the letter. The mistreatment of the 00:13:49.210 --> 00:13:52.490 poor, the preference for the rich, the slander 00:13:52.490 --> 00:13:55.990 and the cursing and the envy. It all comes, James 00:13:55.990 --> 00:13:59.049 says, from trying to have your feet in both camps 00:13:59.049 --> 00:14:03.649 at the same time. So what James is trying to 00:14:03.649 --> 00:14:06.070 get his readers to understand is this. If you 00:14:06.070 --> 00:14:10.529 really truly believe in Christ, it's going to 00:14:10.529 --> 00:14:13.730 change how you go about living your life in real 00:14:13.730 --> 00:14:18.850 practical ways. So for example, you're not going 00:14:18.850 --> 00:14:23.129 to kowtow to the rich in the hopes that when 00:14:23.129 --> 00:14:25.009 the time comes and you need them, they'll take 00:14:25.009 --> 00:14:28.269 care of you. Instead, you're going to take care 00:14:28.269 --> 00:14:31.649 of people like widows and orphans, people that 00:14:31.649 --> 00:14:35.480 can't give you anything. Because you've entrusted 00:14:35.480 --> 00:14:40.639 yourself fully to God. You don't need to be worldly 00:14:40.639 --> 00:14:44.820 wise. Because you believe that true wisdom comes 00:14:44.820 --> 00:14:48.840 from God. That's what James actually means when 00:14:48.840 --> 00:14:53.019 he famously says that faith without works is 00:14:53.019 --> 00:14:58.960 dead. Because faith... isn't something that you 00:14:58.960 --> 00:15:01.799 sort of possess, like an insurance policy that 00:15:01.799 --> 00:15:04.659 you keep in your back pocket while you carry 00:15:04.659 --> 00:15:06.559 on living just the way you did before you believed 00:15:06.559 --> 00:15:11.440 in Christ. True faith means that you've pledged 00:15:11.440 --> 00:15:14.360 your allegiance to a different sort of kingdom, 00:15:14.460 --> 00:15:17.360 even when that allegiance makes you do things 00:15:17.360 --> 00:15:20.379 that appear absolutely ridiculous to the world 00:15:20.379 --> 00:15:25.340 that's watching you. And so we come to our passage 00:15:25.340 --> 00:15:29.149 from chapter 3. a passage which also speaks about 00:15:29.149 --> 00:15:32.529 a choice of allegiance. But again, it does so 00:15:32.529 --> 00:15:36.070 in terms of a choice between two kinds of wisdom. 00:15:37.629 --> 00:15:41.330 On the one hand, you have God's wisdom, wisdom 00:15:41.330 --> 00:15:45.470 from above, as James puts it literally. On the 00:15:45.470 --> 00:15:48.110 other hand, you have earthly wisdom, what we 00:15:48.110 --> 00:15:52.570 might call wisdom from below. And you can't have 00:15:52.570 --> 00:15:57.779 both. You can't have both wisdom from above and 00:15:57.779 --> 00:16:01.799 wisdom from below. You have to choose. And so 00:16:01.799 --> 00:16:09.740 James 3, 13 through 18 reads, Who is wise and 00:16:09.740 --> 00:16:12.259 understanding among you? Let them show it by 00:16:12.259 --> 00:16:15.159 their good life, by deeds done in the humility 00:16:15.159 --> 00:16:19.179 that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter 00:16:19.179 --> 00:16:21.480 envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, don't 00:16:21.480 --> 00:16:25.350 boast about it or deny the truth. doesn't come 00:16:25.350 --> 00:16:28.070 from heaven, but is earthly, unspiritual, and 00:16:28.070 --> 00:16:30.909 demonic. For where you have envy and selfish 00:16:30.909 --> 00:16:34.590 ambition, there you find disorder in every evil 00:16:34.590 --> 00:16:36.789 practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven, 00:16:37.129 --> 00:16:42.029 literally from above, is first of all pure, then 00:16:42.029 --> 00:16:44.129 peace -loving, considerate, submissive, full 00:16:44.129 --> 00:16:46.789 of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 00:16:47.590 --> 00:16:49.889 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of 00:16:49.889 --> 00:16:55.529 righteousness. Now here we see James' main concerns 00:16:55.529 --> 00:17:00.110 in action. Again, he is presuming that his readers 00:17:00.110 --> 00:17:04.430 have already asked God for help. Just like us, 00:17:04.650 --> 00:17:08.109 they too want wisdom from God for how to live 00:17:08.109 --> 00:17:12.970 their lives in hostile territory. And yet the 00:17:12.970 --> 00:17:15.130 way their community is behaving, it seems like 00:17:15.130 --> 00:17:18.589 God has not answered their prayers. Christians 00:17:18.589 --> 00:17:21.259 are fighting. They're slandering each other. 00:17:21.319 --> 00:17:24.660 They're showing favoritism to the rich and neglecting 00:17:24.660 --> 00:17:30.839 the poor. So what's going on? Well, James says, 00:17:30.900 --> 00:17:34.420 look at the evidence. There's obviously another 00:17:34.420 --> 00:17:42.200 kind of factor at work here. It's not God's wisdom, 00:17:42.299 --> 00:17:46.160 but the wisdom of the world, which he says is 00:17:46.160 --> 00:17:52.720 earthly. unspiritual, and demonic. If God's wisdom 00:17:52.720 --> 00:17:55.220 was in play, you'd be seeing a far different 00:17:55.220 --> 00:17:57.980 situation. You'd be seeing peace, considerateness, 00:17:57.980 --> 00:18:00.839 mutual submission, mercy, sincerity, and so on. 00:18:02.200 --> 00:18:07.039 But as the great theologian Taylor Swift has 00:18:07.039 --> 00:18:14.140 taught us, when you play stupid games, you win 00:18:14.140 --> 00:18:17.720 stupid prizes. Now sing that song in your head. 00:18:20.619 --> 00:18:23.160 If you try to succeed according to the wisdom 00:18:23.160 --> 00:18:27.200 of the world, if you play stupid games, you're 00:18:27.200 --> 00:18:29.720 not just getting the alleged good things the 00:18:29.720 --> 00:18:32.799 world offers, the security, the success, the 00:18:32.799 --> 00:18:36.920 power, the networks. You're also letting the 00:18:36.920 --> 00:18:40.960 gods of the world in through the door at the 00:18:40.960 --> 00:18:45.769 same time. And when the wisdom of the world is 00:18:45.769 --> 00:18:49.569 just given free reign, you don't get peace and 00:18:49.569 --> 00:18:54.930 mercy. What you get is disorder and every evil 00:18:54.930 --> 00:18:59.569 practice. The world's promising you peace and 00:18:59.569 --> 00:19:03.089 mercy, but the fruit that comes from that harvest 00:19:03.089 --> 00:19:07.369 is disorder. So where did the problem come from? 00:19:07.410 --> 00:19:11.250 How did this all start? Who let the dogs in, 00:19:11.470 --> 00:19:21.490 I guess? The problem is, is this. We desire the 00:19:21.490 --> 00:19:27.009 wrong things. We desire the wrong things. And 00:19:27.009 --> 00:19:31.210 that's really what sin actually is. No one sins 00:19:31.210 --> 00:19:35.609 because they think it's going to hurt them. We 00:19:35.609 --> 00:19:40.190 sin because we think wrongly that sin is desirable. 00:19:40.690 --> 00:19:46.710 That sin is good. Now hear me on this point, 00:19:46.809 --> 00:19:50.869 right? This isn't an intellectual problem. It's 00:19:50.869 --> 00:19:55.609 a moral failing. It's not that we don't know 00:19:55.609 --> 00:20:00.329 something. It's that we can't act on what we 00:20:00.329 --> 00:20:06.630 know. Our desires are messed up. Think of what 00:20:06.630 --> 00:20:10.650 the Apostle Paul says famously in Romans 7. For 00:20:10.650 --> 00:20:13.150 in my inner being, he says, I delight in God's 00:20:13.150 --> 00:20:17.220 law. I know what I'm supposed to do. But I see 00:20:17.220 --> 00:20:19.940 another law at work in me, waging war against 00:20:19.940 --> 00:20:23.839 the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of 00:20:23.839 --> 00:20:30.019 the law of sin at work within me. With apologies 00:20:30.019 --> 00:20:34.079 to Jiminy Cricket, which is a really relevant 00:20:34.079 --> 00:20:37.579 contemporary cultural reference, with apologies 00:20:37.579 --> 00:20:41.309 to Jiminy Cricket, What this means is we actually 00:20:41.309 --> 00:20:45.950 can't let our consciences be our guide. According 00:20:45.950 --> 00:20:48.630 to scripture, your conscience is kind of like 00:20:48.630 --> 00:20:52.609 a broken compass. You're relying on it to point 00:20:52.609 --> 00:20:56.369 you north, but it ends up sending you south instead. 00:20:56.490 --> 00:21:00.369 You can't rely on it. Likewise, we assume that 00:21:00.369 --> 00:21:04.470 what we desire is good for us, when in truth 00:21:04.470 --> 00:21:07.599 we can't. trust ourselves to pick out right from 00:21:07.599 --> 00:21:10.980 wrong or good from bad. In other words, we don't 00:21:10.980 --> 00:21:17.759 just sin, we are sinners. And that's why we need 00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:21.700 God. God is the one who in Christ and by the 00:21:21.700 --> 00:21:25.539 Spirit promises to show us what is good, even 00:21:25.539 --> 00:21:29.740 though pursuing good will never quite feel right 00:21:29.740 --> 00:21:34.529 to us. See, James is trying to help us realize 00:21:34.529 --> 00:21:37.769 that Christians aren't better than other people 00:21:37.769 --> 00:21:41.190 because they have something. Whether you call 00:21:41.190 --> 00:21:45.630 that faith or salvation or whatever. Christians 00:21:45.630 --> 00:21:49.029 don't have something. Christians are people that 00:21:49.029 --> 00:21:54.329 realize that they have nothing. And therefore 00:21:54.329 --> 00:21:57.390 are relying on God to lead them in every aspect 00:21:57.390 --> 00:22:03.130 of their lives at every moment. But again, James 00:22:03.130 --> 00:22:06.549 says you can't play both sides. And so he goes 00:22:06.549 --> 00:22:10.849 on in chapter 4, verse 4. You adulterous people. 00:22:12.369 --> 00:22:15.470 Actually, a better translation might be you adulterous. 00:22:16.049 --> 00:22:19.549 It's a reference to the book of Hosea, if you 00:22:19.549 --> 00:22:22.650 know that book. You adulterous. Don't you know 00:22:22.650 --> 00:22:26.009 that friendship with the world means enmity against 00:22:26.009 --> 00:22:30.049 God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend 00:22:30.049 --> 00:22:33.309 of the world becomes an enemy of God. I mean, 00:22:33.309 --> 00:22:37.750 that's like a serious passage. To put it another 00:22:37.750 --> 00:22:42.809 way, you can't desire what the world offers and 00:22:42.809 --> 00:22:47.430 what God offers at the same time. You either 00:22:47.430 --> 00:22:49.670 throw your lot in with God and let him heal your 00:22:49.670 --> 00:22:52.890 moral compass, or you trust the world to give 00:22:52.890 --> 00:22:55.109 you what you need to navigate life on your own. 00:22:56.150 --> 00:22:59.049 But again, Christians do not hedge their bets. 00:23:00.289 --> 00:23:05.369 James says Christians go all in on God, and so 00:23:05.369 --> 00:23:09.369 that's what we need to do. So what does this 00:23:09.369 --> 00:23:13.190 have to do with envy? Well, I'm glad you hypothetically 00:23:13.190 --> 00:23:17.509 asked. So way back in the beginning of the sermon, 00:23:17.569 --> 00:23:19.329 I said I was going to tell you what envy is, 00:23:19.490 --> 00:23:22.589 where it comes from, and how we can counteract 00:23:22.589 --> 00:23:25.589 its effects. And in the remaining couple of minutes, 00:23:25.690 --> 00:23:30.240 I want to take a stab at this. Well, what is 00:23:30.240 --> 00:23:36.180 envy? Well, as I said earlier, and as Megan said 00:23:36.180 --> 00:23:39.420 earlier, envy simply means wanting what other 00:23:39.420 --> 00:23:43.119 people have. Another way to translate the word 00:23:43.119 --> 00:23:45.980 envy from Greek is covet, right? It's coveting. 00:23:47.119 --> 00:23:49.180 It's more than that, though, especially in the 00:23:49.180 --> 00:23:54.480 context of James. For James, Envy means wanting 00:23:54.480 --> 00:23:58.480 what other people have specifically because you 00:23:58.480 --> 00:24:01.160 think what other people have will make your life 00:24:01.160 --> 00:24:06.680 complete. That what they, whoever they is, what 00:24:06.680 --> 00:24:11.819 they have will make you safe and secure and happy. 00:24:13.059 --> 00:24:18.180 But as James says, there's nothing on earth that 00:24:18.180 --> 00:24:21.359 can provide such things. Remember, wisdom from 00:24:21.359 --> 00:24:26.079 below causes dissension and fighting and evil 00:24:26.079 --> 00:24:29.440 practice. What you really need is wisdom from 00:24:29.440 --> 00:24:36.400 above. And only God can give you that. So that's 00:24:36.400 --> 00:24:40.880 what envy is. Where does envy come from? Again, 00:24:40.980 --> 00:24:46.799 I think we envy because of our faulty moral compass. 00:24:48.380 --> 00:24:52.839 To be a sinner, means to desire all the wrong 00:24:52.839 --> 00:24:57.240 things because we think that the wrong things 00:24:57.240 --> 00:25:00.740 are actually the right things. And so I envy 00:25:00.740 --> 00:25:04.019 others because I think that their status, their 00:25:04.019 --> 00:25:06.079 money, their power, their possessions, maybe 00:25:06.079 --> 00:25:10.599 even they themselves are what I need in order 00:25:10.599 --> 00:25:16.079 to be okay. But these desires are symptoms of 00:25:16.079 --> 00:25:19.599 a larger problem. And we need God to heal us 00:25:19.599 --> 00:25:23.900 of the fundamental disorientation of our moral 00:25:23.900 --> 00:25:32.680 compasses. So that's what envy is, where it comes 00:25:32.680 --> 00:25:37.519 from, how do we stop being so envious? I think 00:25:37.519 --> 00:25:40.720 James gives us a couple of ways of counteracting 00:25:40.720 --> 00:25:43.960 this particular evil desire, but all of it basically 00:25:43.960 --> 00:25:49.089 boils down to this. Humble yourselves in the 00:25:49.089 --> 00:25:53.769 sight of the Lord. In other words, it means trusting 00:25:53.769 --> 00:25:56.529 that God really does know what God is doing. 00:25:56.750 --> 00:26:00.450 It means asking God for what you need and then 00:26:00.450 --> 00:26:06.190 patiently waiting for God to provide. You don't 00:26:06.190 --> 00:26:09.250 hedge your bets. You don't take out a worldly 00:26:09.250 --> 00:26:12.849 insurance policy just in case God doesn't come 00:26:12.849 --> 00:26:16.769 through. You leave it with God. And you trust 00:26:16.769 --> 00:26:19.289 him to do what is right, both for you and for 00:26:19.289 --> 00:26:23.150 your neighbor. And like Peter walking on the 00:26:23.150 --> 00:26:27.170 windy seas of Galilee, we need to keep our eyes 00:26:27.170 --> 00:26:32.690 on Jesus lest we fall. If we can do that, not 00:26:32.690 --> 00:26:35.069 only as individuals, but also as a community 00:26:35.069 --> 00:26:39.210 together, we can finally be freed from the tyranny 00:26:39.210 --> 00:26:44.750 of our own sinful desires and A worldly system 00:26:44.750 --> 00:26:47.890 that works precisely by exploiting those desires. 00:26:52.069 --> 00:26:55.569 So I think a good place to end is by quoting 00:26:55.569 --> 00:26:59.529 these words from the end of this epistle. And 00:26:59.529 --> 00:27:04.170 I'll leave it at that. Be patient then, brothers 00:27:04.170 --> 00:27:07.789 and sisters, until the Lord's coming. See how 00:27:07.789 --> 00:27:10.930 the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable 00:27:10.930 --> 00:27:14.000 crop. patiently waiting for the autumn and spring 00:27:14.000 --> 00:27:20.440 rains. You too, be patient. Don't take out a 00:27:20.440 --> 00:27:23.299 worldly insurance policy. Don't hedge your bets. 00:27:23.920 --> 00:27:28.099 Ask the Lord for what you need. Then be patient 00:27:28.099 --> 00:27:34.460 and stand firm because the Lord really is coming. 00:27:37.339 --> 00:27:42.720 Amen. Thanks for listening to this week's episode 00:27:42.720 --> 00:27:45.359 of Trinity Sermons. This sermon was recorded 00:27:45.359 --> 00:27:48.759 at Trinity Church Streetsville on March 16th, 00:27:48.759 --> 00:27:49.359 2025.