Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity
Sermons. This week we are continuing our sermon
series on the S -word as we talk about the sin
of envy. Envy is one of those things that is
just always coming up in our lives. We're thinking,
you know, I want what they have. That thing looks
super cool. If I just had that, my life would
be complete. But envy really just keeps us disappointed.
So tune in as Justin Stratus takes us through
the sin of envy and how we can ultimately only
find our fulfillment in God. Today's reading
is from James chapter 3, verses 13 to chapter
4, verse 5. Who is wise and understanding among
you? Let them show it by their good life, by
deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.
But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition
in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny
the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from
heaven, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.
For where you have envy and selfish ambition,
There you find a disorder and every evil practice.
But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first
of all pure, then peace -loving, considerate,
submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial
and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap
a harvest of righteousness. What causes fights
and quarrels among you? Don't they come from
your desires that battle within you? You desire
but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you
cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and
fight. You do not have because you do not ask
God. When you ask, you do not receive because
you ask with wrong motives that you may spend
what you get on your pleasures. You adulterous
people, don't you know that friendship with the
world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone
who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes
an enemy of God. Or do you think scripture says
without reason that he jealously longs for the
spirit he has caused to dwell in us? The word
of the Lord. So hi, I'm Justin. I'm a guy that
goes to this church, but as you can see from
the jacket, I'm also the preacher this morning.
So let's pray, and we'll get into it. Lord, we
believe. Help thou our unbelief. Amen. Well,
as the video indicated, and as others have said,
this is the second Sunday. of a sermon series
on the seven deadly sins. And the sin that's
been assigned to me to talk about today is the
sin of envy. Which is really a shame because
I actually wanted to speak about pride. Unfortunately,
Rob gave himself that topic, which is not fair
at all. I mean, I really, really wanted that
topic, but Rob got it for himself. And so I'm
stuck talking about envy. I mean, seriously,
if I had Rob's topic, this would be an awesome
sermon. I'd be happier, you'd be happier, but
there it is. In any case, envy. So I do mean
to cover the topic of envy this morning. Although
as I was kind of preparing this sermon and studying
today's biblical passage from the epistle of
James, I discovered that James' message has so
much more for us than just a meditation on this.
particular sin. It's there, of course. It's mentioned
by name in chapter 3, verse 16, and again in
chapter 4, verse 2. But in order to understand
why envy is mentioned, where it comes from, and
how we ought to deal with it, I think it's important
to understand a bit about the context of this
letter and James's overall message. So I hope
you'll indulge me. as we spend some time thinking
with James about what God might have for us this
morning at Trinity. So the book of James. Church
tradition says that the author of this epistle
is James, the brother of Jesus. If you remember,
he's a guy who, after becoming a believer, ends
up running the Jewish community of Christians
in Jerusalem, kind of like a bishop. He shows
up again, for example, in the book of Acts, where
he ends up leading kind of a council after the
apostle Peter gives this controversial report
about non -Jewish people receiving the Holy Spirit.
Now, whether or not that James is the author
of this letter is not really that important.
What matters is that the author of this letter
is writing from the perspective of James. He's
a Jewish Christian leader. who's fighting for
peace in the church as the Jewish believers were
grappling with this kind of new reality of trying
to be faithful to Israel's God by following this
bloke, Jesus of Nazareth. And so as the first
verse of James says, this letter is written,
quote, to the 12 tribes scattered among the nations.
Jewish believers in Jesus who are living far
away from their home. So why did James write
this letter? Well, if you read the whole thing,
and I encourage you to do so, it's really a good
book. I don't know if you've read it recently,
but it's really interesting. If you read the
whole thing, it seems like the author had just
a ton of different things in mind, a kind of
smorgasbord of random topics. Things like living
through trials and temptations, struggling with
sin, the question of faith and deeds, favoritism
in the church, taming the tongue, quarreling
and dissension, matters of economic inequality,
and even prayer. But does he have kind of a main
idea, a main message, a central argument? Well,
I kind of think that he does. And let me explain
what I mean. The key in this letter, to my mind,
shows up in chapter one, verses 5 through 8,
which is the passage on the screen. There, James
says this, if any of you lacks wisdom, you should
ask God, who gives generously to all without
finding fault, and it will be given to you. But
when you ask, you must believe and not doubt,
because the one who doubts is like a wave of
the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person
should not expect to receive anything. from the
Lord. Such a person is double -minded and unstable
in all they do. Okay, so what does that mean?
Well, first let me tell you what it doesn't mean.
It doesn't mean that when you ask something from
God, you need to be a super awesome, perfect
Christian. Like your faith needs to be super
strong and impressive or else God's going to
sort of find you out and withhold all his blessings
from you. Anyone ever think that? I used to read
this passage and think that. Like I need to really
clench my hands together really tightly and really
mean it or else God's not going to give me what
I'm asking for. But that can't be what James
means. Because as we all know, none of us...
has that perfect kind of faith. And yet the Bible
still encourages us to pray, right? To approach
the throne of grace with confidence, as the author
to the book of Hebrews says. Now, what I think
James is saying is something like this. He's
saying, after you pray to God, you shouldn't
act like you never prayed in the first place.
After you pray to God, don't act like you never
prayed in the first place. In other words, you
shouldn't hedge your bets as a Christian. You
shouldn't ask God for something and then try
to get that thing secretly on your own, just
in case God really isn't up to the challenge.
That's what James calls being double -minded.
Which means acting like you're relying on God
to provide for you. But you're also trying to
get what you want using your own devices. It's
kind of like saying, God, I trust you to provide
for all my material needs. But I'm also going
to keep playing the lottery every day, you know,
just in case. If you go that route, James says,
what you're really doing is you're putting like
a big target on your back. to be deceived by
the world, to be blown and tossed by the wind,
as he says. And this is a really, really important
point, particularly as regards the sin of envy.
Because envy, which is wanting what other people
have, is only activated when you're not relying
on God to give you what you need. It's like when
Peter... When he was walking on the water on
the Sea of Galilee, took his eyes off Christ
and focused instead on the wind and the waves.
That's when he fell. So what's this thing that
James is assuming his readers want? The thing
that he thinks they'll be tempted to seek on
their own rather than relying on God to provide
for them. Well, according to this passage that
I just read, that thing is wisdom. Everybody
wants wisdom. He's assuming his readers have
prayed for wisdom. Now remember, James is writing
to these fearful Jewish Christians that are scattered
throughout the Roman Empire. These were Christians
who could be persecuted at any moment. based
on the whims of whatever governor or emperor
happens to be in charge. These people are scared.
And so they wanted to make sure that they had
everything that they needed to navigate a dangerous
world. In other words, they wanted to know how
to be Christians in the smartest possible way,
and especially in light of their precarious social
situation. I don't need to convince you that
we, too, live in tumultuous times. We, too, want
to know how we should live as Christians in the
world. And maybe you, too, have asked God for
wisdom. I know I have. We've asked for God to
show us what faithfulness to Christ actually
looks like in a time like this. Do you keep your
mouth shut? Do you speak out loud? Do you serve
others? Do you focus on your family? What do
you do? You want wisdom for figuring out how
you live now. But maybe you're also scared. And
so at the same time that you're asking God for
help, maybe you're also kind of hoping that...
politician X or Y, or maybe some amount of money
might also give you the sense of peace and security
that you really want. But again, James says,
you can't say that you're relying on God while
also relying on other stuff to save you. That's
what he calls being double -minded. It's hedging
your bets. And trying to trust both in God and
the world at the same time. When you do that,
James says, you've already demonstrated where
your trust really is. And that's why you shouldn't
expect to receive anything from the Lord. So
that's the heart of the problem, I think, in
the book of James. This attempt to sort of have
it both ways. so to speak. Having it both ways
or trying to have it both ways is what generates
all the problems that the author deals with in
the rest of the letter. The mistreatment of the
poor, the preference for the rich, the slander
and the cursing and the envy. It all comes, James
says, from trying to have your feet in both camps
at the same time. So what James is trying to
get his readers to understand is this. If you
really truly believe in Christ, it's going to
change how you go about living your life in real
practical ways. So for example, you're not going
to kowtow to the rich in the hopes that when
the time comes and you need them, they'll take
care of you. Instead, you're going to take care
of people like widows and orphans, people that
can't give you anything. Because you've entrusted
yourself fully to God. You don't need to be worldly
wise. Because you believe that true wisdom comes
from God. That's what James actually means when
he famously says that faith without works is
dead. Because faith... isn't something that you
sort of possess, like an insurance policy that
you keep in your back pocket while you carry
on living just the way you did before you believed
in Christ. True faith means that you've pledged
your allegiance to a different sort of kingdom,
even when that allegiance makes you do things
that appear absolutely ridiculous to the world
that's watching you. And so we come to our passage
from chapter 3. a passage which also speaks about
a choice of allegiance. But again, it does so
in terms of a choice between two kinds of wisdom.
On the one hand, you have God's wisdom, wisdom
from above, as James puts it literally. On the
other hand, you have earthly wisdom, what we
might call wisdom from below. And you can't have
both. You can't have both wisdom from above and
wisdom from below. You have to choose. And so
James 3, 13 through 18 reads, Who is wise and
understanding among you? Let them show it by
their good life, by deeds done in the humility
that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter
envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, don't
boast about it or deny the truth. doesn't come
from heaven, but is earthly, unspiritual, and
demonic. For where you have envy and selfish
ambition, there you find disorder in every evil
practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven,
literally from above, is first of all pure, then
peace -loving, considerate, submissive, full
of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.
Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of
righteousness. Now here we see James' main concerns
in action. Again, he is presuming that his readers
have already asked God for help. Just like us,
they too want wisdom from God for how to live
their lives in hostile territory. And yet the
way their community is behaving, it seems like
God has not answered their prayers. Christians
are fighting. They're slandering each other.
They're showing favoritism to the rich and neglecting
the poor. So what's going on? Well, James says,
look at the evidence. There's obviously another
kind of factor at work here. It's not God's wisdom,
but the wisdom of the world, which he says is
earthly. unspiritual, and demonic. If God's wisdom
was in play, you'd be seeing a far different
situation. You'd be seeing peace, considerateness,
mutual submission, mercy, sincerity, and so on.
But as the great theologian Taylor Swift has
taught us, when you play stupid games, you win
stupid prizes. Now sing that song in your head.
If you try to succeed according to the wisdom
of the world, if you play stupid games, you're
not just getting the alleged good things the
world offers, the security, the success, the
power, the networks. You're also letting the
gods of the world in through the door at the
same time. And when the wisdom of the world is
just given free reign, you don't get peace and
mercy. What you get is disorder and every evil
practice. The world's promising you peace and
mercy, but the fruit that comes from that harvest
is disorder. So where did the problem come from?
How did this all start? Who let the dogs in,
I guess? The problem is, is this. We desire the
wrong things. We desire the wrong things. And
that's really what sin actually is. No one sins
because they think it's going to hurt them. We
sin because we think wrongly that sin is desirable.
That sin is good. Now hear me on this point,
right? This isn't an intellectual problem. It's
a moral failing. It's not that we don't know
something. It's that we can't act on what we
know. Our desires are messed up. Think of what
the Apostle Paul says famously in Romans 7. For
in my inner being, he says, I delight in God's
law. I know what I'm supposed to do. But I see
another law at work in me, waging war against
the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of
the law of sin at work within me. With apologies
to Jiminy Cricket, which is a really relevant
contemporary cultural reference, with apologies
to Jiminy Cricket, What this means is we actually
can't let our consciences be our guide. According
to scripture, your conscience is kind of like
a broken compass. You're relying on it to point
you north, but it ends up sending you south instead.
You can't rely on it. Likewise, we assume that
what we desire is good for us, when in truth
we can't. trust ourselves to pick out right from
wrong or good from bad. In other words, we don't
just sin, we are sinners. And that's why we need
God. God is the one who in Christ and by the
Spirit promises to show us what is good, even
though pursuing good will never quite feel right
to us. See, James is trying to help us realize
that Christians aren't better than other people
because they have something. Whether you call
that faith or salvation or whatever. Christians
don't have something. Christians are people that
realize that they have nothing. And therefore
are relying on God to lead them in every aspect
of their lives at every moment. But again, James
says you can't play both sides. And so he goes
on in chapter 4, verse 4. You adulterous people.
Actually, a better translation might be you adulterous.
It's a reference to the book of Hosea, if you
know that book. You adulterous. Don't you know
that friendship with the world means enmity against
God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend
of the world becomes an enemy of God. I mean,
that's like a serious passage. To put it another
way, you can't desire what the world offers and
what God offers at the same time. You either
throw your lot in with God and let him heal your
moral compass, or you trust the world to give
you what you need to navigate life on your own.
But again, Christians do not hedge their bets.
James says Christians go all in on God, and so
that's what we need to do. So what does this
have to do with envy? Well, I'm glad you hypothetically
asked. So way back in the beginning of the sermon,
I said I was going to tell you what envy is,
where it comes from, and how we can counteract
its effects. And in the remaining couple of minutes,
I want to take a stab at this. Well, what is
envy? Well, as I said earlier, and as Megan said
earlier, envy simply means wanting what other
people have. Another way to translate the word
envy from Greek is covet, right? It's coveting.
It's more than that, though, especially in the
context of James. For James, Envy means wanting
what other people have specifically because you
think what other people have will make your life
complete. That what they, whoever they is, what
they have will make you safe and secure and happy.
But as James says, there's nothing on earth that
can provide such things. Remember, wisdom from
below causes dissension and fighting and evil
practice. What you really need is wisdom from
above. And only God can give you that. So that's
what envy is. Where does envy come from? Again,
I think we envy because of our faulty moral compass.
To be a sinner, means to desire all the wrong
things because we think that the wrong things
are actually the right things. And so I envy
others because I think that their status, their
money, their power, their possessions, maybe
even they themselves are what I need in order
to be okay. But these desires are symptoms of
a larger problem. And we need God to heal us
of the fundamental disorientation of our moral
compasses. So that's what envy is, where it comes
from, how do we stop being so envious? I think
James gives us a couple of ways of counteracting
this particular evil desire, but all of it basically
boils down to this. Humble yourselves in the
sight of the Lord. In other words, it means trusting
that God really does know what God is doing.
It means asking God for what you need and then
patiently waiting for God to provide. You don't
hedge your bets. You don't take out a worldly
insurance policy just in case God doesn't come
through. You leave it with God. And you trust
him to do what is right, both for you and for
your neighbor. And like Peter walking on the
windy seas of Galilee, we need to keep our eyes
on Jesus lest we fall. If we can do that, not
only as individuals, but also as a community
together, we can finally be freed from the tyranny
of our own sinful desires and A worldly system
that works precisely by exploiting those desires.
So I think a good place to end is by quoting
these words from the end of this epistle. And
I'll leave it at that. Be patient then, brothers
and sisters, until the Lord's coming. See how
the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable
crop. patiently waiting for the autumn and spring
rains. You too, be patient. Don't take out a
worldly insurance policy. Don't hedge your bets.
Ask the Lord for what you need. Then be patient
and stand firm because the Lord really is coming.
Amen. Thanks for listening to this week's episode
of Trinity Sermons. This sermon was recorded
at Trinity Church Streetsville on March 16th,
2025.