JEALOUSY: ITS DECEPTIVENESS AND ITS MURDER

Jealousy is a deadly sin. Why? It is one that we refuse to face. We might readily admit that we have a problem with anger, resentment, lust, and even pride. However, jealousy is the one we will not face. Therefore, it is a stealth sin, one that goes undetected, and because of this, it is one of the most deadly.

Since it remains hidden, it can disguise itself as a concern for others and even as various forms in spirituality. Moses’ siblings, Miriam and Aaron, spoke against Moses for marrying a Cushite (Ethiopian) woman. However, it seems that they were jealous. Instead of telling Moses, “We want the authority that you have; give us a share,” they charged Moses with hoarding the authority for himself:

·       And they said, “Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?” And the LORD heard it. (Numbers 12:2; ESV)

Instead of jealousy honestly saying, “I want this, because I am jealous,” it makes its claim based on an egalitarian principle, and these are not hard to find. After all, the Bible claims that we are all equally created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26-27), we all have been given precious gifts, and all the Israelites were equally the children of their God.

In essence, Miriam and Aaron were arguing:

·       We are just as entitled as you are, Moses. God has also spoken through us, and so you have unrighteously hogged all the glory for yourself. The problem is not with us but with you!

Sometimes jealousy can even disguise itself in the form of a utopian vision for social change. Korah, a Levite, was not satisfied with the role that God had bestowed upon him and led a broadly-based revolution against Moses:

·       And they rose up before Moses, with a number of the people of Israel, 250 chiefs of the congregation, chosen from the assembly, well-known men. They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?” (Numbers 16:2-3)

Moses hadn’t exalted himself. It was God who had appointed Moses to this position after having prepared Moses for the job through 40 years of discouragement:

·       Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth. (Numbers 12:3)

Moses required great humility to prepare him for the role God had given him. He would not be able to trust in his own opinions but in every word that would proceed from the mouth of God (Deut. 8:3). In contrast, jealousy is convinced that it is entitled to more. Korah and his band were convinced that they were entitled to more and therefore weren’t satisfied with God’s “daily bread.” They were also proud, but they disguised their pride and jealousy in a utopian vision for the entire Israelite nation: “For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them.”

The deceit of pride and jealousy are always wrapped in a veneer of the truth. It was true that all Israel was holy and that the LORD was among them. However, it was not true that Moses had “gone too far.” Nor was it true that there should be no role distinctions, as the revolution had insinuated.

While we are all created in the image of God, there is nothing in the Bible that would eliminate role or wealth distinctions. In fact, so many of the Bible’s teachings are predicated on role distinctions – parent/child, wife/husband, employer/employee, priest/commoner. Even the priests had been divided into three groups, each having its own responsibilities.

Certainly, Korah and team would not have been satisfied once they established their “workers’ paradise.” However, this is the ruse of jealousy, disguising itself in the robes of idealism. However, Moses saw through them:

·       And Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi: is it too small a thing for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do service in the tabernacle of the LORD and to stand before the congregation to minister to them, and that he has brought you near him, and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you? And would you seek the priesthood also? Therefore it is against the LORD that you and all your company have gathered together.” (Numbers 16:8-11)

Korah and team should have known better that they weren’t merely revolting against Moses but against God Himself. However, sin is blinding, especially jealousy. It convinces us that we are totally justified, even in rebelling. The fault is always with the other person, as Scripture repeatedly warns:

·       All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the spirit. (Proverbs 16:2)

However, sin is so powerful and deceptive that, once given room, it will not allow us to hear the voice of reason and repent. Therefore, in response to Moses’ chilling revelation that they were sinning against God, the rebels merely stiffened their neck and rationalized their rebellion by blaming Moses for their rebellion:

·       “Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, that you must also make yourself a prince over us? Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men?” (Numbers 16:13-14)

According to Korah and his crowd, Moses was at fault. How? Because he hadn’t made good on his promise to Israel! Moses hadn’t yet brought Israel “into a land flowing with milk and honey.” They had conveniently forgotten about Israel’s rebellion against God at Kadesh Barnea. This was why Israel now had to wonder in the desert for 40 years. However, the rebels found it easier to blame Moses – the 1% -- for their problems.

However, Moses had warned them that, ultimately, their rebellion was against God. However, they did not have ears to hear. Their sin had hardened them. They should have been terrified by the prospect that they were in rebellion against God, but they weren’t and repentance had no place in their thinking.

Even after God opened the ground to consume the leadership, and their followers fled in terror:

·       On the next day all the congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of the LORD.” (Numbers 16:41)

How is it that after seeing God’s terrifying judgment on their esteemed leaders, the people of Israel were still so infected with confidence in the “righteousness” of their rebellion that they would still accuse Moses and Aaron of doing wrong?

Entrenched, unconfessed sin causes us to believe in the “righteousness” of our cause, even in the face of overwhelming evidence against it. They too had become infected with egalitarian jealousy against Moses and Aaron. They still felt entitled to share in Moses “glory.”

Seeing the power of sin and jealousy, we must practice humility and vigilance. Lord, grant us this vigilance – the hatred of darkness and the love of your light.

THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD EVEN THROUGH SUFFERING: A TESTIMONY

My wife and I have been following reports about the search for the container ship El Faro, praying and grieving for the families and the possible lost lives.

However, even in the midst of this tragedy, I have been thanking God for His goodness. Ironically, there are many reasons to thank Him for His goodness, even in the midst of suffering, but I will mention just one.

Misery loves company, and I had been a miserable person. While the Bible instructs us to mourn with those who mourn and rejoice with those who rejoice (Romans 12:15), to my great shame, I found that I was mourning with those who rejoice and rejoicing when others mourned, even as a Christian. Not only was I deeply ashamed of myself, but these feelings made me feel isolated and alien from my brethren. In my mind, they were successful Christians, while I was a complete, unspiritual failure. Therefore, I couldn’t help but feel jealous of them.

However, our God is able to provide:

·       If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:31-32)

He is in the process of giving us all things. For me, it took time. However, now I can look back with gratitude because my Savior has provided. I now can feel like a human being. Even more, I can now see myself as a child of God and can rejoice for the good He has done for me!

The Seeker-Sensitive Church: Its Appeal and Its Problems

My heart sank. As I surveyed my “news feed,” I saw references to “His Holiness, the Dalai Lama” and his many affirming youthful followers. Even the Pope has become a western celebrity. One young woman commented, “He makes me want to become a Catholic.”

These many accolades made me question, “What am I doing wrong? What is our church doing wrong?” When I talk about Jesus, I am either confronted with yawns, frowns, or daggers. Perhaps it’s time for a facelift, a new and winsome image?

Just about all of the church-startups here in NYC are seeker-sensitive. They are all about cosmetic surgery, and their names reflect this – The River, The Journey, The…  They not only want to distance themselves from the traditional church in form but also in substance. One Bible-based church informed their congregation that they will no longer speak against the sin of homosexuality.

For the most part, these seeker-sensitive churches are successful in drawing younger people, as the more traditional ones languish. Many observe these newcomers to learn their secrets. After all, who can argue against success? Can I? I had to re-consult the Scriptures.

The Apostle Paul wrote about “success” and what it looked like in the context of the difficult last days:

• But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. (2 Tim. 3:1-5)

Certainly, such times require a revised approach. If our culture is comprised of “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,” Don’t we have to soft-pedal God and affirm pleasure? At least, we shouldn’t preach against their pleasures, right? Paul gives no evidence for such a revised approach:

• But as for you [Timothy], continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. (2 Tim. 3:14-15) 

Did not Paul realize how unresponsive and even antagonistic that this culture would be to the Gospel? He certainly did:

• For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. (2 Tim. 4:3-4)

If this culture cannot tolerate anything stronger, shouldn’t we disguise “sound doctrine” or at least adulterate it with a little sexual permissiveness? Not according to Paul:

• In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. (2 Tim. 4:1-2)

Wow! It seems that Paul was insensitive and perhaps too doctrinaire? Not at all! Instead, he understood the power of the Spirit working through the Gospel:

• For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes. (Romans 1:16; 1 Cor. 1:18-19)

“It is the power of God” because the Holy Spirit applies the Gospel to the hearts He has prepared. Therefore, Paul had no problem with dispensing with elegance and seeker-sensitive strategies that the Gospel might do its supernatural work (1 Cor. 2:1-4). Our trust had to be in God alone and not in our devices.

Perhaps, instead, we have become “ashamed of the gospel!” And perhaps I rely too much on logic, evidences, and theistic proofs, all of which I love? Perhaps I too have strayed from trusting in the power of God working through His Gospel.

I have long struggled with this question. Here’s what I’ve concluded. We have to distinguish between the bait and the Bible message. Paul was not adverse to bait. He used it to reel in his Athenian listeners. He cited their own history and poets, but once he had reeled them in, he delivered the substance, the real food – Jesus, His death and resurrection (Acts 17:16-31).

It is therefore prudent to bait the hook with seeker-sensitive material, but we must not confuse the bait from the Bible’s Gospel. The former is comparatively junk food, while the latter is the “power of God.” While I can use my theistic proofs to bait the hook for those valuing rationality, I must not remain with the bait in hand.

Paul too had been willing to clothe himself with Jewishness when talking to a Jew or to enter into the thought-life of a Gentile when he was speaking with a Gentile, but this condescension had a greater purpose – to gain their ear for the Gospel:

• Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.  To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.  To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel. (1 Cor. 9:19-23)

I had been a member of a successful seeker-sensitive church in NYC. The Gospel wasn’t so much watered-down as it was narrowed, so as not to offend anyone. However, we were assured that, although the narrowed sermon was intended to be strictly evangelistic, the home groups and Sunday-school classes would make up for the doctrine-deficiency that the pulpit had purposely created. They would fill in the gaping blanks. They didn’t! Instead, what had been left unsaid, remained unsaid and even staunchly resisted.

Success speaks loudly. Who wants to oppose a pattern that has proved “successful?” Understandably, this pattern had imposed itself upon all other areas of church life. But has it been truly successful? Well, it depends upon how we judge success. Paul judged success in terms of the teaching all of the doctrines of the Gospel, even the unpopular ones:

• Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of any of you. For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. (Acts 20:26-27) 

For Paul, success wasn’t measured in numbers but in the faithfulness to the “whole will of God.” How else are we to judge success? Can we read the hearts of the others who had been part of the success-story of the church? Do we know what will happen to this “successful” church the next week or year? Perhaps instead, we must commit all of these concerns to the Lord of the Gospel, who will save whom He will and how He will.

I therefore need not be jealous of the Dalai Lama and discouraged by his successes. Our Lord reigns! What a relief!

Jealousy: The Stealth (and not so Stealth) Killer

Frederick Engels

If we are not jealous of our neighbor’s wife, we are jealous of his attainments, money, house, car, influence, job, friends, or popularity. We want what he’s got, and we tend to hate him for it.

Communism had the perfect solution, albeit limited and superficial. They would equalize everybody and everything. After debunking Marxist theory, historian Robert Royal then exposes their underlying motivator – jealousy:

• The only reason these very dubious theories seemed like revolutionary bedrock to Marxist believers was that they justified hatred of bourgeois societies and gave sanction to the “inevitable” revolution ahead, after which, even more implausibly, religion and state, both mere bourgeois instruments of repression in the Marxist view, would wither away. That passionate desire for revolution, whatever the facts, lay behind the vehemence and even violence with which the Communist gospel was preached. (The God that did not Fail, 233)

Why did Marxism motivate the Communists to such a genocidal extent – the extermination of the 100,000,000 who would not see the light of their reason? Jealousy and hatred! However, these wicked seeds were camouflaged by the covering of an idealistic optimism. In the Condition of the Working Class in England, Friedrich Engels argued:

• Necessity will force the working-men to abandon the remnants of a [Christian] belief which, as they will more and more clearly perceive, serves only to make them weak and resigned to their fate, obedient and faithful to the vampire property-holding class.

However, the “working-men” never did exalt themselves to Engels’ enlightened heights, and when reason fails to win hearts and minds, coercion and violence are introduced.

Marxism continues to fail to address our inner struggles. Instead, the Marxist has readily partnered with jealousy, hatred, bitterness, with periodic exterminations of Christians, bourgeois, and others among the “weak and resigned.”

So what then is the answer to jealousy? The assurance that we are already rich and have everything we need! Where does this assurance come from? From the very light that the Marxist had tried to extinguish!

There is a truth that will set us free (John 8:31-32), as Jesus promised. It is the knowledge and assurance that we have God, and, having God, we have everything:

• For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. (Colossians 2:9-10)

It is this truth that has set me free! I need no longer covet what belongs to my neighbor or even my brother. I am already rich! Does this mean that I am no longer tempted? No, but now I have a defense. I know better!

In a sense, Engels was right. We are “resigned to [our] fate, obedient and faithful.” However, this resignation does not make us “weak,” but confident enough to resist evil. Why? We know that our true riches do not belong to this life. We also know that if we lose our life, we have an eternal inheritance in heaven. This enables us to be bold – the very reason that the Marxists had been eager to eliminate us and still are! In every Marxist nation, Christians regularly undergo persecution!

It takes courage to love our oppressors – a courage that Christ grants, and a courage that further enrages our oppressors.