Alright, we're there in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and we're continuing our series on church
problems.
And we kind of had two introductory sermons on this topic about just kind of church structure
and then kind of the dangers, you know, potential church problems and things such as that.
And now we're going to kind of get into the meat and potatoes, kind of the main course
of what this sermon series is about.
Look at what it says in verse 3, 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 3.
1 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 3.
And so throughout the entire book of the 1 Corinthians, the church of Corinth, you see
there's a lot of problems.
They've got sin in the church.
They're suing one another.
They're doing the Lord's Supper wrong.
You kind of wonder how much else is wrong with this church.
It just kind of gives us some highlights.
So there's a lot of problems and really kind of the root causes found here in 1 Corinthians
3.
He says that you are carnal because there is among you envying and strife and divisions.
And so we're going to have two sermons on envying, two on strife, and two on divisions.
You say why two on each topic?
Because whenever you look at any of these things, there's an interior cause and there's
an exterior cause.
See we like to look at things that happen on the outside and say, well the reason why
I'm envious is because such and such person did something.
And look, there's a shredded truth to that, but the reality is the big problem is on the
inside.
And if you would fix the inside, the things on the exterior would not bother you.
So next week we'll talk about the exterior causes of envy, but today we're going to talk
about the interior causes of envy.
What in your own heart causes you to become envious?
Now go to Proverbs 27, Proverbs 27, Proverbs 27.
You say, what is envy?
Well, envy and jealousy are different things.
In our modern language, they're kind of used interchangeably as if they're the same, but
they're not the same at all because jealousy is not a sin according to the Bible.
Jealousy is when something belongs to you.
For example, God will say, you know, I'm a jealous God because we belong to him.
Or if you're married, then it's natural for a husband to be jealous of his wife or for
a wife to be jealous of her husband.
In our modern day, people like to have this attitude, oh, I'm not a jealous sort of husband.
What's wrong with you?
It's like, you don't have a problem with your wife talking to other men.
It's like, seriously, what is wrong with you then?
It's like jealousy is not a bad thing in the Bible.
Our God is a jealous God, the Bible says, but envy is wrong because envy is when basically
you're desiring something that somebody else has.
Jealousy is when it belongs to you.
Of course, you're going to be jealous about that, but when it's something that belongs
to somebody else, that is called envy, okay?
So these are not the same thing.
So notice what it says in Proverbs 27 verse four.
Let me turn there myself because I wanted to expound upon this just a little bit more
than I have in my notes.
Proverbs 27 verse four, it says, wrath is cruel and anger is outrageous, but who is
able to stand before envy?
If you were to meet somebody who was an angry person, a wrathful person, you would say,
man, there's something wrong with that person.
We need to calm this person down.
We need to talk to them.
They've got a real big problem, but the Bible says who is able to stand before envy?
See, according to the Bible, envy is more dangerous than anger.
Envy is worse.
It's a bigger problem.
When you're talking about somebody who's envious, that's really rooted deep on the inside, and
we're going to see today that once somebody goes down that road, there's pretty much no
hope for them.
Envy is worse than anger and wrath, according to the Bible.
Someone who's an angry person, you'd say, there's something wrong with that person.
They're just screaming at somebody, but a bigger problem is envy, according to the Bible.
Who is able to stand before envy?
Notice what it says in verse five.
Verse five, open rebuke is better than secret love.
Now, look, if you knew somebody who just screamed at some innocent person, you might rebuke
that person.
What is wrong with you?
But see, the Bible's showing you this.
You ought to rebuke the person who's envious.
Why?
It's worse.
Envy is far worse than anger and wrath, according to the Bible.
That person on the outside will put on this facade like, oh, no big deal, but you would
be able to see the side effects of a person who's envious.
You will be able to tell, but unfortunately, when people are envious, they can't tell themselves.
Open rebuke is better than secret love.
Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
Now, turn in your Bible to 1 Corinthians 12.
1 Corinthians 12.
And look, no doubt we talked about, I think it was last week, you know, make no friends
with an angry man, and with a furious man, thou shalt not go.
Anger can be a big problem.
Anger is not necessarily a sin, but when you see people that are always angry about everything,
well, they got a problem, okay?
But envy, according to the Bible, is actually worse.
It is a bigger problem, and in the context of church, it will cause major problems if
somebody is filled full of envy, okay?
Notice what it says in 1 Corinthians 12.
One major cause of envy on the inside of your own heart is covetousness.
A covetous person is going to end up being envious, okay?
Which makes sense, because if you covet things and you want this and this and this in life,
and you don't have it, of course, you're going to become envious of the person that does
have that.
You want that nice, really fancy house, and you don't have it, of course, you'll become
envious of the person that actually has that house.
So if you're a covetous person on the inside, it will cause you to become an envious person
towards people, which is a far worse problem.
Notice what it says in 1 Corinthians 12, verse 30.
Have all the gifts of healing.
Do all speak with tongues?
Do all interpret?
But covet earnestly the best gifts, and yet show I unto you a more excellent way.
Now, when you notice here in verse 31, coveting is not necessarily a bad thing either.
The Bible tells us to covet earnestly the best gifts.
Usually when people are coveting, what they're coveting is more money, a nicer job, a nicer
house, a nicer car, and that is a sin.
That is a major problem.
Coveting the best gifts, according to the Bible, is actually a good thing, but usually
when people, we say they're covetous, it's because they are desiring nice things, fancy
things, nice job, nice house, nice clothes, lots of money, whatever.
They're coveting things that do not belong to them, okay?
Now turn in your Bible to Exodus 18, Exodus 18, Exodus 18, Exodus chapter 18.
In fact, coveting is such a major problem that the Bible says if somebody is going to
be a leader, a spiritual leader, they cannot be a covetous person.
That is one of the requirements, okay, not to be a covetous person.
Acts 18, verse 21, moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, okay?
So who is able to do this job?
Because you think of someone, man, they have to be a certain level of intelligence, have
this much experience.
No, the Bible says such as fear God.
That means you have the ability.
When it comes to being a spiritual leader, you must fear God first and foremost.
Not get that 10-year Bible school degree, okay?
You need to fear God, okay?
It says fear God, men of truth.
Obviously church is the pillar and ground of the truth, so a spiritual leader should
be teaching the truth and be a person that's not filled full of lies.
Men of truth hating covetousness and place such over them to be rulers of thousands and
rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.
You say how do you know if somebody's covetous?
You know if somebody's covetous by the words coming out of their mouth.
If they're always talking about wanting to have nice things and more money and this and
this and this, they're a covetous person.
Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.
So when you go to churches where the pastors are always talking about money, well that
tells you what's inside their heart.
I mean, that's reality.
If they're always talking about money, what do they care about?
They care about your money.
That's what they want, okay?
And the Bible says if you're going to be a spiritual leader, you ought to hate covetousness.
Why?
Covetousness will destroy your life.
Turn to Exodus 20.
Exodus chapter 20.
Exodus 20.
Boy, I would like that to be a requirement before people get their Bible college degree.
Go through the checklist of requirements for a pastor.
Okay, married, okay, you got to get that one down.
You have children that are faithful, got that one down.
You're not covetous, but no one would get a Bible college degree here in the Philippines.
Right?
I mean, all the Baptist pastors here in the Philippines, I mean, I hope there are some
exceptions, but quite honestly, I haven't met them that actually meet those requirements.
I mean, the Bible says you ought to hate covetousness, and yet almost every...
I mean, it blows my mind where they have Bible conferences about money.
I mean, like in the US, it's the Pentecostals that do that.
It's like you never see that at the Baptist churches in the US, that I know of at least,
and it's like they have Bible conferences on money.
It's like, how much can you really talk about money?
It's like, I don't get it.
I mean, I could think of 100 conferences, but a Bible conference about money, but that
shows what is inside their hearts.
They are covetous, and the Bible says spiritual leaders need to hate covetousness, and look,
if people are covetous, they're going to become envious of people that have more than them.
If you are covetous and you really love money, you will become envious of people that have
more money than you.
It's common sense.
Okay.
Now, verse 20, verse 17, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet
thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass,
nor anything that is thy neighbor's.
And see, the Bible's very clear here in verse 17 that coveting anything that belongs to
your neighbors, whether it's inside the house, whether it's his wife, whether it is the house
or whatever it is, whether it's the job, it is wrong, okay?
Now, the Catholic Church, they removed the second commandment, thou shalt not make unto
thee any graven image, and they turned this commandment into two commandments.
You say, why would they remove the commandment about not having graven images?
I mean, have you heard of the Feast of the Black Nazarene?
I mean, have you been driving along the road to see all these major statues?
There's a reason why they removed the commandment about making graven images.
They turned the second commandment into the first commandment.
They combined it together in one, okay?
Thou shalt not covet is one commandment, but there's a lot of things under thou shalt not
covet.
It's not just about money.
It's about everything you see in this verse, okay?
And look, if you are coveting your neighbor's house, what's gonna end up happening?
You will become envious at the person that has that house.
If you covet his wife, you're gonna become envious at the person who has that wife.
If you covet their job, you'll become envious of the person that has the job.
Covetousness is a root cause of envy.
Look at Hebrews 13, Hebrews 13, Hebrews 13.
Look, covetousness alone is a sin the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 5 can get you kicked
out of church.
That alone can get you kicked out of church.
This is just one of the four root causes we're looking at with envy.
It's like, good night, if covetousness can get you kicked out, then envy is kind of the
tail end of that, right?
Covetousness is a major sin according to the Bible.
You say, why?
It spreads like a wildfire.
When people are always talking about money and I need this and this and this, pretty
soon everybody at the church is doing the same thing.
And they get obsessed with money and that's all they talk about.
And you can tell when somebody's covetous by the words coming out of their mouth.
If they are always talking about money and wanting to have a nicer house and a nicer
car and to go to all these nice places, it shows you they're a covetous person.
Hebrews 13 verse 5, let your conversation be without covetousness, okay?
Now when it says your conversation, that does include the words coming out of your mouth,
but it's not really referring to usappan, it's referring to pamumuhay.
It's your lifestyle, pamumuhay.
So pretty much everything, it includes your words, but it includes your actions also.
So let your conversation, your manner of life, your lifestyle be without covetousness, okay?
So that includes, you know, the words you say, but also the actions you do as well.
And be content with such things as you have, for you have said, I will never leave thee
nor forsake thee.
God promises he will never leave us nor forsake us.
Look, when you're saved, it is eternal life.
It is eternal life.
But realize also, God is there for you in hard times as well.
He will not leave you nor forsake you.
And that is a great promise.
And you know, we ought to be satisfied with that alone.
Look, 99% of the world is going to hell, 99%, 98%, I mean a large percentage of people are
going to hell.
Look, the fact that you're in that 1 or 2%, no matter how bad your life might be, man,
it's better than 99% of people.
I mean even if you lost, even if you became Job overnight, your life's still a lot better
than the people that are going to die and go to hell no matter how rich they are, right?
Now turn in your Bible to Esther chapter 3, Esther 3, Esther 3.
So look, being covetous, it will result in you becoming envious at people that have what
you want, okay?
And I'm just trying to help you understand something.
If you start to go down the road of being covetous, you better fix the problem because
if you get to the point of envy, who can stand before envy?
Envy will destroy your life.
You'll be a miserable, angry, bitter person.
Bitterness and envy are always mixed right together in the Bible.
You'll be a miserable person that no one wants to be around.
You're going to hate life.
You're going to destroy your life if you go down that road.
So look, if you're a covetous person, you got to fix that problem, okay?
That alone is a sin the Bible says can get you kicked out of church.
Now notice what it says in Esther 3.
So point number one is covetousness.
Covetousness is a root cause of envy.
Another root cause of envy is being cocky or prideful.
Being covetous, being cocky.
People that are prideful, that is a root cause of being envious.
You say, why?
Because people that are prideful have to be the best at everything.
They need everybody to look at them as being the absolute best no matter what it is.
Here's the problem with that.
None of us are the best at everything.
I mean, if you got to be the best at everything in life, well, I mean, it's too bad because
I'm sure there's things that you're bad at.
I'm sure there's things that, you know what, there's a bigger fish in the sea, my friend.
You might be the toughest, baddest dude in the world, but there's going to be somebody
badder than you.
There's going to be somebody with more money.
There's going to be somebody who has something even better than you.
And if you're a prideful person that must be looked at and adored and admired and everybody
loves you, here's the problem with that.
You're not the best at everything, okay?
Here's what it says in Esther 3, verse 5, and when Haman saw that Mordecai bowed not
nor did him reverence, then was Haman full of wrath, and he thought scorn to lay hands
on Mordecai alone, for they had showed him the people of Mordecai, wherefore Haman sought
to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people
of Mordecai.
Haman is such a prideful person.
He's such an obnoxious, arrogant person that when one person doesn't bow down and reverence
him or worship him, basically, he wants to kill everyone who's related to Mordecai.
All of the seed of the Jews, every single one, because one person didn't bow down and
worship him.
That is a prideful person, my friends.
He's saying, man, I need everybody to...
I mean, this is the second most powerful man in the world.
You need to put yourself in these stories and realize Ahasuerus owned the world at the
time because Persia owned the world, and Haman is number two in the entire world.
The second most powerful person in the entire world, but he's still upset because one person
doesn't bow down and worship him.
Now turn to Esther five, Esther five, Esther chapter five, Esther chapter five.
And in Esther chapter five, notice what it says in verse nine, then when Haman forth
that day joyful and with a glad heart.
So Haman, you know what?
He's joyful.
He's in a good mood, having a good day.
Everything's going well.
But when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate that he stood not up nor move for him,
he was full of indignation against Mordecai.
It's like the man's having a good day.
Things are going well.
I'm healthy.
I've got all these riches.
This guy didn't worship me.
And now he's in a bad mood.
It's like, good night, man.
If you're a prideful person, you're going to destroy your life.
And he's a miserable person now because Mordecai is not worshiping him.
Verse 10, nevertheless, Haman refrained himself.
And when he came home, he sit and called for his friends and Zuresh his wife.
So when he refrains himself, basically, he doesn't do anything in front of Mordecai.
He's able to keep calm his emotions.
And look, psychopaths are very good at keeping their emotions under control.
It's like, good job, Haman.
I mean, you're a psychopath.
So, you know, you're very good at acting, you know, like it doesn't bother you when
on the inside you're like, I want to kill that person.
Verse number 11, and Haman told them of the glory of his riches and the multitude of his
children and all the things wherein the king had promoted him and how he had advanced him
above the princes and servants of the king.
Now, I mean, wouldn't you love to have a friend like Haman, right?
You're hanging around Haman and Haman's like, man, I'm really rich.
It's like, that's great for you, Haman.
It's like, look at all these children I have.
Look at how powerful I am.
That's what's coming out of Haman's mouth.
He's a prideful, arrogant person.
Nobody wants to be friends with people like this, you say, but it seems like he has a
lot of friends.
Yeah, they act like his friend because he has power and money, but they certainly don't
act like his friend later on because they don't really care about him.
Look, people that are prideful people with lots of money, look, they will have lots of
friends, but they're not true friends.
And look, he's a powerful person.
He's got all these people around him, worshiping him and saying, you're the greatest thing
since sliced bread.
They don't care about him though.
And Haman's just bragging about how great he is.
Nobody likes people that always brag about themselves.
It's obnoxious.
It's arrogant.
Let another man praise thee.
That's what the Bible says.
Verse number 12, Haman said, moreover, yea, as to the queen did let no man come in with
the king onto the banquet that she had prepared by myself, and tomorrow am I invited under
her also with the king.
Yet all this availeth me nothing so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's
gate.
So basically Haman is crying like a little girl in this story.
He's like, I've got all the money in the world, but I'm so miserable because Mordecai is not
worshiping me.
Here's a prideful person.
And when you read this story, doesn't he become very envious at Mordecai?
Why?
Because he's prideful.
He's arrogant.
Pride is a root cause of envy, because if you must be the best at everything, you're
going to become envious when somebody has something and they're better at it than you.
Turn to Isaiah 14, Isaiah 14, Isaiah 14, Isaiah 14, Isaiah chapter 14, and the most prideful
person that ever existed was the devil.
The devil's the most prideful person who has ever existed, and we're going to see that
here in Isaiah 14.
Isaiah 14, Isaiah 14, verse 11, thy pomp is brought down to the grave and the noise of
thy vials.
The word pomp, it's not really a modern word so much now, there's a famous classical song
called Pomp and Circumstance, and you know, pomp basically means pride or arrogance.
Somebody's a very pompous person, you've heard that before, when they're a very pompous person,
they're cocky, they're arrogant, they're prideful, they're not a person you want to hang out
with.
And so thy pomp is brought down to the grave and the noise of thy vials.
The worm is spread under thee and the worms cover thee.
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning?
How art thou cut down to the ground which did its weak in the nations?
For thou hast said thine heart, I will ascend into heaven.
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.
I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north.
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds.
Does this sound like a humble person?
Arrogant, right?
Pompous, arrogant, cocky, prideful, sounds like an obnoxious being, Satan, very arrogant.
And notice this at the end of verse 14, I will be like the most high.
He pretty much describes God.
He wants to be like God.
So what's the result?
He's envious of God.
Why?
He's pompous.
He's arrogant.
He's prideful.
He's cocky.
He's the sort of person that must be the best at absolutely everything.
Look, I want to tell the devil, it's like, man, not only can you not take on God, you
got beat up by other angels in the Bible.
It's like, why would you even want to challenge God when you're getting beat up by Michael
the Archangel left and right?
It's like, there's plenty of angels that beat you down.
So it's like, why are you trying to challenge God?
But prideful people think that they're just can conquer anything, right?
Verse 15, yet thou shalt be brought down to hell to the sides of the pit.
Turn to 1 Timothy 3, 1 Timothy 3.
I've said this before in sermons that basically, as far as you lift yourself up, that means
you've got further to fall, right?
I mean, if you lift yourself up this high in the air and then you fall, you probably
won't get seriously injured.
What if you lift yourself up 20 feet in the air and hit the ground?
What if you lift yourself up, you know, a thousand feet in the air and hit the ground?
So acceleration is 9.8 meters per second squared, right?
I mean, you drop from a thousand feet, you're going to die with the speed you're going to
be hitting the ground.
Okay.
And look, if you lift yourself up to the point where you're going to have to drop that far,
you're going to be smashed and destroyed when you hit the ground.
So look, the more you lift yourself up, the more you're going to fall.
But the more you humble yourself, the more God's going to lift you up.
Nobody has lifted themselves up more than the devil.
It's like, okay, you want to lift yourself up to the heavens?
You're going to fall from the heavens, my friend.
That's a pretty far fall.
That's what it says in 1 Timothy 3, verse 6.
Here's another requirement of someone who would be a pastor or spiritual leader.
Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil.
And the Bible says, if you're going to be a spiritual leader, you cannot be a novice.
Okay.
The term elder in regards to being a pastor is speaking towards your experience.
You need to have experience.
A novice means you're new.
Now there's nothing wrong with being a novice.
If you got saved yesterday, you're a novice.
If you just started preaching, you're a novice.
If you just start anything new, you're a novice.
If you start being a father, you're new, you're a novice at that.
Whatever the topic is, you're going to be a novice when you begin.
You start a new job.
You could have a 4.0 degree, every degree in the world, but your first day at that job
you're going to be the worst employee.
You say, why?
You're new.
You're a novice.
Right?
You have to actually learn the practical skills at the job.
You're going to be a novice when you first start off.
Nothing wrong with being a novice, but there's something wrong with being a pastor that's
a novice.
You say, what's the problem?
Not only can they not teach you anything, but they will be lifted up full of pride,
the Bible says.
Right?
You know, I heard a friend of mine in Verity Baptist Church recently preached a sermon
called the Dunning-Kruger effect.
It's very interesting.
It was done from a secular study, but what the study basically shows is this.
They pulled basically 100 people that took some sort of test, like a math test or something,
and they pulled all these people and they looked at their scores.
The people that did really well on the test, they assumed, they told them, guess how you
did on the test.
Okay?
So they all took the test and then they asked them to guess, how did you do on the test?
And then the people that did really well guessed correctly that they did pretty well.
But then the people that were below the top 10% thought that they were basically kind
of mid-range.
They kind of had a lower opinion of themselves.
And then pretty much everybody had kind of a mid-range opinion from 10% to 90%.
90% to 100% said, we think we did pretty well, and they were right.
10% to 90% said we did kind of mid-range.
The lowest 10% thought they did awesome.
They're like, man, we're in the top 10%.
And what does that show?
It shows just a little bit of knowledge results in an arrogant person.
The people that knew very little.
And look, isn't that the reality you see, though, in Christianity?
People get saved, they listen to sermons for a month online, and boy, they're the biggest
expert in the world.
It's like you're doing this wrong and this wrong and this wrong and this wrong.
It's like you're arrogant.
You don't know what you're talking about.
You're a novice.
There's nothing wrong with being a novice.
There's nothing wrong with being zealous, but get control of that.
You're a newbie.
You don't have experience.
What is that?
That's cold.
That 10% was very prideful.
Got to their heads, and they thought they were experts, okay?
The Bible says not to be a novice.
Why?
You're going to be lifted up full of pride.
And isn't it true when we go soul winning and you meet the people that know the very
least about the Bible, they really think they're experts.
I mean, isn't that true?
It's like they've never even read the book of Jude before.
They haven't even read one chapter of the Bible, but boy, do they know the Bible.
I mean, can you quote John 3.16?
John, I've never heard of John before.
It's like, yeah, you're a real expert there.
It's like, hey, well, I know judge not, right?
Okay, wow, you know verse.
Good job.
It's like people that know very little about the Bible, they tend to be very arrogant.
They think they know a lot about the Bible.
They're novice.
They don't know anything.
Okay.
Turn to 1 John 2, 1 John 2, 1 John 2.
You say, why would that be a problem for a pastor to be lifted up full of pride?
Well, he's going to become envious at other pastors that know far more about him.
I mean, look, you know, we're preaching through Revelation on Wednesday nights and look, by
no means do I know the most about the Bible.
There's plenty of people I know that are better preachers.
They know more about the Bible, but you got a bunch of these pre-trib pastors here in
the Philippines that know nothing about the Bible, but boy, they're pretty angry at people
preaching a post-trib rapture.
It's like, why are you so angry?
It's because they're envious.
They don't know what they're talking about.
They read Revelation chapter six and they're like, I mean, it doesn't even go over their
head.
It goes through their head and takes knowledge out on the other side, right?
It's like, they don't get it.
It's like, how do we explain a way after the tribulation?
I mean, it sounds like it's happening after the tribulation.
It's like, yeah, you got it right.
It's like they become envious at people that know more than them.
So look, if you're going to become a spiritual leader or a preacher, you must not be a novice
because people that are novices end up getting lifted up full of pride.
First John two, verse 15, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
If any man loved the world, the love of the father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the
pride of life is not of the father, but is of the world.
The Bible says the pride of life in verse 16, and so you have to understand there is
a certain pride involved with this life where basically if you look up to all these musical
artists and actors and successful people by the world standards, you're going to see prideful
people and you're generally going to model that behavior.
I mean, look at pro athletes because my background in terms of what I was interested in, I always
watch sports.
Most of them are the most arrogant, prideful people in the world.
Arrogant, right?
It always cracked me up when in American football, because in basketball, you score
like 50 times during the game, either two points, three points or free throw.
So the final score is 100 to 100, right?
But in American football, you only score a few times during the game.
So every point really matters.
And you see a guy who would catch a touchdown pass and all of a sudden instead of just running
into the end zone and getting a touchdown, they start kind of hot dogging it, we would
say.
They just kind of like looking behind them and everything.
It's always funny when somebody at the one yard line, a guy runs up behind and taps the
ball out of their hands and it goes out the back of the end zone and they get no points.
It's like, man, that would be embarrassing.
But what are you seeing from those receivers or running backs or whatever?
They're arrogant.
They're prideful.
They're trying to show to the world, look at us, right?
The Bible speaks about a proud look.
You can look at famous people and you can look at the look on their face and they don't
even have to say a single word.
You could say that person's prideful, right?
You see that with famous and powerful people.
They're arrogant.
They're proud.
They're prideful people.
One of the greatest examples, the most arrogant person I know in terms of being a celebrity
is Donald Trump.
It's hilarious when you get a five minute combination of everything he said.
There's probably nobody that knows more about astrophysics than me.
There's probably nobody that knows more about Facebook than me.
And he'll go on and on for like 50 different things.
And he's the expert every single one of those things.
And look, it's the same story with pretty much every politician you're going to find.
They're arrogant.
They're prideful people.
That is a root cause of envy.
You say, why?
Because prideful people must be the best at everything.
And the sad reality is they're not.
And they're going to look foolish and get envious at those that are better than them.
Turn in your Bible to 2 Corinthians 10, 2 Corinthians 10, 2 Corinthians 10.
One root cause of envy is covetousness.
Another root cause of envy is cockiness or pride.
Now can you see how envy is so dangerous?
If it's a combination of the worst things, covetousness and prideful combined, we're
just getting started.
I mean, envy is on the end of destruction inside your own heart.
An envious person is covetous.
They're prideful.
Look, if you're a covetous, prideful person, prepare for miserable life.
2 Corinthians 10, number one was covetousness.
Number two was cockiness.
Number three is comparing.
If you compare yourselves to other people, it will result in you becoming envious at
other people.
2 Corinthians 10 verse 12, for we dare not make ourselves of the number or compare ourselves
with some that commend themselves, but they measuring themselves by themselves and comparing
themselves among themselves are not wise.
The Bible says it is an unwise, foolish thing to compare yourself.
You say, why Brother Stuckey?
Well number one, because usually when people compare themselves to others, they'll compare
themselves to somebody that they know that they're better at than that person.
It's like, man, I know the Bible better than this person.
This person got saved two weeks ago.
I hope you know the Bible better than them.
Or it's like, man, I'm better at basketball than this person.
This person's never played basketball before.
They always compare themselves to people that they know they're better at because they're
prideful.
These things go hand in hand.
They compare and they want to look down on other people.
Comparing yourself is unwise because usually you look down on other people.
It's going to cause you not to be motivated to get better because you already think you
got it all put together.
The other problem is sometimes people compare themselves to people that have far more experience.
Some people have a lowly opinion of themselves and they might say, man, I could never preach.
I could never sound like Pastor Jimenez.
Well, Pastor Jimenez has been preaching for more than a decade.
Why would you compare yourself to someone who's preached thousands of sermons in their
lifetime?
It's like, of course you're not going to be as good now.
I could never know the Bible as well as Brother So-and-so.
Well, Brother So-and-so has been saved for 15 years reading it cover to cover twice each
year.
That's 30 times you got saved six months ago.
You don't have to compare yourself versus other people.
Just worry about your own life.
But people, when they compare, it will often cause them to get envious at other people.
Why?
Because sometimes in that comparison, they don't look too good.
They don't know as much.
They're not as skilled.
Turn to Mark 9, Mark 9, Mark 9, you say, Brother Stuckey, is this really part of church problems?
Well, I mean, it said envy in 1 Corinthians 3, but let me just show you here in Mark 9.
This certainly is part of having church problems.
You say, why?
Well, let's look at the first church here in Mark 9, verse 33.
And he came to Capernaum, Mark 9, verse 33, and he came to Capernaum and being in the
house, he asked them, what was it that you disputed among yourselves by the way?
So Jesus says, you know, what were you guys arguing about?
What were you fighting about?
Okay.
Now, if you read the whole story, which we don't have time to do, they were arguing over
basically who was the best.
Who was the best Christian?
Who was the most spiritual?
Who's the best soul winner?
Who's the best preacher?
Verse 34, but they held their peace.
What does that mean?
It means they didn't say anything.
They were embarrassed to answer that question because they knew they were doing something
wrong.
Even a fool is counted wise when he holdeth his peace, right?
They don't say anything, but they held their peace for by the way they had disputed among
themselves who should be the greatest.
I mean, who's going to get the most rewards in heaven, me or him?
What are they doing?
They're sharing, right?
But just imagine.
Okay.
Now notice verse 35, verse 35, and he sat down and called the 12 and saith unto them,
if any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all and servant of all.
He doesn't tell them who's going to be the greatest.
He says, if you really want to be great, become a servant, okay?
Just imagine though, if in our church, we were arguing about who's the best, who has
the most Bible knowledge, who's the best preacher, all these different topics.
And let's say the Lord Jesus Christ was here with us.
Okay.
Imagine this was 2000 years ago and we're arguing about this question and then the Lord
Jesus Christ says, you know what, brother Rafi, he's the best among you.
What would happen with all of us?
We would get envious at him, right?
Because we're comparing and Jesus says, well, you're not as good as him.
The result is you're going to become envious.
Look, when you're comparing yourself to other people in life, it's foolish and you're going
to end up becoming envious at other people that end up being better than you.
It's just common sense, right?
And the sad thing is when we're looking at something spiritual and we're looking at these
problems.
It's one thing in the secular world to compare yourself and that's not wise.
It's foolish as well.
But when you bring it into church and you're trying to compare, well, who's the best preacher?
Who's the best soul winner?
Who's the most zealous?
Who has the most Bible knowledge?
It's going to cause major church problems in our church.
That's what we see here in Mark nine.
Turn to, um, turn to John three, John three, John chapter three.
I would say this though, that if in the first church with some of the godly Christians who
have ever existed, they are struggling with this.
I would say that at our church, we're going to struggle with it as well from time to time.
These are very godly Christians and they are arguing about who's the best.
And here's the thing.
You might not be doing it audibly, but what about inside your own hearts and your own
heart?
Cause we're talking about things on the interior.
What about inside your own heart?
Are you comparing yourself and in your head you hear somebody who maybe doesn't sound
like they know much about the Bible and you're saying, man, I've been saved for a shorter
amount of time, but I know the Bible better than so and so.
Yeah, you're comparing yourself inside your heart and it also probably means you're, you're
prideful as well because these things go hand in hand and look, the end result of that could
be envy because maybe you are better than that other person in that area, but what about
somebody else who knows more than you?
You will become an envious person and this will destroy your life.
John 3 verse 25, then there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews
about purifying.
John 3 verse 26, John 3 verse 26, and they came on to John and said unto him, Rabbi,
he that was with thee beyond Jordan to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth
and all men come to him.
So they come up to John the Baptist and they say, you know what?
This guy, Jesus, he's better than you.
You baptize him and yet he's more successful than you.
Now look, don't be Bobo when you speak to spiritual leaders.
I mean, this is a very foolish thing to say.
Why would you come?
And look, I have actually seen this in action before.
I have seen people, you know, in front of other preachers say, well, my favorite preacher
and they'll name somebody else.
It's like, why would you say that?
It's like, just keep it to yourself.
It's like, what's the purpose of that?
And they come up to John the Baptist and they say, hey, Jesus is more successful than you.
Okay.
So we ordained somebody to the ministry and then all of a sudden after five years, hey,
they've got a bigger church.
They're getting more people saved.
They're more successful than you, brother Stuckey.
Hey, thanks.
I appreciate the compliment, right?
That's pretty much what they're doing to John the Baptist here.
Now John the Baptist responds in a perfect way because he was the greatest man born among
women because he was not comparing himself to other people.
Verse 27, John answered and said, a man can receive nothing except to be given in from
heaven.
See yourselves bear me a witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before
him.
He that hath the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth
and heareth him rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice.
This my joy therefore is fulfilled.
He must increase, but I must decrease.
And then John the Baptist is saying, hey, if I want the Lord to increase, I've got to
decrease.
The more we humble ourselves, these things are interrelated, the more Christ can increase.
Okay.
Let's look at Matthew 20, Matthew 20, Matthew 20.
This is actually kind of a difficult thing in the modern day when you have a church that
puts sermons online.
Because look, you know, sometimes, you know, in your head you might think, man, I think
I preached a really good sermon and it gets like, I don't know, 80 views or whatever.
And somebody else preaches a sermon and gets like 500 views.
It can easily get to your head.
That's why it says don't be a novice.
That's why we say don't compare yourself.
Why?
Because it could result in you becoming envious at other people.
And look, if you're seeing any of these smaller attributes inside of yourself, you better
stop that now.
You say, why?
It's going to be far worse if it gets to the point of you envying people.
Who can stand before envy?
We might not think of envy as being that bad.
The Bible is saying it's worse than anger and wrath.
You might not think that because it's kind of on the inside.
Okay.
You'll see the manifestations on the outside, but somebody keeps it on the inside.
Just like Haman, that will destroy you far more than anger and wrath, the Bible says.
Matthew 20, verse one, Matthew 20, verse one, for the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man
that is in householder, which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard.
And when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
What you're seeing here in Matthew 20, verses one and two, is there's people that do not
have any work.
They need to make money and they're not able to make money, right?
When you're driving along the roads or whatever, you see people that are standing on the streets.
Right now, there's a lot of jipney drivers that are standing, asking for money.
They're without work, right?
And they're trying to get money.
And if somebody were to say, hey, I'll hire you for the day, here's what I'll pay you.
They would say, sure, I need work, right?
That's what you're seeing here in Matthew 20.
There's people that are standing out there and they have no work.
In the US, we would have day laborer companies, where basically if you didn't have a job,
and if you're there before everybody else, you show up at six in the morning, a job would
come in somewhere around the city and you'd be doing a manual labor job, like pick up
this trash on the side of the road or do this, and you'd be paid a one-day salary.
And then every day you show up, it's first come, first serve.
A lot of people don't like those jobs though, because they don't like to be picking up trash
on the side of the road.
They think it looks lowly, but if you need work, you need work.
And that's what we're seeing here in Matthew 20.
They're going out there basically waiting to be hired and they agree for a penny a day.
Now when it's a penny a day, this is not like one one-hundredth of a US dollar, okay?
A penny a day is not referring to a couple pesos.
It's basically a whole day's work, okay?
Basically imagine minimum wage, we're gonna see here for 12 hours.
In the US, depending on what state in California, it'd probably be roughly $100, okay?
Where basically you get paid, and obviously there's taxes taken out and things like that
in the US, but basically you'd be hired for, you'd make about a hundred bucks a day, okay?
And so that's what they're doing.
They're waiting to be hired and then they agree for a penny a day.
They say, that sounds like a good price.
I will work all day for a penny, okay?
Verse three, and he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace.
Idle means they're just kind of sitting around, don't have any job, and said unto them, go
ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you, and they went their
way.
So basically in the third hour he sees these other people, they're standing outside, they
have no work, and he doesn't tell them what he's gonna pay him.
He just says, I'll hire you for the day and pay you a fair wage.
And by faith, they're just trusting they're not gonna get ripped off.
And they say, okay, I'll work all day because, and look, they would have probably been happy
just to have dinner provided, right?
I mean, they don't have work, they're just saying I'm gonna work and do whatever to have
food for the day.
Verse five, again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour and did likewise.
So he does the same thing, he hires them, he doesn't tell them what the wage will be.
And about the 11th hour he went out and found others standing idle.
Now notice in verse six, it's the 11th hour.
What does this mean?
It means they're working a 12 hour day.
Sun up to sun down, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. with a very short lunch probably in between, right?
And they're happy with this.
They're getting paid minimum wage all day they're working as long as there's sunlight
outside.
And he found other standing idle, it says in verse six, and saith unto them, Why stand
ye here all the day idle?
Why aren't you doing anything?
He says.
They say unto them, Because no man hath hired us, we do not have a job, he says.
He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.
He says, I will hire you and pay you a fair wage.
They probably assume they're gonna be working two hours and getting one sixth of a penny,
okay?
Basically getting paid for two hours.
So imagine, I don't know what minimum wage is here, but imagine getting paid for two
hours at minimum wage is basically what would be happening.
And they're okay with that, okay?
Then notice what it says in verse number eight.
So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the laborers
and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.
So he starts with those that are hired the 11th hour and he says, I'm gonna pay you first,
then those hired in the ninth hour, then the sixth, then the third, then those hired
at the very beginning, okay?
So he says here in verse number nine, And when they came that were hired about the 11th
hour, they received every man a penny.
So people worked for just two hours and he gave them a full day's wage.
He gave them a penny.
Now imagine if you were working a job, you got hired at the beginning of the day and
you see somebody that worked one sixth the amount of time get a penny.
What is your natural thought inside your head?
I'm getting six pennies today, right?
Or I'm getting five pennies or eight pennies or whatever.
You assume you're gonna get more, right?
You know, I've had this before working on jobs where you've been working a job and someone
gets hired and they're making the same amount as you and it's like, man, I've been working
here three years.
Like, why are they making the same amount as me, right?
That's what's taking place in this story in Matthew 20.
And so they get paid a penny verse 10, but when the first came, they supposed that they
should have received more and they likewise received every man a penny.
And when they had received it, they murmured against the good man of the house.
Now here's the thing.
They agreed to work for a penny 12 hours earlier.
They said, that sounds good to us.
We don't have a job.
I'm going to be happy with a penny.
But then they murmur or complain at the good man of the house.
And this is a good man because he hired them for a fair wage and he gave other people a
really good wage.
But they are upset.
You say, why are they upset?
Because they're comparing themselves to people that only work two hours.
I mean, they were happy with a penny, but now since they're comparing themselves to
other people, they're no longer happy.
Verse 12, saying, and look, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh, saying these,
what are they referring to?
The people that just got hired, these have last have wrought, but one hour, it's only
one hour, not two hours.
My bad.
11th hour, they worked for one hour.
But one hour and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat
of the day.
So what they say is this, these people only worked one hour and they made a penny.
Why don't we get more?
What are you seeing?
You're seeing people that are comparing themselves.
And what are they?
Are they more envious at those that only had to work one hour to make the money?
Now let me explain something to you, because we're only seeing a story here and there might
be a reason why they're in this situation.
But quite honestly, it's better to work all day than one hour.
It's better.
And look, what I don't get about it is he hires people that are sitting idle, standing
idle.
Let me ask you a question.
Would you rather work for eight hours or just sit around with nothing to do for eight hours?
I'd rather work.
Have you ever had jobs where basically you don't have any assignments that come in and
you're getting paid for not working, but you literally have nothing to do.
And it's like, if they let me read the Bible, I'd say, hey, no big deal.
I'll just read the Bible.
But generally you're not allowed to do that.
You got to pretend like you're working, even though there's absolutely nothing for you
to do.
So basically you pull up like the rule book for the company.
That's 400 pages.
All right, I'm going to read this for the fifth time this year because they didn't give
me any work to do.
It's miserable, isn't it?
You look at your watch every 10 minutes like, oh man, it's only 2.05.
Oh man, you're like a little kid again, right?
You know, you're a kid and you're driving to a location.
Mommy, are we there yet?
Daddy, are we there yet?
It's like, five more minutes, son, 30 seconds later, mommy, are we there yet?
I mean, that's what you're literally like when you have no work to do.
Why?
You're bored.
I would rather be doing something than being bored out of my mind.
So I don't know why they're complaining.
It's better to have something to do, but they're complaining because they don't want to bear
the burden and heat of the day.
What are they doing?
They're comparing themselves versus other people and they become envious of people that
basically make the same amount and have to work less time.
Turn in your Bible to Luke 3, Luke 3, Luke 3, Luke chapter 3.
One root cause of envy is covetousness.
If you're a covetous person where you always want a lot of stuff and you got to have the
nicest of everything, you'll become envious of people that have it.
Common sense.
If you're a prideful person where you've got to be the best at everything, you'll become
envious of people that are better than you.
If you are comparing yourself to other people, you're going to become envious when people
are better than you.
And that last parable we looked at ties into the last point, which is being contentless,
not being happy, never being happy, contentless.
They are not content with what they got paid.
Luke 3 verse 14, And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we
do?
And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely, and be content
with your wages.
Be happy, be satisfied with the amounts you're getting paid.
In Spanish, contento is the word which means happy.
And so content means to be happy, to be contented, to be satisfied.
And he says, Be content with your wages.
Now he's specifically referring to soldiers.
But look, if you've got a job, be content with what you're being paid.
Be okay with that.
And if you are not content with what you're being paid, then you're gonna become envious
of people that have more than you.
Now look, if you need to work more hours to get a different job, that's a different story.
But if you're working a full time job and you have a certain amount, and look, if you
don't have another option to get paid more money, be content with what God has provided
you.
Okay?
Philippians 4, Philippians 4, Philippians chapter 4, Philippians chapter 4.
And here Paul the Apostle is speaking, and this is really powerful because you have to
understand with Paul the Apostle, this was a man that before he got saved, his life was
pretty awesome from a worldly standpoint.
Very smart guy, very successful guy, great job, lots of money, anything he wanted in
life.
Isn't that true?
Right?
If he had not learned to be content with having less, he would have never been a great evangelist
because he always wanted the best.
And look, if you're gonna be successful in this life, you must decrease yourself in order
for Christ to increase.
And Paul the Apostle basically forsook the great job because he could have gotten saved
and just not told anybody about it.
Right?
I mean, aren't there people that get saved and, you know, they still go to Catholic Church
with their family because they're just trying to fit in or whatever.
There's people that get saved and then just they don't want to be open about it.
Paul the Apostle, though, he did become open.
He changed and said, you know, I'm willing to forsake all that.
I mean, no Christ, the Bible says.
Notice what it says in Philippians 4 verse 11.
Not that I speak in respect of want, basically wanting something, more money, more supplies,
better job, place to sleep, things like that.
Not that I speak in respect of want.
Notice this, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
Right?
Now, when I was in the US, we used to joke about this, where it's like, even if you're
in the state of California, learn to be content, even though it's a liberal state.
Okay?
But when he's saying whatsoever state, he's saying whatsoever position you are in life.
Okay?
Whatsoever lot you've been handed, whatsoever position, be content with that.
And he says, I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
What is he saying?
I have learned to be happy.
What is he saying?
It didn't come naturally for me.
Paul the Apostle, the great evangelist, the greatest man, you know, maybe that lived outside
of the Lord Jesus Christ, John the Baptist, maybe a few others, one of the greatest people
who ever lived.
He wrote over half the books of the New Testament.
He says, I had to learn to be content.
He said, Brother Succy, I'm not happy right now.
Learn to be content.
Paul the Apostle learned to be content.
Whatever your problem is in life, learn to be content, the Bible says.
Paul the Apostle says, I learned.
This is something he had to learn.
And what I've found in life is that when people are discontent in one stage of life, once
one problem is fixed, they've got another problem they focus on.
They're still not content.
They get that fixed, they're not content again.
It doesn't seem to matter.
They're always upset.
Why?
Because it's a problem with their heart.
They're not a content person.
Paul says, you know what?
I had to fix this problem.
I learned to be content.
Why?
Because he was giving away a lot of money and a nice job and a nice place to live and
you know what?
He was getting beaten and persecuted for the cause of Christ and he had a lot less than
he had before.
Okay?
Look at verse number 12.
Verse 12.
I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound.
Everywhere and in all things I'm instructed both to be full and to be hungry.
So he's specifically referring to food or money.
Okay?
I know how to be full when I have a good meal provided.
I know how to be hungry.
I spend the whole day soul winning, preaching sermons and I can't afford to go to Jollibee
afterwards or something.
Right?
That's kind of what he's saying.
He's like, you know what?
Sometimes I'm hungry.
He's like, I don't have the most money in the world.
I'm just kind of a vagabond just starting churches, working a job, trying to get things
going.
He says, I don't have the most of everything.
I know both how to be, know both how to be a base and I know how to abound.
Everywhere and in all things I'm instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to
abound and to suffer need.
Say Brother Stuckey, how can you do that?
How can you learn to be content?
You must have the attitude, I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me according
to verse 13.
That's the context of verse 13.
You can learn to be happy no matter what state you're in.
Right?
You know, you always see it with fighters.
They have Philippians 4 13, like I can knock this guy unconscious because I can do all
things through Christ would strengthen with me, right?
It's not the context of the verse.
And then they never use a King James when they do that.
It's always like a new King James or NIV or something like that.
Now, the context of basically, you know, being able to through all things, you can strengthen
yourself through Christ is the fact that you can learn to be content when you have less.
And look, this certainly applies financially because that's the context.
You could apply it outside of financially, though.
If you're not content in an area of life, learn to be content.
It's not just in terms of financially for Paul the Apostle, I mean, didn't he get struck
with basically an ailment in the flesh?
Most likely I would say with his eyes is what I would say.
And look, can you imagine just having your eyesight and then just all of a sudden you
lose it and you're blind and you know what, you'd have to learn to be content, right?
Because you know, I personally, if I do not work contacts or glasses, I am legally blind.
I cannot recognize people from two feet away, but I've got contacts in.
But imagine if, because I'll tell you, I wake up in the morning and you can ask my wife
and you know, if I misplaced my glasses, I'm just like, try not to step on them.
I can't see.
You know, you can do this thing to try to see a little bit.
I am very blind without contacts or glasses.
I am always wearing them because otherwise, look, I'd be walking like this trying not
to hit stuff like that.
That's my vision.
Since I was like 9 or 10 years old or something like that, it's just gotten worse and worse
and worse, right?
My vision.
But I cannot imagine though waking up and just there was no way to fix it because I
wear glasses and contacts and I'm able to function.
But just imagine losing your eyesight.
Well, that's Paul the Apostle.
His eyesight was probably fine and then all of a sudden, you know, he'd be sought God
three times for it because he lost that ability.
He lost his money.
He was getting persecuted, lost his eyesight.
He had all of these problems and yet he was a content person.
He was persecuted until the day he died, but he was happy.
And what that shows us is you can learn to be content or happy no matter what stage you
are in life.
What's going to happen if you don't learn to be content with what you do have?
You're going to be upset at people that have more than you.
You'll be envious at other people.
You'll be a miserable, angry, bitter person.
Turn to 1st Timothy chapter 6.
Say, Brother Stuckey, I like the sermons on Hinduism, right?
You're stepping on my toes.
You're hitting my heart.
Yeah, these are the sermons that change our lives.
And look, the immediate context is with church problems from 1st Corinthians 3.
But look, you can take this outside of church.
You want to fix your marriage problems?
You want to fix your life problems?
Fix your heart.
Hey, next week we'll look at the things on the outside that you do get envious about,
but the real problem is on the inside.
Because if you are not covetous, if you are a humble person.
If you are not comparing.
If you were just learning to be happy with what you've been provided.
You wouldn't get envious at other people.
If other people have a better job, you'd be okay with it.
If other people are more successful, you'd be okay with it.
You would be okay with having less.
You know, the reality is this, and whenever you see studies on this, somebody basically
gets some sort of disease at a young age or whatever.
There's people that have real problems in their life, like real physical problems or
health problems, and they're very happy people.
And they say, you know what?
God has blessed me.
And, you know, actually having that has caused them to be saying, you know what?
God has shown me how to be content and everything.
They're satisfied.
Now, I'm not saying I would respond that well.
I don't know.
I haven't had a situation like Joe, but you know what?
That's the goal, though.
The goal is that you fix the inside enough that even when you do have problems in your
life, you're still going to be content.
You can still wake up and say, you know what?
I'm okay with what God has provided me.
First Timothy chapter six, verse six, but godliness with contentment is great gain.
See, I thought great finances were great gain.
Well, more important is to be a godly person and be happy.
Godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into this world, and
it is certain we can carry nothing out.
You come into this world with nothing, you leave with nothing, right?
You know, the old Egyptian religion, you always look at, you know, this King Tut and these
pharaohs and everything.
When they got buried, they would get buried with their supplies.
They get buried with their gold and their silver, because they're going to take you
to the afterlife.
It's like, man, you might have been the most powerful person in the world, but a bit crazy
there, right?
They literally thought they'd get buried with their gold, and it's like, man, I get to take
this gold to the afterlife, because they literally thought they're almost like God on earth,
like God was using.
They were God's representative on earth, so to speak, because they were so powerful, right?
I mean, foolishness.
It is certain we can carry nothing out.
Go ahead and build your big barn and have everything perfect, and then all of a sudden,
you know what, your life's required of you, the Bible says, right?
It is certain you can carry nothing out.
Now, look, I don't want you to misunderstand what I'm saying.
I'm not saying that you shouldn't work hard, and I'm not saying it's wrong to have nice
things.
If you have nice things, there's nothing wrong with that.
If you can go on a nice vacation, go on a nice vacation.
There's nothing sinful about it.
But if you cannot be content with the fact that someone else is able to do it and you're
not able to do it, and if you do not learn, I'm trying to help you here today.
If you don't learn to be content with less, you're going to end up being a miserable person
no matter how much you have, because once you get to go to that nice vacation to Europe,
somebody else gets to go to the nice vacation to, I don't know, the US, North America, wherever.
You're like, man, I want to go to Canada and the US and everything.
It's like, man, Canada is a cold place.
Why would anyone want to go?
I mean, Canada might be beautiful, but I hate cold weather anyways.
So 1 Timothy 6 verse 8, and having food and raiment, let us be there with content.
God says, be content with food and clothing.
Notice he didn't say with a place to stay.
You know why?
Because Paul didn't always have a place to stay.
He learned to be content, and he did not always have a place to stay, but he always had food
and he always had raiment.
Now, it doesn't mean that he got to eat a steak at every meal.
It doesn't mean he got to go to Starbucks every other day.
It doesn't mean that he got to go to all these nice places, but he still had food.
He didn't starve to death, and he was content with having food and clothing.
Maybe it wasn't the nicest clothing.
Maybe he didn't have the nice, expensive clothing and everything like that, but he says, you
know what?
I've got some clothing.
He had food.
He had raiment, and he learned to be okay with that.
Even when he was on the road, he didn't always have a place to stay.
By faith, he says, hey, you know what?
I think somebody is going to provide me a lodging.
If not, well, it is what it is.
I'm content, right?
And so, look, you in this room, I'm assuming everybody has a place to stay, right?
You've got more than food and clothing.
God will always provide your food.
He will always provide your clothing, and everybody in this room has a place to stay.
So look, you're better than what it is in 1 Timothy 6, verse 8, according to this, okay?
So look, what are we talking about here today?
Because if you're not content with what you have, you will be envious of people that have
more than you.
That's reality.
If you are a covetous person, you always have to have the nicest things in life.
What happens?
You become envious of people that have what you don't have.
If you are a cocky or prideful person, you're going to become basically upset when people
are better than you.
You'll become envious at them.
It's like you're the second greatest basketball player in the world, but I want to be number
one.
That's Haman, right?
It's like you're the second most powerful man in the world, but one person didn't bow
down to me.
It's like thousands of people bow down and worship me, but one person didn't bow down.
And look, by the way, you think money's going to solve all your problems.
Are celebrities happy?
Right.
They're miserable.
It's like, why are all these celebrities getting drug overdoses when they're in their 20s?
Why are they attempting suicide when they're 30 years old?
They're miserable.
Why?
Because they have everything life would have to offer, and then they realize, oh man, is
this the best it gets?
And they're like, man, this isn't that great after all.
They're not happy, right?
Be content with what you have, and look, do not compare yourself versus other people.
If you do that, you're going to find yourself as a miserable person, okay?
Now look, if you start seeing these traits inside of yourself, inside of your own hearts,
because the Bible says this, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately
wicked.
Who can know it?
And look, if you start seeing these traits, you're probably way far along on the path.
You better fix it now, and let me just help you out.
If somebody ever tells you, and look, I don't walk around and tell people, hey, you're an
arrogant person, but look, if somebody ever tells you that you're an arrogant person,
you might want to actually take that to heart and say, I need to make a change, because
even if they were very bastos for saying it, it doesn't mean it wasn't true, right?
I mean, if somebody says, you know, you're an arrogant person, you're a covetous person,
hey, they might have been very bastos for telling you that, but you know what?
It's probably true.
You might want to fix the problem.
You say, why?
Because if you get to the end of all of these things, you're getting filled full of envy.
And look, it's a wildfire that's never going to stop.
You're going to become envious at one person, then another person, then another and another
and another and another.
Why?
Well, it's not because of everything on the outside.
Don't blame everything on the outside for your problems.
It's because of your own heart.
Let's close in a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and just getting to see
your word on this topic of envy and help us as a church not to have this problem like
they had in the Church of Corinth.
Help us all to fix our personalities, fix our characteristics, including myself, God.
Help us not to be, you know, cocky or prideful, not to be covetous.
Help us to be content and help us not to compare ourselves versus other people.
Help us just continually strive to grow closer to you, God.
We pray these things in Jesus name, Amen.