Okay, so Genesis 37, and quite a horrible story really between, you know, conflict there
between brethren and how these twelve, or how these brethren were dealing with Joseph,
and this is our first introduction, well not the very first time we introduced it to Joseph
as a person, but this begins the story of Joseph, and really we're following our Joseph
story till the end of Genesis, but look at verse number 11 please, Genesis 37 verse 11,
it says, and his brethren envied him. This whole chapter gives us a snapshot of what
envy can do between brethren, okay, and we have a story here of brothers, you know, blood
brothers, but I want to take the lesson, I want to take the spiritual lesson from that
and apply that to the church, because we're all brethren here aren't we? We're all brothers
and sisters in the Lord, and would it surprise you if I told you that there is envy between
brethren, you know that in churches there is envy, and it can cause strife as we see
in the strife that was caused here in this chapter. Now, this is recorded for us even
in the New Testament, I'll just read it to you quickly, it says in Acts 7, 9, and the
patriarchs moved with envy, sowed Joseph into Egypt, but God was with him. So what caused
the brothers to sell Joseph as a slave to the Egyptians? Envy. Envy caused them to sell
Joseph. I mean, how bad is that, selling your own brother to the world, to the Egyptians?
It was envy that caused that. Proverbs 14 verse 30 says, a sound heart is the life of
the flesh, but envy the rottenness of the bones. Envy the rottenness. Could you imagine
your bones physically just rotting, rotting away, you know, there are sicknesses that
affect the bones, you know, and that will cause you to have a lower lifespan, you know,
and that will cause you to have a lower quality of life, so too will envy. Envy can destroy
the quality of your life, will cause you to have a shorter lifespan, as it were, you know,
and so envy is a horrible sin, and we've all had envy in our hearts at some point in
our lives. All of us at some point have experienced envy, and for me, I'm just thinking back
to the times that I have had envy toward other people, it's been horrible, it's not nice,
it's not a good feeling to have, you know, you're thinking the worst of people, you're
thinking how can you take advantage, you know, why is that person getting blessed, why is
that person getting honored, why not me, you might be thinking, you say well I've never
had those thoughts, yeah right, you know, envy is something we've all had, and it's
horrible, it's horrible, but I can honestly say, you know, thanks to the Lord, this is
a sin that I no longer really struggle with. It was something I struggled with a lot in
my teenagers, you know, I would see how my friends would, you know, their parents were
not so strict, you know, their parents would allow them to go to the cinemas or whatever,
my parents were a lot more strict, or whatever, they're just a freedom that I'd see other
people have, and I would envy them, I would envy that, and yet now I can look back and
be thankful for the upbringing that my parents did give me, but you know, envy is also, can
also be reflected within the church, and so the title for the sermon tonight, yeah tonight
is Envy in the Church, Envy in the Church, and so we want to take the lessons we see
in this chapter, and apply them to the brothers and sisters we have in this church, look at
verse number one, and Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger in the land
of Canaan, these are the generations of Jacob, so in the previous chapter we had generations
of Esau, now we have the generations of Jacob, Joseph being 17 years old, was feeding the
flock with his brethren, and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah,
his father's wives, and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report, now this again
our first proper introduction to Joseph, we see him here as a 17 year old child, now what's
very unique and very special about Joseph, is that he's the very, one of the very few,
I think he might be the only one actually, when I think about, I mean I can think of
some other men, but I can also see some of their failings, but he's like the only character
besides the Lord Jesus Christ, where we never seem to commit any sins, we don't have any
of his sins recorded for us in the Bible, it's not saying that he never sinned, of course
he sinned, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, of course, but the Lord
never records his sins, meaning this man Joseph lived a righteous life, he lived a life that
was God honouring, so honouring that God doesn't even record his sins, we've gone through some
of the other patriarchs, some of the other great men in the Bible, we looked at Abraham,
we looked at Isaac, we looked at Jacob, and every time we've seen some sins they've committed,
and yet with Joseph, there is never a single sin recorded for us in the Bible for him,
and so I believe this is important, you know, so we can see his life in the next few chapters,
as we go through the rest of Genesis, and we can learn from Joseph, we can see a righteous
man, we see a man who is Godly, who is honourable, who has integrity about himself, so we can
learn from him as well, and the first thing I want you to notice there, what makes him
a very productive man of integrity, a Godly man, is that at the age of 17 years old, is
he playing the Xbox, at 17 is he playing the Playstation, is he out there at the cinemas
watching the latest movies, you know, what is he doing, is he buying a drum kit so he
can pretend to be in some rock band, what's he doing with his life at 17, 17 is a child,
I mean, I think back when I was 17, I was a kid, I had no idea what I was going to do
with my life, I was wasting my life on nonsense, but what's Joseph doing, a Godly young lad,
he's looking after the sheep, right, he's feeding the flock, he's working hard at 17
years old, and you know what my desire is, my desire especially when it comes to my sons,
but even my daughter, is at 17, they're working hard, they've been productive, they're learning
how to be skillful, in whatever capacity, of course, you know, my son's out there in
the workplace, you know, even if it's a part time job or something, something to get them
to learn and educate, and I can look at Joseph and say look at Joseph, you know what my son's
to be like Joseph, and you know, when it comes to my daughter, I want my daughters to learn
how to be Godly wives, Godly ladies, so they can be a help to a man in the future, and
so I think this is so important, that a boy at 17 years old, you should be at work, alright,
you should be at work, being productive with your time, and again, I think back to me being
17, I'm sure you can think back to you being 17, man, we were kids, right, we didn't know
what we were doing with our lives, I mean, anyway, that's how I feel, right, no direction
at all, but we see, you know, Joseph, you know, a good lad, working hard, and what does
he do, he's working hard for his father's business, he sees his own brothers, slacking
off on the job, and so he comes and he brings out, the bible says here, he brought his father,
to his father, their evil report, right, his other brothers were slacking off on the job,
his other brothers were not looking after the sheep as they should be, and so he goes
to dad and tells dad about the situation, he goes and tells dad of their evil report,
now it's not saying here that Joseph brought a false report, no, rather that the brethren
were doing evil, they weren't doing the job that was assigned to them, and he let his
father know, and the first point that I want to bring to your attention when it comes to
envy is, and you'll see soon later that the brethren here started to hate Joseph for just
being honest, they hated Joseph for bringing this report about their productivity, and
so the first point that I have about envy is that envy, and again, we want to take this
in the context of the church, envy will make you hate the preacher, the preacher that comes
with the reports, the preacher that comes and opens the bible, opens the word of God
at you, and you might not even like what is being preached, envy will cause you to hate
the preacher, okay, and I'm not necessarily talking about the pastor myself, but any man,
any man that gets behind this pulpit opens the word of God, you know, if you have envy
in your heart, you don't like what is being said even though it's the truth, you know,
Joseph came preaching the truth, and the brethren did not like him, it caused them to hate him,
okay, was the problem with Joseph? No, the problem was with those that had the evil reports,
okay, and you got to be careful in church, because the preacher gets behind the pulpit,
does a lot of work, does a lot of study to preach the truth, okay, and if you hate the
truth, or you speak bad of the preacher, that's envy in your heart, that's hatred that you
have in your heart for the report that they're bringing from the word of God, okay, now here's
what's beautiful about preaching the word of God, is that I don't have to target any
individuals, I don't come here thinking what does brother so and so need, what does sister
so and so need, all I need to do is preach the bible, and it's something we all need,
it's going to hit someone somewhere, okay, and maybe at different points in your life
it will have a different effect on you, because we're all growing, we're all developing,
but what's beautiful about the bible, it's a mirror, and the mirror shows us our imperfections,
the mirror shows us where we need to work, and so brethren, do you think Joseph came
with an evil report because he wanted to destroy his brethren? What did he do? Did he do what's
right do you think? Do you think he did what's right? And I'm just appealing to the parents
here, you know, let's say, you know, you have, you know, two children or more than
two children, and one child gets into drugs and alcohol and whatever, starts destroying
their lives, looking at pornography or whatever, not doing their chores, you know, destroying
themselves, and you don't even know about it, if you don't know about it, wouldn't
you want one of your other children that finds out about it to come to you and tell you,
to bring that evil reports? Isn't that what you would want as a parent? Absolutely, right?
Why? So you can destroy that son that you have, that daughter? No, so you can correct
them, so you can guide them, so you can see the problems they have, and then make them
aware of that, correct them, chastise them if you have to, so they can be better people,
so they can learn how to, you know, they can learn that, you know, sin has consequences,
you know, there's chastisement, there's correction for sin, so they can be better
people, you know, Joseph is a good man, he brings the report to help his brothers, not
to be the snitch, you know, not to be a gossiper, he's coming with the truth, and he takes
the truth to the one that has authority, he takes it to his father, he takes it to the
employer, the employer is the one that's making them look after the sheep, right? He
takes it to the right person, notice what Joseph doesn't do, he doesn't go around
spreading it to the whole world, you know, what doesn't Joseph do, he doesn't go to
Facebook, does he? He doesn't go on YouTube and spread all rumors about this bad report
of his brothers, no, he takes it to the proper authority, he takes it to his father, okay,
he means well, he's not trying to make people look bad, he wants to help his brethren, so
he does the right thing, he takes it to the person in authority, and let me tell you children
right now, if you know that your siblings are doing evil, they're doing wrong, okay,
and when you find out, you're going to be thinking, should I bring this to mum and dad,
or, but if I bring it to mum and dad, my brother or sister will get angry at me, okay, no,
you take, you be like Joseph, you take it to dad, okay, you take it to the one in authority
and let them know to help your siblings, because if they're doing something wicked, they're
doing something evil, and your parents don't know, how are they going to help them, okay,
you're not, you're not, you know, you're not being a snitch, you know, you're not being
a dobber, you know, you're being, you're doing the right thing, you know, you're helping
your brothers and sisters when you bring the wrong things they've done before the war,
to the one in authority there, when it comes to the father, and look, as we keep going
through this chapter, we'll see that Isaac will again send, I'm sorry, not Isaac, Jacob
will again send Joseph to give him another report of his brethren, and so, you know,
we can see that Joseph was trusted to bring a true report, you know, and as a preacher,
you know, if you're going to get behind the pulpit, and you know, if you ever decide to
be a pastor, you have to make a decision, I have to bring a true report, you know, I
need to preach what is true, even if it's evil, even, you know, the word evil just means
harmful, even if it means it's going to step on someone's toes, even if it means it's going
to rip someone's face, I still got to get behind the pulpit and preach it, I got to
bring an honest report, and that's what Joseph did, that's the kind of person Joseph was,
and I'd be lying to you brethren, if I never, if I said to you, I'd be lying if I said,
you know, I've never second guessed what I was going to preach, because of the feelings
of some in the church, you know, there are a few times that I have prepared a sermon,
I'm thinking man, should I preach this, because I know this might offend brother so and so,
or this might offend sister so and so, should I preach it, well, if they're going to be
in church, I guess they want me to preach the Bible, I'll preach it anyway, okay, and
that's the attitude you got to have, you know, we're all going to have feelings, we're going
to have these thoughts, but then you got to say no, I got to bring what's true, I got
to bring what's honest, you know, I've got to bring the word of God, and I love that
about Joseph, he brings the evil report, even though he knows that this is going to cause
conflicts, people are going to look at him and think evil of him, they're going to envy
his position before his father who brings the truth, you know, we use the term shooting
the messenger, don't we, you know, shooting the messenger, the messenger that comes to
bring the message, we like to shoot the messenger, we think that's going to make us feel better,
that somehow if we discredit the messenger, that discredits the message, no, no, and some
people like to do that, because, you know, when the report about them is true, they're
going to try to find a way to get out of that, and try to dismiss the messenger, try to make
them look bad, right?
No, when it comes to the Bible, what's beautiful about the Bible is that it never changes.
What's beautiful about the Bible is that it is timeless, and so, you know, if you find
that you hate the preaching, I'm telling you, it's envy, okay, it's envy, for whatever reason,
there is envy in your heart about the messenger, potentially, but especially about the message,
okay, because it's shining a mirror on yourself, all right?
Now, again, you know, Joseph did the right thing, he didn't broadcast it to the world,
he took it to the one in authority, look at Genesis 37 verse 3, please, it says, Now Israel
loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age, and he made
him a coat of many colours.
I kind of make jokes about this with my kids and my wife, you know, the kids that I had
in my 20s, I call them the children of my young age, and the kids that I had in my 30s,
I call them children in my old age, right?
I took that from this principle here, but what we see here is that Israel was favouring
Joseph, right?
He says here that he loved him more than all his children, do you think that's a good thing?
Do you think that's the right thing for a parent to do, to love one child more than
the other?
No, that's favouritism, okay, that's favouritism, and listen, if you're going to show favouritism
toward one of your children, expect your siblings to have rivalry, expect that to happen, okay?
It's the wrong thing, I've already preached on this, you might remember when Isaac favoured
Esau, and Rebekah favoured Jacob, remember that, well Jacob's doing the same thing, now
he's favouring Joseph, and it's causing conflict between the siblings, that's bad behaviour
from the parents, but just because Israel favoured Joseph, was that Joseph's fault?
You think, as a 17 year old son, just because his dad favoured him, the dad was wrong, but
is that Joseph's fault?
No, but what happens here?
Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old
age, and he made him a coat of many colours, so he favours him, he buys him this coat,
many colours, and when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren,
they hated him, that's they hated Joseph, and could not speak peaceably unto him.
Is it Joseph's fault?
No, okay, his dad just wanted to give him a gift, gave him a coat, we already had a
look at this in previous chapters, how clothing was very expensive in those days, not only
is this a piece of clothing, but it's a clothing of many colours, and it's a clothing that
is, you know, higher quality, or great workmanship, right, it requires more work to make a coat
of many colours than just a standard colour, of course, and so this just shows how the
father wanted to honour his son Joseph with this coat, but again, is it Joseph's fault?
No, and the next thing that I want to talk about here, point number two, is that envy
will make you hate the gifts that are given to others, envy will make you hate gifts given
to others, okay, what's that about?
Well, you know, the Bible says in James 1.17, every good gift and every perfect gift is
from above, and cometh down from the father of light, with whom is no variableness, neither
shadow of turning.
Reverend, how do you react when people in this church are blessed by God?
How do you react when people in this church are given rich gifts by God?
You know, do you have envy in your heart for them?
You know, do you turn around and say, well, why should they get that?
Why can't I get that?
You know, and what does it cause you to feel, you know?
If someone is being blessed by God, you need to learn how to rejoice with that person,
okay?
And I know this is hard.
I've seen this in church, every church I've been in, there's envy, you know, people get
a gift, people get recognized or something, and there's someone in church that doesn't
like us, they think, what about others?
What about me?
Listen, learn, those good gifts comes from the father of lights, God made the decision.
When you start criticizing someone else for being blessed, when you start hating the fact
that they've been gifted by God, you're saying to God, I don't like your decision, God, I
don't think that was righteous, but instead you're hating on your brother or sister.
That's not right, okay?
It's not right.
Even if you think it's unfair, who cares?
God is the perfect judge, you know?
Every decision God makes is 100% righteous and correct.
And I like it when God makes a decision and I disagree.
I like it, why?
Because then it shows me that I'm a failure, that I, you know, I have the carnal flesh.
It shows me that, you know, I'm not exactly where I need to be with God and I need to
get back in touch with God.
I'm sure we can all reflect on times we thought things were unfair.
But if God has allowed it, if God has blessed others, learn to rejoice.
God has looked down favorably on that brother or that sister.
I don't care what their sins are, we all have sins.
God has looked down and blessed them.
Learn to be thankful, learn to rejoice.
Can you guys keep your finger and go to 1 Corinthians 12?
Go to 1 Corinthians 12 and I'll read to you from Romans 12, 15.
You guys go to 1 Corinthians 12.
I'll read to you from Romans 12, 15.
The Bible says, rejoice with them that do rejoice and weep with them that weep.
Now that's good.
When someone's weeping, learn to weep with them, learn to mourn for them, okay?
And if someone's weeping and someone's mourning and that gives you joy, there's a problem
in your heart.
There's a problem with you, okay?
Someone's weeping in church, you need to learn how to weep with them.
But here's the other thing, when they're rejoicing, learn how to rejoice with them.
Be thankful with them for what they've earned.
Look at 1 Corinthians 12, 25.
1 Corinthians 12, 25, I want to take this lesson to the church.
It says that there should be no schism in the body, the body of course is the church,
but that the members should have the same care one for another.
And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it, or one member be honored,
look at that, honored, all the members rejoice with it.
Man, if they're honored, if God looks down and blesses them with whatever, gifts, a new
car, a bigger house, whatever, learn to rejoice with them.
I don't have a house, who cares?
God has given that brother or sister a house, he's given them a new car, he's given them
something that they can enjoy.
Be thankful that God is looking down on this church and learn to rejoice.
Look at verse 27, now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular, you are
the body of Christ, there ought to be unity in the body of Christ.
And what's beautiful about being in the body is that when you have joy and you rejoice,
you can have others that rejoice with you, because the world's not going to rejoice with
the things you rejoice, but when you weep, you have others that can weep with you, that
can pray with you.
And you know, I'm thankful, it's a bit off topic, but I'm thankful for those, you know,
we had some bad news last week about the pregnancy, and we wept a bit, and I'm thankful for those
that have wept with us, I'm thankful for those that have prayed for us, you know, it's strengthened
me, it's strengthened Christina, it's made me feel the love that we have in the church,
and that's how it ought to be, okay?
Not just to me as the pastor, but one another, right?
When we're all going through difficulties and struggles, make sure you're praying for
one another, you let them know that they're loved, that they're appreciated in the body
of Christ.
And so, you know, when the Lord blesses another believer, it is wicked to despise and envy
them for their blessing.
Again, the Lord has his perfect judgment, okay?
He makes his perfect decisions.
And let's go back to Genesis 37, verse number 5, Genesis 37, verse 5.
And Joseph dreamed the dream, and he told it his brethren, and they hated him yet the
more.
So Joseph has a dream, again, is it his fault that he has a dream?
In fact, this dream is given to Joseph by God, okay?
He has a dream, his brethren hate him about the dream, verse number 6.
And he said unto them, here I pray you, this dream which I have dreams.
Now look, I don't think Joseph is telling them this dream, so they can envy him.
I think he's honestly had this dream from God and wants to share it, all right?
It's like when you prepare something for church, you know, to preach.
You prepare something, well, I've got this from the Lord.
You know, it's not about promoting yourself, it's about sharing the information with others
that God has given.
But what did he dream about?
Verse number 7, for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf arose,
and also stood upright, and behold, your sheaves stood round about and made obeisance to my
sheaf.
That's like bowing toward the sheaf.
And his brethren said unto him, shalt thou indeed reign over us, or shalt thou indeed
have dominion over us?
And they hated him yet the more for his dreams and for his words.
Now look, I kind of understand this.
I kind of do, right?
Because I guess if they're thinking the worst, and this is the problem with envy, when you're
already thinking the worst of somebody, anything they say or do, you're going to think there's
an ulterior motive behind it.
You know, they're thinking what?
You're going to stand, you're going to be above us, you're going to be in a higher authority
than us?
And they're thinking what, Joseph?
Are you lifting yourself up?
You're promoting yourself?
Is that what's going on, Joseph?
You think we're going to bow to you?
You're the younger one.
You're the youngest sibling that we have.
Well, Benjamin was born already.
But you know, you're young compared to the rest of us.
They're thinking the worst of Joseph.
And yet, if you can please keep your finger there and go to Genesis 42, Genesis 42, what
is this dream about?
And you know, we'll get to Genesis 42 eventually, but just for now, just as a reminder, Genesis
42, verse 5, Genesis 42, verse 5, this is the story when there's a famine in the land
of Canaan, and they're perishing, right?
They need food, they need water, they go to, the children of Israel decide to go to Egypt,
where there is food.
Verse 5, and the sons of Israel came to buy corn among those that came, for the famine
was in the land of Canaan.
Look at this.
And Joseph was the governor over the land, and he was that sowed to all the people of
the land, and Joseph's brethren came, and bowed them, bowed down themselves before him
with their faces to the earth.
So what's this?
This dream is a prophecy.
This dream came true.
Joseph's brother did bow themselves before him.
But did they bow themselves before him because Joseph is trying to rule over them?
What is this about?
This is about a great famine that would come, and that God would look after his family,
and he would use Joseph.
He would use Joseph to save their lives, to give them the food they need.
This isn't a dream for Joseph to be exalted.
This is a dream saying, hey, I'm going to look after you.
That's what's being promised by God, and that's Joseph's intention, right?
Hey, looks like I'm going to be a help to you guys in some capacity, God is telling
me.
Look at verse 37, verse 9.
And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have
dreamed a dream more.
And behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.
And he told it to his father and to his brethren, and his father rebuked him and said unto him,
What is this dream that I have dreamed?
Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee, to the
earth?
What?
You're going to have a higher authority than me, even me in the family, who's the patriarch
of the family.
Right?
I was the one that I was told to be, I'm the prince that has the power with God and with
men.
Well, you're going to be in higher authority than me.
And so the father rebukes him as well, right?
And look at verse number 11, and his brother envied him, but his father observed the same.
So after Israel rebukes him, it says he is now observing the sale.
You know, he realizes this is more than just a dream.
This is more than Joseph.
This isn't Joseph being prideful.
There is a message behind this.
And that's why he's observing the thing.
He's thinking about what was being said there.
I think Isaac realizes, I keep saying Isaac, I think Jacob realizes that this is a message
from God.
And, you know, but there in verse number 11 again, it says his brethren envied him.
His brethren envied him.
And Proverbs 27 verse 4 says this, wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous.
So we know that wrath and anger, when it's sinful, you know, it's wicked, right?
It takes up a lot of your nervous and emotional energy to have that wrath, to have that anger,
and it can be uncontrollable sometimes, right?
Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous, but then it says this, but who is able to stand
before envy?
That's worse.
Envy.
Envy is worse than being full of wrath and full of anger, out of control.
Who can stand before envy?
Brethren, we need to overcome envy in our hearts.
We need to overcome that sin, because it's going to destroy our church, okay?
And I'm not saying that it exists in our church, I'm just saying, I hope it does, isn't it?
I could, right?
I'm preaching this.
We're going through the chapters, I don't know, you know, but there could come a time
in the future where you do have envy to the brethren in this church.
And that'll hurt you, that'll hurt the brethren.
And so this wasn't about Joseph trying to be lofty and prideful, no.
What God was telling Joseph is that he would be promoted by the Lord.
He would be promoted by the Lord.
And God does that many times, he does promote people, right?
For his purposes.
And so the third point that I have here is that envy will make you despise others whom
the Lord promotes.
If you guys can turn to Psalm 75 for me, Psalm 75 verse 4.
And again, I'm thinking about the context of the church here.
But while you turn to Psalm 75, I'll read to you from Matthew 23, 11.
It says, But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant, and whose service shall
exalt himself shall be abased, and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
I want to take the position of the church, the institution of the church, and I'm the
pastor here, right?
I have a position of authority in this church, so prideful, so lofty.
No, it says here that he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
You know, if you want to be promoted in the church, you know what that means?
You've got to become a servant.
You've got to serve more.
You know, there was a time when I would just go to church with my wife and kids, and I'd
just sit there in the pew, and I'd go home.
No serving at all, all right?
Did I have a position of authority?
No, right?
And you have the wicked, they believe that, you know, they want to lift themselves up,
they want to make a name for themselves, and they think by becoming a pastor or becoming
a leader in the church, that's going to fulfill their ambition and dreams.
But actually, the situation about the church is that the more you're lifted up by the
Lord, the more the Lord promotes you, the more work you have to do, right?
Instead of just coming to church and sitting in the pew and just singing songs of praise
and going home, now I've got to put a lot of work before I come to church, right?
Whereas before I didn't have to think too much about it, I just would come to church.
And I just want to bring that to your remembrance, because I'm not the only preacher here.
You know, I allow others to get behind this pulpit and preach, and for those of you that
get behind this pulpit and preach, you know what, you got promoted for that brief service,
for that service, you got promoted, you got behind the pulpit, and we put you in a position
of teaching, you know, you're a teacher at that point in time, you're preaching the Word
of God, you know, you're giving people the Word of God, guess what that required?
That required work, didn't it?
That required you to prepare a sermon, that required you to study and to seek the Lord's
wisdom so you can serve the church.
You know, coming behind here is a position of service.
We had Brother Tim song lead for us tonight.
Guess what?
He got promoted today.
Promoted as a song leader.
Okay?
But what did he have to do?
He had to get some hymns, work out, you know, trying his best to follow with the music,
and try to lead the congregation.
It required some work, it required some service.
You know what's beautiful about the church, it's kind of like, you know, dealing with
God, it's the reverse to the world.
You know, in the world, you think if I take a position of authority, I'm getting served.
But from God's perspective, no, you want a position of authority, you got to serve more.
And then allow God to promote you in his time.
You know, the Bible says in, where did I get to turn, sorry, Psalm 75, right?
Verse four, Psalm 75, verse four, it said, I said unto the fools, deal not foolishly,
and to the wicked, lift not up the horn.
So what does the wicked want to do?
They want to lift up their horn.
They want to be exalted.
Verse number five, lift not up your horn on high, speak not with a stiff neck, verse six,
for promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south.
But God is the judge, he put it down one and set up up another.
So where does promotion come from?
It comes from the Lord, okay?
And back to the, you know, the example of this local church, when we have another brother
come behind this pulpit and preach.
Yes, I asked him to preach, but it's the Lord's doing.
The Lord promoted him for that position right there, to preach God's word.
And the worst thing you can do is be envious and say, well, what about others?
What about me?
Why don't I get a chance to preach?
Well, remember, that person getting behind the pulpit had to put the work in.
He had to prepare.
He probably spent more hours than you possibly can imagine, right?
He's probably getting behind this pulpit being more fearful, because he knows he's trying
to feed the people of God, the most important people that are on this planet, the children
of God.
What a great calling to be able to have that responsibility.
But I've seen it.
I've seen it, brethren, when someone gets behind the pulpit, I say, oh, not that brother.
Oh, not him.
Oh, what about me?
You know, why does the pastor allow him to preach?
How come I haven't had my chance in a while?
It's happened.
It happens.
I'm telling you, it happens.
You know, I remember one of my old churches where, you know, I had, you know, I'm quite
a friendly person, I hope, and I had, you know, two people that I would call friends,
but they were in conflict and they didn't like each other.
And they both would get opportunities to preach behind the pulpit.
And then one day, you know, the one that was more newly saved, you know, he started to
get, he got asked to preach behind the pulpit, you know, from the pastor, and he came behind
the pulpit and started preaching.
And then maybe a month later, he was asked, hey, can you come up again and preach one
more time?
Because he did a great job, right?
And so he got behind the pulpit a second time.
But then the other brother, who wasn't asked to preach, he wouldn't even stay in the church
building, right?
He went outside and I went to talk to him afterwards and he goes, oh, man, I can't believe
pastor allowed him to preach again.
What about me?
I've been asking pastor for the last month and a half, you know, when can I preach now?
He's allowed him to preach again.
And he couldn't even stand in the church, couldn't even sit in the pew, listening to
the preaching.
He had envy in his heart, envy, okay?
Instead of looking at, well, God promoted him.
God has allowed him to preach and teach.
Instead of thinking, well, how much work has he put in here?
Hey, he's putting this work together for me, to serve me.
Instead he's thinking, well, you know, and look, I'm not trying to attack him if you're
listening to this sermon, you know.
We all go through times of envy.
We all go through this.
And this is a sin that we need to overcome for the unity of the body of Christ.
Be thankful to whoever gets behind this pulpit.
You know, don't have the attitude, oh, no, I don't get much out of that person's sermon.
I hope that doesn't happen here, okay?
I hope that it doesn't happen.
I appreciate it.
I appreciate it when I have other men get up behind this pulpit.
I appreciate when ladies serving the church, the Christmas decorations, I already said
it, right?
The morning tea, the cleaning, whatever people are doing for this church, I appreciate it.
I love it.
But here's the thing.
If no one sees it, if no one says thank you, God sees it, okay?
God is laying up your rewards in heaven, okay?
Just remember that.
Remember that.
We don't have eyes everywhere.
And we forget things.
And I'm sure you've done things for me, and I'm sure I've forgotten to thank you.
It's not because I'm unthankful.
It's just I forgot.
But be thankful that God saw.
Be thankful that God saw what you've done, okay?
That's who we're coming here to serve, the Lord and to serve the brethren.
And so envy will make you despise others whom the Lord promotes.
And the greater example that I can think of here in the Bible is Barnabas.
You know, when I was struggling with envy as a teenager, I went to church one day and
I heard a sermon about Barnabas.
And that kind of killed my envy, honestly, because I started to think about Barnabas
and I'm thinking, what a man, all right?
I mean, here's Barnabas, who's got a name in the churches, and he goes to Saul who was
persecuting the church.
No one wanted to touch Saul with a 10-foot pole, you know, except Barnabas.
Barnabas was willing to give him the benefit of doubt, and Barnabas was willing to take
him under the wing, you know, the Apostle Paul.
And he takes the Apostle Paul under his wing, and the Apostle Paul gets promoted, right?
He takes on the position of an apostle for Jesus Christ, right?
The Lord, you know, he's probably the greatest example of a Christian we can read about in
the Bible.
You know, the Lord used him to write the most New Testament books.
What book did Barnabas write?
But if not for Barnabas, we wouldn't have Paul, you know?
And so Barnabas is the kind of guy that is able to take a believer under his wing, you
know, who's younger than him in the faith, and he's able to work with him and help him
get promoted.
Right?
Barnabas is able to rejoice in the promotion of others, instead of saying, well, what about
me, Lord?
What other books do I have to write?
No, he was thankful for the work, and I know he was thankful for God promoting Paul, because
then he had to deal with John Mark.
Remember John Mark?
Right?
John Mark had disgraced himself a little bit, and yet Barnabas goes to John Mark and encourages
him again, helps him get promoted, helps build him up once again, and then the Lord uses
John Mark to write the book of Mark.
How good is that?
And then it becomes profitable to Paul later on.
Okay?
He gets to work with one of the best Christians that we read about in the Bible, you know?
All because of Barnabas, and we don't see Barnabas with his huge name in the Bible,
but God used him to help promote other people, and that's what's going to help you overcome
envy.
That's what, you know, just very quickly in my old workplace, you know, I told you guys
I used to have a lot of staff under me, and we had a high turnover area, where we'd lose
a lot of staff to other companies, alright, because the staff would say, you know, we
don't get the opportunities to get promoted here, you know, I'm going to go and apply
for another job.
And I wanted to change that, and so I just, I started to, instead of getting annoyed at
people leaving my work, you know, my department, I said, you know what, I'm going to help them
leave.
I'm going to help them get promoted, and instead of leaving to another workplace, I want to
get them promoted in this same workplace, just in another position, hopefully, you know?
And that changed everything, and I would work with people, and they would get promoted,
and I was happy for them.
I enjoyed it, and here's the great thing about it, they were getting promoted in other places
in the business.
You know, I was looking after a call centre, I had a lot of staff there, again, a high
turnover, but then when I started to work with them and help them get promoted, they
would find themselves in other places in the same business.
You know, I had my old employees in sales, my old employees in accounts, my old employees
in marketing, you know, my old employees in products management, or whatever positions
they were, and all of a sudden, I had all this power in the workplace, you know why?
Because any department I would go to, there were people that I appreciated that I helped
them get promoted.
How good is that?
It made my life a lot easier.
You know, the manager that I had before me was always in conflict with the other departments
in the business.
Once I got in there, I got my people in other places, right?
And all of a sudden, you know, I could call a favour when I needed it, right?
Why?
Because I helped promote other people.
It made me feel good about myself.
It gave me joy when I saw them doing well.
I started to rejoice for them because they were able to develop themselves, you know,
and get themselves in prominent positions.
And my desire is to promote you, you know, to help you grow as a Christian.
If someone has a desire to be a pastor, my goal is to promote you to that position.
Lord willing, if that's what God's will is for your life, we need to get you where you
need to be then.
You know, I'm willing to work with you to get you there as well as the church in Sydney.
And we know that church needs a pastor, you know, where's it going to come from?
I don't know just yet, all right?
But we need to find people, we need to learn to encourage one another and promote them
rather than criticising them, rather than looking down.
We all have sins, we all have weaknesses, but you're able to overcome envy when you
can learn how to love each other and promote them and, you know, help them in the Lord.
Back to Genesis 37 verse 12, Genesis 37, got up in a tangent there, sorry.
Genesis 37 verse 12.
It says here, And his brethren went to feed their fathers flock and shechem.
And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock and shechem?
Come, I will send thee unto them.
And he said unto him, Here am I.
And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, and whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with
the flocks, and bring me word again.
So you can see Israel trusts Joseph's report, all right?
He's got a good report.
So he sent him out of the veil of Hebron and he came to shechem.
So once again we see that confidence that Israel has.
Verse 15, And a certain man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field.
And the man asked him, saying, What seekest thou?
And he said, I seek my brethren, tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks.
And the man said, They are departed hence.
And I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan, and Joseph went after his brethren and found
them in Dothan.
So you see the brethren aren't where they're supposed to be, okay?
Verse number 18, And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they
conspired against him to slay him.
That means to kill him.
His own brothers wanted to kill him, that's how much they envied him.
Verse 19, And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh.
And now, therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pits, and we will say,
Some evil beasts have devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams.
Point number four is that envy will bring out the worst in you.
The worst in you.
Did you think these brothers would one day think about killing their own brother?
You know, how wicked.
Where did it start?
It started with envy, okay?
This is why it's such a wicked sin.
I hate it.
I hate feeling that emotion.
And when you're feeling envy, you better go to the Lord and say, Lord, help me, help
me overcome this sin.
Lord, it's not right in my heart to have.
And here's the thing about envy.
For a brief moment, it makes you feel powerful.
It makes you feel like, oh, man, yeah, you know, I've got it in for that person.
But really, it's just destroying, it's rottenness in your bones, okay?
It's wearing you down.
And it's wearing out, you know, wearing down those that are around you.
Look at verse 21, and Reuben heard it and he delivered him out of their hands and said,
let us not kill him.
And Reuben said unto them, shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the
wilderness and lay no hand upon him, that he might read him out of their hands to deliver
him to his father again.
And so Reuben is kind of playing along with this, Reuben doesn't want to slay him.
He says, let's just chuck him in the pit there.
And then he's going to kind of secretly take him and give him back to his father, right?
Reuben wanted to save Joseph's life.
And he does appease his brothers.
Verse number 23, and it came to, I mean, it's still a wicked thing, right?
Let's chuck our brother in a pit.
I mean, it's still extremely wicked.
Verse number 23, and it came to pass when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they
stripped Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colours that was on him.
So they take that which was a gift to him by his own father.
And they took him and cast him into a pit.
And the pit was empty.
There was no water in it.
And they sat down to eat bread.
And they lifted up their eyes and looked and behold, a company of Ishmaelites came from
Gilead with their camels, bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down
to Egypt.
And Judah said unto his brethren, what profit is it if we slay our brother and conceal his
blood?
Let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother
and our flesh, and his brethren were content.
So he says, look and sell, kill on him.
Let's sell him.
All right?
I mean, they're both wicked things, right?
But they're somehow satisfied by the second one, right?
Let's sell him.
I mean, it's horrible.
Verse number 28, and they're passed by Midianite merchantmen, and they drew and lifted up Joseph
out of the pit and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for 20 pieces of silver.
And they brought Joseph into Egypt.
Now before we read verse 29, Reuben, looks like when we look at this, Reuben wasn't there
when they sold Joseph.
I don't know where Reuben was.
He wasn't there at this point in time.
And so when you look at how many brethren there are, you know, they sold him for 20
pieces of silver.
So if you remove Joseph, you remove Reuben from that equation, those that sold him would
have got at least two pieces of silver each, you know, for selling Joseph.
So they were able to profit from this.
Verse 29, and Reuben returned unto the pit, and behold, Joseph was not in the pit, and
he rent his clothes, and he returned unto his brethren and said, the child is not, and
I wither shall I go.
And so the fifth point that I have here about envy is that envy will bring sorrow.
Envy will bring sorrow.
Again, it makes you feel powerful for a brief moment.
It does.
You know, you're worked up about somebody else.
Oh, what about that person?
You know, and you feel powerful.
Now, some of these sins are so weak, like they're so deceiving.
You know, you're deceiving yourself, and what it does to Reuben, you know, the envy that
the brethren would have, it caused him to just rip his clothes, rent his clothes, right?
He's in mourning.
He's in sorrow that his brother is not there.
He's been sold, and let's keep going.
Verse number 31, but, you know, envy will bring sorrow to yourself, but also to others
around you, you know, other church members, or even your own family.
Verse 31, and they took Joseph's coat and cured a kid of the goats and dipped the coat
in the blood, and they sent the coat of many colors, and they brought it to their father
and said, this have we found.
Now know whether it be thy son's coat or no.
So they deceive in their father.
They put this animal blood on the coat to make it look like he's been slain.
And verse 33, and he knew it and said, it is my son's coat, and evil beast has devoured
him.
Kind of, right?
I mean, his brother sold him, right?
I mean, that's pretty evil, you know, but obviously he thinks an animal had killed him.
Joseph is without doubt renting pieces, and Jacob rents his clothes, and put sack off
upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.
And so, of course, this has an impact on Jacob, on the father.
Now look what envy does, you know?
You're trying to just justify yourself, you know?
You're trying to bring some justice that you think is going to help you in life, but he
called the sorrow of those around you, and we see he had called sorrow to the father.
And look, it bothers the sons.
It bothers the sons.
Look at verse 35, and all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, their
father that is, but he refused to be comforted, and he said, for I will go down into the grave
unto my son, mourning, thus his father wept for him.
He goes, I'm going to die.
Every day of my life until I die, I'm going to mourn for my son, Joseph, who's been killed.
And this envy, this action because of envy, we'll read about it when we get there, this
is something that stayed in the hearts of the brothers for years, and years, and years.
The consequences of their actions because of their envy is something that they were
just, you know, a burden upon them for the rest of their lives, not just them, but the
father they loved.
You know, he's saying, look, every day I'm just going to mourn for my son, and, you know,
he wasn't happy for the rest of his life.
He wasn't happy.
Well, until we get to the story where he's reunited with Joseph once again, but envy
causes sorrow, okay, sorrow for yourselves and for those that are around you, those that
are affected by you.
That's the fifth point that I have.
I'll be quick now.
Verse number 36, and the Midianites sold him into Egypt unto Potiphar, an officer of pharaohs
and captain of the gods.
So Joseph gets sold into Egypt, and then we're going to continue his story, not this Sunday,
but next Sunday.
But just once again, brethren, be careful of envy.
I've struggled with envy in the past.
I believe I've, you know, it's hard to say I believe I've overcome it, but I mean, I
can tell from where I was before with the sin till today, it's not something that bothers
me so much.
I'm really thankful in general when people are blessed, and I really don't envy people.
I'm really thankful for the life that God has given me.
You know, counting your blessings can help you not to be envious to know what God has
done for your life, and then you can be thankful for what God has done for other people's life.
But I can't turn around and say I will never experience that because we all have that sinful
flesh, right?
We all have that capacity.
But let me just round it off one more time.
The five lessons about envy, number one, envy will make you hate the preacher.
Number two, envy will make you hate gifts that are given to others.
Envy will make you despise others whom the Lord promotes.
Envy will bring out the worst in you, and envy will bring sorrow.
Let's pray.