Joyce Meyer - Jealousy, Envy, and Greed - Part 1

And so, I'm gonna get right into the word this morning and I wanna start off by saying that I think that we have kinda gotten to the point where some sins are acceptable to us. It's like, they might be what we would call "The more minor things," but I don't know that they're all that minor to God. You know, for example, how would you view murder compared to unforgiveness? See. Hopefully and prayerfully there's nobody in here that would murder anybody, but there's a good possibility that there's more people sitting right in this room today that have some kind of unforgiveness in their heart towards somebody than those who don't. And I say that after 45 years of experience, I know it to be a fact. Or let's just say that probably nobody's gonna leave here today and go rob the local convenience store.

We pray not. But I wonder how many might be here that are jealous of somebody else, something they have, and you kinda have decided you don't like them. It's amazing, you know, you can see, if you're a woman, you can see a really pretty woman with the perfect figure and the long blonde hair and the piercing blue eyes and you don't even know her yet and you just don't like her. "I don't know why, but I just don't like you". And I think we have to be careful that we don't have these sins that we think are acceptable. How many of you agree with me that there's certain things that we just don't, we don't think are that big of a deal. But in reading the Bible, it's very interesting. Paul lists certain sins in different scriptures that he has and like he puts jealousy right with sexual immorality. Interesting. And greed is right there with sexual sins and murder and things like that.

So, I thought I'd talk to you for a little bit this morning about "Jealousy, envy, and greed" because it's something that can really mess us up and make us unhappy. And I wanna tell you that being jealous of what somebody else has pretty much assures you that you'll never get one. My husband had a word from God in a meeting, one day, and he's not the type to prophesy every time he turns around, but he said, "I really believe this is a word from God". And he said, "As long as you're jealous of somebody who has what you want, you'll never get yours".

So, think about that. We don't get things by being jealous of other people. Matter of fact, I know in my own experience that many times God will put somebody in front of you that has what you want just as a way of testing you to see how you'll handle it. And I know for me, one time at least when that happened, it was somebody that I really thought didn't deserve what she got because she wasn't nearly as spiritual as I was, you see. Which really was the thing God was after was the attitude that came out of me when I saw her get what I wanted and then I judged her that she really didn't deserve it, but I did.

So, we had the sin of pride, we had the sin of judgment, we had, you know, we had all kinds of things that I didn't even really know was that big of a problem. Or let's just take gossiping and criticizing and slandering other people. Hmm, you know the word slander comes from the same word that's translated devil, diablos, it means to accuse. And you know, we can see people's behavior and we do have to judge sin, the Bible tells us that, but we cannot ever see a person's heart, only God sees a person's heart. So, we don't know, we can see what a person's doing, but we don't know why they're doing it or what may have happened to them in their life that's left them wounded and they may be doing something they're not even aware that they're doing because they haven't even had the proper teaching yet.

So, I know you're excited about hearing a good message on jealousy, aren't you? Proverbs 28:25 says, "He who is of a greedy spirit stirs up strife". Now, actually, the important part of this is the strife part. He who is of a greedy spirit, that's somebody who's never content, never satisfied, no matter what they have. See, some of you think, "Boy, if I just had this, I'd be happy". Well, I can tell you that you wouldn't be, at least not for very long, because the human flesh cannot be satisfied. It has no ability to be satisfied. Matter of fact, the more it gets, the worse it acts. You know, one of the major things that's caused the decline in our nation is the prosperity that we've had.

You say, "Why"? Well, sometimes the more we have, the less we think we need God. And the more we have, the more we want. Like I've been watching a special on the American Buffalo and how people killed millions and millions and millions of Buffalo just to get the hides to sell. And so, just plain greed destroyed a whole species of animals. Greed. There's so many animals today that are almost extinct and it's greed that causes all of that. Why does a greedy spirit stir up strife? Well, for one thing, a person who is greedy is never permanently satisfied no matter what they have. They're never content. There's always one more thing. And I know because I was like this. And they're resentful, envious, and jealous of people who have what they want or who have more than what they have.

James 4:1-2. "What leads to strife". Now, strife is, it is a big problem. And strife is bickering, arguing, anger, heated disagreement, and an angry undercurrent. And that's the part that is so dangerous when everybody acts like everything's fine, but there's this angry undercurrent. And where there's strife, there's always gonna be slander. Always. There's always going to be criticism and slander. And when you have jealousy in your heart, trust me, it will eventually come out of your mouth. Amen? "What leads to strife (discords, and feuds) and how do conflicts (quarrels and fights) originate among you? Do they not arise from your sensual desires", or we'll say things that you want, "That are ever warring in your bodily members? You are jealous and you covet [what others have] And your desires go unfulfilled: [so] You become", now, listen to this, this is the Amplified Bible, "So you become murderers. Because to hate is to murder as far as your hearts are concerned".

What is he saying there? He's saying that if you hate somebody, it affects your heart the same way as it would if you murdered somebody. I look at that, and look at it, and look at it, and think, "I probably don't really understand the impact of that". Do you know that everything in the Bible that God tells us to do or not to do is for our benefit? We'll never be obedient until we believe that. It's not like God's just trying to give us a bunch of hard things to do because he likes to sit in heaven and laugh at people because they can't do 'em. Everything that he tells us to do is for us. It's to make our lives better, even forgiving your enemies.

You know, you say, "Well, they don't deserve it". It's not about whether they deserve it or not. Which one of us deserves the forgiveness that we've gotten from God? Not one of us do. But we look at those things and think, "They don't deserve it". And really, that's not the point. The point is it helps you when you forgive. You let yourself out of prison when you forgive. If they don't do what's right, it's up to God to deal with them. It's not up to us to deal with them. We forgive the people who hurt us, and we pray for them. It's really hard to stay mad at somebody that you're praying for every day.

And the real hard one, but so much fun when you learn how to do it, you bless and do not curse them. If they have a need that you can meet, you meet their need. Whoo, does that make the devil mad? "You burn with envy and anger and you're not able to obtain [the gratification, the contentment, and the happiness that you seek], so, you fight and you war". Now, listen to these next few words. These were one of the things that I can say was very life-changing for me. "You do not have, because you do not ask".

Now, you know, different scriptures hit different people different ways, but many years ago, when I saw that scripture, I mean, it really was a major turning point for me because I was trying to make all kinds of things happen. I was trying to get all kinds of things. I wanted my ministry to grow. I wanted my husband to change. I wanted my kids to change. I wanted to change. There was all these things I, I, I, I was trying to do. And they were all good things. They were things that I think God wanted me to do, but you see, he's left us with a little problem. "Apart from him, we can do nothing". And the Bible teaches us about works of the flesh, which is us trying to do God's job. And the thing we want to do may be a good thing, but we cannot do it without God.

"Through Christ, I can do all things. Apart from him, I can do nothing". And boy, that's a hard lesson to learn because our flesh is just full of energy, and it wants just a little bit of credit. So, what this scripture taught me, what I hope you grab out of it today is that instead of doing all these other things, being jealous and envious and greedy and angry about what I don't have and disliking people that have what I want, I can choose another option. I can ask God for what I want and then trust him to give it to me, if it's right, at the right time in the right way.

Now, boy, does that take a lot of pressure off of me. See, how many of you want to really enter the rest of God. You're tired of being upset about something all the time. Well, you know, this is one of the main reasons why we're upset all the time because we want stuff, and we can't make it happen. Or we've got stuff that we don't want, and we can't get it to go away. "You have not because you ask not". You can ask God for anything you want. And sometimes we don't ask God for enough. God's never gonna get mad at you for asking. I always say, "The worst thing that can happen is he won't give it to me". But you can ask God for anything and that's so much better than trying to make things happen yourself.

Now, many times when I ask God for something, he will show me something that he wants me to do. But then it's still God that's in charge. I'm not just doing my thing, asking him to bless it. See, we need to pray first and then plan according to God's will, not make our plans, and pray for God to bless 'em. Amen? All right. James 3:16 says, "Where there is strife, there is also confusion (unrest, disharmony, rebellion) and all sorts of evil practices". Where there is strife, there is also confusion. Do we have a confused world today? "(unrest, disharmony, rebellion) and all sorts of evil practices".

Now, I personally believe that strife is the cause of a lot of rebellion in kids and a lot of the confusion that some of our kids and teenagers are going through. If you're a parent, you have a responsibility to provide a peaceful atmosphere for your children to grow up in. I didn't have that luxury. I grew up in a very angry, violent, dysfunctional home. And you learn whatever you're around. And so, I continued to behave that way for many, many years until I learned the Word of God and let God work in my life. Strife is a huge problem, and this is one of those acceptable sins.

I mean, my goodness, I remember when Dave and I would fight all the way to church. Come on, I wonder who had an argument with their spouse on the way to church today. Our kids would be in the back seat, and they'd be crying. Dave and I'd be yelling at each other. Well, boy, I'll tell you what, when we got to church, mmm. "Praise the Lord! Thank you, Jesus".

Listen, I can remember standing, I usually sat right about where this young lady's sitting here, except there were only two sections in our church and I sat in the front row, second seat, and I was important. I had a name card on my seat. I worked at the church and so I had my name on a parking place and I had my name on a seat. I had my name on a door. We just love to see our name on things, don't we? I was important, I thought. But yet, I had strife, I had unforgiveness, I had jealousy. I had all these things that people may have thought I was important, but God knows what goes on behind closed doors. See, we can smile at each other in church, but if you really want to find a Christian, you don't ever look in church for one. I mean, we're all Christians in church. Amen?

It's when you get home, it's how you act trying to get out of the parking lot. It's how you behave if you go out and you got a flat tire on your car. Eh-ha-ha. But I'm very serious about this thing in James. I do believe that God showed me this and I taught it somewhere else last week that, I mean, we have got some of the craziest stuff going on in the world that I have ever seen, and I've lived a while. I mean, just stuff that you just like, "Wow". I mean, how could anybody with even part of a brain left believe that? And it's because of the deception in the world, the lies that people believe because they don't know any difference. We are living in the worst of times and the best of times. Worst because of the condition in the world, but best because things are so dark, if Christians will just turn their lights up a little bit.

Boy, have we got an opportunity. People are looking for answers, but they're not gonna get it from our bumper stickers. They're gonna get it from our behavior. Amen? So, can you trust God enough to start doing what I'm suggesting here? And every time you want something, just say, you know, "God, this is what I want, but please don't give it to me if it's not your will". Ewww.

I heard somebody moan on that one. The worst thing you can have is something that God doesn't want you to have. I mean, that is misery on steroids. Greed means "To covet, to have an intense desire for, to lust after, to envy or to be jealous". And I believe that lust means that you want something so bad that you cannot be happy without it. When you hear somebody say, "I just cannot be happy unless I can get married". And then some people think, "Well, I just can't be happy if I have to stay married to this man or this woman," or whatever, you know. "I just can't be happy if I can't have kids".

You know, our joy is in Christ and that's where we need to find our joy because everything else in the world is always changing and moving and shaking. He's the only solid thing that we have. All right, let's go back to jealousy for a second. How many of you have siblings? How many of you have a younger sibling? Okay. I wonder if there's anybody in here this morning that's jealous of the baby of the family. You know, the baby of the family gets a bad rap. We had, our children were 14, 12, and 10 when Dave and I decided to have a baby. And when I told him I wanted to have a baby, he thought I'd lost my mind. He said, "We can finally go anywhere we want, do anything we wanna do. Don't need a babysitter and you wanna have a baby".

Well, it's a good thing we did have that baby because now he's the CEO of our ministry. So, thank God. But I understand this older siblings being jealous of the baby of the family because he got more given to him than the older ones did. He got more done for him than the older ones did. "Why"? Well, we had more. You know, I remember my older son would complain, "Well, you know, I had to work and pay for half my clothes, and you just buy all of his". "Well, I didn't have any money to buy yours". Now I have money. And he would go out and cut grass to make money. By the time the baby came along, everybody had lawn service. And so, you know, it's kind of like the Joseph and his brother's thing.

Now, Joseph did have one other younger brother, but his father really loved him. And the Bible says, "His brothers were jealous of him and they hated him, but God was with him". You need to be careful about hating people that God is with because you'll be the one that'll end up unhappy. So, I just wanted to mention this thing about younger siblings because we've had a little bit of that in our family and he can talk us into a lot of things that some of the others couldn't. And they've finally gotten smart when they want something, they get him to ask for it.

You know, he's 44 and he's still my baby. He'll text me in the morning, sometimes, "Good morning, mommy". And I'll text back, "Good morning, baby". I don't know. When you have that last one, there's just something about it. You just, you know, and my two teenage girls didn't help. They babied him and babied him and babied him. So, I tell 'em, "Oh, it's not all my fault". So, if you have a younger sibling that you're jealous of, why don't you just give it up today? Because there's two sides to every story.