Heart Character – Comparison & Envy
Pastor Tan Thai · Aug 11, 2019
This sermon analyzes envy as a dangerous 'cancer' affecting all people, including believers. Drawing from Psalm 73 and other scriptures, the pastor outlines three practical steps to heal envy: honest confession, entering God's sanctuary, and making God the sole foundation of one's life.
This sermon is part of a series titled 'A More Excellent Way' based on 1 Corinthians 13, focusing on the inner qualities the apostle Paul calls 'heart character'. The pastor explains that in Scripture the 'heart' refers to the center of one's life – the true inner person – and when the heart is ruled by envy, outward actions will reflect that corruption, as Jesus taught in Luke 6:45 and Matthew 15:18.
The pastor carefully distinguishes between God's jealousy – a faithful, protective love for what belongs to Him as seen in Exodus 20:5 and 2 Corinthians 11:2 – and human envy, which is a craving for what others possess, leading to bitterness, resentment, and even taking pleasure in others' misfortune. Envy is described as one of the seven deadly sins and the only one that brings no satisfaction whatsoever to the one who harbors it, serving only to drain vitality and destroy contentment with what one already has.
Psalm 73 by Asaph forms the backbone of the sermon. Asaph confesses his envy upon seeing the wicked prosper, remain healthy, and live without calamity while the faithful suffer hardship. His envy left him bitter, pained, and spiritually stupefied before God. The pastor further illustrates envy's destructive power through the stories of Cain and Abel, Joseph and his brothers, King Saul's pursuit of David, and the religious leaders' plot against Jesus, as well as Ecclesiastes 4:4.
Three steps for healing envy are drawn from Psalm 73. The first step is honest confession before God – acknowledging one's envy without self-deception, as supported by James 3:14-16. The second step is entering God's sanctuary – experiencing His presence, power, and love – in order to gain an eternal perspective on the brevity of life and the ultimate end of every person, as described in Ecclesiastes 12:1-8. The third step is making God the sole foundation of one's life, because every other support – wealth, reputation, beauty, talent – will eventually be lost.
The sermon closes with the Gospel message: Jesus Christ never envied and never sinned, yet He was forsaken by God on the cross for our sins, including the sin of envy (Matthew 27:46). Through His atoning work, all who truly trust in Christ will never be forsaken by God, but will instead experience His hand holding, guiding, and ultimately receiving them into eternal glory, as Asaph wrote in Psalm 73:23-24.