Sermon Tone Analysis
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By Pastor Glenn Pease
We seldom get the whole story on anything.
No doubt, most of us are aware of how the rocks brought back from the moon were kept in isolation for some time lest they contain some organism that could spread disease for which we have no defense.
That made a lot of sense, and made everyone feel more comfortable about bringing back to earth that which was unearthly.
But what I didn't know until I read Isaac Asimov is that man was thoughtful enough to be concerned about taking earth's germs to the moon, and elsewhere, as well.
So at enormous expense the space vessels we have launched have sterilized.
If there is life of any kind out there, man did not want to be responsible for destroying it with his diseases.
Man, even in his fallen state, is certainly more noble than Satan, for he did not hesitate to contaminate our planet with the deadly virus that got him booted out of heaven.
He enticed Adam and Eve to be envious just as he was.
He wanted to be like God, and even better than God, and this envy cost him the loss of all godliness rather than its acquisition.
Satan then deceived Adam and Eve by saying they could be like God knowing good and evil if they ate the forbidden fruit.
The envied God having what they did not have, and so they ate, and every since we have lived in an envy infested world.
It is the major plague of all time.
It infects more people than small pox ever did in the past, or that aids does in the present.
Yet, you will have a hard time finding any government spending big bucks to study it.
It is terribly destructive to Christian lives, and the ministry of the church, but you will have a hard time finding sermons on this serious issue.
You can find sermons on murder, for most Christians don't murder, and there are plenty of sermons on all of the Ten Commandments because most Christians do not break these basic laws of life.
But when it comes to envy, you are really meddling, for there is not likely a Christian anywhere who is not infected with the virus of envy.
We do not like to deal with stuff like this, for it is not comfortable like dealing with the sins of other people.
All I have to do when I hear about the sins of others is to be grateful I am not one of those sinners.
It gives you a sense of pride when you can say with the Pharisee, "I thank God I am not as other men."
But envy is not in the same category.
The first thing we need to understand about envy is that it is a common Christian sin.
It is common in non- Christians too, but it does not go away because one becomes a Christian.
These people that Paul is referring to here are not pagans or Jews, but Christian men who preach Christ.
There is nothing wrong with their message, but their motive is sinful.
It is amazing, for Paul says it is possible to do the highest things in life with the lowest motives.
These good Christian preachers were motivated by envy, rivalry, and selfish ambition.
Their goal was not the body of Christ being built up, but their own reputation being built up.
They wanted the fame and glory of Paul, and they were willing to hurt Paul if that would help them achieve the goal.
In spite of these terrible motives, Paul rejoices because people can be saved by the Gospel even if those preaching it are jerks.
The message that faith in Jesus Christ can cleanse and free you from sin, and make you a child of God, is just as true, and just as effective, no matter what the source.
It can come to people by the printed word; by radio; or television, and it doesn't make any difference what the motive is of those who spread it.
It is not the messenger, but the message that is the power of God unto salvation.
If an atheist sees a chance to make a quick buck by selling Bibles, those Bibles will be just as effective as Bible given by the Gideons.
Paul says that it makes no difference how people hear the Gospel, for faith comes by hearing, and the messenger can be awful sinner, but the message will still save.
Paul is not saying that it is okay that some Christian preachers are motivated by envy, rivalry, and selfish ambition.
These are sins are that condemned everywhere in the Bible.
Paul is not saying that he enjoyed having Christian brothers stir up trouble for him, for this would be to confess he was a sadistic person.
There is nothing good about the motives of these men.
To think so would be to make hypocrisy equal to honesty.
Paul is not rejoicing in them, but in the Gospel they preach, for that is his first love, and he will not attack, even these self-centered jerks, as long as they preach the Gospel.
There are many things that bother me about preachers.
There are so many self-serving ministers in the world.
Many get rich off the Gospel by false pretenses.
People are appalled by the revelation of a popular youth evangelist who has made millions in his ministry because of his fantastic testimony of being a cult leader before he came to Christ.
His story deeply impressed me along with millions of others, but it was all concocted out of selfish ambition.
It worked to keep the checks coming in, but it was all a lie.
I don't have any intention of attacking his evil motives.
God will deal with that.
The fact is, he exalted Christ as the Savior, and people were saved by his dynamic preaching.
You will seldom hear me denounce any popular preacher or evangelist because, even if I question their methods or motives, if they preach the Gospel, it is cause for rejoicing.
This is the spirit of Paul, and of Christ who told His disciples who wanted to forbid a certain man to perform ministry: If he is not against us, He is for us.
It is a shame that Christians can be so sinful in their motives, but it is wonderful that God can use even these stained vessels to carry the water of life.
Being a Christian optimist does not mean being blind to the sin, folly, and pathetic weaknesses of God's people.
It means an awareness that God gets His will done, and His kingdom expanded, regardless of the sorry motives of His messengers.
Optimism about God and what He can accomplish does not mean there is no place for Christian pessimism about people.
Paul was so honest it was shocking as he deals with the negative side of the Christian life.
These were men of God, yet they were full of envy.
The Greek word Paul used here is phthonos, and it also means jealously.
They were jealous of the way God had used Paul, and envious of the love and fame he had gotten in preaching the Gospel.
Before we throw too many rocks at these Christian slime balls, we need to examine what the rest of the New Testament says about this sin in the Christian life.
We might just discover that the New Testament will say to us what Jesus said to the Pharisees who were ready to stone the woman taken in adultery: " He who is without sin among you cast the first stone."
I say this because the New Testament makes it so clear this is a basic Christian weakness, and it is a flaw in Christian personality.
It is no minor sin either, but one of the worse that the New Testament deals with.
In fact, it is the sin that sent Jesus to the cross.
In Matt.
27:18 we read the thought of Pilate when he was trying to release Jesus.
It says, "For he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him."
The Jewish leaders were jealous of Jesus.
They saw people flock to Him, and He was not even an ordained man.
They hated it that the people loved Jesus, for they were suppose to be the ones that people turned to for spiritual guidance.
It makes trained professional people angry when the non-trained amateurs get more fame than they do.
Lawyers are screaming mad at a layman who wrote a book telling people how to make out their own living will.
This sin of envy is capable of any evil, even to the point of killing the Son of God to eliminate Him from the competition.
We live in a dangerous world because of the potential of this sin.
Paul lists it as with the worst sins of depravity in Rom.
1:29.
In Titus 3:3 he lists it again as one of the terrible sins of the Christians in their free-conversion days.
He writes, "At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures.
We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another."
Paul uses the same word when he describes these Christian preachers and teachers in I Tim.
6:3-5 where he concludes, "...who think that godliness is a means to financial gain."
There is nothing new under the sun.
This is a major problem in our day as millions of Christians fall for the health and wealth gospel.
They send in millions of dollars to those preachers who tell them God wants them rich.
They do just what the false teachers of Paul's day were doing by convincing people that the point of being a Christian is to become financially independent.
Paul goes on in this context of I Tim.
6, and urges Timothy to learn to be content, and not seek for riches that lead to so many desires that ruin Christians.
Then he says those famous words in verse 10, "For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.
Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many grief's."
The point is, Christians can get so full of envy of what others have that they will harm the cause of Christ, become deceitful and dangerous, and even forsake their faith in the pursuit of keeping up with the Jones.
Envy is a curse on all men, but especially the Christian.
We do not have the time to study James chapter 4, but in that chapter James teaches the same thing as Paul.
He says a major sin of the Christian life is the envy that makes them love the world and materialism more than the spiritual values of life.
When they do this, they are submitting to the devil, and resisting God, which is just the opposite of what should be the Christian commitment.
Can Christians really be that worldly, and out of God's will?
Peter in I Pet.
2:1 confirms Paul and James by writing to Christians: "Therefore, rid yourself of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind."
You don't have to rid yourself of what you can't have, and so it is established beyond a doubt that Christians can be loaded with envy that makes them a danger to the body and to themselves.
It is a powerful feeling that can make them behave like the devil himself.
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