Sermon Tone Analysis
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In his book, Maxims for a Modern Man author Paul Eldridge writes that our envy is /"the yeast that swells the fortune of others."/
People caught up in the sin of envy are always comparing themselves to others.
They exaggerate the blessings others have and minimize their own.
In other words: /Envious people keep score/.
This is the situation in Saul's life.
Saul is king.
He is a powerful man.
He commands the armies of the nation.
He has wealth that the common man cannot begin to imagine.
The pleasures and accommodations that palace life afford him are luxurious.
But Saul is an unhappy and anxious man.
Let me tell you the story: Saul has given a teenaged boy named David a high rank within his army.
What else could he do after the /"Goliath incident."/
Verse five of our text tells us that whatever assignment the king gave David, the young man successfully accomplished it.
As the years go by, David's reputation as a military leader and a man of integrity grows by leaps and bounds.
As his successes pile up so do Saul's anxieties.
After some notable military victory over the Philistines, the women of the capitol give David an ovation, and declare in their songs that he has achieved a success ten times as great as the king's.
The result was an outburst of ill‑will in Saul's life toward David.
Saul increasingly became aware that David's popularity had supplanted the king's in the popular esteem of the people.
The result was that envy filled his heart.
/Envy is blind to one's own gifts and good fortune/.
The envious person may have some wonderful assets and abilities, but all he or she can see are the gifts or blessings or fortunes they don=t have, but that another does.
What another person has always seems larger or better or more special.
Had Saul been the high‑minded, spirit‑filled man he was when appointed king by the prophet Samuel, he would have thrust such thoughts from his thinking.
But his mind had become cankered with envy and brooding thoughts.
Envy is one of those transgressions that have come to be called the /Seven Deadly Sins/.
Of the seven, envy is probably the meanest, nastiest, and most vicious.
Envy only looks at what we do not have and poisons what we do have.
An old proverb says, /A person who is 'green with envy' will be 'ripe for trouble.'/
So why is envy so deadly to your spiritual life?
! I. ENVY MAKES YOU SEE THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF OTHERS AS A THREAT
ILLUS.
There was once two shopkeepers who were bitter rivals.
Their stores were directly across the street from each other, and they would spend each day keeping track of the other man's business.
If one got a customer, he would smile in triumph at his rival.
At then end of the day they would measure their success, not by their net profits, but by weather-or-not they had made more money then the competitor across the street.
One night an angel appeared to one of the shopkeepers and said, /"I will give you anything you ask, but whatever you receive, your competitor will receive twice as much.
Would you be rich?
You can be very rich, but he will be twice as wealthy.
Do you wish to live a long and healthy life?
You can, but his life will be longer and healthier.
What is your desire?"/
The man frowned.
He liked the idea of being rich, but hated the idea of his neighboring shopkeeper being even richer.
He liked the idea of living a long and healthy life, but hated the idea of his competitor living even longer and healthier.
He thought for a moment, and then said, /"Here is my request: Strike me blind in one eye!"/
#. envy made Saul see the achievements of David as a threat to his authority and his kingdom
#. envy turns friends and family or co‑workers into your competition
#. it makes you see them through eyes of mistrust instead of with love
#. now, was David ever really a threat to Saul and his throne?
#. absolutley not
#. the Scriptures tell us plainly that David repeatedly refused to lift his hand against King Saul because he knew that God had anointed Saul as king
#. but envy often makes us see schemes and conspiracies and plots against us that are not really there
#.
Saul looked at the accomplishments in David's life and winced and worried
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Saul could have and should have rejoiced in the achievements and successes of David's life
#.
instead he became green with envy
#. what happens when we see the success of others as a threat?
#. well, lets continue looking at Saul's life
!! A. ENVY MAKES YOU SUSPICIOUS OF OTHERS AND MAY CAUSE YOU TO PLOT THEIR DOWNFALL*
#.
Saul saw David's success and popularity and thought to himself, "How do I bring this guy down?"
#. the answer came through a relationship
* 1 Samuel 18:20‑21 /"Now Saul's daughter Michal was in love with David, and when they told Saul about it, he was pleased.
21 "I will give her to him," he thought, "so that she may be a snare to him and so that the hand of the Philistines may be against him."
So Saul said to David, "Now you have a second opportunity to become my son‑in‑law."/
#. the Scriptures tell us that envy has a sinister progression to it
#.
envy, if not confessed, repented of and controlled leads to bitterness
#. bitterness leads to friction and strife
#. strife leads to division
#. division can lead to violence
#. this was the progression in Saul's life
#.
as rust corrupts iron, so envy corrupts man
* ILLUS.
A Jewish proverb says, /Envy is like a disease -- it consumes the soul./
#. we see this is very true in Saul's life
!! B. ENVY TURNS YOU INTO A HYPOCRITE
1 Samuel 18:22 /"Then Saul ordered his attendants: "Speak to David privately and say, `Look, the king is pleased with you, and his attendants all like you; now become his son‑in‑law.'"/\\
#. envy is a sin no one confesses to, but one many of us are guilty of
#. in public Saul honors David, but privately he can't stand him!
#. envy is Saul giving his daughter to David in marriage, but then sending him into battle with the hope that his daughter will become a widow
#. envy is congratulating your co‑worker for the promotion and salary raise she received, but then hinting to others in the office that she got it by providing sexual favors to the boss
#. envy is giving a high‑five to a teammate for an outstanding play, but complaining to friends that he's the coaches favorite
#. envy is putting out a contract to have the mother of your daughter's rival for the cheer leading team killed so that your daughter's competition will drop out
#. but do we admit our envy and jealousy?
#. no way!
#. we hide behind the facade of well‑wishing and congratulatory pats on the back while wishing there were a knife in our hand!
#. we tell our colleagues how deserving Joe is of the promotion . . .
#. we stand with the rest at the honors banquet and applaud the student he receives all the rewards the school has to offer . . .
#. but once we get home, once the door is closed, once it is just us alone the poison of envy comes out
#. in our hearts we secretly hope that these people will stub their toes, lose their Midas touch, or be discovered for who we think they truly are
#.
envy makes you see the achievements of others as a threat
#. is it any wonder that the psalmist wrote: /"A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones."/
(Proverbs 14:30)
!! C. ENVY FORCES YOU TO KEEP YOUR EYE ON YOUR COMPETITION AND NOT ON GOD
1 Samuel 18:9 /"And Saul eyed David from that day and forward."/
KJV
#. the word /eyed/ in this verse is a verb that means /an unbroken action/
#. in other words, Saul /constantly/ eyed David B he never took his /eyes of suspicion/ off of him
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envy is the painful or resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by another
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envy forces us to always watch the other guy
#. ultimately, if we indulge envy's yearnings and cravings, it begets ill-will and maybe even violence
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