Ecclesiastes 4:4-12 - The Rot of Envy
Ecclesiastes - Joy At The End of the Tether • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 36:19
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· 149 viewsThe only antidote to the rot of envy is the blood of the innocent Victim, Jesus Christ
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Introduction
Introduction
As we get underway this morning I want to invite you to carry out a thought experiment with me—one that I hope will illustrate the nature of the sin that Solomon is pinpointing here in these verses. There is an enormous amount of upheaval and protest going on in our country about the various “inequalities” that we are said to be suffering from (and, depending on the color of your skin, that you are perpetrating on others!) So let’s imagine that you are chosen to solve the problem of “income inequality” once and for all...
You are brought into a room and seated before a console on which has been installed a large red button. And you are told that when you press that button, every single individual in the United States will have their annual income magically increased by a factor of ten. With one button press, you can totally eliminate poverty in the United States—someone living below the poverty line will go from making 25 grand to a quarter of a million dollars annually.
Don’t worry about where the money is coming from—for the sake of this scenario let’s say that there are no other repercussions on the economy; no debt that has to be repaid, no impoverishing our grandchildren and so on. Push a button, bless everybody with ten times the wealth. Would you push the button?
Now let’s say there is a catch—you push the button and everybody gets ten times their income, except for the top 1 percent of the wealthy. You push the button, and they suddenly have their wealth increased a hundredfold. In other words, everybody becomes wealthy, but the rich get even richer. Will you push that button now?
Thinking through these illustrations helps us uncover the attitude that Jesus was driving at in the parable of the vineyard owner that we read together a bit ago—the people hired at the beginning of the day got what they agreed to, but accused the master of being unfair because he gave the laborers who worked one hour the same as the ones who worked eight. They were upset at the “income inequality” demonstrated by the master’s distribution of his money. But as he said in verse 13, he did not wrong them—they got what they agreed to, and the master had the right to choose what to do with the money that belonged to him. The problem in the parable was not the so-called “income inequality” among the laborers—the problem was the sin of envy among the laborers.
Envy is “a malicious regard to the advantages seen to be enjoyed by others” )Wilson, D. (2015). The Seven Deadlies (p. 58). Moscow, ID: Canon Press). It is more than simple desire for what someone else has—it is a malicious attitude that will take you down if necessary in order to get what you have, and would rather destroy the object of its envy than see someone else have it. It is a biting, devouring, spiteful and hateful attitude toward those who have what it wants.
It has been well-said that envy is one of the last sins that people are truly ashamed of. A man may boast about how drunk he got lasts weekend, or about how he lied to his boss or cheated on his taxes, he may brag about how many women he’s slept with—but no one boasts about being consumed with envy. And so we tend to “dress up” our envy as moral indignation instead—the laborers in Jesus’ parable said that it wasn’t fair that they had to endure the heat of the day but didn’t get anything more than the slackers who came in one hour before quitting time (Matt. 20:12).
And so envy almost never appears in its outright ugliness—it gets presented instead as a demand for “fairness” or “justice” or “equity” or “inclusion”. This is why the terms of our big red button thought experiment would never be accepted by the crowds protesting “income inequality”—they would never agree to lift everyone out of poverty if it meant giving more to the rich because the money is not the problem—the problem is the grasping, spitting heart of envy that hates the rich because they themselves want to be rich!
OK, one more experiment—let’s say that you push the button and everyone has their income multiplied by ten—everyone, that is, except for you. You can bless everyone around you with financial security and wealth, but you will stay at your current income level. Now would you push the button? Or does your righteous indignation over the unfairness of such an arrangement begin to manifest itself?
You see, it’s easy to look out there and see how the rot of envy poisons the world around us (and as Solomon will tell us, it really is everywhere). But the fact is that we are just as susceptible to the rot of envy in our own lives as well. And so we need to be able to diagnose the signs of an envious heart—signs that Solomon describes here in our text this morning. So my prayer for us this morning is that we will be able to recognize the warning signals that our hearts are succumbing to the rot of envy so that we can then turn to the only remedy that we have:
The only CURE for our envy is to look with GRATITUDE on the CROSS of Christ
The only CURE for our envy is to look with GRATITUDE on the CROSS of Christ
Look again at verses 4-6 of Ecclesiastes 4:
4 Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind. 5 The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh. 6 Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.
The word for “toil” is used ten times between Ecclesiastes 4:4 and 5:20. The Hebrew word beneath the English translation refers specifically to troublesome, difficult or weary labor—labor that does not satisfy. Solomon says that this kind of troublesome labor comes from envy—it is motivated by the grasping resentment and malice toward the benefits and blessings of your neighbor.
Solomon also writes in Proverbs about the nature of envy:
30 A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot.
And so we will look first at what Solomon says here about
I. The ROTTENNESS of Envy
I. The ROTTENNESS of Envy
Look at verses 7-12 of Chapter 4:
7 Again, I saw vanity under the sun: 8 one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy business. 9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! 11 Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? 12 And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
The rottenness of envy leads to
Decaying RELATIONSHIPS (Eccl. 4:7-12)
Decaying RELATIONSHIPS (Eccl. 4:7-12)
Follow the logic of Solomon’s writing here—toilsome labor comes from a man’s envy of his neighbor, and that never-ending toil isolates him from everyone:
8 one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy business.
In verses 9-12 Solomon writes about how good it is to have companionship and friendship—but the man who is consumed with envious toil winds up isolated and alone—laying by himself in a ditch because there is no one who wants to help him up.
Look around and you can see how envy destroys relationships—we see it on the national stage with people now being told that they are evil because of the “privilege” that they have—their career and their education and their home ownership and their health are all proof of how evil they are. And it happens on a personal level too, doesn’t it? A family falls apart when the will is read because of who got what left to them, and the one envious sister cuts off all communication with the rest of the family because someone else got the antique bone china set “even though Mom told me I could have it!!” She can have all the pious-sounding reasons she wants for not talking to them anymore, but the truth is that envy destroys relationships. Envy can’t be happy for someone else’s blessings; it can only hate them for it and disguise the hate as high moral “disappointment”.
The rottenness of envy causes decaying relationships and it also causes
Crumbling CONTENTMENT (Eccl. 5:10-11)
Crumbling CONTENTMENT (Eccl. 5:10-11)
Look over at Ecclesiastes 5, verses 10-11:
10 He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. 11 When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes?
Now, at the one level this is another statement that Solomon has made elsewhere in this book, to the effect that “money can’t buy happiness”. But in the context of toil spurred on by the rot of envy, there is another dynamic at work here.
I mentioned earlier that the “big red button” scenario wouldn’t be accepted by our social justice warriors fighting “income inequality” because the money wasn’t the issue—the injustice of some people having more than others isn’t the problem. The problem is the envy, and what the envy wants is not just the money of the wealthy, envy wants the place of the wealthy. Envy doesn’t just want the older brother’s blessing; envy wants to be the older brother!
Let’s say in our example a few moments ago that the sister that inherited the china really was a kind and generous sort, and called her envious sister up and said, “I know how much it means to you, and you’d take care of it better than I can with all the kids in the house, so I want to give you the china set!” Does that take care of the problem? Is the envious sister now satisfied with the china?
Not even close! Because it wasn’t about the china. Her envy didn’t come from the fact that Cindy got the china instead of her—her envy came from the fact that Cindy getting the china meant that Mom loved her more! And now Cindy is showing herself to be kind and generous and tenderhearted, “and I look selfish and petty and childish!” Envy isn’t that she wanted Cindy’s china—she wanted to be Cindy! There is no contentment in envy because envy wants what it can never have—to have someone else’s blessings by taking their place.
The rottenness of envy causes decaying relationships, crumbling contentment, and it leads to
Vanishing TREASURES (Eccl. 5:13-17)
Vanishing TREASURES (Eccl. 5:13-17)
Verses 13-17 of Chapter 5:
13 There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt, 14 and those riches were lost in a bad venture. And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand. 15 As he came from his mother’s womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand. 16 This also is a grievous evil: just as he came, so shall he go, and what gain is there to him who toils for the wind? 17 Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness in much vexation and sickness and anger.
You strive and work and toil .because of your envious resentment over your neighbor’s blessings, trying to get what they have because you want to be who they are. But no matter how much you strive and toil and labor and drive yourself, you never satisfy that envy because you can never actually become the person you envy. And then some calamity strikes, the stock market crashes, a drought triggers a famine, a pandemic shuts down your company, and you lose all of it.
And on top of all of that, when your toil and labor is motivated by envy, there is never any joy in it—never any happiness or contentment—all your days you “eat in darkness and much vexation and sickness and anger...” The rottenness of envy eats away at any kind of happiness or laughter or wholesomeness in your life, and everything you strive for will come to nothing.
Solomon paints a grim picture of the rottenness of envy and what it does to the life of the one consumed by it. But scattered through these verses are some glimpses of a life that has not been poisoned by the rot of envy and resentment. If we look carefully we can see some of the ways Solomon describes
II. FREEDOM from Envy
II. FREEDOM from Envy
Look at Ecclesiastes 4:6:
6 Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.
What does a life free from envy look like? Solomon says first that it is
A life of quiet SIMPLICITY (Eccl. 4:6)
A life of quiet SIMPLICITY (Eccl. 4:6)
One handful of quietness is better than two handfuls of envious, empty toil. Mind you, there is a type of quietness that does not come from contentment so much as it comes from laziness—verse 5:
5 The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh.
There are, I’m afraid, far too many people who are perfectly happy to sit back, fold their hands, and wait for someone (preferably the government) to hand them someone else’s money so that they don’t have to work at all—which is just another way that envy kills. "I’ll make more money sitting at home than I will if I go out and get a job—the job market isn’t fair, because other people sitting at home will make more than me...” And so they fold their hands in their lap, sit back, and wait for the checks to come in. And in the process, Solomon says, they destroy themselves.
But Solomon says in verse 6 that it’s better to have one handful of simple contentment than two handfuls of envious striving and resentment—it’s better to go out and work for an honest $480 a week and be free from envious striving than sit at home and have $600 a week handed to you while you are eaten up with resentment over the fact that somewhere someone is making $800 a week!
And Solomon says that that life of an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work is
A life of sweet REST (Eccl. 5:12)
A life of sweet REST (Eccl. 5:12)
Verse 12 of Chapter 5:
12 Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.
Solomon has been using the word translated toil to describe the hard, miserable, weary and troublesome toil of those who are driven by envy. But here he describes the sweet rest of the laborer, which in Hebrew has a different connotation than toil—the word rendered “laborer” is also translated “servant” or “worker” or even “worshipper”—a blue collar worker might go to bed on an empty stomach from time to time, but the honest day’s work he put in gives him a good night’s sleep!
But there’s still a missing piece here, isn’t there? It’s clear that a simple life of contentment can be better than an extravagant life of hard-driving envy—it’s clear that an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work can be better than an envious attitude of demanding “my fair share” from the rich. But you and I both know that living a life of modest means is by no means a guarantee of happiness or contentment! The rot of envy reaches across every economic and social strata, doesn’t it? The guy making 8 bucks an hour is not immune from envying the guy making twelve, and the manager pulling down a 70 thousand dollar salary can be looking with envy at the VP’s corner office and 150 thousand dollar salary.
So how do we escape the rot of envy and the troublesome, weary toil it produces in us? How do we find the quietness and contentment and sweet rest that Solomon describes? Look at verse 19:
19 Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God.
We have seen Solomon say this before—the power to enjoy this futile life (and the toil that goes with it) comes from Him alone. But how does Solomon describe that contentment? it is the power “to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil...” Freedom from the rot of envy comes when you live
A life of happy GRATITUDE (Eccl. 5:19)
A life of happy GRATITUDE (Eccl. 5:19)
What does it mean to “accept your lot”? It means that you accept the fact that what you have has been given to you. You are grateful for what you have, because you see it all as a gift. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 4:7: “What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” In other words, instead of constantly envying others what they have (and who they are), God gives the ability to be thankful for what you have—and that gratitude neutralizes the rot of envy in your life!
And gratitude is the perfect response when you are accused of all of the “privilege” you enjoy as well—because when you recognize that everything in your life is a gift of God, you can say, “Yes, I have been given great privileges by God—all by His grace, and I refuse to apologize for anything He has given me! You’re right—I don’t deserve any good thing I have in my life, and neither do you! Everything we have has been given to us by His goodness, and I praise Him for the privileges He has given me!”
You see, the only cure for our envy is to look with gratitude on what God has done for us through the cross of Jesus Christ—because on the Cross we see
III. The DEATH of envy in the DEATH of Christ
III. The DEATH of envy in the DEATH of Christ
In Matthew’s Gospel we read about the trial of Jesus before Pilate. Pontius Pilate was a world-weary government official who had been exiled to the backwaters of the Judean Province of the Roman Empire, but he was also a savvy politician and keen observer of humanity. When Jesus is brought before him in Matthew 27, he knew exactly what was going on with the chief priests and scribes and elders—Matthew 27:18 says
18 For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up.
You see,
Jesus was an INNOCENT VICTIM of envy (Matthew 27:18)
Jesus was an INNOCENT VICTIM of envy (Matthew 27:18)
Throughout His ministry, Jesus was the target of the religious leaders’ bitter envy. They couldn’t teach like Him or draw the crowds He could, they couldn’t reason like Him and lost every debate they ever tried to have with Him. They couldn’t heal the way He could, they couldn’t pray the way He could, they weren’t loved the way He was—either by the people or by God—and so they hated Him. They couldn’t have what He had—they couldn’t be who He was—and so they had Him murdered for it.
But in that supreme act of hatred and envy—that defining sin that condemned them and their generation to judgment—because He was an innocent victim of their envy
Jesus became the CURE for all envy (cp. Numbers 21:5-9; John 3:14-15)
Jesus became the CURE for all envy (cp. Numbers 21:5-9; John 3:14-15)
It was envy that put Jesus on the Cross—and it was God’s good purpose, through Jesus’ death, to put envy on that Cross. And when Jesus came back from the dead, the envy stayed in the grave!
In the Old Testament there is a story of the time when the children of Israel in the wilderness were afflicted by biting, poisonous serpents:
5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” 6 Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.
They had been murmuring, complaining, grumbling and accusing—and so God sent the serpents, and the people were dying. They cried out and confessed their sin
7 And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8 And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.
Anyone who looked on that serpent—anyone that saw their sin of grumbling, complaining, resentful hatred twisting on that pole—was healed. And Jesus tells us that that story was a picture of His death on the Cross:
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
Beloved, when you look to the Cross of Jesus Christ in faith, you see your sin of envy put on display, because He was crucified by the same heart of envy that beats in your chest. And seeing Him on that Cross—the innocent victim of your rotten envy—is the only way you can die to it. The envy that tears relationships apart (and is tearing our country apart), the envy that drains the contentment out of your life and turns your treasures to dust, the envy that carps and whines and hates, the envy that takes you by the throat and drags you down into a living death, the envy that slanders the goodness of God in your life and calls it “injustice”—it all dies when you look to the Cross of Jesus Christ.
But mark it well—the only way that you can come to the Cross and see your salvation there is if you look to the cross and see that it is your envy and hatred and condemnation there. That it was your spite and resentment and covetousness and bitterness that put that innocent Victim on that tree. And when you see that it was your envy that put Him there, that He suffered and died because of your sin, you can look with gratitude to Him for paying the price for your envy. And in that gratitude, your life is set free from that rot that destroys you!
Has the rot of envy taken root in your heart this morning? Has the venom of envy been leaking into your words and your actions towards your brother or sister, your mom or dad, your co-worker, your church, your spouse? There is only one cure—only one way to escape that rot, and it is the same escape for you as it is for our nation: Look to the Cross and see the writhing, twisting serpent of your envy nailed there in the person of the only truly Innocent Victim—look in faith-filled gratitude on the work of your Savior, Jesus Christ!
BENEDICTION
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:
What does it mean that “envy is one of the last sins people are truly ashamed of”? How do we see the world around us trying to “camouflage” their envy to make it look virtuous? Think of a time when you succumbed to envy because of someone else’s advantages or blessings. How did you justify your envy?
What does it mean that “envy is one of the last sins people are truly ashamed of”? How do we see the world around us trying to “camouflage” their envy to make it look virtuous? Think of a time when you succumbed to envy because of someone else’s advantages or blessings. How did you justify your envy?
Read Ecclesiastes 5:19 again. What does it mean that God gives us “the power to accept our lot”? How does a heart of gratitude short-circuit the pattern of envy in your life?
Read Ecclesiastes 5:19 again. What does it mean that God gives us “the power to accept our lot”? How does a heart of gratitude short-circuit the pattern of envy in your life?
The world around you demands that you apologize for the “privilege” that you enjoy. How is this utterly opposed to the way the Scriptures tell us we should feel about the blessings God has given us? Read Ecclesiastes 5:19 and 1 Corinthians 4:7 again. Spend some time this week thanking God for the gracious gifts He has given you—and for the ability to enjoy them in Christ!
The world around you demands that you apologize for the “privilege” that you enjoy. How is this utterly opposed to the way the Scriptures tell us we should feel about the blessings God has given us? Read Ecclesiastes 5:19 and 1 Corinthians 4:7 again. Spend some time this week thanking God for the gracious gifts He has given you—and for the ability to enjoy them in Christ!