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From the Pastor

March 20, 2020 by Rev. John Hartman

“The Green-Eyed Monster”

This Sunday, I am concluding my sermon series on the Seven Deadly Sins, as I will will be talking to you (digitally) about the sin of envy. Similar to what people have to do at AA, we have to be willing to acknowledge envy in our souls. The strange things about envy is that no one ever wants to acknowledge that they are envious. We will acknowledge gluttony: “I have a problem – I eat too much.” We will acknowledge anger: “I have a hair trigger temper; I have to watch that.” But if you say to someone, “You’re envious, aren’t you?” They will say, “Are you kidding? Not me!” So, the first thing we must do is be willing to call envy what it is, and that it is a problem for us and within us.

We also had better know the places where envy appears. Almost all envy appears among equals: classmates, colleagues, siblings. Musicians do not envy baseball players. Musicians envy other musicians. Baseball players envy other baseball players. Realtors envy other realtors. And yes, pastors envy other pastors. I have done this. I still do this. Not proud of it, but it’s true. It’s there, and I am working on it. This is also true for church volunteers, like Sunday School teachers. There was a Christian magazine with an advertisement that showed a woman with a scowl on her face, walking out of a Sunday School classroom. The caption said, “Why does everybody go to her Bible studies and not to mine?” The selling point was that if you bought a certain curriculum, there would be a stampede out of her Bible study, — and into your Bible study. You will put her out of business! Wow! What a great triumph for the kingdom -- Bible study envy! The point is, we tend to envy people who excel at the place where we also have those same gifts and calling.

So, what should be our response? I believe we must do as Paul says in Romans 15: “Rejoice with those who rejoice.” Do you know what that means? When someone beats you out for a job promotion or when someone gets the honor that you had your heart set on getting, you should be the first person to cross the room and stick out your hand and congratulate them. Or, you should send them a big bouquet of flowers with a note that says, “Way to go!” Then you should re-double all your efforts to make sure that person is successful in the new position they are now taking on. In doing that, you will set yourself free in ways you never imagined. Is it going to be easy? Heck no! But, it is better then to have the sin of envy hold you captive as you walk around with those green eyes and scowl on your face because of how others are doing compared to you.

Please join me this Sunday, March 22, at 10:00 am, as we will be Live Streaming the worship service via Zoom. We will have music, prayer, scripture readings and the message. The link is https://zoom.us/j/350800214