One of the reasons why envy is so evil, so opposed to the fruit of the spirit, so rebellious to God and to love is that envy is what splits churches and causes strife. If you envy someone in your church, this weekend, don’t avoid them, go and show them some love – tell them how lovely they are, tell them how wonderful they are, tell them how much you appreciate their position, their ability and so on.
Envy can be carnal – you can be envious of someone pretty or young or rich, or it can be even spiritual envy where you are upset that a certain minister is doing better than you and has a bigger following than you. We have seen that and it has never ended well.
Because the Corinthian church was relatively immature, satan got into that church and used his number one weapon of envy to keep that church immature! The visible manifestation of envy was arguing over which preacher is better. Can you imagine the fighting in Corinth?
Apollos is so smart, and such a good preacher, he is so inspiring. Did you know I had lunch with him once?
Paul was before Apollos, he started the church, I was there in the early days, before you came, you just weren’t around, I was though.
No, I love Peter, he talks about being with Jesus. Peter is the best. He eats with me, he doesn’t eat with you.
No – you should all be as spiritual as me, and only ever follow Jesus!
That argument is never worth having. Paul rebuked them for it. He told them they were acting like babies and acting like mere unchanged men. You see you might think you are a mature, godly, super spiritual Christian, but if you are dividing the church you are carnal. Pure carnal. If you are doing that you are a baby. Now if someone is like that with you, stop it.
I met a pastor recently, and it was the first time I met him. I told him just in conversation that I was going to preach at a conference, and he told me about a conference he was going to preach in at the same nation, and we started talking. It didn’t take long to realize that he was trying to top me. If I was preaching for three sessions, he was preaching for four, if I was preaching to 300 people, he was preaching to 500 hundred. He was just continually comparing himself to me to put me down. That’s babyish! That’s carnal! I was stunned and I stepped away from the conversation straight away – I am not going to cause strife with him! Don’t cause trouble with people just because they want to cause trouble with you.
Now, just because you don’t have envy in your heart that doesn’t mean you can just listen to any preacher there is – because you need discernment. Let’s not fall off the ditch on the other side of the road. Stay away from faith destroying grace destroying teachings! When I read someone say God made them sick for a reason, I ignore them. It’s not envy, I just don’t care for that sort of thing.
I don’t go arguing with people, I don’t go find them on social media and attack them and cause divisions. That’s not love! When you are on social media jumping on other people you are not walking in love! I can fellowship with any Christian, as long I know I don’t have to try and straighten them out!
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