Love Does Not Envy

We’re going to continue that series this morning from 1 Corinthians chapter 13 on what love is, and I’m so thankful that Blake led that song this morning, Love Lifted Me, such a beautiful song, a wonderful song, and let’s just turn to 1 Corinthians 13 and look at verses 4 through 8.

As we contemplate, love does not envy. Remember what it says, love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself, is not puffed up, does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails. And so this long list of what love is, and in some cases is not, is something that we are discussing on Sunday mornings occasionally, and this morning we’re going to think about the third thing in this list. Love does not envy.

And instead of focusing on what envy is and what envy produces, I mean, we’re going to think a little bit about that, but I didn’t want this to be kind of a negative sermon against envy. What I wanted it to be was a sermon on love that focuses on how love acts to counteract envy.

And so that’s how we’re going to think about this morning as we think about love does not envy. And so there’s going to be four points in this lesson. First of all, love does not envy because love values people. Secondly, love does not envy because love rejoices with others. Third, love does not envy because love helps others flourish. And finally, love does not envy because love seeks unity.

And each one of these points that we’re going to be talking about is an area in which love acts very differently from envy. And envy is really one of those subtle sins that a lot of us don’t really think about too much, but it is a fleshly desire to have, possess, or take the things, character, or achievements, or qualities of another for yourself.

And often, to the detriment of another person through ill will. And so envy, in this sense, is something that we want to fight. We don’t want to be envious. And we don’t want to have lives that are characterized by envy.

You know, somebody asked me the other day about, well, what do we mean when we say, well, I envy you because something good happened to you? And a lot of times, what we mean by that is, I appreciate that good things happened to you. And I think we use that sometimes in that sort of niche way to talk about, I’m glad that something good happened for you.

And that’s really not envy, but we use that word sometimes in that way. But when we’re talking about envy in the sense of this sin of envy that the Bible says love is not, it is very insidious and it is something that we don’t want in our lives.

And so, how can we cultivate the attitude of love so that love is going to take over the envy that we may be harboring in our hearts? And so, that’s what we’ll talk about this morning as we think about love does not envy. First of all, love does not envy because love values people.

And I think this is probably the most important thing in relationship to envy because envy just sees other people as objects and things to be used. And we don’t want to look at people like that. We want to see people as valuable as those who are important in and of themselves.

And let’s think about that for a minute as we think about love values people. Think about the fact that God made humanity in His image and everyone has value because we’re all created in the image of God. Genesis chapter 1 and verse 27 and that’s important because when we look back to this verse in the Bible that’s really in a lot of ways foundational to the way we think in the United States and in the West in particular.

The Eastern religions don’t think in this way so much, and that’s why, for example, in India, you have a caste system, and different people are thought of as being lower than other people. They don’t value each other equally, but our system in the United States is based on a principle that all are created by God with equal value, and that comes directly from Genesis chapter 1, verse 27 here.

That God created man in His own image. In the image of God, He created him. Male and female, He created them. And we all have equal value before the Lord. And when we turn to the New Testament, we see that God values us so much that He sent His Son to die on the cross for us, and that Jesus paid the ultimate price, His own blood.

And that is the most precious thing, you know, that God could offer. And Peter reflects on that in 1 Peter 1, verse 18, when he says, “‘Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your Father, but you were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.'”

That’s your value. You’re not just worth some amount of gold or some amount of silver, like in the old days when the Kings went in and they conquered the towns and then they had to come out with some silver or gold to redeem the people, to redeem their freedom. You’re worth so much more than that. You’re worth the blood of Christ, and that talks about the value of every single person because Christ shed His blood for every single person who ever lived Before Him was living at the time that He was on the earth or who would ever live after Him. And so every single person, God thought, you know what? They’re worth the blood of my Son, Jesus Christ. That’s how much God values us. And that’s how much we need to value one another.

And as Christians, when we think about our value, we should be thinking about the value of one another as family. You know, Galatians 3, verses 26-28 says, “…For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized in Christ, have put on Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you’re all one in Christ Jesus.”

These value distinctions that society makes and society can’t help but make these distinctions. The world wants to make these distinctions so as to divide and separate people into classes so they can be used and abused and thought of as being something less than what they really are.

But in the church, in Christ, we see one another as having equal value and that’s what this is about. It’s about our identity in Christ, and also, you know, there’s no one person or group or gender or anything that is of greater value than another, and that’s what this verse is talking about.

It’s talking about our equal value in the sight of the Lord, and love values people. It sees people as being created in the image of God, as being worth the blood of the Son of God, as being one who is worthy of sonship or daughtership in God’s family.

That’s value, and we need to value other people like this. Now envy considers self of greater value than others, and it does that oftentimes to justify its object So if we’re envying someone because of some trait or quality that might have, maybe it’s because, you know, they can skate better than we can, like the Tanya Harding situation. That was envy that drove that, you know, years ago. And they see that trait, and they think, well, I’m more valuable than that person, and so that justifies me in taking whatever action I need to take to get that person out of the way. And that’s envy. And envy does that.

And it doesn’t value other people. It seems self of greater value than others. And we don’t want to do that. We don’t want to make those comparisons like that to think, well, I’m of greater value than this other person. Think about 2 Corinthians 10, verse 12. There were some in the New Testament times who did that. And Paul says about them, For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves, but they, measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. It is not wise to make those comparisons. That is envy working within one’s life. And as a result, one will think more highly of himself than of others.

Love values people, and for who they are, created in the image of God, not for what they have or what they don’t have and things of that nature. You know, Jesus talked about value when He spoke that parable in Luke 18, and He said that He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves, that they were righteous and despised others.

That’s the foundation of envy, thinking of yourself more righteous than others, despising other people, and just looking at them as objects to be used for our own benefit. Let’s not do that. Let’s not begrudge what others have. Let’s desire not to think that way. Let’s not do things just to kind of make ourselves feel better about ourselves, you know, In putting down others or in comparing ourselves to others in that way. And this is something that we don’t want to do. We don’t want to make those comparisons and then judge others unworthy of what they have, which is a lot of times what envy does.

Well, envy says things like, well, I deserve that instead of them, you know. And that’s how envy justifies itself. But we don’t want that thinking in our life. We want to take that thinking completely out of our lives, that comparative-type thinking. We want to value other people for what they are worth, and God tells us what they’re worth. They’re worth the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ, and they are created in His image. So, love values people. Secondly, love rejoices with others. And this is a big thing about envy. A lot of times, envy looks at things that other people have, and it gets mad.

It gets upset because other people have those things and I don’t. And so envy has a lot to do with this. And when we don’t rejoice with others for what they have or for what they’ve been given or for their circumstances or whatever that are good, that’s envy working in our life.

And so love rejoices with others. And instead of envying another person’s fortune, we need to rejoice with them. We need to be thankful and grateful that they have such good things happening in their lives. And we know the Bible teaches this in Romans chapter 12, verse 15, rejoice with those who rejoice. When something good happens to someone else, don’t sit back and think, Oh, I wish that happened to me. That’s envy. Don’t think that. Think, I’m so glad that happened to them. That’s how we need to be thinking. And not thinking enviously, but loving other people. Love rejoices with those who rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I’ll say rejoice. Philippians 4, verse 4. So anytime something good happens to someone else, we need to be joyful about that. And if we’re not, then we got a problem.

We got a love problem. We’re not loving our brother or our sister like we really need to. And so love rejoices with others. Think about 1 Corinthians 12 and verse 26. If one member is honored, all the members rejoice. That’s how the body of Christ needs to act. As Christians, we’re looking at other people and seeing the good things happening in their life and we’re thinking, that’s great.

I’m so thankful for them. I’m so glad that these good things are happening to them. And joy needs to be our default response when good things are happening to others. And that can be hard to do. Look, because, you know, I mean, we have these fleshly desires. We have these things that we want to have happen within our lives and it happens to other people.

You think, well, I wish that would happen to me, you know, but we need not let that fleshly desire overcome our joy for our brother or our sister because that’s something that will, if we let it go and we don’t check it and we don’t see it for what it really is, will ultimately end up doing us harm, and spiritually speaking, we need to think well of others instead of thinking evil of them.

You see, that’s what envy. Envy thinks evil of other people, and that’s something that we need to work on. Zechariah 8, verse 17 says, Let none of you think evil in your heart against your neighbor. Now, this was mentioned in a particular historical context, but the principle applies today as well, because 1 Corinthians 13, verse 5 says, Love thinks no evil. And what does that mean? It means that when I approach someone else and I approach their situation or their circumstance, I’m not going to be thinking poorly of them. I’m not going to be thinking evil things regarding them. I’m not going to harbor that evil in my heart. I’m going to expect good things. I’m going to want them to have a good happening in their life.

And so, thinking well of others instead of thinking evil about them. Love rejoices with others, and it does so because it wants to think well of others. Love should be too busy enjoying other people to have time to envy them.

When we look at other people, how do we see those relationships, you know? We need to look at those relationships as productive, and those relationships as valuable, and those relationships as something to be enjoyed. When I sit down with other people, it is with the intention of enjoying their company. That’s what I want. And that should be what everyone wants. That’s what God wants. God enjoys us. If we’re living faithfully to Him, He enjoys the fact that we are doing what’s right. And that’s what we need to do as well.

In 1 Timothy chapter 6 and verse 17, the Bible tells us that the living God gives us richly all things to enjoy and that we need to enjoy them and be appreciative of them and be thankful for them. And that includes other people as well. And when we’re enjoying other people, we’re not going to be envious of them. We’re going to enjoy their company.

Paul mentioned that in Romans 15, verse 24. He says, “…whenever I journey to Spain, I shall come to you.” And these are to the brethren in Rome. And he says, “…for I hope to see you on my journey and to be helped on my way there by you, if first I may enjoy your company for a while.” And Paul enjoyed the company of his brothers and And we need to enjoy the company of our brothers and sisters in Christ as well. Sometimes, you know, people think, well, the preacher, he’s just looking for things to pick on, you know? And that is absolutely not my attitude, absolutely not what I do when I try to talk to people or develop a relationship with people or whatever it is.

I really am there to enjoy that relationship. I’m really there because I love you and I want to see good things happen to you. And I hope that’s everyone’s attitude. That was Paul’s attitude. That needs to be our attitude as well.

And then in Proverbs chapter 22, verse 11, I love this verse. It’s very interesting. But it says, “…he who loves purity of heart and has grace on his lips, the king will be his friend.” And, you know, the idea there is that here’s a person who is so pure and so outgoing and so interested in other And so, you know, a lot of times Kings and people in position of power, they’re very suspicious, right, of others? And they think, well, what is he trying to gain from this, right? But if the king recognizes that you’re of such pure heart and you just want to be around other people and enjoy, that’s really an accomplishment. That really shows that you love other people and desire good things for them.

And so, that’s something that we need to cultivate within our lives as we think about not envying other people, but rejoicing with others instead. Number three, love helps others flourish. So, it’s not enough, you know, when we’re fighting envy, it’s not enough just to say, well, I’m not going to envy them. I’m going to enjoy it. We actually need to turn it around. And what do I mean by that?

What I mean is, you know, envy seeks to destroy, but love seeks to build up. It seeks to help other people flourish, to grow, and to become the best person that they can be. And that’s what we’re seeking. That’s what the church is all about, is trying to build people up so that they can be the best that they can be, and to help them flourish.

That’s why God created man. In fact, if you go back to Genesis 1 and verse 28, it says, Then God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over every living thing that moves on the earth. In one word, what God wanted them to do was flourish. Become the best that you as human beings can be.

That’s what God wanted. Of course, we know that sin came into the world, and that thwarted God’s plan, but nevertheless, God still intended that. He still wanted that for humanity, for them to flourish. Think about Psalm 92 and verse 13.

Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. You see, that’s God’s intention in Genesis 1, 28. That’s His intention being played out among His people. Those who are faithful to Him, they flourish. And today in the Lord’s church, God wants us to flourish.

And we need to participate in those purposes of God. We need to help other people flourish as well. That’s really what we’re called to do as Christians. Think about Galatians chapter 4 and verse 7, therefore you are no longer a slave but a son. And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. What do we want our children to do? Do we want them to stagnate and just sit around and do nothing for the rest of their lives?

I sure hope not. We want them to flourish, right? To go out, to make a life for themselves, to enjoy all that this world has to offer in a godly way. And in doing that, we encourage them to get out there and get with it, you know? And that’s part of what the church is responsible to do as well. Not just focus on the physical things, but on the spiritual realities.

Those spiritual realities that will help us to have the kind of life that God wants us to have. And so when we think about that, we think about what God has done through Christ to ennoble us and to help us to flourish, right?

He’s made us Kings and priests to our God, and we shall reign on the earth, Revelation 5 and verse 10 tells us. That’s God’s people flourishing, and God wants us to flourish, and we should want one another to flourish as well. And when we think about helping one another, it’s not enough, you know, just to not envy. We’ve got to actively help. We’ve got to actively support and help others to flourish.

And this is what God does as well, not through self-aggrandizement, not through some kind of misguided pride or something like that, but through humbly submitting ourselves to His holy will. That’s when God lifts us up. James 4, verse 10, humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. If you want to flourish, just humble yourself before God and see what happens. God will provide.

And so that humility, God wants us to have so that it will help us to flourish. And Christians should want the righteous to flourish. You think about what Jesus did in His day and time. He sought to help people flourish. He healed the sick. He made the lame to walk. He gave sight to the blind. He gave listening, the ability to hear, to the deaf.

He cast out demons. He did all these good things so that people could flourish. Psalm 72 and verse 7 talks about what things would be like in His kingdom. In His days, the righteous shall flourish and abundance of peace until the moon is no more. What a tremendous prophecy. God wanting His people to flourish.

And as we think about that, we turn to Jeremiah 23 and verse 5. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will raise to David a branch of righteousness. A king shall reign and prosper and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. Reign and prosper.

Now, we want people to flourish. We want them to prosper in that spiritual sense as the Bible discusses. And in that vein, we think about prospering. 3 John 1 and 2 says, It says, “…behold, beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health just as your soul prospers.” When we’re loving other people, we are going to want them to flourish. Envy doesn’t do this. Envy doesn’t want other people to prosper. Envy seeks to tear down, not to build up.

We don’t want envy. We want love. And love means that we are praying, that other people prosper, that they’re being in health, that their soul is prospering. All of those things. That’s what love desires. We can’t focus on the spiritual success of others and envy them at the same time. We just cannot. And we must not. We’ve got to love one another.

And that means to help each other flourish. And then finally, love seeks unity. You know, one of the problems with envy is that it destroys, it divides people. And when there’s envy, bad things happen all the time. In fact, in James chapter 3 and verse 16, James wrote, but where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. We don’t want that. We don’t want confusion. We won’t want evil things. We don’t want division. We want unity. And love seeks unity. Think about Colossians 3 and verse 14, but above all these things put on love, which is the bond, notice that word bond there, the bond of love.

That’s unity. God wants us to love one another and to experience great unity as a result. Love seeks the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Psalm 133, verse 1 tells us, Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. And Ephesians 4 and verse 3, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Love wants unity. Envy doesn’t want unity. It wants destruction. It wants division. But love wants unity. And so love seeks unity. And that’s what we need to do.

Philippians 2, verses 1 and 2 says, Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

You see, love wants unity. Love wants peace. Love desires the good of others. And that’s what we need to cultivate within our lives. Love understands that when we progress, we all progress together. And that’s when everyone does well. We progress when everyone does well.

We don’t want a single person to be left out. We don’t want a single person to be divided from us. We want everyone to work together, to work, to be united, to flourish, to build up, and not to be envious.

Psalm 122 and verse 9 says, “…because of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good.” Now, that’s a tremendous verse right there. Think about that. I will seek your good. That’s what we need to be doing, seeking one another’s good.

Galatians chapter 6 and verse 10, therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, but especially to those who are of the household of faith, we need to be seeking good for our brothers and sisters in Christ. But of course, we want to do good to all. And that means building each other up, not envying, but loving one another.

In 3 John 1 and verse 11 says, Beloved, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God. So we want to do good and we want to imitate God and we want to build up and we don’t want to envy. Love does not envy. Love does not envy because love values people.

Love rejoices with others. Love helps others flourish. And love seeks unity. Folks, if we can practice this within our lives, we will never have an envious bone about us. And that would be a wonderful, wonderful thing. So let’s seek to love one another. Let’s not be envious. Let’s not make comparisons. Let’s seek one another’s good. Let’s rejoice when other people rejoice. Let’s have unity. Let’s do the things to help one another flourish and to grow and to be better than what we are today. That’s what love wants. And we should all want that.

And maybe this morning, you need to be better than what you are today. And maybe that starts with making a commitment to follow Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ never envied anyone. He always sought their good. He always sought their flourishing. And we want to do that within our lives as well.

How do you start that? Well, Jesus says you can become one of His disciples by hearing His Word and believing it, Repenting of your sins, envy being one of them, confessing Him as Lord, and being baptized to identify with Him, as Galatians chapter 3 and verse 27 says, where as many as were baptized in Christ have put on Christ. Now there’s neither Jew nor Greek, neither bond nor female. We’re all one in Christ Jesus, and we’re heirs and children of God because of that.

And God values us highly, and He wants us to love each other and to build each other up, and that’s how we get started. And so, if you need to do that this morning, we’re glad to help you with that. Or maybe you need prayer, maybe you’ve got some envy problems and you want to talk about it.

You can come talk to me, talk to one of the elders. We can help you. We can help you change your thinking so that those envy problems don’t take over and start defining you. Because if that happens, then you’re in real sad shape and you don’t want to be in that situation, you know. We want you to flourish. We want you to grow. We want you to prosper and to be united with everyone. And envy can’t do that. Envy doesn’t do that. But love does. And so if you need prayers to help love your brethren more, we can help you with that also. Whatever you need may be, you can come make it known right now while together we stand and sing.

End of transcript. Thank you for reading along!