"Back to the Beginning" 3-23-25

Overview

Back to the Beginning: Envy, the Cross, and Enough in Christ

Envy is more than the casual "jealousy" we joke about when we admire a friend's outfit or compliment their new car. Envy is the deeper voice within us that whispers, "That should be mine." It is not admiration—it is a discontent that grasps, takes, and even rejoices when others stumble. A life lived at the mercy of envy may accumulate trophies, accolades, and victories, yet it ends in isolation, having "bested" everyone, including oneself.

To understand envy, we must go back to the beginning. In Genesis 1:27-31, God creates humankind in His own image, blesses them, and provides everything needed for life—good work, abundant food, perfect communion with Him, and the dignity of bearing His image. In Genesis 2:15-17, Adam and Eve are placed in the garden with one boundary: do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Lack was unknown to them. Then the serpent whispered the question that still haunts us: Is what God has given really enough? In Genesis 3:6, Eve takes the fruit—not merely because it looked good, but because she envied God's wisdom, authority, and sovereignty. She decided for herself what was right and good. That is the root of every sin we commit: envy of God Himself, a refusal to trust that His Word and His provision are enough.

We do the same. We envy others' possessions, spouses, talents, and successes; we take quiet satisfaction in another's downfall; and at the deepest level, we envy God's authority over our own lives. This same envy drove the chief priests who handed Jesus over to Pilate Mark 15:10. They envied His power and influence and sought His death. And on the cross, the full wrath of the Father against sin—including the sin of envy—was poured out on the Son, who cried, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Matthew 27:46. Yet the story did not end in the tomb. Christ rose victorious, conquering death, the grave, and our sin.

This is the gospel for every envious heart: through baptism you have been born into salvation, forgiveness, and the restored image of God. As Paul writes, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" Galatians 2:20. And in Ephesians 1:4-7, we learn that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, lavishing His grace upon us and granting redemption through His blood. You are not enough in yourself—but in Christ, you are enough, because Christ Himself is enough. The joy, peace, love, and forgiveness you have in Him cannot be improved upon by anything envy promises. So live in Him, and rest in this truth: Christ is not only enough—Christ is everything.

Transcript

I want to share a story with you. 2s

There was a young girl who was in grade school and as they had show in tell one day, one of 5s

her friends stood up and showed a doll that was absolutely incredible and this little girl 14s

looked at that doll and she had envy. 20s

Her toys were not good enough and she looked at that doll and she thought I want that 23s

doll and so a couple days later she went to play at her friend's house and somehow 29s

was able to sneak that doll out with her and it became hers. 34s

As the girl grew, she played sports and she was pretty good but she wasn't the fastest 41s

runner. 47s

There was one girl who was faster than her and it really, really irritated this young girl. 49s

She wasn't fast enough. 56s

And so when her friend fell and sprained her ankle and was no longer the fastest, the 58s

little girl smiled with delight because now she had become the fastest in the class. 64s

She continued in her school days and she noticed that the people around her were getting 73s

pretty good grades and they were getting praised for those grades and she got very 78s

great because she wanted the best grades she wanted to be the best and so she worked very 83s

hard and she made good projects but she also worked behind the scenes to butter up judges, 91s

to butter up teachers, to give her better grades and soon enough she was the valid Victorian 100s

of the class and she got to stand before all, pronouncing how she was the best in the class. 105s

She was the smartest in the class. 115s

She went to college and the same continued and she went out to dinner one day to meet with 120s

some friends and her friend brought a boy friend that she was very interested in and the 125s

girl said that guy must be the best. 131s

I must have him and so she worked and weedled her way into the relationship and took the 136s

boyfriend for herself and married him because then she had the best husband and they had 146s

kids and she continued to climb the corporate ladder because she would see someone who had 154s

nice car but she needed a nicer car. 159s

She saw someone who had a nice house but she needed a nicer bigger, grander house, the best 163s

in the neighborhood. 172s

She watched as her kids grew and she saw as her friends posted of their own children and 174s

families and she delighted when her friends would post of a failing of their child or a 181s

mishap of their child because it just meant that her children were better. 190s

The 10 year reunion, whoo, that was glorious. 198s

She came in looking good and she reveled in all the weight that she saw people had 203s

gained and the balding that had taken place over 10 years and she knew she was the best. 211s

She continued in this manner and soon enough she retired and she realized that health and 222s

aging was the new place that she needed to succeed. 229s

She wanted to live the longest, be the healthiest and so she gloded every time one by one 233s

her friends would die. 244s

She would say she was sad but inwardly she knew she was better because she was living longer. 246s

Her parents died, her brother died, her sister soon died, her husband died and those friends 256s

won by one continued to die and she was still so proud to be the one that remained out 268s

living them all and then her children died one after the other and she realized that she 279s

had outlived them all and one day this old, aged woman she thought finally to herself, 293s

I am the best. I have done it and then she looked around and she realized she had books with memories in it, 306s

awards and accolades, everything pointing to how she was the best. 324s

But there was no one with her. She was in a room alone and by herself no one to appreciate her, 332s

no one to admire her. In the end she realized she envied that all of her loved ones who had gone 344s

on before her, she envied that they never had to experience the aloneness, the emptiness in which 359s

she now sat, it turned out she had bested herself and in the end she was left alone in her envy. 370s

When thinking about envy we often come up with words like jealousy or covetousness and we're kind of 390s

light about it, there's a deer saint here that we joke with each other that we covet one another's clothing 399s

but we don't envy neither of us have knocked each other down to take the dress 407s

and we're light about the jealousy that we experience in our lives or coveting what one person has instead of us. 414s

But envy is deeper. envy is that thing that stirs and whispers, 427s

not an admiration, not an appreciation for what another is or has. envy is that voice that feeling within us 437s

that says that should be mine. 452s

Please open your Bibles to Genesis the first chapter. If you're using the Pew edition of the Bible, 462s

this can be found on page one of the Old Testament. God created, God created and in those days of 469s

creation we see life pouring forth, we see order being put into action and we see goodness. 480s

After every act of creation God says this is good and then the day comes where he creates 490s

mankind. Look with me please at verse 27. So God created humankind in his image. In the image of God 498s

he created them. Male and female he created them. God blessed them and God said to them be fruitful and 508s

multiply until the earth and subdue it and have a dominion over the fish of the sea and over the 516s

birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. God said, see I have given you 523s

every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth and every tree with seed in its 531s

root you shall have them for food and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the 538s

air and to everything that creeps on the earth everything that has the breath of life I have given 543s

every green plant for food and it was so. God saw everything that he had made and indeed it was very good. 550s

Come down to chapter 2 verse 15 please. The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of 561s

Eden to tilt and keep it and the Lord God commanded the man you may freely eat of every tree 568s

in the garden but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat for in the 574s

day that you eat of it you shall die. Adam and Eve had everything. Everything they had complete 581s

good relationship and communion with the earth they had good work to do as they tilled the land and 594s

subdued it and had dominion over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air they had every food 603s

they needed to nourish themselves they had no want for anything they had complete and perfect 610s

communion with God they walked with God they tucked with God they spoke with God face to face and 619s

didn't know anything different. Adam and Eve had everything down to the fact that they bore the image 629s

of God the idea of not having enough not being enough it wasn't even a question in their mind 644s

because they had never experienced lack they had never experienced anything outside of perfection 656s

they had never experienced anything outside of the completeness of God and then the devil comes 667s

that tricky serpent and whispers into Eve's ear and raises the question of enough in her life 683s

the temptation stirs in Eve's heart and she thinks maybe what she has isn't 700s

enough maybe there's more look with me please at chapter three beginning in verse six 711s

so when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that 720s

the tree was to be desired to make one wise she took of its fruit and ate and she also gave 726s

some to her husband who was with her and he ate then the eyes of both were opened and they knew 734s

that they were naked and they so did leave together and made loincloths for themselves 741s

eating fruit seems pretty innocent it's not a huge deal right to eat a fruit why is that 750s

really a big deal after all it looked good it seemed like it would be good to Eve was it a big deal 758s

yes it was a big deal because God had expressly forbidden it he had expressly forbidden eating of that fruit 770s

we like to judge sin and rank it some sins are worse than others some sins not so bad we can joke about it a little bit but sin is sin 785s

sin is sin all sin and sin is not determined by how you or I feel about it 798s

sin is not determined by whether we want to say something is right or wrong the whole series of 810s

acceptable sins with the big question mark it begs the question what sin is acceptable and the 822s

answer is a resounding none no sin is acceptable absolutely zero sin is acceptable even if everyone else 830s

does it sin is sin sin is wrong and sin earns the full wrath of God the Father 849s

Eve sinned when she questioned the word of God and determined for herself what would be right and good 873s

she tried to blame the serpent but the guilt lies directly on her shoulders for her own sin 884s

and just like Eve just like Eve we sin out of envy Eve envied God his wisdom 893s

Eve envied God his authority and his sovereignty and so she determined for herself 912s

that what she had the word of God was not enough and she ate of the fruit just like Eve our envy 921s

says that we what we have been given by God is not enough 936s

whether it is a matter of a material thing that God has blessed us with we see others who have more 944s

and we look at our blessing and say it's not enough out of envy we see the spouse of another person 953s

and look at our own spouse and say what God has given me in this spouse is not enough 965s

we see others who are wiser than us more talented than us more skilled than us 977s

funnyer than us and we envy because we are not enough in our envy we delight in the downfall 985s

of others when another struggles we take delight when another when another has a mishap 1005s

we find little glimpses of joy or humor our envy our envy ultimately 1020s

comes down to the envy we have over our own lives, over our own morality, over our own decisions 1033s

that we do not hold the authority that we do not hold the ultimate wisdom 1045s

that we do not hold ultimate sovereignty and we envy God we envy God and we determine for 1051s

ourselves what is right and what is wrong in our gospel reading today we have that period 1070s

where pilot is bringing Jesus before the Jewish people and he has a custom to turn over one of the 1084s

prisoners to the Jewish people to release him and let him go free and surely he's expecting that 1093s

he'll let Jesus go because as it said he knew that Jesus had been handed over by the chief priests 1100s

out of envy the chief priests envy Jesus they envied the power that he had they envied the 1109s

fluence that he had and they sought his downfall they sought his demise we envy God 1123s

Jesus stood before the crowd in a crown of thorns and they mocked him and called for his crucifixion 1147s

do you envy God in that moment they beat him and flogged him stripping away pieces of skin 1156s

do you envy God they marched him through the streets holding across that he could barely 1169s

carry do you still envy God they nailed him to two pieces of wood do you envy God 1181s

Jesus hung there on the cross struggling for breath while those around him crucified with him 1201s

taunted and tormented him the soldiers at the foot of his cross teased him mocked him 1212s

while his mother and his friends stood by weeping unable to do a thing do you envy God 1221s

on that cross the entire wrath of the father was poured out 1238s

so heavily the burden of the sin of this world of all time all places all people thoughts 1245s

words and deeds the punishment poured out upon the sun so devastating that he called out my God 1257s

my God why have you forsaken me and he gave up his spirit to death do you still envy 1269s

God they removed the body and buried it in a tomb 1289s

Jesus had died if that had been you or I or any person to ever walk this earth the story would end 1297s

there it would be done and it would be deserved and just but God God is God he is not you or I 1317s

God in the second person of the Trinity Jesus Christ walked this earth to live the life that you and I 1338s

cannot live he walked this earth out of his love for you and I so that when he died 1349s

experiencing the full punishment unjust punishment of the father he could do what neither you nor I could 1360s

do and he rose victorious he conquered death he conquered the grave he conquered your sin he 1371s

conquered my sin even the sin of our envy Jesus did for you and for I what we could never do for 1385s

ourselves or for anyone else from the beginning of your life of faith when you were born through 1406s

waters of baptism you were born free you were born into salvation you were born into eternal 1419s

forgiveness and you were born once again in the image of God and as Paul writes in Galatians 1430s

it is no longer I who live but it is Christ who lives in me and in Christ you come before the father 1449s

not enough in yourself but you are in Christ and in Christ you are enough 1461s

because you stand redeemed in Christ and this was planned from before the beginning in Ephesians 1469s

chapter one Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit writes he chose us in Christ 1486s

before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love he destined us for 1493s

adoption as his children through Jesus Christ according to the good pleasure of his will to the 1501s

to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the beloved in him we have 1508s

redemption through his blood the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his 1516s

grace that he lavished on us what you have my brothers and sisters is Christ there is no need to be 1524s

in Christ you have forgiveness in Christ you have salvation in Christ you have life in Christ 1545s

and what you have in Christ is enough and so the joy that you have in Christ is enough 1561s

the peace that you have in Christ is enough the love that you have in Christ is enough 1579s

and so I encourage you I encourage you to live live in Christ because not only 1593s

is Christ enough 1610s

Christ is everything 1617s