Russian side: What prevents us from experiencing perfect joy? (Part 2)

One of the reasons why even members of the church community cannot experience perfect joy, despite having been believers for ten, twenty, or even forty years, is envy.

It's not something people pay much attention to, but the Holy Scriptures will show you how important it is to address this issue. Sometimes people say they're green with envy; I used to say that too, adding that I was envious for good reasons and had nothing against you personally; for example, I envy your children for being so obedient. But there's no such thing as white and black envy; there's only envy, which is a work of the flesh, and therefore a sin. Sometimes we're very careless about this, but envy itself can prevent us from going to heaven. When envy dwelt in my heart, I could neither rejoice nor be glad. I didn't have perfect joy and therefore stood outside the door of the kingdom of God.

The Word of God also says this. In Proverbs 14:30 we read: “A kind heart gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.” I know a sister who suffers from polyarthritis, a bone disease that prevents her from moving. And when envy lives in a person, it is spiritually comparable to the decay of the bones that prevents a Christian from growing spiritually. God specifically admonishes us regarding this sin. We read something similar in Ecclesiastes 4:4: “I have seen the work and skill in all things, and people envy one another. This is also meaningless and a chasing after the wind.”

Today we often compare who has the better car, the nicer house, or better health than us. Thus, mutual envy manifests itself in every aspect of life. Even among Christians, envy exists, though it shouldn't! Sometimes a brother steps into the pulpit and delivers a good sermon, and another envies him. Or a sister recites a poem or sings, and her best, but less gifted, friend envies her. And when the friend asks, "So, how did I sing?", the sister replies, "So-so..." What prevents her from saying, "Thank God! That was so beautiful, God bless you..."? The thing is, envy is at play. In every matter—both spiritual and material—envy can arise if we are not vigilant.

The Spirit opposes the flesh, and the flesh opposes the Spirit. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit stands behind our human spirit—that is wealth, joy, heaven, that is the glory of the Lord. And behind the flesh stand all demonic powers, all the works of the flesh. And when we give preference to the flesh, we please Satan; we begin to fulfill the will of the prince of this world. God is not mocked: What a person sows, that will he also reap.

In 1 Corinthians 3:3, the Apostle Paul says: "...because you are still in the flesh. For if there is envy, strife and dissension among you, are you not in the flesh and acting according to human nature?" The Word of God thus describes a person in whom there is envy as carnal! But a person who lives according to the flesh cannot please God, because this separates him from God.

A real-life example

I remember a case that happened some time ago. A brother from a village community wanted to get married and found a woman he loved. She came from another community, from the city. After their engagement, the newlyweds invited guests from both the city and the village to the wedding, but the wedding celebration took place in the city because the conditions there were better. However, when the long-awaited wedding day arrived, the groom and his parents were very saddened because half the guests (those from the village) had not come to the wedding.

God blessed this marriage, but when the village guests were later asked why they hadn't come, they replied that one should choose a bride from the village, not from the city. What motivated these people and prevented them from celebrating with the groom? Envy! This is something carnal, something that comes from the heart and sometimes manifests itself in our lives.

Envy is like an indicator that something is wrong with me because I have this weakness, since the Bible contains a list of things that are equated with envy. “The works of the flesh are well known: sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, dissensions, heresies, hatred, murder, drunkenness, debauchery, and the like. I tell you, as I have said before, those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:19-21). Envy is on this list, which means that if I am envious, I will not inherit the kingdom of God.

This is God's Word, and may He help us to pay special attention to it so that we may separate ourselves from envy. "Anyone who teaches otherwise," writes Paul in 1 Timothy 6:3-4, "and does not follow the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching of godliness, is arrogant, knows nothing, but is consumed with strife and arguments about words, which produce envy, contention, slander, and malicious accusations." ... God wants us to abide in this Word.

We read the same thing in James 3:14: “But if bitter envy and self-interest are in your hearts, do not boast or lie against the truth,” for there is no truth in you. And a person who does not have truth in them cannot enter the kingdom of heaven, “for where there is envy and self-interest, there is disorder and all kinds of evil” (verse 16). God will not allow something evil, something devoid of depravity, to inherit the kingdom of heaven.

What lives in our hearts

In the country I come from, there was another case. A young family built a house, a normal house, like you build in that area. Previously, they lived in a one-room apartment, but they already had children, and it had become too cramped for them, so they built a house with a living room, a bedroom, and a children's room.

After the house was finished, they invited a servant from the church community to bless it. When he arrived, the lady of the house joyfully showed him around: “Brother, look: This is our living room, here we can pray, and our children finally have their own room to play in, and this is our bedroom…” But the brother went from room to room with a gloomy face, then lowered his head and asked, “Why did you call me? I’m not interested in any of this. What did you want?”

After these words, the sister could no longer say that he was blessing her house and replied, "Just because..." "Did you really call me just for that?" he asked again, to which she nodded. The thing was, this servant had an old house that was much worse than this one, and when he saw the house of this young family, his heart grew sad that he, a "servant," had a worse house than these simple people. That is envy! May God protect us from it and help us to recognize what lives in our hearts.

I remember how the Philistines began to envy Isaac and begged him, “…go away from us, for you have become far more powerful than we” (Genesis 26:14). We also read about Daphane and Aviron: “And they envied Moses and Aaron, the Lord’s holy people, in the camp. Then the earth opened and swallowed Daphane and covered Aviron’s band. And fire broke out among their band, and the flame consumed the wicked” (Psalm 105:16-18). If a person does not eradicate envy from their heart, but instead nurtures and cultivates it, it brings them to a state where they become like Cain, who rose up against Abel and killed him…

We must be very responsible before God and before each other, and if I have been friends with envy or have ignored it, then I have something for which I must repent.

In Mark 15:10 we read: “For he (Pilate) knew that the chief priests had betrayed him (Christ) out of envy,” and in Acts 7:9: “Out of envy the patriarchs sold Joseph into Egypt, but God was with him.” We see that out of envy one can betray, kill, abandon the faith, and become an enemy of God.

“For I am afraid that when I come I will not find you as I wish, nor that you will find me as you wish: that I will find among you no divisions, no envy, no anger, no quarrels, no slander, no gossip, no pride, no riots, so that when I come my God will again humble me among you, and that I will again have to mourn over many who sinned before and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and debauchery they have committed.” (2 Corinthians 12:20)

I don't think you've ever heard of someone being excommunicated from the church because of envy, but envy is nonetheless a terrible sin! We see that a person can be provoked by envy and even become a murderer. Sometimes it leads to fornication, to anger, sometimes such a person begins to curse in church, to revile the church, and only then are they admonished or excommunicated. And we ask ourselves: Why did it come to this? Wasn't there envy from the very beginning? That's why the Apostle Paul says: "I didn't want to have to grieve over many who had sinned before and had not repented of the impurity, fornication, and sexual immorality they had committed." So that this doesn't happen to us, let's examine our hearts to see if they contain any envy.

In Titus 3:3 it says: “For we too were once foolish, disobedient, going astray, slaves to our passions and various pleasures, living in malice and envy, being detestable and hating one another.” This refers to our former life, the life before we knew Christ and had encountered him. Today, as we follow Christ, we should already be reaching the age of a perfect person.

Indicator of our condition

As an indicator of our state, a short verse from Romans 12:15 can serve: “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” I have experienced firsthand that when you are sad, even enemies come to grieve with you because there is nothing to envy. For example, when someone close to you dies, everyone comes to offer their condolences, and no one is envious; on the contrary, they comfort you. We remember how Job’s friends came to him, sat beside him, and remained silent out of compassion.

When things were bad for us, people came to us, and even our enemies remained silent. However, when someone experiences a special joy, or acquires or receives something, not everyone can rejoice with them. And not everyone comes to say, "How happy I am for you!" On the contrary, when they see that your family is doing well, that the children are obedient, that everyone goes to church, and that you have the opportunity to serve the Lord, those who themselves do not work for the Lord become envious. The Word of God says that each of us is capable of being envious, therefore we must be very careful with ourselves.

Do not fall prey to the sin of envy.

I would like to share another example that a bishop told me. There were once three brothers, two of whom stayed in their hometown, while the third emigrated to another country. There he started his own business, began mining coal, and delivered it back to his homeland, where his brothers, who were members of the church, also started a company and sold this coal at affordable prices.

One day, people from a church called this bishop and asked him to come, because something terrible was happening in their church. He called the parish priest of that church and asked what was going on in the church entrusted to his care. The priest told him: "Brother, come here, something incomprehensible is happening..."

When he arrived and asked what was going on, they pointed at the two brothers and said they were sinning. He called the brothers to him and asked them what was wrong, what they were sinning about, and why they were being accused. He listed all the sins of the flesh, but the brothers replied that none of these applied. "Then what is the reason?" asked the bishop. "Surely you know what your brothers and sisters are accusing you of?" And they explained that they simply worked in their company, selling coal. Then the bishop asked, "Are you perhaps cheating people?" "No, brother, quite the contrary." "Tell me, have you helped anyone with coal?"

The brothers bowed their heads and replied, “We don’t want to boast, but in the two years since we started our company, we have donated more than 27 tons to the needy, widows, and orphans.” The bishop shrugged and turned to the accusers: “Brothers, sisters, what is your sin, what is the reason?” Then a sister suddenly spoke up: “Brother, don’t you see that they are getting rich…”

Now the question arises: what motivated these people? – Envy! “They will become rich…” But is it a sin to become rich if everything is honest, according to God’s Word? Of course not! But when someone’s life improves or they achieve success, another person can fall into the sin of envy. May the Lord protect us from that!

The Bible gives us many such examples. Saul envied David, who was very popular among the people of Israel. Beautiful songs were sung about David, and Saul was so envious that he even threw a spear at him. But God protected David just as He had protected Joseph. Those filled with envy harm themselves most of all. When we study the Holy Scriptures, we see that Saul was rejected by the Lord because he had strayed from God's word, for envy dwelt within him.

Doing penance is not humiliating.

Our Lord Jesus Christ tells us today in John 14:30: “I have a little more to say to you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in me.” With these words, he wanted to tell us that he had no friendship with the world, did nothing against the will of his heavenly Father, and that Satan has no claim on him. Can we say today, like Jesus Christ, “...the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in me”? Can we say: I am free from sin and ready to receive you, Lord! Or do we need confession and repentance?

It is by no means humiliating to repent before the Lord, confess our sins, and renounce envy when it still lingers in our hearts. For repentance brings us God's blessing, even though Satan tries to confuse us and keep us from it. But let us not be confused; rather, let us remember that only our repentance and God's forgiveness give us the right to enter the Kingdom of God.

Ruslan Schwez

Municipality of Detmold

This text was translated using DeepL and only lightly proofread. We apologize for any inaccuracies in the text.