Feeling Jealous? So Were the Disciples

When I was growing up, I did not get everything I wanted, but the good news is I got everything I needed. And that's a good thing, because it helped build a good work ethic.But nonetheless, even today, we still fall victim from time to time of that little old thing we like to call jealousy. Feeding My Faith. Nation. Yeah. Hey, welcome to Feeding My Faith.I'm Dave Jackson, and today we're going to kind of look at what Jesus is talking about and what the disciples are focusing on. This comes from Matthew 10, and it says they were on their way to Jerusalem with Jesus leading the way.And the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. And again, he took the 12 aside and told them what was going to happen to him. He says, we are going to Jerusalem.He said, the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and. And spit on him, flog him and kill him.Three days later, he will rise. Now, where Jesus was previously talking in parables, that's pretty direct.And at times they still didn't get it, because later in verse 35, 45, this is in mark 10, again, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus and they said, teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask. Because Jesus had said that, hey, just knock and the door will be open. And so Jesus says, well, what do you want me to do for you?And they replied, let one of us sit at your right and the other your left in your glory. It's an interesting request to which Jesus is, you don't know what you're asking.Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with? We can. They answered. And Jesus said to them, you will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with.But to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared. And when the 10 heard about this, it says they became indignant with James and John.Kind of like, hey, who are you guys to be asking? I should be on the left and right. I should be at least in the second row. What are you talking about?I do this, I do that, I do all the work around, you know, you can just hear them. And so Jesus is like, hold on. He calls them together. And he said this.He says, you know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles Lord it over them. And their high officials exercise authority over them. Kind of like, don't you know who I am? I'm your boss. I can fire you, whatever.And he says, not so with you. And I think this is one of the things that the disciples and really a big chunk of Jerusalem didn't get.They're expecting this big king to come in and kick some butt. And here was Jesus telling everybody to be nice to each other. And so again, he says, not so with you.Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant. And whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For the.Even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.And so again, it's kind of interesting that they're on the way to Jerusalem when this is going down, and they're trying to figure out the ranking of the disciples. And jealousy is generally not something that leads to good, you know, actions.If we look at the Bible, Cain and Abel, you know, Cain's resentment over Abel's, you know, that grew into murder. Joseph and his brothers, his brother's envy because of his father's favor, they sell him into slavery.Saul and David, after the women praised David victories. And I was like, yep, probably, you know, he's, hey, wait a minute. Dave's going to be getting all the chicks. I got to do something.He gets jealous, and he begins to watch David. We know how that whole thing went. If you think about the prodigal son, it's the older son that's like, hey, why does he get the fatted calf?Like, what's the deal? I've been here the whole time.Even pilate in Mark 15, he points out one of the reasons that he was handed Jesus over is because the chief priests were filled with envy. Like, hey, hey, we're. We're the chiefs here. We're. We're in charge of the group here. Like, don't be coming in here taking over our job.And even Paul's opponents in Acts 13, it said there was jealousy at the crowds gathering around Paul. And it led his opponents to contradict and slander him. Really weird. And there are times you like, hey, hey, Dave, wait, hold on.There are times when I've been jealous of others, and it's really inspired me to work hard. And, you know, then I was able to do this. And, boy, it was. It was me looking at somebody else as well. In Ecclesiastes 4.4, It says, and I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person's envy, all of another. And have you ever been there and done that? I remember Jeff Crimaldi had an American made Fender Stratocaster guitar and didn't even play it.And he wouldn't let me touch it. It's like, oh, so cruel. Well, when we, most of the time, when we're envious of stuff, it's stuff. It's stuff so many times.And in Ecclesiastes again it says, this too is meaningless. A chasing after the wind. All that stuff that we often go, oh, well, you know.Now there is one important distinction because you're like, wait a minute, Dave, you're talking about how jealousy is bad.In Exodus 34:14, it calls God a jealous God, meaning he, you know, rightly demands the exclusive worship and covenant, the loyalty, and that belongs to him and him alone. Well, yeah, that's one person that really. It's like, there's no way anything else should get more praise than God.And we'll talk about that because if that's the case, what are you looking at? We are looking at the wrong thing. And so there's a story here in Mark. Again, this is chapter eight.So a little bit before this, you know where we started. So we're going backwards a little bit. But there was a case where the disciples had forgotten to bring bread. And this is after the feeding of people.It's so crazy. Except for one loaf they had with them in the boat because they had just gone across in a boat. The leaders were questioning Jesus about things.And Jesus says, be careful. He warned them. He says, watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.So here again he's talking about, hey, this is what's going to be happening here. And the discussion, or the disciples said they discussed this with one another. It is because we have no bread. So they're focused on bread.Jesus is like, hey, I'm going to go get crucified. And they're like, hey, who forgot the butter? You know, they're all freaking out.And so Jesus was aware of their discussion and asked them, why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear?And don't you remember when I broke the 5 loaves for 5000, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up? They replied, 12. And when I broke the seven loaves for the 4,000, how, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up seven? They answered.He said to them, do you still not understand?And it may be me, but if I'm Jesus, I'm a little frustrated because he has told them, not once, not twice, but three times now that how he's going to die. He's performed so many signs, and they're still talking about bread and who's the most important. And he's like, wait, are you kidding me?When we are focused on these little things, we are missing the signs. We are looking at the wrong thing. If we look at the alternative to jealousy. In First Corinthians 13, verse 4, it says, Love does not envy.In Philippians 2, he says, Replace selfish ambition with humility. Value others and look to their interests. In Galatians 5, 26, let us not become conceited. Provoking one another, envying one another.In Galatians 6, verses 4 through 5, examine your own work rather than measuring yourself against another person. Philippians 4, 11, 13. Paul models learned contentment in every circumstance. Yeah, Philippians was written in jail. Was written in jail.And Paul was like, hey, this jail thing is working out great. I don't know that I could do that. But we do get little zingers along the way.There's a big podcast event going on, and I have spoken at this from the very first one. I was one of their earliest supporters, and it's grown from hundreds of people to thousands.And this year, they did something different, and they said, have your audience vote for you to talk. And number one, I blew it. I had, like, two weeks to promote this, and I didn't. And then I did at the end.And there's a thing where your ego sometimes can get in your way, because I have very nice friends that love to tell me that everybody knows who I am. You're Dave Jackson. And I'm always like, nah, because, you know, I'm not getting mobbed anywhere. It's like I'm.If I'm a medium fish in a very small bowl. But nonetheless, their words led me to believe that I should get picked because, after all, I'm in the hall of Fame.And all, right, that ego, when you need it, you can puff that thing up pretty big. And so I started really promoting it, knowing that that could lead to a fall.It's one thing to lose when you don't try, because you've got that nice excuse of, well, I didn't try. And even now I'm like, well, I didn't promote it the first two weeks, so that doesn't count.But in the end, it's sure looking like I'm not gonna talk. And so there is a little. That's a little bruise of the ego there, because who knows what happens?And, you know, I also know there are times when there are politics involved in this, but nonetheless, there's that voice in my head that says, well, my. My friends say I'm well known. Everybody listens to Dave, and I'm like, well, maybe you're just not quite as influential as you think you are. Okay?And in the end, while it's nice to hear compliments from your friends, instead of looking at, do I get to talk in New York City? I should be focused on where do I go after I die? Because that's, you know, eternity is a much longer time than two days in New York City.And you never know. Now that I'm not working on a talk, and now that I'm not doing this and now that I'm not doing that, that is one door closes.And we always know when one door closes, that usually means another door opens. And so I'll be interesting to see when I'm in the big city, New York City, maybe there's a door there waiting to open.And I won't know until I get there. And maybe God has just said, hey, nothing against you, but I got other people. I got to get on a stage. You never know.Trust in the Lord with all of thy heart and lean not on your understanding, but in all thy ways, acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths. But as I said, jealousy is a weird emotion. In fact, it is one of the ten Commandments. Do not covet. Thou shalt not covet. Why?Because, again, it's a waste of time. That one verse again. Ecclesiastes 4. 4. This, too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.So instead, focus on God and focus on your actions and make sure that your plan for your life is in alignment with his plan for your life. Because when you focus on Jesus, right? Here's the disciples. They just got out of a boat with Jesus. Yeah. Remember who's in the boat?Quit looking at the boat. Quit looking at the fish or whatever the heck they're measuring. And that's the beautiful thing about today's society.Every day, everything is measured. How many followers do you have? How many likes do you have? How many is this? I mean, we measure everything. Everything is measured.And it's almost all in public. And in some cases, it's really sad. This week, there is a former blogger. You know, one of the earliest Influencers.His name is Perez Hilton and he used to do all this celebrity gossip stuff. And he would just wait till people were kind of at their lowest and really just, you know, let them have it.Which isn't, you know, when you look at it, you're like, oh, great, somebody's going through trauma. Let's be sure to put a spotlight on that. And I don't know what's going on with him, but I. I heard the story.Luckily, I have not seen the video, but live on TikTok, he got naked. And from what I understand, when I say naked, I don't mean kinda. I mean he was naked and he was slicing himself with a butcher knife.And somebody described. If you've ever seen that scene in Carrie where she's had buckets of blood thrown on her, it's very similar.And they're like, you do not want to see this. And I wonder what's going on, because all these influencers. And that may be the case. We all know of Perez because of, you know, 2006, 2007.He was really popular and everybody was reading his blog. And now not so much. Was this his way of just going, hey, I need your attention?There was a doordash driver that again, all the youngins are counting clicks. And I want, you know, their goal is not to be more like Jesus. Their goal is to go viral.And so this doordash driver had an order and it said, leave it at the door. And when she saw the door was partly ajar, she looked in, and whoever had ordered it had drank too much and passed out and his pants were down.So everything's exposed. She pushes the door open, goes in and takes a picture of it, and then takes a video on her way out. And I didn't.What happened to sticks and stones and words will never harm me? But she can't say sexually assaulted. And she said, I was just sa'd, you know, this. This is what happened to me.And thanks to this poor drunk's ring doorbell system, they were able to conclude his door wasn't open, it was pushed open.And the bad news is this poor guy is now taking her to court because 30 million people saw him drunk, passed out on the couch with everything flopping in the wind. And so she's going to now be on trial.She got fired from her job because it's in the rules that you're not allowed to film yourself while you're at work. You're supposed to be. I don't know, what's that called again? Oh, that's right working and I just go through.I try to get into the head of these people that are just starving for views when that feeling could be filled with the love of Christ. They're focused on the wrong things and that doesn't mean every day is puppy dogs and rainbows.Jesus said it's going to get worse before it gets better but it's Jesus that pulls us through on those days so we have to be careful what we look at and when we start to think well it's not fair how come they have so much more than I do realize it could be a whole lot worse and as long as you have Jesus you have hope. Thanks for listening. The website feedingmyfaith.com if you know somebody who's just stuck on the jealousy train, feel free to share this with them.I'm Dave jackson from the schoolofpodcasting.com I'll see you again real soon with another episode of Feeding My Faith. Simple.