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If you look at the

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Scripture and the virtues and

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vices that are figuring prominently

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in the Scriptures, both

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Old and New Testament, you will

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see that envy is a cardinal

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sin, and that

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God regards envy and

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jealousy and covetousness as

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extraordinarily destructive to

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human society and to human

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relationships. The

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Apostle Paul memorably describes love

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for us in 1 Corinthians

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13. Love

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is patient and kind, as

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we learned about yesterday. But

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Paul continues, love does

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not envy, and it's

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the destructive nature of envy that we'll

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be considering today. This

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is the Wednesday edition of Renewing Your

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Mind. Thanks for joining us. Today's

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message is one of 20 in

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our Sea Sprouls series, Keeping in Step

1:02

with the Spirit. And this

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entire series can be yours when

1:07

you give a donation of any

1:09

amount at renewingyourmind.org. In

1:11

addition to digital access to

1:13

the series, we'll send you

1:16

a newly released 90-day devotional

1:18

from Ligonier Ministries titled, How

1:20

Great Salvation. Request

1:22

both resources at renewingyourmind.org

1:24

while there's still time.

1:28

To help us cultivate a love that is

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defined by the Bible and not by the

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world, here's Dr. Sproul. As

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we continue with our study now of

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growing in the Christian life and developing

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a Christian character, we're

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going to continue our study of

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1 Corinthians 13, where Paul gives

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us this marvelous exposition

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of the character traits of

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godly love. seen

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already that Paul puts a

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premium of importance on love,

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teaching that if we

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have all kinds of gifts and abilities

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and achievements but lack

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love, we are without profit

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and we are nothing. And

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in verse 4 of chapter 13

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of 1 Corinthians, he begins to

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describe for us what

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this love looks

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like. We've already looked at the

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first part where he said that love suffers

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long and is kind. Now

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that's a strange conjunction. Again, we

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notice that kindness is

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also one of the fruits of

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the Spirit that Paul lists in

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Galatians. But

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notice he couples long suffering

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with kindness because

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they do belong together. It's

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one thing for us to suffer injury

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or the hostility of other people

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for a long time, the very

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passive act of suffering it,

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and we can suffer it while

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at the same time being

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hostile and

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seeking revenge and

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being harsh in our

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response to those people who are

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provoking that suffering. Well, that's

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not what the Bible means by

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long suffering. Long suffering does not

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simply mean that we are called

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to endure suffering for a long

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period of time, but

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long suffering includes within it

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the virtue of a response

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to the cause of that

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suffering of kindness. Do

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you know people who are

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kind people? They're

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not rude. They're

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not severe. They're not mean

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people. A

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kind person. has

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a generous heart. They

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are caring. They are concerned.

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They are sensitive and tender

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to other people. When

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I think back in my own life, I

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think of my father, who

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I looked to and did

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look to as a very strong

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individual. He was a type of

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a male leader.

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And in his strength, there

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was a certain aggressiveness and

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boldness to him. But

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the two things that stand out in my

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memory of my own father were

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that he was, first of all, the

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most generous person I ever knew. And

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he was kind. And

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I always thought, wow, how do

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you combine strength with

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kindness, power

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with gentleness? God

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does it. And

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there's a certain sense in which the

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more powerful you are, the

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stronger you are, really the easier

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it is to be kind, because

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you're not going to be threatened and

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have to feel like you have

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to be retaliating against people, being

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mean to them or nasty to

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them or harsh to them. But

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in my own life, my

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earthly father demonstrated to me

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the kindness of God. My

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dad would rebuke me, and my dad would

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admonish me. And I hated it when I

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came home from school and I was in

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trouble, and my mother said, your father wants

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to have a session with you. I

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mean, I dreaded those sessions, because

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I'd have to go into my dad's office

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and close the door, and

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he would sit there and he'd say, well, son, we

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have to have a talk. And

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he would take me apart without

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ever raising his voice. or

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that God selfishly wants something

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that belongs to us. Now,

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Paul is saying that

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love does not envy, because

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envy is loveless. How

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can I love you and

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envy your property

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or your position and

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want to rob you of it

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for my own gratification? That

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is not love. So

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that envy is utterly

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incompatible with love.

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So notice that Paul is doing here,

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what he is doing is he's alternating

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between what we call the way

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of affirmation and the way

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of negation. He's

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describing what Christian love looks

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like by first of

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all telling us the positive things

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that it does, and

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then also using the way of

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negation says, if you want

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to make sure you understand love, here's what love

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is not. Love

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is long suffering. Love

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is kind, but

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love does not envy. And

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so it's important for us to

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learn any concept to be able

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to differentiate that concept from other

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things. And so we look for

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similarities with other things and

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dissimilarities from other things. And

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that's what he's doing as he gives

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us this exposition of the nature of

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love. And

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love does not envy.

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Love does not parade itself and

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is not puffed up. When

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we parade ourselves giving an ostentatious description, we

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are never going to be able display of

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our power or of our beauty, of

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our wealth, or

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if we are puffed up in the sense

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of being conceited, how

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is that loving? Who are

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we loving? We're loving

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ourselves. We want to be

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the center of attention. Again, envy and

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conceit and an

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ostentatious display of pride, all

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of these things are

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expressions of selfishness.

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They are not other-oriented.

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They are self-oriented. And

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when we love other people, we

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will not seek to exalt

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ourselves, but

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rather we will seek the

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edification of the other

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person. That's

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what love is about. I

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mean, we can fake that. I mean, sometimes

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I get tired of hearing, you know, after

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a basketball team wins a big game, you

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know, it's expected in the interview for the

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athlete to say, well, I didn't do anything,

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you know, it was all the team. Well,

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that's nice to hear, and I'm glad that

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that's still at least a token virtue in

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our culture that we're supposed to say that

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sort of thing. I would

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just once hear an athlete get

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on there and say, you

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know, obviously

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this was a team effort and I didn't do

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it all, but I am so

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excited. This is probably the best game I

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ever played. And

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it's very gratifying and satisfying because I don't

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want to be by myself, but I do

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want to be able to make a contribution

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and I do want to perform. I mean,

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I think that that's the legitimate spirit, to

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want to make a significant contribution. But

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if you want to hog the parade and

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you don't care about

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the other person's recognition,

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that's not loving. And

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so again, what Paul is doing here is breathing.