I’ve heard a lot of sermons and a lot of preaching in my life. But I’ve only ONCE heard a message on this sin. And the truth is, it is a sin that is a struggle for virtually all of humanity.

In fact it was the sin that got Jesus nailed to the cross. Not his sin but the sin of the people. See if you can spot it:

Now at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked.  And among the rebels in prison, who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas.  And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them.  And he answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?”  For he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up.  But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead.  And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?”  And they cried out again, “Crucify him.”  And Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.”  So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.

What is it? It is the sin of envy.

The text says “out of envy” the religious teachers had Jesus arrested and sentenced to crucifixion. He was upstaging their game. He made them look small.

They weren’t looking for truth. Nor were they looking for the Messiah. They were looking for respect.

Jesus threatened that because their attention was turned to him. Not them.

Why it seems so far from us, the truth is that we are much the same. We are respect addicts. We envy others. We want what other people have.

If we’re not careful though, it could also lead us to crowd out Jesus.

It could lead us to uphold religion more than we do Jesus.

It could lead us to value position and honor greater than Jesus.

It could lead us to compete with others instead of just following Jesus.

The Bible speaks on envy. It is actually one of the Ten Commandments. It’s there for a reason.

Envy is sneaky.

We must guard our hearts.