Success breeds envy like nothing else does, and along with it rivalry, competition, covetousness, territorialism and resentment. When there was a famine of Reformed teaching in the land, the rise of new Reformed voices was a welcome sight, an oasis in a parched land. But as God prospers us, and makes streams multiply in the desert, eventually the streams start to give each other the sidelong glance. Instead of being filled with gratitude to God for his kindness, we become so many Sauls, stewing resentfully as we hear the crowds singing, “Saul has tweeted to thousands, but David to ten thousands.”
Envy is a movement-killer because it makes koinonia impossible. It operates close to home; it assaults our nearest relationships. I’d venture to guess that few of us here envy the opportunities John Piper has to preach at conferences or write books. While we certainly admire and respect men like Piper and Carson and Mohler, we’re not grieved by their fruitfulness and success because, for better or worse, we put these men in a class of their own. Instead we begrudge the gifts, talents, success, blessings and opportunities of that pastor across town or that professor down the hall. At the college and seminary level, envy rears its head when one of your classmates makes better grades, has more friends, is more likeable, is given more opportunities, is given better opportunities, is better-looking, more educated, more gifted, more popular, more intelligent, more esteemed or more successful.
Lessons in Envy-Killing From the Baptist
Thankfully, the Bible is fully aware of this kind of platform envy and addresses it head on. In the gospel of John, the disciples of John the Baptist come to him with words that seem tailor-made to provoke envy. “Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him” (John 3:26). This is John’s potential Saul moment. “John, you have baptized thousands, but Jesus is baptizing ten thousands.” John’s response is worth its weight in envy-fighting gold.
First, he remembers where all blessing, success and opportunity comes from. “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven.” I still remember, as a college student, hearing J.R. Vassar preach from this passage and say, “Do not seek an achieved ministry. Seek a received ministry.” We kill envy when we remember that whether we succeed or whether someone else does is ultimately given from the God who reigns in heaven. And how dare we assault his wisdom by murmuring about the opportunities and success of others.
Second, John remembers his role. He is the friend of the Bridegroom, the groomsman, not the Bridegroom himself. And the groomsmen rejoice greatly when they hear the voice of the Groom. Now most of us aren’t jockeying to replace the Bridegroom. We don’t want to be Jesus. But we sometimes act like we’re in a competition to be the best man. Which is why it’s so important to labor to rejoice greatly when we hear the Bridegroom’s voice in the voices of our fellow groomsmen. It’s Jesus that spoke through Jason Meyer a moment ago. It’s Jesus who will speak through Parnell and Reinke and Mathis and Bowers and Piper. What are we saying about our joy in the Groom if our reaction to his presence and hand on a fellow brother is to grumble, complain or dismiss him?
Finally, John’s joy is complete when the Bridegroom arrives and surpasses him. Where Christ increases, John is content to decrease. But are we? Are we content to decrease when Christ increases through the ministry of another? Do we even acknowledge that Christ is increasing in the ministry of others? Or do we attribute their success to some other factor: their ambition, their compromises and, in our worst moments, to the efforts of the devil?
I’m convinced that this will be the test for the Restless and Reformed in the next 30 years. So I invite you to take the test with me. The next time someone else is given an opportunity or a blessing that you wish was yours, how will you react? Will you murmur about it, or will you celebrate with them? Not just accept their success, but rejoice in their success, celebrate with their success, dance around and high five their success? When someone else is blessed by God, will you be filled with gratitude, or with carping rivalry? Will your heart shrivel with envy and bitterness, or will it swell and overflow with glad-hearted joy because Christ is increasing? When it comes to the ministries of others, will you be their biggest fan or their biggest critic? Because when another faithful ministry becomes a fruitful ministry, the envious pastor sees a threat, a rival. The gospel-driven pastor sees reinforcements.
May we who love the glorious gospel of the sovereign God not be consumed with envy or enslaved to the success of others, but instead may grace enlarge our hearts to rejoice in their opportunities and blessings, and may our joy be made complete when we hear the Bridegroom’s voice and see the Bridegroom increase in the gifts and talents and fruitfulness of others.
