Facing the Giant of Jealousy

Facing the Giant of Jealousy

Selected Scriptures

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In this lesson we learn where to look for jealousy and how to defeat it.

OVERVIEW

An ancient Greek legend sets the stage for our final lesson in which we confront and learn to defeat the giant of jealousy. It seems a young Greek athlete ran in a race and placed second. In honor of the winner his village erected a large statue in the town square. Envy and jealousy attacked the runner who came in second to the degree that he made plans to destroy the statue. Each night, under cover of darkness, he went out and chipped away at the foundation of the statue, expecting it to fall on its own some day. One night, however, he chipped too much. The statue’s weakened base began to crack until it popped. The huge marble statue came down upon the disgruntled athlete. He died under the crushing weight of the one he had come to hate.

The truth is he died long before the statue fell on him. In giving up his heart to envy and jealousy he had ceased to live for himself. He became a slave to the giant of jealousy. His heart had become a picture of the Greek word “envy,” which means “to boil within.”

Shakespeare called jealousy the green sickness. To be jealous means to strike out at what somebody else is or what somebody else has. Whereas Scripture says that we are to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep, the jealous person does the opposite. He rejoices when others weep, and weeps when others rejoice. Another’s setback is his opportunity for advancement; another’s sorrow his chance to gain the ascendancy. When the person of whom he is jealous is successful, he turns green with envy. When that person experiences failure, he flushes with the chance to make up lost ground.

Jealousy can eat away at one’s insides as Proverbs suggests (Proverbs 14:30). No giant is more destructive to self and to relationships than the giant of jealousy and envy. To close our study without conquering this giant would leave one vulnerable. Why leave alive the one giant that can erode the peace and joy gained by conquering all of the others?

Jealousy Travels in Circles

Jealousy makes its way through a number of networks, or circles, that we each travel in. To be aware of its favorite pathways is to be forearmed against its power.

Jealousy Travels in Proprietary Circles

Jealousy is found in the arena of possessions and wealth. For instance, Genesis 26:13–14 describes the wealth Isaac accumulated and how the Philistines “envied him.” Isaac’s possessions are mentioned three times so we know he had accumulated quite a lot. And though the Philistines were wealthy sea-faring traders, they still envied what Isaac had. Jealousy can easily get a foothold among the wealthy. It’s easy to want just a little bit more than we already have.

To be sure, it is possible to have wealth and not envy what anyone else has. God has blessed many Christians with significant wealth and many of them have learned to live with gratitude toward God instead of envy toward others. But generally speaking, jealousy and envy have an easy time stirring up trouble in the circles of the wealthy.

Jealousy Travels in Power Circles

Not only does wealth envy wealth, but power envies power. Miriam and Aaron were jealous of Moses’ power and position among the people (Numbers 12:1 ff.), as was Korah (Numbers 16:1 ff.). In the books of Kings and Chronicles we read story after story of kings who usurped the power of other kings, often by criminal and traitorous acts, only to have the same thing happen to them once they reached the pinnacle of power. History is littered with the ruins of nations whose leaders, motivated by jealousy and envy, led them to war.

In the four gospels and the book of Acts we read where the Jewish leaders were jealous of Jesus’ power and influence among the people, and later that of His apostles. They crucified Jesus and threw His apostles into jail—and worse (Acts 7:54–8:1)—in part on the basis of jealousy and fear that their own power-base was eroding.

Power circles can be a breeding ground for jealousy in the business world—and even in the church. Whose organization is biggest? Who’s getting the most media attention? Who has the most employees? Power can promote jealousy among those who have it.

Jealousy Travels in Performance Circles

If there is a circle where Christians are most vulnerable, this is probably it—individually and corporately. Remember the story in the Old Testament of Saul and David? David became the young hero in Israel after he slew the Philistine giant, Goliath. The green sickness of jealousy began to grow in Saul’s heart as he saw the hearts of Israel go out to David. Saul spent the rest of his life trying to eliminate the object of his jealousy, tracking David all over the Judean wilderness trying to kill him. He remained a captive to his jealousy until he died.

The local church, I am ashamed to say, is a place where jealousy lurks, waiting for a chance to attack. Perhaps it is because the church is a “volunteer” organization. People give their money and “volunteer” their time and, as a result, feel they are entitled to certain things—sing a solo, chair a committee, receive recognition when those roles, responsibilities, and recognition are given to others. How subtle and insidious the enemy is to stir up jealousy and envy in our midst, and how naïve we are to succumb to it!

Every Christian needs to remind himself that we who are saved by the grace and mercy of God have given up all our personal rights. For us to think we deserve something that Christ has given to another is to contradict the love we say we have for Him. The church of Jesus Christ is the last place the giant of jealousy should ever find a home.

Jealousy Travels in Professional Circles

An amazing example of envy occurred once when Paul was incarcerated for preaching the gospel. While he was in jail, others were taking advantage of his imprisonment and preaching the gospel hoping to gain for themselves some of the attention Paul had received (Philippians 1:15–16). And Paul had an interesting response. He said that even though others were preaching the gospel using envy as a motive (some were also preaching from proper motives), he took comfort knowing that the gospel was being proclaimed. He didn’t respond angrily or out of resentment which would have revealed jealousy in his own life—that others were gathering to themselves “fame” which was rightly his. He was content to sit in his jail cell and allow God to sort out the motives in men’s hearts. He was simply happy that the gospel was being preached.

Jealousy Travels in Personal Circles

We may not be wealthy or powerful, have roles to perform or other professionals to compete with—but we are all people. And unfortunately, jealousy shows up most often in the relationships we have with other people just like ourselves. This is probably where we see it the most and certainly where we see it the most in the Bible. In the Old Testament, Cain was jealous of Abel, Ishmael was jealous of Isaac, and Jacob and Esau were jealous of each other. And Joseph’s brothers were so envious of him that they sold him into slavery. In the New Testament, the prodigal son story gives us a sad illustration of jealousy (Luke 15:11–32). We are often so involved in focusing on the prodigal and his return to the father that we miss the burning jealousy of the older brother. He was incensed that his father had never rewarded him for his faithfulness and obedience, and here the prodigal was being welcomed home like a hero. His jealousy had blinded his eyes to his own Pharisee-like misunderstanding of love and grace.

When jealousy comes in the front door, love goes out the back door. The two cannot coexist in the same person. Rest assured that if you are struggling with jealousy you are also struggling with love.

Before looking at the characteristics of jealousy, it is important to remember that jealousy will most likely raise its head in the circles in which one travels. As a pastor and preacher, I am not jealous of athletes, plumbers, bank presidents, or shop owners, as much as I admire and respect what they do. My temptations with jealousy are going to arise in the circles in which I travel, and they will most often for you as well.

This old fable well illustrates my point: The devil was crossing the Libyan desert when he came across a group of junior devils who were tempting a holy man. They tried to tempt him with the flesh, with doubts, with fear, with lies—nothing they did could induce the holy man to sin. The devil asked the juniors to step aside so that he might show them how to reach the old man. The devil leaned forward and whispered in the man’s ear, “Have you heard the news? Your brother has just been made Bishop of Alexandria.” With that, a cloud of jealousy clouded the now-not-so-holy man’s face—and the devil had him.

Be careful about becoming jealous in the circles in which you travel.

The Characteristics of Jealousy

Above all else, jealousy always does two things:

Jealousy Destroys Others

Cain killed Abel. Saul tried to kill David. Herod killed babies so King Jesus wouldn’t come to power in his realm. Envy and jealousy lead people to do unthinkable things to others. I recall reading a story a few years ago about a mother who killed a teenaged girl who was competing for a cheerleading spot that the woman wanted her daughter to win. Killing a child over jealousy regarding a cheerleading position!

But lest we presume ourselves immune from such acts, we need only remember the jealous thoughts we ourselves have had. Acts of jealousy begin with thoughts of jealousy.

Jealousy Destroys Ourselves

Remember in the book of Esther how Haman was hanged on the scaffold he had built for the object of his jealousy? And how those who threw Daniel in the lions den were the ones consumed? And how Joseph’s brothers ended up begging for food from the object of their jealousy? And how Saul was consumed by his jealousy while David content with his psalms? The jealous person is the one who ultimately suffers the most.

There is little argument that jealousy and envy are destructive attitudes. The question is, How do we conquer them?

Facing the Giant of Jealousy

Like many of the other giants we have covered in our study, jealousy falls into the category of personal choice. If we are jealous, it’s not because we were born with it or caught it like a cold. Therefore, our strategy for conquering jealousy is based on what it is: a sinful choice we make.

Renounce Jealousy as Sin

We read in the gospels that Jesus Christ was handed over and put to death because of envy (Matthew 27:18; Mark 15:10). Every time I begin to get comfortable accommodating jealousy and envy in my life I need to remember how sinful they are—sinful enough to have caused the death of the sinless Son of God. If those responsible for the death of Christ did so on the basis of sinful envy, why is my envy any less sinful than theirs? It is not. Envy and jealousy are the same in every human heart—sinful choices that we choose to indulge in and nurture.

First and foremost, jealousy must be renounced as sin.

Remember Your Rival in Prayer

If you are jealous of another person, the best thing to do is pray for that person and thank God for their success or good fortune or whatever it is you envy. A story is told about two famous preachers in London. F. B. Meyer was the older, established preacher and Charles Spurgeon was the younger, newer preacher in town. When Spurgeon became the toast of the town—he preached to tens of thousands on Sunday and the newspaper printed his sermons on the front page—Meyer began to envy him. But he immediately began to pray for his success. Soon, because of his partnership in prayer, Meyer was able to rejoice in the blessings of God upon Spurgeon. And his own church eventually benefited greatly from the upsurge in spiritual interest in London.

Pray for those for whom you feel the slightest twinge of envy.

Reaffirm God’s Goodness to You

Here is something important I have learned about jealousy: It is almost always because we don’t think God has been as good to us as we think He should have been. If we are jealous of another person, it is because we want the blessings God has given to him. We don’t understand why He has blessed them and not us, and we become jealous of what they have that we don’t have. The quickest way to put an end to that kind of thinking is to take an inventory of our own blessings.

If we have anything at all it is because we have been blessed. All we deserve is judgment. But all of us have far more than we deserve, and most of us have far more than we need. When we begin to thank God for all that He has blessed us with—stop right now and consider your blessings!—it will be hard to continue in a jealous frame of mind toward another. In the purposes of God, how could we possibly be jealous of what He has done for another when He has done so much for us? Thanksgiving will douse the spark of jealousy and fan the flames of gratitude every time.

Rekindle God’s Love in Your Heart

First Corinthians 13:4 holds the key to defeating the giant of jealousy: “Love does not envy.” Where love is, envy cannot abide. If envy marches in the front door, love will sweep it out the back door. If jealousy sneaks in the back, love will usher it out the front. The house of love has no room for jealousy to even visit, much less take up residence.

Rekindle God’s love by reading the Word and through prayer. Ask God to fill you with His Spirit whose fruit is love. Then act on those prayers by manifesting the love of God to any person toward whom you have felt envy or jealousy. Your walk must match your talk when it comes to love triumphing over jealousy.

My prayer for you as we conclude our study of spiritual giants is that Jesus Christ will be the only spiritual giant in your life. Where He is Lord and King there can be no fear, discouragement, loneliness, worry, guilt, temptation, anger, resentment, doubt, procrastination, permanent failure, or jealousy. Abide in Him, and let His Word abide in you, and you will walk in victory over every would-be giant you encounter.

APPLICATION

1. Record your insights on envy from the following verses in Proverbs:

a. 3:31

b. 6:34

c. 14:30

d. 23:17

e. 24:1

f. 24:19

g. 27:4

2. Read 2 Corinthians 11:1–4.

a. How does Paul introduce his discussion so his readers know he is engaging in a play on words? (verse 1)

b. How can jealousy be “godly?” (verse 2)

c. What is the situation which caused Paul to be “jealous” for the believers in Corinth? (verses 2–4)

d. How “jealous” does Paul appear to be in attempting to rescue the Corinthians from their apostolic “suitors?” (see the remainder of chapters 11 and 12)

e. Paul says that God is provoking Israel to jealousy by giving the blessings of the covenant to the Gentiles (Romans 10:19; 11:11). Since jealousy can have both a positive and a negative aspect, how do we tell whether our jealousy is sinful or not?

f. Have you ever experienced a godly kind of jealousy for a person or a cause?

g. What efforts did you make to “rescue” the object of your jealousy?

h. How were your efforts received?

i. What convinced you that your jealousy was legitimate?

3. With what does Paul lump envy in 1 Corinthians 3:3?

a. How does he characterize those who practice sinful envy?

b. How serious a sin does Paul make envy out to be in Galatians 5:19–21?

c. What kind of a “work” is envy? (Galatians 5:19)

d. Therefore, of whom is envy characteristic?

e. What are the characteristics in this list compared in Galatians 5:22–23?

f. Who produces the characteristics in this second list?

g. If a Christian engages in envy or jealousy, what might we say he is doing? (Ephesians 4:30; 1 Thessalonians 5:19)

h. If a Christian is envious or jealous, what can we be sure he is NOT doing? (Galatians 5:25–26)

4. In what circles are you most likely to be tempted with envy or jealousy?

DID YOU KNOW?

There is a thin line between being “zealous” and being “jealous.” The former we think of as a positive thing, the latter as a negative. In truth, they both have roots in the same idea. The Greek work zelos (which may have derived from the verb zeo, to boil or be hot) meant fury or warmth or zeal. In other words, both the zealous and the jealous have a passion for the object of their zelos. A zealot could be passionate about a good thing or an evil thing; a jealous person could be jealous for godly or carnal reasons.

Jeremiah, D. 2001. Facing the giants in your life : Study guide . Thomas Nelson Publishers: Nashville, Tenn.

Facing the Giant of Failure

Facing the Giant of Failure

II Corinthians 4:7–18

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In this lesson we learn how to succeed at the art of failure.

OVERVIEW

It’s one thing when you and I have an experience of failure in our private lives. Our failure is known only to a small circle of friends and family. But it’s a totally different thing when you’re the most important political leader in the world and your every move is reported live by the news media around the world. Such was the case when President George Bush became ill and vomited at a state dinner in Japan—unfortunately including the Prime Minister of Japan in the “effects” of his ill health.

Granted, that probably doesn’t qualify as a personal failure. We don’t normally hold people responsible for illnesses they have no control over. But try telling that to former President Bush. He probably felt himself a failure when his embarrassing moment in Japan took place. Indeed, when he had lain down on the carpet in order to be attended to by his physician he moaned, “Just roll me under the table until dinner is over.” At least his “failure” didn’t cloud his sense of humor.

A bit better example of what we traditionally think of as failure happened in 1957 when the Ford Motor Company released to the public what it called “the car of the decade”—the Edsel. It was supposed to be the most dramatic advance in engineering and design since the invention of the automobile a half-century earlier. Unfortunately, it turned out to be the biggest bomb in the history of the automotive industry. It was, to put it mildly, a colossal failure. Ford’s best efforts to succeed turned out to be the worst effort in the company’s history.

Life is filled with failure, whether presidential, corporate, or personal. The person who does not learn to manage failure, to defeat the giant of failure, will soon find himself buried under a mountain of disgrace and shame. But the person who learns to profit from failure will find himself climbing ever higher mountains of accomplishment. What the giant of failure means to trip you with can turn out to be a ticket to the future. But only if we understand failure from God’s perspective.

Facing the Giant of Failure

In 1988, the United Technologies Corporation published an ad in The Wall Street Journal reminding us of our failures. The ad said,

You’ve failed many times, although you may not remember.

You fell down the first time you tried to walk.

You almost drowned the first time you tried to swim.

Did you hit the ball the first time you swung a bat?

Heavy hitters, the ones who hit the most home runs, also strike out a lot.

R. H. Macy failed seven times before his store in New York caught on.

English novelist John Creasey got 733 rejection slips before he published 564 books.

Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times, but he also hit 714 home runs.

Don’t worry about failure.

Worry about the chances you miss when you don’t even try.

The first thing every person needs to do is face, not the possibility of failure, but the reality of failure.

Facing the Reality of Failure (4:7–9)

Paul introduces the likelihood of failure in his own life in an interesting way. He talks about the treasure we have in “earthen vessels.” What does he mean? The treasure is the gospel, and the earthen vessels are our frail and fragile human bodies. God has entrusted the priceless treasure of His gospel to be kept safe in the bodies of human beings.

What happens to human bodies? They are “hard pressed … perplexed … persecuted … struck down” … but never totally defeated. Though never knocked out, we are knocked down continually in life. In other words, we fail a lot. The fact of failure is factored into our humanity. It comes with the package.

In a book titled The Incomplete Book of Failures, author Stephen Pile lists some of the failures associated with people you thought always did everything successfully:

• An expert said of famous football coach Vince Lombardi, “He possesses minimal football knowledge. Lacks motivation.”

• Beethoven handled the violin awkwardly and preferred playing his own compositions instead of improving his technique. His teacher called him hopeless as a composer.

• Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor for lack of ideas. He went bankrupt several times before he built Disneyland.

• Thomas Edison’s teacher said he was too stupid to learn anything.

• Albert Einstein did not speak unto he was four years old and couldn’t read until he was seven. His teacher described him as “mentally slow, unsociable and adrift forever in his foolish dreams.” He was expelled and refused admittance to the Zurich Polytechnic School.

• F. W. Woolworth’s employers at the dry goods store where he worked said he didn’t have enough sense to wait on the customers.

• Henry Ford failed and went broke five times before he finally succeeded.

• Winston Churchill failed the sixth grade. He did not become Prime Minister of England until he was 62 and only after a lifetime of setbacks and failures.

There are many more examples which could be cited. It is true that many people who succeed significantly have a string of failures somewhere in their past.

God is not surprised by our failure. Indeed, He expects it because He knows who we are (Psalm 103:13–14). We saw in our last lesson that the disciples failed to stay awake and watch and pray with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus’ conclusion was, “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41). God knows our propensity to fail and so understands our requests when we come to Him in times of failure (Hebrews 4:15–16).

The famous Scottish preacher, Alexander Whyte, described spiritual growth like this: “Spiritual growth is the saints falling down and getting up, falling down and getting up, falling down and getting up, all the way to heaven.” If you are like me, you can identify with that!

Facing the Reason for Failure (4:17–18)

Why does God allow failure in our life? What good purpose does it serve? Verses 17 and 18 reveal four reasons for failure:

1. We fail now so that we might succeed later.

Affliction is for now; glory is for the future. The Bible tells us that if we are going to reign with the Lord, we are going to have to suffer with Him as well (Romans 8:17). Glory is best appreciated by those who have first experienced the lack of it.

2. We fail in the incidental so that we might succeed in the important.

Paul talks about “light affliction” and “weight of glory.” The things that happen to us now, in light of eternity, are not as “heavy” as we think they are.

3. We fail in the temporary so that we might succeed in the eternal.

Paul talks about that which is for the moment and contrasts it with that which is eternal. Our failures in time prepare us for “success” in eternity.

4. We fail outwardly so that we might succeed inwardly.

God cares far less about our outward success than He does our inward success. While we are wrapped up in what we do, God is focused on who we are. Our goal is to learn to focus on the unseen, not the seen, things—just as God does. Failure helps us do that.

Peter Marshall said, “It is better to fail in a cause that will ultimately succeed than to succeed in a cause that will ultimately fail.” Though our earthen vessels may fail, the treasure we carry in them will not. We may fail on the way to heaven, but we will get there in Christ.

Facing the Result of Failure (4:16)

I love verse 16, “we do not lose heart.” Why don’t we lose heart? Because in spite of all the failure we experience year after year in our lives, “the inward man is being renewed day by day.” On a daily basis God is transforming our inner man. We do not put our emphasis and priority on succeeding in the outward realm because that world is perishing. It is the inner man and the inward world that God is refreshing and renewing day by day.

Given these tremendous truths, the reality is that failure is not fun. It is painful and discouraging when it happens. And that’s when the giant of discouragement is ready to pounce on us, to convince us to throw in the towel. How do we fight this giant when he comes ‘round?

Fighting the Giant of Failure

Acknowledge Your Failure

Overcoming failure—and profiting from it—begins with us. Former President Harry Truman knew how to honestly evaluate things, even his own life. When asked if he was popular as a child in school, he replied, “No. I was never popular. The popular boys were the ones who were good at games and had big fists. I was never like that. Without my glasses, I was blind as a bat, and to tell the truth, I was kind of a sissy. If there was any chance of getting into a fight, I took off. I guess that’s why I’m here today.” In modern language, he “failed” at being popular, but he wasn’t afraid to admit it.

Sometimes we hesitate to admit our failure because we think of it like confessing sin. All sin is a failure of some sort, but not all failure is sin. So don’t be afraid to admit it when you fail.

Accept God’s Forgiveness

If our failure is due to sin, the only way to overcome its effects is to confess it to God and receive His forgiveness. The clear testimony of Scripture is that God is a forgiving God. He does not condone our sinful failures, but neither does He hold them against us if we want to be forgiven for them (Psalm 103:10; 1 John 1:9).

Apply the Lessons of Failure Toward Success

We should never accept failure as the final judgment or assessment of our potential. If we did that, we would never move beyond our first failure. We must learn to use failure as a resource, as an opportunity. An assistant to Thomas Edison tried to console him after a string of failed experiments had produced no results. “Oh, we have lots of results,” Edison said. “We know 700 things that won’t work!” John Keates, an English author, once wrote, “Failure is in a sense the highway to success, inasmuch as every discovery of what is false leads us to seek earnestly after what is true, and every fresh experience points out some form of error which we shall afterward carefully avoid.”

By studying our failures we will discover what we are doing wrong which can only lead us more quickly to what to do right.

Accept Failure as a Fact of Life, Not a Way of Life

Failure is an event, not a person; failure is something that happens, not someone you become. We carelessly use the phrase, “I’m a failure,” so frequently that we begin to believe it. A person can have hundreds and hundreds of failures in his life and still be a success. Or, if he allows just a few failures to overcome him, he could be on the road to characterizing himself as a failure.

Think about Peter’s failure to identify with the Lord Jesus on the night of His arrest. And then think about him preaching with fire at Pentecost in the opening of the book of Acts. Peter failed, but he wasn’t a failure.

Arise from Failure and Start Again

The temptation when we fail is to wallow in self-pity, to sulk, to feel sorry for ourselves (a sure sign of the influence of the giant of failure). The best thing you can do is stand up, brush yourself off, and start moving forward again.

One of my favorite characters in Scripture is Jonah. You know his story, how God told Him to go one way (east to Nineveh) and he went the other (west toward Spain). Jonah failed miserably in his role and responsibility as a prophet. Yet after he had come back to the Lord, God gave him a second chance (Jonah 3:1–2). He sent him again to Nineveh to preach and 120,000 people repented before God. It was one of the greatest responses to the Word of God recorded in history. And this from a man who just a short time previously had failed miserably.

Sometimes when you try to start over people will say, “You’re a failure.” That’s the enemy talking—don’t listen. You listen to God who wants you to succeed. If you are right with Him He will be right with you.

Avoid Judging Failure in Others

Just as others might judge us, we must be on guard against judging others as a failure. We’ll close this lesson by looking at the examples of three people who were judged by others as failures, but whom God saw as successes.

1. The rich man and the beggar.

In Luke 16 the story of the rich man and Lazarus reveals two opposite individuals. Outwardly the rich man was the success and Lazarus the failure. But God’s perspective was the opposite. The rich man ended up in agony, and Lazarus ended up being comforted in Paradise. If we had seen the two before knowing God’s evaluation, would we have been quick to judge? God’s values are often very different than ours.

2. A Pharisee and a tax collector.

In Luke 18 we have the story of a Pharisee and a tax collector. The Pharisee was the epitome of success within first-century Judaism, and the tax collector one of the most despised men in town. But when they went to the temple to pray, their true success and failure became obvious. The Pharisee was proud and arrogant, the tax collector humble and repentant. Which would we have chosen as the success and which the failure?

3. A Pharisee and a prostitute.

In Luke 7, we have the story of a Pharisee named Simon and a sinful woman, a prostitute. Simon invited Jesus to his home for dinner. A prostitute came into the dinner and anointed Jesus feet with perfume and her tears. Simon was offended because of her impropriety, but Jesus was offended at Simon’s lack of love. The man who appeared to be successful was a failure when it came to love for God. The prostitute, a failure in life, succeeded in loving God. Which would we have chosen as successful and which as a failure?

These stories warn us to beware of judging others who appear to us to be failures. The man who, from the world’s point of view, was a great failure turned out to be the man God exalted and honored by raising Him from the dead and seating Him at the right hand of the throne of God. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you are a failure when you fail. Defeat the giant of failure by striving to receive Jesus’ final words about your life, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

APPLICATION

1. Read Matthew 26:69–27:5.

a. What failure did Peter experience on the night of Jesus’ arrest?

b. How many times in a matter of minutes did he fail in the same way?

c. What was his immediate response? (verse 26:75)

d. What was Judas’ failure during the same night? (verse 27:3)

e. What was Judas’ response to his failure? (verse 27:5)

f. What does both Peter’s and Judas’ immediate responses tell you about the universal human response to failure?

g. Where do we next meet up with Peter? (John 20:2 ff.)

h. What appears to have happened to Peter’s initial response to his failure?

i. This was less than 72 hours after his failure. How would he still have been feeling on the inside?

j. How do you reconcile Peter’s inner feelings (guilt over failure) and his outward expressions of involvement and faithfulness with the other disciples?

k. What does that tell you about picking up the pieces from failure and moving on even though we may still have conflicting feelings over our failure?

2. Describe a time in your life when you failed in a large way:

a. What was your response? How did you handle the failure?

b. What would you have done differently?

c. Are you better prepared for your “next” failure? What is your current perspective on the place of failure in the process of spiritual maturity?

d. What insight from this lesson was most helpful to you?

3. Read Matthew 26:31–35.

a. What was Peter’s attitude toward his ability to fail? (verses 33, 35)

b. What possibility did he see for others failing? (verse 33)

c. What do you make of the fact that Peter was the most vocal (see verse 35b) about his not failing and the fact that he was the only one who failed (as far as we know)?

d. How would you describe Peter’s attitude at this point?

e. What connection do you think there is between our expectations concerning failure and our response to it when it happens?

f. While the other disciples didn’t lie three times about their relationship with Jesus, how did they also fail? (compare verse 31 with verse 56b)

4. Read John 21:1–23.

a. What did Jesus do to encourage the disciples, Peter especially, after the resurrection? (verses 2–3, 6, 11–14; 15–17).

b. How do you think Jesus’ commissioning of Peter encouraged him following his failure?

c. Describe a time when you have been either the encourager or the “encouragee” after an experience of failure. What difference did it make?

d. How do we know that Peter indeed recovered from his failure? (Acts 2:14 ff., 3:6; 4:19; 5:29).

e. What is most important—the initial, or the long-term, response to failure?

DID YOU KNOW?

One evening when Thomas Edison came home from work, his wife told him she thought he had been working too hard, that he needed to take a vacation. “Where would I go?” Edison asked. “Just go where you would rather be than any other place in the world,” she replied. “Very well,” the inventor said, “I’ll go tomorrow.” The next morning he was back at work in his laboratory. If you are reading this lesson by the light of an electric lamp, you should be thankful that Edison’s hundreds of failures didn’t drive him from his lab. The inventor who patented over 1,000 inventions—including the light bulb—thrived on failure. Each failure eliminated one more rock from a field he was convinced would bear fruit in time.

Jeremiah, D. 2001. Facing the giants in your life : Study guide . Thomas Nelson Publishers: Nashville, Tenn.

Facing the Giant of Procrastination

Facing the Giant of Procrastination

Acts 24:22–27

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In this lesson we discover the dangers of putting off until tomorrow what should be done today.

OVERVIEW

Years ago, a very famous preacher surveyed the Bible to discover the most important words in Scripture. For instance, he wanted to find the saddest word in the Bible, the happiest word, and the most emotional word—along with a long list of additional words which were the superlatives in their category. When he came to the most dangerous word in the Bible you might be surprised to know what he chose: Tomorrow. That’s right—tomorrow. Tomorrow is the most dangerous word because of its ability to rob dreamers of their dreams. It has robbed students of their educational opportunities and fathers of their relationships with their children. More than anything, it has kept more people from coming to Christ and finding salvation than any other word in the dictionary.

Satan’s favorite word is “tomorrow.” If he can get someone to keep putting off thinking about his salvation until tomorrow, he has them right where he wants them. He uses tomorrow like the owner of the gas station who put a sign up that said, “Free gas tomorrow.” Every time you look at the sign it puts you off one more day. “Today” is the word that is dear to the heart of God, as in “… today is the day to be saved!” (II Corinthians 6:2, Today’s English Version).

In this lesson we’re going to meet the giant of procrastination. It was active in the life of a Roman official named Felix whose story we find in Acts 24:22–27. Felix, and his wife Drusilla, missed the opportunity for salvation because of procrastination. Through them we will discover the dangers of procrastination and how to defeat it.

Procrastination Robs You of Opportunities for Service

Jesus was talking to some of His followers once about the cost of discipleship. The essence of His words to them was that life has a way of putting obstacles in the path of the one who would seek first the Kingdom of God (Luke 9:59–62). Things such as taking care of family and the requirements of vocation are legitimate responsibilities. Was Jesus saying we should ignore those things in order to follow Him?

Of course not. He was simply illustrating that it’s always easy to think of lots of reasons why we “can’t” respond to the call of God in our life. Once we take care of all those details, we think, then we’ll get serious about following Christ.

Matthew 26 relates one of the saddest stories in the New Testament of a missed opportunity that could never be retrieved. Jesus went into the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of His betrayal and arrest. He took Peter, James, and John into the garden with Him. Three times Jesus went aside to pray and three times discovered that His three friends had fallen asleep. They couldn’t have known of the historical significance of what was happening at that moment. But we can be sure that later they would have given anything to replay the events of that night. They would have wanted to stay awake and watch and pray for their Lord in His hour of agony. But they let one of the most critical nights in history pass them by.

One day in heaven each of us will no doubt look back and realize critical moments and hours of decision which we let slip through our fingers because of procrastination. If you’re like me, there are times when I sense the Lord’s leading to reach out to a certain person. And then I get busy and fail to follow up on it, only to discover later that there was something difficult going on in that person’s life. Because I put off the Lord’s leading I missed the opportunity to reach out and minister to that person. That’s an awful feeling to live with.

I have a feeling that after reading this lesson on procrastination the Lord will bring a person to mind—maybe more than one—that you have been meaning to call or reach out to. Respond to Him as soon as He speaks to your heart. I’d rather you obey Him than finish reading this chapter! Don’t let anything stand in the way of following His leading in matters of spiritual urgency, whether in your life or the life of another person. Life is too precious and the consequences too eternal to do anything less than obey when we have the chance.

Procrastination Robs You of the Opportunity to Be Successful

No one who is a practicing procrastinator succeeds at anything. Procrastination robs you of the opportunity to succeed. Charles Swindoll describes the effect of procrastination as if procrastination were human. He personifies procrastination in a most effective way:

“Procrastination comes out a winner every time.… He can outtalk any student when it comes to homework. He can out think any executive when it comes to correspondence. He can outwork any homemaker when it comes to vacuuming or doing dishes. He can outlast any parent when it comes to discipline. He can outsmart any salesman when it comes to selling. He has one basic product and he centers all his energy toward that single goal: defeat! By the sheer genius of suggestion he becomes the epitome of what he destroys: success.”

You see, if we cannot take action when it is thrust upon us, we are doomed to defeat and failure.

He was going to be all that a mortal should be

To-morrow.

No one would be better than he

To-morrow.

A friend who was troubled and weary he knew,

Who’d be glad of a lift and who needed it, too;

On him he would call and see what he could do

To-morrow.

Each morning he stacked up the letters he’d write

Tomorrow

And thought of the folks he would fill with delight

To-morrow.

It was too bad, indeed, he was busy to-day,

And hadn’t a minute to stop on his way;

More time he would have to give others, he’d say,

To-morrow.

The greatest of workers this man would have been

Tomorrow.

The world would have known him had he ever seen

Tomorrow

But fact is he died and faded from view,

And all that was left when his living was through

Was a mountain of things he intended to do

Tomorrow.

[Edgar A. Guest, “Tomorrow,” A Heap O’Livin’,
Reilly and Lee Company (Chicago: 1916).]

Any businessman or salesman will tell you that the art of succeeding is knowing what to do and when to do it—and doing it at that moment. Thomas Huxley was not a spiritual man but he did have it right when it came to understanding procrastination: “The most important result of all education is to make you do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not. It is the first lesson that ought to be learned. And however early a man’s training begins, it is probably the last lesson that he learns thoroughly.” What is that lesson? To do the thing you have to do when it has to be done.

Most people keep some sort of “To Do” list where they write down the tasks and goals they have for the day or week. But how many people purposefully take the hardest, most distasteful task and move it directly to the top of the list? Rather than pushing it to the bottom of the list, the person who is willing to do the hardest job when it needs to be done is on the road to success.

All of these practical reasons for defeating procrastination are important on a day-to-day basis. But there is another reason for conquering procrastination that is far more important. Procrastination can keep you out of heaven.

Procrastination Robs You of the Opportunity for Salvation

Procrastination can keep you from becoming a Christian. That’s what happened to two people we meet in Acts 24, Felix and Drusilla.

The Identity of the Procrastinator (24:24a)

Some background on these two individuals will help you understand their spiritual situation:

1. Felix was Antonius Felix. Greek by birth, he gained his appointment as Roman Procurator of Judea from his brother.

2. Drusilla, Felix’s wife, was one of three daughters of Herod Agrippa I. Felix induced her to leave her husband and marry him. Her father, Herod Agrippa I, was the one who murdered James, the brother of John, and tried to murder Peter as well (Acts 12). Her great-uncle, Herod Antipas, was the one who executed John the Baptist, and her great-grandfather, Herod the Great, was the one who ordered the murder of all the baby boys in Bethlehem in an attempt to eliminate Jesus. This was Drusilla’s family heritage. Spiritually dark, to say the least.

The apostle Paul was brought before Felix on charges of sedition. When Paul spoke, it was not to defend himself but to proclaim the gospel of Christ. No matter where Paul went he always had one mission—to declare the gospel. When Paul began to speak, it was almost as if Felix had been brought before Paul instead of Paul having been brought before Felix.

The Instruction of the Procrastinator (24:24)

Paul spoke to Felix and Drusilla about his faith in Christ, and about three further points: “… righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come.” That sermon was well-suited to Paul’s audience that day because Felix and Drusilla were definitely needy in all three areas. We’ve already established that they were unrighteous people. Their marriage was immoral and their backgrounds were filled with spiritual darkness. They no doubt felt quite uncomfortable at Paul’s words.

Then Paul moved on to self-control, another foreign word to them. They were used to doing whatever they wanted, unencumbered by moral restraints of any kind. And then he concluded with the natural outcome of unrighteousness and lack of self-control—judgment. Paul told them there is a Judge sitting on a throne much larger than the throne of the Procurator of Judea; even the throne of the Emperor himself in Rome. Someday, Paul told them, they would stand before that Judge and He would call them to account for their sins. That must have been some sermon, one that Felix and Drusilla never imagined they would hear when they woke up that morning.

The Impact on the Procrastinator (24:25)

Felix’s response to Paul’s sermon was something we don’t see much in contemporary preaching: fear. But “Felix was afraid” as a result of what he had heard from Paul—he was “terrified” in the words of the old American Standard translation. God had spoken mightily to Felix’s heart, and he was overtaken by fear at the prospect of future judgment in light of his past and present life.

But then, at the very time when he could have had all of his fears relieved, Felix said that most dangerous of words (in a manner of speaking): “Tomorrow.”

The Intention of the Procrastinator (24:25)

Felix sent Paul away, saying he would call for him again at a more convenient time. Felix procrastinated, didn’t he? He put off life’s most important, and sometimes most difficult task—getting right with the God who created, and who will judge, us all. We don’t know if Felix ever believed the gospel of Christ or not. Given his initial response, we would say the likelihood was not good. Even if he did later, we do know that he passed up the first chance God gave him to be saved. He put off until a “convenient time” that which he should have grasped immediately. There is never a “convenient time” to be saved. The time to be saved is when God shows you your need. Who knows whether you will ever sense that need again?

Procrastination’s Two Big Problems

Procrastination is dangerous in any arena, but nowhere is it more dangerous than in the realm of salvation.

Procrastination Produces a False Sense of Control

First of all, procrastination gives us the impression that we are in control of tomorrow. It does not take into account the uncertainty of life. If we knew for certain that tomorrow would come, perhaps we could put off some things. But who knows what life holds past today, past this minute? No one (Proverbs 27:1).

Scripture uses eighteen different metaphors to remind us of the transitory nature of life. For instance, life is like a vapor, here one minute and gone the next. Who would try to build their future on a vapor? That would be a foolish prospect indeed. To assume we can put off until tomorrow that which we should do today is a prescription for remorse—possibly eternal remorse.

The very James who had missed the opportunity to watch and pray with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane apparently learned his lesson. In his letter to the churches, he warns about the presumption of thinking we are in control of tomorrow. Life is a “vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away” (James 4:14).

Are you putting off until tomorrow a decision about your own salvation? Or a decision to begin walking as a committed disciple of Christ, laying aside the things of this world and living only for Him? Perhaps you hear the gospel presented regularly in church or on the radio, and you keep telling yourself you need to respond and get things settled with God. If you are putting this off, you are building your future on a foundation of vapor. You do not know what tomorrow will bring. Today is the day for salvation.

But let’s assume you have absolute control over tomorrow; that you know exactly how many days left you have to live. There is still a problem. You don’t know whether conviction will ever touch your heart again.

Procrastination Ignores the Uniqueness of Conviction

I refer to the special times when God deals with each person as “defining moments.” Every Christian can think back to the time he was saved and recognize the uniqueness of the situation. Something happened that day that had not happened the day before. The moment of your salvation was a unique event when God brought together all the factors and influences necessary in order to recognize your need for Him.

You may get a tomorrow, but there is no guarantee that when tomorrow comes you will be convicted of your need for Christ. Just as it happened with Felix—he came under sincere conviction the day Paul preached to him—it happens to each of us. The danger is that we, like Felix, will ignore that conviction and put it off until a more “convenient time.” The problem is that the convenient time may never come. You may never be convicted again of your need for salvation.

The prophet Isaiah said it best: “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near” (Isaiah 55:6). If you know the Lord can be found today, then today is the day you need to call upon Him—while He is near.

Procrastination is a giant that will rob you of opportunities for service and the opportunity to be successful. But most of all it will rob you of the opportunity to be saved. Don’t put off doing anything that you know needs to be done today. You have no guarantees about tomorrow and no promise that the promptings you feel today will ever be there again. Whatever you do, don’t procrastinate about being saved. Today may be the only chance you have.

APPLICATION

1. Read Luke 9:57–62.

a. What is the profession made by the first man who was following Jesus? (verse 57)

b. How easy is that profession to make verbally?

c. How hard is it to keep in actuality?

d. What warning did Jesus give the man who volunteered his allegiance? (verse 58)

e. What was the meaning of this warning?

f. What was the request of the second man to whom Jesus spoke? (verse 59)

g. If the man’s father had just died, what would he likely have been involved in doing that very day?

h. Since he was walking along the road with Jesus, what does that imply about the status of his father?

i. Therefore, when might he have been available to follow Jesus? How long a delay was he requesting?

j. What request did the third man make that would have delayed his following Jesus? (verse 61)

k. And what was Jesus’ reply? (verse 62)

l. How do Jesus’ words in Luke 14:26 illuminate His response to the third man?

2. How do you respond personally to what sound like harsh or non-sympathetic words coming from the lips of Jesus?

a. Why was Jesus being so blunt with these who professed a desire to follow him?

b. Do you think He is as demanding of those who say they want to follow Him today?

c. If the encounter in Luke 9 happened today, what kinds of excuses might Jesus be given? That is, what kinds of things do we use as justification for not following Christ with our whole life?

3. Read John 1:35–51.

a. List all the examples of procrastination in following Jesus you find in the lives of those mentioned in this passage:

b. List all the examples of people not procrastinating—i.e., following Jesus immediately:

c. How much did Levi (Matthew) procrastinate when Jesus spoke to him? (Luke 5:27–29)

4. Read James 4:13–17.

a. What is procrastination based on? How would you describe the attitude of those described in verse 13?

b. What is the flaw in such presumptive thinking? (verse 14)

c. How do you reconcile the comparison of life as a vapor with the noble identity of man created in the image of God? Is James denigrating the stature of man?

d. What is the spiritually mature way to view the future? (verse 15)

e. How does James describe presumption? (verse 16)

f. While James is not addressing procrastination specifically in this passage, how does his final admonition fit perfectly with living in “today” and not “tomorrow”? (verse 17)

DID YOU KNOW?

The Latin word for tomorrow was cras, from which the adjective, crastinus, “of tomorrow,” was derived. The prefix pro meant “forward” or “toward.” Therefore, the Latin verb procrastinare came to mean “put forward to tomorrow.” The person who procrastinates is the person who promises himself each day, “I will do it tomorrow.” And when tomorrow comes, the same promise is made again and again. That is, tomorrow is always 24 hours away. Tomorrow is close enough to keep us from feeling overly guilty, far enough away to avoid the discomfort we feel about getting it done at all. One wonders if Latin cras (tomorrow) was connected to crassus, the Latin word for “dense.” Procrastinators could certainly be called crass as we define it today—”lacking in discrimination and sensibility.”

Jeremiah, D. 2001. Facing the giants in your life : Study guide . Thomas Nelson Publishers: Nashville, Tenn.