How Can A Good God Be Jealous
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Introduction
Introduction
Last week of series.
Inspired by questions I received when teaching in India.
Questions
Is jealousy a sin? Is there ever a time when it is acceptable for believers to be jealous?
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions
We are also told not to be envious of one another.
Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
How can God be jealous and not sin?
The Text
The Text
When we talk of God being jealous, the word has a slightly different meaning. God is jealous in that he constantly seeks to protect his own honor.
God’s jealousy for his glory is is simultaneously: (1) his righteous commitment to his himself and (2) the most loving thing for his people. God is not jealous or envious because someone has something that he wants or needs. He is not jealous or envious of things he does not deserve. God is jealous when someone gives to another what rightly belongs to him.
You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
Israel did not select the Lord as one of several options. The Lord did not ask to be Israel’s God. The Lord sovereignly and graciously chose Israel to be his people. That is why nothing stirs up the jealousy of God like idolatry. God is a jealous God because the glory that belongs exclusively to him is being to given it an idol.
For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this.
How can I let myself be defamed?
I will not yield my glory to another.
In God reminded his people of his patience and longsuffering. He delayed and held back his wrath that they deserved. Instead, he tested them which included the Babylonian exile.
The Lord then makes it clear that the did these things for his own name sake, so that his name would not be profaned. The reason is that God will not share or give his glory to anyone or anything else.
Conclusion
Conclusion
What is the significance of God’s jealousy for believer’s today? What difference should it make in our lives? God’s jealousy for his honor and glory should motivate us to flee idolatry. We were created for God’s glory and we were saved for God’s glory.
And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
Our goal in life, therefore, should always be to glorify God.
The problem is that idols are much more subtle than they once were. An idol is not just something made of wood or stone. Idols take many forms.
An idol is essentially anything that keeps us from loving God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
An idol is anything that takes the place of God in our heart.
An idol is anything that keeps us from worshipping God.
An idol can be a selfish, sinful desire. When we live to satisfy these desires we are committing the sin of idolatry.
An idol can be a possession, an activity or even a relationship.
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.