Text: Genesis 4:1–16
Topic: How to battle envy

• Illustration: Brouwer tells the story of a cheerleading rivalry that ends in murder.
• Cain and Abel were likewise brothers and rivals; Cain's envy resulted in the death of his brother.

• The beast travels the path of the achiever.
  • Illustration: Brouwer felt envious of the success of Willow Creek Community Church when he attended a service there.
• The beast travels the past of the short cut.
  • Illustration: Brouwer describes how the book of one psychologist failed to achieve the same success as Rabbi Kushner's When Bad Things Happen To Good People, because the psychologist had never actually endured tragedy.
• The beast travels the path of a crushed spirit
  • Illustration: Court musician Antonio Salieri, a pious and hardworking man, envied the flippancy and ease with which Mozart composed.
  • Illustration: Brouwer recounts the story of the women who bring a baby to Solomon and both claim to be the mother.
• Cain believed that if he could not enjoyed God's blessing, then neither could Abel.

• Basil of Caesarea identified three ways envy twists us once it's bitten our hearts.
• Envy turns us into hypocrites and liars.
  • Illustration: Brouwer tells the story of two ministers who spread rumors about a third minister, of whom they are envious.
  • Illustration: Francis Bacon said, "He who cannot mend his own case will do what he can to impair another's."
• Envy makes us ungrateful.
  • Illustration: Thorstein Veblen explains how "conspicuous consumption" keeps Americans unsatisfied.
• Envy gives us a negative outlook on life.

• First Corinthians 13 tells us that love is not envious.
• Cain was never truly a brother because he did not love Abel.
• Envy will destroy us, if we let it.
  • Illustration: In Shakespeare's Othello, the king is warned, "Beware, my lord, of jealousy. It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds upon."
• Envy is tamed by love.

For the full text of this sermon, go to "Taming the Beast."