Jealousy is like boiled chicken broth (Acts 13)

Read Acts 13 before proceeding.

Read Acts 13 online: Acts 13

~or~

Listen to Acts 13 online: Acts 13

The relationship between the apostles and the Jewish leaders has been mixed. In fact, it has looked something like this:

• · Chapter 2 General reception of message from Peter
• · Chapter 3-4 Lame beggar healed. Jewish leaders are angry and demand Peter and John stand before the council.
• · Chapter 5 High Priest is jealous of Peter and the church’s influence and arrests them. (This is to be noted)
• · Chapter 7 Stone Stephen for telling the Jewish leaders they killed Jesus wrongfully
• · Chapter 8 Saul/Paul ravages the Church
• · Chapter 9 Saul/Paul accepts Christ and begins his mission work.
• · Chapter 10 God tells Peter to put aside his Jewish customs and reach out to gentiles.
• · Chapter 11 The converted Jewish church is concerned by this breaking of tradition, but Peter convinces them otherwise.
• · Chapter 12 Herod, the supposed King of Judea kills apostles or imprisons. The Jewish leaders are happy.

Why did I work through that? Because of the turn of events in 13:16-43. Paul shares the same gospel message with a group of Jewish leaders and they love him! Barnabas and Paul are asked to share a “word of encouragement” in the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia. Then, Paul lays it out. God brought the law in the Old Testament. Then, He brought His Son to fulfill the law, and bring salvation to the planet in the New Testament. The Jewish leaders responded by killing Him. When Paul wraps up in verse 41, what do we expect? Paul to be arrested, stoned, something. But what happens? They beg for him to come back next week! Paul and Barnabas must have been pumped. They spoke truth to their Jewish brothers, and they loved it! That’s what makes their return to the synagogue seven days later such a let down.

Paul teaches again in verse 44, but this time the Jewish brothers oppose him because they were jealous. Why? Let me explain. See, As you read in verse 44, the whole city gathered. What is not clear until you get to verse 48 is that the “whole city” is code for the gentiles. The Jews were jealous that the gentiles would also be able to receive this good news. The Jewish leaders were so close! But because someone else might actually benefit from the same love, they threw it all away.

Jealousy is such a funny thing. It does funny stuff to us.

God might bless us in some particular way, but we seethe and we boil when another receives God’s good will.

In verse 44, it says that the Jews were jealous – an observation that Luke (Acts 5:17; 13:45) and Paul (Rom 11:19) make throughout the New Testament. The word for jealous here is “zelos”. You probably recognize it from “zeal” or “zealot”. But according to classic greek, “zeal” in this context means to be bitterly competitive. It can even be translated, “boil”.

Go. Boil a large pot of chicken broth. Before it cools down, take and pour the broth down your throat. The burning, boiling feeling in your stomach is the same feeling when one is jealous. It’s the feeling that you get when a co-worker shows off his new car because he got a raise we ALL know he should have never received. It’s the feeling when you start innocently poking around your x’s facebook account, and see that status update: “in a relationship”. It’s when you’ve gone to the uptenth wedding, and the most you can hope from the ceremony are the unhelpful words like, “Don’t you worry honey. You’re next!” You hate to tell them that you stopped catching the bouquet a year ago cause it was just too depressing. Because another wins, you feel like a loser, and so you boil.

Jealousy takes God’s love for another and hands it to you as a tall, cold glass of acid.

And it is so tiring. When my eyes are on everything else, except for the love God has already shown me, I chase a life that feels like death. Some of you probably feel this way. Maybe you have taken a job that you have no business being in, or you’ve made poor financial decisions, or you simply have cut yourself off from those who love you the most because every time you see them, your stomach “boils” with jealousy.

I cannot tell you how many dumb mistakes I have made because of jealousy. Even if my jealousy wasn’t pointed at a particular person, doesn’t mean that jealousy hasn’t gripped my heart. For example:

I am jealous that there are certain careers in which people will make so much money they will never have to worry about their bills.

Whew. That’s tough for me.

Pleasure in…Rejoice with…happy for... Now, that is freeing. What if…?

Peace

Kevin