Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant

or rude.

It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;

it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

Introduction

Setting.

We come to the seventh of eight anti-characteristics of love.

We began by looking at “love is patient and kind” – then began to look at the 8 anti-characteristics of love – love is not arrogant.

It is this arrogance that works itself out in boasting, envy, and rude behavior.

Love as well does not demand its own way and is not easily provoked.

We now come to the seventh anti-characteristic.

Love is not resentful.

Peter Miller was not resentful.

Peter Miller was a minister in the German Reformed Church in his early life.

He came to America as a minister in 1730. . . .

He served as pastor of Bethany Reformed Church, near Ephrata, and doubtless others in this section.

He withdrew from the German Reformed Church and joined the Seven Day Baptists in Ephrata.

He moved to their settlement and became their pastor.

He resided there during the American Revolutionary War.

Michael Witman also resided at Ephrata.

He was a deacon in the German Reformed Church; the withdrawal of Peter Miller from the church greatly [angered] Witman, who now secured an unenviable notoriety for his abuse of Miller and the Seven Day Baptists; on one occasion he struck Miller in the face, and on another occasion he spit in his face.

Miller endured it all with Christian fortitude.

He never spoke a cross word to or against Witman for his shameful conduct.

Witman kept one of the two hotels which were then in Ephrata . . .

On a winter evening two men came to the hotel of Witman for supper and shelter for the night.

He was ignorant of the character of his guests, but was outspoken in his views in regard to the war, and spoke freely in favor of the British. . . .

However, these two men were American spies.

[At some point they sprang up and attempted to arrest Witman, who] escaped through the window and . . .

fled to the Seven Day Baptist settlement . . .

He then escaped to Zion's Hill, where he remained until famished from cold and hunger, he surrendered.

He was taken to General Washington.

He was tried for treason, found guilty and sentenced to be hung.

. . .

after the death sentence was passed, Peter Miller arose early in the morning, took his cane and set out on foot, through the snow, to visit General Washington at Valley Forge, to intercede for the life of Witman.

He was told that his prayer for his friend could not be granted.

"My friend!" exclaimed Miller.

"I have not a worse enemy living than that man." "What!" rejoined Washington.

"You have walked sixty miles to save the life of your enemy?

That, in my judgment, puts the matter in a different light.

I will grant you his pardon."

"The pardon was written, signed by General Washington and handed to Miller, who at once set out for West Chester, fifteen miles distant, where the execution was to take place on the afternoon of the same day."

He arrived just as Witman was being carried to the scaffold, who, seeing Miller in the crowd, remarked: "There is old Peter Miller.

He has walked all the way from Ephrata to have his revenge gratified today seeing me hung."

These words were scarcely spoken, when Miller waved the pardon and commanded them to halt We will not picture the scene that followed.

It is said they embraced each other.

They walked home to Ephrata together and remained firm friends.

[He was restored to his family, life was spared, but his property was all confiscated and sold in 1780.][1]

Love is not resentful.

Define resentful.

Logizomai refers to “keeping a mental record” or “taking into account.”

[2] It is an accounting term.

It accounts for the list of wrongs and possesses the ability to accurately look back and pull up any specific offense.

As any accountant knows, if you keep track of someone’s payments or debts, it is because you have every intention of drawing their attention back to those financial obligations at some point in the future.

The same is true in this case.

Those who keep a record of offenses (real or perceived) done to them, the intent is to bring those back up at some point in the future and hold that person responsible for their actions.

This, love does not do.

Slight differences in translations.

Most translators interpret logizomai as not keeping a record or account of wrongs (NAS, NLT, NIV).

A couple translate this idea as being “resentful” (ESV, NET).

But there is potentially one slight difference as seen in the KJV’s translation, “thinketh no evil.”

This seems to be more in line with both Chrysostom and Barnes.

Let me attempt to reword Chrysostom’s quote: Paul doesn’t say, “worketh no evil” but, [instead love] thinketh no evil.”

Love is so far from evil that it doesn’t even suspect evil of her beloved.

How could she even be provoked?

The fountain of wrath flows from the presumption of evil.[3]

Albert Barnes reflects a similar thought.

BARNES.

It means that love, or that a person under the influence of love, is not malicious, censorious, disposed to find fault, or to impute improper motives to others. . . . it is not disposed to think that there was any evil intention even in cases which might tend to irritate or exasperate us. . . . it puts the best possible construction on the conduct of others, and supposes, as far as can be done, that it was in consistency with honesty, truth, friendship, and love.[4]

Both Chrysostom and Barnes reflect an insightful thought that is as well imbedded in the KJV’s translation.

If you never conclude that someone was malicious towards you and if you always assume the best of people’s intentions, it will be easy to overlook an offense because you will never take the offenses personally.

This is a little different than the conclusion of modern translators and commentators.

They see this term as referring to accounting.

In this case, the person would be aware of an offense, but they would not keep track of or record offenses.

While Paul’s intent is likely “love keeps no record of wrongs,” most certainly we should strongly consider the exhortation to accomplish this first by not being offended in the first place – not assuming the worst of someone’s motives.

If we assume the best in people, we will likely have far fewer potential offenses to overlook.

Personal Example.

I can recall a brief period of my ministry experience in which I erred in keeping a record of wrongs.

A few people within the ministry I was serving were offering critiques to me quite regularly.

They were rather proficient at it as a matter of fact, offering dates and quotes.

This was extremely challenging for me.

Of course I didn’t enjoy the criticism, but I also couldn’t recall with any kind of accuracy the way an event unfolded, what I said, or when it happened.

I just assumed they were right, and would usually apologize for having done something wrong.

After a few times of coming home and my wife correcting the account, I thought I better write down different kinds of interactions as they occurred.

A period of time went by, and I can recall one day sitting at the desk in my office.

I don’t recall the exact nature of the moment (ironically) but I remember thinking of this passage – Love does not keep a record of wrongs.

It struck me like a ton of bricks.

I was clearly keeping a record of wrongs – in fact a literal and physical record – with the intention of being able to bring these things up later if I needed them.

Maybe you have never kept a literal record of wrongs, but I would imagine that most of us can admit to at least keeping a mental record of wrongs.

The Proverbs counsel us concerning this kind of resentment.

“Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense” ( ESV).

“The vexation of a fool is known at once, but the prudent ignores an insult” ( ESV).

Positive example of this word.

In contrast to our tendency to keep a record of wrongs, God in Christ is the perfect example of not holding an account for our sins.

In Paul quotes a Psalm, “Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity” ( ESV).

Paul as well tells us that this work was accomplished through the work of Christ.

“In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them” ( ESV).

Biblical Examples.

If you were to look for biblical examples and started in Genesis, you wouldn’t have to go far to be overwhelmed with examples of individuals keeping record of other’s offenses.