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

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

Definition of love.

Love is a willful choice, not based in one’s emotions, the treatment of the one being loved, or the circumstances in which one finds themselves, to sacrifice themselves for the betterment or well-being of the other.

Anti-characteristics of love.

Last week we were able to look at two positive characteristics of love.

Love is patient and kind.

Patience is the purposeful withholding of anger towards another.

On the other hand, kindness is the active good done towards another.

Following these two positive attributes are eight anti-characteristics of love.

We’ll look at the first four today, those being – love does not envy, or boast, is not arrogant, and is not rude.

Love is not arrogant and does not boast.

Arrogance is the root of boasting.

Nestled in the midst of these 8 anti-characteristics is the root attribute from which the other characteristics grow.

We will find that most, if not all, of them are rooted in a proud heart.

Defining boasting and arrogance.

It is pride that is the root enemy of love.

Paul tells us that love does not boast and it is not arrogant.

Arrogance is pride.

It means to be puffed up, conceited, and haughty.

Boasting is equivalent to bragging.

Boasting or bragging is one of the visible fruits of a proud heart.

When we think too highly of ourselves or have a puffed up view of ourselves, we tend to either speak poorly of others or speak really well of ourselves.

This speaking well of ourselves is bragging or boasting and it flows from a heart of arrogance.

Pride strictly means, ”showing above” and speaks of “an empty boaster who brags of his position and despises others.”[1]

C.S. LEWIS.

According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride.

Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere flea bites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind . . . it is Pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began.[2]

EDWARDS.

The first and the worst cause of errors that prevail in such a state of things is spiritual pride.

This is the main door by which the devil comes into the hearts of those who are zealous for the advancement of religion.

It is the chief inlet of smoke from the bottomless pit, to darken the mind and mislead the judgment.

This is the main handle by which the devil has hold of religious persons, and the chief source of all the mischief that he introduces, to clog and hinder a work of God.

— This cause of error is the main spring, or at least the main support, of all the rest.

Till this disease is cured, medicines are in vain applied to heal other diseases.[3]

Scripture bears out Lewis’ and Edward’s dramatic statements.

“There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him [and first in the list is] haughty eyes” ( ESV).

Pride is an abomination to God.

He hates it, and God’s hatred is not nearly as trivial as ours.

“Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord” ( ESV).

“The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil.

Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate” ( ESV).

Biblical Examples.

With pride being such a foundational sin, there are plenty of examples wherever we look in Scripture.

It is pride that resulted in Nebuchadnezzar standing on the roof of his palace and Babylon and saying, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?”

And yet, while the words “were still in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, “O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you” ( ESV).

It was pride that resulted in the Pharisee standing in the temple while looking down at the tax collector and prayed, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector” ().

But before we walk away from this proud Pharisee, consider whether or not you thought, “Lord, I thank you that I am not like that proud Pharisee.”

Pride is not bias or prejudice.

It equally impacts and destroys the rich and poor alike.

It embeds itself in the hearts of the powerful and the marginalized.

The atheists and religious alike succumb to its’ temptation.

Love is the correction to boasting and arrogance.

A proud person thinks too little of God and others and is consumed by thinking too highly of themselves.

And it is here that we find that it is the opposite of love.

We love when we place God and others above ourselves.

While boasting and arrogant, we place ourselves above everyone else.

Pride is not love.

Love does not envy.

Arrogance is the root of envy.

What is it that roots envy in someone’s heart?

Envy is held in place by pride.

It is pride that clamors for recognition and loathes when others receive it instead.

It is pride that aspires to a superior station, envies those above, and rejoices in their disgrace, failure, and loss.

Pride and envy find no rest as long as they see others above them.

Yet pride can manifest itself in ways other than envy.

When possessions or position are acquired and envy subsides, pride revels and boasts in all it now possesses.

Definition of Envy.

Envy is the negative expression of a strong or excessive desire for something.

[4] You can have appropriate strong desires.

In fact, Paul tells the Corinthians to “desire the higher gifts” () and “earnestly desire the spiritual gifts” (, ).

The words in these verses that are translated “earnestly desire” are the same word that is translated in , “Love does not envy.”

We can have appropriate passions for good things we don’t presently possess, but when those emotions turn to resentment, hostility, and jealousy towards others, you have become envious.

The Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology (EDBT) defines envy as the “Sin of jealousy over the blessings and achievements of others.”

[5]

Biblical Examples.

You likely recall when Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery.

They did this because they were jealous of him.

Why were the jealous?

“When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him” (, ESV).

They desired their father’s affection in the same way that Joseph possessed it, and because they didn’t perceive that they had it, they were jealous.

This jealousy worked itself out in the fact that they weren’t even able to speak to him in a peaceful manner.

All of their speech to Joseph was unkind.

In , we read of David coming home after having killed the Philistine, and as the women come out to receive Saul, they sing a song.

“Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands” ( ESV).

As a result, Saul is jealous of David and tries to kill him on a number of different occasions.

It is this same envy that led the Jews to deliver Jesus over to Pilate (), and it is this same envy that had led to the Corinthians division.

Paul writes in , “for you are still of the flesh.

For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?”

Envy destroys people and relationships.

Job tells us that “jealousy slays the simple” ( ESV) and Solomon tells us that “envy makes the bones rot” ( ESV).

Later in Proverbs, we read, “Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy?”

( ESV).

Love is the correction to envy.

If love does not envy, how would love interact in these situations?

When we love others, we rejoice in their happiness.