In Chinese, the title means to not be calculative of the evil people have done. But the English translation says love thinks no evil; it emphasises more on the intent of the heart. If you think about evil in your heart then you’ll think whatever others do isn’t good. You become very judgemental of others, just like what Jesus said. You only see the speck in the other person’s eye and fail to see the log in your eye.

When you look at others through coloured lens, you have preconceived ideas of others. Whatever actions they do is bad. The same problem draws two different responses.

Why do we want to discuss this problem?
1 Cor 13:5
Paul talks about the essence of love, and the teaching concerning loving God and Man. This sermon will focus on love thinking no evil/not being calculative.

There’s an old sister in the church the speaker pastored. She asked him a question, “Preacher I’ve been hearing about the teachings of forgiveness over the pulpit. You need to forget to forgive. If you continue to remember that’s not really forgiving. If you really forgive someone, forget what he has done for you. If you don’t forgive others, Jesus won’t forgive you either.” When this sister heard this, she was worried. “I keep remembering what someone did to me…a committee member misunderstood and rebuked me.” When the matter was made clear and the committee knew he made a mistake, he apologised to her and sought forgiveness. The old sister thought: the matter being cleared up is good.

But the misunderstanding was very deep and the rebuke was very sharp. The wounds in her heart still remained. Each time she meets him she’ll remember the incident.

She asked the speaker, “Does that mean I’ve not really forgiven him? Then doesn’t that mean Jesus won’t forgive me and I can’t go heaven??”

“Is forgiveness about forgetting? The Bible doesn’t say that!” Don’t explain things according to our own understanding. We can take a look at how the Bible explains forgiveness.

Luke 6:37
Jesus preached about loving your enemies and loving those who hate you. Forgive and God will forgive us. In Chinese, forgiveness means to set free; you don’t hold the person accountable and judge him for his wrong. When God forgives us of sins, He doesn’t condemn us nor require us to account for the sin.

But will God ever forget?
Matt 18:21-22
Peter asked Jesus a series of questions concerning forgiveness. “How many times must I forgive someone who wronged me? 7 times?” 7 is a complete number to the Jews. Jesus said, “Up to 70x7 times.” This means to forgive completely. Forgiveness means to set free, not to forget.

Jesus continues speaking of the parable concerning the Kingdom of Heaven.
Matt 18:23
Jesus often starts each Kingdom of Heaven parable with “the Kingdom of Heaven is like…”. This is to encourage us since we already have the foundation to be saved and are walking to heaven, we must spiritually nurture ourselves. Because the Bible also tells us in the Last Days when Jesus comes to judge the world, there’ll be another selection. We hence need to pursue growth in our faith.

Jesus talks about a parable concerning forgiveness. A king asked his servants to give an account. One of them owed ten thousand talents but he wasn’t able to pay up the master. His wife and children needed to be sold to pay. The servant pled for the master to have pity on him.

v27 The master of the servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him.

“Even if I imprison you, you also cannot pay. Never mind lah I forgive you.”

This servant found a fellow servant who owed him 100 denarii. He took him by the throat saying, “Pay me what you owe!” His fellow servant fell at his feet and pled similar to how he himself had pled. But he didn’t take pity on him and threatened to throw him into prison. When other servants saw this, they couldn’t take it. They knew the master had just forgiven this servant of 10,000 talents. Now your fellow servant just owes you 100 denarii and you can’t let it go? They let the master know about it.

v32-35 (read)
Did the master forget? If forgiveness is about forgetting, then the master should’ve responded in this manner when the servants brought it up to him, “Huh really ah? I’ve forgotten!” He didn’t forget. But he released him, he didn’t need to pay him back. Now you’re not going to forgive and are so calculative, I’ll do it too.

Forgiveness is not forgetting. It’s releasing. “I’m not going to judge your sins.”

When we talk about the teachings of forgiveness, we’d remember the story of Joseph. Joseph was betrayed by his older brothers. If not for his faith and the preservation of God, he would have lost his life easily in those olden times.

He arrived in Egypt and had faith, God preserved and guided him. He became the premier of Egypt. There was a famine. Jacob told his children, the brothers of Joseph, to go to Egypt to buy food. The Bible records that when they first arrived in Egypt to buy food, Joseph immediately recognised they were his brothers. He intentionally concealed his identity. (Chinese thing)

Joseph said to get food, one of the brothers needed to stay behind. The brothers discussed, “Why’re we facing difficulty here? Is it because God is asking us to give an account for the evil we did to Joseph?” Fortunately the brothers of Joseph had a conscience. After Joseph heard their discussion, he went behind and wept.

Gen 42:23-24
Did Joseph forget? If he had already forgotten, why would he have cried? When he heard what his brothers discussed, he was so sad! He discovered his brothers were different. In between, they went back and forth and brought Benjamin that Joseph framer. In the process, Joseph realised they were no longer so contentious nor bullied the younger. Seeing how his older brothers were willing to sacrifice for the younger, he revealed who he was.

Gen 45:2
Joseph wept aloud! Take a look at how many times Joseph cried. Joseph said to his brothers, “I’m Joseph! The one you have sold away to Egypt!”

Did Joseph forget? This matter of his brothers selling him to Egypt was inscribed to his heart like a knife. If he had already forgotten, why would he lie?

If he forgot he would have responded: Oo! Brothers! Welcome welcome!

Joseph didn’t forget. But he forgave his brothers. This means he released them and wasn’t calculating.

They needed to look to him to survive. He could’ve said to bring his father to him while the rest starve. He could’ve said they needed to crawl on their knees and beg. He wasn’t calculative of the evil his brothers had done to him.

That’s because he thought no evil in his heart. Because of that, he didn’t calculate the evil others had done.

To the time his father Jacob passed away, his brothers became very anxious. “Our father has passed away. There’s no one to protect us now! Maybe Joseph didn’t hamtum us last time to give father face!”

The conscience of the older brothers was not at rest. “Let us not be your brothers. Please just treat us like one of your servants.” Joseph wept again.

Gen 50:17, 19
“Am I in the place of God?” “You meant evil against me” He remembered! “But God meant it for good.” Because you fear God, you don’t need to be so judgmental. “Because I’m the premier my entire household can be saved.”

v21 Joseph said he would provide for them and their little ones

Did Joseph forget? No. But he had forgiven and released them. He wasn’t calculative towards them.

Let us pray to God to help us to attain such a level. Let us hope for the same blessing Joseph received. To do so, we need to learn from his faith and love.

Love thinks no evil/is not calculative. It doesn’t think what we’ve gained and lost to other people. After we have believed in the Lord, we should rise above all this.

This ought to be the case amongst spiritual coworkers and brothers and sisters. If we’re calculating, we may conclude: why does this church have no love! Even if we believe in Jesus, we have no joy.

Concerning teachings regarding love, we must first demand of ourselves to love.

When Gideon was judge, he led the people of Israel and was victorious over the Midianites. When fighting against them, the people of Ephraim didn’t help. But when they saw they were victorious, they rushed out wanting to help and caught the two leaders of the Midianites. In ancient wars, the leaders need to be captured to be victorious. The Ephramites then became war heroes because they did something for the nation. They became proud and came to argue against the Gideonites.

Judges 8:1-3
The Ephramites rebuked Gideon, “Why didn’t you seek our help when you went to battle? You look down on us ah?”

Gideon was the leader. When others were very busy, the Ephramites sat around and didn’t help. Because of their victorious capture, they became very judgemental of others’ work. “If not for me, blablabla wouldn’t have happened.” “What have YOU done?” You deny all the works others have done and claim yours is the greatest. What would you do? Feel like beating him up lol

But Gideon didn’t respond in this way. “Indeed you have done something great for the nation!” He used the analogy of the vines. v2 talks about Abiezer which is the family of Gideon, which belongs to the tribe of Manasseh. “Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage or Abiezer?” Manasseh and Ephraim are brothers. Because of that, the tribe of Ephraim is usually the prouder tribe. Gideon used this analogy to say, “You have made the most contribution.” Since the Ephramites love their face, give face to them lorh then they can be happy.

Importantly, Gideon prevented strife that could’ve broken up internally. An external strife just ended. Would God be happy? Because of this, Gideon led Israel to have 40 years of peace. In the ancient times, 40 years of peace is a great doing.

Judges 12
Jephthah became judge. The east side of the Jordan belongs to the half tribe of Manasseh. They were fighting against the Ammonites and were victorious. Again, the Ephramites came out when they were victorious. But they didn’t manage to capture anyone. They tried to use a sense of awe to push Jephthah down. “Why didn’t you call us to help you? We’ll burn your house down!”

Jephthah’s character is different. He answered, “We called you and you didn’t help! God helped and gave us victory! Whaddya mean coming here to give an account to you?”

They started becoming very calculative towards each other. Ephraim is a paper tiger but they met someone who wasn’t willing to yield to them. He fought them and 42,000 Ephramites were slain. They sought their own disaster. If Jephthah judged for a longer time, perhaps more people would die. He only reigned 6 years. Cf. Gideon who brought 40 years of peace.

Similar situation. Same group of people. One was able to accept and forgive, bringing internal peace. The other very calculative. While Jephthah was victorious, it was with much strife.

Love thinks no evil. A man who loves God also loves his fellow brothers and sisters. Between coworkers and brothers and sisters in church, we need to love one another.

In a family, the husband and wife are joint heirs in the promise of life. Marriage was instituted when Man was created. Husband and wife shouldn’t be calculative towards each other.

Eph 6:26-27
Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger. That’ll give place to the devil to work.

It was Eve who was tempted and sinned. Later, Adam also ate of the fruit. Before he sinned, he called Eve the bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh. But after sinning, he became calculative.

When Man sinner, God asked where they were. Not because He didn’t know but to give them an opportunity.

The speaker wonders if Adam ran out and confessed his sins, he would have still met with God’s punishment but perhaps it would be less. Pitifully, the effects of sin were immediately seen.

Gen 3:11-12
“Who told you you were naked? Did you eat of the tree I commanded you not to eat of?”
“The woman YOU GAVE TO ME gave me the fruit and I ate.”
Adam pushed the blame to God. If You didn’t create the woman I wouldn’t have sinned! He became calculative towards God and his relationship with his wife deteriorated.

From “bone of my bones” to “that woman”.

We who believe in the Lord must endeavour to go back for the state of the garden of Eden. To have an intimate relationship between husband and wife, where the husband is the head and the wife is the body. The head must take care of the body; the husband must love and be willing to sacrifice for the wife. The wife must be submissive. This is the concept of one body. Satan tempts us to break this relationship! He’s trying to create two heads! In this society where everyone is trying to fight for gender inequality, you’ll get a 妖怪 lol because two heads

The teachings of the Bible will always far surpass all worldly concept.

When husband and wife disagree and try to reason out in fleshly terms, the watching devil will add oil to the fire.

To the youths: if you want to get married, fear the Lord. You also need to respect your parents. After you get married, respect one another and first and foremost respect God.

Each person comes from a different background, family and environment. Each person is different. When there’re conflicts and differences of opinion, don’t forget to seek God.

When God created Eve for Adam, Adam was made to fall into a deep sleep and run of his rib bones was taken out. God then joined the flesh back (Gen 1:21). When God instituted marriage/one man and one woman, it seems He performed surgery.

We always imagine surgery to be very bloody but God sealed it up. Closing up the flesh made it seem like there’s no surgery at all.

Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger. Even if you’re angry, seek God. Don’t leave a foothold for the devil.

Now to Jacob and Rachel:
Gen 30:1
Jacob loved Rachel dearly but after they got married, she couldn’t get pregnant. He was also married to Leah who bore 4 children. A woman being able to give birth was very important then. People determine whether a person is blessed based on them. It impacts the status of the woman in that family. She quarrelled with Jacob over it.
“Give me children, or else I die!”

People of old aren’t so educated. They’ll cry. Throw a tantrum. Used killing oneself to threaten.

This didn’t happen before marriage. After marriage we may wonder:
“Why’re you so fierce? Why’re you so unreasonable?”
v2 Jacob’s anger was aroused against Rachel his wife!

But even though Jacob was angry, he had more faith. If he became violent, the result would really have been unthinkable. “Am I in the place of God who has withheld fruit from your womb?”

The quarrel between this couple is very artificially carried out. They thought about God. After Jacob said that, Rachel should have understood.

v22 Then God remembered Rachel and she gave birth
This shows Rachel has been praying. She was able to quiet herself and was no longer quarrelsome. Jacob reminded her this was in the hand of God. Then she prayed. And she gave birth to the most capable son :p

Chinese saying: A bad bamboo can grow a good shoot.
The tree is bad with worms but the new shoots look so good.

Rachel entrusted this matter to God and gave birth to Joseph.

Why did the Bible record all these things? To tell it is God who instituted marriage.

To forgive is to release. Paul explains this as love thinks no evil/is not calculative. This is an area we should pursue in our spiritual nurture between coworkers and marriage.

It’s not forgetting, but entrusting the hurt we got. Don’t keep thinking about what someone has done to us.

Matt 6:12
Forgive us our sins as we forgive the sins of others.

Luke 11:4
And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. A call for us to forgive so God will not judge us and require us to give an account.

May God be gracious that through the Holy Spirit we may understand the teachings of the Bible and receive blessings.