A Heart Condition
Gossiper or Encourager?
Do you remember an Olympic skier by the name of Picabo Street. Picabo [pronounced “peek-a-boo”] She is, or was the well-known Olympic gold medalist in the Super G a few years ago. But, she is more than a famous skier. In fact, between training on the slopes and traveling around the world to compete, she managed to get an education and earn a degree in nursing. Early in her nursing career, she worked briefly as an ICU nurse in a large metropolitan hospital.
She did outstanding work. But there was a problem. The head of nursing had to tell her not to answer the phone in ICU because of the confusion it caused callers. Callers would be connected to ICU and hear Picabo say in her best professional voice: “Picabo, ICU.”
True story? No way.
Picabo is not now a nurse, has never been a nurse, and as far as I know, doesn’t particularly want to be a nurse.
But she gets the joke. Since she was a child, she’s been teased about her name. Her parents got it from an Idaho town that takes its name from a Native American word meaning “shining waters.”
Picabo, ICU. It’s was just rumor.
Another describes a horrible accident involving the cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants. How many of you have heard of him? We even sing about him at the Bums games sometimes.
Well, did you know about the child on a cruise ship with his parents? He finished breakfast and announced he was going to see SpongeBob. His parents, thinking that he was going to the cabin to watch TV, had no problem with this. But in his attempt to visit SpongeBob, who “lives in a pineapple under the sea,” the child jumped over the rail and drowned.
A terrible tragedy — if it had actually happened. But this SpongeBob story is completely false. Such stories “reflect standard parental fears, that TV will have a bad effect on kids,” says Barbara Mikkelson, an expert in contemporary legends. Similar rumors popped up about earlier pop culture characters — kids were said to be jumping off roofs while trying to be like Mary Poppins or Superman.
Picabo has a problem, and so do we: We cannot resist the temptation to spread a good story, whether it is true or not. (Do you know when it all began? Do these words sound familiar “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
The Bible tells us”
“the tongue is a fire,”
• it can set an entire forest ablaze (3:5-6),
• it’s dangerous and destructive,
• its power is far greater than its size,
• it’s like a tiny rudder that can guide a huge ship,
• it’s like a small bridle that controls the movement of a large horse (vv. 3-4).
Never underestimate the power of this particular body part.
Of course, we know this. We’ve seen what happens to the standing of an elementary school boy when he is labeled a thief. Or to the reputation of a middle school girl when she is said to be sexually active. Or to the college prospects of a high schooler when he is rumored to be a cheater. Or to the promotion chances of a worker when she is said to be lazy or stupid.
It hardly matters whether these charges are true or not. If they are disseminated, they do damage. There was a rumor going around recently about a popular hip-hop artist. The story was that she would rather suffer the death of her firstborn child than have a white person buy one of her albums.
It’s not true. And yet, the story spreads the stain of racism.
“No one can tame the tongue,” says James, it is “a restless evil, full of deadly poison” (v. 8). Did you hear about the kid who ate six bags of Pop Rocks at a party? His name was John Gilchrist, the actor who played “Little Mikey” in television commercials for Life cereal. He ate six bags of Pop Rocks, drank a six-pack of Pepsi, and the two substances combined in his stomach and exploded, killing him horribly. That’s why Pop Rocks were taken off the market in the early 1980s.
The truth is that John Gilchrist never exploded. Pop Rocks plus soda produces only a burp. But the makers of Pop Rocks had to work hard to squelch the rumor, even writing to school principals. The same sort of corporate action had to be taken by the company Procter & Gamble, when it was accused of having links to Satanism.
There is truth to the saying “If you can’t say anything good, don’t say anything at all.” Perhaps we, as Christians, should take that saying one-step further… “If we can’t say anything good, something that reflects a Christ-like attitude and reflects the love of Christ through us, than we shouldn’t say anything at all.
Nothing more hurtful, more discouraging to one of your brothers or sisters than to make an unkind, uncalled for remark about someone’s attempt to do the right thing for God, that perhaps doesn’t come out perfect. Instead of condemning, suggest something encouraging, helpful and respect the fact that the brother or sister is working for the Glory of God, not the approval of you and I.
Nothing divides a church faster than thoughtlessly spoken words and gossip. God hates gossip. You don’t have to believe me, look at the insert in your bulletin, take it home and check out the scriptures for yourself.
Listen to these words of God specifically concerning His church:
5 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong. 2 Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few. (Ec 5:1-2).
Do you know how to stop the spread of a rumor? Simply don’t respond.
20 Without wood a fire goes out; without gossip a quarrel dies down. (Pr 26:20).
There simply isn’t anything good about gossip.
There is a great Christian virtue in simply holding your tongue.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German Christian martyr of the Second World War, believed that there was a special ministry to be performed in holding one’s tongue. “Often we combat our evil thoughts most effectively,” he wrote, “if we absolutely refuse to allow them to be expressed in words.”
This great spiritual awakening begins with a simple step: keeping our mouths shut.
Today’s scripture has Paul encouraging Timothy (and us) to be faithful in the face of adversity and hardship. He makes an analogy to a soldier who does not get caught up in civilian affairs. Like a soldier, we, as Christians, are not to get caught up in the things of this world, of our culture. Like an athlete, we are to stay the course, the Christian life if we hope to win the crown of victory. Paul then makes yet one more analogy, that of the hardworking farmer who should receive first shares of the crops. Yes, there are rewards in heaven and yes God gives us evidence again and again these rewards are based on the life we live for the Glory of God while here on earth. Reflect on these things, says Paul, and God will give you insight on these things.
In verses 14 through 16 Paul implores Timothy to warn us about quarreling, how utterly useless are cross words, to stay hard working for Christ and to “Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.
Hummm…. Kinda tough stuff isn’t it?
The irony is that the tongue can do great good, but also great evil. “With it we bless the Lord and Father,” says James, “and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing.” With our words, we can curse our brothers and sisters, discourage them, weaken them and break them down. But praise God, we can also bless people, encourage them and strengthen them and build them up
There are few ministries more important than the ministry of encouragement.
One of the most idealized lifestyles of all time is that of the American cowboy. The success of movies like "City Slickers" shows that the dream to be a cowboy still ranks right up there on people’s "wish lists."
What is the big attraction behind the cowboy persona? Perhaps it can be found in the cowboy "theme song" we all know:
"Home, home on the range
Where the deer and the antelope play
Where seldom is heard, a discouraging word
And the skies are not cloudy all day."
"Where seldom is heard a discouraging word." Sometimes it’s hard for us to imagine such a place. From the moment we turn on the early news to get the early news, we are bombarded by "discouraging words" all day long.
Crime is up, stocks are down; there is global warming, natural resources are dwindling and the air is the color of the lint under your bed. Your boss blames you, your coworkers resent you; your dog bit you, your spouse is glowering at you and the kids are whining at you. Who wouldn’t want to "git along" and be a cowboy?
Some of the most discouraging words sneak up on us when we are simply standing in the grocery check-out line…where we all sneak peaks at the headlines of trashy tabloid magazines. Ever notice how there isn’t ever any good-news gossip on their pages? What sells papers is bad news -- hence the rumors and innuendo. Gossip is almost by definition negative and disheartening: divorces, deaths, diseases, disasters, disappointments.
In the face of all this gloom and doom, we need to claim a ministry as "Christian cowpokes" and refuse to utter a "discouraging word."
We all need encouragers in our lives, and we must all serve as encouragers for others. Imagine what we might hear if we devoted ourselves to listening for and passing along only "good gossip"
Contrary to popular pessimism, no news is not good news. Good news is good news, and if we don’t spread it around, who will?
Paul’s letter to Philemon demonstrates how being an encouraging Christian is a reciprocal relationship. Paul explicitly thanks Philemon for being an encourager to him in his ministry through the gift of his Christian love. Now if Philemon had, in any way, small or large, added comfort and joy to Paul’s gospel mission, think how encouraging it must have been for Philemon to read those words from Paul’s own hand. Surely those encouraging words bore fruit in Philemon’s next encounter with a Christian brother or sister.
When we are encouraged, we are then enabled to pass along encouragement to others. But someone has got to start the ball rolling.
(Use an illustration here of someone in your parish who is an "encourager.")
Most of us have grown so careful about armoring ourselves against all the bad news that bombards us daily that our antennae are simply not tuned to receive or even register the odd snippet of good news that floats our way. Next time a good word about someone passes you by, why not latch onto it and pass it along to that individual? What if Christians were known as people who surprise others with good news?
Another form Christian encouragement can take is prayer. A friend in Florida periodically calls just to say, "I’m praying for you." His only agenda in these calls is encouragement. His conversations seldom last longer than three minutes. But the lift they give lasts for days. Part of the encouragement Paul offers Philemon, even as he thanks him for the encouragement Philemon gives to him, comes in the form of prayer. Paul intentionally reveals to Philemon that he prays for him (v.4). (Tell the story of someone in your congregation who is a prayer-encourager.)
Several years ago, Lloyd John Ogilvie, the newly appointed U.S. Senate Chaplain, wrote these amazing words:
This past year has been the most difficult year of my life. My wife has been through five major surgeries, radiation treatment and chemotherapy. I am thankful that I now know she is going to make it. During the same year, I suffered the loss of several key staff teammates whose moves were very guided for them, but a source of pressure and uncertainty in my work. Problems which I could have tackled with gusto under normal circumstances seemed to loom in all directions. Discouragement lurked around every corner, trying to capture my feelings. Prayer was no longer a contemplative luxury, but the only way to survive. My own intercessions were multiplied by the prayers of others. Friendships were deepened as I was forced to allow people to assure me with words I had preached for years. No day went by without a conversation, letter or phone call giving me love and hope. The greatest discovery is that I can have joy when I don’t feel like it -- artesian joy.
Offering encouragement through prayer gives comfort and makes Christian love tangible in the lives of brothers and sisters. But stirring people up, getting people "stirred up," is yet another grace that results from encouragement. Genuine, heartfelt encouragement is one of the greatest confidence builders known.
"When Werner von Braun headed the Marshall Space Flight Center, he received letters from all over the world and had a number of secretaries to compose standard replies. Sometimes von Braun would scribble a few words in the margins of the ’form letters.’ On one occasion, a college student wrote asking about the future of space flight; the secretaries wrote a cautious and formal reply, pointing out the risks, boredom and uncertainties of this new field, suggesting that the student consider all alternatives. Von Braun scratched through the cautious reply and scribbled, ’Come with us! We’re going to the moon!’"
Here’s something else to think about.. listen to these words of Jesus:
45 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. (Lk 6:45).
Are you one of the encouragers in our congregation? Are you one who gives people the courage to dream to go on, even to "go to the moon?"
God, the Father loves us enough that He sent His only Son, Jesus, our Lord to take all our sins from us through His work on the cross. All those sins that separated us from God and now we have direct access to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. But wait, there’s more! In spite of our failures, He loves us enough to promise us eternal life with Him… a life without pain or suffering, and without unkind words, and without gossip. Now that’s truly encouraging!
