The Gossiping Tongue
Central Christian Church
Introduction: Series on taming the tongue!
---We all have our individual struggles when dealing with taming the tongue!
---Swearing, lying, boasting, gossip and slander, silent
Ill: There were three preachers on a fishing trip –confess their sins!
1. I like to drink a little too much!
2. I like to visit some unsavory women!
3. Brothers I hate to tell you this I have a real problem with gossip!
TABOLIDS PROVE HOW MUCH WE LOVE SCANDOLUS NEWS! We have all heard information that we have wondered what we should do with it?
The word gossip originates from a Greek word that means “to whisper”
There is only one time in the NT that a Greek word is translated as gossip and it is found in 1Timothy 5:13. It used to refer to women in the church who are widows and they are going from house to house repeating things that should not be said or mentioned. The word is phluo and it means to boil up or blow up empty bubbles.
Once a pot begins to boil it will overflow and create a real mess!
The Bible gives some guidance on how to handle idle talk!
1. What is the message that has been shared?
2. What is the motive of the message?
3. What is the correct method to share the message?
I. What is the message that is being shared?
1. PURPOSE TEST: ---We often have items in our lives that just sit around and collect dust. I found this stamp that Melvin Newland left in the office and I’m really not sure what it is good for!
When we receive information that is of an unsavory nature we need to decide what to do with it! It is not gossip to share information that is negative about a person!
Ill: A kid reports that his coach has touch him in an inappropriate way and has asked you not to report him or her.
Ill: A kid in your youth group is pregnant and plans to have an abortion but ask you to not tell.
Ill: If your friends husband is running around and she is the only one that does not know what do you do?
Ill: A friend is taking things at work!
2. The second test the message must pass is the “truth test?”
Proverbs 6:19--There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.
Against Paul--They produced false witnesses, who testified, "This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law.
TRUE OR FALSE?
Power Point---1. Gov. George Bush declared June 10, 2000 “Jesus Day” in Texas—true
2. John Wayne, near the end of his life, accepted Jesus because of a letter sent from an injured girl who attended Robert Schuler’s Crystal Cathedral. -false
3. A Physician weighed bodies after death to determine the weight of the human soul.—True
4. Petition to Ban Religious Broadcasting Claim: Atheists are petitioning the FCC to get religious broadcasting banned from American airwaves..false..
...Commission (FCC) in Washington, DC. Their petition, Number 2493, would ultimately pave the way to stop the reading of the gospel of our Lord and Savior,...false
5. ACLU has sued to remove the Mojave Cross from Federal Land...true
Ill: GO AHEAD AND GOSSIP Harriet, the church gossip and self-appointed supervisor of the church’s morals, kept sticking her nose into other people’s business.
Several residents were unappreciative of her activities, but feared her enough to maintain their silence. She made a mistake, however, when she accused George, a new member, of being an alcoholic after she saw his pickup truck parked all afternoon in front of the town’s only bar. She commented to George and others that everyone seeing it there would know that he was an alcoholic. George, a man of few words, stared at her for a moment and then just walked away. He said nothing. Later that evening, George quietly parked his pickup in front of Harriet’s house and left it there all night... (Pulpit Helps, April 2003)
WHILE THE MESSAGE IS IMPORTANT WE MUST ALSO CONSIDER THE MOTIVE OF THE MESSAGE! JUST BECAUSE IT IS TRUE DOES NOT MEAN IT NEEDS TO BE SHARED!
II. What is the motive of the message?
Why should I share this message with another person?
I thought Rick Warren gave a great definition of gossip and how we know when we are gossiping. He said this, “When we are talking about a situation with somebody who is neither part of the problem or part of the solution, then we are probably gossiping.” When we are talking about a situation with someone who is neither part of the problem
Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing covered.
Proverbs 17:9
Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends.
Proverbs 25:9
Argue your case with your neighbor himself, and do not reveal another's secret,
THERE ARE THREE TYPES OF GOSSIP!
1. There is the idle talk, (no purpose)—NEED TO KNOW BASIS! Which is careless and insensitive information that is spread to those who have no real need to know it. This is the work of busybodies who have nothing better to do than mind other people’s business (I Tim. 5:13). -----ILL: Someone in our congregation got a DUI will in Austin.
------------Ill: Someone who works with our youth got a DUI
ILL: Visited a member of our church an was told by the lead minister that she had hit a child that ran out in front of her car so be careful about the congregation. Or they have a son who committed suicide.
2. The second type of gossip is the malicious gossip (I Tim. 3:11). This person has a clear, though often thinly disguised, purpose of harming the person they are talking about. It may very well be that what they are saying about the person is true. However, rather than speaking the truth in love (Eph. 4:15), they are out to inflict wounds and do damage (Prov. 17:9).
3. A third, and more dangerous type of person the Bible calls a slanderer. The slanderer adds a new dimension to the gossip’s destructive work in that he is willing to pervert the truth and lie against the person he is speaking about.
They know what they are spreading is a lie –intended to harm---
Potipher’s Wife,
David’s enemies,
Naboth’s Vineyard,
Jerehemiah by the Jews,
Jesus,
testify against Stephen Acts 6:11 Paul-Jewish leaders
Romans 1:28 “Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.
1:29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. They are gossips,
1:30 Slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents;
1:31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
1:32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these things but also approve of those who practice them.”
PURPOSE_ “Slander” is a word that has an interesting origin. It comes from the word “Devil.” According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, slander means “malicious talk; to spread damaging information; to defame; to speak ill of
WHILE GOSSIP AND SLANDER ARE FORBIDDEN AS CHRIST FOLLOWERS WE SHOULD NOT COVER UP SIN!
“secret counsel of evildoers” (Ps. 64:2)
“our secret sins” (Ps. 90:8);
“who devour the oppressed in secret” (Hab. 3:14);
or, false teachers “secretly introduce destructive heresies” (II Pet. 2:1).
“men love the darkness rather than the light; for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light, lest his deed should be exposed” (Jo. 3:19-20).
III. What is the correct method to share the message?
It is no longer a rumor, but a fact that needs to be dealt with?
1. Why should we deal with a sinful situation? Does it the bible say –judge not less ye be judge?
If YOU HAVE RECEIVED INFORMATION THAT NEEDS TO BE HANDLED!
ILL: Nathan had to deal with David’s sin with Uriah and Bathsheba
Ill: Joshua –Achan’s sin!
Ill: SIN AT THE CHURCH IN CORINTH---"It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you.... Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? ... But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. ... God will judge those outside. 'Expel the wicked man from among you'" (1 Corinthians 5:1, 6, 11, 13).
WE made a choice to be part of the body of Christ! We are no longer islands living for ourselves!
----We do not get to do whatever we want to do.
---Just because you think you think you have met your soul mate does not give you the right to leave your husband!
---Just because you find yourself attracted to the same sex does not give you a right to leave your wife and kids and demand that God redefine the family, marriage, and the natural order!
---Just because you are believe you were born the wrong gender does not give you the right to change what God made you and pretend you are something else!
We are called to die ourselves!
---Don’t you think Jesus would have rather escaped the cross, settled down and married and live happily ever after?
--Do you think Paul and Silas had better things to do than be beaten, put in stocks and locked in a dungeon!
---Don’t you think the Catholic Priest Martin Luther’s friends told him to shut his mouth and just ignore the selling of Indulgences to build St. Peter’s Basilica !
1. Go with witnesses!
If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Titus 3:10
IF for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, 2 Timothy 3:16-17
2. Go with the Bible
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
3. Go in love
Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. Gal. 6:1
Conclusion: My name is Gossip. I have no respect for justice. I maim without killing. I break hearts and ruin lives. I am cunning and malicious and gather strength with age. The more I am quoted, the more I am believed. I flourish at every level of society. My victims are helpless. They cannot protect themselves against me because I have no face. To track me down is impossible. The harder you try, the more elusive I become. I am nobodies friend. Once I tarnish a reputation, it is never the same. I topple governments, wreck marriages, and ruin careers -- cause sleepless nights, heartaches, and indigestion. I spawn suspicion and generate grief. I make innocent people cry in their pillows. Even my name hisses… I make headlines and headaches. Before you repeat a story, ask yourself, Is it true? Is it fair? Is it necessary? If not – shut up! Laura Schlessinger, The Ten Commandments: The Signigicance of God's Law in Everyday Life, p. 203
Gossip
Coming out of church, Mrs. Smith asked her husband, "Do you think that Johnson girl is tinting her hair?""I didn’t even see her," admitted Mr. Smith."And that dress Mrs. Davis was wearing," continued Mrs. Smith, "Really, don’t tell me you think that’s the proper costume for a mother of two.""I’m afraid I didn’t notice that either," said Mr. Smith."Oh, for heaven’s sake," snapped Mrs. Smith. "A lot of good it does you to go to church." People who talk about false gods are involved in idol gossip.
LET”S BUILD PEOPLE UP RATHER THAN TEAR PEOPLE DOWN!
LET’S TALK ABOUT THE GOOD THINGS GOD IS DOING!
--RACHEAL WHO WALKS TO CHURCH AND HAS DONE SO FOR YEARS!
--ELDER’S WHO VISIT THE SICK, AND TAKE COMMUNION
--MEN WHO CAME AND COOKED AND WORKED SO THAT LADIES OF THE CHURCH COULD HAVE A SPECIAL TIME OF SPIRITUAL GROWTH AND FELLOWSHIP!
