Lawn advice
Proverbs 26:20-22
I like the looks of a green lawn, nicely cut, pretty flowers blooming in the flowerbeds.
I don’t have that at my house, in fact I don’t have a lawn at all. Weeds, privit, poison Ivey, But I like a nice lawn. Have you ever noticed how quickly weeds can take over a lawn?
Today I want to talk about weeds. Not the kind that affect our lawns but another kind.
To get us started I want to quote the lyrics to a song. I have never actually heard it I found the lyrics on-line.
It is a kids song, Titled – “The Rumor Weed Song”
It starts as a story.
Maybe it’s true, maybe not,
but once you repeat it it’s hard to defeat it.
Now look at the mess that you’ve got!
I’m a rumor weed! I’m a rumor weed!
A tiny little story is all I need to make a big mess.
I’m a rumor weed!”
A rumor, as this song implies, is kind of like weeds that grows so fast that it gets out of control, until you are left with a big mess. The mess is that once it is out of control you can’t stop it even if it is completely false. It can lead to a mess that destroys carriers, lives, families, companies and even Churches
This morning we are going to look at what the Bible has to say about spreading rumors.
First of all, what is a rumor?
According to Webster, a “rumor” is “a current story passing from one person to another, without any known authority for the truth of it.”
Closely related to rumor is gossip. “Gossip” is defined as “running from house to house, tattling and telling news.”
A gossip” is “a person who habitually reveals personal or sensational information.”
I believe that we can all agree that going around telling stories that have no facts behind them can make some big messes.
However, some of us would say that it’s not gossip if what we share with others is factual.
Gossip, as we just heard in some of our definitions, is sharing “any” personal or confidential information. It does not have to be nonfactual information to be considered gossip or rumors.
Gossip, therefore, is openly sharing both nonfactual and factual personal information about someone else. Rumors and gossip are things that we should avoid at all cost because the information we spread can be destructive to those individuals when shared with others.
We are supposed to try to be like Christ in all that we do and our God is not in the business of tearing down lives. He’s in the business of rebuilding and making all things new.
This morning we are going to examine Proverbs 26:20-22 as our focal passage in discussing the destructive nature of rumors, however, we are also going to look at a many other verses as well.
(Read Proverbs 26:20-22)
“Without wood, a fire will go out, and without gossip, quarreling will stop. Just as charcoal and wood keep a fire going, a quarrelsome person keeps an argument going. The words of a gossip are like tasty bits of food; people like to gobble them up.”
These verses tell us that whenever we gossip and spread rumors that it is like throwing wood or fuel on a fire. Let me provide you with an illustration.
Let us suppose that a fellow church member messes up and commits some sort of sin. If we know that this person has done something wrong in the eyes of God then we should first pray about it and then confront the person by ourselves.
Dealing with the person’s sin discretely will help him to be less defensive. It will also help the person to be much more humble in admitting their sin and accepting God’s forgiveness.
If we first go and tell everyone else about what the person is doing, then he or she will become angry that people are judging him and condemning him, and talking behind his back. And he might build a wall of anger and ignore the offence and will probably retaliate by spreading rumors about his attackers, and then people start growing to despise one another. It’s like a fire that just keeps growing higher and hotter.
Rumors themselves become like a growing fire, because the longer they circulate the bigger and more ludicrous they become.
It has been said, “
Rumor is one thing that gets thicker when you spread it.”
You have probably had a schoolteacher or Sunday school teacher demonstrate the effects of gossip to you before. If the teacher starts on one end of the classroom and tells a student a secret, and then has this student to pass the secret along from student to student, then by the time it reaches the other end of the classroom the story is completely twisted. It is not what it was when it first began.
The Scripture contains an excellent illustration of how a tale that is passed along can become perverted.
In John 21:20-23. “Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, ‘Lord, who is the one who betrays You?’ Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, ‘But Lord, what about this man?’ Jesus said to him, ‘If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.’ Then this saying went out among the brethren that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, ‘If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you?’”
Jesus comments even became the subject of rumors. His words became twisted and misrepresented by being repeated and told over and over again.
If that can happen to his words it is not hard to believe that anyone’s comments could be misinterpreted.
However sometimes, people can start rumors on purpose. It can be a form of destruction that is mean, vindictive and even just plain evil. This type of person is like a virus or an arsonist and just want to get something going, getting some unknown satisfaction from the destruction.
Proverbs 16:27-28 describes a person like this, “Scoundrels hunt for scandal; their words are a destructive [fire]. A troublemaker plants seeds of strife; gossip separates the best of friends” (NLT).
- A rumor can be like charcoal in that many times it seems like it will never die out. Have you ever noticed that charcoal or embers in a fire can look as though they stopped burning? All you can see is a pale grey looking dust but, they have heat emanating from them. Have you ever just stirred them up a little bit that they will re-ignite?
“Abraham Lincoln’s coffin was opened in 1887 because a rumor had convinced many people that his grave was empty. To the surprise of quite a few, Lincoln’s body was found just as it had been buried twenty-two years earlier. Some good rumors never die, though. Fourteen years later the same rumor circulated again. The critics would not be silenced, so Lincoln’s body was exhumed again.”
Once a rumor is started accidentally or on purpose it’s almost impossible to retract it. The only real way to stop a rumor is to never begin one and certainly never repeat one.
Let’s look at another translation of Proverbs 26:20 the New Living Translation says, “Fire goes out for lack of fuel, and quarrels disappear when gossip stops.”
If we cease to begin and fail to repeat a rumor it will never ignite and grow because we will not be adding fuel to the fire.
Unfortunately many churches have a lot of fire starters and pyromaniacs in them, or scoundrels as Proverbs 16:27 calls them.
The only real way to put out a fire is with water.
I have to wonder sometimes if some of the people who are addicted to spreading rumors have ever tasted of the water of life. If they did, then they forgot the sweet taste and cool feel that washed the sins and judgment from their lives. They have forgotten what freedom from judgment and damnation feels like.
If you talk to very many pastors they will tell you that most churches have at least some people in them who claim to be Christians, but who have never actually had a personal encounter with Jesus Christ or who’s path some time back, took a turn toward the dark side.
We are in that time of year when people are enjoying cookouts. I hear that the best cooks insist on a charcoal fire, they say that it offers the best flavor. Who can resist flame-broiled stakes and burgers? The sizzling sound and the aroma of cooking meat can give anyone an appetite.
Rumors and gossip are as tempting as being invited to a summer cookout. The meal is free, and it offers innocent companionship. The best invitations come from people that know about charcoal fires and how to best flavor the information, Who can resist…right?
The sound of sizzling ideas and stories and the aroma of intrigue can make anyone want a sample, just a little taste and suddenly you are right in the middle of a big mess.
I think people like rumors so much because they are spiritually hungry and empty inside. Many of the people who love to hear and tell rumors have too much time on their hands and they are just plain bored.
1 Timothy 5:13 says, “Besides that, they learn to waste their time, going from house to house. And they not only waste their time but also begin to gossip and busy themselves with other people’s lives, saying things they should not say” (NCV).
Many people are trying to alleviate their boredom, or mental emptiness, by occupying their minds with rumors. Instead of focusing on the negative things in life we should be filling that emptiness in our minds, and filling that spiritual hunger, with God’s Word. Perhaps by finding work that will let you touch people for God. God can use anyone that is willing to touch children, adults, neighbors, strangers, dieing, lonely or any number of other conditions. Busy people don’t have time for or need the excitement of rumors when they are filled with the satisfaction from God.
“A monk once told his leader, ‘I am troubled in spirit, and I want to leave this place.’ The old man said, ‘Why?’ The monk said, ‘I have heard unedifying stories about one of the brothers.’ The old man said, ‘Are the stories true?’ He said, ‘Yes, Father. The brother who told me is a man of trust.’ The old man answered, ‘The brother who told you is not a man of trust. For if he was so, he would not have told you these stories’.”
Relating to this story, Proverbs 11:13 says, “A gossip goes around revealing secrets, but those who are trustworthy can keep a confidence” (NLT).
We need to realize that those people who go around talking are individuals we should not trust with confidential information. So what should we do?
If you are tired of hearing of rumors floating around you, you have already suggested a different line of conversation, But there is not change, Politely leave the conversation. Don’t hang around to be influenced and dragged into a bad situation .
I want to leave one last thought related to Gossip and Rumors.
Dr. John Skowronski, a psychology professor at Ohio State University, was the lead author of a study that assessed the effects of gossip. They discovered that people who hear gossip will actually associate the message with the person that tells it. If you talk about someone who is dishonest, the person hearing you tell the story will associate that characteristic with you as well. Likewise, if you sing the praises of someone who is getting a degree from Harvard, you will be remembered as intellectual. Dr. Skowronski said, ‘It’s a memory mistake. You listen to the descriptions of others’ actions without thinking much about it. Later, when you search your thoughts about the person who told you, you subconsciously associate them with their description of someone else’.”
Gossip and rumors rarely if ever are used to glorify our God or lift up people.
Rick Warren says, “Gossip is passing on information when you are neither part of the problem nor part of the solution.”
That is not our fathers business. That is more likely the work of the evil one, it smells like smoke and it does nothing to resolve the problems.
I want all of us to be busy with out fathers work and be a part of his solution to this sinful world.
I have one last distinction to share; there is a definite physical difference between having a concern and working to resolve it and having a concern and just spreading it with no intention of doing something. Many times there is a chance of a legitimate worry but there is no interest in looking for facts or making any attempt to be a part of the solution.
As Christians we must always be vigilant and look for right and wrong. We must always lift up the weak and wounded and defend them against the strong and oppressive.
What part of the Garden are you, grass, flowers or the weeds?
All Glory be to God!
