The Rumor Weed

I’ve entitled our message for this morning “The Rumor Weed,” based on a Veggie Tale’s song. On one episode of Veggie Tales, Junior Asparagus and Laura Carrot learned just how easily rumors can get started when they accidentally launched a whopper of a tale about Larry-Boy’s butler, Alfred, being a robot! Before they knew it, their little story was spreading all over Bumblyburg like a weed! Thus, the characters had an opportunity to sing “The Rumor Weed Song.”

I want to read a few of the lyrics of this song: “It starts as a story. Maybe it’s true, maybe it’s 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!”(1) A rumor, as this song implies, is kind of like a weed that grows so fast that it gets out of control, until you’re left with a big mess and you don’t know what to do.

This morning, we’re 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.”(2) Closely related to rumor is gossip; and “gossip” is defined as “running from house to house, tattling and telling news.”(3) Rick Warren says, “Gossip is passing on information when you are neither part of the problem nor part of the solution.”(4) “A gossip” is “a person who habitually reveals personal or sensational [information].”(5)

I believe 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 doesn’t have to be nonfactual 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’re supposed to strive 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’re going examine Proverbs 26:20-22 as our focal passage in discussing the destructive nature of rumors; however, we’re also going to look at a multitude of other verses. So, be prepared to flip to them when you hear them called out. Let us now stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word:

The Strife Caused by a Talebearer

20 Where there is no wood, the fire goes out; and where there is no talebearer, strife ceases. 21 As charcoal is to burning coals, and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife. 22 The words of a talebearer are like tasty trifles, and they go down into the inmost body (Proverbs 26:20-22).

I like the way the New Century Version translates these verses. In this particular version we read this: “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.”

Rumors Will Add Fuel to the Fire

First of all, these verses tell us that whenever we gossip and spread rumors that it’s like throwing wood or fuel on a fire. Let me provide you with a possible example.

Let’s suppose that a fellow church member messes up and commits a terrible sin. If we know that this person has done something wrong in the eyes of God then we should first pray about it (James 5:15) and then confront the individual by ourselves (Matthew 18:15-17). Dealing with the person’s sin discretely will help him to be less defensive. It will also help the individual to be more humble in admitting their sin and accepting God’s forgiveness.

If we first go and tell everyone else about what the person’s doing, then he will become angry that people are judging him and condemning him, and talking behind his back. And he might resort to revenge and 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.

Like a Fire, Rumors Will Grow Larger

Rumors themselves can become like a growing fire, because the longer they circulate the bigger and more ludicrous they become. It’s been said, “Rumor is one thing that gets thicker when you spread it.”(6)