Reading Psalm 15<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nI. Some sins are overt. They are clearly and obviously wrong. But other sins are subtle. \nWe don’t realize that what we are doing is wrong.\n
A. Gossiping can be that way.<\/p>\n 1. Oh, I’m sure we see that the loud-mouth neighbor on a TV sitcom is\nwrong. After all, the person is all but wearing a sign that says “gossiper.”\n 2. However, at times we get caught up in gossip without realizing what we\nare doing.\n
B. What is wrong with gossiping? It can’t be undone!<\/p>\n 1. “The story is told of a small village in Eastern Europe. One of the men in\nthe community had a dislike for leading man. He made it a practice to\nslander the wise man at every opportunity. Eventually, he had a change in\nheart. Feeling guilty at his lies and misrepresentations, the man presented\nhimself to the wise man, admitted his error, and asked for forgiveness. The\nwise man considered the request for a moment and told the man to first go\nto the top of the highest hill and while there cut open a feather pillow and\nscatter its contents. “When you have done that,” he said, “return to me.”\nThe penitent man did as he was told and returned to the wise man. “I’ve\ndone as you asked,” said the former slanderer, “Am I now forgiven?” \n“Almost,” replied the wise man. “I only ask one more thing of you. Go\nand gather all the feathers up again.” “But that’s impossible,” cried the\nman. “They’ve been blown to the four corners of the earth!” “Yes,” said\nthe wise man, “and so it is impossible to undo the damage you have done\nwith your words, which never can be retrieved.”\n
II. Gossip is damaging<\/p>\n
A. The righteous does not slander (speaks maliciously about another) – Ps 15:1-3<\/p>\n
B. Our speech is suppose to be edifying – improving others – Eph 4:29, Rom 15:2<\/p>\n
C. It is the scoundrel who digs up evil to accuse – Pr 16:27–28<\/p>\n
D. It is also damaging to the gossiper – Ps 101:5<\/p>\n
III. Gossip is unconfirmed<\/p>\n A. Demetrius spoke falsely about John (means bring unjustified charges or unfounded\nrumors) – III John 10\n
B. Speaking truth in love – Eph 4:15<\/p>\n C. One writer said, “Digging for the facts is better than jumping to conclusions.”\nHowever, people prefer to jump because it involves less effort.\n
IV. Gossip is unkind<\/p>\n
A. Pr 25:23 – This is the secret gossiper and the result is always anger<\/p>\n
B. II Cor 12:20 – It is associated with all sorts of discord<\/p>\n
1. It is to be put away and replaced with kindness – Eph 4:31-32<\/p>\n
C. Talking about things that are not proper to mention – I Tim 5:13<\/p>\n
D. We are not to speak evil of no one – Tit 3:2<\/p>\n
1. This is not to say that we cannot approach someone about their sin<\/p>\n
2. Notice that then the objective is to improve, not to destroy.<\/p>\n
3. Notice that no one else was brought in to the matter.<\/p>\n
E. Speaking truth in love – Eph 4:15<\/p>\n
F. The golden rule – Matthew 7:12<\/p>\n
V. Ways gossiping is perpetuated<\/p>\n A. Most of us have mental images of the gossiper leaning over the back fence loudly\nwhispering shameful things about other people\n B. But it can be found in other forms. Some people tend to think that thinks written\nare true. While the written word was once more carefully considered than the\nspoken word because it took longer to produce, it did not always mean it was true.\n C. Today, with the Internet and e-mail, people can spread the written word faster than\nit can be spoken. Too often, people resend what they receive without ever\nchecking to see if it was true. Well, it came from brother So-and-So and I’m sure\nhe must have checked. The problem is brother So-and-So didn’t check because he\ngot it from a brother he trusted, and so on.\n
D. Here is an example:<\/p>\n 1. In 1996, Procter & Gamble filed a lawsuit against Amway Corporation and\nsome of its distributors for spreading rumors to the effect that P&G is\naffiliated with the Church of Satan.\n 2. It seems people in Amway were repeating statements from a flyer that has\nbeen circling the globe for years via fax, mail, and now e-mail. The rumors\nit contains have existed for the better part of twenty years and continue to\nrun rampant despite P&G’s best efforts to combat them.\n
3. Here is one e-mail that has been circulating:<\/p>\n
PLEASE MAKE A DIFFERENCE<\/p>\n
\nThe president of Proctor & Gamble appeared on Phil Donahue Show on March 1, 1994. He\nannounced that due to the openness of our society, he was coming out of the closet about his\nassociation with the church of Satan. He stated that a large portion of his profits from Procter &\nGamble products goes to support this satanic church. When asked by Donahue if stating this on\nTV would hurt his business, he replied, “There are not enough Christians in the United States to\nmake a difference.\n
\n[The e-mail goes on to list P&G products, alleges that an P&G emblem of a ram’s horn forming\nthe number 666 will soon appear on its products, and calls for support from Christians in\nboycotting P&G. To further bolster its appearance of truth, it suggests sending $3.00 to the Phil\nDonahue show, giving its address, for a transcript of the show.]\n 4. How many people do you think bother to check? You see the president of\nP&G never appeared on the Donahue show.\n
April 5, 1995<\/p>\n
To Whom It May Concern<\/p>\n
\nIt seems impossible that the rumor of an appearance by the president of Proctor & Gamble on\nDonahue is still circulating after more than a decade. There is absolutely nothing to this rumor.\n
\n
The president of P&G has never appeared on Donahue, nor has any other P&G executive.<\/p>\n
\n
Anyone who claims to have seen such a broadcast is either mistaken or lying. It never happened!<\/p>\n
\n
Sincerely,<\/p>\n
Phil Donahue<\/p>\n
5. There are plenty of hints in the letter that the contents must be false.<\/p>\n a. There \n is no single owner of Procter & Gamble who can decide what to do with \n the company’s profits – let alone tithe it to a satanic organization. \n P&G is publically owned and the profits go to shareholders.\n b. The figureheads of a large, successful company would never\npublicly claim to follow Satan, even if it were true. It is called bad\npublic relations. People don’t become presidents of major\ncorporations by being morons.\n
c. There are no symbols of a ram’s horn on P&G products.<\/p>\n
6. Why does it continue to circulate?<\/p>\n a. It was designed to stimulate the fears of a particular group of\npeople, in this case devout Christians.\n b. People who believe in the existence of Satan and understand the\nbattle between the forces of good and evil are predisposed to think\nit is plausible that the president of a powerful, respected\ncorporation would proudly announce on TV that he’s the minion of\nSatan.\n
c. People don’t check!!!<\/p>\n 7. It is not the cost of the mail or e-mail or our time that we are wasting. We\nare wasting our credibility. If people think Christians are stupid enough to\nfall for this falsehood, perhaps they are gullible enough to fall for that\nresurrection story.\n E. Brethren, your reputation is on the line every time you tell someone something you\nknow or when you copy an interesting story to your friends.\n F. Always, always, always make sure you are speaking the truth in love – Is it true, is\nit for the benefit of everyone involved, and does that person need to know.\n
G. Psalm 39:1<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Reading Psalm 15 I. Some sins are overt. They are clearly and obviously wrong. But other sins are subtle. We don’t realize that what we are doing is wrong. A. Gossiping can be that way. 1. Oh, I’m sure we see that the loud-mouth neighbor on a TV sitcom is wrong. After all, the person is all…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[32],"tags":[1573],"class_list":["post-19769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon","tag-gossip"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":20087,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-sin-require-a-public-confession-before-a-congregation\/","url_meta":{"origin":19769,"position":0},"title":"Does sin require a public confession before a congregation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 1, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: It is with great difficulty that I find myself writing to you with this question. I have been married for about several months now.\u00a0 Shortly before the wedding, we made a grievous error and fell into sexual sins.\u00a0 A child was conceived from this sin.\u00a0 We are overjoyed over\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":994,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/he-who-sows-discord-among-brethren\/","url_meta":{"origin":19769,"position":1},"title":"He Who Sows Discord Among Brethren","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 16, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Text: Proverbs 6:16-19 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Some people are not satisfied with the way things are. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They want people to change, but they go about it the wrong way. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They are missing any love for their brethren II.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Gossiping and Talebearing \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Talking about other people. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0People who engage in it have too much\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27369,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/am-i-doing-right-in-reconciling-with-my-former-husband\/","url_meta":{"origin":19769,"position":2},"title":"Am I doing right in reconciling with my former husband?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 28, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, Thank you in advance for reading and answering this question. I have a problem. I got married about 15 years ago to a man I'd been in love with since I was 17 years old. During the marriage, we had several problems, some physical and emotional abuse, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21733,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-detailed-does-a-confession-of-sin-have-to-be\/","url_meta":{"origin":19769,"position":3},"title":"How detailed does a confession of sin have to be?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 16, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How detailed does a confession of sin have to be? Do you need to list out all that you've done wrong? Answer: First, we need to remind ourselves what is the purpose of confession. Confessing our sins means we are facing up to the fact that we were in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":36146,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-difference-between-venting-and-gossiping\/","url_meta":{"origin":19769,"position":4},"title":"What is the difference between venting and gossiping?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 17, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a\u00a0friend that shares with me about other coworkers that have either said something that she did not like or hurt her feelings, in the past and currently, and I was wondering what exactly is the difference between just venting and gossiping.\u00a0 She sometimes\u00a0begins\u00a0by saying\u00a0\"I am just venting,\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":34390,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-be-forgiven-for-eavesdropping\/","url_meta":{"origin":19769,"position":5},"title":"How do I be forgiven for eavesdropping?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 21, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I had a problem with eavesdropping. Do I need to tell the people I've been eavesdropping on that I've done it or is it enough that I asked God for forgiveness and stopped eavesdropping? 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