You know, one of the most cherished freedoms that we have in this country is the freedom of speech.
You know it's part of our Constitution, the First Amendment.
A part of the First Amendment goes like this.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof
or abridging the freedom of speech.
And that goes on.
And it does not have abridging the freedom of speech underlined.
I did that to emphasize this is a part of the Constitution of the United States of America.
It is one of our most cherished rights.
No one can stop us from going out there on the street
and just telling everybody what we think and how we feel.
We can make fools of ourselves, and many people do, with that freedom.
But as Christians, we need to remember that we live under a higher authority than that Constitution.
Jesus made it clear to His followers,
If you're going to follow me, you've got to surrender not only your rights, but your life.
Look at how Jesus said it in Luke chapter 9.
And He said to all, all who were there,
If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
Taking up his cross daily, that phrase is talking about dying to self.
A cross is an instrument of death.
So Jesus said, if you want to be my disciple, if you want to follow me,
then you've got to deny yourself.
It can't be about you.
You know, Jesus is one who made it very, very clear.
To be my follower, you're going to be about me.
You're going to be about the Father's will.
Or you won't be my disciple.
You've got to deny yourself, take up your cross daily, die daily, and follow me.
He said something similar, but He said a lot more about it in Luke chapter 14, beginning in verse 25.
I want to come to the end of that section and look at what Jesus said in verse 33.
Again, speaking to the crowds, wanting everyone to be clear.
This is what's involved.
You're going to be my disciple.
So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
So Jesus is telling us very clearly, if you want to be mine, if you want to be a Christian,
then you've got to make a total commitment of your life.
You're holding nothing back.
You've got to make a total commitment of your life to live under my authority.
And that includes even our speech.
We as Christians, living under the authority of Jesus Christ, we do not have the right to just say whatever we think, whatever we feel.
Now, as children of God, God has put His Spirit in us.
And He so works in us to give us the right kinds of desires.
The Spirit of God works in us to motivate us to want to live a life that pleases Him, that surrenders to the authority of Jesus.
Excuse me.
I love the way Paul put it in Philippians chapter 2, verses 12 and 13.
Look at it with me.
He's writing to Christians.
Excuse me.
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence, but much more in my absence,
work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
For it is God who works in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
Paul is not telling them to work for your salvation.
He's writing to people who trust in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior by faith.
They're already Christians.
He's telling them to work out their faith.
Work out your salvation.
Put what you believe into practice.
In fear and trembling.
Don't be casual.
Don't be flippant.
Be serious.
Reverential.
Before God even.
But then he reminds them, if you're a Christian, as you work out your salvation,
this is not something you've got to force yourself to do.
Because the Spirit of God, we're living in you, will cause you to want to.
And as you want to, He will enable you to actually develop Christian character.
He will enable you to overcome the sinful habits and to start living like a Christian in the various aspects of our lives.
You know that if you're a Christian from personal experience.
None of us in this room are perfect.
We're not where we would like to be as Christians.
But if you look back over what?
Ten years?
Five years?
One year?
You can see how God has worked in you developing that Christ-like character.
You can see some progress has been made.
If you can't, you need to question what you call salvation.
Because Paul says it real clearly here.
God works in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
So we should see evidence in our lives of how God has worked in us like that
to cause us to live a life that pleases Him.
Or to be living a life that pleases Him.
That'll include our words.
You see where I'm going.
Proverbs has some memorable ways of describing how the speech of God's people should stand out
as being different from ungodly people.
Look at this one from Proverbs 29 verse 11.
A fool gives full vent to his spirit,
but a wise man quietly holds it back.
A fool gives full vent to his spirit.
A fool just lets you know what all's inside.
No restraint.
No filter.
But the wise man,
he holds it back.
He knows what he should say and should not say.
I want you to listen real carefully to what I'm going to say
because this is not a political statement in any way.
The people who are out in protests,
setting fires to cars,
screaming all kinds of profane things
about our new president,
these people are fools
because they are giving full vent
to their spirit.
They are not fools because they don't like Donald Trump.
They are not fools because they want to protest,
because they disagree or say they disagree.
What the Word of God says is
they are acting like fools
by the way that they are screaming and shouting
and just giving full vent to their rage and disagreement.
A wise liberal,
a wise person,
doesn't even have to be a Christian,
a wise person who despises Donald Trump,
who is opposed to everything he stands for,
a wise person
will speak that opposition
in a timely,
in a careful,
in a deliberate kind of way,
they'll discuss,
they'll debate,
they'll be civil about it.
As we're going to get into the Scripture,
not just today but in the future,
it's a fool
who just lets whatever's in out
explodes and erupts on everybody around them.
And sometimes,
let's just be honest,
not everybody in this room,
but sometimes most of us,
we act like fools, don't we?
We just let it out.
But wisdom,
we hold it back.
we think before we speak.
We weigh our words.
We can speak the truth
as we understand it.
That is totally the opposite
of what a friend or another person believes,
but we just need to do it
in the right way,
with the right attitude,
with the right spirit.
The book of James
is the Proverbs of the New Testament.
He describes the danger
of an unbridled tongue
in terms of a wildfire.
Look in James 3, verse 5.
How great a forest
is set ablaze
by such a small fire.
Our words matter.
However they come out,
wherever they come out,
our words matter
when we have personal
one-on-one conversations.
Our words matter
when we speak to one another
on the telephone.
When we communicate
by email or text or tweet.
Words matter
that you put on social media.
It's no different.
It's words of yours
just in print.
Words matter.
Here's what we need to understand.
A lot of the division,
the hostility,
the bad relationships
in our homes,
at work,
in churches,
in schools,
in government,
in our nation,
can be traced
to people's unbridled tongue.
To people
not thinking
before they speak.
People not speaking
in a timely,
appropriate,
controlled
kind of way.
Part of the problem,
we just don't think
seriously enough
about our speech.
you know,
we know,
we know that
stealing is bad.
We know that
attacking someone
and beating them up,
killing someone
is bad.
We need to also understand
that we can beat people up,
we can hurt people,
we can maim
people
in various ways
with our words.
Let me make a
clarification here.
If you're mad at me,
I'd much rather
you just tell me,
even cuss me out
than try to beat me up
or shoot me,
okay?
There is a big difference
in the two.
So don't misunderstand.
Last week,
we began looking
at why we need
to be serious
about our speech.
We looked at the power
of our words,
we looked at the revealing
nature of our words.
Today,
I want us to look
at the negative side
of our speech
and focus on the wrong
use of words.
We're going to start that.
What I want to look at today
is the twin towers
of destructive speech,
gossip and slander.
These words are often
used synonymously.
We may just use,
talk about gossip
and slander,
we're basically talking
about the same thing.
Sometimes,
it's really that way
in the Bible.
But sometimes,
they are used
to convey
one particular difference
that I want to point out.
Slander is hurtful speech
about a person
that's not true.
Slander's not true.
Slander is repeating things
about someone
that is false.
It involves making
false charges
against a person
that defames
that person,
their character,
their reputation.
If you went out
from here today,
this week,
and you told people
that I beat my wife,
you would be making
slanderous charges
against me.
You would have
slandered me
and defamed my character.
You may be thinking
to yourself,
how do I know
that's not true?
I'm alive,
aren't I?
That's how you know that.
Lisa can shoot a pistol.
In fact,
not too long ago,
she shot the actual
center out
of the target.
I don't mean
she shot the middle
of the target,
bullseye one time.
She shot the bullseye
so many times,
it tore up the paper
in the middle.
I am an idiot
about some things,
but I'm not going
to mess with her.
Do you know how
Proverbs describes
a slanderer?
Look at it.
Proverbs 10.
Whoever utters slander
is a fool.
You can't get any
simpler than that,
can you?
Now why would such
a person be called
a fool?
Because they know
what they're saying
is not true.
If you spread slander,
you're talking about
things you know
is not true
about someone,
trying to defame them,
tear up their reputation,
you're a fool
because you may
get found out.
The truth may
come forward,
eventually it will.
That's what
Proverbs is talking about.
Anyone who
intentionally tries
to hurt another
person's reputation
by spreading slander
is a fool.
Now let's look
at the word gossip.
It is sometimes
defined differently.
Gossip is hurtful
speech about a person
that may or may
not be true.
Gossip,
it may be the real
deal,
or it may not be.
Gossip involves
repeating personal,
private information
about someone
that should not
be repeated.
Whether it's true
or not,
it's just such
of a personal
and private matter
it does not need
to be repeated.
Proverbs reveals
the kind of damage
that gossip does.
First,
a gossip betrays
a confidence,
but a trustworthy
person keeps a secret.
That's from the NIV.
The ESV,
English Standard Version,
uses the word slander
there instead of gossip,
which shows how
these two words
are closely related
a lot of times
in Scripture.
Proverbs also says,
gossip separates
close friends.
These two verses,
look at them.
They reveal the kind
of damage that gossip
can do.
But for some reason,
I mean, gossip
can destroy a relationship,
destroy trust.
But for some reason,
many people,
maybe most people,
don't see any harm,
don't see any real harm
in gossip.
In fact,
we all do it sometimes,
don't we?
There may be a few people
here that
you really have worked on it,
you understand the truth
about it,
and you don't.
But most of us,
even if we know better,
even if we most of the time
do better,
we backslide.
And we usually introduce
our gossip
in innocent-sounding ways,
like,
have you heard?
Did you know?
You ever said this?
I don't know if it's true,
but,
you go ahead and tell it.
Here's one,
this will get most of us.
I probably shouldn't say this,
but.
And here,
we're all good southerners,
aren't we?
Most of us.
And we know
that if we first say,
bless his heart,
we can say whatever
we want to do,
whatever we want to say.
Bless his heart,
he's just a sorry writer.
Bless his heart,
Mike's just an idiot.
You know that?
We do those things.
I want you to think.
We do those things.
But our gossip
serves no good purpose.
It really exposes
us,
when we repeat it,
as being troublemakers,
to some degree.
It really says
that we don't care
about the person
that we're talking about.
And rest assured,
if you know someone
who's just a gossip,
and they're always
telling you about somebody
or wanting to tell you
about somebody,
they're talking about you
when you're not there.
It's just in their makeup.
Why are we so quick
to repeat or listen to gossip?
Bottom line is,
we like it.
And the book of Proverbs
points it out.
Look at it.
The words of a whisperer
somebody who talks
about somebody
behind their back.
Somebody who doesn't
want other people
to know what they're saying.
The words of a whisperer
are like delicious morsels.
They go down
to the inner parts
of the body.
Let's all admit it.
There are times
we like gossip.
We like to hear it
or we like to repeat it
or both.
The negative information,
the juicy things
about people.
The reason is,
we have a fallen,
sinful nature.
And that fallen,
sinful human nature
considers gossip
delicious morsels.
We don't even have
to put ketchup on it,
do we?
We can just say it.
It's good by itself.
Now, even though gossip
is good to us,
it's pleasurable to us,
it's not good to God.
Proverbs says it tastes good to us,
but it sickens God.
He hates such speech.
I do not have it in my,
on the outline,
but I want you to look
at Romans chapter 1.
If you want to turn to it,
I'm going to read it.
In Romans chapter 1,
Paul is,
okay,
we do have good,
I'm going to quit talking
about those guys
in the balcony.
Tim did a good job today.
Thank you very much.
Paul is writing about
the sinfulness
of humanity.
He goes into great detail
beginning in Romans chapter 1,
verse 18,
about how
even people who don't
have the law of God,
Jews,
he's talking about then,
God reveals himself
to everybody
in various ways,
through nature,
various ways,
but everybody rejects
what God does
reveal about himself.
We sin.
We reject,
we reject the truth
about God.
We reject his truth,
period.
And the more we do that,
the more God just says,
okay.
He just gives us over
to that sinful mind
and way of life.
And in verse 21,
29,
here's how Paul describes
sinful humanity.
They were filled
with all manner
of unrighteousness,
evil,
covetousness,
or greed,
malice.
They are full of envy,
murder,
strife,
deceit,
maliciousness,
and look what's
in this list.
They are gossips,
slanderers,
haters of God.
I know gossip
and slander
is wrong,
it's sinful.
But without
reading it like this,
I would never
categorize it
in the same list
as haters of God
and murder.
But it's there
in God's word
because it's sin,
because God hates it,
because God will punish
those whose lives
are characterized
in any kind
of sinful way.
We need to ask God
if we're Christians,
and that is something
we struggle with.
We know it's wrong,
we don't want to do it,
but we struggle with it.
We need to ask God
to help us
to change our taste buds.
Let's ask Him
to start now.
We need to set up
some guards
for ourself
to avoid
repeating gossip
and slander.
Here's one way
to evaluate
whether we ought
to pass on
certain information,
whether it's
gossip or slander.
When you hear something,
find out something,
and you're tempted
to pass it on,
ask these questions
of yourself.
Is what I'm about
to say true?
Is what I have heard,
and I want to say,
is it true?
If it's not,
or you don't know,
don't say it.
If you don't know,
forget it,
drop it.
Number two,
is what I'm about
to say necessary?
If it's true,
ask next,
is it necessary?
If you think it is,
explain to yourself
why.
How will it help
the person
I'm going to talk about?
How will it help
the situation?
If you think it's true,
or if you know it's true,
think it's necessary,
third question,
is what I'm about
to say motivated
by love?
Would you want
that person
to say something
similar about you?
Can you fulfill
the second great commandment,
love your neighbor
as yourself,
by repeating that?
The next time
you're faced
with a decision
about repeating
information about someone,
stop and ask
these three questions.
Is it true?
Is it necessary?
Is repeating it
an expression of love?
I need to do that.
And I'm going to guess
that you do too.
Most of us anyway.
Now there are some things
that are not pleasant
that do need to be
passed on.
If a young girl
came to you
and explains to you
very seriously,
confidentially,
that Mr. Jones
has molested her,
should you keep
that to yourself?
Let's ask
these three questions.
Is the information
true?
Well, if you don't
have any reason
to think it's not,
something like that,
you've got to
accept it's true.
Is it necessary
to say something?
Yes.
Morally
and legally.
You cannot let
something like that go.
A lot of times
it does
get let go.
I didn't think
about this
in the first service
but I'm going to
say it here.
That's something
we will not let go.
We will not sleep
under the floor,
under the table
in any shape,
form or fashion.
We take all
that kind of stuff
seriously.
And if you know
somebody is a member
of our church,
has joined our church
and it appears
that they want
to work with our
preschool or children
or youth,
but you know
they're a sex offender.
You tell me
and you tell me
before the sun
goes down today,
that is not gossip.
That is right.
That will protect
our children.
That person can be
forgiven and made
right with God.
That person is not
going to be given
a chance to work
with children
in this church.
That is what's right.
There's times
it's not gossip
that which is true
that would be hurtful.
It's necessary
and it's loving
to protect children.
It is loving,
it is right
to protect children.
Now before we
leave this subject
we need to understand
that the problem
with gossip and slander
is not limited
to just repeating it.
Listening and tolerating it
make us involved
in the evil.
We need to be careful
what we listen to,
what we sort of feed on.
Ray Ortlund
is a pastor
who wrote about
this passage,
wrote a book,
commentary.
He describes
the person
who habitually listens
to gossip
and slander
like this.
Look at it.
A person who listens.
A person can become
a garbage collector.
Someone in the group
becomes the one
to whom,
look at this,
disgruntled people go
because that person
will listen
and sympathize
and be a shoulder
to cry on
and a rallying point
for complaints
and a hero
to those
with hurt feelings.
And that listener
becomes a bigger problem
in the group
than the talkers.
He's not talking
about someone
who has just
a compassionate heart,
who's an encourager,
a sympathizer.
He's not talking
about someone
who just tries
to be a friend
and a helper
to people who are hurting.
Look at what
he's saying there.
He's talking
about someone
who's just like
a magnet
to the negative,
critical,
whining,
complaining,
gossiping people
around them.
Don't be that person.
Ask God
to help you
to change
if you are
that person.
We need to
always be on guard
that we don't
become this kind
of garbage collectors.
We need to learn
to just
walk away
from people
if necessary.
Don't show
interest.
Maybe even just say,
I don't want to hear it.
It's better
to offend somebody
by saying to them,
I don't want to hear it,
than to offend God
by listening to it
when you know
you shouldn't.
There are times
when we all
just need to be
more confrontational.
just say
to somebody,
I don't want
to hear it.
Or
say,
you know,
before you talk
about that person,
I'll go with you.
Let's go to that person.
Let's go to that person
and ask them
what you're saying.
Is it true?
That'll close
the mouths
of a lot of people.
But gossip
and slander,
they're serious
problems.
There's serious
problems
in many people's lives,
even some Christians.
Always remember
that gossip,
slander,
it only hurts people.
It doesn't serve
any good purpose.
We need to learn
to stop
listening to it.
Stop
repeating it.
Any kind of
harmful speech.
Our words
matter.
They're going to matter
on the day
of judgment.
I want to repeat
the way I closed
last week
with what Jesus
said about
our words being
one of the criteria
for judgment
at the end
of our lives.
This is serious.
Something we need
to take to heart.
So read it with you.
Jesus said,
I tell you,
on the day of judgment,
people will give
account for every
careless word
they speak.
For by your words
you will be justified.
And by your words
you will be condemned.
That's a sobering statement
that we need to take
to heart.
Would you pray with me now?
Dear God,
convict us
of the seriousness
of our words.
Father, right now,
convict us
if we are guilty
of being gossipers
or slanderers.
and if we are,
help us to truly
confess it to you
and repent of it
and seek your forgiveness.
Help us, dear God,
to start being on guard
and not listening to it
or repeating it.
Dear God,
help us to understand
that if we're Christians,
by doing this
or not doing that,
that's not what saves us.
Help us all
to understand
that salvation
is a gift
of your grace,
your undeserved
love and favor
that we receive
through faith in Jesus
plus nothing else.
Dear God,
help us to understand
that we're forgiven
because Jesus
paid the penalty
for our sins.
Help us to see
that if we truly
are believers
in Jesus,
then because your spirit
is in us,
we will have
the right kind
of desires.
We won't always
act on them,
but you won't let us
just live
like unbelievers.
help us.
Help us to see,
dear God,
when it comes
to the matters
of our speech,
it's your spirit
who gives us
the desire
to be obedient
in these ways.
Help us,
dear God,
to seek
your help
to do it,
to make the changes
we need to make.
Lord,
if there are people
in this room
who are not Christians
and they've been convicted
this morning
of this particular sin
in their life,
help them to understand
that the way
they need to respond
is to come to you
and just confess,
I am a sinner.
I am separated
from you by my sin.
Help that man
or woman
or young person
to turn from their sin,
change their mind
about it,
seek your help
to stop it.
Help them to see,
to understand,
to believe
that when Jesus
died on that cross,
He actually took
the punishment
that they deserve.
So help them
to trust Jesus
and call upon Him
to be their Savior.
Help them to truly
surrender their lives
to Him,
to His authority
in every aspect
of their lives.
Help all of us,
dear God,
as Christians
to renew that commitment
if we need to
this morning.
In an attitude of prayer,
you just listen to the Lord
and respond to Him
as He speaks.
I'd be happy to pray
with you here at the front.
That would be helpful
and meaningful to you.
I would like to do that.
But the important thing
is that you listen to God
and obey Him
during this time.