|
C155 11/16/58 Three spinster sisters were discussing a conversation they had overheard between the couple who lived next door. Sister number one said, "They must have been to the zoo, because I heard her mention 'a trained deer.'" Sister number two said, "Oh, no. They were talking about going away, and she said to him 'Find out about the train, dear.'" The third sister said, "I think you are both wrong. It seemed to me they were discussing music, for she said, 'A trained ear' very distinctly." A few minutes later the lady herself appeared and they told her of their disagreement. "Well," she laughed, "that certainly proves something! You're all wrong. The fact is, I spent the night with my sister at her home in the country and when I returned this morning I asked my husband if it had 'Rained here' last night?" Along the same line is the story about a small church which had just secured a new pastor. One day the town gossip approached an eager listener and said, "The pastor's wife went to a meeting last night and right in the middle of it he stormed into the room and angerly sent her home." When the story got back to the preacher he said, "There are four things I'd like to say about this. First, I never interfere with my wife's choices. Two, my wife never attended that meeting. Third, I did not force my wife to go home. Fourth, I don't have a wife!" Perhaps you've heard the story about the fellow who was stopped on the street one day by an old school chum who said, "Congratulations on the million dollars you made in oil in Texas." The fellow replied, "Well, thank you, but there are one or two things you ought to get straight. It wasn't me, it was my brother. It wasn't Texas, it was Oklahoma. It wasn't oil, it was cattle. It wasn't a million dollars, it was a half a million dollars. And he didn't make it, he lost it!" Well, it only goes to show that we can sure get our "facts" garbled. For that reason we should be mighty sure of our information before we start spreading it abroad. Of all the commandments we have discussed in this series, the one we are most prone to violate is the ninth: "Thou shalt not bear false witness." Likewise, it is the sin about which we feel the smallest sense of shame. During the eleven years of my ministry I have counseled with literally hundreds of people. I have heard confessions of dope addiction, embezzlement, cowardice, adultery and even murder. But never once in eleven years had anyone confessed that they were guilty of the sin of gossip. We have surrounded this sin with a facade of self-righteousness and derived so much emotional satisfaction from committing it we simply refuse to reckon with the shattering effect it has upon the poor person against whom we launch the arrows of our acquisitions. There is no more devastating, dastardly or disastrous deed we can perpetuate against a brother or sister than to undermine his or her good name. There is no such thing as "idle rumor." "Harmless gossip" just does not exist. As the poet declares so clearly -- "A whisper broke the air, A soft light tone, and low Yet barbed with shame and woe; Now, might it only perish there, Nor further go! But no! A quick and eager ear Caught up the little-meaning sound. Another voice has breathed it clear, And so it wandered round, From ear to lip, from lip to ear, Until it reached a gentle heart, And that -- it broke." The New York Times recently carried the story of an Egyptian village which burned down when the small oven in a straw hut accidentally exploded. The flames surprised a family of pigeons which were roosting on the roof and set their feathers on fire. In panic the birds flew like flaming torches to other houses. Soon hundreds of straw thatched huts were aflame. Before the fire was brought under control sixteen people had died, eleven more were critically injured, and the homes of thousands of villagers were destroyed. It is something like that with our malicious conversations. Such small and seemingly insignificant things as "rumor and hearsay" get out of control so quickly, and before we know it they have become a raging conflagration injuring or destroying everything and everyone they touch. Little wonder there are those who cry out in protest, "There ought to be a law against gossip, lying and other forms of malicious conversation." Well, there is! And that law is our text. "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." A dear old lady from the deep South, who was one of the best loved citizens in her city, was asked one day to give her formula for making and keeping friends. She thought for a moment and then replied, "Well, honey, there's just one daily rule I always try to follow. I always take time to taste my words before I let them pass my teeth." That's it, isn't it?! For, as the ancient adage declares, "You are master of the unspoken word, but the spoken word is master of you." Most of us are aware of those "carnivorous conversationalists," those "venomous pests of society" who, mosquito-like flit hither and yon buzzing and stinging, existing off the hurt of others. And we resent such people! They are so repulsively evil we are repelled by the very thought of them. But I wonder if we are equally aware of the fact that listening to the malicious conversation of such people is just as evil as engaging in it. Listening The laws of society hold the receiver of stolen goods to be as guilty as the theif himself. And likewise with the receiving of gossip. If it were not for the eager ears of those who are willing to listen, the rumors and tales of our neighbor's faults would die on the wind. It is a scientific fact that there cannot be noise unless there is an ear to hear it. Neither can there be gossip without an ear to receive it. Perhaps that's why the ancient philosopher included the listener in his sweeping condemnation of gossip and urged that both listener and gossiper be hanged -- "The tattlers by their tongues and the listeners by their ears!" Of course the reason we listen to malicious conversation is that it inflates our sagging ego. All of us are beset with self-doubt and feelings of inferiority, and it takes the sting out of our sense of failure when we succeed in taking some of the shine from the other fellow's crown. Psychologists call this, "Justification by condemnation." By sharing in the tales of the other fellow's failure, our own feelings of failure are momentarily eased. We find a wee sense of inner glee in the knowledge that we are not quite so bad as they. But, while justification by condemnation brings a temporary sense of satisfaction, it does little to elevate the soul. In fact, it destroys it. It produces an artificial feeling of well-being which undermines any real effort toward self-improvement. The real solution to our problems lies not in tearing the other fellow down, but in pulling the level of our lives up. It lies in developing a reasonably healthy attitude of self-love, self-approval, self-acceptance so that in turn we may love, approve of and accept our neighbor. Jesus laid down two rules to govern our human relations. "Love your neighbor as yourself." And, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." I think the basis of most of our problems individually and collectively is that we have done exactly what Jesus asked us to do! We have loved our neighbor as our self, but because we have had very little self-love, we have treated our neighbor in a shameful and shabby way. And then, because we naturally crave punishment for our misdeeds, because we are so built emotionally that we actually seek out ways of punishing ourselves to satisfy our sense of guilt, we have done unto others what we would have them do unto us. We have punished them! In other words, the mean, haughty, vicious things we say and do to others are what, subconsciously, we want them to say and do to us. Psychologists call this compulsive self-punishment. They know, for instance, that the "accident prone person" is one who subconsciously subjects himself to hurt and pain as a means of self-punishment for some real or imagined evil. They point out that the stupid, idiotic things criminals often do which directly lead to their capture are merely proof of the fact that sub-consciously these criminals want to be caught. They want to be punished. There inner sense of guilt demands it. In the same way the silly, shabby things we say and do to others are evidence of the fact that, sub-consciously, we are doing unto others as we would have them do unto us. That we are loving our neighbors as we love ourselves. And, because we do not love ourselves as we should, we do not know how to properly love and treat our neighbor. If only we would love and accept ourselves as God loves and accepts us. Our whole pattern of behavior would improve, and so much of the hurts we inflict would be avoided. If only we could see that we are the central object of divine affection. If only we would realize that God gave his only Son, not to condemn the world, but that through him the world might be saved." Yes, the listener is as guilty as the gossiper and his willingness to listen is an indication that he does not love himself as he should. Need For Spiritual Growth Which suggests a second thought. The tendency to engage or share in malicious conversation is an indication of a need for more spiritual growth. Malicious conversation does not just happen. It does not burst out of the blue. It springs from within. And, it reveals what is within. Jesus said, "Out of the heart proceedeth, evil thoughts, murders, adultery, fornications, theft, false witness and blasphemies." As John Slemp points out, "A man does not merely tell a lie. Rather, he is a lie, he lives a lie first, then he tells it." As I said sometime ago in a sermon entitled "A Christian's Use of Gossip", the very first thing a doctor does when you go to him for a physical examination is to look at your tongue. He doesn't expect your tongue to be sick, but he knows it is an index of what is happening throughout your body. Likewise, what we say with our tongue is an indication of the spiritual state of our inner person. "Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessings and cursings," says James. But he goes on to to say, "These things ought not to be. Does a fountain send forth from the same place sweet water and bitter?" In other words, the water which flows out of a faucet can be no better than the well from which it is drawn. Our heart is like a fountain, and our words are its flow. From a corrupt heart can come incalculable evil. From a pure heart can flow untold good. And thus, if we would tame this tiny tyrant we call our tongue, we must say with the Psalmist, "Create within me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit within me." We must fill our entire being so full of Christ, the overflow which pours from our lips will be permeated with the essence of his sweetness. Christ Is The Answer Those of you who worship with us from Sunday to Sunday, who attend the Hour of Power regularly, know the great hunger of my heart is to see a major break-through in the lives of our members which will ultimately affect the whole life of our church, and, through it, the life of our community and world. Well, that break-through will come when we cease dabbling in religion, stop playing church, and really take Christ seriously. It will come when we make him Lord as well as Savior. This business of becoming a Christian is not a matter of patching up your old life. It means creating a new life. "Old things pass away and behold all things become new." It calls for a complete transformation of your life and character until every area and action of life is affected by it. It is not a matter of putting a new paint job on a tumbled down shack, it means tearing the old shack down. It means removing the rotting foundations, laying a new foundation and building a new house. When that happens, it is a painful, agonizing process. It means breaking with old habits and habitations. It means a complete and unqualified surrender of self to the rule and reign of Christ. It means living life according to these ten laws "drawn by the finger of God." But what it is more, it means life victorious and abundant. It means turning your failures and fears, your weaknesses and susceptibilities to sin over to Christ so that he can add -- His strength to your weakness, His grace to your sin, His victory to your failure, His confidence to your fear, And, as a result, make you more than conqueror. The answer to the sin of malicious conversations lies in putting Christ in the heart. Your heart. For when the one who said, "I am the truth," is within, without,beneath, above, beyond, and before you, then "You will know the truth (and speak the truth) and the truth (that is Christ himself) will make you free." A dear old saint was struck down with cancer of the tongue. In an effort to save her life, the physician decided to operate and remove her tongue. Just before she was placed under anesthetic the surgeon said, "You may speak once more. They will be your last words. After the operation you will no longer be able to speak." The dear saint thought for a moment and then, in a clear and steady voice said, "Then let my last words be: 'All hail the power of Jesus' name, Let angels prostrate fall. Bring forth the royal diadem And crown him Lord of all." With those words on her tongue she went to sleep. The operation was performed, and when she awoke, she never spoke again. This morning I have been talking about the tongue. The best way I know how to use mine at this moment is to tell you that Jesus is a wonderful Savior. That in him and him alone is life everlasting. That if you will receive him, he will give you peace for today and the hope of a brighter world for tomorrow. Will you receive him? I pray that you will. "Come! Taste! See that the Lord is good." |