Discipleship

"A man of knowledge uses words with restraint, and a man of understanding is even-tempered.  Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue' without wood a fire goes out; without gossip a quarrel dies down."  Proverbs 17:27-28; 26:20  

The Bible is directing us to restrain our speech and a wise person controls their tongue, that is what we say and how we say it. The Bible goes on to say that people that spread the gossip have malicious intentions as much as the people who start the gossip in the first place. That this malice leads to destruction of property and persons, just as bad as a fire, would destroy a home or even a church.  

The important lesson we must learn is the church is not a building, but the people of God who just use the building to meet in. Too many churches think the building is the most important thing of God, and miss the point of what it is for and of it's use.  

When our focus is to get mean with each other and find fault with each other, all we accomplish is the shooting of ourselves. As Christians we all are partakers and participants of the body of Christ, so we're just shooting parts of our own body.  What they're doing is taking something Holy of God, such as using prayer to spread gossip, thus we turn prayer into slander and misinformation for very un-holy agenda.  This belittlement, embarrassment, hatefulness, harassment, vexation, obnoxiousness, offensiveness, un-inviting, annoying, burdensome, upsetting, tormenting, and just plain nasty behavior that does not belong in the body of Christ, and certainly does nothing to further the Kingdom of God. 

Gossip has three breeds to it, or three different levels. Separating these three levels can be as hard as separating the chocolate chips out of the cookie. It is extremely hard to do with out disturbing the cookie! So it is with our mislaid words.  

First: Is the "chit chat" we all do. "Did you hear that the Chaedwicks are moving" or "Steve 's parents gave him a new car for ground hog day". This is basic information without harmful intent, which we must be careful what we say and how we say it! 

Second: Gets stickier; "Did you hear that Debby's parents are fighting again" or "Have you heard that Kevin is in a real bad mood, so just ignore him". This may not be mean or vindictive, but this tells a story of someone's character that may not be true. And we will base our judgments on false and misleading information.  

Third: Is slander! Maliciously telling or repeating a tale that may or not be true, to tear someone down. "Do not go near Patty, she is weird and nobody likes her" or "The new kid is only here because he got kicked out of Redwood and his parents have lots of money". This third level of gossip destroys people's reputations and betrays secrets that are not meant for our ears. This level prevents friendships and takes potential good relations and destroys them, doing exactly what Satan wants!  

This third level is slander, and God hates it! Webster's Dictionary tells us slander is, "the utterance of false charges or misrepresentations which defame and damage reputations. This may be viewed, as ordinary conversations during lunch, but make no mistake; slander seeks to distort and to destroy! It tears down the people of God, where our call is to build them up!