I’ll never forget what happened to me years ago in my very first church in
Two days later, I was at the church when the three elders of the church suddenly came into my office unannounced. They told me that it was reported that I had said I that I had two guys in my office on their knees begging! Now I never said any such thing, but someone had started this untrue story and it had flown around this small church very quickly. The gossip pictured me as an overbearing pastor who made fun of people who knelt to repent of sins and pray.
Of course, nothing even remotely close to that was said or done. In shock, I denied the gossip and told the elders what had really taken place – a simple beautiful prayer time in my office, kneeling before God. But despite my explanation, the elders believed the false, malicious story and asked me to resign.
I was stunned! Someone had put words in my mouth that I’d never spoken and the leadership believed it hook, line and sinker. Shocked beyond belief and not knowing what else to do, I resigned. My heart was broken and so was my wife’s. It took us years to recover from the pain of this experience. There is nothing quite like having lies spoken about you and being defenseless to stop people from believing it and passing it on to others as gospel truth. It really hurts! But even worse was the fact that the revival at the church that had started with these two young men coming to Christ abruptly stopped. And wasn’t that the goal of Satan in the first place? Of course it was! And so the Father of lies used gossip to squelch revival. To this day, that church has remained small and ineffective for Christ.
Now here’s my point. Gossip destroys. It demoralizes pastors and leaders. It ruins churches. Don’t do it! Don’t gossip! Don’t spread rumors and don’t listen to them. Solomon wrote, “Wrongdoers eagerly listen to gossip; liars pay close attention to slander” – Proverbs 17:4 (NLT).
You see, it’s not only the person gossiping and slandering that is sinning, but the one who listens to it! If the elders at my first church had simply checked the facts with the two men who had been in my office or trusted my integrity, or even investigated a little, they would have found out how ridiculous the story was. They should have traced the gossip back to its source and confronted the wrongdoer. But they didn’t investigate or even ask questions – so disaster resulted.
When someone is telling you something slanderous or negative about someone else, you need to stop that person in their tracks and say, “You know, you should really go talk to them about this.” Then, if they keep talking, you should say something like, “You know, I really don’t need to hear this. Why don’t we go together and talk to the person you’re upset with so you can work the matter out. That’s what Jesus wants.” If they refuse, then you should rebuke them and tell them to stop gossiping. Then, you should go straight to the person that was gossiped about and tell them what happened, so he or she can confront the gossiper.
Also - and this is VERY important - you should check the facts before believing what you’re told. And that means checking with the person who is reported to have said or done something wrong. The vast majority of times you will find that the person reported to have said or done something never did or said any such thing!
Solomon wrote, “A troublemaker plants seeds of strife; gossip separates the best of friends” – Proverbs 16:28 (NLT).
Don’t be a troublemaker by gossiping or listening to gossip. Doing that plays right into Satan’s hands. Instead, work for unity and harmony with other Christians and church partners, for only a unified church can get the job done of reaching a lost world for Christ.
I praise God for the wonderful unity Celebrate Life has enjoyed during the two years I’ve been here. It’s been a key reason why we have grown so much. So we need to keep it that way! Don’t gossip – ever. Don’t listen to gossip – ever. Stay unified with other CLCC people. If you do, there is no end to what God can do among us!
