There are a lot of things that are talked about in the church today from the pulpit in a negative tone. We are quick to hear sermons on things that we are not doing well and we are also quick to hear sermons on things that we need to be better at. An example of this is that the issue of pornography is a major issue that is preached from the pulpit (rightfully so). However, the danger that I see that is happening in the context of the church is the fact that we simply are too afraid to talk about those sins that are commonplace in the church, that as I will argue do more harm than some of the major sins. The issue that comes up with regards to what I will call the major sins is that there is some shame that is associated with them. Most often times a person is not going to want to talk about their pornography issues because they feel guilty about it. This would most likely be the case that if a person is in the community of believers and they were struggling with same-sex attraction. These are what we would classify as some of the bigger sins.
However, the point that I want to address is what about those sins that seem “normal”. There is a book penned by author Jerry Bridges called “Respectable Sins” and in this work Bridges makes the claim that some sins are viewed as respectable because they are sins in which the “average” Christian struggles with on a daily basis. Bridges claims that this does not mean that they are right. I would place the issue of gossip amongst those that would fall into this category because let’s face it who hasn’t gossiped. Who has not told something about someone that may or may not be true? Who has not started a sentence with “hey did you hear what so-and-so did? Who hasn’t had that scintillating feeling of being the first to break a story about some event pertaining to someone’s life that is not yet verifiable by facts? In the TMZ era in which we find ourselves this is what I would call one of the “sins de jour” that we are facing as a church. I am concerned that with the social connectedness (on and off-line) that this could become a major issue that we are facing.
So the question that you are asking yourself is what’s the big deal about a little gossip? There are three reasons why this is such a big deal. The first is that it is not fostering a love of neighbor. The whole point of gossip is in a sense a de-humanizing of another person because it is seeking to spread information about them that is detrimental to their character or something that is based upon a lack of all the information that is present. It makes the person of whom you are gossiping about an object of your scintillations. Along that same line of thought it makes the person that you are gossiping with a co-conspirator in the act of sinning thus being a stumbling block to them. Secondly, this does not work itself out in the love of God. The first sin ever committed against God had an element of gossip in it because the serpent set out to misrepresent God in His dealings with man. He sought to spread rumors about what God had really meant. He was using his own interpretations of the facts that God had laid out a command to the man and the woman that were in the garden. Statements that he made to Eve were misrepresentations of the character of God. He was in essence spreading gossip about God. So, when we engage in gossip we fundamentally pollute the way that God had intended for things to be and this is not love because we are loving the lie and not the truth. The third reason why gossip is bad is because in reality the focus is not completely about the other person or about God it is, at its core, about us. It makes us the center of the universe that when we have divulged the information that we wanted to we are filled will all matter of pride because we were the one who broke the news. This takes the focus off of serving God and serving others.
So in conclusion why is this so important to write on? Paul says that we are not to use the freedom that we have as an opportunity of the flesh because if we do then we will bite and devour one another (Galatians 5:13-15). Too often we are quick to talk about “those fornicators”, “those homosexuals”, and “those adulterers” because that is the easy thing to do because most of us are not in that boat and it leaves people feeling comfortable where they are at not dealing with the decay of their souls due to sin in their life. However, I the reason that this is something that I think needs attention because it is not going to be the big sins that wreck the church or a group from the inside. It is the smaller sins that waste away group much like a parasite does to its host. It may take a while but sooner than later the host will be dead and so it will be for the church as well.
So in response to this let us bow and submit ourselves to Jesus who said that he is The Way, The TRUTH, and the Life.
