A Wildfire from Hell

What is gossip, is it a big deal, and what can we do about it?

Recently, I have seen the reemergence of a poplar and common figure from my childhood: Smokey the Bear. With the rise of destructive forest fires in so many parts of our continent, the commercials deliver a timely message. “Only you can prevent wildfires.”

Sadly, I also see the effects of an even more destructive spiritual wildfire: GOSSIP. Consider the Biblical warning from the Book of James.

So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. - James 3:5-6

In his book, Respectable Sins, Jerry Bridges tackles a number of sins that our society accepts without question or conviction. He devotes an entire chapter (#19) to sins of the tongue. One such sin is gossip.

Is Gossip Really a Big Deal?

In a list of sins found in Romans 1:29-30, gossip is included alongside such sins as evil, malice, haters of God, and murder. Gossip keeps nefarious company indeed.

In James 1:26, we learn that one cannot claim to be spiritually mature but have an “unbridled tongue.” Loose lips belie a heart disobedient and out of step with God.

In 2 Corinthians 12:20, Paul expressed a reluctance to make a third trip to Corinth in part because He knew he would need to address the issue of gossip, as well as a number of others sins of the tongue, among the congregation.

In 1 Timothy 5:13, Paul refers to unruly women in Ephesus as “idlers…gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not.”

And finally, if those are not bad enough, look back at the verse I opened with above. A gossiping tongue is set on fire by the fires of hell itself. It is demonic.

Sounds like a really big deal to me.

What Is Gossip?

To put it simply, gossip is sharing any information about someone else — true or not — without their consent to share it. Each person owns the rights to his or her own story. No one has permission to tell it without their consent.

I’ve seen gossip masquerade as “prayer requests.” I have sat in prayer meetings where someone shared information about another without their permission, and watched in horror as the “prayer” meeting turned into a gossip session.

Some have shared gossip with me without the subject’s permission on the grounds that the gossiper thought, “I just needed to know.” If the subject thought I needed to know, the subject would tell me.

Why Do People Gossip?

The problem with gossip is that not only is it a sin itself, but it also indicates other problems in the gossipers heart. In Matthew 12:34, Jesus said that the mouth speaks from the heart’s overflow. So gossip does indeed indicate a disobedient heart.

Sometimes people gossip because of pride. They want to appear to be “in the know.” They derive a false sense of importance to know something that someone else doesn’t know. I see at least 2 main fallacies with that stance. First, the more people a gossip tells, the less he or she has the exclusivity that they think makes them special. And second, our sense of worth is found in who we are in Christ, not what we know about other people.

Some people gossip out of a heart of malice, hatred, and/or envy. They want to see harm come to the subject of their talebearing. In some ways this is also an outcropping of pride. The gossip seeks to elevate themselves by putting down others they deem a threat to their prominence.

Gossip is often motivated by jealousy or covetousness. The gossip wants something the subject has, like attention, prominence, respect, etc. They think by invalidating another, they validate themselves.

These are but a few of the evil heart conditions indicated by gossip. Since the tongue is “set on fire by hell,” there is an inexhaustible list if sinful reasons behind gossip.

What to Do About Gossip?

Here are some suggestions for dealing with the pervasive reality of gossip around us.

1. If you have been or are involved in gossip, stop it! To put it more strongly, shut up! It is a sin. Run to the grace of Jesus, confess it as sin, receive His forgiveness, and ask for His help to forsake it and not do it anymore. Just like Jesus told the woman caught in adultery to “go and sin no more,” so also when He forgives us, He will empower us to move on from it. Ask Him to search your heart for the root causes of gossip. Let Him show you how what you are looking for through gossip is truly only found in Him.

2. When you hear gossip, rebuke the gossiper and let the news end with you. Proverbs 26:20 says, “For lack of wood the fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases.” Gossip thrives on the oxygen of repetition. ONLY YOU CAN PREVENT WILDFIRES! Years ago when I pastored a small community church, I had someone come to my office who wanted to tell me some news about a couple in our church. I asked him to wait a minute and let me call them and get them to come to the office before he started. Of course, he refused, and left in a huff. Lamenting that he had a pastor “he couldn’t talk to in confidence.”

3. As much as possible, avoid gossipers. I have people I try to avoid like the plague because I know every conversation will involve criticism and gossip of others. I also feel like I am being probed for any information they can use to spread something about someone. I shudder to think of them going to someone else and saying, “Well, Jim said…”

I also know this. Someone who will gossip TO me will also gossip ABOUT me. I have a pretty good file tucked away in my memory of cases where this has happened. Don’t let a gossiper deceive you into thinking that you will be initiated into some special circle of people knowing things others don’t know. The gossip just wants you to be comfortable hearing so that you will grow comfortable telling. And then what you tell them can add to their gossiping collection.

4. One final thing. Ask God often to keep a check on your heart. Don’t let your heart long for something outside of what you have in Jesus. Whatever you find outside of Him will always be vastly inferior to what you have in Him.

Psalm 19:14: "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”

I’ve discovered when the mediations of my heart are what they should be, the words of my mouth will also be what they should be. It starts with the heart.

For further reading…

My friend Chris Barnard wrote a wonderful article recently on our use of word. Click here to read it on his Substack.

Mark Hallock, pastor of Calvary Church in Englewood, CO and church revitalization consultant with NAMB also wrote a great article about dealing with gossip. You can click here to read it.