I HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE

By John Stallings

Once I was asked to speak at a church banquet and as I rose to speak, people were finishing their deserts and still engaged in small talk. Not being all that used to speaking under these conditions, I just stood there and looked out at the folk. The Pastor who understood the room said to me, tell them to SSssssshhhh. I didn’t want to do it but finally I leaned into the mike and said, SSSssssshhhh, in a gentle but firm way and as I did I noticed things slightly quiet down. The Pastors wife then spoke up and said “Bro. Stallings, tell them louder to SSSsssshhhhh. I looked at her and said, “Does that work?” She answered, “It’s the only thing that does work.” Well I SSSSssshhhed them again a little louder and this time they looked as if a gunshot had gone off. I finally had my audience and all it took was a fairly loud SSssssshhhhh. Everyone seemed fine with it. I’ve thought many times about that and wondered why we human beings respond so well to SSssssshhh. I can remember many times as a child when my Mother would just say SSshhh to us. Often that’s all she would say and it usually got the job done. Sometimes if the ssshhh wasn’t heeded things got a little rougher. Maybe it was even the first thing she ever said to me as baby, sssshhhhh it’s o.k., be quiet son—Sssssshhhh. There there-sssshhhh.

One time I was going through a stressful patch and somehow a mania hit me to just talk-talk-talk about it to anyone who would listen. One night as I meditated I distinctly heard God’s voice whisper to me, “son, ssshhhhhhh.
Give it a rest. Stop dwelling on the problem son, you’re making too big a thing out of this SSSssssshhhhh. Keep it low key-low key—easy-does-it, keep the problem small in your mind.” Yes God said exactly that to my spirit. I was stunned in a way but then as usual I began to see God’s point. I was so revved up that I had the problem all out of proportion.

A few years back our nation went through two tough elections. Every time you listened to any media, especially right afterward, all you heard was how bad things are. Even now we hear negative things said from both sides of the political spectrum. It causes us to wonder how things have gotten so crazy. I’ve always sought to keep my negative thoughts confined to emotions like “amazement and shock” but nowadays many people so mad and hurt they were ready to give up living. I often wonder how two groups of people in America can look at the same event and come to such dramatically different conclusions? Won’t we all wake up Americans tomorrow?
Many time the best thing we can do when things get stressful is just stand back, take a deep breath and relax. Sssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.”

I remember an actor named Larry Hagman who for many years played J.R on the TV show Dallas. I read that one day a week he wouldn’t talk to anyone , he’d wear a sign on his chest saying “please excuse me I’m not talking today, It’s my day of silence.” I think Larry had a good idea. Sometimes a little peace and quiet is fine. God bless you Larry!

Power Leakage occurs with too much talk.

Samson lost his power because he wanted to talk and when he spoke he gave away the secret of this power. Have you ever talked until you were just totally tired out? Talking takes the strength out of you. Ask any preacher or teacher. In WW11 there was a big promotion in American called “Loose lips sink ships.” They observed that when people were loose in their talk about the work they were doing, for some reason more bad things happened

Have you ever been riding down the road or engaged in some activity when all at once you started thinking about something you said? Am I the only one who does that? You shake your head and say and OH God, why did I say that? Perhaps that’s why David said in Psalm 141:3 “Set a watch Oh Lord before my mouth keep the door of my lips.” Help me to SSSSssssshhhhhhhh.

I once heard a man say, “I can tell you what I know and I can tell you what I think, which one do you want to hear?” Believe me, telling what we know takes lot’s less time doesn’t it? But most of the time when we talk we don’t make a clear distinction between the two.

WE SHOULD BE WARY OF IDLE CHATTER.

Jesus said in Matthew 12:36, “But I say unto you that every idle word that men speak they shall give account thereof in the Day of Judgment.” This is speaking of idle gossip. Frightening isn’t it? How often have you heard these words, “you didn’t hear this from me?” That opener will usually start a statement off that will be hurtful to someone and believe it or not, very often the reason for the statement is to hurt someone. The definition of Gossip is; “Rumor or talk of a personal or sensational nature, someone who habitually spreads sensational or intimate facts.” We have all seen the gossip rags in grocery stores and sadly that’s where America’s mind set is these days. Too bad we Christians are not exempt, but we aren’t, we seem to crave it as much as anyone.

MANY DON’T SEEM TO BE AWARE THAT LOOSE AND IDLE TALK IS WRONG.

If you’ve ever wondered why people continue to engage in such a harmful practice, the answer is many faceted: many seem to feel its o.k. because we get away with it. We do it and nothing bad happens to us immediately. Other folk do it because they’ve never heard a reliable source talk or teach on it. And maybe it’s this; some are too rebellious to stop gossiping. Proverbs 9; 8 tells us “A scoffer who is rebuked will only hate you; the wise when rebuked will love you.” In other words, when some hear the truth they’ll decide if they like it and if not they will discard it.

It is obvious that gossip isn’t a popular subject but it sure as a popular thing to do.

James 3:5-8 says, “So also the tongue is a small part of the body, yet it boasts great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire. And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell. For every species of beasts and birds, of reptile and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race. But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil full of deadly poison.”{NASB}. Though the tongue can’t be tamed outside a divine intervention of the Holy Ghost, just as a wild animal, it can be trained and there in lies our victory. Meditating on and speaking what is true-God’s Word, day and night.

God’s word places the practice of gossip in serious categories. In Romans 1:29-30 it is among sins like deceit, malice, slander and arrogance, and is called deceiving and defamatory, accompanied by cruelty and pride.
In 11 Timothy 3; 1-3 we find another Pauline list of vices and sins and God places gossip right in the middle of it. Is it any wonder that one of the Ten Commandments is, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor?” We can say what we will but that which slips from our lips is a dead give away of what’s in our hearts. The Psalmist David cried out, “let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight Oh Lord my rock and my Redemmer.”Psalm 19; 14.

GOSSIP IS A DEVILISH GENIUS- IT GIVES A DRUG-LIKE EFFECT AS IT SWINGS BETWEEN LIFTING US UP AND PUTTING SOMEONE ELSE DOWN.

Isn’t it amazing how fake we can be sometimes? Have you ever seen someone run another person down and practically demonize them and almost in the next breath walk up to that person and embrace them like they were long lost buddies? I am not finger pointing and saying I’ve always been strong in this area. I’m saying to you that God is dealing with me and breaking me in this area and I weep at the times I’ve let myself and God down going against what I knew to be right. We seem to feel that we can make our hum-drum lives better and feel better about ourselves if we run someone else down. The real issue isn’t so much about the other person as it is our own mentality and self-portrait. And maybe we also possess just a dash of critism of God and the way he made the other person.

Listen to how hellish the Corinthians sound in 11 Corinthians 12:20. “For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder.” Read that verse sometime and also read the verse after it. Friend I don’t know about you but that sounds like hell to me, but its Christians.

Over the years I have personally witnessed how gossip has affected friendships. The arrogance of others has cost me pain from lies and, just as important, half-truths that were spread about me. Perhaps you’ve experienced the same. I say this not out of bitterness because I’m a healed man today , but I never want my words to ever cause anyone the pain vicious gossip has cost me. As a people, what do we possibly have to gain by this? It does nothing but separate and destroy us. We are, and have been too long, destroying the Kingdom of God He has so graciously provided. The good news is that we can beat this quagmire if we come together and put forth an effort to be real with each other and learn again to love as Jesus taught us to love.

LESSON #ONE.---SSSSSSSSSSSSssssssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhh.