Responding To Gossip

Responding to Gossip

2025 Theme:  Faithfulness

Series Title:  Gossip:  Destroyer of Trust

Scripture:  Galatians 6:1-5

February 16^th, 2025

Something to think about:

As we continue our series on “Gossip” today, we will explore the ways in which we should respond to it.  Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve learned how to recognize it and how to resist it, but today we learn how to respond to it by reading a passage from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the churches in Galatia:

Galatians 6:1-5 (NLT),

Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer^* is overcome by some sin, you who are godly^* should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path.  And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself.  ² Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.  ³ If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself.  You are not that important.

⁴ Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else.  ⁵ For we are each responsible for our own conduct. ^[1]

Obviously, in this passage of Scripture, the Apostle Paul is talking about any sin, but for today’s purpose, we will be focusing on one specific sin (gossip) and unpacking the meaning behind Paul’s words today with that particular sin in mind.  And here’s the key point this morning …

Key Point:  “Responding to gossip requires lovingly confronting the gossiper.”

Responding to the sin of “gossip” requires us to be gentle and loving even if we are the ones being gossiped about.  Though this is so difficult, it is possible for the one who is mature and godly in their approach to this subject.  Considering this, let’s explore the best ways to deal with and respond to gossip.  We should first…

• Respond  .

Galatians 6:1a (NLT),  Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path.

Next, we should…

• Respond  .

Galatians 6:1b-2 (NLT),  Be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself.  ² Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.  ³ If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself.  You are not that important.

Finally, we should…

• Remember, we are  for our own  .

Galatians 6:4-5 (NLT),  ⁴ Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else.  ⁵ For we are each responsible for our own conduct.

Something to take home:

Rather than being sucked into the gossip, once we recognize it we must resist it.  After we have resisted, we should respond in a way that intentionally turns the situation and the conversation around.  We do this by responding gently, humbly, and in love either to the accusations against us or against another.  A good rule of thumb before responding, however, is that we should learn to check ourselves and make sure that our hearts and minds are in the right place.  It’s the principle of dealing with the log in our own eye before we point out the speck in another person’s eye.[2]  Once we’ve done that we must remember that we are not responsible for the other person’s action or reaction to our confrontation, but we are responsible for our own conduct.

In his instructions to Timothy, Paul wrote:

2 Timothy 2:24-26 (NLT²⁴ A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone, be able to teach, and be patient with difficult people.  ²⁵ Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people’s hearts, and they will learn the truth.  ²⁶ Then they will come to their senses and escape from the devil’s trap.  For they have been held captive by him to do whatever he wants.

Key Point:  “Responding to gossip requires lovingly confronting the gossiper.”

^* 6:1a Greek Brothers, if a man.

^* 6:1b Greek spiritual.

^[1] Tyndale House Publishers. 2015. Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.

[2] Matthew 7:3-5.