The Dangers of Slander - Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Please meet me in your bibles in the book of first Timothy chapter three. First Timothy chapter three verse eight. This Sunday morning message is is gonna be a little different in that you're gonna notice for a brief time, we're gonna go into one subject, and then there's gonna be a sharp turn, and it's gonna go into what seems to be unrelated to this text, but it is very much related because there's something that this text offers that I would love prayerfully for us to consider and to seek the Lord to help apply to our lives. And so, let's just pray one more time. I really ask the Lord to help us with this text and with this subject, and we trust that he will.

Father, we humbly come before you as we open this precious word, your word, and we ask that the ministry of the word would be assisted by the power of the Holy Spirit, and that, Lord, your people would be sanctified. Let this truth be delivered in humility and love. May the voice of Christ be felt and known in this place this morning. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Let's just read the text together. Verse eight. Deacons, likewise, must be dignified. Not double tongue, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience, and let them also be tested first.

Then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. Their wives, the ESV says their wives, likewise, must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober minded, faithful in all things. Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well. For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves, and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus. We might have thought that Paul's instructions for the roles of men and women in the church concluded last week, but they only continue.

And they continue here with this office or this type of service that is titled, Deacons. And that's what he wants to talk about. He wants to talk about this position within the church of those who might occupy it. And it's a title that different people have different interpretations for. Deacon is, like an elder.

We understand who are to be called to be elders and what they are supposed to be doing mainly. But when you come to the text of the deacon or the role of a deacon, it's not that clear. We don't have an outline of their duties necessarily. And so, though we understand it's a position in the church, it takes a little bit of investigation to know what it is they actually do. And I want to just look at one simple truth that might help us come to a greater conclusion.

When you just heard the list of what the deacons are supposed to do in terms of character, and in terms of practice, you'll notice that there's something that they're not called to do. And that is to give any energy, any effort into the preaching and teaching of God's word. That is reserved for the elder. And so when we look at that, we understand at least one thing. They don't serve as pastors.

So then what do they do? Well, I think the title of the position helps us. Deacons simply means in the original, which means to be a servant. And that's exactly what deacons do. They serve people.

And it's a word that's used for many other things including elders, depending on the context. Deacons, diakonos simply means you live to serve others. That's your ministry. That's your lifestyle. But the deacon is specific in that within the church, his service is focused on one thing, and that is to assist the elder to do what?

Make sure that he is able to focus on preaching and teaching while he occupies the different responsibilities within the church. And so, does that sound familiar? Here are men, here are people within the church that serve in other areas, so that the preaching of the Word of God is not hindered, by other responsibilities? Yes. And that's why many people think that Acts chapter six, that famous chapter, is a picture of ordination of deacons.

Right? Remember, there was a there was a growth in the church, and what happened? They needed to recruit some men to wait on tables so that the ministry of the preaching and teaching of God's word and prayer would not be hindered. Here's the problem. In that text, there isn't any mention of them being deacons.

It's not an ordination for deacons. It was a time of crisis, a time of need, and there is a recruitment for specific men temporarily to just cover a specific area in the church that needed assistance. When you look at acts, you see that there are moments like in acts fourteen twenty three, where there's an ordination of elders, it's clear, but you see no such things for deacons. So that makes it a little bit more difficult, but I believe that that is by divine design. I believe in part the fact that it is so silent on what it is exactly that they are supposed to do, gives each local church the flexibility and the liberty to structure themselves as they see fit.

That make sense? That they would be able to realize that though the Bible is not clear, we have boundaries in the scriptures, but we have some kind of license here to say, this is how, as a church, how we organize ourselves, and this is how each church should approach this role. And if a church chooses to have deacons, if you want that title for certain people in leadership, then here are the non negotiable qualities and characteristics that they are to possess, if they are to occupy that role. Make sense? Clear.

Here's the left turn. Ready? We're going a different direction now. That's how we understand deacons, but here's what's important about this teaching to apply for all of us. We learned last week that the elders, those specific list of traits are to be emulated, are to be pursued by every single believer, and that is just as true for the deacon.

All these signs are signs of spiritual maturity. And what's amazing is though there's a lot of overlap with the qualities of a deacon and an elder, there are things that stand out with the deacon that are not mentioned with the elder, and one of them is found in verse 11, which will be the focus of our study. Their wives, likewise, must be dignified, not slanders, but sober minded, faithful in all things. Some debate if that means wives, that word, or women in general. And the debate is, can women become deacons?

Is this about the wives of deacons? Or why is Paul talking about the wives of deacons, and he doesn't talk about the wives of elders? So you can see where the debate comes from. Nonetheless, man, woman, doesn't matter. Look at the things that are mentioned here to describe a spiritually mature person who will be found worthy in the eyes of God to be an effective soldier in the kingdom of God.

And one of the things that stand out even earlier, not being double tongued here, slander. Slander. Paul says elsewhere in Titus two three, older woman, likewise, are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine, they are to teach what is good. What is Paul saying? Do you want to serve in the church?

Do you want to be a spirit filled believer that will bear fruit for the kingdom of God? You can't be a slander and serve at the same time. This must be serious enough for the Holy Spirit to consider it in the resume of a servant of God, for a diakonos, for somebody to to be used by the Lord, and even for the church leadership to recognize somebody that can serve within the local church. This is this is pretty heavy stuff. So it's important for us to understand, what does it mean to be a slanderer?

Great question. When Paul uses the word, slanderer, it's a specific word that is filled with revelation. I'm gonna read a few verses, and you're gonna hear a reoccurring word, and perhaps you'll make the connection of what word Paul by the spirit used to describe a slanderer. You don't have to turn there. Matthew four one.

Then Jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Matthew four five. Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple. Matthew four eight. Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.

Would you say the word that you think is connected to the word slander? Devil. Diabolos. Diabolos was the word used to describe the devil, and diabolos is the same word that Paul by the spirit uses to describe a slanderer. What is Paul saying?

If you want to serve in the church, you can't be a devil. We hear that, we say, absolutely, that makes sense. Who would ever hire somebody who lives like a devil? Well, here's the problem. Many, if not all, do not consider slander devilish.

But slander is so serious that is the very sin that gave the devil his name. If preaching the gospel is is what advances the kingdom of God, then slander is what advances the kingdom of darkness. The slander serves Satan and his agenda by reflecting his nature, and it is the language of hell that is common speech among demons. Slander. We better understand what it is because we know one thing for it to be mentioned here proves that Christians can slander.

Christians in the church, ready for this, can actually be living like devils. And what's important from this is that we can fall into the sin of slander or we can be slanderers. What's important to understand is, it's possible for a Christian to be captivated by this temptation. So what is it? What does it mean to slander?

What does it mean to be a slanderer? To slander is to maliciously speak about someone in a way that intentionally ruins the reputation. It's not just spreading true information about someone to another, it is to fabricate information and to share it unverified about them in a way that puts them in a negative light. That's what it means to slander. This is where gossip and slander differ.

Gossip may be spreading something that is true, but you shouldn't be sharing it anyway. It's unnecessary for passing it along, whereas slander defames someone. It assaults their character. Slander is so serious, you realize that in our country, you can be sued for it. You realize that, right?

In American law, depending on the state, if you can prove that what somebody said was a lie, that they were the ones who said it, and you can offer the evidence that it was injurious to your reputation, you can actually sue them. There's a fine line, obviously, between free speech and slander. But the point I want to make from it is this, that at least the government recognizes how serious it is. Would the church at least consider the weightiness of the sin? Our government does.

It's so serious for the world, how much more for the Christian? And that's why it was a law in the nation of Israel under a theocracy. We're gonna go through a lot of verses because my desire, my prayer is that the bible would preach on the subject, that the text would speak to your heart, and that any opinion will be obliterated by the truth of God's word. Leviticus nineteen sixteen. You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor.

I am the Lord. Do you realize the connection? To slander is to go against the life of somebody else. Yeah. To slander.

To like go out with your friends and to to have a cup of coffee or to hang out with your group and to talk about somebody else. That's a danger to that person's life when you're willfully spreading false information. We're gonna get to why the people do that. Why is this such a big deal? Because the Bible undeniably affirms the lifelong harm that a few simple words can offer.

Over and over, the scriptures provide insight and scenarios of a person's words and how they can create havoc in another's life. Proverbs eleven nine. With his mouth, the godless man would destroy his neighbor. With his mouth, the godless man would destroy his neighbor, but by knowledge, the righteous are delivered. Not with your fist, not with your weapons, not with your money, not with your connections with other people, with your little mouth.

You can destroy and crush somebody's reputation to find powder. That was the case for David. A man after God's heart who lived to serve God and God's kingdom and God's leaders, and David was a victim of slander. We often think that David running around in that wilderness from his father-in-law and the king of Israel was a result of a man's jealousy. It was true.

It was ignited by jealousy, but it was fueled by something else. That jealousy could have been subsided, but that jealousy instead was encouraged by the words of other men. That's why when David confronts Saul, he says in first Samuel twenty four nine, and David said to Saul, why do you listen to the words of men who say, behold David seeks your harm? Slander. People from his own kingdom.

People from his own rank. Words got into this household, and a man was convinced by others, that even though David was running away from Saul, that he was in fact plotting to kill Saul. And this man was so convinced by the lies and the rumors of others that it fueled him to pursue to kill another man. But the case I wanna make today is this. Christians should not just avoid slander.

Christians should want to so be spiritually mature and blameless, that they would even want to avoid subtle forms of slander. Because as one person says, slander has many masks. And it's true, it does. And here's my goal today, I have no desire and God is my witness in my prayer time to add unnecessary guilt or burden or to add some kind of a standard of speech in your life that seems unrealistic. My simple desire is to do this, to highlight how even Christians can be walking in this act of slander, not even realizing it.

And my prayer is that God would save your reputation and that God would save the reputations of those that are at the mercy of your tongue. That's my desire. I wanna talk about a few ways people might slander and not even realize it. And you judge these truths for yourself. Subtle slander number one, accusing someone of wrong without knowing if it is true.

Accusing somebody of wrong, judging somebody for wrong when you know that you don't have the full amount of evidence that is necessary to make a verdict. We have all experienced the unfortunate reality and you will experience it at some point in your life leaving the sanctuary of being the receptor of some information about somebody else. You've all experienced, I'm sure every single person in here at one point in their Christian walk, heard something of an unfortunate news about another individual, and you didn't even ask to hear about it, you just did. And here is the danger of that. When you hear it, one of the temptations that we face is that for some reason, we want to share it.

That's like one of the reflexes of our carnal nature. The moment we receive some kind of news, it stays in our bosom, but it can't stay in our bosom. It needs to come out in one way or another. And we don't even know the whole story, we don't know the motives behind somebody sharing that information, And despite the the the reason of you even wanting to pass that along, no matter what the motive is, if it's not concrete, if it's not for sure, the awful reality is, is that you are passing along something that could hurt somebody else. Listen.

It's not only unwise to do that, it is completely reckless. It's reckless. Because a person's reputation is at risk of being vandalized in those moments. That very moment, you are, without realizing it, planting a seed in somebody else's heart, and you are just now another link to a chain that is planning to contribute to the assassination of somebody else's name. I wanna show you a verse that arguably, is one of the most, if not, the most challenging verse when it comes to conformity to Christ likeness in daily life.

You might have a different one, but based on the testimony of the scripture, I believe that this one is one of the most challenging. And I would encourage you to turn there, because they are the words of Jesus in Matthew chapter 12 verse 36. And this is the proof that intentional slander is not the only thing we are to avoid, but even unintentional. I tell you, Jesus says, I'm telling you, I'm telling you, I'm telling you. On the day of judgment, people will give account for every what?

Careless word. Careless word they speak. Not intentionally hateful, Not intentionally assaulting. Careless. Careless.

Words without thought. Words without meditation. Words without understanding the implications of where this can go. Every careless word. Men undeniably will be judged for their intentional words of using their mouths to destroy their neighbor.

But Jesus goes beyond that. He goes, men will be judged for even the words that they didn't think They didn't think would actually do damage to themselves, the name of God, to their brother or sister. That's humbling. I want to give you a simple illustration. If a man were to take a dynamite, light it up, and throw it into a room filled with people, that would be pure evil, would it not?

That's terrorism. And that would be pure evil, would it not? That's terrorism. That is awful. That is horrendous.

That is worthy of judgment, and that is clearly destructive. But for a person to take a dynamite, light it up, and with their group, pass it along because of some cheap thrill and some adrenaline, some form of Russian roulette, but accidentally in the hand of somebody else, it blows up. You wouldn't say that is intentionally evil, but you would say that was foolish, but equally destructive. Equally destructive. It's no less destructive than the intentional throwing of a grenade into a room filled with people.

It's the same thing with our words. It's the same thing with our speech. It's the same thing with our conversation. There are some people, even professing church goers, that are so riddled with other things in their hearts that they will intentionally give their words to another with the sake of a target on somebody's life. Then there are others who don't think that what their speech does actually does that, so they just pass it along with others, and that dynamite will blow up in somebody's face one day.

For others, that's the only way they've known how to have friends. That's the only way they know how to have fun. That's the only way they've know how to just communicate. They can't fill up their time. There's no substance in their lives.

So what has to occupy it is stuff like backbiting, and slander, and gossip. And that's what really defines their friendship as pathetic as it is. From this verse that Jesus uttered, I learned, and we should learn, that Christ expects his people with their speech to be calculated, cautious, mindful, and on guard with the way they handle the name of another. Right? Spiritual maturity is also proven the way a person handles what they hear about another person.

Because it's coming. This isn't prophetic. It's coming. You're gonna hear it. At one point in your life, you're gonna hear it.

And you're gonna hear from people that you perhaps never thought you would hear it from, but you're gonna hear it. And as I said earlier, all believers will be exposed to this kind of information about somebody else. But you want to know how wisdom is proven in a man? Wisdom is proven in a man when they know how to interpret how others speak about others. And here's the unfortunate truth.

There are some believers, as I said, who have sinful motivations to how they do that, and sometimes because of their Christianity, because of their faith, because of their position, because of perhaps even their ministry, the average person can't even detect, not the average person, any person can't detect the motive behind what is being expressed here. So what do you do? What do you do? Thank God there's a proverb for it. In Proverbs eighteen seventeen, we are told, in Proverbs eighteen seventeen, the one who states his case first seems right until the other comes and examines him.

The one who states his case first seems right until another comes and examines him. Oh, how that is true. It seems like they are so much the victim. It seems like they are so much in the wrong, and you even side with them in that very moment until the other side brings the perspective. And not only does it bring greater clarification, sometimes it even puts the initial person in the category of guilty.

It's scary. It's so scary. Until somebody else comes and examines them. You know what we take from the scripture? A wonderful truth to apply to our lives in our Christian journey.

Things that we have to learn as a people filled with the holy spirit is to never make a definite judgment about somebody else until there is concrete, undeniable, sufficient evidence to make it so. You know what that looks like? That looks like when so and so says something about so and so, and it's a serious thing, and even a minor thing, you are able to read it, and hear it, and understand it, and in your heart say, I am not going to look at them any differently, and I'm not going to treat them any differently, and I'm not going to put them in a category in my mind based on this alone. I will consider it, I will wait on it, I will investigate it, I will pray for it, but I will be careful to not make a judgment about it. That's how you know that you have attained a level of wisdom in this kind of a world.

Subtle slander number two. Some people take information that is true, but spread it with harmful intent. Remember the definition of slander. You willfully fabricate false information. You exaggerate.

Ready for that word? You exaggerate something beyond what it really was. And you shoot into the hearts of people hoping that they will side with you on that issue. But subtle form of slander certain amount of people. But you take that information, heart against that person.

Consider that. In what sense? You can take something that is true and use it to further destroy somebody. You can take something that is true and spread it when it doesn't need to be spread. And why would somebody do that?

I'm not Listen. I'm not talking about the world here guys. You know how the world handles slanders? There's tabloids and there's cable shows. They make a living off of it.

I'm talking about the church. Why would anybody in the church even do such a thing? Here's one consideration, jealousy. Jealousy. Slander is just a manifestation of another heart issue, jealousy can be so severe, so intense, so possessive, so controlling, that the only way for you to deal with that jealousy is to take even some dirt that you've heard, some little failure of somebody else, and use it to try to make it worse in the eyes of others, so that those who see them and love them, and those who are blessed by their ministry, and those who enjoy their company, would in comparison to you, see them as less.

Right? Because some people's identity and security is only found in the realm of comparison. Not in the eyes of how God looks at you and how Christ sees you. Not about what they think about you, but about the average person, about the person in the church. You know, ministers can do this.

Ministers can do this. Ministers can speak ill of other ministers, so that other people can see the minister, and see how holy they are in comparison, how gifted they are, how wonderful their character is, even if what they're saying about the other minister is true and known. Say, what are you talking about if it's true? Why does it even matter? Because we're talking about your heart between you and God.

What is the motive there really? What what's there for you to even to even give that out? Jealousy, insecurity, Insecurity. Again, your estimation of self is dependent upon how others see you, and they may feel better when they see others worse. Don't let your confidence be built in that way.

You'll be miserable for the rest of your life. But there are cases when it's necessary. And if you wanna protect yourself from this subtle form of slander, I offer you one simple solution. If you care about your reputation at all, maybe you don't care about other people's reputation, that's why you slander, but if you care about your reputation, if you care about the name of Christ, and you want to avoid falling into this trap, all you have to do is filter your words with this simple question, Is my audience going to benefit anything from the information that is in my heart about another? Will this protect them?

Will this be for their good? Will this help them avoid a disaster? Will this help them know how to handle a situation that they are involved with? Jesus said in Matthew sixteen:six, Jesus said to his disciples, beware of the 11 of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Hey, Disciples.

Come here. See those teachers out there? They're false. What they say is true, but don't imitate what they do. Be careful of their way of life and their idea of righteousness.

Isn't that slander? God forbid that the Christ, who had no deceit in his mouth, would slander. But he's warning. It's true. He's taking somebody's reputation, and he's bringing it out there to others.

But who? On the tabloid? No. To his to his own. To his disciples.

Oh, Paul goes beyond that. In his second letter to Timothy, he says at the end of it, in chapter four, verse 14 to 15, Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds. Beware of him yourself. Slander?

Gossip? Appropriate warning. Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message. You know what I love about Paul? He didn't get into the nitty gritty details.

He left out all the unnecessary details, and he just went straight to the point. Listen, he's a bad dude. He did me harm. You're a pastor. He's going to harm you if you don't walk in a way where you frame your relationship.

Avoid him. Do you see? Do you see the difference? It doesn't look like you sitting in a living room with other people and finding cheap pleasure from talking about others. That's not how it works.

You think about it. Jesus organized church discipline in a way that it would avoid this poison of being spread. You realize that? That the structure of confronting a brother in their sin, one by one, two and three others, then the church. Do you realize that that whole thing in part is to avoid this very sin?

You conceal it and you keep it as private as possible, unless there is a lack of repentance, that's when it begins to become more public. So Christ, knowing what can potentially come about in the church, in light of people's failures, chooses to call his people to walk in a wisdom to avoid further disaster. Subtle slander number three. Talking about others just because you enjoy it. Just because you enjoy it.

There's no question about it. The Proverbs tells us about that. In chapter 18 of the book of Proverbs verse eight, the words of a whisper are like delicious morsels. They go down into the inner parts of the body. Delicious morsels.

You know what that means? That when a person has news about somebody else, it's almost irresistible to want to hear about it. You've been there? Did you hear about so and so? No, I didn't hear about so.

Oh, never mind. I'm not gonna tell you. No. No. No.

No. No. Tell me. No. You can trust me.

What what is it? Delicious morsels spread out there like a banquet. Right? You hear something about something, something comes up. You didn't hear about what someone did last week?

No. Oh. Let me put some salt and pepper on it. And what happens? We almost can't say no.

That's exactly what information about others is like. There is an aroma to it. And I'll tell you this, it's not the aroma of the spirit. It feeds the carnal flesh. And not only that, the proverb says they go down into the inner parts of the body.

You know what that means? You can't take delicious morsels in the form of gossip and slander, digest it without it affecting you. If it gets in, it's gonna have some kind of an effect on you. Just like if you eat anything, it's not gonna escape you without some kind of influence in you. And so, the warning goes out.

It's almost irresistible, so you need something greater in you to resist it. In fact, keep in mind that what tastes good for you, you're enjoying it at the expense of somebody else's broken spirit. Keep that in mind. What tastes good to you, and what defines your relationship with your close group of family members, friends, co servants in the church. At the expense of somebody else's pain.

Remember that. And the only reason why you find this so delicious is because you're not satisfied by something else. Subtle ways of slander. Let me move on to talk about the consequences of it, because it's very possible that even hearing all these things, the heart of a slander will not be moved. But the Bible wants to assure you and I, that not only is the object, the person of your slander, not only is that person going to experience consequences, but the very vessel of that poison being spread will also not walk away without consequences.

I assure you, on the testimony of the word of God, that that is the case. Think about this consequence. The slander forfeits God's favorable presence. The slander forfeits God's favorable presence. Let me put it this way.

God doesn't hang out with slanders. God doesn't enjoy the company of gossipers. Let me take it further. God doesn't invite slanders over to his house. Psalm 15 verse one.

Oh Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? He who walks blamelessly and does what is right, and speaks truth in his heart, who does not slander with his tongue, who does not slander with his tongue, and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend. God doesn't allow slanders to come over to his house. I'm not talking about the church.

I'm talking about his presence, his manifest presence, his experiential, the knowledge of who he is in an intimate way, that is forfeited when a person slanders without conviction or the realization of their need for repentance. It's amazing. When the psalmist says, who shall come up to your tent? Who shall be close to you? Who shall know you?

Who shall know your fellowship? He says, he walks blamelessly, and right after the description of a blameless man, he immediately goes to a person who knows how to slander. Sadly, there's some who might even be hearing this right now, and that consequence, that consequence right there, doesn't move them. It doesn't move them. That's okay.

Thank you for being poetic with me. I'm not talking about poetry here, nor am I talking about some theological trick. I'm talking about a reality of your life. And I think that we have the permission to flip this verse in a certain way to get a different angle on this truth. If, listen, if God says, those who slander cannot come to up to my tent and cannot dwell with me and cannot enjoy my presence, then can we make the case that perhaps the reason why a person slanders is because they're unfamiliar with God's presence?

And that they don't know the joy and the satisfaction of the intimacy of being with God. And so because of the hollowness and the shallowness of their spirituality, they are left with delicious morsels. I'm telling you, there are Christians that their lives, their relationships, there's no substance spiritually. Their conversations are not caught up about the things of God, about what he's doing, or what he's revealed to them. Because of that emptiness, the only thing that occupies their lips and the only transaction that's being made by one another is about other people.

So maybe you don't care about the experiential knowledge of God's presence in your life. That We can close the Bible right now and leave, and ask God to sanctify our lips just from that alone. But I gotta tell you this morning, some people don't care. So let me tell you this. The consequences go beyond that.

This may not immediately affect you in this life, but this one will. Because a slanderer cannot move on in that act, in that habit, without putting themselves in the danger of being exposed and rebuked publicly. Proverbs 30, verse 10. Do not slander a servant to his master, lest he curse you and you be held guilty. Do not slander a servant to his master, lest he curse you and you be found guilty.

What does this verse mean? If you have the audacity to speak about somebody, if you have the habit of spreading information about somebody that's false, that puts them in a negative light in their absence, what you are about to do, perhaps, not in the moment, not maybe for a stretch of time, but eventually, if that is something that you cannot control by the power of the spirit, those words will reach the wrong person. And when they reach the wrong person, you would wish that you would never said it in the first place. That's exactly what this means. Know this for certain, it will not be long before as your reputation, you are one who tears down other people's reputation.

The danger here is that a person is coming with an accusation, and he's coming to a person who is fully aware that what is being shared is untrue. Unbeknown to the person who's sharing it, the receptor of that information realizes this is a blatant lie and assault on somebody else that we know mutually. And whoever this master is, if it comes to the wrong person who knows more than you think he knows or she knows, that person may have the boldness and the courage to confront you about it. And you know what's amazing, is that the slanderous intent is to make somebody else look guilty. Right?

But here is the proverb, that in your pursuit to make somebody else look guilty, you end up being guilty. You end up being guilty. The bible has so many warnings about this kind of stuff. And this is one of the strongest ones. Lastly, if a person slanders, if a person lives in that kind of a way, they cannot serve in God's house.

That's where we come full circle with this text right here. I want you to think about it. Church. I want you to realize it. Let's think how the Bible thinks about spiritual maturity.

Okay? Do you realize that the qualifications for somebody to be a servant in God's house includes not being a slander? We wouldn't think about that in our resume. We wouldn't think about that. We would think, are you pure?

Are you holy? Are you addicted to this? Are you not addicted to that? Do you have this We we and those are important. But I want you to see that speech is important.

The way you the way you have your friendships and the way you talk about that's important. And what he's saying here is that you cannot much, but God makes up his rules for his own house. Now, with that all being said, I wanna turn from the audience, and I wanna turn away from the temptation of committing slander, and I wanna speak to any victims of it. Any victims of it. Perhaps you were sitting here, and in your heart are the wounds of the words of another.

Maybe it's not known, maybe it's in a close group of people that you know, maybe it's from a different experience at a different church, whatever it may be, I want to speak these truths into your heart and I and I pray that they will serve as balm to your soul. I want you to know and listen, you might think, brother, is this really necessary to take up a whole message on? Scriptures. You know why? I challenge you to read the book of Psalms and realize how much of the lament has to do with the psalmist being the victim of slander.

Look in your Bibles and realize how common it is. In fact, that's exactly where we're gonna go to see how a psalmist dealt with slander in his own life. So let's turn there as we close in a moment. In Psalm chapter seven, I want you to look at the heading first before you get into the verse. A Shigion of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning, what does it say?

The words. The words of Cush, a Benjaminite. Everything that you read in the Psalm has to do with the response that this man is expressing concerning the words of another man. Not the arrows. Not the assassination attempt for your head, the email, the group text message with your name on it, The rumors in the family.

The spreading in the church. The words. And you read this whole Psalm and you make it your prayer, but I wanna just pull out a few simple principles to consider. If you are ever to be a victim of slander or if you are currently trying to juggle the emotions of that pain, Verse one and two. Oh, Lord, my God, in you do I take refuge.

Save me from all my pursuers and deliver me. Lest like a lion, they tear my soul apart. Hold on. Is he talking about warriors? Is he talking about a platoon that's surrounding his house with with spears?

He's talking about the words of another man. And he's saying, it's like a lion tearing my soul apart, rending it in pieces with none to deliver. You know what's so scary about slander? If somebody says something about you that's true, you can you can confront it. You can repent about it.

You can you can you have some ground there to work with. The thing with slander is, how do you prove it? We'll get to how in a moment and how God will feel about that, but just think about how serious this is. This is why it's so painful. It's coming out of thin air, and realize that in David's day, check this out.

It wasn't one person. That makes it even scarier. When you have a partnership, when you have when you have a whole of snakes of slanders, that's when it becomes even more difficult. So he says, let's a lion tear my soul apart, rending it in pieces with none to deliver. Point number one, if you are the object of slander, commit your case to God.

Commit your case to God. His reflex, though at times it may be appropriate to defend yourself, and to step in and to ask for some help to resolve the issue, his reflex was to come to the Lord with the arrows of slurs dashed in his back. And he pulls them out and he brings them before the feet of the Lord. And the reason why he does this is because as you read on that he really believes God will judge and intervene. And he pours his heart out, and I love how he pours his heart out.

Look at verse three. Oh, Lord my God, if I've done this, if I actually did what these people are saying that I did, if there's wrong in my hands, he's declaring his innocence in the presence of God, if I repaid my friend, my friend, yeah, friends can slander. With evil or plundered my enemy without cause, Let the enemy pursue my soul. He's saying, if I'm really guilty, then let me pay for it. Let me be judged for it.

Let him trample my life to the ground and lay my glory in the dust. But he's declaring his innocence. He's rehearsing his innocence in the presence of God. Commit your case to the Lord. King David did it, and the root and descendant of David did it, Jesus Christ.

It is told of him in first Peter two twenty three. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. I want you to think about that. Every single time people said, he's a drunkard and a glutton.

Every single time says, he does these things by the power of a demon. Every single time they try to accuse him. What was going through the mind of Christ is, I will entrust. I will entrust these slanders to him who will vindicate my name. I was reading the book of Mark earlier this week, and I love his trial because when you come to the trial and you you read about the accusations that people try to gather against them, it was I almost chuckled reading it because as you read about them attempting to find a charge against them, it says they could not even agree with one another.

They were stumbling over each other. And then finally, when they they came up with one, at least somewhat good of accusation, it says that they still couldn't. He said he'll destroy this temple. And it's right there. Read the Mark chapter 14.

You read it there. That they could not come to an agreement. And then it came to Jesus when the hyper says, what do you have to say about all these things? It says, he did not answer him. He did not answer him.

Commit your case to God, but go beyond that. Trust God with your reputation. Trust God with your reputation. Look at verse nine. Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end and may you establish the righteous.

You who test the minds and hearts, oh righteous God. Now Now look what he says in verse 10, my shield is with God who saves the upright in heart. He's asking God to enter the Lord, put the wicked to the end and you establish the righteous. Why would he pray that? Because he believed God could.

And know this, if you are truly innocent of a matter, if you are truly without fault, God will make it his holy obligation to make sure that whether in this life or in the next, that your name will be vindicated. And that what was said in the dark will come to the light. Here's what you need to do. Do you want to be bulletproof from slander? The effects of slander?

Do you wanna avoid the dangers that can come to you because Satan can borrow the mouth of another? Do this. Ready? Walk in integrity. That's it.

Just walk in integrity. Do you want confidence in life? Do you wanna be able to walk through this life even if you are continually being launched at with false accuracy? You wanna know what to do? Just walk in integrity.

You will know a confidence. You walk with your chest out, your head high, because the bible says that he is a shield to those who walk in integrity. That's all you have to do. And even though it's painful, and even though it hurts, you keep walking, and you trust God that he will come through for those who walk in blamelessness. And it's amazing thing.

Someone made the wonderful illustration of Paul being on the island of Malta. And when he was there by that fire with the citizens of that island, a snake came out and bit him, and they're waiting for that poisonous bite to take him out. But instead, as they waited for that sign of divine judgment, instead came what? Nothing. And so, they came to a different conclusion about the man.

And I would say this, in like manner, when the poisonous bites of slander come to try to take you out, trust that God will intervene, and in the sight of others, he will show you who you really are. Here's what you need to do, what Paul did, shake the snake off and let it fall into the fire. If you don't know how to do that, you're gonna continue to meditate and you're gonna keep that thing's fangs in your hand. Even though it's not poisonous, you're just gonna let that thing hang out with you. Shake it off.

I'm walking in integrity and my God will intervene. Trust God with your reputation, but lastly, worship God in faith. Look at verse 14 with me. Behold, the wicked man conceives evil and is pregnant with mischief and gives birth to lies. He makes a pit digging it out and falls into the hole that he has made.

You see that? The the hole that you make for another, you will end up tripping into it and you will be in that hole wondering how in the world did I fall into this very same hole that I dug out because God providentially led you into that hole. Because God providentially led you into that hole. Providentially led you into that hole. His mischief returns upon his own head and on his own skull his violence descends.

Then look at verse 17. This is how he ends. This is the crescendo. This is the ending. This is the exclamation mark of a man who has been smothered by slander.

I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord the most high. So what began with gloom and hopelessness, when he felt like he was being drowned by betrayal, he still at the end said, Oh God, I will worship you. Still, How can you worship when others are plotting your destruction? I'll tell you how. When you know that God will come through.

That's how you know. Be encouraged, saint. If you haven't known it before, and if you serve God continually, do not be surprised at a Cush. Do not be surprised at a trial against you. Do not be surprised at the bites of others.

And be encouraged, in fact. Wanna be encouraged? You're in good company. You're in good company. You're amongst David and the Christ.

You're amongst the greatest saints in the world that walked in uprightness, but the devil tried to find something. And he tried to bring them down. And what you see is God always comes through. And so, if you want to walk with Jesus, know this, When Paul says, I want to know him. Everything else is rubbish.

He says, I long to experience the power of his resurrection. He didn't stop there. What else did he say? The part that everybody leaves out or says it and don't realize what they're saying. The fellowship of his sufferings.

Everybody wants the power of the resurrection, and then when they quote that part, they go The fellowship of his sufferings, that you would know something of Christ and his nearness, and his intimacy, and his wisdom, and his healing touch, and his counsel when when you suffer? Surely slander is suffering. People of God, may God set a guard over our mouths, and may God give us the wisdom not just in how we communicate, but how we interpret and how we receive and how we look at others. This is a necessary tool. What is the context of first Timothy?

The church. The church of Jesus Christ. And God will give us that power. And listen, God will give you other things to talk about. It's a wonderful experience.

It's a wonderful thing. When the highlight of your friendships and relationships with siblings and other things is not, let's just list all the people that we can tear up and laugh about it. It's just it's it's so sad. Let God fill your heart with something different so that your mouth can manifest something holy and wonderful and upbuilding. Servant of God, servants of God can't slander.

God is willing to forgive even such if we give it to him. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the piercing word of God. We thank you Lord that as we sang, your sword heals our wounds. It never creates further wounds.

And Lord, we pray that as the sword of the spirit was extended into our hearts this morning, it would only cut out what needs to be cut out and it would only equip those who are fighting the good fight. Lord, if this is a pattern of sin in our lives, thank you for warning us. May we take heed. Lord, if we have fallen victim to it and we were just doing what you've called us to do or maybe we even made a mistake and we repented of it but people were not as merciful as you were. Lord, help us choose to worship you.

Help us choose to trust you. Lord, we are your servants. And, in the same way, Lord, that one who curses the servant of another slanders against him, his master will defend him. Lord, will you not defend us? Will you not defend us if we are being slandered?

Lord, this morning, we came to be sanctified by you, washed by you. Lord, we long to be like Jesus. Not just in our evangelism, not just in our singing, and not just in our theology. We wanna be like Jesus in our speech, in our conversation, in our reaction. We want to be like Christ.

Lord, in this moment, we sit in your presence because we long to dwell in your tent. We long to be in your house. We long to fellowship at your table. And, Lord, if we have to cast off anything for that to be a greater experience, highlight these things in our hearts. Lord, we pray that you would give us the wisdom to know how to understand that bringing up a name is not slander.

And that when it's necessary, we have to bring up the reputation of another. Give us wisdom and balance in this, Lord. And help help us not believe every lie of Satan, any lie of Satan that would try to accuse us of something that is not worthy of accusation. Lord, we surrender to you this morning, and we ask that you would bless us with what we long for, and that is your presence. In Jesus' name, we pray.

Amen. We're gonna sing in a moment. In a moment. Can you just talk to the Lord as you sit there in your pew? Just communicate not long.

Just a few moments. Speak to the Lord from your heart, from your experience. For some in here, they need to ask God to vindicate their cause. For some people in here, they have been brutalized by the words of others. Just talk to the Lord as David did.

For others, perhaps there needs to be sincere repentance. Sincere repentance. Saying, God, you spoke to my heart and I wanna change in this area of my life. Talk to the Lord. He will forgive and he will use your life.

But I don't want us to rush out of here with the program. Just speak to the Lord while you're here. And then we will do what David did and sing unto the Lord.