Slander

Slander as a Sin of the Tongue

Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth and I'm your host, and today we'd like to talk about the topic of slander. The topic of slander. What does the Bible say about slander?

Certainly, if you've been slandered, you feel the sting of that. Certainly, if you're in any kind of gospel ministry, you probably have been slandered. Quite for sure, you can believe what Spurgeon said, that when people slander you, you ought to be very, very glad that people didn't really know what was truly in your heart, because their slander would be much worse.

There's lots of things to talk about, but we want to make sure we understand it from a biblical perspective. There are people out there today who will say, well, slander, according to U .S. law, if you tell the truth about people, then it's not slander.

And friends, that is just cowardice. That is people hiding behind American law, English definitions. And when you look at the Bible, what slander teaches, you'll see quickly there's a difference between that and what these charlatans try to make slander out to be, in terms of their motives, in terms of their actions.

And so as a listener today, if you're listening to this show, you probably don't want to have people slander you, and you probably need to be reminded that you ought not to slander other people. Psalm 64 talks about people's tongues are as arrows shot out, shooting out arrows to hurt people, to hurt their ministries, to hurt their families, and many times, most times, with prideful reasons, for personal gain reasons, making yourself look good at the expense of another.

Valentinian, the Empire, decreed that if you were convicted in a court publicly of the crime of slander, you should die. That's a pretty grave sin. Now certainly we should die for one sin, we should be tortured slowly, naked, on a cross, for one sin against a thrice holy God.

And we ought to be very, very careful as we are forgiven people in Christ, that we don't go back to the mud and to the pit and to the sewer septic system of sin that we've been saved out of, saved from.

There was a Pope, and you know I'm no big Roman Catholic, but just to show you the background when it comes to slander, Pope Gregory said that if you want to find a person guilty of slander, you should excommunicate them.

That's pretty amazing. You look at the Old Testament, you shall not have tail bearers among the people, Leviticus 19. And so when we think of slander, we ought to think of the biblical solutions. What does the Bible say in biblical solutions?

Augustine said, whoever loves another's name to blast this table, his dinner tables, not for him, so let him fast. And we want to get rid of this abomination to God called slander. Proverbs chapter 6, there are six things which God hates.

You want to know what God hates? Yes, seven that are abomination. When you hear that kind of language in the Hebrew, it's making an emphasis on the last point. So they didn't have bold or highlighters on their computer, highlights.

And so if you wanted to use poetic language, which the Proverbs were, proverbial language, and you wanted to make sure you had the final point highlighted, it would speak the loudest, you know, all in capitals, you would say there are six things that God hates, yes even seven, and that means God hates the seventh one the most.

Haughty eyes, lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, heart that devises wicked purposes, feet that are swift in running to mischief, a false witness that utters lies, and he that sows discord among the brethren.

That's exactly what happens when people slander. They're sowing discord among the brethren. And we want to be firm in our resolution not to let any corrupt speech come out of our mouths. And so back to the point again where people say, well I'm just telling you something true about a person, and that's not slander.

James 4 and the Cowardice of Slander

Let's go to James chapter 4 and forever and always get that silly notion out of your mind, that very pragmatic notion that people hide behind. I think I'll call today's show, The Cowardice of Slander.

You know, it takes a lot of courage to go confront people when they're in sin, when they've offended you. It takes a lot more courage to go confront them, or come alongside of them, or cover their sins, than it does to run to other people and say things about that person.

And so if you'd like to consider that a challenge, then I would give you that challenge. Instead of talking poorly about people and ill about people to bring them down, why don't you go talk to that person?

Now you know me, I will gladly and often critique what people teach. But I don't think you've heard me say things about them personally to attack their character and attack their person. If I teach something here today and you don't like it and you want to say, well this is what he says and that's not true, I think you ought to do that.

I think when your pastor preaches on Sunday, you ought to, in a positive way, go through that message with your family. We agree with that, there's a few things Pastor Mike said that our family doesn't believe, he's still a fine man, etc. etc.

There's a way to go about it, and there's a wrong way to go about it. But for those people who are listening and they like to hide behind the American definition in the law court, it's not, you know, if it's still, if it's true, it's not slander.

Then what would James 4 say? Now remember, James has already talked about what the tongue does in chapter 3, and how vicious the tongue is, and how awful the tongue is. And Jesus has said that what comes out of the mouth is actually from the heart.

You can tell what somebody's thinking, you can tell what's in someone's heart based on what they say. And so James chapter 4 verse 11 says, "...do not speak against one another, brethren.". Don't speak down.

And it's an imperative. Don't do this. Don't ever do it. Don't criticize people, don't say things about other people, one another. It's a very general word, speaking down, to refer to any kind of speech against another person.

The Expositor's Bible Commentary says, "...what is said may be true in its content, but harsh and unkind in the manner of its presentation.". So this kind of language, just this one verse, James chapter 4 verse 11.

By the way, you can think exactly the opposite of Jesus when you think of this verse. Jesus didn't do any of the sins of slander or backbiting. He didn't do any kind of accusation. He didn't do some kind of exaggeration of a fault that was real.

He didn't have some kind of needless repetition of real faults that would hurt the person. There was no kind of defamation and denigration in the lips of Jesus, no slander, no judgmental attacks. Everything that Jesus did was righteous, and so here James says on the flip side, the half-brother of Jesus, when it comes to speaking down against people, stop it.

Accusations, defamation, slander, criticism, hearkening back to the Old Testament Mosaic Law, "...you shall not go about as a slanderer among your people, and you are not to act against the life of your neighbor.

I am the Lord.". Putting people down, usually behind their back. Oh, that's courageous, isn't it? I think the maxim of one of the rabbis was, no one could speak evil of his brother without denying God and becoming an atheist.

Some kind of, you know, bulldozing other people with your words when those people aren't even there. Urban said in James chapter 4, "...it is the love of finding fault which James here rebukes.". This is not somebody's a false teacher, they deny the resurrection, they say that the Bible's full of error, someone's living with their girlfriend, that's not what he's talking about here.

And even there, there's a way to correct false teaching in people who are in sin. And James says, you know, there's some reasons why you shouldn't be this speaker against. And he gives reasons, and the first reason he gives is, you're brethren.

Don't speak against one another, James 4 11. Brethren. Do you see how inconsistent that is? You know, when I was growing up, if somebody got after my brother, I would defend him. How many times you see the word brother in James 4 11?

Brethren. Brother. Brother. Three times in that one verse. You're family. Why would you tear down your family? It's incongruous to think that you would tear down someone who's actually closer than family.

We wouldn't do that. Let us do good to all men, especially of those who are the household of faith, Galatians 6. Well, James gives another reason that you ought to not slander other people. Be the speaker against.

So the speaker of the house, the speaker against people, against other Christians, because you're judging the law itself. Found here again in James 4 11. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother speaks against the law and judges the law.

But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge of it. This person that does this slanderous, evil speaking, basically says, you know, the law of God, that law that was back in James 2 8, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, that royal law given by royalty himself, the king.

You know, it's not like that big a deal. You know, it's just kind of what we do at work, it's how we get ahead. We say bad things about other people so they'll come and follow us. It's not that big a deal.

No, it's a big deal. You're breaching God's law. You're gonna do something that God says not to do. And so James fillets the person who somehow can say to themselves, there's a reason, rationalizing, I'm superior, I'm up some kind of high perch, and I know what I'm doing.

Your job, James says, is this, is to be a doer of the word, a doer of the law, not a judge of it. The air of speaking against other people makes you the judge. You should be under the law, not somehow over the law.

You have to be fearing God and keeping his commandments, because this applies to every person. You're basically saying, I'm God. God, don't you tell me what to do. I've got to do this, I've got to say bad things about somebody else so they come to my Bible study, I've got to slander someone else so they come to my church.

You are setting yourself up in the place of God. And you don't have love in your heart, and you're revealing that this verse is for you. Well, James says don't slander. Why? Number three, because God alone is the lawgiver and judge.

Verse 12, there's only one lawgiver and judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. There's only one source of authority. There's only one ultimate source of law, and it is not you. You are not him.

He is God and God alone. Only one. God gives the law, and God in 33rd chapter of Isaiah, for the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver. I'd like to know, when did you give the law? Did you give the Mosaic law?

Did you give the Christ law? When did you give the law? And if you give the law, then you can do what you want. But if you are under the law, then don't speak to people, about people, with slander. There's only one who's able to save and destroy, James says.

And he's the one who can enforce that law with sovereign power, with extreme authority. He is the one. Jesus said in Luke 12, and I say to you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do, but I will warn you whom to fear.

Fear the one who after he has killed has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. One lawgiver, one judge over the law, one Savior from the law when it is broken. And you're not them. You're not him.

Confession, the Tongue, and Speaking Less

Well, there's another reason why you shouldn't slander. My name is Mike Evendroth, this is No Compromise Radio Ministry, we're talking about the thing that people can easily slide into, and that is slander.

You want not to slander other Christians, other Christian leaders, you want not to even malign or slander the President of the United States. If you're a Republican, you want not to say bad things about his person, his character.

You want to talk about policy, talk about it all you want. That's one of the reasons why I don't listen to talk radio on secular stations, because they promote this kind of thing and it slides into my mind too quickly to do the same thing that those men and women do on those other stations.

That's why you need to listen to WVNE 760, you just need to turn the dial to 760 and just break the dial right there on 760. Fourth reason not to be slanderous is you're not capable to judge. This is James, James chapter 4 verse 12.

There's only one lawgiver and judge, the one who's able to save and destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor? Boy, the way James writes, penetratingly rhetorical here, isn't it? You think you're God?

You're a nobody. Who are you to judge your neighbor? This is blunt. This is James just going for the jugular. This is prideful when you decide to do that. Who are you? You can just hear James. I'm glad I'm not in the room when James was saying something like that.

We ought to remember that when we want to do these things, that God in fact is there. There are five people in every conversation. The person who's talking, the person who's listening, and the three persons of the Trinity.

James chapter 5 goes on to say, Don't think somehow, you know, the cat is away, the mice will play. God will take care of those who are speaking down about other people with personal motives. Oh, they might have to get dealt with many, many years afterwards, but they will be taken care of.

Many times, those people who slander are Christians, and Jesus had to pay for those sins of slander when he died for those Christian sins. And now, why would we run back to those sins? This is a freeing thing to realize.

Why don't we just confess our sins, and God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. First John chapter 1 there, if God was unjust and unfaithful, he'd make us pay for the sins and make Jesus pay for the sins.

But since he's faithful and just to have Jesus pay for those sins, we confess, we agree, and we say, Lord, we don't want to do that. We are sinful, we are guilty, and so please forgive us. Based on your Son's life, your Son's promises, your Son's substitutionary atonement, your Son's resurrection.

And when we think about slander, you might say to yourself, I don't know other people's motives as good as I'd like to know them, and so I have to be careful what I say about them. Reminded me of a story that Harry Ironside told about judging others.

He related an incident about a man named Bishop Potter. Here's what Ironside said. He was sailing for Europe on one of the great transatlantic ocean liners. When he went on board, he found that another passenger was to share the cabin with him.

After going to see the accommodations, he came up to the purser's desk and inquired if he could leave his gold watch and other valuables in the ship's safe. He explained that ordinarily he never availed himself of that privilege, but he had been to his cabin and had met the man who was to occupy the other berth.

Judging from his appearance, he was afraid that he might not be a very trustworthy person. The purser accepted the responsibility of the valuables and remarked, it's alright Bishop, I'll be very glad to take care of them for you.

The other man has been up here and left his for the same reason. Slow to judge, slow to speak evil. There's a little story in Today in the Word. A young man died in 1884, and after his grieving parents decided to establish a memorial fund, they began to shop universities.

They met with Charles Elliott, president of Harvard. Elliott received this couple into his office and asked what he could do. We'd like to have a memorial fund for our son. He said, perhaps you've got a scholarship in mind?

No, maybe something more, maybe a building? And then Elliott said, according to this account, in a patronizing tone, he brushed the idea aside, and it was too expensive, he said, for them. The next year, Elliott learned that his plain pair, this plain pair, had gone elsewhere and established a $26 million memorial fund named Leland Stanford, Jr., better known today as Stanford.

So you want to watch out on what your motives are and how you impute motives to others, thinking the best, thinking the worst. You know, it's back to that prayer, dear God, so far today I've done alright, I haven't gossiped, I haven't lost my temper, I haven't been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish, or overindulgent.

I'm very thankful for that, but in a few minutes, God, I'm going to get out of bed, and from then on, I'm probably going to need a lot of help, amen. I think one of the best things you could do if you struggle with slander is just confess to God that you can't control your own tongue.

James chapter three, but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless evil and full of deadly poison. That would help you. God, I need help. What a prayer that is. God, by your Spirit, empower me. Help me.

Give me the victory so I don't say things about other people that would build me up and tear them down for some advantage to myself, even the satisfaction of tearing other people down. God, prevent me from doing that.

Help me to speak like your son. God, apply the gospel again to my life, even as a Christian, apply the gospel to my thinking so I can do the right thing. One of the things I think people ought to do out there, and this is, you know, you're going to say, Abendroth, you need to listen to this, and I do.

Talk less. Calvin used to say pastors ought to fast from talking. They talk too much. Well, I certainly think that's true, although on radio, it kind of makes for low ratings. But other times, you just want to listen.

Proverbs 1019, when there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, but he who restrains his lips is wise. Spurgeon said that too bad there's not a tax on words, because people talk so much. A worldly proverb says, blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving wordy evidence of it.

A lot of truth there. If you are a person who struggles with slandering others, speaking poorly of others, then I have another bit of advice for you. Don't hang out with people or a group who likes to do that very thing.

You need to leave. Let them know of their sinful speaking down on other people, and you need to get out of that group, and you need to say to yourself, you know, one of my best friends, they just slander all the time.

You probably need a different friend. If you're not influencing, you're going to be the influenced, and you need to get away from people who backbite and tailbear and tattle and speak evil and defame and slander and bear false witness and judge uncharitably and bring false reports.

You need to be around others who encourage, who have psalms and hymns and spiritual songs on their tongue, who have thankfulness and contentment on their tongue, who teach the Bible. This is something that people need to think about very deeply and very firmly.

Rulers can be involved in slander, ministers can be exposed, Bible study leaders. We want to be careful that we don't do that. We want to love life and see good days, so we want to have the tongue stop speaking evil.

That's exactly what the Bible says. Listen to what this other story says. At the start of the McCarthy era, Floridian Claude Pepper, one of the Senate's most outspoken liberals, was on the conservatives' hit list, along with many other senators.

George Smathers lashed out with some typical right-wing invective. He called his opponent the Red Pepper, and he launched a campaign to expose Pepper's secret vices. Smathers disclosed that Pepper was a known extrovert, his sister was a thespian, and his brother was a practicing homo sapien.

Also, when Pepper went to college, he actually, this is part of more of the rumor, he actually matriculated. Worst of all, he practiced celibacy before marriage. And the people out in the country were horrified, Pepper loses.

That is a great illustration of saying things about someone that's true. His sister was a thespian, Pepper was a known extrovert, Pepper did practice celibacy before marriage, he actually matriculated when he went to college, and his brother was a practicing homo sapien.

Those are all true, but the way it was said, the context in which it was said was not proper. It was unrighteous, it was sinful. This is Mike Gabendroth, No Compromise Radio Ministry, info at nocompromiseradio .com.

We want to make sure to look at the tongue as what it is, dangerous, and then let's replace our evil speaking with good words of encouragement. God bless you.