TEXT: I Corinthians 13:7a

SUBJECT: What is Love? #10: Covering

What does it mean to "bear all things"? The word "bear" is found seven times in the New Testament. Sometimes, it means "to be patient". We've all heard people say, "Bear with me". They mean "Be patient". Brotherly love is patient. Paul has told us that before: "Love suffers long...is not easily provoked ...endures all things". That may be his meaning here.

But I don't think so. For it adds little or nothing to his description of love. The other meaning of the word does. Sometimes it means "to cover". Love is that quality that "covers all things".

What are these "all things"? They are bad things; sins--not in yourself--but in others. To quote I Peter 4:8:, "Above all things, have fervent love among yourselves, for love covers a multitude of sins".

What does it mean to "cover sin"? To "cover up" in a sneaky, underhanded way? Of course not! What is the opposite of "covering sin"? Exposing it. What do we call exposing the sins of other people? When we do it ourselves, we call it "concern". But when others do it to us, we call it by its true name: "Gossip".

And so, when Paul writes, "Love...bears all things", he means "love does not gossip".

Why not? Let's face it, as long as it's not about you or someone you love, gossip is fun to hear and even more fun to spread. Yet--fun or not--gossip is an awful sin and incompatible with brotherly love.

If you read "what love is" in the verses above, you'll see that "gossip" and love can't possibly go together. Let's look at some of them:

"Love is kind". Is gossip? Think about it: "Oh, Mrs. Jones, she's a wonderful wife, treats her husband like a king and makes him the happiest man in the world". Is that "gossip"? Why not? Because it's kind. But how about this: "Mrs. Jones? She's a witch at home! I don't know how he puts up with her! If I were married to her, I'd hang myself!" Is that "gossip"? Sounds like it to me. Why? Because it's unkind.

"Love is not puffed up". Is gossip? Think about it: Who's being put down in gossip--the gossip himself or someone else? Someone else, of course! And how does the gossip look by comparison? Pretty good. And what does it mean to make yourself look pretty good? It means to be "puffed up".

"Love does not behave rudely". Does gossip? If it's so polite, why do we only do it behind people's backs? I not one bit reluctant to say a courteous word to someone's face. But, if I want to cut him down, I prefer going behind his back. And that is rude!

"Love does not rejoice in iniquity". Does gossip? If you've ever gossiped, you know it feels great! Proverbs 18:8 has it: "The words of a talebearer are like tasty trifles; and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly".

"Love rejoices in the truth". Does gossip? Some of it is purely false. All of it is partly false. One-sided; exaggerated; and so on.

If gossip is unkind, proud, rude, mean, and deceitful, it cannot be loving!

One other thing ought to be said: Gossip is extremely hurtful. "A wholesome tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit" (Proverbs 15:4). Good words give life; bad words kill it.

Gossip is hurtful to the gossip himself. It gets him in the habit of cruelty and falsehood. And habits are very hard to break.

Gossip is hurtful to the ones being gossiped about. "A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches". Gossip takes this from a person and replaces it with a bad reputation...one he may not be able to live down--ever!

Gossip is hurtful to the Church. To its witness, cf. John 13:35. To its membership, Galatians 5:15.

But worst of all, gossip is hurtful to God. In Ephesians 4, Paul urges us to quit our "anger, malice, evi speaking" and so on. Why? Because such things "Grieve the Holy Spirit". It's funny that we don't gossip around some people; we know they don't approve of it; they are hurt by it. Yet it doesn't occur to us that the Holy Spirit is a Person, too. And He doesn't like gossip and is wounded by it! How dare we gossip in the Presence of God Himself!

If we agree that gossip is a bad thing, and a common thing, we're obliged to ask: How do we quit gossiping?

We can start here: Quit talking so much! "In the multitude of words, sin is not lacking, but he who restrains his lips is wise" (Proverbs 10:19). Ever wonder why there is so much garbage on tv? One reason is: The stations have a lot of time to fill! And so, instead of signing off after its one good hour per day, it has to put on twenty-three hours of rubbish! The same thing can be true of us. If we fill every waking moment with chatter, some of it, at least, will be gossip. Let's sign off, like the channels used to do, and put up a test pattern in our talk.

Think about the results of gossip. "A whisperer separates the best of friends" (Proverbs 16:28). Friendships are so rare in life; and so fragile. How wicked it is to ruin them for the sake of filling time or being the center of attention for five minutes!

Help each other. Gossip is not like adultery or theft--obvious. Sometimes we slip into it without meaning to. It would be good if someone would gracefully turn the conversation back to a more edifying topic. He can do this without being self-righteous!

Remember, we reap what we sow. The kind of people who love to hear gossip from you are also the sort who love to gossip about you. And if they do--how can you justly criticize them? "He who digs a pit shall fall in it; he who rolls a stone will have it roll back on him" (Proverbs 26:27).

Recall who we're gossiping about. Every person--saved or not--bears the image of God. That's why murder is so wrong. And gossip, too! Believers, in particular, are the children of God. Would you run down someone in the presence of his own loving father? Yet that's what we do when we speak evil of one another!

"Walk in the Spirit". This is Paul's remedy for "fulfilling the lusts of the flesh". This means--at least--we're to think about the Holy Spirit, that He's with us, and cares what we do. It's awfully hard to think about Him and tear down other people, isn't it?

Think of Christ crucified. When suffering for no fault of His own, He didn't bad mouth His executioners, but prayed for them. Why? Because He lived in love. If we did, we would do the same.

God make us more loving than we are. For Christ's sake. Amen.