Coming up this week: Food Pantry on Tuesday 5:30-7, Bible Study Wednesday 6 pm (studying Jeremiah), Men’s Breakfast on Saturday 8 am (meeting at Lee’s Diner on 2nd St.), and Sunday School, Worship Service, and Fellowship on Sunday. Welcome to church!
Father of Heaven and creator of all, lord today we humbly come to you and ask for your forgiveness for failing to thank you for all the blessings of this live you have provided, as we learn to forgive other people in our lives. Father, please help us to grow closer to you in our walk. In His Heavenly name, Amen!
Message: The Chutzpah of Truth, Will Set Us Free!
Well finally, Yiddish has been used in our Baptist Church, and it didn’t take that much Chutzpah to pull it off. Yiddish by the way is a Jewish slang form of German used from the Medieval times of Europe into our country and the modern age. So, what does Chutzpah mean? Well, I looked it up on Google, and the internet told me:
Chutzpah is a Yiddish word meaning “impudence or gall.” If you have chutzpah, you say what you think without worrying about hurting someone’s feelings, looking silly, or getting in trouble. It also means boldness or self-assured, and we need some of that in our walk right now!
What I mean is this, we spend so much time trying to fit in to the society at large sometimes, that we forget to rely on the basic’” truths that set us free from so much of the turmoil that exists out there in the world of modernity. Those truths being, that our Lord has fulfilled what the scriptures of the Old Testament, or the Tora (instruction or the books of Moses), Nivi’im (the Prophets), and Kethuvim (Writings). All of it is a perfect account that is complimented majestically by the Gospel of the New Testament of what God has done, and will do, to redeem and reclaim His creation, you! Through your free choice of accepting Him into your life!
Chutzpah is saying, singing (as we did today in our Praise Hymns), and proclaiming; “Lord plant my feet on Higher Ground”Even when the world denies, despises, and dismisses your witness to the truth of The Good News. And when we overcome the worldly bogus taboos inflicted on the Family of God, our lives are freed to experience the truth of God’s love for us, and His plans for our way ahead.
Our witness to the truth, originates in the Lord’s Spirit and is such a unique experience, because no two of us are exactly the same in our relationships in and with the Lord. It’s that uniqueness that makes all of God’s Spiritual Gifts for our witnessing sound out like a harmonic symphony that is majestic in the realm of Angels, and servs as a beacon, compass, and light for our way in this life. For this and many reasons, we need to relish our uniqueness, and appreciate each other for individuality, and blend our gifts in our love of service. And then just as we will sing later this morning for our Hymn of Invitation; Tis so Sweet to; Trust in Jesus!
These are those gifts spoken of by Paul in his first letter to the Church in Corinth all those years ago. The blending, appreciating, and nurturing of our combined individual uniqueness that we need in each other. Reading again from today’s Call to Worship, 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a
12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
*Side Note; Thank you Lord! The last thing I need in church are more good members like me. Meaning, I aint so good, and I need other people to balance my skewed view of the world, and myself.
15 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
**Side Note Again; Loving your neighbor as your self means letting God do the picking and you the loving, caring, and nurturing. Cuz He is better at picking, and we need practice loving.
21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
***One More Time; As the Body of Christ, we mutually support and equip each other in the walk that lies before each of us. That means that when we are family, our strengths and weaknesses offset and support all the things that make us unique and yet one of a united Family in God. That… as the Body of Christ, we are bold to the point of Chutzpah, in our worship. When we praise, glorify, and magnify, His Holy and Precious name. That’s when the; The Chutzpah of Truth, Will Set Us Free! Free from all of the divisions that seem to hamper and throughout our society with the us(es) and them(s) of the moment, and that you see everywhere. You see, in our boldness even though the fear is that we are alienating ourselves from everyone else, in reality there are masses and masses of people out there looking for truth and to belong to something they can believe in. What you and I have. We just need the Hutzpah sometimes to share it with other people more often. Continuing with verse 27;
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28 And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? 31 Now eagerly desire the greater gifts.
Paul would cap this passage off by leading the congregation into the showing of; “the most excellent way.” We know that to be Paul’s instruction in the Love Chapter; 1 Corinthians 13. And yet that very sentiment of love, caring, and acceptance of our different attributes of God’s Spirit, is being expressed in our witness to the Good News.
Through our gifts of the Spirit, described in today’s Call to Worship I just read, each of us possesses in the Body of Christ, our own vocation of gifts of the Holy Spirit of God. Each of us are encouraged to tap into, use, develop, mature, and grow those gifts; in and with the family of God. Complimenting what has been revealed in this room and in your lives especially, that each and every one of us has a ministry in the service and witness of our God’s majesty in this life.
That boldness, that hoped for chutzpah of witness for God’s good news to all of the willing, takes place in it’s designed perfection when I am in fellowship, unity, and service with the family of God. Because on my own, I really struggle to walk in my Lord’s footsteps. On my own, I don’t have anyone to warn me that I’m trying to go it alone, which leads to my missing the mark yet once again in my goal to live a richer life in and with the Lord and His family.
At this point, some of you might be thinking; Is it all right to hurt other people’s feelings and be brash? Since chutzpah is such a bold approach that one might come across as was mentioned earlier with; “impudence or gall”, saying what we think without worrying about hurting someone’s feelings, looking silly, or getting in trouble.
Well, this is my thought, you have the heavy responsibility of thinking for yourselves, by praying, studying, and being in relationship with the one we serve. My thought, is that there is chutzpah, and then there is chutzpah. When applying boldness (chutzpah), we must keep in mind what we discussed last week with Paul’s words to the Church in Corinth, about thinking about and putting other people first in our considerations. Reading again from last week’s message in 1 Corinthians 10:23-25, 31-32
23 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive. 24 No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.
31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 32 Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God.
When being bold, I need to think is my chutzpah more about showing off, or is it fearlessly sharing God’s love with others regardless of the personal cost to me. Case in point, we have today’s Message Reading of the Lord going to His own Synagogue (Church) where He grew up, instructing a passage from Isaiah. Reading again fromLuke 4:14-21;
14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Jesus, is citing Isaiah 61 where he is instructing all that us prisoners in darkness, captives of sin, are being freed through Him. A whole new reality in our lives is now available to all who are willing.
It’s that last part that triggers the people in the Synagogue of His youth, when the Lord says; “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” After some back and forth and people looking for signs and not getting what they wanted, because they had expectations of God, and were not concerned with what God wanted from them, reality of a relationship with God. We have their reactions to Jesus in versus 28-32;
28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.
31 Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath he taught the people. 32 They were amazed at his teaching, because his words had authority.
In His hometown, the Lord was filtered out, cancelled to use a modern expression (in fact, they wanted to kill Him), but in Capernaum, the people were open to the promptings of the Lord and His instruction, and amazed by our Lord. We know from Mark 6 that in this synagogue that the Lord grew up the people indeed dismissed the Lord. Reading from Mark 6:3-6;
3 Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.
4 Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” 5 He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6 He was amazed at their lack of faith.
You can almost hear the people of His Synagogue saying, what chutzpah is this? Verse 5 says it all for me; 5 He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. God will not force His will into your heart, meaning your free choice can be a kind of misdirected chutzpah of selfishness. Their own chutzpah, boldness, even impudence of hearing the Holy Spirit, blocked out the Lord.
When we disregard the invitations of the Lord by keeping God out of your life, the only kind of chutzpah we are capable of is; impudence and gall, saying what we think without worrying about hurting feelings. How different is that from the sharing the Good News of God’s love with unabashed boldness yes good chutzpah. Putting others first, because of our caring for other people, is a hallmark of our Faithwalk in Him.
That’s when; The Chutzpah of Truth, Will Set Us Free! Free to boldly share compassion with others, free to care without the paranoia of looking foolish in the eyes of a world that only has eyes for itself.
May you this week, find the right amount of chutzpah. Especially as it applies to the truth of your Lord’s love for you, and your neighbor.
Amen!