Biblical Hospitality (Part 1)

THE HABIT OF HOSPITALITY

THEME: Hospitality is an essential Christian virtue that is both commanded and commended throughout Scripture. Sadly, however, many Christians fail to practice hospitality. Hospitality is one of the most practical ways to build closer relationships with people in our church and one of the most effective tools to build bridges to people in our community for the sake of the gospel. Consequently, we all need to have a proper understanding of what “hospitality” means and what it looks like and we all need either to get into the habit or to maintain the habit of “practicing hospitality.” This significant subject can be broken into TWO PARTS:

1. THE BIBLICAL EXPLANATION OF HOSPITALITY

     A. HOSPITALITY DEFINED

     B. HOSPITALITY DEMONSTRATED

2. THE PRACTICAL EXECUTION OF HOSPITALITY

     A. HINDRANCES TO HOSPITALITY

     B. HINTS FOR HOSPITALITY

1. HOSPITALITY IN THE CHURCH

2. HOSPITALITY FOR FELLOWSHIP

3. HOSPITALITY FOR EVANGELISM

We will take your Bibles and turn to Romans chapter 12. And we are going to continue in our study of this great letter that Paul wrote to the believers in Rome. And as you're turning there, I just want to remind you, because we are not handing these out like we normally do, but we do have the sermon outline and the application question sheet on the back table. And so if you missed that coming in the doors, feel free to hop up right now and you can go grab one of these. It would help you probably follow along and be a better listener and a better learner. And then the backside is to help you be a better applier of scripture, not just a hear of the word, but a doer of the word. So that's why we have these application questions to make sure the sermon doesn't just go in one ear and out the other kind of forces you to grapple with what you heard and do something about it.

Encourage you to get in the habit of picking these up when you walk in on Sunday mornings. Also, I just want to commend the children. You guys did a great job last week and you're doing a great job this morning and we have something special for you in the back as well. If you weren't aware, we have these little children's sermon notes and all it is is a big old box, not a whole lot of words. And this is just a fun way for you to engage in the message. We know it's a little more challenging when you're young and we kind of took away your children's church for the time being. And so you're here with us in big church. And so I want to encourage you if you don't have one of these, and if your mom and dad lets you, you can run in the back and grab yourself a copy of this.

And basically what it is, is that you can draw a picture of the sermon. And I heard this from another pastor years ago and I thought, that's brilliant. Rather than kids come to church typically with something to do and they sit there and they, at least when I was a kid, I had all sorts of stuff. My mom brought crayons and pencils and coloring books and doing all sorts of stuff during the message and to keep me preoccupied, to keep me from being a distraction. But unbeknownst to my parents and even to myself that we were training me to tune out the sermon. I wasn't listening to the sermon. I was just into whatever I was drawn, right? My army man or superheroes or whatever I was drawing. Whereas if you say, Hey, no, listen kids, I know you like to draw, so hey, just listen to the sermon and draw a picture of whatever comes into your mind based on what you hear from God's word. And I think it's a way that you can still do what you enjoy doing, but you can learn how to tune into the message at the same time and to learn how to simplify a message and apply a message even in your younger years. So I want to encourage you to get in the habit of using this little sermon sheet. And Sam, thank you again for copying these and making 'em available for us this morning.

Well, we're in Romans chapter 12, and we just completed last week as we returned to our study and it just was a very providential passage for us. Romans chapter 12, verses nine through 13, which says, let love be without hypocrisy a poor what is evil, clinging to what is good, be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Give preference to one another in love, not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality. And we're like, ah, there's this rapid fire commands. We're trying to keep up with Paul as he's just firing these things off. And we basically said, this is just a list of ways to love one another. And all of these things are what it means and what it looks like to love one another.

Well, every so often as we're going through a book of the Bible together, we come across a verse or a phrase or even a word that seems to warrant special attention or extra exposition, and sometimes it's the weightiness of the subject. It's extremely important or it's the timeliness of the subject. It's extremely relevant or its usefulness. It's extremely practical that it just kind of compels me to stop and pull the parking brake, if you will, and sit there for a little bit and drill down deeper into that particular subject. For instance, you may remember when we were studying through the gospel of John, we stopped and zeroed in on that phrase, it is finished, which is one of the most remarkable memorable statements that Jesus made on the cross that's just loaded with meaning. And we know it's the Greek word to Tetelestai, right? And all I know that weeks later I had guys coming back in after hearing that message, having Tetelestai tattooed on their arm, and I'm like, Hey, in this generation, if that's an indication that people are listening to the sermons and getting excited about what they're hearing, they're wanting to tat up their bodies with Tetelestai, I'm like, Hey, alright then.

Well, last week we came across a phrase that may not feel as weighty as Jesus is dying words, but it's definitely something that's extremely important. It's extremely relevant, it's extremely practical, but that is sadly misunderstood and even neglected by too many of us. And what I'm referring to is the unremarkable, easily overlooked phrase, practicing hospitality. Notice that in verse 13, the very last phrase Paul included in this list. He said, practicing hospitality, which we learned should be translated pursuing hospitality. The word practicing there, DIA in the Greek means to hunt or to chase after. It gives a whole new perspective on this concept of hospitality. And in other words, whatever hospitality means, it is something we're to regularly and eagerly engage in with the enthusiasm and energy of a hound chasing a fox or a cheetah chasing a zelle.

I didn't mention this last week, but practicing hospitality is a present participle in the original language, which indicates it's something that we should do continuously and habitually. In other words, it's not just something we do on the holidays or in times of crisis, but on a regular basis and in light of what it means to pursue or chase after or to hunt, if you will, the hospitality should have the thrill of the hunt in it. It's something that we cannot be passive about. We must be proactively and aggressively pursuing hospitality out of love for God and love for others. Hospitality is something that we should include in our ordinary everyday routines. It needs to become a way of life. Hospitality is one of the most practical ways to build closer relationships with other people in our church and one of the most effective tools to build bridges to people in our community for the sake of the gospel.

Hospitality is a Christian virtue that is both commanded and commended throughout scripture and can be one of the most thrilling things that we will ever do. That's why I don't want to just breeze over this phrase as we work our way through the book of Romans or let it get lost in this long list of ways where to love one another because this simple phrase I believe has the potential to radically transform our church and our community. And so this morning I want to make sure we all have a proper understanding of what hospitality means and what it looks like, and encourage us and challenge us to either get into the habit or maintain the habit of practicing hospitality. We're all at different places, right? In our spiritual growth and development. Some of us are well down the road when it comes to practicing hospitality. This is maybe a message to you that's just, Hey, excel still more, but others of you maybe are newer to the faith or maybe never drilled down into this subject of hospitality and this is something that really has never been a part of your life. And hopefully from this day forward, it'll become a regular part of your life.

I'm curious, how many of you have ever heard an entire sermon on the subject of hospitality? Raise your hand. Okay, 1, 2, 3, just a handful. Okay. So what that means is the majority of us have never really sat under the teaching of God's word in regards to this subject of hospitality. You may have read a book or two about it, but never heard a sermon. So to begin, my question for you is what comes into your mind when you think of hospitality? Just think for a second. When you think of the word hospitality, what are some things that come into your mind? Martha Stewart, Julia Childs, that's the older generation. The pioneer woman is the newer generation, right? Or just maybe women in general that might come. Any guys are sitting there. Oh yeah. I think of my wife. It's not even on my radar. That's why I have a wife.

That's her job, right? It's interesting that the majority of the books that I looked into and even acquired to do some research on this subject, the majority of them were written by Women for Women, interesting books on hospitality out there in the Christian market. Christian books written by women. For women, you may think about gorgeous homes or gourmet meals, guest bedrooms, entertaining friends and relatives on special occasions. You might think of the hospitality industry, which has been in the news a lot, right? That they're taking a huge hit right now. Hotels, resorts, restaurants, cruise lines. Our son, just our oldest son, Zach, just graduated from University of Houston with a hospitality degree. He's in a not the best place, right? Their best time to be finding a job in the hospitality industry. But that's what some people think about hospitality. It's all about food and lodging.

Well, if that's all that comes to mind when you think of hospitality, then I would submit to you that you have a shallow limited grasp of this vital subject. And even though God intended hospitality to be an essential part of our lives as Christians, many of us fail to practice it and we make excuses for why we don't serve fellow believers and engage unbelievers through biblical hospitality. Years ago I read a book by Alexander Straka, who is a pastor elder of a church up in Colorado, and he's authored many very helpful books for the church, but this little book would be easily overlooked. In fact, the title didn't catch me on the bookshelf, but I was encouraged to buy it and read it. And it's called The Hospitality Commands Building Loving Christian Community, building bridges to Friends and Neighbors. And I read this probably 25 years ago, and it's sat on my shelf and the Lord brought it to my mind as I was reading ahead in Romans and thinking about what the messages would be looking like in the future.

And I saw that phrase, practicing hospitality. I remember this book and I thought, you know what? I think I'm going to preach a message about hospitality when we get there just all by itself. And so I appreciate what Strach says in this book. And I quote, he says, I'm convinced that only by studying the living, breathing life-changing word of God, can we find hope for overcoming our fears, excuses and apathy regarding hospitality only The power of the word and the Spirit can convince us that hospitality is to be an essential part of healthy Christian living and can move us to act.

And so let's consider this subject this morning, I've broken up the subject of hospitality into two parts. First of all, we're going to look at the biblical explanation of hospitality, and then secondly, we're going to look at the practical execution of hospitality. In other words, what is it? And then how to do it. Okay, so let's look first of all at the biblical explanation of hospitality. And I want to again look at two points underneath this. We're going to see hospitality defined and then we're going to see hospitality demonstrated or displayed. So we're here in Romans chapter 12 verse 13, and this is our starting point and it simply says, practicing hospitality. And we learned last week that the Greek word for hospitality is philia, which is a combination of two words. And we know the first one, philos love. And xenia is the word for stranger or foreigner. And so hospitality literally means to love strangers or a love of strangers and implies that we welcome and befriend people we don't know and not just people we don't know you ready for this?

People who aren't like us, people who don't believe like us, think like us, talk like us, act like us or look like us. I mean, let's just be honest. We typically prefer to be around people who are like us. Is that just me? No, I think that's pretty much human nature. We like to be around and hang out with people who look like us, who act like us, who talk like us. They think like us. They believe like us. Why? Because it makes us feel what comfortable. We're comfortable around people. It's convenient to be around people who are like us. We don't have to work very hard. It's not an inconvenience. It just comes very natural. It's easy.

That word xenia in the Greek for stranger or foreigner is where we get the word xenophobia, which is a word that we hear a lot these days in our culture, right? Have you heard that word xenophobia, which is the fear or dislike of strangers or foreigners. It's a fear or dislike of anyone or anything that is foreign or strange to us. Well, we need to understand that this has never been and should never be a characteristic of God's people. I had the opportunity to listen to a message, I should say, read through a message that John Piper preached years ago back when I was in high school, 1985, man makes me feel old, but he preached a message way back when called strategic hospitality. And this is what he said. And I quote, as far back as you want to go, in the history of God's people, one of the God appointed duties of the righteous was hospitality, by which I simply mean the willingness to welcome people into your home who don't ordinarily belong there. I thought that was an interesting way to define hospitality, a willingness to welcome people into your home who don't ordinarily belong there.

Well take your Bibles and turn back to Leviticus chapter 19, and today might feel a little bit more like a Bible study than a sermon because I'm going to invite you to look at passages all over the scriptures, but I just want you to see what the Bible says with your own eyes and hear with your own ears about this subject of hospitality. And back in Leviticus 19, we have the foundation, I think of biblical hospitality tucked away in the sundry laws as the title in my Bible says in Luke chapter nine, three. In other words, the sundry laws, assorted laws just kind of, oh, by the way, here's some extra laws I'm going to tack on or include in all the other laws that I've been giving you. Then the Leviticus is all about God's holiness and he wanted his people to be set apart, and so he gave them all these laws which would set them apart from all the other nations around them.

And so in the kind of by the way, section of the God's law to his people, Israel, notice what he says in verse 33. It says, Leviticus 1933, he says, when a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself. What did we say? Hospitality was literally translated the love of strangers. And so he's telling his people that you shall love the stranger as yourself, but notice the reason for he says, here's the reason why for because you were aliens or strangers in the land of Egypt, I am the Lord your God.

Did you catch that? This is profound to me anyway, it may not be as profound to you as it was to me just looking into this and trying to get my mind around what in the world was God saying here? But the reason that God wanted his people to lovingly welcome and kindly take in and generously care and provide for strangers is because they were one strangers themselves. And don't miss that last phrase, I am the Lord your God. In other words, I am the one who loved you when you were a stranger. God is by nature a hospitable God, and God commanded his people to be hospitable based on who he is. God has reached out or God reached out, I should say, to the nation of Israel in love and rescued them from slavery in Egypt and brought them into a land flowing with milk and which simply served as a picture of how God reaches out and rescues and welcomes into his heavenly home, all those who trust in his son Jesus for salvation from their sin.

So you could say this, that salvation is essentially God showing hospitality to sinners. You good with that? That's what salvation is. It's God showing hospitality to sinners. And so if you're a Christian in here, if you have repented of your sin and you've trusted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you're trusting him alone for your salvation, then guess what? You are a recipient of God's hospitality. Now turn back to the New Testament, Ephesians chapter two, and we're going to see how this concept of the stranger is repeated here in the New Testament. Ephesians chapter two, verse 11. And Paul was writing to the church in Ephesus, which was predominantly made up of Gentiles. And so he wanted to explain to them this concept of the church. It was a new concept. It was a mystery hidden in the mind of God that he revealed God revealed to Paul by his spirit, and he gave Paul the responsibility to explain it to the people that he ministered to.

And so here he was describing the mystery of the church, Ephesians two 11. Therefore, remember that formally you, the Gentiles in the flesh who are called on circumcision by the so-called circumcision, that would be the Jews which is performed in the flesh by human hands. Remember that you were at the same time or at that time, excuse me, separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel and what strangers to the covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the world, but now in Christ Jesus, you who formally were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. And then he goes on in verse 19 to summarize what he's saying here. So then you are no longer what strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God's. What household Piper comments, he says, the ultimate act of hospitality was when Jesus Christ died for sinners to make everyone who believes a member of the household of God.

I'll be honest, I'd never thought about Christ's death of the cross as an act of hospitality view, fascinating concept, but I think there's merit to it because God graciously invites and receives sinners like us into his household at great cost to himself. He killed his own son and our place to provide a way for us to be forgiven for our sin and to be able to go to his house in heaven. In fact, Jesus was the one who delivered God's invitation of salvation to us. He befriended sinners and presented himself as a gracious host who is in the process of preparing a place for us in heaven, right? I will go and prepare a place for you in heaven, and he promised to come back to get us and take us there to be with him someday.

And so as God's children who are waiting for the marriage supper of the lamb, the ultimate dinner party, we should be the most hospitable people on the planet. Why? Because we understand what it's like to be lovingly pursued and graciously welcomed into God's household. Bottom line, a hospitable God should have hospitable children agree. A hospitable God should have hospitable children. And so by being hospitable, we're simply reflecting the character of our Father God. And hospitality is really just an extension or an overflow of his hospitality to us. He's shown hospitality to us and to the extent where there's just so much hospitality, it's just overflowing and it's spilling out to others around us.

There's no better way to put on the pursuing love and welcoming grace of God then by showing hospitality. And so all that to say, the ultimate motivation for us to practice hospitality is the fact that God loved and received us when we were strangers, and therefore we should love and receive strangers ourselves. Amen? Remembering that we owe our life to an act of God's hospitality fosters a joyful readiness in our hearts to show hospitality to others, which ultimately brings glory to God. Back in Romans chapter 15, verse seven, Paul says, therefore accept one another. Or I think the ESV says, therefore welcome one another just as Christ also accepted or welcomed us to the glory of God. I love that. Accept or welcome one another just as Christ also accepted or welcomed us to the glory of God showing hospitality glorifies God. It ultimately brings glory to him, not us, not. Oh wow, what a beautiful house. Oh wow, what beautiful China. Oh wow, what wonderful food. Oh wow, whatever you're impressed by and people are commending you for how hospitable you were, right? And you get a attaboy, a pat on your back, and it's not about you, it's not about us. It's ultimately not. We don't do this to bring glory to ourselves, but to bring glory to God, I read an interview by an author of a book I'll mention in just a moment.

Well, I'll just tell you. It's a book called The Simplest Way to Change the World, biblical Hospitality's Way of Life by Dustin Willis and Brandon Clements. And I want to talk a little bit more about that later. But one of the authors, Brandon Clements said this in an interview. He said, ultimately seeing the character of God as a hospitable God changed me. Lemme say that again. Ultimately, seeing the character of God as a hospitable God changed me. He's pursued us ever since Our first parents declared independence from him. And the whole saga of creation from the garden to the new heaven and earth is a story of God's hospitality to wayward sinners. The fact that I can in some small way put that cosmic story on display through saying, Hey, would you want to come over for dinner has been a complete game changer for me. That's good, isn't it?

Hopefully this message will be a game changer for all of us. I know as I've been reading and studying and praying and preparing, this is one of those messages that honestly, I didn't want to preach because it's an area that I think I fall short in and need to grow in. And I hate getting up and preaching a message that I'm not practicing. And it would've been easier just to kind of skim over and say, I glad we got that in our rear view mirror that practicing hospitality, okay, next. But to have to really grapple with it and go, Hey, how am I doing in that? And so far, I'll just let you know I'm very convicted and I'm excited to see how the Lord's going to change me as this one author confessed how he was changed, and it's not complicated. It's like, Hey, what are you doing tonight? What are you doing this afternoon? You want to just come over, want to grab a bite to eat, want to come over to our house? You want to go out and it's on me. And just being gracious, being welcoming, inviting, hospitable. It is not complicated, but it makes a huge difference. It could have a life-changing impact not only in your life but in the life of those that you reach out to and serve.

And so with that as our foundation, and again really, or the motivation is what I was getting at there, what should be motivating us here? And it's ultimately the character of God, it's the gospel. But I want to just quickly look with you at the specific references to hospitality in the rest of the New Testament to help you see that being hospital was a distinctive mark of Christians and the early church, and it should be a distinctive mark of our lives as well. Again, we're there. Our starting point again is Romans 1213, practicing hospitality Again, it means to pursue, to hunt, to track down or chase down. And if you remember the text or the passage right before this list, this love list if you will, in verses nine through 13, verses three through eight were a list of gifts, spiritual gifts that we have been given and that were to exercise to build up the body of Christ. And it's interesting that that while the instruction on hospitality in the New Testament is given in close proximity to the instruction on spiritual gifts, we see it here in Romans 12. We're going to see it here in just a moment. In one Peter four, it's right next door to the spiritual gift teaching. It's not in the context of spiritual gifts, it's in the context of love.

In other words, hospitality is not a gift. It's not one of the spiritual gifts. It's not in, you can't find it in a list of the spiritual gifts in Romans 12, one Corinthians 12. And I say that because oftentimes people think, well, oh, they have the gift of hospitality, or I have the gift of hospitality and I don't. And so I'll let those people with the gift of hospitality like I will those with the gift of teaching or the gift of giving, I'll let them do their thing and I'll just do my thing. Now, you can't get off that easy, okay? Hospitality is not a spiritual gift. It is a command. It is a command. It isn't something that God gifted certain Christians to do. God has called every Christian to be hospitable, and in particular, he called church leaders to be hospitable. Look at one Timothy, chapter three, one Timothy chapter three.

Paul calls out the leaders here by way of providing a list of qualifications for those men who would serve in the role of an overseer, a pastor, an elder. So there's a list here in one Timothy three. There's also a list in Titus chapter one. And in both lists, Paul includes the word hospitable. Notice first chapter three, verse 10. By the way, an overseer then must be above reproached, the husband of one wife. It even says in verse one, if any man aspires. So just the whole idea of hospitality is a girl thing. No, it's a guy thing.

In fact, because pastors and elders are supposed to be guys. And so he says, okay, now ans overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable. And here it is hospitable again in Titus chapter one, verse eight, the overseer must be above reproach as God steward, not self-willed, not quick tempered, not addicted to why not ignatious, not fond of sort of gain, but hospitable. So I would just say this, that pastors and elders are to be the role models of hospitality in the life of the church. First Peter, chapter five, three, it says that we are to serve as examples to the flock. Elders or pastors serve as examples, not lording and over people, but deleting by their example.

And so the pastors, the elders set the tone for how the rest of the church engages with those inside and outside the church. In fact, in one Timothy three, if you're still there, verse seven, it says, an elder must have a good reputation with those outside the church. And so I told the elders this morning when we were praying that they were going to be on the hot seat. We all going to be on the hot seat this morning in this message because the point is if the shepherds are inhospitable, most likely the sheep will be a hospitable inhospitable. Also, it's like people, like priests like shepherd, like sheep or sheep like shepherd.

And so this is a good reminder for me. This is a good reminder for the other, my fellow elders and fellow pastors, that being a pastor, being an elder, being a shepherd involves not just sharing the gospel but our very lives with people. I like how Paul said it in one Thessalonians chapter two, verse eight. He said, having so fond and affection for you, we were well pleased to impart you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives because you had become very dear to us. In other words, Paul said, listen, I loved you so much, I just couldn't just keep you at arm lengths up here and keep distance between use the pulpit to keep a distance between us. But man, I had to spend time with you one-on-one time and hang out with you and just live life together is the idea here. And I think one of the easiest and best ways for pastors and elders to open up their lives to those that God has called them to shepherd is to open up their homes. And by inviting people into their homes, they're inviting people into their lives.

And that's what you're doing when you're inviting people into your homes. You're inviting them into your life. It's not enough for you just to impart the gospel. Hey, get over here. Lemme share the gospel. Yeah, I shared the gospel with my neighbor. Check, move on to the next neighbor. I share the gospel with my neighbor check. And all we're doing is driving our neighbors away from the gospel instead of building relationships with them and parting our lives to them, just living a life with them. And in the process we're sharing the gospel with them. It's not an either or. It's a both. And some people have their neighbors in their home. They're very warm, they're very friendly, but they've never got around to sharing the gospel. Others are sharing the gospel and beating their neighbors over there with the Bible, but never would think about inviting those reprobates into their home. I don't want to defile my home, my children being around that immoral neighbor of mine, living an ungodly lifestyle, living a homosexual lifestyle or living in shacking up with another. Hey, no, those are the kind of people the Lord wants us to invite into our homes. Those are the people that Jesus hung out with.

Moving on here, how about one Timothy five, nine in the teaching or Paul's instruction to Timothy on widows one Timothy chapter five, verse nine. He says, A widow is to be put on the list only if she's not less than 60 years old. He was saying, Hey, this is not every widow is the church's responsibility per se, unless they meet certain qualifications. So if you want to get on the widow's list where you're going to be cared for and provided for by the church, you can't be less than six years old having been the wife of one man having a reputation for good works. And here's kind of a list of qualifications. And if she has brought up children, if she has shown hospitality to strangers, interesting. If she has washed the saint's feet, if she assisted those in distress and if she's devoted herself to every good work here we again have the concept that hospitality is not hanging out, not inviting all your favorite people over to your house and hanging out. It's inviting the strangers.

What I find interesting about this particular passage is that widows are those who should be served and cared for by the rest of the body, right? But they're also expected to serve and care for others as well. In other words, if you're a widow, you're not off the hospitality hook. And if God doesn't let a widow off the hospitality hook, I don't think there's anyone else who can show up and say, well, I got to get out of hospitality free card. No, if he's laying it down on the widows, that pretty much includes everybody. There's no excuse.

Turn over to Hebrews chapter 12, or excuse me, Hebrews chapter 13, Hebrews chapter 13. This is a familiar verse, and again, we read this last week, but notice the context again. The context is love. Hebrews 13 verse one, let love of the brethren continue. And then the very next thing he says is, do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers. So here he's addressing all believers here, the writer of Hebrews all believers. So all believers are to be hospitable, but notice hospitality is a tangible expression of love. I mean, it is a very tangible expression of love for the brethren.

So he says, don't neglect to show hospitality to strangers for by this, some have entertained angels without knowing it. And of course, the Hebrews that the Jewish believers that this letter was addressed to, they were very familiar with the Old Testament. And there's lots of examples as we're going to see just in a moment of people who entertained strangers, they showed hospitality to strangers and they ended up being angels. And so hospitality is not only a very tangible expression of love, but it often results in unexpected blessings and rewards. And again, I wish I had time to talk about the blessings and the rewards that I know I've experienced Kel and I have experienced over the years as we've had people in our homes, whether they were neighbors or missionaries or people from the church, guests from out of town, just lots of blessings, lots of rewards that come from opening up your home for hospitality. How about first Peter? Just keep turning to the right there. First, Peter, chapter four, verse eight. Again, notice the context of love here, one Peter four, eight above all, keep fervent in your love for one another because love covers a multitude of sins, and here it is, be hospitable to one another without complaint. So again, this is all believers. This is a one another of scripture. Hospitality is a one another of scripture or to be hospitable to one another. But here he addresses the attitude, the attitude.

Hospitality should not be a have to, but a want to and maybe even better a get to. In other words, hospitality is not something we can do begrudgingly and expect God to be pleased and glorified. It's like we used to teach our kids, Hey, Ephesians, chapter six, one and two, children obey your parents and the Lord for this is right, honor your father and mother will go well with you and you'll live long in the days long in the land the Lord has given you. So it's not enough just to obey. You also have to honor, right? So we used to say, Hey, you need to obey right away with the right attitude. And it's not enough just to say, Hey, take out the trash, and you're like fucking banging stuff around and throwing stuff around because you're doing what you were told to do, but you're doing it with a wrong attitude, right? That God's not glorified. God's not pleased by that.

It's the same for hospitality. God expects us to show hospitality gladly and willingly. We shouldn't resent having to do it because it's often inconvenient. It's expensive, it's exhausting, it's time consuming. We shouldn't complain about the extra work involved in hosting people in our homes. There's more dishes to wash, there's more laundry to do. We shouldn't grumble if we have to replace something that got used up or fix something that got broken. Anybody have stories of stuff that's gotten broken in your house because you've had people over and you're like, well, okay, I guess we're going to heaven. That doesn't matter.

It's just part of hospitality. Stuff gets broken and we need to be okay with that. Third, John, love this third John chapter, or well just third John, but look at verses five through eight. Third John five through eight, John is writing to an elder named Gaius, and he says to him, beloved, you are acting faithfully in whatever you accomplish for the brethren, and especially when they are what strangers, and they have testified to your love before the church. In other words, I've talked to these people and they testify about how you love them even though you never met them before. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God, for they went out for the sake of the name accepting nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore, we ought to support such men so that we may be fellow workers with the truth.

Here, John is referring to our responsibility, our privilege, the opportunity to host missionaries or itinerant preachers. And in the NIV verse eight reads, we ought to show hospitality to such people. And again, the historical context here is that as the gospel spread throughout the Roman Empire, traveling evangelists and teachers relied on a network of hospitable Christians and local churches to provide them meals and lodging and travel expenses. In those days, they didn't have the modern travel conveniences that we do, like hotels and restaurants and cars and cell phones. And so inns were few and far between. They were oftentimes unsafe, unsavory places to stay. And so by practicing hospitality toward mobile ministers, if you will, we have the blessing and privilege of participating in their ministries, supporting the spread of the gospel, and sharing in the cause of Christ, advancing God's kingdom. That's what he meant there when he says, therefore, we ought to show hospitality to such meant so that we may be fellow workers with the truth. We get caught up in the gospel spread throughout the world. How exciting is that? How thrilling is that? What's there not to want to be a part of that? Right?

And then just in the same context here, just look over probably to the page to the left to second John, and we see a contrast here. We see John telling another elder who's unnamed to refuse to show hospitality to certain people. You're like, what? I thought this whole message is about showing hospitality to people, and now you're telling us there's certain people we need to refuse hospitality to. Yeah. Notice verse seven, for many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, this is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God, the one who abides in the teaching. He has both the Father and the Son. Notice verse 10, if anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house and do not give him a greeting for the one who gives him a greeting, participates in his evil deeds.

This may sound strange in contrast, everything we've been learning so far, but the Bible forbids us from showing hospitality to particular people, namely false teachers. And as we're going to see in a second unrepentant believers or so-called believers here, John wasn't referring to people who maybe we disagree with things secondary matters, right? He's talking about those people who deny and undermine the essential truths of Christianity like the deity of Christ, for example. And he says, we shouldn't support these heretics in any way. We shouldn't even say hi to them. We shouldn't even shake their hand.

Don't greet them because if we show hospitality to them, we help spread their bad theology and we give the impression that we support what they believe and teach. So we are to disassociate ourselves from false teachers, but also from professing believers who are living in open and unrepentant sin. And just quickly turn here and we'll wrap up for now with this passage, one Corinthians chapter five, one Corinthians chapter five, verse nine. I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with immoral people. There was a situation in the church in Corinth, some immoral situation, and they were not dealing with it, they weren't addressing it. And so he said, Hey, I wrote to you not to associate with immoral people. I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with covet or swindlers or with idolaters, then you would have to go out of the world. In other words, there's no, it's impossible not to disassociate yourself with immoral people as long as we're living on this planet. He said, actually, verse 11, I wrote to you to not associate with, so-called with any so-called brother, if he's an immoral person, a covetous or idolater or vior or drunkard or swindler, not even to eat with such a one for what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church, but those who are outside God judges, remove the wicked man from among yourselves.

Paul's point is, if someone claims to be a Christian but is unwilling to repent of some sin in their life, we shouldn't act like everything's okay and invite them over or out for a meal. Sharing a meal together is a sweet sign of fellowship, but sin breaks the bond of fellowship with God and with fellow believers. And so in heartbreaking situations like this, we cannot simply maintain a business as usual approach. And so that's why Paul instructed us to refuse hospitality to so-called Christians who refuse to repent. Now, I know that's a lot, and we're just getting started here because I've got a lot more that we haven't even gotten to.

But just based on these passages in both the old and New Testaments, it is clear if this is the only thing we get from this morning, right? It is clear that God expects every Christian to be hospitable, to develop and maintain the habit of showing hospitality to people that we know and don't know to believers and unbelievers alike. In fact, an inhospitable Christian is a disobedient Christian. And again, on a positive side, hospitality, us showing hospitality being hospitable is simply a reflection of our salvation that we get it. It's like forgiveness, right? It's an oxymoron, an unforgiving Christian that's an oxymoron, an inhospitable Christian. It's an oxymoron. We have been forgiven more than anyone, and so we should be more forgiving than anyone. We have been shown hospitality more than anyone. We should be more hospitable than anyone.

Well, if you want to get convicted more like I have been getting convicted, I'm just going to recommend three resources that maybe you could pick up from Amazon or a resource center isn't open right now, so you'll have to rely on Amazon or some other book resource. But I'd encourage you to consider getting one of these resources. The Hospitality Commands by Alexander Straka. I already mentioned this, the simplest way to change the world. Biblical hospitality is a way of life. Dustin Willis, Brandon Clements, and then one that recently came out that is just really a powerful testimony of one family, one family's application of the doctrine of hospitality, if you will. And it's called the Gospel, comes with a house key by Rosario Butterfield. Some of you ladies may be more familiar with her. She's written some really helpful books. But the subtitle is Practicing Radically Ordinary Hospitality in our post-Christian world. And their point is, listen, we live in a post-Christian world where most people will never come to church, but they might come over to your house for dinner.

And so our homes can become a bridge between our neighbors and the church or our neighbors and Christ. And so this would be a good resource for some of you to read as well. So with that, let me pray. Father, we're grateful for this time we've had this morning. While we have not covered all that I was hoping to get to today, hopefully it's enough if nothing else, just the motivation of hospitality. What a rich of deep a theology there as we consider you, the hospitable God who has pursued us and reached out to us and welcomed us into your family. Lord, I pray that that would motivate us to want to display and demonstrate the same pursuing love and welcoming grace to others. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.