Biblical Hospitality (Part 3)

THEME: Hospitality is an essential Christian virtue that is both commanded and commended throughout Scripture. Sadly, however, hospitality is something many Christians don’t entirely understand or routinely practice. Understanding and practicing biblical hospitality has the potential to radically transform our church and our community. It is one of the most effective means 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 develop a heart for and a habit of showing hospitality to people we know and don’t know; to believers and unbelievers alike. This 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   

I want to invite you to take your Bibles and turn back to Romans chapter 12, and we're going to be continuing this morning in what has become or turned into a little unexpected miniseries on the topic of biblical hospitality. And I titled the original message, the Habit of Hospitality based on the phrase here in Hebrews, or excuse me, in Romans chapter 12, verse 13, where it says that we are to be practicing hospitality, that part of loving one another is to practice hospitality. And so the indication there is that hospitality is something that we do routinely or habitually. And so that's how I landed on the habit of hospitality. But the deeper I've gotten into my study on this vital but often neglected command to every believer, I think a better title might be this, a hospitable God and his hospitable people. And one of the most helpful resources that I've been using to study this subject is a book by two guys named Dustin Willis and Brandon Clements.

They were church planters who one of their core principles or pillars of their church was hospitality. How are we going to reach this community that they were in planting the church with the gospel? Well, let's use our homes as weapons for the gospel. And so they wrote a book about their experience. It's called The Simplest Way to Change the World, biblical Hospitality as a Way of Life. And it's an excellent resource, in fact, so much so that I want every one of us to read it. And I just think it's something that we need to be thinking about and we need to be grappling with and we need to be talking about together. And so you're going to have an opportunity after the service is over to go out into the lounge area out in front of the resource center and purchase a copy of this book.

And I'm going to invite you, and I'm going to be inviting you to join me on Wednesday nights for six weeks to talk about this and to go through the study guide together in small groups. We have a small group ministry in place in our church, we call it grow groups. And I've appealed to our grow group leaders if they're able and willing to come on Wednesday nights. And after a time of worship and prayer and a short maybe devotion on the subject of hospitality overviewing the chapters that we've read for the week, we'll break up into small groups and there's a study guide that's included in this book. And one of our leaders will facilitate the conversation, the discussion, asking questions and answering questions and praying and asking the Lord to help us to excel still more in this area of hospitality. And so I mentioned this in my email to the leaders that I read somewhere that it's rare that a church has an opportunity to hit the reset button and to rethink everything they're doing and ask themselves the question, if you could start all over again, what would you do differently?

And this Covid shutdown has really given us that opportunity. And so as I was thinking about that, if we were to start Lakeside Bible Church all over again, if we were to plan it tomorrow, what would we do differently? Well, one of the things I think I would've made a greater emphasis or given greater attention to and greater emphasis on hospitality and how we can build not only relationships within the church members, but how we can reach new members and new folks with the gospel by opening up our homes. And so that's essentially what these guys did. And they saw God use their simple acts of kindness, reaching out to friends and neighbors and coworkers, simply offering to have them over for a meal was really life-changing and transformed their church and transform their community and was foundational in really building or planning and building and establishing a new church.

And so to wet your appetite, I guess, or to maybe prime the pump a bit to draw you in and to motivate you to want to read this book and to go through it with us this summer, let me read for you a quote that I've found very encouraging and very challenging and is really, you've already heard me say some of these things because this is how I've been processing what I've been reading. And so listen to what these guys have to say. Let the entire Bible is a story about God's hospitality. The Bible begins with God making a home for humanity to dwell with him in a garden. And the Bible ends with God making a home for believers to dwell with him in a city. God is a gracious host, constantly welcoming in wayward sinners who deserve his wrath. A people whose only hope is that he would show them undeserved hospitality if ever there has been a stranger in need, someone completely excluded and hopeless, fully dependent on the grace of another that is us.

We were out in the cold victims of our own folly, freezing to death from the coldness in our own hearts. And all through history, God opens the door, rescues us and welcomes us back into relationship through sheer inexplicable grace. They go on. Anytime we practice hospitality, we follow in the steps of our lavishly hospitable God. Here's the potentially scary part, because of our role in representing God to the world, when we don't walk in hospitality, we do not tell the truth about God. When we're cold separated and distant from those around us, we communicate that God is cold, separated and distant when we are warm, loving and gracious, we put the gospel on display. He said, this type of hospitality which testifies to the character of our God has always been the hallmark of God's people. And then they say this, we find ourselves in a long line of people whom God is using to put his hospitality on display. That's good stuff, isn't it? It's really challenge my way of thinking in the realm of hospitality. And I will confess, I think I had a much shallower view of hospitality than I realized.

And it's exciting for me to think that I'm part of this long line of people that God is using who are recipients of God's hospitality, and now we can display his hospitality to others. Well, it all began with a nation of Israel in the Old Testament who God rescued from bondage to Egypt and provided a home for them in Canan Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey again showing God's lavish hospitality. And God commanded the Israelites to show love to strangers since they themselves had been strangers in Egypt. And by loving strangers, they would exhibit the hospitable nature of God and extend his gracious, generous offer of salvation to the surrounding nations. God selected Israel to be his chosen people, but his ultimate design was to use them to attract the attention of the rest of the world, to invite people from every tribe, tongue, and nation into a relationship with himself.

The climactic display of God's hospitalities was when he sent his son Jesus to die in the place of sinners so that all of those who would repent and believe in Christ could be members of God's household. That's what we know as the gospel, the good news of what God has done through Jesus to save us from our sin. And one of the best ways that we can show that our life has been transformed by the gospel and share with others how their life can be transformed by the gospel is to be hospitable. And that's why it's so important that we develop a heart for and a habit of showing hospitality to people that we know and people that we don't know to believers and to unbelievers alike. And I've said this the last two Sundays, that hospitality is one of the most effective means to build closer relationships with others in our church.

It's one of the most effective tools to build bridges to people in our community for the sake of the gospel. And so as such, it has the potential to radically transform our church and our community. And so we've been talking about this subject of hospitality. We broke it up into two parts, the biblical explanation of hospitality and the practical execution of hospitality. And so we've already looked at the biblical explanation of hospitality. We saw how hospitality was defined, and then last week we began looking at how hospitality is demonstrated throughout the Bible. And we looked at some examples of hospitality in the Old Testament just to help us see that being hospitable has always been a distinctive mark of God's people. We saw how Abraham and Sarah and Rebecca showed spontaneous, selfless, sacrificial spur of the moment, hospitality to total strangers who just dropped by on a note, just showed up unexpected.

We saw David showing hospitality to Jonathan's son's named Mephibosheth, the crippled boy of his best friend by inviting him to eat at the king's table regularly. And that really is a picture, that whole story of David and Eth is a story of Christ and us, that we are those crippled kids, if you will, crippled by sin and have invited to eat at the king's table regularly. And here we are again eating another meal at the king's table. Amen. That's the good news of the gospel. Job never missed an opportunity to show hospitality. One of the traits of the godly woman in Proverbs 31 was a hospitable heart. And so that's where we ended last week. And so this morning I want to turn now to the New Testament and see how hospitality was demonstrated or displayed there. And ironically, the first example of hospitality in the gospels is actually a negative one.

In fact, according to my friend Cliff McManus who I went to seminary with, he wrote an excellent little book called What the Bible Says about Hospitality. He says that what we see in the gospels is the greatest miscarriage or negligence of hospitality that the world has ever known. You say, what is he talking about? Well, he's referring to John one 11 which says this about Jesus. He came to his own and those were his own, did not receive him or welcome him. Jesus was despised, he was ridiculed, he was rejected. He was ultimately murdered by the very ones that he came to save. And on a practical level, the inhospitable treatment that Jesus had to suffer and endure all started at his birth. And you know the story, Luke chapter two, we won't take the time to read it, but Jesus's parents were turned away from their hometown inn and directed back to the barn, if you will, right where Mary had to give birth to God in human flesh in a stable where a feeding trough served as his bassinet.

Well, this was a fitting entrance for the one who would later say, the foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nest, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. Luke 9 58, once Jesus left his parents' home and began his public ministry as an itinerant preacher, he was literally homeless. I dunno if you ever thought about that, that our Lord and Savior Jesus was a homeless man. Consequently, he and his disciples were entirely dependent on the hospitality of others as they traveled around from city to city. And in Matthew chapter 10 and Luke chapter 10, it records how Jesus would send out his disciples and told 'em not to bring anything but just to depend on the hospitality that people would show them from time to time and as they entered a city, and if they didn't show them hospitality, they were supposed to take their sandals off and shake the dust off them.

As they left that city, Peter and his wife extended hospitality to Jesus and the rest of the disciples, whenever they were in Capernaum, which is up in the Galilee region, Mary and Martha, when Jesus would travel down to Jerusalem, would open their home. It was really probably Lazarus was there as well. Mary, Martha and Lazarus, they would open their home to Jesus and the disciples on multiple occasions. We that in Luke chapter 10, and of course we know that story of Mary rushing around trying to make a meal for Jesus, or I should say Martha was doing that and her sister Mary was just sitting at Jesus's feet and Mary Martha got frustrated with her little sister and ultimately took out her frustration on Jesus and Jesus, don't you care that I'm doing all this work and she's just sitting here, my lazy little sister? And well, he corrected her and we're going to talk a little bit more about that in a moment, but that was one of Jesus's favorite places, and it's okay by the way, to have a place where you just kind of love to go and rest and relax and it's easy in the sense that you don't have to work real hard because you know the people and you love them and they love you and you can just be yourself. That was probably the home of Lazarus and Mary and Martha for Jesus.

Some invited Jesus into their homes with evil motives, which was evidenced by how they neglected to perform what were considered the customary acts of hospitality in those days. Turned to Luke chapter seven, Luke seven, and here is that familiar story where Jesus was invited by Simon the Pharisee over to his house for dinner. Simon got a lot more than he bargained for. He was looking to set up Jesus and to kind of catch him in some error, but notice how Jesus turned the tables on him. Luke chapter seven, verse 36. Now, one of the Pharisees was requesting him to dine with him and he entered the Pharisees house and reclined at the table, and there was a woman in this city who was a sinner, and when she learned that he was reclining at the table in the Pharisees house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume and standing behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and kept wiping them with the hair of her head and kissing his feet and anointing them with the perfume. When the Pharisee had invited him, saw this, he said to himself, if this man were a prophet, he would know who and what sort of person this woman is who's touching him, that she's a sinner.

He might have not said it that way, but probably how he was thinking, right? And Jesus answered him, Simon, I have something to say to you. And he replied, say a teacher, and then he went to tell a story. He wanted on to tell a story here, A money lender had two debtors, one owed 500 de and the other 50 when they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both, so which of them will love him more? Simon answered and said, I suppose the one whom he forgave more. And he said to him, you have judged correctly turning toward the woman. He said to Simon, do you see this woman? I entered your house. Now note this, you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss.

But she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she anointed my feet with perfume. For this reason, I say to you, her sins, which are many have been forgiven for she loved much, but he was forgiven. Little loves little interesting contrast here between Simon's apparent lack of need of forgiveness. He didn't feel the need to be forgiven. He was self-righteous, and so he had little love or no love for Jesus. Whereas this sinful woman, potentially an immoral woman who desperately knew she needed to be forgiven and Jesus had interacted with her and forgiven her for her sin and she was just expressing her love for him, she, he had extended an invitation to her for salvation. A lavish invitation welcomed her as a sinful stranger, and this was her way of thanking him by expressing lavish hospitality in return.

Again, what do we learn from this here? That there were some customary acts of hospitality. There was the customary washing of the feet, there was the customary welcome kiss. They used to greet one another with a holy kiss. Back in those days, there was the anointing of the head with perfume. And again, Simon withheld all these things from Jesus, and he got showed up by this woman who brought all these things with her. This wasn't even her home, and she was far more hospitable to Jesus than this homeowner was. And again, it was evidence that her heart had been changed, her life had been transformed. And again, what a good example to us of what we should be like if we've been the recipients of God's gracious hospitality, that we would be quick to show that to others.

Well, again, in contrast to the lack of hospitality that Jesus was shown, his life and ministry were unrivaled when it came to practicing and preaching the ideals of hospitality. His entire ministry was all about loving and welcoming and inviting, caring for people in need who he didn't even know. He was meeting new people all the time wherever he went, and he was always gracious and hospitable to them. I think one of the best examples of Jesus's hospitable heart is how he willingly and graciously engaged with those who were viewed as the most vile, despicable outcast of society. Who am I referring to? You remember the lepers and everyone else was like, oh, leper. Get away from that guy where Jesus would go up to them and he would engage them in conversation and he would actually touch them and heal them in addition to the hospitality that Jesus modeled toward everyone he met.

He also provided practical instruction on hospitality. And I think he would agree with me that his parable of the good Samaritan is the quintessential example of hospitality and what it means to love a total stranger and meet their needs no matter the risk or the cost. Look at Luke chapter 10 with me. Turn to Luke chapter 10, and we have the story here of the good Samaritan starting in verse 30. And again, the context of this story is what is the greatest commandment to love God and to love your neighbor, to love God with your heart, soul minus strength and love your neighbor as yourself. And so the question was posed back to Jesus. Well then who is my neighbor? Qualify that statement for me. I need to know who I'm supposed to love. And so he goes on to tell the story of the good Samaritan.

Verse 30, Jesus replied and said, A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him and went away leaving him half dead. And by chance a priest was going down on that road and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise, a Levite also when he came to the place and saw him pass by on the other side. But a Samaritan, the half breed who was on a journey came upon him, and when he saw him, he felt compassion and came to him and banished up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them, and he put him on his own beast and brought him to the and inn and took care of him. On the next day, he took out to Dere and gave them to the innkeeper and said, take care of him and whatever more you spend when I return, I'll repay you. Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robber's hands? And he said, the one who showed mercy toward him. Then Jesus said to him, go and do the same.

Interesting how the Lord turned that story. He was asked the question, well, who is my neighbor? And that story wasn't about who your neighbor is. The question is, are you a good neighbor not to borrow from Mr. Rogers, right? But the point is, it is not about the other person, it's it's not about who your neighbor is. Are you neighborly? Are you the kind of guy, the kind of person when you see somebody in need that you meet that need, that you have compassion, that you're generous, that your hospitality is spontaneous? It's sacrificial. I mean, this was not only dangerous, okay? That's why the other two guys kind of looked and saw the situation and know this guy just got jumped by some robbers. I'm not going to hang around here because I'll be next, and they kind of avoided the situation. So this was a dangerous situation, but it was also a major inconvenience.

This guy didn't have this on his calendar. This was not scheduled. And so this kind of interrupted his journey and potentially by a couple days even that he had to help this guy out and make sure he was cared for and again, at great cost to himself, he paid for this guy's care. But again, Jesus commended this Samaritan for his compassionate, generous, spontaneous, sacrificial hospitality, and so don't miss the point. This is not about the guy on the side of the road, oh, that's our neighbor. No, it's Are you the neighbor? Are you going to be that hospitable person that ministers to anyone you come across who is in some kind of dire need?

Jesus also instructed us to not just invite our friends and relatives over for lunch or for dinner, but to invite the outcast of society, the needy, the neglected, and those who would never be able to repay us by inviting us over to their house, which is typical, right? We have someone over to our house or we take someone out and we pay to pick up the bill and like, okay, I owe you one. Next one's on me, right? We kind have this, Hey, you did something for me. I'm going to do something for you. We owe one another something, and he's saying, Hey, don't do that. Look in Luke chapter 14 if you're just tracking along with me there, Luke chapter 14, we're walking our way through the gospel of Luke. Luke chapter 14 verse 12, Luke 1412, and he also went on to say to the one who had invited him again, Jesus being invited to a wedding feast and he took advantage of the opportunity, a teachable moment, and he said, when you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors.

Otherwise, they may also invite you in return and that will be your repayment. But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you'll be blessed since they do not have the means to repay you for you'll be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous. Hold that thought. We're going to see how Jesus applies this later on in Matthew 25 as a criteria for judgment day. But notice what Jesus went on to say when those who were reclining said, blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God. Jesus responded. Verse 16, A man was giving a big dinner and he invited many, and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, come for everything is read. Now, by the way, Jesus is telling a story about God who's prepared this big dinner and he's invited many to come to enjoy it, but they all alike began to make excuses.

The first one said to him, I bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it. Please consider me excused. Another one said, I bought five yolk of oxen and I'm going to try them out. Please consider me excused. Another one said, I have married a wife and for that reason I cannot come. Apparently she didn't want him to go. He couldn't get the kitchen pass. I'm just kidding. That's not why he couldn't go, and the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to a slave, go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame, and the slave said, master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room. And the master said to a slave, go out into the highways and along the hedges and compel them to come in so that my house may be filled for I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.

In other words, Jesus, if you will practice what he preached, Jesus' God, right? And so this is the heart of God that hey, he's got this big dinner. He wants to show hospitality. He's invited people to be saved, to have a relationship with him, and everybody has all these excuses why they're not going to, I don't have time for that and I'll do it later and excuse me from this or that, and he's like, okay, fine. I'm going to go on to other people. And he targets again who the poor and the crippled and the blind and the lame, and he asks his servant to go out and compel people why? So that his house may be full. God wants a full house.

Question is, do you want a full house or do you avoid having people in your house? Turn to Matthew 25. This is where it gets even more convicting. Matthew chapter 25, Jesus here is giving what we know as the olive discourse, some of his final words on the Mount of Olives before he was arrested and crucified and what he was teaching here, that whenever we selflessly and sacrificially show hospitality to strangers in need, like the ones that he himself goes after, the poor, the crippled, the lame, that we are actually showing hospitality, not just angels now, but to him, to Jesus himself or to God himself. If we believe in the deity of Christ we're talking about, we're showing hospitality to God himself. Notice verse 31, but when the son of man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne and the nations will be gathered before him and he will separate them from one another as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he'll put the sheep on the right and the goats on the left.

And so here we see Jesus at the end of time, the judge of the whole earth dividing up those who were saved and those who are not saved and those who are saved are described as sheep and those who are unsaved described as goats. Verse 34, notice the criteria he uses to make the distinction between a believer and an unbeliever. The king will say to those on the right, come, you who are blessed of my father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, for I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a what stranger and you invited me in naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer him. Say, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you something to drink? And when did we see you a stranger and invite you in or naked and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and come to you? The king will answer and say to them, truly, I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of mine, even the least of them, you did it to me.

Then he will also say to those on his left, apart from me, accursed ones into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels, for I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger and you did not invite me in naked and you did not clothe me sick and in prison you did not visit me. Then they themselves also will answer, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison? I did not care for you. Then he will answer them. I truly say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. Has any one of you ever equated hospitality with hell or a lack of hospitality with hell? This is a serious matter. This kind of bumps up the level here in the importance of this subject to hospitality.

Again, I don't want anyone to go away thinking, oh, I failed to show hospitality that one time to someone, and I didn't care for that person. And oh, that means I didn't care for Jesus and now I'm going to hell. No, I'm not saying that. That's not what Jesus is saying. He's saying that the pattern of our life, those who are truly saved give evidence of that. Those that have received the hospitality of God are sharing that and showing that to others. And when we do that, we're ultimately serving Christ. I'll never forget when I was a student in college, I went to a Christian college in California and there was a custodian there. His name was Dave, and something wasn't quite right with Dave. He just had some quirky awkward motions that he would make, and he just kind of walked funny, and he would mumble to himself as he walked, and he had these big Coke bottle glasses and his hair was always disheveled and his shirt tail was out, usually shoelace untied, and yet the college had employed him and given him a job, he could do the job of a custodian.

And so he did that, and so he would clean our dorm. And so I'll never forget Dave, because it was sad to me. It really broke my heart. Here we are at Christian College. We're supposed to be Christians who have a heart for the down and outer, if you will, the outcast. And it seemed like Dave was laughed at and made fun of and snickered at more than he was loved. And so I thought, I'm going to reach out to Dave. And so every once in a while I'd get a care package from my mom and the box of cookies or something would come in the mail. And so Dave was out in outside my dorm room and he's vacuuming just kind of doing his little wobbly thing he would do and kind of mumbling to himself and I'd say, Hey, hey Dave. Come on in.

I got want some cookies my mom just sent me. And his eyes would get really big, and he would come into my room and he'd actually grab a handful of cookies and he'd actually lay down on my bed and he would just lay there and he'd just eat these cookies. I mean, when he was done, I mean there was just crumbs all over him, all over my pillow. And then he would typically catch a few Zs. He'd take a little cat nap after he's done eating those cookies, and I'd just be in my dorm room going, okay, this is kind of awkward, but hey, this was Jesus, right? I'm loving Jesus. I'm serving Jesus. And then he would wake up and he would go on his merry little way. And I remember one time I said, Hey, Dave, is anybody ever? Where do you live?

I started to try to get to know him. Where do you live? And I live over in this apartment and how do you get the working back? And he rode his bike and I said, what do you like to do? And he told me about his video games he liked to play, and I said, would it be okay for me to come by your house sometime? Oh, yeah, sure. So I came, went by his house and he lived in this cave-like dark, nasty apartment, and I felt terrible for this guy. And so, Hey, you like to go out to eat and you like Arby's? And he's like, yeah, I like Arby's. Do you like curly fries? His eyes got really big and he loved curly fries. And so I remember sitting there across the table at Arby's and ordered him a meal, and here he was just like a little kid in Arby's, I was going to say a candy store, but he was in Arby's eating these curly fries, and he just had this big old grin on his face and he didn't know how to carry on a conversation.

He just kind of was chewing and smiling the whole time, and it was really awkward. I was like, didn't know what to really say, and I had to lead the whole conversation. But you know what? I'll never forget that guy. I can see him in my mind's eye like it was yesterday, and I thought he's one of those least of these kind of people that most people just kind of cast aside and ignored and made fun of. But that was Jesus kind of doing his little funny things through the hallways and the sidewalks of the master's College.

Proverbs 1917, great summary of this concept. One who is gracious to a poor man lends to the Lord and he will repay him for his good deed. Well, moving on from the gospels into the Book of Acts, we see how the early Christians provided and received hospitality so that there was no unmet needs in the church. Look at Acts chapter two. Acts chapter two, and again, this is a familiar passage. This is not going to be new to anyone here, but in Acts chapter two verse verse 42, it says, they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship and to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone felt a sense of awe and many wonders and signs were taking place for the apostles and all those who had believed were together and had all things in common, and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing with them all as anyone might have need day by day, continuing with one mind in the temple and breaking bread from house to house. They were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all people, and the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who are being saved.

It goes on to say in Acts chapter four, verse 32, and the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them. And the great power of the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And abundant grace was upon them all for there was not a needy person among them for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales and lay them at the apostle's feet and they would be distributed to each as any had need.

Can you imagine a church without a need? Well, how did that happen? Well, because everybody saw their stuff as a means to meet one another's needs wasn't just to serve themselves but to serve one another, and so they cared for one another. Now, I think another thing that we can note from this is that most churches in our day center around a corporate gathering in a physical building, that's what we're doing, right? We're gathering together corporately, and we're in a facility of some sort. Well, the early church did meet corporately. It says in the temple they would meet together, but as the authors of this book said it, well, the church left the building. And in other words, the church, we as the church left the building. And so the church wasn't confined to the four walls of the facility, the temple, the church building, or it wasn't just confined to just one day a week. It continued throughout the week in their homes as they shared meals together, and they shared their lives together with one another.

And so you hear oftentimes in our day and age, Hey, we want to go back to the New Testament model and we want to have house churches. We appreciate that. Like, Hey, we don't necessarily need a building like this. We can meet in homes. That's what they did back then. We could do it today. That's sort of what our grow group ministry does. We've kind of got the best of both worlds, if you will. We have a facility where we can gather together corporately, but we can meet together in homes throughout the week. How about other examples? Here in the book of the book of Acts, Simon the tanner, Simon the Tanner, in Acts chapter nine, verse 43, it says, Peter stayed many days in Joppa with a tanner named Simon. In fact, Simon's house became the base of operations for Peter to lead Cornelius to Christ, who was the first Gentile convert.

So how cool is that? By simply opening his home, Simon just said, Hey, you can stay here, Peter, that he participated in the spread of the gospel and reaching the first Gentile with the truth of salvation. How about Lydia? What a great example of hospitality. She was Lydia. In Acts chapter 16, verse 15, a woman named Lydia from the city of Thra cellular of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God was listening, and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us saying, if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay.

And so this was talk about fruit of salvation. I mean, she just immediately after she gets saved and baptized, she invites Paul and his companions to stay at her house. I think most of you by now have heard of a project that our church had the privilege of being a part of called the House of Lydia and someone in our church, the Lord burdened their heart to want to build a house on the compound in Uganda, the SOS compound where Shannon and Danelle Hurley serve. And we've had a number of teams go over there and see their ministry. And so there's people coming and going all the time in that compound, and it's really a gospel outpost in Uganda. And so they had a burden, Hey, I want to contribute some resources that the Lord has blessed me with to build a house there that can be used to house people when they come visit.

And someone else in the church suggested, Hey, why don't you call that the House of Lydia based on Acts 1615? And so it was really fun to see how all of you got behind that project and rallied behind that and contributed to that. And there's a house now in Uganda built by members of Lakeside Bible Church that is being used all the time to guests and travelers who come to serve and visit sufficiency of scriptures, ministry. How about Philip the evangelist? Acts 21. Acts 21, verse 18, excuse me, verse eight. On the next day we left, this is Paul speaking, or Luke I should say, writing the book of Acts. The next day we left and came to Caesarea and entering the house of Philip, the evangelist who was one of the seven. We stayed with him, other men nascent of Cyprus. Verse 16, a disciple of longstanding with whom we were to lodge Publius in chapter 28, verse seven.

Now, in the neighborhood of that place where lands belonging to the leading man of the island named Publius, who welcomed us and entertained us, courtly three days, Gaius hosted Paul in the church in Corinth. He mentions him at the end of Romans chapter 16, verse 23, Gaius host to me and to the whole church greets you again. Paul was writing there from Corinth writing this letter. How about Philemon? What a great example he was. He hosted the church of Colossi in his home, and his hospitable heart was so well known that Paul felt the freedom to invite himself over to stay. I mean, how's that, right? You have such a hospitable reputation of being hospitable. People don't mind inviting themselves over. This is Philemon 22. And at the same time, also prepare me a lodging for I hope that through your prayers I'll be given to you.

So all that to say, hospitality is a beautiful, powerful legacy of the church. And throughout church history, loving, faithful, generous Christians have exhibited God's heart by extending hospitality to others. We've all heard of Martin Luther, and typically what we think of when we think of Martin Luther is this great reformer and nailing the 95 Thesises to the door of his church in Wittenberg, Germany. And well, most people don't know that. He and his wife Katie, who was a former nun by the way, which that's an interesting story in and of itself, a former Catholic priest, Catholic nun, get saved, get married, and their home became known for its hospitality. In fact, there was a book attributed to Martin Luther called Table Talk. In fact, it's RC Sproul's Devotional Ministry. That's where I think they borrowed that name table talk. It's a book written by the students, Luther's students and Luther's guests about all the things that they learn sitting around Luther and Katie's table because they invited all these people over to their house, and they found that what a great place to disciple people was in their home.

I'm sure you're familiar with a man named Francis Schaeffer. He and his wife Edith, lived for many years in Switzerland suffering for Jesus there in the Alps, but they were very sacrificial in their lives and their ministry, and they had a place called Lobb Fellowship, which stands for shelter. And they had this apologetic ministry. They opened up their home to travelers who were coming and who had questions about God and about the Bible. And so they would invite them into their home and let them live there, and they would share the gospel with 'em and let them ask them the hard questions and dialogue with them and open the scriptures with them. And again, it's legendary their hospitality of the library fellowship.

One of the blessings to my heart is just how the Lord has raised up people in our church who have not the gift of hospitality, they have the heart of hospitality, and they share the gospel not only with their words, but with their actions. I think about our youth pastor and his wife, Kyle and Kathy, they have a thing they call Spaghetti Sunday, and it's just like, Hey, we're having spaghetti. Come on over. And it's simple and it's fun, and it cultivates relationship. And I heard about it before they came here to our church that they've been doing this for years at their old church, and it just shows their heart of hospitality. I think about a couple like Brad and Angela Bundy who were just, they've been our go-to couple for missionaries. Whenever missionaries show up and we need a place for them to stay, it's like call the Bundys.

And Bundys are like, yeah, sure. Have 'em come over. We'll have the place ready and cleaned and stocked with food. And just outstanding example of hospitality. And I think one of the most creative expressions of hospitality was a couple in our church who had a wedding reception in their barn, the Judd, right? I mean, that was an amazing act of hospitality, and that required a lot of work, hard work and sacrifice, but it was just a creative way to serve somebody who had a need, another person in our body. And again, if I haven't mentioned you or some act of hospitality that you've displayed, don't get bitter, okay? That I overlooked you. Be thankful that I didn't steal your reward, okay? Because everyone else just lost their reward. They're not going to get one. Okay? But now you're going to keep your reward. Okay? Sorry, Randy and Marilyn. You guys lost that one. But there's enough to go around. But there's many other examples that I could give, and the Lord knows none of those acts of hospitality that maybe I've never saw, never knew about, never heard about. The Lord does not forget those he saw. And ultimately, you're doing them for him and to him, and he will reward you appropriately.

We must never forget that if we're in Christ, we are part of God's hospitable people. Well, I was hoping to get to the next section, the practical execution of hospitality, and start talking with you about some of the hindrances. What hinders us from being hospitable people? Well, we're going to have to wait till next week for that. But in the meantime, like I said, we bought 80 copies of this book. They're $10. They're out in the foyer on the lounge area right in front of the resource center. And I want to encourage every family, every couple or single, if you're here to go out today and buy a copy of this book, I want us all to read it. I want this to be our heart. I want us to think this way. I want us to live this way, and I think it will have a radical impact on the life of this church and on this community that God has placed this church in for us to reach with the gospel.

And so what I want to encourage you to do is get the book, read the first two chapters, and come Wednesday night over to the Worship Center. And again, we'll have a time to worship and sing and to pray, and we'll talk a little bit about, just review the chapters and then we'll let you break up with your grow groups or another small group and talk through these things and really grapple with this subject of hospitality. And hopefully we can stimulate one another and encourage one another to excel still more. Again, I think by the grace of God, there's a lot of hospitality going on in the life of this church, but there could be more amen, and we can even shine brighter with the gospel through our acts of hospitality. So join me in this adventure in hospitality. And so I would hope to see you here on Wednesday, Wednesday nights.

And if for some reason you can't join us on Wednesdays, get the book anyway and read it. Okay? And so you can kind of feel like you're on the bus as we're heading on this adventure together. All right? Don't want anybody to get left behind. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this subject that is really challenging my own heart. And I think the way I live, and I pray that it's doing the same for this church, this body of believers who is striving to be a hospitable. I see it. I've witnessed it. I've experienced it myself. I've been the recipient of it. But Lord, there's always more that we could do. There's always ways that we can shine more brightly to be saltier and brighter as salt and light in this world. And I think this hospitality thing is we're onto something here. It's something that maybe has gotten overlooked or neglected, and we've never seen the powerful weapon that it could be the tool. It could be to love one another and to love the lost. And so would you just bless this Wednesday night study as we go through it together the next six weeks, and that you would transform our lives and transform this church and transform our community for your glory. We ask in Jesus' name, amen.