Biblical Hospitality (Part 4)

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

Well, I am grateful that we can sing and I think you're aware that there are other states that are allowing churches to reopen, but one of their restrictions is that you can't sing. And man, that would stink, huh? If we could come together and be together and just kind of being there, not able to sing. But I'm glad we're able to do that. The Lord is gracious to us, and I appreciate you guys singing out this morning. Every so often I feel like there's a Sunday where it seems like people are really going after God in the singing, and those songs help, don't they? That was a good set, some good songs to sing this morning. So thanks for singing out to the Lord. Well, today we're going to wrap up our short study on the subject of biblical hospitality. And honestly, I didn't know what I was getting into and I thought I would just stop at that little phrase in Romans 1213 as we've been going through verse by verse, the book of Romans, Paul's letter to the believers in Rome.

And we thought we'd just maybe talk a Sunday about the subject of hospitality. Well, like I said, I didn't know what I was getting into. There was a mind there. I was just kind of scratching the surface in my heart and my mind over the years about hospitality. And as I had the privilege of diving a bit deeper, I'm like, wow, this is really deep subject. And I hope this little miniseries has given all of us a fresh vision of hospitality's potential for strengthening relationships within our church and building friendships and relationships with those outside our church for the sake of the gospel. And as motivated all of us to want to develop a heart for and the habit of being hospitable to others in the same way God has been hospitable to us. To me that's been the game changer, is seeing all of this as ultimately simply an expression, a reflection of the hospitality that God has shown to me, that I get to show that to other people and to model that to them and to not just tell them the gospel or share the gospel, but to show them the gospel.

And so we've broken this subject into two parts, and so far we've only been able to get to the first part, the biblical explanation of hospitality. And the last three weeks, we defined what hospitality is and looked at some passages in both the old and New Testament to see how hospitality has been demonstrated throughout the ages. It's just part of who God's people are. It's who he made us to be. He wanted us to be, he designed us to be his representatives here on earth and to show off his warm, welcoming invitation to salvation. And that's really what salvation is. It's an act of hospitality. God welcoming us into a relationship with him and to spend eternity with him in his heavenly home. And of course, the best example of hospitality is Jesus Christ, who ironically was frequently denied the hospitality that he deserved, but at the same time, he regularly preached on hospitality and routinely practiced what he preached.

And so if you are in Christ, Christ is in, you are part of God's hospitable people who have the privilege, not just the responsibility and the duty. Hopefully you're not taking away. This is one more thing on my to-do list. It's another box on my I got to check off every week if I'm to be obedient to the Lord and pleasing the Lord. No, this is a privilege. This is a joy. It's not just a duty. It's to be able to share the good news of salvation with both our words and our actions. Well, this morning I want to finally get to the second part of hospitality, and that is the practical execution of hospitality.

In other words, we know what it means now from the scriptures. Now how do we do it? I wanted to start off by just talking with you about some hindrances to hospitality. Okay? Again, this book has been the best resource for me personally. That's why I decided that, hey, let's go through this summer and together as a church. But these authors just have made a lot of insightful statements like this. For example, they say when it comes to pursuing biblical hospitality as a way of life, we immediately happen upon a major obstacle. Almost everything in our culture is set up to hinder us from pursuing it. In other words, hospitality is a radical counter-cultural thing, and doing it will make us stick out from the rest of the society, which is a good thing, by the way. That's what God has always wanted for his people is to be different, to be set apart, to attract people's attention and say, why are you different? Talk to me about that. And then we have the opportunity to share about him. So what are some hindrances here? I've listed five hindrances to hospitality. These aren't the only hindrances, but I think maybe these are the main hindrances. And number one, we overcomplicate hospitality. We overcomplicate hospitality. And again, just to remind us that hospitality is simply pursuing people like God has pursued us and providing for their needs with whatever God has provided us.

So don't overthink it. Don't overcomplicate. That's all it is. Just pursuing people like God has pursued us and providing for their needs with whatever God has provided us. And we know that hospitality again simply means what? Remember loving hello strangers. Thank you. That's all that hospitality means. It's a love of strangers. And so that starts by simply reaching out to new people, people you don't know, people that are different than you and welcoming them and making them feel at ease. That's what it means to be hospitable, just to make people feel at ease. When it comes to having people in your home, it's not about showing off your house or your culinary skills or impressing them with how well you entertain guests. You don't have to have a Joanna Gaines decorated home. Your house doesn't have to have something from Magnolia market in it to qualify you to be hospitable.

You don't have to have a pioneer woman inspired meal. I know some of you ladies feel all that pressure to be the pioneer woman reincarnated in your kitchen. It doesn't have to be that. Don't put so much pressure on yourself or stress yourself out by trying to make everything perfect and immaculate. I used to give my wife a hard time. I don't do it anymore. Well, I guess I still do. I'm doing it right now. In fact, that whenever we used to have people over to our home, when we first got married, we had a little two bedroom apartment and you had one bathroom, right, that you didn't have little, what are those things called? Half baths or something, the little vanity bathroom where somebody could go and use the restroom and wash their hands in the sink. But no, you had to go into our bathroom if you needed to use the restroom while they're there.

So whenever we had somebody over for dinner, she made me clean the bathtub and I'm like, honey, they're coming to eat dinner. They're not coming to take a bath. Why do we have to clean a bathroom? It makes no sense, which said, honey, they might look. I'm like, what are you talking? They might look, trust me, guys would not pull the curtain back and look in the bathtub. She says, well, ladies might. I'm like, you ladies got to get a life. I mean, that is just weird. Okay, don't do that in my house. If you come over to my house, don't do that in my house. Just kidding. So that was our joke. It's like, why do you have to clean the bathtub, right? It's like, are we overcomplicating this? Okay, let's just make supper and have people in. But a clean, if you clean bathtub, that's important I guess.

But the point is forget, listen, forget the fine China paper plates and plastic utensils will do forgo the multi-course menu. Maybe just hot dogs and chips, maybe a frozen lasagna. Come on, everybody loves Stouffer's lasagna. Just get one of those from Walmart. Throw it in the oven, right? Have it ready when you get home from church kind of thing. I think of Martha, you know that example. Luke chapter 10. And Martha was working so hard to make everything just perfect for Jesus. And bless her heart right here, she was welcoming Jesus into her home. This is Luke chapter 10, verse 39. She had a sister called Mary who was seated at the Lord's feet listening to his word, but Martha was distracted with all her preparations, and she came up to him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all this serving alone then tell her to help me.

But the Lord answered and said to her, Martha, Martha, you're worried bothered about so many things, but only one thing is necessary for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her. Obviously what he was saying is, Hey, it really is better for you to be sitting here with Mary and worshiping me and learning from me. But I think in principle, we could say, you know what? She was so distracted with all the preparations that she had missed the whole point of, Hey, I'm having people in my home and I want to engage with them. And sometimes we get so focused on all the details and making sure everything's just right, and then people come and go. And we really never engaged them because we were so focused on all the details instead of making it simple and really being able to talk and have conversation and really get to know one another.

So again, if you have little kids, if's, okay, if there's some toys lying around somewhere, it's not the end of the world. If you have pets, it's not the end of the world if you have a few hairballs blowing around on the floor that happens in our house. We have way too many dogs. But listen, let's remember our identity is not based on how clean our house is or how good of a cook we are. God simply requires that we share our home and our food and our lives with others as an expression of love for them. So don't overcomplicate hospitality. Number two, another hindrance is that we idolize our homes. We idolize our homes. This is what I would call the HGTV effect. Now I'm getting the meddling big time. I know. Okay, I am going to step on some toes here. Okay? You could call it HGTV or the Discontent tv.

I'm not sure which one because, and it's also the Hallmark channel, okay? My wife, I already ran this by my wife, she's already mad at me. So that I call the Hallmark Channel, the Discontent channel because it seems like the shows and the movies tend to make women discontent with their homes and their husbands. I can't hang with those guys on Hallmark channel. I'm like, what? So I was washing the windows the other day. I said, honey, when's the last time you've seen a guy in the Hallmark channel washing windows? Okay, I'm just kidding. But seriously, if you ever noticed some of the most common phrases people use as they're hunting for the perfect house or remodeling their house or flipping their house, what are some of the words? We're looking for an oasis. We're looking for a privacy, a retreat, or this is the one that just irks me.

We're looking for our forever home. Hey, I dunno about you, but my forever home is in heaven, okay? And yeah, it's okay to have a nice house here on earth, but hey, let's not forget where our forever home really is. But the point is, it seems like everyone wants their home to be an escape from the world, a refuge from the rat race, a place to hide out and zone out. And so ironically, our homes have become where we get away from people, and that's why we have these things called privacy fences. Interesting. If you want to talk to me in my front yard, okay, I'm good with that, but I'm going in the backyard. I don't want to see you. I don't want to talk to you. I'm putting up a six foot fence so I don't even have to look at you. Okay? I don't even see you. You can't see me. I can't see you, right? It's like the privacy fence thing. We just want our space and our privacy. We have remote control garage door, so you can just drive in and hit the button and drive right in, close the door behind you. You never have to talk to anybody. Pretty sweet. And now we got these doorbell cameras.

And so somebody rings the doorbell and there's a camera and you can see who's there and you're in the back, you're watching some movie in the entertainment room and you're like, sorry, we're not home right now. I dunno what you do. That would be lying. Just so you know, that's be lying. But it's interesting how we use these things to kind of what distance ourselves from people. We don't want to engage with people. I told the folks on Wednesday night, I had a neighbor that used to park their golf cart in their front entryway of their house. You could not get to their front door to ring the doorbell or knock on the door. They didn't want anybody coming to their front door. And so it was like their golf cart garage. It was their little entryway there. But I mean, we've turned our houses in some ways, into a personal fortress or castle that the only thing's missing is a moat around it.

But it seems like today's culture, we're all trying to achieve and maintain as little contact as possible with our neighbors. And we think our homes exist exclusively as havens of rest or as our personal sanctuary. And if that's the way we view our homes than anyone or anything that seems to threaten our home's ability to be that refuge or that sanctuary for us is typically not a welcome thought or task. I really don't want to hear any more messes on hospitality messing with my space and my time. And consequently, we miss out on opportunities to edify fellow believers and to evangelize unbelievers. So we need to view our homes in an entirely different way. So just be careful. We're right in the context. Romans 12, one and two, do not be conformed to this world, but be what? Transform by the renew of your mind.

Make sure the world isn't pressing you into its mold and getting you to think about your house the way they're wanting you to think about your house. We need to think differently. So we overcomplicate hospitality, we idolize our homes. Thirdly, we're just selfish. Can we just admit that we're just selfish? We like our space and we like our stuff, and it's natural to want to come home after a hard day at work and not be bothered by anyone or anything. This is, what do we call it me time? It's me time. And oftentimes all we want to do at that point is to be entertained. And there's nothing inherently wrong with watching your favorite show, streaming a movie on Netflix or playing a game with your family or updating your Facebook page or catching up on your news feeds. But if we're not careful, we can become self-centered and self-absorbed, and our homes become a place where we entertain ourselves all by ourselves.

And so all we think about is ourselves rather than others. And our comfort and our convenience is what matters most to us. We don't want anyone invading our personal space or messing up our house or using our stuff or breaking our stuff or maybe even stealing our stuff. Some people treat their house like it's their private museum where they display all the artifacts they've collected over the years and they invite people to come and look, but don't touch. I'm sure if you have practiced hospitality over the years, you've had some stuff broken in your house, somebody broke something, and you're just like, at least what we say in our house is, well, we're going to heaven, and we couldn't take that with us anyway, so it's okay. But what we need to remember is that our stuff is really not our stuff. It's ultimately God's stuff which he has given us to enjoy and to share with others.

I love how practical Paul was in his letter to Timothy. Timothy was pastoring the church in Ephesus, and this is what Paul told Timothy. Apparently there was some wealthy people in that church and he said this, this is one Timothy six 17 and struck those who are rich in this present world, not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. So hey, if the Lord blesses you, it's okay to enjoy that. That's one of the reasons why God gave it to you. But then he said this and struck them to do good, to be rich in good works and to be generous and ready to share storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future. And so that should be all of our hearts, that we should be generous and ready to share and use whatever means. The Lord has provided us to minister and serve to others. And ultimately when we do that, we're laying up treasure in heaven.

The first book I ever read on hospitality was by Alexander str. It's called The Hospitality Commands. And he hit this issue of selfishness pretty hard. So if you don't like this, okay, I didn't say it. I'm just reading you what he said. Okay, but it's good. He said quote, we are all selfish. And selfishness is the single greatest enemy of hospitality. We do not want to be inconvenienced. We do not want to share our privacy or time with others. We're consumed with our personal comforts. We want to be free to go about our business without interference or concern for other people's needs. We don't want the responsibility and work that hospitality entails. We are greedy and we don't want to share our food home or money. We are afraid that we will be used or that our property will sustain damage. All of these attitudes are selfish and selfishness is sin.

I'll just say if the shoe fits, wear it right. That's so true. So we're selfish. Number four, we're too busy. I think this may be, these aren't in any order of importance, but if you were to pull this group of people and say, Hey, what's the number one reason or number one hindrance for hospitality? Survey says being You're just too busy. We're just too busy. We live these crazy busy lives with jam packed schedules, and we're always frantically running here and there and hurrying from one thing to the next. And we wake up in the morning and we choke down our breakfast, then we rush off to work or school, and then we race back home to get the kids to their baseball practice or their dance class. And then we swing through a drive through restaurant and grab dinner and come home and just have enough time to eat and shower and maybe catch the late news and then fall into bed and do it all over again the next day, right?

That's just kind of our schedule, a normal schedule. And we haven't even talked about church yet as Christians. We've got a whole nother realm of commitment and activities which can often dominate our lives to the point sadly that we don't have time left to build relationships, unbelievers at church all the time. And that's something that we as a staff and elders have been thinking. How can we keep that balance where we're just not over programming and constantly having the doors open to the church and Hey, come to this thing, come to this thing, come to this thing. It's like, no, we want you to go out there, spend some time out there. We gather, we grow ultimately to what remember to go. And we need to make sure we're building in time for all of us to be able to not be here at church and be in our neighborhoods and our communities, building relationships and believers.

So because we're so busy, if you're like me, you tend to go through life with tunnel vision, right? And why do you do that? Because you want to avoid making eye contact. Because if you make eye contact with someone, you might have to stop and talk to 'em. And I ain't got time for that. I got my schedule, I got my list of things I got to get done, and I got to get in here and I got to get this done by this time. And if I don't get that done, then it's like kind of a train company or something. If one train's late, the next one's late, and then next thing you know, you're 10 hours behind. So don't mess with me. I got to get my stuff done. And so we go through life with tunnel visual. We avoid engaging with those around us. Why? Because we just don't have the time or the energy.

And so in order for hospitality to become a way of life, we need to reorder our priorities and reorder the rhythms of our lives. And if we don't, we'll continue to think the same way we always think and do the same thing we've always done. Well, there's one more I will suggest to you here, and maybe this would be the underlying hindrance. And that is we're not living on mission. We're not living on mission. And we talked about this last year when we were highlighting evangelism. And there's a popular phrase that's a popular phrase in our generation about living on mission. And sure that's been hijacked by some folks that we don't necessarily agree with all the baggage that comes with that, but I love that phrase, living on mission. In other words, we need to remember why we're here. What is our mission? What is our purpose for being here on planet Earth as Christians is to help others become Christians, to help others find and follow Jesus. And so we get so wrapped up in building our little kingdom and maintaining our little kingdom that we lose sight of the fact that God is building his kingdom, which is way more important than our kingdom, and he wants to include us in that great work.

And one of the easiest ways to participate in God's mission is by opening our hearts and opening our homes and inviting people in. Listen, we're all living around people and working with people and going to school with people and working out with people who need to know that God is inviting them to have a relationship with him through his son Jesus. And sometimes we ironically see our homes as a refuge from the mission rather than seeing them as one of the greatest tools God's given us to accomplish the mission of making disciples of Christ. And I'll be the first one to confess as a pastor, this is a challenge or anyone who's involved in ministry, this is a challenge because we all try not to bring work home with us. I mean, that's a common principle for the sake of your wife, the sake of your family.

You leave your work at work and you come home and you be well. Listen, when your work is people, pastors work is people ministering people. It's easy to separate your home from God's mission, and granted, there's a balance here. Obviously, we need to maintain a balance. Our home should be places where we can rest and relax and recharge, and as such, they are gracious gifts from God. But that's not the only reason God blessed us with a home. It's not just to serve as a place where we live and eat and sleep and rest and relax and love and serve the members of our family. They are a weapon for the gospel.

Again, the simplest way to change the world. These guys say this, and this is a really great statement. He said, the secret weapon for gospel advancement is hospitality, and you can practice it whether you live in a house, an apartment, a dorm, or a high rise, it takes only your willingness to open your home and live for others. Excuse me. It takes only your willingness to open your home and life to others. You can be an integral part of God's mission from right where you are without leaving the home you sleep in each night. The point is the simplest way to change the world. Everybody's like, Hey, I got to do something great to change the world. You type in the Google search, change the world, things I can do to change the world, and you're going off to Africa to build a well, and you're doing this and doing that, it's like, no, guess what? You don't have to leave your house. You can change the world from your backyard patio cooking up some burgers and dogs for your neighbors.

So the question is, what is hindering you from showing hospitality? What excuses perhaps you've been making for not reaching out to others, inviting them into your home and into your life? That's just some things to contemplate, hindrances to hospitality. Now, let me end by giving you some hints for hospitality. Okay? Now that was the convicting part, so you can all take a big deep breath and go, I'm glad that's over, and this hopefully will be more encouraging and hopeful and okay, great, yeah, I got to change. I got to excel still more so what can I do? Well, what does it look like practically when we gather to be hospitable? And what does it look like practically when we scatter to be hospitable? Okay, so I want to talk about three things. I want to talk about hospitality in the church. I want to talk about hospitality for the purpose of fellowship, and I want to talk about hospitality for the purpose of evangelism.

And if you've got your outline, you should be able to follow along with that. But first of all, let's talk about hospitality in the church. And again, what does being hospitable mean? It means we love who, strangers or newcomers, first time guests, for example. Now, the first time guests today are going to go, okay, it's getting really weird now, okay? Because we're going to be talking about you. Just so you know, we're going to be talking about you for a few minutes, all right? But hopefully you'll be the benefactors of this and whoever comes after you as our first time guest will be the benefactors of this because almost every Sunday we have new people visit our church. We're not a huge church. We're a small church, really a medium sized church, but still, we have visitors probably every Sunday, and they're, some are believers, some are unbelievers, some are people who are new to the area, they're looking for a home church, or maybe they're just visiting family who go to our church. They're on vacation and looking for a like-minded place to worship and fellowship. The point is, regardless of who these people are or where they're coming from or why they're coming, we have the opportunity to gladly greet them and warmly welcome them and make them feel right at home.

Hopefully you realize that this is not a frat house. This is not a fraternity here where outsiders are kept at a distance because they don't know the password or the secret handshake. Okay? This is a family and this is our house, the Lord's house, right? But it's our house. You understand? We're get coming from here, and so we all need to work together to create a friendly atmosphere where first time guests feel loved and they feel accepted. This isn't just the job of the official greeters that have signed up or volunteer for the welcome teams, like, oh, that's their job. That's their ministry. I'm going to sit over here and be selfish. No, this is everybody's responsibility. This is something that all of us are commanded to do, no matter who you are or who might walk into our church on any given Sunday morning or Wednesday night.

Look at James chapter two for a second. This is a familiar passage, I'm sure. James chapter two, James addresses the sin of partiality. James chapter two, verse one, and again, the context is Sunday morning, church, this is the context. My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man and dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes and say, oh, you sit here in a good place and you say to the poor man, you stand over there or sit down by my footstool. Have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil motives? Listen, my beloved brethren did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he promised to those who love him, but you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppressed you and personally drag you into court? Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called if however, you are fulfilling? Here it is the royal law according to scripture. What's that royal law? You shall love your what neighbor as yourself. You are doing Well, the point is, we should welcome everyone indiscriminately.

Doesn't matter what they look like, doesn't matter how they're dressed, what they drove up in, what they smell like. We're indiscriminate in how we welcome people. We show no personal favoritism, and ultimately we treat others. We would want to be treated if we were the one visiting the church, which by the way, we've all been there, right? There's nothing worse than visiting a church for the first time, and no one acknowledges you get ghosted, right? I mean, you stand there awkwardly, kind of like, okay, this is really awkward. I don't know anybody, and nobody's coming up to me, and I'm just kind of standing here twiddling my thumbs, while all the other regular attenders are all chatty and they're talking and having a good time and pretending not to see you, and you feel like you're invisible. That's just awkward. Listen, our goal should be to never, ever let that happen to anyone who ever steps inside this church.

That should be an embarrassment to us. We should be ashamed If that ever happens to someone who steps into the doors of our house. You say, well, how do we make sure that doesn't happen? Well, it starts by not just kicking back and waiting for them to come to us, okay? Practicing hospitality. We learned this the very first week means hunting for or tracking down or chasing after strangers or newcomers. This is aggressive. This is proactive. And so again, I mentioned our hospitality radar that should be on all the time when we're at church, and we should be able to pick up on all the new and maybe needy people within a 10 to 20 foot radius, and so we can reach out to them and administer to them. We should always be on the lookout for people we've never seen before or we don't recognize and be willing to go out of our way, is that go out of our way, not just, oh, well, it was convenient.

They were right there, but that person is way over there. I don't know who happened. Well, get up and go all the way over there. Go out of your way. I love to hear stories, and Kyle is like my dad. He's another bird dog. He's just like, he's got his radar up all the time. Kyle just sees somebody, I don't know that guy. I'm going to go overseas. He'll go all the way across the church to find that guy, meet him after church and strike up a relationship with him. So we should always be looking, willing to go out of our way to introduce ourselves, to get to know them, see how we can serve them. If they have a baby, you're like, oh, they're maybe going to be looking for the nursery. I can walk 'em down and show 'em where the nursery is when we get enough volunteers.

Side note there. If they have teenagers, hey, show 'em where the student center is. Or maybe, Hey, there's Kyle. Hey, come on. I want you to meet Kyle, he's our student pastor, and make connections with people in that way. Invite them to sit with you, introduce him to other people. Ask them to lunch after service, either to your home or to a local restaurant. Now, we all can't do that, nor can any of us do that every Sunday, but how cool would it be if every visitor, whoever came here received multiple invitations for lunch after church? That's pretty cool. So if we're all, I mean, it's like, Hey, that's what that couple does. They have the means to do that. They have a heart to do that. No, listen, we all should have a heart to do that, and we should be fighting over these folks, right?

Hey, no, you took the guest to lunch last week. It's my turn. It's our turn, right? I'm just kidding. Don't do that. That might be awkward and weirder, but you get my point is that we should be fighting over the opportunity. It's a joy. It's a privilege, not a, oh, pastor said, we have to take somebody out to lunch today. Check, being hospitable, reaching out to people within the four walls of our church may require that you tap out of a conversation with someone from time to time. I've risk offending some of you regular attenders. If I'm having a conversation with you, and even at some point you might be pouring your heart out to me and I'm, I'm watching a new folk person I never saw before, and I'm seeing 'em out of the corner of my eye watching them leave and nobody's going up to 'em, and my heart's just going, no, don't leave without us saying hi and thanking you for being here.

And I'm like, Hey, you know what? Give me a second, okay? Time out running. Get that run and go meet those people. Hopefully, we're all doing that, right? Listen, I know you, we can catch up later, but that might be our only opportunity we have with this person. So let's set our agenda aside, right? Let's not be clickish, right? But let's be reaching out, tapping out a conversations with the people you feel comfortable with and go meet somebody new. It may be that you have to actually, I've done this. I'm sure some of you have done this. Actually chase them out into the parking lot, okay? It's getting weird now, right? Chase them out into the parking lot as they're opening their door. Hey, I'm sorry we didn't get to meet, and hey, thanks so much for coming, and just wanted to say hi and hope we see you again. It doesn't have to be anything more than that, but the point is, what are we doing? We're practicing hospitality. We're pursuing it.

Listen, if we're a cold unfriendly church, we contradict the very gospel that we proclaim. In fact, STR says that he says, A cold unfriendly church contradicts the gospel message, yet unfriendliness stands out as one of the most common criticisms people have of local churches. It doesn't take people long to figure out that there is a churchy love among Christians that ends at the back of the sanctuary or in the parking lot. It is a superficial Sunday morning kind of love that is unwilling to venture beyond the walls of the church building. And then he says this, and this is buckle up for this one. This might apply to some of you. I often hear people say, oh, we just don't know anyone. We can't make any friends at church. I've heard people make that claim, and that was the reason why they left. He says, I have a suggestion that might solve the problem. It comes from a couple who had a hard time feeling as if they belonged in their congregation. I would imagine there as a couple or two or maybe more that describes you. You've maybe been here for a while, you've really given your best shot, and for some reason you just don't feel like you belong here.

Instead of leaving as so many people do, str suggests, he says, well, he shares their story. They decided to invite every person in the church of their home for dinner during the next year. By the end of the year, they knew everyone in the church and had made a number of close friendships. Wow, that's good, isn't it? And what's the point? Instead of waiting to be pursued, they pursued. If you want to have a friend, you need to be a friend. Do nothing out of selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind. Consider others more important than yourselves. Don't just look out for your own interests. Look out for the interests of others. Philippians two, three, and four. So that's how to be hospitable here at church. Now, let's talk about hospitality for fellowship. Hospitality for fellowship. I mentioned last week how most churches today center around a corporate gathering in some kind of facility like the one we're in right now, whereas the early church, they met corporately, sure, in the temple, but they also met in each other's homes.

And you see this throughout the book of Acts. They met in the temple, but they also met from what house to house. You see that house to house, house to house, house to house. That's where the home church movement comes from. The book of Acts is, Hey, we want to have church in our homes. Well, the point here is that church wasn't confined to a building or to just one day a week. It continued throughout the week in one another's homes as they shared meals together, and they shared their lives with one another. One Thessalonians two, eight, Paul said This, having so fun and affection for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives because you'd become very dear to us.

So Paul was like, Hey, I wasn't comfortable just standing behind the pulpit and keeping you all at arms' length, keeping a safe distance between us all. Hey, I can love you for an hour and a half on Sunday, but I don't want to see you the rest of the week, right? He said, no, you guys, man, there was. I had such a fond affection in my heart for you, and you become so dear to me that man, I just didn't want to preach at you. I wanted to spend time with you and hang out with you and live life together.

People don't become dear to us by meeting for an hour or so on Sunday in a large gathering like this. Okay, well, this is a good thing. It is right and good that we're here, but really, our homes are the place to build these kinds of close, intimate, endearing relationships with one another. And the Lord's Day is an opportune time to invite the Lord's people into our homes. It just fits. It fits everything else that's going on on this special day that God has told us to set aside every week to worship and to rest and to engage in the body of Christ. And so I would encourage you to consider maybe Sundays your day to practice hospitality for the purpose of fellowship and getting to know one another, and don't just stick with your normal circle of friends. There's nothing wrong with hanging out with your friends.

I think Jesus would've considered Mary and Martha and Lazarus, some of his closest friends, and in fact, he probably loved going to their house because he could just be himself and they knew each other so well. It wasn't a whole lot of work that he could just rest and relax. We all have friends and people that we go to their house, and it's just very easy. It's fun. It's not a whole lot of work. We get one another and there's no errors, and we're not trying to impress one another and it's just comfortable and relaxing, and that's okay. That's good and that's healthy. But we also need to be strategic in remembering that hospitality is loving who strangers. And so we need to invite strangers over. In other words, people that we don't know, maybe people we wouldn't normally spend time with. I mean, you look around and you see the cross section of our church, and there may be a college kid that you think, well, that guy's home from school, or maybe he's away from his family, or Why don't we have that guy over or that gal over?

So you could be thinking about, you would never connect with one of the college kids. You don't have a burden for college ministry, but there's a college kid that you could minister to. Maybe there's a widow or a widow or a single person or maybe a couple that you don't seem to have anything in common with, okay, we're not like them, so we're not going to spend time with them. We'll, let somebody else deal with them and we'll go find somebody that's more like us. No, maybe that's the couple you should pursue. The stranger, the person that's not like you. Very different from you. And I think one of the best ways to get to know someone is to ask them to share their testimony of how they came to know Christ. That's the one thing we have in common. If we're Christians, that's the one thing we have in common.

We may not look like each other or we may not have similar backgrounds, but we have the most important thing in common, and that's Christ. So man, that's the lead off question. In our house when we have somebody over, we don't know like, Hey, tell us how you came to know Christ. Share your testimony with us. And then after that, sometimes it's fun. If they're married, Hey, tell us how you met and your courtship, your dating, and how you ended up getting married. Why did you marry him? And those kinds of things. Those are the kinds of conversations that typically endear us to one another. You start having some inside jokes and some inside stories, and you can laugh at each other, poke fun at each other. It's good, it's healthy. I think also we need to be thinking about how we connect people that we know with people that they need to know because they maybe have something in common or they can help the other person.

And I feel like I'm always doing that on Sunday morning as I'm meeting somebody, I'm learning about them, I'm finding out about them, and I'm thinking of somebody else in our church. I just met a couple this morning, a new couple, and they talked about, yeah, we were foster parents and we foster children, and we've done this for many years now. And I immediately thought of the reeds, and I was like, oh, you guys got to meet John and Jody because they have a heart for foster care. And so I'm thinking, okay, we got to connect those. Or you meet somebody that's a pilot, Hey, we got another pilot in the church and you fly for Southwest. Oh, he flies for, Hey, get connected and just help facilitate relationship is what's going on. And so you're say, Hey, I'm going to get you together with you. And so you come over to our house and I want to just sit there and watch you guys get to know each other. I think that's a good thing for us to do. I would also encourage you to include your kids in the process. Help them develop a heart for hospitality. Teach them the skill of hospitality. And just remember that having your brothers and sisters in Christ in our homes is a foretaste of the fellowship that we'll enjoy someday in heaven.

And even if you don't like 'em, you're going to have to learn to 'em. You're going to be spending the rest of the eternity with 'em, right? So you might as well start learning to like 'em now, right? And getting along with 'em. Okay, so that's hospitality for fellowship. Now, let's talk about hospitality for evangelism. And really that's what this book's all about, the simplest way to change the world, how to reach people with the gospel. And their whole point is that opening our homes and our lives to our neighbors, our friends, our coworkers, our classmates, our workout partners, whatever, one of the simplest ways to exhibit the hospitable nature of God and extend his gracious invitation that he offers to all of us to enjoy his home and heavenly banquet for all eternity. And so when we invite unbelievers into our homes in our lives, we do that with the hope that they will see us reflecting the love and grace of God.

And because of that, they'll invite Jesus into their lives. So we invite 'em into our lives. They invite Jesus into their lives. That's the goal. I love, love, love, love. The example of Levi or Matthew in Luke chapter five, brand new believer, freshly saved. Jesus plucked him out of his sin, this tax collector right there, right alongside the prostitutes, and everyone else that was the low lifers, everybody looked down on them. And Matthew or me, Luke chapter five, Jesus calls Levi to be one of his disciples. And it says, after that is verse 27, he went out and noticed a tax letter named Levi sitting in the tax booth. And he said to him, follow me. And he left everything behind and got up and began to follow him. So he got saved. He says, Jesus follower now, and listen, verse 29, and Levi gave a big reception for him in his house.

This is a Jesus party. And there was a great crowd of tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with him. And the Pharisees and their scribes begins grumbling at his disciples saying, why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? And Jesus answered and said to him, it is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick, I've not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. So what a great example of how to use your home and meal and a meal to introduce others to Jesus. That's what Levi did. Hey, Jesus, come on over. I'm going to buy all my other tax collector friends.

And Jesus was known for dining with both the self-righteous, the Pharisees and the unrighteous, and he used conversation around the table to effectively engage people in spiritual conversations. And we see that throughout the gospel of Luke Zacchaeus. Remember that wee little man that was in the tree? Another tax collector gets saved. He goes over to Jesus house. Everybody judges Jesus for going to Zacchaeus house. But some amazing conversations took place in that home. Modern day church planning movement is really fascinating to watch and observe and to study. And one of the core values or key strategies is this whole idea of hospitality, training your core couples to open up their homes, to invite unbelievers in, to share the gospel. And the mindset is that in this day and age, people are not as prone to go to church. They're not prone to go to a large crusade kind of a stadium rally or even stop and listen, some guy preaching on the street corner. The most natural setting to expose someone to the gospel is inviting them into your home and offering them a meal or to watch a show or to play a game or to do something. It's informal, it's relaxed, and hopefully it's where people are able to taste and see that the Lord is good.

Rosario Butterfield, a name that you're probably familiar with, she wrote a book. The gospel comes with a house key, and it's just a testimony about her and her husband and they live in this neighborhood, and I think it's every Thursday night. It is like neighbor night and they just put on a pot of beans in the morning and it's whatever's going on. They know it is an open invitation. Every Thursday night you come over to our house and we just hang out and after dinner, they get the Bibles out and they have a little family worship time and they got unbelievers sitting around being exposed to the gospel, and she just has some amazing stories. And by the way, we just got some copies of that in the resource center if you want to grab one as you leave today, the gospel comes with the house key, but she says this, our homes are the bridge between the church and the world.

Another way to look at it is that we are missionaries in our neighborhoods in the same way we support missionaries, right? They up and move, uproot, and they go to some foreign land and they settle down and they engage with a particular people group to get to know them, build relationships with them for the purpose of sharing the gospel, leading them to Christ. Well, listen, God has providentially situated each of us in our neighborhood or wherever you live, in order to reach those around you with the gospel and see, when we have this perspective and we offer up our lives and our homes to God to use for his glory, there's no telling what could happen.

Now, I know that for some of you, this is just overwhelming, this whole concept of biblical hospitality, you're trying to process it all and it's just stressing you out thinking about, what is this going to mean? How am I going to do this? And especially for those of you that just doesn't come naturally, you're maybe more of an introvert like, whoa, lots of people that just kind of freaks me out. Can I give you a few practical suggestions? How to develop a heart for, and the habit of showing hospitality others. First is just pray about it. If that's all you can do right now, that's your story. Just pray about it, and thank God for being hospitable to you and for making you part of his hospitable people and ask him to forgive you if that's appropriate for not reflecting his nature to lost people by reaching out to them and showing hospitality to them, and ask them to remove the hindrances that you have in your life, that they keep you from putting him on display and ask him to give you in a hospitable heart like his, and to grant you wisdom and creativity to help you get into more of a regular routine of practicing hospitality.

Ask him to give you opportunities to show prodigal sons and daughters that their heavenly father is looking for them and calling them home. That's a fun thing to pray, right? Lord, would you give me an opportunity? That's essentially what we said to pray last year. Pray every day, Lord, give me an opportunity to share the gospel with someone today. That's what you're praying. Lord, give me an opportunity to show prodigal sons and daughters that there's a heavenly Father who's calling them home. He wants to have a relationship with them, so pray about it, number one. Number two, plan for it. Plan for it. In order to get past the good intention level, we all have good intentions and get to the implementation level, we need to come up with a plan. Hospitality is not something you're just going to get around to do. It's not going to ever, you're not just going to get around to it.

You have to be deliberate. You have to be intentional, and so you need to schedule a time to do it and build it into your normal, weekly, monthly routine so it becomes a habit like the Butterfields, figure out when neighbor night is, or neighbor game night or whatever you do. Taco Tuesday, figure it out. How about this? Make a list of people that you want to have over from our church. That would be a good place. Hey, let's just start with people in our church. Who are some folks that we want to get to know that we really know that we want to get to know them and people from your neighborhood or your work or your school?

How about this? When you buy a home, build a home, remodel a home, consider how it will impact your ability to host gatherings and have guests in your home and maybe spend the evening and stay overnight. I mean, just think about those things and it may feel and look differently in different seasons of life. I mean, when you're single, married kids, young kids, teenagers, small house, big house, right? It is all going to look differently for all of us, so it is not a cookie cutter here. Kel and I, when we first got married, we would routinely have people in our home and when we first started, Lakeside routinely have people in our home, and then life happened as life ever happened to you, like all of a sudden, whoa, we're taking care of aging parents and our kids are growing up, teenagers, and they need all this time and energy and attention, and when's the last time we had somebody in our house and whoa, what just happened right there? Sort different seasons of life.

So pray about it, plan for it, and then thirdly, partner with others as you do it, okay? Don't feel like you're in this all by yourself. If you're married, you and your spouse should be a hospitality team, and I appreciate what Rosario Butterfield said that the weakest one should take the lead. In other words, the one that maybe has the least amount of energy, or least the capacity, right? Okay, we're going to go at your pace and not like one guy's like, Hey, we're going to have somebody over every night. The husband's like, yeah, I'm bringing home. And the wife's like, whoa, time out. I can't do that much, right? So be sensitive to whoever's the one that needs to be the weakest or the frails, however you want to describe it. Let them set the pace tag team with other members of our church and hosting one another and hosting, reaching out to unbelievers.

I think the Breeze family is a good example. They're pulling in other people from the church to help them do what they're doing. Go to school on others who have done it or who are doing it. Well, go find a book from Edith Schafer, right? Francis Schafer's wife, and read how she did it. Find other people that are doing it well. Find people in the church that they're good at it, and just kind of go over and say, Hey, could you kind of disciple me a little bit? Mentor me, help me grow in this area. Read books, okay? That's why we're recommending books like this. Read books on it, by the way, by today. Show up on Wednesday. That's one practical way to partner with others as we're showing up on Wednesday saying, Hey, let's figure this out together. Let's see how the Lord will work in our house here at church and in our homes, in our neighborhoods.

Let me just conclude by reading from the final chapter in this book, and if this doesn't make you want to buy this book, nothing will. Okay? So I'm just telling you, this is your last chance, okay? I'm kidding. All of human history is a story of God's hospitality to those who have rebelled against him. God made a home for humans in the Garden of Eden, and ever since our first parents sinned and were barred from that garden, God has been working to reconcile people from every nation to himself and make a home where we can dwell with him again. This time forever, there is a day coming when something truly significant will happen, something that will culminate God's plan. Throughout all of human history, the ordinary, seemingly insignificant details of our lives are all moving toward this one final day, and then they quote Revelation 19, which is the marriage supper of the lamb, which is the final reconciliation, our eternal homecoming of sorts.

He says, the swell we feel in our gut when we read of God's eternal banquet table is not some childish fantasy story, but it's our destiny. We will sit at the table. We were originally created for the one where our creator sits. We'll no longer on that, which is not bread, but we'll fill our heavenly bodies with the fear of heaven. All our desires will be met completely like a cup running over and all effects of sin and death and evil will be done away with for good. This is joy set before us in eternity with the hospitable God and enjoying relationship with him and our many brothers and sisters around his table. But friend, as good as our eternal home is going to be, we're not there yet. We look forward to it with the utmost anticipation while knowing that if the marriage supper, the lamb hasn't yet happened, that means there is still work for us to do.

There are people still to be invited to that eternal table. And God is patient with his plan, not wishing that any should perish, such as our call, as those who have been adopted into God's family, to keep spreading the good news that God is not distant or loveless or disinterested, but gracious and slow to anger and actively working to be hospitable to us for all eternity. In light of this reality, let's take seriously our call to model His gracious hospitality to our neighbors. Let's live in view of this eternal banquet table and pray for our friends, coworkers, and anyone we come in contact with. Let's use our homes to be a micro representation of that final banquet table. Places where believers gather around the food and drink God has graciously provided, celebrating that God has brought us to himself and opened that sacred space to all who are far from him.

Let's become relentlessly warm and welcoming because we've been relentlessly welcomed in Christ. Isn't that beautiful? Isn't that powerful? And so again, encourage you to grab a copy of this book. Read it on your own. Read it with us on Wednesday night, however you do it, just ask the Lord to stir your heart in this area of hospitality. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this season in the life of our church as we're just coming out of this covid crisis and we've really missed fellowshipping together and what a natural thing to do now. And that is to take advantage of the opportunity we have to be together again, to invite one another into our homes and get to know one another better. And then to reach out to lost people around us in our neighborhoods at work, at school, and invite them to come over and to serve them and love them and to build relationship with them and look for opportunity to share the gospel with them. And so, Lord, I pray that what would motivate us is not some sense of obligation or duty. Another thing on our to-do list. But this would just be a joyful adventure, something that's fun and exciting to do, and we'll trust you that you'll accomplish great and mighty things for the sake of your kingdom. And Lord, thank you that we have that eternal banquet to look forward to with you in heaven. We praise you and thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.