Christian Hospitality

Introduction:

Our text this morning is short and sweet. 1 Peter 4:9 “9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.”

My goal this morning is to zero in on this verse, however, there are three main rules when it comes to proper bible study. The rules are simple. Context. Context. Context. Why is context so important? Because context determines meaning.

So what I’d like to do this morning is to zero in on 1 Peter 4:9 while also considering how the context determines the meaning and application of the verse.

So why don’t you follow along as I read all of chapter 4 this morning.

1 Peter 4 (ESV)

1 Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. 3 For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. 4 With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; 5 but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.

7 The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. 8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. 17 For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And

“If the righteous is scarcely saved,

what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”

19 Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.

What is hospitality? What is Christian hospitality? That word hospitality in the greek is a compound word it’s two words. It means literally the love of strangers. So to be hospitable one must love the stranger. Lexham Theological Wordbook defines hospitality as, “descriptive of practical kindness paid especially to strangers, often in the sharing of food and drink, lodging, and provision.”

Let me read that definition again to make sure you get it. The word hospitality is, “descriptive of practical kindness paid especially to strangers, often in the sharing of food and drink, lodging, and provision.”

Let me just point a couple of things out about this definition.

Hospitality is practical kindness or it’s practical love. You can see, feel, and taste hospitality. It’s real, it’s tangible.

It’s paid especially to strangers. We are going to discuss this more in just a second, but let’s get on the same page right away. Hospitality is the love of strangers, not the love of friends. In fact, the practical kindness hospitality requires takes strangers and makes them friends.

This practical kindness shown to strangers happens in the sharing of food and drink, lodging, and provision. Hospitality presumes the use of the home. It’s not specifically limited to the home by any means. However, it does presume the home.

Again, we will touch on this in a little bit. But home does not mean house. Home can mean an apartment, trailer, dorm room, or wherever you find yourself living. The principles we will look at this morning regarding hospitality can be applied to the lunch table at school, the cubicle at work, or the coffee shop downtown.

We are continuing in our family month for the second of two bonus messages this morning and I want you to understand that anyone can be hospitable. Being hospitable is an amazing where you can love the stranger as a family. However, you can be single, divorced, widowed, a teenager or whatever stage of life you find yourself this morning and be hospitable.

So here’s what I’d like to do for the remainder of our time together: I’d like to dig into that definition of hospitality, tear it apart, look at it from every angle, and see how 1 Peter and the rest of scripture help us understand what it means.

Stranger

Hospitality is the love of the stranger. I’d like to start with that word stranger. Because I think that is going to be everyone’s initial sticking point. That’s going to be the part that almost everyone is going to have a hard time with. And the reason is quite simple. It’s easy to love your friends. You know it’s important to love your family.

But loving the stranger… that’s hard. Inviting the stranger into your home, quite frankly, is scary. So we avoid it. We soothe our consciences by telling ourselves we are protecting our families from danger, and then we stick to loving the easy and the known instead of loving the hard and the scary.

Look at was Jesus says in, Luke 14:12–14 “12 He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. 13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

Do you see what Jesus is saying? He can’t be more clear. It’s easy to invite your friends over for dinner. Everyone does that. How bout you invite the stranger, the unknown, the hurting? Invite them over for dinner. Bring them into your home and show them practical kindness and love.

Did you know that hospitality is actually baked into the law of God? You know Leviticus, that book we have a hard time reading. Listen to what it says in, Leviticus 19:34 “34 You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”

Treat the stranger as if he were a native, and love him as you love yourself. Love the stranger like you love yourself. Not much wiggle room there. Hard to get out of that command…

What about Hebrews 13: 2 “2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”

What in the world does that mean? Remember when Abraham and Sarah were greeted by three men in Genesis 18 and Abraham invited them into his home and fed them and they told him that even though they were old by that time next year they would have a son and then Sarah laughed to herself.

Well two of those strangers were angels and one was Yahweh Himself.

Listen to what Jesus says in, Matthew 25:35 “35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,” Do you understand that when you invite the stranger into your home it’s like you are inviting Jesus into your home.

Further more listen to this quote from C.S. Lewis he says this, “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit.”

You have never invited a mere mortal into your home. Our lives may be a vapor but our souls are eternal. Your home is temporal. You're carpet your afraid to get stains on won’t last 20 years. But that stranger you invited into your home. In 100,000 years their immortal soul will just be getting started with eternity.

How silly it is that we put our love for the temporal above the love of the eternal.

Point number 1. Love the stranger. Their souls are immortal.

Love

What does it mean to love? Well, this is where I think the context of 1 Peter 4 helps us so much.

1 Peter 4:8 just one verse before we are told to be hospitable says this, “8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.”

To be hospitable we must love the stranger. But how are we to love the stranger? With earnest. The Holman translation translates the word earnest as intense.

Love can be such an overused word. But here is my favorite definition of love. “Love is a self-sacrificing commitment to secure at any cost the highest good of another without expecting anything in return.”

Do you see the earnestness in that definition? The intensity? What ever it takes to secure the highest good of the one I love then that’s what I’ll do.

We must not go through the motions as we love the stranger we must do it with earnest. With intensity.

Let’s read 1 Peter 4:8 again, “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.”

Why must we love each other earnestly? Because love covers sin. Love forgives sins.

earnestly forgivingly without grumbling sacrificially

Christ’s Example

Romans 15:7 “7 Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.”

Conclusion

Let’s take those two words (love and stranger) one at a time and home.

**Love**

What does it mean to love?

Outline:

Finally, meditate on the goodness of God. We were the orphan, but God adopted us into his family. We were the stranger without a country, but we have been brought into the kingdom. We were the widow, but Jesus has become our Groom. We were the poor, but we now have a glorious inheritance. We are pilgrims here on earth, but Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us. Marvel regularly at this grace, and remember that the proper response to God’s grace is grace—a lifetime of gratitude, generosity, and hospitality.

Random Notes:

Hospitality or love of the stranger is not the same as entertaing. When we entertain we want people to feel entertained, to come into a beautiful put together home and from the minute they walk in to the minute they leave we want them to be enjoying themselves. That’s not hospitality. That’s not love of the stranger. That’s actually love of the self. Why do we behave that way. Why do we feel like we have to put on a show with our cooking or cleaning or converstation? Because we want them to think highly of us. We want them to enjoy themselves. I would venture to guess that we aren’t loving them we are loving ourselves. Love for the stranger means inviting the stranger into our lives. Letting our guard down and letting them see us for who we really are. Entertaining is like dating. You put on a show because you want them to like you. Hospitality is like marriage you let down your guard you let them in because you want to love them.

Many confuse hospitality with “entertaining.” Entertaining is often about the host, not the guests. It’s about showing off, not serving. You can be thoughtful without being extravagant. You don’t have to wow people with expensive china and food. Aim for warm rather than wow.

Jesus is your refuge. Anything else we make our “refuge” is idolatry. When it comes to our homes, we should think stewardship rather than ownership. A home is a place to welcome and love the broken. Hosting reflects the values of God’s kingdom, giving people a foretaste of what’s to come.

If you have a small house, consider other ways to welcome and host—especially newer residents. Show them around town. Give advice on places to eat, shop, and play in your area. Introduce them to your church family.

Be on the lookout for that lone person at your church. Invite them to go eat after the service, or hang out with them during the week.

Notice the qualitifcation of Pastor. Hospitaltiy is on all of the lists. Here is a simple implication we can learn from that. Spitatually mature Christian are hospitable. Spiratually mature are not should be but are hospitable.

Why? Because christian hospitality is an outworking of the gospel.

Invite the stranger into you home? Well how often you ask? How often must I invite the stranger into my home to be considered spirtually mature? Your missing the point. You’re like Peter asking Jesus how often you should forgive. SHould we forgive seven times Jesus? Is that enough? Jesus says 70 times 7. Why does Jesus say this? Because it’s a joy to forgive. It’s a joy to show love. It’s a joy to love and forgive people the way Jesus loves and forgives. It’s also a joy to show hospitality. It’s a joy to invite the stranger into your home so you can love them the way Christ has loved you. How did Christ love you by the way? What cost did he have to pay to invite you into your home? He sacrficed his life so he could show you hospitality. He didn’t just love the stranger he loved the enemy. He died so the enemy could come into his home. Are you willing to die for the stranger? Are you willing to risk something to invite the stranger into your home?

1 Corinthians 6:7 ESV

7 To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?

Hospitality means love of the stranger but Romans 5:8–10 “8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.”

While we were still enemies of God Christ loved us. We can love the stranger because Christ loved his enemies. And how did Christ demonstrate his love for his enemy? He died for them. He died for us. We were enemies of God and he still loved us. How dare we hold that love back from the stranger. How dare we try to bottle that love up and keep it for ourselves. Christ loved you while you were an enemy which now frees you to love your neighbor as yourself.

Objections:

Fear.

We live in a world of fear. But what if something bad happens. We live fear saturated lives. Everytime we turn on the news we hear of something terrible happening. The media’s entire business model is dependent on you being afraid. Fear drives profits.

And the end result is that we allow what might happen to keep us from what must happen.

I’m an introvert My home is my safe place and my refuge

Without grumbling implies that some may grow tired of serving others in this way. We must be careful not to grumble when we obey God. Now this is a struggle for us isn’t it? We grumble on the way to church because we’d rather be in bed. We grumble when we serve because we would rather be served. We obey God often not out of joy but with grumbling.

Why? It’s because we misunderstand the purpose of the command. God’s commandments aren’t at the expense of our joy but work to further our joy. With every command to obey without grumbling, there is an implication that said command can be done with joy, and joy can be found in the service itself.

When we tell Lena, my daughter, it’s time to take a nap, how do you think she responds? It’s obvious that she needs it. She’s tired, cranky, and needs rest, yet she assumes that we are punishing her. She assumes that we do not have her best interests at heart, and she throws a tantrum all the way up until she falls asleep. Then, she wakes up a different and happier person.

But you know it’s interesting that as we grow up—and I’m not sure what age it is—naps no longer are dreaded; they are welcomed. How many adults here this morning would whine and complain if I said, “Thus said the Lord, you must take a Sunday afternoon nap?”

You would lie down to sleep with a smile on your face not only because you are doing what God has said to do but mainly because you are doing what you want to do. You’re doing what you know you need, what’s best for you and when you wake up you will be a different better person.

When we obey God’s commands it should be like taking a nap. We know it’s what’s best for us. We that when we are done we will come away a better, happier and more joyful person. NEEDS WORK>>>

I love this quote by Robert McCheyne, an old English pastor: “Now, dear Christians, some of you pray night and day to be made branches of the True Vine; you pray to be made all over in the image of Christ. If so, you must be like him in giving.” Though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor …”

Objection: my money is my own.

Answer: Christ might have said, ‘My blood is my own, my life is my own; no man forceth it from me.’ Then where should we have been?

Objection: the poor are undeserving.

Answer: Christ might have said the same thing. They are wicked rebels against my Father’s law: shall I lay down my life for these? I will give to the good angels. But no … he gave his blood for the undeserving.

Objection: the poor may abuse it. Answer: Christ might have said the same; yea, with far greater truth. Christ knew that thousands would trample his blood under their feet; that most would despise it; that many would make it an excuse for sinning more; yet he gave his own blood

Oh, my dear Christians! if you would be like Christ, give much, give often, give freely, to the vile and the poor, the thankless and the undeserving. Christ is glorious and happy, and so will you be. It is not your money I want, but your happiness. Remember his own word: “It is more blessed to give than to receive” …

Again, if Christ lived in some poor dwelling, with not enough of fire to keep away the cold, with not enough of clothes to make the bed warm, would you not seek him out? Would you stay till he sought you? Ah, woe is me! In how many dwellings does Christ dwell thus? And yet, there are Christians hearing me that never have sought him out. Change your plan, I pray you. “It is more blessed to give than to receive” …

I thank God that there are some among you to whom Christ will say: “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Go on, dear Christians, live still for Christ. Never forget, day nor night, that you are yourselves bought with a price. Lay yourselves and your property all in his hand, and say: “What wilt thou have me to do? Here am I, send me;” and then I know you will feel, now and in eternity, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” …

I am concerned for the poor; but more for you. I know not what Christ will say to you in the great day. You seem to be Christians, and yet you care not for his poor. Oh, what a change will pass upon you as you enter the gates of heaven! You will be saved, but that will be all. There will be no abundant entrance for you: “He that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly.”

I fear there are many hearing me who may know well that they are not Christians, because they do not love to give. To give largely and liberally, not grudging at all, requires a new heart; an old heart would rather part with its life-blood than its money. Oh, my friends! Enjoy your money; make the most of it; give none away; enjoy it quickly; for I can tell you, you will be beggars throughout eternity.”