Thanksgiving Hospitality

What Would it Be Like to Have a Meal With Jesus?

Can You Imagine Inviting Him Over to Your House and Sitting at the Table with Him?

Would You Clean the House a Little Better Than Usual?

Would You Pull Out the Fine China?

What Would You Cook?

Who Else Would You Invite?

What Would You Talk About?

There Were are a Lot of People Who Had the Opportunity to Genuinely Ask These Questions

It Wasn’t Uncommon For Jesus to Have Meals in the Houses of Others

Wouldn’t it Be a Wonderful Experience to Have Jesus as a Dinner Guest?

Well, That Depends

Sometimes Jesus Was a Wonderful Dinner Guest

Like When They Ran Out of Wine at the Wedding in Cana, Jesus Made More

But Many Times, Jesus was a Less Than Ideal Dinner Guest

Like When He Told Martha to Leave Her Sister Alone

Or the Time When Her Sister Mary Anointed Jesus with Costly Perfume and Jesus Rebuked His Disciples for Criticizing Her

Or the Multiple Times He Ate with Pharisees and Rebuked Them

Jesus Might Not Have Always Been the Dinner Guest People Would Hope Him to Be…

But One Thing Seems to Always Be the Case:

When Jesus was a Dinner Guest, the Less Fortunate Were Always Lifted Up and Taken Care Of

It Was Always the Rich, Powerful, Judgemental, and Self-Righteous Who Were Rebuked By Dinner-Guest Jesus

I Want to Take a Quick Look at One of the Times Jesus was a Dinner Guest in Luke’s Account

In Luke 14, Jesus is Invited to Eat On the Sabbath at the House of One of the Leaders of the Pharisees

He Ended Up Healing One of the Guests Who Had Dropsy (Likely Consisted of Swelling in the Arms and Legs)

Then He Noticed How the Other Guests Were Choosing the Places of Honor at the Table

So He Told a Parable to Them

In the Parable He Told Them Not to Choose the Places of Honor, Lest They Be Humiliated and Moved Down the Table

Instead, They Should Choose a Humble Place at the Table So That They May Be Exalted and Moved Up the Table

The Lesson is That God Humbles the Exalted But Exalts the Humble

That Leads Us to the Part of the Text I Want to Focus On

Luke 14:12 (NASB)

And He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, “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.

Is Jesus Saying We Shouldn’t Invite Our Friends, Relatives, or Rich Neighbors Over?

It’s More Likely that Jesus was Communicating, “Don’t JUST Invite Your Friends, Relatives, and Rich Neighbors

These People are Able to Repay You With Dinner at Their Houses

If These are the Only People You are Inviting to Your House for Dinner…

It May Say Something About Your Motives

Are You Only Sharing With Those Who Can Share with You?

Jesus Tells Them Not to Do That

Luke 14:13 (NASB)

But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,

These are All the People Whom Never Get Invited to Dinner Parties

These are the People Who are Scorned and Ignored By Others

These are the People We Ought to Invite Over for Dinner

These are the People We Ought to Share With

Why is That Jesus?

Luke 14:14 (NASB)

and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

We Share with the Less Fortunate Because They are Unable to Share Back

When We Share With Those Who Aren’t Able to Share Back, We Do So With Righteous Motives

When We Do Good to Others, it Shouldn’t Be About What We Can Get in Return

It Should Be About Loving, Helping, and Lifting Up Others

When We Do That, We Will Be Blessed

And We Will Be Repaid

But Not By Them, By God

We Will Be Repaid With Resurrection

There’s Hardly a Greater Blessing God’s People Than Resurrection and the Defeat of Death

The Proverbs Teach Us this Same Principle

Proverbs 19:17 (NASB)

One who is gracious to a poor man lends to the Lord, And He will repay him for his good deed.

God Repays Those Who Show Grace to the Poor

So Much of What it Means to Be a Christian is Wrapped Up in How We Treat Others

Especially the Needy and Those Who are Less Fortunate

When Look to the Needs of Others, We are Like Our King

Philippians 2:3–5 (NASB)

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,

Christians are Called to Show Hospitality

The Greek Word for Hospitality is a Combination of 2 Words

“Love” and “Stranger”

Real Hospitality is About Showing Love to Strangers

In a List of Things that Christians Ought to Do, Paul Says,

Romans 12:13 (NASB)

contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.

Also the Writer of Hebrews Said,

Hebrews 13:2 (NASB)

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.

I Decided to Talk About This Tonight Because We Have a Very Important Work Coming Up

Last Year, We Fed 300 People of Our Community a Nice Warm Meal for Thanksgiving

It Went So Well That We Have Decided to Make it an Annual Event

It is an Annual Meal of Hospitality

And it is Coming Up This Saturday

But Since Last Year, We Have Started a Monthly Work of Hospitality that Will Be Taking Place This Saturday as Well

With the Christian’s Closet, We are Able to Clothe and Feed the People of Our Community Every Month

With These Two Works of Hospitality…

We are Able to Share With Those Who Aren’t Able to Share With Us

We are Able to Feed the Hungry

We are Able to Clothe the Naked

That Alone is a Success and a Glory to God

But I Also Believe These 2 Events are Our Best Opportunities for Collective Outreach to Our Community

The Gospel Message is Best Shared When it is Paired With Gospel Living

Galatians 6:10 (NASB)

So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.

This Weekend, We All Have a Wonderful Opportunity to Do Good

We All Have a Wonderful Opportunity to Show Hospitality

Don’t Miss Out On This Opportunity to Obey Christ and Help/Serve Others

Jesus Gave Us the Perfect Example of How to Put Others Before Yourself

He Was Sacrificed For Our Sins and Resurrected for Our Salvation

And Now We Have Hope

Hope that if We Place Our Faith in Him and Seek to Live for Others Like Him…

We Will Be Resurrected to Eternal Life and Glory as Well