Hospitality: Welcoming Jesus

I. Introduction
A. This is the last sermon in our hospitality series. Next week we begin a new series for the month of June on David & Bathsheba, which bears some strong resemblances to the story of Camelot, recently performed by our own Gainesville Theatre.
B. There is no mention of church buildings in the NT. Church life in the NT takes place not in church buildings but in homes. And even though there’s nothing wrong with having a church building, it must not be allowed to be a substitute for ministry in the home. There’s a certain dynamic which can take place in a home which can’t take place in a church building.
II. The Bible commands all believers in Christ to show hospitality (e.g. Romans 12:13; 1Peter 4:9). There is no spiritual gift of hospitality given to some. Everyone is called to be hospitable. All Christ’s people are to be willing to share their homes and their food with others.
A. When a congregation looks to choose elders to lead the church, they must be hospitable men (1Tm.3:2; Titus 1:8).
B. And in 1Tm.5:10 when a church is deciding if a certain widow in the congregation is to be supported financially she should only be a widow “having a reputation for good works; if she has brought up children, if she has shown hospitality to strangers, if she has washed the saints' feet, if she has assisted those in distress, if she has devoted herself to every good work.”
1. Here it is also a responsibility laid even upon the needy.
C. Even singles can have a great ministry of hospitality.
III. Matthew 25:31–46
A. I was a stranger and you welcomed me,...I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' (Matt.25:36)
1. The word for stranger here is that same word we’ve been talking about: XENOS.
2. Hospitality in Greek is a combination of XENOS and PHILOS (love).
B. Does this parable teach that we are saved by merciful deeds? No, that’s not the point here.
1. Paul says that some give away all that they have, but are still not filled with the love of Christ. (1Cor.13:3)
2. So it’s not the deeds of mercy that save, but the saved do deeds of mercy.
C. But it does say a lot that Jesus is willing to say that deeds of mercy are necessary for salvation. And that an absence of deeds of mercy prove a person “will go away into eternal punishment.”
D. But even more important than that is the point that when you perform merciful deeds (like hospitality) to the lowly among Christ’s family (the ones who can’t pay you back), you are doing it to Christ Himself.
E. It seems that Jesus sees Himself in His people. When He confronted Saul of Tarsus in Acts 9:4, He did not say, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting My people?” but: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”
F. So, hospitality is not just a matter of loving your neighbor, the second greatest commandment. It’s a matter of loving Jesus, the greatest commandment.
G. Remember when Jesus sent out the 12 two by two? (Mark 6:8–11; Luke 9:3–5; 10:4–12; 22:35) He insisted that they bring no money with them. What a strange prohibition!
1. Perhaps it was for the sake of motivation, especially for the timid. If they were going to eat and have a place to sleep at night, they were going to have to make connections which would lead to invitations to people’s homes.
2. Perhaps it was because Jesus knew that a very important part of ministry was the connecting that would take place in homes into which they were invited.
3. Jesus goes on to say (Matt. 10:40) “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives Him who sent me.” And then He tells them: “The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.” (Matthew 10:41–42)
4. Jesus is telling His disciples that there is great blessing for those who feed them and receive them into their homes.
5. And so it is for us. When we receive one of the little ones of Christ because they belong to Him, we are receiving Christ Himself and winning a great reward.
H. Notice also in the parable of Matt.25 that it’s not enough to feel love and not enough to speak love.
1. It doesn’t say, I was hurting and you felt sorry for me. I was sad and you wished I were happy. I was dying and you hoped I would live. Christ’s call is to show love, to do love.
2. “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” (1John 3:16–18)
IV. Application
A. We hope that the people who walk into our lives will see Jesus in us. But God also wants us to see Jesus in them.
1. Going to church to find Jesus is a good thing. But you don’t only find Him in the songs and Scripture readings and sermons and sacraments. You also find Him in the people around you, especially in the lowest among them.
B. One of the great lessons I’ve learned over 32 years of ministry is that the church is not about the shepherds/leaders. It’s not about buildings or programs or eloquence or structure. The church is all about the precious sheep of Christ.
1. Jesus said: Feed My lambs! Tend My sheep! Feed My sheep! (John 21:15-17)
2. And this isn’t just true for pastors. It’s true for all of us. All around us are the treasures of Christ. And He calls us to serve them and help them and love them and bless them.
3. And this doesn’t pertain only to the ones we already know and love. Hospitality is a call to love even the stranger, the one outside our circle, the one who is different.
C. In Romans 12:13 God calls us to “contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.”
1. Seek: that’s the issue. Hospitality is something to pursue, to run towards, to hunt for, to go after.
2. The Greek word here is DIOKO. It’s the same word as is used in Philippians 3:12 “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.”
a. It’s the same Greek word which is translated persecute: hunt for, pursue, go after.
3. (“Seek to show hospitality”: there is no word for show here in the Greek, but if they just left it as Seek hospitality, it would sound like you’re supposed to try to get invited to other people’s houses.)
4. There’s obviously more than you could ever do, much more need than we could ever meet. And you can’t beat yourself up because you don’t do something, unless you believe you should have done it.
5. It’s a matter of listening to the Spirit, not your own preferences. It’s a matter of seeking to be hospitable.
6. In our flesh, we’re often looking for ways to get out of what we don’t want to do.
7. The question we each need to ask ourselves is: Do I welcome things the Lord calls me to do?
D. A good example of hospitality is in Acts 16:14-15 “One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, ‘If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay. And she prevailed upon us.’”
1. Obviously a Gentile, probably a widow with children, perhaps Lydia had become a God-fearer in Thyatira, which did have a synagogue and a Jewish colony.
2. Now, hearing the gospel from Paul, she apparently became the first European Christian.
3. Her conversion led to hospitality. When the Lord opened the door to her, how could she not open her door to those who had brought her the glorious truth?
4. This was just the beginning of Philippian hospitality and generosity. It continued on long after Paul had hit the trail again – e.g. Phil.4:10ff.; 2Cor.8:1-5.
E. In Revelation 3:20 Jesus says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”
1. When you open the door to Christ, you open it also to His representatives.
2. When you open the door to Jesus and welcome Him in, He brings a crowd in with Him.
3. And when we balk and say, “I just want Jesus: the rest can stay outside!” then you’re not truly opening the door to Jesus.
4. It’s like inviting a mother into your house but saying the baby in her arms must wait outside.
5. These are the Lord’s beloved people! These are His precious children!
6. You can’t receive Jesus without also receiving His bride! — including the parts of His bride who are strangers to you right now.
7. You can’t love Jesus without also loving His bride. He’s perfect and she’s very imperfect. But, His love for her is perfect, and account of His blood and righteousness, He makes her perfect.
V. Benediction: May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. – Romans 15:5–7