Biblical Hospitality (Part 3)

In the third and final lesson of this series, I’d like to conclude our survey of hospitality examples in scripture and examine the specific references to it in Paul’s epistles. The last few examples will, with one exception, also be taken from Paul’s epistles.

EXAMPLES (Concluded)

Lydia, seller of purple (Acts 16:14-15, 40)

·         Moving into the mystery age, we find a great example of hospitality in a new convert, Lydia of Thyatira.

·         Her immediate response to salvation was a willingness to lodge the ministers who had converted her. She also hosts them again upon their release from prison (v. 40), so it’s not just a one-time deal.

·         Lesson: hospitality is part your new nature, and Rom. 12, which we’ll consider later, affirms this. If anyone in the world should be hospitable, it should be us, and we should be examples of it.

·         The church already is, to a degree. I remember Nee talking about the world admiring the fruits of Christianity--hospitals, shelters, disaster relief—but wanting little to do with the Christ of Christianity. So the church is known for hospitality, but how about you?

Gaius of Corinth (Rom. 16:23)

·         Hosted individuals (Paul, “mine host”) and groups (“and of the whole church”)

·         You’ll likely be called in to both types of hospitality, at some point or other

·         No doubt Gaius was a man of means, but he was a willing man of means, just like the Lord expects wealthy believers to be (1 Tim. 6:17-19)

·         Not an easy thing to do, even for the wealthy; any time you have someone in your home there’s multiple sacrifices made:

o   Privacy [people get to see how you act in an informal setting]

o   Security [something might be broken or damaged]

o   Money [food and other comforts; utilities]

o   Time [perhaps the greatest sacrifice; but what better redemption of time than spending it on others?]

·         But you must consider the rewards of hospitality as exceeding the sacrifices (Heb. 11:25), otherwise you won’t be inclined toward it; and that’s been one of my main purposes in this study: to show you how hospitable people in scripture were richly, even eternally, rewarded for their sacrifices.

Onesiphorus (2 Tim. 1:16-18)

·         His hospitality knew no geographic bounds. He shows it to Paul in Ephesus, then when the apostle is imprisoned in Rome.

·         Hospitality, though centered in the home, is not limited to it. It is not place-specific: it’s a grace that can and should be demonstrated by believers everywhere.

·         A quick example from the workplace: do you go out of your way to greet new staff? make them feel welcome? My family moved three times before I finished high school, and I remember the apprehension of attending a new school. Put yourself in other people’s shoes, folks, if you want to be hospitable.

·         A final note: Paul asks God to give Onesiphorus both temporal reward (v. 16) and eternal (v. 18). The latter verse is a reference to the judgment seat of Christ. Now, you won’t need mercy in a judicial sense, since you’re already justified. But the idea, I think, is that things will go easier on YOU at the judgment seat according to how easy you made it for others, like Onesiphorus did Paul. Something to think about.

APPLICATIONS TO THE BODY OF CHRIST

Next let’s consider the four references to hospitality in scripture, in canonical order. Three of four are aimed at the body of Christ, so I take that to show how incumbent it is on us to show it, even more, perhaps, than a kingdom saint in the past or future.

Rom. 12:13. This chapter contains a good, general set of instructions on practical living for all saints, and being “given to hospitality” is right in the thick of it.

·         As part of “body life,” saints are expected to take tangible care of each other (v. 13), but also to be hospitable to their enemies (vv. 19-21), leaving the results in God’s hands.

·         I don’t think that Paul’s talking about sheltering and supporting hereticks, but rather showing kindness to them to “overcome evil with good” (v. 21).

·         Before I go on, I must call attention to Paul’s choice of words in v. 13, “given to hospitality.” Notice that he didn’t just say, “showing hospitality.” No, that’s not the life of Christ. The new life in us, folks, drives us to be given to hospitality, to give ourselves over to it to where it dictates our judgments and behavior, just like wine dictates the judgments and behavior of those given to it. When we look at the qualifications of bishops, we see God expecting them to, negatively, not be given to some things, but to, positively, in fact be given to others.

·         So there are positive addictions (1 Cor. 16:18). I have a message at home entitled, “Are You Addicted?” since that is the normal state of mankind, addiction. It’s just that most of us are addicted to the wrong things. God made us to be addicted to himself and his things, but not anything under the sun. Nee said that anything worldly that you couldn’t take up and put down without struggle was not expedient, and Paul said that same thing (1 Cor. 6:12). Give yourself to spiritual things without reserve and watch the blessed results.

1 Tim. 3:2, Tit. 1:8

Hospitality characterizes a bishop or elder; it’s a mark of one; no surprise, since it’s natural for a believer to be hospitable, as we saw in Rom. 12:13.

·         So of course leaders would be hospitable, since they’re examples to everyone else, as given to it and lovers of it, something else connoted by “given to” (i.e. love).

·         These lists in 1 Tim. 3 and Tit. 1 show that leaders are grown, not made; in other words, this is what an elder looks like, it’s not a list of resolutions;

·         That’s why Paul said that bishops should not be novices (1 Tim. 3:6; nor should deacons, in context) and that evangelists should “lay hands suddenly on no man” (1 Tim. 5:22); it takes time for men to develop into all around (I didn’t say perfect) leaders and role models, which is what these lists of requirements in 1 Tim. 3 and Titus 1 present.

1 Pt. 4:9. 

This final reference, thought a kingdom/tribution one, is a good place to end, since it instructors us about the spirit in which we use hospitality.

·         I pointed out last week that hospitality can be shown insincerely or poorly (e.g. the conniving ruler and Simon the Pharisee). Peter makes it very clear that motive matters in any dispensation.

·         Remember the Sermon on the Mount? Christ rebukes the Pharisees for fasting and doing alms to be seen of men, and not as unto the Lord (Mt. 6:1-8), a principle that Paul also upholds in his instructions to believing servants (Col. 3:22-25).

·         Do you see the unity here? Motive matters in any age and rewards are only given for deeds done with the right ones.

·         Peter’s instruction here is perfectly aligned with Paul’s instruction to the body about giving in general. Our giving under grace is to follow this basic principle: “Every man as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:7). And so should our hospitality. It should be easy to be hospitable under grace, esp. living in one of the most affluent countries in history.

·         And speaking of grace, on final note, remember that hospitality is not only a grace, but a means of grace as well, since it’s a form of giving. I’ve already shown you the temporal and eternal rewards associated with it, and I hope that I’ve whet your appetite for it.  

·         Don’t let the selfishness and coldness of these times and our society rob you and others of the blessings of hospitality. Our apostle emphasized it, so “he that ears to hear, let him hear.”