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Introduction:
I want to start with a quiz. Put your thinking caps on and
determine which of the following are examples of the terms
translated hospitality in the Bible? Circle as many as you think
fit. ·
Donating
food to a homeless shelter ·
Going
out to eat with someone ·
Taking
someone to a restaurant ·
Having
the local preacher over for lunch ·
Taking
food to a potluck ·
Meeting
at the park to play Ultimate Frisbee with your brethren ·
Putting
the gospel meeting preacher up in a hotel
Keep in mind, the question is not which of these are good
works. The question is not which of these are things we can or
even should do. The question is which of these actually line up
with the definition of the words translated “hospitality” in
the Bible. This was actually a trick question. The fact is, none
of these options fit. A couple of them lean toward hospitality.
One in particular is certainly tied to hospitality in the
scriptures. However, none of them are actually what the words
translated hospitality mean. I have titled this lesson “The Lost
Art of Christian Service” because as I studied this topic, I
realized that I didn’t really know what hospitality is. I fear
Christians in general are losing the meaning of the word. To be
honest with you, I have most often equated hospitality with
spending time with other Christians. Because I regularly go out to
eat with brethren, I have thought I was pretty hospitable. The
problem, because I didn’t really know what hospitality was, I
saw myself as fulfilling a principle of God that I wasn’t
actually fulfilling. That worries me for Christians in general. If
we forget what this word means, we will eventually no longer
perform it and yet convince ourselves we are. In this lesson, I
don’t want to draw any lines for you. I don’t want to tell you
what you have to do to be hospitable. I simply want to share with
you what I have learned about hospitality. I hope this will
provide a starting point for your own study to help you figure out
where you might need to improve in hospitality and related works
of Christian service. What I want to do is simply share with you
the definition of hospitality and the related verses that will
help us understand what God is asking. Then I want to look at the
importance of hospitality. Finally, I want to list some things I
think hinder us from hospitality and some practical ways to be
hospitable. Discussion: I.
Defining “hospitality.” A.
Words translated “hospitality” 1.
Philoxenos
(I
Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:8; I Peter 4:9) or Philoxenia (Romans
12:13; Hebrews 13:2): These words come from the combining
of two words. The first is “philos” which means a friend or a
companion. From this word we get the word “phileo” meaning
affection. The second is “xenos,” which is a stranger. These
words for “hospitality” do not simply mean to be nice or have
folks in your home. They mean to treat strangers the way you do
friends. 2.
Xenodocheo
(I
Timothy 5:10): This word also comes from the combination
of two words. The first is “xenos,” which we have already seen
means stranger. The second is “dechomai,” which means to
receive. Thus, this phrase means to welcome strangers into your
home. The KJV of I
Timothy 5:10 actually translates it to have “lodged
strangers.” 3.
The Biblical definition of the terms translated hospitality
were not just about spending time with other Christians. They
weren’t even about having our friends and relatives into our
homes. Rather, they were about opening our homes to strangers. We
can contrast these two words with another word you might have
heard that has made it into our English language—xenophobia.
Xenophobia is fear or hatred of foreigners or strangers. Instead
of fearing or hating those who are strangers to us, we receive and
welcome them with the open arms of Christian love, care and
service. 4.
Interestingly, the etymology of our word “hospital”
demonstrates this very concept. According to the Oxford English
Dictionary, the word “hospital” was originally “a house or
hostel for the reception and entertainment of pilgrims, travelers
and strangers.” Over time, the word came to mean “a charitable
institution for the housing and maintenance of the needy.” Of
course, in our day “hospital” has been restricted to an
institution for the housing and maintenance of the sick and
medically needy. B.
Digging a little deeper, I want to share with you some
passages that use the root words we have uncovered in the sense of
hospitality and just let you notice what they meant. 1.
While “xenos” basically means strangers. It was
sometimes used to refer to those who played host to strangers.
Consider Gaius who was host to Paul and the entire church in Romans
16:23. Here was a man who was friendly to and received
strangers. He hosted Paul, that is he allowed Paul to lodge with
him. 2.
“Dechomai” demonstrates an even stronger meaning in
regard to hospitality. Consider the passages below and how they
impact our understanding of hospitality. a.
Matthew
10:40—“Whoever
receives you receives me,
and whoever receives me receives
him who sent me” (ESV). b.
Matthew
18:5—“Whoever
receives one such child in my name receives me” (ESV). c.
Luke
10:8—“Whenever
you enter a town and they receive
you, eat what is set before you” (ESV). d.
Luke
16:4—“I
have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from
management, people may receive me into their houses.” e.
Hebrews
11:31—“By
faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were
disobedient, because she had given
a friendly welcome to the spies” (ESV). f.
Notice from these verses the connection between receiving
and caring for others, lodging others, hosting others, feeding
others. C.
With all this in mind, we begin to see a picture.
Hospitality, in the Bible was not merely Christians spending time
together. It was not even friends inviting friends into their
homes. Those are good things, things which must be done. But
hospitality was primarily the welcome reception into our homes of
and caring for strangers, especially those in some kind of need.
Having said that, I will share that I don’t believe this command
mandates picking up any Tom, Dick or Harry off the street and
having them spend the night (though that would certainly still be
hospitality). However, note some other passages that show this
hospitality in action. 1.
III
John 3-6
describes how brethren who were strangers came to the recipients
of John’s letter. The care John describes here is a picture of
hospitality. Receiving, welcoming and caring for strangers. 2.
In Matthew
25:35, Jesus praises those Christians who saw strangers
and took them in. Notice vs.
40 however, that they were doing this to “the least of
these my brothers.” 3.
We see a great example of hospitality, taking in strangers
in Acts
16:15 when Lydia prevailed upon Paul and Barnabas to stay
in her home while they were in Philippi. She had only just met
them that day but extended the invitation very much in the spirit
of Galatians
6:6, the one who was taught sharing with the one who
taught her. 4.
Consider also Acts
10:6, when Peter was “lodging” at Simon the Tanner’s
house. The word translated “lodge” comes from the word
“xenos” that we have already defined. What is even more
amazing is when the messengers from Cornelius arrived at
Simon’s, Simon did not send them away. Rather, they became his
guests in Acts
10:23. The KJV says “he lodged them.” 5.
Similarly, Acts
21:16 shows that Mnason would lodge Paul and his
companions. 6.
Thus, in the main examples of hospitality, we do not see
them just picking folks up off the street. The strangers were
often brothers and sisters in Christ. Or there was a connection
such as the messengers sent by Cornelius to get Peter. 7.
Having said all this, I do want to hone in on a practical
point that concerns me about hospitality. Fifty years ago, no one
would ever have put up a Gospel Meeting preacher in a hotel. As
time goes on, that becomes increasingly commonplace. I’m not
saying that is wrong. It is still a good thing and it provides for
someone. But, brethren, we need to recognize putting the visiting
preacher up in a hotel is not hospitality. I want to be very
careful here, because I do not want to make any unwarranted
accusations. However, I fear this scenario demonstrates that with
our increasing prosperity, we have moved away from the personal
sacrifice that is hospitality, to be merely satisfied with
throwing money at something. D.
Finally,
I really struggled as I looked at these definitions because I
began to think that hospitality was something only about strangers
because the word literally meant that. However, two points
demonstrated that the principles of hospitality are also about us
and our relationship with one another even within this
congregation. 1.
First,
if the basis of hospitality means to treat strangers the way you
do your friends and then encourages us to receive, lodge, feed and
care for these strangers, it means God expects us to do the same
for our friends. That means He assumed we would be doing that for
each other and felt the need to encourage us to do it for
Christians who were not friends but were strangers. How could we
ever say we would be friendly and receptive to strangers if we
won’t even do that to our friends? 2.
Then
there was I
Peter 4:9. “Show hospitality to one another without
grumbling” (ESV). Peter clearly commands us to show hospitality
to each other. In other words, even during Bible days Christians
needed to be reminded that loving the brethren they knew meant
receiving them into their homes, feeding them, lodging them,
caring for them especially in their needs. II.
The importance of hospitality. A.
Once again, I just want to share with you some passages
that have impacted me as I considered the importance of
hospitality. I don’t want to use them to tell you what to do or
how much of it you need to do. Rather, you take these verses and
let them be a jumping off point for your own study and practice of
hospitality. B.
According to I
Timothy 3:2 and Titus 1:8, a man who will not
welcome folks into his home, receiving them, treating strangers as
he does his friends is not qualified to be an elder. Think about
that, Brothers. We spend so much time arguing over “faithful
children” and “husband of one wife” I think we might
overlook this. Only the hospitable are considered mature
Christians and therefore qualified to shepherd the flock of God. C.
According to I
Timothy 5:10, a woman who had not practiced hospitality
could not be placed on the church’s role to care for widows in
need. Think about that, Sisters. In our day and age of Social
Security, pensions and retirement funds, this may not seem so
important. But Paul’s point was only those sisters who had cared
for others through hospitality when they were able were allowed to
be cared for in the daily ministration of the local church. D.
Matthew
25:34-40 claims
our salvation is based on hospitality. Those who fed the hungry,
gave drink to the thirsty, visited the sick and took in the
strangers enter into heaven. Those who do not are cast aside into
the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew
25:41). E.
Luke
7:36-50
presents an amazing contrast. Simon the Pharisee hospitably
invited Jesus into his home to feed him. However, despite that
act, Jesus rebuked him for not being hospitable enough. He gave no
greeting. He did not serve Jesus. The sinful woman, however, was
uplifted because of her hospitable spirit that went to the extreme
of washing Jesus’ feet with her tears and drying them with her
hair. Jesus said she would be forgiven but Simon would not. F.
Brothers and Sisters, we need to recognize that hospitality
is the essence of what it means to be Christian. It is at the
heart of what it means to love others. It is the root of Galatians
6:9-10 which says we must do good as we have opportunity,
especially to those of the household of God. We must not replace
hospitality by throwing money at it. We must not replace
individual Christian hospitality by having the church provide for
people. If we are going to be Christians, we must be hospitable or
we will be lost. III.
Hindrances to hospitality. A.
Why do so many struggle with hospitality? Why doesn’t it
come naturally? 1.
Because
hospitality equals sacrifice, when we so often want to preserve. Being hospitable means giving my food, giving up my
room, giving up my bed. It means giving up my space and my time.
Hospitality means sacrifice. It is no wonder it is part of litany
of instruction that follows Paul’s statement that we are to be
living sacrifices (Romans
12:1, 13). 2.
Because
hospitality equals service, when we so often want to be served. Simon fell short because he invited Jesus into his home,
but refused to serve him. The sinful woman was extreme in her
service to Jesus even though it wasn’t her home. Hospitality
will only become natural when we follow Jesus, being here to serve
and not to be served (Matthew
20:28). 3.
Because
hospitality takes humility, when we are too often proud. Think again of the sinful woman in Luke
7:36-50. She is the epitome of hospitality. While the
example does not mandate we wash each other’s feet with our
tears and dry them off with our hair, it does demonstrate the
humility it takes to be a servant. Simon fell short because he was
proud. If we want to make hospitality a virtue, we must remove the
pride that says we will not have anyone in our home unless it is
spotless. We will remove the pride that says I don’t have to do
this. We will remove the pride that is willing to be invited but
will do no inviting. We will remove the pride that says serving
others is for those who are less than we are. We must clothe
ourselves in humility toward one another (I
Peter 5:5). 4.
Because
hospitality makes us vulnerable, when we want to maintain a wall
of protection.
The example in Acts
10:23 of Simon the Tanner receiving Cornelius’
messengers to lodge and be his guests is amazing to me. Who knew
what kind of men these were? Who knew how they might take
advantage of Simon? Yet, he allowed the vulnerability. Things get
broken when we are hospitable. Carpet gets stained when we are
hospitable. People take advantage when we are hospitable. The fact
that some folks make mistakes and some folks even sin does not
change the need for hospitality, especially between brethren. 5.
Because
hospitality means intimacy, when we prefer privacy. We are Americans. We have our independence and we have our privacy. Our
home is our castle and no one should be allowed to invade. We
don’t want them in our personal space. We don’t want folks
getting too close. Hospitality violates these American rules of
independence and privacy. Hospitality is about intimacy and
connection. It is about love. I
Peter 4:8-9 demonstrates the connection between love and
hospitality. We know from I
Corinthians 13:5 that love does not seek its own. Love
seeks what is best for others. B.
Let’s face it; hospitality is a scary thing. The more we
open ourselves to others, especially those we don’t know very
well, the more they might take advantage of us. We need to
remember this: No one ever went to hell for being taken advantage
of. But folks will go to hell for being inhospitable (cf. Matthew
25:41, 46). IV.
Some practical ways to be hospitable. A.
Let a visiting preacher stay in your home. B.
Feed a visiting preacher, especially do so in your own
home. C.
Invite guests to our assemblies to your home for lunch or
dinner. D.
Invite new members into your home. E.
When brothers and sisters have too many friends visiting to
lodge them all, invite some into your home. F.
Remember we are to be hospitable to one another. Invite
each other into our homes. G.
Let brothers and sisters stay in your home when they are in
need. Conclusion: Frankly, this study frightened me. It caused me to realize as hospitable as I thought I was, I fall far short. I didn’t even really know what hospitality meant. Let’s not let hospitality truly become the lost art of Christian service. Let’s make it something we practice with one another. Let’s make it something we extend to those who come into our midst. Let’s find hospitality and practice it without complaint.
Glory
to God in the church by Christ Jesus
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