A Living Sermon on Hospitality this Past Weekend

I got this in an email from Phil this morning:

This morning Kinshasa almost kept me from getting on the plane. Before that the travel service guy was 45 minutes late picking me up then drove like a maniac to get to the airport before take-off. The lady in a security office asked for my adoption papers and why they weren't the originals (which are at the embassy) and said I needed to wait for her boss. When he finally showed they said they couldn't authorize me to board, I needed to go talk to the "general" (to guy) outside the airport. By this time it was about 7:30, the scheduled departure time of my flight! Fortunately I made it to Lubumbashi and M made it through a very long day (so far). And YES - I was so glad to see my bag on the other end! And I was very glad to see Didier's smiling face! Below is a little more on the kindness of God that got me through a tough past several days to get to this point.

 
A Living Sermon on Hospitality this Past Weekend




This past weekend I wasn’t at my church in California to preach a sermon but I was at a home in Congo experiencing a living sermon by the Greene family. The text for this sermon? Romans 12:13. The sermon also has cross-references.

Romans 12:13 commands believers to be “contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.” Literally, the Greek imperative is a strong word for “pursuing hospitality.” Each weekend the Greene family practices hospitality, opening their home to several missionary families each Friday for food and fellowship and then opening their home to 30+ Congolese neighborhood boys on Sunday afternoons for fellowship in the Word, food, and futbol. The last 2 weekends they have also hosted myself and Matteus, on short notice Friday night to Tuesday morning, and have been a better sermon on Christian hospitality than I could preach. As Elders at our church, we’ve been reading through an excellent book by Alexander Strauch called The Hospitality Commands. This is an area we want to grow in as leaders and as a church, and perhaps God can use even some of this post as part of the growth for some.

One of the marks of the early Christians was hospitality, showing love to strangers by opening up their homes and hearts. In the Roman Empire, the inns or guest houses were not always safe for travelers who were new to the area (kind of like Kinshasa :) and so the Christians opened their homes to other travelling or sojourning Christians. This was not just a cultural or historical phenomenon, though; this is commanded for all Christians of all times. It is not unique to the New Testament, as the Old Testament Law also had frequent commands relating to caring for sojourners / strangers staying in your gates (even in the heart of the Ten Commandments, Exodus 20:10). Israel has been foreigners, sojourners, strangers in Egypt, by God’s design so that God’s people would treat outsiders among them differently than other nations.

Not only in the Ten Commandments, but in the context of what Jesus called the Greatest Commandment relating to our fellow man, Leviticus 19:34 says “The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the LORD your God.”

The stranger or sojourner often had unique challenges; a different land, a different language, etc. (sounds familiar to me lately!). God’s heart for these people and for the fatherless and the widow is repeatedly expressed not only through His law in the OT but also in the NT (James 1:27, Matthew 25:34-39). This is encouraging to me as I fit the biblical definition of a stranger / sojourner / alien / foreigner here in Congo, and my son is fatherless, born to a widow – it’s encouraging to know how much of God’s Word and heart is concerned for people like us in His compassionate grace.

One of the ways God has always expressed His love to such as these is through His people. I wrote my missionary guests a thank you for exemplifying gospel hospitality to a traveling sojourner and son, as Hebrews 13 says: “Let love of the brethren continue. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers …” Earlier in Hebrews 10:24-25, the writer speaks of encouraging one another and stirring one another on to love and good deeds as we meet together, and I hope even though I wasn’t able to gather with my church in America this weekend, you will be stimulated toward that vital purpose of believers gathering together. May their example from this place (as you read it in cyberspace) stir you on in America toward hospitality to others, opening up your home to those you don’t know, especially in the body of Christ.

Hospitality is not about or dependent on having a great and picture-perfect home to entertain (that can actually be a prideful thing, or what prevents us from exercising hospitality can be pride we need to get over)

-My Lubumbashi hosts (Didier’s family) have very little by Western standards but they exemplified hospitality just as much as the Greenes, a Christian virtue that transcends culture.

-The NT word hospitality literally means “showing love to strangers.” It’s not just having your best friends over or those you are most comfortable around, but giving up your comfort to make others feel comfortable and welcome and at home, especially for those you don’t know very well.

-Hospitality is not a “gift,” it is a command, it’s a responsibility (and I know from experience it can be a joy)

When Jesus describes what marks His followers and what He will be able to say of true Christians on the last day, we read in Matthew 25:

34 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 ‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me … [ok, Matteus and I weren’t completely naked, we had the clothes on our back, but they clothed us further, and provided for all our needs, hygiene and otherwise :]

40 “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’


Let me close this blog with the words of Matteus: “Alleluia. Amen!” (that’s what they say in church and when he says it, he sometimes shouts it in public places!) May we learn something from our brothers over here. Alleluia, ah? Amen!