We just had some new friends over for supper. Ralph and Cat Weber. It is a joy for me especially to have people over to eat. For one thing, I like to cook. For another, it makes me feel alive, like a real person.
I know that sounds strange, but having people over is a really quite simple way to show hospitality. There are several passages that talk about it.
Romans 12:13 Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
Romans 16:23 Gaius, whose hospitality I and the whole church here enjoy, sends you his greetings. Erastus, who is the city's director of public works, and our brother Quartus send you their greetings.
1 Timothy 5:9-10 No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she is over sixty, has been faithful to her husband, 10 and is well known for her good deeds, such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the saints, helping those in trouble and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds.
1 Peter 4:9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.
3 John 1:5-8 Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers, even though they are strangers to you. 6 They have told the church about your love. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. 7 It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. 8 We ought therefore to show hospitality to such men so that we may work together for the truth.
Hebrews 13:2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.
Hospitality is reaching out to others in a simple way. In the book of Acts, there was a woman whose main good thing in life was reaching out to others. Her death was such a blow that the apostle Peter was called to bring her back to life. All Dorcas did was make clothing for people, a simple act of hospitality.
Peter’s mother-in-law, in Matthew 8:14-17, was very sick and Jesus healed her. Her first act upon getting out of her sickbed was to begin to wait on him. Her first impulse was hospitality.
It is one good way to show our love for others. In fact, it is a concrete way to show the love for God in our own lives, by sharing.
It will be our main thrust here in Lincoln.
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