Hospitality: Hinderances

The point: If you are not engaging in the art and duty of hospitality, you are living in sin.

Martin's son observed his anger when he declared neglecting hospitality was sin, which Martin uses to justify righteous anger against sin.

but by the spread table, and by the prepared place of rest, why then they become, as it were, just the amen to the meaning of the open door, but the biblical concept of hospitality is not a fancy word. It is not a fancy spread of food for overly stuffed people anyway, but it is the concept of love that yearns for face-to-face communion and therefore opens the door. Then we look to the scriptures to see that the command to hospitality is given to all the saints of God in Romans 12, in 1 Peter 4, and in Hebrews 13, and in a peculiar way to the elders, the ruling, teaching elders within the assem...

1:03 - 2:21 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not use the excuse of not being able to afford entertainment, as the table is not necessary for biblical hospitality.

Martin compares the use of food in Christian hospitality to cigarettes and cocktails in the world, suggesting it can become a crutch to avoid genuine face-to-face communion.

In fact, I've got a sneaking suspicion that our food almost becomes to us what the cigarette becomes and the glass of wine or the cocktail amongst the world. There are actual studies that reveal that the reason a lot of people smoke and engage in social drinking is not that they particularly like the cigarette or the liquor. You know what the reason is? They feel all hands if they can't have something in their hands.

7:18 - 7:41 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He argues that conforming to the world's impersonal isolationism, where people hide their true selves behind facades, hinders genuine hospitality and heart-to-heart communion…

Martin quotes from Mr. Small's book 'Designed for Christian Marriage' to illustrate how industrial society fosters impersonal isolationism, making personal intimacy and vulnerability seem dangerous, which hinders hospitality.

Now, what's one of the forms of worldliness very present in our day? It's what I would call an impersonal isolationism where we're all, as it were, encased and entombed in a little casket of our own interest in our own world. Let me read from the statements of a man who's done a tremendous job in setting forth the biblical philosophy of marriage. I would advise any of you even married 50 years to get this and read it.

23:48 - 24:19 Read in full sermon

The point: Break down the facades and barriers of worldly conformity that prevent intimate contact and confession within the church.

The example of commuters on a bus, physically close but emotionally distant behind newspapers, illustrates the pervasive spirit of impersonal isolationism that hinders genuine connection.

Do you see what he's driving at? I mentioned this morning how obvious this is. If you just look into bus number 33 driving into New York with a commuter bus, where people are forced to sit by the very design of those seats, with hardly room for a newspaper to get between them, but somehow either one takes the nap and the other one encases himself in the newspaper, forced by geographical circumstances into a situation that would be a wonderful opportunity for true communication of person to person. But what does man do?

26:13 - 26:51 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Pride is identified as a significant spiritual hindrance, particularly for wives concerned about their reputation as housekeepers or cooks, and for husbands concerned about…

Martin shares that two women identified pride in housekeeping and cooking as a primary hindrance to hospitality, illustrating how concern for reputation can shut the door.

scripture sets forth the concept of the church as a body of believers my pinky doesn't go off on its own business and my thumb on its own in my eye on its own just try to picture tonight the grotesque picture picture , if there wasn't an infinite relationship between all the members of my body so that when my brain said look here this eye started over here and this one started up there and when i said up there this finger decided to point down here and if they were all just isolated disjointed uncoordinated members of my body what a grotesque picture it would be but beloved i fear that's the g...

28:53 - 30:19 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Pride, isn't it? Isn't it pride? Just plain, stinking, rotten pride. That's all it is.

Martin shares his wife's personal struggle with insecurity in hospitality due to her upbringing, and how the Lord helped her overcome pride to prioritize the needs of guests over her reputation as a cook.

When we first got married, I used to have to give her about a three months notice before we'd have anybody come to the house. And this was partly due to the fact that she didn't grow up in a normal home life. As many of you know, she was the product of several broken homes brought up by her father and then hired girls who came in as sort of daytime nurses. So she never knew what it was to be in a home that was given to hospitality.

32:59 - 33:20 Read in full sermon

The point: Wives, die to your pride in your reputation as a cook or housekeeper so your husbands feel free to bring people home unannounced.

Martin contrasts going to an elegant home with exquisite food but no love, leaving one empty, versus a simple home with threadbare furnishings but abundant love, leaving one filled, to highlight the true essence of hospitality.

I know what it's like to go into homes that were elegant in their appointments, physical appointments, exquisite in the meal, and oh the dishes upon which it was served and the silver and all the rest. But I went away empty and barren, because there was no love that made it easy to communicate and to bear the heart. And that feast on beautiful China and with nice, lovely cutlery in a beautiful setting, it left one empty. Conversely, you and I know what it's like to go into a home where pretty slim pickings on the table, the tablecloth, maybe threadbare, clean the threadbare, and the place, whi...

34:33 - 35:33 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: A spirit of selfish indifference, characterized by a lack of vision and interest in others' needs, is presented as a hindrance. This leads to cliquish hospitality, neglecting…

The parable of the Good Samaritan is used to illustrate selfish indifference, where the Levite saw need but passed by, paralleling believers who ignore needs within the church.

So we've got to die to our pride as husbands, as providers. Well, I don't want to labor the point, but I do want to show how this is a real hindrance, and I trust God has shown you where it applies in your own life. But now I come to perhaps the two most basic matters that hinder the people of God from engaging in this duty, and this fourth thing I would call, for lack of a better terminology, a spirit of selfish indifference. A spirit of selfish indifference. That spirit characterized by lack of vision, lack of interest in others. The best example I know, as I was meditating on this, trying t...

36:33 - 37:36 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: A spirit of selfish indifference, characterized by a lack of vision and interest in others' needs, is presented as a hindrance. This leads to cliquish hospitality, neglecting…

Martin vividly describes the loneliness of widows and widowers returning to empty homes, using it to highlight the church's indifference to their needs and the call for hospitality.

to that need. Let me be very specific. Those of us who have families every Sunday, we can go home to the warmth of our family tables with our wives and our children. But there sit among us, week by week, beloved, people who once sat about a table and knew the warmth of a husband's or a wife's love, but they're widows now, or widowers.

38:06 - 38:27 Read in full sermon

The point: Ask God to give you vision to extend hospitality beyond your immediate circle, to those who are often overlooked like widows, widowers, students, and single folk.

The examples of students far from home and single individuals navigating a godless business world are used to illustrate specific groups within the church who deeply need the warmth and fellowship of Christian hospitality.

It's at this point that my heart has been deeply grieved, where I have failed to see on the part of this assembly, that outgoing desire to the widow, to the widower. To the some of the students whom we take for granted. I know what it's like to be a student, to be hundreds of miles away from home. And to get so tired of not the institutional food as such, but of the institutional climate, and longing to get into the real climate, with real people.

39:24 - 39:54 Read in full sermon