Hospitality: Definition, Duty, Objects, Reasons

Introduction: The Pastor's Duty to Feed the Flock and the Sermon's Purpose

0:04 One of the charges that the Apostle Paul gave to the elders of the church at Ephesus was that they should feed the flock of God over which the Holy Ghost had made them an overseer. And the teaching elder, which is the technical name for the one that we call pastor, feeds the flock with both the promises and the precepts of the word of God. Now, that's a very unvaried diet, but it's the most substantial diet and perfectly adequate for all the needs of the people of God. Frankly, if my wife just fed me with a certain kind of meat and potatoes all the time and only had two elements in her diet, I might get disturbed.

0:47 But this is all the people of God, the servants of God have with which to feed God's people. We have the precepts and the promises, and yet, wonder of wonders, the scripture says, that in these precepts and promises there is all thing needful for life and for godliness. Now, in seeking to discern just what promises and precepts one should feed the people of God, most of you know it's my general practice to just go through the cupboard shelf by shelf and preach through given sections of the word, and we've finished our studies in 1 Thessalonians 1, and I announced last week that we'd be beginning in chapter 2. But I feel this is a convenient place to take some of the precepts and promises that we have in these precepts and promises that we have in these precepts and promises that we have in these precepts.

1:30 to take some of the precepts and promises that we have in these precepts. things maybe from one of the other shelves and leave off moving down to the next shelf, 1 Thessalonians 2, and speak to you on a matter that has been much upon my heart in past weeks and months, and particularly since the formation of the church as the Trinity Church in a formal way. And so I want to speak to you this morning and the Lord willing this evening, thus hoping that all of you will make every effort to come out this evening because tonight's message is very necessary to complete this morning's and this morning's necessary in order to lay the foundation for tonight's. Well, I hope by now your curiosity is sufficiently awakened that you've brushed away all the cobwebs of sluggishness and mental laziness in your all ears. You say, well, what in the world is the pastor going to talk to us about? In fact, I think some of you might even have a sneaking suspicion. You kind of know that I'm sort of a killjoy when it comes to Christmastime, and you think, well, I wonder.

2:31 He's never made his own personal convictions about certain aspects of Christmas celebration, the subject of preaching. I wonder if this is going to be the year he'll do it. I venture to say, if I want to embarrass some of you and ask you to raise your hands, some of you might say, well, I bet that's what he's going to do. Well, I'm going to disappoint you.

2:50 No, I'm not going to talk about some of the evils of certain expressions of the so-called Christmas celebration, but the subject upon which I want to speak to you this morning and this evening is the Christmas celebration. And the subject upon which I want to speak to you this evening is this. The forgotten duty and lost art of Christian hospitality. The forgotten duty and lost art of Christian hospitality.

Defining Biblical Hospitality: The Door, Not the Table

3:15 Now, first of all, I must define the term hospitality in a biblical way, and then I want to consider with you this morning the biblical command to hospitality. Secondly, the biblical reasons for hospitality. And then the Lord will tell you the biblical reasons for hospitality. And if you are willing, we shall consider together, if we have time this morning, all of the reasons for hospitality, the objects of hospitality, and then tonight, the hindrances to cultivating this art and obeying the command to Christian hospitality.

3:48 Now, when you run across the word hospitality in the Bible, you must beware of the tendency of putting on that word the meaning that we generally associate with it. Because of the situation in the New Testament, where many of the people of God were sort of a vagabond people after the persecution arose, as we read in Acts 8, it says the believers were scattered abroad except the apostles who remained at Jerusalem. And where they did not have stated buildings such as we have for their meetings, the necessity of an open door by other brethren was a very real issue with them. And so the idea that we usually have when we think of hospitality, our thought immediately centers primarily, not upon a door, but upon a table.

4:34 We think immediately of a table spread, not just with our daily bread, but with lots of other things with the bread, set forth in kind of a special way. So that the concept of hospitality in our day centers primarily upon the table and that which is upon the table, food, and everything else is subservient to it. But the biblical word for hospitality, if it has the thought of food in it at all, in the table, is absolutely in the middle of the table. In the background and in the shadow of something else.

5:03 It's not the table that is central, but the door that is central. It's interesting, the very word for hospitality that will occur in all of the passages that we're going to look at this morning comes from two Greek words. One of them you know. The city of Philadelphia is the city of what?

5:18 Of brotherly love. It has the Greek word phileo, love, leaves love on a human level. And adelphos, the word for man, I mean for brother. So you have the city, you have brotherly love.

5:32 Well, the Greek word for hospitality is a combination of the word phileo, love, and the word for stranger. The word used in Matthew 25 where Jesus says in verse 35, I was a stranger and you took me in. So translated literally, it's love for the stranger. And that word love for the stranger came to be translated hospitality because the key thought was this.

5:58 The stranger was passing by and he was a stranger. And someone opened the door to him. Now, if when you got him through the door as an expression of your love, the poor guy was starving to death, you amened the expression of love in the open door by leading him to the table and giving him what was ever on the table. And if the poor guy was tired and needed some sleep, well, you led him from the table to a bedroom and gave him a place to rest.

6:24 But you see, the table and the bed were simply reaffirmations of the meaning of the door. Do you follow me? The door was the significant thing. Here was the stranger.

6:38 And the door was an indication of the open heart. And the table and the bed were simply amens, if necessary, to the message of the open door. Your open door said, I love you as a stranger.

6:53 Now, if the poor guy is hungry, you don't stand there and feed him on love. You've got to feed him on taters. And so you gave him some taters. And the poor guy, you don't feed him on fellowship.

7:02 When he hadn't had sleep for 20 hours, so you feed him upon giving him some rest. But in order that we might capture the biblical idea, and you forgive me for simplifying it into these words, but it helps me. Not the table, but the door. That's the significant concept of biblical hospitality.

The Command to Hospitality: Addressed to All Saints and Elders

7:21 All right, so much then for seeking to put this term in its New Testament concept. Now let us consider from the Scriptures in the first place the command to hospitality.

7:33 To whom is this command addressed? Well, to two groups of people. First of all, to the saints in general. The command to be given to the open door is a command given to all the saints of God.

7:47 Now, son, I'm keeping my promise. Romans 12. On the way to church this morning, he asked me, Well, Daddy, what's the passage you're going to preach from? And I said, Lots of them.

7:55 But Romans 12 will be the first one. So he's got his marker in his Bible there on Romans 12. All right, Romans chapter 12.

8:04 Romans chapter 12. Now, notice to whom this chapter is addressed. Having laid out in a very wonderful and systematic way what we would call basic Christian doctrine, the Apostle Paul is now applying that doctrine to the realm of practical Christian living. So, first, we find in verse 1 of chapter 12, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, this is addressed to all the people of God.

8:36 Now, having done that, he then indicates that though we are all brethren, we have different gifts and ministries and we're to discover what they are and then exercise them. But then there are certain things, no matter what our gifts are, that are to be true of all the brethren. Starting with verse 9. Let love be without dissimulation.

8:57 Abhor that which is evil. Cleave to that which is good. Verse 10. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherhood.

9:06 Brotherly love. In honor, preferring one another. That's to be true of all the saints of God. Not slothful in business.

9:14 Fervent in spirit. Serving the Lord. Rejoicing in hope. Patient in tribulation.

9:21 Continuing instant in prayer. This is not just for those who have the gift of prophecy or the gift of teaching or the gift of ruling as you find them listed early in the chapter. This is for all the people of God. They're not to be slothful.

9:34 They're to be fervent in spirit. That's why I keep exhorting you about this matter of praise. If ever we should be fervent in spirit, it's when we're praising Him together. Now notice carefully verse 13.

9:45 Distributing to the necessity of saints. All the saints are to be concerned about distributing to the necessity of other saints. Given to hospitality. Now that word given is a strong word.

10:00 It's the same word used all the way through the New Testament for persecute. It's the same word found in Hebrews 12. Some of you I hope will remember when I preached that series on biblical holiness. Hebrews 12.14 says, Follow after peace with all men and holiness without which no man will see the Lord. That's the word. Persecute it. Track it down.

10:21 Pursue it. Go after it. That's the meaning here. Paul says all of the saints of God are not only to be sensitive to the needs of their brethren, giving of their substance when necessary.

10:33 That ties in beautifully with our scripture reading in verse 10. But they are to pursue the cultivation of the holy art of hospitality. Not the table. Now get that out of your head.

10:47 It's the door, not the table. Not the door, not the table, but the door. Given to the open door. Given to the tangible expression of Christian love in this area.

10:59 As an expression of what he said in verses 9 and 10. Let love be without dissimilation. Verse 10. Be kindly affection one to another with brotherly love.

11:10 And how do you do this in a tangible way? You pursue hospitality. All right, now look at another passage which indicates that this duty, and it is a duty, this is a command. This is not optional.

11:23 You don't just say, oh well, I'll take that and leave this. No, no. This is a command addressed to us as God's people. And the Lord said, if you love me, keep my commands.

11:32 And we have in 1 Peter chapter 4 a similar commandment. Reference.

11:39 Again, 1 Peter 4 is addressed to the saints as a whole. 1 Peter 5, the first seven verses or so are addressed in particular to the elders. But 1 Peter 4 is addressed to all the saints of God. Now what does he say?

11:54 Well, let's read chapter 4 and verse 7. At the end of all things is at hand, be therefore sober and watch unto prayer. All the saints are to be watchful, prayerful. Verse 8.

12:07 Above all things have fervent love among yourselves. For love will do several things. In fact, three things here. Love shall cover the multitude of sins.

12:19 He says, if only you'll have fervent love amongst yourselves, you won't be picking faults and hunting after little warts and moles with magnifying glasses. Well, when a church gets doing that, that's the time the preacher wants to pray the Lord will take him home to heaven or take him to the mission field. When people get going around with magnifying glasses, looking for warts and moles on each other's neck and on the back of their hands. Oh, he says, if you have love, it'll cover those multitude of little faults and frictions that could fester and become a cancerous sore.

12:50 But if we're living together in love, love will just sweep all of that away. Second thing love will do, notice verse 9. Use hospitality one to another without grudging. Then the third thing it will do, as every man hath received the gift, minister.

13:07 The same one to another. If you have love, he said, it'll express itself in three ways. It'll keep you from fault finding. It will help you to cultivate the grace of the open door.

13:18 And it will help you to cultivate the sense of responsibility to use your God-given gifts for the blessing of the whole assembly. Now, beloved, let's not talk about loving one another if love doesn't do those three things. For wherever fervent love is present, it will lead to those three things. Covering the multitude of sins, cultivating the art of hospitality, cultivating and using our gifts for the good of the whole.

13:44 Now, notice what Peter adds here in verse 9. Using hospitality one to another without grudging. Does that bring another passage to mind? After dealing with the duty of Christian giving in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, you remember how Paul draws that to a conclusion?

14:01 He says in 2 Corinthians 9 and verse 7, So let every one of us give, as his purpose, not what? Grudgingly nor of necessity. All right, it's my duty and I don't want to have a guilty conscience, so I'll put my nickel on the plate. Paul said, no, no, no, no, no.

14:18 No, you've missed the whole point. He said, when you understand the privilege that you have of taking of material substance and investing it, that it becomes immortalized in the interest of the kingdom of God, why, you'll give joyfully. Now, Peter says the same thing should be true of hospitality. Not primarily, not primarily a fancy table spread, but the open door.

14:41 Use the open door one to another. Not grudgingly, saying, oh, well, if I'm going to do my duty, I guess I'll just have to invite somebody over to the house. No, no, no, no. He said, you've missed it.

14:53 This will be one of the channels of your love. It's as though Peter's saying, your hearts are full of love to one another. Now I want to help you to know how that love should express itself. Express itself in this particular way.

15:06 Now, one other, one other command, and remember, this is addressed to all the saints. All the saints. You a saint? You claim to be?

15:14 Here's one of your duties. Romans 12 states it, verse Peter 4, and then Hebrews chapter 13, verses 1 and 2.

15:28 Now, it's interesting, the same word translated hospitality in Romans 12, 13, they translate it literally here. Let brotherly love continue. It should translate it to be consistent. Let hospitality continue.

15:39 It's the same word.

15:42 Let hospitality continue. That's the same word. Don't let it die out. Don't let it become a thing in the past.

15:49 In the dog-eat-dog world of the 20th century metropolitan climate, where the man gets on his bus and lest he give any impression that he wants anybody to know him, he hides himself behind his papers. Where instead of driving to work with his neighbor, he gets into the hollow emptiness of his own car and drives by himself. In the whole spirit of isolationism in our mechanized age, we're having heart bared to heart is looked upon if not consciously, unconsciously as a thing of the past. Don't let hospitality die.

16:22 Let brotherly love, let hospitality continue. Verse 2, be not forgetful to entertain strangers. There's a command. Be not forgetful.

16:32 This is something you can forget. You must remind yourselves that this is your duty to show hospitality to strangers who are among you. Therefore, we have the command to hospitality addressed first of all to all the saints and the second group to whom this command is addressed are the spiritual office bearers called in the scripture bishops or elders and they are to particularly exemplify the grace of the open door. First Timothy 3.2 says the elder, the bishop must be given to hospitality. Titus 1.8 says essentially the same thing. Now that does not mean that they are the only ones who are to evidence hospitality.

17:16 Let me illustrate. Whenever the care of the human body is concerned, whether it's a nurse, an intern, a family doctor, or a specialist, you desire and you have a right to expect that there shall be carefulness, thoroughness in the area of cleansing and observation of your problem. Those things should mark any medical treatment, whether it's an RN, an intern, a family doctor, or the specialist. Now, you expect a greater degree of it perhaps in the specialist or in the family doctor than you would in what we call the probate, a girl that's in there taking her first year of nurse's training.

18:00 But it's not a matter of a qualitative difference, it's just a matter of a quantitative difference. You expect that characteristic to be more fully developed through practice and through exercise. Now in the same way, the command to be given to hospitality goes out to the public. The command to be given to hospitality goes out to the public.

18:14 The command to be given to hospitality goes out to all the saints, but in a peculiar way, the office bearers, 1 Timothy 3.2 and Titus 1.8, they are to be characterized by an unusual measure of the grace of the open door. Now like every other duty, now follow me closely, like every other duty, there's only one thing that exempts us from a duty, legitimacy, and that's when we are providentially hindered from exercising it.

The Sin of Neglecting Hospitality and a Call to Repentance

18:41 It is a duty for those who believe to be baptized. Now if someone's laying on bed and can't get out, God's not going to hold it against them that they don't get baptized. He accepts the willingness for the deed. It's a duty for all of us to give to the work of God.

18:55 If we are providentially hindered and put in a place where we have no income, then it's obvious we can't give a tenth of our income or beyond if we have no income. Therefore, God accepts the willingness for the deed. It is our duty to bear witness to others. If in the providence of God we're put in a place where we cannot, through different circumstances, God accepts the willingness for the deed.

19:17 The same is true with the duty of hospitality. If we are put in circumstances in the providence of God where we cannot obey it, we are exempt and God accepts the willingness for the deed. But beloved, if there is any other reason for us as Christians not cultivating the grace of the open door, we are sinning against God. For what is sin?

19:42 Any lack of conformity to the untruth as well as transgression of the law of God. And now I want to speak from a heart that has been deeply disturbed in recent months. For I believe we as a congregation are in great measure sinning in our failure to cultivate the grace of the open door. One to another and to strangers.

20:09 Beloved, a few of us can't do it all by ourselves. And just as Paul could say, be ye followers of me even as I am of Christ. In that sense, I say that there's not one Sunday out of four or five that not only is our table graced with the presence of others, but many times my whole afternoon after a full morning and before another evening message is given over to counseling with people who've come among us seeking to enter into their problems. And a few others have caught the vision of this.

20:39 But beloved, there have been people who've come among us, sat here week in and week out for months and have never been asked into a home. They've come to me from out of a world where nobody cares. Encased in isolationism. They've come into a church where surely that someone should care.

20:57 And they've walked out that door week in, week out, month in, month out and never once has anyone said, would you come and share the blessing of our open door? Beloved, this is sin. This is S-I-N. Sin.

21:13 And I pray that God, the Holy Ghost, would somehow break in upon us and show us the terrible tragedy of such a sin. Tonight, I want to deal with what leads to that. There are some natural reasons and I want to be understanding and try to help clear away some of the natural reasons why we have failed in this duty. But there are also some basic spiritual reasons and we want to touch on them as well.

21:38 But we must see that it is a duty and if we're not complying with it and are not hindered by providential factors, we are sinning against God and I trust that this day will find some of us in the dust of repentance over this sin as much as if we had been guilty of some overt act of sin that would bring upon us the shame and bring to us shame and reproach from others. Now, I must hurry on to the second factor. Who are the objects of this hospitality? The grace of the open door.

The Objects of Hospitality: Saints and Strangers

22:10 Well, two classes of people. The saints of God and the strangers who come among us. Now, Peter makes this beyond dispute. That we are to exercise the grace of the open door, not necessarily the spread table, but the open door to one another.

22:26 In 1 Peter 4, 9, he says, using hospitality one to another. That's Christians. We should be reciprocating with the grace of the open door. Get that table out of your head.

22:39 Most of us are too fat anyway. But think of the door, not the table. The door, the grace of the open door. But not only are the saints of God to be the objects of this hospitality, but the strangers who come among us.

22:53 Now, who's a stranger? Why, those who come from out of our own little circle, and we don't even know them well enough to know if they are saints or not. That's what Hebrews says. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers.

23:08 In that time, remember, there was persecution, and the community of believers many times was more mobile than they are now. And even though they didn't have cars, they were driven by their persecution on foot. Or some other means of conveyance. And so, lo and behold, in the assembly that morning, there would appear someone that you didn't even know him well enough to know if he was a brother or not.

23:29 The writer to Hebrews says, don't go out of your assembly without making sure that somebody extends to him the open door. The open door. The open door. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers.

23:41 Therefore, in answer to the question, who are to be the objects of the fulfillment of the duty of Christian hospitality, two groups, the saints of God and the strangers. And we should be as a people of God extending continually that open door to one another and to these who are outsiders. Frankly, I want to state it this way. I think it's a crime if anyone visits here and is not accosted by at least a few people before they get out of this place with an invitation to at least come and share the blessing of an open door.

24:17 And yet, beloved, I could cite the names of individuals who have not come but one week, two weeks, three weeks, months, and have never been accosted by but one or two of us to share the open door. And I feel as a pastor I have a peculiar responsibility to the strangers. And this is why perhaps I have not exercised to the extent that I would like to the grace of the open door to some of you who are the saints of God because I feel if anyone should know, I hope I can prove my love to you and my wife can in other ways. But that's the only way they can see it.

The Ministry of Hospitality: Tangible Expression of Love

24:52 They're not around long enough to see it in other ways. Well, I hurry on now to what is the crux of the matter for God isn't arbitrary. God just doesn't do this for the sake of doing it. Every command he gives has a reason whether we know it or not, whether we understand it or not.

25:07 But this command to hospitality to be directed in two areas, the saints and the strangers, has a very clearly defined biblical ministry. And so the third area of our study this morning, having looked at the command to hospitality, the objects of hospitality, thirdly, the ministry of hospitality. What ministry does the open door have? First of all, it is a tangible expression of Christian love.

25:34 You remember the words of John in 1 John 3, verses 16 to 18, and I know of no passage of Scripture that fits better at this juncture. Hereby perceive we the love of God because he told us in his word that he loves us. That isn't what it says. It says, Hereby perceive we the love of God, that deep, deep, powerful affection of his heart, but it's hidden in his heart until what?

26:08 Because he laid down his life for us. His love took on a tangible expression in the giving of his Son. Hereby perceive we love because he did something to show that love. He didn't just tell us I love you.

26:22 I love you. He planted a cross on Golgotha, poured out his wrath upon his beloved son, and he says, that's my love.

26:33 Now he draws the application. But whoso hath this world's good and seeth his brother have need and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? And we usually interpret that as, well, here's my brother who's in debt and going to get in the poorhouse unless I give him five dollars. No, no.

26:50 Whoso hath this world's good, sure, primarily referring to physical necessities, but in this affluent society there are many people who have no basic material need, but they have needs that material things can never meet. The need to know that somebody cares, somebody loves, somebody's interested,

27:09 somebody's concerned. So whoso hath this world's goods, all you may have is the open door with a few herbs in your closet. But oh, as the Scripture says, better is a dinner of herbs where love is than a stall, old ox, where hatred and strife are. Proverbs chapter 15, I believe, verse 16.

27:31 And all you may have on the table is a dinner of herbs, but the open door will speak so eloquently and fill to the full such a need that the herbs won't taste like steak. Because the great need of humanity in our society especially is not the table, but it's the message of the open door. Somebody loves, somebody cares in a dog-eat-dog individualistic society. So the first great ministry then is that of tangibly expressing the love of God as he says in verse 18, my little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

28:13 You see, the open door bespeaks an open heart. That's what it bespeaks. What's behind that door doesn't amount to a hill of beans. One of the great blessings that I received amongst many in the five years that I was in an itinerant ministry, much of which was spent not in city churches, but in little country churches, is to be where some people hadn't gotten all wrapped up in confusing Christian hospitality as being basically the table.

28:43 And some of the doors through which I walked, you'd be embarrassed to have your preacher walk through them, into some of the most simple homes with furniture that you wouldn't even give to the Salvation Army.

28:56 Really. And some of the meals I've been served, that you wouldn't even feed to your husband, let alone the visiting preacher, as far as their simplicity. But oh, beloved, these people caught the message. And I caught the message.

The Ministry of Hospitality: Opportunity for Exhortation and Witness

29:11 I caught the message. There was an eloquent preachment of something in that open door. It was a tangible expression of Christian love. Secondly, it provides a natural opportunity for exhortation and for witness.

29:29 Exhortation, that's when the saints are showing hospitality. One to another. Witness, that's when you're showing hospitality to strangers. Now, it's interesting that the Scripture knows nothing of this idea that the only person who exhorts you is your Sunday school teacher and your preacher.

29:45 In fact, the concept of Scripture set forth in passages like Romans 15 and 14 reveals that just as the duty of hospitality is a duty of all the saints, so the duty of exhorting one another is the duty of all the saints. Romans 15, 14. And I myself also am persuaded of you, brethren, that ye are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, for what end?

30:14 Able also to admonish one another.

30:18 Now, I sat in on the ladies' class this morning, and you got more solid doctrine presented clearly than a lot of people get from their pulpits in ten years. And then I've been sneaking in a little bit in the men's class, and you're getting stuff that a lot of people wouldn't get even in a seminary. And I've been sneaking in a little bit in the men's class, and you're getting stuff that a lot of people wouldn't get even in a seminary. And getting it in a practical way, laid out simply and clearly.

30:40 And so we're privileged to receive this knowledge and this instruction, and I trust you get knowledge and instruction from the pulpit, both precepts and promises. Now, what should the issue of that be? Here it is. He says, I am persuaded that being full of goodness, virtue, Christian virtue, brought by growth in grace, filled with all knowledge, able to admonish one another, to minister one to another, exhort one another, encourage one another.

31:07 Now, how are you going to do this?

31:09 Well, you see, you've got to get in the context where it's natural. So what lies behind the open door when the Christians show hospitality one to another? The open heart that we can exhort and admonish one another. Tell me, John, how are you doing with your prayer life?

31:24 I've just been messed up, something terrible. I just can't seem to get victory over this particular problem. How are you doing with this? You have this problem?

31:33 Boy, to tell you the truth, I am, but you know, I feel, Lord, it's helping me. And so there you go. And you begin to share one with another. Hebrews 3.13 Exhort one another daily while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. So the second great ministry of hospitality, it not only is a tangible expression of Christian love, but it performs a natural, it creates a natural opportunity for mutual exhortation amongst brethren. I long to see this amongst us as God's people, where we exhort one another. One of the greatest blessings that I ever had in my Christian experience were those early days in which I was saved and the Lord laid hold of a few young people and we'd get together, not to be a sort of a mutual admiration society, but we'd exhort one another.

32:18 We'd actually sometimes sit chairs in a circle and open up our Bibles and tear into one another in love. Say, how about this? Well, sometimes it hurt. Like the time when the young Scotsman came up to me and took the lapel of my coat after I came out of the pulpit and preached and he looked me straight in the eye with his eyes that seemed to look right down into your soul and he said, Al, he said, there's too much Al Martin in that sermon.

32:45 Well, didn't like that. He's one of the dearest friends I have. Who likes to be told there's too much self sticking out? You don't like that.

32:52 I don't like it, but I need it and you need it.

32:55 But you know why I was willing to take it from that brother? Because he had many times demonstrated his love by the open door. By the open door. And his open door opened my heart to his words.

33:07 That's the concept. I don't want to labor it. I trust you see it. And then the second thing under this opportunity of exhortation also an opportunity of witness to sinners, to strangers.

33:19 Now, we don't entertain. We don't open the door simply as a means to the end that we can jump on people and buttonhole them. No, we open our door because love compels us to. As you would that others do unto you, do unto them.

33:33 But just as love compels us to open the door to the stranger simply because he is a stranger in need of love, what is the greatest thing we can impart to him? Not our open door, but the knowledge of how God has opened the door into his presence. The knowledge of how guilty sinners can come by him who is the door, even the Lord Jesus Christ. But it's doubtful they're going to listen to your talk about him who is the door to heaven unless the door to your home is open to them.

34:03 And I think there's another whole untapped area of witness amongst our congregation. How many of you, have ever invited one of your neighbors over for a cup of coffee just to come over and sit in your house and talk? I venture to say some of you lived for years and have never done this.

34:22 Is it no wonder that you find it awkward to talk to them about the gospel? How are they going to understand the love of God unless they've seen a little tangible expression of that love in your open door to them? And I envision a biblically oriented church as a church in which every home, everyone who is providentially able to be a part of the church, is a part of the church. And I think there's a lot of people who are His home is a little oasis of the open door where there is exhortation going on to the prophet of the people of God and witness going on to the ongoing of the gospel of God.

34:56 Can you imagine what would happen if that were true of us here as a people? Well, I'd never know who's going to show up here that you'd had in your home who, because you had in your home, he was willing to come to this place you call your church and hear this guy you call your preacher. They don't have any interest to hear me. They couldn't care less.

35:13 Oh, you may be all enthused but they couldn't care less. They might get interested if your home is open to them as an indication of your open heart.

The Ministry of Hospitality: Means of Personal Blessing

35:24 And then the third thing and with this I'll have to close this morning. It's not only this ministry of hospitality a tangible expression of Christian love. Secondly, a natural opportunity for exhortation and witness and I could demonstrate this from the scriptures but time won't permit it. Thirdly, it's a means of personal blessing to the one who extends the open door.

35:46 Oh, you say that's a selfish motive that shouldn't enter. Well, the Bible makes it enter so I'm not going to be more careful than God is. And he says in Hebrews 13 too be not forgetful to entertain strangers. Why?

35:59 He says, well, you just might get blessed in the process for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. And you know what that's a reference to? Turn back to Genesis 18 and you'll see. It seems to be a direct reference to Genesis 18 and here we have a flesh and blood example of what the writer to Hebrews is talking about.

36:29 Chapter 18 verse 1 of Genesis. And the Lord appeared unto him, that is Abraham, in the plains of Mamre and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day and he lifted up his eyes and looked and lo, three men stood by him and when he saw them he ran to meet them from the tent door and bowed himself to the ground and said, My Lord, if now I found favor in thy sight pass not away I pray thee from thy servant. Let a little water I pray you be fetched and wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree and I will fetch a morsel of bread and comfort ye your hearts after that ye shall pass on for therefore are ye come to your servant and they said so do as thou hast said. And Abraham hastened to the tent unto Sarah and said make ready three measures of meal etc. And then in entertaining these three strangers he was literally welcoming the angel of Jehovah and two of his associates that angel of Jehovah being none other than our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you see how this ties in with the passage I'm going to look at in more detail tonight? Remember in the parable of the sheep and goats when the Lord said you did this to me you did this to me you did this to me I was in prison you visited me a stranger and you took me in and they said Lord we never saw you a stranger.

37:45 Oh sure we entertained some people that came by we opened the door to some people that came to church that we never knew but Lord we never opened the door to you. You were up in heaven and he said what? Inasmuch as you did it unto these the least of my little ones you did it unto me. You did it unto me.

38:02 You entertained me when you entertained my people. In opening the door to my people you opened the door to me. That's the message of that portion and the great blessing that comes when you open your door to the Lord even though you may think you're just opening the door to some stranger. It's the principle of the Gospels where our Lord said give and it shall be what?

38:24 Given unto you. Good men should press down and running over. And so one of the great motives to this matter of hospitality the ministry of hospitality not only is it a tangible expression of your love to saint and sinner not only does it provide a natural opportunity to exhort one another and to communicate the Gospel to the sinner but oh just from the standpoint of wanting to be blessed I want to be blessed. I want to be blessed.

38:50 I want to be blessed. I wouldn't dare be niggardly in the matter of hospitality. Now that's a legitimate scriptural motive. The blessing it will bring to you.

38:59 Now if that's all your motive is that's wrong. If you make apart the whole that's sin. But in the matter of giving God says prove me now herewith. You give to me what belongs to me and I will pour out upon you a blessing which you cannot contain.

39:13 You want to be blessed? Then give to me. God says in a sense that selfish motive in the realm of spiritual things is legitimate. Let's not kid ourselves.

39:21 If you're a Christian you want the blessing of God. I want it.

39:25 If I can have sixty pounds of joy and I've only got forty I'm out fishing for the sixty.

39:32 If I can be blessed ten degrees I mean if I'm blessed ten degrees and I can know fifty degrees then I want that. All right here the scripture says be not forgetful to entertain strangers for thereby some have brought untold blessing to themselves. They've entertained strangers entertained angels unawares. It'll come to your own heart.

39:54 It'll come to your family. I would not dare rob my children of the privilege of having the people of God in my home.

40:04 For so often is the conversation centers upon the things of God after the strangers have gone. The feedback that comes they've seen that this is not just shop talk something that you leave at church but this is your life. And often you can't carry on with your children adult intelligent conversation on spiritual things. You instruct them and the rest but they're listening on.

40:25 They're taking all of this in. The blessing it brings to you individually. The blessing it brings to your children. This is one of the ministries of the ministry of an open door.

Conclusion: Addressing Hindrances and a Call to Prayer

40:38 Now I fully recognize that there are a number of reasons as to why we have been negligent many of us in developing the art of Christian hospitality and have neglected the duty of the open door and the Lord willing tonight I want to deal with that particular subject. My point for hindrances to fulfillment of the duty and cultivation of the art of Christian hospitality. And I'll tell you what we're going to look at. We're going to look at the natural hindrances and then we want to look at the spiritual hindrances.

41:10 I think you see one of the biggest ones we've already cleared away this morning. You've had a misunderstanding as to what hospitality was. You've thought in terms of the table and you just didn't have a big enough table or a big enough pocket to put enough to fill the table and you thought that exactly. That exempted you.

41:24 Oh no it doesn't. If you've got an open door you may just have a few herbs in the cupboard but God says you're a candidate for this ministry. So I trust you will come prayerful that God will speak to your heart for I'm deeply convinced that unless this concept is incorporated into the bloodstream of our church death is already written over its portals as far as this whole area that God would have us know as his people. Maybe you've never recognized this was a duty.

41:55 I hope you're convinced it is this morning and if you've been negligent then I hope you'll leave this place saying Lord forgive me. I've not been doing my duty. Now Lord show me how to go about it. Now I know you've got a thousand questions but forget all the questions face this issue.

42:09 Have you been living in the light of your scriptural duty? If not it's sin. Ask the Lord's forgiveness and then let's pray that the same God who's commanded the duty will give us grace as he does for every other duty. God is able to make all grace abound toward you that ye having all sufficiency in everything may abound unto what?

42:30 Every good work. 2 Corinthians 9.8 Even the good work of Christian hospitality. That's his promise.

42:35 The Lord willing we shall consider tonight how that promise may be realized in our lives. Let us unite together in prayer.