Hospitality

Well, for our ministry of the week this week, we want to draw special attention to the, the ministry of the deacons and the, the deaconesses, back in our May, annual meeting, we elected a slate of deacons and deaconesses to serve in specific roles, for a 12 month period and technically, I guess September 1st, which is going to happen tomorrow, is when they officially assume their role as deacons and deaconesses, and, and many of them have already been involved in their ministry and getting, getting ramped up to, And transitioned into this new ministry year and the role that they're going to be playing.

On the back of the bulletin, please take a look at that if you guys have a, a copy of the bulletin. this is the, just an overview of the ministries of Cornerstone and the breakdown, of what the ministries, are and their main categories along with who's going to be serving and what role. But due to the fact that today, our, effective tomorrow, our deacons and deaconesses are going to be, assuming their role officially.

We just want to recognize them this morning and I want to have any deacons or deaconesses, come forward, as I read the names, there'll be others who are in the second service and we'll be praying for them, then. but, let me just read off, the names of our deacons and deaconesses, and again, on the back, you'll be able to see the role that we've asked them to be serving in. And if you are here, please come forward as I read your name. Mark Montgomery, Moe Roberson, Tom Vesey, Randy Thompson, Joe Rockowitz, Chris Johnson, Saul Aguilar, Jackie Janosky, Lyle Kimball, Joe and Kim Sapko, Brian and Eddie Gill, Ron Warkenton.

Lynette Kumamoto, Kim Davis, Jim Ward, Mike Martinez, Dave Schilling, Daniel Bendchadler, John Asseturian, and Eve Hanson. OK. So, these are the ones we have in our service today. let me just read a passage to you guys, And first Timothy, regarding, deacons and deaconesses, in the church.

In First Timothy 3, Paul says deacons likewise must be men of dignity, not double tongued or addicted to much wine or fond of sordid gain. But holding to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience, these men must also first be tested, then let them serve as deacons if they are beyond reproach. Women, and very likely referring to women that serve as deacons. Women must likewise be dignified, not malicious gossips, but temperate, faithful in all things.

Back to deacons. Deacons must be husbands of only one wife and good managers of their children and their households. For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a high standing and great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus. I know as I read this, it's probably intimidating to have these qualifications read while you guys are standing up here.

Because you're probably hearing them, and I, knowing these people, as I do, not a one of them feels like they're nailing it, and that they're like the perfect example of all of these, virtues. but we, we believe that they are models for this congregation of progress in these areas and just a love for the Lord, a commitment to the body. So we have asked them to serve. and the rolls that you see on the back of the, the bulletins, they also would say, please pray for us, that, that we will grow and we will progress in the very areas that have just been read about in First Timothy 3.

Pray for us in our ministries that God will, will strengthen us and empower us and bless us. So, we want to do that today, as we commissioned them. as they begin to serve in their roles as deacons and deaconesses. So if there's any, elders that are in, this room besides myself, just please come forward.

We'd like to lay our hands on, on these people, get our hands on you guys. Why don't you guys get a little closer. OK, let's, let's pray together. Lord, we, we just thank you so much for the body of Christ, the church, And, and the way that the church operates, Lord, we didn't make this stuff up, but you have instructed that there be deacons and deaconesses and that there be elders, and we are just seeking to follow the example that we have set for us of the early church.

We're simply trying to follow the instructions, some of which we just read. That we find in the New Testament. And we thank you for, for everyone in our church body and all those that labor so tirelessly, Lord, whether they're deacons or, or not. There's so many people that work so hard, in many ways, not even noticed by others that makes this church operate, and the, Best that it is by your grace, but we thank you especially today for these deacons and deaconesses that you have providentially put in these positions to serve over the next 12 months.

We pray, Lord, that you would protect them from the evil one. We pray that you would, would guard them, guard their hearts, guard their relationships. And, we pray, Lord, that you would prosper them and their ministries, as they provide leadership and direction. And example and their respective areas of, of ministry, Lord.

many of these individuals have people that are going to be working alongside of them and working underneath them, and, they need your strength, and so empower them, Lord, so that they, together with everyone else in this church body, the elders and, and all the other members of this church, can just work together to really, Lord, accomplish great things, so great that at the end, Of this 12 month period, everyone will stand back and know that it wasn't us, but it was all you.

So, we are prepared for you to do great things in and through these precious people standing up here, and we are prepared even now to give you the glory for what you will choose to do. We give ourselves to you, and these people, Lord, who will be serving in these roles, in the name of Jesus, and all God's people said, Amen. Well, God bless you guys.

We've got an exciting year ahead. Oh, OK. I left out Lillian. Workington.

so consider yourself prayed for and why don't you stand and let's just give her a special appreciation. And she was just sitting there so pleasant and not even glaring at me, which she should have done. Well, thank you, Lillian. All right, let me, have you guys turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter, 12.

Romans chapter 12 for a time of study in the word, this morning, and we got a ton of ground to cover. And I don't think we're going to be able to get everything in, this morning, but this, I, I guess, I think is the last message in our series, entitled Moving Forward in Community. We're trying to learn to do community better as a church. And, in Ephesians 1, we learned that the church is the fullness of God.

if you're really passionate about experiencing God's fullness in your Life and you want to live and operate in relationship with the local church, which God describes as his fullness. And so we want to learn how to do this. We want to learn how to move together into the future God has for us and to do so in community with one. Another, and we've talked about a lot of aspects of community, over the last few weeks and, the aspect of community that we're going to be talking about today that's an absolutely critical ingredient of biblical community is hospitality.

Hospitality. And, if you want to give a title to the message this morning, it would be the right way to show hospitality. we'll be focusing on that, this morning. But what, as we're also thinking of ramping up to our care groups, one of the things about our definition of care groups is that care groups are not just small groups of people that get together, but it's small groups of people that get together in homes and in houses.

And so in order for care groups to really operate, the way that they're designed to operate is, That we would like them meeting in homes. Now, we could say every Sunday night or whenever your care group meets, we've got rooms available for your group to come to the church campus and meet. And there maybe would be nothing wrong with that, but we believe that hospitality biblically is a virtue and it is something that we all want to become practiced at and the care group, setting is a perfect opportunity to practice that.

And so hospitality is a critical ingredient of community.

Without it, it's really not biblical community. In fact, Alexander Strau, a writer on the subject of hospitality, says unless we open the doors of our homes to one another, the reality of the local church as a close knit family of loving brothers and sisters is only a theory. So, we do community not just when we arrive on the church campus and have our ladies' Bible studies and youth group activities and men's groups and men's breakfast and, and our morning worship services and what have you.

we want to bring community, into our homes by opening up the doors of our homes.

just, just so you can feel the weight of this in the New Testament, we see hospitality. not only through the gospel accounts, Christ was, seems like he was always at somebody's home. when he sent out his disciples on evangelistic journeys, he, he told them to expect hospitality and to look for homes that they can stay in. We'll see that a little bit later in the service.

But when we come into the, the book of Acts and beyond, we find that hospitality looms very large. Our belief here at Cornerstone is that the birthday of the church is the day of Pentecost recorded in Acts chapter 2. And in Acts 2, after, 3000 souls get saved, Luke begins to describe what those early Christians were doing, and one of the things that we find that they were doing was practicing hospitality. It says in verse 42 of Acts 2, they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of the bread, which is communion.

and a prayer. And so we, we see that they're practicing these values, devoted to these values, but where's the location in which they're gathering to practice these values? He goes on to say in verse 46, day by day, Continuing with one mind in the temple, that would be their large group gathering because it could accommodate a ton of people, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God. We find that the early Christians lived in community with One another and they just were not enjoying community at the temple when they met at a certain time, but they brought community into their homes and from house to house, they were inviting each other over for dinner, enjoying meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, giving praise to God, even worshiping together as they had people into their homes.

In addition to that, in terms of the instruction that we find in the New Testament, On the subject of hospitality, in Romans 12:13, Christians are told to be practicing hospitality and 3rd John. 8, John says we ought to show hospitality in First Peter 4:9. Peter says, be hospitable to one another. Hebrews 13:2.

He's, the writer of Hebrews says, do not neglect to show hospitality. And then in terms of the qualifications for an elder or an overseer, First Timothy 3:2, an overseer must be hospitable. Titus 1:7-8, an overseer must be hospitable. hospitality looms very large.

One writer says one of the most prominent features in the picture of early Christianity, which is so rich in good works, is undoubtedly it's hospitality. In fact, I came across, Somewhat recently, and you guys may not have heard of a guy named Clement of Rome. He was one of the leaders of the early church in the post-apostolic era. In fact, he probably died around AD 99, and he wrote some letters to the Corinthian church that survive to this day that have always been very highly esteemed by, by the church throughout history, but it also provides a great glimpse into what was happening in the 90s, AD.

And in first Clement, in his first letter to the Corinthians, describing the Corinthians, he says, indeed, was there ever a visitor in your midst that did not approve your excellent and steadfast faith or did not proclaim the magnificent character? Of your hospitality. He's like, I, I've never known anyone who has visited, you guys and has not come away speaking about, your faith and speaking about your hospitality. So, it's evident that hospitality was a crowning virtue.

and the life of the early church, both in the pages of the New Testament and even in the decades beyond that. That raises the question, what exactly is hospitality that we're going to be talking about, this morning. Let's take a look at this, and this will get us launched and learning how to do hospitality the right way. basically, the Greek word that is translated hospitality in the New Testament, is the Greek word, it's a combination of two words.

It's the, the word pylos, which is the Greek word for love, and then xenos, which is the Greek word for stranger. All right? And so literally, it speaks of a love of strangers. That's the etymology of the term that is translated hospitality.

And the definition of hospitality, when you sweep the data together in the New Testament, it is to warmly reach out to and welcome, welcome is the operative word here. It is to welcome others into your life, into your home, including those who are presently outside your circle of family and friends whom well. All right. we can be hospitable towards those that are friends, those that we know well.

And that is hospitality. But hospitality is a bigger word than that. Hospitality includes our welcoming of other people in addition to all the people we know well and have responsibility for they minister to us, we minister to them, and, and we give and receive from one another. But it, the spirit of hospitality is a spirit that says, I welcome even more people into my life.

Sometimes we get an attitude where, what, I got enough people to deal with. I got kids, I got a spouse, I got family, and, and I've got brothers and sisters in the church, and I got neat relationships with them. And I think I got what I need. And I get all I need from them.

And they require from me about all I think I'm able to give. All right, we draw a circle around that. And we basically say no more, God, no more. And the spirit of hospitality, biblically, is contrary to that attitude.

It's this openhearted attitude that just says, I, I, I want to know even more people, just even the people outside of the circle of those I know well, I, I will welcome them into my heart, into my life, and into my home. many of us are going to be leaving the care group that we've known for the last 3.5 years, and we've got to really know people, and we're going to be coming into new care group that's going to be filled with strangers in the sense of people that we either don't know or we don't know as well.

We need to have a hospitable spirit, where we, we welcome these new relationships into our lives as gifts from God, for our blessing. when you put all that together, guys, hospitality, don't just think of, bringing people into your home.

that is hospitality, but hospitality goes beyond that. It's opening your heart to others. It's a spirit of friendliness, towards others, including those that, are presently outside of the circle of those that well. So like you can come to church on Sunday and have a hospitable spirit by just, just greeting people with a smile and, and talking with them and getting to know them and basically saying, what, I got room in my life for you.

I welcome you into my life. And And so a friendly, hospitable disposition is something you can do wherever you are, but definitely, hospitality, includes, in it's, it's peak expression, opening up your home to others. In our culture today, doing that is not quite as natural as it may have been in the first century, because this actually does require a lot from us. Alexander Strau says this Hospitality fleshes out love in a uniquely personal and sacrificial way.

Through the Ministry of Hospitality, we share our most prized possessions. We share our family, our home, finances, food, privacy, and time. Indeed, we share our very lives. So hospitality is always costly.

Through the ministry of hospitality, we provide friendship, acceptance, fellowship, refreshment, comfort, and love, and one of the richest and deepest ways possible for humans to understand. This is what we're repeatedly commanded to do in the New Testament. This is the example that we have set for us even in the early church in Acts chapter 2. Well, having established how important hospitality is and exactly what it is, let's take some time to look at the right way to show hospitality.

I want to give you 6 ways, that are the right ways to show hospitality. there are right ways to show hospitality and there are wrong ways, right? a silly story, but it's a true story. When I was in Indiana a couple of years ago, a friend of mine was telling me about a family that he knew that attended a church, and they, there was a college singing group that was coming to their church to perform, and so they needed, the students needed a place to stay.

overnight, for dinner and then to sleep overnight and then breakfast the next morning before they gathered together the following day and left to go to another church. And this one particular family took in this one college student, And they had this college student over for dinner and while this, the student is eating dinner with them, everything seems normal. This is a true story. but after, as the family members were finishing their meal, all of them, they had two dogs in their home.

All of them took their plates and dishes and put them on the floor and let the dogs just lick the dishes clean. And then once that was done, the family took the dishes and put them in the cabinets. And this, this student was like, just suddenly feeling ill because he's like, I, I have eaten out of, dishes that have been cleaned by dogs. And so, he goes to bed that night, he gets up the next morning and comes down, sits at the table, and they're pulling dishes out of the same cabinet.

They're like, would you like some breakfast? And, he's like, no, I'm really not hungry. And, and it was then that all of the family started laughing and said the whole thing was a joke. we were just messing with you.

And, and they had actually cleaned the dishes after he went to bed and then put them in the cabinet, and they wanted to see his reaction the next morning. you're a really twisted family when, our family, the Vincent family, we would think of that thing, but we could never do it with a straight face. this family apparently did. That's the wrong way to show, hospitality.

let's focus on the right way. and when we say the right way, we're even including the right spirit in which we show Hospitality. And you probably would have guessed this, but the very first description in terms of the right way to show hospitality is this, show hospitality being motivated by the gospel, being motivated by the gospel. Don't, don't show hospitality because you're commanded to.

It's like, all right. I guess it's a duty and I have to do it to be obedient, show hospitality being driven, compelled, and motivated by the gospel. Now I had you guys turn to Romans 12. And I don't have a lot of time to make this case.

But, but if you go to Romans 12:1, if you didn't bring your Bible, I've got this on the screen here. Paul, all the way from Romans 1 to 11 has been giving the gospel and talking about our sin. And the wrath of God that we deserve, but then what Christ did for us and dying for us and how we experience justification through Him, and then how through Christ we are delivered from sin's power to where we never have to sin again. We're dead to sin's power, dead to sin's guilt.

We've got the Spirit of Christ now living inside of us, so forth, and we can now walk free of the law of condemnation and death. And he's been rehearsing all of these incredible gospel themes and He even talks about how we groan for the redemption of our bodies, we groan for the glory that awaits us in heaven. But at the end of all of that, he says in Romans 12:1, therefore, in other words, because of all of this gospel stuff, these gospel truths that I have been giving to you, I urge you, brethren, By the mercies of God.

I'm appealing to you based on these mercies of God that I have been describing for you, you Christians that are swimming in the mercies of God inside of the gospel, I beg of you to do something based on these gospel realities.

And that is to present your bodies, a living and holy sacrifice. And literally, it's to present your bodies plural. A living and holy sacrifice, singular in the Greek text, sacrifice is singular. In other words, all of you individually join your hearts with your brothers and sisters, and all of you link your lives together and present yourselves to God as a single community sacrifice to him.

He goes on to give them some other instructions about being transformed, and so forth. But then beginning in verse 3, he breaks open what this community sacrifice should look like. And one of the descriptions is found in verse 13, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality. This is a part of what it means to respond to the gospel, and to live in community with your brothers and sisters in the Lord.

You see, guys, the reason that we practice hospitality is first and foremost, because we are the recipients of the grandest hospitality that could ever be bestowed on anybody. We know from scripture that we were outside of the, the household of faith. We were children of wrath, we were children of the evil one. And God invited us essentially into his home.

And we were filthy, disgusting, very unpleasant, but God, ended up basically, transforming us, putting inside of us the faith to believe in Jesus. And he basically said, I want you in my home. And not only do I want you in my home, I want you in my family. See, that's the ultimate hospitality.

when we in the Vincent household may have someone over to our, our house, they normally leave in a few hours. All right, thank you very much for coming. Goodbye. The ultimate hospitality is adoption, where you go to somebody and essentially say, I am adopting you into my family.

I want you to come and live with me. As a member of our family, permanently. That's the ultimate hospitality. And that's what God has done.

We were children of wrath. We were rebels against him. We had every reason for God to say, I will never extend hospitality to this person. But instead, God lavishes his grace upon us.

He draws us to Himself. He adopts us into his family, where we are now living inside of his household. We're in the family of God. And even Jesus says, I am going to prepare a place for you right now.

God is getting his heavenly home ready so that we can live with Him forever and enjoy an eternity of divine hospitality. And all of that we don't deserve. How can we be the recipients of this daily divine hospitality, and yet close the doors of our homes and our hearts to other people, especially whom we may deem undeserving. All of us who are living inside of this gospel hospitality from God.

Our thought is, all right, so, man, this is what I have. This is the hospitality that's been shown to me, that will endure for all of eternity. And so, how do I want to live my life? What do I want to do with my home?

I know I'll do towards others what God has done towards me. And so we're motivated by the gospel. My conviction is that if we're living and breathing the atmosphere of the gospel, we're swimming in the mercies of God, we will catch ourselves becoming more and more hospitable because the gospel does that. It is a gospel of divine hospitality that will do its work in us, and we will find ourselves mimicking the very hospitality that we daily enjoy from God.

There's a second right way to show hospitality, and that is to show hospitality, realizing that you're really showing hospitality to Jesus. When you invite a brother or sister in Christ into your home, maybe someone well or someone you don't know well, maybe someone who's really important, in the church, or maybe it's someone who, by way of comparison is not, Seemingly all that important. It doesn't really matter. We really need to believe that anytime we have a brother or sister in Christ into our home, we're actually showing hospitality to Jesus.

On the Day of Judgment scene that Jesus describes in Matthew 25. it says this, then the king will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom, for I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger.

There's the word stranger, and you invited me in. That's hospitality. And so in this judgment scene, Jesus is going to say, enter into eternity, enter into my kingdom. And one of the reasons I want to give you is because you, I want to give you this as a thank you to you for showing me hospitality.

When I was a stranger to you, you actually took me in to your home. You guys know the passage well enough. Those on this judgment scene are going to be like, well, when did we ever do that? Has there been some mistake?

Because we never really showed direct hospitality to you. But Jesus will then reply by saying, 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. Just know that when we extend hospitality to people, Jesus takes it very personally. And he like writes us a thank you note.

Thank you for having me into your home. And we're like, well, when did we do that? He says when you had this brother or sister into your home, that actually makes hospitality an act of worship, doesn't it? knowing that we're doing this for Jesus.

When Jesus sent out, his disciples on an evangelistic venture, he says, Whatever city or village you enter, inquire who is worthy in it and stay at his house. Depend on hospitality, he's saying, until you leave that city, whoever does not receive you. ends up, he, he goes on to say, is, is essentially not receiving me. And he, he says to them, as you go out of that house or that city, shake off the dust of your feet.

If people reject you, don't let you into their homes. Verse 40, whoever does receive you, receives me, and he who receives me receives him who sent me. I love what John Piper says about this very passage. He says, hospitality in the name of Christ is a receiving of God Almighty Maker of heaven and earth into your home.

How many of you want God in your home? All of us do. By extending hospitality to God's people, we are receiving Jesus. Into our home.

We are receiving God into our home. And as we serve and seek to bless those that are inside of our home, we are serving and blessing God. And what? After we extend hospitality to a brother or sister like that, we may a week later get a thank you note, we may not, but we know they're thankful, or we may get a thank you note from them.

But we are blessed at the thought that the day will come when we're going to get a thank you note from Jesus Himself for having had him. Into our home. Well, there's another way that we need to show hospitality, and this is probably the more challenging, and that is eagerly, all right? we need to show hospitality eagerly.

Now, in Romans 12:13, I don't know what all the other translations do, but in the new American standard, it just says practicing hospitality. But what's interesting is the Greek word that lies underneath that English word practice is actually the Greek word that literally means to pursue. He's literally saying, pursuing hospitality. Now you guys know what it's like to pursue something, right?

if someone is pursuing hospitality, that's very different than they're hoping that, this won't materialize. And then, I hope someone else will end up having care group at their house and And well, it's, if, if everyone else says no, then yeah, we'll, we'll make our home available, for this get together. no, pursuing hospitality is you actually are insistent. You go after opportunities to extend hospitality to other people.

so you want to be able to say, you want to be able to say of yourself, I am pursuing hospitality. Not just I practice it, but can it be said that you are pursuing hospitality? Parents, would your children observe you and your attitudes and your practices and say, Man, my parents pursue hospitality. children, maybe your parents want to be hospitable, but your reaction is, man, I don't want to have people over because we got to clean, we got to do this and that, that and the other, and all that's required and getting the house ready, and, and so maybe you've grown at the thought of extending hospitality, but the question is, are you eager?

Are you pursuing hospitality? This is actually what we're commanded to do. I love the example of Lydia. In Acts chapter 16, she, God opens her heart to the Lord, and she gets saved.

And it's interesting, her very first good deed that she ever does as a Christian is extends hospitality. But notice how she does it. This is obviously a lady. She's a businesswoman.

She's used to getting her way. All right. And she doesn't take no for an answer. It says in Acts 16:15, and keep in mind, Paul is, is in this story, and Luke is with Paul.

And Luke is describing this firsthand, and he says, and when she, Lydia, and her household had been baptized, she urged us, so she begged us, saying, If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house. and stay. That's a command. That's not a request.

It's just, I, I want you to come into my house and stay and look at what Luke says. And she prevailed upon us, indicating that Paul did not immediately say yes. But Lydia was urging. She was begging is the idea, and eventually she overcame whatever reluctance or other plans that they had, and Luke says this woman prevailed upon us.

This is someone who is practicing, hospitality eagerly. And we're not surprised. She's just laid hold of the gospel. She just is now understanding what God has done, the hospitality that he has shown her.

And now the very first fruit that is manifested in her life is to extend the same hospitality to Paul and to Luke, and their traveling companions. So do you practice hospitality? Eagerly. I got to thinking at this point of the message as I was preparing it, what are the hindrances?

What are the hindrances that get in the way of our eagerness to show hospitality? one hindrance to our eagerness is fear, fear of guests overstaying. You ever had that happen? Invited someone over for a meal and they just stayed and stayed and stayed.

And that maybe was a discouraging experience and it made you think twice before. asking someone over again. I remember in the first year of our marriage, we had a couple, I think they had one child over for dinner. And, we had dinner, we fellowshipped, and then they just, they just stayed.

They never left. And there were, they were like, how when I'm preaching, you can probably tell when I'm just a couple of minutes away from the end of the sermon because my voice changes. I tried to do that with them. I, there were like a few points where I was like, well, we're just so thankful that you guys came tonight.

We've had a great time and And, in that tone, and, and after about the 3rd time of saying that, the guy said, if I didn't know any better, I would think you're trying to get rid of us. And, and I was like, no, I'm just thankful that you guys are here. And they laughed and continued to stay. And I was thinking, how do we, how do we bring an end to this?

And, and I'm not just the victim here. There have been times where almost every time we're over at someone's house, we get in the car and my wife is like, we definitely overstayed our welcome. And, and I'm like, no, I think we stayed at the right time. it's hard to know.

are they just being nice to us or do they really want us to stay? it's really hard to know. I remember when I was in seminary, we were invited over to a family's house and we ended up staying till like 3 in the morning and it seemed like they wanted us to stay, just as we were trying to read them, but we got it, they, they ended up saying, would you guys like to spend the night? We've got an extra room here.

And when they Asked us if we wanted to spend the night, we thought maybe that's our cue to leave. but we got in the car and my wife was like, we definitely overstayed our welcome, and I'm like, no, I think it was about right. They seemed like they wanted us. It's just hard to know sometimes.

That particular couple, I invited him to speak at Cornerstone a few years ago, and he got up here to speak and he opened his sermon with that story about how we stayed at their house forever. So, Anyway, it's tough to know, and it ends up being a, a fear, just, I've got so much time and I don't want this to get out of control and people to overstay, their, their welcome. another fear that we may have is of our fear of our guests seeing that we're not a good housekeeper. this is a big one.

I think all of us are caught by the fear of man at times, and so, we feel this pressure almost like these people are coming over and the first thought on their mind is how does the house look? And they're going to look in every corner for any cobwebs and, and any dust, and they're going to evaluate the home and go from room to room when, I know for me, when I go over to people's home, that's the last thing I'm thinking about, and, So, we, we need to feel a sense of, release about that, but a lot of times we do.

We have that fear, and so we either say, well, I don't want to have people into our home or, not because I don't love people, but I, I don't want to have to do all the work, three days in advance to get the house ready, lest they come over and something's out of place and they see I'm not a good housekeeper. in response to this, I love what John Piper says.

This is a quote from a sermon of his on hospitality. I love this. He says, I just think we ought, and by the way, he pastors Bethlehem Baptist Church. So when he says Bethlehem here, that's the name of the church, not the Bethlehem in Israel.

he says, I just think we ought to declare at Bethlehem, maybe for a month or two months, something like this. We all resolve to have people over every week and never dust for two months. And we just put it in our invitations. You're invited to come for lunch on Sunday, and we don't dust before guests come.

Just something like that. And we just corporately get our act not together and just free each other. That at Bethlehem, you go and just expect to find mess everywhere, laundry and screens, leaning against the back of the sofa, and then Piper says, I'm describing my own living room right now. And we just assume that's the way we are.

But at the end of all that, he says this, we don't try to keep up a front and end up disobeying the Bible. And that's what ends up happening because of the fear of man and And maybe people are going to see, they're going to walk in my teenager's bedroom or whatever and they're going to open a closet door and we end up being so intimidated by, by those fears that we end up not obeying the Bible's command to extend hospitality. Another thing that makes us less than eager to extend hospitality is that perhaps we are embarrassed about all the perfections and flaws in our home.

That goes beyond housekeeping.

Maybe you're ashamed. Of your home and the cracks in the ceiling or projects that are left unfinished and things about your home that you wish were different. And you might say, Pastor Milton, if you could just see my home, you would understand why I don't want to have anyone into my home. And you would say, the analogy of, God towards us and us towards other people breaks down there because God's home in heaven is perfect.

So, of course, he would want people to live with him in heaven forever, but my home is not. And I would just challenge you on that a little bit. Is God's house really perfect? Now heaven is.

But where is God's house right now? It's his people, right? We, we find this affirmed in scripture, in, in Ephesians 2, you are God's household. You are being built together into a dwelling place of God and the Spirit.

1 Corinthians 3:16, do you not know that you guys plural are a temple of God? You are a dwelling place of God. First Peter 2:5, you also as living stones are being built up as a spiritual house. So all of us together, we're, God is joining our lives together so as to compose a dwelling place, a residence for God and for His presence.

And so I ask you, is God's pre dwelling place perfect? Is it? No. If we, the people of Cornerstone compose as living stones, the dwelling place of God, We know ourselves.

We know each other well enough to know that we are far from perfect. There are so many messes. And yet amazingly, God is still saving people and inviting them to Cornerstone. Showing them that earthly hospitality as an expression of the gospel.

God doesn't say, what, stay away from my earthly dwelling place, because if you could see the people of Cornerstone, just, just, just stay away. It's a mess right now. just, I'll show hospitality to you when you get to heaven. No, God is still in the business of saving people and inviting people into this mess that we call the church.

And so God isn't waiting until his house is perfect before he invites people in, and I would think then that we should not do that, either. obviously, we do our best to take care of our homes, to be good housekeepers, but it's these things, along with others that we don't even have time to get into that end up making us less than eager to show hospitality to others, but we are commanded, we, to pursue this and can it be said that you pursue hospitality. There's another, way to show hospitality, another description, and that is that we should show hospitality without complaining, without complaining.

Peter says in 1 Peter 4, above all, keep fervent in your love for one another.

Literally stretch yourselves out, be stretched out in your love for one another. Go to the limit in your love for one another. And then one of the ways we do that is being hostility, hospitable to one another without complaint. Now, the complaining he's talking about is not complaining to your guest.

I'm just really upset. You guys have overstayed your welcome. Here's what you've done, and I, maybe sometimes it would involve that, but he's talking about the complaining, no doubt, that happens before the guests arrive and the complaining that we might tend to do after the guests have left. I like what one writer says.

He says these words without complaining, at a sharp twang of realism. then, as now, guests could overstay or otherwise abuse their host's welcome. It is a good reminder that hospitality can be an exasperating chore to be shouldered cheerfully if it is to be worthwhile. And so, the fact that we're told to do this without complaining should actually bless you.

in helping you to realize that God understands that as you show hospitality, there's going to be ripe opportunities for complaining. There will be things to complain about. And, God is simply saying, I want you to do this without, complaining. sometimes the complaining that we do is done while we're getting the house ready and we're maybe exasperated and running behind.

Maybe the children are not cooperating the way that they should, and it just ends up being this whole complaining, grumbling endeavor, and then the doorbell rings and the whole family just, oh, welcome into our home, and the guests come in and they just see peace reigning. in the home, and then they leave and then the family can go back at it and continue the, the complaining. we, we don't want that to, to happen. And to help you with this, again, go back to the gospel.

The hospitality that God has shown you, have you ever abused that hospitality? Have you ever abused the hospitality that God has shown you? Has God ever done something for you, extending his hospitality to you, his fellowship, his love, his companionship? Bringing you into his present earthly dwelling, which is the church.

And have you ever received what he's given with in gratitude, and not even said thank you? You ever done that? Have you ever taken what he has given you and actually abused it and used it for sinful purposes, contrary to what he wanted? Have any of you actually ever damaged, his dwelling place in any way?

You ever done anything that's brought hurt to another member of the body, which is a living stone that composes this dwelling place of God? the truth is all of us have damaged his property. We have, we've done some damage to his earthly home, which is the church by the sins that we committed maybe attitudes that we display in ways that we wrong one another. And yet, amazingly, God, Does not complain.

He continues to lavish his love and his hospitality upon us. So, maybe go back to the gospel and just start, start contemplating that and then reasoning your way from that to maybe the situation that you're looking at wherein you are tempted to complain. I think the gospel can help you with that considerably. we're running short of time here.

1/5 description of the way that we show hospitality is sacrificially. As I already read from Alexander Stroud, just realize hospitality always has a cost. It's never free. And in Luke 14, Jesus says, when you do show hospitality, don't just invite your friends and those that can pay you back, and that, who will later have you over into their home, but especially, you, you actually need to incorporate this into your practice of hospitality.

Invite those that are poor, crippled, and lame and blind, who won't be able to pay you back. Well, let's move on to the last, description in terms of the right way to show hospitality, and that is to show hospitality expecting a blessing. Yeah, you give a lot and it costs a lot to show hospitality in terms of time, energy, and, and, and, and sometimes even money, but, But always, whenever you engage in hospitality, always, always expect a blessing. Jesus says in Luke 14, when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed.

And the blessing he's talking about is being repaid at the resurrection of the righteous. You never, guys, you will never open up your home and extend hospitality to anybody in a way that you will not be blessed for. We will always be reciprocated. by God, for any hospitality we show will be reciprocated by God in a way that when we're done being reciprocated, we're going to be like, man, that was well worth it.

And we need to lay hold of that. God will reciprocate us in this life. He will at the very least, reciprocate us in the age to come and guaranteed none of us, even the disaster. ity experiences that maybe were bad experiences for us when we open up our home to someone.

There will come a day in eternity, when we are reciprocated by God, and we are left amazed saying, man, that was worth it. That was so worth it. So, always expect a blessing. If nothing else, a future blessing, but we also need to have people into our home.

Expecting blessing from God, even through the very people that we have in our home. the writer of Hebrews says, let the love of the brethren continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality, for some have entertained angels without knowing it. And I, I don't want to, diminish what the writer of Hebrews is saying.

I, I think we need to take him at face value that he's saying, you never know. some, sometimes Christians have extended hospitality to someone and, and it was actually an angelic being, perhaps on some mission. who knows? And it makes you excited, like, wow, that, that would be really cool if, if I showed hospitality and I actually, was an angel from heaven.

The thing is, guys, we already heard something more amazing, right? And that is that when you show hospitality, you're having God in your home. All right? That's, that's the more exciting thing.

But understand that the word angel has the idea of messenger. That's literally the the meaning. And so listen to what these couple writers say. He says, angels were the messengers of God's spiritual purpose.

And such messengers may be found in Christian guests, even where least expected. You may have someone into your home, even the least of your brethren, and sometime during that night, something may be said by them that, that came from God. And this is God's message, a message of blessing that blesses me and my family that has passed through this brother or sister in Christ. Another writer says, the writer of Hebrews is not suggesting that we should expect supernatural agents to visit us incognito if we practice hospitality.

Rather, the writer means that hospitality often results in unexpected blessings and reward. In the guest-host relationship, the guest often blesses the host. And that is why, guys, that, whether it's a care group gathering or having people into our home, it may Take a lot of work and there might be a temptation to complain, but is it not true that most of the time when the guests leave, we're like, man, that was worth it. That was worth it.

My heart is enlarged. I am blessed. I was blessed by the fellowship that we enjoyed with these guests. So, we got to wrap this up, guys, just a, a few words of encouragement, to all of you.

Make hospitality a normal and frequent part of your practice of Christianity. schedule it, be deliberate about it. Don't just let hospitality come your way occasionally. It's like, well, OK, the biblical thing to do is to let it happen.

No, pursue it, go after it. And, Really seek to make your home a place of, of ministry. But in doing this, don't feel like everything has to be perfect in your home before you have people over. This not only, ends up creating an, an extra burden for you, when you're getting ready to have, people into your home.

But let's say, and, and then you end up getting discouraged and you're less willing to show hospitality in the future because it takes so much work, because your standard of how your home needs to be is way up here when the guests really, Don't care about that. Not only can that attitude end up having a discouraging effect on you, but it ends up discouraging your guests because they come into your home and you have worked your tail off for three days and your home is immaculate, and they come into your home and they're like, man, I'm never having them into my home.

If they saw my home, because they'll come into your home and go, man, do these people live this way? Is this just normal for them?

And I don't think I could ever live up to that or match that. again, John Piper in his sermon on hospitality, he jokingly said we ought to just make a rule that whenever we have anyone over for Sunday dinner, we use paper plates, plastic cups. Just, let's not break out the fine china and stuff and end up having an, an intimidating effect on other people. we want to think about, I don't want to overburden myself and put this unrealistic standard on me, where it's so much work to have people into my home, but I also don't want to end up intimidating my guests, to where they now feel intimidated about having me into their home because they may not feel like they can match up.

And then also, I want to encourage you guys to be a good guest and a good host in your care groups. Teach your children to be good guests and good hosts in your care group. Some of you may be living in a situation where you can't have your whole care group over, but what, have members of your care group over, during the week, and if you do have a home that, would be suitable for having people, from your care group over for a care group meeting, be, really pray about that and, and, and pursue that, that opportunity and then be a good and a gracious, host.

But one of the ways that we make hospitality easier, guys, is by learning to be good guests, learning to respect other people's property.

teaching our children to respect other people's, property and, and also by not overstaying our welcome. And you guys are on your own and figuring out a way to To not do that because I haven't figured out a way to know exactly when to leave. There is one guy in our church that is so honest with me that I have come to him in some settings when we were in their home and said, dude, is it, is it time for us to leave? And he'll tell me honestly, it's time to go.

You've got about 15 minutes and let's, let's, let's end it, in 15 minutes and, I appreciate that honesty. Maybe we should be more honest, with each other to make that clear. But just really focus on being a good guest. When you have people in your home or you go into other people's homes, practice the biblical principle of socialization where you talk to them in terms of their interests, not your own.

Don't be the person who's always talking incessantly about yourself, but let it be a two way conversation. where you take interest in them and you draw things out of them and, and, yeah, you speak, but by the time you walk away, it's been a 50/50 conversation rather than you doing 90% or even 99% of the talking. So, anyway, these are some things to keep in mind. We would be remiss if we talked about community for 5 weeks and did not speak about hospitality.

Let me ask you to bow your heads, guys. Let's just pray and, and ask God to help us. To Become excellent at this crowning virtue. This, this crowning jewel.

In the church that should characterize one of the most significant ways that we go about loving one another. Lord, help us to do community. To do community. Here In our homes, may our Christian life, Lord, be lived out, not just when we're on the campus of 1363 Lindon Street, but when we're in our homes.

Teach us to be lovers of one another and to love one another by taking that step of opening up our homes to each other. We also thank you, Lord, for this opportunity to give of our offerings to you. At this time in our service, we thank you, Lord, that, just as you have opened up all of your wealth for us and you have just lavished that on us and have brought us into, Intimacy with yourself to where we are now members of your household and we get to live in your earthly dwelling place and we look forward to the day when we live in the heavenly dwelling place that you are now preparing for us.

Our, our response for it is this is an amazing message.

You are an amazing God, and we wish to give to you of the resources that you've given to us. In this offering right now, but also to use these resources to use our homes. As instruments of blessing to extend this same hospitality that you have shown to us, to others. So, we ask that you accept these offerings and accept the offering of our hearts to You, Lord, as we seek to obey your word as we've learned from it today.

In Christ's name we pray.