From Ben Fronczek... Hospitality

Hospitality

Offer Hospitality to One Another    1 Peter 4:9

This is part 3 in a mini series were the Apostle Peter gives some advice to Christians.

On June 28,2005, four Navy SEAL commandos were on a mission in Afghanistan, searching for a notorious al-Qaeda terrorist leader hiding in a Taliban stronghold.

In battle, three of the SEALs were killed, and the fourth, Marcus Luttrell was blasted unconscious by a rocket grenade and blown over a cliff. Severely injured, he spent the next four days fighting off six al Qaeda assassins who were sent to finish him, and then crawled for seven miles through the mountains before he was taken in by a Pashtun tribe, who risked everything to protect him from the encircling Taliban killers.

They took Luttrell back to their village, where the law of hospitality, which was considered “strictly non-negotiable,” took hold. Luttrell said, “They were committed to defend me against the Taliban,” Luttrell wrote, “until there was no one left alive.” (Lone Survivor – by Marcus Luttrell)

For me this story is one of those happy/sad stories. Sad because of the killing but  then it was nice to read that there are still people out there that know what means to be hospitable. We mostly live in a pretty un-hospitable world today. People simply do not go out of their way one for another unless a disaster strikes, and even then only a few respond in a hands on way.

Most people are leery of others, over cautious, even afraid to get involved. We teach our kids not to talk to strangers, and hardly ever look into one another’s eyes when we pass on the street.

People are less hospitable to strangers than they were a few generations ago.  But hospitability is still important. People still need to know they are welcome, loved, respected, wanted, and needed…and one place that should always be true is in our Churches and/or our Christian homes.

In Romans 12:13 its says to “Practice Hospitality”                                         

In Hebrews 13:2 it says “don’t neglect to show hospitality to strangers.”  

And here in our text  today in 1 Peter 4:9 it says to

 “offer hospitality without grumblings”                       

The Greek word for hospitality actually made up of two words: love and stranger. So being hospitable means loving strangers with genuine Christian agape love. That’s what Marcus Luttrell experienced from the Pashtun tribe.

A man by the name of Henri Nouwen defined it this way, he said,  

‘hospitality is the offer of a space where change can take place, where the stranger can enter and become a friend.’

I think its about welcoming people in, sharing with them and showing our Christian faith and love by our actions.’

You may not know this but the word hospitality and the word, “hospital” comes from the same root, the Latin word, ‘hospes’.  The word refers to a stranger or foreigner, hence a guest. Later the word evolved and became identified as a home which became a haven of rest for people.

Believers opened up their homes and had people stay there as they were traveling. Eventually these homes became known as hospitals which also helped those who were weak or ill. Present day hospitals can trace their roots back to Christian hospitality. A haven for guests was their original intent.

We need to remember who Peter was writing to and the end that was about to befall them. Although today we think hospitality is inviting fellow believers over for a meal – as good an idea as that might be – such an activity might not qualify as “hospitality” in the NT sense of the word, as it was so much more. It involved inviting in, and taking care of, even protecting a stranger.

Peter was advising those early Christians to demonstrate a deep love by opening up their hearts and their home; especially seeing that they were about to enter an era of racial persecution.  People were about to be up rooted and many of them were going to be fleeing for their lives.

Look at at what it says here in 1 Peter 4:7-9 to put this back into its context.  

“ The end of all things is near.  Therefore be alert and of sober mind   so that you may pray. ⁸ Above all, love each other deeply,   because love covers over a multitude of sins. ⁹ Offer hospitality  to one another without grumbling.”

Believers, especially Christians have been assisting and showing hospitality to those in trouble, to those in need, and those who were being persecuted  for eons; even in more recent times. For example just prior to the Civil War many Christians helped those who were runaway slaves; for example I would like to read to you this is a little excerpt of an article I found online how believer’s helped those runaway slaves.

“There are believed to be many members of the Plymouth congregation who were active in the Underground Railroad. Evidence suggests that escaped slaves were hidden in the homes of several Plymouth members. The Church treasurer, S.V. White, had a small chamber in his house said to have been used to hide runaways, a room that was still in existence in the 1900s. One of the church’s greatest activists in the Underground Railroad was Lewis Tappan. As part of his work helping runaway slaves, he provided refuge in his home to a 15-year-old girl who escaped by pretending to be a male conductor on a New York-bound ferry.” “It should also be said that, for the members of Plymouth Church, and for most if not all of those who took part in the Underground Railroad, they did so to live out their Christian faith.”

Whether they were Christians fleeing Roman persecution, or slaves fleeing their unethical masters, or even Jews fleeing Nazi tyranny, Hospitality has played an important role in giving comfort and safety to those in need.

Hospitality is not only important for the one that is being helped, it is also important for the one who is offering it as well. It is a way to express one’s faith, and I believe God rewards those who are hospitable based on what we read in Matthew 25 where Jesus told those to His right to enter in to receive their reward in Heaven. Why did he allow these believers to enter in? Because they were gracious and helped those in need. (Matthew 25:31-46)

A story is told about a rabbi on a journey with the prophet Elijah. They walked all day, and at nightfall they came to the humble cottage of a poor man, whose only treasure was a cow. The poor man ran out of his cottage, and his wife ran too, to welcome the strangers for the night and to offer them all the simple hospitality which they were able to give in such poor circumstances.

Elijah and the rabbi were entertained with plenty of the cow’s milk, sustained by home-made bread and butter, and they were put to sleep in the best bed while their kindly hosts lay down before the kitchen fire. But in the morning the poor man’s cow was dead.

They walked all the next day, and came that evening to the house of a very wealthy merchant, whose hospitality they craved. The merchant was cold an proud and rich, and all that he would do for the prophet and his companion was to lodge them in a cowshed and feed them on bread and water. In the morning, however, Elijah thanked him very much for what he had done, and sent for a mason to repair one of his walls which happened to be falling down, as a return for his kindness.

The Rabbi, unable to keep silence any longer, begged Elijah to explain the meaning of his dealings with human beings. “In regards to the poor man who received us so hospitably,” replied the prophet, “it was decreed that his wife was to die that night, but in reward for his goodness God took the cow instead of the wife. I repaired the wall of the rich miser because a chest of gold was concealed near the place, and if the miser had repaired the wall himself he would have discovered the treasure.” (Autoillustrator.com, “THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING”)

Hospitality in the Bible always had the same basic elements: a welcome, a gesture of honor, time spent together, washing feet, especially prepared food, water, rest in the shade, shelter, a place to stay for the night, and a blessing.

In our last lesson the verse we looked at last week Peter instructed Christians to, 

‘Love one another deeply because love covers over a multitude of sins.’  

I shared with you that the Greek word translated, deeply there in the NIV carries the idea, ‘to stretch one’s self’; in other words, to make a conscious effort to love someone fervently even if we have to stretch our self to do so.

This kind of hospitality is a perfect example of that kind of love which we are to demonstrate. And sometimes we have to stretch our self to do it.

But there are some things that Hindrances our Hospitality
 

1. Hospitality takes work,  It can put you out, it draws you out of yourself.
Sometimes hospitality is a lot of work. It is often inconvenient. It can ruin your plans and invade your privacy. It may not even be enjoyable. It is something that we may tend to complain about having to do. But Peter wrote that we should offer hospitality without grumbling!

Hebrews says the same thing in a negative way: don’t neglect it. Evidently it is something that we can easily neglect doing.

John Piper says:  ‘The physical force of gravity pulls everything to the center of the earth. In order to break free from earth-centered gravity, thousands and thousands of pounds of energy have to push the space shuttle away from the center. There is also a psychological force of gravity that constantly pulls our thoughts and affections and physical actions inward toward the center of our own self and our own homes.   Therefore the most natural thing in the world is to neglect hospitality. It is the path of least resistance. All we have to do is yield to the natural gravity of our self-centered life, and the result will be a life so full of self that there is no room for hospitality. We will forget about it. And we will neglect it. So the Bible bluntly says. Stop that! Build a launching pad. Fill up your boosters. And blast out of your self-oriented routine. Stop neglecting hospitality. Practice hospitality.’

2. Another excuse: My house is too messy, or not good or big enough

OR,  

3. I don’t have enough time, I am too busy

I think what we are dealing with here is fighting our self centered nature, or our own selfishness and becoming open to serving others.

I’ll close today with this verse from Hebrews: 

“Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.” (13:2)

There was an instance in the Old Testament when Abraham showed hospitality to some men who turned out be angels.

I don’t think the author of Hebrews is saying we should expect the same thing to happen to us. What I think he’s saying that if we step out in faith and obey God in this area, we are going to be blessed in unexpected ways. If we practice hospitality, serving one another and reaching out to those in need, even strangers, then God will bless our homes, and we will see Him do remarkable things.

Challenge: My Challenge for you is to work on becoming more hospitable, or at least work on the right attitudes you need to be more loving and hospitable to those you come in contact with. You may never meet anyone who is in a crisis situation like  that Navy Seal Marcus Luttrell, or a run away slave, but there are people who are hurting all around us. We need at least to be willing to help these individual in whatever way we can, even if it means finding others who can help them if we cannot. Its a matter of the heart and your willingness to serve Jesus is this very special way.

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