- Well, as you can see by the first slide,
the title of my sermon today or this evening is Philoxenos,
which is a Greek word for love of strangers,
or what we commonly refer to as hospitality.
So in the Bible, especially in the New Testament of course,
when they talk about hospitality,
this is the word that they use.
And literally translated it means the love of strangers.
As a minister and his family, Lise and I, and our children,
one of the blessing, especially having worked
in a mission field and a place,
where a very cosmopolitan city,
city of Montreal, many many cultures there,
we've been able to offer hospitality
to many types of people from all over the world,
from Asia and Africa, the Caribbean, a couple of Americans,
Indian people from India,
just a Pakistanian, Christians from all kinds of cultures
have been in our home and in our congregation.
It's been mentioned several times that back in Montreal
congregation of about 100 people had
maybe 16, 17 different language groups just in 100 people,
so we were blessed by that.
And our children were blessed because they grew up
interacting on occasion
with people who were different than they were,
different color, different language, different societies.
And it helped them to have
a broader view of life and of the world.
Well, in order to motivate more of us here at Choctaw
to experience the very special joy that comes
with exercising this virtue,
I'd like to review what the Bible teaches,
some of the things that the Bible teaches us
about the love of strangers or hospitality.
One of the first instances of hospitality
recorded in the Bible is when Abram, he was still Abram,
is welcomed and given gifts in Egypt by the Pharaoh
as a way of honoring Abram
in order to take Sarai as his, you know, as wife.
We know the story, Abram had lied about Sarai
saying that she was his sister in order to protect himself.
Later on we see Joseph, a descendant of Abraham,
now a high official in the Egyptian court,
welcoming his brothers and their families
as strangers in that particular land.
And in the same episode we note that the Pharaoh,
in honor of Joseph, offers his family great hospitality
by giving them a place to live
and the protection of the king
while they are in his country.
And so from this example,
we see the carrying out of God's primary command
regarding the giving and the nature of hospitality.
We can read here at the top,
but if you want to look in your Bibles
in Deuteronomy chapter 10,
Moses writes, For the Lord your God is the God of gods
and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty,
and the awesome God who does not show partiality,
nor take a bribe.
He executes justice for the orphan and the widow,
and shows His love for the alien
by giving him food and clothing.
So show your love for the alien,
for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.
And of course that's a familiar thing.
This is repeated quite often in the Old Testament.
So it seems that the idea of hospitality
in these early writings was directed
mainly at the national level,
how the Jews as a people were to treat strangers,
in other words, non-Jews, who came in among them.
For example, in Exodus 23:9, we read,
You shall not oppress a stranger,
since you yourselves know the feelings of a stranger,
for you also were strangers in the land of Egypt.
You notice that God here is speaking
to the people of course,
and it's not a kind of a high and mighty,
ethereal, hard to grasp notion that he's giving across here.
He says, you know the feelings.
God is saying you know what it felt like to be a stranger.
You remember that feeling, he says.
For once you were strangers in a place.
When visitors come, usually they come in the morning
and I will greet them and the first question I ask is,
do you know anyone here?
Can I help you find someone,
a family member or friend that may have invited you?
And they say no.
And I said, you know no one here?
And they go no, many times, no, I don't know anyone.
We just moved, or I just thought I'd come and visit.
And I usually say to them,
well that's a very courageous thing that you did.
I mean, think about that, we're so comfortable here,
we know everybody, but going to a church
where you know no one.
And especially, and sometimes I'll ask them,
are you a member of the church of Christ?
Do you understand how we do things?
No, they say, no, I haven't gone to church much,
I just decided that I'd like to come and visit.
Wow, what courage it takes!
You don't know what the routine is,
you don't know how people are going to receive you.
And it really strikes me when God, way back in Exodus,
it strikes the right tone there by saying,
you yourselves know the feelings of a stranger.
Then in Leviticus 24,
another allusion to this, he says,
There shall be one standard for you,
it shall be for the stranger as well as the native,
for I am the Lord your God.
And so strangers were not to be
prejudiced against
because they were a different culture or background.
Their laws and attitude, the Jews now,
their laws and attitude in dealing with strangers
were to be the same as dealing with the regular citizen.
I mean, that was established early on.
Now Jesus incorporated the spirit of these ideas
in Matthew 25:35 when he said,
I was a stranger and you invited me in.
Notice he said you invited me, come on in.
To be kind and fair to the alien
was part of the spirit of Christ,
evident in his kingdom.
And it should be evident in his kingdom today.
I like the idea of the welcome bread.
I don't know who had that idea
and I know a lot of people bake that bread.
What a great idea that is.
And again, when I'm up front and I meet a stranger,
you always look at their face
when you hand the welcome bread and they,
no one ever went ugh.
Instead of handing them a brochure about the church,
when you would give them a brochure or something,
which is necessary, many times they go,
oh yeah, okay, thank you, you know,
and they'll put in their pocket
or stick it in their Bible
or the lady will put it in her purse.
But when you give them the welcome bread,
there's always a little extra reaction,
they go, oh, you know, as if their mind is saying,
well that was nice, because why?
Because it says that the people here anticipated
visitors coming
and gave the thing that is common to all people, bread.
Now who doesn't like banana bread?
You know, maybe some of you are allergic to it,
but you know, it's a nice thing that we do.
It's a small thing, it's just a small thing.
But I've never seen anyone receive it
without a smile on their face.
And so the same attitude was the basis
for the original immigration policy for this country.
And the attitude that made it so different and desirable
as a destination for so many people around the world.
You know, I believe God has blessed the U.S.A.
because of this attitude, and that while there should be
safeguards, hear me right here,
there should be safeguards against those
who abuse this illegally, absolutely.
You know, we should love our neighbor as how?
Yeah, as we love ourselves.
If I don't love me,
I don't have the wherewithal to love you.
But God, I believe, will continue to bless our nation,
because of our spirit of hospitality,
even if we guard some of it against abuse
by so many people who attempt to abuse
the goodness of this place.
Now hospitality is not strictly an Old Testament idea.
The thread of teaching on this important virtue
goes on into the New Testament as well.
For example, Jesus teaches about hospitality
on a personal level, not just the national level.
In Luke 14:12 to 14 teaches us some new concepts
concerning hospitality, Jesus does,
that we don't read about in the Old Testament.
For example, he says that inviting friends and family
and those who can bless you, because of the invitation,
that's fellowship, that's not hospitality.
The reward is the experience itself
or what you gain from it.
Nothing wrong with it, I'm not denigrating the idea
of inviting friends and family to your house,
but that's not exactly the biblical concept of hospitality,
that's fellowship.
True hospitality, according to what we read in Luke
is receiving those who are strangers,
those who don't bless you by their presence,
those who need you, but you don't necessarily need them.
This type of hospitality may cost more,
it may be more inconvenient.
It may be less pleasant and uncomfortable.
But God says we'll be rewarded by him.
You know, on a national level,
this is when we let people in who are refugees
or medical emergencies or hardship cases
or the homeless, the poor.
On a personal level it's when we deliver food
or invite a stranger in church to dinner,
or we make people who are different
from ourselves feel welcome.
This is hospitality,
according to the Scriptures.
Remember the definition, the love of strangers.
The idea of strangers is just,
not just that we don't know them,
it's the idea that they are different.
That's why the loving of them is a challenge.
It's easy to love who is exactly like you.
I mean, if they're white, if they speak English,
if they come from Oklahoma,
if they're members of the church.
You know, if their average height and average weight,
there's not a lot of obstacles to loving,
but if the person is another color, whatever color,
and they're wearing a Mohawk.
I know you can't visualize that, but, okay.
And they've got rings in their lips,
and maybe they're tatted up a bit.
And maybe you smell cigarettes on their breath.
Now you've got a little bit of a hill to climb
to get to that loving of that strangers.
Remember, we talk about this,
you know, that sign that we had on 23rd, you know.
Sinners are welcome.
Well, sinners, you know, they come in all shapes and sizes,
brothers and sisters.
They don't always look exactly like us.
The apostle Paul also teaches
about the importance of hospitality in the church.
Paul says that the ability to do it well
is a gift given by the Holy Spirit.
Yeah, you notice that.
There are just some people,
they just know how to, you know,
how to have you over to their house.
They're just good at doing at,
they're good at offering hospitality.
I remember years ago when Lise and I first came here,
this is back in the '90s, I remember something
I hadn't seen before, and it was fun.
Every Sunday night, there were four or five individuals
in the congregation that that's where you went
after Sunday night church.
I remember going to the Hendersons, you know,
that's where everybody went.
A lot of people just went automatically
to the Hendersons on Sunday night.
They weren't even invited. [chuckles]
I used to feel bad for Nissi, you know,
she was always, sure, come on down, you know what I mean,
but she put in a long day.
And people went there and the thing was,
they just felt good being there.
And it wasn't just her,
there were other individuals in the church.
You know, half the church would,
you know, after services,
they go to different people's houses.
Now we kind of have to organize that.
But back then, somehow, it was just natural.
I believe that the Spirit gives to some individuals
the ability to just be able to welcoming and warm,
and they're able to absorb people
who are different than them,
and they do it so naturally and kindly.
Paul also instructs the church
to offer hospitality generously
to those who minister in the church.
In Romans 16:2, he talks about Phoebe,
a Christian sister who had traveled a long way
to deliver a message, and he encourages the brethren
in Rome to make sure that they offer that Christian woman
and servant of the Lord, to offer her hospitality
when she's there.
You know, in the first century, hospitality was
a very important ingredient in the work of the church.
Today it's a kind of, you know, come on over,
we're having fun, but in those days,
you had traveling teachers and preachers
and it was very important that certain people
in the church would offer those people hospitality
so they would have a place to stay
while they were teaching, while they were preaching,
and so on and so forth.
And hospitality is seen as a virtue possessed
by those who are mature in the faith,
something that takes time to develop,
but is a distinguishing mark of leadership.
Interesting in First Timothy chapter three verse two
and in Titus chapter one verse seven,
hospitality is listed as one of the qualifications
for being an elder.
Imagine, yes, the elder has to be apt to teach, of course,
and their conduct must be above reproach, of course,
and if we're going to trust these men
with the good health of the body of Christ, of the church,
well certainly we want to make sure that they themselves
have done a good job with their families, you know.
But then it says, and hospitality.
That's also a mark,
a requirement for those who will lead,
an equal requirement, equal to being apt to teach.
In First Timothy 5:10, the qualification for a widow
to receive help from the church
was that she had been one who washed the feet of the saints,
a way of saying gracious in offering hospitality.
Peter encourages us to offer hospitality
without complaining about it.
He talks about the attitude that we should have.
If it's done with a happy heart, it is acceptable.
And people can always tell
if they are expected and welcomed.
I've been to people's homes,
you know, when you preach, you know,
people invite you and you go.
And I've been in people's homes,
I walked in and the person said to me,
"What would you like to have for lunch?" [laughs]
Let me set this stuff over here, you can sit there.
No, it could've been a thousand reasons for that.
They was busy, a kid was sick, you know what I'm saying.
But if somebody invites you three days before
to go over, you think maybe
they might've figured out the menu, I don't know,
I don't know.
People can always tell, though,
not just by those things,
but just the way that you're received,
they can tell if you are actually
not just expected, but welcomed.
John in Third John verse five says
that hospitality is the clear indicator
that one is walking in faith and love.
It is the deed that proves faith.
It is love in action, he calls it.
How?
It's not a minor virtue, it's not just,
ah a throw-off thing, it's important.
You know, we cannot grow as Christians
and the church cannot grow as a body
unless it loves strangers,
unless it loves strangers.
Because all of us at one point were strangers
when we came here.
We moved to town,
a friend invited us to church, it may have been
a long time ago, but at one point we didn't know anybody.
And I've always said, of course, it's the gospel
that brings people into the church,
but it's love that keeps them in the church.
And a wonderful expression of that love
is the act of hospitality.
If as a church or a family or a person,
we simply focus on ourselves and our needs,
our own little world, we're going to shrink, we're going to die.
Hospitality is that exercise that enables us
to keep the doors of our church building,
the doors of our homes, and the doors of our hearts open
to those that God will send us.
Isn't it wonderful when God sends a family,
you know, she's been a Christian since she was a teenager,
and he became a Christian just before he married her,
and they've been married 20 years
and they've got three kids and they're all in school.
And she teaches Sunday school
and he's a terrific song leader,
and they decide to place membership,
and they're generous givers.
I mean, that's a win, win, win, win, win, win situation
you're going wow, how terrific is that?
All preachers love when those people place memberships.
But not everybody is like that out there.
Sometimes it's a single mom with two kids
and she's wrangling those two little kids,
and she's got two jobs, and she's late.
It's not always easy welcoming the strangers.
Many times the strangers have needs.
And don't we understand, 'cause I include myself in this,
people who come here, [chuckles]
no disrespect to Marty or myself or Mike,
they don't come here to hear us,
they don't come in here and say,
is your preacher any good?
Don't answer that.
[congregation laughs]
We can spread the blame, right, Marty,
we can spread that baby out there.
People don't come here for that.
We're not that kind of a church, you know,
with the superstar preacher on TV and all.
We're not, most churches are not like that.
People who come here, they're looking for love,
because they've heard that Christian people love strangers.
They've been taught or they've heard somewhere
that Christian people will love sinners,
that Christian people will overlook poverty,
will overlook that you're not the best-looking person,
will over look all those things, because they're interested
in the soul of the individual.
And they're willing to make sacrifices,
in order to bring that person in
and integrate them into the body.
That's why they come here.
People that have gone to another congregation,
and again, I'm not knocking any congregation,
I'm not even mentioning any names,
but someone who's gone to x congregation over here
for many years, then all of a sudden comes here.
And you say, hey, hi, yeah, I go to x, okay, fine.
You know, I just came to visit.
And then they visit a little more
and they visit a little more.
What do you think they're looking for?
They're looking for satisfaction.
They're looking to find perhaps a body of people
that loves them better
than they're being loved where they're at.
Again, there could be 25 different reasons why they switch,
but usually, usually, that's the thing.
So important.
Like I said, he doesn't always send us the people
that are exactly like us or already converted
or very nice to be with.
That's what hospitality is for.
The Christian form of love that is ready to love a stranger
not based on how similar or likable she or he is,
but love that person because this is what pleases our God
and proves our faith.
You know, I said, sinners are welcome
at the church of Christ, we had that sign up.
I think this is the next sign we should put up on 23rd.
My question is are we ready to put that sign up?
That's a big challenge to ourselves.
But who would disagree
that that is who we ought to be?
The church of Christ is the church of love.
Yes, there are other differences, but
wouldn't it be wonderful if this was
the outstanding feature of our congregation?
Yeah, it's a nice building and it's convenient parking
and the people are nice, you know, so on and so forth.
We like the singing and the preaching is good.
But the reason I stay here is
because when I come here, I feel loved,
and I have the opportunity to give some love back.
And I'm being trained on
how to love more perfectly as Christ loved.
Let's go for an example, shall we, some concrete examples.
In Genesis 18 verses one to eight,
Abraham gives us an example of hospitality in action.
In these verses we read what true hospitality consists of.
And I'm talking now about the brass tacks,
the nuts and bolts of true hospitality
in any generation in any place.
So let's first, let's read the passage, shall we?
We'll read verses one to five to begin with.
It says, now the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre,
while he was sitting at the tent door
in the heat of the day.
When he lifted up his eyes and looked,
behold, three men were standing opposite him,
and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door
to meet them and bowed himself to the earth, and said,
"My Lord, if now I have found favor in your sight,
"please to not pass your servant by.
"Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet,
"and rest yourselves under the tree, and I will bring
"a piece of bread, that you may refresh yourselves,
"after that you may go on,
"since you have visited your servant."
And they said, "So do as you have said."
And so just in these few verses we see
the nuts and bolts of hospitality.
Hospitality, if you were to just look at this here,
consists of several things.
First of all, a gracious welcome.
Note how Abraham greets his guests
and convinces them that they are welcome in his home.
You know, people need to feel a genuine and joyful welcome.
They can be shown,
or this rather can be shown in different ways,
that you're ready for them when they arrive,
that food and other things are planned,
not the decision of the guest.
That they home and your appearance and your attitude
and all of these things say, you've been prepared for.
We were anticipating your coming.
Another element, an eagerness to please.
Hospitality is a godly thing,
and the joy should be obvious.
People should feel that you really want them there,
and your attitude should show that their interests
are what concern you while they are in your home.
Have you ever been to somebody's house,
your the guest, you've been invited to somebody's house
and you sit there for two hours
and your hosts are doing all the talking,
your hosts are telling you about the time
that the garage leaked and it ruined your car,
and that their son is a troublemaker,
and they go on and on, and there's never a moment
where a question crosses their lips that asks you about you.
Have you ever had that experience?
You know, part of hospitality is getting to know
the stranger, finding out who are you.
You're in my home, you're welcome,
I'm happy that you're here, we're eating together,
we're breaking bread, this is all good,
but I want to know who you are.
Tell me about yourself.
Another element, sensitivity to real needs.
The strangers were tired in the story here.
The strangers were tired and hungry
and Abraham's task as host
was to meet these particular needs.
You know, sometimes the need is to feel welcome.
Sometimes the need is to find an understanding ear.
You know, it's not always food,
and it's not always rest,
sometimes the person just needs
to kind of vent, needs to talk.
The host's job is to find out
what his or her guest needs
and fulfill that as best as possible.
Let's read a little more of this verse here,
and then we'll grab a couple of other elements.
It says, so Abraham hurried to the tent to Sarah,
and said, "Quickly, prepare three measures of the flour,
"knead it and make bread cakes."
Abraham also ran to the herd and took a tender
and choice calf and gave it to the servant,
and he hurried to prepare it.
And he took curds and milk and the calf
which he had prepared and placed it before them,
and he was standing by them under the tree as they ate.
And so, another element, serve the best you have.
I hear people say sometimes,
oh, you can't come to my, oh, the house is upside down.
Or, we don't live in a very nice house.
You know, our house is not as nice as your house.
Or we can't serve prime rib, you know,
we can't afford to serve.
The best you've got, whatever that is.
Love gives its best without worrying
about the competition with another person.
Some won't offer hospitality because they feel
that they don't have a nice home or fine food.
But believe it or not, guests respond to love
and enthusiasm, and if you've served your best in love,
you offered godly hospitality.
'Cause what the guests remember is about the hospitality
is not necessarily the food, it's the people.
That's what they remember the most.
Number five, hospitality is a family thing.
In our family, when the kids lived at home,
and they were younger, they had a job to do.
They participated, they served the table
and they were having dessert.
Paul maybe or Julia would say, are you finished with that?
Can I take that plate?
They were learning themselves
how to host individuals.
And they enjoyed it.
It was a grownup moment,
it was a mature thing to be on equal par with mom and dad
as a team, we were making these people here feel welcome.
And one of the great joys that we have now
as grandparents, and I'm sure the same experience you have
is going to our children's home and watching them
with their spouses offer hospitality
and to see that they're actually very good at it.
You go, even if it's Lise and I going over to,
let's say Paul's house to eat,
well that Rachel, boy, that table is set, you know,
it's set before we got there,
and the food is cooking and the house is ready,
and the kids are there to welcome us, and it's just us.
But they've learned the art of hospitality.
So note in the passage that Abraham asks Sarah
to work, to cook, rather,
but he himself served and waited nearby while they ate.
And so hospitality is not inviting your friends over
so your wife can serve them, [chuckles] brothers.
Husbands, wives, and children should all share
in the responsibility and the joy of offering hospitality.
In Luke 10:33, Jesus tells the story
of the Good Samaritan and his efforts
to help a stranger who had been beaten and robbed
and left for dead.
This story illustrates that strangers never arrive
at convenient times nor are they easy to know and accept.
It's always an effort and expensive to show hospitality,
but we ought not to offer to God or to strangers
something that costs us absolutely nothing.
So in the end, God rewards those who love strangers.
Abraham saved his nephew Lot and received good news
about Sarah from the strangers who turned out to be angels.
Rahab the harlot who offered to hide the spies in her home
saved her family and was counted in the genealogy
of Jesus himself, why?
Because of her hospitality.
And Ruth, I don't know if I got this here, is it?
Nope, let's go back.
In, uh, where am I?
She eventually married Salmon
of the tribe of Judah and had a son named Boaz
who married Ruth and had Obed who was the father of Jesse
who was the father of David, through whom Jesus came.
Imagine Rahab the harlot
in the direct genealogy of Jesus Christ.
And what was the precipitating factor?
She offered hospitality.
And that wasn't just a fun thing she was doing,
she was risking her life to do so.
Mary and Martha became Jesus's friends,
because they offered him their hospitality
even when he was unpopular.
And eventually he raised
their brother Lazarus from the dead.
And God will reward us as well
in the practice of Christian hospitality.
Strangers will be blessed and the church will grow
and our capacity for love will increase
bringing greater peace and joy into our personal lives.
Our greatest reward, however, will be the fact
that in the end our Lord will welcome us personally
into the heavenly home.
You might wonder, what's he showing us this for,
this little guy here?
It says, actually Santa and I use completely separate lists.
This little cartoon here, how many cartoons have you seen,
the pearly gates are there,
and who's standing at the pearly gates?
Yeah, Peter, right?
They always say Peter at the pearly gate.
But we know that it's not Peter at the gate
to welcome us like all the jokes say,
it's the Lord himself who welcomes us with those words
that we long to hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant,
"enter into the joy of your Master,"
Matthew 25 verse 21.
And so my invitation tonight,
are you still a stranger to the Lord?
Will you be welcome into his heavenly home?
You can guarantee that he will welcome you there
if you welcome him now into your life.
You can do that by confessing your faith
and repenting of your sins, being baptized into his name
as some of our young people have done
in the last week or so.
And so I invite you to welcome Jesus into your hearts now
or perhaps even invite him back into your life,
because you may have been separated
from him for various reasons.
If you have a need for ministry at this moment,
we encourage you to come forward now and seek it
as John leads us in a song of encouragement.
Shall we stand, please.