Has Hospitality Become Archaic?

Has Hospitality Become Archaic?

By Kathy L. Clark

            The church of Jesus Christ was rebuked for leaving their first love in Revelation 2:4, that word love actually means in the Greek: affection, good will, love, benevolence, and brotherly love.

In modern times, a precious gift enjoyed by the early church has been almost lost, and needs to be recovered. Hospitality, in the biblical sense of the word, is that missing treasure within the reach of all believers. Those reaching out to recover it will find a wealth of treasure to be enjoyed and shared.

            There are four verses in the New Testament King James version on hospitality : Romans 12:13 Distributing to the necessity of the saints; given to hospitality, 1 Timothy 3:2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach, Titus 1:6 But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate, and finally, 1 Peter 4:9 Use hospitality one to another without grudging.

            The body of Christ is called to be the family of God. Members one of another, yet we are far from what a real family unit should look like. When members of a natural family come into town a special room is made for them, and everybody rejoices to see those who have been missing from the family hearth for so long. We cook their favorite dishes, clean our houses thoroughly, and make an inviting place for them to enjoy, so they know how much we love them.

            The body of Christ is called to be an even more loving family than the natural family. We are one in Spirit, members one of another, as these verses show. Romans 12:5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another, 1 Corinthians 12:25 That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.

            God has placed wonderful unique gifts in each individual member of the body of Christ, to be shared, and treasured by all. We miss out on these opportunities by not taking our brothers and sisters into our hearts, lives, and homes.

Missionaries come back from their fields of labor to be refreshed, and strengthened. God has worked through them in ways we need to hear about, or in a state of discouragement which our love will relieve, and uplift in some way. We can not enjoy those gifts, or strengthen the weary, by just spending a church service and dinner at a restaurant with them. However taking them into our homes for times of refreshing will benefit them, and us. They will feel connected to the body, loved, and valued, and we will reap the benefits God has placed in their lives to refresh, and motivate us. How can an impersonal hotel or apartment make them feel attached to the body? Are they not our brothers, and sisters? Are they not more so than our natural brothers and sisters? Matthew 12:48-49 But he answered and said unto him that told him, who is my mother? And who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! Would we consider sending the mother, or brother we love to spend the night with strangers in an impersonal hotel room? So why do we send those who are members of our body there to be alone to stare at generic walls?

            There are also a great many lonely brothers and sisters out there that go home to an empty apartment after a few hugs, and I love you’s, at church, while we have empty guest rooms, and vacant spots at our family dinner tables. Psalms 68:6 God setteth the solitary in families. We have resources, and love, to be shared with those who wonder if anybody really loves or cares about them. Acts 2:44-45 And all that believed were together, and had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had a need.

            Many in the body of Christ have become happy with being isolated from one another. We like our “me” time, with no interruptions to our way of life. But this is not the biblical pattern of hospitality. It is time for the church of Jesus Christ to lay aside selfishness and take up love the way Jesus, and the early believers did. Jesus took time away from the crowds to give himself to prayer, but was moved with compassion because of the needs. Loneliness is a need, and we have the goods to meet it by God’s grace. What the world needs right now is love, the God kind of love that lays down its life for others. We wonder why so many believers fall away, but how many of these precious brothers and sisters have never felt a part of a real family, the family of God? They came in, and went out, feeling just as unloved as they did in the world.

            It is time church, that we inconvenience ourselves for loves’ sake and become a family once again. Love looks like something. It is tangible. 1Thesselonians 4:9 But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. 1 John 3:11 For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 1 John 3:16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

            The fallacy is that we have to reorder our lives to receive guests into our homes, but these are no strangers, but our brothers and sisters in Christ. Every time our dad, or sister stops by we don’t feel obligated to scrub the entire house to make sure there isn’t a speck of dust, and our family in Lord does not expect it either. They would rather feel they aren’t just company, but a part of our family circle, a welcome addition that we don’t have to put on airs for. Heart of our heart, life of our life, love of our love. Let us make them feel at home, like one of the family, which we are all called to be to each other.

            Hospitality in the New Testament Greek means; “love to strangers, hospitable, generous to guests, lover of hospitality”. It is time we embrace this lost love, and make ourselves available to those we call our brothers and sisters in Lord. 1 Peter 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned (undisguised, sincere) love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.

            The Church wonders why with all our efforts we can’t turn the world up-side-down. True love is the only thing that looks different from what the world already has. In the era of cast offs, and unlovables, we can shine as a light that will touch the heart of the lost. How can they see any difference in us, unless they see the love of Christ in action? It all starts at home, in “our” homes, with “our” family, the family of God. In the process we will find the greatest treasure God has given us on this earth is the one sitting in the pew next to us on Sunday morning feeling as if nobody really cares about them, and in the missionary that wants to know the family back home supports their efforts, and values their sacrifice. Romans 13:7 Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour. 1 John 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. Amen? Love looks like something.

All scriptural references are from the King James Version of the bible.

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