One of the charges that the Apostle
Paul gave to the elders of the church at Ephesus was that they
should feed the flock of God over which the Holy Ghost had
made them an overseer. And the teaching elder, which
is the technical name for the one that we call pastor, feeds
the flock with both the promises and the precepts of the Word
of God. a very unvaried diet, but it's the most substantial
diet and perfectly adequate for all the needs of the people of
God. Frankly, if my wife just fed
me with a certain kind of meat and potatoes all the time and
only had two elements in her diet, I might get disturbed.
But this is all the people of God, the servants of God, have
with which to feed God's people. We have the precepts and the
promises And yet, wonder of wonders, the Scripture says that in these
precepts and promises there is all things needful for life and
for godliness. Now, in seeking to discern just
what promises and precepts one should feed the people of God,
most of you know it's my general practice to just go through the
cupboard, shelf by shelf, and preach through given sections
of the Word. And we've finished our studies in 1 Thessalonians
1. And I announced last week that we'd be beginning in Chapter
2. But I feel this is a convenient place to take some things maybe
from one of the other shelves and leave off moving down to
the next shelf, 1 Thessalonians 2, and speak to you on a matter
that has been much upon my heart in past weeks and months, and
particularly since the formation of the Church as the Trinity
Church in a formal way. And so I want to speak to you
this morning and, the Lord willing, this evening, thus hoping that
all of you will make every effort to come out this evening because
tonight's message is very necessary to complete this morning's and
this morning's necessary in order to lay the foundation for tonight's. Well, I hope by now your curiosity
is sufficiently awakened that you've brushed away all the cobwebs
of sluggishness and mental laziness, and you're all ears. You say,
well, what in the world is the pastor going to talk to us about?
In fact, I think some of you might even have a sneaking suspicion.
You kind of know that I'm sort of a killjoy when it comes to
Christmas time, and you think, well, I wonder. He's never made
his own personal convictions about certain aspects of Christmas
celebration, the subject of preaching. I wonder if this is going to
be the year he'll do it. I venture to say, if I want to
embarrass some of you and ask you to raise your hands, some
of you might say, well, I bet that's what he's going to do.
Well, I'm going to disappoint you. No, I'm not going to talk
about some of the evils of certain expressions of the so-called
Christmas celebration. But the subject upon which I
want to speak to you this morning and this evening is this. The
forgotten duty and lost art of Christian hospitality. The forgotten
duty and lost art of Christian hospitality. Now, first of all,
I must define the term hospitality in a biblical way, and then I
want to consider with you this morning the biblical command
to hospitality, secondly, the biblical reasons for hospitality,
and then, though Lord willing, we shall consider together, if
we have time this morning, all of the reasons for hospitality,
the objects of hospitality, and then tonight, the hindrances
to cultivating this art and obeying the command to Christian hospitality. Now, when you run across the
word hospitality in the Bible, you must beware of the tendency
of putting on that word the meaning that we generally associate with
it. Because of the situation in the New Testament where many
of the people of God were sort of a vagabond people after the
persecution arose, as we read in Acts 8, it says the believers
were scattered abroad except the apostles who remained at
Jerusalem, and where they did not have stated buildings such
as we have for their meetings, the necessity of an open door
by other brethren was a very real issue with them. And so
the idea that we usually have when we think of hospitality,
our thought immediately centers primarily not upon a door, but
upon a table. We think immediately of a table
spread not just with our daily bread, but with lots of other
things with the bread set forth in kind of a special way. So
that the concept of hospitality in our day centers primarily
upon the table and that which is upon the table, food, and
everything else is subservient to it. But the biblical word
for hospitality, if it has the thought of food in it at all
in the table, is absolutely in the background and in the shadow
of something else. It's not the table that is central,
but the door that is central. It's interesting, the very word
for hospitality that will occur in all of the passages that we're
going to look at this morning comes from two Greek words, one
of them you know. The city of Philadelphia is the
city of what? Of brotherly love. It has the
Greek word phileo, love, leaves love on a human level, and adelphos,
the word for man, I mean for brother, so you have the city
of brotherly love. Well, the Greek word for hospitality
is a combination of the word phileo, love, and the word for
stranger. The word used in Matthew 25 where
Jesus says in verse 35, I was a stranger. And he took me in. So translated
literally, it's love for the stranger. And that word love
for the stranger came to be translated hospitality because the key thought
was this. The stranger was passing by and
someone opened the door to him. If when you got him through the
door as an expression of your love, the poor guy was starving
to death, you amend the expression of love in the open door by leading
him to the table and giving him what was ever on the table. And
if the poor guy was tired and needed some sleep, well, you
led him from the table to a bedroom and gave him a place to rest.
But you see, the table and the bed were simply reaffirmations
of the meaning of the door. You follow me? The door was the
significant thing. Here was the stranger. And the
door was an indication of the open heart. And the table and
the bed were simply amens, if necessary, to the message of
the open door. Your open door said, I love you
as a stranger. Now, if the poor guy's hungry,
you don't stand there and feed him on love. You gotta feed him
on taters. And so you gave him some taters. And the poor guy,
you don't feed him on fellowship when he hadn't had sleep for
20 hours, so you feed him upon giving him some rest. But in
order that we might capture the biblical idea, and you forgive
me for simplifying it into these words, but it helps me. Not the
table, but the door. That's the significant concept
of biblical hospitality. All right, so much then for seeking
to put this term in its New Testament concept. Now let us consider
from the Scriptures in the first place the command to hospitality. To whom is this command addressed?
Well, to two groups of people. First of all, to the saints in
general. The command to be given to the
open door is a command given to all the saints of God. Now, son, I'm keeping my promise,
Romans 12. On the way to church this morning, he asked me, well,
daddy, what's the passage you're going to preach from? And I said,
lots of them. But Romans 12 will be the first one, so he's got
his marker in his Bible there on Romans 12. All right, Romans
chapter 12. Romans chapter 12. Now notice
to whom this chapter is addressed. Having laid out in a very wonderful
and systematic way what we would call basic Christian doctrine,
the Apostle Paul is now applying that doctrine to the realm of
practical Christian living. So first, we find in verse 1
of chapter 12, I beseech you therefore, brethren, this is
addressed to all the people of God. Now, having done that, he
then indicates that though we are all brethren, we have different
gifts and ministries and we're to discover what they are and
then exercise them, but then there are certain things, no
matter what our gifts are, that are to be true of all the brethren,
starting with verse 9. Let love be without dissimulation,
abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good." Verse
10, "...be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly
love, in honor preferring one another." That's to be true of
all the saints of God. "...not slothful in business,
fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, patient
in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer. This is not just for
those who have the gift of prophecy or the gift of teaching or the
gift of ruling as you find them listed early in the chapter.
This is for all the people of God. They're not to be slothful.
They're to be fervent in spirit. That's why I keep exhorting you
about this matter of praise. If ever we should be fervent
in spirit, it's when we're praising Him together. Now notice carefully
verse 13. Distributing to the necessity
of saints All the saints are to be concerned about distributing
to the necessity of other saints, given to hospitality. Now that word, given, is a strong
word. It's the same word used all the
way through the New Testament for persecute. It's the same
word found in Hebrews 12. Some of you, I hope, will remember
when I preached that series on biblical holiness. Hebrews 12,
14 says, follow after peace with all men and holiness without
which no man will see the Lord. That's the word. persecute it,
track it down, pursue it, go after it. That's the meaning
here. Paul says, all of the saints of God are not only to be sensitive
to the needs of their brethren, giving of their substance when
necessary, that ties in beautifully with our scripture reading in
1 Timothy 5, but they are to pursue the cultivation of the
holy art of hospitality, not the table. Now get that out of
your head. It's the door, not the table.
Not the door, not the table, but the door. Given to the open
door. Given to the tangible expression
of Christian love in this area. As an expression of what he said
in verses 9 and 10. Let love be without dissimilation. Verse 10. Be kindly affection
one to another with brotherly love. And how do you do this
in a tangible way? You pursue hospitality. All right, now look at another
passage which indicates that this duty and it is a duty. This is a command. This is not
optional. You don't just say, oh, well, I'll take that and
leave this. No, no. This is a command addressed
to us as God's people. And the Lord said, if you love
me, keep my commands. And we have in first Peter, chapter
four, a similar reference. Again, first Peter four is addressed
to the saints. As a whole, 1 Peter 5, the first
seven verses or so, are addressed in particular to the elders,
but 1 Peter 4 is addressed to all the saints of God. Now, what
does he say? Well, let's read chapter 4 and
verse 7. At the end of all things is at
hand, be therefore sober and watch unto prayer. All the saints
are to be watchful, prayerful. Verse 8. Above all things have
fervent love among yourselves. For love will do several things.
In fact, three things here. Love shall cover the multitude
of sins. He says, if only you'll have
fervent love amongst yourselves, you won't be picking faults and
hunting after little warts and moles with magnifying glasses.
Oh, when a church gets doing that, that's the time the preacher
wants to pray the Lord will take him home to heaven or take him
to the mission field. When people get going around with magnifying
glasses looking for warts and moles on each other's neck and
on the back of their hands, Oh, he says, if you have love, it'll
cover those multitude of little faults and frictions that could
fester and become a cancerous sore. But if we're living together
in love, love will just sweep all of that away. Second thing
love will do, notice verse nine, use hospitality one to another
without grudging. Then the third thing it will
do, As every man hath received the gift, minister the same one
to another." If you have love, he said, it will express itself
in three ways. It will keep you from fault-finding.
It will help you to cultivate the grace of the open door. And
it will help you to cultivate the sense of responsibility to
use your God-given gifts for the blessing of the whole assembly.
Now, beloved, let's not talk about loving one another if love
doesn't do those three things. For wherever fervent love is
present, it will lead to those three things. covering the multitude
of sins, cultivating the art of hospitality, cultivating and
using our gifts for the good of the whole. Now notice what
Peter adds here in verse 9, using hospitality one to another without
grudging. Does that bring another passage
to mind? After dealing with the duty of Christian giving in 2
Corinthians 8 and 9, remember how Paul He draws that to a conclusion. He says in 2 Corinthians 9 and
verse 7, so let every one of us give as his purpose, not what
grudgingly nor of necessity. All right, it's my duty and I
don't want to have a guilty conscience, so I'll put my nickel on the
plate. Paul said, no, no, no, no, no. No, you've missed the
whole point. He said, when you understand
the privilege that you have of taking of material substance
and investing it, that it becomes immortalized in the interest
of the kingdom of God, why, you'll give joyfully. Now, Peter says
the same thing should be true of hospitality. Not primarily
a fancy table spread. But the open door, use the open
door one to another, not grudgingly, saying, oh, well, if I'm going
to do my duty, I guess I'll just have to invite somebody over
to the house. No, no, no, no. He said, you missed it. This
will be one of the channels of your love. It's as though Peter's
saying, your hearts are full of love to one another. Now I
want to help you to know how that love should express itself,
express itself in this particular way. Now, one other command,
and remember, this is addressed to all the saints, all the saints. You a saint? You claim to be?
Here's one of your duties. Romans 12 states it, 1 Peter
4, and then Hebrews chapter 13, verses 1 and 2. Now, it's interesting,
the same word translated hospitality in Romans 12, 13, they translate
it literally here, let brotherly love continue. It should translate
to be consistent. Let hospitality continue. It's
the same word. Let hospitality continue. That's
a command. Don't let it die out. Don't let
it become a thing in the past. In the dog-eat-dog world of the
20th century metropolitan climate, where the man gets on his bus
and lest he give any impression that he wants anybody to know
him, he hides himself behind his paper. where instead of driving
to work with his neighbor, he gets into the hollow emptiness
of his own car and drives by himself in the whole spirit of
isolationism in our mechanized age. where having heart bared
to heart is looked upon, if not consciously, unconsciously as
a thing of the past. Don't let hospitality die. Let
brotherly love, let hospitality continue. Verse two, be not forgetful
to entertain strangers. There's a command. Be not forgetful. This is something you can forget.
You must remind yourselves that this is your duty to show hospitality
to strangers who are among you. Therefore, we have the command
to hospitality addressed, first of all, to all the saints, and
the second group to whom this command is addressed are the
spiritual office-bearers, called in the Scripture bishops or elders,
and they are to particularly exemplify the grace of the open
door. 1 Timothy 3.2 says the elder,
the bishop, must be given to hospitality. Titus 1.8 says essentially
the same thing. Now that does not mean that they
are the only ones who are to evidence hospitality. Let me
illustrate. Whenever the care of the human body is concerned,
whether it's a nurse, an intern, a family doctor, or a specialist,
you desire and you have a right to expect that there shall be
carefulness, thoroughness in the area of cleansing and observation
of your problem, Those things should mark any medical treatment,
whether it's an RN, an intern, a family doctor, or the specialist.
Now, you expect a greater degree of it, perhaps in the specialist
or in the family doctor, than you would in what we'd call the
probie, the girl that's in there taking her first year of nurse's
training. But it's not a matter of a qualitative difference,
it's just a matter of a quantitative difference. You expect that characteristic
to be more fully developed through practice and through exercise.
Now in the same way, the command to be given to hospitality goes
out to all the saints, but in a peculiar way, the office bearers,
1 Timothy 3-2 and Titus 1-8, they are to be characterized
by an unusual measure of the grace of the open door. Now like every other duty, now
follow me closely, like every other duty, there's only one
thing that exempts us from a duty. Legitimacy. And that's when we
are providentially hindered from exercising it. It is a duty for
those who believe to be baptized. Now if someone's laying on bed
and can't get out, God's not going to hold it against them
that they don't get baptized. He accepts the willingness for
the deed. It's a duty for all of us to give to the work of
God. If we are providentially hindered and put in a place where
we have no income, then it's obvious we can't give a tenth
of our income or beyond if we have no income. Therefore, God
accepts the willingness for the deed. It is our duty to bear
witness to others. If in the providence of God we're
put in a place where we cannot, through different circumstances,
God accepts the willingness for the deed. The same is true with
the duty of hospitality. If we are put in circumstances
in the providence of God where we cannot obey it, we are exempt
and God accepts the willingness for the deed. But beloved, if
there is any other reason for us as Christians not cultivating
the grace of the open door, we are sinning against God. For what is sin? any lack of
conformity unto as well as transgression of the law of God. And now I
want to speak from a heart that has been deeply disturbed in
recent months. For I believe we as a congregation
are in great measure sinning in our failure to cultivate the
grace of the open door, one to another and to strangers. Beloved,
a few of us can't do it all by ourselves. And just as Paul could
say, be ye followers of me, even as I am of Christ. In that sense,
I say that there's not one Sunday out of four or five that not
only is our table graced with the presence of others, but many
times my whole afternoon, after a full morning and before, another
evening message is given over to counseling with people who've
come among us, seeking to enter into their problems. And a few
others have caught the vision of this, but beloved, there have
been people who've come among us, sat here week in and week
out for months, and have never been asked into a home. They've
come out of a world where nobody cares. encased in isolationism. They've come into a church where
surely someone should care, and they've walked out that door
week in, week out, month in, month out, and never once has
anyone said, Would you come and share the blessing of our open
door? Lover, this is sin. This is S-I-N. Sin. And I pray that God, the
Holy Ghost, would somehow break in upon us and show us the terrible
tragedy. of such a sin. Tonight I want
to deal with what leads to that. There are some natural reasons
and I want to be understanding and try to help clear away some
of the natural reasons why we have failed in this duty, but
there are also some basic spiritual reasons and we want to touch
on them as well. But we must see that it is a
duty and if we're not complying with it and are not hindered
by providential factors, we are sinning against God and I trust
that this day will find some of us in the dust of repentance
over this sin as much as if we had been guilty of some overt
act of sin that would bring to us shame and reproach from others. Now I must hurry on to the second
factor. Who are the objects of this hospitality,
the grace of the open door? Well, two classes of people,
the saints of God and the strangers who come among us. Now, Peter
makes this beyond dispute, that we are to exercise the grace
of the open door, not necessarily the spread table, but the open
door to one another. In 1 Peter 4.9, he says, using
hospitality, one to another. That's Christians. We should
be reciprocating with the grace of the open door. Get that table
out of your head. Most of us are too fat anyway.
But think of the door, not the table. the door, the grace of
the open door. But not only are the saints of
God to be the objects of this hospitality, but the strangers
who come among us. Now, who's a stranger? Why, those
who come from out of our own little circle, and we don't even
know them well enough to know if they are saints or not. That's
what Hebrews says. Be not forgetful to entertain
strangers. In that time, remember, there
was persecution, and the community of believers many times was more
mobile than they are now. And even though they didn't have
cars, they were driven by their persecution on foot or some other
means of conveyance. And so, lo and behold, in the
assembly that morning, there would appear someone that you
didn't even know him well enough to know if he was a brother or
not. The writer to Hebrews says, Don't go out of your assembly
without making sure that somebody extends to him the open door,
the open door, the open door. Be not forgetful to entertain
strangers. Therefore, in answer to the question,
who are to be the objects of the fulfillment of the duty of
Christian hospitality? Two groups, the saints of God
and the strangers. And we should be as a people
of God. extending continually that open
door to one another and to these who are outsiders. Frankly, I
want to state it this way. I think it's a crime if anyone
visits here and is not accosted by at least a few people before
they get out of this place with an invitation to at least come
and share the blessing of an open door. And yet, beloved,
I could cite the names of individuals who've not come but one week,
two weeks, three weeks, months and have never been accosted
by but one or two of us to share the open home. And I feel as
a pastor I have a peculiar responsibility to the strangers, and this is
why perhaps I have not exercised to the extent that I would like
to the grace of the open door to some of you who are the saints
of God, because I feel if anyone should know, I hope I can prove
my love to you and my wife can in other ways, but that's the
only way they can see it. They're not around long enough
to see it in other ways. Well, I hurry on now to what is the
crux of the matter, for God isn't arbitrary. God just doesn't do
this for the sake of doing it. Every command he gives has a
reason, whether we know it or not, whether we understand it
or not, but this command to hospitality, to be directed in two areas,
the saints and the strangers, has a very clearly defined biblical
ministry. And so the third area of our
study this morning, having looked at the command to hospitality,
the objects of hospitality, thirdly, the ministry of hospitality.
What ministry does the open door have? First of all, it is a tangible
expression of Christian love. You remember the words of John
in 1 John 3, verses 16 to 18, and I know of no passage of scripture
that fits better at this juncture, hereby perceive we the love of
God, because he told us in his word that he loves us. That isn't
what it says. It says, hereby perceive we the
love of God. That deep, deep, powerful affection
of his heart, but it's hidden in his heart. Until what? Because he laid down his life
for us. His love took on a tangible expression
in the giving of his son. Hereby perceive we love because
he did something to show that love. He didn't just tell us,
I love you. He planted a cross on Golgotha, poured out his wrath
upon his beloved son, and he says, that's my love. Now he
draws the application. But whoso hath this world's good,
and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of
compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? And we
usually interpret that as, well, here's my brother who's in debt
and going to get in the poorhouse unless I give him five dollars.
No, no. Whoso hath this world's good.
Sure, primarily referring to physical necessities, but in
this affluent society there are many people who have no basic
material need, but they have needs that material things can
never meet. The need to know that somebody
cares, somebody loves, somebody's interested, somebody's concerned. So whoso hath this world's goods,
all you may have is the open door with a few herbs in your
closet. But oh, as the scripture says,
better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox where
hatred and strife are. Proverbs chapter 15, I believe,
verse 16. And all you may have on the table
is a dinner of herbs, but the open door will speak so eloquently
and fill to the full such a need that the herbs won't taste like
steak. Because the great need of humanity,
in our society especially, is not the table, but it's the message
of the open door. Somebody loves, somebody cares
in a dog-eat-dog, individualistic society. So the first great ministry,
then, is that of tangibly expressing the love of God, as he says in
verse 18, My little children, let us not love in word, neither
in tongue, but in deed and in truth. You see, the open door
bespeaks an open heart. That's what it bespeaks. What's
behind that door doesn't amount to a hillbilly. One of the great
blessings that I received amongst many in the five years that I
was in an itinerant ministry, much of which was spent not in
city churches but in little country churches, is to be where some
people hadn't gotten all wrapped up in confusing Christian hospitality
as being basically the table. And some of the doors through
which I walked, you'd be embarrassed to have your preacher walk through
them, into some of the most simple homes with furniture that you
wouldn't even give to the Salvation Army. Really? And some of the meals
I've been served that you wouldn't even feed to your husband, let
alone the visiting preacher, as far as their simplicity. But
oh, beloved, these people caught the message. And I caught the
message. I caught the message. There was an eloquent preachment
of something in that open door. It was a tangible expression
of Christian love. Secondly, It provides a natural
opportunity for exhortation and for witness. Exhortation, that's
when the saints are showing hospitality one to another. Witness, that's
when you're showing hospitality to strangers. Now, it's interesting
that the scripture knows nothing of this idea that the only person
who exhorts you is your Sunday school teacher and your preacher.
In fact, the concept of scripture set forth in passages like Romans
15 and 14 reveals that just as the duty of hospitality is a
duty of all the saints, so the duty of exhorting one another
is the duty of all the saints. Romans 15, 14, And I myself also
am persuaded of you, brethren, that ye are full of goodness,
filled with all knowledge, for what end? able also to admonish
one another. Now I sat in on the ladies' class
this morning, And you got more solid doctrine presented clearly,
and a lot of people get from their pulpits in ten years. And
then I've been sneaking in a little bit in the men's class, and you're
getting stuff that a lot of people wouldn't get even in a seminary.
And getting it in a practical way, laid out simply and clearly,
And so we're privileged to receive this knowledge and this instruction,
and I trust you get knowledge and instruction from the Pope
at both precepts and promises. Now, what should the issue of
that be? Here it is. He says, I am persuaded that
being full of goodness, virtue, Christian virtue brought by growth
in grace, filled with all knowledge, able to admonish one another,
to minister one to another, exhort one another, encourage one another.
Now, how are you going to do this? Well, you see, you've got
to get in the context where it's natural. So what lies behind
the open door when the Christians show hospitality one to another?
The open heart that we can exhort and admonish one another. Tell
me, John, how are you doing with your prayer life? I've just been
messed up something terrible. I just can't seem to get victory
over this particular problem. How are you doing with this?
You have this problem? Boy, to tell you the truth, I am, but
you know, I feel the Lord's helping me. So there you go. And you
begin to share one with another. Hebrews 3.13, Exhort one another
daily while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened by
the deceitfulness of sin. So the second great ministry
of hospitality, it not only is a tangible expression of Christian
love, but it performs a natural, it creates a natural opportunity
for mutual exhortation amongst brethren. I long to see this
amongst us as God's people, where we exhort one another. One of
the greatest blessings that I ever had in my Christian experience
were those early days in which I was saved and the Lord laid
hold of a few young people. And we'd get together, not to
be a sort of a mutual admiration society, but we'd exhort one
another. We'd actually sometimes sit chairs in a circle and open
up our Bibles and tear into one another in love. Say, how about
this? Well, Sometimes it hurt. At the time when the young Scotsman
came up to me and took the lapel of my coat after I came out of
the pulpit and preached, and he looked me straight in the
eye with his eyes that seemed to look right down into your
soul, and he said, Al, he said, there's too much Al Martin in
that sermon. Well, didn't like that. He's
one of the dearest friends I have. Who likes to be told there's
too much self sticking out? You don't like that. I don't
like it, but I need it and you need it. But you know why I was
willing to take it from that brother? Because he had many
times demonstrated his love by the open door, by the open door. And his open door opened my heart
to his words. That's the concept. I don't want
to labor it. I trust you see it. And then the second thing
under this opportunity of exhortation, also an opportunity of witness
to sinners, to strangers. Now, we don't entertain, we don't
open the door simply as a means to the end that we can jump on
people and buttonhole them. No, we open our door because
love compels us to, as you would that others do unto you, do unto
them. But just as love compels us to open the door to the stranger
simply because he is a stranger in need of love, what is the
greatest thing we can impart to him? Not our open door, but
the knowledge of how God has opened the door into his presence.
the knowledge of how guilty sinners can come by him who is the door,
even the Lord Jesus Christ. But it's doubtful they're going
to listen to your talk about him who is the door to heaven
unless the door to your home is open to them. And I think
there's another whole untapped area of witness amongst our congregation. How many of you have ever invited
one of your neighbors over for a cup of coffee, just to come
over and sit in your house and talk? I venture to say some of
you lived for years and have never done this. Is it no wonder
that you find it awkward to talk to them about the gospel? How
are they going to understand the love of God unless they've
seen a little tangible expression of that love in your open door
to them? And I envision a biblically oriented
church as a church in which every home, everyone who is providentially
able, His home is a little oasis of the open door where there
is exhortation going on to the prophet of the people of God
and witness going on to the ongoing of the gospel of God. Can you
imagine what would happen if that were true of us here as
a people? Well, I'd never know who's going to show up here that
you'd had in your home, who because you had in your home, he was
willing to come to this place you call your church and here
this guy you call your preacher. They don't have any interest
to hear me. They couldn't care less. Oh, you may be all enthused,
but they couldn't care less. They might get interested if
your home is open to them as an indication of your open heart.
And then the third thing, and with this I'll have to close
this morning, it's not only this ministry of hospitality, a tangible
expression of Christian love. Secondly, a natural opportunity
for exhortation and witness. And I could demonstrate this
from the scriptures, but time won't permit it. Thirdly, it's
a means of personal blessing to the one who extends the open
door. Oh, you say, that's a selfish
motive, that shouldn't enter. Well, the Bible makes it enter,
so I'm not going to be more careful than God is. And he says in Hebrews
13, 2, be not forgetful to entertain strangers. Why? He says, well,
you just might get blessed in the process. For thereby some
have entertained angels unaware. And you know what that's a reference
to? Turn back to Genesis 18, and you'll see. It seems to be
a direct reference to Genesis 18. And here we have a flesh-and-blood
example of what the writer to Hebrews
is talking about. Chapter 18, verse 1 of Genesis. And the Lord appeared unto him,
that is, Abraham, in the plains of Mamre. And he sat in the tent
door in the heat of the day. And he lifted up his eyes and
looked, and, lo, three men stood by him. And when he saw them,
he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself
to the ground, and said, My lord, if now I found favor in thy sight,
pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant. Let a little water,
I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves
under the tree, and I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort
ye your hearts. After that ye shall pass on.
For therefore are ye come to your servant, and they said,
So do as thou hast said. And Abraham hastened to the tent
unto Sarah, and said, Make ready three measures of meal, etc.
And then in entertaining these three strangers, he was literally
welcoming the angel of Jehovah and two of his associates, that
angel of Jehovah being none other than our Lord Jesus Christ. Do
you see how this ties in with the passage I'm going to look
at in more detail tonight? Remember in the parable of the
sheep and goats, when the Lord said, You did this to me. You did this to me. You did this
to me. I was in prison. You visited me a stranger and
you took me in and they said, Lord, we never saw you a stranger.
Oh sure, we entertained some people that came by. We opened
the door to some people that came to church that we never
knew. But Lord, we never opened the door to you. You were up
in heaven, and He said, what? Inasmuch as you did it unto these,
the least of my little ones, you did it unto me. You did it
unto me. You entertained me when you entertained
my people. In opening the door to my people,
you opened the door to me. That's the message of that portion.
And the great blessing that comes when you open your door to the
Lord, Even though you may think you're just opening the door
to some stranger, it's the principle of the Gospels where our Lord
said, give and it shall be what? Given unto you. Good men should
press down and running over. And so one of the great motives
to this matter of hospitality, the ministry of hospitality,
not only is it a tangible expression of your love to saint and sinner,
not only does it provide a natural opportunity to exhort one another
and to communicate the gospel to the sinner, but oh, just from
the standpoint of wanting to be blessed, I wouldn't dare be
niggardly in the matter of hospitality. Now that's a legitimate scriptural
motive. The blessing it will bring to you. Now if that's all
your motive is, that's wrong. If you make apart the whole,
that's sin. But in the matter of giving, God says, prove me
now herewith. You give to me what belongs to
me, and I will pour out upon you a blessing which you cannot
contain. You want to be blessed? Then give to me. God says, in
a sense, that selfish motive in the realm of spiritual things
is legitimate. Let's not kid ourselves. If you're
a Christian, you want the blessing of God. I want it. If I can have
60 pounds of joy and I've only got 40, I'm out fishing for the
60. If I can be blessed 10 degrees,
I mean, if I'm blessed 10 degrees and I can know 50 degrees, then
I want that. All right, here the scripture
says, Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have
brought untold blessing to themselves. They've entertained angels unawares. It'll come to your own heart.
It'll come to your family. I would not dare rob my children
of the privilege of having the people of God in my home. For
so often is the conversation centers upon the things of God
after the strangers have gone, the feedback that comes. They've
seen that this is not just shop talk, something that you leave
at church, but this is your life. And often you can't carry on
with your children adult, intelligent conversation on spiritual things.
You instruct them and the rest, but they're listening on. They're
taking all of this in. The blessing it brings to you
individually, the blessing it brings to your children. This
is one of the ministries of the ministry of an open door. Now, I fully recognize that there
are a number of reasons as to why we have been negligent, many
of us, in developing the art of Christian hospitality. and
have neglected the duty of the open door, and the Lord willing,
tonight I want to deal with that particular subject, my point
four, hindrances to fulfillment of the duty and cultivation of
the art of Christian hospitality. And I'll tell you what we're
going to look at. We're going to look at the natural hindrances And then
we want to look at the spiritual hindrances. I think you see one
of the biggest ones we've already cleared away this morning. You've
had a misunderstanding as to what hospitality was. You've
thought in terms of the table and you just didn't have a big
enough table or a big enough pocket to put enough to fill
the table. And you thought that exempted you. Oh, no, it doesn't.
If you've got an open door, you may just have a few herbs in
the cupboard. But God says you're a candidate for this ministry. So I trust you will come prayerful
that God will speak to your heart for I'm deeply convinced that
unless this concept is incorporated into the bloodstream of our church,
death is already written over its portals as far as this whole
area that God would have us know as his people. Maybe you've never
recognized this was a duty. I hope you're convinced it is
this morning. And if you've been negligent, then I hope you leave
this place saying, Lord, forgive me. I'm not doing my duty. Now Lord, show me how to go about
it. Now I know you've got a thousand questions, but forget all the
questions. Face this issue. Have you been
living in the light of your scriptural duty? If not, it's sin. Ask the
Lord's forgiveness. And then let's pray that the
same God who's commanded the duty will give us grace as He
does for every other duty. God is able to make all grace
abound toward you, that ye, having all sufficiency in everything,
may abound unto what? Every good work. 2 Corinthians
9.8. Even the good work of Christian hospitality. That's His promise.
The Lord willing, we shall consider tonight how that promise may
be realized in our lives. Let us unite together in prayer.