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Love must be sincere\u2026 Share with the Lord\u2019s people who are in need. Practice hospitality (Romans 12:9a, 13)

Today, we continue our reflections on the Christian discipline of hospitality. The terse command, practice hospitality, comes in the midst of a brief meditation on love. Remember that love is primarily an attitude of the mind. This attitude leads us to love others in practical ways. Last time, I gave examples of God\u2019s hospitality because I suggested that if Christians are to recover this lost discipline, it must be rooted in our understanding of who God is. I closed by inviting you to find other examples of God\u2019s hospitality in the Bible.

Now I want to move on to explore other ways that hospitality shows up in the scriptures and what we can learn from them. To do this, I draw your attention to three different passages. First, from Hebrews 13:2, which the NIV translates as, \u201cDo not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it\u201d (2). Many believe that the author is referencing the story in Genesis 18 in which Abraham invites three strangers to a meal. One of those strangers was God himself.

This verse in Hebrews 13 comes on the heals of instruction that Christians keep loving each other as sisters and brothers. Hospitality within the church body naturally leads to inviting outsiders in. Twice this week, Wilderness Wanderings has referenced Acts 4:32, \u201cAll the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.\u201d That is the second passage I want to draw to your attention. As was asked, how could these early Christians live like that?

To give a different answer to that question, I draw your attention to a third passage. This one takes place during a famine in Israel. God sends his prophet Elijah to a widow. He finds this widow preparing a last meal for herself and her son. After that they will die of starvation. Elijah has the nerve to ask her to prepare some bread for him first: talk about hospitality to a stranger! He follows up his request with this promise, \u201cthis is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: \u2018The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land\u2019\u201d (1 Kings 17:14).

The widow did as Elijah asked. She fed her, her family and herself until the Lord provided rain for the land. For me, she is the prime human example of hospitality in the Bible. This story gets at its heart.

For many of us, hospitality has become an act of impressing others; an act of showing off. We show case our homes, our decorating abilities, our capacity to put on a meal, our ability to entertain. Unless we can imitate Martha Stewart or some celebrity chef, we feel inadequate. In short, such hospitality is about us. If we Christians are to regain the discipline of hospitality, it cannot be about us. Many of us want to portray a sense of having it all together. We cannot give out of our abundance. It will never be enough.

Rather, we need to give out of God\u2019s provision. He has provided us with resources, not to hold onto tightly, but to hold loosely, so that they easily slide out of our fingers towards those God invites us to love. We need to develop the faith of this widow, who acted hospitably towards Elijah, trusting in God\u2019s provision for herself and her family.

Isn\u2019t one of God\u2019s persistent promises that he will provide for us? Jesus articulates it this way in Matthew 6, \u201cBut seek first [God\u2019s] kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things (clothes, food, shelter) will be given to you as well\u201d (33). Trust in this promise enables us to practice hospitality. We can only practice it, because we know that God is hospitable towards us.

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