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Love must be sincere\u2026Share with the Lord\u2019s people who are in need. Practice hospitality (Romans 12:9a, 13)

This is the final Wilderness Wanderings episode on hospitality; at least for now. Why spend so much time on this topic, you may be asking? Because hospitality in our culture is often about the one hosting; whereas Christian hospitality is about the one being hosted. Let\u2019s flesh this out some more.

Businesses such as hotels and restaurants are part of the hospitality industry. Such establishments are all about impressing the customer so that said customer will return. Likewise, we too, want to impress people so they will want to associate with us. Hospitality is largely understood as having people over. More importantly, people we want to associate with. I\u2019m not saying you shouldn\u2019t do this anymore. But let me ask a question: when is the last time you invited someone to your house that you didn\u2019t want over?

You see, the thing we are talking about, \u2018Christian hospitality\u2019, includes such events. It can include having friends over; it can include going the extra mile to clean the house and preparing a delicious meal. But we don\u2019t do it to impress; we do it because the people we have invited are important. Not important in a worldly or cultural or political sense. Hosting them may not benefit us at all. They are important because God has sent them to us. We have the privilege of hosting them on God\u2019s behalf, even if we don\u2019t want to.

Jesus put\u2019s it this way in a parable \u2018Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me\u2026Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me\u2019 (Matthew 25:45-46).

Many Biblical scholars suggest that the word \u2018practice\u2019 ought to be translated \u2018pursue.\u2019 There is an urgency to it. Recall, that this is part of Paul\u2019s mini exhortation on love which begins, \u201clove must be sincere.\u201d Love is active, it pursues, it initiates. Further, the word for hospitality includes the idea, \u201clove of strangers\u201d. It carries the idea of extending love to those who are different \u2014 folks from another culture, another race, or a different belief system. Love takes the initiative, actively looking for opportunities to benefit others, especially those who are different.

A cold, unfriendly church contradicts the gospel message. Yet unfriendliness stands out as one of the most common criticisms people have of the local church. It doesn\u2019t take people long to figure out that there is a \u201cchurchy\u201d love among Christians that ends shortly after the service. It is a superficial Sunday-morning kind of love that is unwilling to venture beyond the walls of the church building.

At Immanuel CRC in Hamilton, we are working towards re-opening the sanctuary for worship services. The current rules limit us to 30% capacity. I am glad to report that many have asked, \u201cWill there be room for visitors?\u201d I like hearing that question. It indicates that hospitality is alive. It reminds me of what Professor Roger Greenway once said: mission churches begin with hospitality.

Christian hospitality does force us beyond our comfort zones. It demands that we have time, attention and space for strangers that God sends our way and that we tend to their needs before our own.

It also insists that we see ourselves as God sees us: his beloved children who have been loved so deeply that we are able to love. Such hospitality is not rooted in our limited resources, but in the unlimited resources of God. When he calls, he will also provide.

As you journey on, go with these words:

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

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