The Gospel of Hospitality

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. 

-  Romans 12:2

The whole Christian life is one of giving. Jesus sternly told His disciples that in order to follow Him they must deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Him (Matt. 16:24). Every part of the Christian life is to be given over to God. This makes logical sense since we are bought with a price and are not our own (1 Cor. 6:19-20). We are not the masters of our own lives. The Lord has graciously brought us out of slavery and given us freedom in His Son Jesus Christ.

What this means is that our daily lives are completely renewed and transformed. In the New Covenant era, the Spirit of God has brought about the time of refreshing (Acts 3:20). This new world that the Spirit has brought is why the Apostles are constantly telling the church what to do. The New Covenant people of God have received the fullness of the Spirit and now need to know what to do about that. One of the commands we find is in Romans.

Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. - Romans 12:13 

One of the things that has been transformed in the New Covenant is table fellowship. Before Christ, God’s people were given very specific rules about what was allowed on their table and who was allowed there. One of the ways God separated His people from the world was by forbidding them to eat unclean animals. God also restricted their fellowship to those who were circumcised. In the New Covenant, however, the table has been extended and widened. Acts chapters 10 & 11 teach us about this paradigm shift. Peter receives a vision from the Lord. A sheet is lowered from heaven and has all sorts of unclean animals on it. The Lord tells Peter to rise, kill, and eat. Peter is understandably disturbed at first and resists, but after 3 iterations, Peter gets the point. He receives a knock at the door from a Gentile who wants to hear the Gospel. Peter has an ‘ah-ha’ moment. He then goes with the Gentile, Cornelius, preaches the Gospel to his household, the Spirit falls upon them, and Peter baptizes the entire household. The apostle then realizes the liberality with which God is pouring His Spirit out in this age. It is not reserved only for the Jew; it is also for the Gentile. 

This dramatically emboldens the efforts of the church. The rest of the book of Acts focuses upon the ministry of Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles.

As this influx of mission is happening, we find the Apostles issuing several imperatives. Imperatives are commands for the church. Romans 12:13 contains two of them. The first is to consistently contribute to the needs of the saints. The verb to contribute is in the present tense, meaning it is something that should be constant in our lives. Contributing to the needs of the saints should be rhythmic in our lives.

The second imperative is “seek to show hospitality”. This imperative should take on a deeper emphasis given the international expansion of the church’s mission to see the Spirit flood every nation.

The Greek word for seek here means pursue or chase after. The Apostle Paul tells the Romans that the power of God unto salvation is the Gospel and that this Gospel is to both Jew and Gentile. One of the ways to live this Gospel out is to hunt down hospitality.

We can do this because of the broken body of Christ. Through Christ’s broken body, all of humanity is restored. All inhospitality is made hospitable. Christ body was broken so that the body of Christ could be made whole. Because Jesus has separated His body, the separated nations of the world are brought together as one in Christ. Hospitality is a picture of the blessings of the Gospel.

Jesus’s broken body and shed blood has added many leaves to the table. Our mission now is to fill each spot. To share the blessings of the new wine in new wineskins with our neighbor. 

To her shame, the Church has often not embraced this command. But if we are going to be used of God to reconcile all things to Himself (Col. 1:20), we must obey in all things. That includes the command to seek out hospitality.  

The Church in Maine has much that is commendable, of course. One thing is must remember to practice is hospitality. And why? Because the table is now as long and wide as the cross. The cross was vast enough to cover even your sins and make a seat for you at the Lord’s Table. The Lord feeds you at His table so that you can feed others at yours.