THE
REFORMED WITNESS HOUR
"Using Hospitality One to Another"
Rev. Jai
Mahtani
(e-mail: Rev.
Carl Haak) |
Dear radio friends,
So, how hospitable have you been lately? We have been considering the biblical
calling we have as God’s people to show love to strangers. We have, in the last couple of weeks, been
talking about the need to apply that same hospitality one to another in the
house of God as brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, as we continue in our series, I would like for us to look
at a passage of Scripture that very concretely and rather detailedly shows to
us this calling to exercise hospitality among the saints. The passage is I Peter 4:9-11. “Use hospitality one to another without
grudging. As every man hath received the
gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the
manifold grace of God. If any man
speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it
as of the ability which God giveth:
that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be
praise and dominion for ever and ever.
Amen.”
A young man recently asked:
“Pastor, how can I show hospitality?
I have a one-bedroom apartment.
I am single. I don’t know how to
cook. How can I show hospitality to the
saints?” It struck me that, perhaps,
the word hospitality is often understood to mean that you have somebody in your
home. It is true of course, that you
show hospitality by inviting people to your home. But I believe the Word of God goes far beyond that in its
instruction regarding how we show hospitality one to another — even as this
passage of Scripture tells us that we must use the gifts that God gives to us,
whether that be by speaking the oracles of God, or whether it be by using the
ability or talents with which each one of us has been endowed by God. We have different circumstances of
life. Each of us, according to the
ability God gives to us, can exercise that hospitality to others.
You will recall that the word “hospitality” literally means
“love for strangers.” Yet, that
hospitality, as we will see today, must begin in the house of God. “Use hospitality,” the apostle Peter writes
in I Peter 4:9, “one to another without grudging.” Let us, for a few moments today, look at what that means, that we
are called to use hospitality one to another.
I think that even though the word hospitality means love for
strangers, the Holy Spirit deliberately calls us to use and exercise that love
for strangers one to another as fellow saints.
First of all, not all in the body of Christ are known to us. We may have those closer to us. Some may be family, others may be
friends. But there are always in the
church those whom we may not know very well — perhaps new visitors, perhaps
those who are not sitting in the same row in the church as we do (and for years
we have been going to the same church).
We must exercise love for strangers right within the body of
Christ.
Secondly, the Word of God clearly calls us to do good to all men
(Gal. 6:10), but especially, we read there, to those of the household of
faith. What a sad commentary if we
learn to show hospitality and love to those who are outside the house of God
and then fail to do so one with another.
And the third reason, I believe, is that when we begin to
emphasize missions and evangelism and to welcome others from outside, then we
begin foolishly to take each other for granted and we begin not to focus on the
importance of love one for another. How
else will the world know that we are the disciples of Christ but by this love
one for another? I think it is just a
sad reality that we begin to take each other for granted, we begin to become
blind to one another’s needs. Oh, we
see a newcomer and say, “How are you?”
We show love and hospitality and bring the person to our home and try to
answer questions and try to be nice and give him our seat. Then, pretty soon, here is this
brother. We have come to know his personality,
his weaknesses. Maybe we have had a
quarrel once upon a time with that person and we begin to say, “Let him take
care of himself.” And we begin to turn
the other way and take one another for granted. That is not right. We
must show hospitality one to another.
The exercise of mutual hospitality requires fervent love. That is the context of this passage of
Scripture. Before we are told to use
hospitality one to another we are exhorted (v. 8), “And above all things have
fervent charity [love] among yourselves:
for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.”
We must awake to the reality that, in the body of Christ, there
are always going to be those sins and weaknesses that we see in one another and
in ourselves. We must exercise much
love, bearing with one another’s weaknesses.
Just as in a hospital, where patients come to be treated, so in the
church of Jesus Christ, via hospitality, we must treat each other with
patience. We must recognize that we are
all afflicted with our particular weaknesses and difficult circumstances of
life. We must look at each with that
eye of love and concern and compassion so that the exercise of hospitality is
indeed one to another.
The text goes on to explain what this means when it tells us in
verse 10, “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one
to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” You see, the exercise of mutual hospitality
requires the recognition that all in the body of Christ have gifts. “As every man hath received the gift” —
whatever that gift may be. It may not
be some extraordinary gift. It may not
be some supernatural gift of healing and of miracles as in the New Testament
age. But every man has received
gifts. All have gifts given by
God. If you have never learned that
before, let it be said today: Every
child of God has at least one gift — at least one that God has endowed him with
so that he might exercise it in the body of Christ. But also this, as we read in the last part of verse 10: “Given by the manifold grace of God.” God, when He gives to us His grace, also distributes
in the body of Christ those gifts according to His grace. In fact, this word of God in verse 10, when
we read that we are to minister one to another, comes from the Greek word diakonos,
from which, of course, we get the word “deacon.” We are all deacons. Did
you know that? If we have not learned
that before, let us learn it today. In
that sense, we are all as priests in the house of God. And we are all called to serve the needs one
of another.
The Word of God today calls us to exercise that hospitality one
to another. This must be
emphasized. The call is to mutual
hospitality. This means that we must
humbly recognize that God places others in the body of Christ so that through
me they may also be richly blessed. But
it also means this (I think sometimes we forget that), that God places others
in the body of Christ for my good. Not
only must I be willing to show hospitality, I must humble myself to be willing
to receive hospitality. Perhaps I lack
in certain gifts and there are others who can minister to my needs. This is the communion of saints, as Lord’s
Day 21 of the Heidelberg Catechism (one of the creeds of our churches) so
clearly teaches. This is what the
communion of saints is all about, that each and every believer in the body of
Christ, even as he is a partaker of Christ, now ministers to the needs of that
body.
Let us now look at some concrete examples, even as this text
shows us in verse 11. One example of
showing hospitality is by speaking (“If any man speak, let him speak as the
oracles of God”). You understand that
this text has nothing to do with what is known in the Scriptures as the
official preaching of the Word of God.
The text is not addressed to ministers.
This text is not a reference to the declaration of the Word of God by
the ordained minister. This text refers
to the call to exercise mutual hospitality one to another, so that if a man
speaks, he must speak as the oracles of God.
This is the call given to God’s people who show hospitality by
ministering the Word of God one to another.
Now, not all have the “gift of gab.”
We must use the gift that God gives to us by speaking wisely and
carefully the oracles or the wisdom of God.
My wife is a rather quiet person by nature. I, on the other hand, am told often that I
need to learn to speak less. Well then,
let him who is naturally endowed with the gift of gab learn to speak the
oracles of God with love, to temper his speech with patience, and with some
willingness to listen. Let others who
by nature, perhaps, are quiet learn by the grace of God to be a little bit more
bold and to speak the oracles of God.
For this is one example of how we can exercise hospitality one to
another.
But then, we also read, “If any man minister (that is, if any
man serve), let him do it as of the ability which God giveth.” You see, as I Corinthians 12 and Romans 12
point out, those who have the gift of serving, of using their hands, of being
active (as Martha of old was) in serving — these are called upon to do so
according to the ability that God hath given.
Not more, not less. So, the Word
of God tells us everywhere, that we are to love not only in word but also in
deed. We must exercise that mutual
hospitality both by our communication (that is, by our speech), by our speaking
the truth in love, as well as by our acts of compassion and kindness one to
another.
Is that not true even in the hospital? Some are doctors, some are nurses, others are counselors. All do their part. All learn to recognize the gifts that are given and the talents
and the qualifications that they have.
All try to respect one another’s positions and then together mutually
exercise that help to those who are in need.
Now, today, as we look at this very practical text of God’s
Word, I would like you also to remember with me that it is not only what we do
but how we perform that act of hospitality.
We are to practice hospitality, according to the Word of God,
negatively, first of all, without grudging.
To do something grudgingly means to do so unwillingly, to do so while
grumbling about it in the process.
Peter writes to the saints: “Use
hospitality one to another without grudging.”
Instead of serving cheerfully, doing what one does with a smile, one
might perhaps exercise hospitality while complaining. That is so easy to do, especially when we are compelled to do
something, perhaps by the constraint of others, or perhaps simply because no
one else is doing it and we feel that there is an urgent need. Remember Martha? Remember how she became so busy serving the Lord while Mary was
sitting at the feet of Christ? And
Martha began to complain. She began, in
fact, to complain to the Lord. She
said, “Lord, why dost Thou not tell Mary to get up and help me?” She became bitter, not only against Mary,
but against the Lord Himself. And the
Lord had to reprimand her, telling that Mary had chosen the good part, which
will not be taken away from her.
Martha, we read, had become cumbered about much serving. It is possible, you know, to become very
busy with this exercise of hospitality and to do so complainingly and to do so
grudgingly. I think that, as the man of
the house, we must be careful not to put too much on the shoulders of our wives
and expect them to do everything cheerfully and not recognize that this
glorious work of hospitality can also be done with a wrong spirit, when one is
just so overburdened that one complains while doing so.
Again, verses 7 and 8, to which our text is subordinate, help us
deal with this unwilling attitude. We
read verse 8 earlier about charity.
Notice verse 7, “But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto
prayer.” Also hospitality has to be
exercised with sobriety and with prayerfulness, so that we walk in love that is
fervent. And that love, instead of
stirring up strife (according to Proverbs 10:12), will hide sin. It will cover a multitude of sins. It will not go around discovering the sins
of others, but it will be willing to cover sins and to bear with the weakness
of others. Love, of course, is
patient. It knows, after all, that in
the hospital of grace, where God’s people need hospitality, there must be much
grace and patience exercised.
So let us put away our grudging spirit and do this exercise of
hospitality cheerfully.
Positively, verse 10 tells us that we must exercise this
hospitality “as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” There is one sure way to cure the sin of
grumbling. If we are to be given to
hospitality, we must do so by recognizing that we are but stewards of God. In other words, we must remember that our
gifts, our talents, our time, our money, and all that we have are not ours,
first of all, but are bestowed on us by God.
A steward is one who looks after the property of another. So also we are stewards of God. What we have belongs to our Lord, our Lord
Jesus Christ, who has bought us with His own precious blood. We must not sit on our talents. We must multiply them. We must not either use them for our own comfort
and pleasure, but we must use them for the needs of God’s people.
Surely, one good way of exercising hospitality towards others is
by ministering cheerfully and sacrificially to the needs of God’s people.
As we conclude today’s message on the calling to exercise mutual
hospitality, I want you to know that next week we will conclude this part of
our series by looking at, of all things, the Judgment Day! Our Lord Jesus Christ tells us that in that
day there will be the separation of the sheep and the goats. I am referring to the passage of Scripture
in Matthew 25. That passage will help
us understand that the motive out of which we perform hospitality is very
important. We will learn next time that
we must do it as unto Christ. Christ
will tell us that when we show mercy and compassion unto the least of His
brethren, we did it unto Him.
Today, in the Word of God that we considered, we are also shown
the motive. We are told in verse 11
that the motive must be this: That God
in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ. Practicing hospitality must have, as with everything else, this
motive: the glory of God! It is, indeed, subservient to that glory of
God, even the edification of the saints.
Ultimately, while I must do all things for the good of the body of
Christ and for the good of the saints, I must have an eye to the honor and the
praise and the glory of God. Is God
glorified? Am I loving my neighbor out
of the love of God? Is this to the
praise and glory of God? God is
glorified always. He is glorified in
creation! Look round about you. Even though man might want to take away from
that, the truth is, as the psalmist says, “The heavens declare the glory of
God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork” (Ps. 19:1). God is glorified also in the church of Jesus
Christ, where we are re-created and are washed in His precious blood and are
made saints and we glorify God, even as we shine for Him as a lighted city on
the hilltop. But always, let us not
forget, God is glorified, whether in creation, or in the church, or in our
personal lives, as the text tells us, through Jesus Christ! After all, it is the ascended Lord Jesus
who, by His Spirit, pours out those gifts to us. We have no gifts except the Lord Jesus Christ gives us those
gifts (Eph. 4). Not only to those officebearers
(apostles, pastors, and teachers), but to all in the body of Christ are given
those gifts, so that they might minister one to another. Jesus Christ it is who gathers, defends, and
preserves His church. And He does so by
the lively stones in that body — the members of the church of Jesus Christ,
under the preaching of the Word, who hear the call to praise and glorify God
and minister one to another.
“To whom,” the text tells us, “be praise and dominion for ever
and ever. Amen.” This is not only a statement of fact. It is that.
But I believe it is a prayer, a desire, a motive. It is a doxology. In other words, by our mutual hospitality, we desire that God may
be glorified. Have you ever thought of
it that way, dear friend? When we show
hospitality and when we receive hospitality and when there is the exercise of mutual
hospitality, all of us should have this motive in our hearts: that God may be glorified, because He is the
One who deserves all praise and dominion for ever and ever. May God indeed be glorified through that
glorious calling of mutual hospitality in the church of Jesus Christ.
May God, by His Spirit, apply this word of Christian hospitality
to our hearts by His Spirit, so that the love of Christ is evidently manifest
by the showing of Christian hospitality one to another. And that without grudging!
Let us pray.
Our God and Father, Thou hast shed abroad Thy love in our
hearts. Grant that in Thy house we may
now also, as brothers and sisters in the family of God, walk in that love one
for another, and thus may Thy name be glorified, and may we manifest that we
are indeed the children of our heavenly Father, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.