My guess is that when we hear that word “hospitality,” most of us probably think of things like backyard barbecues, tea parties, or other social gatherings where you invite your friends over to hangout.
There’s often an entertainment focus when we think about hospitality. And that’s not bad. In fact, those types of things definitely help us build deeper relationships with each other.
But biblical hospitality actually goes beyond just entertainment. It overlaps with what we call fellowship, but it also goes beyond fellowship too.
Christlike Hospitality Asks A Different Question
There’s a difference between how society often thinks about hospitality today and how God intends His people to practice it.
Hospitality is sometimes used today as a way to advance ourselves. We can be tempted to only invite those people over who might help boost our reputations. We might be motivated to show off what we have to other people.
So hospitality today often -not always, but often – asks questions like, “How can I build my circle of influence by inviting other influential people over?” Or, “How can I welcome other people to my advantage?”
But Christlike hospitality asks a different question. It instead asks, “How can I use whatever God has given me to meet another person’s needs and help them experience the welcome of the gospel?”
In the New Testament, the Greek word for “hospitality” literally means to “love a stranger.” First Peter 4:9, Romans 12:13, Hebrews 13:1-2 all call God’s people to show hospitality. In fact, God is so emphatic that His people show hospitality that He requires it of anyone who is going to serve as a pastor or elder in His church (1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:8)
5 Ways To Approach Hospitality
So if God is so serious about His people showing hospitality, then how can we practice hospitality well?
I want to briefly suggest 5 things that can help guide how we can approach showing hospitality
With Love
First, we need to approach hospitality with love. We love and welcome others because that’s what Jesus has done for us.
Before we came to faith, the Bible says we were strangers to God and alienated from Him. But when you place your faith in Jesus, Ephesians 2:19 says, “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.”
Remember, hospitality is showing love to strangers. So the gospel is God showing hospitality to us as strangers.
Apart from faith, you are dead in your sin and separated from God. But Jesus takes you from being a stranger to being a member of God’s family. Through the gospel, God “unstrangers” you so that He can use you to go and “unstranger” others and welcome them into the family of God.
Without Complaining
Second, we need to approach hospitality without complaining.
Verse 9 of 1 Peter 4 again says to “Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.” The reality is that sometimes hospitality can be so inconvenient. We get busy. We have our own plans.
But I think some of the best examples of hospitality are so often when they’re unplanned. Think of the parable of the Good Samaritan. And I also think of the benevolence needs we help with at our church. They aren’t always at the most convenient times. But let me tell you, they end up often being times of incredible blessing. So sometimes being hospitable means being ok with having our day get interrupted so we can help meet someone’s needs.
With Whatever You’ve Been Given
Third, approach hospitality with whatever you’ve been given. Rosaria Butterfield writes in The Gospel Comes With A House Key that, “Sometimes Christians tell me that they don’t practice hospitality because they don’t have enough space, dishes, or food. They fear that they do not have enough to give. This is a false fear that no one should heed. Hospitality shares what there is; that’s all.”
The point is that hospitality isn’t worrying about what you don’t have. It’s about sharing what you do have. Share whatever God has given you to help others feel welcome, connected to the church, and to come to know the welcoming truth of the gospel. Use your home, use your car, use your food, use your money, or whatever else He’s given you.
And we have to remember that one of the central things that God has given us to share for the good of others is of course the message of Jesus. We can’t neglect the gospel in our hospitality too. So share what God has given you.
With Others In Mind
Fourth, approach hospitality with others in mind. In other words, use your home or whatever God has given you to meet the needs of people around you.
Maybe it’s helping new people in the church connect with the church by inviting them over for a meal or out for dinner. Maybe it’s engaging those outside the church in some way to help them experience the welcome of God’s grace. Maybe it’s helping lonely people feel like they belong and are connected to the church. Maybe it’s helping some endure through a hard time by sharing with them in some way something God has given you, like a meal or food or financially.
Maybe it’s also by saying yes to someone’s invitation who wants to extend hospitality to you. Jesus was frequently saying yes to other people’s invitations for him to come and eat in their homes. He honored them and served them by saying yes.
Whatever that looks like for you, you need to approach hospitality with the needs of others in mind. Biblical hospitality seeks to meet the needs of others as we seek to welcome them into God’s family.
With Consistency
Fifth and finally, approach hospitality with consistency. The ESV translation I typically use says to “show hospitality.” But I like the word that some other translations use. They say to “practice hospitality.” In other words, hospitality is something we need to make a habit of. We need to do it consistently so that we can grow in it and get better at it.
Hospitality Helps Illustrate The Gospel
Hospitality helps illustrate the gospel in an incredibly vivid way. God welcomes us into His family through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and He prepares for us an eternal home where we can be with Him forever. So we now seek to welcome and serve others by using our homes or whatever God has given us to welcome others into God’s family as well.
Photo by Zach Reiner on Unsplash
A Thrill of Hope 