Lighthouses of Prayer: Hospitality February 3, 2008
1 Peter 4:7-11
Review of Lighthouses of Prayer
On the first Sunday of the year, I introduced the idea of lighthouses of prayer. It comes from Luke chapter 10 where Jesus sends out the 72 Disciples to go into the villages around the country.
This is his commission: "When you enter a house, first say, ’Peace to this house.’ If the head of the house loves peace, your peace will rest on that house; if not, it will return to you. Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, … Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ’The kingdom of God has come near to you.’
From this passage we receive a way to impact our neighbours for Jesus:
The Luke 10:1-9 The Model
5-6 - Bless Your Neighbours
“When you enter a house, first say, ’Peace to this house.”
Now we have taken this model and organized it so that it is something that you can do as part of your daily routine: we’ve suggested that you take the five houses on either side of you, and the 11 across the street and begin to pray blessing on each of them.
You can do this by walking up and down your street and blessing each house Or you can make blessing your neighbours part of your daily devotions, you could bless a neighbour as you bless your food…
7-8 Develop relationships with your neighbours.
“Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you”
9a - Pray for their needs
“Heal the sick who are there”
9b - Share the Gospel
“…and tell them, ’The kingdom of God has come near to you.”
From the first week’s sermon “Start off this new year with a focus on the people around us”
This is not just Ed Silvoso’s take on this passage, or a “new” evangelism strategy. I’ve been reading a book called “The Celtic Way of Evangelism” and Saint Patrick evangelized all of Ireland using the same method.
“Patrick’s entourage would have included a dozen or so people, including priests, seminarians, and two or three women. Upon arrival at a tribal settlement, Patrick would engage the king and other opinion leaders, hoping for conversion, or at least their clearance, to camp near the people and form into a community of faith adjacent to the tribal settlement. The “apostolic” team would meet the people, engage them in conversation and in ministry, and look for people who appeared receptive. They would pray for sick people, and for possessed people, and they would counsel people and mediate conflicts. On at least one occasion, Patrick blessed a river and prayed for the people to catch more fish. They would engage in some open-air speaking, probably employing parable, story, poetry, song, visual symbols, visual arts and, perhaps, drama to engage the Celtic people’s remarkable imaginations. Often, we think, Patrick would receive the people’s questions and then speak to those questions collectively.
The Apostolic band would welcome responsive people into their group fellowship to worship with them, pray with them, minister to them, converse with them, and break bread together. One band member or another would probably join with each responsive person to reach out to relatives and friends. The mission team typically spent weeks, or even months, as a ministering community of faith within the tribe. The church that emerged within the tribe would have been astonishingly indigenous.”
I began this series with an overview of these 4 points, and I’ve preached two sermons on the idea of blessing your neighbours and the people in your networks – and in this blessing, taking responsibility for the welfare of our neighbours – see ourselves as shepherds, being called to have the character of the father in the story of the Prodigal son.
Today, I want to talk about building relationships with our neighbours. I want to do that by talking about the call to practice hospitality.
Luke 7:36-50 – When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner."…
… Then Jesus said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet.
What Jesus accuses the Pharisees of is not bad Theology, or unbelief, but lack of hospitality. Hospitality is a mark of people who serve God down through the ages.
1 Peter 4:7-11
The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.
Verse 9, Offer hospitality to one another
As far as cultures go, Canadians have become relatively inhospitable people. Many new immigrants quickly learn that when we say, "you’ll have to come and visit sometime," we really don’t mean it! Pam and I became acutely aware of the difference in hospitality customs when we were in Sri Lanka and people would invite us over when we had just met - and they meant it! But we are told here to practice hospitality with one another.
Why Offer Hospitality?
1. It is Commanded - vs.9,
To all Christians
Ro 12:11-13; Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
To elders & pastors – in 1Ti 3:1-2, and Tit 1:8 Practicing Hospitality is one of the requirements for being a leader in the church
To widows - 1Ti 5:9-10 9
The widows list was a list of women eligible for help from the church – in order to receive help from the benevolent fund, you had to prove yourself hospitable!
Old Testament
Leviticus 19:33 " ’When an alien (stranger)lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. 34 The alien (stranger) living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
In the Old Testament, Hospitality was expected!
Travelers would arrive in the town square at the end of the day, and expect someone to invite them into their home. - would be pretty ticked if it didn’t happen - most likely still practiced in NT - Jesus told the 72 disciples to rely on the hospitality of others when he sent them out the first time.
It is an important command!
1 Peter 4:7 - The end of all things is near, therefore we should be about these things - thing God would have us do. - Important command!
2. It is an out-working of our Salvation
Verse 10 implies that we should let our hospitality be an extension or an overflow of God’s hospitality to us. “Be a good steward of God’s grace.“
God has taken us from being lost, and brought into his household as adopted children. We should at least be able to bring people into our household for lunch!
Romans 15:7 says “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.”
3. Added bonus of entertaining angels
- "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it." (Hebrews 13:2 NIV)
Gen. 18:1-8 - Story of the Lord coming to visit Abraham
Whether Abraham was aware that he was hosting the Lord or not, he still acted in hospitality. Because of this he received The promise of a son within the year, and he learned of the destruction of Sodom.
Jesus promises us that if we are hospitable to the least in society, then we are being hospitable to Him. (Matthew 25)
If we are commanded to be hospitable to one another, and there are so many benefits, why don’t we?
Hindrances to Hospitality
1. Hospitality takes work,
It does put you out; it draws you out of your self
Hospitality is a lot of work. It is often inconvenient. It can ruin your plans and invade your privacy. It may not even be enjoyable. It is something that we may tend to complain about having to do.
Guests always bring joy – some in the arriving, some in the leaving – Mark Twain?
Guests and fish start to smell after three days – Ben Franklin
Romans 12:13 said that we should "be constant" or persistent in our practice of hospitality. Hebrews says the same thing in a negative way: don’t neglect it. Evidently it is something that can easily fall into neglect.
2. "My House is too messy, and I have no time to keep it up".
Karen Burton Mains, author of Open Heart/Open Home,
- one morning decided to read a novel instead of doing the house work, of course a person from church stopped by - the place was a mess - dishes in the sink, toys every where, last night’s newspaper all over the floor.
As she went to the door she could hear her father’s voice, "Hospitality comes before pride" easy enough to say when your place is tidy. She swallowed her pride and let the person from church in. After they came in and got sat down her friend says "I used to think you were perfect, now I think we can be friends!"
At the end of that chapter she suggest that we should write down all the reasons that we do not practice hospitality, and then put a "P" right beside each one that is because of pride - good idea.
Distinction between entertaining and hospitality,
- entertaining people is showing off your house, and your cooking abilities to them,
- Hospitality is opening your house to them.
- - Entertaining really centers on self and begs compliments,
- hospitality centers on the other, and on God.
2. Busy-ness
My own experience speaks to this – my neighbours are always ready to lend a hand, but I find that if I see them working on something, I often have too much to do to go and lend a hand. It can be the same way with hospitality, it is hard to stop everything and have someone over.
You may have to schedule your hospitality – like Sunday lunch – hospitality should be a lifestyle, but it may need to start as a habit first.
3. "We barely have enough for ourselves, never mind others!"
1 Kings 17:8-16 - story of Elijah staying with widow during famine - they were just about to have their last meal together, and then die, God said feed this man! The flour never ran out, and neither did the oil as long as the famine lasted.
- If we follow God’s commands, he will provide enough.
4. Seeing our house as a sanctuary
“My house is the place where I get away from people, not where I have them in!” – Is there selfishness at the root of this attitude?
You may need to be hospitable outside the home.
This method of evangelism is called “Lighthouses of Prayer” and the vision is that every house that a Christian lives in throughout the city is a lighthouse of prayer – a place where the Christians are blessing their neighbours and praying for their needs. Ed Talked about how our neighbours can feel the blessings that we are sending their way. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if every lighthouse is also an open house of hospitality for the neighbourhood? – a place where neighbours know that they are always welcome?
All that said, the passage that we are basing this whole model on does not say to practice hospitality! It actually says to accept others hospitality. We have reapplied it to a situation where we are not necessarily the ones who are going – we are staying put and reaching out to those around us.
We are to offer hospitality – it is part of our faith, but we are not to be the person who can only give and never receive – we are also called to receive hospitality from our neighbours. Jesus puts his disciples in a situation where they depend completely on the hospitality of others! “Don’t take any money with you, nor a traveler’s bag, nor an extra pair of sandals.” We will not reach our neighbours if we come across as people who have it all and are in need of nothing. “The Voice” translation has Jesus send out the disciples “armed with vulnerability.”
More on that to come.
