Hospitality to One Another
Delivered on March 5, 2006
By
The Rev. Dr. W. Maynard Pittendreigh
Senior Pastor
Mpittendreigh@goodshepherdpc.org
1 Peter 4:7-10
7 The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.
8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.
10 Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.
(NIV)
One of the most important things we do as a church is to do what we did today – we installed and ordained elders.
Now the reason I say this is because these elders are our spiritual leaders.
You may have heard us refer to the Book of Order – that is part of the constitution of our church – it is the rule book for how to operate a Presbyterian Church. In that book, it details the duties of an elder.
The first is to come to worship services and to encourage others to be faithful in worship.
The next is to equip the people in the church for work in and beyond the congregation – notice they are not to do the work of the church. They are to LEAD us and help us to do our mission work.
The list goes on from there, and one of the things elders are supposed to lead and equip us to do is in sharing our faith.
Sharing our faith.
That’s not something we do very well.
In fact, many times we hear mention of the word “evangelism” as simply the “E-word,” as if it were some obscene word.
During this season of Lent, Dr. Dave and I will be preaching a series of sermons on the “E-word” – on evangelism.
We are in the Season of Lent.
We often think of Lent as a season in which to give something up. Have you ever heard that – people give up chocolate for Lent, or they give up television for Lent, or perhaps broccoli. It is a type of self-sacrifice as a way of spiritual discipline.
Dr. Dave and I want you to give up your silence for Lent.
We need to start speaking out for Christ. We need to feel comfortable with evangelism.
I know that is difficult, because evangelism means we have to go out there – into the world, and share the Good News of the Gospel. We have to gather up the courage to actually invite people to become Christians and to come to church.
And that is difficult, but I’m going to give you a secret about evangelism.
This is important, so you need to listen carefully.
When it comes to evangelism, the last thing you want to do is invite someone to come to church.
Now just in case you think you misunderstood me, I’ll say this again.
When it comes to evangelism, the last thing you want to do is invite someone to come to church.
It is like having a party at your home. The last thing you want to do is invite people to come to your party.
Now that is NOT to say you NEVER want to invite people to your party. However BEFORE you actually invite people, you have a long list of things to do – you have to decide the date of the party, the time, how many will come, what food will you serve, things like that. THEN you invite people.
When I say that when it comes to evangelism, the last thing you want to do is invite someone to come to church, I am NOT saying you NEVER invite people to come to church. What I am saying is that BEFORE we invite people, we have to prepare for the arrival of our guests.
Are we prepared for our guests?
Later during Lent, Dr. Dave and I will preach about how to intentionally and purposefully invite others to come to church, but today, I want to focus on how we prepare for the arrival of our guests.
One word – hospitality.
Do you regard yourselves as hospitable people? Are we a welcoming church?
The Book of Order is not the only place where we find the qualities of an elder. We find them listed in the Bible – even better than the Book of Order!
St. Paul wrote in his letter to Timothy a list of what an elder should be – “self-controlled, respectable, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome.” One of the characteristics is that an elders should have, according to the Bible, “hospitable.”
(1 Tim 3:1-7)
The elders need to have that quality, they need to lead us so that we have that quality.
And you know, it is not always easy to welcome people into our home.
They look different. They act different.
The young may have a hard time welcoming the elderly, and the elderly may have a hard time welcoming the young. But we are called to be hospitable to each other
Black or White. Asian or Hispanic. Good person or dirty rotten liar. Republican or Democrat. Gay or straight. Blue collar or white collar. Police officer or criminal. Each pair represents widely different people, and yet all are welcomed into Christ’s presence and WE need to welcome them as well.
You look at Christ in the Gospel and you see that he is always welcoming the person that many of his disciples would hesitate to even acknowledge –., let alone welcome. The disciples found such people hard to welcome not necessarily because those people were evil, but mostly because they were so different from the disciples.
Are you ready to show hospitality? To everyone?
Many years ago, I was sitting in a pulpit chair, behind the Lord’s Table, listening to a guest preacher. The guest preacher had just begun his sermon when he asked a rhetorical question. You know – one of those moments when a preacher asks a question knowing that no one is going to try to answer it.
Our guest preacher was not prepared for the fact that Andy had come to church that morning.
Andy was a homeless man who lived on the streets near the church. He was struggling with a lot of issues in his life, and had, in fact, been baptized and joined the church.
But even after finding Christ, Andy would often fall victim to his illness of alcoholism.
So when the guest preacher asked that rhetorical question, Andy stood up and shouted an answer.
His answer did not make any sense whatsoever, so the guest preacher did his best to get back on track.
By this time, Andy had gotten tired of the sermon and since he was already standing up anyway, decided it was a good time to walk out.
What happened next was unseen by most of the congregation, who were all facing the guest preacher. But I could see Andy from the pulpit chair where I was sitting. He walked to the exit and he suddenly stopped. I could almost read his mind as he considered what to do next. He could see a double doorway, and he was probably just sober enough to know that he was just drunk enough to be seeing double. So instead of picking one of the two doors, Andy aimed for the middle, thinking he would be safe.
However, there really were two doors. Andy hit the wall between the two doors and collapsed on the floor.
It was hard for that church to be hospitable and to welcome Andy. But they did. They received Andy as a member. They baptized Andy into Christ’s body. They fed him when he was hungry. They gave him shelter when he needed it.
Andy never did get better, and I lost track of Andy years ago.
But when the church welcomed Andy, they also welcomed his wife. Jean was also an alcoholic. She worked as a prostitute. She was in and out of jail. She began to attend the alcoholics anonymous group that met at the church. She became sober and stayed sober for long periods of time. She left prostitution and with the help of other ladies in the church, learned how to dress differently and how to apply for a job – and one day she got a job. It wasn’t much of a job, but it was better than prostitution.
While Andy never got better, Jean became whole. As Andy began to disappear into the streets, Jean left the streets and moved into an apartment. She stopped showing up at the church for free food and began serving food to cancer patients.
Neither Andy nor Jean were easy to welcome into the church. It would have been easy to say, “go take a bath, change clothes, and change your life while you’re at it, then come back and see us.”
But the church opened their doors and their hearts and showed hospitality.
And as it has always been with the church, some stay and some leave. Some are lost forever and others are found and salvaged. Andy disappeared but Jean found recovery.
And if it had not been for the hospitality of God’s people, both Andy and Jean would have been lost forever.
Are we showing hospitality to all people?
The love of God does not wait until you are perfect and worthy. The love of God is freely given and it is immediate.
We need to open our church home and be hospitable to whomever God brings in through those doors.
Even the ones who are not easy to welcome.
In fact, especially the ones who are not easy to welcome.
Very simply, this is how Jesus lived his life – he welcomed everyone into his fellowship.
In fact, more often than not, Jesus can be found with people many in his social setting would have rejected.
Others hated tax collectors. Jesus ate with them. Jesus called one of them to join his 12 disciples.
Others dispised women, treating them as less than human. Jesus treated them with respect and as equals in the fellowship of God.
And sinners? Think about how Jesus welcomed the man on the cross next to him on Good Friday – “Today you will be with me in paradise.”
And the sick? People avoided the sick out of fear, but there is Jesus, walking with the lepers and the blind and the lame.
Jesus lived a life of hospitality.
He welcomed everyone into his presence.
You don’t have to change your life before coming to Jesus – that comes afterward. That comes along the journey – but at the beginning there is the welcome. The hospitality. The gratitude that says, “Thank God you’ve come. We’ve been waiting for you. Welcome back into the family of God.”
Are you ready to welcome people into this house of God?
Copyright 2006, The Rev. Dr. Maynard Pittendreigh
All rights reserved.
Sermons are available online and can be found by visiting www.Pittendreigh.com
