Reformed Baptist Church in O'Fallon, Missouri
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Obstacles to Hospitality

Sermon Transcript

The following is a lightly edited transcript generated from the audio; it may contain small errors.

Opening Prayer for Thrive

Good morning, how are you? I didn’t hear you. Good morning. You awake? Good. Let’s all stand. Do some jumping jacks. Just kidding. I would like you to stand. We need to pray for Thrive. Father, we thank You for the ministry of Thrive. We thank You for the hundreds and thousands of babies that have been rescued. We thank You, Lord, for the women and men that have come to know You personally through their ministry. Lord, they’re not only saving lives, but saving souls. We thank You that we, through our prayers and giving, our members’ involvement, that we are able to partner with them in this work. We pray that You’d guard and protect all of the staff and leadership and the volunteers. We pray that You’d make them strong, Lord, for their task. We pray that You would just fortify their minds and their hearts, Lord, to do the work day in and day out. Give them spiritual, emotional, and even physical strength for the task. We pray that You’d guard them from slander and attacks of the enemy. We pray that the work would not just continue, but would thrive, that it would prosper, that we would see more unborn rescued, we’d see more men and women come to know You through their ministry. And we pray this, Lord, that You would be glorified through their work. And we pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

Obstacle: Want or Lack

Be seated. Why don’t you open your Bibles to Luke 9? We’re going to start there, but we’re looking at a number of passages. Today, I wanted to conclude my comments on hospitality that we’ve been talking about for a few weeks. So I’m going to wrap up as our life groups wrap up the hospitality series. Luke 9, today I want to focus on some of the challenges to hospitality. I’m just going to look at a few. So the first part of my sermon is going to be fairly practical. And then I want to conclude with an exhortation to all of us.

So when you think about hospitality and you try to live it out, what you find is that you will encounter various obstacles. One of those obstacles is simply want or lack, if you will. And we see this in Luke 9. Luke 9 is one of the accounts of when Jesus fed the 5,000. It says in Luke 9 verse 12, “When the day began to wear away, the twelve came and said to Him, ‘Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding towns and country, and lodge and get provisions; for we are in a deserted place here.’ But He said to them,” He meaning Jesus, “‘You give them something to eat.’ And they said, ‘We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food for all these people.’” So here’s, I love this account, different versions in the Gospels, but what I love about this account is how true it is to humanity, you know what I mean? So the disciples encounter a problem and what do they want to do? They want to just push the problem away. [audio unclear] send the problem away by [audio unclear] embrace people, you’re going to dine with them, whether you go out with them, or whether you have them in your home. There is a financial cost involved. And many people see that as an obstacle or challenge that they can’t overcome. [audio unclear] “and two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude. So they all ate and were filled.” Not only did they eat, I’ll get a little bit, but they were filled. And this word filled means filled. Ever eat and then go, oh gosh, I ate too much? Ever do that? Ever have to loosen your belt one notch after you eat dinner? That’s what the word means. Filled to the full. So they were, and not only were they, twelve baskets of leftover fragments were taken up by them. So Jesus ate leftovers, right? There we go, He had leftovers. Take it with them on the trip. So the disciples see the need and the lack and so instead of calling upon the Lord to provide they wanted to just push the question away. You may feel like you’re financially strapped, many middle-class Americans do. The idea of going out after church on a regular basis and spending money or having people in their home spending money is a challenge to their financial situation. Well, we need to do what they did. We need to do what we have, to Jesus. Jesus can multiply whatever you give Him. And I can assure you this, that if you are sacrificing financially for His work, for His name, if you’re sacrificing for Jesus, He will multiply what you have. Only two amens? He will multiply because by giving it to others, you’re really giving it to Him. So He says, bring it to Me, He blesses it, and then it’s distributed. So yes, it can be financially challenging, but in addition to being responsible, if we consecrate them to the work of Jesus Christ, He will multiply what we have. He will see to it because He’s the one, as we learn from Him, He’s the one that is feeding them. He’s the one doing the multiplying.

Obstacle: Busyness

A second obstacle to hospitality is busyness. I don’t know about you guys, but when I try to get together with somebody, it’s like a month or two before the dates line up, you know? You know what I mean? Everybody is busy. And so a lot of times people don’t take the time to really spend and invest in other people’s lives because their lives are so full. They’ve got work, they’ve got children, they’ve got hobbies, they’ve got sports, they’ve got whatever they have going on and their lives are just full. In order to really exercise hospitality, we have to understand something really very simple, a fundamental perspective here. And that is hospitality by its very nature is spending time with people. You can’t say I’m too busy as if that’s an excuse because if you’re too busy to spend time with others, then you’re too busy. In other words, something about your life is out of whack. If you don’t have time to fellowship with your brothers and sisters in Christ, if you don’t have time to spend time with others outside the body in terms of reaching out to other people, then your life is too busy. And you’ve got to look at what I mean, too busy in a bad way. That there’s something out of whack. Maybe it’s too much TV, maybe it’s too much sports, maybe it’s too much whatever. God calls us to invest our lives into one another and to reach out to the other. [audio unclear] and that will be different for different people. So I can’t give you really individual advice. Other than to say that if you’re too busy, you need to take the time to figure out why you’re too busy. You really need to stop and say, why am I too busy to do this? And really take the time to evaluate your lifestyle and see where you’re really investing your time. Because you know what, there’s only one thing you cannot save and that’s time. You can save money, you can’t save time. It’s going to fly by. No matter how it’s used or misused, time marches on, right? We talk about time-saving devices, it’s a misnomer because you never save time. You only use it well or you use it poorly. So hospitality involves the investment of treasure, finances, if you will. It’s going to involve an investment of our time also. It is a sacrifice and that just needs to be acknowledged. That’s just part of what’s involved in this part of the Christian life.

Obstacle: Fear

Another challenge for some people is fear. And so, that’s a big obstacle to hospitality because people feel like they don’t have social skills. [audio unclear] they’re not familiar with maybe people of other cultures or maybe they have a fear of something like they don’t want to invite anybody over because they’re ashamed of maybe how their home looks. So there’s a lot that goes on in people’s minds. [audio unclear] How to Win Friends and Influence People. But until you actually step out and meet people and talk with people who are different from you, talk to people you don’t know, until you do it, you’ll never conquer the fear. Because it’s only in doing it that you gain the skill to do it. How many of you can ride a bike? Dave Wilson, you can’t ride a bike. I know you got a bad knee, but I mean, you know how to ride a bike, right? How many of you learned how to ride a bike reading a book? Nobody. You learned how to ride the bike because you got on the bike and I bet you probably fell over a couple times, right? Some of you probably have epic stories about bicycle crashes when you’re learning how to ride a bike. Well that’s because that’s the only way to learn how to ride a bike. Same way with swimming and other things. I mean if you’re going to swim you actually have to get in the water, right? So, you know, trying to engage in hospitality without being willing to step out and talk with people is like trying to swim without getting wet. You can’t do it, right? [audio unclear] all you have to do, simply start doing it. Because in the doing, you learn the skills, if you will, that are necessary.

Obstacles: Selfishness and Partiality

Another challenge is, and this is a much more serious one, that is selfishness. The truth of the matter is some people really don’t care about other people. I mean, that’s just the truth of the matter. They’re focused on themselves. Maybe they’re focused on their family, and outside of that their interests don’t extend much further than that. Okay. As I’ve said many times they love humanity, they just don’t love their neighbor. And of course the problem of lack of love is a heart problem. It’s not a practical problem, it’s a heart problem.

Another obstacle or challenge is partiality. Partiality is similar, but it’s a little different. This is the big problem in the book of James. If you want to turn there in chapter 2. We’ll see this problem. [audio unclear] “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble.” Expression of hospitality, right? So here, hospitality is a test of the genuineness of someone’s profession of faith. “For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, ‘You sit here in a good place,’ and say to the poor man, ‘You stand there,’ or, ‘Sit here at my footstool,’ have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?” So here they were being nice and hospitable, but only to certain classes of people. And in this case it was an economic class. There are different ways that we can divide people up in our minds, right? Some people are extremely friendly to people that they already consider their friends, but they basically ignore everybody else. To be friendly to your friends is great. But when we talk about hospitality, as I pointed out many times, the root word really means a concern about the other. It’s the people that aren’t your friends. It’s the people you don’t know. So by its very nature, hospitality means a widening of that circle. A widening of the people that you show concern for. In this case, I would say, probably [audio unclear] not just a lack of love, but I think it’s rooted in pride. It’s wanting to identify with the cool people, the powerful people, the rich people. But who did Jesus identify with when He came? The poor and the stranger, right? And here in James, James even says that in verse 5, relating to the truth. He says, “Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom?” [audio unclear] they’re actually working at odds with God. I mean, that’s an amazing thing when you think about it. The way they were seeing things was contrary to the mind of God. And yet they thought they were fine. Scary thought, right?

The Goal: Conformed to the Image of Christ

So let me conclude with a general exhortation. The importance of hospitality, it does not really lie in its blessings, although there are many blessings to it. Rather, it really lies in the reflection of Jesus Christ in us. [audio unclear] is the goal of salvation. Jesus is the real goal. Look at Romans chapter 8. This is a well-known passage, Romans 8, it’s quoted often, or at least part of it is. In Romans chapter 8, Paul is really reaching the climax of the gospel here. And he says in Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” And then we, this is the verse you see on the plaques everywhere, right? But it stops there. But there’s more. “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.” [audio unclear] Jesus Christ. So the Father looks at the Son and says, I’m going to make many like You. Many like You. And so God then saves many out of this fallen mass of humanity. And God’s goal in their salvation isn’t just their happiness or just their comfort or just their forgiveness, although all of these things are part of salvation. There are many, many, many blessings, amen? But the ultimate goal is that those who are redeemed actually reflect the image of Jesus Christ in their moral character. So that when the Father looks at you, He might be able to say, I see My Son. I see My Son. I see My Son when He looks at us. That’s why God saved us. There would be many who reflected the moral excellency of Jesus Christ, conformed to His image. [audio unclear] Well, I want you to see—go to 1 John. 1 John. 1 John chapter 2 verse 6. “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” Wow. If we say we know Him, we are called to live as Jesus lived. We are called to walk as Jesus walked. Was Jesus hospitable? Of course He was. Did not Jesus seek out the stranger? Of course He did. Did not Jesus feed the hungry? Of course He did. Did not Jesus welcome all who came to Him? Of course He did. Well, we are called to be like Him. And this is God’s goal in our life. This is what God is trying to do. What God is trying to work in us is a transformation in which we reflect Jesus Christ.

Jesus Is Our Model

Secondly, Jesus therefore is our model. He is the model of the Christian, this follows from the first point. Our standard of measurement of Christian living is not American evangelicalism. The standard of measurement is not your pastor. No, nothing and no one but Jesus Christ. And by Jesus, I mean the Jesus of the Bible. Okay, not the hippie Jesus, not the revolutionary Jesus, not the liberation Jesus, not the Starbucks Jesus, not the prosperity Jesus, but the Jesus of the Bible. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 11, he gives us this very sobering warning. He says this. 2 Corinthians 11:1, “Oh, that you would bear with me in a little folly—and indeed you do bear with me. For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ,” or from simple devotion to Jesus. “For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received,” meaning from us, “or a different gospel which you have not accepted”—from us—“you may well put up with it.” So here and there, even in the early church, there were different versions of Jesus being preached. Some of them false and only one of them true. There’s only one Jesus. And Paul says, I’m jealous for you, I fear for you that you’re being deceived. And he says, this is the work of false teachers and false prophets, false apostles. Verse 13 of the same chapter, “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.” Not God-transformed, making themselves, appointing themselves. “And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness.” [audio unclear] and an evil—the same at all times and in all places. That is the Jesus we are being conformed to, the true Jesus. If [audio unclear] even from the church, sadly, we now have so many different Jesuses. We have the gay Jesus and the trans Jesus and we have all kinds of new Jesuses out there. And it’s kind of like you can just pick your Jesus. Whatever Jesus suits—pick your Jesus. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Not I am a way. Not I am many ways, I am many truths and many lives. “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” There’s only one Jesus, my friend. And He, the true Jesus of the Bible, is our model. And if we would know this Jesus, then we must be students of the Scriptures. Students, students, read it, meditate, ponder, pray over it repeatedly. It takes years and years to be conformed to the image of Jesus and really the process is never finished, never. It’s a lifelong rebuilding project in your life and in your heart.

Jesus Is Our Power

Third point, Jesus Christ is not only our model, but He is our power for the Christian life. To be like Him, we must know Him. To be conformed, we must commune. Did you hear me? Did you really hear me? I’m not sure. The kind of work that God wants to do in the soul is so profound that only God can do it. We can do things on the edges. We can quit this bad habit and we can maybe take up that. We can quit eating. Okay, I’m going to quit eating donuts. That’s awesome. I’m going to go to the gym two times a week. That’s awesome. We can do all kinds of things, but you can’t change your heart. Only God can do this. You can’t make yourself like Jesus Christ. Only God can do this. Now you can fight it, you can resist it, you can put yourself in a place where you’re going with God, but ultimately it’s a spiritual work in the soul that only God can do. Only He can do it. And the Christian life for too many is a life in which people are attempting to save themselves. You hear me? They’re really trying to save themselves. They’re trying to be like Jesus without the power of Jesus. It is a recipe for depression. It is a recipe for depression. It is a recipe for apostasy. And this is why so many young people who have been raised in a Christian home, how Christian, well who knows, but the point is raised in a Christian church, so many of them walk away from the faith, because their perception of Christianity is that it’s simply external conformity, that it means being good. And they’ve never actually met Jesus Christ. They don’t know Jesus. So are they rejecting Christianity? Well, in a way, I mean they’re rejecting maybe the Christian doctrine or the Christian moral scheme, but they’re rejecting, apparently they’re rejecting a Jesus that they never really knew. And yet many, so many leave the faith, they leave the faith, having never really known to walk with Jesus Christ. But even for many who stay in the faith, their lives are basically like reading a 19th-century novel that you just weep at all the way through. Because your life is just one depressing tale after another. Their life is just defeat after defeat, struggle after struggle. And they have no power. They have no victory because they have no Jesus.

If you claim to be a Christian you are saying that God saves you. Now if you think God doesn’t, if you think you’re saved by works then you’re not a Christian. You’re just not, sorry I don’t mean to offend anybody. The gospel is that God saves us by His grace and we receive it through faith. It is not of works, lest anyone should boast. By His mercy He saved us, not by works of righteousness which we have done, right? Because we’re all guilty before God. None of us can save ourselves. God is the one who justifies us and saves us and forgives us in His Son Jesus Christ. It’s all a gift. It’s a gift to be received. We don’t save ourselves. And yet many of us profess that and then come into the kingdom and then we immediately try to save ourselves for the rest of our lives. So we say, yeah, no, you’re saved by grace. You’re going to heaven by grace. But in the meantime, they live by works. In other words, they’re trying to be like Jesus rather than allowing Jesus to transform them and to change them and to remake them. Instead of communing with Jesus Christ through prayer and meditation and the Word, they don’t know Christ, and so they’re not like Him. You can imitate religiosity, but you can’t imitate Jesus. His life is way too beyond that, right? We can fake a certain kind of superficial Christianity, but you can’t really fake knowing Jesus. Because the life that Jesus gives is a life that changes and transforms into supernatural life. It’s a life of spiritual power and victory. It’s not a life of constant defeat, of anxiety, of worry, of pessimism, of skepticism, of criticism. That is not the Christian life. That is not Jesus. Jesus came to give life and to give it abundantly. Amen. So Jesus isn’t just a model that we strive for. He’s a person that is alive now. Jesus Christ rose from the dead. He is alive today. He lives today and if you’re a Christian, He dwells in your heart today. He gives you victory today. He changes you today. He’s the same yesterday and today and forever, amen. Jesus is alive and it is to be embraced and believed and walked out on a daily basis in our lives.

We need to realize that many aspects of the Christian life, whether it’s hospitality or other things, are really simply different facets of this diamond that God is fashioning in our lives. It’s just another facet that’s supposed to reflect the character of Jesus, right? I can give you a long series on evangelism, and guess what, I’d give the same conclusion. Oh, it’s evangelism, but the heart of Jesus beating in us for the lost, right? You don’t care about lost people. And that’s the truth, and I don’t either. But if I’m in communion with Jesus, I do. Then I do. But it’s true of every facet of the Christian life. The Christian life is simply that. It is the Christ’s life in us. It is Christ being, us being transformed and conformed to the image of Jesus expressing itself in different aspects of our life. And hospitality is just one of them. That’s why it’s important. Okay? But again, we can mimic it. We can have people over every now and then and say, I’m hospitable, but not truly have the heart of Jesus for others. So what we need to truly be a people that cares for the other, whether that’s a stranger in your own local church or a stranger on the street or a stranger on the other side of the globe, is that we need to have a vital living relationship with Jesus Christ. And that will work its way out in our concern for others. Amen.

Let’s stand together and pray. Lord Jesus we thank You that we are called to be conformed to Your image. You are, as the old worship song says, You are beautiful beyond description. Nothing can compare to You. No one can compare to You and Your moral excellence and virtue, Your humility, Your kindness, Your grace, but also Your courage, Your boldness. Lord, You are the perfect man as well as the perfect God. And we thank You, Lord, that You redeemed us by Your blood and You’ve risen from the dead that You might purify us a people, a unique people, a people zealous of good works, a people who are being conformed to Your very image. Jesus, we pray that we would truly allow You to do Your work, that we would not resist the transformation that You are working in our lives, that we would partner with You, that we would submit to You in the work of Your Spirit in our hearts to make us like You. Lord, we thank You that You are such a gracious Savior. [audio unclear] themselves on. You see these things for what they are, that they are a mask. They are a mask attempting to hide fallenness. But You see it all. And yet, in spite of our attempts to hide, You came and died for us and arose from the dead. We thank You that You live now, and if we will simply submit to You in faith, You will live in our hearts and make us like You. That is our prayer today, Lord, make us like You. And we pray this not for ourselves, but that You would be glorified in the world because the world needs You, Jesus. We pray these things in Your name, amen.