Tag Archives: hospitality

LIVE FOR OTHERS

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LIVE FOR OTHERS

The end of all things is near, Therefore be alert and of sober mind 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 of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.   (1 Peter 4: 7-10)

Peter and Paul must have shared many hours together and many thoughts about their understanding of what the Christian journey was all about. Peter echoed Paul’s instructions about prayer which we have already studied in Col. 4. In fact, what he wrote is almost word-for-word Paul’s words.

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. (Col. 4: 2)

Prayer is a pivotal part of our lives as followers of Jesus. Prayer is the unique activity of a son. Jesus’s role on earth was to take us to the Father so that we can interact with Him as His sons and daughters. For what purpose? To get to know the Father, to listen to Him and to submit to His authority and His will. Our task is to reproduce Jesus on earth so that His will and purposes will overtake and replace the rebellious designs of mankind. We are here for Him, not Him for us. To listen to Him is our greatest privilege and responsibility and that happens, among other things, through prayer.

And for the rest, our lives are to be lived for others. Jesus came to earth both as a son and a servant. By serving people He served the Father. Strange as it may seem, a child’s primary responsibility is to learn submission and obedience and in so doing to serve his father. How else will the family unit be established? Unless God’s authority structures are followed, the unity He envisages in the family cannot happen.

The pattern for unity is the Godhead; each one serving the other for the mutual benefit of all. When unity is disturbed, the entire universe descends into chaos and disintegration. The way to establish and maintain unity is through mutual submission and loving service.

That brings me to another thought. Power in the kingdoms of men and in the kingdom of God are in direct opposition. In the world, power is exerted by one person over another. Power is about controlling other people for one’s own ends. If people do not reciprocate, the next step is force. Make them do what I want by whatever means works – intimidation, manipulation, domination. That is Satan’s way.

Power God’s way is through self-control. Part of the miracle of the new birth is the infusion of God’s nature into the believer. He has given us His nature – mirrored in Jesus so that real power begins to operate when we respond as Jesus did to sin. Jesus showed us how it is done. Submission to the Father motivated Him to take everything that was thrown at Him without retaliating. By not participating in the sin of those who crucified Him (and that includes you and me), Jesus put an end to it right there, in His body, when they nailed Him to the cross.

Our way is to react, retaliate, take revenge or allow our anger and hatred to fester inside. Sooner or later, we will take it out on someone close to us, and so the sin of others is perpetuated in us and through us. The good news is that God is the just judge. We can leave it to Him to fight for us. How much better to let it go when we have been wronged, knowing full well that we can, like Jesus, entrust ourselves to Him who judges justly (1 Peter. 2: 23)

So, Peter said, instead of spending your time fighting your own cause, let God do it for you. It is better to spend your time serving others because, in this way you’ll be spreading goodwill around you instead of fomenting hatred and bitterness. This is the way of the kingdom. By serving others, we confirm our relationship to God as His children. We resemble Jesus, our elder brother, by acting the way He did and we, in the end, earn the right to have authority in God’s kingdom.

By investing our time and abilities in the wellbeing of others, at our own expense, we will grow in the likeness of God, whose nature is in us, and we will put to death the old selfish nature that leads to death.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

The Gospel Makes the Difference

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THE GOSPEL MAKES THE DIFFERENCE

Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering (Heb. 13:1-3).

As Jewish people, these readers were required to be kind to strangers. They were to treat the foreigners among them with generosity because they had been aliens many times in the course of their history. Abraham was an alien in the land of Canaan; Jacob and his family were aliens in Egypt; the Israelites were foreigners in Babylon. They, in turn had opportunity to show kindness to those who were not of them because it was the right thing to do.

God even made provision for foreigners within their economic system. After every harvest, they were to give the firstfuits to God, and bring a tithe of the remainder to the temple where it was stored and distributed to the priests and Levites to support them and their families. They also set aside another tenth to celebrate God’s goodness with their families. Every third year they brought their “family” tithe to the temple to be given the poor, the widow, the orphan and the alien because these people had no inheritance of their own and no one to support them.

In all their dealings with people – family, fellow Israelites or foreigners – they were required to treat people with mercy and compassion. This was Jesus’s issue with the Pharisees and religious leaders. They were such sticklers for the law as they interpreted it, that they ignored the spirit of the law which was mercy. This was the difference between Jesus’s interpretation of Torah and the rest of the rabbis whom they followed.

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices – mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law – justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practised the latter without neglecting the former (Matt.23: 23).

The writer reminded his readers that taking care of strangers had a hidden blessing. They never knew if and when they had actually been generous to an angel.

Abraham had the unique opportunity of being host to God Himself. Three men came to his tent and he welcomed them and prepared a sumptuous meal for them, not knowing that one of them was God visiting him in human form, and that the other two were angels. What if Abraham had sent them on their way without showing kindness to them?

The angel of the Lord had a message for him that he had been longing to hear for twenty five years.

“I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son” (Gen. 18: 10).

God had promised the childless couple a son. God had promised Abraham offspring as numerous as the sand on the sea shore and the stars in the sky, but it did not happen. Was God having him on? Abraham had begged God for a son but twenty five years went by and no baby boy arrived. In any case the elderly couple was way beyond having kids. They knew the drill!

But God came when all hope was gone – a stranger materialising out of the summer heat to announce that it was time. What if Abraham has missed the cue?

“Suffer with those who suffer,” was the next instruction. Why? We should be grateful that we don’t have to face what some of our fellow believers are facing at the hands of religious barbarians who think they are pleasing their god by being murders. What kind of a god is that? But that is not enough. Our writers says, “Don’t forget them. Identify with them.” We can’t physically be with them and suffer alongside them but we can pour our energies into praying for them. What will that do?

Aside from God supplying grace to them in their time of need, being aware of their suffering will not only soften our hearts towards those in need, but also towards their persecutors. Have you thought about that? Are we to hate them? No! Jesus did not hate those who crucified Him. He prayed for them. They were in line for God’s judgment. Jesus said that we are not to fear those who can only kill our bodies. We are to fear God who has the power to throw both bodies and souls into hell.

When we think of the terrible consequences of their actions, our hearts should go out to God in prayer for His mercy to be revealed to them. “Father, forgive them. They do not know what they are doing.

It’s the power of the gospel that transforms us from revenge to forgiveness and from hatred to compassion.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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