Leadership
Radical Hospitality (Part Three: The Provision of People)
This is Part 3 of the Spring Leadership Lesson Series: Radical Hospitality at National Community Church. As we lead our groups and ministries, we must strive to forcefully advance the Kingdom of God through strategic evangelism, exponential discipleship, and sacrificial service. Hospitality is on the front lines of such an advance.
Today, we will survey the Old Testament and New Testament to gain a greater understanding of what God’s people are required to provide in hospitality.
Last week, we ran through a few of the stories of hospitality in Scripture and if we look closely, we will notice common threads running through all of them. Today, we are going to dive back into those stories to dig out the role that we play in providing hospitality.
When I look at these stories, I see three things that we must be willing to enter into if we are to extend hospitality to others: the courage to enter uncertainty, the initiative to welcome the stranger, and the sacrificial investment of personal resources.
Enter Uncertainty
At NCC, we have a core value that “playing it safe is risky,” and that core value finds great expression within the practice of hospitality. In every single Biblical story, hospitality-givers embrace uncertainty.
When Rahab welcomed the Israelite spies into her home, she admitted that she was scared to death. “We are all afraid of you. Everyone is living in terror. (Joshua 2:9). When Ananias took Saul under his wing, he experienced fear for his life, as well: “But Lord,” exclaimed Ananias, “I’ve heard about the terrible things this man has done to the believers in Jerusalem!” (Acts 9:13)
The book Radical Hospitality proclaims, “When we speak of hospitality, we are proposing something scary and radical…Genuine hospitality is not cozy, and seldom makes you comfortable. It challenges, disturbs, unsettles, and leaves you feeling like someone is at the center of you existence on a major remodeling mission.”
To offer true hospitality, we must be willing to enter the realm of the unknown.
Welcome the Stranger
In Matthew 25:35, Jesus declared “I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” One of the key Greek words for hospitality, philoxenia, is built from two words: Phileo, meaning the love and affection between friends. And Xenos- meaning stranger.
Hospitality requires us to extend a hand of help and a heart of love to people who are not like us. Perhaps the differences lie in our ethnicity, our political persuasions, our economic status, or our religious beliefs.
The Good Samaritan certainly reached out to the stranger and redefined the image of “neighbor.” Rahab, Ananias, and others welcomed those who were strangers into their homes and hearts and took responsibility for them.
Throughout church history, it has been noted that offering care to strangers has been a distinguishing mark of the Christian faith. Could we be identified as Christians today because of our willingness to welcome the stranger?
Invest Your Resources
Finally, hospitality requires that we invest our resources. Abraham and Sarah provided food and shelter to the three strangers that came to their house. The widow of Zarephath gave Elijah the very last bit of her food. The Shunemite woman gave Elisha a room in her house. The Good Samaritan gave two days’ pay to care for the beaten Jew.
Our resources, whether they are time, finances, houses, material possession, do not belong to us; they belong to God. We are merely stewards or managers of God’s stuff. God has commanded us to “practice hospitality,” so certainly God desires that some of his stuff be invested in others.
Putting it Into Practice
Let’s bring this down to the NCC leader level.
How courageous are you to enter uncertainty? What uncertain relational situations are currently facing your ministry or group? How do you view them through the lens of Biblical hospitality?
How often do you initiate the welcoming of strangers? Do you have strangers in your small group or ministry? How can you personally welcome the stranger at weekend gatherings? How can you welcome the stranger into your small group?
How can you invest personal resources into extending hospitality?
Next week, we will look at the provision of God in hospitality.
About The Author: Heather Z. is the Pastor of Discipleship at National Community Church in Washington, DC.
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