Building a Resilient Church Culture: Part 5 - Sacrificial Hospitality

I invite you to take your copy of God's Word and join me in John chapter 13.

John 13 · chapter mention

!

I've made this case in a broadest of sense in an introduction.

We've talked about it in brief each week leading up to now.

For the sake of time, I'm trying not to repeat myself over and over again.

But your elders think that we are already living in the midst of a time of soft totalitarianism,

a culture that expresses us to get on board with its directives, its truths,

and that it's going to find us increasingly uncomfortable living in the days in which we live,

particularly concerning issues of sexuality, gender, gender roles, etc.

I think you know what I'm talking about,

and this won't be the only assault against the church in the coming years.

If you are new to this study, I think you'll be well served going back and listening to the recordings of it.

Those should be available on our website.

We're glad to have you catch up to where we are in our thinking together.

But each week I've begun with three prerequisite statements.

I think that they need to be repeated.

Once again, as I've already stated, sermon series are not our normal practice.

We typically preach verse-by-verse expositional sermons.

This means that we take, for the main point or points of the sermon,

the main point or points of the text.

And it helps us to avoid error, to just walk through a text together.

I think men who are being really honest with themselves know that they're given to error.

It's altogether possible to come up with ideas and be thinking off in a direction that's not biblical.

And so it's good for us just to walk through the text together.

So that's what we do as a general habit, as a health for the church.

But from time to time, it's helpful to think about something topically,

to have some thoughts and to look to the scripture for it.

But it's altogether possible to read what we want to into a text.

And so I just want to caution you.

Anytime you're hearing topical preaching,

anytime you're hearing preaching at all, be discerning,

but especially when you're hearing topical preaching.

Secondly, I'm not trying to be an alarmist,

but we do think that there's some work to be done here.

Back when we originally preached just a single sermon on this,

it actually felt a little alarmist at that time,

and much less so now, just a few months later.

But we love you.

We want your good.

We want the glory of God in our church.

And so we believe this is important for us to be doing this work of thinking about these things together.

And then lastly, the week that we're able to spend on this,

frankly, the amount of time I'm comfortable spending to topical preaching,

is not nearly enough.

And so we need to be talking about this,

pressing at each other's thinking,

working on it together,

ask questions,

go to the Word.

This is not the last time we need to hear this

and be exhorted in these directions.

So how do we build a resilient church culture?

We've covered a number of things.

We've said that it's going to be a work.

We're going to have to be the secondary means

in God's primary work in our lives.

We're going to have to be a strong church.

We're going to have to stand against the tide of soft totalitarianism.

It's going to be destruction.

It's going to have to be ingrained in who we are.

We've already talked about our need to define and hold

to the clear mission of the church.

The church's mission is to make disciples

and then as members of the church to be disciples

in the places that God sends us.

And we've talked about our need to do robust theology,

knowing what God has commanded and what He has promised,

and carefully doing the work of theological triage

in order to maintain unity in the church,

for the sake of standing firm and unified

on matters of first importance.

I think the enemy would do a good work,

and I mean that from his perspective in the church,

to get us highly distracted from matters of first importance,

that we would turn and devour one another.

Last week we considered our need to know accurate histories

so that we will have knowledge of how we arrived at where we are,

and especially how God orchestrated that arrival.

And today we are going to consider the church's need

to practice sacrificial hospitality.

I have not said to this date in our study,

but I want you all to know

that these five things that your elders believe

that we need to be working on are not foreign to you.

We've already been working on these things

because they are entirely biblical things.

And isn't it wonderful when you submit yourself to God's Word

how He will work out the details?

We don't have to come with some brilliant sociological perspective

and be extremely aware of all of the things going on around us

to just pick up the Word

and do the things that the Word has commanded us to do.

And so I'm grateful for that,

that we've already been about these kinds of things.

But we do think we'll have to do them all the more.

The particular activity of sacrificial hospitality,

broadly speaking, you all excel at.

And so don't hear this as a rebuke of any kind,

but as an encouragement to press on.

Keep loving one another sacrificially.

So the word hospitality,

and I do promise we're getting to our text,

but there's a lot of setup here.

The word hospitality in the English Standard Version

translation of the New Testament

appears four times in the noun form, hospitality,

and two times in the adjective form, hospitable.

In Romans 12, 13, we are told to seek to show hospitality.

And in Hebrews 13 and verse 2,

the author of Hebrews exhorts us to not neglect

to show hospitality to strangers,

for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

I'm thankful that ESV left the word unawares in there for us.

Likely, the author of Hebrews is referring to Abraham's hospitality in Genesis 18

and Lot's hospitality in Genesis 19,

both instances where angels were unknowingly hosted,

or they were hosted unawares,

and as we'll see later, of great importance,

their feet were washed as part of that hospitality.

One of the prerequisites to enroll a widow in the care of the church

recorded in 1 Timothy chapter 5 and verse 10

1 Timothy 5 · chapter mention

is that she has shown hospitality

and has washed the feet of the saints.

And in 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 9,

1 Peter 4:9

we are instructed to show hospitality to one another

without grumbling.

So a heartfelt, unbegrudging display of hospitality.

Then in 1 Timothy 3.2 and Titus 1.8,

Paul states that a character requirement for an elder

is that he is hospitable,

gives leadership in this kind of welcoming.

Hospitality in the Greek literally means friendship to the stranger.

It's a compound word and it means friendship to the stranger.

Hospitality seeks to welcome in those who may not feel welcome otherwise

and give them a sense of belonging.

And I say that our hospitality will need to be sacrificial

because sometimes loving people in this way will be easy.

You may find that you easily connect with someone,

you may have similar likes and dislikes or just easily get along.

But often loving people in this way will be hard.

It requires sacrifice on your part.

It's not always so easy to get along with people

and to show them love.

As a very minor example of this,

and please hear this as a minor example,

Clay Naylor is one of my best friends.

And when we first met, we had very little in common.

It's been growing, I think, as I've become more manly.

But when I first met Clay, I didn't hunt.

I rock climbed and whitewater paddled.

And Clay was a hunter to the core.

Drove a big Chevy truck with pipes.

I was uninterested in things like that.

He wore big belt buckles.

I think he's still got some big belt buckles.

I think he's wearing cowboy boots this morning.

I've never owned a pair of cowboy boots.

But we had the Lord Jesus in common, right?

And that was enough to unite us together.

And of course, we've become really dear friends across much time.

We're going to have to be able to give of ourselves

for the sake of others in a hospitable way.

So let's look at our Lord's example to make this point further.

It's John chapter 13.

John 13 · chapter mention

I'll begin reading in verse 1, and I'll read through verse 17.

Before I read, let me remind you, beloved,

that this is God's word to us,

written for his glory and our good.

And so we would do well to listen to it

in order to believe its promises and obey its commands.

Now, before the feast of the Passover,

when Jesus knew that his hour had come

to depart out of this world to the Father,

having loved his own who were in the world,

he loved them to the end.

And I want to read that to you again.

That last little phrase has struck me again and again this week.

Now, before the feast of the Passover,

this is his last meal with his disciples,

when Jesus knew that his hour had come

to depart out of this world to the Father,

having loved his own who were in the world,

he loved them to the end.

Gave of himself all the way to the point of death.

What a precious phrase that is.

He loved them to the end.

During supper,

when the devil had already put into the heart

of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him,

Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands

and that he had come from God and was going back to God,

rose from supper.

He laid aside his outer garments

and taking a towel, tied it around his waist.

Then he poured water into a basin

and began to wash the disciples' feet

and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him,

Lord, do you wash my feet?

Jesus answered him,

What I am doing you do not understand now,

but afterward you will understand.

Peter said to him,

You shall never wash my feet.

Jesus answered him,

If I do not wash you,

you have no share with me.

Simon Peter said to him,

Lord, not my feet only,

but also my hands and my head.

Jesus said to him,

The one who has bathed does not need to wash

except for his feet,

but is completely clean.

And you are clean,

but not every one of you.

So he takes a metaphor that's both physical

and he makes it spiritual

and goes back to it being physical

and back to spiritual once again.

Verse 11,

For he knew who was to betray him.

That was why he said,

Not all of you are clean.

When he had washed their feet

and put on his outer garments

and resumed his place,

he said to them,

Do you understand what I have done to you?

You call me teacher and Lord,

and you are right,

for so I am.

If I then, your Lord and teacher,

have washed your feet,

you also ought to wash one another's feet.

For I have given you an example

that you also should do

just as I have done to you.

Truly, truly, I say to you,

a servant is not greater than his master,

nor is a messenger greater

than the one who sent him.

If you know these things,

blessed are you if you do them.

This is just an astounding text, right?

What an amazing picture

on this last night before

the suffering crucifixion

of our Lord and Savior,

Jesus Christ.

Jesus washed their feet.

It's our first observation from this text.

Jesus washed their feet.

This was a job that was reserved

for the very lowliest of servant.

In this day, people wore sandals,

I think you know,

and it was a dusty and dry place.

And probably in our day,

we're more aware of what sandal wearing

does to feet

than maybe in some decades past.

If you wear sandals,

your feet get sweaty,

and dirt sticks to your feet,

and it gets more sweaty,

and you end up with kind of a

smelly paste on your feet.

And so people would come,

washed,

to somebody's home for dinner,

and the way they were welcomed

into the home as a servant

would wash their feet,

get them totally clean.

They reclined at table,

and feet were more prominent

in the eating of meals

in this day

because of the way

that they reclined

at table.

So Jesus makes himself

the lowliest

of the household

to set an example for them.

Now note,

they are already reclining at table.

Their feet have already been washed.

They didn't have the actual need

to be washed at this point.

So he's doing it figuratively

to show us

what must be done,

the way in which

we ought to serve

one another.

It takes great humility

to serve other people

in this way.

I don't think we're meant today

to literally wash people's feet.

Perhaps they need that,

and maybe that was a way

that you could serve them.

But more regularly,

in other ways,

will we serve others.

to recognize

that we are meant

to be servants

of all.

Jesus said in Matthew 20,

Matthew 20:25

verse 25 and following,

You know that the rulers

of the Gentiles

lord it over them,

and their great ones

exercise authority over them.

It shall not be so

among you.

But whoever will be great

among you

must be your servant,

and whoever will be

first among you

must be your slave,

even as the Son of Man

came not to be served,

but to serve

and to give his life

as a ransom for many.

The greatest,

the highest example

of Jesus' service to us

was that he gave

his very life for us.

But also don't miss

that he served, right?

Here he is,

washing the disciples' feet.

And so in the kingdom of God,

the first will be last,

and the last will be first.

And we live in an age

where dynamic

and big leadership

is very admired.

And the type of leadership

that Jesus seems

to be blessing here

is the type of leadership

that is meek,

and it is humble,

and it is service-oriented.

Notice secondly from the text,

Jesus did not only

wash the feet

of those who loved him.

Notice how John

sets the text up

in verse 2.

He says,

to start this whole episode,

during supper,

when the devil

had already put it

into the heart

of Judas Iscariot,

Simon's son,

to betray him.

He wants it to be clear to us,

the intention of

Judas' heart,

which Jesus would have been

aware of,

and we see some further

evidence of that

in the text

as the chapter goes on.

He knew full well

what Judas was going to do,

and yet,

I believe,

he washes Judas' feet.

Verse 12 says,

when he had washed

their feet.

There's no reason to think

that he excluded him

from this act of love

and of service.

We are so apt

to only serve others

when they receive it well,

give us the acclaim

that we want,

right?

When it makes us feel good

to serve,

rather than us doing so

sacrificially

for their good,

not necessarily for ours.

But Jesus did not only

wash the feet

of those

who loved him.

Third observation,

Jesus washed their feet

to set for us

an example.

Let's not miss

verse 15.

He says,

I did this

so that you

would do it

for one another,

so that you would

serve others

in this way.

And I think

it's off of

texts like

Genesis

that's being referred to

in Hebrews 13,

Hebrews 13:2

verse 2,

Genesis

Genesis 18 · chapter mention

chapters 18 and 19,

or 1 Timothy 5,

10,

that this kind of service

was meant to be a thing

that we are to be doing

for one another.

We do this

and we're motivated

to do this

out of the hospitality

we've been shown

by God

in Christ.

All of us

wants cast off,

all of us

wants not welcome

because of our sin,

but in Christ,

God has welcomed us.

then He gives to us

this same work

to be done.

Paul wrote

in 2 Corinthians 5,

beginning in verse 14,

the love of Christ

controls us

because we have

concluded this,

that one has died

for all,

therefore all have died.

And He died for all

that those who live

might no longer

live for themselves,

but for Him

who for their sake

died

and was raised.

From now on,

therefore,

we regard no one

according to the flesh.

Even though we once

regarded Christ

according to the flesh,

we regard Him thus

no longer.

Therefore,

if anyone is in Christ,

he is a new creation.

The old has passed away,

behold,

the new

has come.

All this is from God

who through Christ

reconciled us

to Himself

and gave us

the ministry

of reconciliation.

That is,

in Christ,

God was reconciling

the world to Himself,

not counting their

trespasses against them

and entrusting to us

the message

of reconciliation.

Because we've been

welcomed by God

in Christ,

reconciled to Him

because of the death

and life

of Jesus,

we've been given

this same message.

Therefore,

we are ambassadors

for Christ,

God making His appeal

through us.

Ambassadors

sent into the world

to declare a message

from our King.

We implore you

on behalf of Christ,

this is the message,

on behalf of Christ,

be reconciled

to God.

For our sake,

He made Him

to be sin

who knew no sin

so that in Him

we might become

the righteousness

of God.

If the church

is going to stand

against

the rising tide

of soft totalitarianism,

it will be true

as we spoke about

in the clear mission

of the church

that the church

will advance

against the gates

of hell.

But the question is,

will this church

advance

against the gates

of hell?

If we will,

as a secondary means,

we'll have to be

sacrificially

hospitable.

We're going to have

to involve

ourselves

in each other's lives

in a way

that displays

the love of Christ.

Again,

John chapter 13,

John 13 · chapter mention

Jesus says,

they will know

you are my disciples

by

your theology,

the way you come

and sing,

the times you gather,

the times you don't gather.

How will they know?

By your love

for one another.

To be a compelling

community together

because we love each other

and we show each other

this kind of hospitality

will be something

beautiful

for those

Christ is calling

to Himself.

and we will also

have to display

this kind of

sacrificial hospitality

for those

outside the faith,

welcoming them in

that we might

share this good news,

that we might

herald

the gospel,

this ministry

of reconciliation,

that we might get them

to sit long enough

to see displayed

before them

the love

of Christ,

that they might hear

and believe

the gospel.

And a book

that I would commend

to you entitled

The Gospel Comes

with a House Key

by Rosaria Butterfield.

She wrote this,

radically

ordinary

hospitality,

I'm using the term

sacrificial instead,

radically ordinary

hospitality

characterizes

those who don't

fuss over

different world views

represented

at the dinner table.

The truly hospitable

aren't embarrassed

to keep friendships

with people

who are different.

and she goes on

to make the case

that these friendships

are formed

for the sake

of gospel

reconciliation,

right?

Not just for the friendship,

but to share

the good news

with people

who are dying

without

this gospel

of reconciliation.

So practically,

this is going to take

different forms

to exercise

hospitality,

right?

We're going to have

to be hospitable

in our public

gathering together,

so come to our

public gatherings

to serve

and not to be

served.

So much conversation

about the church

is what does it do

for me?

We've all heard

the phrase,

I just wasn't getting

anything out of it.

We ought to be

asking the question,

how can I be

a blessing

to others?

I would suggest

to you that if you

come to the public

gathering of the church

with that question

in mind,

how might the Lord

use me this morning?

How might I bless

others?

How might I show

sacrificial hospitality

to others

that in the process

you will also be

blessed,

served?

Romans 12.10,

Paul says,

love one another

with brotherly

affection.

Outdo

one another

in showing

honor.

Can you imagine

a church of people

and again you do

this in great measure

but can you imagine

if every one of us

was seeking to

out honor

the other?

We're always going,

no, no, no,

I got it.

No, no,

let me jump in.

No, no,

I'll take the lesser

position.

You take the greater

position.

Let me serve you

again and again

and again

and again.

That would be a

compelling community

of Christians,

would it not?

a group of people

who love each

other in

this way.

Come to our

public gatherings

to serve,

not to be served.

I think you'll

find yourself

being served

in the process.

Open up your

home

and spend

your resources.

Hospitality

will cost

something,

right?

It's expensive

to feed people,

especially as

prices

are rising.

But all

that you have

is the Lord's

and you are

meant to be

a steward

of it,

not selfish

with it.

I pray

for myself

and for all

of us

that we would

have the mind

of Paul

as he wrote

in 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

chapter 12

and verse 15

where he said,

I will most

gladly

spend

and be spent

for your souls.

I don't think

a single one

of us

on our deathbeds

or for the

eternity beyond

will wish

we just had

a little more

for ourselves.

Who wish

we just spent

more on us.

I think

that we will

regret

the things

we did

for ourselves

and we will

wish we had

been more

sacrificial

for the sake

of others.

Store up

treasure

in heaven,

right?

Give of

yourself

for the life

to come.

Charles Spurgeon

in a really

wonderful address.

This is the

quotation on your

bulletin

this week.

I love that this

quotation comes

in a fairly

strong and long

address where

he's talking

about the

insufficiency

of his preaching.

preaching.

And if you

know much

about Spurgeon

you'll know

that even

in his day

he was called

the prince

of preachers.

He knew

this about

himself.

People had

called him

the prince

of preachers.

So in this

address he

suggests to

people that

you could

correct the

errors of my

preaching if

you'll spend

time with

people and

you'll ask

them what

they thought

and answer

their questions

etc.

So it's on

the heels

of this that

he said

this.

Preaching

is important.

Public

evangelism and

exhortation is

important but

it's often our

kindness and

personal relationships

that helps people

cross the line

into faith.

Now Spurgeon

was a good

Calvinist.

He wrote a

little book

called The

Defense of

Calvinism where

he said

Calvinism is

the first

sentence in

the book.

Calvinism is

the gospel.

He believed

in first

order causes

but also in

the second

order causes

as well.

The Lord

uses preaching

and public

evangelism and

exhortation but

often what

Spurgeon is

saying he

uses our

kindness and

our personal

relationships to

help people

cross the

line into

faith.

So we see

in this text

Jesus giving

us this

example of

sacrificial

hospitality.

Helping

people,

welcoming them

in that they

might be

restored to

God.

And

fourthly,

Jesus gives

to us a

promise.

Verse 16

he says,

Truly,

truly,

I say to

you.

Anytime

there's that

repetition in

Jesus,

Jesus says

this again

and again

and again

throughout the

gospels,

truly,

truly,

he's saying

not only

truly but

really,

truly,

he's

emphasizing

it.

The only

time we

see a

triplicate

in the

entirety of

text is

holy,

holy,

holy,

right?

But here

Jesus will

go twice,

truly,

truly,

right?

This is an

axiom.

This is a

thing to

hang your

hat on.

I say

to you,

a servant

is not

greater than

his master

nor is

a messenger

greater than

the one

who sent

him,

right?

So if

you are

my

disciples,

right?

If you

know these

things,

blessed

are you

if you

do them,

right?

Set aside,

happy are

you if

you do

them.

And I

think that

Jesus means

both in

this life

and in

the life

to come,

that we

would give

of ourselves

for the

sake of

others to

the glory

of our

God.

We say

in our

house often,

the life

best lived

is lived

in service

to others,

right?

So to the

degree that

when my

boys are

acting

selfishly

toward one

another or

to their

parents or

to others,

I say,

boys,

the life

best lived

is,

and I

make them

fill in

the blank,

and they

know it

lived in

service to

others.

And they

often say

it begrudgingly,

but they

know at

least that

the life

best lived

is lived

in service

to others.

others.

I will

most gladly

spend and

be spent

for your

souls.

Let that

be true of

each and

every one

of us

toward each

and every

one of us.

Let's pray

together.