Gospel Hospitality

For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of Lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.
Deuteronomy 10:17-19 ESV

Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Ephesians 2:11-13 ESV

Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Hebrews 13:1-2 ESV

Rev Dwight Yoo

As a church, we are not just a church in a city, but rather a church for the city. To be for it's prosperity, growth, and good.

This value will grow the church both in depth and breadth. It is hospitality. This is not just Martha Stewart. It is broader than that. Hospitality means showing love to strangers. But it is not a single action, it is a mindset. A hospitable person doesn't just care for friends and family; they also show kindness to strangers so they become friends and family. How important is this? It is one of the qualifications of a church elder.

It is easy to ignore strangers in a city church. How can we get to know everyone in this church with so many people? And all these people who come and go. It is hard to invest time and energy in people and have them leave in a couple of years.

So why? Why should we be hospitable? Because while we were strangers, God reached out to us. He gave us a home, His enemies. We were foreigners and God gave us a place in His city. We serve a hospitable God. So we must portray His values to the world.

Jesus became a stranger and sojourner in this world. He was marginalized and rejected so that we would not be rejected by God. The faith that saves will give us a heart of hospitality. We cannot be callous because it is at the heart of the gospel.

Christine Pohl, who wrote Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition (Eerdmans, 1999), tells us “Strangers are people without a place, disconnected from life-giving relationships and networks.”

We can help strangers both in the church and outside the church. There is a fundamental desire for connection. Our day and age is filled with broken families and relationships. People have to move for work and they end up disconnected.