The Gospel Comes with a House Key By Rosaria Butterfield – Chapters 2-4
Why is hospitality vital to our witness?
This goes back to last week and the scripture centered definition of hospitality. If I were to summarize my response, I would say that – Hospitality is Christ’s love for the world exercised through us. – This means that hospitality is not only vital to our witness, but it is one of the greatest tools we have in showing Christ to the world. If we don’t allow the Holy Spirit to use us to show others His love, to show them who He is, then how can we ever appeal to them to follow Him?
Why is our hospitality vital to this world that we live in now?
I would say that hospitality is vital to the world we live in now for the same reason that the love of Christ is vital to the world we live in now. Day after day, the news comes in, and day after day, we see a world that is slipping further and further away from what God designed. From human sexuality to racial injustice, to a political divide that results in the destruction of those who bear the image of God.
I am tempted to say that the world needs Christ now more than ever. But that isn’t exactly accurate. The world needs Christ just as much now as it did back in Genesis 3. However, what we do have is a world that is slipping farther and farther away. Without hospitality, that is, without you and me allowing the love of Christ to shine through us and into the world, the world will continue to slip further and further into the abyss.
In a world that, by and large, is not at all hospitable, it’s on us to show them the difference. That is the difference between a life with Christ and a life without him. Without hospitality, we are no different than the rest of the world.
What happens in biblical community?
I keep going back to Acts 2:42-47. This is the picture of biblical community. In biblical community, there is fellowship, and there is worship. In biblical community, there is hospitality. In biblical community, needs are met, and there is unity. In biblical community, God is glorified.