The first step to start practicing hospitality biblically is to change your mindset. Rather than thinking of hospitality as a noun, an event, a specific party, think of hospitality as a verb. The Apostle Paul in Romans 12:13 uses a hunting word: “pursue” hospitality. Chase hospitality down. Run after hospitality. Take aim and diligently follow hospitality.

Last week, we took some time to define Biblical hospitality. We looked at the Biblical definition of hospitality and how Christians should understand hospitality biblically. Today, we are going to continue our discussion by focusing on the command and opportunities we have to pursue hospitality. Our culture has perfected the consumer good of hospitality. A western definition of hospitality is very much observable in the hotel and service industry. Hospitality can seemingly be purchased with a 5 star hotel with room service, comfortable beds, free robs and a gorgeous view. Thankfully, the Bible has much to say regarding what hospitality is in practice for the individual and wider Christian community. Let’s start by looking at 1 Peter chapter 4.

8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 11 If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 4:8-11)

Who?

Hospitality today is often delegated as something that women do. It is often conceptualized as a noun. A thing that only certain people should do because they are good or gifted at it. That is not how the Bible speaks about hospitality. Hospitality is not a gift some of us have, it is a command for all of God’s People. Notice how Peter is speaking broadly in verse 8 about love? Then later on in verse 9 connects love to hospitality. If hospitality is NOT a command for the whole Christian community, then neither is love. That would certainly be contradictory to a whole host of Old Testament and New Testament passages. Love is commanded, and one of the manifestations of love is hospitality.

There are some of us who are gifted in hospitality and some of us have to work a little bit harder. Just because something is hard, is not a valid reason for excusing ourselves from the command. 1 Peter 4 says we are to love each other deeply. As a body of Christ we are commanded to love one another and one of those aspects of loving others is through hospitality. Showing hospitality to others is a command from God, which can be really hard for some (introverts like me). Yet, despite the difficulty, demonstrating (embodying), offering hospitality is a central byproduct of the Christian life.

Elders are called to be exemplars of the Christian faith in their living. The two New Testament lists that speak extensively and prescriptively regarding the qualifications for servant leadership in the body of Christ include hospitality (1 Timothy 3, Titus 1). Think about that for a moment. In lists that are primarily about moral makeup and character, hospitality is included. Morality, from the 1st century apostolic teachings, included how a person treated an outsider. It was immoral for a Christian to neglect hospitality. This doesn’t just mean Elders are the only ones called to hospitality. This is an argument that strengthens the general command for all of God’s people. The Elder is to demonstrate and live in a manner that points others in the way of living that is Christ honoring. All the church should follow the example of the elders in so far as they are living exemplary lives for Christ. Therefore, as Elders are living in a Christ-like way by pursuing hospitality, so too the general Christian community is to live in a morally upright way by also pursuing hospitality.

We can look at verse 9 and see that Peters tells us to “offer hospitality without grumbling.” This makes a lot of sense when we see hospitality as a command rather than a gift relegated to a designated specialist part of the Christian community. If hospitality was only for those who were good and enjoyed being hospitable, Peter wouldn’t have needed to add in this remark about not grumbling. We have many examples in our culture of what grumbling looks like when showing hospitality, one of which is Al Bundy (The father from the 80s and 90s American Sitcom). He was hardly the most hospitable TV character. You can see the grumbling about hospitality in many online gathering spaces (like Facebook groups, Twitter, Reddit) as well. People don’t want to have others into their homes, so instead they go somewhere else. They allow somewhere else, or someone else to offer the hospitality, typically a restaurant, coffee shop or institute. God has called us to live by a different ethos than the world, to offer hospitality without grumbling. 

As we continue to read Peter, we can see that we are told to use our gifts well (verse 10). Hospitality is a gift. Some of us are gifted undeniably with this gift. Yet the call to pursue hospitality is not negated by the reality that some are gifted specifically. All pure Christian hospitality originates with a motivation that comes from thankfulness in what God has given. We show love for God by extending generous charity towards others out of the abundance that God has given to us. Notice that Peter isn’t talking about physical things at the moment.

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