Key Scriptures: 3 John 1:5-10
Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers and sisters, even though they are strangers to you. They have told the church about your love. Please send them on their way in a manner that honors God. It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. We ought therefore to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together for the truth. I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us. So when I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, spreading malicious nonsense about us. Not satisfied with that, he even refuses to welcome other believers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church.
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Lesson One: Our motivation for gospel-centered hospitality is rooted in the nature of God.
• God’s hospitality is motivated by his unwavering commitment to the glory of his name
• Our hospitality is motivated by God being glorified by people experiencing the blessing of the grace of God, in Christ Jesus.
Leviticus 19:33-34 When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt; I am the LORD your God.
Ezekiel 20:8-9 I resolved to pour out my wrath on them, to use up my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt. But I acted for the sake of my name, and brought them out of Egypt.
Psalm 106:6-8 We have sinned like our fathers, we have gone astray, we have behaved wickedly. Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders. They did not remember Your abundant kindnesses, but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea. Nevertheless He saved them for the sake of His name, so that He might make His power known.
Ephesians 1:11-12, In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.
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Lesson Two: Hospitality is an act of faithfulness.
• Hospitality (philoxenia) philo—love xenia—stranger
• Hospitality is living out the command to love your neighbor as yourself
3 John 1:5-6, Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers and sisters, even though they are strangers to you. They have told the church about your love. Please send them on their way in a manner that honors God.
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Lesson Three: Hospitality strengthens the mission.
• When we show hospitality to our brothers and sisters–we ‘work together for the truth.’
3 John 1:7-8, It was for the sake of the name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. We ought therefore to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together for the truth.
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Lesson Four: Hospitality is opposed by the proud.
• Pride closes the doors that God desires to open
3 John 1:9-10, I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us. So when I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, spreading malicious nonsense about us. Not satisfied with that, he even refuses to welcome other believers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church.
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B.L.E.S.S.—5 MISSIONAL PRACTICES TO HELP INTRODUCE PEOPLE TO JESUS
B: Begin with prayer
When Jesus started His earthly mission, Luke 6 tells us that He went out on a mountain and prayed. Prayer is both how you discover your mission and how you live out the mission. Over and over again, we see Jesus retreating to pray. If you’re not sure who God is calling you to bless or where God is calling you to go to be a blessing, you can begin with prayer. And if you know the people you want to bless, begin praying for those people now.
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L: Listen
Asking questions and then listening was central to Jesus’s life and teachings. Consider the blind man in Luke 18. Jesus didn’t assume the blind man wanted to see. First, He asked, “What do you want me to do?” Then He listened…
In the Gospels, Jesus asked many more questions than He answered. Of the 183 different questions He received, Jesus answered only a handful. Any relationship starts with listening to someone’s words and life. True listening may be the kindest and most loving gift you can give someone.
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E: Eat
Over and over again, as in Matthew 9, we find Jesus with tax collectors and sinners…doing what? Eating! There is something about sharing a meal together that moves any relationship past acquaintance toward friendship–faster than just about anything else we can do.
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S: Serve
Jesus told us, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve…” He modeled for us that once you begin with prayer, listen, and eat with someone, there is a good chance that you’ll discover how you can best serve the person God is asking you to bless.
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S: Story
When people were ready to listen, Jesus would share His story. Like when doubting Thomas came to him asking, “How can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” When you befriend and bless people, they feel relationally safe and want to know your story. This allows you to tell them how the love of God and Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection have changed you.