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For our scripture this afternoon,
we have two portions from the New Testament, both from the
Gospels. We have read the parable of the
wedding feast a couple of times. And this afternoon, we will just
read the verses 8 through 10. And that is after the important
people have refused to come. And then we read verse 8 to 10
of Matthew 22. And then we will read from Luke
7. Luke 7, verse 36 to 50. 36 to
50, and from Luke 14, 12 to 13. First then, Matthew 22, verses
8 to 10. Hear the word of God. Then he,
that is the king, said to his servants, the wedding is ready,
but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore, go into
the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding. So those servants went out into
the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad
and good, And the wedding hall was filled with guests. Then
we go to Luke 7. Luke 7 at verse 36. Luke 7 at
verse 36. Then one of the Pharisees asked
him, that is the Lord Jesus, to eat with him, and he went
to the Pharisee's house and sat down to eat. And behold, a woman
in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat
at a table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask
of fragrant oil and stood at his feet behind him weeping.
And she began to wash his feet with her tears and wipe them
down with the hair of her head. And she kissed his feet and anointed
them with the fragrant oil. Now, when the Pharisee who had
invited him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, This man,
if he were a prophet, would know what, who, and what manner of
woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner. And Jesus answered and said to
him, Simon, I have something to say to you. And he said, Teacher,
say it. There was a certain creditor
who had two debtors. One owed him 500 denarii. Denarii is a coin that is a day's
wage, really, 500 days wages. And the other owed him 50 days
wages. And when they had nothing with
which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell me, therefore,
which of them will love him more? Simon answered and said, I suppose
the one whom he forgave more. And he said to him, you have
rightly judged. Then he turned to the woman and
said to Simon, Do you see this woman? I entered your house. You gave me no water for my feet,
but she has washed my feet with her tears and wiped them with
the hair of her head. You gave me no kiss, but this
woman has not ceased to kiss my feet since the time I came
in. You did not anoint my head with
oil, but this woman has anointed my feet with fragrant oil. Therefore, I say to you, her
sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom
little is forgiven, the same loves little. And he said to
her, your sins are forgiven. And those who sat at the table
with him began to say to themselves, who is this who even forgives
sins? Then he said to the woman, your
faith has saved you. Go in peace. And then we go to
Luke 14. Luke 14, verse 12 to 14. Luke 14 at verse 12. Then he,
the Lord Jesus, also said to him who invited him, when you
give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers,
your relatives, nor your rich neighbors, lest they also invite
you back and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite
the poor, maimed, lame, blind. And you will be blessed, because
they cannot repay you. For you shall be repaid at the
resurrection of the just." And those two verses, 12 and 13,
he said to them, To him who invited him, when
you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your
brothers, your relatives, your rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back
and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite
poor, lame, lame, blind. Here ends the reading of scripture.
Blessed are those who not only hear the word of God, but also
keep it. Hallelujah. Beloved congregation of the Lord
Jesus Christ, what does hospitality mean? Well, there is always Google. So Google says it means the friendly
and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers. A good example of this happening
is when strangers get stuck in a snowstorm and are made welcome
in homes along the road. But when you think of it, the
king in the parable of Matthew 22 also extended hospitality
to all the street people after the official guests turned out
to be unwilling to attend the wedding festivities. And that is not the only time
that we find hospitality demonstrated or spoken of in Scripture. We find hospitality already commanded
in Leviticus chapter 19, verses 33, 34. And if a stranger sojourn or
dwell with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him. But
the stranger that dwells with you shall be unto you as one
born among you, and you shall love him as yourself. For you
were strangers in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord, your God. Now, we might not think this
to be all important, but strangers were far from always treated
kindly in the olden days. And we have even examples in
scripture of this. There is, for instance, the angels
that went to visit Lot. And of course, they didn't look
like angels. They looked like common people.
And when they were staying with Lot, the man, of Sodom who wanted
them out for sexual entertainment. And also there was the concubine
of the Levite who was so mistreated in Gibeah of Benjamin that she
died. The people of Israel are reminded
that they themselves have been strangers in a foreign land and
they must remember what it was to be without the protection
of their own community. The Christians in Rome are exhorted
in Romans 12 to be given to hospitality. In 1 Timothy 3, 2, we are told
that a bishop or an elder must be hospitable. And the same is
written in Titus. And 1 Peter 4, 9 tells us be
hospitable to one another without grumbling. And then in Hebrews
13, verse 2, we are told Be not forgetful to entertain strangers,
for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. And no doubt
that refers to Lot entertaining the strangers which visited him
the night before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. And finally,
some of us are old enough to remember how we were received
as immigrants when we arrived from the Netherlands in a totally
foreign country with a language that we couldn't speak. And some
of us were truly welcomed and helped to adjust in a foreign
land, while others of us had some very negative experiences. And these days, there is an ongoing
debate whether Canada is to welcome refugees from Syria. And how
many? And how fast? And about the possible
dangers letting these Muslims into our country. That also is
a debate about hospitality. And from this it will be clear
that there are many different kinds of hospitality. Now the theme of this message
is that through hospitality, is driven by genuine love for
those in need. True hospitality is driven by
genuine love for those in need. And we first look at the hospitality
of Simon. Now, Simon was a Pharisee, and
that means that he took the laws of God very seriously. Well, let us look how seriously
he took the law of God about hospitality as the way he treated
the Lord Jesus. For Simon asked the Lord to eat
with him. It was not a private meal, for
in verse 49 we're told that there were others who sat at a table
with the Lord. Actually, meals like that were
kind of public meals in that visitors were allowed to walk
among the tables and observe and listen to the conversations
among the guests. We know, of course, that the
guests were not seated. They were stretched on couches
with the feet away from the table and resting on one arm while
feeding themselves with the other hand. And so Simon had invited
the Lord for that kind of a public meal. The question now is, how
did Simon receive the Lord? Well, first of all, Simon did
not provide water for the Lord to wash his feet. It was normal
for guests to have washed themselves before they went to the meal.
But practically everyone had to walk over either dusty or
muddy streets, or usually in open sandals. And that meant
that their feet would get dirty. And it was a matter of common
courtesy for the host to provide water, and probably a slave,
to wash the feet of the guests. We know that from the Lord, who
girded himself and washed the feet of the disciples. And why
did the Lord do that? Because there was no slave to
do it, and none of the disciples felt called upon to lower himself
so much that he would do the slave work on the feet of his
fellow disciples. It was their pride which kept
them from of washing each other's feet. And so when the Lord Jesus
arrives at Simon's place, he's apparently taken straight to
the place without having his feet washed. Now that was already
a snub. And then when people would come
in, they were often greeted by the host with a kiss. Today in
the Middle East, they do that by buzzing each other from one
cheek on the other cheek. But Simon didn't do anything
of that kind either. And then when you were in the
good graces of your host, you were given some oil to anoint
your head also. Well, when I read that and I
read oil, then I think of the olive oil that my wife uses for
cooking. And that doesn't seem very good
to me to have on your head. So I checked it out a little
bit. And it is really a kind of special
oil that is, we would call it suntan lotion. That's what you
have to think of. And people have walked out in
the hot sun. And so this is to cool their
heads a little bit. But it is not just flooding it.
It is kind of sprinkling it and rubbing it in a little bit. So
it's very comfortable. That's what it is meant to be.
Well, once again, Simon did not provide that either for the rabbi
of Nazareth. This shows us very clearly that
the hospitality of Simon was totally lacking. And so Simon
gives himself away. He's really out to trick the
Lord Jesus or to trip him up in either words or actions so
that everybody can hear and everybody can see what this rabbi of Nazareth
is doing. And so what Simon does, that
is not hospitality. You really can call it enemy
action. But the Pharisee Simon was shown
up through the presence and the action of the woman who washed
the Lord's feet with her tears, dried them with her hair, and
kissed them and anointed them with a fragrant oil, and in that
way showed true hospitality to the Lord Jesus in her own life. And why did she do all this?
Because she loved the Lord very much. And why did she love him
so much? Because she was forgiven much. Simon was right in thinking that
If the Lord was truly a prophet, he would know what kind of a
woman was doing all these actions. But Simon was no prophet, and
so did not realize that the woman had come to the Lord Jesus and
repented of her ungodly life, had received full forgiveness
through the Lord Jesus, and having been forgiven much because of
his coming, she loved him much. And so we learn that through
hospitality to the Lord Jesus, truly welcoming him in our life
as our Savior and Lord does only happen when we have been forgiven
much. And so the way Simon received
the Lord Jesus Christ leaves us with the question, how we
receive the Lord Jesus. I mean here how on the one hand
we as a congregation receive him every time he appears in
our midst as we worship him. Do we love him so much that we
wash his feet with our tears and dry them with our hairs and
kiss his feet and anoint them with fragrant oil? whether it
be literally or figuratively. But then also the question comes
to each one of us individually. How do I receive the Lord Jesus
when we draw near to him, whether in private or in the midst of
the congregation or even at the Lord's table? How great is our
love, but also my love for him How great and sincere is our
hospitality towards the Lord. Well, that brings us, secondly,
to payback hospitality. Now, I'm sure you haven't come
across that term in the Bible, payback hospitality, but this
is the expression suggested by the Lord Jesus himself in our
text, in Luke 14, verse 17, where he says that to him that invited
him, when you make a dinner or a supper, call not your friends,
nor your brethren, nor your family members, nor your rich neighbors,
lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. You may wonder whether this truly
happens. that people invite others for
supper in order to be invited back. But it does happen also
today. There may be a number of reasons.
One reason may be to start some kind of a relationship with the
people. Now, that may be totally innocent,
maybe with good intentions. You like those people, you would
like to get to know them better, and so you invite them for supper.
But there may also be selfish reasons. The husband of the couple
you invite may be an electrician, and you don't have electricians
among your acquaintances. So you invite them a few times
for supper, and the next time you got an electrical problem,
who do you call? You see, that's payback. I also
heard once of a couple who invited a leading politician to supper
with whom they never had had any contact. Why invite him? Well, you can imagine. What did
you do over the weekend? Oh, we had the prime minister
over for supper. Well, that's already payback,
you see. The prime minister, oh. And then
you hope, of course, that the prime minister calls, has you
over at 24 Sussex Drive. The words of the Lord Jesus make
it clear that it was apparently a common thing. to be hospitable
that way, invite others for supper for selfish reasons. The Lord
Jesus makes it very clear that many people expect a payback
to their hospitality. Now, when that happens, then
the reception may be very proper. There may be foot washing, so
to say, and kissing and anointing with oil, but it is all just
as selfish as Simon's invite to the Lord. So this is a kind
of hospitality which does not get the approval of the Lord
Jesus. And that brings us thirdly to
the deeply caring hospitality. And here we come to the words
of the Lord out of Luke 14, the text. But when you make a feast,
call, it doesn't say the poor, but call poor people, call lame
people, call lame people, call blind people, and you shall be
blessed, for they cannot recompense you, they cannot pay you back,
and you shall be paid back at the resurrection of the just.
And we have to say here immediately that the Lord Jesus, of course,
rejects any selfishness in inviting poor and handicapped people. We are not to do this because
it makes us feel good. You hear that quite often, you
know. And I appreciate all the people
that do volunteer work, but it's so often that they say, oh, it
makes me feel so good to do these things. Well, that already has
a selfish twist to it. You know, you do it because it
makes you feel good. No, we are not to do this because
it makes us feel good, nor are we to do it in order to get blessed,
inviting the poor, the handicapped, is to be done totally out of
concern for these people. And when the Lord mentions the
handicapped, He does so because in His days, of course, there
were no social provisions for people like that. Not that they
are so glorious today, but there is some. So they had a very difficult
time to survive, those handicapped people. And so the reason for
extending hospitality to such people is a genuine concern for
those in need. Now, I find this, in a way, a
very difficult word from the Lord. I'm sure that It was the
same way for people in the time that the Lord spoke these words.
I dare say that all of us here live rather separated from people
in real physical need. I read the other day about a
few friends who decided to take Jesus' care for people in real
need seriously. and so make themselves available
wherever they might meet the need. And the next thing they
knew is that they were faced with a drug-addicted sex trade
worker who wanted to quit the drug addiction called turkey,
as they say. And a few friends were suddenly
occupied taking turns to cover 24 hours a day for some seven
days as the woman went through horrible withdrawal symptoms
and could not be left alone at any time, but had to be held
down, had to be wiped down, and I don't know what all. Now, that
may be an extreme ministry to the poor and handicapped. But
there is no doubt that today the people living at the margins
of life often have real problems. It is not so simple as to just
get them a job and then they're on their way. Neither is it so
simple as feeding them a meal once in a while. What the Lord
Jesus is speaking of here is real reaching out to people in
need. And that confronts us with another
problem. That is, that I would think all
of us live pretty much separated from the poor and handicapped
in our societies. And some of us have had some
experience with the refugee family, which we sponsored as a congregation
and how difficult it was to enter into their way of doing things
and into their way of thinking. It is no wonder that back in
the 50s, the 1950s that is, many Canadians were not at all thrilled
to have all those DPs come to their country. And by the way,
DP did not mean Dutch people. It meant displaced persons. who did not belong anywhere after
World War II. And when you really think of
these words by the Lord Jesus in the text, then it becomes
clear that what it means today is not just running into some
poor people or some poor person or some street person and saying
to her, hey, nice to meet you. Why don't you come over for supper
sometime? true caring hospitality goes
deeper than that. True caring hospitality is driven
by a real concern for the people in need. We may see some of that
need on the news, on TV, but it all remains often far removed
from our neat homes and quiet lives. And yet the Lord Jesus
makes it clear that the caring for the poor and the street people
reaches much further than them. The Lord himself gives a hint
of this when he declares that those who are truly hospitable
to the poor and street people will be blessed and repaid at
the resurrection of the just. Now those words sent me to Matthew
25, where the Son of Man judges the nations. And there he will
divide the sheep from the goats. The sheep on his right hand,
the goats on the left. And then he will say to those
on his right hand, to the sheep, come you blessed of my father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. For I was hungry and you gave
me food. I was thirsty. You gave me drink. I was a stranger. You took me
in naked and you closed me. I was sick and you visited me.
I was in prison and you came to me. The Lord Jesus actually
says that the sheep did all that to him. And when the sheep asked
when they did that to him, because they have no knowledge of doing
that, the glorified Lord answers, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch
as you have done it to one of the least of these my brethren,
you have done it to me. Now, this is really an amazing
statement. We have still before us the picture
of the bad woman doing all those wonderful things to the Lord
Jesus in the house of Simon, Why? Because she was much forgiven. Her forgiveness drove her love
for the Lord. And her love for the Lord made
her totally disregard those Pharisees watching her expressing her love
for the Lord. Keeping this in mind, We can
hardly avoid thinking that when we care for a poor person or
a street person because of our deep concern for that person,
then we are actually ministering to the Lord Jesus. In as much
as you have done it to one of the least of these, my brethren,
you have done it unto me. So here is another question.
Suppose we see a street person in need of care. Do we go and
care for that person, thinking that caring for that person,
we may be caring for the Lord Jesus? When we help clean up
a totally dirtied, homeless person, that we would be washing the
Lord Jesus? You think perhaps that those
questions are a no-brainer? Suppose that all believers in
the Lord Jesus would love him so much. And I say that on purpose. That's so because I've heard
people say that. Oh, I love the Lord so much. Well, suppose that all believers
in the Lord Jesus would love him so much that they would gladly
wash his feet with their tears and dry them with their hair.
and anoint them with precious oil. How come, if there are so
many that love him so much, how come that there is so little
genuine hospitality shown to those who truly need it? At this point, the preaching
of our faith really stops, and we are faced with whether we
will practice it. It's true that we're not saved
by works, but by faith. And yet faith is never without
works. As James makes clear, faith without
works is dead. Well, so much about deeply caring
hospitality. But now, lastly, the hospitality
of the Lord's Supper. Who are allowed to come to the
Lord's table? Well, we heard it again this
afternoon. Those who are truly sorrowful
for their sins and yet trust that these are forgiven them
for the sake of Christ and that their remaining infirmities are
covered by his passion and death. Well, from this it is clear that
those who are received at the table are not perfectly clean. For it speaks here of their remaining
infirmities. What does that mean? Well, go
to 1 Corinthians 6, and there we're told about the background
of some of the Corinthian believers in the society where they lived. There are those whose lives are
defined by sexual immorality, by idolatry, by adultery, sexual
deviancy, theft, greed, drunkenness, slander, swindling. In short,
a society just like ours today. No difference. And then the apostle
writes to the believers, Aaron and Corinth, and such were some
of you. And then he goes on writing,
but you are washed, you are sanctified, you are justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God. Does this
mean that these former sinners are now perfect without spot
or wrinkle? No, it does not. The Apostle
Paul himself confesses in Romans 7 that he is faced with a continual
battle in himself to bring him back into the captivity of sin
so that he cries out, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from this body of death? And so then, how hospitable is
the Lord's Supper? Are those only welcomed who are
perfectly clean even if it is just during the few minutes that
we're sitting at the table. No. A believer may come believing
that his or her remaining infirmities are covered by the passion and
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And for that, we must thank God
through our Savior. If it were not so, if we would
have to be squeaky clean in order to be admitted to the Lord's
table, then I'm sure that none of us would have come. And that
tells us much about the hospitality of the Lord Jesus at his table. We are not made to think that
when we come to the table that the Lord will treat us like Simon
treated the Lord instead. No, the Lord will receive us
like he received the sinful woman who washed his feet with her
tears and anointed them. For his gracious hospitality
of us who came to the table, we give him thanks. And the greater
our awareness is of the remaining sinful infirmities in us, the
greater our thankfulness. but also the smaller our understanding
of our sinfulness remaining in us, the more we take for granted
that we are received. Of course He would receive us.
How aware are we of the amazing, gracious hospitality by the Lord
at His table, also today. But there is a further connection
between the Lord's hospitality at his table and our hospitality
towards the poor and the handicapped and the street people. If the
Lord then is willing to receive us far from perfect as we are,
why then should we not reach out to those in need? And yet
we read in James 2.14, brothers and sisters, It doesn't make any sense to
say you have faith and act in a way that denies faith. Mere talk never gets you very
far, and a commitment to Jesus only in words will not save you. It would be like seeing a brother,
a sister without any clothes out in the cold and begging for
food and saying, shalom! Friend, you should get inside
where it is warm and get something to eat. But doing nothing about
his needs, leaving him cold and alone in the street. What good
would your words alone do? The same is true with faith.
Without actions, faith is useless. By itself, it is as good as dead. I know what you're thinking.
Okay, you have faith, and I have actions. Now let's see your faith
without works, and I'll show you a faith that works. It is said that years ago, a
minister from a large Dutch church was sitting down for Sunday dinner
with his family when the doorbell rang. The maid opened and then
came to the dining room to announce that the minister's brother was
at the door. The minister was surprised, but
I have no brother. So he went to the door where
a poorly dressed older man stood waiting. The minister said, where
do you get the idea that you are my brother? I have no brothers. Whereupon the man answered, I
was in church this morning and I heard you say very emphatically
that all believers are brothers and sisters in God. So I thought
I would go to my brother since I have nothing to eat. Hearing
this, the minister declared, brothers in God, yes, but not
in the pot and closed the door. The theme for this message is,
true hospitality is driven by genuine love for those in need. It's the genuine love of the
Lord Jesus for those in need which caused him to be born of
Mary and to go to the cross, and now has welcomed us once
again at his table. May we then also hear his word. This is my commandment, that
ye love one another as I have loved you. May we then respond
to his love in such a way that one day we may hear him say to
us, inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these
my brethren, you have done it unto me. Then we will have learned
by coming to his table what true hospitality is all about. Amen.
Different Hospitalities
Theme: True hospitality is driven by genuine love for those in need
- The hospitality of Simon
- The payback hospitality
- The deeply caring hospitality
- The hospitality of the Lord’s Supper
Text: Luke 14: 12, 13
| Sermon ID | 111151734225 |
| Duration | 39:35 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - PM |
| Bible Text | Luke 7:36-50; Matthew 22:8-10 |
| Language | English |
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