We practice Christian hospitality because this is what our Saviour calls us to do. We have been saved to serve and the Scriptures provide words of exhortation to this end.
In Deuteronomy 10:18-19, we read that just as God “defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. … you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.”
Already in the old covenant hospitality was predicated upon the saving work of God and this is exemplified in the new covenant.
We practice Christian hospitality for Christ’s sake, for his glory and for the expansion of his kingdom as he calls us to.
Hebrews 13:2 says, “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.”
In Romans 12:13, we have a similar command, “Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.”
And again in 1 Peter 4:9: “Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.”
Finally, in James 1:27 we read, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
The Christian honours God and fulfills the command of love by practicing hospitality.
There is a warning as well in Scripture if we do not show this kind of love to others. Jesus warns against indifference and selfishness toward those in need, especially under-shepherds of his who labour in his Kingdom.
He says in Matthew 25:42-43: “For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.”
Jesus says that those who will hear this rebuke will be incredulous but Jesus said, in short, if you do not show this kind of hospitality to the least of my brothers and sisters you did not show it to me.
To those who did not express this love for others, who refused to practice the loving hospitality of Christ, they were not welcome to experience the blessedness of Christ’s eternal hospitality.
Rather, hell awaited them. Jesus is saying here that you can’t separate our love and care for other others through Christian hospitality from serving Christ and being found in him.
Therefore we practice Christian hospitality for Christ’s sake, for his glory and for the expansion of his kingdom as he calls us to.
