Compelled by Love: Making Christ Known in Word and Deed

Hospitality as Witness

2 Cor 1:3-7 NIV
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

Oxford English Dictionary: Hospitality (noun):
The friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary: Hospitality (noun):
Hospitable treatment, reception, or disposition; the activity or business of providing services to guests in hotels, restaurants, etc.

Biblical Perspective (Romans 12:13, Hebrews 13:2): Hospitality is often understood as “the practice of welcoming strangers and showing kindness, generosity, and care, reflecting God’s love through tangible acts of service.”

What can hospitality look like in harder seasons of life?
How can we live into hospitality in a way that isn't limited to entertaining, in a way that seeks to bring heaven to people?

A heart for gospel hospitality begins at receiving.

2 Cor 1:3-4a NIV
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles,

2 Cor 1:4b-6 NIV
so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (NIV)
“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

2 Corinthians 4:7-9 (NIV)
“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 

2 Cor. 1:7
And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

RECAP:
1. A heart of gospel hospitality begins at receiving.
2. Seasons of weakness and need make us deeply effective ministers of gospel hospitality.

Let us embody gospel hospitality through radical acts of comfort in times of distress.