This piece was written for the Lee Creek Baptist Church newsletter, Grace & Peace.
On the week that my grandma was passing away last summer, there were members from my family’s church who stocked their fridge with meals—crockpot soups and breakfast casseroles. My sweet grandma had come home on hospice, and we knew it would only be a matter of time. But in her quiet house, while the machines made her room hot and the grandfather clock groaned each half hour, those few afternoons felt like weeks. It was a gift when we could gather around the table every few hours and share a meal someone else had prepared for us—like a feast in the desert. That week, I tasted God’s grace in chicken chili and sausage-egg casseroles.
Hospitality will always mark the local church, because the church is itself Christ’s body. It comprises the muscles and joints, the hands and fingers that act out the heart of Christ Himself (Phil. 2:4-5).
Paul modeled this hands-and-feet hospitality toward the church in Thessalonica:
“So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us” (1 Thess. 2:8).
He went on to remind the church that, even as he taught them the gospel, he had also labored long days and nights among them (1 Thess. 2:9). He worked with his hands (1 Thess. 4:11). Paul illustrates that the Christian life involves both the mind and body, words and work. He not only gave the Thessalonians the message of the gospel; he gave them himself, which may have been the most startling display of the gospel of all. Christ, after all, stretched out his hands and feet to give up his life for our sake.
And so Christian hospitality is nothing short of laying down our lives. It requires hands and feet that are willing to reach into our brothers and sisters’ suffering and bring a meal, a prayer, a card, a casserole. It isn’t just sharing our homes, but sharing ourselves with one another.
Biblical hospitality includes:
- Caring for the sick and afflicted (1 Tim. 5:10).
- Praying for one another (2 Thess. 3:1).
- Doing good to one another (Gal. 6:10).
- Giving to those in the body who have a need (Rom. 12:13).
- Serving food and drink to the hungry (Matt. 25:36).
- Visiting others in their affliction (Matt. 25:36).
- Having intentional, deep, and truthful conversations with one another (Eph. 4:15).
And so Christian hospitality is nothing short of laying down our lives.
Biblical hospitality doesn’t start with casseroles and cards, but with a heart that is being bent into the shape of Jesus Christ. A hospitable person is one who recognizes the great hospitality of the cross, where Christ gave up His life for His enemies, so we could be welcomed to His table.
In turn, we make chili and casseroles, cards and care baskets. We use our hands and feet to spread the aroma of Christ to our brothers and sisters (2 Cor. 2:15). Like Paul and Christ Jesus Himself, we don’t stop short of giving them our own selves.
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