24.2 Hospitality
© 2018 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
I find it very interesting, something to ponder, that I have the title of “Hospitality” matched with confidence in God as a rule over all interpretation of the Bible and our Christian lives. Does walking as if we are fully resurrected right now, in all the incorruptible life of Jesus, with no regard for our limited physical form, express itself in a life of hospitality? I do believe it does.
At the same time, the thinking that comes out from the power of an endless life (Hebrews 7:16) is growing in me. Possessing no end to life nor any ability to lose out or suffer loss (except in seasonal and momentary appearance) does have the direct result of making me more inclined towards hospitality.
The Seventh Most Important Verse. Let’s set out our “verse” before continuing.
Christ, however, as Son over His house, whose house we are, IF INDEED, our confidence, our bold and public speaking {of Christ our life} and the exultant boasting of our hope {that we are just like Jesus – 1 John 3:1-3}, we should hold in all firmness all the way to perfection and completion. – Indeed, we have become partakers of Christ IF INDEED the source and beginning of our substance [our assurance] {in opposition to any present outward appearance} we should hold firm until completion and perfection (Hebrews 3:6 & 14 – JSV). – Moreover, grace [thanks] to God, always leading us in the triumphal procession inside of Christ, and the aroma of His knowledge being made visible through us in every place. (2 Corinthians 2:14 – JSV).
Seven Powerful Points. Let’s limit ourselves to seven overwhelmingly powerful points.
1. We are right now part of Christ, of His House or Body, as well as part of Christ Himself.
2. Part of the assurance upon which we firmly stand is the bold and public speaking of Christ our only life.
3. Part of our fixed and firm assurance is our exultant boasting that we are just like Jesus inside of God right now.
4. Part of our absolute assurance is that we hold to the source of our substance against the face of all outward appearance.
5. As upon a rock, we stand firm upon our confidence all the way through to full and complete perfection, and thus we never waver inside of jeopardy.
6. God always leads us in every step in the celebration of full and final victory already accomplished.
7. We are fully confident that the knowledge of God radiates out from us everywhere we go and to everyone we meet.
Seven Action Points. Can you say, Amen, or rather, “It is in me, just as You speak!”
Let’s put these seven, now, into action points. 1. Know that you are fully part of Christ. 2. Speak boldly that Christ is your life. 3. Boast in being just like Jesus. 4. Hold firm to assurance against all outward appearance. 5. Stand firm through to all completion. 6. Celebrate God’s leading in all victory in every step. 7. Be confident that the knowledge of God flows out from you everywhere you go.
The “Return” of the Lord. The more I continue working with the JSV paraphrase, the more overwhelmed I become as I discover that the shadow cast upon the gospel just is not there in the words written by Paul and John and the writer of Hebrews. In complete contrast, I find that the clear presentation of the life and power and sinlessness in which we walk is so overwhelming, so beyond anything I have ever considered in all my exuberant “heresy.” “We have been robbed” is a far larger statement than you know. Here is a different definition of “the return of the Lord” – the return of the real gospel to us. The immediate presence of Jesus in us has always been all.
Places in Between. Consider these three boxes as places of living and working.
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The public in their lives far removed from us.
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The place of Hospitality, where we interact with the public in service and by which we obtain our living.
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The privacy of the Community, both as individual persons and in our life together.
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It is that center box that we are calling the “places in between.” This use of the pattern, of course, does not remove the fact that we find the same pattern inside of the community itself, and in the layout of buildings and spaces. Nonetheless, we are using this pattern to refer to our places of work. And thus, even though a significant portion of our work is inside the community and not towards the public, these principles apply to all.
In All Work. Let’s apply all actions of service, then, to our larger word “Hospitality.” Indeed, hospitality, in order to be real, must begin at home. The hospitality of God flows out from Father at Home. Let’s place each one of our seven action points.
1. In all work of hospitality (outwardly) and service (inwardly), know that you are fully part of Christ.
2. In all work of hospitality and service, speak boldly that Christ is your life.
3. In all work of hospitality and service, boast in being just like Jesus. (We position this action as that which is not arrogant or religious, rather, it is the certainty of knowing.)
4. In all work of hospitality and service, hold firm to assurance against all outward appearance.
5. In all work of hospitality and service, stand firm through to all completion.
6. In all work of hospitality and service, celebrate God’s leading in all victory in every step.
7. In all work of hospitality and service, be confident that the knowledge of God flows out from you everywhere you go.
Let Us Give Grace. Paul said something similar in this way: Having then differing gifts [let us use them] according to the grace given to us. If prophecy, [let us prophecy] according to the measure of our faith, or service, [grace] in the service, or teaching, [grace] in the teaching; or exhorting, [grace] in the exhortation, giving in generosity, leading with zeal, showing mercy with cheerfulness (Romans 12:6-8 – JSV).
Places to Stay. Let’s give a concrete picture of these “places of hospitality,” by which we bless those not of the community and by doing so make our living. The final word of the New Covenant is – The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come and drink.” The Community is a place to which people come, and they come for an experience that will be of benefit to them.
Regardless of what benefit people seek, they will need a place to stay during their visit. A place of refuge while on a journey is an archetypical quality inherent in the human experience, a huge part of what makes us humans, that is, like God.
Three Arenas of Service. We go out to experience; we come home to rest. Yet even when that “rest” is for just a few nights, we want to “rest” inside of what feels like home to us.
Each community can offer different reasons for people to come and participate. Yet most of those different reasons will be found inside of three large arenas, education or training, natural health, and recreation or entertainment. Most are looking for something tangible and real, something with purpose and meaning. Those who are seeking thrills only will look elsewhere. No one is ever compelled to “come and drink.”
Whatever the reason for the visit, people need a place to stay.
The Feeling of Home. I have learned something in my travels over the last year. Along with motels, we have tried the Airbnb approach, an online ap that connects the traveler with home owners who provide a place to stay that feels far more like home than a motel room. Some of our Airbnb experiences have been wonderful; others were not. What makes the difference?
Consider a motel room. You will find the exact same necessities in every motel room you might rent. What you do not find is any feeling of “home.” Each Airbnb experience we have had in the last couple of years that provided all the required necessities in one place AND felt like home was wonderful (one abundantly so).
A Model to Understand. The Airbnb experiences that did not provide all that a person needs for an overnight stop inside the one place that is theirs, regardless of how “nice” they were, did not provide a comfortable experience. I am referring to two places. Yes, they were clean and homey, but not having the overnight necessities at hand was NOT good.
Yet with Airbnb, you are dealing with the home owner whose name you know, and not some unknown “member of staff.” And thus, as a “place in-between” Airbnb gives us a model to understand Christian hospitality. Yet these places to stay are very much part of the Community, and visitors come, in part, for the Community experience.
Impacting Society. Now, this is exactly how the monasteries of the Middle Ages operated, those that were functioning as Christian elements in society in a spirit of giving. And as centers of hospitality, the Christian communities of the Middle Ages provided an ordering and stability that worked out into society by the Spirit. (The world has given you an untrue report regarding society during the Middle Ages by using the “rotten apples” to define the entirety of human life.)
And so yes, the income of the Community comes, in large measure, by providing homey places of rest in a spirit of hospitality and good conversation.
A Folk School. Beyond these homey places of rest, then, the Community blesses its visitors with a variety of services. Regular schooling can be one of those services, but also training in craft, which is, itself, wonderfully recreational. We stopped at one such “folk school” in Grand Marais, Minnesota, called North House Folk School. Please follow the link to peruse this wonderful craft training center. My heart just sings as I visit there, for this place is the very expression of much that I have envisioned and dreamed for in the context of Christian Community. My sons could teach woodworking, blacksmithing, and electric; my wife and daughters love to teach crafts and heritage; but I would be very happy teaching gardening and writing.
The Critical Role of Education. My philosophy of education, then, is much more real than and very different from modern education, whether public or “Christian.” In fact, I should set forth a simplistic, but complete version of how I would order the education of children through high school. I have already done much work on that; it just needs to be brought together into one book. I would see the role of a community school as a support to homeschool in the middle years and as a finishing for the eleventh and twelfth grade years.
It is an absolute fact of reality that any society is controlled by those who control the schools. America is already lost because Marxists know that principle and now control most education.
Freedom through Education. As I am considering the function of the sons of God in the midst of the local Churches through the Age of Tabernacles, I am thinking only of a libertarian approach to governance, that is, no use of force or infliction of pain to gain compliance, ever. Typically, that means that the Communities of Christ will hold no monopoly in any service to society. Everyone is free to offer the same services or to make use of the services of others.
Yet on this one thing I would ponder. Should there be a monopoly established by the sons of God regarding the training of the teachers of the young? We have the authority to establish any monopoly, but we will never abuse that authority by pushing people around. Nonetheless, no society can be free except through education. As Jesus said, “Knowing the truth makes you free.”
Health Care and Recreation. All the functions of providing natural health care services including training in nutrition, herbology, and proper care of the physical body are possible methods by which a Community can bless visitors. I do not include emergency services inside of that picture, for those needs are not “visits.” But I do include long-term care for the elderly or those with long-term, but low-grade illnesses or disabilities.
Then, recreation most certainly includes a variety of forms of Christian entertainment as well as those things that people like to do for fun in the outside environment. At the same time, you would find that people would enjoy spending a week working with the brethren in the daily work of the Community, in gardens and kitchens, in workshops and fields, as one of the most relaxing and restorative weeks of their life experience.
The Proof of Christ. Here is a Christian community we have visited that practices much of what I am speaking as far as interaction with the public is concerned, Homestead Heritage, near Waco, Texas. Please visit this website as well. I am using their outward interaction with the public as a good model, not their inward beliefs or practices.
This entire picture, then, is the structure inside of which I am placing four things together – hospitality, walking in confidence, making a living, and ministry. And, in fact, I am calling all of this “the proof of Christ,” God manifest in the flesh and dwelling among humans inside this inhabited heaven/earth (a New Testament expression hidden by the translators).
Confidence. In the next lesson, we want to explore the central essence of how God lives, and how He lives through us. That essence is found in one action verb – GIVE. Then, the next session is about how we are led by the Spirit, in triumph, through all the daily activity of life together and of hospitality towards others.
Yet the whole purpose comes out from the actions of our CONFIDENCE – God Himself, being Himself towards others through us. No one is saved from sin by the cross; we are saved from sin and death by our CONFIDENCE that the cross is, in fact, complete.
God Through Us. No one is saved from the consequences of ongoing sins by the blood; we walk in NO consciousness of any sins separating us from Father by our CONFIDENCE in that Blood. And no one is saved by the resurrection life of Jesus, now our very and only life; we are saved by our CONFIDENCE that Jesus is, in fact, the only life we are.
Then, through those three confidences, we add the fourth, turned around upon the Mercy Seat. We are CONFIDENT that God Himself shares every particle of our life and circumstances with us, and is IN FACT, moving through us, even through our “mistakes” and limitations, to cause all creation, and especially our visitors, to KNOW HIM!