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Lover of Strangers -
I finally did a word study and found that to be hospitable, in the original language, means to be a lover q.f
stransers, of those you do not know. Well, I thought I had been hospitable, butl had kept a group around me
SolfoundaninterestingpassageinLukel4-verseslthroughl4.WearegoingtofindinitthatJesussets
he. givei a lesson on how to conduct
oneself as a guest
;i;";; oi ,,.ung.rr. Tnen
himself up as an example
"f ;;;;;;'6v ifrt *"'' I'd lik" ; ;ik to vou There are a few problems l see "
to the h""
Finally he turns
the motives of the host' Let's look at
the first six verses:
ArJ f,.
"""tu"t",
THE EXAMPLE
Phdrisees on the
that He vnent into the house of one of the leaders of the
And it came about when wds d certdin mdn
,h;;'';r;;- ,;;riints Him closely. ind there in front of Him
Sdbbdth to eat bread,
tio ti' tawvers and Pharisees' sdvins"'ts
it ta\lfut
suffering from a,op'v' 'qnla ;''':;';;;;;;;Z
ina him' and
iilent. i",i- n, irt* hold of him,-.and
kept 'pot'"
healed
to hedl on the sabbath, ;; ;;;;; ni, ,n, ;;;' o 'on o' on ox falt into a well' and will
n' of v"
sent hittt awav. And -t;';;l
io,yZ:''And they could make no replv to
'*ii"to 'i"i''-::inii'n' thts'
not imme.iately putt ni^Zii"or"o"iiAUotn
ThePhariseeswereaninterestinSgroupofmen.-Theirnamemeans..Separatists,'andtheywerecalledthatby
were called "christians" first in Antioch
by
lt
their enemies, not by ttreir flie'nisij".t'", in" r"rr.""r._or "wuv on." ego up to be called a "separatist"' But
their enemies. It was not a complimentary term.
It did noi i,rltJ
so separated' so
leaders of the nation of Israel they were
they had brought this ,e., th;;;il;. As religious
caughtupinthelawsorr,ro*.'aswettasthenewlawstheywerebringingforth,-thattheycouldhafdlyget complex rules and
near the people, or which they considered "unclean". They had many
""".
regulations in this area.
""r,r,iry
-make
Infact,therewereatleastSeventypesofPharisees.The.rewastheShechenitePharisee,whofollowedthelaws
joins a church because he
of Moses so that he could material gain, much like the insurance man who
around all the time with his
expects to find clients tn".". it"r, there wis the Tumbling
Pharisee, who walked
There was the Bleeding Pharisee' who walked
head bowed to the ground, to show atl that he was hurible.
and thus sin But he kept running into
around all the time wittr tris eyes closed so he would not see a woman
there was the Mortar Pharisee with the
buildings and trees und *o,,-Jrr, and walking away bleeding! Then
over his eyes so that as he walked
square hat like those us"A in g.rauution cereironies. He wori that hat down
a novice
u.ong rn"n he would see no Indecencies or impurities. There was the "What-dol-do-next?" Pharisee, go
to a
who ias just learning the law of Moses. He would go ahead and do whatever he knew to do,
then
the law out of fear of
teacher and say, "what do I do next?" Then there was the Fearful Pharisee who followed
the Judgment. What a way to livel Then there were the true Pharisees, who loved God with all their heart,
mind, and sou[, and their neighbor as themselves.
LOVER OF STRANGERS
_3_ 3105
I do not know which group came with
Jesus to this meal
invited in with Jesus on a sabbath - probably a mixture of them all - but they were
duy to eat. Right before Jesus was,
build-up of water around the heart ,,,un ,urr"ring from dropsy, which
and lungs oi i, ilr" li-ur. unrit the is a
disease is cured, the water keeps
how this man got ,r,..", whether it
was bf invitation, or whether he
;ffirTJiT:l3
"IlIrX?.X'r:rt l"* was
,,Whenyouareinvitedbysomeonetoaweddingfeast,donottaketheplaceofhonor,lestsomeone
invite:d by him, and he who invited
you both shall come and
more distinguished than you may have been last place. But when
say to you,,Give place to this mnn,, and
then in disgrace you proceed to occupy the
you are invited, go and recline at the last place, ,o ihot
*nrn ilrc one who has invited you comes' he may
,Friend, move up higher,; th.en you will have honor in the sight of all who are at the table
say to you,
and he who humbles himself shall be
with you. For everyone who exalts htmseif shall be humbled,
exalted."
christ' when a
you have to take this passage and try it on, and you have to see yourself in the light of Jesus
result is humility. But when a man evaluates
man sees himself in the light of Jesus Christ, the only reasonable
himself, all he does is build himself up. He exalts himself.
In the business world, where I was employed for a
,.you can do it! you're regular tigers! Go sell those pots and pans! Buyers are waiting
while, we were trained,
you started to build yourself up' Can you
for you out there!,, you started to believe some of those lies,
imagine going to a wedding feast and ptacing yourself as the
honored guest before the host shows up? That is
is a passage in Philippians 2 which I
what these people were doing. They had a f,roblem, didn't they? There
here, and how to avoid it' Look
think you,ll really appreciate. Paul puts his finger right on what was happening
what he says in verses 3 and following:
Do nothing from or empty conceit, but with humility of mtnd let each of you regard one
selfishness
another as more important than htmself; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but
also for the interesis of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who,
although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but
emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being
LOVER OF STRANGERS
5 3l0s
found in appearance as a man' He hyy.bl:-d
Himserf by becoming obedient
death on a cross' Therefore aio b the point of death,even
"*ottri ni* and bestowed on Him the name which is above
God hishty
eyery nome....
But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the btind, and you will be blessed,
since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the
righteous." '
3105
LOVER OF STRANGERS
-6-
you should
back'" You can hear the Lord saying' "Funny gospel to
we might say, "But Lord, they can't invite us preach the
The spirit of the Lord is upon me, and I
came to
mention it. Because that is why I came. tigttt to the blind' to set free those who are
poor, to proclaim release to the captives, and recove.- or
the
favorable year of the Lord.j' HJsay.,
"Look, there are those who can't pay
downtrodden, and to proclaim ttre
lives of these strangers,
others. I want you to minister to the
you back. I want you to invite them u*ong these I am following the
out to them, u"a ,ou are following me, and
to reach out to them, because I would reach not to everyone who is afflicted'
when the Father gives me freedom to reach out, I obey -
will of the Father.
gives me'"
U.ri to everyone whom the Father
picture of our spiritual
and the blind, are also a
you know, these categories _ the poor, the crippled, the lame, who are bankrupt, to those
we can open our homes today to those who-are p."r r, spirit, to those
condition. of sin in the past which has
crippled by legalism and strange teachings, to thosswho are lame because free bv
who are
move expect ,t to. And those who are blind we can set
crippled them so that they can,t
"J;;;;;Ji and
".
love stra-ngers. Jesus says, "The reason
that I want you to
telling them the truth. we can open our homes
do this is because this is the concern or
*v tt"u't' This is why I came' I want you to serye them'"
can't do this without
had to come to the point of agreeing to do this as a family. You
In our own family we one another! we check
we do it as a family proii"r, and iis ,o L.r"tr fun to confer with
that agreement. peopte .t o* up. you .uv to them, "Hi!
Ron's my name' and this is
And all these strange sent you by'
calendars and dates.
my wife, Anne-Marie, and my t*o ,on"'
i t'"u' that you're a friend of so-and-so' and they've
Wtnderful! Please make yourself at home'"
at home' But
they do? They believe you. They move into your home and make themselves
Do you know what at home in their
there,s just one little probrem. They
*ut .',h.*selves at home the way they make themselves Andsoyou're
would make themselves athomeinyourhome!
home. which is not the way you thoughi,t.v out what went
how they,ve made thimselves at home in your home, and you can't figure
all upset about "Here is our home'
wrong. But they beteved you. when
yo, op"r.d your door, symbolically you said to them'
You say"'wait a
here are our phonograph records, our
."rig"rutor, here's mywallet, the keys-to the car""" Yes' that's the
minute! why, they might take everythil
ihave.- And the Lord says, "Yes, how about that!
riskyourun.Thatisth'eriskoflove.Thatisthelifeoffaith.,'
take you or your spirit. We are to reach out,
counting the
They might take everythine you have, but they can,t
cost,andrecognizingthatwearenotourown;weareboughtwithaprice.Wearetoservethoseinour to
love to come in to a warm meal and fellowship' and
community, those wlho need us, those who would destroyed. But,
problems. we have had an entire automobile
experience life. And we found that there arc
how unimportant an automobile is' And you know' when
evaluated from the proper perspective, it is amazing
people come in and make themselves at home in your home,
they don't spiu hot liquid on your finest
they're nervous and they get clumsy' They're not
tablecloth because they premeditated it; they do it because
see how they really want to be loving and
out to destroy your property. It's u^uzing to watch their hearts, to
thankful to You, too.
I want you to meet six of
My sons are picking this up, too. I love coming home; it's so much fun - "Hey Dad,
bags!" My sons never ask us,
my new friends, and they're staying for supper, and they all brought their sleeping
,,Can we bring friends?', They only check with us, "When?" I love their attitude. They are already hospitable,
now! I could
and there are all these little people running around. Some of these kids even look like our kids
adopt at least three.
I just want to share with you that Jesus Christ puts everything back into perspective. He says, "Listen, I want
you to open your homes, to be lovers of strangers. Evaluate your motives in what you're doing now. I
encourage you to move into a community and be the salt and light that I've asked you to be in the first place. I
know it will be inconvenient, and I know it will be difficult at times, but there are two blessings, two rewards.
LOVER OF STRANGERS -1- 3\0
c
The first is you will be blessed." That means you will be happy. Why? Because you're being like Christ, an
that brings great happiness. The second thing the Lord says is, "I'11 take care of the rewards in th
resurrection." That is a lot of encouragement! One, I'm going to be resurrected, and two, there are rewardl
Why? Because I was obeying Jesus Christ. What a joy to walk into a community and be like Jesus Christ! Wh:
a privilege to welcome strangers into your home! I encourage you not to neglect it.
Our heavenly Father, we thank you so much that you've told us that when we reach out to one stranger
- "Truly, I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of mine, even to the least
of them, you did it to me." Lord, we need you to set us free from ourselves. We need you to open our
eyes. We need you to show us our neighbors. We need you to teach us to be lovers of strangers. And we
need all the wisdom and the patience and the power available to do this task. But we would like to do it
in your name, at your time, in your Spirit, for your sake, and to your honor and glory, Amen.