men tonight I'm preaching on the subject of hospitality hospitality I touched on
this recently in a sermon but it's such a great subject in the Bible and it's
brought up so much in the Bible I decided to devote an entire sermon to
this and really there's so much on this I almost had trouble cramming it all
into one sermon so I want to get through the most important points on this
tonight but first let me just start out by showing you four uses of the word
hospitality this is where the Bible actually uses that word four times in
the New Testament hospitality one of them's right here in Romans chapter 12
if you look down at your Bible it says distributing to the necessity of Saints
given to hospitality and this is an injunction to all believers and later
this is going to come up in the qualifications for the bishop that he
should be given to hospitality and again this goes to show that the
qualifications for the bishop or the deacon are the same type of life that we
all should be living okay those people are supposed to be found faithful and
then put in that position but really all of us as Christians should have that
morality in our lives that is described in those qualifications but what I want
to point out here is that notice that given to hospitality is mentioned in the
same breath with distributing to the necessity of Saints you see in the
ancient world hospitality was a necessity okay when we think of
hospitality we think of going over to somebody's house for dinner right but
when the Bible talks about hospitality what it's typically talking about is
actually meeting someone's needs who is on a journey someone is traveling and
you meet their needs or on the other side of the coin you're traveling and
someone else meets your needs that's what the Bible is talking about with
hospitality obviously back then there were no hotel chains and the hotel
industry was not what it is today and so when you were traveling a lot of the
times you'd be passing through small towns and you'd need a place to stay for
the night and you would have to rely on hospitality not as an extra fun thing
but actually as a necessity you needed a place to stay just in order to survive
in order to be safe now if you would flip over to 1 Peter chapter 4 and while
you turn to 1 Peter 4 I'll read for you of course from the qualifications for
the pastor in 1st Timothy 3 2 it says a bishop then must be blameless the
husband of one wife vigilant sober of good behavior given to hospitality apt
to teach then in Titus he says for a bishop must be blameless as the steward
of God not self-willed not soon angry not given to wine no striker not given
to filthy lucre watch this but a lover of hospitality a lover of good men sober
just holy temperate so if we look at the context there in Titus the thing he says
right before hospitality is not given to filthy lucre what would be a person who
is given to filthy lucre what would we call that person we would say that they
are greedy right greedy is something that we could bring up about someone who
is given to filthy lucre and then it says not given to filthy lucre but on the
on the other hand a lover of hospitality right so someone who's generous as
opposed to the guy who's greedy the one who's given to hospitality is generous
right he's willing to provide meals and lodging and the temporal needs for the
traveler right and then right after the mention of a lover of hospitality it
says a lover of hospitality a lover of good men OK so obviously there's a
fellowship aspect of hospitality when someone comes it stays at your house or
when you feed someone a meal obviously you're communing with that person you're
having fellowship with that person and so the lover of hospitality is a lover
of good men as well he loves to socialize with godly people he loves to
socialize with good Christian men OK so first Peter chapter 4 verse 8 and above
all things have fervent charity among yourselves for charity shall cover the
multitude of sins use hospitality one to another without grudging as every man
has received the gift even so minister the same one to another as good stewards
of the manifold grace of God so again if we look at the context here of this
commandment on hospitality right before that he talks about charity or love
which obviously has to do with meeting people's needs taking care of them
spending time with them using hospitality and then right after it says
as every man has received the gift even so minister the same one to another
because hospitality has to do with giving and receiving that which is free
right you stay at someone's house they provide you with the meal and then next
time they might stay at your house you might provide them with a meal etc so we
can see from the context there what hospitality entails and then in verse 9
itself it says use hospitality one to another without grudging now this
grudging could manifest in a few different ways number one it could be a
grudge of you know oh man I don't want to spend my money or use up my food or
use my resources to help out this other person because I'm stingy and greedy
that could be the grudging right also the grudging could be on the recipient
end because the Bible doesn't just say give hospitality without grudging it
says use hospitality without grudging which actually implies more the
receiving of hospitality being on the receiving end you say well why would
someone grudge receiving hospitality because of the fact that they don't like
the way that they're being put up now think about this let's say someone does
you a favor they'd book your lodging they get you a hotel room they give you
a place to stay or they give you a meal they take care of your needs and then
you turn around and whine about it because it wasn't exactly what you
wanted see how that could be using hospitality with grudging okay now in
our society sometimes we've become picky eaters because we're just kind of
given whatever we want and everyone special orders everything and I was
guilty of this growing up I mean I was a big-time picky eater growing up so when
I was a child and even into my teenage years I was extremely picky there I
wanted everything plain there were a lot of foods that I didn't like and I got
embarrassed so many times as a teenager being a picky eater because just not
cool to be a picky eater right and so I'd be in situations where everybody's
eating and I don't like this I don't like that you know finally I came to a
point where I just made a decision I'm not gonna be a baby I'm not gonna be a
picky eater I'm just gonna grow up and learn to eat what's put in front of me
and I'm gonna branch out and sophisticated this palette and get to
where I can eat all things and you know this is a place that we all need to come
to in our lives especially you children and teenagers when you're still young
and you're still able to form your views and form your habits you need to decide
not to be a picky eater this is a bad attribute the Bible talks about sitting
down and eating whatever is put in front of you and we're gonna get to that a
little bit later in the sermon so if you're this person that has the super
picky palette or you're just so restricted on oh I can't eat this I
can't eat that look I'm not talking about somebody who has a medical
condition okay if you have a medical condition and you're gonna go into
anaphylactic shock don't just eat whatever is put in front of you okay but
99% of us we don't have these kind of extreme allergies and we can eat what's
put in front of us even if it's not our favorite thing so you've got to learn to
be willing to just eat and be thankful for the food that's put in front of you
instead of just being all really picky and I don't like that it's rude when
you're a guest in someone's home and they serve dinner clean your plate eat
the food do your best to you know if it's not that good man wash it down
with some flavorful beverage and just kind of swallow it like medicine if you
have to but get it down because it's rude to look a gift horse in the mouth
and it's embarrassing and it's childish and it's ungrateful and it's juvenile to
be a picky eater you need to just be thank and really it's unthankful you
know everything doesn't have to be a party in your mouth just eat it force it
down I remember when I was in Germany everything was sauerkraut you know I
don't like sauerkraut I still don't like sauerkraut but man over there you're
eating sauerkraut for breakfast sometimes it seems like and you know I
ate the sauerkraut I remember I was staying with these people and they were
so excited and they said well oh man we're gonna take you out for a special
treat Svebelkuchen it's onion pie oh wow what a treat you know they're gonna take
me out for this Svebelkuchen and they say you know you drink it with this
this this special grape juice new wine you know it's not alcoholic folks but
you know they have us drink this drink and eat this onion cake and you know
nowadays I love onions you know I'm just eating whole onions nowadays but back
then I wasn't that big on onions okay so anyway we go to this restaurant get just
this giant slab this is like instead of a meal just a giant slab of onion cake
literally but it's more like an onion pie and the grape juice and you know I
took the first bite and I was like you know this isn't so bad this actually
tastes kind of good I kind of like this for a couple bites but it was like a
whole meal of just just this pure onion pie it was it was strange but you know
what I forced it down I thanked them you know now am I gonna order that when I'm
by myself no way have I ever eaten it since in the 18 years since then no I
haven't okay but you know you got to learn sometimes to just swallow it down
get through it and once you do this for a while and just kind of force down
things that you don't like pretty soon it'll get easy for you because your
your palate will get a little more versatile where you learn to like things
that aren't that good also I really strive to eat healthy okay you know we
eat all organic food and we really try to eat things that are fresh and
homemade and healthy but you know sometimes I go places and I'm fed a very
junky meal or I'm fed a very unhealthy meal but you know I'm not just gonna
turn my nose up and be like please you know I need something healthier than
this you know it like I remember when I was in Trinidad this pastor's like
brother we're going to Burger King you know cuz he's like I want to get you
your food you know you're from America we're gonna eat your food I'm like
that's not my food you know I told him I said I said I love the local food I said
I said you like Indian food right that's what you guys eat here Indian I
love Indian food and he's like no brother you're just saying that to be
polite I know what you Americans want you want Burger King I'm like I'm like I
was like well I haven't eaten Burger King in like ten years okay and he's
like brother we're going to Burger King you know and I didn't want to be rude so
eventually I decide you know what well if I'm gonna go big you know if you're
gonna do it you might as well go big or go home so I got the double whopper with
cheese you know supersize the whole coke and finish it off with a Dairy Queen you
know now you say oh man all that junk food guess what a little bit of junk
foods not gonna kill you if you're eating healthy 99% of the time in order
to not be rude in order to just use hospitality without grudging guess what
you can be a little flexible there and just say hey pass the whopper pass the
coke pass you know and just just do it now I don't normally eat or drink that
way but in a situation like that it's more important to be polite it's more
important to be thankful and friendly and just pray that God will you know
protect you from the harmful chemical effects okay so if you would flip over
to Philemon so we those are the four direct mentions of the word hospitality
in the New Testament but also there are some indirect mentions of this concept
of hospitality one of them is the word host you know the Apostle Paul in Roman
16 he talks about a guy named Gaius and he says Gaius is my host and he says
that guys is also the host of the whole church so basically anytime the church
needs a place to stay anytime the Apostle Paul needed a place to stay in
that area they use Gaius so that was a great reputation that he had for
hospitality that he gets an honorable mention he gets a shout-out in Roman 16
for being a good host also in 1st Timothy 5 you'll see the word lodging and
if you look up the word lodging there are way too many mentions for us to look
at in the Old Testament the New Testament many of which have to do with
hospitality like for example 1st Timothy 5 verse 10 when it talks about the
godly widows it says well reported up for good works if she have brought up
children if she have lodged strangers if she have washed the Saints feet if she
have relieved the afflicted if she have diligently followed every good work so
part of her good works would be that she's brought up children and that she
has lodged strangers or used hospitality showed herself to be a lover of
hospitality Philemon verse 22 the Apostle Paul says to Philemon but with all
prepare me also a lodging for I trust that through your prayers I shall be
given unto you so Paul's requesting lodging okay and then we're not going to
turn to all these for sake of time but if you would flip over to Matthew
chapter 10 and of course there are mentions of this throughout the book of
Acts the Apostle Peter is staying at a guy's house named Simon the tanner he
lodges with Simon the tanner and then when the messengers from Cornelius come
then the Bible says that Peter lodges the messengers of Cornelius so
basically Peter is receiving lodging he's giving lodging this is the use of
hospitality other people in the Bible there was a guy named Nason of Cyprus
that lodged them Publius lodged them it's just a word that comes up over and
over again where people are using hospitality staying at other people's
houses then in the Old Testament book of Job when Job is talking about the fact
that he is not guilty because his three friends are falsely accusing him he says
of the wicked they caused the naked to lodge without clothing and they have no
covering in the cold but on the other hand in chapter 31 verse 32 he said the
stranger did not lodge in the street but I opened my doors to the traveler so
part of Job's righteousness was that he was hospitable he opened his doors to
the traveler he didn't make them lodge in the street in the cold without any
help these are people that are traveling on a journey and they need a place to
stay now in Matthew chapter 10 we see that when Jesus sent out his disciples
to preach when he sent them out evangelizing doing missions soul winning
right they relied upon hospitality as their way to have a place to stay have
food etc look at Matthew 10 verse 5 these 12 Jesus sent forth and commanded
them saying go not into the way of the Gentiles and into any city of the
Samaritans enter you not but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel
and as you go preach saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand yield the sick
cleanse the lepers raise the dead cast out devils freely you've received freely
give watch this provide neither gold nor silver nor brass in your purses nor
script for your journey neither two coats neither shoes nor yet staves for
the workman is worthy of his meat and into whatsoever city or town you shall
enter inquire who in it is worthy and there abide till you go then now when he
says here don't bring any of these things because the workman is worthy of
his meat what he's saying there is that you're doing the work of the Lord and so
it is your right to basically receive hospitality you're coming in and
preaching and winning souls and evangelizing and so while you're there
you don't need to bring money or extra clothes or anything I got just rely on
other people to provide that stuff for you because the workman's worthy of his
meat you know you deserve that stuff because you're working hard and serving
the Lord that stuff is provided by others when you go there and then when
he says that they get to the town there to inquire who in it is worthy and there
abide until they go then so they're supposed to pick a house in the town
where they're gonna say they're gonna ask around and figure out where the best
place for them to lodge would be and they're supposed to stay in that same
lodging throughout their stay and we're gonna get to that in a little bit why
that's important they're supposed to just find a place stay there that's
where they're gonna lodge that's where they're gonna take their meals that's
where they're gonna sleep they're gonna rely on someone's hospitality in the
town now it says in verse 12 when you come into a house salute it and if the
house be worthy let your peace come upon it obviously we're not talking about the
building you know hello house you know obviously it says it's saying here
salute everyone in the household greet everyone and again we're learning here
how to be courteous how to use hospitality be friendly greet everyone
and then he says here if the house be worthy let your peace come upon it but
if it be not worthy let your peace return to you and whosoever shall not
receive you nor hear your words when you depart out of that house or city shake
off the dust of your feet verily I say unto you it shall be more tolerable for
the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city so if
the city will not provide lodging and will not listen to the preaching they
don't want to hear the Word of God then you shake off the dust of your feet and
it's worse than for Sodom now it's interesting that Sodom is brought up
here I want you to remember that because that's going to come into play later in
the sermon go to Mark chapter 6 because I'm going to show you how whenever these
instructions are given whether in Matthew Mark or Luke Sodom is always
mentioned in a negative way with these teachings on soul winning and missions
and hospitality now you say well pastor Anderson how come when we do missions
how can we do bring money why do we bring a suitcase full of clothes and we
bring money and we bring our own stuff why don't we just rely on hospitality
well because of the fact that later on at the end of the Gospels when Jesus
speaks to them at the end of the book of Luke he tells them hey when you went
out with nothing did you lack anything and they say Lord we lack nothing you
know when we went out and relied on hospitality we lacked nothing but then
he says them but now I say unto you take the coats take the money take the purse
and you know if you don't have a sword sell your garment to buy one you see
this was a special situation this is not God's instruction to us today this was
his instruction for the Apostles God miraculously provided some of this just
like when Jesus needed a place to have the Passover you know he just tells them
all right go into the city and there's gonna be guy carrying a pot of water on
his head follow the guy with the water pot and just you know and just follow
him and and then he's just gonna lead you into a house there's just gonna be
an upper room ready to roll and that's where we're gonna have the Passover or
like when they're told you go into the city and you're gonna find an ass all
tied by itself and and you're just gonna lose it and if they ask you why
are you losing the cult then just say hey the master hath need of it right and
then they'll just let you go so Jesus has provided them with the lodgings that
they need the hospitality that they need and he later brings this up by saying
hey you didn't lack anything because God basically providentially worked it out
that wherever they went their needs were always met but then he changes the
instruction at the end when he's about to go to the cross and says you know now
you do need to bring a purse you do need to bring a staff etc but obviously these
teachings are still profitable even though we're not relying as heavily on
hospitality as the Apostles were told to do there are still going to be times
when we give and receive hospitality as I showed you the scriptures this is
still relevant but not to these extremes okay this is obviously an extreme
situation where they're just going out and preaching full-time and just not
worrying about anything that's because they're told to do that we're not told
to do that okay just like we're not told to only go to Israel don't go to Samaria
don't go to the Gentiles we're told the opposite right go to all nations so
these teachings in Matthew 10 mark 6 they're relevant to us but they've been
slightly modified later okay just like the modification to teach all nations
there's been a modification that says hey have some money in your wallet okay
so anyway mark chapter 6 verse 7 and he called unto them unto him the 12 and
began to send them forth two by two I'm sorry I'm reading this wrong let me
start over and he called unto him the 12 and began to send them forth by two and
two and gave them power over unclean spirits and commanded them that they
should take nothing for their journey save a staff only no script no bread no
money in their purse but be shod with sandals and not put on two coats and he
said unto them in what place so ever you enter into in house there abide till you
depart from that place see that command again we're gonna get to that in a
moment and whosoever shall not receive you nor hear you when you depart thence
shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them barely I say unto
you it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment then
for that city go to Luke 9 Luke chapter number 9 Luke chapter number 9 actually
just go to Luke 10 and I'll read for you the verses from 9 Luke 9 3 said unto
them take nothing for your journey neither staves nor script neither bread
neither money neither have two coats of peace and whatsoever how she enter into
there abide and thence depart now let's look at chapter 10 verse 1 after these
things the Lord appointed other 70 also so first he sent out the 12 two by two
now he's ordaining other 70 also so how many are there total now 82 okay so
there were not only 12 apostles there are a minimum of 82 apostles and then if
you add apostle Paul there's a minimum of 83 apostles and it's likely that
there could be over 500 apostles okay so there were a lot of apostles special
chosen witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and we see guys like Paul
and Barnabas are apostles well who's Barnabas he's not one of the 12 right
but Jesus ordained 70 other also he gave them these powers and they witnessed the
resurrection etc so I would tend to believe that there are 83 apostles you
know as far as just what we see in Scripture clearly delineated that would
be my guess but of course there could be more than that but there can't be less
than that because we see that minimum so it says here in verse number two
therefore said he unto them the harvest truly is great but the laborers are few
pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send for the
laborers into his harvest go your ways behold I send you forth as lambs among
wolves carry neither purse nor script nor shoes and salute no man by the way
and into whatsoever how she enter first say peace be to this house and if the
son of peace be there your peace shall rest upon it if not it shall turn to you
again let me just stop and say this if you bless the wrong person it's okay
right because your peace will just kind of return to you you can just kind of
like rescind that blessing so here's the thing you know we should not knowingly
bless haters of God or people who come bringing a false gospel right the Bible
tells us in the book of 3rd John if someone comes unto you not bringing this
doctrine 2nd John receive him not into your house neither bid him Godspeed for
he that biddeth him Godspeed is a partaker of his evil deeds so you don't
want to bid Godspeed to the purveyor of false doctrine right but that doesn't
mean why I have to make sure anyone that I bless is a right person no it's okay
to just indiscriminately bless you know I'm constantly telling people God bless
you and and and blessing people just blessings here they're just blessings
for everyone right because if you end up blessing someone who's wicked
unknowingly well then you know what it just doesn't count it just doesn't
matter okay so you should strive to bless and give people the benefit of the
doubt and assume people are good people until they prove to you that there's
some wicked false prophet or reprobate or whatever so you when in doubt bless
okay because let's say you bless them and you cause your peace to come upon
the house well if the Son of Peace is not there you know it'll just return to
you again all right you just kind of bring that back just I'm gonna go ahead
and withdraw that blessing okay so then look at verse number seven it says and
in the same house remain eating and drinking such things as they give for
the laborer is worthy of his higher go not from house to house now this might
surprise you or you might think this is crazy or ridiculous I have literally had
people point to this verse and say we shouldn't go door-to-door soul winning
because the Bible says go not from house to house so this is a classic
example of how you could twist the Bible and take things out of context to make
it say whatever you want if you're dishonest right if you just want to take
a verse and I've had tons of people well the Bible says go not from house to
house when he's sending them out evangelizing he says don't go from house
to house look there are tons of scriptures that speak positively of
going to house to house for example acts 542 daily in the temple and in every
house they cease not to teach and praise Jesus Christ or acts 2020 you know you
think of having 2020 vision is a good way to remember this we're coming up on
the year 2020 here's a great theme verse for the year 2020 acts 2020 and how I
kept back nothing that was profitable unto you but have showed you and have
taught you publicly and from house to house so Paul talked about teaching the
Word of God from house to house go out into the highways and hedges folks when
he says go not from house to house it's about the hospitality here's what he's
saying when you use the hospitality of a house you eat and drink such things as
are set before you and you don't go from house to house here's what he's saying
when you're using hospitality you don't have lunch here and get the gifts and
get taken care of here and then be a glutton and go all right now let's go
party at the next house and you're basically abusing hospitality by
basically sleep here dirty the bedsheets and then up now we're gonna use somebody
else's now we're gonna use somebody else's I eat breakfast here lunch here
dinner over here shopping around for the best meals shopping around for the best
logic look you just humbly accept the lodging that's provided and you stick
with that one so that you're not just trying to just use hospitality all over
the place and abuse the privilege does everybody understand what he's saying
here that's why in Matthew Mark and Luke he gave that injunction that said hey
look wherever you stay there abide till you go that's you know pick a spot stay
there eat the food you know use the hospitality don't just borrow favors
from everybody in the whole town and get all the gifts because it was common in
those days to that when someone would stay with you they would give you a
parting gift you know so not only would they give you food not only would they
give you a place to stay as long as they give you a gift or something for the
road you know and I've experienced this when I go places and preach sometimes
they'll give me not only a lodging or not only a meal but they'll often send
me home with a gift you know for example you know I just preached in North
Carolina and I was given some books I was given the book war is a racket you
know a great book so you know I was given some books and and sometimes you
know we'll be given the the Reese's peanut butter cups for the road or
whatever you know they'll give us gifts to take with us and and sometimes I'll
have one of my daughters with me they'll give her a coloring book or they'll give
her stickers some you know people will just give you a gift so you don't want
to go from house to house just kind of collecting all the gifts collecting all
the food collecting the drink collecting the coats and the and the clothing and
the changes of raiment that's abusing hospitality so that's actually what that
verse means so don't ever let anybody try to hit you with that one and then in
verse 8 it says and into whatsoever city you enter and they receive you eat such
things as are set before you picky eaters you don't come in and say oh
well you know can I have this can I have that can I get this you know different
can I get a special order item and so that's why you got to start training
yourself if you're gonna grow up kids you listening kids if you're gonna grow
up and properly use hospitality and eat such things as are set before you you
need to start practicing now eating things you don't like and if you start
practicing now eating things that you don't like then when you grow up you
won't be that pain-in-the-neck guest that refuses every meal you refuse the
breakfast you refuse the lunch you refuse the dinner and then you you're
you're going up to McDonald's you know you're being served a five-star
breakfast but I don't like it and then you're going to McDonald's how do you
think that makes your hostess feel when you're having the egg McMuffin and she's
trying to serve you you know some kind of an omelet or something but you don't
like eggs you don't like cheese you don't like this kind of bread you know
you don't like sausage you don't like bacon you don't like chorizo something's
wrong with you all right because these are the these are the finer things it
doesn't get much better than chorizo amen so you know you don't you just
don't want to be picking now look we all have our preferences right there's food
that I like and food that I don't like but you know what food that I don't like
I can still eat it anyway you know and when I'm on an airplane every calorie is
precious and so I'll eat anything that the anything that they bring on an
airplane I'll eat it I don't care what it is I eat stuff that I hate because
every calorie is precious amen all right so let's get off this because I got a
hurry for sake of time I just want to point out that in verse 12 again Sodom
is referenced now why is Sodom referenced in Matthew Mark and Luke go
back to Genesis 18 this is because Sodom is the quintessential example of bad
hospitality in the Bible not only Genesis 18 and 19 but also judges 19
where it's not the literal city of Sodom but it's the sodomites in judges 19 who
exhibit terrible hospitality in judges 19 the sodomites and Sodom itself so
let's look at some hospitality examples we've talked a lot about you know what
the Bible teaches what Christ taught what the Bible says but what about
seeing this in action okay let's look at hospitality in action first we're
gonna see the good example of Abraham in Genesis 18 verse 1 and the Lord appeared
unto him in the plains of Mamre and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the
day and he lift up his eyes and looked and lo three men stood by him and when
he saw them he ran to meet them from the tent door and bowed himself toward the
ground so here we see the Lord appears to Abraham and he has two people with
him right because it says there's three men the Lord's one of them and then his
two angels that he's gonna send to Sodom in chapter 19 so this is what we would
know as an Old Testament appearance of Jesus Christ because of the fact that we
know that God the Father does not appear in a physical body right whenever we see
a G whenever we see God in physical bodily form as a man we know that that's
Jesus because no man had seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is
in the bosom of the Father he had declared him so when we see a man
walking up and it's the Lord we know that that's the Son not the Father of
course just throwing that out there because you can't emphasize that too
much but it says here that he sees these three men and the first thing he does is
he runs to meet them from the tent door now let's analyze Abraham's hospitality
here okay first of all you notice that he runs and greets them at the curb so
he's very hospitable he's very polite you know if somebody's coming to your
house or something isn't it nice if you go out the front door and kind of meet
them hey how you doing you know what I mean so he's basically showing his
enthusiasm at providing hospitality there's no grudging here there's no oh
man you know he basically is just rushing out to meet them he meets them
before they even get to the door and he bows himself to the ground he's being
polite and said verse 3 my Lord if now I found favor in thy sight pass not away I
pray thee from thy servant little little water I pray you be fetched and wash
your feet and rest yourselves under the tree and I will fetch a morsel of bread
and comfort ye your hearts after that you shall pass on for therefore are you
come to your servant and they said so do as thou is that I don't believe at this
point he knows he's talking to the Lord okay I believe that he just sees these
three men three sharp looking guys come up and he says you know what it's my job
to provide these guys with hospitality they're travelers and and we know Abraham
had the wherewithal you know he has 318 servants so he's well healed he has the
means whereby to provide hospitality for the traveler for the stranger and so he
offers hospitality with alacrity right he's not doing it grudgingly whatsoever
and so he says to them look I'm gonna get some water for your feet we're gonna
get some bread we're gonna get some food for you you're gonna rest under a tree
you're gonna comfort your hearts and after that you shall pass on so he's
saying look I'm just gonna provide some hospitality for you and then I'm gonna
send you on to continue your journey right so he's being a great host here
right then it says in verse number six and Abraham hastened into the tent unto
Sarah and said make ready quickly three measures of fine meal kneaded and make
cakes upon the hearth so he's letting his wife know look we have guests we're
gonna make some food here and Abraham ran into the herd I love Abraham's
enthusiasm I love the running okay he's not a lazy man God doesn't bless lazy
people slow sluggish lazy people I mean this guy gets things done he's serious
about work he's serious about hospitality that's why he's running a
business with 318 workers and he rushes out he runs under the herd fetched a
calf tender and good and gave it to a young man and he hated to dress it
notice he doesn't find the calf that's got some problems you know that we well
you know I'm gonna save the good stuff for my friends I'm gonna save the good
stuff for my relatives even for the stranger he's willing to get a good
piece of meat here he's willing to get a good calf young calf tender and good
and he says hey this is what we're gonna eat with our guests and he took butter
and milk so he's not just doing the minimum he's not just providing them
with their basic caloric needs but he's actually making them a fine meal and
giving them good things butter and milk and the calf which he addressed and set
it before them and he stood by them under the tree and they did eat and then
of course I'm gonna skip the rest of it for sake of time I just wanted to focus
in on the hospitality part of the story but jump down to verse 20 later on in
the conversation they talk about how Sarah is gonna have Isaac and then they
get into the issue of Sodom how Sodom is so wicked and God's gonna destroy Sodom
and it says in verse 20 and the Lord said because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah
is great and because their sin is very grievous I will go down now and see
whether they've done all together according to the cry of it which has
come unto me and if not I will know verse 22 and the men took their excuse
me and the men turned their faces from thence and went towards Sodom but
Abraham stood yet before the Lord so the two men leave and now Abraham's only
talking to the Lord chapter 19 verse 1 and there came two angels to Sodom and
even so these are the two angels or two messengers that the Lord sends to Sodom
as he remained and continued to talk somewhat with Abraham there came two
angels to Sodom and even and lot sat in the gate of Sodom and lot seeing them
rose up to meet them and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground
now look isn't lot a lot like Abraham here I mean lots got the same attitude
why because lot is Abraham's nephew and lot the Bible says was a just man or a
righteous man so he has learned from his uncle how to use hospitality properly so
he comes out to meet them he bows himself with his face toward the ground
and he said behold now my Lord's turn in I pray you into your servant's house and
Terry all night and wash your feet sound familiar and you shall rise up early and
go on your ways so he's a lot like Abraham here he's trying to be a good
host he's definitely hospitable guy and they said nay but we will abide in the
street all night they wanted to they want to test out this town because
remember their whole point is to go there and see how wicked Sodom is God
sent them there to go and see whether it is as wicked as the cry but now
obviously God already knows everything but this is all symbolic because of the
fact that there's a scripture in Deuteronomy that talks about how if a
city is wicked then they're supposed to basically send messengers to see if the
city is actually as wicked if they're really doing that and so forth so God's
basically modeling that example by sending the two messengers and going
through this process and obviously he has a plan here because he wanted the
story to play out the way it does so that we could get this bad example of
how bad the sodomites are and how bad these wicked people were and what they
did so basically they say no we're gonna abide in the street all night a lot he
knows what the city of Sodom is like he knows that's not a good idea okay no
we're just gonna lodge in the street we're fine out here and he pressed upon
them greatly he's saying like no don't do it you you've got to come to my house
let me take care of you let me lodge you so they say okay they turned in unto him
and entered into his house and he made them a feast and did bake unleavened
bread and they did eat but before they lay down the men of the city even the
men of Sodom compass the house round both old and young all the people from
every quarter and on and on the story goes so we see here that lot is striving
to use good hospitality but it doesn't go very well okay now Abraham and lot
they both start out the same way here's one key difference Abraham goes into the
kitchen and Sarah's there so he can say to her hey you know let's make three
loaves of bread let's get the milk let's get the butter let's get you know and so
he's actually able to present a great meal whereas lot you know we don't see
his wife she's a wall so basically he has to bake unleavened bread because men
don't know how to do it with the leaven and you know I mean you think we're
gonna go in and make these cakes and have yeast and we're gonna let it rise
what I mean you know we're lucky to make pancakes okay so lot basically goes in
you know his he doesn't know where his wife is she's out hanging around with
the sodomites right because we're gonna see how she ends up later in the story
so she's out pounding around as a fag hag with all our queer buddies okay and
so he basically has to go in the kitchen and whip up the pancakes himself in order
to have something to serve okay so that's the first place where his his
hospitality suffers a little bit okay not because he's a bad guy but just
because his wife's not around to help out in the process and then secondly
he's living in the wrong town to provide good hospitality this is not a good town
to lodge strangers in because the men are so wicked and so perverted that they
actually come and surround the house and want to assault his two guests okay so
but there's an interesting verse in the New Testament that points back to this
story you don't have to turn there but in Hebrews 13 it says let brotherly love
continue be not forgetful to entertain strangers for thereby some have
entertained angels unawares and obviously this is one of those
references about entertaining strangers and thereby entertaining angels unawares
because lot didn't know that these are two angels he just thought he's just
entertaining couple strangers even Abraham you know he just thought he's
entertaining three strangers in the beginning so we see here hospitality
going bad okay we see a wicked town that instead of protecting the stranger
protecting the traveler providing a safe place for him to stop along the way
they seek to assault and destroy his visitors