You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.
Our passion is to experience and express grace. Join us.
Ray Cortese is our guest speaker this weekend for the conference.
He's the senior pastor of Seven Rivers Presbyterian Church in Lakanto, Florida.
He started that church 33 years ago.
But he's very, very young, which I failed to clarify last night.
And we're really glad that Ray and Diane have traveled up here to be with us this weekend.
Thank you all so much.
All right. Thank you, sir.
There are people who come to Sunday school on time.
And then there are people who have a life, right?
So, all right.
There we go.
If you have a Bible, we're going to look at a passage from Luke chapter 14.
So, I'll give you a minute to find your way there.
It's an experience grace, express grace.
I love it.
I love the clarity of the mission.
I love the content of your mission.
The challenge, of course, is to get any group of people on mission, to get a church on mission, stay on mission,
particularly in areas that are significantly churched areas or people that are significantly churched people,
to be on mission.
And something we did in our community that's kind of had a pretty radical and dramatic effect is that we changed the mission statement of our Christian school,
changed the stated missional purpose,
so that we were what was typically called a covenant school.
That is, one parent had to profess faith and be a member of a local church, you know, for their child to be admitted to our school.
And we took away that, and we took a more what we called missional approach.
And, of course, there was some disagreement with that decision.
And part of my argument was, if you went to, say, India to start a Christian school,
and you were a missionary, and you believe that starting a Christian school could be a viable option for impacting that community for the gospel,
advancing the kingdom of God, would you require one of the parents of any potential student to be a Christian?
And what do people say?
No.
And then, well, why not?
Because there aren't any, right?
So, our argument is that if you went to Crystal River, Florida,
and you thought that starting a Christian school would be a viable and perhaps effective way to influence the community,
advance the kingdom of God, would you require one parent of any potential student to be a Christian?
And the answer should be no, because there aren't any.
And so, there are still pockets in our country where there are Christians,
and you can pull perhaps enough professing Christians together to do some things.
But until the North American church realizes that the answer is,
why wouldn't you do that?
No, you know, because there aren't any.
Until we realize that there aren't any Christians,
then we will not be missional in the way that we need to be missional.
Churches can't be formed by gathering together the Christians in the community.
There aren't any.
People need to be one to faith in Christ.
And you're reading this, right?
You can see how culture's changing.
I remember just a couple years ago thinking,
the Supreme Court is going to declare same-gender marriage as the law of the land,
and that's actually going to be the law in the state of Alabama.
I remember thinking,
how is that going to go down?
In Mississippi and in Alabama,
same-sex marriage is going to be legalized.
So if we want to live in America we wish it was,
or it once was,
or something else,
we can play those games,
or we can live in the culture in which God's put us in,
which, by the way,
is just an awesome time to be a Christian.
You know why it's an awesome time to be a Christian?
Because the darker the culture gets,
even dim bulbs like me,
and perhaps like you,
actually appear to be light, right?
So it doesn't take really that much to be a light in a very dark place.
So those of us who never consider ourselves that our life could ever make any difference for Jesus,
guess what?
The very simplest things now will make you a radical follower of Jesus in our culture.
And I'm going to suggest one of those in this brief Sunday school,
I was going to say Sunday school hour,
you know,
the abbreviated hour.
So,
you know,
sometimes what the Bible tells us to do is pretty simple.
And that's what we're going to read in this passage.
The passage says that God is having a party,
a big party,
and he wants,
he has his eye on people who are unwanted.
He wants unwanted people.
He wants the unwanted to come to his party.
And he wants you to bring them.
That's not that hard to understand, is it?
Pretty simple concept, right?
God's having a big party.
There's people he wants there,
and he wants you to bring them.
And if you do that,
you're on mission,
and you're actually a really radical Christian.
So let's look at the passage,
and I'll give you a chance to,
I could have you stand,
but you have coffee some of you.
By the way,
if you want to go out and get more coffee,
anytime,
or stand up,
or walk around the back to stay,
I'm not going to be the least bit disturbed.
So just make yourself at home for the next hour,
and we'll enjoy this time together.
So if you can,
go ahead and stand,
just as we give our attention to the Word of God.
And we're looking at Luke 14.
Now in Luke 14,
Jesus is at a dinner party,
and it's not a very warm affair.
In fact,
the first verse says that
Jesus went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees.
So you can,
you know,
he's kind of in the lion's den there,
isn't he?
And it says they were watching him carefully.
So you get the spirit of what is taking place there.
He's under scrutiny.
We're going to pick up the account at verse 12.
And notice sort of the chutzpah of what Jesus does,
because what he's about to say,
he says to the host.
You know,
usually you're kind of conciliatory towards the host.
But this is what Jesus said.
He said also to the man who had invited him,
when you give a dinner or a banquet,
do not invite your friends or your brothers
or your relatives or your rich neighbors,
lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid.
But when you give a feast,
invite the poor,
the crippled,
the lame,
and the blind,
and you will be blessed because they can't repay you.
You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.
When one of those who reclined at table with him
heard these things,
he said to him,
blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God.
But Jesus said,
a man once gave a great banquet and invited many.
And at that time for the banquet,
he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited,
come for everything is now ready.
But they all alike began to make excuses.
The first said to him,
I have bought a field and I must go out and see it.
Please have me excused.
And another said,
I have bought five yoke of oxen and I go to examine them.
Please excuse me.
Another said,
I have married a wife.
I can't come.
So the servant came and repeated these things to his master.
And the master was angry and said to his servant,
go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city
and bring in the poor,
crippled,
blind,
and lame.
Servant said,
what you have commanded has been done.
There's still room.
And the master said to the servant,
go out into the highways and hedges.
In other words,
go further out.
Now this is Pharisees.
This is a Jewish deal here.
This is a Jewish crowd.
What is Jesus actually saying at this point?
Go out and invite who?
Gentiles.
Ugh.
Ick.
So he says,
go all the way out and compel people to come in,
that my house may be filled.
For I tell you,
none of those men who are invited
shall taste my banquet.
But this is the reading of God's holy word.
Let's pray.
Father,
we don't want to be hearers of the word only.
We want to hear it.
We want you to teach it to us.
We want to be stunned by it.
And we want our hearts and minds engaged.
But then we want it actually to show up in our lives.
We want your,
the fact that you included us in the great feast
to just blow us away afresh.
We pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
All right.
Do be seated.
Listen,
hospitality.
We're going to talk about hospitality.
Hospitality is an ancient path.
Jeremiah says,
thus says the Lord,
stand by the roads,
look,
and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way is,
and walk in it,
and find rest for your souls.
Jeremiah 6.16,
write that down.
Isn't that a great passage?
Stand by the roads,
and look,
and ask for the ancient path.
The well-worn path.
The ancient path is the way of life.
And so hospitality is one of those.
Hospitality is an ancient path.
And let me tell you something.
Hospitality matters.
Hospitality changes people's lives.
Hospitality is what it means to be a Christian.
Hospitality has tremendous impact.
Hospitality is personal.
It's deeply personal to me.
It's why I am a pastor.
Hospitality is a pastor.
When I was in,
when I finished high school,
a pastor and his wife invited me,
I grew up in Miami,
and they invited me to live in their home
in Upper Glade, West Virginia,
in the heart of Appalachia.
Less than half the people in the community
had running water.
And so for two summers in a row,
I went up,
and matter of fact,
when I got there the first summer,
after three weeks,
the pastor left for a month,
and I was the pastor of the church.
I was 17 years old.
And so I lived with this family for two.
I mean,
I saw things I've never seen since.
But I learned something about what it meant
to be a follower of Jesus,
even certainly amidst the poor.
Poor people would come.
They'd have a fire in their little shack
or their trailer or something
and lose everything,
and they'd knock on the door
of the pastor's house.
And I saw his wife go,
you know,
she didn't go down to the church
to get some old furniture people had donated.
She'd walk into her children's bedroom,
unload their dresser,
and walk it out the front door
and give it to people.
I saw her take their couch
and just give it away.
I mean,
it was just an astounding tutorial
in what it might look like
to be a follower of Jesus
in that place and time.
You know,
my wife and I spent a portion of our honeymoon
in Gadsden, Alabama.
Now,
don't ask why.
You might be surprised
to find that Gadsden's
a great honeymoon hotspot.
But on our honeymoon,
my wife had a dear friend from college
who was supposed to sing in our wedding,
and she fell off the radar,
and finally my wife got in touch with her
just days before the wedding,
and she said,
I'm not coming
because she had entered into a lesbian relationship
and was filled with guilt and shame.
And so on our honeymoon,
happened to be,
she was from Meridian, Mississippi,
so we were kind of in the neighborhood
by being in Alabama,
and my wife called her,
and she came and spent a couple days
in our hotel room on our honeymoon with us.
That was an introduction to hospitality,
and it made a big difference
in her life
and the way her story would play out.
A couple,
maybe a month,
six weeks ago,
we were in northern New Jersey,
Diane and I,
and we went to a church
that we were there
trying to initiate it 36 years ago.
Again,
right when we got married,
we went to New Jersey
three weeks after we were married
and started working on this church start.
And so 35 years later,
we went back to this little,
and it's just a little church
with less than 100 people,
and so we knew that nobody would be there
that had been there that long ago.
And when we walked in,
and somebody said,
is this your first time?
And we said,
no,
we've been here before.
And they said,
when did you,
when's the last time you were here?
It was 35 years ago.
We're kind of,
casual visitors.
And every 35 years.
So,
we went,
they said,
oh,
well,
then you must know Valerie,
Valerie Marquetta.
Of course,
we were just stunned.
And,
and they pointed out who Valerie was,
and we went over,
and she just began to,
to weep.
Because,
35,
36 years ago,
Valerie came and sat
in church next to us.
She was a Catholic girl
in northern New Jersey,
and she lived with her boyfriend,
and he was abusive.
And as we got to know her,
we invited her to come live with us,
at least trying to get her
to leave this horrible situation
she was in.
And,
and then even when we left there,
and we moved to,
went away to a graduate school,
Valerie came and stayed with us.
And she told us there,
you challenged me
when I came to your place
in Mississippi,
and,
and I gave my life to Christ.
Hospitality.
See,
it makes a difference
in people's lives.
We hadn't seen her in 35 years.
I won't forget what she said
as we were crying
and hugging each other
at this reunion.
She said,
this is what heaven
must feel like.
when,
when people you've long
lost touch with,
suddenly you're,
you're,
you're back together.
The power of hospitality.
When we were,
in some of the earlier days
of our church,
I remember there was a girl
who was a waitress
at a local restaurant.
She was a friendly kid
and got invited to play softball
because our,
our church did this softball thing then.
She was a good player,
so she showed up,
so then she came to church,
so then she met Jesus.
Okay?
Um,
and she lived with a guy
and because she met Jesus,
she moved out
and really within a month
she had relocated
to somewhere else in Florida
kind of to start her life over
because she was a Christian now.
Um,
and,
and so guess who started
coming to church when she left?
Well,
the guy that she used to live with,
um,
was kind of,
thought it was fairly remarkable
that not only had her life changed,
but she had met somebody
more wonderful than him.
And,
um,
he could hardly understand that.
And,
uh,
so he walked into church
and,
and he got converted
and he came
and,
and he was going,
wanted to go to law school
and his,
um,
uh,
living situation
had been disrupted.
Um,
so he,
uh,
he had nowhere to go.
So,
so he came to live with us
for about four months
and,
uh,
we remained good friends
for,
uh,
many years.
Uh,
went off to law school
and,
you know,
so it was,
it was kind of fun.
My little son,
you know,
in the bottom bunk
and this,
this guy in his early 20s
in the top bunk,
they were roommates
for a while.
Well,
in,
in November,
he will be the speaker
of the Florida House
of Representatives.
Um,
so,
uh,
hospitality is very personal,
uh,
deeply personal to me.
It's,
uh,
had a shaping influence,
uh,
in my life.
I want you to know
that hospitality
is our heritage.
From the 2nd century
to the 16th century,
any traveler
in the Western world
would spend,
uh,
every day
of their journey
scanning the horizon
in search of one thing.
What would they be looking for?
As you traveled along,
you would spend,
um,
every day
looking for one thing.
You would be looking
for a church
or more,
most,
more likely
a monastery,
uh,
because that's
where you would stay.
That's the only place
you could stay.
It's the only place
that most lodging places
were houses of ill repute.
Or,
um,
and,
uh,
this was the only place
where you could find
safety
and,
uh,
and food
and rest.
Everyone knew
the church was a place
where strangers
were welcomed
as guests.
Did you know that?
This is our heritage.
This is what the church,
um,
did for hundreds
and hundreds
and hundreds of years.
The vocation
of hospitality
is deeply embedded
in the historical DNA
of the church.
Perhaps you've heard
of the rules
of Saint Benedict.
Um,
and,
and here,
here's one of them,
the holy rule.
All guests
who present themselves
are to be welcomed
as Christ.
For he himself
will say,
I was a stranger
and you welcomed me.
Once a guest
has been announced,
the superior
and the brothers
are to meet him
with all courtesy
of love.
All humility
should be shown
in addressing
a guest
on arrival
or departure.
By a bow
of the head
or by a complete
prostration
of the body,
Christ is to be adored.
Did you hear that?
They believed
that when anyone
showed up
at their door,
um,
that was Jesus.
Jesus was showing
up at their door
and the way
they treated the guests
was the way
they treated Jesus.
In a sense,
you couldn't say
you love Jesus
if you didn't love
the guests
that he brought
to your door.
Um,
the abbot
shall pour water
on the hands
of the guests
and the abbot
with the entire community
shall wash their feet.
Isn't that wild?
Well,
this was the,
um,
the church,
um,
at its heart
is a community
of welcome.
Philip Haley
wrote a book
called
Lest Innocent Blood
Be Shed.
Uh,
I really recommend it.
It's about the,
uh,
a French Huguenot
community
called Les Chambons.
Now,
the Huguenots
you might not,
um,
be entirely aware of
are,
if you,
um,
adhere to,
uh,
the reform faith,
reform theology,
um,
then the Huguenots
are our forebears.
Um,
we don't have
Huguenot churches
because they were
all slaughtered.
The ones that weren't
slaughtered,
um,
were up in the hills.
They were in more rural,
out-of-the-way places
like this town.
Um,
but Huguenots
were experts
at,
um,
hiding,
right?
They,
they had to hide
for their lives.
And so during,
uh,
Philip Haley
wrote,
wrote that,
that he was so distressed
studying World War II
and the,
and the inhumanity
and the,
the,
um,
industrialization
of death.
And,
um,
it,
you know,
he said he was
emotionalist.
He was,
um,
callous to it all.
And,
um,
and,
and then suddenly
he began reading
about this small town
he'd never heard of
and he said
the strangest sensation
happened.
There was,
there was moisture drops
hitting,
um,
the book,
the,
the materials
in front of him
and he realized
he was weeping.
Uh,
because he discovered
the town of Le Chambon
and the,
the story of Andre
and,
and Magda Trachma,
the,
um,
uh,
Protestant pastor
and his wife
who organized
their entire community
to hide Jewish children.
They saved thousands
of Jewish children,
uh,
during World War II.
And the Nazis
would come
and look for them,
um,
and,
uh,
I,
I think they,
they ultimately
found one.
Um,
they were,
they were experts
at this.
And,
uh,
they imperiled
their whole community.
Matter of fact,
when the Nazis came
ultimately to arrest
her husband,
the pastor,
um,
and he was arrested,
um,
Magda said,
um,
they knocked on the door
and,
they,
they were coming
to take him away
and,
uh,
and she said,
well,
you are not going
to take him away
until you sit down
at my table
and you eat.
It is dinner time
and guests at my table,
uh,
are going to be fed.
So she had the Nazis
sit down
and she fed them
before they took
her husband away
because she was
in charge of her house.
Um,
just great.
You know,
if you go to Yad Vashem,
uh,
in,
uh,
in Israel,
there is a place
of honor
for,
um,
these are,
these are our,
this is our heritage.
This ought to be
the,
uh,
a height of,
uh,
of incredible joy
that this is our
historical,
um,
legacy.
So here's our challenge
in our day
is that our neighbors
are still wandering
just like they have
for all of history.
Um,
but they're not looking
anymore for the church,
are they?
Uh,
like people once did,
um,
as a place of refuge,
a place of safety,
a place of welcome.
They're not looking
any longer,
um,
for the church.
And what's even sadder
is that all too often
we're not looking for them.
Um,
and we're not open,
uh,
to,
to welcome them.
Um,
so we must
recover this ancient path.
It's the lost vocation
of,
uh,
hospitality.
Now,
almost everybody here
has,
uh,
seen the musical
Les Mis.
And you remember
at the very beginning
when Jean Valjean
is,
uh,
has been set,
uh,
free,
but he has,
no one will take him in,
right?
Where does he go?
He goes to a monastery,
right?
See,
that's the very picture
of what we're talking about.
That's where people went,
that there was nowhere else
for them to go.
And you remember
what the priest sings
in the Broadway version.
Um,
come in,
sir,
for you are weary
and the night is cold
out there.
Though our lives
are very humble,
what we have,
we have to share.
There's wine here
to revive you.
There is bread
to make you strong.
There's a bed
to rest till morning.
Rest from pain
and rest from wrong.
Wouldn't that be awesome
to have
right across the doorway
of,
uh,
of our churches?
Um,
come in,
child,
for you are weary
and the night
is cold out there.
Our lives are humble,
but what we have,
we have to share.
There's wine
to revive you,
bread
to make you
strong.
So this is the mission
of Southwood Church.
Um,
it's,
uh,
it's to having
experienced the welcome
of Jesus,
right?
Experience grace.
Then you extend
the welcome
of,
uh,
of Jesus.
So let's talk
about that together.
Hospitality,
the,
the main characters
we're going to talk
about in Jesus' parable
and the first is
we have the host,
the yearning host.
Um,
so the recovery
of the vocation
of hospitality
begins with the conviction
that God is a host
who wants his house filled.
He has,
uh,
set up a great feast
and,
uh,
um,
and the church then
is to be that community
of welcome.
So Luke 14
is,
is this,
uh,
fascinating tableau
because Jesus
is at this tension
filled,
a Sabbath dinner party
with the most conservative
religious leaders
who are watching him.
And Jesus first
criticizes the guests.
We didn't read this,
um,
part of the passage,
but Jesus criticizes
the guests
because they seek
the places of honor
and then he criticizes
the host.
So Jesus is really not,
um,
Jesus apparently
is not a southerner
because no good southerner
would act,
um,
this way.
Um,
he,
he not only
criticizes the host
but,
you know,
then he criticizes
the other guests
because,
you know,
the guests for seeking
the place of honor
and the host
because he's invited
the socially prominent.
Nobody is eating.
The tension is,
uh,
palpable
and one,
um,
good fellow decides
that he's going to
ease the mood
and he stands up
and says,
well,
blessed is everybody
who's going to eat
bread in the kingdom
of God.
In other words,
what he's really saying
is,
now,
blessed are the likes
of us who are
essentially shoe-ins
at the feast in heaven.
We're all going.
We're all,
uh,
going to the feast
so it's,
it's good with all of us.
Now,
Jesus can't,
just can't let it go,
right?
And,
and so he tells a parable
and in his parable
he says there's a man
of immense wealth
and he,
um,
puts on a sumptuous feast
and the invitation list
is lengthy
but when the day is come
and the meal is ready
he sends his servants out
to inform everyone,
uh,
that it's time to come
to the feast.
But what do they say?
They have a whole bevy
of excuses,
um,
right?
Uh,
and,
and they decline
but he's adamant
his house is going to be filled
so he sends them out
to bring the poor
and the lame
and the nobodies
and compel them to come in
and even that doesn't fill the house
so he does the unthinkable.
Um,
Jesus says
he actually sends them out
to gather Gentiles
and even bring them
um,
into his house.
So what's the picture
we have of the host
in our parable?
The host is,
uh,
Jesus portrays God
as passionate.
Um,
he is going to share
his fullness
with the hungry
and that is the story
of the Bible.
The story of the Bible
as it unfolds
is God,
uh,
God as the desirous host.
Look,
consider the whole story.
What is creation?
Creation is God,
um,
showing his,
um,
creative genius
and laying out
this,
um,
this spread
of beauty
and art
and creation
and food
and the bounty
and inviting
and then creating us
um,
to come to his,
to fill his,
um,
to fill his house
and enjoy the feast
that he's created.
That's creation itself.
We know in the wilderness,
um,
God feeds his people.
God's always feeding people.
The Bible revolves around eating.
That's something we can get excited about,
isn't it?
Um,
and,
and so in,
in the wilderness,
he's,
he's giving them bread,
right,
from heaven.
He's giving them meat,
quail from heaven.
He gives them shelter
from the hot sun
in,
uh,
in the day.
He keeps them warm
in the,
the cold nights
in the wilderness.
The prophets,
uh,
love to describe
the coming glory
in,
in terms like these
from Isaiah.
On this mountain,
the Lord of hosts
will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food,
a feast of well-aged
wine,
of rich food,
full of marrow,
of aged wine,
well-refined.
Um,
for many of the people
in our church,
that's their life verse.
They love reading
about all that wine.
Um,
so,
here we have it.
Um,
in the New Testament,
what do we,
um,
what do we get?
Jesus usurps the role
of the wedding host
and makes the best wine.
He feeds thousands
of people.
Um,
he eats,
uh,
with the notorious
and gets in trouble
for it.
He initiates
the Lord's Supper.
He tells us
that God is a welcoming,
um,
father who,
when his wayward children
comes home,
he throws a big barbecue,
right,
for all the,
all the community
to attend.
Um,
and he says
that all of creation
is headed
for a great wedding
celebration,
a great,
um,
feast.
Um,
and regularly
in churches,
what do we do?
We invite people
to come forward
and,
uh,
and taste and see
that the Lord is good
and taste the bread
and,
uh,
and drink the wine.
God is the host.
He is,
uh,
he is this,
um,
lavish,
um,
generous,
welcoming host.
Now,
we will never be
the practitioners
of hospitality
until we experience
personally
this welcoming
heart
of,
uh,
of God.
Um,
so have you,
um,
have you experienced
God welcome you?
Do you know
what it's like
to go to God's house?
And,
and,
you know,
in our church
when we go forward
for communion
we,
we encourage people
to come,
um,
with their hands
out like this
because it's a way
for us to say,
uh,
we don't bring anything.
We don't bring
righteousness to this.
We don't have any
merits to come to this.
We haven't provided,
um,
the food at this meal.
You know,
in our church,
um,
I take people out
to lunch,
um,
all the time
and,
uh,
when I take out
particularly the successful,
the wealthy,
the,
uh,
those people,
I always pay for it
and I have to be
really quick.
Um,
and they are always
bothered by that.
Um,
because they,
they have an idea
that,
um,
that,
um,
they're the provider,
the church is the recipient.
They give,
the church receives.
Um,
they're the have,
the pastor is the have not.
Um,
and,
uh,
and,
and they're always
bothered.
And one of the things
they'll often say is,
we'll have to do this again.
And I say,
no,
we're not.
And,
uh,
and you're not going to
get the satisfaction
of you,
um,
uh,
paying,
uh,
because this is the way
it works in the family
of God.
It's called grace.
You contribute nothing.
Um,
something is given to you
that you don't pay for.
And,
uh,
and if you can't even
stand it at a lunch,
how can you,
um,
uh,
how can you,
how can you understand
it as a way of life?
Um,
we don't pay God back.
Um,
that's not the motivation
for Christian living.
Um,
we have to experience,
listen,
there's all sorts of people
go to church in North America
who profess faith in Jesus
who could recite the,
um,
Westminster Confession of Faith
and Ugaritic.
Um,
but that doesn't mean
you've ever had the experience,
uh,
you've ever experienced grace.
Doesn't mean that,
um,
you really know the love of God.
Um,
that you've ever been,
you know,
my,
uh,
my favorite verse in the Bible
is when the prodigal son
came home
in all his shame
and all his filth
and all his rebellion.
Not only did his father
run out to him,
but the Bible says
his father what?
He kissed him.
Him.
Your life changes
the day you experience
the kiss of the father.
You can be a follower of God,
a believer in the Bible,
and never have experienced
the kiss.
Um,
the kiss of,
uh,
of,
of God.
And to consider the price
of the feast,
you know,
this is my body
broken for you.
That's the price.
He provides it.
He provides the meal
for his children.
This welcoming,
I bet you sing
in,
in your church
from time to time,
oh,
I'm running to his arms.
That song,
right?
And the riches
of your love
will never,
you know,
the,
the riches of your love
will always be enough.
Oh,
I'm running to your arms.
It's such a beautiful
visual picture
of children,
um,
running into,
uh,
the welcome
of the father.
My wife and I went
on a road trip
a couple years ago
up I-95
through,
uh,
Georgia.
And before you get
to Savannah,
there was an exit
we took,
and we went to find
a restaurant
because Southern Living
had talked about it.
Uh,
the Old School Diner,
it was called.
It was Ben Affleck's
favorite restaurant
during the filming
of some movie
and of course
what Ben does,
I do.
And,
um,
so,
um,
we drove and drove
and drove and drove
and finally got
to a dirt road
and you turn down
the dirt road
and,
um,
and there's just a,
uh,
and,
and really a shack
with about five shacks,
you know,
added on to it
and,
uh,
and the most bizarre,
uh,
tableau
because there's,
it's not,
there's no paved parking.
Um,
the whole area
around the restaurant
is covered
with carpet
torn out of mobile homes.
Um,
the carpet's
the whole ground
and,
uh,
and so as we pulled
into this place
thinking,
you know,
what is this
gonna be like,
out the door
barrels
Chef Jerome
and he runs
up to the car
and as he's running
out towards us
he goes,
my family,
my family is here
and he wraps us
in his arms
and he says,
get on in here,
get on in here.
He said,
I threw the hush puppies
on when I saw you
coming down the lane.
Now there was a welcome
um,
and,
uh,
it was a beautiful picture
uh,
of,
um,
uh,
a beautiful gospel
picture.
Um,
listen,
we wanna have churches
that reflect
the yearning host
uh,
who wants his,
um,
party filled.
Diane and I went
to a church
in Los Angeles
where,
um,
we,
uh,
they met in a school
and,
uh,
we had to park
a number of blocks
away in a parking
garage
and,
uh,
it was,
it was an incredible
experience
because when you got
out of the car
somebody was standing
there and said,
walk over that
stairway to that
guy in the green
shirt,
you know,
and when you got
to the stairway
a guy in the green
shirt said,
go down the stairwell
and at the bottom
you'll see a guy
in a green shirt
and at the bottom
he said,
go down this alley
to the end,
see that guy in the
green shirt down
there,
go to him
and that went
to about seven
different guys
in green shirts
all the way
till we got
into the,
and,
uh,
and their warmth
and their welcome
continued all the way
through the,
uh,
experience there
so much so
that when we went
forward for communion,
uh,
the,
the man who served
us was so,
um,
warm that my wife
took a picture
of him
and I was like,
no,
don't do this to me,
I'm a PCA pastor
and,
um,
but it was that,
uh,
you know,
we were blown
away,
uh,
and,
and wrote the
pastor later,
so there we go,
we got it,
hospitality,
this is our
heritage,
our father
is a welcomer
and,
uh,
we have been
welcomed
and so we
welcome,
so second,
I want you to
see the guests
that,
uh,
that,
they come to
the party,
with me,
the guests,
to re-engage
this vocation,
we've got to
believe that those
outside the church
are the father's
desired guests,
Jesus says to
those gathered
in the dinner
party,
when you give
a dinner,
don't invite
your friends
or your family
or your rich
neighbors,
Jesus' day
was like our
own,
society was
stratified by
class,
it was all
about who
you knew,
and everybody
wanted to
socialize with
the beautiful
and the wealthy
and the important
and the successful
because social
engagements establish
your status,
and to get
anywhere you need
a network,
and you only
practiced
hospitality,
the purpose
of hospitality
ultimately
was to get
something out
of it,
got it?
So Jesus
is saying,
invite those
who offer
you nothing,
right?
It reminds me
of selfies
actually today,
you know,
when people
take selfies
and post them
online,
it in many
ways is about
establishing
their status,
they show
themselves in
beautiful restaurants,
they show
themselves in
New Zealand
on incredible
vacations,
if they happen
across a celebrity,
they take a
picture with
the celebrity
because it's
sort of like
saying,
look at me,
I'm with so-and-so,
I'm important.
So it was,
so it was,
so it is
with socializing.
So Jesus
says,
actually hang
out with people
who offer you
nothing,
invite the people
at the bottom
of the pile,
invite the poor
and crippled
and lame
and blind,
and one of the
reasons Jesus
says to invite
them is
because they'll
actually come,
when the rich
host invites
the well-off
to his party
in the parable,
what happens?
Nobody shows
up, right?
I've got a new
marriage,
one of them
says,
I've got new
property,
I've got new
oxen,
I've got to
go work out.
And then you
remember the man
interrupts and
says,
oh,
blessed is
everyone
because we'll
all be at
the feast.
And Jesus
says,
no,
you won't
be at the
feast.
Do you realize
what Jesus
is saying
to these
people?
He's telling
them,
you're not
God,
you're not
going to be
at the feast.
You do not
belong to him.
I mean,
he counters
what that guy
says right
in the dinner
party.
Do not
invite Jesus
to your
dinner parties.
It will not
be a casual,
delightful,
social engagement.
He tells the
people in the
dinner party,
no,
you're not
responding.
I'm right
here.
I'm right
here inviting
you.
And you
will not
come.
You are
too self-sufficient
to respond.
The accomplished,
the busy,
the successful,
the achievers
are too full
to realize how
hungry they
are to run
to the feast.
Jesus is
blessed are the
poor in spirit.
They will come
to the feast.
But the middle
class in spirit
are too self-sufficient
to need mercy
and to need
charity
and to need
Jesus.
Philip Yancey
was traveling
in Eastern
Europe and he
was talking to
a prostitute
and he asked
her, he said,
do you know
that Jesus
actually talked
about prostitutes?
And she didn't
really know that
and he said,
do you know
that Jesus
said there are
more prostitutes
in the kingdom
of God
than there
are rich
people?
And he said,
why do you
think,
why do you
think Jesus
said that?
He asked this
to a prostitute
and this is
what she said.
Did,
she said,
you know,
there are more
prostitutes than
there are religious
conservatives
is actually what
he said.
And she said,
well,
everybody has
someone to
look down on
but not us.
We are at the
low.
Our families,
they feel shame
for us.
No mother nowhere
looks at her
little girl and
says, honey,
when you grow up,
I want you to be
a good prostitute.
Most places,
we are breaking
the law.
Believe me,
we know how
people feel about
us.
People call us
names,
whore,
slut,
hooker,
harlot.
We feel it,
too.
We are the
bottom.
And sometimes
when you are
at the low,
you cry for
help.
And when we
cry for help,
Jesus comes.
And when he
comes,
we respond.
She said,
maybe that's
what Jesus
meant.
When you're
at the low.
So,
we have to
admit that we
look at non-Christians
with contempt
and we look at
the poor
with disdain.
It's just in us.
If you're
successful,
it's in your
DNA.
People,
no,
we don't say
this out loud,
but inside we
think that
most people are
poor because
they choose to
be poor because
they aren't as
disciplined and
didn't work as
hard as we
have.
I like to say
in our church,
if you have
anything you
have,
it isn't
because you
worked hard
for it.
God gave
it to you.
You know,
most people
have a wealthy,
comfortable lifestyle
because they
were born in
the United
States of
America.
If you were
born in the
13th century
on a hillside
of Peru,
you probably
wouldn't have
lived to the
age of one.
You didn't
choose where
you were born.
If you have
anything,
it's the gift
of God.
Jesus wants
people at the
party that we
do not want
at the party.
His guest list
for the party
is completely
different than
our guest list.
Jonah,
remember,
would rather
run the
opposite way
than to go
preach to
Assyrians
because he
knew God,
because he
knew the
grace of
God,
because he
knew the
kind of
God that
God would
actually like
these people
that he
despised.
He knew
what God
would do.
He knew
that God
would convert
these people
and it
would ruin
the good
people of
God to
have those
people.
He was
right.
When I
was in
seminary in
Jackson,
Mississippi,
I used to
preach on
weekends in
Utica,
Mississippi.
There were
11 people
when I
started there.
We had
the Spirit
of God
moved and
we grew
to 17.
And so
we decided
to have a
revival.
That's what
you call it.
You don't
call it
an
experiencing
expressing
grace
weekend.
If you're
in Utica,
Mississippi,
it's a
revival.
And they
have kind
of a
comedy
agreement.
because the
Methodists
will go to
the
Presbyterians
and Baptist
revival.
They all
go to
each other's
revivals.
So we
said we're
going to
have a
revival.
And have
a preacher
come in
and have
special services.
So I went
all around
the town
to put up
posters to
announce our
revival.
They hadn't
had one at a
Presbyterian
church in
20 years.
and I
remember
asking a
old lady
in the
church,
you know,
I said,
you know,
there's that
place right
when you get
off the
highway and
you pull
into town
and it
seems like
there's a
lot of
cars out
there.
Would
that be a
good place
to put a
poster up?
And she
said,
Pastor,
you can't
go in
there.
What if
somebody sees
you in
there?
That's not
the kind
of place
for a
pastor to
go,
not in
that
place.
And she
said,
ain't no
kind of
people in
that place
would want
to come
to our
church
anyway.
And I'm
not sure
we'd want
those folks
in our
church
anyway.
So all
I know
is Jesus
has a
different
guest list
than we
do to
his party.
So let
me finish
then.
What's the
last part
of understanding
this text?
It's not
to know
the host,
this yearning
host.
He's going
to have his
house filled.
He's going
to fill
his house
with people
that we
wouldn't
have on
our guest
list.
And then
what's our
role?
To be
the welcoming
servants.
The welcoming
servants.
The ones
who are sent
out to
scour the
countryside
until the
house is
full.
Our
calling is
to summon
our neighbors
to the
feast.
You think
evangelism.
I can't
do evangelism.
I don't
know how
to do
apologetics.
I can't
talk to
agnostics
or atheists
or give
proofs for
Christianity.
I don't
have a
good tongue.
I can't
answer their
arguments.
I'm telling
you, what
does the
Bible say
to do?
Feed
them.
Welcome
people.
Welcome
them into
your home.
Welcome
them into
your life.
This is
what God
says to
do.
He's having
a party
and he
wants you
to bring
people.
Is that
so hard?
God's
having a
party and
he wants
you to
invite your
friends to
go to the
party.
This is the
forever party.
This is the
big party.
This is a
great party.
Most of us
find it pretty
easy to invite
people to
our parties.
And so the
problem is our
hospitality of
course is
warped.
Our hospitality
is more
Martha Stewart
than Jesus.
It's
entertainment and
menus and
table settings
and southern
living.
And it's
often about
our looking
good and
our feeling
good about
what kind
of performance.
But
hospitality,
the word
actually is
philoxenia in
the Greek,
which means
the love of
strangers.
That's what
hospitality means.
The love of
strangers.
Hospitality is
welcoming strangers
into your life,
your home,
and your church.
It's offering
food,
rest,
warmth,
conversation,
safety,
and peace
to people.
So how do
we offer
hospitality to
strangers?
Real quick,
here's the
application.
Offer
hospitality to
Christians,
first of all.
And my
notes is offer
hospitality to
strange Christians
because some
Christians are
incredibly strange.
And,
you know,
in your church
there are people
you don't know
and there are
people you don't
really want to
know.
Okay?
There are people
in this church
that you will
not like,
that you
will not be
drawn to,
you're not
really the
people you
want to
hang out
with.
So when the
Bible says
to offer
hospitality to
strangers,
well,
a lot of
them are
right here.
They attend
this church
already.
They may
as well be
believers.
They're,
you know,
I'd ask,
is your small
group welcoming?
Are you on
the welcoming
team?
I don't know
if you have
a greeting
time in your
church,
but,
you know,
after church,
in our church
we have like a
ten minute
rule,
we emphasize,
you cannot
talk to your
friends for the
first ten minutes
after church.
That's a worthy
thing to do,
to get together
and talk to your
friends,
but there's too
many people you
don't know to
talk to.
And God sends
somebody to
this place,
to his house,
he wants them
welcomed here.
And you never
have any idea
who is walking
through the doors
on any given
week here,
do you?
You have no idea.
Do you know I've
been to church here
one time?
one time,
about four years
ago,
and on Sunday
morning,
standing outside
by those bank
of windows there,
I encountered a
woman who was a
member of our
church,
and she was living
in Mississippi.
She left her
husband,
fled her marriage.
I didn't even know
about that until
after she was gone.
and she came
to Huntsville
to visit a relative
and came to church
that Sunday,
the one Sunday
that I've ever
been here,
and we crossed
paths at
Southwood Church,
and we had a
very significant
conversation right
outside.
You have no idea
who's going to be
here this morning.
God is sending
people here every
week,
and he wants you
to welcome them.
And it's a
beautiful thing.
Listen,
it's not Will's
job to build
this church.
Jesus said,
I'll build the
church.
The gates of hell
will not prevail
against it.
And it's just the
most fun to watch
him do it,
and to realize
it's not our
responsibility.
We can't do it.
People are going
to walk in this
church today.
So, you know,
got it,
hospitality to
Christians.
Second is
hospitality to your
neighbors.
believers.
Jesus was always
eating with people.
You don't have to
preach to them.
Most people are not
argued into the
kingdom.
They are loved into
the kingdom of God.
Rosaria Butterfield
was a
lesbian.
She was a PhD.
She was a professor
at Syracuse.
She had tenure
there.
She was
considered the
national expert
in gay and
lesbian studies.
She lectured at
all the different
Ivy League schools.
She was writing a
book on
why do
Christians hate
gays.
In the course of
researching it,
she got vile
communication from
Christians, which was,
of course, her whole
point.
But she also got a
letter from a
Presbyterian pastor
in her town that
intrigued her with
its tone and
everything else.
She decided to sit
down and talk with
him.
It sparked a long
friendship.
She found herself at
his dinner table
repeatedly.
It says,
he initiated two
years of bringing
the church to me,
a heathen.
I had seen my
share of Bible
verses on placards
at gay pride
marches.
The Christians who
mocked me on gay
pride day were
happy that I and
everyone I love were
going to hell.
That was as clear as
the blue sky.
But that's not what
Ken did.
He did not mock.
He engaged.
So when his letter
invited me to get
together for dinner,
I accepted.
My only motive was I
thought this would be
good for my research.
But something else
happened.
Ken and his wife and
I became friends.
They entered my world.
They met my friends.
We did book exchanges.
We talked openly about
sexuality and politics.
They did not act as if
such conversations were
polluting them.
When we ate together,
Ken prayed in a way I
had never heard before.
His prayers were
intimate and vulnerable.
He repented of his
sin in front of me.
So as powerful an
advocate for the
biblical teaching on
sexuality in our
country today is
Rosaria Butterfield.
And it's all because of
what?
Hospitality.
Hospitality to our
neighbors.
Hospitality to those we
go to church with.
And last, hospitality to
the poor.
We are to give
preference to the
broken and needy.
Corrie Ten Boom, you're
familiar with.
She and her family hid
Jews in Holland until
somebody ratted them out
and they were
discovered.
And when the Nazis came,
they said to our father,
he was a watch
repairman, Casper Ten Boom,
and he had been doing it
for years in this
community.
He was one of the most
respected people in the
community.
I think he was 80
years old or something
like that.
And they knew he
wouldn't last long.
In fact, when he was
ultimately taken away,
he died within two
weeks.
He was just a frail
old man.
And so the Nazis
didn't want the Dutch
turning against them by
taking this venerated
elder man away.
So they said to
Casper Ten Boom,
just tell us you'll
stop hiding Jews.
That's all you have to
do.
We will not take you
away.
We will leave you here.
Just tell us you'll
stop.
That's all you have to do.
And he said,
if you leave me here
and tomorrow there's a
knock on my door
and there are people who
are seeking refuge,
then I will open my door
and I will welcome them in
and I will feed them
and if need be,
I will hide them from you.
He said,
why would I do that?
He said,
because I am a Christian.
That's what Christians
have always done.
That's what Christians
still do.
We've received the
welcome of the Father.
He feeds us
with his own body
and blood.
He kisses us
the most unworthy
and when you experience it,
you express it.
Let's pray.
Father, may it be so.
May it be so in the
Cortese house
and in the Cortese life.
May it be the experience
of us that
we find ourselves
at your table
the least worthy
and we just
can't get over it
and we pray this
in Jesus' name.
Amen.
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visit us online
at southwood.org.
information,
visit us online
a couple of
jó at five
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