Sermon Tone Analysis

By Pastor Glenn Pease

Late one night in Philadelphia and elderly couple came into a little third class motel.

The husband said to the night clerk, "Please don't tell us you don't have a room.

My wife and I have been all over the city looking for a place to stay.

We didn't know about the big conventions that have filled the motels.

We are dead tired and its after midnight.

Please don't tell us you have no place for us to sleep."

The clerk looked at them for a long moment and then said, "The only room available is my own.

I work at night and sleep in the daytime.

It's not as nice as the other rooms but its clean.

I'll be happy to let you use it for the night."

The wife said, "God bless you young man."

The next morning they invited the clerk to breakfast and they said, you are too fine a hotel man to be in a place like this.

How would you like to be the manager of a large luxurious hotel?"

The clerk was suspicious about them, but he did stammer out, "It sounds wonderful."

They said they would contact him, and believe it or not, the man became the best known hotel man in the world.

That couple were the Astors, and they went and built the famous Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City.

It had 1900 rooms, and this young man who shared his room for one night of hospitality was made the manager.

He had not entertained angels unaware, but he had entertained a millionaire.

And he was rewarded beyond his wildest dreams.

Paul does not say that Christian leaders will all be rewarded with great jobs if they show hospitality, but he does make this a requirement just to be a positive Christian leader.

We think of hospitality more along the lines of having people over for a meal, or of scheduling parties as a place for people to meet and fellowship.

This is a valid concept, but the experience of the young clerk is more in keeping with the original idea of hospitality.

The word comes from hospital, and if you trace the word hospital, you discover that it was first of all a place to shelter and entertain strangers.

The first hospitals were more life motels and hotels.

People travelling needed a place to stay in the old days as well as now, and where they stayed was in the hospital.

This is directly related to the Greek word we are exploring for hospitality.

It is the word philoxenos, which means the love of strangers.

To be hospitable means to be open to care for the needs of people you do not know.

Paul is not saying a Christian leader is one who must run his own motel, but he is saying that they must be those who are willing to take people in and give food and shelter.

The idea is that a leader should set an example of Christlikeness in being willing, as Jesus was, to share all he had to meet the needs of others.

Hospitality is part of the spirit of ministry.

You have to give of yourself to be hospitable.

It takes time, effort, and money to care about people.

The Good Samaritan found a stranger in need and gave of his time and money to put him up in a motel.

The original meaning is love of strangers, and so it is not the same thing as having fellowship with other Christians at your home.

It has to do with your compassion for the people you don't even know.

Peter uses this same word in I Pet.

4:9 where he writes, "Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling."

Apparently some Christians were doing the right thing, but with the wrong spirit.

They help their fellow Christians in their travel, but they did not like it, and it was a burden.

The fact is, the only way to be a good Christian is to bear one another's burdens.

You just can't get by and be a good Christian if you don't pay some sort of price in helping others along the road.

Sometimes we forget this and expect to sail along and not have to bear other's burdens, but that is escapism, and it is not fitting for someone who is a Christian leader.

If every Christian is to be hospitable, then the leader is one who is to be setting the pace and be showing hospitality in a conspicuous way.

Hospitality to Christians can be a burden.

The cost of food is such that feeding people very often can be a major expense.

But this is usually enjoyable and you benefit from it on the spot.

But Jesus said in Luke 14 that we are not to invite people you know to your party.

Invite people you know will never invite you back.

They are the poor and handicapped, and they could not be good hosts if they wanted to.

This is real hospitality, and you are then managing a hospital-a place where the needs and health of strangers is cared for.

This is a real sacrifice, and there will not necessarily be any reward on the spot.

But Jesus concluded in Luke 14:14, "Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

One of the records that God keeps in heaven is the record of all the acts of hospitality that we perform.

If you show love for a stranger and be hospitable, you may be as surprised as the young clerk who got the reward of his life for being hospitable to strangers.

Jesus said that even a cup of cold water given in His name will not go unrewarded.

God loves the hospitable person in a special way because it is a special form of love that makes itself available to all in need.

This is a very God like quality.

Jesus came unto His own and His own received Him not, but there were some who did.

They opened their home to Him and gave Him a place of comfort and retreat.

In Bethany, for example, was the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus.

They were special people in the life of our Lord because of their hospitality.

Jesus took the issue of hospitality so seriously that He made it a basis for judgment when He comes again.

Those who are welcomed into His kingdom are those who exercised hospitality.

Matt.

25:34-36 says, "Then the king will say to those on his right, come, you who are blessed of my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me."

You could reduce this paragraph to one sentence and say, "I was in need of hospitality and you gave it to me."

The first Christian hospital was founded in obedience to this passage.

In the year 370 A. D. in the town of Edessa, Syria there was a severe famine.

The hermit Ephraim came out of his seclusion to scold the citizens who had abundance for letting the poor die of starvation.

They said, "But there is nobody we can trust to use our wealth for good."

He said, "What about me?"

They agreed that he was an honest man and large sums of money were given.

He ordered 300 beds to be set up in the public porches, and the first Christian hospital was born to feed and care for the poor.

Strangers and local inhabitants were equality welcome.

Five years later Basil, bishop of Caesarea, open up another hospital not far from this first one.

From then on to this day Christians have been in the hospital business.

Many famous preachers in history were builders of hospitals.

John Chrysostom, the golden mouth preacher, in the early 400's build several hospitals.

There were the motel type just for strangers to have a place to stay as they traveled.

The church started the motel business out of the spirit of hospitality.

But the needs were varied and so they built hospitals for the ill as well, and then they built them for cripples, and then for orphans.

The first was founded by St. Jerome in Bethlehem.

They had hospitals for the old as well, and also for the very poor and destitute.

The monasteries were built also as places where strangers could find shelter and food.

St. Augustine started a hospital in his own home, and often he sat down to eat with the guests.

Bishops were expected to manage hospitals, for all Christian leaders were expected to be hospitable.

The point is, the teachings of Jesus and Paul radically affected the history of the church in the area of hospitality.

In modern times many of these institutions started by the church have become secular businesses.

The Gideons still have their Bibles in the motels and hotels, but it is basically a secular business.

When you travel and have a nice place to stay and rest, remember that you have it because Jesus demanded that strangers be treated with love.

Philoxenos means love of strangers, and that is the Greek word for hospitality that Paul says a Christian leader is to possess.

If you don't care about strangers, but only care about people you know, you do not qualify to be a Christian leader, for you lack a basic Christlike quality of spirit.

The next positive qualification Paul gives is that he must be one who loves what is good.

This seems so obvious that you would think that it would go without saying.

Whoever heard of the question being asked, "Do you love what is good, or is the bad your preference?"

You have to keep in mind we are dealing with a very corrupt culture in Crete.

It was the custom to love lying, laziness, and gluttony.