Reproducing Hospitality | Feb 3rd

All right, that's awesome. Thanks Angela. I love singing I love singing with you all this morning. If you don't know, my name is Michael Seibert. I'm a youth pastor in town at Cornerstone Bible Church. And I know you're thinking you're thinking a great we invited my dad was a pastor and I come from a lineage of pastors and you think you know, how's this going to work? He's got a mic this is going to take another hour. I want to tell you. I know you've got breaking bread today and I don't want to belabor this message cuz frankly your people already given it as you came up and testified what what's Hospitality looks like and so I hit some high points but I recognized him under the gun for summarize it like this if we're going to become a hospitable of people and it looks like this reproducing we've experienced in the nature and care. Picture of God because God has welcomed Us in we can now be empowered to welcome others in there's the message. I'm going to pack a little further with some text. If you'd like to turn to Hebrews 12 verse 28, I'll be diving in there and just a minute real quick. I'd like to the pray and ask for help Father God. I I love it that your word is good in that you speak a Word of Life in that and it's so good for us. I'm thankful. God has a stand-up. It's not these words that carry weight, but it's your words that carry weight. I'm glad that it's hearts that are transformed not by the winsomeness of of how I speak but by the movement of your Holy Spirit and so Holy Spirit, would you give me guidance today? Would you help me to understand what to say how to say it and do a work in our hearts in Jesus name? Amen. Hey if you were here last week, I want to give you a very small update in the middle of a a series a called a welcome in a Biblical call. The hospitality and last week Dan did a great job of showing us this thirty thousand foot view of God's Redemptive plan for mankind in Jesus is all across the way after checkpoint of demonstrating God welcoming The Stranger in so by time we get to the message. I'm going to give how do we respond know? We've already been saturated with the nature of God as being a hospitable God. I'm going to review this in like 30 seconds. So buckle up. We see it in Genesis in the Garden of Eden got creates all this good stuff and welcomes Adam and Eve in and he welcomes them into of his abiding present with abundance of food all that. They could desire we see in light of the Fall Guy goes and takes a stranger named Abraham and welcome him back into a relationship in fellowship with God and threw him the people of God. In captivity in Egypt and God calls Moses to go get them out rescue them and bring them into a land a place filled with milk and honey. So they could again have fellowship with God in the place that God has established feasting on what he has provided welcoming them in we carry this forward now to the New Testament at the Last Supper very Shepherd that delivered them from the grip of Egypt of the the Passover supper Jesus again lays it out right like this before his disciples and he says he was a New Covenant for you. I'm welcoming you in now to a intimate Fellowship in the new way a New Covenant. It's through my blood. At the table Jesus welcomes them in and we know how it all ends in Revelation. The culmination of God's Redemptive plan is a feast spread out for all the people of God are gathered and there is no end to the Vats of Beverage. There is no end to the feasting As We Dine with God himself in our Brothers and Sisters in Christ. This is the picture that damn painted last week in the future weeks. If you continue to come Cornerstone her here, you'll continue to hear how he packs on packs the nitty-gritty. How do we do this? What gets in the way? How do we live this out here in the church in our community, but for today, I want to I want to share how do you rightly respond to the invitation that you've received? I don't know about you guys are how you respond when you're given a gift but Island paint a scene for you. The year was 1988 and Shag Brown and light green. I don't know why you would ever put those two together on a carpet but the shag carpet in my grandfather's house Grandpa Melon. We're gathered around this rickety old fake Christmas tree in the 80s didn't do a good job reproducing those things around kind of like a little bit disappointed in my grandpa and grandma gave us for gifts or a little bit thinking like been slighted this year. But then it happens Grandma Faye comes walking into the room under the weight of 5 identically wrapped boxes. And dimi's them out to the Seibert family in the Snyder family and the other side of the family okay with the light because the Nintendo was ours the original Xbox One. The original 16-bit and Nintendo Entertainment System. Let me tell you how we received that gift. We screamed with delight some of us cried. Maybe it was me. We we we adored the person who gave us the gift and we exclaimed everyone around us when we got back to school how awesome the gift is friends. If we want to extend Hospitality the invitation of God to other people in our lives. We must first encounter the invitation of God personally and then respond in the right way with hearts that reproduce what we've experienced. In the lives of those around us. That's the heartbeat hospitality. Well, we're going to get today's text. If you're there already Hebrews 12, we're going to pick up in verse 28 and we're going to take it through 13-3. I know you Bible people who get this stuff. You should never do this. But we're going to do that. Imagine the author of self writing this in the big number 13. Is it on your page? I want you to follow with me through the the hinge that this little passages between two major Concepts. It goes like this verse 28. Therefore. Let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken and us let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence him with all for our God is a consuming fire. Let Brotherly Love continue don't neglect to show hospitality. For thereby some have entertained angels unaware remember those who are in prison as though you are in prison with them and those two are mistreated since you're also in the body see the flow of that thought is one of responsive worship being the acceptable thing to do when you've encountered God, but for your sake I want to do you a favor and this is hardly fair to do this, but the first dozen chapters of this book the author of Hebrews has just been unpacking the deep-time list prophetic sort of answers in Jesus Christ and his absolute Supremacy by the time we get to how we're going to live this out how we're going to respond. But we need to pay attention to what the authors already said and unfortunately, we don't want to be at the next 7 hours. So I'm going to give it to you in Cliff Notes. I hope you're ready in chapter 1 he says that Jesus in the times past God spoke to Adam. Supposed to know us after that there was profits but today there was a voice if Jesus himself. Bottom shelf among the people. He's a Voice of Truth. Jesus was the better provider of rest. The needed Moses could be for the people of God. He said that Jesus was the better priest and a median of a better Covenant then they'll kids that I could ever offer between God and man and he was a better sacrifice there any Bowl than any lab Jesus with a sacrifice who could fully and finally atone pay for info the sin of humanity? As we get to live in this out in our lives, he just spent most of 12 helping us to see how Jesus is the author and Perfecter now of our faith. We look to him we look to him. So he's Supreme and all things. He's that everything that we need to be welcomed in and he's demonstrated how to do that. That's the context for today there for now there for light of the supremacy of Christ therefore in light of what he's done there for line. I thought you showed us how to live there for let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

The attitude how do we receive God's offered? Gratitude with with gratitude with an awareness of reverence and awe the picture of these words reference and off if you're if you're around the church much imagine Isaiah. We has his vision to go to for the Lord. He suddenly aware. Well, I'm a man of unclean lips reverence and awe. Yes, I'm welcomed in but I'm totally aware. I do not belong I could see God is a consuming fire and for some crazy reason because of what Christ has done the Flames of his glory. Do not lick and consume me. Because of what Christ is done showing reverence and awe I respond I receive and I offer now but it says here acceptable worship. Teeth worship is the response to what we've experienced. But God has designed that worship to look a certain way you wish is for it to be acceptable. So we get the chapter 13, we got to pay attention when he starts telling us how to live this thing out. That's the acceptable thing. We don't just respond how we wish to respond. I was awesome. I'm going to go do whatever I want the response of worship Falls in line with how he's prescribed it which were going to get to he calls us to respond to what we've received with hospitality.

We worship because of what he's done. It's like the image is this that it is that worship is sometimes translated. I'm not sure I read it out of ESV, but but sometimes translate worship as serve as to Servin and so it's like this image of God's welcome to send to his table and As We Dine and sat and feasted on the Buns abundance of Our Lord receiving we needed most out of the supply that he offers. We now become worshippers who serve we now stand up and we wait the table for those who are outside on the fellowship of God. We welcome them in now as our worship is to reproduce hospitality.

Worship is a response to what God's done. I'll take a quick moment here too and just show you a piece of my story to let you into my world. So I grew up in this community grew up in the church. That was a pastor went away to college and got married and and about two days after I graduated from college. I found out my wife has been cheating on me for the last year of the two years that we were married and over the course of the next handful of months. It was discovered that two times 2 times 5 times. I found out she was continuing to have this affair and I was broken I coped with it with alcohol. I cope with it was pornography. I cope with it with tobacco and I became addicted to things that would not ultimately satisfy me. And what ended up happening is. I came home to Mountain Lake broken in a mess, but something crazy happened a man named Ken Kramer. Welcome to me into his home. He began to speak over me. The truth is that who I was in Christ. I did not feel was true. I felt ashamed. I came back to Mountain Lake. We know it's pretty religious. I feel like a failure. I feel like I was the the inkblot of stain under the otherwise perfect tapestry of my family's marital lineage, and it was in this moment that I realized that I had nothing to offer God. Before that I I really kind of thought. Ernestine Wright, he's got a good he's got me right suddenly. I realized very acutely. I have nothing to bring to this equation. On the one hand is my Brokenness and my sinfulness. On the other hand is God's Crazy Grace. Welcome me back. I never the place in this room again doesn't get much more embarrassing than this. I'm a twenty-three-year-old living in the room has a 13 year old Michael Jordan still on the wall, right timing room the beds here the walls here and I lay out on the floor and I say Jesus I've got nothing to offer you.

Nothing to offer you. He said perfect because I'm all you need. Friends if we don't realize if we don't realize that the imperatives of scripture that call us to live this thing out. If you don't recognize the it's a response out of what we've experienced will go try to reproduce it in our own strength thinking that God's got a good with us on his team. It says do this do this beat is go do this and we just couldn't do it. Here's the good news. We've received the kingdom that can't be shaken which means as we respond and worship, but we might respond X and failure, but the thing that we need most is never going to fail us because the kingdom can't be shaking. That means as we try to reproduce this. We've got to stay Tethered to that which is eternal which is the love in the provision of God.

So why am I spending so much time on his I think it's so important because you cannot respond and worship to that what you haven't yet received. I can't scream for the Nintendo. I never got and you can't reproduce with you've never experienced. This is so important and it follows the biblical story line. If you've heard sermons or been in the word much. Do you know this theme carries throughout the scriptures? Right? Why do we love 1st John 4, right we love because he first loved us right. In fact, it says it in 1st John 4:9 in what he doesn't know who doesn't love clearly doesn't know God because God is love follow this with me. If you've experienced love you can reproduce love. If you have an experienced love you're not going to reproduce love same is true for forgiveness. We see Matthew 18 the Story of All of a slave who's been forgiven experience the mercy of God in the expectations that he offer it and return to not offer in return. It's not have received it at all. The flow is this what you received from God out of his nature and character you reproduce for the benefit of others in the power that you that he supplies for you. Okay, so that's kind of the pictures. What about Hospitality? What if you don't mind? I'm going to take a quick timeout. We're going to go to Deuteronomy 10. You might want to go there cuz this is so critical to Understanding God's heart for The Stranger. The most rare I told us to understand we have to come to the term that we are the stranger we were the ones welcomed in. And he goes in a Pax us for us and let me set the stage for Deuteronomy 10 verse 12 the stages. This God's given the Ten Commandments Moses sees the people in their in their sinful Brokenness and idolatry. He shatters them and God gives it to them again. So here you have now people who been reprimanded that experience loss of some of their own family members because of the punishment of God now, they're getting a do-over the getting the Commandments again and and here is what Moses instructs the people of God. This is a dude already 10:12. It's a little bit of a chunk but it's so helpful. He says Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you but to fear the lord your God to walk in his ways to love him and serve the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul to keep the Commandments in the statutes of the Lord, which I'm commanding you today for your good. Behold the Lord your God belongs heaven in the heaven of heavens and everything in it yet. The Lord said his heart in Love on your father's he chose their offspring after them. You above all people as you are this day so circumcised there for the foreskin of your heart and do not be be no longer stubborn for the Lord. Your God is a god of gods in The Lord of lords the great the mighty awesome God who is not partial and takes no bribe. He executes Justice for the fatherless in the Widow and he love the Sojourner giving him food and clothing pay attention to this year. Nineteen love the Sojourner therefore for you or sojourners in the land of Egypt. You shall fear the lord your God you shall serve him and hold fast to him by his name you shall swear. He is your praise. He is your god who is done these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen your I just went down to Egypt 70 persons. And now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in heaven. You shall therefore love the Lord your God keep his charge. Keep his statutes is rules and Commandments always I know that's long, but I want you to feel the weight of this. Three questions from this text why Hospitality twofold God loves the strangers. He loves those who are outside a fellowship with him and secondly and more importantly in this case. You were the stranger. specialized sitting here in Mountain Lake Gentile outside of the outside a stranger's welcomed in why does God loves a stranger and you welcomed you when you were a stranger second. Is this optional? It's a command.

How do you receive God's heartbeat is to be obedient in his power in his authority and why wilber's 13. It's good for us. Swayze and his commands are good for us second. Its proper stewardship of what he's provided so you can partner with him and come in and accomplishing his goal. and 3rd The question is it easy? No. This is interesting language here in verse 16 circumcised there for the foreskin of your heart and be no longer stubborn for those of you who didn't grow up in the church that just might make you giggle for those of you who did, you know, you know, that was the sign of the Covenant the people of God were set apart in this was the marking it was the promised but he changes the language he changes the body part because you recognize is what keeps us from walking in obedience is in encountering God. We we still often respond with our hearts. We need a flash of our heart the Brokenness in the seat the places where sin is still dripping and not letting go to be cut away. So that we can encounter in full who this guy is and then reproduce it say in the New Testament. The sign of the Covenant isn't circumcision longer. The sign of the Covenant is the holy spirit in this is such good news because we try to reproduce something that we have no business doing in my wife. We are not hospitable people by Nature. I promise you that but when you need to reproduce What You've experienced in God the truth is it's the New Covenant is sealed by the Holy Spirit and he is your helper. He will take the nature and character of God and he will reproduce it in you so you can walk in obedience to God so he's not he's not setting you up to fail. He sending you up to need him. Which only increases your worship? All right, so we Me to keep moving here very quickly with this looks like there's some fun things here other just slide that gives us to Hungary, read the passage as I when I get set up let Brotherly Love continue do not neglect to show Hospitality to strangers for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. What is he talking about? I want to show you something. I'm not much of a scholar and if you look at my face, you know that right away and made him an outfit, but I want to tell you this is so cool. Selfie. I'm sure you guys have you know, what's going on here, but that first first let Brotherly Love continue to Philadelphia Brotherly Love continue continue in your fellowship with your brothers and sisters with those who are in your family who are like you but then it goes into the second verse. and it says philoxenia pretend I can say that xenophobia is is the fear of those who are different. It's a sphere The Stranger, right? So now you've got not xenophobia you got philoxenia, you got brotherly love and you got that which is different The Stranger. So what are you saying in verse one is let the love that you have from God for your family continue. So you can have the love of God for your family that same love now not for your brother, but for your stranger for the one who's not like you put on a different than the one you might be averse to naturally inclined to turn from His love of God flows through us to allow us to do the impossible and welcome The Stranger reproduce the love of God in our lives.

quite possibly the most interesting piece of this all the author says it when you do this remember remember Some people have exercised hospitality and entertained angels. Is interesting. This is a throwback to Genesis 18 and pay the scene for you. It's a hot. Midday Abraham's chilling out with some water with his wife in his tent and onto his property managers three strangers. And what he does is immediately rushes out to these strangers any exercises Hospitality. He says he says here your some water wash your feet have a drink or some shade rest under this tree and hang on. I'm going to have my wife make you some food. He exercises hospitality is a story unfold you fine. It's not just Three Angels. It's two angels and a person in the flash. Who is God himself.

When Abraham returns and makes the offering of these morsels of bread for these strangers they reveal to him the plan. We are here having received your hospitality and we want to tell you something is a promise coming for you Isaac will be born one year from this time secondly as they walk him away. He says not sit on their side. I'm going to be destroyed but exercising Hospitality Abrams stepped into the Fulfillment of the promise that he would be a man through all the nations will be blessed and he was also received a warning that saved his nephew lot friends. When you exercise Hospitality the picture isn't just that you get blessing and you receive the warnings. You need to live your life. It's also that you entertain God himself reminds me of what Jesus says in Matthew 25 Let me set the scene again. He's teaching you think it's what the end times you'd like to come in my glory and I judge and I'm going to put this dividing line kind of like this aisle right here as a Shepherd divide sheep and goats and sheep here and I'm going to say less. I'm I said, you can come in and share my glory you when I was hungry. You brought me food and search that you gave me drink when I was a stranger. You welcomed me in when I was naked. You clothed me when I was sick. You visited me and I was in prison you came to me or seem like such small things. But those are the markers of hospitality the tell signs that someone is reproducing the character of God in their life. And Jesus says when you did it to the least of these He did it to me friends. Why Hospitality why hospitality?

Because it reproduces what we've experienced because we've been welcomed into a place we don't deserve and when we do it, it's not just a picture of a lens through which others will see what the nature and character forgot her like which will draw them to him. It's also because in our serving we serve Christ himself It's awesome. That that means that there's no Menial service you do when you entertain when you love well at least three young guys right here. I can't imagine how many times you've been invited to these homes of these people besides you and people in this home, but that felt good. I bet it felt good to be welcome. That's what this is. Right? It's not little it's sacred. Sacred it's a sacred as this table here. It's serving Christ himself. What are high and wonderful calling that he empowers us to do and finally the text wraps up with remember those in prison friends? Here's here's the flow of thought take the brotherly love the love of God and exercise the love of God in the end it with those who are close to you in like you exercised those who are different than you and not like you and then take it as it work picnic basket and lay out the invitation of God to people who can't RSVP to your invitation. there's no end to the place of hospitality because there's no end to the supply of God to give you what you need to demonstrate Hospitality the other people cuz he never cut you off from his house Attalla t We've all been there right when you're like 30 minutes after you wanted something to leave and you kind of stand up and they don't they don't leave it. God never does that to you. You're always welcome Inn in the same way that he shows consistent constant love to us. We are always have the love of God available to us to offer other people. That's so good cuz it means not up to me to produce It In My Own Strength, but I can reproduce What I've experienced in him. Take us to what Jesus did because all of this is possible because of Jesus if you're in Hebrews 13 slide on down 2 verse 12, and I want you to see and feel the weight. What we're dealing with here. Is a Jesus also suffered outside of the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood therefore. Let us go to him outside the camp that is for bear the reproach that he endured for here. We have no lasting City, but we seek a city that is to come. Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God that is the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name do not neglect to do good and share would you have for such a sacrifice is pleasing to the Lord to see the picture? Our God is a consuming fire against think in terms of Old Testament how to get right with God is through sacrifice. The picture is this as it has the animal is flayed open and the organs that are necessary for fulfilling the Covenant worship God and then to atone for sin is done or what's left is disgusting defiled remains and they get carried and transfer outside of the gates that that which is inside can remain holy in this is the picture of our Christ. So you and I could be welcomed in and be received the hospitality of God. He bore the ultimate opposite of hospitality when we were welcomed because he got taken out.

But here's the invitation. Let us go out there with him and bear the reproach. friends Does it cost to our Redemption it was Christ?

So we can receive what we don't deserve but what we need most at Salvation through Jesus. When we live lives that reproduces Hospitality it may cost us and if I had time I go through the rest of Hebrews 13 with you or he says your sexuality your singleness or marriage Steward that for him your money don't give yourself over to make money use your money for him live hospital is going to cost you there to follow leaders were a good demonstration of Christ follow them. Give yourself up Avail all that you have all that he is to his kingdom can move forward because you've received an unshakable Kingdom. So it's eternally now but it's also not yet know if you caught that in that passage it says is for here. We have no lasting City seek, the city to come in other words is a kingdom. We have it now so Jesus Christ, but in fulfillment, we don't have it yet, but spend yourself now like you do. It's coming our hope is eternal. It's promise live for the Eternal Kingdom. So why be hospitable and worship with them in the appropriate way of responding with what we've experienced by examining our original definition? Hospitality is the critical and consistent Act of welcoming strangers to become family. But offering what is most needed out of that which God has given us and we see that here today Hospitality showing Brotherly Love The Stranger is critical because the church is the lens through which the onlooking world will see Christ to reproduce the nature of God. They will come And they will receive.

Second hospitality is consistent because the store houses of God's love are never ending in the supply chain of the spirit is in working condition so you can spend yourself and never run dry. As you say yes to the things that Jesus puts in front of you. That's such good news. We can abide in Christ and say yes to all the good things. God has given to us. That means if it doesn't ever run dry I can spend myself my life my career my finances on my relationship second Stewart all Put advancement of his kingdom cuz that kingdoms unshakable that promises good. Where Do We Go From Here I can tell you this if you feel like you are on the outside God's Hospitality people around you, maybe feel like they're sitting the table without you. Then receive his invitation.

Trust that it's not by your reproducing. The good works that we read about in the Bible is the blood of Jesus Christ the Lamb of God who gets you a seat at this table receive the invitation by saying I trust you Jesus alone. efface second received the invitation for a second reproduce What You've encountered in God in the community in the lives around you Jesus you're better than we deserve. You're better than we deserve an unshakable Kingdom. We got nothing to offer and get here. We are full of recipients Your Grace full recipients of your mercy for recipients of the Holy Spirit helps us to do all that you've asked of us so that it can be worship unto you a fragrant offering to you this God. Who is this consuming fire? We can lay down our All For Your Glory and for our benefit. Thank you in Jesus name.