Jesus’ Hospitality and Ours

Dannah Gresh: Rosaria Butterfield says your home is an important place—not just for you—but for the people God has placed in your life.

Rosaria Butterfield: When the family of God lives like the family of God, that is a visible sign to a watching world that a Christian home is the safest place in the world to bring your heartbreak and your heartache and your crisis. You want your neighbors to do that.

Dannah: This is the Revive Our Hearts podcast with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, co-author of Lies Young Women Believe, for Tuesday, April 16, 2024. I’m Dannah Gresh.

Jesus was always giving to others. He healed, He taught, and He also cooked. Wouldn’t it be amazing to eat a meal that had been prepared by Jesus? We'll look at His hospitality as we continue in the series, “You’re Welcome Here.” If you’ve missed any episodes so far, catch them at ReviveOurHearts.com, or on the Revive Our Hearts app. Here’s Nancy.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: I think one of the most astonishing verses in all of God's Word is found in the first chapter of the Gospel of John, where the Scripture says, "Jesus came unto his own and his own received him not."

We've been talking about the heart of hospitality. And we saw last week in our sessions that God is a God of hospitality. He has a hospitable heart. But the astonishing thing is that when the Host of the universe—the supreme Host—took on a human body and came to earth, the Host was not received. His own received Him not. Could there be any more flagrant lack of hospitality than to reject the Host of the universe, the One who has been so hospitable to us?

Luke 2 tells us that they laid Him in a manger, the newborn baby, the Son of God because there was no room for them in the inn. No room. "His own received Him not." They rejected Him. So God takes on human flesh; He comes down to earth, and He becomes the rejected guest. The host of the ages becomes a guest and is rejected.

He knocks at earth's door, and we say, "Go away. We don't have room. We don't want You. You can't come into our house." What a flagrant violation of the hospitable heart of God.

We sing at Christmas one of my favorite Christmas carols—a carol that speaks of Christ, the rejected guest:

Thou didst leave Thy throne
And Thy kingly crown,
When Thou camest to earth for me;
But in Bethlehem's home
Was there found no room
For Thy holy nativity.

Lord, you came to earth to be born. You came as a guest. We should have flung open wide our doors to You. We closed the door. We said, "We don't want you." He became the rejected guest, and yet, here on earth the incarnate Christ, the incarnate God taking on flesh, became a hospitable host. Not only is God in heaven our hospitable host as we saw last week, but Jesus came to earth to demonstrate the hospitable heart of God.

So today I want us to look at "hospitality in the life of the Lord Jesus." While He was here on earth, He received the very people who rejected Him. He came unto his own and his own received Him not. He came to those who rejected Him. We know from the gospels that Jesus didn't have a home of His own, and yet He was hospitable with whatever He had. That says to me, "You may not have much, you may not have your own home. But you can open your heart. And wherever you stay, you can open your little environment to people who need a home."

The Scripture says in John 1:29 that one day John the Baptist was standing with two of his disciples and John pointed out Jesus to his disciples and he said, "Behold, the Lamb of God"—the sacrificial Lamb of God.

And the two disciples heard John speak about Jesus and they left John and they went and they followed Jesus. And the Scripture says they went to Him and they said, "Rabbi," or teacher, "where are you staying?" (John 1:38 paraphrased).

Jesus said to them, "Come and see." They came and they saw where He was staying. And they remained with Him that day. As you go on in the passage, it appears that they stayed overnight.

Wherever Jesus was staying He opened His home to the disciples. To those who had rejected Him, He said, "Come and see where I'm staying. Come home with Me." Not, "Go to My church. Not go to this hotel. But come and see where I'm staying."

There are numerous instances in the Gospels of Jesus showing hospitality. I think of the wedding feast at Cana where Jesus went as a guest, but He ended up playing the role of host. He ended up being a blessing, serving in a way that a host was supposed to do.

And then there was that day when 5,000 people came for lunch—5,000 men plus women and children, maybe a crowd of 10,000 or more. Actually, they didn't come for lunch, they came for church. They came for a message, but it became lunch time, and you could hear their tummies growling. The people were hungry.

And the disciples reasoned logically and said, "Jesus, send them away. Send them to the next town where they can get something to eat" (see John chapter 6).

And Jesus said, "No. Invite them to stay for lunch, all of them. We have nothing to eat, but share with them what we have. We'll share openly. Oh, we only have five loaves and two fishes? Well, let's thank God for it, bless it, and begin to distribute it."

A miracle happens! Hospitality is multiplied as Jesus demonstrates, takes this opportunity to demonstrate the power of God.

I think of the instance after the resurrection when Jesus cooked breakfast for the disciples. They were frustrated, they were sad, they were confused, they didn't know what had happened.

Jesus had died. They thought they had lost the Savior. And Jesus stands on the shore after they'd been fishing through the night, and He has breakfast prepared for them (see John chapter 21). Jesus, the gracious Host.

Jesus received throughout His ministry, He received people who were rejected by everyone else. He was known for receiving those who were outcasts.

The Pharisees, the religious leaders of His day, the most respected religious people, tended to be exclusive, to shut people out, but Jesus was inclusive.

I mean, He welcomed lepers and adulteresses and sinners and tax collectors. The worse the sinner, almost it seemed, the more welcome and open His arms were to receive them.

In fact, we read in Luke 15 that all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Him. And the Pharisees and the scribes, the exclusive ones, were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them."

Jesus receives sinful men. I love that old gospel song: "Jesus receiveth sinful men." He received those who were rejected by others. He hosted the outcasts. And then the Scripture says that not only was Jesus a gracious Host while He was here on earth in the flesh, but He is still a gracious Host in heaven.

In fact, what is Jesus doing in heaven today? He is preparing a place for us. Jesus said to His disciples before He went to heaven, in John 14:2, "In My Father's house are many dwellings [mansions]; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself" (vv. 2–3).

Where did we start out in the life of Jesus? "He came to His own, and His own received Him not." Here we have the very same word in the original language. "I am preparing a place for you, and I will come back again and receive you unto Myself. You didn't receive Me, but I have received you that where I am, there you may be also." Jesus wants us to be with Him.

 

And that's what hospitality says. "I want your company. I want you to be with me. You may have been rejected by others. You may not have received me, but I receive you."

That Christmas carol we referred to, "Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne," there was no room found. It reminds us as we go on that Jesus will be our gracious eternal Host in heaven.

It says:

When the heavens shall ring
And the angels sing
At Thy coming to victory,
Let Thy voice call me home,
Saying, "Yet there is room at My side for thee."

And the song goes on to say,

My heart shall rejoice, Lord Jesus,
When Thou comest and callest for me!

See, we live today in anticipation of a reception that's coming in heaven where Jesus will call us to His home, to the place He's been preparing for us. And there He will spread before us this great eternal lavish feast. And so we anticipate that day, and in anticipation of that day, we welcome others to our table, into our home.

And we say, "We want to extend to you not only the hospitable heart of God, but the hospitable heart of the Lord Jesus as He received the outcasts and the lonely and the strangers and the poor, so I receive into my heart, into my home, those who have need."

And so Paul says in Romans 15:7 that we are to receive others as we have been received by Christ. "Therefore, receive one another." The same word that was used to say they didn't receive Christ, and Christ says, "I will receive you to Myself" (John 14:3).

Now Paul says, "Receive one another." Open your heart. Get out of yourself. Let down the protective barriers that you've put up."

Okay, you've been hurt. Okay, you've don't want people to get close to you. But now as Christ has received you, you let down those walls, and you receive others. You'll find a measure of healing and restoration in your own heart as you receive others in the way you have been received.

We need to ask ourselves, how has Christ received me? How has He opened His arms and His heart to me? When I was His enemy, when I was running from Him, when I had no heart for Him, He said "I receive you to Myself." And in that way He calls us to receive others, "Receive one another, just as Christ also received us, to the glory of God." And that's the whole purpose of Christian hospitality—it's the glory of God—receiving others as we have been received.

Is there someone that comes to mind that you need to receive? Someone you need to open your heart to? Someone you need to open your home to, perhaps? You know, it's easy to open our homes to our best friends, people we are comfortable with, people we like, people that like us, people that have us into their homes. But what about someone who has never had you into their home and probably won't, someone who's rejected you, someone who's wounded you.

Maybe there is a parent you need to invite to your home. Maybe there is an in-law you need to invite into your home. Maybe a son or a daughter who has wounded you and you've been estranged. Let down the walls. Let down the barriers. Open your heart. Open your home and receive one another as Christ has received you.

I received a letter from a woman last week who said that she has been praying for her daughter who won't forgive her brother and his wife who used to be a good friend. And this woman said that her daughter has only seen her nephew once since he was two years old and he's now thirteen. So, eleven years this brother and sister have been estranged.

Is there someone like that in your path? Someone you need to receive? You need to say, "Come for a meal. Come for a visit. I open my heart to you." Maybe [it's] someone from a different socioeconomic place than where you are, someone who is a widow, someone who is lonely, someone who is a sinner (as we all are).

Maybe it's someone who needs to know the mercy and the grace of Christ, someone who's unchurched and won't come inside your church—or any other church right now. But it's someone who needs to know the love and the grace and the mercy of Christ. "Receive one another, just as Christ has received you to the glory of God.

Let's pray. Oh, Lord Jesus, what an incredible thought that You would receive us after we had no room for You. But You made room in Your heart and in Your home for us. We love You, Jesus. We thank You for Your hospitality, and we pray that You would help us to receive one another as You have received us for the glory of God. Amen.

Dannah: Aren’t you glad Jesus shows hospitality to sinners? That means He shows hospitality . . . to us!

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth has been reminding us of the connections between hospitality and the gospel, our hope for eternity.

Rosaria Butterfield is a great model of showing hospitality as a way to put the gospel on display. She came to know the Lord when a pastor and his wife showed hospitality to her. Rosaria was in a lesbian relationship and opposed to the message of the Bible. When this couple invited her into their home on a regular basis over quite a few months, Rosaria saw Jesus in them. Now, she and her husband want to show this same kind of hospitality to others.

Nancy talked with Rosaria about the power of opening our homes, even when it’s difficult.

Rosaria: We had befriended the man across the street. And let me tell you, this was not the neighbor we prayed for, but this was the neighbor we got. Neighbors gossiped. He didn’t fit in. He didn’t cut his lawn for three months. He was really hard to get to know. I talk about it a little bit in the book. His name is Hank, and he became a dear friend and neighbor, although he struggled with a lot of things, including post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

And then one day we woke up to crime scene tape covering our neighborhood only to learn that he had a meth lab in the basement.

Nancy: The house across the street.

Rosaria: The house across the street. We were his only known friends. And there’s a certain edge. It sounds so wonderful, it’s a cliché—“Oh you dine with sinners, just like Jesus.” Well, let me tell you what happens when you dine with sinners like Jesus: your neighbors aren’t real happy with you because they just aren’t. It was a disaster.

But at this point, when this had been discovered, this man had become our friend. We walked our dogs together. We had some meals together. He would come to our house for holidays. He lived alone. He was lonely. We were his only known friends. It was really hard on our children.

Nancy: In what sense?

Rosaria: Well, Mr. Hank was our friend, and he was quirky.

Nancy: Oh, it was hard when the meth lab first came up.

Rosaria: Yes. And they literally . . . To see someone literally detoxed on the front yard, dragged off like you’re not human . . . The neighbors talked about him like he wasn’t a person. And my son, a very tender-hearted boy, said, “Mom, it’s like they talk about Mr. Hank as if he’s not human.”

And it was at that point I realized I couldn’t help my son in the way that some other adults could. The adult that was most helpful to him at that point was Christopher Yuan. My son calls him Uncle Christopher. 

Nancy: He’s another author and friend of your family.

Rosaria: Oh, dear family friend and an author, but he understood Hank’s side of what was going on. He was able to encourage my son that God’s everywhere, and God’s not done with Hank, and that he really needed to pray and hang in there. In a very age-appropriate way, Christopher Yuan shared his testimony with my son—although my son had known it—but it didn’t have hands and feet.

Nancy: Right.

Rosaria: You know, these children raised in Christian homes, they hear all these stories, but they don’t have hands and feet until you literally see your neighbor detoxed in front of you and dragged off like a bag of flour or something.

So, again, where would we be without having a home with many people to pour into our children? My son’s famous comment of last night was, “Mom, I’m thinking about something. Why are all the really cool and nice people in our church single?” (laughter) And, “I’ll tell you why. It’s because they have more money than I do and time to spend on you.”

But we do life together. So it’s not like my son and my daughter see our single friends in church on Sunday from 10 to 12. We go on vacation together. We have meals together. We’re a family.

Nancy: And the singles need that, and your children need it, and you need it.

Rosaria: I need it. Yes. When the family of God lives like the family of God, that is a visible sign to a watching world that a Christian home is the safest place in the world to bring your heartbreak and your heartache and your crisis. You want your neighbors to do that.

We have a neighbor who had been three decades in a lesbian relationship and that relationship dissolved, leaving an enormous hole and heartbreak, and that neighbor came to us. Kent helped that neighbor find a living situation. Why? We’re not on the same page, but we’re neighbors. We want people to say, “This is the go-to house. Christians care about you. Christians want to be both earthly and spiritual good."

Nancy: Yes.

Rosaria: And when you do that, you have license to speak into somebody’s life. You see, you can’t put the hand of the suffering into the hand of the Savior without getting close enough to get hurt. And that’s just true—that’s just true.

Nancy: And yet we tend to think, I think, more than any culture or group in the history of the world has ever been able to, of our homes as ours, and our castles. We put down the garage door and lock the doors, and there’s not as much this sense of open heart, open home, open hearth that was more characteristic of previous generations.

So we live these isolated lives. And I’m thinking, How many of us have 365 nights a year, extra bedrooms, extra bathrooms, extra space, extra space at the table? We don’t have any inclination to say, “Come. You’re welcome. Come join me, and we’ll do life together.”

Rosaria: Right. And I think part of it is the awkwardness of not knowing where to start, and maybe even the fear that we are imposing ourselves on our neighbors, the fear that we’re saying, “Hey, we’re Christians. We’re better than you guys. Let us help you.”

We can be resourceful. So think creatively about your home, or to tie into someone else’s home who’s doing that.

We’ve not always been able to do this. When we’d just adopted a teenager out of foster care, let me tell you what—we weren’t opening the door wide because there were some real issues we had to deal with.

Nancy: Yes.

Rosaria: When my mother, who was an unbeliever at a certain point, until actually two days before she died, praise the Lord. But when my mother lived with us, and especially when she was dying, we weren’t having twenty people over for dinner. That would be insensitive, ridiculous.

So your home has the same ebb and flow that your heart does.

Nancy: A season of life.

Rosaria: It is a season of life. I think the point isn’t that every single home is doing this. The point is that if no home is doing this in your church, what does that mean?

Nancy: Well, and also, in a different season, you were showing hospitality in different ways.

Rosaria: Yes, absolutely.

Nancy: So, for a period of time, you had your mom there, who was needy.

Rosaria: Yes.

Nancy: You had these foster children, these newly adopted teens.

Rosaria: Right.

Nancy: This is hospitality. It looks different back then than it does today.

Rosaria: Right. It looks different. Exactly. But when people are afraid . . . I think sometimes we do this: “We’d love to have our neighbors over, but we don’t know what’s going to come out of their mouths.” And that’s true. You don’t.

Nancy: Or, “How are we even going to have a conversation if their lives and their worlds are so very different?”

Rosaria: Right.

Nancy: You talked about the philosophical and theological questions that come up. You used to be a college professor, and your husband’s a pastor, but I can hear some people thinking or saying, I wouldn’t know what to do if those questions came up about suffering and hardship and why hard things happen to people.

Rosaria: Right. Well, what I would say to that is, if you simply share what you learned in your morning devotions, you would bless this world more than any philosophical conversation I would have with anybody about anything.

If somebody said, “I don’t know why evil exists in the world.” You say, “The mysteries of God are some of the hardest things for me also, but in my devotions this morning, I was learning how God answers in abundance, and because I serve a God who’s real and who’s here and is risen, I’ll pray for you.”

You can’t walk a Christian walk for somebody else. You’re not supposed to. You’re not supposed to steal glory from God either by claiming that you’ve got all the answers. But if you simply point them to what you learned that week in the sermon, what God taught you in His Word, what you heard on a radio show, a Christian radio show that really just changed the way you thought about something—that’s huge.

And you know the reason your neighbor is going to you? Your neighbor’s not going to you because they want a treatise in philosophy. Your neighbor’s going to you because you’re safe. You’ve made yourself safe. And probably you’ve shown that you’re a human being, too, with problems and questions and unfulfilled hopes and dreams.

Dannah: Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth has been talking with Rosaria Butterfield, author of The Gospel Comes with a House Key. That’s also the name of a series on Revive Our Hearts. To hear the whole conversation between Nancy and Rosaria, visit ReviveOurHearts.com/hospitality.

On today’s program we’ve heard some compelling reasons to show hospitality. Maybe you’re convinced of the need and you’d like to grow and learn more about this topic. I hope you’ll get a new Bible study from Revive Our Hearts called, You’re Welcome Here: Embracing the Heart of Hospitality.

It’s a six-week study based on Nancy’s teachings, designed to help you cultivate a welcoming heart and home. You’ll see what God’s Word has to say about true hospitality and why it’s for you. This study is our gift to you when you donate any amount to Revive Our Hearts.

Just request your copy of You’re Welcome Here when you call us at 1-800-569-5959, or visit ReviveOurHearts.com. 

And while you’re at our website, I want to invite you to check out our Language Outreaches page. Did you know Revive Our Hearts produces content in a variety of other languages? Our hope is to reach women of all languages with the truth of Christ, and we’re growing our international library of content. Check out ReviveOurHearts.com/languages to see how God is working around the world, or send this page to a friend who speaks another language! 

Tomorrow we’re going to see one of the best examples of hospitality—which is that of Jesus. We’ll look at how He showed hospitality and why it matters so much. That’s next time on Revive Our Hearts.

This program is a listener-supported production of Revive Our Hearts in Niles, Michigan, calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

All Scripture is taken from the NKJV.

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