What is hospitality?

Scripture: Acts 2:42-47

You know it when you see it. You experience it when someone welcomes you with a smile as you walk in through the front door. Whether it’s a retail store or someone’s home, hospitality is something we all crave and yet, in our day and age, we find ourselves lacking. The Apostle Paul in Romans 12:13 goes so far as to claim hospitality as a mark of a true Christian. Yet despite this need, each of our definitions of hospitality can vary widely. In this series called “Open Door”, we begin by asking the simple question of what exactly is it and how are we to do it?

In the book of Acts, we see the birth of the early church as they begin through a powerful display of the Holy Spirit with the gift of tongues and a tremendous first sermon by Peter. While many of us might look to these signs as evidence of God at work amongst the people, most scholars are keen to point out that each of these pales in comparison to the true miracle of the church which is the unity of believers. Consider the widespread nature of the gospel reaching people from every race, culture, and class, and how miraculous it is that each of these was able to overcome their differences in order to share in life together. The author, Luke, makes this abundantly clear as he describes the results of the early church as having “all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.”

In Greek, the word most commonly used for hospitality is the word “philoxenos”, which means “love of the foreigner/stranger”. While this word is apropos in most instances, it fails to truly capture the context of what the Bible intends. For example, a store can be hospitable and even profess to love the customer but this affection only goes as far as your wallet. As we know, the hospitality of the Bible runs much deeper than the relationship between a business and its customer base. The hospitality described by Luke in our passage is one marked by sacrifice and a willingness to be deeply involved in a stranger’s life unconditionally. Indeed, this is the only way forward if strangers are to become family members in the body of Christ as we see in the early church. What this means is that the true source of our power in Christ lies not in superficial displays but in our ability to welcome strangers into our lives. This requires a degree of openness to what God is already doing in others and how he might work through you. Openness means honesty and a humbling realization that God is able to use all of us; our imperfections and insecurities included. We don’t need to be perfect to be hospitable. Nor do our homes or spaces need to be prepped and put together. In this way, living with an open door means allowing God to move in and use the space in our lives for his kingdom.

Study Questions:

1. What does good hospitality look like for you?

2. What are the marks of a true Christian to you?

3. How have you experienced hospitality in your own life?

4. What does the power of the Holy Spirit look like to you?

5. What does it mean to be “open” when practicing hospitality?