1. Dictionary Definition of Hospitality: The quality or disposition of receiving guests and strangers in a warm, friendly, generous way.
Synonyms:
accommodations
companionship
friendliness
generosity
reception
warmth
affability
amiability
cheers
comradeship
consideration
conviviality
cordiality
entertainment
geniality
heartiness
hospitableness
obligingness
sociability
welcoming

2. Examples of Hospitality:
Greet
Ambiance
Provide a meal
Provide shelter
Provide comfort
Escort
Provide financial assistance
Provide medical aid
Give listening ear
Provide kid care
Help with a project
Provide encouragement
Help some one face a difficult issue

3. Where Does Hospitality Come From?
It is the expression of His natural attributes.
The culmination of His holiness and His glory.
His holiness is what he is as God that nobody else is.
The glory of God is the manifest beauty of his holiness.
So His holiness is His uniqueness and His glory is His holiness on display.
God does not have to work to be hospitable, the fact is, He is hospitable because of who He is.
So what makes up His holy glory?

4. His Attributes, here expressed in 18 of His names is a start:
Yahweh – “Our God is Self-Existent”
Yahweh – “Our God is Faithful”
Yahweh Meqaddishkem “Our God is Holy” “Our Sanctifier”
Yahweh Nissi “Our God is Truth” “ Our Banner”
Yahweh Yireh “Our God is a Gracious Provider”
Yahweh Sabaoth “Our God is a Watchful Defender”
Adonai “Our God is a Loving Master”
Elohim “Our God is All-Powerful”
El Shaddai “Our God is All-Sufficient”
El Roi “Our God is an All-Knowing, Ever- present Help”
El Elyon “Our God is the Supreme Sovereign”
El Olam “Our God is Unchanging and Eternal”
Yahweh Shammah, "Yahweh is there"
Jehovah-Tsidkenu "The Lord Who is our Righteousness."
El Olam- “God is Eternal”
Qanna- “Jealous”
Jehovah Shalom- “God of Peace”
Jehovah Raah- “The Lord our Shepherd”
Discuss how the characteristics of these names apply to Hospitality.

5. Another holy and glorious attribute of God - He is Triune.
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. All God, but each a separate person. There is otherness in God: God the Father begets (incarnates) God the Son in the mutual love and assistance of God the Holy Spirit. The persons of the Trinity in eternity love one another.
All three were present and cooperating during the creation.
God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit practice hospitality toward one another.
What does God teach us about hospitality in relationships from the relationships among the Persons of the Trinity?

6. Examples of Hospitality: God within God
John 16:7-28
Vs 7- Jesus goes so the Spirit can come
Vs 10 – Jesus goes to the Father
Vs 13 – Spirit guides in truth, speaking only what he hears
Vs 14 – Spirit glorifies Jesus
Vs 15 – All that is the Father’s belongs to Christ, Spirit receives from Christ
Vs 23 – Father gives what is asked for in Jesus’ name
Vs – Jesus came from the Father and returned to the Father
Other verses:
Luke 4:14
Heb 1:3
John 17:1-5 and beyond
John 14:6

7. The Impact of God’s Hospitality on Mankind
Creation of mankind:
This hospitality within God is the condition for the possibility of a creaturely otherness outside of God.
God is not threatened by the otherness of creation, but embraces it hospitably in accordance with his nature.
His Response to mankind’s rejection:
Even when humanity becomes God’s enemy by rejecting his hospitality He remains hospitable.
continued

8. Examples of Hospitality: God to Man
Ex 20:2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”
Rom 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 6:22 “But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.”
Romans 8:29 “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.”
And hundreds of other verses which tell of how God reaches out to mankind despite his sin, rebellion, mistakes, idolatry, apathy, etc., etc.

9. The Impact of God’s Hospitality on Mankind
The Hospitality of the Gospel:
I am now acceptable to God (justified) and completely forgiven. I live at Peace with Him. (Rom. 5:1).
The sinful person I used to be died with Christ, and sin no longer rules my life. (Romans 6:1-6).
I am free from the punishment (condemnation) my sin deserves. (Romans 8:1) 
I have been placed into Christ by God’s doing. (1 Corinthians 1:30).
I have received God’s Spirit into my life. I can recognize the blessings He has given me. (1 Corinthians 2:12).
I have been given the mind of Christ. He gives me His wisdom to make right choices. (1 Corinthians 2:16). 
I have been bought with a price, I am not my own; I belong to God. (1 Corinthians 6:19,20). 
I am God’s possession, chosen and secure in Him (sealed). I have been given the Holy Spirit as a promise of my inheritance to come. (2 Corinthians 1:21, 22; Ephesians 1:13,14).
Since I have died, I no longer live for myself, but for Christ .(2 Corinthians 5:14,15).
I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. This life I now live is Christ’s life. (Galatians 2:20). 
I have been blessed with every spiritual blessing. (Ephesians 1:3). 
I was chosen in Christ to be holy before the world was created. I am without blame before Him. (Ephesians 1:4). 
I have been made spiritually alive just as Christ is alive. (Eph. 2:5). 
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10. The Impact of God’s Hospitality on Mankind
The Hospitality of the Gospel:
I have been raised up and seated with Christ in heaven. (Eph. 2:6). 
I have direct access to God through the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:18).
I may approach God with boldness, freedom and confidence. (Ephesians 3:12).
I have been rescued from the dark power of Satan’s rule and have been brought into the kingdom of Christ. (Colossians 1:13).
I have been forgiven of all my sins and set free. The debt against me has been cancelled. (Colossians 1:14).
I am firmly rooted in Christ and am now being built up in Him. (Colossians 2:7).
I am spiritually clean. My old sinful self has been removed. (Colossians 2:11).
I have been given a spirit of power, love and self-control. (2 Timothy 1:7).
I have been saved and set apart (sanctified) according to God’s plan. (2 Timothy 1:9, Titus 3:5).
Because I am set apart (sanctified) and one with Christ, He is not ashamed to call me His brother or sister. (Hebrews 2:11).
I have the right to come boldly before the throne of God. He will meet my needs lovingly and kindly. (Hebrews 4:16).
I have been given great and valuable promises. God’s nature has become a part of me. (2 Peter 1:4).
continued

11. The Impact of God’s Hospitality on Mankind
The Call to be Holy and Hospitable:
“Thus you are to be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy; and I have set you apart from the peoples to be Mine.” Leviticus 20:26
“because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.” 1 Peter 1:16
Christian hospitality is an extension of how we interact with God. It trains us to be capable of welcoming guests and strangers. Participation in the life of the Triune God, becoming holy, shapes and calls us to be His conduits of His hospitality.
“Be hospitable to one another without complaint.”  1 Peter 4:9
“contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.” Romans 12:13
“Therefore we ought to support such men, so that we may be fellow workers with the truth.” 3 John 1:8
“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.” Hebrews 13:2
“ When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.” 19:33-34
Hospitality is not simply the practice of a virtue but is integral to the very nature of Christianity’s position toward God, self, and the world—it is at the very center of what it means to be a Christian and to think theologically.

12. Examples of Hospitality: Man to Man
Strangers: Hebrews 13:2
Aliens: Lev 25:35-38
Needy people-hungry, naked, unprotected, sick: Matt. 25:31-46
Enemies: Prov. 25:21-22
Christian Brothers, Missionaries:
3 John 1:5-8
Rom 12:9-21
I Tim 5:10
Biblical Commands:
Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaint. As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen I Pet 4:8-11

13. Examples of Hospitality: Man to God
Gen 18:1-8 Now the LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day….
Luke 24: Jesus on the road to Emmaus
Matt 25:31-46 ‘to the least of these’

14. Next Week Primer The Tension of Being Holy and Hospitable
The Tension: The call to holiness and the call to hospitality are often heard in tension with one another.
How can we be both separate (holy) and welcoming (hospitable)?
How do discipleship and evangelism relate?
How does the church go about being in but not of the world?
How can we “befriend sinners” without becoming “friends of the world”?
Is my ability to be hospitable limited to my personality type, whether I’m introverted or extroverted, my giftedness or my love language?
Meditation: ”Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.  Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Philippians 2:3-8