Resolving To Open Your Home Is One Thing; Actually Getting Anyone To Take You Up On The Offer Is Another

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Pastor Foley

WLO_openhomeHere is a humbling realization about opening your home:

After we overcome what John Piper aptly calls “the natural gravity of our self-centered life,” we will usually find that there is no line of strangers beating down our door eager to gain entrance.

I was reminded of this personally just last month. Mrs. Foley had gone to Korea a week ahead of me. I stayed behind in Colorado to speak at a Voice of the Martyrs conference. Good friends of ours were motoring into town in their RV to participate in the conference. Certainly I should open our home to them, especially since this is, you know, the month we focus on the Work of Mercy of opening your home and these were, you know, our good friends. Talk about a hospitality slam dunk.

So I offered. And they declined–quite graciously, I might note.

Of course I understood. They live in their RV. Staying with our family would be fun for all but as inconvenient as us being invited to a sleepover. Routines would be disrupted. There would be little chance for rest and the ever-present flood of work. It would be hard to know what to pack and what to leave behind in the RV.

In the end, we opted to do church together Sunday and dinner together a few days later. It was enjoyable, simple, and satisfying.

And yet…

Romans 12:13 phrases the command provocatively: pursue hospitality. The Greek here is funny, really. It means chase hospitality. Run swiftly after it. Trouble people about it. Or as John Piper paraphrases it:

Build a launching pad. Fill up your boosters. And blast out of your self-oriented routine. Stop neglecting hospitality.

It turns out, as is also the case with all of the other Works of Mercy, that the primary purpose of engaging in opening your home isn’t to solve the problem of homelessness in your city but to shape you just a bit more in the image of Christ.

I came to that recognition because in our .W Church we undertake an After Action Review at the end of each month on Offering Sunday. We each reflect publicly on what we learned through engaging in the Work of Mercy for the month, and how we’ll proceed with it as we move forward. I realized that I should have troubled my out of town guests much further than I did about staying with me. I should have, in other words, said something like this:

Friends, I need you to do me and the kids a big favor: Stay in our home while you’re in the Springs. I know it will be an inconvenience for you to pack a bag and park the RV, but especially with Mrs. Foley in Korea, this is the best chance I’m going to get this year to work on my hospitality skills. And believe me, my hospitality skills need work. I coast by on the fumes of Mrs. F’s nonstop hospitality motor. It’s time for me to submit to the Holy Spirit and do some growing in this area myself.

This is a hard one for me. As a Hilton Hhonors Super-Duper Hotel Club Member, I’m the last guy who wants to stay in someone else’s home when I travel. I’m literally out speaking at least a few days each week nearly every week of the year. I value the privacy and quiet of crashing at the hotel when I’m done for the day. I want to call my wife, answer my emails, work out in the hotel gym, get my frequent traveler hotel points to redeem for our annual family trip, and go to bed. Call me selfish, but I do not want to be the guinea pig as  other Christians practice hospitality on me and learn how to host someone who is always traveling.

And then I remember that the Apostle Paul was the original Christian frequent traveler. And I think what it must have been like for Jesus to stay in a different home in his city-a-night whirlwind ministry tours. And I suspect there was more at issue here than logistical lodging necessity.

And so I re-read Romans 12:13 and am struck anew how much Christian growth we Christian travelers forfeit to Hilton and Marriott and Comfort Suites because of  the natural gravity of our self-centered lives.

Tea, anyone?

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Video – Jesus Put Himself At The Mercy Of Our Hospitality

Posted on April 26, 2013 by tdillmuth

Pastor Tim points out that when Jesus took on human form, he put himself at the mercy of the hospitality of humanity.  Jesus fully existed in heaven as God, and yet he came to this earth as a baby.  As a baby, Jesus needed to be fed and changed by his mother.  Jesus depended upon the hospitality of Mary and Joseph.  And even as an adult, Jesus continued to allow himself to be hosted, by letting the reception of his message be determined by the hospitality of others.

For all of the latest podcasts on Opening Your Home and on past Works of Mercy visit our Seoul USA Podcast Page!

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Hospitality That I Will Never Forget

Posted on April 24, 2013 by tdillmuth

WLO_openhomeFrom Pastor Tim — My parents were great models of hospitality for me and my siblings as I grew up.  They weren’t “super-hero hosts” by any means, but they always seemed willing to open up their lives to others.

For example, I remember my family hosting various exchange students, and also having people who were “down on their luck” stay with us until they were ready to be on their own again.

The hosting that happened in my family wasn’t always restricted to our home though.  My father was a business man, and I remember him continuously opening up his office to strangers and friends who needed help.  He often gave away money, furniture or even offered jobs to people that needed some help.  At times, people took advantage of the help that was given, but that never seemed to deter my parents from reaching out to others again.

There was one particular instance of hospitality that will forever be an impact upon my life.  Our church was hosting a singing group that was composed of men who were in a Christian rehabilitation center.  Two of these men stayed in our home.

It’s been twenty years since my parents hosted these men, and I can no longer remember their names or even picture their faces in my mind.  They shared their testimony, but I can now only remember bits and pieces of what they shared about their personal lives.

What I do remember is sitting around our kitchen table, snacking on treats my mom had prepared, and going through Psalm 119 verse by verse.  Truth be told, I might have preferred to talk about sports or even about the drugs and alcohol that the Lord had rescued them from, but these two men felt it was important to open up the Scriptures in our presence.

I can still recall them reading from Psalm 119:9-11 which says,

How can a young man keep his way pure?  By living according to your word.  I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands.  I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

As we read these words, they challenged me with some very pointed questions.  The questions made me squirm, but they also led me to consider whether I had truly made God’s Word paramount in my life.  For example, they asked me if I struggled with lust and if I read my Bible every day.   And now 20 years later, I am still often reminded of Psalm 119 and their challenge to me that day.

Why?  Because of the faithfulness of my parents to continually open up their home.  My call into ministry was in part, because my parents hosted these two men.  But it was also because of the faithfulness of these men to open up the Scriptures instead of simply chit-chatting about the weather.

There were a few Works of Mercy at work on that day.  The Work of Mercy of Opening Your Home was exemplified by my parents, and the Work of Mercy of Visiting and Remembering was lived out by these two men.  I’m sure that no one thought that they were doing anything particularly special, and yet these simple acts made an eternal impact in my life and in the Kingdom of God.

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