Sermon Notes: The hospitality of God and Our Response

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Text: 1 John 4.7-19

Introduction

How are we to understand God in light of the cross?

At various points in history Christians have conceptualized God in light of the cross with a variety of metaphors. Since the Protestant Reformation, one dominate metaphor for understanding what God has done through Jesus Christ is that of a court room (forensic). God is a judge who pardons guilty people, executing His justice on Jesus instead. Accounting metaphors have also been used to conceptualize God--God is the Great Accountant who has balanced the books through Jesus. Reconciliation has also been a way of speaking of God's actions through Jesus.

This morning I want to suggest that hospitality is a fruitful, and biblical wrap our minds and our hearts around who God is.

What is hospitality? Examples: Chile/Argentina border; God welcoming me into his family on Jan 1, 1991.

Analysis


1. The Source of hospitality: God


     A. 4.7/4/19: We love (extend hospitality) because God first loved us!
     B. Romans 15.7: proslambano (welcome)--the natural response to God's welcoming us.
     C. Ephesians 4.32: we love, forgive, forebear, open our lives--because God has done that to us.
     D. Colossians 3.12-14

Main point: Hospitality is a reflection and an extension of God's own hospitality towards us.


2. The Shape of Hospitality: Cruciform


     A. God did not welcome those who were worthy of hospitality (John 4.19; Rom 5.8; Luke)
     B. God initiates--we are called to initiate too. (1 John 4.19; John 1.1-18)
     C. Hospitality is costly. (1 John 4.10)
     D. It is relational: atonement=at-one-ment


Exhortation


1. How have you experienced God's hospitality?
2. Who does God want you to be hospitable towards? What is your next step?
3.  How can we become a community that reflects and extends God's hospitality towards us?



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