Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share Genesis 18–19: How to show hospitality in an hostile world
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
Genesis 18–19: How to show hospitality in an hostile world
“‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?’” … “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’” (Matthew 25:38, 40 NASB)
Abraham and Lot offer the world concrete examples of radical hospitality. Both of them had an overflowing love for their fellow man that was stronger than the fear and “stranger danger” that holds most of us back from helping those in need.
Many focus on illicit behavior, but Sodom’s utter lack of hospitality and its culture of fear is why God wiped them off the map, destroying them so utterly that their lush valley is now an ocean of salt.
Torah reading וַיֵּרָא Vayera (“[and] he appeared,”) is a fair warning to us in our day. We must be careful when responding to the strangers in our midst with fear rather than love.
Vayera victuals
* This Bible reading is aptly named. It describes how the Creator of the heavens and Earth shows up big time “at the fullness of time.”
* The promised one — Yitskhak — and trust in God’s promise to keep Abraham and Yitskhak alive long enough to make that happen.
* Abraham’s lunch with the LORD and intercession for Sodom.
* Lesson: The LORD doesn’t send judgment without knowing the intricacies of what is going on. We need to be concerned about collateral damage when we call down “judgement” on wicked cities because there are righteous people who live in those cities.
* Lesson: Pray for mercy and deliverance for the righteous in cities.
* Deliverance of Lot amid judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah.
* Lesson: Sometimes, we are saved because of the prayers of the righteous.
* Abraham’s offering of his “only son,” the son of the promise and the appearance of God.
* Lesson: The LORD not only “shows up” at our time of need, the LORD has paid the “ultimate price” while we were “still sinners.”
How Abraham moves from fear to confidence
One of the lessons in all of this is that we are to look for opportunities to help. This is something to think about as we look to extend hospitality in a hostile world.
Rather than the ethos of “nature red in tooth and claw,” the Kingdom of Heaven teaches that the strong care for the weak of body and mind. We need to look for opportunities to help the weak, not to step on them or to step over them.
An immigrant from Ur, Abram was a stranger in Canaan, yet Heaven blessed him with power, wealth and a beautiful wife.
The 10th Commandment teaches us to trust the LORD’s provision and not covet other’s blessings, regardless of perceived “worthiness” of those who have been blessed with more than what God has given us.
Abraham is a role model for righteousness that comes through trust (faith) in God’s promises, but Vayera shows his growth from fear he wouldn’t live to see the promise to confidence it would happen.
Like the father of our trust in the LORD, we must learn how “perfect[ed] love casts out fear” (1John 4:18 NASB). Love is perfected in the trust which turns fear into confidence. It’s not a confidence based in arrogance but an acknowledgment of blessing.
How Lot practices radical hospitality
Lot in Sodom demonstrated hospitality by taking in the two travelers.
* Likewise, we demonstrate philoxenia (“affection for the stranger”) by watching for opportunities to help them. This is the word that is translated as “hospitality” in the Apostolic Scriptures (New Testament).
* Then as now, “stranger danger” results from a breakdown in faith in others.
* Then as now, the closer we get packed together and/or lose touch with each other, the faster the breakdown in faith in others. Moving from a rural society to an urban society usually e...
View all episodes
By Hallel Fellowship“‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?’” … “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’” (Matthew 25:38, 40 NASB)
Abraham and Lot offer the world concrete examples of radical hospitality. Both of them had an overflowing love for their fellow man that was stronger than the fear and “stranger danger” that holds most of us back from helping those in need.
Many focus on illicit behavior, but Sodom’s utter lack of hospitality and its culture of fear is why God wiped them off the map, destroying them so utterly that their lush valley is now an ocean of salt.
Torah reading וַיֵּרָא Vayera (“[and] he appeared,”) is a fair warning to us in our day. We must be careful when responding to the strangers in our midst with fear rather than love.
Vayera victuals
* This Bible reading is aptly named. It describes how the Creator of the heavens and Earth shows up big time “at the fullness of time.”
* The promised one — Yitskhak — and trust in God’s promise to keep Abraham and Yitskhak alive long enough to make that happen.
* Abraham’s lunch with the LORD and intercession for Sodom.
* Lesson: The LORD doesn’t send judgment without knowing the intricacies of what is going on. We need to be concerned about collateral damage when we call down “judgement” on wicked cities because there are righteous people who live in those cities.
* Lesson: Pray for mercy and deliverance for the righteous in cities.
* Deliverance of Lot amid judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah.
* Lesson: Sometimes, we are saved because of the prayers of the righteous.
* Abraham’s offering of his “only son,” the son of the promise and the appearance of God.
* Lesson: The LORD not only “shows up” at our time of need, the LORD has paid the “ultimate price” while we were “still sinners.”
How Abraham moves from fear to confidence
One of the lessons in all of this is that we are to look for opportunities to help. This is something to think about as we look to extend hospitality in a hostile world.
Rather than the ethos of “nature red in tooth and claw,” the Kingdom of Heaven teaches that the strong care for the weak of body and mind. We need to look for opportunities to help the weak, not to step on them or to step over them.
An immigrant from Ur, Abram was a stranger in Canaan, yet Heaven blessed him with power, wealth and a beautiful wife.
The 10th Commandment teaches us to trust the LORD’s provision and not covet other’s blessings, regardless of perceived “worthiness” of those who have been blessed with more than what God has given us.
Abraham is a role model for righteousness that comes through trust (faith) in God’s promises, but Vayera shows his growth from fear he wouldn’t live to see the promise to confidence it would happen.
Like the father of our trust in the LORD, we must learn how “perfect[ed] love casts out fear” (1John 4:18 NASB). Love is perfected in the trust which turns fear into confidence. It’s not a confidence based in arrogance but an acknowledgment of blessing.
How Lot practices radical hospitality
Lot in Sodom demonstrated hospitality by taking in the two travelers.
* Likewise, we demonstrate philoxenia (“affection for the stranger”) by watching for opportunities to help them. This is the word that is translated as “hospitality” in the Apostolic Scriptures (New Testament).
* Then as now, “stranger danger” results from a breakdown in faith in others.
* Then as now, the closer we get packed together and/or lose touch with each other, the faster the breakdown in faith in others. Moving from a rural society to an urban society usually e...