The Gospel Comes with a House Key
God Never Gets the Address Wrong (3|4)
The Providence of Hospitality
• October 2015, Durham, North Carolina
Pages 78-84
TOGETHER read the book (END READING AT: God uses even evil things to make things good.) and discuss the content below.
INDIVIDUALLY take notes in your journal on what stands out (try to keep it brief).
Ephesians 1:7-10 (NIV) In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment —to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
Hebrews 9:15 (NIV) For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance —now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
Romans 5:10-11 (NIV) For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
There can be hesitancy in entering a home. Perhaps people feel fear of being trapped in a place they can’t easily leave. Perhaps people feel unwelcome, unable to grasp the strange landscape of perceived Christian mores and malarkey. How was it that when Jesus walked the earth, Jesus welcomed sinners and sinners welcomed Jesus? How did he get people to walk through the door?
TOGETHER pray for one another.
INDIVIDUALLY answer the questions in your journal - process your notes and pray.
In Luke 7 Jesus receives the touch of the prostitute in purity because he transforms what she gives. Jesus had come to forgive her of her sins and release her from her bondage to sin. He did not come to make prostitution respectable. He did not say. “you are fine the way you are.”
What is your response to that statement?
Jesus knew that her sin was not her ontology: being a prostitute may have been how she was, but not who she was. Ontillogically speaking, she was an image bearer, a child of God, chosen from before the foundations of the world and set apart for just this moment.
What is your response to that statement?
Pause and pray - think of people in your life that you categorize by how they are instead of who they are. (the addict, the mentally ill, the same-sex attracted, the unhoused person, the promiscuous, the depressed, the gossip, the judgemental, the angry, the violent, the toxic, etc.). Ask. Jesus to give you his eyes to see them how HE sees them for who they are. Then ask Jesus if/how/when you should invite them to your table.
EXTRA READING:
Desmond Tutu (1931 - 2021), a South African leader in the movement to end apartheid, said, “I don’t preach a social gospel; I preach the gospel, period. The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is concerned for the whole person. When people were hungry, Jesus didn’t say, ‘Now is that political or social?’ He said, ‘I freed you.” Because the good news to a hungry person is bread.”