Well, good morning. Many of you know that Dan Baumgartner is away on vacation right now. I have not heard a word from him in the last week, which I’m taking as a very good sign.

A couple of weeks ago as I was on vacation, I had a chance to spend the day flyfishing - one of my favorite things to do. It was a great day; the river was beautiful , it was sunny & warm, but it wasn’t 103. And the fish were biting , which is always good.

On the way home I was talking with the guy I was with, and we were getting to know each other a bit, and he asked a question. “When you were in seminary, did you have a favorite class?” It’s actually something that I’ve been thinking about a fair bit recently in relation to this message. There was a class that I took called Mission to a Modern and Postmodern world. Great class. Taught by Professor Shenk, who was nearing retirement and he brought a lifetime of love for Christ and learning into the classroom, lots of experience in the mission field, and it was a rich time.

During that time, we spent months talking about and reading about, and a lot of writing about shifts in American culture in the last 100 or so years. We talked about the role of the church, and how it has changed in recent generations.

And after months of papers and readings, exams, lectures, he ended the class with something of a summary and a charge; a lecture fully devoted to hospitality.

Now that was a big surprise to me. We’d been talking about things like:

• modernism and postmodernism,
• enlightenment thinking,
• reformation theology,
• deep philosophers like Michael Polanyi and Jacque Derrida
• emerging sociological trends,
• neo-paganism,
• new urbanism

So hospitality? Did I miss something?

But what was even more surprising was that that lecture came to us through the professor’s tears. The whole lecture he was on the verge of tears. And that got me thinking maybe the disconnect is on my end; I might have something to learn here.

Well, as I’ve been studying this text, it seems to me that Paul is doing a really similar thing, weaving themes together, offering a charge to his readers as he prepares to close the letter.

Reading: Romans 15:7-13

We’re near the end of a sermon series on the book of Romans. Back in May we began preaching through Romans, and we will conclude this series in 2 weeks.

I mentioned earlier that I think this text works much like my professor’s summary. And here’s why.

If you skip over what we just read, and take a look the next, the end of chapter 15 and into chapter 16, you’ll notice that the tone changes and Paul begins to speak much more personally. He talks about a trip that he hopes to take to them, and he explains why he’s written as he has. He lists several believers in Rome and sends personal greetings to them. But the tone is changed and he is no longer offering the heavy teaching that he’s been giving all along.

And, if you take a look back at the themes that we’ve seen so far in the book, you’ll see many of those themes in our text today.

He begins by saying, “Welcome one another , just as the Lord as welcomed you.”

We might remember that all along in the book we’ve heard themes like, “All fall short of the glory of God” and “Jew, Gentile doesn’t matter. All are in need of a relationship with God and a place with God.” And our text goes on, “For Christ has become a servant to the Jews in order to confirm God’s promises to the Jews – and in such a way that will draw both Jew and Gentile to God. Both, again, themes that we have seen throughout the book.

He quotes 4 old testament texts coming from different parts of old testament literature: Pentateuch, Prophets and Writings. And it seems as if he’s trying to say that all along, all throughout scripture, God had been trying to show that His desire is to extend His kingdom to all people.

So, it seems to me, that our text today says, “God has been
true to his promises – promises in receiving the Jews. and at the same time God has always intended to bless the whole world.
God has welcomed all. Therefore, welcome one another, Paul says.

Now the key word for today is the word translated in our text as “welcome.” It refers to hospitality —the kind of hospitality expected of God’s people throughout scripture. It’s an active word , literally meaning something like grasp, or seize. Or in this case, “ take in .”

To take in, or receive someone into their homes. And it even is often used in reference to food, that one “takes in” to their bodies. In the ancient world, often travelers would come to the city gate and wait for someone to come along and take them into their homes.

And we might remember, too, that in the ancient world, as people traveled from town to town they were vulnerable to thieves, to the effects of the hot sun, and their survival often depended on the hospitality of others. For them, this “receiving” or “taking in” meant making room in their lives to respond to people’s needs:

• perhaps the need for shelter, providing housing
• perhaps providing food
• maybe providing connection into a community
• or offering friendship

Paul uses one other important word to pay attention to in our text today, and that is the word that gets translated “just as”. Now, typically when I’ve read this text, I’ve sort of translated it in my mind as “because.” Welcome one another because Christ has welcomed you. And Paul had another word that he could have used there. But he chooses this - Welcome one another “just as” Christ has welcomed you. In other words, Paul is saying that the quality of our welcome ought to look like the way in which Jesus welcomed us.

So we might ask ourselves,

How did Jesus welcome us?

What was that like?

How did we come to know the love and the saving power of Jesus?

So, for those of us who are ready to receive it, this is the goal today - that we would be marked by a willingness to extend themselves…to greet the newcomer, to take care of the stranger, to tend to the needs of others in the same way that Christ cared for us.

Now I don’t know about you, but I hear a message like this and I start to have mixed feelings.

It reminds me of a short story with my son, Chad. We had a guest over, and it was lunchtime, and my wife began to get things out of the ‘fridge and prepare sandwiches. And she sent out son, Chad, back and forth into the other room to find out what our friend would like to eat.

The conversation went something like this:

Monica: “Go ask Tracy,

Chad: “Would you like homemade bread or wheat bread?”

And so he did.

Chad: “Auntie Tracy, would you like homemade bread or wheat bread?”

Tracy:“Oh, homemade bread sounds great.

BIG PAUSE

Chad: “I was really hoping to keep that for myself.”

Tracy: "Well, then wheat bread would be just fine."

And he runs back in the other room.

Chad: “She wants wheat bread.”

Monica: "Go ask, 'Would you like peanut butter or sunflower seed butter?'"

So…

Chad: “Would you like peanut butter or sunflower seed butter?”

Tracy : “You know sunflower seed butter sounds really interesting. I’d like to try that.”

BIG PAUSE

Chad: “Oh, I was really hoping to keep that for myself, too.”

Tracy: “Well, then peanut butter sounds delicious.”

Chad: “Auntie Tracy wants peanut butter.”

And one more time.

Monica: “Would she like ollalieberry jam or strawberry jam?”

Tracy: “Well, ollalieberry jam sounds really good. I’d like to try that.”

BIG PAUSE

Chad: “I was really hoping to keep that for myself.”

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I feel the same way with a message like this. I mean well. I like the idea that I’m a hospitable person. I want to be available to people. And yet there are times when these are things that I would rather not deal with.

Now, as soon as I start thinking about the demands that can often get placed on us in a world like we live in today, we do need to remember that there may be good reasons why we need to be careful about what we take on.

Themes of Sabbath, and rest also run throughout scripture.

In the Old Testament, we’re told that though hospitality is expected to be given to all, there’s a special interest that one needs to take in one’s own family. And many of us are so busy in meetings, and serving, and lots of places elsewhere that we might need to pay special attention right at home.

And we might remember, too, that at times even Jesus refused to be available to the crowds or even to the poor.

So there might be good reasons why discernment is required. And yet scripture is filled with the call to extend ourselves.

Let me offer two practical reasons why we might pay special attention to making room in our lives for other people.

1. There may come a time when you and I are on the receiving end, and we hope others will be reaching out for us.

This is maybe a silly story, but I remember very clearly when I was new here in Seattle. It was not that long ago. Just a couple of years ago, Monica and I were getting to know the search committee for the first time. We were beginning an interview weekend with them, and we were meeting them for dinner. And we were new to Seattle. We didn’t know our way around. We had trouble finding a street that was going to get us to our destination. And we were late. It was not at all the way we wanted to begin an interview weekend, but we had to call. “We’re late. Can you help us out?”

The street, incidentally, that we were looking for was Aurora.

You know, it’s not easy being new in an area. And there are times when we really will need help.

2. We might make room in our lives because there are others who need it.

I read a story this week of a young woman who was a Christian. Her name was Michele. And she was the new director and owner, really, of a day care. And she had a client named Vonda. Vonda brought a couple of kids who were not particularly easy to love. And Vonda herself, at times, was not so easy to love. She had a bad habit of being late with her payments. And in fact, after a couple of months at the day care, she quit the day care and neglected to pay the remaining $500 balance – which was hard for Michelle. It was a brand new business, and she really relied on that income.

Not long after that, Michele seemed to sense God saying to her, “Go buy Vonda groceries.” Which was crazy, she thought. And she blew it off for weeks. And kept feeling like she was being hounded with this thought. She needed to go buy groceries.

So eventually, for no other reason than just to get the thought out of her head, she went and bought two bags of groceries and put it on Vonda’s doorstep. And she got out of there. Check that task of the list, and get God off her back…for about six months.

And then, while praying she sensed, “Go see Vonda.” Again, not at all happy with this idea, she put it off for a couple of weeks once again. And the thought wouldn’t go away, so she decided she would try.

Now Vonda by this time has moved into a new town, and Michele didn’t have the address. But she hopped in the car, thinking that perhaps when she got there she would find a phonebook that would have Vonda’s address.

She drove to the next town where Vonda was living and of course, she wasn’t in the phonebook. And then she hears once again, “Just drive.” And says to herself, “This is stupid. Stupid. Stupid.” And begins to drive. And three blocks later, there’s Vonda.

So she gets out of the car. She is surprised to discover that she’s actually excited to see Vonda. And the two began catching up. And then she says Vonda began to tell me a story that would change my life forever.

Times were hard.

They were broke.

Hungry.

One particular weekend - several weekends had gone by already where the kids were hungry, and crying, and crabby - she just couldn’t do it one more weekend. And thoughts of suicide ran through her head. She was overwhelmed, and discovered on her front porch two bags of groceries.

She grabbed the groceries, put them inside the house, picked up here kids, stuck them in the car, and drove to the nearest church where she began to talk with the pastor - and began a relationship with Christ that day.

There are people out there who are desperate. And you and I have the opportunity to care. It might even be the spark that draws them to Christ.

There are a lot of practical reasons why we might make room our lives for people, and lots beyond these simple two. But there’s only one that’s mentioned in the text –

“Welcome one another just as the Lord has welcomed you.”

So I began studying this text. I wondered if what we were going to need this morning is a basic message that would say, “You know, we really need to re-prioritize our lives and think through the things that we do…perhaps make room for something that is more important than something we’re already doing.”

But I kept coming back to the words of this text. And so I began to think on my own, how has the Lord received me?

Well, that reframes the question. God has been so gracious and good to me.

• I grew up in a family where I regularly heard about Jesus.
• And a church with great youth leaders who came to my swim meets and called me on the phone.
• I had mentors who would take me out for coffee and teach me about life and faith and love.
• Even in the darkest times, there have been people who have called me and cared for me.

My guess is God has been good to you, too.

I want to ask you today - sometime before you go to bed tonight, just to take 5 minutes and think about the way God has received you.

• What has He done for you?
• What did that look like?
• How has God’s grace been real in your life?

And then conclude that time by praying something like this -

“God, I’m not sure what I’m getting into. This is hard for me. My life is full. I have lots of responsibilities. But I pray you would give me the desire to be looking for one person this week that I might reach out to. Give me that desire.”

“Welcome one another, then, just as Christ has welcomed you.”

Let us Pray.