Hello brethren,
Today, let’s take a look at Peter’s call for hospitality for the elect exiles:
Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.
— 1 Peter 4:9
In this verse, we find Peter exhorting the Christian exiles to be hospitable. To fully understand the weight of this exhortation, we need to comprehend what Peter is asking them to do.
The word “hospitable” can literally be translated as “fond of guests” or “loving strangers.”
We should first understand that the people Peter is addressing have had to run away from their homes to faraway lands. The lands they currently live in are foreign to them. Furthermore, they live in these foreign lands under the fear of oppression, as they are hunted by the Roman government and sometimes persecuted by the Jews because of their faith in Christ.
Church history tells us that in AD 64, a fire burned down parts of the city of Rome, and the Christians were blamed for it. This only added to the stress that these sojourners had to endure.
It is under these conditions that Peter is asking them to be hospitable to one another.
When Peter says they should be hospitable to one another, he does not merely mean that they should visit one another. Instead, there is a whole routine and tradition attached to these kinds of visits. A proper visitation would probably involve a meal, time for guests, and other such activities. This is why we see this word used by the apostle Paul when instructing Timothy on the qualifications of elders:
An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sensible, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,
— 1 Timothy 3:2
Paul states that elders of the church ought to be the kinds of people willing to give their time and resources to entertain a visitation of their congregants and other people.
When you look at the task that the apostle Peter is exhorting his audience to do, it is clear that it is not a small thing he is asking of them. Rather, he is asking for an intensive practice that would probably cost them time and resources. However, he asks this because there are great benefits and blessings attached to such a practice of hospitality for one another.
The Blessings of Hospitality
Clearly, the first and foremost benefit that comes from a hospitable home is the blessing of fellowship. Believers are meant to have fellowship with one another. It is through this fellowship that believers get to stir each other up in love. This is what the author of Hebrews alludes to when he encourages the believers not to forsake the assembly of believers:
And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
— Hebrews 10:24-25
The author of Hebrews further tells them that this kind of fellowship does not just stop when they meet together in a church assembly. Rather, it happens even in their homes and extends to strangers who visit them:
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.
— Hebrews 13:2
Here we see another benefit of hospitality. In the practice of hospitality, God can ordain for the right people to come at the right time into our lives and exercise His will in our lives.
The entertaining of angels here can be viewed as inviting a person who happens to be a messenger of God to deliver a message and blessings to one’s household and life. The Greek word for “angels” literally means “messenger” or “one that is sent.”
We see a practical example when three men showed up at Abraham’s doorsteps:
Then Yahweh appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. And he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing nearby; he saw, and he ran from the tent door to meet them, and he bowed himself to the earth, and he said, “My Lord, if now I have found favor in Your sight, please do not pass Your servant by.”
— Genesis 18:1-3
We see another example with the disciple Matthew when he invited Jesus Christ into his household along with the tax collectors and other people:
And Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a great crowd of tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them.
— Luke 5:29
All these invitations led to blessings for the hosts of these fellowships.
God has so ordained that as we fellowship with one another, we get to experience love, joy, and peace in the Lord.
Even for the exiles, while they were undergoing all kinds of suffering and anxieties fearing for their lives, the one thing encouraged among them is to continue to be hospitable to one another to strengthen each other during their trials. The wise king so wonderfully frames this in Ecclesiastes:
Two are better than one because they have good wages for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not a second one to lift him up. Furthermore, if two lie down together, they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone? And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can stand against him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.
— Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
Dangers of Grumbling
Alongside the exhortation to be hospitable to one another, the apostle highlights a warning that comes on the heels of this exhortation. He warns them not to grumble.
The same word can be translated as murmuring, muttering, complaining, or grudging. We also see the apostle Paul use the same word when he writes his letter to the Philippians, entreating them to have unity among one another:
Do all things without grumbling or disputing,
— Philippians 2:14
Grumbling is always an obvious sign of discontentment. The apostle Paul makes this very point when writing to the Corinthians, telling them to take a hint from the children of Israel who were grumbling and complaining to God, provoking Him to anger:
Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have arrived.
— 1 Corinthians 10:10-11
Paul says that this was written for their instruction and as an example for them. The church in Corinth was to look at what happened to the children of Israel when they grumbled against God and complained against Him so that the Corinthians could learn and be instructed not to be like them.
Where there is grumbling, there is no thanksgiving. Where there is complaining, there is always a lack of contentment. This discontentment always leads to greed, which is idolatry:
Therefore, consider the members of your earthly body as dead to sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry.
— Colossians 3:5
The interesting question is why does the apostle Peter put hospitality and grumbling back to back. At first glance, it might appear as though they have nothing to do with each other. However, as we closely examine them, we realize that in practicing hospitality, one of the greatest challenges that one might face is the challenge of hypocrisy.
Peter’s audience could heed the call to be hospitable, yet it is very tempting to practice hospitality while grumbling in the heart. This kind of hospitality benefits neither the host nor the guest. While everyone may appear to be having fun and smiling, their hearts could be filled with malice, anger, and jealousy.
Because of this, we see Peter expressly highlighting that if one is to be truly hospitable, their heart needs to match their actions by not complaining about showing this beautiful gesture of love to their guests.
When one is filled with complaints while exercising hospitality, the act of hospitality is marred and loses its effect in fellowship and community.
I pray and hope that this word will remind us to be hospitable to others while also examining our hearts as we exercise hospitality, ensuring we do not fall into the trap of complaining.
May the God of peace be with you all.
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