Scripture of the Week

SCRIPTURE

1 Peter 4:9-10 KJV
⁹ Use hospitality one to another without grudging.

¹⁰ As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

Amplified Bible

⁹ Be ^[a]hospitable to one another without complaint. ¹⁰ Just as each one of you has received a special gift [a spiritual talent, an ability graciously given by God], employ it in serving one another as [is appropriate for] good stewards of God’s multi-faceted grace [faithfully using the diverse, varied gifts and abilities granted to Christians by God’s unmerited favor].
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Hospitality: The friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers. (ex. Restaurants, Hotels, Retail Stores, Walmart Greeters).

Biblical applications take hospitality to a whole new level of significance.

For Christians, the strongest motivation to show hospitality is not God’s commands (the Law) but His love for us in Christ (the gospel). This is not unique to hospitality—the gospel ought to be the driving motivation for all our good works. 

Any other motive fails to produce the same effect. When I obey a command out of a sense of obligation, I am far less likely to obey that command with joy and eagerness than when I obey a command out of a sense of gratitude. This is true of hospitality. 

And we have good reason to respond in gratitude. Jesus gave himself as living water to quench our spiritual thirst (John 7:37-38). He gives us his Church as our temporary spiritual lodging on earth (1 Peter 2:5), and Heaven as our eternal home (John 14:2-3). Those who were not God’s chosen people (Gentiles) have been welcomed into the family of God by Christ, and this is why we are called to welcome and live in harmony with one another (Romans 15:5-7). 

We have been graciously loved and received by God in Christ. So gratitude, not guilt, is the strongest motivation for us to love and receive others with joy and eagerness.

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James 2:15-16- KJV
¹⁵ If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, ¹⁶ And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?

Amplified Bible
¹⁵ If a brother or sister is without [adequate] clothing and lacks [enough] food for each day, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Go in peace [with my blessing], [keep] warm and feed yourselves,” but he does not give them the necessities for the body, what good does that do?
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Mark 9:41- KJV
⁴¹ For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.

Amplified Bible
⁴¹ For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because of your name as followers of Christ, I assure you and most solemnly say to you, he will not lose his reward.
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Acts 20:35- KJV
³⁵ I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Amplified Bible
³⁵ In everything I showed you [by example] that by working hard in this way you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed [and brings greater joy] to give than to receive.’”
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1 John 3:17-19- KJV
¹⁷ But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? ¹⁸ My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. ¹⁹ And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.

Amplified Bible
¹⁷ But whoever has the ^[a]world’s goods (adequate resources), and sees his brother in need, but has no compassion for him, how does the love of God live in him? ¹⁸ Little children (believers, dear ones), let us not love [merely in theory] with word or with tongue [giving lip service to compassion], but in action and in truth [in practice and in sincerity, because practical acts of love are more than words]. ¹⁹ By this we will know [without any doubt] that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart and quiet our conscience before Him.
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2 Corinthians 8:13-14- KJV
¹³ For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened:¹⁴ But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality:

Amplified Bible
¹³ For it is not [intended] that others be relieved [of their responsibility] and that you be ^[a]burdened [unfairly], but ^[b]that there be equality [in sharing the burden]— ¹⁴ at this present time your surplus [over necessities] is going to supply their need, so that [at some other time] their surplus may be given to supply your need, that there may be equality;

Matthew 25:35-36- KJV
³⁵ For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

³⁶ Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

Amplified Bible
³⁵ For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; ³⁶ I was naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me [with help and ministering care]; I was in prison, and you came to Me [ignoring personal danger].’
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Matthew 25:40- KJV
⁴⁰ And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Amplified Bible
40 The King will answer and say to them, ‘I assure you and most solemnly say to you, to the extent that you did it for one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it for Me.’
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Hebrews 13:2- KJV
² Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Amplified Bible
² Do not neglect to extend hospitality to strangers [especially among the family of believers—being friendly, cordial, and gracious, sharing the comforts of your home and doing your part generously], for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.
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Bulletin Notes

“When He shall appear, we shall be like Him.” 1 John 3:2

In 1 John 3:1–3, the apostle John is overcome with the miracle of God’s love in claiming us as His children. For those of us who have surrendered our lives to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, that is what we are—children of God! But there’s a catch, explains John: “It has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2, NKJV).

A difficulty of our present state of existence is that we cannot fully grasp what it means to be a child of God. We don’t have the complete picture yet because God has not shown us what we will be like when Jesus Christ returns and we see Him face to face. Until then, we can only take in a dimly lit preview. The apostle Paul affirms, “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely” (1 Corinthians 13:12, NLT). Scripture is full of reminders that we are inching toward a climactic unveiling (Luke 17:30; 1 Corinthians 1:7; 2 Thessalonians 1:7; 1 Peter 1:7). The literal meaning of the Greek word apokálypsis (apocalypse in English) is “unveiling, revelation, disclosure.” In the end, Christ will return, and His second coming will make visible everything that is true of Jesus but currently veiled from human eyes. The children of God “will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world” (1 Peter 4:13, NLT). Presently, we are following “the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” as we develop ever-expanding degrees of growth in Christian maturity (Philippians 3:14, ESV). Eventually, the process will culminate in heavenly perfection as “we bear the image of the heavenly man” (1 Corinthians 15:49).

Paul teaches that “in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority” (Colossians 2:9–10, NLT). In Christ, believers possess the fullness of God (Ephesians 1:22–23). In our present state, we can only grasp this fact with imperfect knowledge and partial understanding. We can’t comprehend the total reality of who we are as God’s children because we can’t yet see the full extent of Christ’s personhood. But flawless, unhindered sight will be ours when Jesus Christ returns. When we see Him in person, we shall see Him as He is—in the fullness of God’s glory.

Only a few privileged humans like Moses, Isaiah, and Stephen caught glimpses of God’s glory (Exodus 33:21–23; Isaiah 6; Acts 7:55). God spoke to Moses “face to face, clearly, and not in riddles! He sees the Lord as he is” (Numbers 12:8, NLT). To see God in all His magnificent glory is to see Him as He truly is. The author of Hebrews tells us that “the Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being” (Hebrews 1:3). Those who saw Jesus at His first coming saw His glory (John 1:14; 11:40). When we see the Son face to face, we too shall see Him as He is—the exact expression of God’s glory. Finally, we will understand everything it means to say, “I am a child of God.”