The Way of Jesus:
Invitation and Fellowship

Jesus arguably did most of his ministry around tables. It seems like everywhere you look, he’s sharing a meal with someone. Often, the people he ate with were those you’d least expect. In an age where the people you ate with were a reflection on your social standing, it’s clear that Jesus wasn’t interested in maintaining his reputation among the elites. He makes this clear when he shows love to a despised tax collector and his sinful compatriots. Take a look:

“After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. ‘Follow me,’ Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.

Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?’

Jesus answered them, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance’” (Luke 5:27–32).

If the significance of this passage doesn’t strike you, it’s because you’ve grown so used to the notion that it’s virtuous to be hospitable toward the marginalized. But it hasn’t always been this way. Bible Scholar Donald Hagner helps us understand the significance of this:

“Table fellowship in that culture was regarded as a very important symbol of the closeness, indeed the oneness, of those participating… For Jesus and his disciples to be at the same table with tax collectors and sinners implied a full acceptance of them.” 

When Jesus sat at the table with Levi and his friends, he was saying to them, “you’re with me.” As a result, their lives were changed. 

We often don’t realize this, but there is a strong correlation between hospitality and evangelism. When we think of evangelism, we might think of people knocking on doors and sharing tracts. But this is not how Jesus went about it. Jesus got into the lives of people, and within a relationship of love, invited them to the gospel party.

Evangelism happens every time we make an invitation too. When we invite someone in, they don’t just get a seat at the table; they’re one of the family. They make themselves at home. They’re not an outsider anymore. They’re in. That’s what God did for you, and, good news, you get to make room for everybody else to join in too. This is how disciples are made. Disciples are children of God in the family of God, always eager to fill up seats at the table.

When the kingdom of Jesus takes over our hearts, we don’t just get forgiven; we get a meal and a family. And it’s all so good, we’re compelled to invite more people in. We can’t help it. Nobody should miss out.

Jesus is so full, there’s always more to share. That’s the spirit of hospitality. No matter who you are, you’re wanted here. There’s room for you. You have a place with us. There are no strangers in the family of God, just friends we don’t know yet.

Fred Rogers wrote, “When your heart has room for everybody, then your heart is full of love.”

God’s love has room for everybody. God’s love is unconditional, and if you’ve received it, you’re called to let that love change you and move out of you to others. Everywhere, to everyone. No exclusions.

Love is not earned, so it can’t be given out based on merit. God is not only loving, God is love (1 John 4:8). Life with God is a life of generous, unconditional love.

Do you have room for everyone? Who is invited to your table? Who has eaten with you at your table this year? To stretch this even further, we are not only called to actively love and invite those we know, but to live with open invitation to strangers, foreigners, and outsiders. Romans 12:13 says, “When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.” The Greek word for hospitality in this verse is philoxenia. It means, “to receive and show hospitality to a stranger, that is, someone who is not regarded as a member of the extended family or a close friend.”

To show biblical hospitality is to receive a stranger as a guest. In sharing what is most dear to us, a moment of conversion happens: someone we once identified as a stranger is welcomed as a guest and is transformed into a friend.

This is our own story as we were once outside the family of God, and have been welcomed in. God commands us to live out that story again and again with one another.

So how do we live this out? God is love, and he has the capacity to demonstrate active, perfect love to every person, all the time. God can do that. Love is not only what God does; it’s who he is. He never gets tired. But when God commands us to love others, he isn’t asking us to spread ourselves thin, or wear ourselves out trying to do his job for him. We aren’t called to actively minister to every person on the planet all at once. But we are called to be open and generous. All the time. God is calling us to live out the spirit of hospitality with the people in front of us; ready to make room for anyone, at any time.

Hospitality is a position of the heart. Is your heart open? Are your hands ready? God is calling us to take a generous approach to everything we do, seeing this world and the people in it like he does. God isn’t asking us to exhaust ourselves by taking care of everyone. He’s calling us to keep the door open and a seat ready at our table. He’s calling us to keep a reserve ready of all the goods we have (our food, our clothing, our money) so we are always ready to share with those in need.

While eating together around a physical table with others is a tangible picture of hospitality, it isn’t the only way. Making room for others can also look like introducing yourself to a co-worker and inviting them out for coffee. It could be inviting a family at church over for a meal. It could be accepting an invitation when you’d rather stay home and have some “me-time.” It’s allowing unexpected interruptions in our day of people that we cross paths with. It can be yardwork or getting groceries or baking cookies, and then extending the opportunity for conversation and fellowship through these small interactions.

This way of living is about being purposeful in taking the time and energy and being aware in our day of God-appointed opportunities.

We don’t love out of our own ability and love rarely makes sense or seems easy.

We love as we allow the life of Jesus in us to spill over to others. Your capacity to act is limited, but your ability to love unconditionally is not. Jesus will empower you to love like he does, if you let him.

Action Step

Sometime this month, intentionally practice an act of hospitality that stretches you. Maybe this means meeting someone new for coffee or having dinner together. Maybe this means seeking out more opportunities for conversation with a neighbor. Maybe this means finding a way to tangibly help or care for someone. If needed, discuss with your group any fears or obstacles that may be holding you back from practicing hospitality.

Daily Scripture

Read the daily Scripture passage and journal your responses.

Acts 3 | Acts 4 | Acts 5 | Acts 6 | Acts 7

What to do when you meet
with your group:

Begin with a short prayer.

Ask God to open your eyes to his perspective on things. Take turns each week.

Questions.

Begin by discussing how you are loving others.

What opportunities has God given you to love other people through serving, speaking truth in love, or pointing them towards Christ since we last met? How did you respond?

Talk about what God has been stirring in you through your time in the Word.

Share about one of your quiet times in the Bible.

Practice mutual confession.

Questions about section 1.

Does framing “evangelism” in terms of “hospitality” change your impression of it in any way?

Do you have any stories to shares from your Action Step?

Whether you are an introvert or an extrovert, how might God be inviting you to be making more space for others in your life, so you grow in your practice of hospitality?

End your time by praying for each other.

Pray for opportunities to intentionally practice hospitality that stretches you. Pray for your heart to be open and generous to everyone God puts in your path.