Gary North

And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth. And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetcht a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it. And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat (Gen. 18:6-8).

This is the story of a debt-free man who had food in reserve. That is always a good idea. Back in Abraham's day, having meat in reserve was not common. To share it with guests was a very big deal. We are so rich today that it no longer is.

When unexpected visitors arrived at Abraham's tent, he immediately responded by offering them hospitality. Hospitality is basic to biblical religion. This is one of the two most famous examples of hospitality in the Old Testament. (The other is Jael's "hospitality" to Sisera [Judges 4:17-22].) His guests were in fact angels. Abraham did not know this. There is a New Testament phrase which says, "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares" (Heb. 13:2).

So important is hospitality in the New Testament that the apostle Paul designated hospitality is one of the requirements for holding church office. "A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach" (I Tim. 3:2).

The ideal of hospitality rests on the assumption that God has been hospitable to us. He has shown grace to us. We are like visitors who show up in front of God's tent. We are traveling light. God rewards us with blessings that we do not deserve.

A person who shows up at your front door today is unlikely to expect hospitality. He certainly does not expect you to invite him in, so that he could spend the night and have several meals at your expense. We live in a different society from Abraham's. In his day, there were no nearby motels. There were very few restaurants for travelers. Someone who shows up on your doorstep today is probably not in need of food and shelter.

Hospitality is a way of showing grace to others, a way of demonstrating care and concern for other people. It is a way of demonstrating that you have economic reserves. You have food to share, and you are willing to share it. You are not in need of the basics of life. You have savings to draw on. You're not spending all of your reserves You have a pantry full of food. You enjoy positive cash flow.

The assumption of hospitality is that most people will not request it most of the time. There are limited resources at any family's disposal. But someone who prepares to show hospitality recognizes that under certain circumstances, frequently unpredictable, there will be somebody on your church's doorstep who is in need of hospitality. So, he donates to the church's hospitality fund.

In a society with limited wealth, showing hospitality is one of the ways that someone demonstrates his concern for people outside his own family. This is universally recognized as a mark of a good person. Word gets out. This softens resistance to the message of the gospel, which is surely a message of God's hospitality to us. We act out in our lives where we say we believe is true about the relationship between God and His people. Hospitality is way to put faith in action.

THE COST OF HOSPITALITY

It takes resources to show hospitality. A family has to be willing and able to save a portion of its income for hospitality. While the obligation to demonstrate hospitality is not on the same level as the obligation to help someone in a life- threatening emergency, it has the characteristics of an emergency. First, it requires prior thrift. Second, it requires a willingness to share. Third, the person in need of hospitality shows up unexpectedly. Fourth, the person showing hospitality should make it clear that this is not a quid pro quo. It is not sharing something in order to get something. It is sharing on something other than a self-serving basis. Jesus taught that when we invite people into our homes, they should be people from whom we expect no reciprocal offer. This is why He said we should invite in the poor.

Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just (Luke 14:12-14).

In the modern industrial world, most people own a refrigerator. They have food in reserve. This is much easier to do today, because for refrigeration is inexpensive. It makes possible a form of saving: food in reserve. The modern freezer is a popular appliance, because people can purchase food when it is on sale at a bargain price. Smart shopping involves purchasing in bulk when prices are attractively low. Also, bulk purchases usually are less expensive per ounce than smaller purchases.

A refrigerator and a freezer make possible hospitality on a moment's notice. In agricultural societies before the advent of electricity, people had to have beef on the hoof in order to offer anyone a dinner that served beef. It was an important sacrifice on the part of the hospitable person to kill an animal in order to feed a stranger. This degree of sacrifice required capital. The average family did not have a spare animal to sacrifice for a meal.

One of the marks of the wealth of the West is the fact that most families have food in reserve. It is not a major sacrifice when we show hospitality to a stranger. God has shown great hospitality to us, as residents in a modern industrial society. This hospitality is unprecedented in human history. Yet residents of modern societies become used to the enormous wealth at their disposal. They do not think anything about having meat in a freezer that they can share with a guest arrives unexpectedly. The cost of being hospitable in today's world is much less than it was in Abraham's day.

Nevertheless, it does cost money to buy a refrigerator and a freezer. These are capital investments. It costs also a lot of money to stock a freezer with meat. To do this effectively, a person should not use debt. He must be in a position of positive cash flow. He benefits because he can pay cash. He can take advantage of opportunities.

A credit card enables us to take advantage of opportunities, but it makes it much more expensive for us to pay for the opportunities we have already taken advantage of. Future payments reduce our ability to take advantage of new opportunities. Opportunities must be paid for. We can pay with money saved, or we can pay with borrowed money. The difference is profound. One of the means of payment is future-oriented. The other means of payment is present-oriented. The Bible recommends future-orientation. This is why the Bible, when believed, produces thrift. It produces people who accumulate capital. It produces people who can show hospitality without digging deeply into their savings.

There is less hospitality in modern society than there was in Abraham's day. There is less need for hospitality today. There are motels, restaurants, and transportation per mile is fast and cheap. People can journey to a destination without stopping off at a stranger's house. We do not expect strangers to expect hospitality. This is a mark of our wealth.

At the same time, it is a sign that we rely more on impersonal market forces to supply us with our needs. We are not dependent on hospitality. We do not want to become dependent.

There is a famous line in the play, A Streetcar Named Desire, in which a poverty-stricken distant relative, who has arrived unexpectedly to move in with a comparatively poor family, announces: "I have always relied on the kindness of strangers." This is perceived in modern society as a defect of character. This is because the wealth of modern society has reduced most people's dependence on hospitality. The thrift that once was required to show hospitality can be used to invest or to fund organizations that offer hospitality. The result of this investment has been enormous productivity and enormous output per capita. We invest more, so society requires less hospitality.

The opportunities to show family hospitality today are limited. Hospitality is shown by churches and rescue missions. We donate money to them to act on our behalf. An example is the USO, which offers hospitality to traveling members of the U.S. armed forces.

If you are not in a position show hospitality because of your condition of debt, it is time to begin dealing with your condition of debt. You must become able to show hospitality to many, without feeling the pain. This is what Abraham could do, and it is what we should also strive to attain.