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Scripture Reading : 1 Peter 4:9

Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.

If you have room for the people of God in your heart, you will have room for them in your home, too. Hospitality was necessary in Bible times because of the persecution of Christians. Many had to leave their homes and even their cities when they became Christians, and would need hospitality from someone. So, the apostle would have Christians show hospitality to them.

Servants of the Lord needed hospitality

Servants of the Lord did much traveling in the time of the early church¹, and so they needed hospitality. We have Paul as an example of one who was in many different places with the Word of God². When Peter is writing his epistle, he is not in Jerusalem , but in Babylon (1 Pet. 5:13). Peter³ traveled to other places, too. We read in Galatians 2:11 that he was in Antioch . It would seem that in the early church the workers did not confine their work to one local group of Christians, as we find so universally practiced in our age.

The early preacher served in many places

The early servants of the Lord traveled about serving various groups of brethren, and carrying on evangelistic work in new places, while much of the work in the established centers was carried on by local elders. Of course, if a new work was raised up, the servant of the Lord might stay for a time until they could carry on without him.

Make a way to show hospitality

Except in unusual circumstances, such as sickness, no Christian home should be in such poor shape that it is unable to entertain a fellow Christian for a few days. If there is a heart to do it, there will also be a way.

A great woman

There is only one woman in Scripture who is called a great woman. We read of her in 2 Kings 4. The prophet Elisha often passed by her home. She said to her husband,

Look now, I know that this is a holy man of God, who passes by us regularly. Please, let us make a small upper room on the wall; and let us put a bed for him there, and a table and a chair and a lampstand; so it will be, whenever he comes to us, he can turn in there (2 Kings 4:9-10).

No doubt, her hospitality was one reason why the Lord called her a great woman (2 Kings 4:8). There have been many great women who have shown similar hospitality to servants of the Lord. Many have professed that entertaining God’s servants in this way has been a great blessing to them, as well as to all who lived under their roof. Sad to say, little of this type of entertaining is done in our present age, and certainly we are the losers for it.

Without grumbling

The last expression in our verse (1 Pet. 4:9) is "without grumbling." It could be translated "without murmuring." Please do not entertain and then grumble and complain about it afterward, or you will miss the blessing and reward. Let us always be extremely hospitable, especially to the Lord's people.

Footnotes:

¹ For more on the church, see God’s Church in A Religion Library section of StudyJesus.com.

² For more information on the Bible, see God’s Word in A Religion Library section of StudyJesus.com.

³ For more on Peter, see Simon Peter – Life and Lessons in Additional Resources section of StudyJesus.com.