Today's post is by guest writer Lucas Ward.

1 Peter 4:7-10  "The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.   Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.  Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.  As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace."

 
            The first thing to note about this passage is the reason Peter gives us this instruction and the urgency behind it.  "The end of all things is at hand."  Peter clearly didn't mean "soon to happen" because it has been 2,000 years and the end hasn't happened yet, but for millenia people were looking forward to the coming of the Messiah and now that He has come there is nothing else happening  between us and the end.  The end is the next big event and all we know about it is that it will be a surprise: "like a thief in the night".  Given that, we need to be ready.  Peter tells us three things to do:  be self-controlled, sober minded to prayer, and love one another earnestly.  Peter emphasizes that of these, love is the most important.  "Above all" love one another.  Love is then broken down into two endeavors:  covering a multitude of sins and showing hospitality to one another.  Right now, I want to focus on hospitality.
 
In the 20th and now the 21st centuries we have come to think of hospitality as having people over for dinner or socializing with each other in a variety of ways.  That really has nothing to do with the concept of hospitality current at the time Peter wrote his epistle.  Which is not to say that getting to know one another socially is not important.  One of the first things we learn about the early church is that "day by day . . . breaking bread at home, they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart" (Acts 2:46).  They were in each other's homes; they got to know one another.  Also, how am I supposed to "consider one another to provoke to love and good works" if I don't know my brethren any better than nodding at each other on Sundays?  So socializing is important, but it is not what Peter meant by hospitality.
 
            I looked up hospitality in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE).  Hospitality was a duty in the ancient days when travelers had nowhere to stay and hosts often took in strangers and cared for them.  It was considered an honor to be allowed to provide in this way.  According to the ISBE there were four main components to hospitality:
1) The traveler is made the literal master of the house during his stay.
2)  The host performs the most servile offices for the traveler and won't even sit in the presence of the traveler.
3)  The guest is given use of all the host owns, including even the host's wife and daughters.  (This last bit is not Biblical nor condoned in any way by Biblical teaching, but it does show the devotion the ancients had to hospitality.)
4)  The host is duty bound to protect the guest from all dangers that may arise during his stay.
 
            We have Biblical examples of all these precepts. Which is not surprising since hospitality was held in such high regard that Job defined his righteousness in part by his devotion to hospitality (Job 31:32). 
            In Genesis 18:1-8 we have the story of Abraham showing hospitality to three strangers.  He runs to meet them, begs for the right to serve them and, despite promising only a drink of water and a bit of bread, provides cakes made with the finest flour and a young calf cooked up right -- think veal -- as well as milk and butter.  While they are eating, Abraham stands by ready to serve.  He doesn't join them in eating in his own tent, he stands by like a servant. 
            In Judges 19 a Levite is traveling and when he gets to a Benjaminite town, no one will take him in.  He is so desperate and angry that when someone finally speaks to him, he offers to pay his own way for the right to not sleep in the streets, which normally would have been an insult.  The older man speaking to him says, "Peace be unto thee; howsoever let all thy wants lie upon me; only lodge not in the street." (vs. 15-21)  While the town failed in its duties, the old man accomplished hospitality by providing for all the needs of the traveler. 
            Then a truly shameful thing happens (vs. 22-23).  The men of the city try to attack the traveling Levite.  True to his duties as host, the old man steps out and faces the crowd, protecting his guest:  "do not so wickedly; seeing that this man is come into my house".  If this sounds familiar it is because it is an almost exact replay of what happened in Sodom when Lot tried to protect the men who were staying with him.  In both cases the women-folk of the host were offered to the mob in an effort to protect the guests.  Again, this is not condoned by the Bible, just reported as having happened, but it does also show how seriously these hosts took the duty to protect their guests, using whatever means necessary. 
            So, hospitality as defined for us by those four principles and shown to us by many Biblical examples is what Peter is telling us to do in 1 Peter 4:9.  Not to be good to strangers, though, he says to show hospitality "to one another".  The ASV says "among yourselves".  So we need to adapt these principles to our relationships with our brethren.
1)  The guest becomes master of the house.
            Galatians 5:13 tells us that we should "through love be servants one to another".  So I should be acting as if my brothers are the bosses and I provide their needs.  Phil. 2:4 reminds us not to look out for ourselves but to look out for the needs of our brothers.  If everyone does this, all will be taken care of, and we will be showing hospitality.
2) The host performs the most servile offices for the guest.
            Washing guests' feet was among the most demeaning services rendered and the task was usually given the servant with the least status.  That shows why the Apostles were so shocked when Jesus began washing their feet in John 13.  He then explains, "If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet." (vs 14). In other words, there is nothing my brother might need from me that I am too important to do.  Repeat: THERE IS NOTHING MY BROTHER MIGHT NEED FROM ME THAT I AM TOO IMPORTANT TO DO.
3) The guest is given access to all the host owns.
            1 John 3:16 says we ought to be willing to die for our brethren.  Rom. 8:32 says that God, having already sacrificed His Son for us is willing to give us anything else we might need.  If you put those concepts together then if I am willing to die for my brothers is there anything short of dying that I'd withhold from them?  In a way, even to the point of sharing your spouse.  Ask any Elder's wife or preacher's wife if she doesn't share her husband with the church.  And some husbands, whose wives are the older women who teach the younger (Titus 2) or who are best at weeping with those who weep also share their spouses with the church.  Why do these brothers and sisters put up with the disruptions to their home life?  Because they are showing hospitality through love.
4)  The host is duty bound to protect the guest from all dangers.
            If I am to protect my brethren from dangers and I know there is a lion stalking the earth trying to eat them (1 Pet. 5:8) what should I be protecting them from?  Isn't it my responsibility as a hospitable brother to do what I can to protect my brethren from the temptations Satan attacks us all with?  Certainly I shouldn't be putting stumbling blocks in front of them.  (Matt. 18:7)  So, if I usually have a glass of wine with a meal, but I know my brother is a recovering alcoholic, I shouldn't pour him a glass of wine when he comes over for dinner.  I probably shouldn't even drink my glass in front of him.  And while it is every man's responsibility to control his own thoughts and eyes, surely if my sister loves me she won't dress in such a way as to excite illicit thoughts.  Why do you think it is that the most common adjective used to describe clothes these days is "sexy"?  Because those clothes are designed to provoke certain responses.  I submit that no Christian woman OR man should be wearing clothes that are DESIGNED to be sexy.  Attractive? yes.  Nice looking? yes.  Sexy? no.  Not if I love my brothers and my sisters love me.  Or if there is anything else I might do to put a temptation in front of a brother, I need to be willing to give those things up (1 Cor. 8:13).
 
            Loving through hospitality is serving my brethren, giving my all for my brethren, and protecting my brethren.  Important?
 Matt. 25:40  "And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren, even these least, ye did it unto me." 


Lucas Ward

Shortly after this latest surgery, when I had grown weary of sitting in a dark house alone day after day, I donned a couple of pairs of sunglasses, one on top of the other, and a hat with a broad visor, picked up my walking sticks, and stepped outside.  It was still morning so as long as I faced west, the light was tolerable.
            The dogs heard me coming and met me at the door, bumping each other out of the way vying for the first pat, tails wagging so hard and fast they might have been declared lethal weapons.  When they saw my intent to head out into the open, they took off in that direction, Magdi stiffly romping, an old dog briefly reminded of her youth, and Chloe ripping circles around her, leaving skid marks in the grass.
            Right after an eye surgery, the operated-on eye sees nothing but a blur of color for a few weeks.  Although the two eyes are separate entities, each with its own plumbing and wiring systems, the other eye experiences some “sympathy pains” and its vision is not as clear as usual either.  While I could miss the furniture, so to speak, details were difficult.  As far as I could tell there were no individual blooms on the crape myrtles—each was simply one big blotch of color.  There were no leaves on the trees—they were just big puffs of green, exactly the way a child would draw them.  There were no individual blades of grass—the ground was just painted green, except way out in the field where someone had spilled a bucket of yellow paint.
            I headed for that spot, my two bodyguard/playmates scampering around ahead and behind, sniffing up grasshoppers the size of mascara tubes.  Our ten paws were soon soaked with dew and breaded with sand. When I got close enough to see my beautiful spot of bright yellow and knelt down, it was a thick oval patch of dandelion blooms about ten feet by six feet, between the mown field and the back fence.  Dandelions!  I laughed out loud.   My spot of beauty was what most people consider bothersome weeds.  There ought to be a lesson here, I thought, and maybe this is it.
            Not many of us are long stemmed red roses in God’s garden, let alone rare and delicate orchids.  I have met some fresh-faced petunias whose sincerity is obvious, some formal and well-dressed gladioli who can stand before a crowd and speak without fear, some pleasant and reliable carnations who seem able to function in practically any situation, and some sturdy daisies with a lot of staying power.  But some of us are just dandelions, not very popular, not very talented, all too soon developing a cap of fuzzy gray hair.  So do we use that as our excuse?
            Do we sit back and wait for those other blooms to catch everyone’s attention and take care of the business at hand?  Do we still do nothing, even those times in our lives when we are the only blossom in a field full of tares and thistles?  Even a dandelion looks pretty good there.
            That little patch of dandelions gave me the first real laugh I’d had in weeks.  It got me out of a dark, lonely house into a world of sunlight (safely at my back), and a cool breeze filled with birdsong.  My soul recovered more in five minutes than my body had in the whole week before.  What might my day have been like without those humble little plants?
            God has a place for all of us and he won’t accept excuses for doing nothing.  It doesn’t matter if someone else is better known, better liked, or even a whole lot more able, especially if those someones are not present when a need arises.  Stop looking at yourself and look around you—self-absorption never accomplished anything. 
            God is the owner of this garden and He doesn’t mind a dandelion or two.  In fact, it seems like He made more of them than any other flower.


Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work nor thought nor knowledge nor wisdom in Sheol to which you are going, Eccl 9:10.

 
Dene Ward

Dr. Leonard Sax: “Here’s my diagnosis. Over the past three decades, there has been a massive transfer of authority from parents to kids. Along with that transfer of authority has come a change in the valuation of kids’ opinions and preferences. In many families, what kids think and what kids like and what kids want now matters as much, or more, than what their parents think and like and want. “Let kids decide” has become a mantra of good parenting.”
Sax, Leonard. The Collapse of Parenting: How We Hurt Our Kids When We Treat Them Like Grown-Ups (Kindle Locations 151-152). Basic Books. Kindle Edition.
Courtesy of Warren Berkley on berksblog.net

For I have known [Abraham], to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of Jehovah, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that Jehovah may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him (Gen 18:19).

“Mommy, those green blackberries burnt my mouth.”
            We were picking peas in a field behind a member’s farmhouse late one afternoon.  We had just moved to the area and had not had time to plant our own garden, so we were happy to do all the free U-picks our brethren offered.  Nathan, who was only 13 months old, was playing up at the house under the watchful care of the grandmotherly farmwife.  Three year old Lucas wanted to come “help,” so he trailed along behind us, picking a pea pod every so often, but usually exploring.
            It took a minute for what he had said to register.  Then, with a knot of fear growing in my stomach, I calmly asked, “What blackberries?  Show me.” 
            He led us back about twenty feet, to a place in the fencerow.  Instead of blackberry vines, we saw a four foot high green plant, with spade-shaped leaves and round green berries—nightshade.  We dropped our buckets, pulled the plant, scooped him up, and headed for the nearest emergency room, thirty miles east.  As soon as we arrived, Keith dropped me at the door.  I ran in and practically threw both Lucas and the plant on the registration desk. 
            “My baby ate this,” I managed between gasps.
            I had found the trick to immediate action in an emergency room.  They ran both him and the plant back behind the swinging doors.  I, of course, was taken to Paperwork Central—they never forget the documentation so they will be paid.  It probably did not help that I had come straight from the field, sweat, dirt, and all, and so did not look particularly solvent.
            Two hours later we left with a completely sobered three- year-old, promising us he would never eat green blackberries again.  As far as I know, he hasn’t!
            So why are we so much less careful about the poison that sickens our souls?  Spiritual nightshade surrounds us every day of our lives.  Somehow we think we are immune to its effects.  We go places we should not, associate with people we should not, dally with things that are as dangerous as a poisonous snake, and pooh-pooh anyone who dares tell us to be careful.
            I am not just talking about things like alcohol and sexual immorality.  Do you realize that wealth in the scriptures is never pictured as anything but dangerous to our souls?  But what do we wish for when the subject of wishes comes up?  And what do we always say?  “I could handle it.  I would never use it the wrong way.  It would never get the best of me.”  What do we tell our young people when they say the same things about drugs and alcohol? 
            Arrogance will always get the best of us in all these cases.  Might as well handle a cobra.  Might as well drink some cyanide. 
            Might as well eat a pie made of green blackberries.


For [the] rock [of the wicked] is not as our Rock...For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter.  Their wine is the poison of serpents and the cruel venom of asps, Deut 32:31-33.

 

Dene Ward