Unreasonable Hospitality - Peti Szabad

Sunday sermon recorded on April 12, 2026   

Part of the "Be a Blessing" series.   

Slides used in the sermon: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XBMtmssOcFVT1VB76g7uwsIbj9KoMqhq/view?usp=drive_link  

https://linktr.ee/northpointema

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I wanted to give you guys a little update from our personal family life. Vidag and I had were on vacation this week. We got back last night. We were in Sedona, Arizona. And that was warmer. But spring is coming here, and we had a great time hiking, kayaking, and just enjoying God's beautiful nature and being rejuvenated. We're also happy to be back and and and and engage and support and connect and get together with everybody again starting this week. So that's exciting. How beautiful Sedona is. But we're doing a series of sermons in the spring, and as a church, we are focused on being a blessing. Ozzie, can you stand up, please? So we actually even have a even have a north point hoodie. I didn't know we had a catwalk in here, but look at that. Alright, thank you, Ozzie. Appreciate that. So that is even just a reminder that we do want to be a blessing for other people. This is a scripture that we can memorize. If you haven't done this yet, it's very easy to memorize, especially the highlighted part. This is in Acts 20, verse 35, says, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus Himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. Amen. We all experience that during Christmas time. When we enjoy giving somebody a gift and watching their face, and when they open the gift, and you if you if you hit it, it's an experience, it's a positive experience. If you miss it, it's an awkward experience. But the fact that you thought about a person and gave them something, it already is a blessing, right? So the title of today's sermon is unreasonable hospitality. Okay, so part of being a blessing is being hospitable. But why the title unreasonable? Well, I actually borrowed the title or plagiarized or whatever it is from uh this book, uh, and since I'm referring to it, it's no more plagiarism, uh, by uh this gentleman called named Will Gadera, and he wrote this book by the same the title Unreasonable Hospitality. He is uh the the general manager of a restaurant. He's not, I don't know if he's a Christian, but the book isn't a Christian or a spiritual book. It's uh it's a leadership book of how this small, somewhat insignificant restaurant became the number one restaurant in the world over the last 18 years. The restaurant is called Eleven Medicine Park, and it's in New York City. That's a picture of the restaurant. Uh, this is some of the food that they serve. Uh and uh, but the book, you know, I always love when people write things that they discover what works in life, and they write stuff down and they're like, hey, look at this. This this actually is working. And then you open the Bible, and God wrote the same things down over 2,000 years ago, and you go like, okay, well, it's okay, it's good for it's okay to, you know, like like there was this study that Harvard did. It's the longest study on human happiness. They studied uh a group of people for 85 years. It was not just it was a C you know, it was generations of scientists that that continued this study to figure out what makes people happy. You know what they came out with? Loving relationships. Are you surprised? No, because God, what did God say? What matters is love. Loving God and loving one another, right? So I love that I I read, actually, I haven't finished the book. I'm almost finished with the book, but I love some of the some of the some of the things that he's writing in the book, and I'm gonna share some of those quotes with you guys. One of the quotes from uh this person says, service is black and white, hospitality is color. What does he mean by that? Here's a larger quote. Black and white means you're doing your job with competence and efficiency. Color means you make people feel great about the job you're doing for them. Getting the right plate to the right person at the right table is service. But genuinely engaging with the person you're serving so you can make an authentic connection. That's hospitality. I love that. You know, this manager found out that practicing unreasonable hospitality will make your restaurant great. And it works. Here's another quote from the book service is effectively fulfilling the base level promise. Hospitality is how you make the people feel when you provide that service. So here's what here's here's his what he he, it's kind of like in the introduction of the book, he says, so if we could become a restaurant focused passionately, intentionally, wholeheartedly on connection and graciousness, where do you find those two qualities? God has those, right? On giving both the people on our team and the people we serve a sense of belonging, then we'll have a real shot at greatness. That's what that's what they it's it's if you like reading or listening to an audiobook, it's definitely worth your time and attention. But that just that's the book that kind of gave me the idea for the sermon. But the sermon actually comes from the Bible. I got two points. Uh because we still have to have some cake and dessert and that kind of stuff. The great banquet and more is number one, and then practicing hospitality. So let's get to this. The great banquet is a parable that Jesus told in uh the Gospel of Luke. So let's turn our Bibles to Luke chapter 14. This was the first, when I first came to the church as an atheist, I attended a small campus Bible discussion uh like Javier and Nate and Jacob have been having on Mondays and Thursdays over here. I attended one, and the the what the one that the first time I attended, this was the topic of the Bible discussion. We read this parable, and I I uh I didn't leave as a believer, but it made me think that the Bible might be useful. So let's talk about this. Luke chapter 14, verse 15. Jesus is at a dinner. When one of those, verse 15, at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast of the kingdom of God. You know, that sounds great, right? But what does that really mean? It's somewhat of a, you know, let's just toast and say something nice. Is there some content behind this? I think the person who said this probably didn't know what they were talking about because Jesus' answer is one of correction. In verse 16, Jesus replied. So it's kind of like this person is giving a toast. Blessed is the one who is eating at the kingdom of God. You know. And Jesus says, okay, let me tell you how this works. A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, come, for everything is not ready. You know, Jesus tells this story, and at this point the story sounds great, right? You know, you prepare a great banquet, you have people that you're expecting to attend, you already told them about. I'm gonna have this banquet, I want you guys there. And then you send out your servants. The banquet is ready, come on, let's do it, let's celebrate together. And and Jesus tells the story to express the heart of God. This is God, God is preparing something great for us, something to enjoy together with Him, and He's He's already invited you. But what happens next? Verse 18. But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, I have just bought a field and I must go and see it. Please excuse me. Like, like that field won't be there tomorrow, dude. Come on. Another said, I have just bought five yoke of oxen and I'm on my way to try them out. Why don't you try them out before you buy them? Please excuse me. Still, another said, I just got married, so I can't come. Bring your wife. Come on. There's room. It's okay for her to come. You know, these are excuses. These are not real reasons why you couldn't make the banquet. These are just excuses. And that was what was convicting for me as an atheist because I made excuses all the time. I embellished. I I I lied. I I I made up excuses if I wanted to get out of something without hurting the other person's feelings. Are you with me? We do this. We do this. And I was convicted because I I I knew it wasn't right, but it was such a habit of mine. And the Bible kind of pointed it out. But can you imagine if you're this the person hosting the banquet and everybody come and and these are the these are the responses you get? What would you do? I would probably get very discouraged. Sit down, and you know, this banquet is shot. This is it. Overeat, most likely. Yeah? We'd definitely be tempted to do that. Let's see what the what this master does. The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry. You know, when Jesus tells a parable about God and tells the God gets angry, he's not joking. God takes things personally. God is not this, you know, it's okay for you to do whatever you want. I'm still a God. I still, you know, I love you, there's grace. You know, no, no, no. Whatever you do against God, God takes it very personally. He gets hurt. Wouldn't you? If these were the excuses and your friends and the people that you expected didn't show up, I will be, I would be so hurt. God gets hurt when we make excuses. So he ordered a servant, go out quickly into the streets and the alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame. You know, maybe they will appreciate my food, my banquet. Sir, the servant said, What you ordered has been done, but there is still room. Then the master told his servant, Okay, there's room. Now go out to the roads and the county, country lanes, and make them come in so that my house will be full. I'll tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet. You know, can you imagine if you were one of those foreigners that were not allowed to get into the town, or you were a beggar or a blind man or a cripple, and all of a sudden you get to this amazing banquet? Isn't this unreasonable hospitality? That's God's character. That's God's heart. It's unreasonable hospitality. You know, God doesn't want those that are nicely cleaned up to participate in his great banquet. God wants those that are willing to come and don't make excuses. That's God opens that door of hospitality to people. But the idea of this uh eating together has been a big part of Jesus' ministry. As he finished this parable in the next chapter, just in the beginning of Luke chapter 15, verse 1 and 2, he has a little bit of an altercation with uh some of the religious people. Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear him because they felt welcomed. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, This man welcomes sinners and eats with them. What's wrong with him, right? What's the problem with him? So Jesus gets criticized for being unreasonable, hospitable. These are people that shouldn't have a place at your table. They're sinners. What are they doing at your table, Jesus? Why are you getting around with them? And sometimes we can be a little bit like that. We can feel like there are certain people that we feel like belong to our table and other people that we feel like they don't belong to our table. Right? So Jesus tells three parables. I love that Jesus answers these questions, situations with the stories that that still resonate today. Then Jesus told them this parable. Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the 99 in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, Rejoice with me, I found my lost sheep. You know, if you're that lost sheep, wouldn't you want the shepherd to come after you? Right? But the interesting part of this parable isn't just that the shepherd goes after the lost sheep. The interesting part is that when he when he when he gets home with the lost sheep, he does something that's not normal and not reasonable. You know. He brings his friends and neighbors together for a party, for a celebration. You know, you just why? I mean, there's there's not a birthday, there's not an anniversary, there's not a wedding, it's not a funeral. It's you just you just found a sheep that already belonged to you. I'm glad you found it. All right. Carry on. But but God says, no, we're not carrying on. We're actually doing, we're doing, we're we're stopping and celebrating. Amen. You know. This the way God thinks about anything good that happens in life is that it's worth bringing people together to celebrate. Then he goes into the next parable that relates more to women. Jesus sometimes shared parallel parables, one that related to males more, and then one that related to females more because of their role in society. Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, Rejoice with me, I find my lost coin. Would you do that? Like, let's say you lost your car keys. That's the most frustrating thing, right? You have to go somewhere and you can't find your car keys, and and you search the house and you find you finally find your car keys. You're probably just fuming still from the frustration of not finding the car keys and get in the car and drive off. You wouldn't stop and say, Hey, I found my car keys. Hey, hey, can you guys come over? We're gonna have a little bit of a barbecue out back. Uh I found my car keys. Right? That would be weird. It would be unreasonable. And then Jesus tells one of the most famous parables of all, the parable of the prodigal son. About a father who has two sons, and one of them says, Hey, dad, give me my inheritance, and he goes off and squanders all that away, and ends up coming home as a broken, hungry, uh, person in rags, just not even going to get back to the family, just want to get a job from his dad and get paid. And the story is so powerful, you can read this on your own in Luke 15, the rest of Luke 15, because the father runs up to this person and wants to give them this big hug. And then what happens next is again unreasonable hospitality. But the father said to his servants, Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet, bring the fat and calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and he's alive again, he was lost and he's found. So they began to celebrate. You know, I'll I'll this is one of the most moving parables that Jesus told. It always gets to me that the fact that this that this is the father's attitude. You know, it's completely unreasonable. You know, most of us would probably you know go like, okay, so now you're back. How did it go for you? You know, we would probably have a little bit of that, but this this, you know, just the hospitality that this dad shows to his son is completely unreasonable. So much so that the the other son, the one that stayed home, is upset with the dad. Why are you showing this much hospitality? In uh later on chapter 15, verse 30, he says, this is the second son, the one who stayed home. He says, he talks to his dad, he says, but when this son of yours, who has quandered your property with prostitutes, come home, comes home, you know, what do you do? Do you confront him? Do you talk to him? Do you do you put him in the doghouse? No, you kill the fat and cow for him. My son, the father said, You are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad. Because this brother of yours was dead and he's alive again. He was lost and is found. Isn't this unreasonable hospitality? That's God. God has a heart to be unreasonably hospitable. Why are we here, anyways? We do not belong to God's table. There's no place for us. We're sinners. We we we're the we're the guy that squandered their inheritance away. We we're the ones that went off and slept with prostitutes and did stuff, and that's who we are. We are the sinners. But God goes, I want you at my table. Unreasonable hospitality. And as we imitate God, he calls us to practice hospitality. You know, there's actually a command in the Bible that says these two words practice hospitality. In Romans chapter 12, we read verse 11 through 13. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. You know, there's so much in this short passage, right? But we're just going to focus on that practicing hospitality peace because I can preach about five sermons and we'll still be here on all the other things. Here's a quote by Henry Nowen, a famous theologian. He says, hospitality is not to change people. Did you read that? It's not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place. We're not trying to be hospitable to manipulate people, to accomplish some kind of a change. We're being hospitable that through that unreasonable hospitality, they can take a moment and see a little bit of that love from a little bit of that heart of God. And maybe that produces some change in them. Maybe not. There are people that didn't even show up to that banquet, right? But I love that that the Bible says actually these words. Practice hospitality. So I'm gonna give you guys a little bit of a Greek lesson, but it's gonna be easy. Just gonna look at those two words in Greek and what they mean, okay? You guys with me? Can we handle that? So the the the word hospitality is the word phylloxenia. Alright? So the scribbles are the Greek letters. You don't need to learn how to read those. Are we done yet? Almost. You know what it means? It means love. Philo means love. And xanos means stranger. This means love of stranger. That's what the word just literally means. Love strangers. You probably are familiar with another word that is very popular nowadays called xenophobia. It's also a Greek word. Or an English word that came from the Greek. The first part of it is the same word as the second part of the hospitality word. Stranger, and it's uh the phobos is a fear. Of fear and hatred of strangers. Foreigners, anything that is stranger, foreign. You know, that's a lot more normal in today's world than the love of strangers. The fear of strangers is a lot more common. The fear of different. The fear that that that that that's so the Bible calls us as Christians. And and it wasn't different in Jesus' day. It wasn't different in the first century. People were strangers, aliens, they they were they were other. But Jesus calls us to practice hospitality. And the word practice is this word of uh dioko. It means hasten. It means pursue. Let's get on it. Let's do this, let's move it. That's what that means. And it's so the command that we hear from the Bible is that we need to we need to we need to pursue, hasten, practice this love of strangers. We need to be active, intentional. And you know when we do that in unreasonable ways? The impact is amazing. Here's another quote from the book on reasonable hospitality. Sitting down with people shows them you care about what they think and how they feel, and makes it that much easier for them to trust that you have their interest in mind. You know, hospitality connects, it provides care, it shows a heart, it creates trust. Another quote from the book if hospitality is about making people feel seen, the best way to treat them is not like a commodity, but as a unique individual. Unreasonably, hospitality means that one size fits one.

unknown 26:17

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 26:18

We live in a world where one size fits all is the way things work. One size fits one means that you're special, you're an individual, you're you're uniquely created in God's image, with unique, and I am interested in who you are, in who you are. You know, before we get to those list of commands in Romans chapter 12, it starts out with one command that is the basis of them all. In verse 9, it starts out with this love must be sincere. And then it goes on to all these ways of practicing that love and comes to by verse 13 comes to this point of practice hospitality. You know, hospitality is gotta, it it isn't a technique, it isn't it isn't a tool. Hospitality is something that flows from the heart, and it's gotta be genuine. Uh another another quote from uh Tony Menda says, hospitality doesn't mean entertaining people. There's a big difference. Entertaining is often about impressing others, hospitality is about serving others. Entertaining is often about the host, hospitality is about the guests. Entertaining is often shallow and superficial. Hospitality is about depth and authenticity. So when you and I follow Jesus, we can practice hospitality. Maybe you don't have a lot of resources. Maybe you're a college student and you only can take somebody out for another coffee and uh or you know sit with them at the lunch and at the at the cafeteria.

unknown 28:08

That's all right.

SPEAKER_00 28:09

That's hospitality. It doesn't have you cost you money, but maybe you have money. And then and then maybe you want to share some of that and invest into making people feel unique, special, loved, accepted, wanted, desired. Because that's how God feels. So as we as a congregation think and pray about being a blessing for other people, a big part of that is showing this love of strangers, this hospitality. Here's a few questions that we're gonna talk about in our in our table discussions uh later. I'm just gonna share the share, I'm gonna put these back. Uh we're gonna pray for communion in a minute. What was an experience of hospitality that impacted me profoundly? Maybe we can share a little bit of that of you know some of our experiences when we felt loved and special uh through hospitality. Do I see God as someone practicing unreasonable love and hospitality? How can I imitate God? What needs to change in my heart and mind, my attitudes and thoughts to be like Him? Uh these are questions that I come up after writing a sermon. I come up, what would I ask from myself? What does this sermon challenge mean? And lastly, who are the people I deem worthy of my hospitality? You know, maybe there are people that you don't feel like they're worthy. What obstacles do I have to practice, even pursue hospitality? And uh now we're gonna go take some time to think about Jesus and the way that he not only practiced, preached hospitality, but practiced it in ways that went way beyond what we can do, because he gave his life so we can have life. In 2 Corinthians chapter 8, verse 9 says, For your sake he became poor so that you, by his poverty, might become rich. Let's pray together for the communion. Dear God, our Heavenly Father, you are an amazing God. Thank you for your your unreasonable love and hospitality, God. Yeah, yeah. It it always baffles me to understand how how much you just love us, how much how how we we're, even though we're not deserving, you still want us around your table. You you want us at to attend your great banquet, and God help us not to make excuses. Maybe we have made some excuses in the past, but help us to say, hey, I do want this, God. What do I need to do to be there? And God, as followers of Jesus, help us to continue to practice hospitality and maybe even grow in our love for strangers, God. And and help us to pursue this sincerely out of a genuine love for you and for the people that you put around us. Uh, God, it's not reasonable. It doesn't make sense. Uh, that's what unreasonable hospitality is, but it it it works even in a restaurant in New York City, but it works in hearts and hearts. Thank you for Jesus, who very unreasonably gave his life for sinners like us and gave us a chance for a redeemed, saved, forgiven life that we get to live with you. In his name we pray. Amen.