It is such a great privilege to be part of God’s redeemed community and to be builders of God’s new holy temple. What we do here as God’s church has eternal consequences as we secure our treasure in heaven and gather God’s elect from the four corners of the earth into the new Jerusalem. Our assembling together every Lord’s Day may not appear important to those outside, but there is nothing more significant happening in Australia and across the world than the regular worship of God’s people every week. Therefore, as the Bible directs us,
let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together” (Hebrews 10:24-25).
The traditional King James Version is even more forceful, we need “to provoke” one another unto love and to good works. Indeed, this is what I would like to do with this short reflection, in particular to provoke us to love one another and to do the good work of embracing the stranger. The “love” in mind here is agape love (the Greek word agape in the NT often refers to God’s love), which is action that gives and sacrifices for the blessing of others. The “good works” here refer to actions that are not just useful, but also noble and beautiful.
Strangers, sojourners or foreigners feature prominently in the Bible. In fact, the Bible is the story of sojourners. We have been learning about the life of Abraham over the last few months. For most of his life, Abraham was a sojourner in a foreign land. Later, Israel became strangers and sojourners in Egypt and in the desert wanderings. In Hebrews chapter 11, all the saints of old regarded themselves as strangers and foreigners on earth looking forward to the heavenly city which God has prepared for them. In fact, the Bible often points out that God is particularly concerned for the sojourners. For example, the book of Deuteronomy reveals, “He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing” (10:18), and the book of Psalms proclaims, “The LORD watches over the sojourners; He upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked He brings to ruin” (146:9). Since Israel should be witnesses of the Lord’s grace and since Israel knows what it means to be a sojourner, they are often commanded to embrace strangers. In the book of Leviticus, Israel is instructed, “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong” (19:33), and “You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God” (19:34). The book of Deuteronomy commands, “Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt” (10:19).
It is no wonder then that the New Testament, like the Old Testament, frequently encourages us to be a warm-hearted community that is hospitable towards strangers. For example, the apostle Paul encourages the church in Rome, “Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality” (12:13). And the inspired author of Hebrews writes, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares” (13:2). Moreover, in the Gospel of Matthew, for Jesus the difference between the goats and the sheep is that the sheep embrace strangers, in Jesus’ own words,
I was a stranger, and you welcomed me.” (Matthew 25:35)
What is the application from our short reflection? We also need to embrace strangers who come into our worship services and gatherings. With respect to our church fellowship, many of us were strangers and outsiders before, but someone welcomed us, embraced us and invited us into the community of our church fellowship (my wife and I would always be grateful for the warmth and encouragement we received from many brothers and sisters when we started to attend HBC!). We should always remember our own experience and extend the same kindness and warmth to newcomers. Since God is so concerned for the stranger, His wandering sheep, we need to go out of our way to welcome the strangers in our midst. This is one of the good works, which is useful, noble and beautiful, that the book of Hebrews is provoking us to do. We come together on the Lord’s Day not only to worship God and to proclaim His virtues, but also to do other works of ministry which involve welcoming newcomers. May we be intentional, proactive and passionate about embracing strangers. We believe that God is using His church to gather His elect and that no one comes into our midst by chance. Let us respond to God’s sovereign grace and regard everyone as an essential part of the new temple that the Lord is building. We need one another and also those whom God is adding to our number.
Practically, how do we welcome newcomers? We have many excellent examples in the Bible on how to proceed. We recently studied the book of Ruth. Note how in chapter 2 Boaz goes out of his way to welcome Ruth into the covenant community. First of all, Boaz noticed that Ruth was a stranger in his field (Ruth 2:5). Boaz knew his workers and those around Bethlehem, so he immediately recognised that Ruth was a newcomer. For us, too, we need to be able to recognise newcomers. If we are not sure who is new (since our congregation is quite sizeable), we may inquire. Secondly, after Boaz knew who Ruth was, he took the initiative to talk with her and to make her feel welcome (Ruth 2:8-9). Likewise, we need to take the initiative to go up to talk with newcomers rather than waiting for them to introduce themselves to us. Then, thirdly, Boaz brought Ruth into his circle of friends by inviting her to join them for lunch (Ruth 2:14). For us too, after we get to know newcomers, we may invite them to join us with others for lunch, coffee or fellowship. In this way, we will show the concern that the Lord has for the stranger and will become a spiritual haven for those who are lonely, heavy laden and weary.
As the Lord’s church we want to be both robust in our gospel proclamation as well as warm in our embrace of newcomers. By God’s grace, may we more and more reflect the intentions of God’s heart as we grow in the knowledge and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. May God give us hearts who love the stranger!
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