Romans 12:13
Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
We are designed to worship God, not just through music on Sundays, but through practical action every day. We’ve studied worship as discernment, being the church, loving each other, being passionate, enduring troubles and more. In this post, we’ll consider three more ways to worship God through practical action.
Worship by Being Open with Your Resources
The word translated contribute in Romans 12:13 means more than chipping in. It implies partnership. There is a sense in which all Christians are in a financial partnership with one another, participating in each other’s needs. One way to worship God is to open your resources to those in need.
For example, you could research and give to impoverished Christians abroad. You could contact a deacon or deaconess to let them know what resources you have (they connect resources to needs all the time). You could give to the deacon’s fund. You could give to people on an individual basis.
What needs are you aware of that you can share? Whom do you know well enough to partner with in this way?
Worship by Being Open with Your Needs
The other side of this partnership is equally important. We must also be open with our needs so that those with resources can help.
I have had several recent conversations with people who struggle to be open about their needs. This guardedness can feel noble; but it is often pride in disguise. Openness about our needs is worship. And it allows others to worship with their resources. In this sense, your need is not just about you. It is about our church and more importantly God’s glory.
The fact is, Christians will experience need. Otherwise Paul wouldn’t have included this in a list of common practical worship methods. You shouldn’t be ashamed or embarrassed, but view your need for what it is: an opportunity for the church to worship.
Who knows your need? Whom do you know well enough to partner with?
Worship by Being Open with your Life
I was surprised by this part of the verse: seek to show hospitality. The word translated seek means to aggressively chase, like a hunter chases its prey. It’s most often translated persecute. With the same vehemence that Saul used to stalk down Christians to persecute them, Christians are to stalk down people to show hospitality.
Hospitality means befriending strangers. In the original language, it’s the word for friend + the word for stranger. It is what Barclay called “the duty of the open door.” It is opening your life to outsiders. It always involves invitation and practical action, like having someone over for dinner or to stay the night or to ride in your car or to join you for a trip.
So many questions arise as we begin to be aggressively hospitable. For instance, when you’re stopped at an intersection and a homeless man stands beside your car begging for money, how aggressively hospitable should you be? Should you give him money? Should you invite him to your home to stay? Should you make him a copy of your house key so he can come and go as he pleases? Here are a few helpful questions to consider:
- Will this expose the church to danger? Paul taught that Christians should not be hospitable to false teachers or unrepentant believers. (2 John 10-11 and 1 Corinthians 5:9-11)
- Will this hinder my relationship with Christ? For example, does inviting this individual into my life introduce temptations I’m too weak to handle? This might rule out young men housing young women in their apartments or alcoholics harboring drunkards.
- Will this facilitate broken relationships? If a runaway shows up at your door, he or she may need to be taken home to their parents for discipline rather than given a place to sleep for the night. On the other hand, if they’re in an abusive situation, housing them might be the thing to do. This takes discernment.
- Will this conflict with more primary relationships? In other words, will this cause you to neglect your spouse or children or even put them in danger? Paul taught that family men and women have obligations to their families that constrain their freedom regarding ministry (1 Corinthians 7).
Along with these questions to consider, here are some ideas for how to show hospitality:
- Our friends, the Knutsons, host an annual Halloween Party for about 18 households in their neighborhood.
- Our friends, the Lindstroms, often have their neighborhood kids over to play at their house.
- I’ve read about a small group that keeps a bi-monthly dinner reservation so they can invite friends from outside the group. A restaurant is a more comfortable place than an unfamiliar house.
- John Piper encourages his congregation to invite people home for lunch after church on Sundays. Use paper plates and make it easy.
- Someone in our family opened their Thanksgiving meal to outsiders who didn’t have any local family to eat with.
- After the service Sunday, a man shared with me that he has picked up homeless people in the past to give them a meal and allow them to shower and wash their clothes. Since he had young children, he didn’t feel comfortable housing them overnight.
There are millions of ways to contribute to the needs of the saints and to show hospitality. How you go about it will be unique to you. But go about it you must, because this is how we worship our Lord.
Discussion Starters
- How does the gospel make someone more generous?
- Has the church “contributed” to your needs? If so, share the story.
- What are some common barriers to sharing each other’s needs? How can we overcome them?
- How would you define “needs” as opposed to desires or luxuries?
- Brainstorm practical ways to contribute the needs of the saints. Then act on them!
- Have you known someone who was aggressively hospitable? Share their example with the group.
- What are some common barriers to showing hospitality? How can we overcome them?
- Brainstorm practical ways to show hospitality as individuals, families, an H2H group and a church. Nail down at least one specific idea and go for it! Be sure to share with your group how it goes.
