Pillars in the Church: The Tabernacle – God’s Pattern – Spiritual Maturity/Responsibility

Now what was the other thing? That was the first thing. What’s the second one? Find something to do. Bear a responsibility in the church and work at it as though you were the king of a kingdom, and you do it so diligently, and no matter how simple it is, brothers and sisters, it must be done so thoroughly and so completely as unto the Lord. We mentioned something about somebody taking care of the hymn books, thoroughly, fully taking care of the hymn books so that there’ll never be a hymnbook shortage. The hymnbooks are always cared for. The cleaning up of where we meet, so it will always be neat and adequate, not just adequate, but if five or six other people show up that we’re not expecting, there’ll be room and provision for them.

I will just give you a picture in the matter of hospitality. Let’s say some out-of-town guests come in. The moment they arrive, if we know they are coming, we should tell them exactly where to come to. If we have time for a letter, get a letter off to them with a map. Thorough. They arrive. Let the brother who has this responsibility be able to walk up to them and greet them in love and Christ, and say immediately, “Brother, you will be staying at such and such a place, you will be staying with brother so and so or sister so and so. This is their address, and here is their phone number,” and you introduce the visitor to the people they are staying with.

Now, why do you say that? Why do you do that? Because of human needs, I am an outsider. I have never seen you before, but I’m coming, and I’m anxious, and I don’t know if I’m welcome or not. Have you ever come as an outsider to be a guest…anywhere? And a brother comes up, and you are warmly received. And then, brother, transportation is provided. If he has no car, then brother so and so will take you there, and brother so and so takes you there, and when he takes you there, he helps you get settled.

Now then, let’s say you are the host; you’re the one receiving, you’re the one giving the hospitality. I would say to you, I just give you some idea of how to receive a child of God…one of God’s own children.  How would you receive the Lord Jesus? “Hey, come on in, Lord. Just throw your stuff right there on the floor. You want some water? Right over there, third cabinet, on the left-hand side. The faucet drips a little bit. You have to push hard to turn it off.” (That is American, and that has to go to the cross.)

And this is your room. If the situation is too crowded, you make some room. Here’s your bed. And you explain the situation, and the bed is made up. You come and what do you say? Let’s see now, here, let me just pull this drawer open. And I think if you got a little of this stuff here, you could put it right there. Is that enough? And over here. Let me see now. Oh, yeah. I believe we can make a little room right here. No, brother. He comes in. The door is already open. Brother, these will be your drawers. Here is a little table for your suitcase. And laying out on the bed, brother, a big towel, a small washcloth, and a new bar of soap.

“Gene, you are putting us under the law.” If you have no burning to do that, fine, but I believe you have a sense of how you need to receive a child of God. They will say, “This isn’t American. This is from another world. This man must be a citizen of some other country.” Even before they come to a meeting, there is a sense of “behold how they love.” Hospitality, brothers and sisters, work at it. Well, listen. I wouldn’t take care of anything else as much as I care about the gift of hospitality in the church. Receiving people can be such a gift and a blessing to them, but more to you.

I speak of this simply because I have had a little experience in it when we first had guests. At one time, our home was a gathering point for Christians. You just better believe it. Everybody stayed at our house. Oh, listen, we are not the type. I want you to know that, very frankly, I am not the type. Some people love to have guests. I don’t like to have people in my home. I know I have spoken as clearly as I can. I don’t like people in the house. The Lord brought the gift! Eventually, we looked forward to the next guest’s arrival. Something of the caring together of the hospitality of the Lord Jesus Himself. When you got saved, did the Lord say, “Oh, yeah, who are you now? Let’s see if I can make a little room for you.” How did you feel when the Lord saved you? You felt received. The Lord wasn’t doing any last-minute preparation to receive you. This was the hospitality of Christ. Hospitality.