New Year’s Eve Some Have Entertained Angels Unawares
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen! God says to you tonight in His Book of Hebrews, “Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” Dear Christian friends, The people of my generation remember more than the Sony Walkman and the original Dukes of Hazard. We remember the Cold War. We did not understand the full scope of tension between the nuclear superpowers, but we knew we could die if someone pushed a button. We lived in the shadow of the atomic bomb. Those were the good old days, when the threat of death lived far across the ocean. Today, the threat of death might be wearing a baseball cap and suffering from acne. Everyone must now be held in some degree of suspicion. You now expose yourself to grave danger if you pick up a male hitchhiker. (You might run a greater risk of sorrow and misfortune if the hitchhiker is a female.) The popular website Craigslist has been used to identify victims, turning common and everyday business transactions into risky business. Our Missouri District president sang the praises of a recent pastor’s conference devoted to church security. Why? Church security is—right now—a problem for more than one congregation here in Missouri. You can’t even feel comfortable hiring a transient to do a day’s work for you: if he does not hurt you, he himself might get hurt and file suit against you. Simply stated, our culture has become a minefield. This is what God says to us who live in this minefield: “Let brotherly love, continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” What in the world are we supposed to do with these Words? Is our God telling us to fling open the doors of our cars and our homes—ignoring the risk and danger we might thus impose upon our families—because that guy asking for your help might be an angel? NO. God has given you the office, the duty, the responsibility of protecting and caring for your family. God has NOT given you the duty and responsibility of sacrificing your family upon the altar of showing hospitality to strangers. Stated another way, you do NOT have a Word from God to place your spouse or your child into harm’s way. Father Abraham is the only person who ever received such a Word from God, and once was enough for that! (Genesis 22. Our Lutheran forefathers lamented, “The people heard that Abraham had offered up his son. And so they put their sons to death…” [Apology IV.209].) Nevertheless, these Words from God are very good for us, even if they might seem exceedingly dangerous and possibly fraught with bodily harm. For example: 1. These Words from God teach us that we must never abandon our good works of charity and love toward others—including works of love toward strangers, “for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” Certainly our acts of brotherly kindness cannot be as glib as opening a car door for everyone we see. But we must not simply chalk off any and all opportunities to do good—“especially to the family of believers” (Galatians 6:10). We must, more than ever, “be wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16). Every act of kindness should be carefully mediated and clearly weighed so that, while attempting to give help to one person, you do not expose someone else to harm or danger. In this regard, we must each be more careful to “play our position,” so to speak. Like it or not, husbands and fathers might find themselves in a better capacity to “show hospitality to strangers” than perhaps their wives or children might be. Heads of households might need to decide which acts of charity get shown to whom. And maybe—considering the climate of our culture—maybe an angel or two gets turned away from your door in the name of faithfulness to your office. 2. These Words from God also clearly show us how desperately and continually we need our God’s ongoing mercy and grace. The increasing aggression of our culture makes it increasingly difficult for us to do what God commands—as if our own sins were not enough of a hurdle for us to overcome. What are we to do, other than to beg God’s mercy and to trust in His forbearance? Praise the God of our salvation! The forgiveness God has for you in Christ Jesus extends even that far—even into the sin you commit against a stranger while showing love and protection to your family. 3. Perhaps best of all, God’s Words here in Hebrews 13 go on to offer us great comfort and deep consolation, even for those times when we find ourselves taking a bit of a risk. Why? Because God says a very important thing to us after He says, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers.” After God says these Words—and after He goes on to say other things about prison visits, marriage and living contentedly—God speaks this promise to you, which SHALL NOT fail: “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” That is a promise upon which you can hang your hat, dear saints! Even after we do everything we are able to do, in order to remain safe, we are nevertheless safe and secure ONLY because of our dear God’s continual care and protection. Even though our culture has so changed that everyone around us must now be held in some degree of suspicion, the Words and promises of God are never suspect and they never change. God has promised you upon an oath, “I will never leave you nor forsake you,” and these Words will faithfully keep and preserve you, even if violence should tragically erupt right next to you. “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Hardly any other Words will give us a better start for this New Year! “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” That promise is as faithful for your future as it has been for your past. “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Let’s keep our eyes open, and see what good fruit these Words will miraculously produce in us! _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list Sermons@cat41.org http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons