WELCOME | Week 4 READ: 1 John 2:15-17 “Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.”

RECAP In her book The Gospel Comes with a Housekey, Rosario Butterfield paints a picture:  

“Imagine a world where neighbors said that Christians throw the best parties in town and are the go-to people for big problems and issues, without being invited.  Imagine a world where every Christian knew his neighbors sufficiently to be of earthly and spiritual good. Imagine a world where every Christian knew by name people who lived in poverty or prison, felt tied to them and to their futures, and lived differently because of it.  Imagine a world where the fruit of repentance and the practice of hospitality mark the reputations of Christians for those who do not yet believe that Jesus saves by the very same power that raised him from the grave. Imagine a world where people fear God more than men and serve God more than comfort.  Imagine a world where the power of the gospel to change lives is ours to behold. This is the world that the Bible imagines for us. That is the world that Jesus prays for us to create in his name.” 

To live out Jesus’ picture we must be Spirit-led and theologically aware of God’s heart for radical hospitality.

We often find ourselves facing many barriers when it comes to practicing hospitality. We cling to our achievements and possessions, we welcome habits and cycles of sin, and we bend to the opinions and thoughts of others. When we become consumed with the love of the world, we cannot be consumed with God’s desire for hospitality. The love of the world produces craving of the self, but the love of God produces the craving of His character. God’s love compels us to move, to live out His will by being hospitable to others. RESPOND

• The passage above says, “And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave.” What does this tell us about the futility of loving the world?

• What do we gain from craving God instead of the opinions of people? • When you are consumed with the love of the world, hospitality is impossible.

Why? • What does it look like for you to surrender yourself to God instead of the opinions

of people?