Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek
to show hospitality.

How do you live when you know and feel that the mercy of God, obtained
by the death of his Son, is the source of your life past, present, and
future? That’s the question Romans 12 answers. Notice verse 1 again:
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers,by the mercies of
God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice . . .” I
appeal to you therefore. “Therefore”—on the basis of everything
I have shown you in chapters 1-11 about God’s wrath and mercy, about
Christ’s deity and death and resurrection and reign and intercession
for you, about the Holy Spirit poured out with love into your hearts,
about justification by faith alone and how we are counted righteous
because of one man’s obedience, about the sovereign power of God that
governs the universe and works all things together for your good and
will never let anything separate you from the love of Christ—therefore,
because of these mercies, give your body to God and live like this.

Romans 12 is a description of how we live when we know and feel the
truth that we deserve nothing but misery forever, but instead, because
of Christ, we have the promise that the sufferings of this present time
are not worth comparing to glory that will be revealed to us (Romans
8:18). Romans 12 is the way you live when you have been broken because
of your sin—when you have said with the apostle Paul, “Wretched man
that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24)—and
then, after being broken, you have discovered that in Christ God is
for you and not against you, and that neither tribulation, nor distress,
nor persecution, nor famine, nor nakedness, nor danger, nor sword can
separate you from the love of Christ and from everlasting joy. Romans
12 is how you live when you know this Christ-bought, broken-hearted
joy.

The Issue of How to Handle Our Money and Possessions

One of the great issues of life facing Christians in every age, and
especially in times and places of great prosperity (like 21st century
America) is how to think about and feel about and handle our money and
our possessions. For Jesus this was simply huge. He spoke about it over
and over again. He gave promises and warnings and commandments. He rebuked
people bent on bigger and bigger barns for the sake of their ease. He
told stories and parables. By hoarding possessions, he said, you can
perish, and by giving them you can lay up treasures in heaven. How we
handle our money and possessions is the barometer of how we trust God
and treasure Christ. Where you treasure is, there will your heart be
also.

So it’s not surprising to find Paul coming back to this great issue
in verse 13: “Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show
hospitality.” I say “coming back” in verse 8b because he already said
that, “[Let] the one who contributes [do so] in generosity . . . and
the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.” Now he says it again
and gets more specific: Not only should you use your money and possessions
to give to the needs of others, but you should bring people happily
into your home or your apartment. “Contribute to the needs of the saints”—that’s
giving things away for the sake of others in need. And “seek to show
hospitality”—that’s not merely giving money and things away, that’s
drawing others in, not just for meals now and then, but to stay with
you if they need a place for a season. In times of official persecution
it was a dangerous and subversive practice. For some today it still
is. It was and is a radical way to live. That was the meaning it had
in the early church.

This is the way people live who know and feel that moment by moment
the sheer, undeserved, lavish mercy of God sustains them and brings
them home to glory. I appeal to you by the mercies of God—by the lavish
“contribution” of God to your need, by the inexhaustible “hospitality”
of God to bring you into his house not as a guest but as an adopted
child—I appeal to you by these mercies of God, “Contribute to the needs
of the saints and seek to show hospitality.”

So let’s think about this together. Let’s meditate on this biblically
with the prayer that God will do a deep work in our heart to make us
the happiest, most generous, most hospitable givers in the world. First,
we ask, Is it really that crucial in the Bible? Is this near the center
of life in Christ, or marginal? Second, what stands in the way for us
to do better at giving and at hospitality? Third, how to you break free
in to the liberty and joy of lavish generosity and hospitality—whether
poor or rich? Fourth, what will the rewards be if this freedom happens?

How Crucial Are Giving and Hospitality?

Is it really that crucial? Is it near the center of life in Christ—giving
to the needs of the saints and welcoming people into your home as v.
13 says?

Here is bare sampling of what is there in the New Testament. First
about giving. Jesus said in Matthew 6:19-21, “Do not lay up for yourselves
treasures on earth, where moth and rustdestroy and where thieves break
in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where
neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and
steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
How? “Sell your possessions and give to the needy” (Luke 12:33).

Then the early church caught and applied what they had heard and
experienced by assuming that all their possessions were not really theirs
but God’s and were to be used joyfully to meet each other’s needs. So
we read in Acts 4:34, “There was not a needy person among them, for
as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the
proceeds of what was sold 35 and laid it at the apostles' feet, and
it was distributed to each as any had need.” That’s
how Romans 12:13
happened at the beginning.

Then Paul taught this to all the churches. To Titus he wrote, “Let
our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases
of urgent need, and not be unfruitful” (Titus 3:14). And to the Corinthians,
“Each one must give as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under
compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7). And
to the Ephesians, “Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him
labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something
to share with anyone in need” (Ephesians 4:28). In other words, the
whole orientation of the Christian is not to “work to have” but to “work
to have to give.” As Randy Alcorn says so well, “God prospers me not
to raise my standard of living, but to raise my standard of giving”
[The Treasure Principle (Sisters, Oregon: Multnomah, 2001],
71).

And then Paul taught them in the process to be disciplined and methodical
in this generosity, not just spontaneous or impulsive. So when he was
collecting gifts for the poor he wrote to the Corinthians, “Now concerningthe
collection for the saints. . . . On the first day of every week [each
Sunday, not Saturday], each of you is to put something aside and store
it up, as he may prosper” (1 Corinthians 16:1-2). For Paul, discipline
and regularity went hand in hand with joy. God loves a cheerful giver.
God loves to see that joy overflow with disciplined regularity.

Now what about hospitality?

When Jesus sent his twelve apostles out to minister in his name he
said, “Acquire no gold nor silver nor copper for your belts, 10 no bag
for your journey, nor two tunicsnor sandals nor a staff, for the laborer
deserves his food. 11 And whatever town or village you enter, find out
who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart” (Matthew 10:9-11).
In other words, hospitality to God’s messengers was built into the mission
from the start. Then to underline the glory of this hospitality Jesus
said, “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives
him who sent me” (Matthew 10:40). Hospitality for Christ’s sake welcomes
God.

So it’s not surprising then that Jesus would make hospitality one
of the things that Christ counts at the judgment day as evidence of
our love for Christ. Matthew 25:34-35, “Then the King will say to those
on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry
and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger
and you welcomed me.” That is, you opened your home to me. You showed
radical, Christ-honoring hospitality.

Later the writer to the Hebrews says something similar but not quite
as amazing about hospitality, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to
strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares” (Hebrews
13:2). And Peter makes hospitality part of what is crucial in these
last days. “The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled
and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving
one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality
to one another without grumbling” (1 Peter 4:7-9). No grumbling. Love
to do this. The Lord loves a cheerful hostess.

And when Paul writes the qualifications for eldership in the church,
this included in both lists (1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:8), “An overseer
[elder] must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded,
self-controlled, respectable, hospitable. Elders should have
well-worn houses with people coming and going.

In answer to the first question: yes, giving lavishly and loving
guests is near the heart of what it means to walk as a Christian. I
appeal to you by the mercies of God, give generously and open your homes
to the saints.

What Prevents Giving and Hospitality?

What stands in the way for us to do better at giving and at hospitality?

Here I have in mind giving to the church and other kinds of giving
that helps meets the needs of the saints. The ministry and mission of
the church is at the center of Christian giving. But there are hundreds
of other good outlets for your generosity. And, of course, there are
real live people to give to in your path.

Four reasons we don’t give as we ought:

1. Obliviousness. For whatever reason, you
   may have never even thought about giving away your money regularly.
   It never occurred to you that this is part of worship (verse 1). The
   height of virtue for you is, “Thou shalt not steal.” Good start. But
   now God is calling you to hear the New Testament command. Not just:
   Don’t take what’s not yours, but give what is yours. “Contribute to
   the needs of the saints.” “Let him who contributes do so generously.”
   Don’t be oblivious anymore.
2. Carelessness. Perhaps we are not oblivious.
   We know this is what people who love Christ do. But we just never seem
   to get around to planning how much and when and where to give. Things
   just slide. God has appointed this message to bring you to a critical
   new place in your walk with him this week. Don’t be careless. Be thoughtful.
   Be intentional.
3. Greed—the desire to keep more than we need. The spirit
   of greed groans when it gives. It thinks of all the things we could
   buy if we didn’t give. The biblical alternative to this is not disciplined
   groaning. The alternative is a new heart and the joy of being free from
   the bondage of greed. It’s the glad experience that it is more blessed
   to give than to receive (Acts 20:35). Don’t live in the bondage of greed.
   Be free.
4. Fear that we won’t have what we need. Fear is the flip
   side of greed. Greed focuses on what we don’t have but would like to
   have. Fear focuses on the consequences of not having what we need to
   have. The answer to greed is the pleasure of Christ’s presence.
   The answer to fear is the certainty of Christ’s promise. Don’t
   live in fear. Be satisfied with Christ, and trust his promises.

What about hospitality? What stands in the way of being as hospitable
as
we should be?

Here there a whole cluster of fears. Fear that people will just take
too much time if they come over, or if they stay here for a season.
Fear that they will think you don’t keep house very well. They might
open that closet door or look in the kid’s bedroom. Fear that they will
mess up your house—your nice carpet and nice furniture and nice linens.
Fear that they will be hard to talk to and conversations will be awkward.
And so on. You can see the bondage of fear so many Christians seem to
live in. Romans 12:13 is offering us a new way to live—a way of freedom:
“Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.”

How Do We Break Free in Order to Give Lavishly and to Open
Our Homes?

So, in the third place, how do we break free from this bondage into
the liberty and joy of lavish generosity and open homes?

The fundamental biblical answer is that Jesus Christ died and rose
again to make absolutely certain that for all who trust him, the all-powerful,
all-owning God would be lavishly generous and lovingly hospitable to
us every day forever. This what verse 1 is referring to: “I appeal to
you therefore by the mercies of God . . . Contribute to the
needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.” The mercies of God
were bought by the blood of Jesus, and they are new every morning with
fresh generosity and fresh hospitality. This is how we become generous
and hospitable. We enjoy and expect God’s lavish help in all our giving
and all our hospitality.

Romans 8:32 is the key verse: “He who did not spare his own Son but
gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give
us all things?” Paul applies this for us in Philippians 4:19, “My God
will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in
Christ Jesus.” And again in 2 Corinthians 9:8, “God is able to make
all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things
at all times, you may abound in every good work.” Because God promises
to be your all-sufficient treasure, you can be generous and hospitable
to others.

We have seen the mercy and faithfulness of God in this church year
after. I trembled last year with a 21% increase in budget. And we came
to the very last week of the year with a huge gap between expenses and
giving. And God met our need. Not all that we might have dreamed, but
all that we needed. God tests us again and again. Just when we think
we are on top of it, an unexpected bill arrives. And just when we think
we are sinking, an unexpected check arrives. Do you think it will ever
be any different for those who give lavishly and open their homes? The
point of God’s providence is the point of his promises: trust me, and
go beyond in ministry and in giving what you think you can.

What Are the Rewards or Giving Lavishly and Opening Our
Homes?

Finally, our fourth question: what are the rewards if we trust God’s
promises, give lavishly, and open our homes to each other and the needy?

1. The suffering of the saints will be relieved or at least diminished. That
   is what verse 12 means when it says, “Contribute to the needs of
   the saints.” We lift a burden. We relieve stress. We give hope. And
   that’s a reward!
2. The glory of God is displayed. Matthew 5:16 “Let your light
   shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory
   to your Father who is in heaven.” Lavish giving and open homes display
   the glory and the goodness and the worth of God in your life. The reason
   God gives us money and homes is so that by the way we use them people
   can see they are not our God. But God is our God. And our treasure.
3. More thanksgiving to God is unleashed. 2 Corinthians 9:12,
   “The ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the
   saints, but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God.” God has
   given us money and homes not just so that we are thankful,
   but by our generosity and hospitality to make many people thankful to
   God.
4. Our love for God and his love in us is confirmed. 1 John
   3:17, “If anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need,
   yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?”
   In other words, when we give generously and open our homes, the love
   of God is confirmed in our lives. We are real. We are not phony Christians.
5. Finally, we lay up treasure in heaven. Luke 12:33-34. “Sell
   your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags
   that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail.
   . . . For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

Lavish giving and open homes are close to the center of life in Christ.
The reasons we don’t open our checkbooks and homes as often as we should
are rooted in the bondage of fear and greed. The remedy is the pleasure
of Christ’s presence and the certainty of Christ’s promise. My God will
supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Our reward is the display of God’s glory, the good of others, and the
joy of treasuring Christ together forever. Therefore I exhort you, “Contribute
to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.”

A Prayer for Freedom

John Piper

O Lord, we long for life to be
As free from fear and greed
As birds with wings to fly are free,
And lilies have no need.

Our spirits surge to break the chains
Of love to earthly things,
To strip our souls of worldly reins,
And ride on eagles’ wings.

O Father, make us free to give,
And teach by heaven’s beam
That in a spring no life can give
Until it makes a stream.

For freedom Christ has set us free,
O, do not be ensnared,
But treasure Christ and you will see
The glory he prepared.