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As disciples, we are called to action to love our neighbor because Jesus has first loved us. Join Reverend Daniel as he focuses on what it means to grow as hospitable disciples, loving strangers and foreigners as our brothers and sisters. Let's prepare our hearts for the Lord's word today.

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Good morning, church. Today's scripture reading is taken from Hebrews 13, verse 2 to 3. Do not neglect to show hospitalities to strangers, for deliver some have entertained angels and awareness. Remember those who are imprisoned and still imprisoned with them, and those who are mistreated, since you are also in the body. Hebrews 13, verse 2 to 3. This is the word of the Lord.

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Thank you, Mary Grace, for reading the scripture for us. Indeed, uh what a joy for us to enter. In the we are already in the month of November, and uh very soon Christmas is coming, and I just want to uh say a word regarding the celebrate Christmas in Singapore or CCIS. Uh I think it's a time for not only those of us who are going to participate in the event, but also those of us who around the area, you know, if you have a friend who may not have been exposed to Christianity, it's a very neutral ground to bring them to say, you know, uh we have a performance down, would you come and just enjoy the festive season? And many parts of the world, uh, and many times uh as we worship God, as we sing songs and hymns, sometimes God does stir up the hearts of those on the ground, and perhaps, like the book of Acts, they may come and to us, you know, after we sing and say, What must I do to be saved? And we have experienced that in the mission field. You know, we have teams basking and strangers coming up and saying, What must I do, you know, to be saved? They were touched by the music, they were ministered to by the songs. And I believe the the Lord's presence is not only confined to the church, but he will be there. He will show up when we praise him, right? So do rally uh your connect group members or even yourself to prayerfully just say, you know, let's meet in town, let's have dinner, you know, and just join the celebration. Uh sing carols together. And who knows, they may be safe. Right? So on last, the last Family Sunday, which is almost a month ago on the 5th October, I shared from Luke chapter 10, verse 25 to 37 on how Jesus is like the good Samaritan in the parable, in that he actually saves the man from death. He was left half dead. Jesus, like the good Samaritan, heals him. He binds up the man's wounds, pouring oil and wine. He pays it all, the charges at the inn in which the man stays, and guarantees he is not a slave by offering to pay up for additional expenses that may be incurred. Of course, we know in the story the man is an unidentified person. And um Luke wants us to see that Jesus is the one who is the actual Good Samaritan to us. And today, as we look into the theme of growing as hospitable disciples, I pray that the Lord will speak to us to reveal to us how we are able as a church to love strangers and foreigners as our brothers and sisters. Let us pray. Father, we pray even as we look into your word that your spirit will stir up our hearts. Lord, that we open up that we will open wide our hearts just as you have opened your hearts to us. May strangers, foreigners find a home in our homes. May they find a place in our hearts. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. Hebrews chapter 13, verse 2, uh just one verse, it says, Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. The practice of hospitality was an important part of the life of the early church. Hebrews 13:2 were some closing exhortations that the author of Hebrews uh was giving to the community, and one of it was this do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers. The Greek word translated as hospitality uh is comes from the word philosynia. It's made up of two words, uh filio, which uh some of us may know is uh it's a love, it's a brotherly love. A love for our community, a love for a fellow brother or sister with the affection of Christ. Right? And Xeno speaks of the stranger or foreigner. So we put these two words together, Philo Xenia, Philo Xenia, we are saying hospitality means loving strangers and foreigners as our brothers and sisters. This includes respecting them and caring for their needs. And the author of Hebrews tells us the reason for doing so because as we sow seeds, we will not know, we may have entertained angels unawares. Commentators have uh advised us that this is likely uh an allusion to Abraham in Genesis 18, where he was there was an episode where he saw three men standing nearby where he was, and then he welcomed them generously to his home. He had their feet washed, he brought them bread, cooked them a meal, and gave them rest under the shade of his tree. So, in a certain way, Abraham was entertaining um perhaps angels, um a form of God's presence among them, among him and his people during those times. So the author of Hebrews was writing to Christians who were facing persecution for be believing in the Lord. So he was writing to them to encourage them in their faith. And at the center, the focus of the argument of the author of Hebrews is the centrality of Christ as the perfect high priest and to persevere and not give up in doing good. Uh, and yet, along with that team, the author of Hebrews, in his closing exhortation, does not forget to remind the Christians that it is their right duty as believers, as a way of loving their neighbors, the neighbors as themselves, to practice hospitality despite feeling discouraged, despite undergoing persecutions. The opposite of hospitality is uh xenophobia. So the opposite of philo xenia, which is the love of strangers or foreigners, is xenophobia, which is the opposite, meaning the fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners, or anything strange or anything foreign. So hospitality is about welcoming guests and making them feel at home. It means accepting with pleasure their presence amongst us. Christian Poe, uh Christian ethicist and uh author mentions two main contexts for practicing hospitality. Uh, in the first context, we welcome those who we have we already know we have established bonds and relationships with. So it's very natural to show, in the first category, to show hospitality to our family, to our friends, to our acquaintances, uh, our connect group uh members, friends within the church, your colleagues, and so on. Right? So you have significant common ground with these people. Um whereas the second group are strangers. So to be hospitable is used in the context of strangers and foreigners. So to be hospitable means we are welcoming to those people we do not know, we have not met before. We have first time, uh the first time encountered these people. This includes those, not only those who we meet for the first time, but those who are vulnerable, detached from family, community, church work, and likely there are people who are perhaps visitors, they have no or little connection with the church, and for whom you have no established relationships with. So we will focus particularly on this second group, strangers and foreigners, because that is at the heart of showing hospitality. Now we all know we can be nice to people we know, right? And we know that uh connect groups over time struggle with a disease called tribalism, where you only focus inwardly to your own group, a mini tribe, right, to the exclusion of all others. And we know that's a challenge everywhere, right? Not that um community and connect group is not good, we shouldn't be close, but the whole idea is we are all very easily turned inward to our own community. Those who we are familiar with, those who we can relate to, those who talk like us, speak like us, think like us, look like us, dress like us, right? But to love, to show real hospitality uh is a tall order because it means loving someone that is unlike us, you know, talks differently, behaves differently, looks differently, right? And how do how then do we uh create a culture where we are able to be hospitable to them? The good news is that the early church was particularly concerned with showing hospitality to the strangers. So it's not something new, it's not a new invention when the church talks about being hospitable to foreigners or strangers. Because they are the ones, the early church, who welcome the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, the imprisoned, perhaps motivated by the words of Jesus. In Matthew 25, 31 to 40, it's a very uh quite a common passage we look at when we talk about being hospitable. And he says, When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people from one another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right, but on the goats, but the goats on the left. 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. Then verse 35 of Matthew 25, it goes on. Why? Because 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. In other words, you were hospitable to me. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to see me. Then the righteous will answer him, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty, give you a drink. When did we see a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or imprisoned and visit you? Verse 40, and the king answered, Truly I say to you, as you did to one of the least of this, my brothers, you did it for me. So the call of the early church and the call of us as a church is to open wide our hearts, to show hospitality, especially to strangers, foreigners, in whom we have no relationship with, but in whom God cares deeply for. And the premise for this actually is based on scripture where Ephesians 2 verse 11 and to 13 and verse 19 reminds us, reminds the church that remember at one time, you Gentiles, which is all of us who are non-Jews here, um, called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision. So the defining mark of being a Jew was circumcised, was circumcision, but Gentiles were uncircumcised. So sometimes the early church drew the distinction between the uncircumcised referring to Gentiles and the circumcised referring to Jews. Right? Remember, verse 12 says that of Ephesians 2 that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. So then, Paul reminds the church as he writes to the church in Ephesus, you are no longer strangers or aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. So Paul says, prior to being in Christ, we were not aware of the covenant life of Israel or the scriptures, and we had no hope in Christ. We were excluded from citizenship in the people, from the people of Israel, and we were outside the sphere of God's covenant promises and blessings. But now, because of the blood of Christ, his sacrifice and death, we are no longer strangers and aliens, but we are one together, fellow citizens. So therefore, we are to welcome strangers and befriend them in the hope that one day they will become part of the family of Christ. Is entitled Hospitality and Growing the Church. I think one idea he shares, which is actually his main idea in the short book, is a perspective of hospitality that I think is very interesting and is something very doable. He said, hospitality is first offered to strangers or foreigners, people who are unknown to us, visitors, whom we welcome as our guests. And as we get to know them, they become our friends. So from strangers now to friends. And over time, as they get involved in the life of our church community, from friends, they become part of the family in Christ. So from strangers, we befriend them, we become their friend, and do what friends do take them out for meals, host them for meals, pray for them, uh, be earnest and on uh in getting to know them as friends. And over time, they may grow to become part of our family in Christ. So, in the context of Singapore, he goes on to mention, uh mention in brief, there are many types or many kinds of types of foreigners or strangers in our country. Uh the highest number of uh foreigners or strangers in our country are the migrant gas workers, right? And they are the highest hit rate in terms of the the percentage and number. And we all know during the COVID-19 pandemic, uh they were they went on the radar because many of the needs, their living conditions were were not really proper, and they came on the radar, and because of that there was intervention from various entities, and it's and and we are so glad that uh Christians came in together. And today we have what we call the Alliance of Guest Workers Outreach or AGW uh I wanted to say zero, AGWO, right? So Alliance of Guest Workers Outreach, where the needs of uh the migrant gas workers are being cared for by uh um by a local body. So we have migrant domestic workers as a second group of people. Uh we have people with skilled or professional passes, right, uh, in Singapore, student visa holders, those who are students, but they are not uh local citizens. We have permanent residents and their dependents. Along with that, there are many kinds or types of people in which you can reach out to prisoners and their families, rough sleepers, seniors in residential homes, and even people of other faiths. So, as I mentioned, uh the last the last month we are in the we actually have a local outreach uh committee, and recently we concluded a survey that was handed out. So the whole idea is to see what can the church, what can YCCA engage in, something long-term, something that will bear fruit in time to come, something we can sow in as a means of showing hospitality and sharing the love of Christ locally. You know, we need not be somewhere overseas, but locally. There are so many needs, as I mentioned, some of them, and we need to discern as a church together where is the Lord leading us, which sector, which community in which He's calling us to. So, how do we welcome strangers as friends? Another way of putting this is how do strangers grow to become friends? I believe uh there's one way, and that is we need to genuinely and openly share our lives together. The way people grow in friendship is when people begin to share lives together. How do you share lives together? How do we share our lives together? I think this was something that is this is something revealed in scripture, and is perhaps it's not a strange passage for us to look at, but it was the defining characteristic of the early church. They gathered together, they shared their lives together, they broke bread, they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to the fellowship. Acts 2, 42 to 47 tells us that the early church devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And all came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done by through the apostles. All who uh believed, all who believed were together and all things in common. They were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need. Day by day they gathered together in the temple courts, breaking bread in their homes, received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God, having favor with all the people, and the Lord added to their number day by day those who are being saved. The early church constantly, day by day, gathered together. I can picture almost like a mini church, uh connect groups gathering week by week, or now uh fortnightly, uh, around God's word, fellowship, uh together, praying for one another, gathering in smaller groups under God, devoting themselves to scripture, to prayer, to the breaking of bread. And it's something that uh over time will sustain and grow relationships. Because people need time to be together in a smaller group setting in order for them to feel welcome and part of the church. And I believe it is an experiential reality that visitors that stay on long term with us in YCCA, they are either connected to a connect group where friendship is experienced and shared, or they are part of a certain ministry in the church which they can identify with, whether it's children or youth, or even on Sunday, in the Sunday service where they feel that they can identify and grow with. Better still, we can open our homes to invite visitors for fellowship meals to get to know them better. So welcoming strangers as friends, then we welcome them as family. So as strangers grow in friendships and in having more friends, they will grow to see the church as a family, a place of belonging under God. And very soon, strangers become friends, they join a connect group or they join a ministry, they come to church regularly, and then they say, Yes, we want to be part of the church community. So in our context, probably it's either baptism or confirmation if the person is transferred from another church. So the church then grows as a family, as a household of God, a place where we are able to grow strong and build strong roots together. And the whole idea is to sow into friendships and should sow into relationships. And I think over the past number of years, I've been here in YCCA. I've met members, I've hosted them at my place, I've for some I've met them at their homes, for some I've met them outside our homes, you know, in varying contexts. And I think this is important because it helps us to grow friendship. And as a church, we need to be in a place where we are able to take time to grow together in a smaller group setting so that we are able to welcome the strangers in our midst. One finding from the World Economic Forum writes, and I think this is true, I quote, the more digital and high-tech the world becomes, the greater the need to feel the human touch nurtured by close relationships and social connections. I repeat again, the more digital and high-tech the world becomes, the greater the need to feel the human touch nurtured by close relationships and social connections. That's why I think Pastor Richard shared last week about something about getting in community, about relationships, why we should come to church. I think this is one of the key reasons why we shouldn't be long-term joining a service online and just being an online member of multiple churches. Because the whole idea of the church as a fellowship, uh, the whole idea of community and relationships. And I think this is where as a church we can grow deeper and we can grow stronger when we are able to forge greater connected relationships with one another, especially as connect groups welcome strangers and foreigners in our midst. So, with the rise of the fourth industrial revolution, how many of us know that we are in the fourth industrial revolution? Uh, a time where uh there's greater convergence of technologies with human life and at an unprecedented speed of change. So a lot of things are being converged together, technology with human life, and we we realize that the pace of life, of knowledge, the speed of change and information grows much because of the AI and technology and so on. And a research uh in 2010 uh by the University of Michigan has found a 40% decline in empathy when we are actually in this age of uh the fourth industrial revolution because things are so connected, so easily being done, that sometimes we can walk past people and feel to empathize. So technology has a way of negating uh relationships and our relational relational connection and our ability to empathize. Just take a look around you when you commute from place to place. Do you observe how we are more screen conscious, we are more conscious looking at the uh on our phones, glued to our phones, or or rather we are plugging into any kind of music that we listen to, then we are aware of the people around us. Could it be that maybe the Lord is leading you to you know bring hope to someone on the train or on the bus? But because we are so plugged into our music or we are so glued to our screens that we feel to miss, realize the opportunity to be a neighbor to a stranger or foreigner, perhaps just sitting beside us. So, how can we as a church grow to be hospitable disciples? First welcoming strangers as friends, then as family. I think it starts with each one of us, because all of us make the church. We bring the human touch in a technology-laden world. Start making friends with strangers, genuinely and openly share your life with the person as the Lord leads you to. Invite them to your home for a meal or take them out for a meal. Invite them to join your connect group. Display a welcoming posture, practice hospitality. I'd like to close uh the sharing today with a reflection from Gregory Jones in his reflection on what it means to welcome the stranger and to practice hospitality. He writes, and I quote, my wife and I were visiting some old friends, a couple in their 80s whose health had been failing. At the time of our visit, the husband was confined to a wheelchair and was struggling with dementia. He was only intermittently able to participate in conversation and he often had difficulty recognizing his wife. The wife's health was much better though she had been showing signs of wearing down, wearing down, sorry, signs of being weary from her years of giving faithful, ongoing care to her husband. We reflected with the wife on the countless ways in which they had shown hospitality, this is in the context of America, to dupe students over the years, particularly international students. For example, they had sponsored a weekly game of badminton for international students. Every Friday for over 30 years, every Friday night for over 30 years, the wife told us they had gathered in a gym to play badminton. Over the years, she estimated they had welcomed 3,000 international students to those games. The couple had invited many of them to their homes for meals, and the wife told us that a surprising number of them continued to write to them from all over the world. I asked the wife about their time in England during World War II. She told us about leading Bible studies for German prisoners of war and how moving it had been to read scripture together in the midst of war. We also learned that their hospitality led them to take a portion of their rations, their food rations each week to give to those in need, especially though the prisoners of war. As word got around that they were offering food rations to others, the people around the town gathered and began to bring food to the couple to help them get through the week. As we listened to her talk, we realized the continuity in this couple's generous, hospitable life, whether it was with the German prisoners of war or simply at Duke University with the students, hosting the students for meals, uh being just opening up a facility for them to play badminton together and doing it faithfully for 30 years. Even so, he writes, I was not prepared for the closing words of the husband offered to us as we prepared to leave. He had not spoken much during our visit, and he had, and when he had, it was often unclear whether he was really following the conversation. Yet, when we were about to leave, he spoke with confidence and warmth. Come and visit us again when you can, he said. And remember, if you ever need food or anything else, we will gladly offer you whatever we have on the stove or in the refrigerator. You always have a home here. So it's impactful because it shows even while battling dementia, certain things in life have been ingrained. And hospitality was part and parcel of this couple's life. Wherever they go, uh their place, they ask, they are always asking the Lord, you know, how can I be hospitable? Right? And I remember once speaking to the former director of missions uh in our diocese, that time we were, myself and my wife, way before, I think more than 10 years ago, we were considering uh uh overseas missions posting during that time. And we were talking over coffee with the then director of missions. And because he had a growing ministry in Thailand, so we spoke to them, him, and said, How do you start? How do you even start a ministry? I mean, you're there, you know, with your family, and you're just down at the place, a strange place, a foreign land. You don't know what to do. He'd say, uh, when he first started off, there was no church, no building, you know. He started playing badminton with the residents, his neighbors. They started together, uh, form a badminton ministry. And over time it grew, and I think things changed, ministry direction changed. But so just start start with your oil cost, those around you, you know, and if you are good in badminton and you enjoy, it keeps you fit, and it's a way of reaching out. Who knows? God may sow seeds of friendship, and very soon these strangers become your friends. Uh, every week you play together, you share life, you have meals together. What happened? Very soon you invite them, right? You say, Oh, maybe we should, you know, share the gospel with them or bring them to a church, and well, they become your first sheep, uh, first congregational members. So hospitality has a way of opening up our lives to others, and we cannot divorce evangelism, outreach, missions from being hospitable. Because that is the heart of uh people, right, relationships. Right? So missions is not just being approached uh as a task, like a task to be completed, you know, KPIs to reach, but along with that, I think more important is the personal touch, the relational connection. But that is how people come to the kingdom of God, right? One person at a time, one fan at a time, right? It's not at the large big scale rallies or the big uh performance we put up, uh resources spent um for good reasons, but sometimes at the end, when the rubber hits the road, it's still the person next to you, it's still the relational connection. So I'm I'm very uh kind of impressed by the story of uh Gregory Jones because to them hospitality was a way of life. It wasn't something they do, but it was flowing out and bubble, and it bubbles out of their lives. It embodied who they were as persons, wherever they found themselves in, or what state they were in. You know, and and that was the word to the early church in Hebrews 13. Do not forget, to show, do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers. In the midst of persecution, in the midst of constraints, in the midst of not having enough, the early church was called to remember the stranger. Someone who has a need, and God is pointing us to meet the need. So I believe wherever we are, and this need not be led from uh in some way uh from the church downwards, because you know you are hospitable, you uh you know, do do all kinds of things, right? Open up your place, host members, um a lot of things you can do. Maybe within our your connect group, uh start a picket ball, you know, uh time together, maybe Sunday evenings. And not everything has to be organized by the church. That can happen and build your network of friends, you know, and yeah, grow the friendship. A lot of things we can do. And so at the end of the day, it depends. Hospitality actually starts from our hearts, right? And it begins wherever God has placed us, you know, in our homes, in our families, in our workplaces. And regardless of what state we are in, whether we are persecuted, we are doing well, we are called to practice hospitality. Because scripture tells us it's part and parcel of loving our neighbor as ourselves. Right? We just read uh we just read earlier, I mean in the beginning, when we were doing the preparation, right? Uh love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. So to love the stranger, to love the foreigner is crucial because these are the people that are on God on God's heart, and they matter to God because on the last day, judgment day, whatever we do for those in need will be revealed. Right? And may the Lord give us grace to be hospitable and to live as hospitable, to live as hospitable disciples.

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We pray that you've been ministered to by the word of God today. If you'd like to know more about each Christian church, please visit our website at yccanglican.com. Have a blessed day.