After Judas left the upper room, Jesus spoke these words to His disciples during the Last Supper:

Listen again to the verse:

It is the love that Christ had – the love of Calvary—which is to be the new standard of our love!

Heretofore, God’s people were called to a love—yet the standard at best was the love that God had demonstrated toward His people in the Exodus. Now, the stakes were raised: GOD’S PEOPLE ARE TO LOVE LIKE CHRIST! It is this standard of love that Christ calls the world to judge us by!

Christ gives the world permission to judge all Christians by this standard. And the implication is that if we are without love, our faith is not a genuine faith, but dead!

This a command to make these virtues our goal, and to strive with all our heart to achieve this goal.

This is a command to make peace our goal and to strive with all our heart to be at peace with all men.

Paul went all over Palestine in his "pursuit" of Christians’ lives.

To "practice hospitality" is to diligently and unceasingly labor at pursuing it. It is to cultivate both the attitude and action that gives itself to loving the stranger and alien. We are not simply to be willing to help others – to stand passively at the door and wait for a stranger to come in – but to GO OUT and LOOK for ones to whom we can express our love. This is what a living faith is all about!

Now read any commentary on this text and you most likely will read something like this:

Or perhaps this:

Now the most natural conclusion from this is that the need for hospitality is not as necessary today as it was in Paul’s day: Today we have Motel Six, homeless shelters, and if you’re a rich millionaire the Hilton. And thus many say that we do not need to pursue this virtue. After all seeking out the stranger might be dangerous. However, from the perspective of Scripture – certainly not our culture—hospitality is as important today as it was in Paul’s day! Why? Because the act of hospitality is motivated not because of need, but rather because of grace!

And what is the natural result of this truth?

If it wasn’t for God’s HOSPITALITY toward us, not one of us would be saved today—all would be lost! As the people of God who should love the Savior more than live and long to be like Christ we should diligently pursue the love of strangers! And that is why it is no surprise to read in Scripture that the practice of hospitality is the mark of spiritual maturity. In fact the standard is set that the man of God must be hospitable.

In fact, hospitality is so much a part of the Christian’s makeup that on the day of the judgment, hospitality will be our identifying mark.

Is hospitality important today? YOU BET! Is it something that we should "diligently pursue"? WITHOUT QUESTION. To practice hospitality is to participate in and reflect the work of redemption!

Now if this weren’t exciting enough, listen to the gospel according to Matthew:

Is this just a nice thought? Listen further:

A Living Faith Must Be A Blessing.

This verse is packed with significance. One of the elements of the covenant that God established with Abraham was that he was to be a blessing to the nations.

Now this element of the covenant remained the calling of God’s people throughout redemptive history. David speaks of the grace of God bestowed upon the man who walks in God’s way.

Isaiah speaks of the era of ultimate restoration in these terms:

Zechariah speaks of one of the reasons that God would restore His people:

Peter exhorts the New Covenant believer to be a blessing.

And thus, when Paul calls us here to "bless those who persecute you; bless and curse not" we must understand this in light of one of the most Important Old Testament themes: the covenantal call to be a blessing. The call to be a blessing is a call to be faithful to the covenant. What does this aspect of the covenant imply? To bless is to administer the benefits of the covenant of grace- it is the opposite of cursing. Notice what the Scriptures say:

Abram was called to be a blessing to the nations. This implies that through Abram the kingdom of God would be extended to the world.

Now in light of this we conclude that Paul’s command for us is to be a blessing and not a curse. It is a call for us to administer the benefits of the covenant of grace. It is the call to not only pray for the grace of God to operative in the lives of others, but also to be willing to be the conduit of that grace.

Hendriksen wrote this:

Andrew Murray commented:

The living faith is a faith that blesses. It labors at bringing the kingdom of God—its rue and reign—to this world. Therefore, the living faith views hardship, trials, difficulties, persecution, tribulation, etc. as opportunities for the expansion of the kingdom of God. This is what a living faith is all about.

Now brothers and sisters, we must seek to cultivate this perspective. We are so vengeful. Typically our first impulse in the face of persecution and difficulty is rebellion and anger. The natural tendency is to "pay back" others with the same vengeance and wrath that we have received from them. Dr. John MacArthur relates the story of one of his golfing excursions:

Indeed! That is our first inclination, isn’t it? Calvin wrote this comment:

Indeed! Though few of us would physically harm one who opposes us, very few of us would seek their best. Who among us doesn’t thing of what harm they would like to have happen to that other person? We often say things such as "whoever did that ought to be hung." Yet, we must remember that we have been called to "give a blessing and not a curse."

We are ambassadors of God. We have been called to proclaim Christ crucified. We have been commissioned to bring the benefits of the covenant of grace to our dying and suffering world. We have been set apart to bring God’s blessings to the very ones who would seek His and our undoing! And that is why as Stephen lay at the brink of death, having just been stoned by his fellow countrymen, he prayed this:

As Christ hung on the cross, we read these words:

At that moment that the world was cursing Christ, Christ was saving the world! He was bringing a blessing to the world. This is what a living faith is about. It is loving the lost. It is forgiving the wicked. It is restoring broken relationships. It is administering grace. It is being a BLESSING! It is being men and women with a passion for Christ – to see Him rule and reign in the lives of those around us. It is to see Christ subdue the rebel. It is to see Christ comfort the broken hearted. It is to see Christ raise the dead. And all of these things can be done regardless of our circumstances to the praise and glory of Christ because of what Christ has done for us.

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, which means to love or to show affection.