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Luke 14 - Devotion · The Five Minute Bible Podcast

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  Welcome to Five Minute Bible in our journey through the New
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  Testament. In each episode, we take just a
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  few minutes to focus on one chapter of the New Testament,
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  exploring the truths God is teaching us through His Word and
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  expanding our view of who He is. Before you listen, make sure
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  you've gone straight to the source, either by reading
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  today's chapter of the Bible yourself or listening to today's
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  read along episode in this podcast feed.
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  If you haven't done that yet, feel free to pause and do that
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  now. When you're ready, let's dive
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  into God's word together. Listen to Jesus words in Luke
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  1412 through 14 after he had been invited to dine at the home
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  of one of the leaders of the Pharisees, and he also went on
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  to say to the one who had invited him.
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  When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your
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  friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors,
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  otherwise they may also invite you in return, and that will be
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  your repayment. But when you give a reception,
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  invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you
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  will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you,
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  for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.
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  What we have here is reminiscent of what Jesus has said in
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  passages like Matthew 6 and is all about the motives of our
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  heart. Jesus instructs this man who has
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  invited him to dine to go out of his way not to invite the
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  honored or wealthy, but rather to invite the poor, the
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  crippled, the lame, and the blind.
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  Why? What is so important about a
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  guest list? Jesus is juxtaposing two kinds
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  of generosity or hospitality. There is a generosity that is
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  for show and a generosity that is genuine.
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  There is a hospitality that is intended to impress and
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  hospitality that is intended to bless.
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  A hospitality that is meant to elevate others opinion of you,
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  and hospitality that is meant to elevate others themselves.
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  Think about your own life when you go out of your way to honor
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  those who are already honorable, those who are already wealthy,
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  or those who already have a sort of celebrity status.
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  Whether in your community, your family, your school, wherever.
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  It is easy for that to be in an effort to receive something in
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  return. It is easy to lend a helping
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  hand to someone who you know may feel obligated and able to repay
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  you for your help. It's much harder to do that for
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  someone who does not have the means to repay you.
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  It's easy to invite a family over who you know has a nice
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  house and the means to return your invitation with a gourmet
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  meal and your honour. It's much harder to extend an
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  invite to someone who would never be able to return the
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  favour. But here is where the rubber
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  meets the road for our faith. Jesus tells us that genuine
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  generosity, that generosity that is open-ended, that is not
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  seeking any earthly return on investment, that generosity will
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  be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.
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  That generosity is seen by God and will be specifically honored
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  by Him. Those acts of kindness done in
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  Jesus name, to the least of these, those will be repaid not
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  by the recipients themselves, but by God.
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  And so when we pour out generosity, hospitality and
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  kindness on those who could never repay it, we live not for
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  the honor and recognition of this world, but for the glory
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  and reward in another world, in that better country, that
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  eternal life that God has promised to all that love him.
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  So live for that better reward. Be generous not with the
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  expectation of receiving an immediate return on your
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  generosity. Be hospitable, not with the hope
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  of receiving a reciprocal invitation.
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  Do these things for the Lord's sake and receive the reward that
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  only the Lord is able to give.