DETAILS FOR CHRISTIAN LIVING - We have an assortment of unconnected admonitions in this lesson; as such it becomes a challenging passage to proclaim if the entire passage is to be included in the proclamation. You may want to focus on one of the following topics . . . mutual, communal love, hospitality, visiting those in prison, marriage behavior and warnings, deference to church leaders.

A RHETORICAL QUESTION - NIB Excerpt on this passage

. . . the preacher can find here concerns expressed that have long histories extending into the present. For example, love of the stranger ("hospitality," v. 2) has been urged on the people of God since the time of Moses: "The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt" (Lev. 19:34). Jesus repeatedly underscored hospitality to the stranger as an essential characteristic of disciples (e.g., Matt. 10:40-42; 25:31-46). The frequency of this admonition testifies not only to its importance but also to the tenacity of xenophobia (fear of strangers) in society and among the people of God. Likewise, warnings about abuses of sex and money fill both testaments and very often these are treated as twin dangers (vv. 4-6). It is not enough to rail against these abuses as symptoms of personal degradation; they are also lodged in the value systems of society. In the Mediterranean world both sex and money were avenues to and expressions of power and position and, in many eyes, honor. For the church’s teachings regarding both to be met with public ridicule made them even more difficult to observe. To address these issues as private matters was and is inadequate. [1]

connections

Let mutual love continue . . . what relationships do you have that is balanced by a reciprocal love? What is the challenge of such a relationship? How have you seen unilateral love rather than mutual love in your congregation?

Of the five admonitions in the first five verses, which one are you most familiar with? What one needs most strengthening?

gambits

There are so many injunctions and closing one-line admonitions, you’ll want to focus on a single idea or two rather than trying to proclaim these truths shotgun style.

If you choose, for example, to amplify the truth of verse 5: Keep your lives free from the love of money, then cross-reference verse 5 with 1 Timothy 6:6-10 which speaks powerfully to the same topic.

Hospitality is another accessible topic (verse 2), which seems to be one of the most valued and least practiced gift and virtue of the church. (Not to be confused with the word, "friendly"!) Such a homily on hospitality would benefit from a study on the word, hospitality, as it appears in the New Testament.

_______________________________________________________
[1] The New Interpreter’s Bible XII (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1998), page 170.