Aldersgate Experience 1
October 2013
Connecting Knowing Loving Growing
Experience
“An Explosion of Gratitude” (The following is an excerpt from Doug’s sermon on September 22nd entitled “Grace and Gratitude”.) The Stewardship theme this year is “An Explosion of Gratitude.” I
like that. You see, for years I have heard it said that money follows ministry. Give people a great vision of what can be done, or show people the results of what has been done and people will give to the cause. I get that. I often try to get you to do that, and I certainly do it myself. I give to our church’s many fund-raisers because I believe in the ministries they are raising money for. And I am confident they will produce fruit for the kingdom. But that’s not the primary reason why Tara and I give a tenth of our income to the church as a spiritual discipline every month. It isn’t because of what I believe we can all collectively do if we all put a tenth of our incomes together. Not at all. Now, that’s a good reason. Don’t mishear me. I DO believe very much that we can do significant ministry if we all get together. It just isn’t my primary reason for giving to the church. The primary reason for why we give is because of what God has done for us – not through material blessings, but in pouring out His grace to us through Jesus Christ. I give because I’m grateful. So let's try to define just what gratitude is in our experience. I have found it helpful to think of some things that might be thought of as gratitude, but really aren’t. For example, gratitude is more than saying, "Thank you," when someone gives you something. Gratitude is more than an action which we decide to do by an act of our own willpower. You can say the words, "thank you," when there is not gratitude in your heart at all. Manners or custom may dictate that you say the words when you don't really appreciate what has been done for you. What it takes to turn the words, "thank you" into gratitude is the real genuine feeling of gratitude. Gratitude is a feeling that arises un-coerced in the heart. Gratitude is an attitude. It cannot be willed into existence directly if it is not there. Let me give you an example... If you give a twelve year-old boy a necktie or a pair of socks for Christmas, he may dutifully say, "Thank you," but the spontaneous feeling of gratitude will probably not be there, at least not like it would be if you gave him his new favorite video game instead. Gratitude is a feeling, not an act of willpower; and it is a good feeling. When it rises in our hearts, we like it. It is part of happiness. It is a form of delight. But we don’t stop there. Gratitude is more than delighting in a gift. It is more than feeling happy that you got something you wanted. For example, if you give that same twelve year-old the video game, he might just rip open the package and say, "Wow," and then walk away and start bragging about how much better his game is than yours. He might not even give a second thought to the kindness you did for him in giving him the game. (continued on page 2)