Sermonette: The Twenty Dollar Tip
by Chris Cumming
Please turn in your Bibles to Acts 20 and verse 35..,
Here we see Paul state...
I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support
the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It
is more blessed to give than to receive. –Acts 20:35
"It is more blessed to give than to
receive." Have you ever meditated on that statement?
Often when it is stated, one is attempting to show another that giving
has a higher spiritual value than receiving. However, the first part of
the verse says that the giver is more blessed for giving. How is that?
How is one more blessed? Let us take a look. Notice a commentary...
Acts 20:35
[It is more blessed to give] It
is a higher privilege; it tends more to the happiness of the individual
and of the world. The giver is more blessed or happy than the receiver.
This appears:
(1) Because it is a condition for which we should be thankful when we
are in a situation to promote the happiness of others.
(2) Because it tends to promote the happiness of the benefactor himself.
There is pleasure in the act of giving when it is done with pure
motives. It promotes our own peace; is followed by happiness in the
recollection of it; and will be followed by happiness forever. That is
the most truly happy man who is most benevolent. –(from
Barnes' Notes)
We are blessed in at least four areas:
1) We are thankful for being in a situation in which we CAN give.
2) It promotes inner peace.
3) There is happiness in the recollection of the specific act of giving
you performed.
4) The promise that our giving will be followed by eternal happiness.
I get excited just pondering that list of blessings, especially number
three, the recollection of the act. In fact, that is the purpose of my
sermonette this morning…to encourage all of you to establish a List of
Recollections…Recollections of Giving.
Let me share with you now, just one example of how this blessing of
recollection works. I call it the "Twenty Dollar Tip".
Several years ago my wife, Joan and I began a tradition. If, when
eating in a restaurant, we observed a waiter or waitress going above and
beyond the call of duty and/or demonstrating an excellence in their
work, we would call them to our table, inform them of what we had
observed in their work and then present them with a twenty dollar bill
with our thanks. As time went on, this tradition expanded to more than
just restaurant wait staff. Joan and I began this tradition with the
giving of ten dollar bills, but as time went on we increased it to
twenty. Here are some recollections...
Note: Hear these in the video and
audio versions of this sermonette
Recollection 1:
Wedding Anniversary trip to Ocean Shores.
Recollection 2: Vacationing at Lake Tahoe
in 2004—The little old lady coffee shop host
Recollection 3: The Dick’s Drive-in Story
Recollection 4...a Two-fer in Wichita Falls
in 2002.
These are just some of the many recollections I have. It IS more
blessed to give than to receive. Those tens and twenties are long spent
now by those individuals, but the memories of having given them will be
with me forever and bring me great joy.
The most exciting thing about this is that you can make up your own
tradition of giving. It doesn't have to be restaurant wait staff. It
might be the idea of slipping some money to a widow at the Feast,
volunteering to work in a soup kitchen or seeing to the needs of someone
right there in your own congregation. The benefits and blessings will
be the same.
Start your own
list of Recollections!!