Giving Thanks to God for the Opportunity to Serve

The sermon opens with Alexis de Tocqueville's observation during his 1831 visit to America, noting that religious faith and voluntary service were inseparably linked in American life. The pastor introduces the central theme: for believers, serving and giving cannot be separated from faith, because Jesus himself declared 'it is more blessed to give than to receive' (Acts 20:35) and modeled servant leadership (Mark 10:45). This stands in direct contrast to the common assumption that service is an obligatory burden rather than a source of joy.

The pastor presents three reasons why giving is more blessed than receiving. First, giving brings blessing to many others — illustrated through the story of Dr. Howard Kelly, who as a poor boy received a glass of milk from a kind woman and later paid her hospital bill in full; the boy who gave five loaves and two fish (John 6) so Jesus could feed 5,000 people; and the chain of influence from Sunday school teacher Edward Kimball to D.L. Moody to J. Wilbur Chapman to Billy Sunday to Mordecai Ham to Billy Graham, showing how millions of souls were reached through one faithful servant's small act. Second, God uses small, ordinary abilities for His great and difficult work — the twelve apostles had no impressive credentials, yet God chose and used them, including Peter who had denied Christ but later led 3,000 people to faith in a single sermon. Third, God Himself multiplies blessings upon those who give faithfully — as promised in Malachi 3:9-10 and affirmed by the Apostle John: 'grace upon grace' (John 1:16).

To illustrate the contrast between a life that only receives and one that gives, the pastor uses the imagery of the Dead Sea (water flows in but never out, no life can survive) versus the Mekong River (flowing through six nations, bringing prosperity to millions). A life that only receives without giving becomes spiritually stagnant and lifeless.

The sermon also presents practical statistics on giving among American Christians: only 10–25% of church members give, averaging just 2.3% of income — far below the biblical standard of the tithe. The pastor does not use these figures to shame or embarrass, but to remind the congregation that giving must be rooted in faith in God's promises in Scripture (2 Corinthians 9:5-7).

The sermon closes with an encouragement that being used by God is itself sufficient reason to give thanks, and receiving His added blessings is yet another reason to be grateful for the opportunity to give and serve in His great and difficult work. The congregation is called to see service not as a burden but as a privilege and a joy in the life of faith.