Sermon Tone Analysis

In 2017 a group of Psychologists from Northwestern University in Illinois partnered with scientists from the University of Zurich in Switzerland and conducted a series of experiments on generosity and health.

The results were published in an academic journal.

The basic control of the study was this.

For a period of one month a group of people were each given $100 every week.

Half of the people were instructed that they must spend all of it on themselves.

The other half were instructed that they must spend all of it on other people.

The scientists then used a series of MRI brain scans, survey questionnaires, and medical health measurements to track every participant in the study.

What they found was that those who could not spend the money on themselves but had to spend all of it on other people showed signs of being physically healthier and reported feeling happier than those who got to spend all of the money on themselves.

Generosity had an effect on the giver.

The study shows that generosity causes a person to be healthier and happier.

And it wasn’t just in the actual act of generosity.

The benefits carried forward even into the planning stages, the preparation for generosity.

All the study participants were hooked up to machines monitoring brain activity and then given a form to help them plan and think about how they would spend the money.

Those who had to spend the money on themselves had to make lists of what it is they wanted to buy for themselves.

Those who had to spend on others were told to make lists of who they planned to spend the money on and what they planned to buy for them.

The people spending on others measured a higher sense of satisfaction and pleasure than those spending on themselves, even in the act of just thinking about it.

Physical benefits measured in the study showed that those who practiced generosity had lower blood pressure and reported less anxiety.

Multiple studies link stress and anxiety to having an impact upon personal health.

People who think about, plan, and then follow through on acts of generosity saw positive gains in physical, mental, and emotional health.

Also significant to the study is the finding that this benefit increases over time.

Whereas spending on oneself may cause a hit of dopamine pleasure initially, the benefit wore off quickly and could not be increased with repetition of buying more things.

But the opposite is true when it comes to generosity.

The regular practice and repetition of generosity increases the benefit.

The occasional giving of a gift does not have the same positive effect as a regular routine habit of giving.

This is all science.

There were no pastors or theologians involved in this study on generosity.

I haven’t even mentioned any Bible verses yet.

The act of generosity provides all those benefits for us that have been shown by scientific study.

But here in the church we a rather unique view to generosity that helps us see the act of giving even more clearly.

We don’t just talk about giving as generosity.

We have another word.

We talk about giving as stewardship.

That is what we want to focus on in this month of November.

The next four Sundays leading up to the holiday of Thanksgiving will be a time for us to consider all the ways in which God calls us to be good stewards.

Generosity for us is about more than giving.

Generosity is about stewardship.

To get us started this week with a focus of stewardship I am going to read just two verses.

This is where stewardship begins.

It begins with a very simple idea.

The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it.

It is a simple phrase.

It is very easy to say it.

It is also very easy to forget.

How very quickly we all fall into thinking that the world is mine for the taking.

I don’t necessarily mean taking in the sense of stealing.

Although often we do rationalize and explain away our robbery of the creation.

Most of the time we view the world as an entitlement.

I am entitled to everything that I have.

I have worked for it.

I earned it.

I deserve it.

That makes it mine.

Stewardship shrivels up and is choked out whenever entitlement takes over.

But the simple and immediate correction for entitlement is always to return again to this simple and foundational truth; the earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it.

It is not mine.

It all belongs to God.

I don’t own it.

Rather, God has appointed me to be a steward of it.

There are some word pairs in the opening verses of Psalm 24 that are meant to show comprehensive totality.

Earth and world used together reference the entirety of the created universe.

Founded and established used together reference the creative act of bringing the universe in existence belongs to God alone.

Seas and waters used together reinforce the point that even the farthest reaches of all creation come from God and belong to God. stewardship begins in remembering that the world is not mine.

It all belongs to God.

Stewardship is not my investment

Stewardship is often a term that we use in reference to the wise use of resources.

Whenever we carefully look at all resources available, and then prudently make use of hose resources without waste to produce the most beneficial result – we call that good stewardship.

This is a word we use here at this church with the Administrative board when we talk about budget.

We say that we want to be good stewards with the church’s resources.

And I think what we mean when we say is that we want to carefully and wisely use what we have without waste to achieve the most beneficial result.

It is not a bad thing to think of stewardship this way.

But it doesn’t get us all the way to what the Bible tells us about stewardship.

This idea of stewardship all by itself does not immediately remind us that the earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it.

When we forget that part—the part about everything belonging to God—then stewardship starts to become something more of an investment.

It starts to become something which is weighed by what is gained in return.

But let’s be clear.

Stewardship is not my investment.

Investments are always made with an eye towards what is gained.

I invest money into an IRA account because I expect to get a return upon that investment sometime later.

That’s the point of an investment; it looks for a return; it gets something back.

what do I expect in return for my generosity?

Do we sometimes think about generosity that way?

Are there times when my generosity is guided by what is received in return for my gift?

This return can come in many forms.

Sometimes it is a benefit provided.

When I lived in Kalamazoo, the school there was having a fund drive to renovate some deteriorating feature in the gymnasium.

Some of the bleachers needed replacing.

One of the ways they found to get donations from some of the older supporters of the school was to adjust the bleacher design to include a section that would have backrests.

On Friday night home games, the backrest section of seats was reserved for older patrons who might otherwise struggle to sit through a game on bench seats.

People donated; and they got a little something beneficial in return.

We do this all the time; every time there is a fundraiser auction or a golf-benefit or a gala dinner.

These events all support good causes, but it all gives back a little something in return – some auction items purchased, a round of golf at some lovely course, a fancy dinner at an elegant banquet hall.

Sometimes the expectation of return for generosity comes in the form of notoriety or preferential treatment.

Think of how many buildings in this town carry the name DeVos or Van Andel or Prince.

Back when the Conference Grounds was gradually replacing its old cottages with the new ones you see there now, the construction of those cottages was made possible by donations.

If you have ever tried to sign up to rent one of those cottages for a week at the Conference Grounds, you know they book up pretty fast and sometimes it can be hard to get one.

The donors who helped fund those cottages had an option in the first year to have first pick of reservation.

There was a guarantee they could get a cottage on the week they wanted to be at the lake for that year.

Maybe I shouldn’t be too harsh.

Afterall, what is wrong with showing an expression of gratitude towards those who are generous?

There is nothing wrong with that.