“Sowing & Reaping” Galatians 6:7-10
INTRO: My parents moved to
bought a little
tree, just a sapling—maybe two feet tall.
It
was a tropical fruit called a lychee.
Lychee is a little
smaller than a ping pong ball, with a rough red skin.
When you peel the skin,
gray fruit inside that Allison says looks like an eyeball.
Does look like an eyeball but it tastes
wonderful.
My
dad had eaten one somewhere, loved it, wanted to grow
some himself.
So
he planted this little tree—and it grew and grew—year after year no lychees.
Not even any blossoms. Asked a fruit farmer who
told him to be patient.
Finally, ten or 12 years later, he got a
crop.
Now
every year he gets lychees.
He planted and then years later he picked.
Or to use this language: He sowed, then in
time, he reaped what he had sown.
The
Bible says that you reap what you sow. Over and over, many places and ways.
1.
Job says that those who plough evil and sow trouble reap the same.
2.
Moses says “be sure your sins will find you out.”
3.
Hosea says that those who sow the wind will reap the whirlwind.
4.
Paul says in Corinthians that he who sows generously will reap
generously,
and he who
sows sparingly will reap sparingly.
5.
The entire book of Proverbs is about sowing and reaping.
6.
Book of Revelation describes the Second Coming as a day of reaping—
when every
person will be judged according to what he has done.
Apostle
Paul was very concerned that the Galatian Christians
know this.
“Do not be deceived,” he says. “God is not mocked. A man reaps what he sows.”
If
you sow to please the sinful nature you reap destruction.
If
you sow to please the Spirit you reap eternal life.
Now,
this is a surprising thing for Paul to emphasize at the end of his letter.
Because all through the
letter he has argued that good works count for nothing.
Remember
the problem in the Galatian churches.
People were teaching that you are accepted
by God by believing in Jesus
and living a good
life—specifically, by morality and religion.
Paul
argues violently against this teaching.
He says over an over that the Gospel is
faith in Jesus plus nothing.
All
you do is believe in Jesus because Jesus has already
done all the good works.
Jesus was obedient to death, even the death
on the cross.
It is by Jesus’ work alone, trusting in him
that you are right with God.
Paul
went on to say that if you add anything to faith, even good works
as the thing you
trust, even religion, even morality—then you don’t have Gospel.
And you have really rejected Christ and will
never have life.
It’s
all God’s grace or nothing.
So
it’s strange that at the end of this letter in which Paul has preached
grace, grace,
grace—and thundered against trusting works—
that he ends by
saying, “Do good works.”
And
even stranger: Because there will be
eternal consequences to what you.
It’s
not a contradiction. Paul has already
made it clear that salvation is by grace.
But he also wants Christians to know there
are consequences in this life and next.
So
the very same Bible that tells you that you will not be condemned because
you have eternal
life, also warns you to prepare to give an account for your life.
We
prefer one or the other.
And we want to silence the truth we least
like with the one we prefer. Need both.
We
need the doctrine of free grace that Paul preaches in this letter to overcome
our
legalism and
self-righteousness that makes us prideful or throws us into despair.
But
we also need the doctrine of sowing and reaping so that we don’t turn
God’s gracious gift of the righteousness of
Jesus into an excuse for a
lazy, worldly,
selfish life spent pleasing our sinful natures.
God
saved you to do good works. Great
incentive is gratitude.
But another great incentive,
is the law of sowing and reaping.
Take care, the Lord says, with what you do
with this life I have given you.
Look
at this passage under two headings:
1. The doctrine of sowing and reaping
2. The two places you sow and reap
MP#1 The doctrine of sowing and reaping
You
could go anywhere in the world or to any time in history and you would
find that every
person understands the agricultural process of sowing and reaping.
Whatever you sow, you will reap.
If you sow beans, you will not reap corn—no
matter how much you want corn.
Whatever
you sow, you will reap.
Even though the seed may lie in the ground
for a long time, it will sprout.
So it is the sowing, and not the reaping
that determines the harvest.
Paul’s
point is that this is just as true in the moral and spiritual realm
as it is in the
agricultural realm.
The
way Paul emphasizes this is by saying, “God cannot be mocked.”
If you think that you can escape from
reaping what you have sown,
or that you can
reap something different from what you have sown—think again.
God
is behind this law of sowing and reaping and God cannot be mocked.
That
sounds like God is sitting up in heaven with a big hammer,
ready to pound
anyone who steps out of line.
But
that’s not what Paul or other biblical writers are teaching.
He is simply reminding Christians that this
is the way God has made his world.
He has made a world in which farmers sow
corn and reap corn.
And
in this world men and women sow certain moral and spiritual actions—
and reap the
consequences.
I
mentioned earlier the book of Proverbs.
You could write Galatians 6:7 in your Bible
at the beginning of book of Proverbs.
God’s inspired word about sowing and reaping
in every part of life.
Proverbs
If you sow cruel jokes at the
expense of other people and chatter, will reap ruin.
Ruin of possibility
for intimate friendships, capacity for kindness. Reap cynicism.
Proverbs
If you sow
sexual indiscretion, you may be beautiful on the outside but you will
reap a coarsening of your character—will become piglike on the inside.
Proverbs
Sow
generosity, sow to refresh other people, reap prosperity and refreshment.
Proverbs
Think how obsessed Americans are by looking young,
staying young.
Dread being old, thought of as old. If you sow righteous life—
reap totally different outlook—will see your old age as a
time of glory.
Proverbs
Years ago, before moved here, time when our
money was very tight.
Wrote this verse on the top of ledger I used
to keep track of budget.
If
I sow love toward Allison and my little family, then I’m going to reap
contentment, even
if we have to tighten our belts. If I
sow hatred,
even if we have
enough money to steak every night, reap discontent.
Let’s
pull this together with two important truths.
1. Christians are not immune to the law of
sowing and reaping.
Who is Paul writing to? Writing to professing
Christians. Writing
to the church.
He’s not writing to the immoral pagans in
He’s
not on the street preaching this to the gay pride parade, or abortion clinic.
Although
sowing and reaping applies to all people—
that is not Paul’s
concern in this passage—it’s us.
That
tells us something about ourselves. We
don’t like this. Think can avoid it.
Billy Graham: “Some people think they can sow their wild
oats during the week,
then go to church
on Sunday and pray for crop failure.”
Listen
to the way one minister put it:
A Christian teenager who squanders his high school years and
plays instead of studies finds, just as a non-Christian teen will find, that
his options for college and beyond are suddenly limited. He is reaping what he has sown. A young Christian woman who finds herself with
a child but no husband finds her options suddenly much fewer and less
interesting than she had imagined that they would be at this time of life. She is reaping what she has sown. And a Christian in the middle of life, who
has long contented himself with spiritual mediocrity and indiscipline, has
formed by constant travel over the same soft ground deep ruts of sin, finds
that escaping those ruts, turning on spiritual zeal, fashioning new beginnings
in the middle of life, before it's too late, is not so simple as he from time
to time imagined that it would be.
The
Bible never glosses over believers reaping what they have sown.
Do you remember our study of the life of
Joseph several years ago?
Jacob,
Joseph’s father sowed all sorts of foolish things.
He sowed polygamy of the worse kind—he
married two sisters.
If you are going to be a bigamist, never
marry two sisters.
Then
he sowed favoritism—he loved Rachael more than Leah—
and Rachael’s son
Joseph more than any of his other sons.
He
reaped what we would call today a dysfunctional family.
That’s putting it mildly—hatred,
competition, immorality.
Of
course God graciously overruled and brought good out of all that mess.
And that’s really the big lesson of Joseph’s
story.
But there is this other theme—that you reap
what you sow.
Even believers. Even
patriarchs in the Bible.
2. God reminds us of this because He loves us
Don’t
you do the very same with your children?
Don’t you remind them of the law of sowing
and reaping.
I’ve
told you before that when I went away to college my mother looked
me in the eye and
said: “Son, do not marry a moody girl.”
That’s
a parent’s love. Wanting the child to
sow wisely and reap good things.
That’s
what the Lord wants for you.
If that wasn’t true, this would just be a
terrifying verse.
“God
is not mocked. A man reaps what he sows.”
I couldn’t bear to preach this if I didn’t
believe it is said in love.
If it was just a harsh reality, it would
depress me so much I would skip it.
Don’t
get me wrong. If a person utterly and
completely sows to the sinful nature—
he will reap
eternal destruction. He will go to
hell.
That is a sober warning that should make us
tremble.
But
as I said, this is addressed to professing Christians.
It’s
at the end of a wonderful letter about free gift of grace through faith in
Christ.
It’s about Jesus’ paying for everything and
setting us free to live for God.
Paul’s
concern for the Galatians,
God’s concern for you is that you sow wisely
so that you will reap blessings.
This
is gracious in itself—because you know that nothing you do is perfect.
Even the best of your good works are tainted
with sin—
sinful motives,
sinful imperfections, inconsistencies, weaknesses.
But
God enables you to do what is right by His Spirit—
and then he
promises that you will reap good things in his time—
even though you
really don’t deserve.
So,
yes, sowing and reaping in the Bible is a sober warning—it’s heaven or hell.
But to believers it is also the loving words
of your heavenly Father
looking you in the
eye and saying: Be very careful how you
sow!
MP#2 The two places you sow and reap
After
reminding us of the big truth of sowing and reaping—
Paul points out that there are two places
you sow and reap.
You might even say there are two gardens
where you can sow and expect to reap.
Those
to places are yourself—your own spirit and character
and the lives of
other people. Let’s look at each.
First, you sow and reap in
yourself.
“The one who sows to please his sinful
nature, from that nature will reap destruction;
the one who sows to
please the Spirit, from that Spirit will reap eternal life.”
Paul
is talking about your inner being.
He says you can sow to please your sinful
nature or to please the Spirit in you
Your
sinful nature, or your flesh, as also translated—is a big theme in Galatians.
It’s that part of you which is
self-righteous and legalistic.
It is that tendency in you to set up idols
that you serve to save you.
Remember
from our study of Galatians—the flesh is not just things like
sexual immorality
and drunkenness and other bad thing.
The
flesh is also moralism and religion—it’s turning to
things besides Christ
to give you what he
alone can give—joy, security, worth, acceptance, pleasure.
You
can sow respectable things in your flesh like religion
or unrespectable
things like drunkenness—but both are sowing to the flesh.
It’s
easy to see how you could sow pornography.
One look, then another, and then loss of
self-control, and perversion,
and destruction of intimacy with your wife.
It’s
harder to see how you can sow religion.
But Sunday after Sunday, going through the
rituals simply because
this is what is
expected, or this is bare habit, or what you think saves you—
and what happens?
As old Puritan John Owen put it:
You become “sermon proof.”
Noting can shake you up. Quit growing, become ineffective and
unproductive.
Bottom
line is this—if you sow thoughts, deeds that point you away from Jesus—
even if they are
respectable things—you will reap breakdown.
Corruption.
Even though you may be a Christian, will experience a bit of hell on
earth.
You will be delivered from the eternal
flames, but will feel the worm here.
Or,
Paul says, you can sow to please the Spirit.
He means the Holy Spirit in you.
Sow thoughts, attitudes, words, and actions
that honor Jesus Christ.
Do this intentionally in every part of your
life.
Interesting
how many commentaries I read that said that sowing to please Spirit
means reading your
Bible, developing habits of devotional life.
Although that’s certainly true—much bigger
than that.
You
students, you can sow to please the Spirit when you do your math homework.
If you do it well because you know God’s
calling right now is to be a student.
You
parents, you can sow to please Spirit when discipline children.
If you do it to intentionally turn their
hearts to Jesus.
You
businessmen and women, you can sow to please the Spirit by running business
for the glory of
God, giving thanks to Him for the talents and opportunities
that he has given
you, asking Him to use you to serve Him.
We
could go on and on. There is not a
single sphere of your life where you cannot
sow to please the
Holy Spirit if you deliberately focus on glorifying God and
Jesus in it.
This
is what you will reap, eternal life.
That doesn’t just mean heaven.
It means that even in this life, some of the
blessings of the life to come will
spill over into
your character. You will become more Christ-like.
Like
when you are picking blackberries to make jelly to eat later—
but as you are
picking, you pop one in your mouth and enjoy it.
Old
saying that goes like this:
Sow a thought, reap an act. Sow an act, reap a habit.
Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character, reap a destiny.
What
thoughts will you sow? How will this
glorify Jesus or how glorify me?
Your character is what you reap, with
heavenly or hellish qualities.
2. Second place you sow and reap is in the lives
of other people.
Let us not become weary in doing good,
for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let
us do good to all people, especially to those who
belong to the family of believers.
I went to a funeral Saturday morning, just a graveside
in old Tuscumbia cemetery.
For 95
year-old woman Elizabeth Buffington—pillar in my old home church.
Miss Buff, as she was called was a Yankee who had
married a Tuscumbian.
So she had a
directness that was very uncommon in town and took people aback.
But she
became the epitome of the Southern cook and hostess.
She and her husband, who died 20 years ago, built a
little room on the side
of their little house—bed, desk, lamp, own bath.
Built it for one purpose—to host
visiting ministers and missionaries.
No hotel in
Tuscumbia, but even if had been, would not have stayed there.
She had a sharp mind and knew the Bible and theology.
For her being
a hostess meant good conversation.
After eating
would all retire to the living room.
Mr. Buff would light his pipe, and Miss Buff would
say:
Tell me about
your favorite preachers, favorite seminary professors.
Tell me about
struggles in your church. Tell me about the good things.
And she would
share her wisdom as a woman with long love for church.
And Mr. Buff would smile and puff on his pipe.
She kept a guest book—at the funeral yesterday pastor
read some of the names
of the men who had stayed in that room over the decades—some
well known.
And then of he spoke of how many of these men
remembered with fondness,
even after many years, their stay in the Buffington home.
Where not only their physical needs were met with
hospitality—
but their minds and souls refreshed by conversation.
What did Miss Buff reap from her years of sowing
hospitality?
She reaped
the pleasure of seeing guests refreshed.
She reaped I
am sure greater personal spiritual growth.
One verse from the graveside jumped out Revelation 14.
Blessed are
the dead who die in the Lord from now on.
"Yes,"
says the Spirit, "they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will
follow them."
The ultimate reaping you will enjoy when you sow good
in the lives of others—
Is that your
deeds will follow you to heaven. May
mean God pulls back curtain.
You see how
works of charity,
generosity, hospitality compounded.
Miss Buff had her opportunities for doing good and she sowed generously—
you have different opportunities—sow and do not give up, and
you will reap
the harvest that God has in store.
CONC: Whatever
a man sows, that will he also reap.
True words. True for every man, woman and child.
Words that will be remembered with intense bitterness
and regret
by many as they reap what they have sown.
But words remembers with joy and amazement by a
multitude
who heard them from a loving Father and took them to heart.