Sowing & Reaping Series

GALATIANS 6: 6-8

SOWING AND REAPING

The principle of reciprocity is certainly being taught here. Though the initial thought is that their ministers should have a material return for what they spiritually sow in the life of the believers the principle extends beyond that arena. The creation precept or the spiritual law built into the very fabric of all creation, both physical and spiritual, is that a person reaps after the same manner and nature that they sow. Every thought, attitude or action has its own natural reproductive cycle. What you sow, you reap. If you sow what is bad you will reap what is bad, if you sow what is good you will reap what is good.

I. RETURNING TO THE INSTRUCTOR; 6.

II. REAPING WHAT SOWED; 7.

III. REAPING CORRUPTION OR LIFE; 8.

Since a disproportionate portion of the load of bearing the burdens of others falls on the ministers in the caring for and instructing the church, verse 6 instructs those taught to share with those teaching. "The one who is taught the Word is to share all good things with the one who teaches him."

There were many workers or elders in the church assigned to various aspects, but this verse is for the those whose foremost duty was teaching the Word. Those who receive instruction [kat ch n- catechist] in the Word should share (Rom. 15:26; 2 Cor 9:13; Heb. 13:16) all good things with the instructor or pastor. All good things includes material return and/or financial or remuneration to biblical teachers or ministers.

The verb translated share [koin né ] is imperative or it is a command and is emphatic in the Greek text. It literally means "to contribute a share to" or "be a partner with" [Longenecker, Gal. Word Biblical Com. 278]. The benefitted should benefit those who benefit them.

The ministry responsibilities of the church presses its leader to give up their daily employment to fulfill them adequately. The precept being taught is that the teacher of the Word shares spiritual treasures and empowering and those who are taught ought to share material substance and support in return (1 Cor. 9:7-12). It is easy to take spiritual leaders for granted, ignoring their financial, emotional and physical needs. They should be supported and cared for, not grudgingly or reluctantly but with a generous spirit showing honor and appreciation for all they have done (1 Tim. 5:17-18; 1 Thess. 5:12-13). (See Luke 10:7 & 1 Cor. 9:3,11,14).

II. REAPING WHAT SOWED, 7.

Verses 7 & 8 state the spiritual principle that lies behind the precept in verse 6. The command to give is not simply so that pastors, missionaries (Phil. 4:10-19), and teachers might have their needs meet but that the givers might invest for a greater blessings.

In every dimension, including the moral and spiritual, the universe is structured on inexorable laws. In Galatians 6:7 the Bible uses a well-known law of botany-that a given seed can reproduce only its own kind-to illustrate God’s parallel and equally inviolable laws in the moral and spiritual realms. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.

The elaboration of verse six first comes with a solemn warning that God is not mocked. The word mock (mykterizetar) means snub, sneer, treat with contempt. It literally translates "to turn up the nose at." The thought is don’t deceive [pres. imper.] yourself into thinking you can sow wrongly and escape the results of your wrong sowing. For a Christian to sin while thinking he is somehow immune from God’s standard of holiness is to mock the Lord and to mimic the world. (You may find forgiveness but God does not wipe out the earthy consequences of your actions). Some because they have not suffered evil consequences for living according to their fleshly desires assume they are getting away with it. They let the devil deceive them into thinking that either God does not care or God is not holy. The principle is that you can not mock God nor His natural, moral or spiritual laws and do so with impunity.

The principle created into the very fabric of the physical and spiritual world is what ever a man sows, this he will also reap. God does not operate His realm by whim or capriciously. How else would the farmer know when or what to plant in order to get the desire result. The farmer know when and what to plant, to get what he wants because he looks to the end before beginning.

What is sown is what is reaped is how God established His physical and spiritual world. What a person sows will result in blessing or judgment for God is not a deity who does not fulfill His laws or who reverses His laws. God’s laws are not mocked by mankind’s attempts to ignore the cause and effect relationship of justice nor is God tricked into bestowing blessing instead of due judgment. You cannot sow wrongly and escape the results of wrong sowing. The corollary is also true. You cannot sow rightly and not reap its rewards.