God's Principles For Living

(This sermon is prepared by Sister Josephine Glinofria, my student in Central Bible College, as part of her course requirement in Bible Exposition)

MAIN IDEA: God is not mocked, everyone cannot escape the consequences of whatever we do.

Introduction

God is not like man that does change from time to time when it comes to the law or principles. God is stern and fix in His principles. In the principles of sowing and reaping and living and doing, we cannot mock God. Man is always accountable in everything he does.

A farmer, for instance, before he plants seeds, he sees to it that the seeds are selected properly, so that these would germinate well, develop and bear good fruits, fruits that have the same kind of seeds as good as the good seeds selected before. If the farmer is not wise enough on how to choose the good seed and doesn’t know how to prepare these, for sure, these seeds might not germinate, and these will be decade. These ungrown seeds will just be fertilizer to the soil.

CONTENT:

We can understand more if we study the PRINCIPLES of God provided through our TEXT today.

The first principle of God is laid upon with-

I. THE LAW OF SOWING AND REAPING (vs.7- 8)

There are two kinds of fields of life that we can apply this principle.

The first field in which we can sow is FLESH.

A. Sowing in FLESH Will Reap Temporal Life (v.8a)

Sowing in flesh will reap temporal life (v.8a). Flesh in one form of organic matter. Any substance of this organic matter will be decayed. All flesh are bound for destruction, therefore; they are temporary and have limits of time of preservation. No matter how good is the preservation, there will come a point of time that this matter will be decayed.

People are investing so much in material things. All of their time, effort and attention are invested too much in acquiring wealth, not only acquiring, but amassing wealth. They are not satisfied with the present wealth they have, such as cash, real estate, jewelries and other properties. They still aspire for more. They are not contented for their richness. This is greediness. Sad to say, still, many Christians embedded themselves to greediness. They are afraid to loose their money, as if they have no God that provides everything to them.

Many rich people depend so much on their wealth, as if this is their God. They are really afraid to lessen their money even a little bit. Everything in their mind and in their lips is money, money and money, the whole daytime, the whole night and again in their morning wake, it’s still money in their minds.

I have a friend, a townmate, who is said to be the youngest business magnate in Quezon province. He has acquired a lot of properties at the age of 28. Everyday, there is a collection of 5 sacks of money just in the vicinity of Lucena City, not mentioning the business in other parts of the Philippines and other countries. I’ve known from other townmate that he is greedy. He takes advantage of the rights of his workers. He practices unfair labor to his company workers. He even abuses and maltreats many of his employees. As I look to this man, he really is seemingly very lucky, he has everything. To all people, many will think he is okay, but of course, he is not. This man has no peace. In spite of his richness, he is always upset, emotionally disturbed, and fearful that anytime somebody will attack him and even the safety of his family. He trusts nobody. In fact, every time they go to some places, he and his wife ride separately in a car. They don’t go together for the fear that somebody might holdup them.

Another factor that tends people to greed is power.

In the government, plenty of these are found. The public officials make abuses of their power and authority. They corrupt public funds. This is common knowledge and practice in our government. Corruption is rampant! They are no longer moved and embarrassed, no matter how they are exposed in televisions and newspapers. The leaders are very corrupt due to abusive in power. In fact, the Philippines is 7th in corruption in the whole world, and 3rd in Asia because man invests himself in greediness.

Another is fame or popularity.

Man is over-drunk when he is too famous. He feels he is flying high in spirit, as if high in the influence of drug. His feet do not touch or step on the ground. He forgets God, the God that makes him popular. He is now the one being idolized and being lifted on high. He enjoys the glitter of the limelights. He enjoys and receives the hallelujahs of man, instead of for God’s. He thinks his fame is endless, until such time he wakes up one morning nobody knows him! It’s a faded glory!