Planting Tomorrows Harvest, Galatians 6:7-10
Introduction
I read a story recently about a little four year old girl named Deborah, who was helping her father in plant seeds in the garden one sunny afternoon. As the little girl worked alongside her father in the garden, he explained to her about sowing and reaping. “From two or three beans that we put in the soil,” he said, “we’ll probably harvest dozens of beans,”
A few weeks later the little girl’s grandmother sent her a pair of hand knit mittens. It was too warm for mittens that day, but the little girl insisted that she wear them. Later in the afternoon when she came inside, her father noticed that she was not wearing her mittens. “Deborah, where are the mittens Grandma sent you?” her father asked.
“I planted them,” was the excited reply, “and when they come up in the garden, I’ll have lots of mittens!”
Transition
Many times we are just like the little girl in the story. We misunderstand what it means to plant and harvest in our lives. Whether it is in finances, relationships, or spiritual life, we plant seeds for sour grapes and are surprised when we don’t get a harvest of apples.
This morning I want to talk to you about what it means to plant tomorrow’s harvest. I’m hoping and praying that you will leave here this morning, reminded of God’s goodness and reminded of the importance of planting the type of seeds that will bring an excellent and bountiful harvest in your life.
Did you know that many fruit bearing trees do not yield a crop for several years after they are planted? In fact, from seed to harvest the avocado takes seven full years. If you want to have fresh avocados from your backyard garden you had to plant the tree seven years ago.
Where we are today is for the most part a result of the choices and decisions that we made yesterday… a month ago… a year ago… and even in decades past. The choices we make in our life are just like seeds.
The seeds we have planted in the past will determine what kind of harvest we will reap today. We reap what has been sown.
Reaping What Is Sown
A young man came to a 90 year old man and said to him, “How have you managed to live so long and be so well?” The old man took the youngster to an orchard, and, pointing to some large trees full of apples, said, “I planted these trees when I was a boy, and do you wonder that now I am permitted to gather the fruit of them?”
We gather in old age what we plant in our youth. Sow to the wind, and you reap the whirlwind. Plant in early life the right kind of a Christian character and you will eat luscious fruit in old age, and gather these harvest apples in eternity.
The bible is chalked full of agrarian imagery. That is, in context, the Bible was written to a people whose lives were centered almost entirely on agriculture. That is why there are so many references to agricultural ideas in the Bible.
In understanding the Scriptures it is crucial that we remember to read them in their cultural and historical context. As we do that, we can take the message of the Bible and apply it in real and relevant ways in our lives today.
We see the principal of reaping and sowing played out in our lives every day. Whether we are aware of it or not, we are today eating from the harvest of the seeds we planted in the past. And while we can not change the past, we can choose to plant good seeds today.
Planting Seeds of Faith
Perhaps the best place to start is by choosing to plant seeds of faith in our relationship with God. As we do that… we are filled with the power and strength of God for each day of our lives.
If we don’t plant seeds of faith in our life, our spirits will become weak, dry, and withered. Far too often we find ourselves abandoning faith in favor of the supposed wisdom of the world.
Fred Allen wrote, “Most of us spend the first six days of the week sowing wild oats, then we go to church on Sunday and pray for a crop failure.” In 1 Corinthians 2:5 Paul tells us, “Not to let our faith rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (Paraphrased)
In Matthew 17:20 the words of Jesus said to them, “For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” (ESV)
A mustard seed is a tiny little seed. And here Jesus tells us that if we plant the seed of faith in our life there is no obstacle in our life that we cannot move. The early church father, Saint Augustine of Hippo wrote, “God does not expect us to submit our faith to him without reason, but the very limits of reason make faith a necessity.”
Who among us can reason our way through all of life’s difficulties? No, this world would be very bleak indeed, were it not for the hope that faith brings. The darkness which exists in this world would seem darker still without the light of faith to guide us through the dark places into the sunrise of brighter tomorrows.
Faith is not the disease that afflicts the foolish. Faith brings freedom to those who find it. Faith is not blind devotion to the unknown. Faith is like a seed, which when planted and nurtured, brings forth a harvest of hope.
Let us learn to plant seeds of faith in our lives so that we might fulfill the words of 2 Corinthians 5:6-7, “So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight.” (ESV)
Harvesting Fruits of Peace
I recently read a story of a little boy who often used an old fruit tree to escape from his second story bedroom window, especially when his father was about to punish him. One day the father announced that he was going to cut down the old tree because it had not borne fruit in many years.
That night the boy and his friends purchased a bushel of apples and in the cover of darkness tied fruit to the unproductive branches. The next morning the father shouted to his wife. “Mary, I can’t believe my eyes. The old fruit tree that was barren for years is covered with apples. It’s a miracle because it’s a pear tree!”
James 3:12-18 says, “Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water” (ESV) It has been said that “Kindnesses, like grain, increase by sowing.”
You don’t reap a harvest of sweet apples by planting seeds for sour grapes.
And in the same way, you don’t reap peace, love, or joy in your life by planting seeds of anger, hatred, or unforgiveness.
How often do we find ourselves reaping a harvest of unhappiness only because in days, months, and years past, we planted seeds of discontent? The principal of reaping and sowing is at much at work in the world as is the law of gravity. We create our tomorrows by the choices we make… the seeds we plant… today.
Some of you may be thinking to yourself, “But what about when someone does something to me that was out of my control? What about a spouse or a parent who hurt me so deeply? What about a friend who betrayed me? What about the harvest in my life, which is the result of the seeds that someone else planted?”
To you I say that while you did not reap a harvest of pain because of the seeds which you planted, you do now have the choice of what kind of seeds you will choose plant for tomorrow’s harvest. How will you to respond?
When we don’t forgive others for the hurtful seeds which they plant in our lives, we choose to continue to harvest the same kind of fruits. When we don’t forgive them for sowing seeds of pain in our life, that pain will turn to bitterness and bitterness builds walls in our hearts which keeps us knowing the love of God.
When we harbor unforgiveness toward someone who planted seeds of hurt in our life, we give them the control in our lives. But instead of continuing to eat the fruits of the seeds which they planted in our lives, choose to plant new seeds… seeds of forgiveness… seeds of peace.
When we do that, we take the power from them and give that power to God. And then He has the power to bring healing and restoration into our lives.
While we can’t always control what seeds others will plant into our lives, can plant new seeds. We don’t have to be victims of the careless planting of others; we don’t have to harvest the hurts which they planted in us.
Conclusion
This morning, I encourage you to sow seeds of faith and peace in your life. Be encouraged by the goodness of God in your life.
The well known Christian author, Max Lucado wrote, “Sowing seeds of peace is like sowing beans. You don’t know why it works; you just know it does. Seeds are planted, and topsoils of hurt are shoved away.”
