Galatians 6:1-10
Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burden, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load.
Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor.
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 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, les us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
Don’t Kid Yourselves
There was once a very young little boy who had a very special place all his own. It was a very old fruit tree in the middle of his back yard. It had large, long branches, and plenty of leaves, but that old fruit tree hadn’t produced fruit in many years. High up in its branches, hidden from view by the leaves, there was a perfect spot for a little boy to sit & dream away the hours.
Up there he was a space ship commander traveling to galaxies unknown, he was Tarzan, living in a jungle world, he was a philosopher, solving the riddles of the ages. And it wasn’t just play time, he would go there when he felt mistreated, or misunderstood, or when he felt like being alone. Little boys feel that way sometimes. That tree was his hideaway, and it was very special to him.
So you can imagine how he felt when he heard his father telling his mother, "I think I’ll cut down that old fruit tree. It hasn’t borne any fruit in years."
What could the little boy do? If he begged his father not to do it, then he would have to say why, & his secret hideaway would be a secret no more. Then he hit upon a wonderful plan. Since there were a number of apple trees in a field nearby, he & his best friend got a whole basket full. That evening, while his parents were busy inside, he & his friend climbed the tree & tied the stems of the apples to almost every limb of the old fruit tree.
Well, the next morning his father went out & looked at the old tree, & was amazed to see that it was laden with big, fat apples. And the little boy was so anxious to see how his father would react. His father came back inside & said to the mother, "You’re not going to believe this, but a miracle took place last night. That old fruit tree is full of apples. There are fat, juicy apples on almost every branch."
His wife said, "That’s remarkable." "Yes," the father said, "& it is even more remarkable because that’s not an apple tree. It’s a pear tree."
We all know that apple trees don’t produce pears & pear trees don’t produce apples. When you sow apple seeds you expect apples. When you sow pear seeds you expect pears. When you sow corn you expect corn, because we learned a long, long time ago that what you sow is what you reap.
Listen to the familiar words of Galatians 6:7-9 again as Paul writes, "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."
Now this principle that the apostle Paul shares with us in Gal. 6 has been around for a long time. In fact, Paul was not the first to say it. Jesus taught the same thing in one of His parables. You remember the parable about the farmer who went out & sowed good seed in his field? Then as he slept, an enemy came & sowed bad seed among the good.
No one knew about it until the two kinds of seeds started to grow. One day a servant discovered that there were tares growing among the wheat. He rushed in & told the master that wheat & tares were growing side by side.
They concluded, "If wheat & tares are growing side by side it means that two kinds of seed have been planted." Wheat seed doesn’t produce tares, & tare seeds don’t produce wheat. They could conclude that someone had come in behind them and planted tares… because they knew… you sow what you reap.
2. Back in the OT, in Hosea 8:7, the prophet Hosea said, "If you sow the wind, you will reap the whirlwind."
3. And we can even go back to Genesis 1:11 where God forms the earth & says, "Let the ground bring forth grass, & the herb yielding seed, & every fruit bearing tree bring forth fruit after its own kind. And it was so." The principle of sowing & reaping is as old as life itself. What you sow is what you reap.
Now the bare basics of farming is not the intended lesson of this sermon… Paul’s main point is. Paul very clearly gives us the answer to my favorite question, “So what?” He presents us with something we all know is true… what you sow is what you reap… to teach us something, and Paul makes a very strong point.
Brothers and sisters, Paul knows that we all know that apples come from apple trees, and pears come from pear trees. What he does is turns it on our lives, and tells us… just as an apple tree will produce apples… what you sow in your own life… you will reap. He tells us flat out… “Don’t be deceived.” He further reminds us that if we think we are fooling God we are only fooling ourselves. He tells us plain and simple… don’t kid yourselves. If you are sowing evil… you will reap evil. If you are sowing goodness… you will reap goodness. It is a very simple message, "You will reap what you sow. You will not reap something else, you will reap exactly what you sow."
It makes you realize, that right now I am sowing seeds, & so are you. The actions you and I take today, will yield fruit in the months and years to come. And what kind of fruit will it be? What kind of future is in store for our church, being determined right now by the actions you and I take today? I think that is something you and I both need to think about.
It is the same way that good farmers think. We could talk to several of our farmers here in the congregation, and I bet not a single one of them says they plant seeds just for the fun of it. Sure it might be fun to get out there after a long winter and get back into the fields they have grown to love… but they don’t just plant seeds for the fun of it… they are thinking about the harvest to come every step along the way. Every field they seed is done deliberately… with purpose and a plan for the future.
Why should it be any different for us? I think we need to be like good farmers. When we are sowing our seeds… we need to keep the harvest in mind. How often do we just act without thinking about the consequences… just go through the routines without thinking about what life in the church will be like next year, 5 years from now… 10 years from now. Paul says, “Stop kidding yourselves.” Every action you take will have an impact on the future. We need to be deliberate about the seeds we plant. We need to have a purpose for planting them, and most of all… we need to do it with our eyes on the future… with the harvest always on our minds.
Now if I were a motivational speaker… I would say something cliché right about now… something like, “Go make your mark!” But brothers and sisters, you are already making your mark every single day. The big question is… what kind of mark is it?
It is a very important question to ask… because there is one more farming truth that I want to remind us all of. It is a very simple one, one that any farmer could teach us.
[Richard, would you mind if I picked on you a little bit this morning?] Yes
[How many bushels of seed corn does it take to plant one acre?] Less than half
[How many bushels of seed corn do expect to yield per acre on average?] 170
[Now Richard, what would you say to a farmer who told you he planted half a bushel per acre, and expects a half a bushel per acre yield?] He’ll go broke!
[Thank you Richard]
You will always harvest way more than you sow. As our resident expert has let us know it takes less than half a bushel to plant an acre, really… one bushel will plant 2.5 acres. Now, he expects an average of 170 bushels per acre. That means for every bushel of seed planted, he’ll see a return of over 400 bushels. For every single seed planted, he’ll get 400 back. You see, the great principle of sowing & reaping not only tells us that we will reap what we sow, but also that we will reap more… much, much more than we sow. Our actions will have huge consequences to come… good or bad… 400fold.
And that is what Paul reminds us of today. He writes, "Do not be deceived." How many of us are deceived this morning? How many of us are fooling ourselves into thinking that what we do doesn’t matter. How many of us are fooling ourselves into thinking we don’t have to do anything? Paul continues, “A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the spirit will reap eternal life.” And as we were reminded this morning… not only will we reap what we sow, but we will reap it 400 fold.
Paul continues, “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.
Brothers and sisters, what we do today will have a huge affect on the future. What you do in your lives will have a huge affect on your life. What we do now, as a church… will have huge affects on the future of First Presbyterian. With that in mind… go forth and live your life with a farmers mentality. Live your life like you are planting seeds every day with the harvest in mind. Live your life like you are planting seeds on purpose, with the future always in mind. Live your life as the apostle Paul challenges us today… not hesitating to do goodness.
Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
