Freedom’s Harvest (Galatians 6:6-10)
On the wall of President Lyndon Johnson’s White House office hung a framed letter written by General Sam Houston to Johnson’s great-grandfather, Baines, more than 100 years earlier. Baines had led Sam Houston to Christ. Houston was a changed man, no longer coarse and belligerent but peaceful and content.
The day came for Houston to be baptized—an incredible event for those who knew him. After his baptism, Houston offered to pay half the local minister’s salary. When someone asked him why, he said, “My pocketbook was baptized too.” (Randy Alcorn, The Law of Rewards, Tyndale, 2003, p. 12; www.Preaching Today.com)
When a person comes to experience the wonderful freedom we have in Christ, that freedom affects every area of his or her life, including the pocketbook.
Christ has set us free from the law of sin and death. That means we are free to serve one another; we are free to live by the Spirit; and we are free to truly help one another.
That also means we are free to invest our money in ways we never dreamed before. A relationship with Christ is not just about Sunday morning. It affects every area of our life including, and especially, our pocketbooks.
You say, Phil, How? How does my freedom in Christ affect my pocketbook? How does my relationship with Christ affect my spending habits? How does my spirituality affect what I do with my money?
Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Galatians 6, Galatians 6, where the Bible tells us how our freedom in Christ frees up our money as well.
Galatians 6:6 (Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor. (NIV)
We express our freedom best when we SHARE, when we VOLUNTARILY GIVE TO THOSE WHO HAVE TAUGHT US GOD’S WORD.
There is a special relationship that develops between a pastor and his people. There is a special relationship that develops between a teacher and his or her students, especially when it’s the Word of God being taught. It’s a relationship in which teacher and student share with each other.
Now, the word for “share” in this passage comes from the Greek word koinoneo, from which we get our word “fellowship. It literally means to hold things in common or as it is translated here, “to share.”
In other words, I’m not here to do a job for pay. No. You have invited me as your pastor to share our lives together, to share in ministry together, and to share what we have with each other. I share the Word of God. You share “all good things” with your pastor.
And we share voluntarily. We share willingly. We share not because we have to by law. We share because we want to out of love. What we have here is not a contractual relationship between employer and employee. We have a covenant relationship between brothers and sisters in Christ.
It’s a joy, not a job, for me to be your pastor and to teach you the Word of God. I mean there are days when I can’t believe you give me money when I’m having so much fun! & I’m sure it’s a joy for you to take care of your pastor, to make sure he has enough to eat and provide for his family as we work together to reach this community for Christ.
We don’t tax you for religious services like they did in Bible days. Then, the Jews were required to pay 10% of their earnings to support the priests. & The Gentiles paid set fees for religious services. They were both in bondage to their religious systems. They had to pay their teachers, because that was the law.
But now that Christ has set us free from the law, we don’t “pay” our teachers to do a job; no, we “share all good things” with them, because they share the Word of God with us.
Does that mean our teachers get less? No. Many times it means they get more, because of the relationship we share, which is always stronger than any requirement or regulation.
When East Berlin was under communist control, somebody from that side took a truck load of garbage and dumped it on the West Berlin side, the free side. The people of West Berlin could have retaliated in the same way, but instead, they took a truckload of canned goods, bread and milk and neatly stacked it on the East Berlin side. On top of that stack, they placed this sign: EACH GIVES WHAT HE HAS. EACH GIVES WHAT HE HAS.
Those who are free give “good things.” Those who are in bondage give garbage. Those who are under the law give the bare minimum, and they do it grudgingly. Who pays more taxes than they have to? But those who are free give as much as they can, and they do it gratefully.
The best way to express our freedom is to share as much as we can.
Then we can GET SOMETHING BACK. WE CAN COLLECT A RETURN ON OUR INVESTMENT. Or WE CAN REAP A HARVEST (to use a farming metaphor).
Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. (NIV)
If you sow corn, you reap corn. If you sow wheat, you reap wheat.
Galatians 6:8 The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature a will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. (NIV)
“A man reaps what he sows.” It’s a principle of life, and in this context, the Apostle Paul applies it to our sharing of “all good things.”
Specifically, he’s taking about MONEY here. How do I know that? Because in the only other place he uses this same metaphor, he is encouraging people to give MONEY to the poor.
In 2 Corinthians 8-9, Paul is taking up a collection for the poor believers in Jerusalem, and there he encourages them to be generous. Then he tells them, “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously” (2 Corinthians 9:6).
In 2 Corinthians 9, he is talking about how much money we give. Here, in Galatians 6, he is talking about where we give our money.
And since he is talking to farmers, he uses the farming metaphor of sowing and reaping. If he were talking to businessmen, he would probably say, “Where you invest your money determines the kind of return you will get on your investment.”
As believers in Christ, we are free to spend our money any way we want. We can spend it on ourselves, or we can spend it on others.
But know this: if we choose to spend our money on ourselves, it will destroy us in the end. That’s what he means when he says in verse 8, “The one who sows to please his sinful nature” – literally, the one who sows to his own flesh – “will from that [flesh] reap destruction.” If we spend our money to satisfy our fleshly desires, we will be ruined; we will become corrupt.
Right after I graduated from seminary (1985), I candidated in a church that did not “share all good things” with their pastor. They didn’t need to. He was independently wealthy; and because of that, he had refused to accept any salary from the church. He had planted that church in Baltimore 40 years previously, and he was getting ready to retire.
When I met with the men of this small, struggling evangelical congregation, I saw no spiritual vitality. They didn’t even know what they believed. A daughter of one of the couples in the church was a missionary the church helped to support along with her husband, and they were home on furlough. She told me she was not even sure her parents were believers.
Think of it. Forty years of preaching and teaching, and no one could tell whether or not the church members were believers. There may have been several reasons for this, but I believe a primary reason was the pastor. He crippled his congregation by not accepting a salary. They didn’t have to invest their money in spiritual things, so they spent it on themselves and reaped ruination. Not long after that, the church died.
If we spend our money on ourselves, it will destroy us in the end.
But if we spend our money on spiritual things, we get a return on our investment that lasts forever.
Verse 8 says, “The one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.” When we spend our money on things of the Spirit, like good Bible teaching, we reap eternal rewards!
Roger Babson put it this way a long time ago. $1 spent for lunch lasts 5 hours. $1 spent for a necktie lasts 5 weeks. $1 spent for a cap lasts 5 months. $1 spent for a car lasts 5 years. $1 spent for a railroad lasts 5 decades. $1 spent for God’s service lasts for eternity.
Where are you spending your money? On yourself or on things of the Spirit? That might explain the vitality (or lack thereof) in your own spiritual life. Jesus himself said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21).
A grandfather was talking to his grandson. “Grandson,” he said, “there are two wolves living in my heart and they are at war with each other. One is vicious and cruel; the other is wise and kind.”
“Grandfather,” said the alarmed grandson, “which one will win?”
The grandfather paused before he said, “The one I feed.” (Author unknown; www.PreachingToday.com)
If I feed the flesh, it will viciously devour and destroy me. But if I feed the Spirit, His wise and kind ways will prevail in my life. In other words, if I invest time and money in things of the flesh, my life will be ruined. But if I invest time and money in things of the Holy Spirit, I will grow spiritually.
But this is no magic pill. We can’t put $100 in the offering plate today and expect to be a spiritual giant tomorrow. No. If we want to see any real benefits to our giving, then we must persevere in our generosity.
Galatians 6:9 Let us not become weary in doing good - literally, in doing THE good, i.e., the good talked about in verse 6, the good of “sharing all good things” with the teacher of God’s Word.
Galatians 6:9 Let us not become weary in doing good for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up
Don’t be discouraged. We WILL see results – we WILL reap a harvest; there WILL be a return on our investment, if we don’t quit.
How many of you have a can of WD-40 (display) sitting around your house somewhere? I just learned this last week what the “WD” stands for. It stands for “water displacement.” And the 40 refers to how many times they tried to develop an effective formula. They failed 39 times, but succeeded on the 40th try.
The point is, don’t give up. Don’t quit when you are tired. Don’t quit when you fail. Don’t quit when you meet obstacles. (Ted De Hass, Bedford, Iowa; www.PreachingToday.com)
Continue to invest your time and money in spiritual things, and you will eventually see lasting, spiritual results.
The apostle Peter writes: “But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord, one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like one day” (2 Peter 3:8).
An economist who read this passage was quite amazed and talked to God about it. “Lord, is it true that a thousand years for us is like one minute to you?”
The Lord said, “Yes.”
The economist said, “Then a million dollars to us must be like one penny to you.”
The Lord said, “Well, yes.”
The economist said, “Will you give me one of those pennies?”
The Lord said, “All right, I will. Wait here a minute.” (John Ortberg, “Waiting on God,” Preaching Today, Tape #199)
God’s timing is not our timing. So often we want instant results, but God is a whole lot more patient. In fact, He is eternal, but He does promise us a rich harvest of righteousness if we wait on Him, if we don’t give up on pursuing the things of His Spirit.
William Wilberforce is a wonderful example of this kind of perseverance. He was elected to the British Parliament in 1780. He came to faith in Christ in 1785 after listening to John Newton, who was once a slave-trader and then became a pastor in the Church of England.
Later, Newton and others urged Wilberforce to investigate the slave trade and to consider whether he could fight for its abolition in Parliament. Wilberforce concluded, “So enormous, so dreadful, so irremediable did its wickedness appear that my own mind was completely made up for the abolition. A trade founded in iniquity and carried on as this was must be abolished.”
His efforts took 20 years. He was vigorously opposed by the slave traders, who had powerful allies in Parliament. There was also resistance because this was a moral battle: “Things have come to a pretty pass when religion is allowed to invade public life,” complained Lord Melbourne. But with the help of Christians throughout England, Wilberforce eventually succeeded, and in 1807 Parliament voted to abolish the slave trade. (Daniel W. Van Ness, “Saving a Sinking Society,” Discipleship Journal, Mar/Apr 1988; www.PreachingToday.com)
Good things happen to those who persevere, so don’t quit. Don’t be discouraged by set-backs and failures. In due time we will see the results of our generosity if we don’t give up.
We express our freedom best when we share and reap, and then SHARE SOME MORE.
Galatians 6:10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
You see, free people not only share with their teachers; they share with all those who are in need, especially other believers.
Vance is an African American living in a predominately Hispanic neighborhood, so he stands out. But what really sets Vance apart is that he is a servant-hearted father who cares not only for his own kids, but also for the many other kids who play in the streets by his building.
One night at 9 p.m., there was a knock at Vance’s door. The 16-year-old boy who lives a few doors down needed help tying his tie. He had a big presentation at school the next day, and he had no father to help him get ready. After Vance had finished tying the tie, the boy sheepishly asked, “Do you have a pair of black dress shoes I could borrow?”
Immediately, the Spirit brought to Vance’s mind the $60 pair of shoes in his closet that he hadn’t even taken out of the box yet. He was certain God was telling him to give the boy those shoes.
Vance cringed inside. He told the boy to wait at the door as he headed into the apartment to look for any pair of shoes but the expensive pair. Before he went to the closet, though, he told his wife what he sensed the Spirit was saying to him. She agreed that it sounded like God had given him a great idea. So Vance got out his new shoes and brought them to the boy. His last hope was that they wouldn’t fit. After all, how many 16-year-olds have size-12 feet?
They fit perfectly.
Just a few weeks after Vance gave away his new shoes, he and his wife sensed God telling them to start a Bible study for the kids in their building. After much prayer, they decided to invite the kids to their apartment for a Sunday evening study. They ordered four Bibles in case any kids came. That Sunday, seven kids showed up at Vance’s apartment—led by the 16-year-old owner of a new pair of shoes. The following week they ordered more Bibles, and 14 kids showed up!
Who would have thought the kingdom of God would come to the kids of that apartment complex just because one man chose to give away a new pair of shoes? (Bill White, Paramount, California; www.PreachingToday.com)
What is God asking you to share today? And to whom?
My friends, as free people in Christ, let’s share and reap and share some more, so that the Kingdom of God can be expanded in this place and around the world.
But don’t give, because you have to – you don’t. You are not under law. Instead, give, because you want to, because God has already so freely given to you.
Freely, freely, you have received. Freely, freely give!
