We are in week 5 of our series called “Whatever.” And throughout this series, we’ve been looking at those powerful statements in Scripture that begin with that word—whatever.
Whatever you do… do it for God’s glory.
Whatever you ask… ask in Jesus’ name.
Whatever you have… learn to be content.
Whatever you bind on earth… will be bound in heaven
And today we come to another one that is both incredibly simple… but it’s incredibly sobering: Whatever you sow… you will also reap.
Now before we dive in… let me start with something that might hit a little too close to home for some of us…
Let’s imagine you decided you were going to start eating healthy. So you go to the grocery store, filled your cart with salads, fruits, vegetables… things you can’t even pronounce.
You get home, unpacked everything, and said, “This is it. New life starts today.” Then… you down on the couch… opened a bag of chips… and say, “Well… I’ll start tomorrow.”
The next day came… same plan. You look at the salad in the fridge and say, “You know... it’s easier to start at the beginning of the week… I’ll start Monday.”
Monday comee… and suddenly it’s, “Well, you don’t start a diet on a stressful day… Mondays are always stressbul… I’ll start next week.”
Two weeks later… all the healthy food is rotten… the chips are gone… and you step on the scale and say, “I don’t understand. I bought all the right stuff!”
Now listen…I can say that… because I’ve just shared with you what I have done on numerous occasions… and it might seem funny… or it might hurt too much to laugh because it’s true… but that’s also how a lot of people live spiritually.
We think proximity equals progress.
We think intention equals transformation.
We think just having the right things around us is enough.
But here’s the truth: You don’t reap what you intend… you reap what you plant.
And that’s exactly why Paul says in Galatians 6:7:
“Don’t be deceived—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant.”
In other words… you can fool yourself… you can fool others… but you can’t fool the field. Because the field never lies. Your life is like a field… if you will…
And every single day… you are planting something. Every thought… every choice… every habit… every action… it’s a seed.
And one day… like it or not… ready or not… you will harvest what you’ve been planting.
There’s an old story about a man who moved out to the country and decided he was going to become a farmer.
He bought some land, went to the store, grabbed a bunch of seed, and scattered it across the field. Then he sat back in a lawn chair with a glass of sweet tea and waited.
A few weeks passed… nothing. So he went back to the store frustrated and said, “These seeds don’t work!”
The clerk asked, “Did you water them?” “No.”
“Did you fertilize the soil?” “No.”
“Did you pull the weeds?” “No.”
The clerk said, “Sir… the problem isn’t the seed. The problem is the process.”
Paul writes in Galatians 6:7:
Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant.
This is one of the most sobering… and yet one of the most encouraging truths in all of Scripture. Because here is what it means.
Your life is not random. Your future is not accidental. Your choices matter. You are planting something every single day.
And one day… you will harvest it.
1. You Cannot Ignore God’s Law
Paul starts this verse off with a sense urgency:
“Don’t be misled…” or some translations say… “Don’t be deceived.”
Now…Why would he say that? I think it’s because he knew that we have an incredible ability to lie to ourselves. We tell ourselves things like…
“I’m ok… This won’t catch up to me.” “I can handle this.”
“It’s really not that big of a deal.” “Hey, God is a God of grace and He will just overlook it.”
So what we do is… we minimize it… we justify it… we compare it.
“Well at least I’m not as bad as them…” “Well this is just a small thing…” “Well this is just for now…”
And little by little… we start calling wrong “not that bad.”
But Paul steps in and says—don’t fool yourself. Don’t buy into your own lie. God is not mocked.
That phrase means you cannot sneer at God’s truth, you cannot disregard His Word, and somehow escape the outcome. You don’t get to rewrite reality.
God has established a moral law in this universe just as real as any physical law…and you don’t break God’s law…You can’t turn your nose up at God’s truth and escape the consequences.
Let’s just imagine I climb up on the highest point of this building and say, “I don’t believe in gravity,” and step off…
Gravity isn’t going to pause and say, “Well, since he doesn’t believe in Gravity… we’ll make an exception.”
No… gravity will prove itself instantly. I’m going to down and it’s going to hurt.
And you need to understand this principle… it’s not that I broke the law of gravity… it’s that the law of gravity broke me.
Sin works the exact same way.
You don’t dabble in sin and walk away unchanged.
You don’t flirt with disobedience and stay unaffected.
You don’t ignore God’s truth and come out neutral.
Sin always produces damage. Disobedience always has consequences. God’s principles always hold true—whether you believe them or not.
And here’s what makes this even more dangerous… the consequences are not always immediate… I almost wish they were… because…
If every sin produced instant consequences, most of us would straighten up real quick.
Imagine… If every lie was immediately exposed… If every sinful decision instantly brought pain… We wouldn’t struggle nearly as much.
But often… there is a gap between sowing and reaping.
And in that gap, we get comfortable. In that gap, we get careless.
In that gap, we start thinking, “Maybe this isn’t a big deal after all.”
But just because the harvest hasn’t come yet… doesn’t mean the seed isn’t in the ground.
There are people living today on the strength of seeds they planted years ago… good or bad.
A marriage doesn’t fall apart overnight.
A character isn’t destroyed in a moment.
A reputation doesn’t collapse in a day.
It’s usually the result of seeds… planted consistently… over time.
I heard a preacher say one time… and I can’t remember who it was but…
“You can’t sow your wild oats on Saturday and pray for a crop failure on Sunday.” - unknown
It doesn’t work that way. God’s law is consistent. It is unwavering. It is undefeated.
You cannot plant dishonesty and expect trust.
You cannot plant bitterness and expect peace.
You cannot plant impurity and expect purity in your life.
You cannot plant selfishness and expect healthy relationships.
You cannot plant sin and expect blessing.
And here’s the truth we don’t always like… God’s grace forgives sin—but it does not erase every consequence of sin.
David was forgiven… but he still faced the fallout. Choices still ripple. Seeds still grow.
You may fool people. You may even fool yourself. But you will never fool God. Because eventually… the harvest always comes.
And when it does, it reveals what was really planted all along.
So Paul says… don’t be deceived. Because the greatest danger isn’t just sin… it’s convincing yourself that sin doesn’t matter.
And when a person gets to the place where sin no longer bothers them… and conviction gets quiet… and compromise feels pretty normal…
Church… that’s not freedom… that’s deception. And Paul says… wake up… don’t be deceived… don’t live like that. Don’t ignore what God has clearly established.
Because whether you acknowledge it or not… you are living under a law you cannot escape… and God’s law is consistent and it cannot be ignored.
Now… I think this next point probably is pretty elementary but I think we need to look at it still.
2. There Are Two Kinds of Sowing
In verse 8 our text today, Paul strips it down really… to the things you do in life, fall into one of two categories… you can either sow to the flesh or you can sow to the spirit.
Look at verse 8 Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit
He is saying… “Those who live only to satisfy their sinful nature will harvest decay and death…” Just for clarification… the flesh is that part of us that says…
“Do what feels good.” “Follow your desires.” “You deserve this.”
“Put yourself first.”
And we need to understand something about how we sow things. Sowing to the flesh isn’t always dramatic rebellion. Sometimes it’s subtle.
It’s… Small compromises… Quiet disobedience… Hidden sin… Gradual drifting
It’s kind of like termites in a house. You don’t see them at first. There’s no loud noise, no dramatic collapse. But slowly… quietly… consistently… they eat away at the structure.
And one day… what looked fine on the outside collapses.
That’s what sin does. It decays your character, your relationships, your joy, your spiritual life…. And Paul says the end result is corruption and rot.
However… “….those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life…”
Sowing to the Spirit means living with intentionality toward God.
And here is what this looks like for us. When we choose obedience over convenience. Or we feed our soul instead of our flesh.
Or we prioritize God’s presence. We say no to sin and yes to righteousness. These are all ways of sowing to the Spirit.
Imagine two dogs inside you… one representing the flesh and one representing the Spirit. Someone once asked, “Which one wins?”
The answer: the one you feed.
Every day you are feeding one or the other. When you indulge sin… you feed the flesh. When you pursue God… you feed the Spirit
And whichever one you feed… grows stronger. And eventually this is what determines your harvest.
Think about what you consume throughout the day. The shows you watch… The music you listen to… The conversations you entertain… The content you scroll
If it constantly feeds lust, anger, pride, negativity
…you are feeding the flesh.
And here’s the thing… you may not feel it immediately.
But over time… your thoughts change… your desires shift… your sensitivity dulls
But when you intentionally put in truth, worship, encouragement, Scripture… You’re feeding the Spirit. You’re strengthening the part of you that wants God.
And that is in incredible start to being transformed into who Jesus wants you to be… but understand this next principle.
3. The Harvest Takes Time
And this is where many people get discouraged. Paul says:
“At just the right time we will reap…”
Not immediately. Not instantly. At just the right time.
Because God works in seasons. And this is where a lot of people lose heart.
Because we live in a world of instant results. Instant messages. Instant downloads. Instant food. Instant answers
We’ve been conditioned to expect immediate outcomes… So when we step into a spiritual principle that operates on God’s timeline instead of ours… it can feel frustrating.
A farmer understands something we have a tendency to forget:
There is always a gap between sowing and reaping. You plant in one season… and harvest in another. A farmer never plants a seed and comes back the next morning expecting a harvest.
They plant and expect a harvest… And in between, there’s a lot of waiting… And waiting is hard. But here’s what we do…
We sow something on Monday… and expect results by Friday.
We pray once… and expect everything to change overnight.
We make one right decision… and expect a lifetime of blessing to follow immediately.
And when it doesn’t happen… we start questioning the process.
Listen… You may be raising your kids the right way… but not seeing results
You may be living faithfully… but feeling unnoticed. You may be doing good… but feeling like it’s not making a difference
But listen… just because you haven’t seen the crop come up yet…it doesn’t mean it’s not growing.
There was a man who planted grass seed in his yard. For days, nothing happened. Meanwhile, his neighbor’s yard was green and full… And he got discouraged.
But what he didn’t realize was that beneath the surface, roots were forming. And when they finally broke through… his yard became even stronger and healthier.
God does some of His best work underground. In your heart In your character. In your faith… before it ever shows up on the surface.
And that leads us to our forth point today…
4. Don’t Give Up
Paul says: “Let us not grow weary in doing good…”
While prepping for this message today… something leaped off the page at me that I had never thought of before.
“Let us not grow weary in doing good…” That tells me something… doing good can wear you out.
It’s not always easy to…Keep showing up. Sometimes, it’s hard to keep praying and keep believing and keep serving, and keep doing right.
Especially when: You don’t see results and you feel unappreciated and you’re tired and discouraged
But Paul says… don’t quit. Because: “At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.”
May 29, 2011 it looked like it was destiny, the day Dale Earnhardt Jr. was rounding the last lap of the Charlotte Motor Speedway.
You could just imagine the script that was being set; it was memorial day, he was being sponsored by the national guard, and He was going to finally win for the first time in 105 races!
Fans were hysterical stomping and cheering louder and louder. But as Dale Earnhardt Jr. came around the backstretch of the Coca-Cola 600… suddenly it was over.
The gas tank of his Chevrolet ran dry and Kevin Harvick sped right around him and stole the victory. The race was lost because Dale Earnhardt Jr ran out of gas on the last lap of his race.
I don’t know but there might be some of you who feel like you’re out of gas… or maybe you feel weary. You feel like giving up.
It breaks my heart to think about how many people: Quit praying too soon… Quit serving too soon… Quit believing too soon… Quit obeying too soon. But… you may be closer than you think.
I want to wrap this up today by making it very personal and practical for us. Imagine right now… every person in this room is holding a bag of seed.
And every day, whether you realize it or not, you are scattering it across the field of your life. Some of you… if you’re honest…
you’ve been sowing to the flesh.
You’ve been planting things you know aren’t right. And maybe nobody else sees it… But the field does. And one day… it will come up.
Others of you… you’ve been sowing to the Spirit. You’ve been doing right. You’ve been faithful. You’ve been trying. But you’re tired.
And you’re wondering, “Is it even worth it?”
Let me tell you something:
God sees every seed. God records every act of obedience… And God guarantees the harvest.
Years ago, there was a missionary who spent decades serving in a remote area. He poured his life into people, preached the gospel, served faithfully… but never saw much visible success.
No big crowds. No great recognition. No obvious harvest.
After many years, he returned home feeling like a failure.
On the same ship was a famous celebrity. When they arrived, there was a huge crowd, cheering, cameras flashing, celebration everywhere.
The missionary quietly slipped off the ship unnoticed. That night, discouraged, he prayed, “Lord… I gave my life to You, and it feels like it didn’t matter.”
And in his heart, he sensed God whisper: “You’re not home yet.”
Church… listen to me: This is not necessarily the harvest season.
This is the planting season. The harvest is coming. And when it comes…
it will be worth every prayer… every sacrifice… every act of obedience… every seed you planted.
So today, I want to ask you: What are you sowing?
If you’ve been sowing to the flesh… today is your moment to change fields. God offers forgiveness, grace, and a new beginning.
If you’ve never trusted Christ… this is where it starts. You can begin sowing to the Spirit today.
If you’re weary… don’t quit. You are closer than you think.
Because God has made a promise: You will reap… if you don’t give up.
So keep planting. Keep trusting. Keep going. The harvest is coming.
