Sowing And Reaping Series

Text: Galatians 6:7-10

Title: Sowing and reaping.

Introduction

Before we get serious I thought you might appreciate the following warning labels.

Not intended for highway use – on a 13 inch wheel on a wheelbarrow

May irritate eyes – on a can of self-defense pepper spray

Please keep out of children – on a butcher’s knife

Wearing of this garment does not enable you to fly – on a child sized Superman costume

May be harmful if swallowed – on a shipment of hammers

Warning: has been known to cause cancer in laboratory mice – on a box of rat poison

Our text for today also begins with a Warning

•Do not be deceived

Do not be deceived about what? Let’s read on.

Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. A man reaps what he sows

Warning: Do not be deceived about the principal of Sowing and Reaping.

Here is the principal of Sowing and Reaping…

1.You always reap what you sow

2.You always reap more than you sow

3.You always reap later than you sow

1.You always reap what you sow.

“Do not be deceived; God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” (v7)

Illustration: If you sow an apple seed -you reap an apple tree (not an orange tree or a pear tree)

Why not an orange tree or a pear tree? You always reap what you sow.

Definition of insanity: Always doing what you did before but expecting different results

If I always reap what I sow -then I need to be very careful about what I sow.

The Good News is God makes it really easy for me to be very careful about what we sow.

Here is how God has made it really easy for me to be very careful about we sow.

Our scripture for today tells me that I really only have two choices where I can sow.

Not a million choices. Not a thousand choices. Not a hundred choices. Not even ten choices

Only 2 choices! God makes it simple!

•I can sow to please my sinful nature or…

•I can sow to please the Spirit.

Understand this:

•Whenever I sow to please the sinful nature I am mocking God

•Whenever I sow to please the Spirit I am magnifying God

Our Focus needs to be on Sowing to please the Spirit

So now I need to know what pleases the Spirit?

Again God helps us

I please the Spirit by…doing good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” (v10)

Illustration: You and I are like Salvation Army clothes boxes

“Doing the most good”

Paul doesn’t elaborate here on what it means to do good to all people

But here is what Jesus had to say about doing good…

Jesus said: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” (Matthew 25:35-36)

If you and I do good to all people especially to those who belong to the family of God you and I will reap good things back.

Why? You always reap what you sow

This brings us to the second part of the principle of sowing and reaping

2.Don’t be deceived -You always reap more than you sow

“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.”

Notice that the scripture tells us up front what we will reap.

“The one who sows to please his sinful nature from that nature will reap destruction.”

Some people will argue: How could God do such a terrible thing?

But the scripture does not put the blame for anyone’s destruction on God.

“The one who sows to please his sinful nature from that nature will reap destruction.”

In other words people destroy their own lives!

“There is a way that seems right to man but in the end it leads to death.” (Proverbs

God is letting us know that we always reap more than we sow because He does not want to see any man or woman destroyed!

So God always gives us a way out of destruction

The one who sows to please the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”

To understand this verse

We already said that doing good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers pleases the Spirit

This verse is not saying that by doing good you will reap eternal life

What the verse is saying is this;