Sowing To Get A Good Harvest

Sowing a Good Harvest?

Galatians 6:7-10

Online Sermon: http://www.mckeesfamily.com/?page_id=3567

Are you born again? If so then you are a new creation, eternally adopted and sealed by the Holy Spirit as an heir in God’s family! But is your decision to make Jesus the Lord of your life all that God wants from you as His child? If that were the case, then salvation would not only be an eternal security blanket but a license to indulge in the self-seeking pleasures of this world! While our decision to accept Jesus into our heart is infinitely important, are not our daily decisions to live to either please ourselves or to please the Spirit important as well? The prophet Jeremiah states the “heart above all things is deceitful” (17:9), especially in the way we treat our Lord, Savior, and King. Is it possible to deceive God into believing that our pretensions of holiness by occasionally reading the Bible, praying, attending church while spending most of our time imitating those who follow the god of this age is anything more than mere filthy rags? If it were possible to receive the benefits of believing without adhering to the truth in which they reside then why did Christ state to be His disciple one must deny oneself, take up one’s cross and follow Him? Where in the Bible does Christ say, ‘make Me the Lord of your life to be saved and then afterwards live anyway you please?’ Apostle Paul answers these questions with the emphatic statement that a person reaps what they sow! While choosing to live one’s life to please the Holy Spirit rather than to please one’s fleshly desires does not affect one’s salvation, it affects one’s current relationship with God, others, and one’s eternal rewards.

Please open your Bibles to Galatians 6:7-10 and while you read the passage over a few times invite the Spirit of God to convict you as to what field, the flesh, or the Spirit, you are currently planting in?

Do not be Deceived!

“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows” (7)

Paul warns the church of Galatia that one cannot “turn one’s nostrils up,” “scorn, sneer, laugh, show great disdain or scoff at” God’s command that we are to be holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1:16). Earlier Paul called the Galatians “foolish” and accused them of being “bewitched by some evil deceiver” (3:1) and now he is reminding them that scorning or mocking God’s commands has some very serious, long-term consequences (Proverbs 1:30-31; Ezekiel 8:17). While the world would have one think that sins such as idolatry, adultery, homosexuality and other forms of worldly living (1 Corinthians 6:9, 15:33) are compatible with the kingdom of God this is not only false but such sowing of evil will lead to divine punishment. While it is tempted to live as if our actions do not matter, the divine law is clear: a person reaps what they sow. The “agricultural cycle with its sowing and reaping provided a natural metaphor for the conjunction of moral and eschatological teaching (Job 4:8; Proverbs 22:8; Hosea 10:12; Matthew 13:39). One cannot have the benefits of believing without adhering to the truth in which they reside nor can one escape being disciplined by God for breaking His commands! One mocks God not only when one does not provide for the minister who teaches God’s word (6:6) but also when one refuses to take responsibility and live a holy life “in light of Christ’s return.” “While it would be unwise to test the law of gravity by driving a car off the top of a parking garage, so too it would be unwise to test the law of the divine harvest by living a life centered upon ourselves!” Since the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure” (Jeremiah 17:9) our “capacity for self-deception is quite frightening.” Due to our outward signs of supposed righteousness Christians can be deceived into thinking their relationship with God is holy, even when the heart is far from Him! Therefore, Paul warns believers to not merely let life happen but instead to take every word, thought, and deed captive (2 Corinthians 10:3-5) for they will one day be judged and rewarded or punished accordingly.

Two Fields to Sow

“Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”

Paul “urges his converts” to carefully choose which field they are going to plant in: either the flesh or the Spirit! “The old adage is true: ‘Sow a thought, reap an act; sow an act, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny!’ From the flesh Paul states one reaps a harvest of corruption and from the Spirit a harvest of eternal life. Good works, even those done to please the Spirit, do not lead to salvation but are proof that one is saved (Ephesians 2:8-9). While Paul is likely referring to one’s eternal destiny, hell or heaven, in these verses; since this letter is addressed to the converts of the church of Galatia it is likely that he is also referring to the quality of one’s harvest. “From Paul’s perspective, Christians have already been delivered from the present evil age (1:4) and are therefore already in the new creation (6:15). But the battle between the Spirit and the sinful nature is not yet over (5:17)!” The field that we plant in has eternal consequences for Christians for we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ and will be held accountable for the things done in the body, whether good or evil (2 Corinthians 5:10). Sowing to please the fleshly nature will reap a “harvest of destruction, a destruction of relationships with others and with God,” and one that upon death will pass away and be destroyed. Sowing to please the Spirit will not only reap in the present the blessings of walking in holiness that comes with living a Spirit-controlled life but also eternal crowns of righteousness (2 Timothy 4:8) that do not rust and cannot be destroyed for all of eternity (Matthew 6:19-21).