The Law Of The Harvest

The Law of the Harvest

Gal. 6:7-9

Intro: The Power of One Decision

Quote: A lifetime of good decision can be destroyed by one poor decision.

Idea: We all know this to be true…

Idea: Law of Gravity – if you try to defy it, it will hurt you – the Law of the Harvest (Sowing & Reaping) is just as certain.

I Analysis Four Precepts of the Harvest

A The Principle

Verse: Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows this he will also reap.

Word: Deceived (planeo) stop being led astray – the Galatians were being led astray by the false teachings of Judaizers who were trying to convince the Galatians to revert to the Mosaic Law and to circumcision.

Word: Mocked (mukterizo) to turn one’s nose at God and treat with contempt.

Idea: Because one thinks that he knows better than God, he seeks to make God ridiculous by trying to outsmart and outwit God. He considers the wisdom and the Word of God as useless and derives a way that seems right to himself. Thus, he sneers at God with disregard and disrespect considering God idiotic and obsolete.

Point: When a person (believers included) buys into the false teachings of the world, no matter how religious they may appear to be, he arrogantly turns a deaf ear to God and lives by a standard that is self-gratifying.

Word: Sows (speira) to intentional plant a seed with knowledge of its fruit.

Idea: If a sow an apple seed I know that I will harvest an apple in due season. I cannot reap an orange if I plant an apple seed. It is not possible!

Word: Reap (therisei) to harvest.

Idea: The concept is that one will work the field and claim the harvest of what he has planted. One cannot, not reap a harvest. If a person plants, and every one of us plant, then they will also all reap a harvest.

B The Payment

Verse: For the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life.

Word: Flesh – the uncleansed humanness of every believer – literally the residence of the natural man who has but a single desire but to sin.

Idea: The person who sows to the flesh panders to its evil desire and inclinations rather than submitting to the leading of God’s Spirit through His Word.

Idea: See Galatians 5:19-21 for the inclinations of the flesh

Word: Corruption (phthora) that which is dead and decaying. It is a degenerative state going from better to worse leading to the wages of sin – death!

Idea: One bad apple can cause the whole basket to rot.

Idea: Roman Punishment – for there most hated enemies, the Romans would tie a dead man to their back and make them carry it around so that the person would become infected, would begin to decay, and would eventual die a slow agonizing death.

Word: Spirit – The Holy Spirit invested in you through salvation

Word: Eternal Life – this is a reference to quality and not quantity. Eternal life begins at salvation and includes both abundance and eternity.

Reality: There are but two fields in which we all plant. We either sow to the flesh or we sow to the Spirit. To sow to the flesh is to bring destruction upon ourselves, whereas to sow to the Spirit is to reap blessing and life.

C The Promise

Verse: And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary.

Word: Doing Good (poieo - kalos) a person who consistently does good b/c his nature is good (he is by nature intrinsically good b/c he has been transformed by a person experience w/ God).

Word: Lose Heart (ekkakeo) – to grow faint, become a coward and give into evil thus, to turn to the flesh.

Idea: To turn to the flesh by going back to a “do-it-myself” mentality. When a person manufactures an action or result instead of waiting upon God.

Example: Abraham and Sarah moving ahead of God.

Trans: But what causes a person to lose heart and turn to the flesh?

Word: Due Time (kairo) in its own season. Indicating an appointed time for reaping the harvest.

Idea: It takes time for a seed to germinate, grow, bud, and produce a fruit ready for harvest. In God’s economy there is no immediate gratification, yet the flesh always wants to be gratified today.

Idea: People trying all ways to get rich – lottery, gambling, trickery, theft – but very few are content by obtaining through diligence.

Truth: The reason many Christians lose heart and turn to the flesh is because they become to the patterns of this world and begin to desire immediate gratification instead of waiting on God and being content with His blessings. Thus, they turn to the flesh and strap death to their own backs securing their own demise telling God by their actions that He is neither sufficient nor sovereign and that they can live this life fine without Him. They refuse God’s economy for the immediate desires of their own flesh.