You Reap What You Sow

You Reap what you Sow

Ill. Late one summer evening in Broken Bow, Nebraska, a weary truck driver pulled his rig into an all-night truck stop. The waitress had just served him when three tough looking, leather jacketed motorcyclists - of the Hell’s Angels type - decided to give him a hard time. Not only did they verbally abuse him, one grabbed the hamburger off his plate, another took a handful of his french fries, and the third picked up his coffee and began to drink it. How would you respond? Well, this trucker did not respond as one might expect. Instead, he calmly rose, picked up his check, walked to the front of the room, put the check and his money on the cash register, and went out the door. The waitress followed him to put the money in the till and stood watching out the door as the big truck drove away into the night.

When she returned, one of the bikers said to her, "Well, he’s not much of a man, is he?" She replied, "I don’t know about that, but he sure ain’t much of a truck driver. He just ran over three motorcycles on his way out of the parking lot." (Sermon Central ill.)

Even the secular world recognizes the truth of Reaping and Sowing, but since they don't want to give glory to God, they rename it “karma”. But the biblical doctrine of reaping and sowing isn't just a law of the Bible it's a law of nature. You put a seed in the ground, and over time it grows. What makes the Hindu belief of 'karma' different than the truthful doctrine of reaping and sowing is that we may not see our harvest until we leave this world.

“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 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” -Galatians 6:7,8

You could do a three month series on reaping and sowing. But I want to focus on the difference between two specific things that are contrary to each other, that we reap when we sow them: First, Judgment & condemnation and second charity & forgiveness. But before we get into that it's important to know that:

I. YOU WILL GROW WHATEVER YOU SOW

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

You will reap a harvest of whatever you sow. If you sow a peach seed you will harvest peaches. If you sow an apple seed you will reap a harvest apples. If you sow evil you will reap evil. If you sow good you will reap good. You will grow whatever it is that you sow. You will get the fruit of what you plant.

Charles Reade said, “You sow a thought and you reap a deed. You sow a deed and you reap a habit. You sow a habit and you reap a character. You sow a character and you reap a destiny.”

There will be lot of people who will excuse themselves from being doers of the word and not hearers only, even though they make a big show of religion. They may deceive others, and even themselves if they think they can deceive God, who knows their hearts and their actions; and since He cannot be deceived, He certainly will not be mocked.

Today is the day to sow seed. The present time is seed sowing time. We might not have but a vapor of time left here on this earth, but the time we have is meant for us to sow seed. After all, here on earth and the present time is the only place and time we need faith. Faith isn't needed in Heaven or in Hell. Sinners are feeling what they would not believe on earth and saints are enjoying what they did believe on earth. In the next life there will be a great harvest, and we will reap then what we sow now. Jesus said: “but store up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.”

Ill. A girl had a nice little piggy bank. Her father wanted to teach her about saving, so he talked to her about putting her money into a savings account at their bank. He very carefully explained to her that when she put money into her account, the bank would pay her interest on her money and that her money would grow that way.

The big day came. They went to the bank. She gave her piggy bank to the woman opening her account. Then she just stood there and stared at the woman. "Is there something else I can do for you?" the woman asked.