REAPING WHAT YOU SOW

 

REAPING WHAT YOU SOW

Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For each one shall bear his own load. Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart, Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Gal. 6:1-10).

Introduction

In 6:7 we see the Apostle give a very stern warning to the Galatians, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Gal. 6:7). He then goes on to explain two types of sowing, viz, sowing to the flesh and sowing to the Spirit, and what type of a harvest is to be expected to be reaped from each. Sow to the corrupt flesh you’ll reap everlasting destruction, sow to the Spirit and you’ll have a harvest of everlasting life. As we look a little closer, we’ll see that Paul is indeed speaking of eternal consequences. What we sow to now is what we reap on the Last Day for eternity.

The general gist of this chapter is that you keep what you reap!

Bad Seed, Bad Harvest

Image from Web

    In the previous chapter the Apostle has gone to great length to explain what are works of the flesh. He gives a lengthy, but not exhaustive list, e.g., adultery, fornication, idolatry, drunkenness, etc. After he does that, he describes the fruit of the Spirit, again not exhaustively, e.g., love, longsuffering, kindness, self-control etc. So, in this chapter, he is applying to the Galatians what he has taught them. If you sow bad seed, ie, IF you sow to the flesh, THEN you will reap a bitter harvest. Bad seed equals a bad harvest – that’s the principle of how things work here.

If you scatter thorns and thistles on the ground then don’t expect a bouquet of roses! Basically, the idea is that there’s no point sowing those things that will be burnt up at the harvest. Why sow tares when you can sow wheat? The tares are the thorns and thistles that are only fit for fuel for boiling the kettle. Yet, man left to his own devices, since the fall, delights in planting seeds for weeds. Man has a natural bias – really, it’s unnatural, but since the Fall – a natural bias towards corruption.

There’s a Proverb which says, “He who sins against Me wrongs His own soul, all those who hate Me love death” (Prov. 8:36). Every sin you commit is a jab of the pitchfork into your precious soul. But it’s not the Devil who jabs the pitchfork, you do it yourself every time you sin. The non-repenting, unrelenting sinner is storing up wrath for the Last Day. Each sin the non-Christian commits is a demonstration of his hatred toward God. It is an illustration of the fact that he loves death more than he loves life.

Every little sin is another seed planted in the field of corruption. It’s not hard to see that the sowers of this type of seed have been busy in Australia and the West at large. We have legalized fornication through Government Approved tax-paying Brothels. It’s a very bad day when a government looks at prostitution as a means of raising revenue! The government of this land encourages its citizens to sow wild oats. “By all means, break the Seventh Commandment, fornicate! And, anyway, what harm is being done between consenting adults?” Well, notice the words adultery and fornication back in verse 19 of chapter 5, And notice in verse 8 of our text, “For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption.”

What going to be the defence of the Brothel Keeper on Judgment Day? “Oh, the Government in my day said that Brothels were quite legal – a service to the community!” And what’s the Brothel Creeper going to say? What’s the man who likes to visit the places going to say? “Oh, the Government in my day said that brothels were quite legal. I was just being a model law-biding citizen!” And what is going to be the defence of the Brothel Reaper, i.e., the Government who harvest taxes from what they now call “the Sex Industry” that employs “Sex Workers”? “Oh well, we weren’t really sure that You existed God! And if You did, we didn’t really think You would mind, because, aren’t You supposed to be benign and all-loving and all that?” But look what it says in verse 7, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked...”

Image from Web

Our government is mocking God, our God, the living and true God, with its foolish and immoral laws. It’s a sin to encourage other people to sin. To sin is to mock God. And we’re being told here that God will not be mocked. The word mocked here has the sense of sneering at God. It’s a blowing air out of your nostrils as you turn up your nose – at God! Well, God will not have you blowing snot at Him. He won’t let you away with it. “For, whatever a man sows, that he will also reap!”

All sin, every sin, from the least to the greatest is the sowing of corruption, which if not abandoned, will bring the sower everlasting destruction. In other words, there is a place called Hell every bit as much as there’s a place called Heaven. There are no thorns and thistles in heaven, in the future Paradise, there are no weeds. Neither are there any weed planters. But, regardless of the warnings that come from God’s pulpits in God churches throughout this land, people, even whole governments, continue to deceive themselves.

People continue to blow the snot out of their noses at Almighty God their Maker. But they only prove that what the Bible says is true. “They hate God and love death!” Well, you reap what you sow. Sow to death and you’ll reap death. The only thing is, that it’s not the death that they imagine. The type of death the Lord talks about in Scripture is an everlasting death.

Could you imagine having worms and maggots eating your flesh, biting in at you forever? Could you imagine being roasted on a spit having flames constantly searing you? Well, that’s what the Lord Jesus Christ says the hellish torments are like for unrepentant sinners. He tells us in Mark 9 that Hell is the place “...where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.” It enough to make you think twice about turning your nose up at God’s kind and gracious offer of forgiveness, salvation from judgment in Hell. But not all will seek God forgiveness. Not all will repent of their sins. For Daniel says, “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Dan. 12:2).

So, are you getting the picture? You and I are going to die. Our our bodies will be put in the ground. We are going to be planted in the earth, whether we want to or not. Cremation won’t save you. Having your body cryo-genetically frozen won’t save you. Science won’t save you. Nothing can save you because you have an appointment with God. Scripture says, “it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” (Heb. 9:27).

Image from Web

You and I are going to die, and our bodies will be sown in the ground like seed. Every single human being is going to be resurrected on the Last Day, Judgment Day, Resurrection Day. But what you are now will determine what you will be on Resurrection Day. If you are a tare, i.e., a weed now, then you will be bundled together with all other weeds and thrown into the fire. There you will be engulfed by hot flames and the smoke will keep on burning your lungs forever. There will be no respite. Like the rich man in Hades, you will crave water. But there will be none. Not a drop! Look, I can’t paint a terrifying enough picture of Hell. All I can do is urge you to read the Scriptures for yourself and see. But keep in mind, denial doesn’t make Hell go away. Denying what the Scriptures say is only another way of deceiving yourself. Denying the clear teaching of the Bible is to mock God. But as we’ve seen, God will not be mocked, so don’t be deceived!

Scripture says, “All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of God endures forever.” So, the question is, before we move on to our second point, when you wither and die, what type of seed will you be when you are planted in the ground? Are you going to mock God and sow a weed?

Remember, what’s being taught here, you keep what you reap. What you do with your life now has eternal consequences. Sow to the flesh and you’ll reap eternal damnation on Judgment Day. “For he who sows to the flesh will of the flesh reap corruption...”

That’s the Bad News. Bad Seed Bad Harvest! But there is Good News…

Good Seed, Good Harvest

Look at the rest of verse 8, “...but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.”

How do you sow to the Spirit? Well, we’ve already talked about sowing to the flesh. Therefore, sowing to the Spirit, negatively, is NOT sowing to the flesh. In other words, you’re NOT sowing to the Spirit when you are sowing to the flesh. If you’re committing adultery, fornication, idolatry, hatred, envy, and all the rest, even in thought, word or deed, you are definitely not sowing to the Spirit.

Image from Web

Sowing to the Spirit is walking in the Spirit. It’s being led by the Spirit. And, of co urse, it goes without saying, this just means that you are being obedient to God. Sowing to the Spirit is not some trance-like mystical grunting and groaning. What are you doing mate?” “Oh, I’m sowing to the Spirit, man.”

Sowing to the Spirit, or walking in the Spirit, or being led by the Spirit, is not getting high on God. It’s not getting slain in the Spirit. It’s not getting baptized in the Spirit. Neither is it getting drunk ON the Spirit. God is not some cosmic bar tender. Sowing to the Spirit is none of these things. To sow to the Spirit is to love God and your neighbour as yourself. It’s to keep God’s commandments.

To sow to the Spirit is to delight in the Ten Commandments of God and all their applications. Sowing to the flesh is to delight in breaking God’s Ten Commandments in thought, word and deed. Sowing to the Spirit is to delight in keeping God’s Ten Commandments in thought, word and deed. Sowing to the Spirit is asking God to forgive you for breaking His Ten Commandments either in thought, word, and deed. Sowing to the Spirit is thanking God for forgiving you for breaking His Ten Commandments.

Now then, some Christians think that it’s wrong to keep on asking God to forgive you for your sins. God has forgiven the Christian ALL his sins – past, present, and future, therefore why do we keep on asking for forgiveness if we already have it? Well, the Psalmist says to God, “Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions...” (Psa. 25:7). What’s this verse teaching if it’s wrong to keep on asking God for forgiveness even for sins committed as a youth? How many times have saints sung the words of this Psalm applying them to themselves? Or are the saints only supposed to sing this psalm once and then throw it away because they have already asked God or forgiveness? And what about 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”? But surely the words in the Lord’s Prayer need to be heeded? “And forgive us our debts [or trespasses] as we forgive those who trespass against us” (Matt. 6:12; Luke 11:4). Even if you don’t believe we ought to recite the Lord’s Prayer, (supposed vain repetition and all of that), you still have to admit that Christ is teaching us to keep on confessing our sins to God. Therefore, it’s a good thing to keep on confessing your sins to God and to keep on asking Him to forgive you.

Image from Web

And look at what Paul’s saying in verse 9, “Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not loose heart.” How do you determine whether something is good or not? How does anyone know what is the good he is to NOT grow weary of doing? What is good? The keeping of God’s Ten Commandments is what is good! The summary of the Ten Commandments, i.e., loving God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind, and your neighbour as yourself is what is good. Everything else is just sowing to the flesh.

Think about it, Paul said to the Romans, “I delight in the law of God according to the inward man” (Rom. 7:22). In that same chapter, in verse 12, he says that God’s law is holy and just and good. If God’s law is good, and if we’ve not to weary in doing good, then we need to be keeping God’s Law, don’t we? He says in Romans 7:14 that God’s Law is “spiritual.” Then he says in 1 Corinthians 2:14, “The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

So, the Law of God then is spiritual. And the non-Christian, i.e., the natural man cannot discern God’s Law. He thinks of it as foolishness. But the Christian, he sees God Law as it really is, something spiritual. He knows that God’s Law is spiritual because it is written on his heart by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, along with the Apostle Paul, the Christian delights in the Law of God in the inward man. And because his inward man delights in God’s Law, his inward man is being renewed daily – even though his body will one day be sown in the ground. Like a nut, the inner kernel remains fresh, even when the outer shell shows signs of wear and tear.

So, we see then, Paul wants these Galatians to sow a good seed for the harvest at the Last Day. He’s already told them in chapter 5, “All the law is fulfilled in this: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’” (Gal. 5:14). Now he’s showing them the benefits of keeping God’s Commandments as Christians. Keep on sowing to the Spirit and you will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.

So, the choice before the Galatians and all of us is this: Are you going to sow to yourself or are you going to sow to God. Are you going to be obedient to your own sinful impulses or are you going to be obedient to God as He speaks in Scripture? Are you going follow your own law which is unspiritual or are you going to follow the Law of God which IS spiritual?

Conclusion

As Paul says in verse 9, “Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” In due season we shall reap. In due season we shall keep what we reap. Let’s make sure then, that we are all sowing to the Spirit and not to the flesh.

Father, we thank You for the gift of the Spirit who is even now producing that good seed, that good fruit in our inward man.  Thank You for Your assurance that when we die and when are resurrected, we will reap the everlasting life that Your Spirit is producing in us.  Help us even now to continue showing our gratitude to You by continually delighting in the keeping of Your Commandments.  For the sake of Jesus Christ and the advancement of His kingdom here on earth we pray. Amen.