Presentation 14
Presentation 14
Introduction
The scientific law of cause and effect can be found
in the Christian life - “a man reaps what he sows”
v7. Any farmer will tell you that if you sow seed
potatoes, you will harvest a crop of potatoes. If
you sow corn seed you will harvest corn. There is
nothing haphazard or surprising about that. The
farmer is not upset if after sowing lettuce a field of
carrots does not spring up. He gets what he sows!
The same principle operates in the moral and
spiritual sphere. Many are baffled by the spiritual
development of their lives. Why are they not as
spiritually sharp and effective as they ought to be?
Paul says we need to ponder the law of cause and
effect for ‘a man reaps what he sows.’
Presentation 14
The Principle Outlined
Paul has already made it clear that the Christian
life is a struggle, there is a war going on inside the
Christian between his fallen sinful nature and the
new spiritual man, which is the creation of the
Holy Spirit. We are exposed to a twofold
influence. Our response to these influences
determines the quality of our lives.
Why are some Christians blind to this principle?
They could be deceived v7. Jesus called the devil
“a liar and the father of lies”. Many sow seed
thoughtlessly, blind to the fact that it will produce
a corresponding harvest. Or, they sow one kind of
seed and foolishly expect to reap another kind.
Presentation 14
The Principle Outlined
They are either, fooling themselves or, they are
trying to fool God. But of course that is impossible
and Paul reminds us, “God is not mocked.” The
original word is striking, it means literally, “to turn
up ones nose at somebody, to treat them with
contempt.” What a picture! How foolish to think
that you can fool God.
Now Paul does not leave us with the bare
skeleton of a spiritual principle, he clothes it with
flesh by providing a number of helpful illustrations
or, practical applications
Presentation 14
The Principle Illustrated
a. In The Christian Ministry.
The first illustration of the principle of sowing and
reaping is a very practical one within the Christian
fellowship cf v6… The implication is quite clear those who have laboured in preaching should be
maintained by those who have benefited from
listening to it.
When Jesus sent out the 70 he reminded them,
“the labourer deserves his wages”, Lk. 10v7.
Writing to the church at Corinth, Paul says, “If
we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it
too much if we reap a material harvest from you”,
1Cor. 9v11.
Presentation 14
The Principle Illustrated
A minister’s wife who was rushed to hospital suffering
from malnutrition. Unknown to her husband, she had
been doing without food in order to feed her children.
His salary from the church was abysmally low!
But sharing “good things” means more than sharing
materially. One of the good things the congregation
can share with its teachers is that of encouragement.
A word of encouragement is never out of place.
There are people who withhold encouragement
because they think it would make the recipient
proud or puffed up. Flattery can do that but not
encouragement. Does encouragement puff you up?
Does it not rather humble you at the same time do
something of great benefit for you?
Presentation 14
The Principle Illustrated
What happens when we fail in our responsibility
towards those who have the task of communicating
God’s word to us? We reap what we sow.
When I was a student I was asked to take services
at a particular church. For a number of years their
minister had been clinically depressed and
eventually sadly he committed suicide. I found
myself asking, was there no one within his
congregation with whom he could share his
burden? Were there any who sought to
encourage that dear man? Had those dear
people failed in some way in their responsibility
towards their minister? We reap what we sow!
Presentation 14
The Principle Illustrated
b. In Christian holiness
The second sphere in which the seedtime and
harvest principle operates concerns Christian
holiness v8… Paul has moved from the particular
to the general, to the moral behaviour of God’s
people. He returns to the picture of the Christian
life being that of a battleground on which two
implacable enemies ‘flesh’ and ‘Spirit’ are at war.
The remnants of our fallen nature battle with the
new life being created in us by the Holy Spirit.
Put it this way, each holds before us a packet of
seeds and says, sow my product.
Presentation 14
The Principle Illustrated
The principle unpacked here is that whatever
packet we chose will produce quite different
harvests.
“The one who sows to please his sinful nature
from that nature will reap destruction; the one
who sows to please the Spirit will from the
Spirit reap eternal life.”
We are not helpless victims of our nature,
temperament or environment. Indeed, what
we become depends largely on how we
behave; our character is shaped by our
conduct. Think for a moment of the two kinds
of sowing in view here.
Presentation 14
The Principle Illustrated
First what does it mean to sow to the flesh or, to our fallen
human nature? It means to pander to it, to cosset and
cuddle it instead of crucifying it. Every time we allow our
mind to harbour a grudge, nurse a grievance, entertain an
impure fantasy, wallow in self pity we are sowing to the
flesh. Every time we linger in bad company, whose
influence we know we cannot resist or sit glued to a T.V.
programme we know is bad for us, or read books we
know to be harmful, when we allow ourselves to be
distracted by trivia when we should be reading our Bibles
and praying, we are sowing to the flesh. Some sow to the
flesh in these ways every day and wonder why they do
not reap holiness. Holiness is a harvest; whether we reap
it or not depends almost entirely on what we sow.
Presentation 14
The Principle Illustrated
To sow to the Spirit is the same as “to set
the mind on the Spirit” Rom.8v6 and to
‘walk by the Spirit’. Again the seeds we
sow are our thoughts and our deeds. We
are to seek ‘to set our minds’ on the
things of God cf Col.3v1-2.
How do we do that? By the books we
read, by the company we keep and the
leisure occupations we pursue. And by the
disciplined habits of devotion both in
private and public including worship with
the Lord’s people and by the quality of
fellowship we have with them.
Presentation 14
The Principle Illustrated
Seeds are little things, yet wonderfully good
seeds are able to produce a rich harvest. Little
habits of godliness, little acts of godly
determination that we are going to live in a
certain way, these are the things that decide
whether or not we will have a harvest of
holiness. Holiness begins with very little steps....
Paul distinguishes between the two harvests as
well as between the two sowings. If we sow to
the flesh we shall “from the flesh reap
corruption”. That is, a process of moral decay
will set in. We shall go from bad to worse.
Presentation 14
The Principle Illustrated
If we sow to the Spirit we shall reap eternal life.
That is, a process of moral and spiritual growth will
begin and it will not reach its climax until we reach
heaven. And when we see Jesus we will be like
him. 1Jn. 3v2.
Paul holds two very stark pictures before us. We
must not misunderstand him. He is not saying that
the harder we try to be holy the more certain we
can be of eternal life. That would contradict the
thrust of this epistle which stresses the freeness of
salvation that becomes ours by faith. If that faith is
real we become new creatures, we receive a new
nature, we are indwelt by God’s Holy Spirit.
Presentation 14
The Principle Illustrated
Now Christ-likeness or, holiness does not
become ours automatically. We are involved
in a battle and thankfully the Holy Spirit is
constantly encouraging us to press on, to
crucify the flesh and walk by the Spirit.
When we fail to do that, when we decide to
indulge the flesh and turn our back upon the
Spirit’s leadership then he faithfully dogs our
steps, he follows us into the spiritual
wilderness to use the Psalmist’s imagery. Cf
Ps.107. He convicts us of the sheer folly of
our sinful behaviour and is eager to point us
back to the way of holiness.
Presentation 14
The Principle Illustrated
c. Christian service.
Paul’s final application of the sowing and harvest analogy
is taken from the sphere of Christian service. cf v9-10…
Christian service can be tiring, exacting work. It is easy to
become discouraged, to slack off even give up. What
incentive does Paul provide? Keeping to the sowing
analogy, Paul says, that ‘in due season we shall reap if
we do not lose heart.’ The farmer knows what it is to
wait a considerable period of time for his harvest.
When our children were small they wanted to know why
the seeds they’d planted weren’t ready the next day. It is
possible for Christians to have that same impatience with
regard to the ministry in which they are engaged.
Presentation 14
The Principle Illustrated
Paul does not tell us specifically what harvest we
might expect from patiently doing good within
the Christian fellowship, local community or
world at large. It may involve restoring some
Christian who has wandered by speaking with
them in a spirit of meekness, bearing patiently
with them, praying for them, not giving up on
them.
Or, it may involve bringing comfort and relief to
those in need. It may be the means of someone
becoming a Christian. Our lives may have helped
to arrest the moral deterioration of the society of
which we are a part for, ‘we are the salt of the
earth’.
Presentation 14
Conclusion
In three separate spheres of life Paul has applied
the principle that “whatever a man sows he
reaps”.
First, the seed as God’s word sown by teachers in
the minds and hearts of their hearers.
Secondly, the seed as our own thoughts and
deeds sown in the field of the flesh or the Spirit.
Thirdly, the seed as good works, sown in the lives
of other people both in the Christian fellowship
and the world at large. And in each case although
the seed and the soil are different, seed-time is
invariably followed by harvest.
Presentation 14
Conclusion
The teacher who sows God’s word will reap his
living. The sinner who sows to the flesh will
reap corruption; the believer who sows to the
Spirit will reap ever deepening communion
with God. The Christian who sows good works
in the community will reap a good crop in the
lives of those he serves and a reward for
himself in eternity.
We must not ignore this law of the harvest.
We need the good sense to let it govern our
lives. We must expect to reap what we sow. As
we keep on sowing good seed we shall in good
time reap a glorious harvest
Presentation 14