There is something about planting a garden that is rewarding. Whether it be flowers or vegetables, tomatoes, or a vineyard, it is a satisfying endeavor. There is something almost magical about placing a small seed into the soil, only weeks later, to witness that small seed has germinated to sprout a new creation.
The concept of sowing and reaping is one that is used many times in scripture. Jesus often uses the natural world to explain to us a moral principal which is embedded in the universe and embedded in our hearts. For example, Jesus bids us to consider the birds of the air, or the lilies of the fields, to demonstrate the loving care our God has for us, and the uselessness of anxiety and worry.
In the days of Jesus, the Jews were mainly an agrarian culture, so many of His parables and teachings reflect what the people understood and knew best. He tells of a man planting a vineyard, leasing it out to tenants and later coming back to collect the harvest. Or a kernel of wheat falling to the ground and dying, that it may produce much fruit. Tiny mustard seeds, wheat, fig trees, grapes, vineyards, branches, and weeds are predominant in the teachings of Jesus. Like a patient father explaining the ways of the world to his small child, He paints word pictures for His people. There is something that is so sweet and glorious about the God of all creation, stooping to the weakness of his frail and erring creatures. It gives us a wonderful glimpse into the tender heart of Jesus. But a good father will also give us warnings as well as comfort and encouragements. This is one of those word picture verses.
“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that he will also reap.” Gal 6:7
Jesus, through the Apostle Paul is carrying on the agrarian theme with this little pocket verse. It is beautiful because of its brevity and potency, and is easily memorized or retained for quick access in times of need. It is universal in its application, applying to nations, past and present. It’s applicable for personal situations, families, businesses and governments, throughout time and history. When you see the many injustices that go on in our world, we can find comfort in that verse. It is something we can count on when the world and everyone around us has turned its back on God.
The concept of sowing and reaping originates with God Himself. So, the relationship of sowing and reaping is not merely based on our casual observance of the world around us. It is God’s moral governing of the natural creation. Just as He has set the governing of the sun rising and setting, gravity, rains that fall, etc. likewise he has also given us this moral principal as well. It is a principle from which no one will escape. Whatever you sow, you shall also reap. The patterns in our life, our thoughts, words, and actions, time, decisions, the entirety of our life, are like seed. And this is our seed time, followed by the harvest time. There is no shortcut or escape hatch. If you have sown carelessly and sinfully, you will reap those consequences. Hence, the warning at the beginning of the verse: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked.” This is a principal that He Himself has fixed at the creation of the world, and is calling all those with ears to hear, to do just that, hear. The warnings of scripture are every bit as precious as the promises. But why the warning here, at this particular point?
I think it is because much time passes before there is actual reaping. There is a cause and effect relationship here, but there is a long gap in between. In our world, the relationship between cause and effect is often immediate. When we stick our finger in a hot flame, the effect is immediate. You have a burned finger.
But spiritual sowing and reaping has many years in between. We are a forgetful people, that is why a sharp warning is needed.
God is not mocked in two different ways. The negative side is those who are sowing in sin and unrighteousness, to the flesh. Their pride and arrogance, their sinful pursuits make it seem as if justice will never be done. They are thinking that they will get away with it all. And so it would seem that they will. God’s people have struggled with this down throughout history.
Psalm 73 was written about Asaph’s spiritual crisis, where he almost lost his faith in God. Envious of the prosperity of the wicked, he was struggling to understand why God seemed to be unfair. He starts out acknowledging that, “Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart,”( vs 1) but what about those who are sowing sin? Those who appear to not have the troubles that the godly have. They are, “fat and sleek” and “their hearts overflow with follies”( vs 7)
Men live in sin, gratify their flesh, and continue in blatant unbelief, and it seems as if God does not see or does not care. It seems in vain for the godly to “keep his heart clean”(vs13)
The flip side is the believers who live in sacrifice and self-denial, who are sincere about the pursuits of holiness and walking in godly fear. To the watching world, they may say, ‘look at all they have lost. Job opportunities turned down, former friends gone, and the fleeting pleasures of the world, it all appears to be a waste.
This was the conclusion that the psalmist had come to as well. Until “he went into the sanctuary and discerned their end. “(vs 17) For, God is not mocked, for all the service and self-sacrifice and living in godly fear will also result in reaping. Be assured, He is taking note.
“Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors! (vs 18)
There is an order of sowing and reaping as well. The kind of seed that is sown is the kind of fruit that is harvested. It is a pretty simple idea. If you sow pumpkin seed, you will always get pumpkins! If you plant an apple seed, you get an apple tree. The seed contains the actual plant, genetically speaking. Our moral actions are like seed that carry with them the fruit that come from them. They carry all their consequences. Sowing to the Spirit is life, but the wages of sin is death. Death is bred into the very heart and nature of every single sin. It brings the harvest of death, physical and spiritual death. But sowing to the Spirit, reaps eternal life. Joy, peace, goodness and mercy are ours forever.
In light of this, we need to be careful to keep our heart with all diligence. Many times, two seeds can look exactly the same. Two people appear to have very similar sowing. They both pray, go to church, participate in the ordinances and are in service to the Lord. They may even have correct doctrines. They appear to have all the stuff, so to speak. So it is a call to self-examination. Our only care should be, what does God see when He looks at me? My heart, the motivation for doing the things I do? Are they done for God’s glory, or are they selfish, inward twisted motives? Having the Judge, the God of glory set before us, and us before him, is critical to our life.
So, we are given every encouragement to pour all our heart into sowing. What we will actually reap is gold, silver and precious stones that will survive the Lord’s testing by fire on the last day. These will endure into all eternity, and is a great encouragement to us. We should be sowing with absolute confidence, that we will be reaping. The incredible thing about this is, that you sow a seed, but you do not reap a seed. You sow a green bean seed into the ground, and you reap a whole green bean plant which in turn is full of green beans! And those green beans are actually full of a truckload of more seeds, which can in turn be sown. Our sowing is disproportionate to the enormity of what we reap. For those sowing sin and pride and self-reliance, you will reap exponentially. But for the Lord’s people who are sowing in tears and in sorrow, in sacrifice and in pursuits of holiness, the reaping will likewise be excessive.
The problem is that seed sown in soil is unseen for a lengthy period of time. In spiritual sowing, often the time is great and we completely forget about it. So much of what we do, we don’t remember. Thoughts we think, meditation and words we speak, actions we are engaged in both good and bad, we lose sight of them. We remember a fraction of a percent, if that. But this passage is telling us that the seed is never lost because God remembers. The thought, the motivation, desire or action is accounted for forever. And though there are fruits in this life, both from sin and by the Holy Spirit, ultimately the harvest comes to its fruition in eternity. This is a tremendous warning and consolation. What an encouragement to perseverance for the Lord’s people. Paul finishes his exhortation with these words. “And let is not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up” Gal 6:9
Christ on the last day is going to reveal those things done for his glory. And we will be commended and rewarded for our contribution and advance of His Glorious Kingdom. Jesus tells us about those who appear of that day of judgement. He will say to them, you visited me, you clothed me and you helped me. And we will say Lord, when did we see you and do all of these things? And he says, when you gave a cup of cold water in my name, you gave it to me. That little insignificant thing you did, out of a gracious heart and for the love of God and for his own people, you were sowing. A word spoken in season, a comfort or encouragement, a meditation or passing thought, time spent in prayer. So many things even without categories. If we come under the power of these truths, fully persuaded of them, shaped by them, it will fuel our earnestness and self-denying sacrificial service to the Lord Jesus Christ. All that we are seeking to do through the power of the Holy spirit, is going to reap an exponential reward and harvest on the last day.
This is the way He has established things in His infinite wisdom and goodness. There will never be a single believer on that last day who has any regrets. Never will there be a person who is sorrowful because they gave too much or sacrificed too much. Keep this in mind, “as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” 2 Corinthians 4:18
Bone of Bones 