Reaping what we sow (Galatians 6:7-16)

Trinity 5: 4^th July 2010

Theme: Reaping what we sow (Galatians 6: 7-16)

There are several laws governing several situations in the universe: There is the law of gravity: that whatever goes up must come down.  There is the law of mathematics: two parallel lines do not meet. There is the law of housekeeping: as you lay your bed so you will sleep on it.  There is the law of the prophets: whatsoever you want men to do to you do the same to them.  And there is the law of harvest: whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap.

As we proclaim at the beginning of the service just now: “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).

If you study carefully the structure and order of things around us you will discover that they operate on certain laws and principles.  But above all other laws, the law of harvest affects every thing, person and God Himself.  In fact God deliberately subjects Himself to this law to show us how important it is. God has to come down and be born as man in order than man can experience life with him in heaven.

Therefore, the law works in such manner: that if a farmer wants a harvest he must first sow the seeds.  Married couples must sow their individual seed to have a new born baby.  A teacher must sow the seed of knowledge to become a good teacher.  However, it unfortunate to note that when we want to talk about the law of harvest and seed sowing, people often thought that we are about asking for donation for the church.  This morning we are not going to talk about monetary issues, but some other fundamental things that affect us and our generations. 

 The point is: how we live has consequences. If we sow to the flesh, we will reap corruption.  But I am not going to talk about that this morning.  Rather I want to emphasize on sowing to please the Spirit, because it is the eternal life that we are interested in.  However, before I go further, there is a question to answer.  Does verse 8 mean that eternal life is earned by good works?

No, eternal life is a gift received by faith in Jesus.  It is a life that begins now, but we will not enjoy it to the full until we enter heaven and live with God in eternity.  It is like people who harvest grapes: today they pick grapes and enjoy eating some of the fruit, but they can only enjoy the fine wine produced from this fruit after many years to come.  And believers are doers. It means that we act upon our faith: we do something while we live on earth, and these things do give us joy and peace; a sense of meaning, purpose and accomplishment.

There are many ways to sow to please the Spirit.  One is by doing good.  Based on our epistle reading for this morning, we find five truths about doing good.  First, doing good can become exhausting. Hence we hear the word of encouragement in verse 9: “Let us not become weary in doing good”.  If you are a farmer, you know how hard farming is hard work. Sowing and reaping are not easy jobs. Before the start of our Standing Committee meeting last Tuesday, a few of us we talking about retirement; and I asked Fr. Nelson and Fr. Chimbie what they intended to do after retirement. Both of them were talking about venturing into oil palm business. I remarked that I would not have the physical strength to undertake such heavy work after 65.  And they asked me what I plan to do.  I told them I prefer to venture into something more familiar but nevertheless something new for me – market-place evangelism.  It will be both business venture and outreach ministry that I hope will keep me occupied upon my retirement in 11 years time.  I won’t be looking forward to harvest oil palm, but to bring more young people to Christ. It is still a hard work but at least I shall be in a familiar ground.

The second truth about doing good is that it will be rewarded.  Verse 9b says, “For at the proper time we will reap a harvest”. Remember that you will reap more than you sow. One seed can produce countless fruit. God can do much with the little we have to offer.  Remember also that it will take a long time for some seeds to grow and produce fruit.  We must not be discouraged when we don’t see immediate results of our prayers and witness.  Even if we don’t see any harvest on earth, there is the promise that we will be rewarded by Christ. Always remember also that God’s method of rewarding us is not the same as we reward people who work for us. In the parable of the workers in the vineyard in Matthew 20: 1-16, we know God rewards us out of the generosity of his heart – meaning, even more than we deserve.  

The third truth is: “Doing good requires persistence”.  The condition is: ..”if we do not give up (v. 9c).  Our persistence also depends on something else.  Remember that when we do good things it always for other people.  And it is not only that: you also have to work with both people and the Holy Spirit.  And that demands humility on your part, because when you want to do good, it may mean that you have to point out mistakes that other people make.  And that can offend some people.  If you don’t have humility, you may also respond with unkind words.  

Now, what is humility?  Based on the old hymn recorded in Philippians 2: 5-9, we may define humility as a deliberate act of reducing yourself from the status that you occupy or have achieved. It says, “⁵Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: ⁶Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, ⁷but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  ⁸And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!  ⁹Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name.”

Humility is not when the younger respects the elderly, or the lesser respecting the greater.  No. it is the opposite. When the person that deserved to be respected turns around to respect those that do not deserved it; that is humility.  It can go both ways.  John the Baptist was somebody and he humbled himself to Jesus; and Jesus also humbled himself and introduced John as the greatest of all that are born of a woman. Therefore, if you expect good harvest, you have to sow in humility.

The fourth truth is, like farming, doing good has a limited season.  If you want to have a good harvest of rice, you have to plant the seeds during the planting season.  That is what verse 10a says, “Therefore, as we have opportunity…”    Paul is not saying, “Do good when it is convenient for you.” He’s saying, “You only have a limited amount of time to do good, and you better do it while you have time.”  I told you just now that I have 11 years to serve as priest before retirement.  You must have noticed that I occasionally disappear from the parish during my day off.  I am not just taking a day off in Bintulu.  I am preparing for this market-place ministry that I hope to undertake after my retirement.  At the moment I am just going around sharing my vision with a few friends, hoping that they will catch on. This is an opportunity and time for me to plan ahead.  

The fifth truth is: “Doing good calls for an endless field”.   Paul says, “Let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers” (v. 10b).  Paul says “especially,” not “exclusively”.  It means that good work may start in the church, but it shouldn’t stay in the church: it has to move out into the neighbourhood and the streets and into our work places.  I tell you what someone suggested to me about a year ago. Why can’t the cell group in our church do something that serves certain section of the community?  For example, each Sunday evening we can take turn to serve free bread and soup for some of the low-paid foreign labourers working in Seria.  We have been talking about the need to show love and care for the needy and poor: why can’t it be translated into reality?  Every time we have good food in church, it is always shared only between ourselves. Why can’t we also start sowing and share what we have with some of these poor labourers?  Some of us may fear that if we help a few of them now, then many will come to ask for free meal? We may not be able to cope.  The voice of fear can kill anything.  

What about putting up sale of second-hands items?  This is another service for the poor.  I’m sure we have many things at home that we no longer want, that we just dump in the storeroom.  I know this parish takes pride that it does not do any sale to raise fund like other parishes in the Diocese. But can we do it as service for the poor and needy?       

I believe that the good thing we can do is needed everywhere, especially in place where mercy is lacking and apathy so abundant.  There are so many needy all around us but we don’t feel as if we are concerned with their plight.  Remember that we are all in need of one thing or another.  No man can single-handedly meet all his need without someone helping him.  Even a person that we consider a wretched of the earth may have the solution to the problem that our money and position cannot solve.  Do you remember the story and Elijah and the poor widow in 1 Kings 17:10-16?  I shall read it to you.

¹⁰ So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, "Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?" ¹¹ As she was going to get it, he called, "And bring me, please, a piece of bread."

 ¹² "As surely as the LORD your God lives," she replied, "I don't have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die."

 ¹³ Elijah said to her, "Don't be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. ¹⁴ For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD gives rain on the land.' "

 ¹⁵ She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. ¹⁶ For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah.

Here was a very powerful man of God who has the God given ability to perform miracle. Who could have thought that that kind of a man he would have nothing to eat?  Then there was a widow with her son living in abject poverty and who could have thought that she had the ability to feed and give a drink to the great man of God. Why did God all such thing to happen?  It was so that he could bless the woman and help her and her son.

In John 4:10 -14 we are told that Jesus was thirsty.  He was sitting by the well of Samaria and had nothing to draw the water, so he could not drink - until one sinful woman came.  You see, God purposefully shows himself to be weak and needy because that can be an occasion of great miracles.  Don’t ever look down on people you consider to be lower than yourself.  Don’t neglect to do something for the least of people around us.  That may be the occasion where he works miracles.  You don’t know what will happen when you hand a bowl of soup and a piece of bread to a poor hungry man.  It may even mean salvation of his soul and eternal life with God.  

There is another thing to remember. Sowing involves not just a desire to do something worthy for God.  Sowing requires that you also have love and mercy.  Failure to show mercy and to help to those who ask of us may hamper our breakthroughs.

There was a sad story of a woman who had a house help and would not treat her like her own children. One day it was discovered that the two children are infected with HIV and when a test was conducted it was discovered that the house help was positive and the parents negative. How come? The house help used the same toothbrushes that the children are using.  The woman only provided for her own children and did not care to buy a tooth-brush for the house help.  The family ruined the hope of the children because they felt the house help did not deserve to own a toothbrush.

Are we ready to do something good?  John Wesley said, “Do all the good you can, in all the ways you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can.”   Remember there is reward for doing good, but without the sowing, there will be no harvest.  Furthermore, we only have a limited amount of time to do it.   Remember that we can only sow what we have to get what we want. There is somebody out there crying for our help and very often it is our fear that prevents us from doing anything good.  We fear that if we help one person, 10 more people will come and take advantage of our generosity.  Could fear be the factor that stunts the growth of our church? 

Some of us say that we are not moving because we don’t get the support of the top leadership.  Could it be that we are blaming the wrong persons for the lack of growth we are experiencing?  Could it be that we are experiencing obstacles and delays because we have not responded to the cry of those who need our help?  Could it be that God is not listening to us because we have been deaf to the cry of others?  Some people think that we don’t need to do all these tedious things because we have the money. Why do we have to sell used clothing when we have millions of dollars in the coffer? Why do we have to do general cleaning, if we can pay people to do the job?  We do not do all these for the money, but for the fellowship they bring.  Is it pride that puts us where we are now?  Remember, you can only reap what you sow!