Sowing and Reaping

Our present actions are not trifles, for they will decide our everlasting destiny. Everything we do is, to some extent, a sowing of which eternity will be the reaping.

Sowing And Reaping, Volume 54, Sermon #3109 - Galatians 6:7

Charles Spurgeon

God will judge every person’s works, which are seeds sown for eternity, whether good or evil, for joy or for sadness.

The reaping time will come. It is the law of the harvest.

Just as sure as the person who sows wheat will reap wheat, so also the person who sows good or evil in the spiritual realm will reap accordingly. The harvest is at the end of the world

Matthew 13:39 KJV 1900

The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.

The flesh is devoted to selfishness, and the end of a selfish life is destruction Philippians 3:18-19

“For he that soweth to his [own] flesh [with a view to fulfilling the desires of the flesh] shall of the flesh reap corruption [or his harvest will be corruption and death]; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting”

Some Christians sow to the flesh 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 and where we sow.

John Stott

Galatians 6:8 KJV 1900

For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

By being led of the Spirit and walking in the Spirit, we escape the corruption that is in the world.

“Because the creature itself [our bodies] also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God”

Romans 8:21 KJV 1900

Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

“The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”…being delivered from the bondage we where once in Let us not return thereto any longer.

Romans 6:23 KJV 1900

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

“It is the spirit that quickeneth [gives life]; the flesh profiteth nothing”

John 6:63 KJV 1900

It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

This is why the law could not save us. “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:3).

The Galatian church had begun in the Spirit but had been persuaded to turn to the works of the law. “Are ye so foolish?

Galatians 3:3 KJV 1900

Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?

Those who sow tares cannot reap wheat, and only those who sow to the Spirit will reap life everlasting. (See Psalm 126:6; Proverbs 11:18; 22:8; Hosea 8:7; 10:12.)

“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Galatians 6:9).

When we do good, we should persevere in it without fainting.

“Weary in well doing” refers to the will, and “to faint” is to give up.

It was, no doubt, a common thing to see men grow weary and finally faint and have to be carried from the fields during harvesttime.

But with the prospect of a spiritual harvest before us, we must keep our spirits up and our willpower stimulated, for soon the time for reaping will be here.

If we faint before that time, we will have no power to reap the reward.

Galatians 6:10 KJV 1900

As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

Now is the season of sowing; and since this life is so short, the sowing season will soon end, and the harvest will come.

For this reason, we should do all the good we possibly can, while we still have the opportunity.

Let us be stirred by the brevity of the season to greater zeal in well-doing and in promoting the kingdom of God.

Our efforts and good deeds should be for everyone.....being no respecter of persons.

In this way, we will let our light shine, “that they may see [our] good works, and glorify [our] Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

Every sound-minded person does good things for the members of his own family.

God’s people are one great family; they are all members of the body of Christ and every one members one of another

Though it is a responsibility to do good to all we come in contact with so that God may be glorified in us.

Romans 12:5 KJV 1900

So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.

“For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body” (I Corinthians 12:13)

When God’s people realize that the most foolish and absurd thing they can do is to oppose one another, they will begin to obey the Word of the Lord:

“Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3). Instead of looking for an opportunity to try to kill one another’s influence, or to gain somehow, the upper hand, we should seek the opportunity to bless or do good to one another.

We shall then realize God’s blessings in a greater way than ever before.

When we think of the sowing one can do in a short lifetime, we would have a hopeless outlook indeed, if we did not have in the gospel of Jesus Christ something that is not present in any other religion in the world.

But we do—the Atonement.

No other religion offers redemption from sin. Sowing to the flesh brings death, so the poor sinner would be in an awful state were it not for the Atonement.

But Jesus stepped in and canceled our sin by His death, which included all our sowing to the flesh, and now we do not have to reap the harvest of death for sin.

We are made free, for whom the Son of Man sets free is free indeed

John 8:36 KJV 1900

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Let the one who is in Christ believe all that is written for him, for he is a new creature; old things have passed away, and all things have become new.

We must be very careful about how we sow and what we sow after entering into this new life.

He who sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

God is doing through the gospel what he always intended to do. He is sowing good seed in the world, and preparing to reap a harvest of human lives recreated to reflect his glory.

N. T. Wright

The seed that is sown is scattered with an open hand. The sower in order to have a harvest has to turn loose the seed. He can’t grip it in his fist; he can’t hesitate to let it go; he can’t just sprinkle a little bit here and there—he’s got to generously sow it, he’s got to let it go and let it go liberally, if he expects to have a great harvest. If he sows sparingly, that’s the way he’s going to reap; if he sows liberally and bountifully, that’s the way his harvest is going to be.