Don't Grow Weary (2)

Intro

Sowing and Reaping

The world and our modern society is built off of certain building blocks that allow us to function the way we do. The way the world functions is a marvel. If you ever taken time to think about how many people are doing their jobs in order to keep the world going like it does, it’s pretty impressive.

One of the basic, foundational building blocks of our society is modern agriculture.

Modern agriculture has gotten quite impressive. My father in law was a farmer, and he had me go out to the peanut field with him once to show me how the operation worked. I grew up with livestock and a small garden, not really crops. So I’m in the tractor, and he shows me how the tractor follows a GPS to harvest the peanuts. The GPS is so fine-tuned that it can put the tractor’s wheels in the exact spot they need to be so that they don’t harm the plants and you get a clean crop of peanuts.

All over the world, operations like this are churning out food so that our modern economy will keep turning. And when something goes wrong on a larger scale, it has worldwide effects. Think of how the war in Ukraine has cut off much of the world’s supply of oil and grain. That event has contributed to our current inflation crisis.

It’s a form of cosmic humor, if you think about it… As advanced as we’ve become, we are still dependent upon the simple foundations of life…

Regardless of how advanced or modernized agriculture gets… It all comes back to the basics of sowing and reaping. Sowing the seed… reaping the harvest…

In the same way, in our modern day of following Christ, we have made a few advancements here and there. A bible can now be carried in your pocket. You can read, for that matter. Not everyone in the history of Christianity has been able to read. We have sermons available to us at the drop of a hat, you can just go to youtube and find your favorite preachers easily. You can listen to praise music any time you want.

But yet, even with these nice things we have, and quick ways to access scores of content, even ways to track your quiet times, there’s still one unchanging truth that guides the reality of our spiritual lives…

Sowing and reaping… You plant seeds of spiritual fruit in your life and in due time you will reap the harvest.

Perhaps because we are so inundated with microwave culture, we expect immediate returns from our spiritual sowing… and the fact of the matter is that your spiritual life doesn’t work like that. Life only works like that for you in things like buying food because someone else is doing the work for you! Nobody can relate to God for you. There is a process of reaping and sowing that YOU must undergo. There is a process of growing close with God that plays out or doesn’t in the long run, not always the immediate.

That’s what we’ll look at today.

Paul’s Word on Giving

First, Paul has one verse about giving.

Galatians 6:6 (ESV)

Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches.

One commentator on Galatians remarked that it seems “Paul had a gentlemanly dislike for talking about money.” He knew that it was something that needed to be talked about, as giving is part of Christian obedience, but it wasn’t necessarily something he jumped to talk about.

There were a couple of reasons Paul would tell people to give for throughout the Bible:

To support those who taught the Word of God.

To care for the poor and needy among them.

The proclamation of the Word of God is historically and presently the most important aspect of the continuing of the Christian faith. As a preacher goes, so goes his church. A church can do all kinds of good things, but if a church does not proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it ceases to be a church. There are many churches today who are active in their community, who feed the hungry and clothe the poor, doing all kinds of good things… But they have missed the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They have chosen to proclaim that certain sins are not an issue, therefore there is no need for forgiveness for them… These churches have no claim to the word, “church,” for there is more to being the church than doing nice things. There is the reality of the proclamation of salvation… if we do not preach Christ crucified for the forgiveness of sin, people have no eternal hope… only temporary hope. And that temporary hope is not God Himself, but the good people of the church who are reaching out with their helping hand. See how this is backwards?

So the proclamation of the Word is vital to the life of a church, and those who do well at it labor intensely to ensure that all who hear are not sold a weak Gospel or an incomplete Gospel, but the only Gospel that can save sinners and ensure an eternity with God in Heaven. So yeah, pay your preacher.

Galatians (3) Sharing with Teachers (6:6)

Paul reminded them here, in the broader context of his command for them to bear one another’s burdens, of the importance of sustaining a faithful gospel ministry through generous financial support. Such teachers, of course, must prove themselves worthy of such support by their offering “instruction in the word.” Paul was not merely concerned to maintain the principle of “paying the preacher.” His burden was for the furtherance of the gospel, and he knew that the God-ordained means for accomplishing this was the steady proclamation of the Word of God by faithful men of God.

Then we move on to the basics of spiritual life.

Sowing and Reaping

Galatians 6:7–8 (ESV)

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

Paul starts out with a warning… Don’t be deceived, God isn’t mocked.

In other words, there is no substitute for God Himself, and because He has given us His Word and a way to know the truth about Him, we have no excuse for following a substitute or making up our own substitute for God.

These Judaizers who were seeking to bring the Galatians into their heresy were mocking God because they asserted a falsehood that was a false substitute for God Himself. That was the whole issue of the Galatian heresy… They were trusting what they could DO to earn God’s favor, when the Gospel asserts that the only thing God is looking for is what Jesus HAS DONE to earn God’s favor on behalf of mankind.

So the Judaizers, Paul says, are going to reap what they have sown… They have reaped according to the flesh, and that will bear out in corruption. When we sow according to our physical bodies, what we must remember is that there will come a day in which all the things of the earth will pass away. Only what is eternal will remain. So watch what you are sowing… that which is sown in the body will only lead to corruption.

So pay attention, folks. How do you use your goods? How do you spend your life? Do you spend your life sowing to your own flesh and the gratification of the body? Or do you spend your life sowing to the Spirit?

Do you engage in things that sow spiritual seeds, or do you engage in things that gratify your own flesh? How do you spend your free time, your life, your resources? These are great indicators for where your heart is in relationship to spiritual things.

It’s like your dashboard on your car. You have indicators for all kinds of things. Engine temperature, RPMs, oil level, battery life… Your dashboard can tell you a lot of things, but most drivers don’t know what to do when an indicator is reading on the red line. Do you know where your own red lines are? Do you know what to do if you begin redlining?

Are you even watching your own life’s dashboard? If you did, what would your dashboard say about how you are functioning, spiritually? Will you do the maintenance required to ensure that your spiritual life is functioning properly?

Should you do so, and I’m mixing my metaphors here, you will sow spiritual seeds that will bear fruit not only in this life, through faithfulness and God working through you, but will also bear fruit in eternity to come.

Don’t Grow Weary

Galatians 6:9–10 (ESV)

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

It’s been said that it takes a young man to plant a tree, and an older man to harvest its fruit.

And we’ll especially need to not grow weary in doing good as we go through this relocation process… Reminder that you’ll be in your new life group room this week! Reminder to not grow weary of doing good as we deal with the struggle of new spaces, smaller spaces, and all that follows.

Do not grow weary of doing good. Doing good is hard work, you know. It’s a whole lot like farming. The work is never over, and it can grow quite toilsome. Doing good as a believer can wear you out, down to the bone. But the Bible says, “Don’t grow weary.” Keep on going. You talk to runners, and they’ll tell you, when you get to mile 20 of a marathon, you’ve about had it. Your body wants to quit. But the runner keeps going. One foot after another. There’s a certain mindset that pushes the body past its point of giving up. It’s almost like, you know, “I can do anything for ten seconds.” And then ten seconds after that. Ten seconds more. And so on.

So how do we keep doing good when our flesh is telling us we can’t?

The Bible says we will reap in due season if we do not give up. So what is this giving up speaking about, and what are these good things we need to keep on doing?

Sow to the spirit. Refuse to sow to the flesh. Love your neighbor. Tell the truth. Do as God would have you do. Be active in church. Be consistent in your churchgoing. Be generous. And don’t give up.

Paul goes further to say do good to everyone as you have opportunity. In other words, opportunities are going to arise be generous and do good to others. I call that a divine appointment. When an opportunity to do good to someone presents itself, you know that’s a call from God to be a witness to His faithfulness in your life, right?

Elsewhere:

James 4:17 (ESV)

So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

So much of the Christian life is taking the next right step, doing the next right thing.

And the Bible says

Galatians 6:10 (ESV)

So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

“especially to those who are of the household of faith.”

All over Scripture, we see the importance of caring for our brothers and sisters in Christ. Yes, we are to care for all people and engage in seeking the welfare of our community, but we are especially to care for one another in the household of faith.

1 Timothy 5:8 (ESV)

But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

This principle is to your own family, but the principle can be extended to the household of faith, through the verse we see here.

I must ask, folks… are you caring for your family? Are you caring for the household of faith? Those of you with ailing parents, do you consider them a burden, or are you seeking their welfare? Take your opportunity to do good to those around you, especially to the household of faith.

Conclusion

And lest we forget… we will reap what we sow. So what are you sowing? Are you sowing to your own comforts and pleasure here on this earth? Or are you sowing to eternity? Are you sowing to make Christ known to those around you? Are you sowing spiritual goodness into your own life, or is what you sow that of worldliness and pleasure?

I fear one thing we took from the pandemic is a sort of apathetic approach to spirituality. We all got caught up in remodeling our homes and forgot what it meant to go reach the outside world and to care for the household of God. Look, we have a great opportunity ahead of us this week in VBS. There are many coming who do not know Christ. We have an opportunity to make a difference in these children’s lives. You have an opportunity to sow spiritual seeds this week in the lives of others and I’ve found when I serve the Lord, it produces fruit in my own life, too. So let’s get after it.