Don’t Sell the Farm!

Focus

I feel that I need to encourage the people to be committed to planting seeds.

So, God Made a Farmer

There was a famous radio personality by the name of Paul Harvey. His calm but powerfully deep voice came on the air at noon across the country. I remember turning on the radio at lunchtime just to hear his “The rest of the story” at the end of the news.

In 1978 Paul Harvey gave a speech at an FFA convention that he titled, “So God Made a Farmer”. This is how Ram Trucks used the speech during a recent Super Bowl.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRDaPEaDJ7E

I grew up in farming community. My grandparents were dairy farmers and that was the life that my mother knew as a child and teenager. At some point in my early teens, I remember my mother suggesting that we go to a nearby farm on Poplar Road to see if the farmer needed a hand. I don’t know what I did at home that made that sound like a good plan. Have you ever been on a dairy farm? Manure, mud, strange animals, old buildings…and lots of work!

I’d seen farmers working in the community. I’d heard my mother talk about what life on a dairy farm was like. Early mornings to milk the cows. Farmining is an endless cycle of feed, fix, plow, plant, harvest, repair, build, and much more. But it is honest and natural and takes strength and courage. He had no position available (which didn’t break my heart), so I ended up with my first job at a grocery store when I turned 15.

This is a good place for us to veer into the challenge that each of us have as Christians. We saw last week that we plant with expectation. We should also realize that we plant with commitment. Nothing meaningful grows where commitment is shallow.

Farming is Hard Work Yet It Feeds the World

Across the US there are 1.9 million farms and 95% are operated by families – individuals, family partnerships, or family corporations. Because of the work of American farmers, consumers enjoy an abundant, affordable, and among the world’s safest foods. On average, one farm feeds 169 people in the US. 20% of what is grown in the US is exported. The US is among the top 3 exporters of food in the world. And…for those who’d like to know, one high producing cow yields 4.8 pounds of butter, or 8.7 gallons of Blue Bell, or 10.5 pounds of cheese a day.

Hard workers…high expectations…a willingness to commit to planting.

God calls us to commitment as well.

Galatians 6:9–10 NIV

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

Yes, planting is hard work. What are some areas where we plant? We should begin with ourselves – selfcare. Are we taking care of ourselves physically, mentally, and spiritually? If you are married, your marriage is a place where you are planting. Loving one another is a challenge but the harvest is wonderful. Are we planting in the soil of our children’s and grandchildren’s lives? In our careers? And…certainly, we could continue on.

Yes, Planting is Hard, but Don’t Give Up!

One Bible teacher wrote this about what Paul said in Galatians:

To continue the analogy of sowing and reaping, a farmer will have no harvest to reap if he becomes too weary to labor in the fields or if he gives up altogether. The harvest will not reap itself. Every aspect of farming, planting, maintaining, and finally the harvesting takes hard work. So, too, believers must not become discouraged and give up when they follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance, grow spiritually, and do good for God’s Kingdom. While it may seem at times like a losing battle, we are assured that we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time.[1]

What will happen if we stop planting seeds in our lives, our families, and our churches?

Of course, the greatest example of commitment to planting was Jesus who gave His life for us. Hinting at His crucifixion and the impact that it would have on the birth of the Church and the coming of the Holy Spirit, Jesus said,

John 12:24 NIV

Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.

Jesus demonstrated “a life of obedience and service, even unto death.” This is the model for the believers. He planted. We plant.

1 John 3:16 NIV

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

Jesus illustrated sacrifice and servanthood (planting). We cannot ignore our duty to do the same.

Like me, you may have committed to a Bible study in this new year. I like to read the Bible through each year and have been doing it for at least the last 10 years, maybe 20. Each year I hit Leviticus early in the year. It can be challenging because we have no equivalent in our society for the sacrifices, duties of the priests, and processes for sanctification…or do we?

In my studies this week I found an interesting connection from Galatians 6:9-10 to the book of Leviticus. Galatians talks about planting, reaping, and not quitting. Leviticus shows us how the LIFE of the Holy Spirit brings faith’s works to life in you.

Doing good, planting, requires time, energy, and resources we would normally use otherwise.

It Might Be Tempting to Quit Your Spiritual Disciplines

Be constant in your zeal for the Lord and His Kingdom.

Leviticus 6:12–13 NIV

The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not go out. Every morning the priest is to add firewood and arrange the burnt offering on the fire and burn the fat of the fellowship offerings on it. The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out.

Paul told his spiritual son to “fan into flames the gift that is in you”. We have to guard the fire. Are the things of this world quenching the flames?

Leviticus 24:1–2 NIV

The Lord said to Moses, “Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may be kept burning continually.

What are the lamps? Is it the Spirit of God in you? Is it your testimony to others? Yes, and Yes.

but Don’t Give Up!

It Might Be Tempting to Quit Leading Your Family,

I don’t have a passage from Leviticus, but we know this is a biblical mandate.

Ephesians 5:22–25 NIV

Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her

 Submitting and loving are the methods of planting into our marriages. From it will come all the harvest of companionship, love, care, understanding, and family.

Yes, at times it can be hard, but Don’t Give Up!

It Might Be Tempting to Quit Serving,

Leviticus teaches that we are to serve the Lord with the best of our efforts. Make sure that your service is without the defects of pride, selfish ambition, or a personal lack of holiness.

Soak all ministry with continuous prayer (incense) and be filled with the Holy Spirit (oil) while engaged in any ministry activity.

Leviticus 2:1 NIV

“ ‘When anyone brings a grain offering to the Lord, their offering is to be of the finest flour. They are to pour olive oil on it, put incense on it

but Don’t Give Up!

[Disengagement: In the men’s meeting yesterday we are learning about having a godly perspective on work. One of the things we learned was that 71% of the American workforce is disengaged. A significant portion of the American church is disengaged, with nearly half (45%) of U.S. Christians not attending church in the past six months, per a 2025 American Bible Society study, while Gallup data shows only 30% of U.S. adults attend weekly, down from 42% two decades ago, indicating declining participation, especially among younger generations and those with no religious affiliation.]

It Might Be Tempting to Quit Witnessing

In Willie Robertson’s recent book, The Gospeler, he points out that the last words of Jesus included a directive to share the gospel with others.

Matthew 28:19–20 NIV

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

We have the key to reconciliation with God through the Good News of Jesus Christ. Every human being is born for an eternity. Will it be an eternity of life or death? We need to be planting seeds today. Plant, water, weed, harvest…

But don’t give up!

Don’t Give Up!

So here’s the question for you—not theoretically, but personally: Where is God calling you to be plant — but you’ve been hesitant to commit? Let me make this practical.

Some of you need to be planted in your faith

· You believe—but you haven’t committed.

· Inconsistent prayer

· Occasional Scripture

· Faith when it’s convenient

· You want growth, but you’re not planted near the water.

Some of you need to be planted in a church community

· You attend, but you haven’t committed.

· No serving

· No relationships

· No accountability

· But roots don’t grow in isolation.

Some of you need to be planted in obedience

· You know what God has asked you to do—but you’ve delayed.

· Forgiveness

· Generosity

· Integrity

· Trust

· Partial obedience produces partial growth.

Some of you need to stay planted instead of uprooting

· You’re tempted to leave because growth feels slow. But slow growth is still growth.

· Don’t confuse silence with absence. Don’t confuse waiting with wasting.

If God planted you, He will sustain you.

Think of the Harvest

Last week we talked about expectations of the seed. An acorn will grow a live oak tree that will reach 60-80 feet tall and spread to up to 100 feet. That tree will provide shade from the Texas heat, provide branches for tire swings for your kids and grandkids, and offer hours of entertainment watching squirrels chase one another. But you have to plant it. You have to dig into the soil and set the seed.

I think that you are getting the message. We must be willing to plant, to invest, into our lives, the lives of our loved ones, and into the lives of those we don’t even know. It is costly. It demands commitment. There is a price to pay but the reward is far better.

Don’t give up! Plant!

[1]Bruce Barton, Philip Comfort, et al., Life Application New Testament Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 2001), 794.