Lawn Care 101

Intro

Have you ever tried to grow something only to see all of your efforts actually produce the exact opposite of what you were expecting?

When I was first getting into lawn care, I didn’t really know too much which led me to just go with my gut. I headed over to Home Depot, bought a bag of grass seed that they had, threw down the seed, and waited for the seed and my sprinklers to do their magic.

After a few days I’d try to see what was going on and the spot wasn’t filling, weeds were popping up, and I grew frustrated. I was sowing seed and not reaping what I was expecting.

But after some time, I decided to do some learning and came to find out something that for some reason, no one tells you. There are different qualities of grass seed and what you buy matters.

If you go and buy a bag of scotts grass seed at Home Depot, it has a label on the back of it. You read the label and you’re met with the fact that your bag of seed only have 50% grass seed and 50% filler seed. Plus all the grass seed you have isn’t purely grass seed. It has some weed seed in there. And it will also show you that your seed, has a lower yield. which means it’s less likely to grow.

If you go and find an actual bag of seed from a warehouse. You’ll find the seed that is A List graded. The label will read the higher yield percentage, purse grass seed, and no weed seed. Now you go to throw down a higher quality seed, you keep it moist, and it will grow. You reap what you sow.

Grabbing the cheaper bag leaves you will less seed, convenient, but unproductive and more damage. Just tossing it down, leads to saving time and water bill, but weed infested bald spots.

Galatians 6, Paul shows us that what we sow isn’t just agricultural language, but a profound reality for our everyday lives.

It’s true for our relationships and how we interact with people. We deeply desire relationships that are loving, compassionate, and caring. We desire to see good works change lives and not cost much at the same time.

We are taught to thrive on individualism, pull up your boot straps, protect your schedule, and prioritize your own comfort. Whether internally or externally, we choose ourselves but expect to others to fight for us. We want to grab the cheap seed.

Rather than living for our own comfort where pride boasts in our own efforts or exhaustion that leads to bitterness, what if we could be empowered by the Spirit to sow good works that create a different kind of community?

Let’s look back to see the call and the conflict to how we can live out and experience this new community.

The Call and the Conflict (v. 1-5)

Galatians 6:1–5 “Brothers and sisters, if someone is overtaken in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual, restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so that you also won’t be tempted. Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone considers himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Let each person examine his own work, and then he can take pride in himself alone, and not compare himself with someone else. For each person will have to carry his own load.”

Verse Explanation:

Paul carries on from the passage above about how we live by the Spirit and how that impacts our relationships with one another. When someone is caught in any trespass, we are to restore him. The image behind the greek with restoring is a medical term for setting a fractured or dislocated bone.

Restoring the one who has sinned is coming back to help them walk with Christ, bring them on the right path. Martin Luther described it as “run to them, reach out your hand, raise them up again, comfort them with sweet words, embrace them with motherly arms.” He says the spiritual are to be the ones who are restoring the people. Here is is simply saying, that the elders, mature believers of character who oversee and care for the church are the ones who are responsible for this. It doesn’t mean that others don’t participate, but that the responsibility ultimately falls on the church leadership to oversee and handle it well.

He goes on to encourage them to bear one another’s burdens. Carry what they cannot carry on their own. In doing so we are fulfilling the law of Christ. The law of Christ is what Paul has already said. Love your neighbor, bearing one another burdens, and fulfilling the law are all the same thing.

But he follows it with thinking highly of yourself in verse 3. The implication is that if we don’t bear one another’s burden’s it’s because we think we are above it. We are placing ourselves first before the other person.

The Problem:

Here’s the problem that the Galatians wrestled with. Instead of bearing one another’s burdens, they sowed for their own comfort.

The Galatians became divided because they thought of themselves highly. They were proud of their works of tradition and jewish law. They looked down upon those who were not like them. They condemned those in any transgression rather than meeting them with gentleness to restore them to the body.

Our Struggle:

Our struggle is the same. We too sow for our comfort and our pride rather than bearing one another’s burdens. It’s just in a different context.

We have tendency to over schedule our lives and leave no space for others. We choose ourselves over stepping into messy situations with people who are suffering. We grow tired of doing good and clock out thinking we’ve done enough for others. We grow resentful because we look at our work and see how others are doing it as much as us or for us. We’d rather condemn and step away, gossip and keep back rather than step in to correct and walk with to see restoration. We are no different than the Galatians. We fight for ourselves rather than one another.

Root Idol:

The root behind it all is our personal comfort. Moving towards people times time, work, and energy. It takes effort that we aren’t willing to give. We desire to protect ourselves from exhaustion, so we don’t step in to do the hard work of love. When it’s quick and easy, we’ll step in. But often if it interrupts our schedule, relaxation time, or going to be more than an one off good duty, we’ll choose comfort.

Consequences:

But what ends up happening when we walk that way? We become isolated because people are hard to love so we create our own bubble of safety. yet our heart longs for relationships but we don’t have them.

We can become cliquey to those who we have intimate relationships with and so they are easier to love. They are naturally in our schedules. They are just like us and those that are different get left to someone else to pursue them. We stick to who and what we know because it’s convenient.

What ends up happening is that we become conceited, envying one another, boastful, and arrogant. Our priorities shrink down to just us and our kingdom, not God’s.

Whatever we sow, becomes what we reap. The law of the Harvest has something to teach us today.

The Law of the Harvest (v. 6-8)

Verse Explanation:

Galatians 6:6–8 “Let the one who is taught the word share all his good things with the teacher. Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a person sows he will also reap, because the one who sows to his flesh will reap destruction from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.”

Once more, Paul brings in the conversation with the teachers, the spiritual leaders that the people are following and learning from. Paul is encouraging them to take care of their pastors financially. I understand that may be a little odd with me being one of the lead pastors, but it’s instruction in the scriptures that this matters for good reason. Many have abused this passage to teach a false prosperity gospel of sowing seeds of money and God will give them health wealth and prosperity if they give to a pastors ministry. But what Paul is instructing here the care of the pastors with diligence.

False teachers mock God. They may act on the exterior like they’re righteous, care about those who follow them, and even serve people. But their hearts are wicked. God will not be fooled by them.

Whoever you invest in, you will reap from their instruction. Whatever you sow in, you will reap. Verses 7 & 8 help give the why. If you follow teachers who are not teaching truth, you will receive false teaching and false teaching will not just lead you astray here on this earth, but their teaching and instruction has eternal repercussions. reaping destruction in verse 8 carries end times language. You will reap what you sow. He’s instructing the Galatians that they need to take time, invest energy, and work diligently to set up and place leaders who are teaching truth that will sow to the Spirit and will see eternal life from the Spirit.

The Principle:

The principle remains the same though. Whatever a person sows he will also reap. We see this everywhere: from students reaping grades from study and understanding of their instruction, professionals reaping reviews from hard work, parents reaping connection in marriage from intentional dates, and grandparents reaping financial returns from early investments.

The same is true for what we sow spiritually. What we become depends on how we behave. Our character is shaped by our conduct. How we reap the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control) is by sowing in the Spirit.

John Stott says “to sow to the flesh is to pander to it, to cosset, cuddle and stroke it instead of crucifying it…..every time we allow our mind to harbor a grudge, complain a grievance, entertain impure fantasy, or wallow in self pit, we are sowing to the flesh.”

The False Harvest:

What ends up happening when we grab the cheap seed and sow to the flesh, we end up using spiritual language to cover up fake love (mocking God). It pretends outwardly because our hearts inwardly are focused on ourselves. We’re consumed with ourselves and in doing so, we begin to reap that same harvest. We wonder why we feel alone, why we don’t have community, why people aren’t giving back to us. We become judgmental of those who we see who aren’t participating and prideful of how much we are doing. We tap out after seasons of giving and step out to say we no longer need to participate, we’ve done our time. We reap isolation, pride, arrogance, exhaustion, and a lack of a spiritual family along with a life that doesn’t move to holiness or nearness to God. We reap our flesh.

The Gospel (Fulfilling the Law of Christ):

Some would argue that this is karma. Karma's logic requires the wheel where a bad harvest this life, you try again next life. You work off the debt across incarnations until you escape the cycle entirely. Paul gives you one harvest. Corruption or eternal life. Final, not provisional. The stakes are higher, not lower, than karma. there's no next round to fix it.

That’s the good news. While we are consumed with ourselves, Jesus perfectly chose to sow love by bearing the crushing burden of our sin on the cross, allowing us to reap eternal life. This whole process to sow in the Spirit is not possible apart from God. Apart from God, we care for ourselves. Apart from God, we grow prideful or exhausted as we really on ourselves. Apart from God, we move towards our comfort.

But Christ himself is the one who set’s us free. Jesus perfect carried the greatest burden in taking our poor harvest, cheap seed, that would produce destruction and eternal separation from God. But Jesus doesn’t just sow love to those who he was with, Christ himself allows us to reap from his harvest and receive eternal life from the Spirit.

Rewiring the Heart:

Jesus fulfilled the law (v. 2) so we could reap life (v. 8). Because of His substitution, doing good is no longer an exhausting obligation. It is a joyful overflow of His love for us.

Jesus fulfilled the law in verse 2 perfectly so that we could reap live. We were the ones caught in transgression, and he was the one to restore us. Because of his work, in Christ, empowered by the Spirit we no longer have to sow to the flesh. We have the opportunity to walk in the Spirit. Our hearts no longer have to be focused on us, but we consider one another as we sow. It’s no longer an exhausting obligation that we do, but a joyful overflow of his love for us.

We get to sow seed that will yield what we desperately long for. A community that loves one another in unity & love.

The Community of the Spirit (v. 9-10)

Verse Focus:

Galatians 6:9–10 “Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith.”

The transformation that happens among a body of believers when they walk in the Spirit and sow to the Spirit compared to the flesh is not one that leaves us in isolation, pride, or exhausted. Paul’s instruction and encouragement is to not get tired of doing good because we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up.

Doing good, sowing in the Spirit, building one another up, serving one another is heavy lifting. Active Christian service is tiring and physically draining at times. But, the encouragement is to not give up. It’s easy to become discouraged or to slack off or even give up all together. That’s the cheap seed. But continuing to do good, to work for the good of all, that’s an eternal value that we will reap in good time.

The Response:

Being empowered by the Spirit we get to step out of our comfort zones and give our lives to one another.

Sometimes it might be putting in the work to participate in VBS like we did a few weeks ago. That fruit may not be actively visible in seeing those children come to faith for years for some of them. Some of the fruit that comes from that is the joy and learning about Jesus as the light of the world and being able to know that truth right away.

(Story of Hayden coming over and just hugging me)

Sometimes it looks like us moving towards someone who is going through some suffering or grief and not trying to fix them. It’s taking the time to sit with them and listen. It’s knowing that it will be longer than a quick coffee meet up, but weeks, months, maybe years of continuing to care and pray for them as they walk through their grief.

Sowing to the Spirit might mean taking the time to mentor someone else in the church. Opening up your home to host a city group. Giving regular amounts of time to take the extra effort of teaching and encouraging others in the faith.

Counter-Narrative:

The world says that if you’re tired, that means you need to escape, hide, step back, and just consume. But the gospel says that we are empowered to continually give of ourselves. This encouragement to continue to do good and not growing tired of doing good means we don’t grow weary of pointing one another back to Jesus becasue the Spirit provides the endurance that we lack.

If you feel exhausted, tired of doing good, frustrated that others maybe aren’t holding up their end or serving, take a look inwardly. Those are all signs that you may be sowing to the flesh and not in the Spirit. Your desire to coast or give up or step away because you’ve given your time? That’s sowing in the flesh. He doesn’t give us a time limit on how long we do it.

The saying is also true, that 80% of the work is often done by 20% of the people. If you aren’t participating in caring for one another, if you find yourself attending on Sunday mornings regularly and not participating in any way, the invitation in verse 10 is to work for the good especially those who belong to the household of faith.

Either way you cut it - judgement & pride or excuse and consume, both are disobeying the instruction or counting yourself something when you’re nothing.

I understand capacity for people can be different, but that doesn’t excuse us from participating.

Conclusion

Invitation

If you’re in either camp, I’d like to invite you to ask the Lord to help you see your heart. Would you genuinely ask the Spirit to convict you and reveal to you the idol of comfort, but repent and ask for empowerment to love as Christ has loved. Pray earnestly that Christ’s love would overflow to move you to the service and love of doing good for all, not growing tired but sowing and reaping a harvest that looks like eternal life.

Gospel Stamp

Christ himself had every reason to know do the work of getting tired of doing good. He has ever excuse and reason to not go through with the plan of salvation because we were the ones who were conceited, thinking highly of ourselves, taking pride in our work and judging those who aren’t up to our standard. We have attempted to prove our good work.

But Christ persevered and did not step back, he stepped in. Jesus himself worked to the point of physical exhaustion giving his life as a ransom for many. The king of kings came to serve, not be served.

What if God did something powerful here at Citylight South. What if he took this group of people, to sow in the Spirit and not fall into the trap of 20% of the people doing 80% of the work. What if the Spirit used us to display and do good among one another to be empowered and go to those around us. Not growing tired of doing good and seeing the eternal life come about in those around us because he used us, to be a city set on a hill, a light to the world. Sowing in the Spirit, reaping eternal harvest.