The Law of the Harvest

Galatians 6:6-10

His Saturday afternoon phone call surprised me. I hadn’t heard from my old friend in more than four years, except the occasional e-mail. Now working in different parts of the country, we were both involved in the daily requirements of our jobs. But as he spoke, I realized that this was no ordinary phone call. Something was different… wonderfully different.

For years, my friend had been living in moral defeat. He’d been sowing to the flesh, trying to satisfy his emptiness with every pleasure but God. He was raised in a church environment, he attended Christian schools growing up, but after moving to a new city, he grew weary of looking for a new church; none of them offered what he wanted. So, he quit going to church except on rare occasions. Meanwhile, his ongoing battle with alcohol and pornography intensified. While professing to be a Christian, his indulgence had caused his hope to dwindle down to nothing.

But as he spoke, I heard something different in his voice as he described where he’d been. I found myself listening to a man who had recently awakened from a long moral stupor. He awakened with both gratitude and fear.

He was grateful to have awakened at all. He still had time. It wasn’t too late to begin living in obedience to Jesus Christ. But he was also fearful… fearful that he had spent so much of his life sowing carnal seeds of moral and spiritual destruction that would inevitably come to harvest. His fear was justified. I couldn’t tell him the past didn’t matter any more as long as you’ve learned from it. That would be a lie. You may choose your choices, but the consequences are chosen for you. It’s the law of the harvest. We reap what we sow. But I also reminded my friend that it’s never too late to start doing what is right. And in this truth is great hope.

In spite of his fear, my friend said something that was as refreshing as it was simple. He said, “I’ve finally realized that the only way for me to be truly happy and content in this life is through radical obedience to Jesus Christ.” Earlier, he thought that would be the end of all pleasure in this life, but just the opposite is true. Pleasure begins when we sow to the Spirit, and from the Spirit reap eternal life, beginning right now when we need it most.

That’s the lesson from Galatians 6:6-10. I want to share with you some of the truth that shocked my friend out of his spiritual stupor. And there’s enough here to shock the rest of us as well. In honor of God and His Word, please stand for the reading of these verses.

6 Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor. 7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 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. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. [NIV]

[Prayer] In this passage, we’re going to consider God’s law of the harvest in three specific areas of life: in ministry, in thoughts and deeds, and in good works among the saved and lost. First,

I.          We reap what we sow in ministry (6).

Verse six deals with the relationship between a pastor and the congregation. He says, “Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor.” Obviously, there had been a breakdown of healthy communication and relationships in the church at Galatia. Paul founded the church, but had appointed some unfortunate brother to pastor the church in his absence. For whatever reason, the pastor at Galatia was losing control. He was being ignored and alienated and therefore, God’s Word was being disregarded and discredited. This gave rise to false teachers who were more influential and dynamic. They were bewitching in their influence.

What was lacking was basic love between the pastor and the people. Paul needed to correct the abuse that isolates a pastor from the people who receive blessings from his labors. The word for ‘him who is taught the word’ is a word meaning ‘under instruction in the faith’. This is the same word Luke used for Theophilus at the beginning of his gospel (1:4). There is a natural symbiotic relationship between the pastor and the parish; each is incomplete without the other. Paul was a teacher who understood the value of teachers seeing God’s work in people’s lives. So often, pastors feel disconnected from the impact that God’s Word has in people’s lives, especially after a service is over. This is even truer when controversy is infiltrating the ranks of the membership.

This sharing is about more than just financial remuneration. It’s about friendship and fellowship. It’s about sharing how God’s Word was put into practice and how it bore fruit. The command of verse 6 is written to the congregation about their relationship with their pastor. He didn’t indicate that the pastor at Galatia had been negligent in his duties giving rise to the problems; apparently he was doing just what he was supposed to be doing, even though some may have felt he wasn’t as dynamic or charismatic as the compelling Judaizers who were like pied pipers in the church.

The principle is that the minister who sows the good seed of the word must be allowed to enjoy seeing (and tasting) the fruit it produces in the lives of those he loves. Ministry that glorifies God is mutually beneficial to the pastor and the church. Or negatively stated, ministry that hurts or degrades the pastor ultimately weakens and destroys the church. We reap what we sow in ministry. That’s the first principle. The second principle is found in verses 7-8, namely…

II.        We reap what we sow in thoughts and deeds (7-8).

Verses 7 and 8 seem to refer to the private yield: “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 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.”

This is the law of the harvest stated clearly. The law of the harvest stated generally is this: you reap what you sow, later than you sow, and oftentimes more than you sow. James says, “Peace-makers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness” [James 3:18]. Paul spoke to the Corinthians about the proportion of our sowing: “Remember this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously” [1 Cor. 9:6]. We should never expect to reap a harvest of holiness if we only sow in the fields of carnality.

The Bible says, “Do not be deceived…” This is a present passive imperative, literally “Stop being led astray” or “stop allowing yourself to wanderer”. The verb planao is the word from which we get our word “planet”. The planets were so named because they appeared to wander in the sky from point to point, whereas the distant stars remained more or less fixed. The Galatians had wandered from the essence of the gospel; some had added works, others had subtracted sanctification… but their gospel didn’t add up. They were allowing themselves to be deceived by false teachers. It’s possible for God’s people to be led astray not only by false teachers, but also by our own sinful nature. Often these work in tandem with each other… they feed off of each other.

When Paul warned Timothy about this tendency in these last days, in 2 Timothy 4:3, he said: “3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”

Apparently, the deception in Galatia was willing and “high-handed”. He says, “God cannot be mocked”. The verb used for ‘mocked’ is very rare in koine Greek. It literally means “to turn up the nose at God”. When this is done toward God, the consequences are serious. God cannot permit His people (or any people) to turn up their nose at His holy standards. They are sowing destruction and they will eventually reap the same. The reaping is of the same nature as the sowing, it is later than the sowing, and often it is in larger proportion than the sowing. If we think we might reap something other than what we are sowing, God lovingly warns us, don’t be deceived. A man always reaps what he sows. It was this reality that frightened my friend so much.

Then he gets specific in verse 8: “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.” All that is private will be revealed at the harvest. This is a great warning to the self deceived, but a great encouragement to those led by the Spirit! This is God’s encouragement to remember the harvest. When you’re fighting for personal holiness and trying to order your private world, remember the harvest. When you’re tempted to yield to sin and violate what you know to be right, God says, remember the harvest. If you’re a student at school and everyone else is cheating to get ahead and you’re tempted to go along with it, remember the harvest.

So many people spend the first half of their lives sowing their wild oats, then, in the second half of life, they pray for crop failure. Start sowing today the kind of fruit you want to yield at harvest. The law of the harvest is immutable—it’s built into God’s natural order. To those who are carnal and immoral, the law of the harvest is a frightening thought—you will reap what you have sown. But for those who are striving for holiness in the little unseen areas of life, where only God sees, you can be greatly encouraged by this… you will reap the good seed you’ve sown. If you’ve grown weary in your faithful sowing, God says, keep sowing to the Spirit. And if you have been deceived, stop the deception; wake up; start sowing that good seed today. In this context, the good seed refers to thoughts and deeds, especially in private.

If you’ve been shaken by this truth, that’s good. God wants us to take this seriously. But remember that the law of the harvest works both ways. Though consequences must run their natural course, it is never too late to start doing what is right. The message to the Galatians (and to us) is that changes must be made if we want to reap a harvest of eternal life. Is there a pattern in your life that needs to be altered? Is there a habit that needs to be confessed and forsaken? What kind of seed are you sowing in your life? The law of the harvest is either working for you or against you.

We reap what we sow in ministry, we reap what we sow in thoughts and deeds, and finally…

III.       We reap what we sow in good works among the saved and the lost (9-10).

As verses 7 and 8 referred to the private yield, verses 9 and 10 seem to refer to the public yield. This is the sowing and reaping that takes place in an ongoing, visible manner. He says: “9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”

What a healing word for a hurting church. If we forget the law of the harvest, it’s easy to become weary in doing good. Don’t give up! The harvest is coming. Use every opportunity to sow to the Spirit. Use every opportunity to do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. This is the part of the harvest we see and enjoy first. It’s visible in the way we live in this world.

As I was concluding the phone call with my friend, he told me he was on his way to a Saturday night church meeting. It was a new member’s orientation class and he wanted to get back to the basics. He now saw the importance of associating with the flawed and imperfect community of believers known as the church, the household of faith. He was beginning to see the church as a community of sinners saved by grace. It wasn’t about what the church could offer him, it wasn’t about pleasing him. It wasn’t about him at all. He now saw his relationship with the church as an opportunity to be satisfied by Jesus Christ while serving others. He now had an opportunity to pursue his pleasure in pure devotion to God while pleasing His Savior at the same time. In this way, he would be satisfied and God would be glorified. What about you?

Let’s pray.

 (c) Charles Kevin Grant

2003