Do Not Grow Weary

Intro.

On February 17, 1812, Adoniram and Ann Judson set sail from New England to take the good news of Jesus Christ to the isolated country of Burma, now called Myanmar. The Judsons were the first foreign missionaries sent out from the United States, and Adoniram would spend the next 38 years of his life laboring for the cause of Christ among the Burmese people. The work was hard, and they saw no fruit for the first six years, baptizing the first convert in 1819. Then again Judson saw little results for 12 more years.

In that time span, he worked diligently translating the Bible and other tracts and faced increasing trials. His wife Ann had three children, all of whom died. Eleven months after the birth of their third child, Ann died as well. Adoniram himself was accused of being a spy and was imprisoned and tortured for 17 months.

But then the reaping began in 1831. Listen to these words from Judson’s journal:

The spirit of inquiry… is spreading everywhere, through the whole length and breadth of the land.” [We have distributed] nearly 10,000 tracts, giving to none but those who ask. I presume there have been 6,000 applications at the house.

Some come two or three months’ journey, from the borders of Siam and China—’Sir, we hear that there is an eternal hell. We are afraid of it. Do give us a writing that will tell us how to escape it.’ Others, from the frontiers of Kathay, 100 miles north of Ava—’Sir, we have seen a writing that tells about an eternal God.

Are you the man that gives away such writings? If so, pray give us one, for we want to know the truth before we die.’ Others, from the interior of the country, where the name of Jesus Christ is a little known—’Are you Jesus Christ’s man? Give us a writing that tells us about Jesus Christ.”

Today Operation World reports that there are close to 3,700 congregations of Baptists in Myanmar with 617,781 members and 1,900,000 affiliates who trace their origin to this man’s labors of love. I am reminded of Jesus’ words

John 12:24 ESV

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

One seed is able to multiply itself into many seeds. One seed is able to bear countless apples. However, let us not gloss over Jesus’ words to quickly. How does one seed bear much fruit? Jesus said it must fall to the ground and die. Jesus exemplified this in his life.

Listen to this quote from John Piper:

“Suffering was not just a consequence of the Master’s obedience and mission. It was the central strategy of his mission….Jesus calls us to join him on the Calvary road, to take up our cross, and to hate our lives in this world, and fall into the ground like a seed and die, that others might live. We are not above our Master. To be sure, our suffering does not atone for anyone’s sins, but it is a deeper way of doing missions than we often realize.” | John Piper

There is a particular temptation that faithful Christians face.

It is a temptation that is unique to those who are on the front lines of the work of the gospel, and that temptation is to get tired and give up. After all, we know that nothing—not even failure—can separate us from the love of God. We know that all who are saved are free of God’s condemnation and are secure forever. This year you will feel the pull to ease up and not persevere. You will feel the weight of your commitment to Christ and will be tempted to just pull over and stop, to get off the train and say, “I’ve gone far enough.”

However, God’s Word to you today and on that day will be, “Do not grow weary.”

I want us to take a closer look at that word today here in Galatians 6:9, and I want to break it into two parts.

I want to look first at a command that encourages and then secondly at an encouragement that commands.

A Command That Encourages

The reason Paul exhorts these Galatian Christians not to become weary is that weariness is a natural temptation when we are doing good. Of course, we need to remember that it is God’s Word that defines for us what doing good actually is. Weight loss goals and other personal achievements may be personally satisfying, but Paul has some very specific things in mind when he gives this command. Looking at the context we see that Paul is envisioning such things as coming alongside other Christians caught in sin, guarding against temptation, bearing each other’s burdens and sharing with each other.

Paul does not say, “When you grow weary,” he says, “Let us not become weary.” There is encouragement in this command. I find encouragement in the “us.” Paul includes himself in what he writes. The apostle Paul, who planted churches all over the Roman Empire and superintended the writing of over half of the New Testament, knew what it was like to be tempted to become weary.

2 Corinthians 1:8 ESV

For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself.

One thing that can encourage us in this command to not grow weary in doing good is to understand reasons why we tend to do so. Paul is using the metaphor of sowing and reaping here. When we do good, we have an expectation that we will see fruit from our labors.

It’s right to expect fruit but one of the reasons why we can grow weary is that we are

looking for fruit at the wrong time.

If you get on I-84 and head east for a few hours, you see massive poplar tree farms. These trees grow closely together and then are harvested after 10 years and ground into pulp for paper. Then there are oak trees. We measure the age of oak trees not in weeks or years but in decades. These are the trees we tell stories about—storms they weathered, tree houses they supported. Even after they’ve fallen, we see their beauty in furniture that is passed down from generation to generation.

God is not growing a kingdom of poplars; he is growing a kingdom of oak trees.

Isaiah 61:1a ESV

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

Isaiah 61:3 ESV

to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.

When we are doing good, we can be tempted to grow weary because we are looking for fruit at the wrong time.

A second reason why we can grow weary in doing good is that

we expect the wrong fruit.

There is a temptation to define the fruit that we want to see from our sowing. There can be the temptation to believe that if we do good then God will reward us with financial prosperity or good health or acceptance in relationships. There can be a temptation to look at struggles in our own lives and assume we must be doing something wrong and to look at the external successes of others and assume they are doing something right.

Why is God rewarding them and not me?

You may be looking for the wrong fruit. Instead we should be looking for the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. In doing good we must look for this fruit and not become discouraged when we don’t see the fruit that doesn’t truly last.

A third reason why we can grow weary is that

we are trying to do the wrong work.

Paul describes two kinds of activities here—sowing and reaping. We must remember that reaping is the effect of sowing. Reaping is the reward. When it comes to doing good, you can grow weary because you expect that doing good will be reaping when in reality it is sowing.

When it comes to serving Jesus, many people want to be reapers but how few are willing to be sowers. Many people want to reap the harvest of conversions but are not willing to do the work of sowing. Many people want to reap the harvest of spiritual maturity but do not want to do the work of sowing in Bible reading, prayer, spiritual disciplines, and putting sin to death.

A fourth reason why we can grow weary in doing good is that

we have the wrong attitude.

How easy it is to do good for the approval of men instead of the approval of God. We can grow weary because we are working hard and no one is appreciating us. We pour our hearts into doing good and someone else gets the credit. Paul recognized this temptation.

Galatians 1:10 ESV

For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

If you want to persevere in doing good and not grow weary, you must determine ahead of time that you are serving God, not people.

It is not the expectation of fruit that brings weariness, it is looking at the wrong time for the wrong fruit, attempting the wrong work with the wrong attitude.

We can draw encouragement from this command because it does indeed contain a promise. Let’s look at the encouragement that commands.

An Encouragement That Commands

There is a sure promise in this command. Paul says that we will reap a harvest. We don’t have this same assurance with other endeavors in life.

Olympic athletes can train their whole lives for a chance to win a medal only to stumble and fall and go home empty-handed. You can work hard and invest your money only to see it evaporate before your eyes when the market crashes.

However, Paul confidently asserts here that we will reap a harvest for doing good. What gave Paul such assurance? Where did this encouragement come from?

Paul knew that

the harvest is God’s responsibility.

If the responsibility for harvesting was in human hands, there would not be such grounds for confidence. However, Paul knew that God was the gracious and sovereign determiner of the harvest.

1 Corinthians 3:6–8 ESV

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.

This confidence produced encouragement in Paul that could lead him to the command: Do not give up. Because the harvest from doing good is sure, we must not give up. There are two things that we must do to not to give up.

First,

we must work with patience.

Doing good that produces a sure harvest is slow work. It’s not flashy. Sometimes the ground is hard, and time is required to soften it and break it up so that the seed can take root, receive nourishment and flourish. Working with patience means we shouldn’t be surprised by opposition or difficulty.

1 Peter 4:12–13 ESV

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

When we are doing good and not seeing fruit, we must keep telling ourselves that this is the way God works.

Second,

we must work with diligence.

Because we have the promise of a harvest, we must keep doing what is good.

1 Corinthians 15:58 ESV

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

Keep spending time with God in his Word and in prayer. Keep spending time with unbelievers. Keep sharing God’s Word as he gives opportunity. Keep drinking coffee. Keep serving. Keep giving.

Charles Spurgeon said,

“If there are a hundred reasons for giving up your work of faith, there are 50,000 for going on with it! Though there are many arguments for fainting, there are far more arguments for persevering. Though we might be weary and do sometimes feel so, let us wait upon the Lord and renew our strength and we shall mount up with wings as eagles, forget our weariness and be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might!” | Charles Spurgeon

Doug and Carolyn Tharp were Bible translators with Wycliffe. Wycliffe assigned the Tharps to the Sulka people of Papua New Guinea on the basis of survey work that identified this people group as ready for a Bible translation work. However, when the Tharps settled in the village they were not received warmly. Although they were tolerated, none of the Sulka people were cooperative in helping them to learn the language.

For nearly seven years, the Tharps labored with no success. They would come to find out that the survey data was based on an interview with a man who had married into the Sulka tribe and did not truly represent the feelings of the people. They also learned that the chief in the village had told his people that they were not to help the Tharps learn the Sulka language.

What seemed to be the final straw was when Carolyn contracted a severe case of malaria. In this remote village inaccessible to aircraft and motor vehicles, Doug prepared to watch his wife die. To his surprise, a couple of Sulka men came to Doug and said that the chief had a dream and they were to help get Carolyn to a hospital. Then they were to help Doug learn whatever he needed to give them the Bible. With the help of the Sulka people, Carolyn did reach a hospital in time and received the necessary treatment.

After she recovered, Doug and Carolyn were able to finish the translation project in nearly record time, completing the New Testament two years ahead of the projected schedule. Nearly the entire village received Christ, and today, the Sulka people have God’s Word in their language. A church has been established because the Tharps did not grow weary but worked with patience and diligence.

Conclusion

What good work have you been called to?

It may be a ministry in your church that needs workers. There may be other fields as well—a single mother in your neighborhood who is struggling to make ends meet and care for her children, maintaining integrity in an office where backstabbing and stretching the truth to meet a deadline are how business gets done. For every season of sowing there is a proper season of harvest.

There is still such a thing as fruit being in season. Today, you can go to Costco and you can buy strawberries. They will be large, firm, and mostly red and juicy. However, this June, if you will drive east of Portland on Highway 26, you’ll encounter an unassuming fruit stand. At this tent, you will find small green paperboard containers labelled “Hood strawberries.” They won’t be as big as Costco strawberries, but they will be redder and plumper and juicier. You can buy Costco strawberries today, but the Hood strawberries in the proper season are far sweeter.

Spurgeon’s word reminds us well:

“As all fruits are sweeter for being in season, so is the reward of Christian service when it comes in God’s time.” Do not grow weary.