Don't Give Up

Who here has had a good habit, one you’ve held on to it for a while, slip away from you? Maybe it’s exercise. Maybe it’s diet. Maybe it’s bedtime. Maybe it’s practising an instrument. Maybe something spiritual - like bible reading or prayer. Who’s had a good habit slip away from you?

I think that’s a pretty universal experience. It’s so easy to pick up bad habits. It’s so easy to lose good habits. Always feels like you’re pushing against gravity, like it’s always pulling you back down to earth, right? Feels like nothing’s really going to change, always going to find your way back down to the same spot.

But the bible tells us that’s not true if you’re a follower of Jesus. The Bible tells us we can change - and we will change. It tells us, even though it’s a struggle, that it’s worth it. That we shouldn’t give up. That it leads somewhere.

That’s what we’re going to be looking at today - an encouragement not to give up, to persevere. An encouragement I think we all need as our world seems to spiral out of control.

We’re nearly at the end of a short letter towards the back of the bible called Galatians which was written to a group of churches in modern-day Turkey. It was written by one of Jesus’ first followers, a guy called Paul, written to a bunch of churches he had started where, after he’d moved on, other teachers showed up with a very different message - and things were going wrong. He’s pointing them back to the message he left with them, the good news that Jesus died in our place so we are made right with God - but also the good news that followers of Jesus have new power within - power coming from God’s own Spirit - power to change.

Remember we talked about seeds a few weeks back: the potential they have, but how you have to give them the right environment? This week we’re all plant-y and horticultural again. We’re thinking about how you keep on sowing those seeds, and how we can be confident that they will grow.

Come with me to Galatians chapter six - that’s page 1172 in these blue bibles. Galatians chapter six - big 6 - and we’re starting reading from verse 7 - tiny 7. Page 1172, Galatians chapter six, verse 7. Dustin is reading for us today.

Galatians 6:7–10 NIV

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 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.

Thanks Dustin.

Now there’s a lot of metaphorical language here - lots of word-pictures in that short passage. Pictures that would have clicked immediately with the original audience but us modern folk might need a little more help with - because we’re a bit more distant from these things. Let’s check we understand them before going any further. So, the main picture is reaping and sowing - or planting and harvesting.

In the ancient world this letter comes from, everyone would have direct experience of this, or at least would have understood it intimately - but we’re a bit more insulated in our modern world so, for the benefit of anyone who thinks bread grows in Tesco overnight in a plastic bag, this is about growing crops for food - grain, wheat.

Sowing is scattering the seeds onto the ploughed ground. It’s where things start. Then there’s a whole bunch of waiting. Waiting, and hoping for enough rain and enough sun - but not too much of either. And then, months later, after the plants are full-grown and ready, there’s reaping: you harvest the crop that you’ve grown that year.

So built into this picture is a delay, a significant delay. You sow or plant ... months - or even years pass … then you reap, or harvest. It’s a tough sell in our modern world, but growing stuff takes time - you have to wait for the harvest. So as we think together about what this all means, we need to hang on to that idea of waiting that’s built into this word-picture.

Also the picture communicates a connection: If you don’t sow, you can’t reap. The harvest is a result of the planting, it flows out of it. And what you harvest grows from what you planted. If you plant apples, you don’t harvest oranges. If you plant weeds, you don’t harvest grain. You grow what you plant.

Delay and connection - these would have been completely obvious to the original audience.

But what is he getting at with this metaphor? “A person reaps what he sows”, he tells us - but he’s not talking about someone actually growing crops. He’s talking about something which is like growing crops. First, he talks about someone who “sows to please their flesh” - what does that mean?

Flesh, here, refers to our ordinary human nature. Human nature which, the Bible tells us, has been corrupted and twisted so even though there are remnants of the good and noble, it always ends up drawing us to what’s wrong, what’s bad for us, what’s bad for those around us. Sometimes it’s obvious - like when I’m in a rage and I hit out at someone; I didn’t want to be that or do that; I know that’s wrong. Most of the time it’s subtle - like when I kid myself that I’m doing something for some good cause when really it’s mostly for my own ego. Often that sort of twisted-ness can sneak by unnoticed.

“Sowing to please their flesh” means living life driven by the desires of this warped human nature. Doing what suits me, what pleases me. And let’s face it, most of the time, that’s how most of the world lives.

The alternative he lays out for us here is someone who “sows to please the Spirit” - he means the Spirit of God; invisible but still personal; alive and present inside every true follower of Jesus. He’s describing someone who does what suits God, who does what pleases him. Who lives in the way God wants us to live, who strives for the character God wants us to have. And if you want to know what that looks like in practice, Jesus is our model, our example.

A few weeks back we were looking at a famous bible passage talking about the “fruit of the Spirit” - we looked at how real change is always inside-out, not outside-in; how righteous actions flow out of good character. That’s true again here - sowing to please the Spirit doesn’t start with actions we take, things on the outside - it starts with choosing virtue or character inside - virtue or character that flows out into actions.

So when we think about sowing to please the Spirit, we’re thinking not just about living an outward life that’s shaped by the character of God, by what is right and good and true - it’s not less than that, it’s more than that. It’s also about building the character which that life flows out of.

Ok, so two kinds of sowing. Remember what we said about sowing and reaping? Delay and Connection.

Delay. You sow now. You reap later. It’s not instant. It takes time to see the fruit.

Connection. You reap because you sow. And you get back from the ground the same thing you put into it. You reap what you sow.

Let’s take these principles with our two kinds of seed. First, sowing to please the flesh:

Delay: When we act, driven by our warped human desires, we’ve sown something. We’ve started something. Can’t put the genie back in the bottle. There’s cause and effect. We’re going to reap something. But it doesn’t happen right away. We might think we’ve gotten away with it. Might think it didn’t do any harm. Or that no-one knew, or no-one saw, or no-one took photos, or no-one would pass them on to the police - ahem, Borris. But it’s just the nature of things that there’s a delay. Might be short - I’ve had things come back to bite me in moments sometimes. More often it’s long - long enough we can start thinking we’re out. But we’ve sown something - so we’re going to reap something. Then there’s this:

Connection: what we plant is what, in time, sprouts and grows up out of the ground. When we’ve planted something corrupt, what grows up is corruption. “whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction” our writer says. Destruction there is the Greek word f-th-ora - it means organic decay which ends in total destruction. Like fruit going off, becoming mouldy, ultimately totally rotting away. When we act out our warped human desires, the result, delayed, perhaps, but still the result, is this gradual deterioration and decay.

Like when we lie, and then have to tell more and more lies to keep the first one hidden. Or when we give in to a temptation and find next time it’s just a little easier to do it again.

There’s this building corruption that flows out acting, driven by our wrong desires - and ultimately it has to lead to our total decay; to destruction. It can’t lead to life forever with God - imagine yourself, gradually more and more corrupted; how could that exist in the presence of a perfectly good and righteous God? It can’t.

Sowing to please the flesh: delay, connection. What about sowing to please the Spirit?

Delay: When we choose the way of the Spirit, the path in keeping with the righteousness of God, acting out the character we see in Jesus, we’ve started something. There’s cause and effect. There will be an impact. It might not seem to make any difference but that’s just because it takes time. There’s a gap, there’s waiting involved. Like the flash of lightening before thunder arrives - it’s going to come, just not right away. Like an earthquake registering in the ocean - there’s no wave on the horizon but the tsunami alarms go off because, though it may be some time yet, something’s coming.

Have you “sown to please the Spirit” - chosen a path, an act, a response, an attitude that’s going God’s way but it seems to have had no impact? You don’t seem to have changed. The world seems no different. Are you wondering whether it was really worth while, really the right path, the right step? There’s a delay. But we’ve sown something - so we’re going to reap something. Then there’s

Connection: what you’ve planted will eventually grow up out of that ground. When you’ve planted something righteous, something good, something more like Jesus, less like your old self; something more God’s way less your way - when you’ve planted that, you will ultimately harvest that. And just like we talked about that progressive decay, there’s the opposite here: progressive growth, increasing health: a positive feedback cycle instead of a negative one.

“eternal life” is definitely about life that lasts forever, that transcends death. It makes sense that this is the opposite end of the spectrum from a spiral of decay leading to destruction: pure, indestructible life.

But perhaps you’ll remember a while back, I can’t remember who it was, but one of our other bible teachers really helpfully unpacked how the original audience would have understood that phrase “eternal life” not just as life that never ends, but also as the sort of life that belongs to the “age to come” - that new phase when finally everything has been put right and all is restored. The end-point of this positive cycle, the life that ultimately grows up when we keep sowing this way, is the sort of life which belongs with God in his new creation.

Delay - but connection. That’s what he wants them to hang on to.

He’s talking to people who are in danger of growing weary of doing good, people who are in danger of becoming so exhausted with the active work it takes to do good, to sow to please the Spirit, to walk the right path, to “run the race” as it was described a little earlier in the letter. He’s saying to them “keep going!” “don’t give up” - and the motivator he has for them, to help them persevere, is this big truth: you reap what you sow - that is, what you plant, what you water, what you cultivate - that’s what - in time - is going to grow up. That’s what you’re ultimately going to harvest.

Today Paul encourages us to persevere in seeking to grow the fruit of the Spirit (“sowing to please the Spirit”). Just like the farmer who works all day sowing a field, then arrives home with seemingly nothing to show, it’s worth it: There will be a harvest. Ultimately, pursuing the Spirit leads to life - where pursuing our own desires is a relentless spiral which only leads to destruction.

Now this letter was written nearly 2000 years ago to people far away, people living in a very different world. But we believe the Bible still speaks to us today - that these words we read are God’s words, that they stand the test of time. So what does this say to us here, today?

First, it asks us the sharp question: are you mocking God?

Are you going your own way, doing what you want, following your desires - your warped desires - and thinking nothing will come of it? You are mocking God. You are ignoring his warning of where that leads.

You will reap what you sow - sow to please your wrong desires, reap destruction - remember, that’s organic decay: you will rot yourself away; your character will be increasingly corrupted.

But worse than that, the only way that process ends is with destruction. Fruit doesn’t stop rotting or become ripe again. The person you will become could not live with God forever - and will not.

God is not mocked.

If that’s you today, if God is speaking to you, what can you do? Like when a piece of fruit begins to rot, it can’t be stopped from inside. You can’t lift yourself out of this downward spiral. Your only hope is help from outside - and that’s precisely the hope that you can find in Jesus. Jesus has died in our place, for all our corruption, taking the penalty that was ours. Through faith in Jesus, you can be adopted into God’s family and released from that corruption. And as a part of God’s family, you can share the promise of his Holy Spirit within - incorruptible, holy, cleansing power - the power to turn things around.

If God is speaking to you today about what you are sowing, about where that is going, listen to him and respond. Reach to him in faith. We’d love to help you do that - just stick around after we’re done today and let’s chat - or email me if you’re with us digitally: I’m matt@hopecityedinburgh.org

The big message our writer has for us is “you reap what you sow”. What are you sowing?

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Perhaps you’re not in that place, not sowing to please the flesh - but neither are you sowing to please the Spirit? Our author is writing to people in danger of becoming weary with that, of giving up even. Is that you? Have you become weary? given up?

Be honest: do you know what you should do and yet not even try to do it? Are there areas where you have raised the white flag and just surrendered? Have you not just become weary, but given up?

If that’s you, the response is the Christian response each time we fall: repentance and faith. Repent - that is, turn again back to God. Own the truth that you had given up. Decide to change direction. Pick up the challenge once more. And do so with faith: know there is always grace for you. That God’s mercy is boundless. That Jesus’ death is all sufficient.

Know someone else in this place? Like we talked about last week, restore that person gently. Because there’s real danger here. I came across this quote while preparing and it’s stuck with me:

‘Sow a thought, reap an act; sow an act, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.’

Perhaps you’re just weary with it all, seemingly going nowhere. It is hard work to keep going - like running a race; like farming the land. So how do you keep going? I think our passage has two encouragements for us:

First, encourage yourself with your God

God is not mocked - no-one turns their nose up at Him and get away with it. No matter how rich, how popular, how powerful; God is not mocked. The Lord of all the earth will do right, our God of justice will judge.

The other side of this coin helps draw us forward: no-one pursuing God will be disappointed by where that leads. No matter what it might look like here and now, in the waiting: no matter how weak, how reviled, how needy we seem. God does what he says. This is his promise, his guarantee. The Spirit is the deposit, the down payment. The destination is certain. Delay, yes, but certain connection.

So encourage yourself with your goal, too

cultivating this “seed” of the Spirit produces the fruit of the Spirit - you will surely become more of a person of love / joy / peace / patience / kindness / goodness / faithfulness / gentleness / self-control - you will become more and more like Jesus. delay, yes, but a certain connection. You reap what you sow.

And ultimately you will “reap eternal life” - the life of the age to come, the sort of life that belongs to the renewed and perfected new creation which God is making. You will get to live in a restored world; to enjoy the goodness that creation was always meant to have been- to be with God as they were at the beginning; to truly be his people, his own family. To be who you were made to be.

The call of today’s passage is “sow to please the Spirit”

choose to live out the character of Christ - his Spirit is within you and empowers you. The seed, the potential, is there - just needs cultivation - patient cultivation for the long term. The origin’s inside: choose love; choose joy; choose peace. The results work their way out - do good; do good to all.

It’s a defiant act, to choose this path - your flesh is against you - it’s a battle.

It’s an act of faith - I believe, because the Spirit of him who raised Christ from the dead lives in me, that I can develop the fruit of the Spirit; I can be (become) loving, joyful, peaceful, patient.

The world tells us we are victims, helpless, “I couldn’t help it; he made me do it” but no - followers of Jesus, you are responsible - response-able - able to choose your response, to choose to become Christlike.

It’s a process; it’s progressive - just like sowing to please the flesh; it’s an upward spiral instead of a downward one - it’s harder to walk up the stairs for sure - but you can do it. Of course, it takes faith to believe that. But do you know what, faith grows when you step on it. Each step up of faith you take, each piece of progress you make, grows your faith.

Don’t give up. Sowing to please the Spirit; keeping in step with the Spirit; walking by the Spirit - it leads to life.