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Have you noticed a new word being used over the last few years among millennials? I’m not going to pick on them today, but the word is illustrative for our text today.
Part of growing up is taking responsibility for your actions. As children grow into teens and want more and more freedom and benefits of adulthood, they often don’t combine that with an equal commitment to grow in responsibility.
But with these examples, the consequences of actions are fairly immediate. An even harder aspect of adulting or maturing is learning the reality that consequences are not always immediate. The culture’s word for this is “delayed gratification,” but the biblical principle is “Sowing and Reaping.”
The first part of our text for this morning is a little unexpected. In fact, commentators can’t seem to decide exactly how it should relate to the surrounding verses. Some put it with the preceding verses. Some treat it as a standalone verse. And others treat it as a unifying verse for all of vv. 6-10. To treat it with the preceding verses, we might say that it is a specific example of bearing one another’s burdens. If you lump it with the following verses, it becomes a key way to sow and reap (e.g. invest/sow into your teachers to reap the benefits). I find this a little too constricting on the broad category of sowing and reaping.
Therefore, I’d like to consider verse 6 on its own. I’ve titled this point “We Still Need Teachers.” That is obviously not the direct statement of the verse, but it is implied and assumed. It would be more explicit to say that we should appreciate and partner with our teachers by supporting them.
I start where I do because I believe Paul is making a point that even though we have freedom in Christ (from a legalistic approach to the Old Covenant system), and even though we have a robust life in the Spirit, we should not assume therefore that we have no need of teachers. I would imagine that you’ve encountered this argument before: since we each have the scriptures and the Holy Spirit, we shouldn’t rely on teachers to explain the Bible to us. This, in some ways, is a reaction to the Catholic Church and its idea that only the Priests/Pope can rightly understand or apply the Bible.
But, we should also recognize that our own cultural tendencies toward autonomy and individualism can cause us to devalue teachers in the church.
So, it is true that the individual believer is able to understand and comprehend the things of God because of the work of the Holy Spirit. But, we must not conclude from this that we have no need of teachers. So much of the New Testament could point out the benefits of having teachers. Here are two:
We know that the Lord has in mind that the church will continue to need teachers.
We could start with the Great Commission:
Matthew 28:19–20 (ESV) — Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
And a passage from Paul to make it clear the importance of teachers to the church:
Ephesians 4:11–12 (ESV) — And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
So, as I stated earlier, the first point I want us each to consider is whether we actually recognize and value the importance of having teachers in the church.
I’m not speaking from a sense of lack or disobedience here on your part. I believe many of you have a great appreciation for our elders and other teachers in our church. But, I do want to point out the biblical basis for it.
We should, however, not skip over the direct command to the Galatians regarding their teachers. His word is actually quite clear. Let’s look at it again:
The specific kind of appreciation that Paul has in mind is that the Galatians would share “all good things” with the one who is teaching them. To be as clear as possible, I believe Paul is telling the Galatian Christians to financially support their teachers in the church.
Again, I’m not speaking to this issue out of correction or frustration. I’m very grateful for how well the church supports Daniel and me, and we recognize that it’s not because of a lack of generosity that we are unable to support all the elders financially.
I simply to point out as clearly as possible what the Bible says on this issue, lest we lose sight of it. The testimony of the New Testament is that is appropriate for churches to financially support teachers to free them up to do the work of the ministry of the Word.
Paul writes several extended passages about this issue, which we don’t have time to look at in detail, but here are a few excerpts.
1 Corinthians 9:11 (ESV) — If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?
A few verses later, Paul quotes Jesus supporting the same idea.
1 Corinthians 9:14 (ESV) — In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.
And he writes later to Timothy to encourage the church to support their leaders.
1 Timothy 5:17–18 (ESV) — Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.”
It’s clear in the context that “double honor” relates to “not muzzling the ox,” that is, they should receive financial support.
Of course, many of you may remember that Paul himself did not take advantage of his own advice most of the time. There is a place for leaders to serve without this financial compensation.
Paul did this for some very specific reasons:
2 Thessalonians 3:7–9 (ESV) — For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate.
Paul did this to serve as an example of a hard worker to the Thessalonians. He also didn’t want financial support to be a stumbling block to those he served in his apostolic ministry.
Before we move on from this point, I’d like to observe one more thing. As Paul is encouraging financial support from the Galatians, he uses a very interesting word, κοινωνέω. It is translated, “sharing.” But we know other derivatives of this word, κοινωνία—partnership, fellowship, close relationship, communion. This indicates that it is much more than a simple financial transaction. This is much more personal than supporting a content-creator on a website or Patreon. It is a partnership. Paul uses the same word in Philippians to describe their financial support for him, and it is translated “partnership.”
I also don’t want to limit this “sharing all good things” to financial support only. “All good things” would include spiritual good things as well. Teachers and elders also need and benefit from friendship, spiritual encouragement, accountability, and admonition like everyone else. We are not spiritual islands or immune to the needs common to man.
Thank you for your support, care, and partnership with us. I am personally grateful to be partnering with you all.
Now, let’s move on to the next section of our text, which is actually the main point of this text and the main point for today’s sermon.
This is not Paul’s first attempt at shocking, “pay-attention” language.
Paul has spent a good deal of his letter to the Galatians warning them not to leave the true gospel for some combination of Gospel + Law, or Gospel + anything. He has made the point with excruciating clarity at times that we are justified by faith, not by works. We cannot earn or add to our salvation by our own obedience to the Mosaic Law.
Now, toward the end of his Letter, Paul is giving a different, but equally important lesson.
This righteous standing that we attain by faith does not release us from the obligation to walk by the Spirit and avoid gratifying the desires of the flesh.
To say it another way: we must not depend on our following of the Old Covenant for our righteousness, but neither can we disconnect our eternal destiny from our thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors. We cannot pursue a hedonistic, fleshly existence and claim to be right with God through faith.
Paul evidently believes this is a real temptation to us, since he warns us not to be deceived, whether that is being deceived by outside influences (false teachers or the world), or whether it is being deceived by ourselves. Paul has already given one warning that Christians must not pursue the deeds of the flesh, back in 5:21.
We can easily deceive ourselves into thinking that our pursuits of the flesh are not that big a deal, because God’s grace is so abundant and available.
God is not going to allow those who profess to know and follow him to get away with saying they follow Him while walking in their own fleshly pursuits.
“God is not mocked” literally says, “God will not let you thumb your nose up at him in contempt.” A person may think that they’ve fooled God, but they haven’t.
As we’ve mentioned several times throughout our study in Galatians, Paul often deals with some of the same questions in the book of Romans.
Romans 2:4 (ESV) — Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?
In other words, God’s mercy and kindness should NOT have the effect of giving us confidence to keep on sinning, but rather should lead us to turn from our sin. He says this even more clearly in Chapter 6.
Romans 6:1–2 (ESV) — What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
Actually, one of my favorite passages dealing with this specific temptation of presuming on God’s mercy is found in Deuteronomy 29.
Deuteronomy 29:18–19 (ESV) — Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the LORD our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.’ This will lead to the sweeping away of moist and dry alike.
We should all be warned. We cannot fool God. He not only sees our actions, but knows our heart with all of its complicated, twisted motives. If we think we can claim the name of Christian while our hearts are turned completely away from God and toward self, we need to repent.
Now, let’s consider the whole concept of sowing and reaping in our passage. Paul makes two distinct statements about sowing and reaping that we should consider. First he emphasizes what we sow in verse 7.
This principle is fairly easy to understand, and can be found throughout the Bible. He has already introduced this idea somewhat with the “Fruit fo the Spirit” in 5:22.
The basic idea of sowing and reaping. You reap the results of what you sow. However, what you reap is related to what you sow. It is more organic than a simple financial transaction in our economy. It’s not as simple as “I pay $X and I get Y thing.” Instead, the fruit is related to the seed—the harvest is the natural outworking of what was planted.
Think of sowing as thoughts, words, deeds, actions, attitudes, or choices that we make hundreds of times per day. Each one of those seeds grows and matures into something, and affects the people and circumstances around us, and more importantly, affects the person that we are becoming.
This is such a universal principle that business productivity writers do lots of business on it.
Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity.
- James Clear, Atomic Habits, p. 38
C.S. Lewis touches on a similar truth in Mere Christianity.
… every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a heavenly creature or into a hellish creature: either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow-creatures, and with itself… Each of us at each moment is progressing to the one state or the other.
- C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, p. 91
Both of these authors, I think, help us see that sowing and reaping should not be only viewed in the negative. I don’t know about you, but I often associate sowing/reaping more with negative actions and consequences than I do spiritual actions and blessings.
The challenge often comes in the delay, doesn’t it? It’s that time between action and consequence.
Let’s have another look at verse 8.
Paul is changing the perspective ever so slightly from verse 7 to verse 8. If verse 7 was about what we are sowing (actions, attitudes, words, thoughts), verse 8 is highlighting what field we are sowing in.
Perhaps we can think about it this way, verse 7 highlights the dilemma we face each time we must choose between doing the right thing or the wrong thing. We might have noble aims and godly desires, yet fail in the midst of a specific temptation.
Verse 8 is a slightly different picture. It is illustrating the more foundational, fundamental orientation of our lives. Are we aiming at pleasing ourselves or the Lord? Are we sowing to the flesh or the Spirit? Are we trying to succeed at maximizing our earthly pleasures or maximizing our heavenly rewards?
Also notice the “reaping” language in verse 8. You either end up with corruption (or could be translated “destruction”) or eternal life. These stakes seem higher than simply sowing bitterness and reaping a broken relationship, or sowing prayer and reaping peace that passes understanding. These consequences are eternal and final.
The sowing and reaping principle can be applied to many areas of our lives, including temporal situations (i.e. work hard and you won’t go hungry) but the significance of Paul’s warning here is that if you claim to follow God but regularly orient your whole life around your desires and the works of the flesh, you can’t fool God. Don’t be deceived. God will not be mocked.
No theology of justification or eternal security or other conceptual construct that we espouse will pull the wool over God’s eyes as he peers into our hearts and minds to learn: did we spend our lives sowing to the flesh or sowing to the Spirit? Did we dedicate ourselves to making the best use of the gifts God gave us to bring us fully in line with his righteousness, to bring Christ to life within us and, through us, ongoingly to life throughout the world? Did we resist the Spirit in order to protect some areas of fleshly indulgence? Does God recognize his Son in the people we came to be? The good news is that God lavishly supplies all that is needed for us to walk in righteousness and enjoy the consequences of living righteous lives.
- David A. deSilva, The Letter to the Galatians, 499.
On the flip side, if you orient your life and faith toward pleasing God and sowing the Fruit of the Spirit, you will from the Spirit reap Eternal Life.
This brings us to the next point, which is the difficulty of doing good, especially when we have to wait for the harvest.
This is a sober reminder that even with the help of the Holy Spirit faithful, fruitful obedience is still difficult, and still requires faith. It is not automatic.
Faith is not yet sight. The old man is not yet gone. The fallen creation and the effects of sin are still all around us and still in us. As long as we are still in this world, we expect to encounter tribulation, persecution, temptations, and weakness.
This reality is not comforting, but the fact that the writers of the Bible knew it, experienced it, and acknowledge it is very comforting.
Imagine how we’d feel if all of the New Testament message of the gospel was a promise of instant, total victory and confidence. No more doubts, no more sinning, no more suffering, no more labor, no more temptation. That would sound good to us, but would be so out of phase of our experience. We would ultimately have to admit that we must not be a true Christian, and that we didn’t even personally know of any true Christians.
But, the New Testament writers don’t portray a world like that, even as those who have been redeemed and reconciled by the work of Christ and then been filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit of God. Instead, we get a picture of a hopeful life that is still a battle; a promise of comfort and confidence even to those who continue to struggle, suffer, experience temptation, and at times fail.
By God’s grace, we do experience some positive reaping before the New Creation. The principle of sowing and reaping does impact our daily lives. If I choose kindness over contempt, my relationships will generally be better. If I choose self control over giving into anger or lust, I will reap more fruitfulness. If I sow to the Spirit, my relationship with God will flourish more than if I sow to the flesh.
Though we do experience these small harvests by God’s grace, it is helpful to consider the reality of verses 8-9—that the true fulness of our harvest will not be experienced until this world is over. Therefore, do not grow weary in doing good.
It is helpful at this point to remember the life of Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith. Even without sin, he suffered. Though he never gave in, was often tempted. Though he was never unfaithful, he was misunderstood and mischaracterized. He had perfect communion with the Father and the Spirit, yet needed to get away from the crowds to commune with them. And the reward for his faithful, obedient life was in the future. “For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame” (Heb 12:2).
Look at verse 9 again:
The due season is ultimately eternal life in heaven, but if we do not lose heart and do not give up, we will reap.
I mentioned earlier how we must consider both aspects of sowing. We must avoid sowing to the flesh and must pursue sowing to the Spirit.
Paul finally takes our sowing and reaping image to sowing “Good.” This is not just about avoiding the really big sins or appearing outwardly religious (there are earthly rewards for that), but is about choosing faithfulness in little and faithfulness in much.
Finally, Paul presses his point with one last push to ensure that we don’t take his exhortation to sow to the Spirit in the wrong direction. He is NOT saying to do whatever it takes to stay insulated or untouched from the world for your own good. He is not equating “doing good” to pursuing your own inner peace, tranquility, or pain-free life.
He also isn’t allowing for a view of family that would have us retreat and hide from doing good to the world. He is pushing us outward—making it tangible and practical.
We have been well-taught for years that our Christian responsibilities can be understood in a series of concentric circles (self, family, church, neighbor, world, etc.). Paul is pressing us not to forget the outer circles in our commitments.
There are two ways I would ask you to consider this. First, pay attention to the circumstances that come your way. Open your eyes, ears, and hearts to those around you.
But also consider this at the 30,000 foot level. The opportunity, broadly speaking, is “this world.” In other words, I don’t think Paul is saying to passively wait to see what comes your way. “Opportunity” is the same word as “due season” in verse 9. There will come a season where we reap what we’ve sown in the end. This is the season of sowing. Sow good seed. Do good to everyone.
A few final words for different groups of hearers:
1 Corinthians 6:11 (ESV) — And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Others of you are living in the confidence of salvation through Christ alone, but—like a teenager—you have welcomed the privileges that come with salvation without taking on the responsibilities to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel.
It’s time to grow up. It’s time to no longer live for yourselves. It’s time to user your new freedom in Christ for God’s glory and others’ good.
Galatians 5:13 (ESV) — For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
It’s time to orient your life around God’s purposes and not your own. Stop sowing to your flesh, thinking that it only affects you, and that you can change anytime you want. Remember that every decision and action you take is a vote for the kind of person you are becoming.
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Philip, you can bring up the worship team now.
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For the final group in here, I’d like to thank you and pray for you. Many of you have been sowing to the Spirit for years. You have sacrificed, suffered, and persevered in faith. You have experienced loss—loss of friends, death of loved ones, loss of job. You have put your hope in the final restoration of all things in Christ.
You have continued trusting even with unanswered prayers. You have continued serving even when it stopped being fun or recognized. You have remained committed to reconciling broken relationships. You have continued in generosity even when it hurt. You have practiced hospitality without complaining. You have been reviled without reviling in return.
You have invested hours upon hours for decades to understand and apply the bible to your life. You have faithfully committed to your church and small group to build one another up.
You have directed your families to live counter-cultural lives, and have sacrificed what the world offers in order to train them in the ways of the Lord.
Thank you! Thank you for being an example to the rest of us. Thank you especially for pointing to Christ in the midst of your trials.
May God reward you with a rich harvest for your faithful sowing.
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