EPISODE 77 GALATIANS CHAPTER 6 "The Law Of Sowing and Reaping"

Welcome to Share the Word. We've reached the last chapter of Galatians, which focuses not only on those who spend their lives serving and teaching the Word of God, but what comes to mind is the question, am I sowing for God's kingdom or am I sowing weeds? There's so much to hear and understand in this chapter. Keep listening. Paul, Galatians chapter 6, The Law of Sowing and Reaping. I like to grow things, or actually plant things and watch them grow.

I'm an amateur gardener just trying to put some beans in the freezer and figure out how to make a decent homemade tomato sauce. But the commercial farms around my area grow mostly corn. On some back roads, there is corn as far as the eye can see in July and August. And I absolutely love fresh sweet corn, a few perfectly ripened ears with cucumbers, sliced tomatoes. Hey, that's a go-to summertime meal for me. When my kids were younger, you could often hear them saying around supper time, Dad, corn again!

Yeah, I can eat it pretty much every day. I actually get mildly depressed watching the cornfields turn brown and start dying each September. Have you ever given much thought to how God has designed food to grow out of the earth for us? He promised at the very beginning, as long as the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will not cease. That's a reference to food production, the growth cycle of plants God designed for us to eat. Now, let me blow your mind for a moment with some corn statistics.

You probably weren't aware there were corn statistics, but there are. Did you know, for example, that just one acre of sweet corn, managed well, can produce around 30,000 corn plants? If every stalk produces two healthy ears, that means up to 60,000 ears of corn can be harvested from one acre of land. That hardly sounds possible, but that's what our CRACK research team here tells me is true. Or just focus in on one nine-inch ear of Silver Queen. Each ear contains an average of 800 individual kernels, and each of those kernels is a seed capable of reproducing a new plant.

So just one healthy ear of corn can potentially produce 800 new plants. This is kind of mind-blowing to me. But it's the way our Creator made living things reproduce for our benefit. As Genesis chapter 1, verse 11 puts it, God said, 'Let the earth produce plants, vegetation that produces seeds and trees that bear fruit with seeds in them, each according to its own kind.' So since the beginning, corn produces more corn, wheat produces more wheat, orange trees produce more oranges with seeds in them to produce many more oranges. Unfortunately, plants we don't like, like weeds, for example, also produce after their own kind and like crazy.

My four-year-old grandson loves to pick dandelions in the spring that have gone to seed and blow those little parachutes that they have all over my yard. In a week or so, guess what? We have lots more dandelions. He's sowing weeds, lots and lots of weeds. But I don't stop him. He's having fun, and I'm not close to winning the contest on my road for the best-kept lawn.

The Apostle Paul mentions here the law of sowing and reaping, that is, planting and harvesting. This is the last chapter of Galatians. We'll get to his ramifications for that principle in a couple moments. In chapter five and now six, he's turned from doctrinal content, the here's what you should believe part of his letter, to practical instructions, the here's how you should now live as believers. The doctrinal part was all about justification by faith in Christ alone, and he's strongly refuted the ideas of the Judaizers. He's really covered that ground, don't you think?

Covered it, covered it some more, because it's so important. But now in these last paragraphs of his letter, Paul's focus is on more practical instructions. Listen to the first couple of verses of chapter six. I'm quoting from the New Living Translation, a modern language translation. Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path, and be careful not to fall into the same kind of temptations yourself. Share each other's burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.

You may have noticed that we quote from different translations of the New Testament on our podcast, some more literal word-for-word ones, and then, when it's helpful, as here, others that are attempting to get at the ideas and state them fluently in English. In the verses I just read, Paul recognized that even true believers, those who've accepted Jesus and whose goal it is to follow him, can nevertheless still fall into various sins. We still have our inborn fallen nature. There's no shortage of temptations around us. Legalists, like the Judaizers, might vote for stoning someone who's caught in obvious sin. Remember the Pharisees who were ready to stone that woman who was caught in adultery before Jesus intervened.

But condemning another believer who has failed in some way, as though you are their judge, as though you are superior to them, is not how any real Christian should react, we find out here. We're all prone to failure, so no one who is conceited and thinks they are above falling should ever get involved in what Paul is describing here. But he says those who are truly spiritual, those who are godly, they should do their best to restore someone caught in sin, and from gentle, humble hearts of concern and love. Don't turn away from that person reasoning, Hey, it's none of my business. That's failing to heed God's word here. Those who are spiritual should know that if a brother or sister in Christ falls into sin, it actually is our business, because sin messes up people's lives.

Sin hurts one's relationship with God, and sin almost always negatively affects people around us. So to just ignore it, to say, Hey, it's not my problem, to ignore it is to ignore the health and well-being of our friends and our fellow church members. That all affects our unity and our testimony in our community. For when one suffers, Paul wrote this another place, when one member suffers, we all suffer in some way. The word Paul used, translated restore in most versions in verse 1 of Galatians 6, often was used of setting a bone so it could mend properly. That's why this needs to be done carefully by those who are qualified, by those who are spiritual, he says.

Jesus taught a procedure about this. It's in Matthew chapter 18. We'll discuss it in more detail when we get to that book, but in a nutshell, Jesus taught that when we're aware of a fellow believer who is caught in some sin, we should first talk with him personally, just between the two of us. And if they won't respond to us, Jesus said we should bring along someone else, someone they'd respect, and together again urge them to make things right. And if they still won't listen, we may need to refer it to our whole church or to our church's leaders, because it's their job to shepherd God's flock. You know, when handled properly, often a person who is caught in sin already knows they're in the wrong and they're messed up at that point.

They may just need people who love them enough and who they trust to come alongside and help them out of that bad situation. That's what Paul means by bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. They may feel trapped. Put a shoulder under and do your best to lift them back up onto their feet, get them back on the right track. The law of Christ he refers to here again is to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, or as Jesus put it elsewhere, love one another as he has loved us. When we were still in sin, Jesus took the initiative to help us, didn't he?

At verse six, Paul turns to another practical instruction. He writes there, Those who are taught the word should provide for their teachers, sharing all good things with them. I write for a Q&A site called Quora in the area of the Bible and theology. I can't tell you how many times I've been asked the questions, Should pastors get paid a salary? or the corollary, How much should pastors get paid anyway? Well, the answer to the first part is really not that hard to discover from the New Testament.

Jesus instructed his representatives, for example, that when they visited a particular town, they should stay with people who appreciated their ministry. And he was very explicit in these instructions. This is what he writes in Matthew chapter 10, starting at verse 5. He specifically instructed them not to take any money or supplies along with them, but to learn to trust in God's provision through the gifts and hospitality of those who benefited from their ministry. And that's exactly what Paul is talking about here. In 1 Corinthians, in another New Testament letter, he devotes most of a chapter to several reasons why Christian ministers should be paid.

If you've wondered about this question, check out his reasoning. It's 1 Corinthians chapter 9, verses 1 through 18. What he's reminding the Galatian Christians to do here, to share with those who teach them the word of God, so that's consistent with everything that's taught in the New Testament: researching Scripture to be sure you understand it, constructing a message that's informative and challenging, finding illustrations that help listeners unlock and apply the truth, then presenting it effectively. This is all work. It's preparing and serving up spiritual nourishment to people. Think of it this way.

I hope it would seem wrong to you to go into a restaurant, enjoy some good food, then run out without paying for it, dine and dash, as they call it. I mean, who does that? We all know it takes ingredients, it takes time, it takes skill to prepare and serve good food to us. Is spiritual nourishment less important? Tony occasionally at the end of our podcast reminds listeners that Share the Word is a nonprofit ministry that relies on crowd funding. If you're curious, every podcast we produce takes maybe 10 to 15 hours to research, write, professionally edit, and record.

Plus, of course, we have expenses for hosting, website design and maintenance, advertising, and so on. We sure hope the effort is worth it and it's spiritually nourishing our listeners. If you benefit and are able, visit the website www.sharetheword.org and hit the link there that says Give. If you see how learning God's Word the way we're preparing and serving it up to you could also benefit others, please consider partnering with us by supporting and sharing the podcast with your friends and family. By the way, we have no way of knowing who uses that portal, so there's no one who's going to spam you afterwards if you do contribute. But if you make a one-time or ongoing gift to support Share the Word, you'll get back a receipt via email for tax purposes because we are a registered nonprofit organization.

By the way, what I'm saying is true for your local church as well. If it's a church that's effectively teaching you God's Word, the instruction to believers here is pretty clear. Those who are taught the Word of God, Paul wrote, should share with their teachers. Why? Because they are investing their time and knowledge and abilities to spiritually nourish you, and we, just like you, have bills to pay. The other part of the question, though, is more nuanced.

How much? How much should pastors or others whose lives are devoted to spiritually leading and teaching others God's Word get paid? Everybody knows that there are so-called Christian ministries today whose leaders are paid exorbitant salaries, who live like kings and queens. This is embarrassing to me, frankly. Some foolishly flaunt their wealth as though it was a proof of God's blessing on them. Most of the preachers who live like that and do those kinds of things are false teachers who espouse a lot of twisted interpretations of Scripture.

They're just camouflaging their greed. The New Testament warns us against such people. But believe me, on the other end of the spectrum, there are far more pastors, missionaries, and teachers who are underpaid, if paid at all. And that's also wrong, because those who work hard at preaching and teaching, Paul wrote this to Timothy in another New Testament letter, those who work hard at preaching and teaching should be respected and paid well. Those who work deserve their pay, he told Timothy. So, although there's no pay scale laid out for ministry professionals in the Bible, the principle is that those who commit their lives to advancing God's kingdom this way, especially those who lead others and teach the Word of God effectively, should get paid for their time, as with any other profession.

It should be adequate. It should be reasonable. But it should not be excessive, because Paul wrote to Timothy and another place, those who suppose that godliness is a means to great wealth are false teachers to watch out for. I, for one, as I said, resent the excessive displays of some televangelists today because they make all Christian ministries look like a scam to unbelievers. I'm sure that angers the one they claim to serve, because in contrast to them, Jesus modeled humility and a life completely free of greed and materialism. Bottom line on these questions: anyone claiming to be a minister of Christ who lives like a Russian oligarch, I think you can mark down as a fraud.

At the same time, those who work at teaching you the Word of God should be appreciated and reasonably compensated for their time, for the value they bring to your life. That's the balance I see in God's Word. Now, it's actually that point that leads to what Paul wrote here that I most wanted to talk with you about from chapter six. He says at verse 7, Don't be misled. You cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant.

Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let's not get tired of doing what is good, Paul wrote. At just the right time, we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up. Therefore, wherever we have opportunities, do good to everyone, and especially to those of the household of faith. You will always harvest what you plant.

That's the law of sowing and reaping. If you skillfully plant good kernels of corn, you can get a great harvest. But if you sow weeds, don't expect to get a beautiful yard of Bermuda grass. That never happens. That would break the law that God laid down at the beginning. The fact Paul brings up this principle here on the heels of his instruction about sharing with teachers suggests that that was what prompted it.

But its application is much wider than that. He says here, Whatever we are sowing, meaning whatever we are doing by our actions, with our time, with our resources, and so on, is going to produce a harvest in kind. Ever thought of it that way? Just as you don't plant weeds and get a beautiful lawn, those who live only to satisfy their sinful nature will ultimately reap decay and death, because God will not be mocked. They prove by their wrong values and behavior, and they're not God's children, no matter what they profess. The future is dark for them, Paul is saying.

But those who live to please God, investing themselves in things He cares about. By doing that, prove they are His children. They will harvest eternal life and God's blessings. Just like a single ear of corn produces hundreds of seeds, who knows how God will bless and multiply the good things we sow of our time and resources into others? The potential is unlimited. I've mentioned before my own parents as positive examples of this.

They weren't perfect people, but they were very devoted to each other and to serving Christ and others. My father didn't become a Christian until he was 29 years old. Shortly after that, as God thoroughly changed his heart and values, he felt called to Christian ministry and went back to seminary. After graduation, he served two churches in the Midwest and then was called to the church in western Pennsylvania where I grew up. I was the youngest of five children, and I don't know much about prior places of ministry for my parents, but I do know about the place where he served in western Pennsylvania because it was all the years I was growing up. In fact, he was there for 25 years.

I do know about how many lives he affected for good there. Probably the most obvious example of that is that 40 or so people who grew up in or were part of that local church under my parents' ministry themselves went on to dedicate their lives to full-time Christian service. So more pastors, more teachers, more missionaries. Two couples I remember started a home for mentally handicapped kids, and others went into other various areas of Christian service. Sometimes I stop and think of those approximately 40 people, many of whom are my good friends. How many lives have they now affected for good?

And by now, we're well into the third generation, so how many lives have those who they've affected now started affecting for good? It keeps multiplying. My folks were like a single seed planted in that place that reproduced many more Christian workers who themselves produced many more, and on and on it goes. Anyone listening to me today teach God's Word is still a beneficiary of the good things my parents sowed during their lifetimes. So, how much good can be produced from a single life intent on obedience to God and service to others? It's unlimited.

That's the law of sowing and reaping. My parents, who sowed good things during their lives, have already heard from Christ, Well done, you've been good and faithful servants. It's time to enter into the joy of your rewards. But the effects of what they sowed in their lives, it continues on and on, reproducing and reproducing generationally. As we have learned from elsewhere in the New Testament, receiving and following Christ is what leads us to eternal life, and serving His interests faithfully will lead to rewards in heaven one day. But I want you to understand this clearly.

Our path on the way there may not always seem so blessed. Sometimes following Jesus will bring negative repercussions. We certainly saw this all throughout the book of Acts: persecution, spiritual adversity, other costs in this life. Paul certainly experienced that, right? Jesus experienced that. That's why I think Paul reminds us here, and he's reminding the Galatians first and then us, that the reaping part, the rewards part, takes time.

Be patient. Just as I try to be patient when I walk out to my garden a couple times a day in the early summer looking for something ripe enough to pick, the harvest may not come quickly. Even when we're sowing all the right things, it may not come quickly. As far as rewards, I can tell you that my parents never made more than a very meager income, didn't own their own house, lived a lower middle class kind of life. They spent their final years living with me and my family. But God has all eternity to reward those who sow the right things in their lives now.

Remember, the time and the gifts and the resources we invest in others now are all like seeds we are patiently sowing. God promises a harvest of good and valuable things will come back to us at the right time. Only in heaven will we know the full extent of the good things that we have sown during our lifetime here. So Paul says, Look for opportunities to do good. He tells the Galatian Christians, Don't grow weary in doing these things, for in due season we will reap if we don't give up. Paul signs off his letter to the Galatians with these final thoughts.

Remember, it doesn't matter whether you've been circumcised or not. What matters is whether you've been transformed into new creations, if you've really been born again into God's family by faith in Christ. And then he adds, and I love this, From now on, don't let anyone trouble me with these things, for I bear in my body the scars that show I belong to Jesus. The these things he doesn't want troubled by anymore, he's referring to these people naively believing the false teachers. He never wanted to hear such troubling reports from them again. He'd gone through too much to bring them the true gospel.

He said, I'm carrying in my body the physical scars that it cost me to bring you the gospel, probably referring to the stoning he took at Lystra in Galatia. So from now on, no more troubling reports, please. Don't do that to me. That sign-off sounds a little like he's kidding, but not kidding, if you know what I mean. He looks forward to communicating more with these people, more in the future, hearing reports back and forth, but never having to deal with any more problems like the Judaizer problem ever again. And with that, our first foray into the New Testament epistles is in the books.

On to a different epistle written by a different apostle of Jesus next time. Margie will launch us into the epistle of James. Until then, as the apostle Paul signed off in this letter in his own large handwriting, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirits. Amen. Amen. Paul, from this point on, I will never look at a cornfield the same way.

What an incredible metaphor that we are all capable of producing a great harvest just like one ear of corn. The question is, are we? Are you? Are you sowing for a good harvest or are you sowing weeds? And receiving the grace of God by accepting Christ is where it all begins. Because I, for one, would much prefer hearing Christ say, Well done, good and faithful servant.

You see, at Share the Word, we look to sow the seeds for God's kingdom and bring spiritual nourishment to all who hear. We're just an ear of corn that you can spread around, that you can sow, that you can share. Can you imagine how big of a field we could plant together? From all of us at Share the Word, our blessings and prayers go out to all of you.