18. Sowing and reaping
The apostle Paul is nearing the end of his letter. His main themes have by now been set out. All he has left are a few final warnings. At first sight, these instructions and exhortations appear to be very loosely connected, even totally disconnected. But a closer look at them reveals the connecting link. It is the great principle of sowing and reaping. This is stated in summary form in verse 7: A man reaps what he sows. This is a principle of order and consistency which is written into all life, material and moral.
Take agriculture. God promised Noah after the flood that, so long as the earth remained, ‘seedtime and harvest’, that is, sowing and reaping, would not cease (Gen. 8:22). If farmers want a harvest, they must sow their seed in their fields; otherwise, there will be no harvest. Moreover, the kind of harvest they will get is determined in advance by the kind of seed they sow. This is true of its nature, its quality and its quantity. If they sow barley seed they will get a barley crop; if they sow wheat seed they will get a wheat crop. Similarly, good seed will produce a good crop, and bad seed a bad crop. Again, if they sow plentifully, they can expect a plentiful harvest, but if they sow sparingly, then they will reap sparingly as well (see 2 Cor. 9:6). Putting the three together, we may say that if farmers want a bumper harvest of a particular corn, then they must not only sow the right seed, but good seed, and that plentifully. Only if they do this can they expect a good crop.
Precisely the same principle operates in the moral and spiritual sphere. A man reaps what he sows. It is not the reapers who decide what the harvest is going to be like, but the sowers. If people are faithful and conscientious in their sowing, then they can confidently expect a good harvest. If they ‘sow wild oats’, as we sometimes say, then they must not expect to reap strawberries! On the contrary, ‘those who plough evil and those who sow trouble reap it’ (Job 4:8). Or, as Hosea warned his contemporaries (8:7), ‘They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind’ (a reference to divine judgment).
This principle is an unchanging law of God. In order to emphasize it, the apostle prefaces it with both a command (do not be deceived) and a statement (God cannot be mocked).
The possibility of being deceived is mentioned several times in the New Testament. Jesus said that the devil was a liar and the father of lies, and he warned his disciples against being led astray. John warns us in his second epistle that ‘many deceivers . . . have gone out into the world’. Paul begs us in his letter to the Ephesians: ‘Let no one deceive you with empty words.’ Already in Galatians he has asked ‘who has bewitched’ his readers (3:1) and spoken of those who ‘deceive themselves’ (6:3).
Many people are deceived concerning this inescapable law of seedtime and harvest. They sow their seeds thoughtlessly, casually, and blind themselves to the fact that the seeds they sow will inevitably produce a corresponding harvest. Or they sow seed of one kind and expect to reap a harvest of another. They imagine that somehow they can get away with it. But this is impossible. So Paul adds: God cannot be mocked. The Greek verb here (myktērizō) is striking. It is derived from the word for a nose and means literally to ‘turn up the nose at’ somebody and so to ‘sneer at’ or ‘treat with contempt’. From this it can signify to ‘fool’ (neb) or to ‘outwit’ (Arndt–Gingrich). What the apostle is saying is that people may fool themselves, but they cannot fool God. They may think that they can escape this law of seedtime and harvest, but they cannot. They may go on sowing their seeds and closing their eyes to the consequences, but one day God himself will bring in the harvest.
From the principle we turn to the application. There are three areas of Christian experience in which Paul sees the principle operating.
1. Christian ministry (6:6)
The one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor. The Greek word for the one who receives instruction is ho katēchoumenos. This is how Luke describes Theophilus in the introduction to his Gospel (1:4).
Whether the instruction given is private, or in a context in which converts are being prepared for baptism, or to a whole congregation by their pastor, the principle is the same: that they who are taught the Word should help to support their teachers. So ministers may expect to be supported by their congregations. They sow the good seed of God’s Word, and they reap a livelihood.
Some people find this embarrassing. But the biblical principle is emphasized many times. The Lord Jesus said to the Seventy whom he sent out, ‘The worker deserves his wages’ (Luke 10:7). And Paul makes explicit use of the sowing and reaping metaphor to teach the same truth: ‘If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you?’ (1 Cor. 9:11).
If the principle is properly applied, it contains its own safeguards. Even so, we ought to consider its two possible abuses.
a. Abuse by ministers
Luther saw in his own day the danger of obeying this apostolic ruling too readily, for the Roman Catholic Church was very wealthy as the people poured money into it, and ‘by this excessive liberality of men, the covetousness of the clergy did increase’. Similarly today, although few ministers could be described as overpaid, the popular image of Christian ministers (at least in the Western world) seems to be that their job is both ‘cushy’ and secure. In modern slang, they are ‘on to a good thing’. And there is some truth in this. Some Christian ministers are tempted to laziness, and some succumb to the temptation. In England ministers are classified as ‘self-employed’. Nobody exactly supervises their work. So it is not unknown for ministers to grow slack. It is understandable, therefore, that Paul, although asserting the Lord’s command that ‘those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel’ (1 Cor. 9:14), nevertheless renounced his own right and preached the gospel free of any charge, earning his living as a tent-maker. Perhaps more of us should seek to do the same today in order to correct the impression that ministers are only ‘in it for what they can get out of it’. And yet the scriptural principle is clear, that ministers should be set free from secular wage-earning in order to devote themselves to the study and the ministry of the Word, and to the care of the flock committed to their charge.
Is there any safeguard against this possible abuse? I think we may find one in 1 Timothy 5:17–18:
The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honour, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. For Scripture says, ‘Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,’ and ‘The worker deserves his wages.’
It is not particularly flattering, perhaps, to find preachers likened to a threshing ox! But they are also called ‘workers’ or labourers. The Greek word is strong and indicates that they ‘toil’ at the Word with all their might, seeking to understand and apply it. Perhaps preaching is at a low ebb in the church today because we shirk the hard work involved. But if ministers throw themselves into their ministry with energy, and sow good seed in the minds and hearts of their congregations, then they may expect to ‘reap’ a material living.
b. Abuse by congregations
If the principle of the congregation paying the minister may lead the minister to be lazy and neglectful, it may also tempt the congregation to try to control the minister. Some congregations exercise a positive tyranny over their pastors and almost blackmail them into preaching what they want to hear. They pay the piper, they say; so they must be allowed to call the tune. And if the ministers have families to support, they are tempted to give way. Of course it is wrong for a minister to yield to such pressure, but it is also wrong for a congregation to put its minister in this predicament. If ministers sow the good seed of God’s Word faithfully, however unpalatable their congregations may find it, they have a right to reap their living. There can be no excuse to dock their wages because they refuse to dock their words.
The right relationship between teacher and taught, or minister and congregation, is one of koinōnia, ‘fellowship’ or ‘partnership’. So Paul writes: ‘the one who receives instruction in the word should share [koinōneitō] all good things with their instructor’. Bishop Stephen Neill comments: ‘This is not to be regarded as a payment. The word “shared” is a rich Christian word, which is used of our fellowship in the Holy Spirit.’
2. Christian holiness (6:8)
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. This is another area in which the ‘seedtime and harvest’ principle operates. Paul moves from the particular to the general, from Christian ministers and their support to Christian people and their moral behaviour. He returns to the theme of the flesh and the Spirit which he has treated at some length in Galatians 5:16–25. There in Galatians 5 the Christian’s life is likened to a battleground, and the flesh and the Spirit are two fighters at war with each other upon it. But here in Galatians 6 the Christian’s life is likened to a country estate, and the flesh and the Spirit are two fields in which we may sow seed. Further, the harvest we reap depends on where and on what we sow.
This is a vitally important and much-neglected principle of holiness. We are not the helpless victims of our nature, temperament and environment. On the contrary, what we become depends largely on how we behave; our character is shaped by our conduct. According to Galatians 5 the Christian’s duty is to ‘live by the Spirit’; according to Galatians 6, to ‘sow to . . . the Spirit’. Thus the Holy Spirit is likened both to the path along which we walk (Gal. 5) and to the field in which we sow (Gal. 6). How can we expect to reap the fruit of the Spirit if we do not sow in the field of the Spirit? The old proverb is true: ‘Sow a thought, reap an act; sow an act, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.’ This is good, biblical teaching.
Let us examine the two kinds of sowing which are possible, namely ‘sowing to please the flesh’ and ‘sowing to please the Spirit’.
a. Sowing to please the flesh
We have seen that our ‘flesh’ is our lower nature ‘with its passions and desires’ (5:24) which, if unchecked, break out in ‘the acts of the flesh’ (5:19–21). This lower nature is in each of us and remains in us even after conversion and baptism. It is one of the fields of our human estate in which we may sow.
To ‘sow to please the flesh’ is to pander to it, to indulge, cuddle and stroke it, instead of crucifying it. The seeds we sow are largely thoughts and deeds. Every time we allow our mind to harbour a grudge, nurse a grievance, entertain an impure fantasy or wallow in self-pity, we are sowing to the flesh. Every time we linger in bad company whose sinister influence we know we cannot resist, every time we lie in bed when we ought to be up and praying, every time we look at pornography, every time we take a risk which strains our self-control, we are sowing, sowing, sowing to the flesh. Some Christians sow to the flesh every day and wonder why they do not reap holiness. Holiness is a harvest; whether we reap it or not depends almost entirely on what and where we sow.
b. Sowing to please the Spirit
To ‘sow to please the Spirit’ is the same as to have a ‘mind governed by the Spirit’ (Rom. 8:6) and to ‘live by the Spirit’ (Gal. 5:16, 25). Again, the seeds we sow are our thoughts and deeds. We are to ‘seek’ and to ‘set our minds on’ the things of God, ‘things above, not . . . earthly things’ (Col. 3:1–2; contrast Phil. 3:19). By the books we read, the company we keep and the leisure occupations we pursue we can be ‘sowing to the Spirit’. Then we are to develop disciplined habits of devotion in private and in public, in daily prayer and Bible reading, and in worship with the Lord’s people on the Lord’s Day. All this is ‘sowing to please the Spirit’; without it there can be no harvest of the Spirit, no ‘fruit of the Spirit’.
Paul distinguishes between the two harvests as well as between the two sowings. The results are only logical. If we sow to please the flesh, we shall from the flesh reap destruction. That is, a process of moral decay will set in. We shall go from bad to worse until we finally perish. If, on the other hand, we sow to please the Spirit, we shall from the Spirit reap eternal life. That is, a process of moral and spiritual growth will begin. Communion with God (which is eternal life) will develop now until in eternity it becomes perfect.
Therefore, if we want to reap a harvest of holiness, our duty is twofold. First, we must avoid sowing to please the flesh; and second, we must keep sowing to please the Spirit. We must ruthlessly eliminate the first and concentrate our time and energies on the second. It is another way of saying (as in Gal. 5) that we must ‘crucify the flesh’ and ‘live by the Spirit’. There is no other way of growing in holiness.
3. Christian well-doing (6:9–10)
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.
The subject changes somewhat from personal holiness to doing good, helping others, engaging in generous activity in the church or community. But the apostle treats this too under the metaphor of sowing and reaping.
Some motivation is certainly needed in Christian well-doing. Paul recognizes this, for he urges his readers not to become weary or ‘tire of doing what is good’ (2 Thess. 3:13). Active Christian service is tiring, demanding work. We are tempted to become discouraged, to slack off, even to give up.
So the apostle gives us this encouragement: he tells us that doing good is like sowing seed. If we persevere in sowing, then at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. If farmers tire of sowing and leave half their field unsown, they will reap only half a crop. It is the same with good deeds. If we want a harvest, then we must finish the sowing and be patient, like the farmer who ‘waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting’ (Jas 5:7).
If the sowing is the doing of good works in the community, what is the harvest? Paul does not tell us; he leaves us to guess. But the patient doing of good in the church or community always produces good results. It may bring comfort, relief or assistance to people in need. It may lead a sinner to repentance and so to salvation; Jesus himself spoke of this work as sowing and reaping (Matt. 9:37; John 4:35–38). It may help to stop the moral deterioration of society (this is the function of ‘the salt of the earth’) and even to make it a more pleasant and healthier place to live in. It may increase people’s respect for what is beautiful, good and true, especially in days when standards are slipping fast. And it will bring good to the doer as well – not indeed salvation (for this is a free gift of God), but some reward in heaven for faithful service, which will probably take the form of yet more responsible service.
So then, Paul continues (10), since the sowing of good seed results in a good harvest, as we have opportunity [and this earthly life is full of such opportunity], let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. This family consists of those who share ‘a faith as precious as ours’ (2 Pet. 1:1) and so are our brothers and sisters in the family of God. As the old saying goes, ‘Charity begins at home’, towards family members who may claim our first loyalty, although Christian charity must never stop there. We are to love and serve our enemies, Jesus said, not only our friends. Thus, ‘persistence in doing good’ is a characteristic of the true Christian, a characteristic so important that it will be taken as evidence of saving faith on the Judgment Day (see Rom. 2:7).
4. Conclusion
We have considered the three areas of the Christian life to which Paul applies his inescapable principle that ‘a man reaps what he sows’. In the first, the seed is God’s Word, sown by teachers in the minds and hearts of the congregation. In the second, the seed is our own thoughts and deeds, sown in the field of the flesh or the Spirit. In the third, the seed is good works, sown in the lives of other people in the community.
And in each case, although the seed and the soil are different, seedtime is followed by harvest. Teachers who sow God’s Word will reap their living; it is God’s purpose that they should. Sinners who sow to please the flesh will reap destruction. Believers who sow to please the Spirit will reap eternal life, an ever-deepening communion with God. Christians who sow good works in the community will reap a good crop in the lives of those they serve and a reward for themselves in eternity.
In none of these areas can God be mocked. In each, the same principle invariably operates. And since we cannot fool God, we are fools if we try to fool ourselves! We must neither ignore nor resist this law, but accept it and cooperate with it. We must have the good sense to allow it to govern our lives. ‘A man reaps what he sows.’ We must expect to reap what we sow. Therefore, if we want to reap a good harvest, we must sow, and keep sowing, good seed. Then, at the proper time, we shall reap.