Gal 6:7–10 — Spiritual Sowing and Reaping

Exposition

The title of today’s message is Spiritual Sowing and Reaping. Sowing and reaping may not be something that we’re familiar with today. We’re not farmers. Most of us aren’t anyway, but the Bible uses this analogy of sowing and reaping. Sowing with an O, not with an E. If you spell with an E, that means taking a needle and sowing the thread. This is sowing with an O, which means taking the seed and scattering it into the ground, cultivating the ground, watering it, and then letting God bring forth the fruit, bring forth the harvest. And so the Apostle Paul is using this analogy from the realm of agriculture to argue that we need to be engaged in spiritual sowing and reaping.

Galatians 6:7–8a: Sowing to the Flesh

He says, do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. The Apostle Paul here is making a very solemn statement, a warning. He’s saying you cannot sow to the flesh as a regular habit without consequences. Now we all, as Christians, struggle with the flesh. We have remaining sin within us, and we all struggle with that.

But if you are investing all of your energy, all of your time, all of your resources on the flesh, According to God’s word, you will not inherit the kingdom, but you will reap corruption. That is the judgment of God. You will be excluded from the kingdom of God. Corruption here means spiritual death. Unfettered indulgence in the flesh is evidence that you are not a child of God.

By contrast, the genuine children of God, although they do struggle with remaining sin, they are not pursuing the flesh unfettered. They mourn over their sins. They desire to turn from their sins. And they are actively engaged in putting to death their own fleshly desires and seeking to live for the Lord.

This passage here, do not be deceived, God is not mocked, is intended to be a warning to those within professing, among those who are professing to believe in the Lord, who are professing to be a part of the church. Don’t think that just because you profess faith in Christ, just because you’re baptized, because you’re a member of the church and you come to church, don’t think that God can be mocked, that you can just simply live as you please without any consequences. Don’t deceive yourself. It is possible for someone to deceive themselves, to think that they’re right with God, but in reality, they are still in bondage to sin. And are indulging in the flesh without any sense of repentance, without any sense of a desire to change and to serve the Lord in a way that pleases Him.

Galatians 6:8b: Sowing to the Spirit

But then the Apostle Paul goes on to give the positive side. He says in verse 8b, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And he makes this contrast between sowing to the flesh and sowing to the spirit. Investing in the things of this life and its pleasures and its corruption versus investing in the things of God.

Paul has an eschatological understanding of the Christian life. Eschatology isn’t just simply about what’s going to happen at the end when Christ comes back or just before He comes back. Eschatology is all about the future new creation that has already begun in the resurrection of Christ and the gift of the Spirit.

And so Paul thinks about these two ages, this present evil age, he talks about that earlier in Galatians 1 verse four, which is headed towards corruption. But he also thinks of the age to come, which is this glorious new creation that has been purchased for us by Christ, and we already have the down payment of it by the Spirit living within us. And he’s saying that that eschatological age to come has already begun in this life through the work of Christ and the Spirit. He thinks in these two ages. The present evil age is on the way out. And we’ve been delivered from that present evil age by the work of Christ. And we’ve been transferred into the power of the age to come. And so we’re called then to live in light of that. To live consciously in light of that eschatological perspective. That’s what he means by sowing to the Spirit. It means that we are consciously acting in light of this eschatological perspective. That we fundamentally do not belong to this present evil age with its lusts and desires and its whole mass of fleshly sinful desires that are opposed to God. We don’t belong to it. We still struggle with it. We still have to interact with it because we’re still in mortal bodies in this present evil age, in a sense, but it’s not who we truly are. It’s not our true identity and calling.

And so the one who sows to the Spirit is the one who is consciously acting in light of this eschatological heavenly perspective that we have been transferred out of this passing evil age and been transferred into the age to come. That is what Paul means by the Spirit. The Spirit is the principles and powers of that glorious new creation that is still future already operating within us even now in this present world.

Because we are children of God. We don’t belong to this world. We’ve been born again to a living hope. We have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. We are citizens of heaven. That is our true home. That is our true identity. That is where we’re longing to be.

And so if we have the Spirit, If we are children of God, if we’ve been transferred from this passing evil age into the glory of the age to come, then we must set our minds and our hearts and all of our behavior and action and energy on pursuing that heavenly reality. The children of God characteristically live with their eyes and their minds and their hearts set upon heaven. They are not living only for this life. Pursuing the passing things of this present age, whether it’s material things or pleasure, or all of the things that the world presents before us as delightful, dazzling things that we should be attracted to. Children of God are not living for this life and for this present evil age. We have our hope set on something greater, something eternal, something lasting. And that is what the Spirit’s work is within us, is to give us a foretaste of that reality and to help us to live that heavenly-minded life.

Doctrine

Grace, Perseverance, and the Final Harvest

Now, there’s a problem with this passage, which is that it does seem at first to teach two things that are somewhat unsettling. On the one hand, this passage seems to teach that believers can lose their salvation. It says, verse 8, the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. Corruption here meaning judgment. So it sounds like it’s saying that believers can lose their salvation. On the other hand, there’s another troubling thing in this passage, which is on the positive side, when it says the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. That almost seems to be saying that we can earn eternal life by doing good works and by being obedient to the Lord.

Is that what Paul is saying? If you just took this verse out of context, you didn’t look at the whole context of Galatians as a whole, and you just looked at verse 8, you could see how somebody could make these false inferences from this passage. To take verse 8 as teaching that we earn eternal life by good works, and that we can forfeit eternal life by sin would contradict everything that Paul has said in the letter leading up to this. Paul has clearly said that Christ is the one who has delivered us from the present evil age.

That Christ is the one who has become a curse for us. Corruption being almost interchangeable things. He has taken that corruption, that judgment that the flesh is headed toward. He has taken it upon himself in our place. The Apostle Paul is clearly taught that we have been transferred out of the realm of the flesh into the realm of the Spirit. And so he does not believe that we can somehow transfer ourselves. If we just really work hard at doing good things, then we can somehow get ourselves out of this fleshly age that is headed towards corruption. No, he has taught that we’ve been transferred out of that fleshly realm by the work of Christ applied to us by the work of the Spirit.

I think the best explanation for verse 8 that helps us to resolve this apparent contradiction is that verse 8 is picking up on what Paul has already said back in chapter 5, verses 19 to 23, which I read for the revelation of God’s will, where he sets forth the works of the flesh. He says the works of the flesh are evident.

And those who do such things or who make a practice of doing these things without any sense of sorrow and repentance, they will not inherit the kingdom of God. But by contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, and so on. He’s picking up on that passage, and he’s saying that the one who sows to the flesh, so now going back to our verse in 6.8, the one who sows to the flesh, in his view, is an unbeliever. He’s not referring to someone who’s truly a believer, who has the spirit, who is then, having been saved, now indulging in the flesh and then loses their salvation. He’s describing someone who is an unbeliever, who is still in bondage to sin, who is spiritually dead. So verse eight, the one who sows to the flesh Will from the flesh reap corruption is not a description of a genuine believer, but rather of an unbeliever, someone who is still in sin.

This is where their life is going to end. It’s going to end with corruption. They will not inherit the kingdom of God because they’re giving themselves over without any restraint, without any desire for change, without any sense of repentance to this passing evil age and its sinful desires.

But the one who sows to the Spirit is someone who has already been raised from the dead spiritually by the Spirit. No one can sow to the Spirit, no one can invest their time and energy and resources into that glorious kingdom of God that is to come unless they have first been given the Spirit by a gift of grace. The Apostle Paul has also made that clear earlier in Galatians.

In Galatians 3.5, in Galatians 3.14, he has said that the Spirit is a gift that is received through the Gospel, by simply believing in the Gospel. Remember, he said to the Galatians, how did you receive the Spirit when you first were converted? Was it by doing the works of the law? No, it was by hearing the Gospel and believing in it.

Galatians 3.5.

In Galatians 3.14, Christ has delivered us from the curse of the law so that we might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith. It is a gift of grace. The Spirit is a gift of grace.

The Spirit’s Work Has a Glorious Outcome

So then those two descriptions of the one who, the one who sows to the flesh versus the one who sows to the Spirit is already presupposing salvation or the lack thereof for the one who sows to the flesh. We have a glorious promise, don’t we, from this passage? A glorious promise that is encouraging us. It is encouraging us to seek the things which are above and to live for the Lord.

This promise is that if we sow to the Spirit, Of course, understanding that no one can do that unless the Spirit has first worked in them. But if we sow to the Spirit in reliance upon the grace of the Holy Spirit within us, we will reap a joyful harvest in the age to come. The Spirit’s work in us which is expressed as we sow to the Spirit, will have a glorious eschatological outcome. If that’s the case, then why wouldn’t we want to align our lives and all of our energy and all of our resources and efforts with what God is doing as it leads to that heavenly glorious consummation in the new creation?

Why wouldn’t we invest all our time, energy, and resources in that which has eternal significance? Rather than only on that which is passing away and which is headed towards destruction. This promise, then, in verse 8, especially the second part, the one who sows to the Spirit, will from the Spirit, reap eternal life, is a glorious encouragement to us in the Christian life. It covers everything.

Application

Galatians 6:9–10: The Promise That Fuels Perseverance

Now in the context, Paul is going to be applying it specifically to Christian service, doing good deeds within the body of Christ. He’ll say in verse nine, let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up. So then as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. In the next two verses here, in verses nine and 10, he’s applying it specifically to Christian service. But the statement in verse eight is a broader principle that we should take as being a general principle that applies to all of the aspects of the Christian life, not only Christian service and ministry and doing good within the body of Christ and taking care of one another, but also to our growth in the Christian life and our desires to grow in sanctification.

One of the main things that discourages us from working hard whether it’s working hard to serve the church, or whether it’s working hard in fighting against our sins and seeking God’s grace to grow in sanctification, one of the main things that discourages us, and this is true even in ordinary life. If you’re at your job or at school, one of the main things that discourages us from working hard on anything is that we don’t see the result.

And we get weary because we feel like we’re putting in all this effort, but we’re not seeing any fruit. We’re not seeing any outcome from it. Can you imagine if somebody who is really struggling to develop a certain talent, let’s say they’re trying to be a musician, but they’re at that stage of learning music where they’re just not getting anywhere. They just feel like they’re struggling and struggling and struggling. They don’t see any fruit. They don’t see any progress.

It’s very easy for someone to grow discouraged and to give up. And that’s the same with the Christian life. When we don’t see the benefit, when we don’t see the outcome, we don’t see any tangible results, we get discouraged. No one wants to labor in vain. Nobody wants to work hard and get nothing to show for it. The farmer isn’t going to be motivated to go out and cultivate the fields, and do all the hard work of planting the crops, unless he’s confident that there’s going to be a payoff, there’s going to be a benefit, there’s going to be some tangible result from it.

And so many times in the Christian life, whether we’re talking about in our own sanctification struggles, or whether we’re talking about in the broader service in the church, in seeking to help one another, many times we get discouraged because we don’t see the immediate benefit.

But the Apostle Paul here is giving us a glorious encouragement. He’s encouraging us. He’s saying, the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. You may not see it now, but you will reap this glorious result. And this is not like a quid pro quo thing where you do X amount of good works and then you reap this result of eternal life. This is actually just the opposite. This is as you see the Spirit working in you. Remember, sowing to the Spirit is something that only someone who’s already saved and has the Spirit can do in the first place.

And so he’s giving us this wonderful encouragement that all that we do in the Christian life, whether it’s our struggles with remaining sin or whether it’s our Christian service and we feel frustrated and discouraged, we know that it’s actually the work of the Spirit within us and that there will be, you can count on it, there will be a glorious outcome. You may not see it yet, you may not see it now, But trust me, God is working. He is working in you. He’s working in you by His Spirit, and you will one day see the result. You will one day be that farmer who is sitting back and receiving the harvest and enjoying it.

The Apostle Paul uses a similar argument in, I think this is a helpful cross-reference if you want to turn there. It’s in 1 Corinthians 15. Actually, you don’t have to turn there because I put it in the bulletin, in the meditation to prepare for the service. In 1 Corinthians 15, you know that whole passage. 1 Corinthians 15, that’s the glorious resurrection passage. Paul is talking all about the resurrection of the body.

And he’s saying if there is no resurrection, then even Christ is not raised. And if Christ is not raised, then we are dead in our sins and we have no hope. We’re no different from the unbeliever who has no hope of anything after this life. But it’s amazing how after talking about this glorious doctrine of the resurrection, not only Christ’s resurrection as the first fruits, but our resurrection as well as the rest of the harvest, Paul concludes at the very, very end, the very last verse of chapter 15 with this wonderful exhortation where he says, 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. He’s applying this glorious truth of the resurrection that has been purchased for us by Christ. It’s a guaranteed outcome. If you belong to Christ, you will be raised.

Right now, you don’t feel it. Right now, you don’t see it. But it will happen. It will happen one day. Your desires to serve the Lord and to see fruit, you’re not going to see it now necessarily, although sometimes the Lord does give us little glimpses of the fruit now. But even then, that fruit now is mixed. And we don’t always see it in full clarity. But one day we know, one day we know that we will be raised and we will know that our labor now in this life is not in vain.

That is what the Spirit is doing in us. Whenever Paul talks about the Spirit, Paul has in mind this idea of the spirit being connected with the resurrection. The spirit is the spirit of the risen Christ. The spirit is the spirit that brings about that new creation at the end. And so if you have the spirit within you now, you already have the down payment of heaven. You already have resurrection life working within you even now.

That’s why Paul can also speak about we have this treasure in earthen vessels. The earthen vessel, the ceramic clay pot that outwardly doesn’t look all that great and it’s got cracks in it and it’s easily broken. But we have a treasure inside there. If you look inside that clay pot, there’s this gold of eschatological glory already within us. Right now we’re suffering, right now we’re struggling, right now we’re mourning over the effects of the fall and the curse in this world. But one day that clay pot will be transformed and the glorious treasure that is within us, Christ himself by his spirit, will be unveiled and made known. And so Paul is giving us an exhortation here. He’s giving us an encouragement. He’s giving us a promise.

He’s saying don’t give up even though you’re weary. Even though you’re weary and constantly fighting against your sins that you so often fall into. Even though you’re weary with working and serving in the church but you don’t see any outward fruit, don’t give up. Don’t give up because the Lord is working in you by his spirit, a glorious eschatological harvest.

He says there in verse nine, let us not grow weary of doing good. For in due season, and I think in due season means when Christ comes back. He’s not saying in due season in this life before Christ comes back. He’s saying in due season at that right time when Christ returns, we will reap if we do not give up. What an encouragement that is to know. We know that our labor is not in vain. And of course, we always have to add this one truth that the Apostle Paul often will do.

He’ll say, for example, in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 10, he says, I labored more than all the other apostles. He was a church planter. He was going out on these journeys to plant churches and preach the gospel all throughout the Roman Empire. I worked harder than all the other apostles.

And then as soon as he says that, he somewhat realizes, wait a minute, it’s not really me, is it? And he adds this little asterisk to that, and he says, yet not I, but the grace of God that was in me. And that’s how it is with us in the Christian life. The Apostle Paul is giving us an encouragement to work hard, but he’s adding that asterisk that it’s not you, it’s not you ultimately, it’s the spirit of Christ himself in you that is helping you and is restoring you and giving you the grace to serve the Lord in spite of everything.

Examples of Spiritual Sowing

As I mentioned, this glorious promise has both a broad application that it covers everything in the Christian life, all that we do as believers, even our struggles and fights against sin and our desire to grow in holiness. But in the context, Paul is applying it specifically to Christian service.

That’s why he says in verse 10, so then as we have opportunity, Let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. These are examples of spiritual sowing and reaping. The examples that he gives here in the context of sowing to the Spirit are supporting the ministry of the Word by your tithes and offerings. He mentions that in verse six. Let the one who has taught the Word share in all good things with the one who teaches the Word.

He mentions sharing with those in need, talking about the physical needs within the body of Christ. He even expands it to everyone. As you have opportunity, if there’s an opportunity that comes into your life to help someone in need, even if they’re not a member of the church, we should also do that and use it as an opportunity to share the gospel with them. Although he does say the priority with taking care of physical needs should be to take care of the physical needs within the body of Christ, within the household of faith.

that’s a wonderful little phrase, isn’t it? That’s a great way of thinking about what the church is. There are many different metaphors that are used in the Bible to describe what the church is. It’s sometimes called the body of Christ. It’s called the kingdom of Christ. We’re a temple where God dwells by his spirit as we worship God through Christ and by the spirit.

But another metaphor, another way of thinking about the church is that we are a family. We are a household. We are brothers and sisters in Christ. And what is it that keeps us bound together as a family? Not biology, as in human families, but it’s our faith in Christ, our common faith in the Lord. And so we should desire to promote the fellowship of one another in the household of faith.

There are many other examples that we could think of beyond the ones that are given here in our text. We’re talking about Christian service as a form of sowing spiritually to reap that spiritual harvest at the end. Besides supporting the ministry of the word by tithes and offerings, besides caring for the physical needs within the body of Christ and even outside the body of Christ when there are opportunities to share our faith. But there are other examples we could think of ourselves. Just think about the different ways that we can serve the Lord, which we can sow to that heavenly eschatological reality. We can do that by volunteering here in the church to serve the church. As I mentioned in the announcements, we have these new committees that we’ve set up, starting with the Hospitality Committee that’s going to be meeting today after the service.

Think about ways that you can participate in sowing to the Spirit with that ultimate goal of reaping the eschatological harvest at the end. Or maybe for you it has to do with evangelism, bearing witness, inviting your friends to church. Or maybe if you’re not, if you feel like maybe I don’t really feel called to that, maybe I’m a mother and I’m more focused on my own family, well you can do the same thing there, raising your children. Right, that is a wonderful way of sowing to the spirit and looking forward to that eschatological hope. Teaching your children the word of God, teaching them the faith, bringing them up as believers within the body of Christ.

Let us think about all the ways that we can invest our time, our energy, our resources, not on the things of this passing world that are passing away, these temporary pleasures that come and go. But let’s think about heaven. Let’s think about that glorious harvest to come when Christ returns. That’s what motivates us. That’s what keeps us from giving up when we’re tired. That’s what keeps us from being discouraged when we don’t see the fruit right now. Because we see, we have this great promise that we will reap in the end.

There’s another helpful cross-reference. I mentioned 1 Corinthians 15, verse 58, where Paul uses the hope of the resurrection as a motivator to not grow discouraged and weary because we know that our labor is ultimately not in vain because of the resurrection.

But another helpful passage that I think ties into this is in 1 Thessalonians 2. 1 Thessalonians chapter two, this one you do have to turn to, because I didn’t put it in the bulletin. But in 1 Thessalonians two, Paul is talking about his ministry to the Thessalonian Christians at the very end. In chapter two, he’s talking about how he wasn’t able to come and visit them, but he’s longing to see them, he desires to see them face to face and to come to them. What does he say there at the end? First Thessalonians 2, 19 to 20.

For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and joy. Paul is doing all of his ministry. Now, of course, we think of Paul as this great apostle, and so we don’t want to necessarily identify ourselves with him, but we can. We can take the same spiritual way of thinking that the apostle Paul had, and we can have that same desire to look forward to the coming of Christ when we will see all the people whose lives we influenced through our ministry and through our service. There’s the great preachers and teachers like the Apostle Paul who will have a huge harvest at that day.

But there’s also the ordinary believer who is simply being a faithful worker at their job or taking care of their children and raising them in the Lord. You will have that same hope, that same joy and crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming to see the people whose lives you influenced for Christ.

That is our hope. That is our boasting and our joy. What an encouragement this is. What a great promise we have here in this passage. We don’t need to grow weary. Because we know that the eschatological harvest is coming. We can’t see it now. It’s veiled, it’s hidden from our eyes, but the Lord will reveal it to us in that day. What a glorious thing that will be.

May the Lord encourage you to labor, to labor for his kingdom, to do so knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.