The key question for today is this, Are you sowing to yield a bumper crop?

Transcription

1 A Bumper Crop? Intro: Turn with me this morning in your bibles to Galatians 6:7-10 as we look at the second last message from this portion of our series on the person and work of the Holy Spirit. I will be excusing myself and zipping to the airport right after this morning s service to join the rest of Team Ukraine there and while I am away, you are going to have two very excellent Sunday s when I am gone. I am going to finish off chapter 6 the Sunday I get back with a message on the cross that will take us into Easter week. And immediately after Easter, we are going to have a look at the Gifts of the Holy Spirit and I am really excited about that! Let s read together our passage for today. Galatians 6:7-10 The key question for today is this, Are you sowing to yield a bumper crop? Many people in Christendom are uncomfortable with strong and direct speech and if you are among them, you might find the Apostle Paul a little offensive today. Paul begins with the words, Do not be deceived, God cannot be mocked. I don t know if you have ever been mocked before, but it doesn t feel very good does it? (Elisha and the bears) But at the heart of this verse is a light being shone upon people who believe they can literally turn their noses up at God without any repercussions. Paul s message to those who have opposed God, who continue to oppose God, that there will be a time of reckoning for all mocking of both God and His people. One of the things that deceives the deceived is that there is not an instant cause and effect relationship between mocking and the judgment of their mocking. And that brings us back to the principle of sowing and reaping that we introduced a couple of weeks back. The principle of sowing and reaping comes to us from wisdom, from experience and it is a clearly stated reality of life in the kingdom of God! A man reaps what he (or she) sows! 1

2 We are a rural people and most of us have some background in farming either we still do farm or we have descended from people that did farm once upon a time. We understand clearly that if we plant beans at planting time, beans will eventually come up to be harvested and if we plant corn, we don t stand there naively waiting for beans to appear! The metaphor is straightforward! The principle of sowing and reaping is true of both practical life and spiritual life. I trust you are starting to make connections from previous lessons from these chapters, we have gone to great lengths to compare the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit and Paul is starting to pull this all together in an eschatological teaching. Remember, he taught us about sowing to the flesh? I. If you sow to the flesh So, if you sow to the flesh (the bad list) you are likely to reap a practice of the works of the flesh and if your memories serve you well, you know that this results in a disqualification from heaven. If you continue to practice the works of the flesh without repentance, you will reap destruction. Paul uses a very graphic word here and it would have a disclaimer if you were watching him preach on TV. This sermon contains coarse language and graphic content. He has every intention of you thinking about a dead and decaying corpse like you would see on a CSI episode! (Enough said?) If you practice the works of the flesh and do not change your direction, your eternal destiny is hell. That s right, this sounds serious and it is! Here are some things you need to know about Hell! 1. Hell is a second death But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death Hell is a final resting place for those who do not believe 1 The Holy Bible: New International Version (electronic ed.) (Re 21:8). Grand 2

3 The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God s wrath remains on him Hell is a permanent and eternal place of torment for those who do not believe (Insert the Lazarus and rich man teaching from Luke 15) There is so little mention of hell in teaching today that people have concluded that hell might not be the place to spend eternity but it might not be a bad spot to spend a weekend! Teaching on hell sells few books and gathers few crowds! I haven t seen one hell conference advertised in the Valley since coming here! But enough of that, we are not interested in that place are we? II. If you sow to the Spirit I don t know about you church, but I am all about sowing to the Spirit. As a worshipper of God, as a husband, a father and a pastor, I am sowing all my seed to the Spirit which I am promised will reap eternal life! 1. Eternal life is a solemn promise To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life Eternal life is brought forth by grace So that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord Eternal life is a harvest of Slavery to God. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 5 2 The Holy Bible: New International Version (electronic ed.) (Jn 3:35 36). Grand 3 The Holy Bible: New International Version (electronic ed.) (Ro 2:7). Grand 4 The Holy Bible: New International Version (electronic ed.) (Ro 5:21). Grand 3

4 4. Eternal life is evidence of God s patience with even the worst of Bad guys! But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life. 6 Develop this and tie it in with last week. 5. Eternal life requires you answer this question with a yes Are you ready for the question? Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? 7 III. Whatever you do, don t quit Let us not become weary in doing good. What is doing good? We only need to revisit the themes of the past few weeks teaching. 1. Deal with the doctrinal disturbers firmly 2. Love your neighbors/ Fulfill the Law of Christ 3. Keep in step with the Spirit which will be shown by the manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit (Not the manifestations of the Spirit) 4. Restoring others with gentleness and humility 5. Be a burden bearer (Go deep, Go long) But it seems that people might be quitting in their hearts and getting weary in doing good, so what could be at the heart of a quitting spirit? This is what John Calvin had to say about the quitting spirit. I will read the quote slowly and I believe it will be on the screen behind me. 5 The Holy Bible: New International Version (electronic ed.) (Ro 6:22 7:1). Grand 6 The Holy Bible: New International Version (electronic ed.) (1 Ti 1:16). Grand 7 The Holy Bible: New International Version (electronic ed.) (Jn 11:25 26). Grand 4

5 This precept is especially necessary because we are naturally lazy in the duties of love, and many little stumbling-blocks hinder and put off even the well-disposed. We meet with many unworthy, many ungrateful people. The vast number of the needy overwhelms us; we are drained by paying out on every side. Our warmth is damped by the coldness of others. Finally, the whole world is full of hindrances which turn us aside from the right path. Therefore Paul does well to confirm our efforts, so that we do not faint through weariness. 8 i. When we meet ungracious people. They simply are not thankful for the help. ii. When we are overwhelmed by overwhelming need iii. When we are opposed by the world (1 Co. 6:9) iv. IV. When we get tired simply because of life About the fullness of time There is a wonderful Greek word kairos and it simply means the fullness of time or in due season. (Galatians 4:4, 1 Ti. 6:15) We have a huge challenge in the realm of maturing faith and that challenge is that we and God have different notions and priorities with respect to time. Here is the true story of a man who learned patience and God s timing for all things. His name is William Carey, an eighteenth century missionary. William Carey arrived in India in 1793 with a burden to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who had never heard the name. For seven years he proclaimed the gospel message faithfully week after week, month after month, with not a single native of India converted to Christ. Through years of struggle and doubt, Carey was often discouraged but never defeated. To his sisters back home in England he wrote: I feel as a farmer does about his crop: sometimes I think the seed is springing, and thus I hope; a little blasts all, and my hopes are gone like a cloud. They were only weeds which appeared; or if a little corn sprung up, it quickly dies, being either chocked with weeds, or parched up by the sun of persecution. Yet I still hope in God, and will go forth in his strength, and make mention of his righteousness, even of his only. 8 George, T. (2001). Vol. 30: Galatians (electronic ed.). Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (425). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers. 5

6 On December 28, 1800, Carey baptized in the Ganges River his first Hindu convert, a carpenter named Krishna Pal. William Ward, who witnessed the dramatic deliverance of this man from the grip of paganism into the glorious truth of the gospel, wrote in his diary: Ye gods of stone and clay, did ye not tremble, when in the Triune Name, one soul shook you from his feet as dust? This was the beginning of a mighty harvest of souls that God granted to Carey and his coworkers at the Serampore Mission in India. 9 Conclusion So we clearly understand now that we have an opportunity and our sowing should not depend upon our expectation of an immediate reaping but rather a harvest that is determined by God s perfect timing, His kairos. 1. Doing good to all people Simply put, doing good to all people means doing good to all people. All includes all people, irrelevant of income, religion, race, sex, sinful state, and especially doing good to all people cannot have anything to do with what you are going to get in return. 2. Doing good especially to the household of faith And the principle of doing good irrelevant of what you get in return is especially true of the household of faith, the church. Our NIV calls us the family of faith! Perhaps that is a better translation. (insert household of faith texts) J. Brown Every poor and distressed man had a claim on me for pity, and, if I can afford it, for active exertion and pecuniary relief. But a poor Christian has a far stronger claim on my feelings, my labors, and my property. He is my brother, equally interested as myself in the blood and love of the Redeemer. I expect to spend an eternity with him in heaven. He is the representative of my unseen Savior, and he considers everything done to his poor afflicted as done to himself. For a Christian to be unkind to a Christian is not only wrong, it is monstrous. 10 I have a challenge for you this week. Do good to all you meet and one of them should happened to be of this household, do especially good to them, even if that good is never reciprocated. 9 George, T. (2001). Vol. 30: Galatians (electronic ed.). Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (426). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers. 10 George, T. (2001). Vol. 30: Galatians (electronic ed.). Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (428). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers. 6

7 I close today with a quote from Guy Penrod. The family of God is like Noah s Ark. I am sure the ark got very smelly during the voyage but the Ark was still the best ship afloat! And so it is with the church! Amen! 7