A farmer who plants seeds sparingly will reap a sparse harvest. To reap bountifully, you must sow bountifully. And that truth isn't limited to seeds. Today, on Turning Point, Dr. David Jeremiah applies this harvest principle to our spiritual lives and, in particular, our financial giving.
From the series Investing for Eternity, here's David to introduce today's message: Sowing and Reaping. Hey, maybe you're among the many people I've met over the years who sort of complain about the fact that they don't think God is blessing their lives the way they had hoped He would. They're a little disappointed in life. They're kind of downcast and sort of on the negative side. I can't answer the reasons for that.
I'm sure you would understand. I would have no way of knowing that. But let me suggest one of the things that might be happening. You can't reap what you don't sow. The principle of sowing and reaping is um Yeah.
It's broad. It's not just about money. If you sow evil, you will get evil. You sow lies, you will get lies. If you sow criticism, you will get criticism.
The Bible says whatever you sow, that's what you're going to get. And it's true also when it comes to the stewardship of life and the stewardship of resources. God promises that if we give Faithfully to Him, He will bless us. In fact, in Malachi, the Bible tells us He wants to bless us so much that we'd have to sit under heaven's open door and try to catch all the blessings He sends down to us in abundance. You will be blessed if you do what God calls you to do.
And that's the whole principle behind sowing and reaping. You have not because you sow not. And the Bible teaches that very clearly. We're going to talk about that today and again tomorrow, and for our passage of Scripture, Galatians 6, verses 6 through 10. We want to give you an opportunity to receive a beautiful new book that we have just finished publishing.
It came out this month. It's called What God Promises You: Seven Truths That Will Change the Way You Live. We chose these promises to help you get a good start to the new year, to dig your feet into the foundations of life, and know that God has promised some great things. And this book will really encourage you, it will strengthen you, it will help build your faith, and it's one of the ways we can say thank you to you for your generosity to Turning Point and the spread of the gospel around the world. When you send your gift to Turning Point this month, please ask for your copy of what God promises you, and it will be on its way to you before you know it.
Now let's get started with today's lesson, Sowing and Reaping Part 1 from Galatians chapter 6. God has Some inexorable principles in his universe that operate in every sphere of living. Principles that cannot be violated. Whether they be in the moral realm, in the spiritual realm, or in the physical realm. The principles that operate in all of the areas of life.
are basic and they are few. They are simple and yet they are profound. But they are principles which God has ordained. And because of that, they cannot be violated. without suffering A penalty.
In our text today is one of those inviolate principles. It is presented in epigrammatic form. It is the principle. For whatever a man soweth, That shall he also reap. Whatever a man sows, that will he reap.
This is a principle of order and consistency, which is written into all of life. No matter what sphere you may examine. It is true in the moral realm, it is true in the physical realm, it is true in the spiritual realm, and there are examples that abound everywhere you look. For instance, in the physical realm, the one small area of agriculture. After the flood, When the flood was over, as recorded in the Old Testament, God promised Noah after the flood that so long as the earth remained, Seed time and harvest.
That is sowing and reaping. would not cease. Genesis 8, 22. Which means that if a farmer wants to have a harvest, He's got to sow seed in his field. Otherwise there will be no harvest.
And the kind of harvest that he expects is dependent upon the kind of seed that he sows. For what he reaps is what he is going to sow. That is true, first of all, in the nature of the seed. If he wants barley, he has to sow barley seed. You don't get wheat from sowing barley seed.
What you get is according to the nature of what you sow. It is also true in the quality of the seed that is sown. If he wants a good crop, then it is imperative that he sow good seed. And that principle also applies to the quantity of harvest that he desires. For if he wants a large harvest, he must sow many seeds.
Paul was writing to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 9, and he reminded them that he which soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully. The kind of harvest that you get in the realm of agriculture is dependent upon the nature, the quality and the quantity of seed that is sown. You will not get anything that is different from what you have sown into the ground.
Now, the principle that comes out of all of this in the realm of our lives is this: that it's not the reapers who decide what the harvest will be, but the sowers. It's not the one who comes to gather up the harvest that determines the nature of the harvest, it's the one who puts the seed in the ground. The sowers determine the harvest.
Sometimes we hear the expression today, especially among young people, that they are sowing their wild oats. That is used as an excuse for profligate living. But let no one be fooled about that. A person who determines to sow wild oats will reap a wild harvest. Job tells us in the Old Testament in the Fourth chapter, and in the eighth verse.
that those who plow iniquity and sow trouble will reap the same. Job 4.8. And Hosea the prophet, in speaking to his contemporaries on one occasion, warned them that they sow the wind and they're going to reap the whirlwind, which is an Old Testament idiom for judgment. Whatever a man sows, That's what he's going to reap. It's a principle that is found in every area of life.
It is in the physical realm, such as in agriculture. It is in the moral realm, and it is in the spiritual realm.
Now, Paul uses that principle here in this text to teach a truth about the way a ministry is supposed to be supported. He is talking here in the sowing and reaping context about how we give to the church and how we support the things of God's work.
So often we hear this passage quoted as a general principle, and it is that. But notice, people, that the principle is couched in the context of stewardship and financial responsibility. Let him that is taught in the words, share with him that teacheth in all good things.
Now, what Paul is talking about here is supporting the ministry, giving to the church or to the place where the word of God is taught. We might render that verse this way: Let him that is taught in the word, let the congregation of the Lord, communicate unto him that teacheth us, supporting the church, supporting the ministry. The word translated here, communicated, is a Pauline expression that is used several times in his letters. by which he refers to liberality, to gracious, abundant giving. Interestingly enough, the word communicate is the word koino neo.
That has almost become a familiar word to us today, even in English, though it is a transliteration out of the Greek language. The word koino neo means to share in partnership, to fellowship together, to have something in common. A person is involved in sharing is called someone who is involved in koinonia. A Koinekos is a partner or a sharer. What the apostle is writing to the churches in Galatia is this.
That those who belong to the church and are blessed by the word of God are to share what they have with those who teach the word of God, or in essence, in our economy, with the ministry of the church as it stands. That as the word of God is sown into the hearts of the people, they are to sow back into the life of the church that which they are reaping in spiritual things and in financial things. Let them be liberal in their response, says Paul. Let them communicate. Let them fellowship.
Let them share.
Now Having said all of this, please understand that what Paul is teaching us is this: that in the realm of finances within the church, there is a principle that is at work. It cannot be violated. God will not allow it to be in any way taken out of the way. That principle is: whatsoever a man sows, that's what he's going to reap. And the principle of sowing and reaping is very much at work within the ministry of the Church of Jesus Christ.
Now In this text that we have read, there are three principles that I want to give you that really come down to where we live. And I'm going to talk basic stuff today about where we are as individuals and as a church. Yeah. Three principles. The first one is this: I've called it the principle of personal deception.
The principle of sowing and reaping is an immutable law of God, and in order to emphasize this, the Apostle prefaces the principle. with both a command Do not be deceived, and a statement. God is not mocked. I want to look at those two things for a moment. Be not deceived.
The possibility of being deceived is broached often in the New Testament. The Lord Jesus speaks of Satan as a liar and as a deceiver. In 2 John verse 7, we are told that many deceivers have gone out into the world already. In Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 6, Paul begs in his letter to the Ephesian church: Let no man deceive you with empty words. If you'll turn back in your Bibles to the third chapter of the book of Galatians, you will notice that in writing to the Galatian churches, Paul warns them against the potential of deception.
He says in chapter 3 and verse 1, O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you? Who hath deceived you? Who hath duped you? You have been deceived. And notice in chapter 6 of Galatians and verse 3.
For if a man think himself to be something when he is nothing, he hath deceived himself. Paul is teaching us that it is possible in the realm of spiritual things to be self-deceived. to rationalize in one's own mind. And Paul warns us here in the book of Galatians that the principle of sowing and reaping is not going to be violated. And you watch out now because if you're not careful, you will deceive yourself.
Now note the second thing that he says. Be not deceived, God is not mocked.
Okay. The word for mocked in the New Testament language is the Greek word muktaridzo. Strange-sounding word, and it literally is a root word that comes from the word nose. And the essence of that phrase is this. Be not deceived.
You cannot turn your nose up at God. And the word to turn one's nose up finally became an idiom for the concept of sneering. You ever see anybody sneer? If you've got any teenage kids around, you know what I'm talking about. You know, they know how to sneer.
Boy, that's one of their things they learn at that stage. In essence, what Paul is saying is this. Don't turn your nose up at God. Don't sneer at God. The word then came to be used in later language usage for an attempt to fool someone or to outwit someone or to deceive someone.
What Paul is saying is this. Be careful that you don't deceive yourselves. But remember, God will not be deceived. It's possible to deceive yourself, but God will not be deceived. You cannot mock God.
You can't turn your nose up at God. You cannot sneer nor try to outwit God. He won't be outwitted. You can't mock God. Whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap.
Now be careful in the matter of sowing and reaping that you don't deceive yourself and that you don't try to deceive God, because he won't be deceived.
Now I've thought a great deal about how we go about deceiving ourselves. I think perhaps in the area of the sowing and reaping of financial areas and stewardship, there is more self-deception that goes on than perhaps any other area of the ministry. I really believe that with all my heart. Partly because I have been involved in some of those strategies myself. I have rationalized myself.
But as I have pastored over these years that I've been involved in serving God in some aspect of the ministry. I have watched as Christian people have consistently tried to deceive God and have literally deceived themselves. And if what we learn in the statistics that come out of this church, which probably aren't any different than they are in many major churches, and that is that. 20% of the people in the church give 80% of the money, and about 50 to 20% of the people do not tithe or give anything close to what might be considered even a minimum standard for stewardship. Then, men and women, the vast majority of this church and many other churches are involved in some form of self-deception.
They have come to believe that what God says, you can't violate, the sowing and reaping principle, that somehow they can. They have come to rationalize within their own minds that that works for the most people, but we're in a special situation, and so we're not subject to that law. And I want to suggest to you that that is purely and simply a strategy of Satan to deceive you. And I want to remind you that though you may rationalize yourself, God is not going to be fooled. He won't be mocked.
How do we do it?
Well, let me suggest some ways that I have discovered.
Now this is not so you will have new ideas for self-deception. This is in order that you might recognize self-deception if it's taking place in your own life. First of all, Sometimes we deceive ourselves in the sowing and reaping principle because we say, I can't afford to give. I have to wait till my house gets in order, till I get better fixed financially, till things are going better, I've got more bills paid, I've got more income. Then I will begin to give to God as I know I should.
And that sounds very good, doesn't it? In most areas of life, that makes sense. We don't buy things till we have the money. We don't start commitments till we have taken care of the old ones. But you see, the problem with that is this.
The harvest out of which you intend to give Is totally dependent on whether or not you're going to sow any seed now so the harvest can be harvested. It's like a vicious cycle, if you will. You can't get the harvest out of which you hope to give until you sow some seed. And you're sitting there thinking, well, I won't sow any seed until I get the harvest, and you're at a stalemate with God and with yourself. You say, How in the world do I change that?
You have to break into the cycle wherever you are and begin to sow. And every single Christian knows what I'm talking about. None of us began to give because we felt we could afford it. We began to give because it was a command from God. We looked at all the things we were responsible for and we said, there's no way.
But when there was no way, God made a way, and we did it, and we began to sow. And guess what? When we sowed the seed, a harvest began. And out of that harvest, we were able to take a few more seeds and sow them in the ground over here, and they began to grow. And a bigger harvest came.
We took some more seed, and it's the sowing and the harvesting. That's the cycle we go through. But you have to start with the sowing. Nobody ever starts with the harvesting. I'm reminded of a couple who try to use this fallacious argument relative to their marriage, and it goes like this.
The bride, bent with age, leaned over her cane Her steps, uncertain, needed guiding. while down the church aisle with a wan, toothless smile, The groom in a wheelchair gliding. And who is this elderly couple thus wed? You'll find when you've closely explored it. This is that rare, most conservative pair who waited till they could afford it.
Now, most of us, if we're honest, would never wait to get married till we could afford it. We didn't do that. And if you wait until you can afford it to begin to give to God, you will deceive yourselves. You will never do what God wants you to do, and you will be rationalizing in your own mind. But just remember now.
You can deceive yourself, but you can't fool God. Another way that we are involved in self-deception Especially in a church like this one, and I'll explain what I mean: is this: we rationalize that we give our time to God. and therefore we're not so responsible to give of our income. That's very good that we give our time to God because all of us ought to be involved in doing that. You see, the principle of stewardship is that God owns everything.
And He is totally in control of all of us. And every single one of us ought to be giving of our time to God. But no place in my Bible do I find that it's possible for me to exchange the time that I give to God and then get. out from under the responsibility to monitor what I do with my funds. And you see, that is a subtle deception that we follow because for many folks, The hard cold cash that they have accumulated or that they are earning is the last bastion of defense that they have against God's total inroad into their life.
And they will hold off at that pass For as long as they can. God, you can have my time, you can have my talent, you can have everything that I have, but just leave my funds alone. And God says, no, that's deception. Because if I own all, there are no exceptions, there are no clauses, there are no conditions. I own it all.
It's all mine. And I want you to give back to me that which I have entrusted to your care. You see, that's a very insidious deception for this church because we are a church that is filled with people who are involved in what we might call vocational ministry. You know, I suppose that if I decided that I was going to exchange my time for what I give to God, I could get off the hook completely. I work somewhere between 60 and 80 hours a week doing what I do, and I love every minute of it.
But if I reasoned in my own mind that as a pastor I give my time to God, therefore I don't have to give my money to God, I wouldn't owe God anything. But you see, that's not valid. And in this church, we have many ministries where they come here to church and they're vocational Christians. They're working in the Lord's work. It is so easy for us in that group to begin to think that we can get out from under the responsibility of giving our Income to the Lord because we spend all of our lives serving God.
And that is a deception. Strategy. from Satan. That's not from God. I grew up in an institutional setting in Cedarville College.
Our church there was almost totally filled with students, staff members, and faculty people. And I remember during those growing up days what a struggle it was to get those people who were professional people to believe really down here in their heart that they were to function as Christians in every area of their life. And that they had no special category simply because they went to work someday in a Christian institution. Oh, how easily we are deceived into thinking that we can give our time to God and then we don't have to give him our money. I would like to suggest to you that more than the average person, we are responsible before God.
Because you see, where did we get our money in the first place? It came out of that which God's people provided for ministry. Every dime that I get in my salary has come from the people of God who have given to the ministry of this church. And for me to reason in my mind that somehow I am not responsible for the stewardship of what God's people has given to me.
Well, that's just self-deception. That's rationalization. But listen now. God won't be fooled. You can't turn your nose up at God.
Here's a third area.
Sometimes we rationalize and deceive ourselves by saying, I give to a broad spectrum of ministry, so I don't have to give so much to the church.
Now, I give to other ministries beside this church. I believe in ministries, and I give to ministries, and I think we should. But, men and women, the focus of the New Testament is on the New Testament local church. If you go back to the book of 1 Corinthians, you will discover in 1 Corinthians chapter 9 that Paul uses the principle of sowing and reaping as it relates to his giving of the gospel to the church. He said, If I have sowed unto you spiritual things, is there anything wrong with you sowing back carnal things or financial things?
So in 1 Corinthians, Paul says that he sowed and the congregation reaped. Here in Galatians, the Bible teaches that the congregation sows and the ministry reaps. The sowing and the reaping work on both sides of the street because the church is set up in such a strategic way for the sowing and reaping principle to function. There is no other organization on the face of God's earth that I know is like that. And then please note that the scripture prioritizes our giving on the basis of where we receive the word of God.
Let him that is taught in the word. communicate with the one who teaches the word.
Now, please hear me. That doesn't mean we shouldn't give to all of the other organizations. We should give to them. All of us ought to be involved in giving outside of simply the spectrum of the church in some way, some more and some others. But the focus of the New Testament is on the local church, where the Word of God is taught, where you are encouraged in your growth.
And that is not just some crazy principle I dreamed up to help the income of this church, that is the word of God. I would not be serving as a pastor of a local church if I did not believe that that's where God's hand of blessing resides. I had opportunities out of seminary to go into other organizations, all of which were tempting and exciting. But I came to grips with the New Testament in this way: I believe with all my heart that the New Testament church. The local church is the vehicle of God's blessing in this generation, and I want to be where the action is.
And because of that, The New Testament clearly focuses in on the household of faith. As we have, therefore, opportunity, let us do good unto all men. especially unto them who are of the household of faith. That's a pretty clear priority, isn't it? You know, brothers and sisters, one of the things I've noticed is that sometimes when Christians get involved in a church, Parachurch organizations come and get them on their boards or help them find a place of service.
And if they're not careful, the priority of the church begins to fade away, and their resources are spread out in such a wide way that Just about nobody is profited. The church needs the faithful stewardship of its people. And they need to put God first. And the church is certainly God's plan. We believe in that so strongly that almost every month or so we say this out loud on Turning Point Radio: that we don't want your tithes because they belong to the church.
Give their ties to the church, and what you give to us will be over and above, and we'll be grateful for that. But the church is God's priority, and when you do right by the church, God is honored, and He takes care of every one of us who believe that.
So that's a principle to kind of write down, and I hope you'll take it to heart. We'll see you next time right here on Turning Point. For more information on Dr. Jeremiah's series Investing for Eternity, please visit our website where we also offer two free ways to help you stay connected, our monthly Turning Points magazine and our daily email devotional. Sign up today at davidjeremiah.org/slash radio.
That's davidjeremiah.org slash radio. Or call us at 800-947-1993. Ask for your copy of David's new book, What God Promises You: Seven Truths That Will Change the Way You Live. It's yours for a gift of any amount. You can also purchase the Jeremiah Study Bible in the English Standard, New International, and New King James Versions, available in your choice of attractive and durable cover options.
Get all the details when you visit our website davidjeremiah.org/slash radio. This is David Michael Jeremiah. Join us tomorrow as we continue the series Investing for Eternity on Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah.
