The Inescapable Harvest Text: Galatians 6:6-10
Introduction: The Law of the Farm
We live in an age of manufactured realities. Men think they can identify as women, that debt is wealth, and that a nation can be built on a foundation of sand and expect the house to stand. Our entire culture is a massive, coordinated effort to mock God by denying the created order. We want to sow thistle seeds and reap a harvest of figs. We want to live like fools and die like saints. We want to defy gravity and are then perpetually surprised when we hit the ground.
But the apostle Paul, here at the end of his letter to the Galatians, brings us back to the farm. He reminds us of an inescapable, fundamental law of the universe, a law as fixed as gravity. It is the law of the harvest. What you plant is what you get. This is not complicated, but it is profound, and it governs every square inch of our lives, from our bank accounts to our eternal destinies.
Paul has just finished his glorious exposition of the gospel of grace. He has defended Christian liberty from the Judaizers who wanted to drag the Galatians back into the slavery of works-righteousness. But now, he shows what true Christian liberty looks like in practice. It is not a license to do whatever you want. It is the freedom to do what you ought. And what you ought to do is sow to the Spirit. Freedom in Christ is not the freedom to break the laws of the farm; it is the freedom to finally become a good farmer.
This passage is intensely practical. It deals with money, with pastors, with perseverance, and with priorities. But it ties all of these practical duties to the central, unalterable reality that God has woven into the fabric of creation: you will reap what you sow. There are no exceptions to this rule. God will not be mocked. You cannot trick the soil. You cannot fool the sky. And you cannot outsmart God.
The Text
And the one who is instructed in the word is to share in all good things with the one who instructs him. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.
(Galatians 6:6-10 LSB)
Pay Your Pastor (v. 6)
Paul begins with a very specific, earthy application of Christian liberty. It is the duty of the congregation to financially support the one who teaches them the Word.
"And the one who is instructed in the word is to share in all good things with the one who instructs him." (Galatians 6:6)
The word for "share" is koinoneo, from which we get our word koinonia, or fellowship. This is not talking about having the pastor over for a potluck, though that is a fine thing to do. This is talking about a financial partnership. The one who is taught is to create a fellowship, a partnership, with his teacher in "all good things," which is a delicate way of referring to material and financial support. If you are being fed spiritually, you have a direct obligation to provide for the physical well being of the man who is feeding you.
This is a consistent principle throughout Scripture. The Levites were supported by the tithes of the people. Jesus said the laborer is worthy of his wages. Paul argues elsewhere that if he has sown spiritual things among the Corinthians, it is no great thing if he reaps material things from them (1 Cor. 9:11). This is not a matter of charity; it is a matter of justice. It is a matter of sowing and reaping.
A refusal to support the ministry of the Word is a direct despising of the Word itself. If you believe that the preaching of the Word is life and death, that it is the very bread of heaven, then you will see to it that the man who labors in that Word is free from worldly cares to devote himself to that task. A church that is stingy with its pastor is a church that has a low view of what he does. They are sowing sparingly, and they should not be surprised when they reap a spiritually sparse harvest.
The Unmockable God (v. 7-8)
Paul immediately connects this specific duty to the universal principle that undergirds it. It is as though he anticipates the objection: "I can't afford to be generous." Paul's response is that you cannot afford not to be.
"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life." (Galatians 6:7-8 LSB)
The warning "do not be deceived" tells us that this is an area where we are particularly prone to self-deception. We are masters at rationalizing our stinginess. We tell ourselves we are being prudent. We are saving for a rainy day. But what we are actually doing is attempting to mock God. The word for "mocked" here means to turn up your nose at someone, to treat them with contempt. To hear God's command to be generous and then to clutch your wallet tightly is to turn your nose up at God.
And God will not have it. The universe He made runs on the principle of sowing and reaping. This is not karma. This is not an impersonal, cosmic law. This is the personal, superintending, covenantal justice of a living God. He sees what you do with your seed corn. He knows whether you are eating it, or planting it.
Paul then lays out the two kinds of fields we can sow in. You can sow to your own flesh, or you can sow to the Spirit. To sow to the flesh is to invest your time, your money, your energy, and your affections into the passing, temporary, self-gratifying things of this fallen world. It is to live for your own comfort, your own security, your own appetite. The harvest of such a life is corruption. The word is phthora, which means decay, ruin, decomposition. If you invest everything in a sinking ship, you will go down with the ship. Everything the flesh craves is in a state of decay. It is all rusting, rotting, and returning to the dust. To live for the flesh is to invest in death.
But there is another field. You can sow to the Spirit. This means investing your resources in the things of God, the things that last forever. It means using your money, your time, and your talents for the advance of the gospel, for the building up of the church, for the glory of God. When you give to the man who teaches you the Word, you are sowing to the Spirit. When you use your resources to do good to others, you are sowing to the Spirit. The harvest here is not corruption, but eternal life. This is not to say we earn our salvation by giving. Paul has spent five chapters dismantling that idea. Rather, a life that is characterized by Spirit-empowered generosity is the evidence that one has been given eternal life. The harvest is the consummation and fullness of the life that has already begun in the believer.
Don't Quit Before Payday (v. 9)
The agricultural metaphor continues. Farming is hard work, and the harvest is not immediate. It requires patience and perseverance. And so Paul gives a word of encouragement.
"And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary." (Galatians 6:9 LSB)
Sowing is hard work. Doing good is tiring. There are times when the soil is hard, the sun is hot, and the weeds are relentless. There are times when you give and give, and you see no immediate return. The temptation is to lose heart, to grow weary, to give up. "What's the use?" we say. "I've been generous, and all I've gotten is poorer. I've been serving, and all I've gotten is tired."
Paul says, "Don't quit." The harvest is coming. It is "in due time." God has a set time for the harvest, and it will not be a day late. The farmer does not plant his seed on Monday and go out with his combine on Tuesday. He waits. He trusts. He perseveres through the long season of growth. Our problem is that we want microwave results from agricultural laws. But God is a farmer, not a fast-food cook.
The promise is conditional: "if we do not grow weary." This is the perseverance of the saints. God's true children will persevere. God's grace enables us to keep going when our own strength fails. This is not a call to grit your teeth and muster up your own strength. It is a call to rely on the Spirit to produce His fruit of faithfulness in you, so that you can continue sowing until the Lord of the Harvest calls you home.
Covenantal Priorities (v. 10)
Finally, Paul brings it all together in a concluding exhortation that gives us our marching orders. What does this life of sowing to the Spirit look like on a day-to-day basis?
"So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith." (Galatians 6:10 LSB)
Our good works are to be governed by opportunity. "While we have opportunity" means we are to be alert, watchful for the chances God gives us to do good. This is not a passive waiting, but an active seeking. We should be looking for needs we can meet, for people we can bless. Our time is short, and so our opportunities are precious.
And our good works are to be expansive. "Let us do good to all people." The Christian's love and generosity is not to be confined within the walls of the church. We are to be a blessing to our neighbors, our co-workers, our communities. We are to do good to the pagan, the atheist, and the Muslim. Our good works are a testimony to the goodness of our Father in heaven, who sends His rain on the just and the unjust.
But our good works are not to be indiscriminate. They have a clear priority: "and especially to those who are of the household of the faith." Christian charity begins at home. Our first and primary responsibility is to our brothers and sisters in Christ. The church is our family, the household of God. If a member of our own family is in need, they have the first claim on our resources. This is not unloving to the world; it is simply orderly. A man who provides for his own household before he provides for his neighbor's is not selfish; he is righteous. In the same way, the church is to care for its own first. When the world sees the church loving and caring for one another with a radical, sacrificial generosity, it is a powerful witness to the truth of the gospel.
Conclusion: Your Life is a Field
So the lesson is plain. Your life is a field. Every day you are sowing seeds. Every dollar you spend, every hour you invest, every word you speak is a seed. You are either sowing to the flesh, or you are sowing to the Spirit. There is no third option. There is no neutral ground.
And the harvest is coming. For those who have spent their lives sowing to the flesh, investing in the temporary, the corruptible, the self-centered, the harvest will be ruin. It will be a crop of thorns and thistles, a bankrupt and desolate field. They tried to mock God, and they will find that God was the one laughing.
But for those who, by grace through faith, have been sowing to the Spirit, the harvest will be glorious. It will be a harvest of eternal life. Every act of generosity, every cup of cold water given in Jesus' name, every dollar given to support the preaching of the gospel, will be remembered. It is seed that has been planted in the good soil of God's kingdom, and it will yield a hundredfold return. Do not be deceived. Do not lose heart. Keep your hand to the plow, and keep sowing. The Lord of the Harvest is coming, and His reward is with Him.