Many of you know that I have a sweet tooth. It comes up in my preaching with some regularity, and it’s true. I like the sweet stuff. Cake, cookies, pie, ice cream, chocolate…yummy, yummy stuff. I try not to go crazy. I try not to let sugar be the main ingredient in my life. Sometimes, I even go through periods where I give it all up completely, just to keep things in balance. Still, the fact remains. I like my desserts.
Do you know what else I like? Vegetables. It might be surprising, but even though I have a pretty large sweet tooth, I also really enjoy vegetables. In fact, on most days, I eat a fair amount of them (hopefully more than I eat the sugary stuff), and I really enjoy them. It’s hard to beat a fresh, garden tomato (yeah, yeah a tomato is a fruit…I’m still putting it in the vegetable category) or some newly harvested asparagus. Sugar snap peas, broccoli, cauliflower, radishes, spinach, cucumbers, etc., I really enjoy all of it…particularly if they are fresh. Chop up a variety of vegetables and put it in a salad…delicious. Veggies don’t get the same amount of love and attention in my sermons as chocolate or pie. But, the fact remains, I really do enjoy eating vegetables…particularly fresh vegetables. (Ok, if I’m completely honest, I should just say that I like FOOD. Though there are things that I do not like…fruitcake, I’m looking at you. Okra, you’re no good either. Coconut, you’re questionable. In general, it’s more likely that I will like most foods than not like something. I’m not a “foodie,” but I sure do like food.)
Now that we’re clearer on my eating habits, let me continue with some additional information, just to set the stage. I love fresh vegetables, freshly picked garden vegetables are even better. Plus, I live in the country on my in-laws property which sits on the edge of a decent sized, working farm. There is ample space for a garden, ample resource, ample opportunity for whatever vegetable growing endeavor I would wish to pursue. One would think that given all of this information that I would have an amazing garden, producing delicious vegetables to be consumed by me whenever I wish. One would be wrong.
I love fresh veggies. I have not yet acquired a love of gardening. There is no garden, and there are no plans for me to have one in any kind of immediate future. Instead, I rely on others to provide me with delicious produce. I head to the grocery store or the farmers’ market, and I enjoy the veggies of another’s labor. No gardening for me.
Now, you might ask, “Why?” And I’d have 1,000 reasons including the busy-ness of my schedule and the prioritizing of other activities, but part of the reason as to why I do not produce my own vegetables when I enjoy them so much is simple. IT IS A LOT OF WORK! I know. I’ve helped others tend to veggies occasionally in the past, and I’ve witnessed people do it.
Now, you might ask, “Why?” And I’d have 1,000 reasons including the busy-ness of my schedule and the prioritizing of other activities, but part of the reason as to why I do not produce my own vegetables when I enjoy them so much is simple. IT IS A LOT OF WORK! I know. I’ve helped others tend to veggies occasionally in the past, and I’ve witnessed people do it.
My Grandpa Cowan loved being outside and working with the land. He wasn’t a farmer by trade, but his garden was large and consistently impressive. It didn’t get that way by itself. It took a lot of work. Work that he enjoyed, but work nonetheless. I know. I saw him working. Christa’s Grandfather is a retired dairy farmer. I watched him work at the tail end of his career managing the crops preparing the soil, planting, tending, caring, on and on and on. Growing vegetables takes a lot of work. Right now, for me, it’s a lot of work that I do not have the time/energy/passion to do.
Ok, so now that we’re clearer on my love of veggies as well as my lack of gardening, let’s get moving with the Scripture. There’s a passage in Paul’s letter to the Galatians that says this:
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 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. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. (Galatians 6:7-9)
I bring up this passage for a couple of reasons. One, there is the obvious lesson of reaping what you sow. Plant cucumber seeds (and have all of the right conditions to grow cucumbers, including the work done to tend to the plants), and what do you get? Cucumbers. Plant tomato plants, you don’t get squash. Want asparagus? Don’t go buy spicy, jalapeño pepper seeds (if you’ve made that mistake and have a fresh jalapeño laying around that you’re not eating…let me know. I like those too.)
Paul tells us that this principle is applied in our lives as well. If you sow to please your flesh, if you seek the desires of this world, if your fleshly inclinations are what dictate your existence, well…you’re going to reap destruction. You cannot expect anything else. Likewise, if you sow to please the Spirit, if your life is hidden in Christ, then from the Spirit you will reap eternal reward.
This should be an obvious lesson. Sow for the flesh, the flesh will reap destruction. Sow for the Spirit, the Spirit will bring forth life. And yet, we seem to forget the lesson. We plant rotten, spoiled rubbish, not even a seed, that has no hopes of bearing fruit, and we expect to have an amazing harvest. It just doesn’t work like that. One reaps what one sows.
Ah, but here’s the tricky part. Sometimes, in life, that principle is not so apparent. Sometimes, it seems like those who are sowing for their flesh are reaping life while those who are sowing for the Spirit are reaping destruction. Sometimes, you can sow good seed, in good soil, and do all of the work to get the harvest, but it just doesn’t seem like it will turn out that way. Sometimes, despite our best efforts our crops can fail. Tomatoes can get blight. Insects or diseases can settle in. Sometimes, things can happen that, even when we’re sowing good seed, the fruit does not seem to be coming.
This is where I want for us to remember the second part of this passage.
Paul says “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
Let us not become weary in doing good. Keep at it. Persevere.
Even when there is no evidence of bearing any kind of good fruit.
Even when the rain hasn’t fallen for a long, long, time.
Even when you dig and keep running into rocks, and when the crops come up and all you see are weeds, and when the plants start to grow they are attacked by bugs, and when the veggies start to produce they are eaten by the deer.
Even then, persevere.
I remember visiting my grandparents as a kid, and one of the things that I would do on occasion while we were there was to help my Grandpa with Japanese beetles. I’m not a fan of Japanese beetles. I don’t think Grandpa was either. The crops would be up and the beetles would come in. Thousands of them. Grandpa would get a mayonnaise jar partially filled with some kind of concoction to take care of the beetles, and he’d hand me one, and we’d go through the crops just picking off Japanese beetles and throwing them in the jar. They were relentless. But so was Grandpa.
He’d walk through each row, looking over each plant, and he’d pick off each beetle one by one by one by one. It wouldn’t take long before I would quit because I was tired or hot or thirsty or bored or wanted to go and play, but not Grandpa. He wouldn’t stop. He would persevere.
Why? Because he knew that if he persevered, if he just kept going, if he could take care of all of the beetles, he would enjoy the fruit of his labor. He knew that if he kept at it, he would have a harvest and Grandma would be able to prepare some delicious veggies. (He liked his veggies, but he also liked his sweets as well. At the end of the meal, he’d get this twinkle in his eye, he’d smile or wink at me, and then he’d ask Grandma if she made him a pie or some cookies…she always did.)
Do you know what would have happened if my Grandpa would have stopped? If he would have seen all of the beetles and gave up? He would never have reaped a harvest. He would have never experienced the benefit of his labor. All of his previous efforts would have been in vain.
Friends, we, too, need to persevere. We need to keep going. Even if it looks like all of our good efforts to sow good seed, to feed the Spirit appear to be coming up empty, we need to keep going. Even if we are in a season of hardship, we need to keep going. Even if it hasn’t rained and the weeds are popping up and it seems like all we ever do is pluck beetle after beetle after beetle, we need to keep going. Why? God promises us that if we keep going “…at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
We can trust that God’s promises are true, that God’s Word is reliable, and that at the proper time we will reap a harvest of eternal life through Christ Jesus. Let us continue to sow into the Spirit, knowing that we will reap a harvest beyond our expectation or ability for God is faithful and good.
~ Pastor Chris
