Everything else being equal, a tried-and-true principle exists in this world: You reap the seeds you sow. Do you want to harvest a wheat crop during the autumn? You plant the seed in the spring, harvesting what you earlier planted.
This principle is also true when it comes to the evil in life. Someone who fills his life with bad choices will wind up with bad results. A parent who doesn’t train a child in the way he should go but, instead, lets him revel in his sinful inclinations, will reap the delinquent rewards as a grandparent.
Each of us, however, has one seed, which we did not sow on our own. We inherited it: sin. That’s why you don’t need to train a child to misbehave, which happens on its own. Experience teaches us this truth.
You also plant the seed to train up a child to understand what is God-pleasing. Otherwise, he’ll make it up as he goes along, based on his self-made ideas and sinful inclinations. Someone who does not know the truth will fall for a lie. You harvest what you plant.
So said the Apostle Paul:
Don’t be deceived: God will not be made the fool. For a person will reap what he sows: The one who sows to his flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit. So we must not grow weary in doing good, for we will reap a harvest at the proper time if we do not give up. So then, as we have the opportunity, let’s work for the good of all, paying particular attention to those who belong to the household of faith. [Galatians 6:7-10]
Sowing to the flesh is planting the seeds inspired by the evil one. Our old sinful nature, the old Adam in us all, will take these seeds and sow them with wild abandon. Now, the worst of these are obvious: Murder, assault, abusing others, doing what you want at the expense of others. Who cares if someone else gets hurt? I want what I want, and I’ll do whatever it takes to get it. The ending, the result, justifies how you got there. Not so, even less so when the result is a sin.
Our culture today even connives to turn wrong into right. That idea is driving our current debate about sexuality. Someone who takes part in some sexual behavior wants more than you allowing him to do what he wants. He wants your approval. He wants you to call his behavior as something good and right. Toleration isn’t enough—if you don’t approve, you are the hater and bigot.
What we once thought wrong, our culture now considers right. We planted earlier seeds from our sinful flesh, and now we are reaping the harvest. Is it no wonder that Paul begins a list of flesh-driven works in Galatians with sexual immorality, impurity, and promiscuity? He next moves on to “idolatry and sorcery; hatred, strife, and jealousy; outbursts of anger, quarrels, and conflicts; factions and envy; drunkenness, carousing, and the like” (Galatians 5:19-21).
Those who engage in these acts of sowing to the flesh, whether only in the mind or acted out in life, are planting the sins of the flesh that lead to corruption. Corruption not only leads to reaping in this world but even into eternity.
And if you think, “I’m a decent person” and that is enough, remember whatever you do will never make the cut. You can’t fool God. What He says makes a shamble of our rationalizations: “Don’t be deceived: God will not be made the fool. For a person will reap what he sows: The one who sows to his flesh will reap corruption from the flesh.”
What is our natural reaction when the words, “We reap what we sow” hit home? Our natural reaction is, “What must I do or not do?” I must not plant the seeds of corruption, of the flesh—if I don’t stop myself from doing that, I’m a goner. So, a little Pharisee does live inside each of us! What I do, or not do, decides my fate; otherwise, I will “reap corruption of the flesh.”
Oh, Paul’s words are still true: A person will reap what he sows. But this also is true: you don’t have what is within you NOT to plant the seeds of your flesh and reap the corruption from the flesh.
Read the book of Galatians. You will find it overflowing with God’s grace. What Paul writes about reaping what you sow does not contradict what he also wrote about God’s grace. The sowing and the reaping are not your doing—but God’s sowing and reaping for you, in you, and through you! The sowing and the reaping are not your doing—but God’s sowing and reaping for you, in you, and through you!
In the Garden of Eden, God told Eve the promised Savior would be the Seed of the woman. Many generations later, the Holy Spirit planted that Seed in the womb of a virgin—and Jesus grew within her. After death, that Seed, the Savior Jesus, was planted in the earth, who germinated on the third day, rising from death.
“When the set time came to completion, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:4-5). His Name is Jesus, which means “Savior.” Scripture foretold He would be Emmanuel, which means “God is with us” (Isaiah 7:14).
Jesus is the Messiah sent to take the world’s sin into Himself, so as He shed His blood, He could atone for all sin, including yours. These are your sins of thought, word, and deed, whether sexual immorality, hatred, or drunkenness. Jesus took them into Himself to remove them from you as far as the east is from the west. He became unclean to make you clean so you could stand before God. Jesus became unholy that you would be holy, even in the Holy of Holies.
Jesus was the Scapegoat driven outside the City. Why? So you could always be forever within His Church. He suffered the onslaught of Satan. Why? It was to spare you from even an instant of eternal destruction. When Jesus finished being the needed Sacrifice for the world, He breathed out: “It is finished!”
And what happened next? The sowing and the reaping, not ours, but God’s sowing and reaping. They took His body down from the cross and planted it in a nearby garden. The Seed of the woman, who is God of God, born of the virgin, was planted in a virgin tomb, where no man had been before.
Our Savior’s body rested in that tomb. After the set time had been completed, this time on the third day, the Harvest of the First Fruit blossomed from the depths of the earth. Christ germinated and rose from the dead.
Now, the One, who bore your sin, bears them no more. They are gone. He is the Victor over your death and the Conqueror of your devils. You belong to Him, for He does everything well and calls you His own.
Now, what? “Now because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit, who calls out, ‘Abba, Father’” (Galatians 4:6). Now is time to be doing what the Lord gives us to do in our various vocations—and to be found faithful in the Day of the Lord. As the Apostle wrote: “The one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.”
Our life in Christ flows from receiving Him in Word and Sacrament. Paul described that in images, as sowing to the Spirit and reaping eternal life from the Spirit. In ourselves, we can only sow to the flesh. In Christ Jesus, we can and do sow to the Spirit.
The Father sent the Son. The Son took our sin into Himself to give us His righteousness. Jesus sent the Spirit. The Spirit works through Word and Sacrament, pointing us to and bringing us Jesus. Jesus leads us to the Father. In Christ Jesus, the Father is as delighted with us as He is with His Son.
Our “sowing of the Spirit” begins with God’s doing and continues from there. Our “sowing of the Spirit” is being where the Holy Spirit promises to be at work so what Jesus did and does become ours. It is Jesus for you, which becomes Jesus in you, which becomes Jesus through you.
What is the result when we are sowing to the Spirit instead of sowing to the flesh? Paul tells us: “The one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.” For here, at this place, you came to receive Jesus, where the Spirit is at work in Word and Sacrament, which is sowing to the Spirit.
The life the Spirit gives is not a sterile, abstract set of facts. The life the Spirit gives is a living reality, just as Jesus is. This life is lived out; otherwise, it is not a life. “So then, as we have the opportunity, let’s work for the good of all, paying particular attention to those who belong to the household of faith.”
Living the Christian life does involve trying to live it, for we are both saint and sinner. Let’s remember: Paul is writing to Christians. But wanting to live the Christian life is not the cause of living it, but the result of being a Christian. So, if your Christian life is faltering, you need more Christ. He is the source of your Christian life, not you.
Jesus is the vine; we are the branches. Apart from Christ, we can do nothing (John 15:5). Even more, if we are not where the Holy Spirit brings Jesus to us, we aren’t receiving Him. Sowing to the Spirit is receiving the Jesus the Spirit brings to you in Word and Sacrament. Amen.
