Both Jesus and Paul speak much about sowing and reaping. The title of this study is from Paul’s comments to the church at Galatia, Gal. 6:9. As I was studying and meditating on this verse I began to link it to Jesus’ parable of the sower, recorded for us in Matthew 13, Mark 4 and Luke 8.
He explained to His disciples that the seed was the Word. He showed that the seed was sown into different soil. The first was by the way side in the hard packed walk way. The seed was snatched away by the birds and eaten. He explained that this was the adversary coming and taking away the Word that was sown in the hearts.
The seed, the Word, that was sown in the next type of soil, the stony ground, was soil that was dry and without fertility. The Word was unable to really take root before affliction, persecution, came and offence came. Dryness and lack of soil fertility kept the seedling from living and growing,
When the seed was sown among the thorns, the briars and brambles and weeds, the seedlings were soon choked out. Jesus said that this pictured the Word being choked out by the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches and the lust for other things.
But, then He tells of the seed falling onto good ground, good soil. He says the seed, the Word, did yield fruit, fruit that increased and “brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, ans some an hundred.” This, He said, is the Word sown on good ground, “such as hear the Word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit.”
What I was brought to see was although He just stated that the harvest would come in varying amounts, we have to realize that the same things that came upon the seed sown in the other types of soil would also come upon seed sown in good soil. The adversary would also come to try and snatch the seed, the Word, away. There would be dry periods and need for added fertility. Weeds would come up and attempt to choke out the growing plants.
Paul alluded to this when he made the statement that he planted, Apollos watered and God gave the increase. (1 Cor. 3:6) The seed, the Word, has to be tended, cultivated, nurtured. The birds, the adversary, will come to snatch away the Word we have received. We must be alert to his attempts and “resist the devil,” James 4:7. Dry spells will come and the Word needs to be watered and fertilized. We need to receive teaching and encouragement as we wait and anticipate the harvest. The Word sown in good ground is not sown into thorns and briars and weeds, but weeds will spring up, the cares of the world, deceitfulness of riches, will come up against the seedlings to attempt to choke it and destroy it.
Also, in Mark 4 Jesus speaks of a man casting seed into the ground, verse 26. I think verse 27 is very important, “And should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he knoweth not how.” When we read verse 28 we are told that the earth brings forth the fruit of herself, or the Greek word means “automatically.” But, let us think about verse 27 a bit. Is this indicating that the man sleeps, rises and sits back in his lawn chair doing nothing until harvest time? I don’t think so. As a farmer or gardener he tends to the emerging plants, watering if the soil is dry, adding some fertilizer as it is needed, cultivating the soil, pulling and cutting out the weeds that spring up.
Let us go back to Gal. 6:9. Paul states, “Let us not be weary in well-doing.” The seed has been sown. There is a time period until harvest. What do we do? We keep on in well-doing. Perhaps we have sown a seed regarding a physical healing. We have not seen the manifestation immediately. We don’t stop believing. We don’t stop trusting. We don’t let the adversary’s negative words and lying symptoms divert us from believing the truth, “by His stripes you were healed.” We water and tend to the seedlings. We continue to chase away the “birds,” the bugs, the other pests. We keep pulling out the weeds. And, then what? Paul states, continuing in verse 9, “for in due season we shall reap.” When does the reaping take place? In due season, in harvest season. That is God’s season to bring the harvest in. But, notice the last thing Paul tells us, “if we faint not.” We can’t let the harvest be stolen from us. We can’t let the adversary steal what is ours. We must continue to hold on.
Going back to Jesus’ parable of the sower, let us notice in Luke’s account, chapter 8 and verse 15, “But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience. He says we must keep the Word, hold onto it and then He says, “bring forth fruit with patience.” The Greek word, hupomone, here translated “patience” is defined as “cheerful (or hopeful) endurance. Just as the farmer is waiting and anticipating the harvest, cheerfully and hoping for an abundant harvest, we must have the same cheerful and hopeful endurance as we look forward to that “due season.”
November 2019
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