They are seven in number, with each stemming from God’s eternal Word.
• Law 1 We reap much we did not sow
• Law 2 We reap the same in kind as we sow
• Law 3 We reap in a different season than when we sow
• Law 4 We reap more than we sow
• Law 5 We reap in proportion as we sow
• Law 6 We reap the full harvest of the good only if we persevere; the evil comes to harvest on its own
• Law 7 We cannot do anything about last year’s harvest, but we can about this year’s
In general I do not like vegetables. Two basics: green beans and yellow corn. The worse thing you can put in front of me is broccoli. When I was in 7th grade I was in a private school in Ojai, CA, Ojai Valley School. The uniforms and the whole bit. My sister and I both lived on campus. Served broccoli. I could not eat it. They would not let me leave without eating it. I gagged trying to get it down. Finally, they let me go. Next morning breakfast: the same broccoli. So I started putting it in my coat jacket. I started doing that with the food I did not like.
There are some things in life that are an acquired taste. Fried okra. I decided I’d like some fried okra for lunch today so I bought some seeds this weekend. So I have planted three okra seeds in this container of dirt. I carefully placed the seeds about an inch under the dirt, and have watered them. I am now waiting for them to grow so that I can pick, cut and fry the okra for lunch today. I can hardly wait! Only one thing troubles me. On the back of the okra seed package it gives planting and harvesting instructions. It places a time difference between planting and harvesting. It’s called a season. It states, Harvest in 50 days. Something tells me I won’t be having fried okra today from these planted seeds. Law 3 of the 7 Laws of the Harvest states, "We reap in a different season than we sow."
I. Sowing For Another Season
God promising to never flood the earth again, also promises the law of sowing and harvesting in different seasons will not cease. Genesis 8:22 "While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease."
It is absurd to think we could plant okra seeds this morning and eat fried okra for lunch. But how often do we live our lives trying to sow and harvest in the same season? Let me confess my own failure to regard the laws of harvest. I told a friend last week that I was a bit disappointed that more people had not come to the altar. His reply was right on … "Stay with the metaphor, you cannot plant and harvest in the same season. You cannot expect people to come and deal with what has been planted in a morning prayer at the altar."
How right he was and how foolish I was to think I could sow and reap in the same season. The harvest never comes immediately after planting. The Bible tells us it comes in "due season." Ecclesiastes 3:1 “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.”
This law speaks to every area of our lives. Married life. Home life. Children’s life. Dating life. Work life. Fun life. Financial life. Health life. Church life. Spiritual life. Eternal life. Because we too often operate on our emotions rather than on biblical content, we sow without regards to the law.
II. Wanting What We Want When We Want It!
That’s the problem, isn’t it? We jokingly say, "Lord give me patience and give it to me now." Living in an instant society we often lack the ability to wait. We are geared to things like "Jiffy Lube" and drive through banks to eateries. Laser printer. The internet. I read where a funeral home in California now has "drive through viewing." We live life wanting quick and easy results. But it sows and reaps impatience with little or stunted growth.
Look how we bring this into our homes. How many are guilty of wishing their children would grow up. How many times have you said to your kids, "I wish you would grow up!" There is a scene in the movie "Hook" where the all grown up Peter Pan says to his little boy, "Quit acting like a kid!" To which his son replies, "But I am a kid?" We forget as adults we were once kids. Even now how foolish and child like we are to plant the "rush & hurry up" seeds in our lives, and the lives of our children, with little regard to the results we will reap. We want what we want when we want it, and without regard to the laws of the harvest! REPEAT: The best things in life take time
III. Because We Don’t See Instant Results We Believe There Will Be No Results
To illustrate this disregard let’s use this piece of plastic called a credit card. The abuse of the plastic is easy to figure. We can purchase tens, hundreds and thousands of dollars in items without laying down one nickel. It tends to sow the idea we don’t have to pay anything. It’s like my boys asking me after using the credit card, "Dad do you have to pay for that?" My reply, "Well not today." Ah, but the law proves itself to be true. What we sow with the plastic we will reap a monthly statement with interest! Human nature is wired to instant gratification.
Someone has said, "If the wages of sin were paid immediately sin would not be so popular." The Bible warns us, "be sure your sin will find you out." (Numbers 32:23b) God has ordained a planting season and yes, a due season of harvest. What we sow we will reap. No matter what we say or do, bad or good, we are sowing for another season. LIVE FOR THE LINE!!!!!!!!!
IV. Sowing Seeds of Goodness
Knowing what we know, what are we to do? Paul suggests we sow seeds of goodness:
Galatians 6:9: And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.
Ephesians 2:10: It’s not enough to merely see the negative side of the ledger. God intends and want us to begin to fill the positive side of ledger today. To do the good works we are created for.
Psalms 37:3-5: Trust in the LORD, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass.
1 Timothy 6:18-19 Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.
Matthew 6:19-20: Jesus suggests we "lay up" treasures in heaven. It’s the idea of doing good and righteous acts now in order to store up and sow for our eternal harvest. We must learn to do good and wait.
V. Sowing Seeds with Patience
There’s a word that is the essence of what we are talking about this morning: Patience. I like the following definitions of patience:
1. It’s the ability to sit back and wait for an expected outcome without experiencing anxiety, tension, or frustration.
2. It’s the ability let go of your need for immediate gratification and be willing to wait.
3. It’s the trait that displays tolerance, compassion, understanding, and acceptance toward those who are slower than you in developing maturity, emotional freedom, and coping abilities.
4. It’s the ability to remain calm in the midst of turmoil because you know God is in control.
The Bible not only instructs us to do good, but to do it with patience. Paul says, "Let us not grow weary … do not lose heart."
Because we cannot have fried okra from seeds we planted this morning it does not mean we are to quit sowing as well as expecting the harvest. God honors and blesses our sowing when we have done our homework. That is if we have made preparations, such as cultivating and preparing the ground for the seed. Good planning with proper sowing will result in a good harvest.
If our hearts are not suited to waiting there lies the great danger to begin to do things ourselves to produce the results we want now. James 5:7-8: “Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.”
1 Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”
Our understanding of this law is not to be to plant one seed of goodness and then wait for the harvest. To truly understand this law says we will go about continually doing good, thus sowing goodness. In my work at Lifetouch I work everyday to “fill up the pipeline”. That means I am planting seeds with churches everyday. I know that the harvest will come from my efforts later.
As kids when someone quit the game we would respond, "Quitter, quitter!" Paul calls us to not quit but to keep on sowing. So let us apply this message today by persevering in our service to God!
Conclusion
Well it doesn’t look like I will be having fried okra for dinner today. Perhaps another day. We must be careful not to think it is us who sows and it is us to brings about the harvest.
We’re too much like Jimmy Stewart’s character in the movie Shenondoah who prays to God concerning the food they are about to eat. "Lord we give thanks for this food, although we did all the planting, hoeing and harvesting."
1 Corinthians 3:6-7 “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.”
Colossians 2:19: “He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.”
What’s my part? What’s your part? To keep sowing the good seeds of righteousness knowing the harvest season is coming:
Proverbs 11:18 “The wicked man does deceptive work, but to him who sows righteousness will be a sure reward.”
Story on bulletin cover: “See Life As a Squint”
(From a series by Bob Aubuchon modified for my audience)
