Introduction
The things of the Spirit:
#5 Sow to the Spirit
Galatians 6:8 “For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”
So here we have this concept of sowing to the Spirit and reaping of the Spirit. Now Galatians goes into great detail of the difference between the flesh and the Spirit. Romans 7&8 should be studied with Galatians. So I’d like to give you a little commentary on this section of Galatians. Maybe it will be a help to you.
1st of all, this passage can easily become a problem passage for the Baptist. I’ve come to this conclusion: Read a passage once and you’re interested, or maybe blessed, or maybe delighted. Read it a second time and you’re troubled and can easily go down the road of false doctrine. Read it a third time, and you’re a Baptist. Let me explain:
When you read this passage first (read it), it’s interesting. It makes sense on the outset. Flesh leads to corruption, and the Spirit leads to everlasting life. Flesh bad! Spirit good! We don’t have a problem with that. It sounds good. We can relate. However, we don’t give it a whole lot of thought. We just shake our head and say AMEN! Now wait a sec! Let’s read it again, and actually think about this for a second (read it). Now we believe that salvation is by grace through faith plus nothing minus nothing. You cannot earn your way to heaven. You cannot work your way to heaven or more particularly, everlasting life. John 3:16 (read) So the way we obtain everlasting life is by believing in God’s only begotten Son. That’s what we believe. That’s our doctrine. There’s nothing we can do obtain everlasting life. It’s simply by faith. Right?
Okay, now what does the scripture say though? “He that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” Now it doesn’t say, “He that believeth in the only begotten Son of God shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” It doesn’t say that, does it? It says he that soweth to the Spirit does. So we have ourselves a little bit of a problem.
Now one way people handle this (which is wrong by the way) is to try to impound our doctrine into the scriptures. That means we must somehow explain and believe that sowing to the Spirit must mean believing in Jesus Christ. And that’s not too hard to do. All you got to do is regurgitate some scriptures about sowing and salvation. What’s the first one that comes to mind?
Luke 8:5-8 A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Verse 11, Jesus says that the seed is the word of God. There you go. We got a sower. We got the seed. We got the word of God. And we’ve spent alot of time about the work of the Holy Ghost reproving the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. So it’s sounding pretty good. We can quote quote 1 Peter 1:23 “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word God, which liveth and abideth for ever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.”
So this sowing to the Spirit in Galatians must mean to believe in the gospel, the only begotten Son of God? Right? Wrong. We’re all bible students here. Jesus said, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life…(John 5:39). Paul said of the Berean Christians, “They were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they recieved the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. (Acts 17:11)” If you’re having a little trouble a verse in the bible, the best commentary on that verse is the verse above it and the verse beneath it. We call this the context. The prefix con means “with”. The context of the passage is the text that is with it. If you’re having trouble with a verse and you’re going to search the scriptures, always as a general rule, search the context. Search the verses that are surrounding that scripture. Keep the verse in the context and you’ll never regret it. Let God’s word say what it says. God does not need us to STUFF our Baptist doctrine into the scriptures.
Okay, so what is the context of this verse (read it). So let’s back up a bit and read from Chapter 5:16 to 6:10. I’m gonna read it and give you some commentary regarding the subject matter and what’s going on.
Galatians 5:16 – This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. **** Now I went all the way back to this verse because it’s a real good topic sentence for the context. It sums up well the entire book of Galatians in fact. This is also shows that it’s the same context as Romans 7&8. This is about walking after the Spirit or in the Spirit.
Galatians 5:17 – For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. **** Here we have the struggle between the flesh and the Spirit, this competition between the flesh and the Spirit. What did Paul say twice in Romans 7? “For the good that I would I do not…” “for what I would, that do I not…” In verse 17, he says, “so that ye cannot do the things that ye would…”
Galatians 5:18 – But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. **** This is what he said in Roman 8:2 “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:1 says that there is therefore no condemnation (that the condemnation of the law). Ye are not under the condemnation of the law if ye be led of Spirit. So you see how the context is very similar to where we’ve been for the past 6 months.
Galatians 5:19 – Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Galatians 5:20 – Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
Galatians 5:21 – Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. **** Paul goes on to list the works of the flesh. Paul is establishing a relationship: a relationship between the people who do these things and inheriting heaven. It’s that of association. These two are not related or associated together. People that do these things are not the same people that inherit the kingdom of God. This is not the relationship of cause and effect. If it was, then you’d see words like “if” and “then”. If ye do such things, ye shall not inherit the kingdom of God. It doesn’t say that. (read it)
Example: Matthew 6:30-34 (Explain) It’s not a relationship of cause and effect in Matthew. If there was a cause and effect, it would be the opposite. (Explain) That’s Matthew, but in Galatians 5:21 we have a relationship of association. It is not one of cause and effect nor is it one of warrant. It is a relationship of association or common ground: two peas in a pod. Two different facts about the same person.
Galatians 5:22 – But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Galatians 5:23 – Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Galatians 5:24 – And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. **** Now Paul is listing the fruit of the Spirit. First he gave a list of what the flesh produces, now he’s giving a list of what the Spirit produces. So this reaffirms what the context is. Same things as Romans 7&8: Serving in the newness of Spirit and bringing forth fruit unto God (7:4) So, right off the bat, regarding the context, is Paul explaining to us what he explained to the Phillipian jailer? “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” He’s not explaining how to get saved, he’s talking about how to live the saved life. He’s talking about the Spirit of God having victory over the flesh and producing the sweet Holy Spirit fruit.
Galatians 5:25 – If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. **** There it is again. This is proof positive. There’s two “in the Spirit”s. There’s living in the Spirit and then there’s walking in the Spirit. This is the same distinction we’ve been making through all this: There’s the indwelling of the Spirit, the sealing of the Spirit, the earnest of the Spirit, all of which you get the moment you get born again. But then there’s the filling of the Holy Ghost. We can take you through the New Testament again and show you all the times that God’s people (the ones that knew God and loved God and served God) were filled with the Holy Ghost. Indwelling and Filling: two different things. Just like baptism: There’s being baptized into the body of Christ, that includes his death, burial, and resurrection. The Holy Ghost performs this baptism. It’s the baptism OF the Holy Ghost. It’s his baptism. He performs it when you get saved. And then there’s baptism WITH or IN the Holy Ghost. That’s what happened on Pentecost when they were filled with the Holy Ghost. There’s a difference. So now we have Galatians 5:25: (read it) Is Paul saying the same thing twice? Absolutely not. Paul is making a distinction between living in the Spirit and walking in the Spirit. Living in the Spirit is to be indwelt by the Spirit, whereas waking in the Spirit is to be filled with the Spirit. Living in the Spirit is to be baptized by the Spirit in the body of Christ; whereas walking in the Spirit is to be baptized by Christ with the Spirit. My point is that the context is the latter, walking in the Spirit: living a Spirit-filled life that honors God and performs the will of God.
**** Now I want you to see before we get to Galatians 6:8 where Paul says, “he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting…” We got 8 verses before we get there. I want you to see that Paul now gives us a list of instructions, things to do. I want you to see that all of these embody the fruit of the Spirit (list). You say, “I want to produce fruit for God.” I want the Spirit to produce fruit in me. Well, here’s a list of how in manifests itself. Here’s what a tomato looks like. I want to grow tomatoes. Well here’s what they look like. (3 classifications)
Galatians 5:26 – Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. **** I see temperance. “And every man that striveth for mastery is temperate in all things. (1 Cor 9:25). Paul is saying be temperate in your desires. Temperate means to show moderation or self-restraint. Paul is saying restrain your desires.
Galatians 6:1 – Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. **** Meekness. Longsuffering. Gentleness. This reminds me of the verse, “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall…” (1 Cor 10:12) Paul is saying to the Christian to be careful “…not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly…” (Rom 12:3) Ye which are spiritual. To be spiritual is to be careful that you’re not spiritual. Spiritual people don’t claim to be spiritual. Those which are spiritual have the patience to deal with someone that is overtaken in a fault. Those which are spiritual have the gentleness necessary to help and restore someone.
Galatians 6:2 – Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. **** What is this? The law of Christ: (John 13:34) “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you…” That’s the 1st fruit of the Spirit: Love. And in the Garden Jesus said again, (John 15:12-13) “This is my commandment That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends…” Bear ye one another’s burdens. Love is not a feeling. Love is an act. The expression “act of love” is redundant, for love acts. Jesus said, if you love me, DO what I command.
Galatians 6:3 – For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. **** There’s that meekness again. Jesus said, “…learn of me; for I am meek and lowly: and ye shall find rest unto your souls…” (Matt 11:29) Jesus described himself as meek and lowly. The irony of that. For Jesus is something. He is not nothing. He is everything! “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man” (Heb 2:9) He was made by himself a little lower than the angels. It’s a bad thing when man thinks himself to be something when he is nothing. But it’s glorious and honourable when a man thinks himself to be nothing, when he is something. Meekness means submissive. Jesus was submissive to the will of the Father. He said, “O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.” (Matt 26:42) Meekness. Captured in the words of Fanny Crosby: “Consecrate me now to thy service, Lord by the power of grace divine. Let me soul look up with a steadfast hope and my WILL be lost in thine!”
Galatians 6:4 – But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. **** Joy and peace. The bible talks about joy unspeakable and full of glory. The bible talks about a peace which transcends all understanding. These come from God. These come from the Spirit of God. They’re the fruit of the Spirit. Joy and peace come from God not other men. If your joy and peace come from the approval of other men, what happens when you don’t have the approval of men. What happens when other men don’t think very highly of you? What happens when you can’t please men? Let everyman prove his own work. It goes without saying that Paul wants us to mind our business and worry about or judge our own work. But in this verse he’s saying your work does not need to be proved by (or approved) by another man. If we’re constantly looking for man’s approval, constantly trying to please other people, then that will be the source of our joy and peace. Joy and peach is between you and God and ultimately it’s your work is your responsibility, not theirs. That’s why he says in the next verse:
Galatians 6:5 – For every man shall bear his own burden.
Galatians 6:6 – Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things. **** This verse reminds me of 2 Peter 1:20 “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” Peter quotes Joel in the book of Acts, “And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy…” Remember when that angel appeared before John in Revelation. John fell at his feet to worship him. And he said, “See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of they brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Prophecy is to tell forth the testimony of Jesus. We tell forth the testimony of Jesus because God so loved the world. That the love of the Spirit that compels us to tell people about Jesus. But actions speak louder than words. The bible says that we are epistles, written of God, known and read of all men. That’s faith. That’s living by faith. Our lives tell the testimony of Jesus. Paul said, “and the life I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me…” The testimony of Jesus is not just for the lost, but for the saved. Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things. John said this, “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” No greater joy. There’s another fruit of the Spirit.
**** So Paul lays down all these examples of the manifestation of the Spirit of God in the fruit that he produces before he says what he’s saying. None of these examples are about coming to the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. But rather, they are about living for God and doing the will of God letting the Spirit of God work through us. If this passage was about HOW to obtain life everlasting, then there would be some indication of this in the text. If sowing to the Spirit was about how to be saved, there would be something in this text to indicate that. So far, there isn’t. In order to make the next verses regarding reaping life everlasting about HOW to be saved, you have to take the verse completely out of its context to do so. And this is how you get off into false doctrine. People will teach that you must DO these things in order that you be saved, and presto you have a WORKS salvation. You must sow these seeds in order to reap life everlasting. All while there’s no indication of that in the text. Just because there is a mention of everlasting life, does not mean automatically that Paul is teaching how to get it.
Galatians 6:7 – Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. **** It doesn’t say, IF a man soweth, THEREFORE shall he also reap. The cause and effect relationship between the action of sowing and reaping is not in question. Everybody knows that already. What Paul is drawing attention to is WHATSOEVER. That’s the key so to speak. Paul is not teaching about CAUSE and EFFECT lesson here. He’s demonstrating a WHATSOEVER lesson. WHAT you sow is WHAT you reap. It’s not IF you sow THEN you reap. The emphasis is on WHAT. He’s establishing a relationship again, one of association. Can I say this: He that sows tomato seed reaps tomatos. Let me add this to better explain what I’m getting at. You cannot sow tomato seed unless you got tomato seed. This teaching comes from Jesus. He told Nicodemus in the night, “That which is born of flesh is flesh; and that which is born of Spirit is spirit.”
Galatians 6:8 – For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. **** Sowing to the Spirit is not for the lost. It’s for the saved. You must 1st have the Spirit in order to sow to the Spirit. So don’t think for 1 second that you must do something to earn or bring forth life everlasting. If you keep the text in it’s context you’ll never reach that conclusion. Yet they do. Most religions under Christendom will tell you that you have to DO something to maintain your salvation. You have to buy the extended warrantee. You have to get the yearly subscription. It’s like insurance. You can pay all your life. The second you stop paying, you lose all the benefits and everything you paid in is lost. Why would you want a religion like that? I like the Baptist doctrine of eternal security. When you get everlasting life, guess what? It actually lasts forever. I have everlasting life NOW not later.
**** (Read it again) I want to repeat what I’ve been saying: What I wanted to stress in all this, was the absolute need for the preeminence of the Holy Ghost in our life. To serve God is to be filled with the Holy Ghost. To fulfill the will of God is to be influenced and controlled by the Holy Ghost. To walk after God, to have victory in the life for Jesus Christ and lift up His name, and glorify God, we must be in step with the Holy Ghost. If we accomplish anything for God in this life it will only be by the power of His Holy Spirit working through us. Being filled with the Holy Spirit and being empowered by the Holy Spirit is as important to saved folk as being born again is to lost folk.
(Read Rom 8:5) They mind the things of the Spirit. Sowing and reaping to the Spirit. We’re talking about the fruit of the Spirit: (list the 9) Sowing is work. The bible says that if you don’t work, you don’t eat. In the wilderness there’s no food and no water, that’s walking after the flesh. But on the other side of Jordan, they found the giant grapes of Eschol. It’s the land flowing with mild and honey. That’s walking after the Spirit. Let me read the next verse so we can see this ever clearer:
Galatians 6:9 – And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. **** Paul is just repeating himself. But instead of saying “soweth to the Spirit” what does he put in there? “Well doing…” Well DOing. What was he addressing in verse 17? “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot DO the things that ye would.” Oh but if ye be led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law. “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
Look at verse 10 now:
Galatians 6:10 – As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. **** There it is again: DO. Let us DO good. Let us not be weary in well DOing. He that soweth to the Spirit.
Conclusion
Sowing to the Spirit is doing good to all men.
This is about doing. Doing where at one point in our life we were utterly incapable of doing anything for the glory of God. But God be thanked if any man be in Christ old things have passed away, behold all thing have become new. Now, with the help of and through the Holy Ghost, we can do good to all men. And let us not be weary in well doing.
Minding the things of the Spirit is DOing the will of God, doing good to all men. John the Baptist said, “Bring forth the fruits!” That’s the message, church. Do good. The Spirit is interested in doing good. We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.
Now we’re not done yet. Let’s look at verse 9 again (read it)
If we faint not. Now we have a an IF/THEN relationship. What are you saying Paul? Are you saying that if we faint, and don’t do well, we’re not going to reap. We’re not going to reap life everlasting? Isn’t that what it says. We can’t say it’s an associative relationship and WHAT is the subject, not IF. It says IF WE FAINT NOT! Uh-Oh now what? Do things ever bother you? They do me. (Act 2)
Now let’s think about this for a second. There’s a few explanations for this I want to share. This is what I believe the Lord was showing me. If all these verses we covered have little or nothing to do about how to obtain your individual salvation, if they’re all about living the Christian life and doing the things of the Spirit, letting the Spirit produce fruit through you, if this is so, they why do we believe that verse 8 and 9 are about the individual’s salvation. You understand the question?
We gone through great lengths to discuss and prove that the context does not deal with how to get saved. Then why do we believe that verse 8&9 are talking about our salvation? Well preacher, it says life everlasting. Isn’t that what it’s all about. How can you think that he’s not.
Maybe he’s not talking about YOUR salvation, but he’s talking about other’s. You think about this: When he goes down that list from 5:26 to 6:6 (Read it) Most of that list is about others. Maybe when he’s talking about reaping life everlasting he’s talking about reaping it in other people. Maybe he’s telling us what it takes if we’re going to see other people saved.
Or let me give you another one: Maybe life everlasting is much much much more than just living forever. There’s some preachers that will tell you that there are rewards in heaven. Do you ever think about these things? I’ll tell you one thing. They that are of the Spirit, do mind the things of the Spirit….
Leave a Reply