Whatever a Man Sows

Introduction

Good morning. Open your Bibles if you would and put your bookmark in Galatians chapter 6. Galatians chapter 6. And then when you finish putting your bookmark there, flip back over to Genesis chapter 1. That’s where we will, that’s where we’ll start this morning. It’s nice to see you this morning. I hope you had a good night’s rest. Those of you who are native Floridians are probably still basking in the globe, the big football game, uh, yesterday evening. So uh congratulations to you. Uh those of you who are transplants from Tennessee uh will be uh grieving for the next year uh until the game is played again. Uh and uh so that’s kind of the fun of all of that. Uh I uh I’ve I’ve enjoyed being with you this week and I was thinking this morning the the Jamersons walked in, Randy and I went to FC together.

Uh when you’re when you’re in Florida, when you’re in Central Florida, it’s like every every weekend is a reunion weekend. Uh especially if you had any connections to Florida College. Uh because either somebody’s down for some kind of Florida College thing and they’ve come to Disney or somebody’s I know we’re not supposed to go to Disney anymore, but somebody’s come to Disney or uh or they’ve come to Disney and they’re headed over to Tampa for something. So uh uh the last time, the only other time I was at Bumby, we had actually that’s probably 20, oh mercy, 20 years ago. Brought our kids down and and went to Disney and came to services here. And I think I ran into eight or ten people who weren’t from here but who are visiting here.

So uh uh that must be one of the nice things about worshiping here regularly, is getting to see folks uh from other parts of the country regularly. Uh and I’ve appreciated being here. You’ve been very kind to me. I hope our studies have been profitable to you. Uh and uh this is Bible class this morning, so if you have questions or comments that you want to make, uh please feel free to do so. Uh welcome your comments. Learn a got a lot of stuff uh from people who’ve been studying the Bible for a long time, like some of you have. So Genesis chapter one, I want you to give your attention to a phrase that is found in this particular passage.

We like things to work all the the same way all the time. If if uh if about eight, nine o’clock tonight the it didn’t start getting dark, we’d all be scratching our heads wondering what’s going on, and might be just a little bit concerned about the fact that that’s not happening the way that it’s supposed to. Or if you got up tomorrow tomorrow morning and the sun didn’t come up, uh you’d think the same way. And and then you can start narrowing that down into smaller things. Uh I’m kind of a creature of habit in the morning. The first thing I do when I get up is find my glasses and and then and then stumble to the kitchen and put the coffee on. And I mean, it’s the first thing that’s going to happen every morning.

And uh then I go about getting ready, taking my shower or doing my exercises, taking my shower. We all have these routines, and and we are people that are kind of just given to consistency. And when things don’t work the way that they’re supposed to, uh, the coffee pot doesn’t work, uh, your your phone doesn’t, or your alarm clock doesn’t wake you up, uh, the power goes off. Uh we lose our minds. Uh I my daughters, uh, it’s been interesting watching them become adults. Uh my two younger daughters were in an apartment together while they were finishing college, and I got a call one morning about four in the morning, and they said, Dad, our power’s off. Now, they were two hours away from me. And I just, I just sat there for a second and thought, are you listening to yourself?

1. Everything Reproduces According to Its Kind

What would you like me to do? You know, I’ve got a generator back. I can go load it up. I can bring it over there, but I’m not going to be able to hook it into your apartment power grid. Uh, what do you want me to do about that? And and it’s interesting when things that are supposed to be consistent aren’t consistent, that we just kind of become irrational people. Why are we that way? In Galatians chapter 1, uh, when you have the description of creation, God offers a principle, and the principle is offered in a statement that he makes over and over. And I’m reading from the New King James Version. Uh and the first time it’s mentioned in verse 11, when God uh has created the plants on the earth, and the statement is made, God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind.

According to its kind. When you get to verse 12, the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. Drop down to verse 20. Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures. Let the birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament. So God created great sea creatures, and every living thing that moves with which the waters abounded according to their kind. Every winged bird according to its kind. Verse 24. God brought forth the living creature according to its kind. Cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth, each according to its kind. God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind.

Everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. I don’t know how many times that’s repeated. What is that, seven, eight times in those few verses? And I think there’s a couple of things this refers to. For one thing, uh it does address the fact that God created everything already in its appropriate kind of species. That’s very clear. But there’s also a principle here. That when God created something, he created it so that when it reproduces, it reproduces the same thing. For instance, uh any of you have a garden? No. No wonder the world’s in the fix that it’s in. Okay, let’s just argue that we all have a garden. Just play with me, okay? And we want tomatoes in our garden. What are you going to plant to get tomatoes?

Tomato seeds. Okay, see, you’re already well on your way to being successful gardeners. You know what to plant to get what you want. And that’s the way life is. These principles of consistency are built into God’s creation. Uh, there are principles that govern electricity, there are principles that govern uh uh mathematics, there are principles that that govern uh natural sciences, that govern chemistry, that govern everything you want to. Agriculture, ranching, uh, farming, anything you want to do, the reality is we live in a world that is built with a certain degree of consistency that’s a part of it. And I would make this argument, and and an evolutionist probably wouldn’t accept it, but it is a lucid argument. Uh things just reproduce after their kind, and that’s the way it is.

And the world is a very consistent place, and you don’t get that kind of order out of disorder. Now, that’s a principle that not only helps us to understand God and his creation, but if you turn over to Galatians chapter six, it’s a principle that’s going to come into play in regards to our lives spiritually. And I think it’s an important principle to appreciate.

2. Don’t Bite and Devour One Another

Whatever a man sows, that he also will reap. He who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption. He who sows to the spirit will of the spirit reap everlasting life. Now I want you to back up to verse 1, and I want you to see why Paul says that. Towards the end of chapter 5, he has offered some concern about the Galatians, because there are divisions within these congregations in Galatia over issues having to do whether or not they have to observe Judaism. Okay. And Paul writes most of the letter about the issue of not being justified according to keeping the law of Moses, and that we are not bound to keep Judaism if we’re going to be faithful to God. And when he gets to chapter 5, he starts offering warnings about what these divisions can do.

If you look at verse uh 14, uh he says, all the laws fulfilled in one word, even this, love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you consume one another. So he talks about the fruits of the spirit and the works of the flesh. And I think the emphasis there is probably as much as anything else on uh the potential disagreement and the kind of ungodliness that can come when people get at odds with one another. So, chapter six, he makes this admonition, brethren. Brethren, if a man’s overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you’re also tempted. Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.

If anyone thinks himself to be something when he’s nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one examine his own work, and he will have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another. Each one shall bear his own load. Let him who has taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches, do not be deceived. God is not mocked. Whatever you so you’re going to read. So his point specifically in the context is this. You need to be careful that you don’t tear one another apart because of your differences. And we would do well to spend our time this morning talking about that. Unity in local congregations is vitally important. Everybody plays a part. All it takes is one person to buy a church.

I’ve seen it happen, you’ve seen it happen. It would be well worth our time to talk about that. And so Paul’s warning is don’t bite and devour one another. Instead, what you do is you care for one another, you serve one another, you help one another. And for our purposes, I want you to appreciate what that means in the big picture. What you do today, and I mean this day, I don’t mean today generically. I mean today, as we gather together to study together and worship together and remember our Lord together. What you do today makes a difference in the lives of other people, and it makes a difference in your future spiritually. We sometimes forget, we disconnect what I’m doing right now with where I’m going after I die.

The day-to-day activities of our life bear fruits. They make a difference in regards to where we stand before our God. And so this is of vital importance that we see that. But I want you to look down at verse 7. There’s the context.

3. Do Not Be Deceived

And so Paul’s instruction begins with an admonition. What’s the first instruction in verse 7? Huh? Do not be deceived. Why would he say that? Well, I think he says it because we’re pretty good at deception. And in this context, I think he’s addressing self-deception. Don’t be deceived about how you’re looking at yourself and how you’re looking at your brethren, whether you’re serving them or not serving them, whether you’re trying to help them, or whether you’re biting and devouring one another. And I’m going to tell you, being honest with yourself is hard. We’re not really good at self-analysis, self-evaluation, self-criticism, and the honesty that that demands. If you haven’t noticed, I’m bald headed. Okay. I lost most of my hair right after Florida College. In fact, if you ask Randy or Vicky what did I look like at FC, I had long blonde hair and lots of it.

And, you know, when you’re 23 and you lose most of your hair, looking in the mirror is uh an adventure. And I’m single and, you know, don’t necessarily enjoy being single, but would like to date. In that day and age, it was before Dwayne Johnson and uh uh Jason Statham and all these bald headed movie stars, you know, Bruce Willis, when he cut his all off. Now, Bald is beautiful. Well, as far as I’m concerned, Bald’s always been beautiful. But that wasn’t the case in the, you know, in the 80s. And so here’s what happens when you start losing your hair when you’re young, and everybody else’s hair is long. You start doing the Buck Owens thing. You part it right above this ear. This side is about this long, and you comb it just in every way you can to try to hide that.

Now, why? Why would you do that? Because I didn’t particularly like what I saw in the mirror. We do that in a lot of ways physically. If you gain some weight, and you’re not crazy about gaining weight. And you decide you’re going to lose some weight. And so you go on a diet. And three days after you start the diet, you look in the mirror and go, man, I think I’ve lost weight already. Hey, honey, come here and look. Do you think I’ve lost weight already? No, you haven’t lost weight in three days. I’m sorry. You just haven’t. And if you have, you’ve been sick in some way. That’s not the way dieting works. But we want to see what we want to see. And that’s really true when it comes to our standing before God.

But the question is, just how honest are we about our service, about our relationship with brethren, about our work in the local congregation. You know, if you back up to verse 3, he’s already said in this context if anyone thinks himself to be something when he’s nothing, he deceives himself. In James chapter 1, James talks about looking into the perfect law of liberty and being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, uh, and says if you look in the law, you look in the law, it’s like looking into a mirror, and and and if you’re not doing what it says, you go away and you forget what kind of person that you were. You deceive yourself. Now, I’m going to tell you, folks, the Bible’s not just here so that we have an understanding of God’s will.

The Bible’s here so we have an understanding of God’s will, and we conform to it. So the question I want you to entertain this morning, this is the big question, is are you doing that? Or are you just playing church? There’s a lot of folks that play church. That have enough religion to help them not feel guilty about themselves all the time, but they don’t really give themselves to the service of God. They’re just kind of what we talked about yesterday morning. They’re just kind of religious actors that go through the motions of worship. And this is this is the problem. It’s easy to choose the ways that we want to be acceptable to God. For instance, what let me do it this way. Let’s do it collectively instead of individually.

If I were to ask you, what makes a local church sound? What would you say? I’m just asking an opinion. Nobody wants to say anything, do you? I’m sorry. They follow the Bible, okay? Specifics? That’s a pretty general. You’re right. You’re exactly right. It depends on what chapter you’re in, okay? If if you were going to go on vacation, you’re going to go visit someplace, and you wanted to go worship with a congregation you had confidence in that was worshiping and serving God faithfully, what things would you look for?

Okay. A congregation is not necessarily giving itself over to social activities, uh social gospel, things like that. Yes, sir. Don’t don’t don’t have a piano that in mechanical instruments in their in their worship. Anybody else? Yes, sir. Okay. They’re preaching the truth. What you’re going to hear from the pulpit is biblically based. Somebody over here did I. Okay. Observing the Lord’s Supper every first day of the week. Okay. Now, those are all good things. Those are all important things. But is that the only way, or those are the only ways that you measure soundness in a local congregation? What about people that are taking advantage of the opportunity? Hang on. People that are taking advantage of the opportunity to serve one another. That when they come together, they don’t just come and worship, but they look around.

Who’s here and who’s not here? Uh Hebrews chapter 10 says that we are to stir up one another to love and good works. Uh you do enough research to know, hey, this group of people, they care about each other. They’re trying to help each other. This group of people are trying to reach the lost. Uh that this group of people uh that they they stand up when it comes to uh moral issues. And uh, you know, they’ve they they’ve had to take uh they’ve had to take measures when people in their congregation had uh involved themselves in immorality and wouldn’t repent, still want to be. I mean, I know churches that they’re not gonna they’re not gonna touch the idea of withdrawing from someone. Here’s my point.

It’s easy to measure soundness just in the ways that we choose. And we do that with ourselves, not just with local congregations. You know, well, I’ve been baptized. I believe what the Bible has to say about marriage and divorce or instrumental music or institutionalism. I believe what the Bible has to say that faith only is not a most wholesome doctrine and worthy of all my consideration. I believe what the Bible says about this and this and this and this. And so I’m faithful to God. Well, what about what the Bible has to say about attitudes? You know, most of what Paul uh addresses to the Galatian brethren has to do with things like in the fruit of the in the works of the flesh, envy, spite, hatred, uh, you know, ill will.

What about those issues? What about self-control in regards to your anger, in regards to your pride, or in regards to your laziness? What about all these other issues? And here’s my point. It is easy to choose the things that we think make us faithful. And to sometimes kind of dismiss the things that we don’t do as well. Does that make sense to you? And we all know deep down inside what we don’t do well, or where our problems are, where our temptations are. And what Paul’s saying to these brethren is do not deceive yourselves. Don’t ignore certain things while you uphold other things. You need to be consistent and you need to be complete, and you need to make sure that you are looking in the mirror of God’s word, and that you’re being honest with what you see, that you’re being honest with what God demands, and that you’re doing something about that.

4. God Is Not Mocked

Now, this is a challenge of Christianity, folks. This is what spiritual growth really involves. So, don’t deceive yourselves. Why not? Well, because he says, God is not mocked. Actually, he gives two reasons for not deceiving yourself. God is not mocked. This is an interesting statement to me because it’s used in a way that we don’t typically think of the word mocked. When you think of mocking someone, what do you think of? Making fun of them. That’s the way we use the term, isn’t it? Do you think Paul’s saying, uh, don’t deceive yourself, don’t be deceived, God’s not going to be made fun of? You think that’s what he’s saying? Why is it that we make fun? Well, we make fun of people because we see them as some way unequal or unworthy of my respect or unworthy of my attention.

Uh you know, it’s the bald-headed 22-year-old, you know. Uh, well, he’s lost his hair. He doesn’t look like the rest of us does, so we’re gonna make fun. I’m gonna tell you, I’ve had strangers come up to me and make bald jokes. I don’t know what it is about that. I’ve never seen somebody walk up to an obese person and make a fat joke. I’ve never seen that happen. But I’ve had strangers come up to me again.

I wasn’t asking for comments yet, Kim.

But I’m sorry. Go to the back. Okay. The reality is we tend to make fun of people that we see as unequal. Okay? And that’s the root of this concept. How is it that God is not mocked? Well, what he means is God’s not going to be dismissed as insignificant. He’s not going to allow you to treat him like he is unworthy of your attention. Well, how do we do that? Well, when we only choose certain things to measure our faithfulness, I’m okay with God because I go to a church of Christ. I’m okay with God because I’ve been baptized. I’m okay with God because we don’t use an organ in worship. I’m okay with God because I believe what he has to say about marriage and divorce.

And we don’t include everything. In fact, let’s you remember when when God sends uh Samuel to anoint David as king? You remember that story? 1 Samuel chapter 16. Yes? Yes or no? Okay. If you don’t, we’ll flip over there right quick. This is an important illustration. And Samuel walks into Jesse’s house, and Jesse has his sons there. And if you remember, Jesse’s first three sons are soldiers in Saul’s army. And the last time Samuel anointed someone king, he anointed Saul, and what was it that stood out about Saul? He’s bigger than everybody else. And I tell you, if you’re fighting hand to hand combat, you want to follow into battle the big strong guy. Okay, that just makes perfect sense why he would be the logical choice.

And so Samuel walks into Jesse’s house and hears David’s soldier brothers who come walking up. And they must have been impressive men because Samuel’s first thought is, surely the Lord’s anointed is standing before me. And God tells him, Nope, not this one. Not this one. Not this one. Not this one. Not this one, not this one. And he looks around and he says, Jesse, you got any other sons? He said, Well, yeah, there’s my youngest son. He’s just a kid. He’s out keeping sheep in the wilderness. And David comes in. David’s not described ever as an impressively big man. Now, he was quite the soldier. But, you know, he’s young. He’s a good looking kid, but God says, This is him. God doesn’t look on the outside.

God looks at the heart. I want you to understand something about our standing before God. When we know God’s looking at the heart, and we know our heart is not where it ought to be, and yet we think of ourselves as we’re okay with God, we are mocking God and deceiving ourselves. That makes sense to you? Because we know how God’s looking at us. And we can dismiss parts of his law all day long and still try to feel good about ourselves, folks, but that is a very dangerous game to play. And I know that’s hard. I know that that means discipleship can’t be some casual thing. That what God demands, as we’ve already noted this weekend, is a living sacrifice. That’s what God asks of us.

And anything less than that is unacceptable. And if we accept less than that, we’re mocking God. Very quick, because I’ve got to finish this. Yes.

I mean, it’s a process. This growth is growth, is a process. Yeah, I’ve got weaknesses. I’ve got temptations that I don’t deal with very well. Probably all of us do. Put me behind the wheel of a car and ride around with me for a while. And if I forget you’re there, you’re going to see part of what I deal with on a regular basis. Okay? And I’ve always dealt with that. And I work at it. I take roads, so I don’t have traffic, so I don’t gripe at people. And I fail at that sometimes because I don’t have as much control over my temper as I would like to. And I have to tell God on a regular basis. I’m working at this. And God knows that.

I can’t dismiss it. I can’t act like it’s not there. We’re told if we confess our sins, he’s faithful and just to forgive our sins. We can’t just ignore them. But yes, there is this process. I’m better than I used to be. And that’s the process. But we can’t just ignore it. We have to be honest. Because God’s not going to be mocked. And the second reason for such honesty is what we sow, we’re going to reap. Now we’re back to the Genesis 1 principle. Everything produces after its kind. And if we are not producing spiritual things, if we’re not planting spiritual things, we’re not going to produce spiritual fruit. Very quickly, yes, sir.

5. Sowing to the Flesh Reaps Corruption

Yes. And mine. He wants everything. And we can’t shortchange him. And to think that we can be faithful and shortchange him is dishonest. It is deceiving ourselves. If you get nothing else from this lesson, get that. Because you and I have to deal with this every day. Every day. It’s not optional. So Paul says, look, don’t deceive yourselves. And here’s point number two. And this goes to the whatever you sow, you’re going to reap. He says in verse 8, he who sows to the flesh shall love the flesh reap corruption. He that sows the spirit will love the spirit, reap everlasting life. So the question is, what does that mean? Because these are serious implications. They’re serious products of what we plant where we sow. And the first one is sowing to the flesh reaps corruption.

And I think there’s two ways you can look at this. If you look at the context, what does he say back in chapter 5 about what does he call all the evil things he describes in verses 18 and 19? The works of what? Works of the flesh. And I think if you keep it in the context and you think, okay, when he says sowing to the flesh, what does he mean? I think contextually it simply means if all you do in your life is give yourself to what you want, to your fleshly desires, your fleshly inclinations. If that’s life for you, then uh then you’re not going to like, you’re not going to like the fruit that’s born from that. Um John tells us 1 John chapter 1, love not the world or the things that are into the world, all that’s in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, pride of life, not of the Father, but of the world, and the world’s passing away.

Uh and all the all over the scripture. I mean, most of the folks here are probably Christians. You understand. Repentance means we can’t keep sinning. We have to work on whatever our issues are. And you may have to spend a lifetime trying to master them, but you have to work on them. You can’t just dismiss them and think I can live this way, and as long as I’m honest and sincere, God’s going to be pleased with me. There’s nothing in the scriptures to indicate that. It’s our job to quit sinning, folks. That’s what repentance is about. And whatever your issues are pride, ambition, ego, uh, sexual uh immorality, uh substance abuse, uh, whatever it is that you deal with temperance, self-control, unkindness, uh, you’ve got to deal with that stuff.

God doesn’t give us a pass. We have to work on it. But I really honestly, I know very few Christians who are just faking it. Who are acting like they’re faithful and they’re just being ungodly. And there’s some out there, and maybe there’s some here. I don’t know everybody here. I don’t think that’s our big problem, to be honest with you. I think most of us realize, yeah, I have a weakness, but I’m working on it. I’m trying to get better. I’m trying to find ways. I confess when I fall. I think most sincere Christians, that’s the way they live. But there’s another consequence. There’s another issue of sowing to the flesh that I think gets us. And this is a problem I see at home.

And that is we spend a whole lot of time thinking about stuff that have absolutely no spiritual end to them. That we just give ourselves to what is what is worldly, not worldly necessarily evil, just worldly temporal. It may be respectable things. You may be a good businessman, and you’ve built a reputation as a good and honest businessman. But you give every waking moment to your business, and you have no time for spiritual things, and no time for helping the church and being a part with the group, and no time for studying together, no time for gospel meetings, no time for anything but work. All you do is work. And maybe you do that because you’re materialistic. Because you just think you got to have more money than you have.

Do you realize Jesus warns about covetous more than he warns about anything else in his personal ministry? Lay not up for yourselves treasures on the earth where moth and rust corrupt. But how many of us do that? How many of us give too much time to that? How many of us give more attention to our kids’ ball than we give attention to our kids’ soul? Hey, we got to be on the, you know, we got to be on the on the special teams, the elect teams, the travel teams. If they’re going to get to the next level, that’s what we give all our attention to. Yeah, we might miss services from time to time, and we’re not going to be there at the gospel meeting, and we’re not going to be there on Wednesday night because we got ball.

I’m going to tell you something. I had two good, two of my daughters were good ball players. And they’ve all been out of high school now for the better part of anywhere from seven to ten years. And they won state titles in soccer. And it means nothing in their life now. Absolutely nothing. Solomon calls it grasping after the wind. And even if your child is the next, whoever the great athlete of the day is, Patrick Mahomes. He’s a good Texas Tech boy, ruling the world in football right now. If he’s not faithful to the Lord and he dies today, what do you think his fame and fortune is going to get him? Nothing. In Luke chapter 14, Jesus tells a parable about a man who gave a great wedding feast.

Remember the parable? And when he sends it out and says it’s time, they begin making excuses. One guy says, Well, I’ve bought some land and I need to go see it. I’m sorry. What idiot buys land and never goes and sees it. That’s an excuse. The next guy’s a farmer. I’ve bought five yoke of oxen. That’s a big investment. That’s a big old John Deere tractor is what that is right there. Who’s going to go buy something like that without testing it ahead of time? And the third guy’s probably the one, the only one that has a legitimate reason, and he just says, I’ve taken a wife and I can’t come. And there’s several possible implications of that. The one I prefer to think is she ain’t letting me out of the house.

But how does the master react in the parable? He’s angry. He’s angry because they are turning down something better for something lesser. And I’m going to tell you, if we spend our lives sowing to our flesh, even in things that aren’t in and of themselves sinful. Paul says, of the flesh you’re going to reap corruption.

The only way I know how to understand that is to compare it to the next phrase. Those that sow to the spirit will love the spirit reap everlasting life. So he must be talking about spiritual produce. What happens to people who lose their soul? We say, well, they go to hell. Some people actually believe they’re annihilated. I don’t think the Bible teaches that. But I want to offer an aspect of that that we don’t think about very often. Those who have everlasting life have everlasting life in a glorified, resurrected body. Well, here he says, of the flesh, so they’re going to reap corruption. And you see that reflected a couple of times in Scripture. 1 Peter, 2 Peter chapter 2 talks about eternal corruption, eternal decay.

Jesus in Matthew, in Mark chapter 9 talks about those who go to everlasting destruction where the worm never dies and the fire never goes out. And the worm in that passage is the maggots that eat dead flesh. And that’s borrowed from a picture in Isaiah that shows a battle scene strewn with dead bodies that are decayed. And here’s what I think it means. I may be wrong in this, but this is what I think it means. Everybody’s going to get an eternal body when the Lord returns. The saved are going to get a glorified, incorruptible, undefiled, unfading body. But those who are condemned will be in an eternally corrupting body.

6. He Who Sows to the Spirit Reaps Everlasting Life

I’m already unhappy with what’s happening to my body at 61 years old. Stuff doesn’t work, stuff hurts. I don’t want to be eternally in a decaying, rotting corpse. I think that’s what he’s saying. And his point is this is you plant things that have no eternal value, this is what you’re going to get. The opposite’s also true. He sows of the Spirit. And we can do the same thing with this. Earlier in chapter 5, he talks about the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, etc., etc., etc. And I think in the context, that’s the first point to be made. This is what you’ve got to be working on in your life. Do you have something you’re working on? Or do you just come to services and whatever sermon might happen to catch our attention and, well, I know you do better than that.

Do you have a plan? Do you put sticky pads on the mirror and that say, okay, today I’m going to try to do better with my prayers. I’m going to talk to God more today. Today I’m going to work on my self-control. Today I’m working on my patience. This week, this month, this year. I’m going to tell you, folks, if we’re not doing that, well, we do it in every other aspect of life. Why don’t we do it when it comes to serving God? He that sows to the Spirit, that’s our job. But you can also take that and make the other application just like we did. Are you giving your life to things that have eternal value to them? That doesn’t mean we can’t root for the gators.

Okay? That’s not what this means. But it means whether Florida wins or loses can’t be our life. It means we’re a lot more concerned with the souls of our children than we are the academic careers of our children. We’re a lot more concerned with the brethren in local congregation than we are with where we stand in the community and whether we’re a big shot in our little lion’s club or rotary. We have to think spiritually. And he that sows to the spirit will reap everlasting life. And we understand that.

I can’t imagine the idea of not dying. But I tell you what’s really attractive about that is this resurrected, glorified body that never fades, that never corrupts, that never loses its luster, uh, that’s made in liken to Jesus’ glorious body, Philippians chapter 3. And all the implications that grow out of that. Heaven is going to be a place to be experienced with a body. Whatever heaven is. People ask me, well, what’s heaven like? I don’t know. But I tell you what I do know about it. I’m going to have a body there. And the reason I have a body here is to eat chocolate chip cookies. Or to see a beautiful sunset. Or to go fishing and all the fun that comes with that. To hear beautiful music, to feel the touch of a baby, or to hold your spouse’s hand.

All these senses that God has given us as he created a world so we can experience it, we’re going to have a body. This is my conclusion. Heaven is going to be something to be experienced. We’re not going to be Casper floating around on a cloud forever. But only if we’re planting spiritual things.

Paul’s argument is don’t deceive yourself about what you’re doing with your life. God’s not going to be mocked. Whatever you’re planting, you’re going to reap. Don’t pray for a crop fader. You know, change what you’re planting. He that sows the spirit, he that sows to the flesh. But I want you to notice how he ends this little section in verses 9 and 10. And let us not grow weary while doing good. In due season, we will reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are a household of faith. Here’s part of what planting spiritual things involves. We need to not get tired of just being the people that are doing the good stuff in this world.

Christianity is not just measured by what we believe. It’s not just measured by having the right doctrine and the right answer and worshiping in the right way. As we talked about yesterday morning, doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with our God. We need to be the people that are doing good. I remember as a kid when religious people were much more concerned about their doctrine. And I had friends that went to the Baptist church, friends that went to the Methodist church, and friends that were Catholic. And I can remember having discussions about what the Bible had to say and who was right and who was wrong. And very often, those of us who were associated with churches of Christ were accused of just overemphasizing doctrine.

All you talk about is doctrine, what you’re supposed to believe. You don’t ever talk about doing good stuff. We’re supposed to be doing good stuff. And I’ve almost heard people argue, no, it’s not about doing good stuff. It’s about the right doctrine. Well, it is about doing good stuff, too. That’s the way that’s the way Jesus is described by Peter to Cornelius. He went about doing good. We’re going to talk about this in the sermon this morning. Paul’s conclusion is here’s part of what planting spiritual things is. You need to get up tomorrow or spend the rest of the day after we’re finished today, and you need to find something good to do. And you don’t need to get tired of that, because it gets tiring.

I was raised in a part of the world where a gentleman tips his hat to a lady, opens a door for a lady, ladies eat first. It’s not southern etiquette like you find in Alabama and in Georgia and maybe in Florida. I don’t know. There’s no, I’m not even going to go there. Um. But where I grew up in far west Texas, there was just uh there was a code. And so I don’t know how many times I’ve stood at a grocery store and held the door open, you know, for people. And invariably there’s some some, and it’s usually a woman who walks through, doesn’t even acknowledge that you’re in the face of the earth, acts like you were put on the earth to open that door for her, walk straight on through, no look, no thank you, no nothing.

And I just want to kick them as they go by. But because you try to do good things and people don’t appreciate it, people don’t see it for what it is, people don’t see an influence there, and it gets really old sometimes, doesn’t it? Do you think Jesus got tired of healing people that didn’t really appreciate what he was trying to do? Paul says, look, let’s not be weary while we’re doing good, because in due season we’re gonna reap. We need to remember we’re not doing good just for them, we’re doing good to be the people of God. So, as you have opportunity, let us do good to all men, especially to those who are of the household of faith. That’s part of our job, and that’s part of planting spiritual things.

Conclusion

And if you think that you can get by and be okay with God without doing that, you’re deceiving yourself. Because God’s not gonna be mocked. Because whatever we sow, we’re gonna reap. So I hope they’ll give you some things to think about as we go through today. Uh, appreciate your comments this morning, your questions, and uh look forward to studying together in the time of worship. Thank you.