In this sermon Tim talks about the biblical principles of sowing and reaping. He reminds us that we reap what we sow, and that we should leave behind sowing in the flesh but instead sow in the Spirit, so we can reap the godly rewards of the Spirit! What are you sowing into in 2022? Where is God calling you to shift your priorities and start sowing in the Spirit?
Sermon preached by Tim Giovanelli on Sunday January 16, 2021.
05/02/23 – John 12:20-33 Following Jesus & Intro – by Tim Giovanelli – The Farewell Discourse Series – Manly Life Church Podcast
- 05/02/23 – John 12:20-33 Following Jesus & Intro – by Tim Giovanelli – The Farewell Discourse Series
- 29/01/23 – The Glory of Christ – Greg Beech
- 22/01/23 – Luke 15:1-8 God's Heart for the Lost – by Lani Daniel
- 15/01/23 – 1 John 4:11 Friendship In Church by Tim Giovanelli
- 08/01/23 – Philipians 3:17-4:4 Stand Firm in 2023 – by Peter Brooks
SERMON NOTES:
One of the things that it gave me an opportunity to do, was plenty of gardening.
- Some of you who know me a bit better know that I am a bit of an obsessive gardener, particularly my lawn and veggie growing…
- Victoria found this quite baffling after years of living in apartments that I had this passion for gardening… often catching me spending 5-6 hours a day pottering about.
- But the clue was in my last name – Giovanelli… I was born to market garden!
Anyhow, Luca loves it too, and one of the most rewarding crops is corn. You always plant it from seed and about 12 weeks later you are picking the most delicious corn cobs.
- And I don’t think they have ever got all the way to the kitchen, because Luca just peels the corn cobs and eats them raw in the back garden.
- The kids a legend…
- But here is the thing… what I am always amazed at is how simple in one sense it is to grow plants from seed.
- You sow… and then with the right care of sunshine, water and good soil…. You reap an amazing harvest!
And that is what I want to speak on today, is the biblical principle of sowing and reaping.
- Of sowing seeds in our lives, for the right things that we want to produce fruit from in our lives…
- Want corn? Sow a corn seed…
- Want good character or good relationships or good abilities… you got to sow the right seeds…
Now we all sow seeds… maybe not corn or tomatoes or zucchini…
- But if you are a parent, you sow things into your children that you hope will grow and develop. Things like character and nurturing the gifts they have.
- You hope that what you sow into them develops in order that they become healthy kids and teenagers and adults.
- Hopefully they will have character and Christian faith and skills to use to contribute to the world.
- And we sow seeds in all kinds of other things… our educations, hoping it leads to good careers…
- And we sow into relationships, time and concern and care, hoping it grows into community and deep bonds around you.
Question: is what are we being intentional about sowing in 2022?
- Maybe you need to think about the end result to answer that question.
- What do you want to produce in your life?
- And then knowing that, what seeds are you sowing so that you may reap those results?
- You can’t get corn by sowing zucchini seeds…
- You can’t get good relationships by sowing discord…
Throughout scripture, sowing is used as a metaphor for one’s actions and reaping for the results of such actions.
- You sow an action, you reap a result.
- You get the positive side of this and the negative side of this through the bible…
- The negative… Job 4:8 “those who sow trouble reap it.”
- Proverbs 22:8 “whoever sow injustice reaps calamity.
- Hosea 8:7 “they sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.”
Now none of this is earthshattering revelations… we know this right….
- Our bad actions always seem to catch up with us with bad results…
- If you sow trouble or injustice you rarely get away without the consequences.
- I sometimes think about this quite a bit…
- You know… does the person who cheats on their spouse ever get to old age, never caught out or having had the relationship break apart?
Does the person who gossips and slanders others ever really not have that catch up with them?
- Does the person who cheats or never pays their taxes or is corrupt really ever get away with it? I don’t know….
- But you see the bible states, there are natural consequences to sowing trouble or injustice.
- You sow the wind… you reap the whirlwind… that’s a cracking verse…
- It suggest on the negative that even little seeds of trouble can create a massive storm in your life…
- So on the negative side of things, beware what seeds you are sowing in your life.
And can I just say, this is deadly serious for us to consider. The ability to shipwreck your life from sowing poorly can have devastating consequences…
- Can I be a bit controversial here… rock the boat a little bit here…
- One of the great lies of the modern world is that self expression and personal happiness are the highest ideals we should aspire to… we should sow towards that!
- And that being your “true self” is a higher right than your responsibilities to others.
- So much disgraceful advice in secular marriage counseling basically goes along the line, that you need to do what is right for you and your happiness…
- Shocking advice… sacrifice your children and your spouse on the altar of self fulfilment and supposed freedom.
- Right, just gratify whatever you think will make you happy.
- No regards for personal responsibility, fidelity, even maybe some self control or self denial.
But then of course there are the wonderful promises for those who sow well and righteously in their lives…
- Proverbs 11:18 “the one who sows righteousness reaps a sure reward.”
- Hosea 10:12 “sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love.
- 2 Corinthians 9:6 “whoever sows generously will also reap generously.”
- So again, the principle is that those who sow righteous actions are rewarded with good results and unfailing love.
- It is the generous who give to the poor and the needs of others… who it says reap generously.
- So there is a bit of you get what you give at work here.
Then finally Galatians 6:7-10, and this is the one I want us to focus on this morning…
7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
So in this cracking passage in Galatians we get both the negative and positive side of sowing and reaping.
- A person reaps what they sow!
- And the contrast is two types of lives…
- Kata pneuma versus Kata sarx
- Kata meaning according… and pnuema meaning Spirit and sarx meaning flesh.
- You can either, according to the Apostle Paul sow to please the flesh which will reap destruction or you can sow to please the Spirit, which reaps eternal life…
- Or more accurately translated… reaps the life of the age to come!
- If you sow according to God’s pleasing presence and will… you will reap the life of kingdom of God… the life of the age to come!
So that is two basic Christian realities to which you can sow – the flesh or the Spirit…
- You sow to the flesh when you sow to sexual immorality or telling lies or gossiping or reverting to violence…
- The flesh is your carnal desires… it is giving in to short term pleasure over long term faithfulness or goodness…
- It is sowing into the immediate gratification of whatever you want to do!
So Paul says, sow to please the Spirit. And what this looks like is sowing good actions… good deeds… doing good… particularly (it says) to the community of believers you belong to….
- So this is not some abstract, out there concept…
- This is meant to be a very grounded principle… sowing to please the Spirit, looks like doing good actions towards the family of believers…
- So sowing kindness towards others…
- Sow peace…
- Sow love…
- Sow joy…
- Sow faithfulness…
- Right? Sow the fruits of the Spirit into the lives of people around you… and see how it pleases God and produces a great result…
So back to the question I asked at the beginning… what seeds are you sowing in 2022 in order to produce a great result this year for yourself and those around you?
As we finish… Can I suggest three things to sow into this year…
- The Word of God
- Community and friendship…
- Righteousness…
Firstly the Word of God…
- This week I had the pleasure of reading most of Matthew’s Gospel and most of Mark’s Gospel… and it was incredibly life giving…
- The Word of God in the Psalms is called a light unto my feet… the idea being that it guides our steps…
- Getting the Word of God into you is planting seeds of life that will guide you in the right direction…
- You are sowing God’s good and pleasing will into your life… and that will reap a great reward.
You see the reality is that we are being shaped by all kinds of things, seeds being planted within us from our culture that don’t produce good things…
- The wisdom of this world would be constantly shaping us towards greed and unfaithfulness and divisiveness…
- The Word of God gets planted within us and shapes our minds and hearts towards God’s good intentions for us.
- That is why I have been banging on in the weekly news about the Alpha Courses Bible in a Year app…
- This is the daily bread we need to be fed by God to sustain faith and build character within us…
Someone once said, “Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny.”
- In other words, our destiny is tied directly to our thoughts. … If you change a thought, you will change your future.
- So we need our thoughts shaped by the Word of God… not other more nefarious influences…
- Best way to sow good thoughts is to be soaked in scripture.
Secondly sow into friendship and community.
- If there is one thing we realised in this age of isolations and lock downs… is the importance of deep friendship and community. We really do need each other.
- So can I suggest, you cant be best friends with everyone… but you do need to be connected and sowing relational seeds in genuine connections.
- The power of a local church is to be known and to know others deeply. To love and be loved… to show care and to be cared for?
- Amen?
So let’s ditch the lack of commitment this year. Let’s ditch the prioritizing the wrong things and be deeply invested and sowing into friendship and local church.
- I watch my wife do this very well. She sows into people’s lives without expecting anything in return. She is there for people.
- So don’t be an island. Don’t be a self focused turd.
- Sow into other people. Listen to them… care for them.
- Join a Life Group… turn up. Then turn up again. Then turn up again…
- Maybe cancel some other stuff so you are sown into life together.
- Just an idea…
Ok finally, we see this principle through the bible is always closely linked to sowing righteousness…
- This is about sowing good and pleasing actions into the world around you.
- This is about sowing ethical behavior. Sowing morally upright actions. Sowing good deeds…
- This looks like your good deeds being so unashamedly filled with righteousness, that you are happy to walk in the light in every area of your life.
- Galatians tells us that such people who are not weary in doing good will reap a harvest if they do not give up!
If you give generously to the local church and the poor, will you not see a harvest? (not a thought)
- If you conduct your career with good character and hard work, will you not see a reward? (yes challenges)
- If you sow faithfully into your marriage and cut out distractions and immorality… will you not reap the benefits?
- I could go on and on…
So 2022… What would it look like if you had sown the Word of God deeply into your life?
- If you had sown deeply into friendship and community
- And you commit to sowing righteous deeds and goodness…
- What would your life look like?
- The Lord bless you and keep you in 2022… let’s have some ministry…
manlylife.org 
To God I’m blessed with this sermon, thank you so much God bless your ministry