Galatians 6:7

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth unto his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption,' but he that soweth unto the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap eternal life.

Soweth unto his flesh ... is a reference to living after the lusts of the flesh as Paul had just outlined in Galatians 5:18-21; and sowing to the Spirit is the equivalent of living the kind of life that exhibits the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-24).

SOWING AND REAPING

A. The principle of sowing and reaping is handed down from the throne of God himself. None can deny it; no skeptic can scoff at it; it was true in the garden of Eden that Adam reaped what he sowed, and it has been true ever since. It is true of every individual, of every saint and sinner, or every hypocrite who thinks he is a saint; it is true of every race, society and nation. It was true of Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, France and Germany, and it will be true of the United States of America.

It is true in both physical and spiritual creations. Both the Old Testament and the New Testament teach it. "Whoever perished being innocent?" (Job 4:8); "they have sown the wind and shall reap the whirlwind" (Hosea 8:7); "he who sows injustice will reap calamity" (Proverbs 22:8, RSV).

In the New Testament, Paul used this principle to teach Christian giving (2 Corinthians 8-9). "No planting, no harvest" is the law of life. The mandate to the church is "preach the gospel." It is the executive order of God for every individual. There are no small and big opportunities; all opportunities are BIG with eternal potential.

B. Extensions of this principle. The reaping is always more than the sowing. It is inevitably in kind. No man ever sowed to the flesh and reaped eternal life, or the other way around. It is inevitable. There is no art or device of man that can countermand, avoid, or checkmate this eternal law of God. The sons of Jacob sold their brother; and all of them became slaves in the same land. America sowed the wind (of slavery) and reaped the whirlwind of war. Germany sowed the wind when they listened to the Pied Piper of Munich and reaped the devastation of World War II. Wherever men or nations today obey their own foolish philosophies instead of the word of God they are sowing to the wind; and already the whirlwind gathers dark and threatening upon the horizons of all the troubled earth. It might be almost time to reap the whirlwind.

C. There is a good side to this also. Sowing to the Spirit promises certain, inevitable, increased reward in kind. They who have loved and sought the fellowship of Christ in God shall at last enter the eternal fellowship above, where all the problems of earth are solved in the light and bliss of heaven.