Sowing and Reaping
---By Joseph Wang
Whatever one sows will be his reaping, or one reaps what he sows (Gal 6:7):
A. One must first sow whatever he wishes to reap.
B. Whoever sows the flesh will reap corruption, sin and death; whoever sows the spirit will reap the eternal life and peace (Gal 6:8; Rom 8:6).
C. Any kind of sowing will yield some harvest. The point is what one sows.
Reaping depends on how one would sow:
A. Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy (Ps 126:5).
B. In order to reap the best, one must sow the best (cf. Mal 3, 4).
C. Whoever sows generously will reap generously; whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly (2Cor 9:6).
D. One reaps no more than what he has tilled and sown, no sowing will be no reaping, no gain without effort.
E. Whosoever sows, to him the Lord will increase his fruits and credit to his account (2Cor 9:8; Phil 4:17).
F. By grace we have been saved (Eph 2:8), but to be an overcomer, one must pay a price (Rev 2, 3).
The principle of sowing and reaping may be likened to all services in the church life, such as financial offering, meeting-attending, gospel preaching, mutual feeding and shepherding, fellowshipping, blending and building together among the saints as well as with the other churches, and so forth. Our Lord will remember our labor, no matter how small it may be (1Cor 15:58).
Even our human life could be considered as a matter of sowing and reaping. It does not matter how old or young we are, we still experience the sowing and reaping, day by day and moment by moment. It is indeed a life-long and continuous process. In other words, the principle of sowing and reaping is a life philosophy that is healthy, normal and applicable everywhere and to everyone.
There is always hope of reaping after one sows, in disregard of whatever the environment may be. The Lord even encourages us by saying "one sows and another reaps" (John 4:37), indicating that we just keep sowing. An old saying echoes this with "to pay more attention to sowing, not to reaping". The former American president J. F. Kennedy said similarly in his inauguration speech "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."
In conclusion, our proper attitude should be just to focus on sowing (1Cor 3:6). Dear saints, let us encourage one another to practice "sowing", that is, everyone serving and every member functioning in our church life. May the Lord bless us. Amen.
(August 23 2009, Lord's Day fellowship)
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