Life Ministries

Part 3 – “Overflowing Barns”

“Honor the Lord with your wealth.” (The Result? – “your barns will overflow”) It is God’s law of the harvest! I am going to spend a little more time on this one. I know what you are thinking – “Here he goes talking about tithing!” Well, the law of the harvest is much more than that. It is a fact, another truth, that applies whether you believe it or not.

Galatians 6:7-10 - “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruct-tion; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”

    One thing I want you to notice about this law is that although I may give many examples, I really have no specific subject. In other words, you can apply this principle to a physical garden, to finances, to relationships, to attitudes, and so on. The subject is up to you; but the law does not change…it is the law of sowing and reaping.

    There are a lot of things to talk about like; #1 - “You only reap what is sown”. If you sow an apple seed, you will not reap an oak tree. #2 - “We usually don’t have an immediate harvest.” In other words, you sow in one season and reap in another. #3 - “We reap proportionately more than we sow”. You can sow one potato with three eyes, and reap a bushel; We can sow a little love, and reap many friendships. #4 - “A full harvest requires a lot of work and maintenance and perseverance.” The laws of the harvest are absolute – “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.”

    Man cannot just ignore God’s eternal, absolute laws. The word “whatever” makes this law all inclusive; it applies to everything we sow, that’s why the subject is up to you. Peas = Peas…Watermelon = watermelon… Love = love… You cannot sow discord and produce unity. You cannot sow lies and produce truth. You cannot sow sin and produce holiness! Only what is sown.

    These laws of the harvest are also both positive and negative in their consequences. We think mostly in terms of paying the consequences of wrong actions, but there are also positive consequences for right actions! Life is filled with choices; and those choices affect us as well as others, and the consequences good or bad may or may not be immediate.

    All of life comes from antecedent life. In other words from the labor and sowing of others. We are reaping today what others had sown either naturally or purposely; either by God or by man. The harvest, once again, may be positive or negative. Here is an example from Deuteronomy 6:10; “When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give you – a land with large flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, vineyards and olive groves you did not plant, then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the Lord…”

    On the positive side, we have what is called the “blessings of common grace.” This means that God is gracious toward all men whether they realize it or not; whether they acknowledge God or not. Matthew 5:45 says “God causes the sun to rise and the rain to fall on the evil and the good, on the righteous and the unrighteous.” Acts 17:24 tells us that God made the world and everything in it (for our use or misuse)…that’s freedom of choice…that’s common grace.

    We also reap the blessings of what others have sown like; the freedoms we enjoy; the Bibles we carry; the technology we have today; are just some of the harvest we are reaping because of what others have sown…some with their very lives. (More on this subject next week.)