What does the Bible say about sowing and reaping?

Verses 7, 8. "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap," etc. The frequency of the Spirit's warnings against deception, both of ourselves and as the dupes of Satan's emissaries, is truly remarkable, and should be taken well to heart. One thing at least is certain: God is not mocked. Though once utterly derided by the wise and prudent of this world in the person of His Son, God cannot be permanently set at nought. He is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed, with results to be declared openly in due time. For He will mete to every man according to his work. Moreover, in the counsels of His wisdom, men are themselves their own judges and the requiters of themselves. What men sow they must inevitably also reap, sparingly or bountifully, grief or joy, according to the manner of their husbandry. If, like the apostle, they go forth weeping, bearing precious seed, and sow beside all waters in the spirit of unflagging faith and love, they will reap fruit to life eternal at the coming day. No kind of labour in the Lord is vain, and the life here below is our sole opportunity of winning or losing in the things of God. We may sow to our flesh, seeking with an ill-bestowed diligence our own, with corruption for our harvest. Labouring only for the meat that perishes, and careful overmuch about the things of time, we shall find that not only is the labour lost which we bestow on vanity, but with it also the precious occasion of true spiritual gain. To regard what men call their own interests, and regulate our course of life with a chief reference to these, is wisdom and prudence in the estimation of the world, but folly and wasting in the sight of God. We lose our life by seeking it; we find it when we lose it for Christ's sake. To seek first God's kingdom and His righteousness is to secure for ourselves a double blessing; since godliness has promise both of this life and of that which is to come (Matt. 6:33; 1 Tim. 4:8). To perform grudgingly, and without the warmth of love, such duties only as are felt by the conscience to be necessary to its peace, is still to be sowing to our flesh. God owns no other work than that of faith, and accepts no motive of His children's acts but love.

This practical side of things is summed up for us in Galatians 6:7 and 8, under the figure of "sowing" and "reaping." Our thoughts, our words, and our actions are viewed as so many acts of seed sowing. All depends on whether we sow to the flesh or to the Spirit, i.e., whether the tendency and intent and end of our sowing is to the gratification of the cravings of the flesh or of the desires of the Spirit. This it is which determines the character of our sowing, and consequently the character of the reaping.

It is, of course, true that we reap as we sow as to quantity. 2 Corinthians 9:6 emphasises this side of the question. "He which sows sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which sows bountifully shall reap also bountifully." Our Scripture is enforcing the truth that as surely as God is God, we reap as we sow as to character or kind. We cannot sow one kind and reap another kind. There is no such thing as "transmutation of species" in the material creation, though evolutionary philosophers have eagerly sought it. Men cannot sow thistles and reap wheat, or cockle and have a harvest of barley. Neither is there transmutation of species in the spiritual realm. If we sow to the gratification of the flesh we reap corruption, always corruption, and nothing but corruption. If we sow to the Spirit we reap everlasting life. Let us not deceive ourselves on this point, for we are apt to do so, as the apostle's warning implies.

There are three things the Apostle brings to our notice about sowing: What we sow: "Whatever a man soweth, that very thing he shall also reap." Where we sow: "The one sowing unto (in the interests of) the flesh …" "The one sowing unto (in the interests of) the Spirit …" How we sow: "He which soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly; He which soweth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully." 2 Cor. 9:6.

I want tonight to speak about sowing and reaping; a very important feature of teaching in the Old Testament and in the New. At the very outset, in creation God established the principle that never alters, never has altered, and never will alter, that whatever is sown produces a certain crop "after its kind". When God created the herbs, the trees, He created them in this fashion that in them they had the ability to reproduce "after its kind" (Gen.1:11). We know from observation and it has been from the very beginning that an apple seed brings forth an apple tree and eventually produces apples, and so that principle is all through the Scriptures. In moral matters, in spiritual matters, the teaching provides the same principle. What we sow we reap.

We pass now to Galatians 6:7, where again we get the admonition, "Be not deceived." And as the point here is the order that God has instituted in His holy government, both in natural things surrounding us, and in the moral affairs of our lives, we are told that even if we do deceive ourselves we shall not be able to mock God by altering the results. In nature every seed produces, "after his kind," as is repeated ten times in Genesis 1. The Galatian saints were warned that the same law would operate as to their daily conduct, just as also it does with us today.

Though, as born of God, we have a new nature, the old nature — the flesh — is still in us. We pass through our lives like a man walking through a field with two baskets of seed. The basket on his left has in it the things of the flesh. That on his right has in it the things of the Spirit. Everything practically depends upon his action. Into which basket does he dip his hand to scatter seed? Whatever he may think, he will reap according to what he sows, for he cannot mock God by altering or evading His law.

The apostle then returns to the fundamental principle of the Christian walk. It is not a law given to a nature which always, by its very nature, resists the law: it is a power which works in a new life, the Spirit given to those who believe on the Lord Jesus. The government of God ensures the consequences which flow from the walk. God does not allow Himself to be mocked; "whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." "He that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." The path of sin and the path of the Spirit, in which the true Christian walks, both infallibly lead to the ends which suit each - the path of the flesh to corruption, even in this life; the way of the Spirit to life eternal.

The apostle goes on to show that saints in their walk on the earth are as subject to the general principles of the government of God as any. "Be not deceived God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting" (vers. 7, 8). Our souls are apt to forget this, and to act as if because subjects of grace, we are free from responsibility. In no wise. Grace can never be forfeited every believer will infallibly be carried safely through the wilderness and presented in glory; but on the road the unchangeable principles of God's government touch us even as others. Flesh is not to be indulged: they that are Christ's have crucified it with its passions and lusts. It is to be treated as an evil thing — neither place nor quarter is to be given to it. This is our solemn responsibility all the way along.

The Scriptures have a good deal to say about sowing, the word of Galatians 6:7 being partially well known, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap.” Any intelligent man with experience in this world should have no doubt about this principle of God’s government. What follows in Galatians 6 is also a divine principle, or the application of the one already noticed, “For he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting” (verse 8). Only the Christian can understand this, for the man of the world is unable to sow to the Spirit. Within the believer there are two natures, the nature of the flesh and the nature that is born of the Spirit, if we gratify the flesh nothing but sorrow for the soul will result, and the end of it all is corruption, but if we gratify the divine nature there will be nothing but blessing now, and we shall lay up something for the coming day.

"Whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap." The sin of sowing weeds may be forgiven, but the reaping must be according to the sowing. The former is grace, the latter is government. Each acts in its own sphere, and neither interferes with the other. The lustre of the grace and the dignity of the government are both divine. David was permitted to tread the courts of the sanctuary as a subject of grace (2 Sam. 12:20) ere he was called to climb the rugged sides of mount Olivet as a subject of government (2 Sam. 15:30); and we may safely assert that David's heart never had a deeper sense of divine grace than at the very time in which he was experiencing the righteous action of divine government.

Thus, though it may seem strange to those who little understand the ways of God, and it will be thought strong wherever there is carelessness, and anything allowed in our ways that is contrary to God, yet it is most wholesome and needed for our souls that we should remind ourselves of such a scripture as this: "Be not deceived: God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap." It is, be assured, universally true, whether of the unbeliever or of the believer — "whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap." The unbeliever sows to self and nothing but self, and reaps the judgment of God on self — and of self where there is not a single good thing — nothing that will stand before God. But what about the believer? There is where the difficulty comes in. The believer has the mingled crop of good and evil. For just as we know with Christianity; the field where good seed was sown and where there was good soil, yet all was not good seed — tares were sown by the enemy; so Satan may take advantage of the unjudged evil of our hearts in order to lead into sin. It may not be always a question of gross sin; but it is the lawless evil of our nature, that prefers a little present gratification of self to the service, the uniform obedience and glory, of Christ. But what do we gain by it? Can you tell me of a soul that ever departed from the will of God that did not suffer in that very thing in which he pleased himself? Can you look back on any one thing in which you went contrary to God, that gave you satisfaction as a Christian? Wherever we indulged ourselves, in that itself God dealt with us. The very thing for which we spare ourselves becomes the keen rod for our correction. And let us thank God that it is so. "God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."