A Time to Sow

6 Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. 7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. 10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. – Galatians 6:6-10 ESV

For the apostle Paul, the body of Christ was to operate in a spirit of mutual love and reciprocity. There was no place for selfishness or a what’s-in-it-for-me attitude. The model Christ left us was one of selfless sacrifice and love for others. Paul has already talked about coming alongside a fellow believer who has been caught up in sin. He has encouraged that they pursue restoration, rather than practice exclusion. No one was to practice a kind of spiritual elitism, considering themselves better than anyone else. The Christian life was to be marked by a sense of interdependence and a desire to put the needs of others ahead of their own.

This spirit of harmony and communal care was to influence every area of the Galatian’s lives, including the way they provided for the needs of those who taught them the Word of God.

Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. – Galatians 6:6 ESV

This wasn’t Paul’s way of lining his own pocket; he was simply encouraging the Galatians to properly provide for those through whom God had shared the good news of Jesus Christ. In those days, pastors and teachers like Paul were not on the payroll of the local church, so their livelihood was dependent upon the gracious, free-will gifts of the congregation to whom they ministered. As an itinerant evangelist and minister, Paul knew firsthand how difficult it was to survive without a steady source of income. which led him to bring up this topic repeatedly in his letters.

Elders who do their work well should be respected and paid well, especially those who work hard at both preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, “You must not muzzle an ox to keep it from eating as it treads out the grain.” And in another place, “Those who work deserve their pay!” – 1 Timothy 5:17-18 NLT

Since we have planted spiritual seed among you, aren’t we entitled to a harvest of physical food and drink?…Don’t you realize that those who work in the temple get their meals from the offerings brought to the temple? And those who serve at the altar get a share of the sacrificial offerings. In the same way, the Lord ordered that those who preach the Good News should be supported by those who benefit from it. – 1 Corinthians 9:11, 13-14 NLT

Paul’s point is that the body of Christ has been equipped by God to care for itself. In his letter to the church in Ephesus, Paul emphasized God’s divine design for the spiritual well-being of the family of faith.

And he [God] gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. – Ephesians 4:11-13 ESV

There are roles and responsibilities within the church that are designed to provide for the well-being of those who make up each local fellowship. Paul says that those who have received the word of God should be willing to share what they have with those who taught it to them. In that day and age, those who served as apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers, often did so without any form of financial remuneration. Some even became itinerant teachers, traveling from city to city, to minister the word of God to local congregations. Paul, as one such individual, encouraged believers to provide for the needs of these people.

In his letter to the church in Corinth, Paul elaborated on the common expectation among believers to care for those who taught them.

Do we not have the right to eat and drink? Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk? – 1 Corinthians 9:4-7 ESV

Paul went on to ask them the question, “If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?” (1 Corinthians 9:11 ESV). Even though Paul claimed to have never demanded this God-given right to provision from the churches to whom he ministered, he said, “…those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel” (1 Corinthians 9:14 ESV).

For Paul, this all seemed to boil down to the unique, God-ordained nature of the body of Christ. There was to be no lack and no need unmet. God would graciously provide teachers to proclaim His Word and bless the hearers so they could provide for their physical needs.

But Paul warns against cultivating a selfish mindset that might disrupt this God-ordained plan of provision. He uses the agricultural metaphor of sowing and reaping, describing someone who “sows to his own flesh” (Galatians 6:8 ESV). This was Paul’s way of warning against giving in to one’s sinful nature and allowing the desires of the flesh to override the will of the Holy Spirit. This kind of attitude would produce negative consequences, with the sower reaping corruption rather than blessings. Paul bluntly states, “You will always harvest what you plant” (Galatians 6:7 NLT).

It would have been easy for the Galatians to view the prophets, evangelists, and teachers as lazy because they “refused” to work. They could have viewed these individuals as freeloaders and withheld any form of compensation for their efforts. Others could have taken the attitude “what is mine, is mine.”

In some of these communities, people had a hard enough time just making ends meet. The thought of having to give away your money or food to someone else would have been a difficult burden to bear. But Paul encouraged them to “not grow weary of doing good” (Galatians 6:9 ESV). Man’s sinful nature will always encourage selfishness and self-centeredness. Isolation and independence are normal human inclinations, but Paul knew that the success of the church was dependent upon its members sowing to the Spirit. In other words, they were to invest their time, energy, and talents into those things the Spirit was directing them to do. If they did, they would reap the kind of fruit only the Spirit can produce: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

Living according to the Spirit is unnatural. It is a supernatural, divine enablement that is in direct conflict with our old natures. There will always be a part of us that will resist obeying what the Spirit tells us to do. We won’t want to give or share what we have with others. Our natural inclination will be to hoard and protect what we have. The normal response of the flesh will be to resist putting the needs of others ahead of our own.

But Paul tells us, “…as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10 ESV). As long as we live on this planet, we will have opportunities to do good. It is in the here and now that our generosity, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control are needed. There will be no need for patience when Christ establishes His Kingdom on earth. In the eternal state, there will be no one with unmet needs. There will be no sin, so it will be unnecessary for us to respond to hatred with love. We will not be required to return harsh words with words of kindness, anger with gentleness, or temptation with self-control.

But as long as the Lord delays His return and we remain in this life, we will have untold opportunities to live out our faith and display the fruit of the Spirit for the benefit of all those around us. We must sow while the season is right but what we sow is of utmost importance. If we sow fleshly, self-centered desires, we will reap the deeds of the flesh. But if we sow the spiritual seed of the Spirit of God, living according to His power and in submission to His will, we will reap the fruit of the Spirit. And one day, we will reap the final reward that comes from a life lived in faith.

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. – Romans 6:22 ESV

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Mystery of the Kingdom

26 And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. 27 He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. 28 The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

30 And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? 31 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, 32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

33 With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. 34 He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything. – Mark 4:26-34 ESV

In this passage, Jesus continues to utilize parables when addressing the large crowd that had gathered to hear him speak. These simple stories were basically extended metaphors that were intended to make complex concepts easier to understand. But as we have already seen, even Jesus’ closest disciples found it difficult to grasp their meaning. So, Jesus took the time to explain each detail of the parable, ensuring that the 12 understood the vital point He had been trying to make.

In these two parables, Jesus focuses His attention on the Kingdom of God. His earlier parable made no mention of the Kingdom, but addressed the receptivity of various people to the Word of God. But what aspect of the Word did Jesus have in mind? If you recall, Jesus had begun His ministry by proclaiming the very same message that John the Baptist had been declaring in the Judean wilderness: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17 ESV).

Later, when Jesus sent the 12 disciples on their first missionary journey, He commanded them to “proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand’” (Matthew 10:7 ESV). And He told them that this message was intended for one audience only: “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 10:6 ESV).

This message of the Kingdom was central to Jesus’ ministry and mission. He was declaring Himself to be the one who would usher in the Kingdom of God. But there was much confusion among the people of Israel as to the exact nature of that Kingdom. Most Jews believed that when God’s Kingdom came to earth it would be in the form of an earthly king who ruled over the restored nation of Israel. They were expecting another king to arise from among the people who would prove to be a descendant of David and would reestablish the Davidic dynasty. This human savior would be a warrior-king who would set them free from their enslavement and subjugation to Rome. He would restore the political, military, and financial fortunes of Israel, making them a force to be reckoned within the region.

But Jesus presents a much different picture of the Kingdom than the one they held. And He describes it through the use of two parables. In both cases, His focus seems to be on the mysterious nature of the Kingdom. It is not going to come quickly or through the use of military power. Once again, Jesus utilizes agrarian imagery to make His point, describing the Kingdom of God as seed being sown. His use of this rather bucolic imagery to describe the Kingdom must have seemed odd to people who were expecting something a bit more aggressive and revolutionary in nature.

While there are some similarities between this parable and the earlier one Jesus told, I believe they are unrelated. While both mention the sowing of seed, the second parable portrays a sower who is a rather passive participant in the process. Jesus states that this farmer scatters the seed, then “Night and day, while he’s asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but he does not understand how it happens” (Mark 4:27 NLT). The sower is clueless when it comes to the germination process necessary to turn a single seed into grain. He simply sows and then waits to see what will happen. Once the farmer sows the seed, the rest of the process is out of his hands. And Jesus describes the unseen process that must take place for the fruit to be produced.

“The earth produces the crops on its own. First a leaf blade pushes through, then the heads of wheat are formed, and finally the grain ripens.” – Mark 4:28 NLT

Jesus is clearly emphasizing the process of time. The coming of the Kingdom will not take place overnight. It will not involve a radical and immediate overturning of the status quo. No, it will be methodical and divinely orchestrated, operating in an unseen manner but ultimately producing abundant fruitfulness. And only then does the sower step back into the process.

“…as soon as the grain is ready, the farmer comes and harvests it with a sickle, for the harvest time has come.” – Mark 4:29 NLT

This recalls another made by Jesus as He and His 12 disciples made their way through Galilee, “proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom” (Matthew 9:35 NLT).  Matthew describes Jesus as seeing the crowds and having compassion on them, “because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36 NLT). And Jesus turned to His disciples, and said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:38 NLT).

The sowing of the word concerning the Kingdom was going to produce fruit. It would take time, but it would happen. And when it did, there would be a need for many to harvest the fruit of God’s labor. Don’t miss the point of this parable. The sower simply sowed the seed. It was God who caused the seed (the Word) to take root and produce fruit. The sower had no idea how it happened, but could only testify that it had. He could see the fruit and play a part in harvesting the bounty that God had produced.

Ultimately, salvation is the work of God. As Paul so aptly put it: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV). And Jesus clearly communicated the vital nature of His role in the process.

“I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives.” – John 12:24 NLT

The farmer sows the seed and God does the rest. What happens in-between is a miracle and a mystery. But Jesus assures His disciples that there will be fruit – “a plentiful harvest of new lives.”

With the second parable, Jesus extends His focus on the mystery of the Kingdom. He gives the impression that He is searching for just the right metaphor to use and He lands on the image of the mustard seed. Jesus states a fact that would have been well-known to His audience. He refers to the mustard seed as “the smallest of all seeds” (Mark 4:31 NLT). But He points out that, when planted, this minuscule, seemingly insignificant seed “becomes the largest of all garden plants; it grows long branches, and birds can make nests in its shade” (Mark 4:32 NLT).

Everyone in His audience knew what a mustard seed was and they all knew what kind of tree it produced. But they had no idea how the transformation from one to the other took place. It was a mystery. And that seems to be Jesus’ point.

Jesus is using the imagery of the mustard seed to illustrate the nature of God’s Kingdom. And what He has to say stands in direct contrast to the expectations of the Jews. They were not looking for a small, insignificant Kingdom that would ultimately grow into something more impressive and impactful. They wanted immediate results. They had been waiting a long time for God to make things right. It had been hundreds of years since they had been a powerful nation with their very own king. So, the thought of having to wait for the “seed” to take root and grow would not have been something they found attractive.

But again, Jesus had come to establish a different kind of Kingdom. Several years later, as He stood before Pilate, the Roman governor, Jesus would declare, “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36 NLT).

Jesus had not come to sit on a throne, but to hang on a cross. He had not come to be exalted to the highest office in the land, but to take “the humble position of a slave” and be “born as a human being” (Philippians 2:7 NLT). Paul goes on to state that Jesus  “humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8 NLT). And as a result of His willing humiliation and sacrificial offering of His own life, “God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11 NLT).

And one day, the exalted King is going to return and set up His Kingdom on earth. But in the meantime, the Word concerning the Kingdom must be faithfully sown. And those who sow must faithfully trust that God will do what only He can do: produce a plentiful harvest of new lives. God is in the business of producing citizens for His Son’s future Kingdom. He is raising up children who will live with He and His Son for eternity. How does He do it? It is a mystery. How long will it take? No one knows. How much fruit will He produce? Who can say. But we must faithfully sow and be ready to reap the harvest that He will produce.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Message (MSG)Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

Missing the Point

1 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” 3 He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? 5 Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? 6 I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. 7 And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. 8 For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.” – Matthew 12:1-8 ESV

From this point forward in his gospel, Matthew will reveal an increasing and palpable tension between Jesus and the Jewish religious leaders. Their disdain for Jesus will grow as His popularity among the people spreads. This obscure rabbi from Nazareth was rocking their religious world by openly contradicting their authority and establishing Himself as some kind of savior of the people. To them, Jesus was nothing more than a charlatan and the next in a long line of would-be Messiahs, attempting to garner His 15-minutes of prominence in the national spotlight.

One of the central themes that will arise in this conflict between Jesus and the Jewish religious leaders will be that of authority. In their minds, they were the sole arbiters of religious rules and decorum. They viewed themselves as the spiritual police force, with responsibility for maintaining a tight reign on the ethical and moral behavior of the people. They were the self-appointed enforcers of the law, and they took their job seriously. These pride-filled men were religious elitists, who looked down their noses at the common people, viewing them as law-breakers and the cause of all the nation’s problems.

It is important to remember what Matthew recorded at the end of chapter 11. He recounted Jesus’ offer of rest to those “who labor and are heavy laden” (Matthew 11:28). And now, Matthew reports a confrontation between Jesus and the Pharisees, all centered around the supposed violation of the laws regarding the Sabbath. For the Jews, the Sabbath, or seventh day of the week, was considered sacred. The ongoing observation of this day had been decreed by God as part of the Ten Commandments.

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” – Exodus 20:8-11 ESV

The Sabbath was to be a day of rest and was intended to be a sign of the covenant between God and the people of Israel.

“Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you.” – Exodus 31:13 ESV

But over time, God’s laws concerning the Sabbath had been heavily appended by the religious leaders, as they added a litany of man-made rules and regulations that made the keeping of the Sabbath onerous and burdensome. According to the Talmud, there were 39 categories of prohibitions tied to the keeping of the Sabbath. The first 11 categories featured restrictions associated with the baking of bread. The next 13 categories detailed rules concerning the making of a garment. Another 9 categories are restricted activities associated with the making of leather. And the final 6 categories were concerned with rules concerning the construction of any building.

In this passage, the disciples of Jesus are accused by the Pharisees as having violated the Sabbath restriction concerning reaping. They were caught picking the heads of grain and eating them. And in their self-righteous fervor, they confront Jesus for having allowed this egregious act to have happened.

“Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” – Matthew 12:2 ESV

But rather than admit any guilt or apologize on behalf of His disciples, Jesus gave the Pharisees a history lesson. He reminded them of a story concerning David that was recorded by the prophet, Samuel. David, who had been anointed by Samuel to be the next king of Israel, was running for his life. The current king, Saul, was out to kill him. So, David and his men came to Ahimelech, the priest in Nob, and requested that he provide them with bread. But all that Ahimelech had available was consecrated bread or the bread of the Presence. This was bread that was set out every Sabbath as an offering to God and, according to the book of Leviticus, was only to be eaten by the priests. But on this occasion, Ahimelech made an exception and gave the bread to David and his men.

This story, which would have been very familiar to the Pharisees, must have caught them off guard. It must have also infuriated them that Jesus was comparing He and His disciples to David and his men. After all, David had been the greatest King Israel ever had. Who was Jesus to place Himself on the same level as the one whom God had deemed “a man after his own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14 ESV)?

And Jesus made it clear that David and his men were in violation of the Sabbath law when they had taken the bread and eaten it.

“…it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?” – Matthew 12:4 ESV

David was the God-appointed and prophet-anointed king of Israel. He had been deemed by God to be Saul’s replacement, but the leadership of Israel had rejected him. David was the rightful ruler of Israel but had been relegated to living as a fugitive and an outcast. His followers were left to beg for assistance from the priest of God, who willingly broke with the accepted religious protocol in order to satisfy their hunger.

But the Pharisees were not about to bend the rules or make any concessions to Jesus and His followers. They were looking for any and every opportunity to expose Jesus as a Sabbath-breaker and serial violator of the law.

Next, Jesus used the priests themselves as examples of those who violate God’s law in order to keep it. In order to fulfill God’s commands concerning the Sabbath sacrifices, the priests must do work.

“‘On the Sabbath day, you must offer two unblemished lambs a year old, and two-tenths of an ephah of finely ground flour as a grain offering, mixed with olive oil, along with its drink offering. This is the burnt offering for every Sabbath, besides the continual burnt offering and its drink offering.’” – Numbers 28:9-10 NET

And Jesus pointed out this seeming discrepancy.

“…on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless?” – Matthew 12:5 ESV

In keeping one command of God, they appear to in violation of another. But they were doing exactly what God had instructed them to do. God had the authority to deem the priests as guiltless when it came to violating the Sabbath because they were obeying His commands.

And then, Jesus makes an intriguing observation that must have left the Pharisees shocked and appalled.

“I tell you, something greater than the temple is here.” – Matthew 12:6 ESV

With this shift from discussing law-keeping to the temple, Jesus was indicating that the temple or house of God operated under a different set of standards. In the temple, the priests were allowed to do things that, for others, would be restricted and in violation of God’s law. The temple provided the priests who worked within it with a dispensation of grace. It allowed them to operate in seeming violation of God’s law while actually fulfilling His divine commands. 

And Jesus announced that He was greater than the temple. As the Son of God, He operated under a divine mandate that granted He and His followers with authority to accomplish God’s will with immunity and impunity. That is why Jesus had no qualms about healing on the Sabbath, which He did regularly and, it seems, deliberately.

Jesus accused the Pharisees of having “condemned the guiltless” (Matthew 12:7 ESV) because they failed to understand His divine nature and God-appointed mission. The temple was where God had promised to dwell with and appear to His people. But now, in Jesus, God had come to dwell among men. The glory of God was no longer restricted to the Holy of Holies but had left the recesses of the temple and entered into the daily lives of the people. Jesus deemed Himself to be the Son of Man and “the Lord of the Sabbath” (Matthew 12:8 ESV). And, as such, He had the authority to grant special dispensations to His followers. They could pick grain on the Sabbath. They could even heal and cast out demons on the Sabbath. Why? Because, in doing so, they would be doing the will of God. 

Jesus accused the Pharisees of being ignorant of the very will of God as expressed in their own Scriptures. He paraphrased the words of God found in the writings of the prophet Hosea.

“For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
    the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” – Hosea 6:6 ESV

The Pharisees were all about law-keeping. They cared nothing for Jesus or His disciples. In their minds, adherence to the law had taken precedence and priority over people. Obeying the commands of God had become more important than knowing God Himself. And their obsession with rules had prevented them from recognizing the Son of God standing in their midst. They loved their laws more than they loved God. And they loved their status as the religious elite more than they loved God’s people. But law-keeping without love is worthless. And elevating the Sabbath over the Lord of the Sabbath makes an idol out of the Sabbath. 

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Message (MSG)Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson