The Laws of Sowing and Reaping

In 2Corinthians 9:6 Paul the apostle states a simple yet immutable law— “He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully”.

Paul uses a farming metaphor here. In farming you’ll only reap in proportion to how much you sow. You can’t sow five or six seeds and expect to harvest an entire field.

In fact there are 3 laws of sowing and reaping that we need to understand:

1. You will reap what you sow

Or in other words you will reap after the same kind as you have sown. God said in Genesis as a law of sowing and reaping, “Let everything bring forth after its kind” (Genesis 1:11)

So in other words if you sow corn you’re not going to harvest wheat. If you sow tomato seeds you won’t reap watermelons—it’s a law of sowing and reaping—you reap what you sow.

This law also applies spiritually—

Galatians 6:7-8 (NKJV)
⁷ Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. ⁸ For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption (hell), but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.

This also applies to marriage and children. If you sow love, kindness, respect and unselfishness into your marriage you’re going to reap the fruit of a healthy and blessed marriage. If you sow the Word of God, love and a godly example into your children’s lives you will reap godly adults that love the Lord when they grow up.

2. You will reap after you sow

The harvest comes after the planting—and for a believer that can be torturous at times because you keep sowing and sowing and sowing good seed into your marriage, your children, or into your business or ministry but you don’t yet see any good fruit for all your faithfulness and hard work and that can be very hard.

It’s hard because we live in an instant gratification society (instant coffee, instant mashed potatoes, instant on T.V.’s and instant cameras).

And so we want instant results spiritually—but that’s not the way it works in physical farming which is why Paul used a farming metaphor. The farmer doesn’t plant seeds in his field on Monday and picks fruit on Tuesday–it takes time to grow good things. And the same is true with spiritual sowing and reaping.

So what must we learn?

1.) We must learn to exercise faith that God is at work even if we can’t see anything happening—”Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing [by faith] that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 15:58)

2.) And we must learn to exercise patience—”And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart”. (Galatians 6:9)

So we will reap good things if we’re patient and don’t give up sowing good seeds (deeds).

But this also works in the negative. The unbeliever or backslidden Christian who is living with their boyfriend or girlfriend; or the person who is having an affair; or taking drugs or is involved with internet pornography or messing with the occult.

They make the mistake of thinking, “Nothing bad has happened to me so far. My life is being blessed so it can’t really be wrong.”

No, the harvest comes later—sometimes years later when the lung cancer shows up because of the smoking; or the cirrhosis from years of drinking; or AIDS from the sexual promiscuity; or the marriage fails after years of infidelity or internet pornography.

Earnest Hemingway lived a very sinful life and used to laugh at Christians who told him that if he didn’t stop living the way he was living and turn his life over to Christ he would suffer the consequences. He mocked them by saying he was living the way he wanted, drinking, carousing and yet he was famous and successful and nothing bad had happened to him yet. “I won’t reap any consequences” he used to say. That is until ten years later when his years of sinning caught up to him and he committed suicide.

You see nobody violates the Word of God with impunity, nobody violates God’s law without paying the consequences—you don’t break God’s law, God’s law breaks you.

You don’t reap before you sow—you reap after you sow or, if we’re talking about sin, while you continue to sow but it often doesn’t happen right away.

And the classic mistake these people often make is thinking because they aren’t suffering any negative consequences now and in fact seem to be being blessed by God it’s not wrong what they’re doing or how they’re living.

The reason they are misinterpreting their circumstances is because the goodness and grace of God often aren’t removed immediately from a person’s life once they start down the path of sin.

But make no mistake—God is not blessing you in your sin or because of your sin, He is blessing you inspite of your sin because He wants His continued goodness and blessing in your life to bring you to repentance. (Romans 2:4)

3. You will reap more than you sow

If you plant one apple seed you will get an entire apple tree with many apples on it each containing many seeds.

If you plant one grain of wheat you will get a whole stalk containing many grains of wheat.

In fact Jesus Himself said in John 12:24—”Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain”.

Jesus here is using a farming metaphor to teach a spiritual truth—that if we live our lives for ourselves we will not produce any fruit for the Kingdom; but if we die to self and live for God we will produce much fruit for the Kingdom.

The Lord put it this way in Mark 8:35, “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it”.

If a person seeks to save their life now (live for themselves) they will lose eternal life in heaven; but if they lose their life now (deny themselves and live for God) they will save it and spend eternity in heaven with the Lord.

Now when Paul said in 2Corinthians 9:6, “He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully”, he was applying this principle to giving to God.

He is essentially saying that we can’t out give God.

If you give to Him with the right heart He will take it and multiply it—look at the little boy who gave his ‘sack lunch’ of 5 small barley crackers and 2 small pickled fish to Jesus who then multiplied it and fed 5000 men plus women and children.

I don’t know how the Lord will multiply what you give to Him. You might not even see how in this life–but He will multiply it abundantly and use it to build His Kingdom so have faith and be patient!

Remember, the harvest we will reap in heaven will far exceed what we have sown here on earth because we can only serve the Lord for 20, 30, 40, 50 or even 60 years on this earth but we will reap an eternity of blessings in heaven someday.

However the same is true for the unbeliever. He or she can only live for themselves and their pleasure while living on this earth for however long that might be–but then they will reap an eternity of separation from God in hell.

So there you have the laws of sowing and reaping—what are you sowing in your life today? And are you going to be happy with what you’re going to reap down the road in this life and for eternity?

Why don’t you fall on the ground and die to self now by repenting and receiving Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?

If you start sowing a life of obedience to Him now you will reap the blessings of it forever.

May the Lord richly bless you as you walk with Him day by day.

Pastor Phil