A lot of people are familiar with sowing and reaping. They are terms most often used when preachers are talking about money. These terms have a broader and much more important scope than merely finances though. In-fact in more places than you might imagine when the Bible uses the terms sowing and reaping, it is talking about righteousness.

 

Today we will be examining how to sow on what the Bible defines as good ground, and also what the bad ground is and how to avoid it. As we explore this topic, we will also be equipped to better understand what Jesus was referring to in His parable of the seed and the sower.

 

Sowing and reaping in the Bible is generally thought of as a merit principle:  “do this, and you will get that.” This idea is usually promoted by preachers talking about giving to the church: “give X amount of money, and you will get Y blessings.”

 

This idea however, is not what the Bible teaches, nor is it what the Bible is referring to when you see the terms “sowing and reaping”. In-fact, it may surprise some of you to learn that the main commodity in the Bible is Righteousness, and it is something that can not be earned or worked-for, but it is a free gift of grace given to us by Jesus Christ. Yet it is not free because it is of cheap value… It is free because it is priceless. It is of so extreme value that to even put a price on it would cheapen it.

 

The scriptures that we will be studying today will show us the secret of how to “grow in grace”. Some of you may have heard this term before, but have never bee told what it really means. So please allow me to demystify it for you. Growing in grace simply means to receive more of it personally in your life.

It does not mean that you have to work for it, try harder, or do more good to get more of it. Remember that grace and righteousness are free gifts from God, priceless gifts that we can not earn or purchase.

 

So then, what does growing in grace refer to? To use a simple analogy, it means learning how to bring a larger plate to the dinner table of Jesus. The more we grow in grace, the more we are able to freely receive from Him. Not because He somehow loves us more, but we open up more to Him and we stop limiting Him as we grow in grace.

 

Now that the foundation is set, we are ready explore the Bible definition of sowing and reaping found in Jeremiah 4:1-3:

 

“If you will return, O Israel, says the LORD, return to me: and if you will put away your abominations out of my sight, then will you not be moved.

And you will swear, The LORD lives, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations will bless themselves in him, and in him will they glory.

For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.”

 

There are some very interesting details in these verses. First we see in verse 1 that a prerequisite for anything is first coming to the LORD. When we read “put away your abominations” we should understand that the Hebrew word for “abominations” there is “idol” or “idolatry”.

 

We must always come to God honestly and openly without holding anything back. It’s not about doing this to get something, but it is a matter of who do you consent to be you guardian? If you have something that you are more committed to than God, then that thing is your guardian, your protector and your provider. It’s as simple as that.

 

Next in verse 2, we can see the importance of our words. I teach about words quite often because the Bible is very specific about the power our words have, and how vital they are to our faith and relationship with God – even over our very life. This verse tells us what we should be declaring. The truth and the glory and the righteousness of God, as well as all the things He does for us and the good gifts which He gives us. The word “bless” means to speak well of… So we can understand its usage in this verse to tell us that we should be building ourselves up in Christ. We should be speaking well of ourselves, not in a prideful way, but it is perfectly okay to boast in what Jesus has done for us.

By doing this, we are sowing in good ground, and we reap the glory of God.

 

Verse 3 tells us something about the wrong kind of ground to sow in; and that is that we should not “sow among thorns”. Whenever thorns is mentioned in the Bible, it is a picture of cares and worries and there are quite a few pastors and leaders who have built their ministry around cares and worries in the form of sin-consciousness today.

When you hear a sermon on the ten commandments and you leave the service condemned, feeling the weight of your sin instead of the righteousness of Jesus Christ, that is bad ground to be avoided. And there are a lot of thorny Christians and thorny preachers sowing into this wrong ground

 

Notice also that verse 3 tells us also what type of ground which we should be sowing into… It says “Break up your fallow ground.” In modern English that means to till your freshly plowed land.

 

And what is this fresh land? The land we have just learned about in the two previous verses 1 and 2. The land of righteousness and well-spoken blessings of the LORD. Instead of being sin-conscious, we are to be righteousness-conscious. Instead of feeling the wight of our failures, we are to feel the excitement and joy of God’s favor on us. Instead of speaking down and uttering curses, we are to be proclaiming the blessing of the LORD in our lives continually.

 

My friends, what is being described here is not behavior modification – that would be empty without substance. What this truly shows is a different heart for the truth of God. When we have meditated on the truths of what Jesus Christ has done for us and realize that it is not just a nice idea, but it is a reality in our lives, it will change us. The reality that God is not just an imaginary friend, but a real and loving Father that watches over us, protects us, provides for us and cares deeply for us; that truth will change our behavior and nullify all of our cares, worries and fears… and what will be left is pure joy.

 

This is the ground for us to sow in. Yet we can not successfully sow in this land without the first-step in verse 1, we must value Christ and remove all idols (including ourselves). If our own desires and knowledge exceed our consideration of God and what He says, then our seed will fail and not grow.

 

This is what Jesus was talking about in the parable of the sower and the seed. Let’s read Matthew 13:3-9:

 

“And he spoke many things to them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;

And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:

Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:

And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.

And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:

But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.

Who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

 

The enemy will try any tactic in an effort to choke the seed being planted. Whether to focus our attention on worldly things, cares, worries, or even ourselves. However as we stay focused on the truth of God’s Word and the finished work of Christ, the seed will spring forth and produce a harvest of blessings for us.

 

This is the truth of God. Does it seem too simple? That’s the beauty of it, and that is the glory of God to make it so exceedingly simple and easy for us. Focus on Jesus, and watch the seeds grow!