Precious SeedPreaching the word, in season and out of season; reproving, rebuking, and exhorting, with complete patience and teaching.

“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”

Galatians 6:7-8

Every spring, growing up on a farm, we would plant crops. Alfalfa, corn, and oats would be our main crops. Each summer and fall we would reap a harvest. Now it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that when alfalfa was sown, alfalfa would be reaped. When corn was sown, corn would be harvested and when oats were sown, oats would be reaped in harvest. The principle in nature simply stated is that you will reap what you have sown. But this principle is also true in our own lives as well and can be found throughout the scriptures.

Galatians 6:7-8 says, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.” As I think on these verses, a couple of examples come to mind from the scriptures.

In Exodus we read the story of Pharaoh and his dealings with the people of God, the Israelites. I find it interesting that Pharaoh ordered every Israelite boy born to be thrown and drowned in the Nile River. Pharaoh sowed hate, murder, and destruction. Some time later we know that Pharaoh’s own son died on the night of the Passover. Also, just as he had desired to destroy the nation of Israel by drowning their children, he and his army were destroyed as God closed the waters of the Red Sea over them.

In the Old Testament book of Esther, a man named Haman despised and hated the people of God. He made a plan to exterminate them. He went so far as to have a great gallows built on which he planned to hang his enemies – especially a man named Mordecai who had been faithful to the Lord.

Would you believe that Haman ended up being hanged on his own gallows! It’s true. He reaped what he had sown.

All of us have a choice in how we sow in life. If we choose to sow “weeds” (hate, discord, gossip, unforgiveness, bitterness, criticism) we are certain to reap the same. But if we choose to sow love, forgiveness, peace, encouragement, goodness, kindness, and the like, we stand to reap such unto eternal life.

Let me encourage all who read this with the words of Paul, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9)

Day after day, opportunity after opportunity comes our way. Let us do good to all people. Not only will their life see some encouragement, but you will know the blessing of reaping the fruit of the Spirit.

Pastor Jeff York

Weekends with Pastor Chuck

Each weekend the CCRussell blog brings you an excerpt from one of Pastor Chuck Smith’s many books. Pastor Chuck is the senior pastor of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. This weekend’s excerpt is from chapter one of Why Grace Changes Everything.

One very common way of trying to become righteous is to define what righteousness is and isn’t, to set up a code, and then live according to this code. There’s only one problem: No one ever lives up to their own code, so we conjure up a great number of excuses to explain why we fail. The most common is that our failure isn’t really our fault.

If I drop a glass and break it, it isn’t that I am uncoordinated; it’s because someone called me when he shouldn’t have. Others were making too much noise in the other room, so my mistake is really their fault. “Look what you caused me to do!” I say. “You made me do it, so it isn’t my fault.” None of us like to accept blame.

This attitude goes all the way back to Adam. He blamed his failure on Eve. “The woman that you gave to be my wife,” he told God, “it’s her fault that I am the way I am” (see Genesis 3:12). Proverbs declares, “There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness” (Proverbs 30:12).

If you think you are a very pure person and yet are not washed from your filthiness, righteousness has evaded you. The Bible says, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us… If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (I John 1:8,10). Scripture states our problem clearly: “All the world [stands] guilty before God… all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:19,23).

Whenever we try to establish our righteousness by keeping rules, eventually we are forced to admit we operate on a sliding scale. I will always look morally better to myself than I do to you, and you will always look morally worse to me than you do to yourself. I can look at your life and see all kinds of flaws; but when I look at myself, the few flaws I notice don’t seem so bad.

Even the righteousness I can achieve by what I do is only a sham righteousness. The Bible declares, “We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6).

If our relationship with God depended upon being righteous and good, we would never make it.

It’s almost comical to see some people parade around in their rags. They saunter around with their “holier than thou,” gaudy kind of religiosity, with a hyperspiritual air about them. They talk in whispered tones because they think it sounds holy and righteous. They use King James English because, as we all know, “Thees” and “Thous” are far more righteous than “yous” and “yours.” We see them puffed out in their righteousness, strutting around, showing off… and God shakes His head and says, “Filthy rags.”

If my relationship with God depended upon my being righteous and good, I would never make it. I have failed. I have come short of the glory of God. The best that I can manage is when I am having a good day, my biorhythms are right, and everything is going well – really flowing. I’m cool. Man, I am really something. But even on my best days God looks down and says, “Filthy rags.” My best efforts simply aren’t enough.

Trying to keep the law condemns me, for the true law deals with inward attitudes. Back when I labored under this standard of self-righteousness, I found I resented certain things other people were doing. I became bitter. I realized that I hated certain people and that I was jealous and covetous of the things they owned. I noticed I had violated my own code and had wiped out my relationship with God. Nothing was left to do but to start all over again.

Unfortunately, just about the time I would feel as though I were restoring a right relationship with God, something happened. I blew up and down I went again. I would be forced to start climbing the ladder of good works once more until I got to the rung where I finally felt I could relate to God. No sooner would I reach that rung, however, than somebody would pull a stupid move on the freeway and I would yell, “Where did you get your driver’s license, you idiot?” And the whole process would start all over again.

From “Why Grace Changes Everything” by Pastor Chuck Smith.

Next week: What’s The Standard?

“He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol? They say, ‘The LORD does not see us; the LORD has forsaken the land.’ “

Ezekiel 8:12

Ezekiel was enduring captivity in Babylon. The nation of Judah had been defeated by King Nebuchadnezzar. Their king, Jehoiachin, had been made a prisoner and Jehoiachin’s uncle had been installed in Jerusalem as a puppet king who ruled at Nebuchadnezzar’s whim. Long ago God had brought His people out of slavery in Egypt and given them a land of their own, just as He had promised to Abraham. However, because of the people’s unfaithfulness to Yahweh and their worship of other gods they were once again enslaved by a foreign power. This judgment on Judah had come only after a similar judgment had fallen on the northern kingdom of Israel, when that kingdom was overthrown by the Assyrians. Anyone would think that God’s people would have learned the consequences of worshipping idols.

In Chapter eight, Ezekiel is taken in a vision to the temple in Jerusalem. There he is shown a horrible sight – an idol has been set up at the very entrance to the inner court of the temple. Ezekiel must have been horrified. In this holy place where God has promised His people that He would dwell with them in a special way, they had broken the first two of God’s most sacred laws – worshipping anything but the one true God by setting up an idol. Ezekiel’s heart must have been broken. Clearly the remnant that God had graciously allowed to remain in Jerusalem had not learned the foolishness of idol worship. Imagine Ezekiel’s shock when he was told by his guide, “…you will see things that are even more detestable.” (verse 6)

Ezekiel is then shown a hole in the wall and told to dig. He uncovers a door and is told to, “…go in and see the wicked and detestable things they are doing [there].” Inside Ezekiel finds the walls covered with images of crawling things, detestable animals, and all the idols of Israel. As he presses further in he sees 70 of the elders of Israel, the very people who should be leading the people in repentance and righteousness, each one offering incense and worshipping at the shrine of their own idol. God then reveals to Ezekiel what these wicked leaders are saying in their hearts, “The LORD does not see us: the LORD has forsaken the land.”

How often do we attempt to hide our sin, not only from those around us, but from God Himself? What foolishness! The same God that we rely on to be by our side when we need Him most is surely right there when we sin. How could be possibly think to hide anything from Him? How many times do we put on a “righteous face” for our Christian brothers and sisters when we know that deep in our hearts we’re harboring secret sin? In James 5:16 we’re commanded to “…confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” I have discovered that there is great freedom in confessing my sins and asking for prayer from my Christian brothers. It frees to live a life without pretense. I no longer need to put up a false front so that others think I’m better than I really am. Like Paul, I want my life to be a “letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody.” (2 Cor. 3:2). Our lives should be open books.

I urge you, if you have sin in your life, turn to God in repentance and allow the blood of Jesus to wash you inside and out. He wants to restore you and He already knows what you’ve done. Believe me; you won’t be taking God by surprise.

Pastor Jim Stowe

This is what the LORD says to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem: “Break up your unplowed ground and do not sow among thorns.”

Jeremiah 4:3

Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers righteousness on you.

Hosea 10:12

Fallow ground is ground that is left unattended. Fallow ground is not cultivated, planted, or cared for. Such ground will not produce much fruitfulness.

As a child growing up on a farm; I remember the arduous task of clearing acres of land in order to be able to plant crops to reap a harvest of fruit. It was back-breaking work – cutting thorn apple, poplar, briars, and removing rocks. Stumps had to be removed. Only after the acreage was cleared of these things could the soil be plowed. Clumps of sod would need to be broken up and removed. More rock collecting and piling would be needed. Disking, dragging, and a continual working of the soil was needed and still it was not yet ready to be planted.

After years of inactivity, improvements were needed to help the crop to grow. Lime, nitrogen, potassium, and yes, fertilizer would be added and the work didn’t stop there. After planting, care was still needed to ensure a fruitful harvest. Continual cultivation was necessary.

My family stopped farming some years ago. Left unattended and uncultivated, it has not taken long for weeds, briars, and thorn apples to reclaim what was once theirs.

You know, over the years I have come to realize our hearts and lives are very much like the soil I used to work growing up. There have been periods in my life when I have grown cold, hard, critical, unloving, uncaring, and unforgiving. Not much fruit seems evident in my life at these times – only weeds. At such times I know I have stopped or neglected to care for the soil of my heart.

In Jeremiah 4:3 and Hosea 10:12, the prophets exhort us to break up the fallow ground of our hearts and lives. Let me be so bold as to ask you a question or two. Do you feel alone? Do you find it hard to love or care for others? Would you say that you are just not a happy person? Might I encourage you to break up the fallow ground of you heart. How, you ask? Hosea says it’s time to seek the Lord. Cry out to Jesus. Meditate on His Word. Cultivate an attitude of gratefulness, thanksgiving, and praise in your heart. Choose to sing. Laugh again. Don’t be afraid to do good. Enjoy life and the weeds, briars, and thorn apples will be cleared from the soil of your heart and life and once again you will know what it is like to enjoy fruitful living.

Pastor Jeff York