We will take our text from Mark 4:14 where Jesus is teaching his disciples about the law of sowing and reaping, and the lesson regarding the different types of soil, which says, “The sower soweth the word.”
Sowing and reaping is the natural law that God established for the world. Without it the world and its substance could not continue. It is evident in everything. According to Genesis 1:11,12, 21 and 24, everything produces after its kind. Herbs, fruit, grain, fish, cattle, fowls, insects, or anything else you might name. It was God who made everything to reproduce after its kind. Even in verse 26 and 27 regarding mankind, God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. So, God created man in his own image.” Hence, the law of sowing and reaping was established. If you want corn, you must plant corn. If you want beans, you must plant beans. If you want a man, you must have the union of the seed of man and the womb of a woman.
There will be difficulties in sowing and reaping, but they must be overcome. Firstly, after the fall of Adam, things became more difficult for mankind. They had to being to work harder to sow, and to reap. Secondly, they had to earn their bread by the sweat of their brow. Thirdly, this was part of the curse put upon them because of sin; And from that time until now the condition of the world has steadily seemed to be getting worse. I suppose as sin abounds, the sowing and reaping process gets a little more complicated. Fourthly, just as there are difficulties in growth in the natural law of sowing and reaping, there difficulties in the spiritual law of sowing and reaping. Fifthly, I believe that one of the greatest hindrances to our church work is the fact that men have grown weary and discouraged and have quit before harvest time. Sixthly, it is therefore very vital for us to understand God’s laws of sowing and reaping, so that we will not get discouraged and quit before the harvest time arrives. A worker if he does not understand the process, may feel that his labor has been in vain, and will leave discouraged.
Growth can sometimes be very slow. Firstly, there are certain kinds of seeds, and trees, and various types of crops that take a long time to produce a harvest. Secondly, winter wheat is a very good example of this. It is almost a year from the time you sow the wheat until you reap the harvest. It goes through a winter season and can appear as though it is dead. It is then frozen by the winter winds and really looks beyond saving. Thirdly, if someone did not know, if they had never been told what to expect, they would have been so surprised and discouraged to see it frozen and brown, that they would not have waited to reap it. It would have made no sense to them at all. Fourthly, there are many things such as fruit trees that do not produce a crop for several years period. An apple tree will take from five to ten years to even start to produce a crop of any size, and it will take even longer than that before it is at peak production.
Fifthly, it is amazing how many seeds will lay dormant in the ground for many years, perhaps even from ten to twenty years, until proper conditions arise, such as being turned up to the sun or receiving the proper amount of moisture and heat, and then after all those years it will begin to grow. Sixthly, you would not think that there was a seed there if you did not know it had been planted years before. You would think that it would either grow the first year or that it would never grow, but that is not the case. I think sometimes the reasons we get discouraged and quit in the work of God is because we fail to understand the law of sowing and reaping.
Paul’s writings to the Galatians are very thought provoking. Galatians 6:7-9 says, “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. And let us not be weary in well doing for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” You can notice here that it says, ‘for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap’. That is true whether it is good seed or evil seed. There will be a day of reaping no matter what it is that you have sown. But to us as workers, gospel workers, it still says, ‘whatsoever you sow you shall reap.’ I want this to get into our hearts and souls, that if we sow the seed of the word of God, and if we sow it properly, and if we will have the patience to wait, there will be a day of reaping. There is a proper way to sow, and one reaps according to how he sows.
Let us look at this from the viewpoint of the ministry and the salvation of souls that are at stake. If we can get this into our minds and into our hearts it can be a lasting blessing all the days of our life. We have seen far too many workers go out and stay for a little while and then get fed up and quit and go home before it is time for the harvest. There have been places such as our work in Cape Town, South Africa for instance, where the word was preached for over twenty years by one couple, then another thirteen years by another group, and little results were seen. Almost all the workers would not listen or take advice or teaching from anyone. A third couple came to the same place where many had already quit because of lack of understanding of the reaping and sowing process, and thankfully they stayed, and they began to see a harvest of souls.
We are thankful each day to God for the things that are happening in our area. To God we give all the glory for bringing us all here in Crofton, Kentucky, to this time of reaping or we would not have been here in this group as we are today. It thrills us to see the potential that we have amongst us. If we will all be faithful sowers of the seed and if we will have the patience to wait, we can reap a harvest even greater. This ought to be our daily prayer and the cry of our heart and the yearning of our soul as we walk day by day, “Oh God, give as a harvest of souls.” If we have a harvest it will have to be done quickly because we do not have long to wait, for the end is near and we know that whatsoever a man soweth that shall he reap the scripture stated. But let us remember verse nine again which said, “…and let us not be weary in well doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not.” Do not be among those who faint before harvest time.
Another good example is our work in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in the United States of America. Just telling it like it was. They all said just quit and give up. But we believed that God never makes a mistake. His word is true, his grace is sufficient, and he will help us fight our battles. And we can say today to God be the glory, because there is a substantial work in Sioux Falls today. We believed that the law of God would work. We knew that it would work easier in some places than in others and that not every place would be the same. The Bible tells us that the people were more noble in one city than in another. Jesus told his disciples, ‘If they will not hear you in one city, shake the dust off your feet and go on to another.” But we knew that with the great number of people, and the vast population we had in the cities we worked in, we would be certain that there would be some who were hungry for the word of God who would believe and receive the truth. And they did.
The will of God is also vital to our success. It is a wonderful thing, it is an important thing, and it is a rewarding thing, to know the will of God for your life. Knowing the place, you should go and the things you should do gives us reassurance. It helps us to be patient until the time for reaping comes. With that it we may be tempted to feel that we have made a mistake, or that we have gone to the wrong place, or that we are doing the wrong thing. Always remember there is a law that God himself has put into place. If you do well, and if you sow the seed of the word, you will reap a harvest.
We will reap in proportion to our sewing. Paul stated in 2 Corinthians 9:6, “But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.” This is another guide to God’s law of sowing and reaping. If you sow a little you will reap little, but if you sow bountifully, you will reap bountifully or abundantly. The person who always sows in the back garden cannot expect to reap the same amount as he that sows ten acres, nor with the abundance of the one who sows a thousand acres. There is no shortage of field, for the field is the world. There is no shortage of seed, for the Word of God is the seed. Therefore, let us sow bountifully.
Seed should be sown with tears. Psalm 126:5-6 says, “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goes forth and weeps, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” Here we have instructions as to how the seed should be sown. There are very specific instructions given. There are two shalls here, “they shall sow in tears, and they shall reap in joy.” Tears with the sowing, and joy with the reaping. There will be a reward for sowing in tears. I have often said that the word of God, which is the seed of the Kingdom, grows better when watered with tears of compassion. So, we need such a burden for lost souls that it will cause the tears of compassion to flow freely. You will notice that the subject of this passage is ’they’, and ‘they’ means anyone who will. No one is excluded from sewing in tears and no one is excluded from reaping in joy.
You will notice that the seed is called ‘precious seed.’ Precious means, of great price or value, costly or highly esteemed. Some of the things which it is associated with in the Bible is: precious gold, precious ointment, precious rubies, precious cornerstone, precious faith, precious blood of Christ. What a privilege to have the precious seed sown in a human part and what a privilege to be able to sow the precious seed. Then the unfailing promise to the weeping sower is, “shall doubtless come again bringing his sheaves with him.” Which means without question he shall reap a harvest. Sheaves, which are the souls you win, will be personalized. I do not understand exactly how, but there is something about the ‘sheaves’ that the Lord lets you win, that will be a credit to your account. You shall return bringing your sheaves with you the scripture says. When the trumpet of God sounds and we rise to meet the Lord in the air, and after a while we look around to see who is there, I think the greatest joy that we can have will be to find sheaves that have been checked to our credit. To realize that someone is there because of you, will be the greatest joy you could ever know.
In James 5:20 we read, “Let him know, that he which converts the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins.” It is in your power and might to convert or change a sinner and cause him to turn to God so that he might be saved. It is in our power by the grace of God. So, may God help us to be sincere and earnest about it so that we can rescue the perishing. The promise is sure, and the reward is certain. Praise the Lord for the seed of the word. Notice, the precious seed watered with tears will bring forth fruit, but watering without the seed is not sufficient, there will be no harvest. We can cry all the time with tears that may seem sincere, but except we sow the seed, the tears will be fruitless. There is nothing that will bring forth a harvest but seed. There is nothing that will bear fruit but seed. The bottom line is there is no substitute for the seed. If we want a harvest, we must sow the seed.
Notice, when the harvest is ready it must be properly reaped, or it will be wasted. The fallow ground can cause seed to be wasted as well. Hosea 10:12 says, “Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.” There must be a proper condition in our lives if we want to see revival and if we want to see souls saved. Here is the plan for reaping, not only for the worker but for the church also. The seed must be sewn in righteousness, then we shall reap in mercy. Fallow ground is unused ground that is laying waste. It does not produce much of a crop because it is shallow and dry and is generally the opposite of fertile ground. It will be filled with nothing but briars, thorns, and weeds.
Matthew 13:8 speaks of the thirty-fold, sixty-fold and one-hundred-fold ground. Jesus continued to speak and explain the parable, “But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.” We cannot sort out the ground that will bring forth a hundredfold, if we could, we would be foolish for wasting our time on any other type of ground. Everyone knows that if you have much of a field that some of the seed will not get into good ground but will be wasted, however, we must just remember your responsibility and duty is to sow the seed. In the Old Testament we read in Ecclesiastes 11:6, “In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.” We must be patient because we do not know what the result of our sowing will be.
We must learn to sow beside water. Isaiah 32:20 says, “Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass.” When we sow seed, we sow wherever there are people. The field is the world. The people of the world are the ‘every creature’ we are commanded to preach to. Let us sow the precious seed everywhere and pray that God will give us an abundant harvest. There are four areas in which the seed falls, but only one area brings forth fruit unto eternal life. I do not think that this means that one fourth of all the people who hear the word of God will receive it and bear fruit, but that there are four types of people upon which the seed falls. There are many who here, but only a few who take heed and obey.
The direction is in the seed. Not only is the germ of life in every seed, but the instructions for growth are in the seed as to the kind of growth that will come forth, such as: how tall will the plant get, how bushy will the plant be, what kind of fruit will the plant bear, what color will the fruit be, how much time will it take for the plant to be at full maturity, etc.? Onion seeds will all produce the same kind of stalks. Tomato seeds will all produce similar vines and fruit. Melon seeds will produce the same kind of vines and leaves. Fruit trees will grow about the same height, with the same leaves and fruit. Tomatoes will be red, yellow, or green, carrots will be yellow or orange, corn will be yellow or white, and wheat will be golden, according to the kind of seed that is chosen and sown. When you plant the seed, you do not have to instruct it on how to grow. All the instructions are innately built into the seeds. This would be called miraculous. And so, it is spiritually as well. The Word of God, which is the seed of the kingdom of God, will produce God-like people. The Word of God contains all the directions needed for spiritual growth for our daily living in righteousness, for bearing fruit as soul winners, and for the new Christian. We are to be like him, and this comes through a miracle of his grace. We follow the instructions and leave the results up to God.
Proverbs 11:30 states, “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that wins souls is wise.” Your approach means a lot when trying to win a soul to the Lord. If you criticize them, you will lose them before you can win them. Your attitude must be right. Do not tell them they are going to hell or tell them that they don’t have any faith at all. They need someone who will love them and can understand them and help them to see the light of the truth. We must pray that God will give us wisdom to know how to accomplish this great task that is before us. There is much more that could be said on this subject, but it will help us if we remember the words in Ecclesiastes 11:1 which says, “Cast your bread upon the waters for thou shalt find it after many days.”
Allow me to share a thought provoking poem with you in conclusion by Eva Traverse Poole, called ‘What are you doing?’
What are you doing, Christian? Is it work for Christ thy Lord?
Art, thou winning many sinners by thy life, thy pen, thy word?
When the solemn question cometh, what will thine answer be?
Canst, thou point to something finished, saying, “Lord, my work for Thee!”
What doest thou in service? Art thou an active part?
Our life and tongue in earnest, outflow of loving heart?
Or art thou idly gazing while others toil and sow,
content with simply praising the earnestness they show.
What sowest thou, redeemed one, child of a mighty King?
What glory to thy Father doth thy princely bearing bring?
If no one brought Him honor, and no one gave Him praise,
to thee it appertaineth the paean-note to raise.
What doest thou here? Wherever thine earthly lot be cast.
Oh, let each hour and moment, in gladsome work be passed!
Here come, thou mayest sit and win a crown,
Starlit and gem-surrounded, to cast before His throne.