"Doing Good to All"

Galatians 6:6-10

Sharing Alike...verse 6: Paul sets forth a reciprocal spiritual/material principle for the Galatian Christians. Namely, if you benefited spiritually from someone who can benefit from you materially, you must help them. This is one of those New Testament teachings we rarely hear preached on or taught on today. Therefore, it is exceedingly rare to see it practiced. Yet, there it stands, staring us in the face.

Actually, our modern American society militates against the implementation of this biblical principle. Most of us have so much, materially speaking, this becomes a moot teaching. But, that may change in time. I have heard some church growth experts suggest that sometime, fairly early in the next millenium, there will be more members of churches of Christ in Africa than in America. This leads to the prospect that we may have missionaries coming to America to evangelize our cities and towns. There is the very real possibility that missionaries from Africa will come here. That means you will have Africans bringing spiritual blessings (i.e. the ministry of the Word) to Americans who have material blessings. In that context, it would be a wonderful thing to see Galatians 6:6 actually practiced.

In I Corinthians 9:11, Paul blatantly states what seems more veiled in Galatians 6:6. He says that those who sow spiritual seed should be able to reap a material harvest. I believe this goes beyond our modern arrangement of paid preachers and missionaries. It was probably more akin to our 19th century practice of circuit-riding preachers who went out and preached without any expectation of pay. But, the Christians in those little churches where they preached, brought eggs and chickens and farm produce, to help the one who shared with them spiritual blessings.

Sowing and Reaping....verse 7-8: The principle of sowing and reaping is an eternal principle. We see it in the physical world every day. The farmer plants his crops in the spring and reaps a harvest in the fall. For thousands of years, we have seen this principle in action. Paul alerts his Galatian readers to the application of this principle to spiritual matters.

He begins by emphasizing that you cannot trick God. The law of sowing and reaping cannot be jury-rigged. It is hard and fast. That is a wonderful blessing when you practice righteousness. It is a heartbreaker when you practice sin. We have all known people who late in life developed lung cancer after years of smoking or cirrhosis of the liver after years of drinking. We kneel at their bedsides and pray for them and weep with their loved ones. At that point, it does no good to say, "I told you so," or, "You are reaping what you sowed." They know that all too well. If only we could convince the young men and women who take up smoking or drinking that the law of sowing and reaping will apply to them. God does not make exemptions for Christians to this immutable law.

This principle applies to so many areas of our lives. Sow sexual promiscuity and reap guilt, pregnancy, and STD's. Sow dishonesty and reap bankruptcy, broken friendships, and lack of trust from everyone you know. Sow materialism and reap an attachment to the here and now and a "rich young ruler" syndrome. Sow hatred and reap a mean spirit, disillusionment, and despair. Sow gossip and reap ruined reputations and lost friends. Satan wants us to believe that there are no real consequences to our actions. "Go ahead and sow," he says, "Don't worry about reaping. Either you won't ever have to reap or it will be so far down the road, it won't matter then." Ever since Eve in the Garden took of the forbidden fruit, we have been falling for his ploy.

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