Sow Well, Reap Much

This Sunday is the first Sunday of the Advent Season. For the next 4 Sundays as a church, we will anticipate the coming of Christ. We will sing songs, that really are good all year round, but especially leading up to Christmas, we will put our faith and hope in Christ, like we should do always, but especially as we anticipate Christ’s incarnate birth. So for the next 4 Sundays, the exhortations will be directly or indirectly tied to Advent Hymns.

One way you can describe the Advent season, is that it is a season of sowing. The world God created, has a woven link between sowing and reaping. If you sow apple seeds, you hope to reap the fruit of your labor with tasty apples. But sowing and reaping doesn’t just apply to agriculture, it is one of the common principles of all of God’s creation.

God’s design even shines through into our common adages. We say things like: “He has to sleep in the bed he made”, or “She is getting a taste of her own medicine”. The chickens come home to roost.

With our actions we sow. With our heart attitudes and affections we sow. And what we reap is in kind of what we sow. This is a Biblical theme through all of scripture, here are just a few examples:

Hosea: “They sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind”

Hosea: “Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love”

Job: “Those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same”

Proverbs: “Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity”

Galatians 6:10: “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.”

There is a sobriety that comes with sowing. You may already be reaping what you have sown, but you may not. Seeds sown today may take a while for their fruit, or thorns to manifest. And sin speaks strongly to us in this gap. We may think, “I lost my patience today, but I suffered no consequence because of it”. We tell ourselves that we won’t reap what we sow. We may say: “I got what I wanted and they finally heard me!” We sow bad seeds but think we are reaping good fruit, or at least not bad fruit.

But the seeds we are sowing just haven’t grown yet. That seed of anger, or grumbling like Israel, will start to grow and take root if it is not pulled out. Our interpretation of our experiences can make us see consequences only as immediate. Yet the internal cost outweighs the external consequence. We are to keep our hearts will all diligence, for from them flows the spring of life. Yet with a narrow view of sin, we think of reaping as only external and immediate consequences, so we can think little of warning like Eccl. 7:9, which says:

“Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the heart of a fool”

That sin of anger or grumbling, starts to cling so close and soon entangles us. It lodges in our hearts, and what we have sown we are now reaping. And what was sown and has now grown, does not pull out as easy at it could have once. The unseen roots are deep, long before any from of fruit is seen.

This is the sobriety of sin, and the sobriety of Advent. What could be so bad that God himself must take on flesh and die to remedy it? It is our sin. We need to be rescued from our sin. But this also brings the hope and joy of advent. Jesus came and reaped what we have sown, so that we may reap what He has sown.

Advent is a season of sowing. We reap according to what we sow. So, this Advent season, Sow well to reap much. I know there is snow outside, but don’t be fooled, and don’t miss the advent season of sowing. Make a paper chain, light a few advent candles, or pick up an Advent guide from the back. Sow anticipation, and reap the fulfillment of it. Sow longing for rescue and reap the hope of His coming. More sure than Dec. 25th, is the reality of Christ’s return. In faith, we rehearse Christ’s first coming, because we know there will be a second.

Pray with me.

Isaiah 7:14: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

Father, with Israel, we long for Jesus, the Messiah, Immanuel to come and tend to the garden of our hearts, pull the weeds of sin from our hearts, as we silently confess our sins to you now.

“O come, O come, Emmanuel” (Lyrics)

O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel
O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny
From depths of Hell
Thy people save
And give them victory o’er the grave
Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, o Israel
O come, Thou Day-Spring
Come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death’s dark shadows put to flight
Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, o Israel
O come, Thou Key of David, come
And open wide our heavenly home
Make safe the way that leads on high
And close the path to misery
Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, o Israel
O come, O come, Thou Lord of might
Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai’s height
In ancient times did’st give the Law
In cloud, and majesty and awe
Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, o Israel