Spiritual Law of Gravity: Sowing Flesh,
Sowing Spirit
Galatians 6: 1-16
Jim Gilman
Introduction
Gravity is a force that helps us understand how the physical universe operates. Similarly, there is a force and law that helps understand how the spiritual universe operates. Paul explains this “spiritual law of gravity” in our lesson from Galatians. This law states “you reap whatever you sow.” Is there any doubt?
We’ve all personally experienced the force of this law. I imagine you can readily think of examples in your own life. A simple example: We are what we eat; we sow a particular diet and reap the harvest of our health or lack of health. If you’re like me, this is a spiritual issue I struggle with daily. Another example. I recall plenty of times when as a student I did not study sufficiently and reaped the harvest of a marginal grade. I reap what I sow. Or think on a larger scale. Or consider the oil spill in the Gulf. If we drill without the knowledge, skill, and technology to plug deep wells that “blow,” then we reap an environmental and economic disaster. Or if as a nation we choose to borrow and spend billions to finance foreign wars, we reap devastating consequences at home, both human and economic. It seems the force of this spiritual law is everywhere, just as Paul says: we reap whatever we sow; the chickens do come home to roost.
So, if this law is so compelling, as it seems to be, then it behooves us to pay a great deal of attention to what we sow. In fact, Paul says, don’t deceive yourself about this law; don’t think you’re life will be an exception to it. Don’t mock God by thinking you can defy the force of this law, or transcend it. God is not mocked; God is not fooled. As certainly as the force of gravity pulls our bodies toward the center of the earth, so we will surely reap in our lives according to the kind of seed we sow.
So, what are we to do? What is it we should sow? And what is it we should not sow? In our lesson today, Paul tells us: He says, if you sow to your flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit. Do “not grow weary in doing what is right,” he says, “for we will reap [the benefits of doing right] at harvest time.”
So, what is the difference between “sowing to the flesh”, as Paul puts it, and “sowing to the Spirit?” That word “flesh” in Paul’s theology is complex and nuanced. What Paul condemns when he uses the word “flesh” is NOT the human body or material things. These are created by God and created by God good. That’s clear from the Bible. Instead, sowing to the “flesh” refers to the selfish and self-centered way we make decisions and make use of our gifts, solely for our own benefit instead of the sake of God’s Kingdom and the benefit of others. In contrast, sowing to the Spirit refers to the selfless and sacrificial way we make decisions and make use of God’s gifts. This selflessness is the “law” and “cross” of Christ” that Paul refers to. He gives an example: he says we can decide to take revenge on someone who has offended us, and try to punish them; that’s sowing to the flesh. Or we can “in a spirit of gentleness,” “restore” the person and make the offender a neighbor; that’s sowing to the Spirit. In fact, that word “restore”, that Paul uses, was used in medicine to refer to an ill person regaining health or to setting a broken bone. Punishing as a response to an offense “the corruption of the flesh;” that is, the broken relationship remains broken, the two parties remain alienated. But responding in a spirit of gentleness reaps a harvest of a restored and reconciled relationship, which is for eternity. We reap what we sow. It’s a force that pulls us toward a moral center; it’s a simple and sensible spiritual law.
Paul gives another example of this difference between sowing to the flesh or to the Spirit. If you want to sow to the Spirit, do two things: (1) “Bear one another’s burdens” and (2) “bear your own burden”. The two are related. One the other hand, if you sow to the flesh you will be reluctant to bear another’s burdens and complain about our own burdens. Think about the excuses we give for not helping others, for not helping to bear their burdens. One I often hear is “God helps those who help themselves.” Nonsense; this is not the gospel I read about in the Bible at all; where God in Christ bears our burdens, even unto death; where we are recipients of God’s great mercy and forgiveness. God expects the same of us; and empowers us to do so. Or thin of the common excuse for not help to bear another’s burdens: they’re lazy and irresponsible. When were you last lazy and irresponsible with the gifts and resources God has given you? And yet God still loves you and in his mercy cares for and carries your burdens. Such kinds of excuses are selfish sowing to the flesh. So it such be no surprise that, as Paul says, we will reap the corruption of the flesh, without the help of others to bear our burdens. Or think of the complaining and whining and grousing we generally do about our own burdens. I do a lot of this, especially to God. And yet my burdens are nothing compared to others, especially compared to the cross Christ bore. Such complaining is selfish and self-centered; sowing to the flesh. And what is the corrupt harvest of such complaining? We double the weight of the burden we complain about; and in so doing falsify the cross of Christ in our lives.
In contrast, Paul commands that we should bear one another’s burdens and bear our own burden courageously. This is sowing to the Spirit. Paul is challenging you and me, as Christians to do for others what Christ has done for us. Think. Now, what you can do this coming week to help bear the burdens of another; perhaps it’s someone you know well; perhaps someone not so well known. What specific action can you take? When can you do it? When can you do it? Don’t think now of your own burden; think first of helping others to bear their burdens. What sacrifice must you make to do it? In so doing, you carry with them the cross Christ calls us to bear. This is sowing to the Spirit. What then do we reap when we bear another’s burden? What is the harvest we glean? What are the natural consequences of helping others? At least two obvious benefits result. It’s no secret that one of them is that others will naturally and eagerly help us bear our burdens. It’s tit for tat; we reap the benefits of the help of others when we bear their burdens. If we sow kindness to others, voila, others show kindness to us. And secondly, when we bear the burdens of others, our burdens are lightened. Jesus himself refers to this benefit; he says that “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” He doesn’t say we won’t have a yoke or burdens, only that they will be bearable. It’s a spiritual law of gravity. It’s amazing grace that when we help bear the burdens of others our own burdens are eased and lightened.
Paul is challenging the Galatians and Christians today. He says, “Test your own work;” examine yourself. Don’t test the work of other people; don’t examine and criticize them. “Test your own work,” he says. Ask yourself as I ask myself: Are you/ am I helping bear the burdens of another as I should? Or, what can I do to bear the burden of another this week? If we follow this bit of practical wisdom, we can be sure that, as Jesus promised, our burdens will be lightened. My God gives us the power of his grace to sow to the Spirit. In doing so, we reap eternal life from the Spirit. May it be so for us today!