“Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” —Galatians 6:7–8
One of humanity’s highest sins is that of being a ridiculous farmer. The principle of sowing and reaping was sown in to the soil of creation at creation. It cannot be undone.
“And God said ‘Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.’ And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:11–12).
You cannot sow peppers and reap watermelons. We try to mock God, but the joke ends up on us. But are we really so foolish? Yes! Men think you can plant a monkey and reap a man. Men think that if you sow a boy in just the right soil you can grow a woman. God is not mocked. It is man who looks ridiculous. A straight face doesn’t alter who the joke is on.
You cannot sow sin and reap life. God told Adam that in the day he ate of the forbidden tree he would surely die. We’ve been trying to eat what is forbidden ever since, expecting health and happiness. All sin is an attempted mockery of God. Ralph Venning quotes John Bunyan on this point before adding his own riff.
“In short, sin is the dare of God’s justice, the rape of his mercy, the jeer of his patience, the slight of his power, the contempt of his love, as one writer prettily expresses this ugly thing. We may go on and say, it is the upbraiding of his providence (Psalm 50), the scoff of his promise (2 Peter 3:3-4), the reproach of his wisdom (Isaiah 29:16). And as is said of the Man of Sin (i.e. who is made up of sin) it opposes and exalts itself above all that is called God (and above all that God is called), so that it as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing itself as if it were God (2 Thessalonians 2. 4).”
Churches are full of such attempted mockery because they are full of sin yet full of promises of “Peace! Peace!” when there is no peace. The punchline will one day come, “Depart from me, I never knew you.” The seed packet may say “church,” but it is not God’s Word that is being sown. The tares may look like the wheat early on, but the proof is in the fruit; and though their beginnings look similar, their ends couldn’t be more different.
If all you sow are seeds of sin in the field of the flesh, don’t expect to partake of the inheritance of the saints growing in the fertile soil of the new earth where the weeds of sin are no more.
No Other Boast 