Sep 26, 2018
2 Corinthians 9:6-11
by Pastor Andrew Samuels
Conference Sermon
August 1, 2018
Maybe you haven’t noticed, but we talk a lot. We debate, we discuss, we murmur, we complain, we criticize, we just talk. I mean, as a conference. And I must confess that I have just had a hard time understanding why there is so much talk, and so little action. So, I decided to look up the meaning of the word “conference.” Do you know what it means? It means a gathering of people, “to talk.” So, conference is a place and a vehicle to talk. It comes from the word “confer.” To confer means to talk. No wonder we have problems with action items at conference. Action items and conference are paradoxical. They don’t go together. They are a contradiction in terms. So, I’m working on a different word for us. In the meantime, while we’re searching for the correct word to move us from merely talking to acting, I want to suggest six principles that will help to move us from talk to action—to engage us in less talk and more action.
You want different outcomes. You want different results. You want your Conference to do something for you, your church to do something for you, your wife to do something for you. We all like a good harvest; a rich harvest; a fruitful harvest. How does that become a reality? Only by understanding and applying these six Laws of the Harvest:
1. YOUR HARVEST DEPENDS ON WHETHER YOU SOW
You will never hear a farmer say, “I want to see my harvest first.” That is impossible. You cannot get a harvest where no seed has previously been sown. A lot of people go to church every Sabbath wanting to harvest from seed they have never sown—or come to Conference desiring to harvest from seed they’ve never sown. In farming, you cannot access a harvest without a seed. You cannot get the grace of the harvest without the sowing of the seed. Now we recognize that God can always work a miracle. God could sow the seed Himself and give us a harvest, but miracles are the exception, and not the rule. Jesus healed a blind man, but there were still other blind people around. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, but everybody in the cemetery did not get up. God operates in our lives on the basis of laws, and the universal law that applies to all people and all places and all times and all things is that if you
expect or desire your harvest, you have to first sow some seeds. You can pray all day long, “Lord, enlarge my territory, bless my field, bless my harvest, give me some potatoes and rice and yams and tomatoes and watermelons and grapes and apples, and throw in a few mangoes”—but that’s going to be a long prayer for a long time with nothing to show for it. No matter how hard or long you pray, no matter how spiritual or spirited you are, no matter what church you go to, no matter what tongue you speak, if there is no seed put in the ground, there will be no harvest. So, the Lord is asking some of us right now, “Where is your seed? Did you bring a seed to plant? Have you been sowing?”
Today, we are seeing a harvest being reaped. We are able to be present at our
annual General Conference specifically because people planted, and people sowed into this ministry many years ago. Others have continued sowing through the years. The ministries of the Christian Education Council, the Council on History, the Council on Ministry, the Memorial Fund, the Summer Christian Service Corps, the Tract and Communication Council, and others exist today, and are blessing our churches and our people because somebody sowed. Many of us will never know the names of all those who sowed, will never know anything about many of those who sowed, but they did, and their seed continues to bear fruit in 2018. They didn’t just talk; they acted. Do you realize that the overwhelming majority of us eat from trees we did not plant, and we have no idea of how those trees came about, or who planted them? That’s because the harvest depends on whether you sow.
2. YOUR HARVEST DEPENDS ON WHAT YOU SOW
If you plant an apple seed, you won’t get a pear tree. If you plant onions, you can’t go there looking for pumpkins. Genesis 1:12: “The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good.” Fruit and vegetation reproduce after their own kind. That is a law. When a husband and wife come together and she gets pregnant, she does not have an elephant. God has put in you the power to reproduce after your own kind. You can’t produce anything from you that isn’t already in you. You can’t plant one thing and go looking for another when reaping time comes. What you plant has to be predicated on what you plan to produce. Your expectation has to guide your operation. As you look at your needs, your needs will tell you what seeds you are to plant in order to enjoy the harvest you want to have. Your seed has already been endowed by the Creator with the power to reproduce after its own kind. Therefore, it’s not only important that we plant, it’s equally important what we plant.
Galatians 6:7: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.” You can’t fool your seed. The seed God has given you in every area of your life, already knows its assignment. Regardless of what you call it, it will only reproduce after its own kind. You can call it prophecy, but if it’s really just a lie, that’s what it’s going to produce. You can call it prayer, but if it’s really just religious manipulation, then that’s what it’s going to produce. You can call it excellence, but if it’s really just mediocrity dressed up in church clothes, that’s what it’s going to produce. This law works across any platform in your life, both positively and negatively. Therefore, if you look at your life right now, and you have an abundance of negativity in your life, that means very simply that somewhere along the way, somebody planted negativity in the garden of your life and experience. It may have been you, or it may have been someone connected to you in some way, but the presence of the fruit is an
indication of a seed that has been planted somewhere in the past. What you sow is what you reap. You cannot sow evil and reap good. You cannot sow anger and reap peace. You cannot sow gossip and not be talked about yourself. You cannot sow greed and hope someone is going to be generous to you. That’s not how the law works. If you sow lies, expect to be lied about. If you sow discord and dissension, expect to be betrayed and stabbed in the back, unless you dig up what was previously planted, and start sowing something different. Seventh Day Baptist General Conference of USA and Canada, if we need unity and harmony, are we going to keep sowing strife and animosity? In the name of Jesus Christ, let’s stop sowing seeds of discord. Let’s stop sowing seeds of disunity. Let’s stop sowing seeds of misinformation. Let’s stop sowing seeds of backbiting. Let’s stop sowing seeds of manipulation. Let’s stop sowing seeds of control. And let’s start sowing seeds of grace, and peace, and harmony, and gentleness, and truth, and order, and love, and courage, and reconciliation, and forgiveness.
What I am saying is, if some bad seeds have been sown in the past, so that they are now showing up because that’s just how the law works, let’s leave them in the past, and begin to plant some different seeds. I don’t know who I’m talking to tonight, but I know that messed up relationships can be reconciled. Severed relationships can be healed. Our God is a Healer and a Restorer. Let this be a new day for our Conference: new direction, new beginning, new planting, new perspective, new attitude, new spirit, new environment, new climate, new outlook, new opportunities, the opening of new doors.
3. YOUR HARVEST DEPENDS ON HOW MUCH YOU SOW
2 Corinthians 9:6: “Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.”
Have you ever known anyone who wants to do a little bit of work and get a great big check? A farmer cannot sow one seed and then look for fifteen acres of harvest. You can’t sow a little and hope to reap a lot. That’s contrary to law. Some of us want a supersized blessing from a microscopic investment. If you want fifteen acres of harvest, you’d better do fifteen acres of sowing. Some of us are not pulling our weight. Some of us are just warming the benches, taking up space, criticizing, finding fault, standing by, spectating, and talking. It is time to start sowing, start plowing, start planting, start investing. Your energies are needed, and so are your gifts, and abilities, and skills, and resources, and input. I don’t care how long you’ve been here: it’s time to pick up a plow, a fork, a tool, and to do something. Those who are busy rowing the boat don’t have time to rock it. When people have nothing to do, that’s when they major in the spiritual gift of faultfinding and criticism. We don’t need anymore of that. What you get out of your situations in life is in direct proportion to what you put in.
4. YOUR HARVEST DEPENDS ON WHERE YOU SOW
If right now, I want to grow some mango trees and I have some seeds in my pocket, and I decide that the church carpet on the altar and platform is sacred ground (the territory where people pray), and I’m going to plant my mango seeds right there—you would think I’m crazy. What you already know is that if I put them down there, I’ll be waiting a long time because I would have planted my seed in bad soil. The carpet/floor is not conducive for what I’m trying to do. You can’t just plant anywhere. You have to plant in a place which is designed to receive the seed you are planting. Verse 10 tells us that God is the one who gives seed to the sower and gives him bread to eat. And in the same way, He will provide and increase your resources, and then He’ll produce a great harvest of generosity in you. Good soil is where you invest so that you can legitimately give thanks to God. So, the next time you’re at the casino, or in the lotto line, ask yourself, “Can I thank God for where I’m planting the seed right now?” Some of us are planting seed in some bad soil, and that is not going to produce the harvest we would like. Sometimes we have to be secretive about where we’re sowing, because we know it’s not good soil.
We are called to be discerning, and recognize the quality of the soil in which we’re planting. The Parable of the Sower told by Jesus in Matthew 13, Mark 4, and Luke 8, clearly indicates to us that typically every time we sow, there are at least four different types of soil on which
our seeds fall. Even in this company right now, as we are hearing this word, we all represent different types of soils: some of us are wayside soil; some of us are rocky places soil; some of us are thorny soil; and some of us, thank the Lord, are good soil. So, which soil are you? Can someone sow into your life and good fruit will be produced? The harvest depends on where we sow.
5. YOUR HARVEST DEPENDS ON WHEN YOU SOW
If you plant a seed this morning, don’t expect to see a harvest this afternoon. Crops take time. There’s a time gap between the sowing and the growing, between the planting and the producing. Unless God chooses to override His law, and He can do that, and when He does that, we call it a miracle. But remember now, miracles are the exception, not the rule. There is a season to sow, and a season to reap.
Galatians 6:9: “Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not grow weary.” Due season is not when you decide it is. Due season is not when you want it to be. Due season is after you have planted seed in a previous season, after you’ve planted in good quantities, after you’ve planted in the right soil, after the sun comes up and shines on it, after fertilizer has developed it, and after time has passed. Due season is the season when because of what you’ve planted in the past, it now comes up in the present. It is then, and only then, that you legitimately have the right to expect a harvest. You have a seed in the ground. If you have no seed in the ground, you can sing till you’re blue in the face and nothing will happen. It’s a seasonal issue, which means there’s a time gap. So don’t get frustrated if you decide, “I’m going to start praying this weekend,” and you don’t see a miracle by Monday night. It takes time. Just because it’s not showing yet, doesn’t mean nothing is happening. It’s underground. It’s out of sight. Your miracle is underground. Your healing is underground. Your deliverance is underground. Your breakthrough is underground. Your anointing is underground. Your appointment is underground. Your seed is already working, multiplying, sprouting, birthing, producing, germinating, rising, arriving, and ascending. Something is happening. Any day now is your due season. In order for a harvest to come up, a seed first has to go down. Sometimes we get a little frustrated, and a little impatient, and we get upset with other people, but then there are others who pray, and who wait, and who implore, and who caution, because one day, the harvest is going to be reaped. Hallelujah! Just because God is silent, does not mean that God is still. God is working right now. There are things that we yet want to see happening in our Conference. God is working. Seeds are being sown: seeds of prayer, seeds of patience, seeds of forbearance, seeds of endurance. It may take a while, but harvest time will come. Wait on the Lord. Wait for your breakthrough, your salvation, your rescue, your miracle.
6. YOUR HARVEST DEPENDS ON WHY YOU SOW
2 Corinthians 9:10: “Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.” God is interested in meeting your need, as long as in meeting your need, you become a better person. Many of us just want to be blessed for blessing’s sake. We want to show off—“Look what I drive or wear.” God is not interested in getting you a new car if you’re going to be the same old you. God is not interested in giving you a bigger house if you’re still going to be small-minded. God is not interested in giving us new leaders, new initiatives, new programs, and a new direction, if we’re going to remain the same old way. How can we be in the church for all these years and still have the same grouchy, unloving attitudes? How can we hear all these sermons all these weeks and our hearts remain one of stone and sarcasm? Christianity is about change. It is about conversion. It is about transformation. You can’t just keep saying, “That’s the way I am; that’s my personality; that’s how I was raised.” Let’s get it together. The church should be the most loving, forgiving, kindest, most gentle place in the world. God is not just interested in what you possess. He’s interested in the person you are becoming. People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care. When God gives you a harvest, the first thing you do is recognize that it came from Him. Not from Wells Fargo or Bank of America, or Wall Street or the Government. Once we realize that, the more humble we will become so that people can see Him and not see us. The more He blesses me, the more I’m going to serve Him, love Him, praise Him, talk to Him, talk about Him, honor Him, represent Him. God wants you to sow up so you can go up. He wants you to go up, so you can grow up. It’s not just what you get, it’s who you become.
Whatever God gives you, He puts in it the seed for the next thing you will need. God’s grace in your life is so comprehensive that in meeting your present need, He includes your next seed. He meets the need, He includes the seed, so you can replant it to meet the need that you do not even know you have yet. This is the day of harvest. Sow that seed and wait for the harvest. God is not just enough. He is more than enough to give sight to the blind, heal the sick, feed the hungry, liberate the incarcerated, give speech to the dumb, hearing to the deaf, power to the lame, dead men their resurrection. It is harvest time. He is more than enough in sickness or in trials, in tears or in trouble, in ups and downs, on the mountain and in the valley, in despair and frustration, in battle and in warfare. It’s harvest time. You were sad and He put a smile on your face. You were disappointed and He put clapping in your hands. You were discouraged and He put a shout in your spirit. It’s harvest time. A great God deserves great praise. God will supply, but you’ve got to get your seed in the ground. It’s harvest time.
If you want to reap a rich harvest, you must sow. You must sow the right crops. You must sow in the right quantities. You must sow in the right places. You must sow at the right time. And you must sow for the right reasons.
