Every year, my church will give its members a birthday card.
For the past 3 years, the senior pastor of my church, Rev Peter Koh, will include "words of wisdom" just above his greeting.
This year, he wrote, "You will reap what you sow".
As I pondered over what he wrote, my initial reaction was not so positive because it sounded like a word of caution from Mt Sinai.
There is a verse in Hosea 8:7 that reads, "They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind." In fact, there was a song that UK syncpop band Ultravox made famous in the 1980s entitled "Reap the Wild Wind".
Young's Literal Translation reads, "for wind they sow and hurricanes they reap." In other words, the punishment far outweighs the crime committed.
And that was how it was like for the Israelites under the Law. It was "Do good, get good. Do bad, get bad". In fact, God even said that He would visit their iniquities to the third and fourth generations. In other words, even "innocent" children would have to pay for the crimes of their forefathers. No wonder the disciples asked Jesus in Jn 9 whether that man who was born blind was as a result of his own sin or the sin of his parents.
Well, thanks be to God that we are no longer under that performance-based Covenant. We, on this side of the cross, are now beneficiaries of the Covenant established upon the blood of the Lamb of God, a Covenant which is based on God's unmerited, undeserved, unearned favour. On the cross, Jesus took upon Himself all the curses of the Law. What we sowed in terms of sin, Jesus reaped on the cross on our behalf in terms of punishment. And because of the divine exchange, the flip side is also true! What Jesus has sown in terms of His right standing with God the Father, we now reap in terms of blessings. Hallelujah!
Coming back to the 6 pearls of wisdom from Rev Peter Koh which read, "You will reap what you sow". While this statement no longer true for us New Covenant believers in terms of bad things because Jesus took them upon His own body, it still holds true in two specific areas -- the Word of God and monetary support.
(1) The Word of God
In the New Testament, we read about the parable of the sower. The one who sows the Word of God gets to reap a harvest -- some thirtyfold, some sixtyfold and some hundredfold. The magnitude of the harvest depends on the condition of the ground -- whether it is stony or contains thorns or is fertile. This is the very reason why I have been giving away Ps Prince's books -- books so pregnant with the grace gospel -- that when sown into the lives of others, produce bountiful harvests. I have received testimony upon testimony from brothers and sisters who received these books about how the contents ministered to them and I give all glory and honour to God for the privilege of sowing into Ps Prince's ministry. May He raise even more grace preachers in the last days.
Monetary Support
Another area where sowing and reaping still holds true for the New Covenant believer is that of monetary suport. There are some people who like to quote Gal 6:7-8 which reads
7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.
8 The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
When read out of context, this does seem to indicate that evil deeds bring about punishment from God. However, let's look at the verses preceeding and following these 2 verses so that we understand the context within which Paul was writing:
6 Let him who receives instruction in the Word [of God] share all good things with his teacher [contributing to his support]. (AMP)
9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. (NIV)
10Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. (NIV)
Would it not be strange for Paul to talk about doing good and contributing in terms of monetary support at one moment, then talk about sin and punishment at the next, only to go back to the topic of doing good again after that? Would it not make more sense for him to be talking about doing good throughout the entire chapter 6?
Anyway, verse 6 is something which I hold on to very dearly, and have therefore been sowing into One-North as well as other fruiful ministries. This principle of sowing and reaping holds very very true in my life, and for that I give all glory and praise to Jesus again. As a result of sowing bountifully, God has caused me to reap bountifully as well. You can read these testimonies at the following links:
http://rootss.blogspot.com/2008/08/sowing-bountifully.html
http://rootss.blogspot.com/2008/10/reaping-bountifully.html
And so as I read those 6 words "You will reap what you sow" again, this time through the lens of the New Covenant believer, I can respond by saying, "Hallelujah! That has happened to me already and will continue to happen to me as far as the Word of God and monetary support is concerned. Amen!"
As for the other 2 pastors, Rev Tay wished me "blessed birthday" while Rev Reuben wrote "Grace and peace to you". Amen! Charis and Irene -- even Tiger Woods should have them in his life :-)
3 comments:
Hi Mal,
Having kept track with your "to and fro" with Rev Peter Koh, my first thought when I saw his "pearls of wisdom" was that it sounded like a "divine" warning but praise God that you are now wearing "new covenant lenses" ;-)
Perhaps Rev Koh is just sharing with you his personal experience of reaping what he sowed? ;-)
Hi Stan
This is something that I have come to expect from Rev Koh, having been on the receiving end of his pearls of wisdom in the past 2 years as well.
I had just come back from Canada and when I opened up the card, my initial reaction, truth be told, was to get upset. In fact, my wife told me she had initially wanted to hide the card from me.
But as I started to reflect upon what he wrote, I felt a tinge of sadness for him because this is how he views our God. He will be posted to the smallest Methodist church come 1 Jan 2010 (it has a membership of about 150) and I have been told by people that he is very bitter about this. He probably thinks God is punishing him because of his plagiarism.
As for me, I know that God has already exhausted all His righteous anger upon the body of Jesus, and I only expect His unearned, unmerited and undeserved favour upon me.
So even if Rev Koh (or anyone else for that matter is) wishes ill-will upon me, I have nothing to fear.
In the Old Testament, we read of how King Balak hired Balaam to curse the Israelites, but God intervened and caused Balaam to bless them instead. If this was possible of God's people during the shadow, how much more for us who have the substance. Amen?
Hi Mal
Your last paragraph was exactly what the visiting Pastor from Norway shared (sorry, dunno how to spell his name, so better not get it wrong.) last Sunday.
Simple but powerful sermon, great reminder of our stand in Christ, that we are blessed as seed of Abraham, that Christ has paid for our sin and bore the curse of the Law, that we are redeemed & blessed, that our blessings are irreversible, and we are a blessing (not just $, but it can be advice, God's words of wisdom to someone seeking, an act of kindness ....) to others.
Just to share: When he shared on Martin Luther's writings, "New creation" caught my attention. When we accept Christ, the order is restored, our dominion has been restored in & thru Christ's redemptive work on the cross, as in before Adam sinned. In fact Christ gave us believers more than what Adam gave away. So let us not be shortchanged into believing otherwise.
Praise Ye the Lord, Amen!
Merry blessed CHRISTmas to all.
Shalom Shalom
William Liu
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