Sowing and Reaping

John 4:37-38 “For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”

It is a fact that because we are physical creatures, we require physical food and drink to sustain our bodies. But as one commentary points out, though we need material sustenance in order to live, there is one thing that is more needful for us, namely, to live by the Word of God so that we can do His Will. Deuteronomy 8:3 tells us, “He (God) humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.” This singular purpose drove our Savior, for the only food that could truly satisfy Him was to do the Will of His Father and to accomplish the work for which He was sent. The nature of that work is the work of sowing and reaping the fruit of eternal life.

Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

The lesson reminds us that our Lord sowed the seed of the gospel. All of Jesus’ followers will participate in this mission until the end of the age. But, we must know that the testimony of Jesus’ work in our life is important, but it is insufficient to bring us to faith. Our testimony to how Jesus has worked in us plays a role in our work in the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations, but our testimonies are not themselves the Word preached nor the proclamation of the biblical gospel, which is the only message that saves. In sowing seeds by proclaiming Jesus as Savior of the world, we are claiming that He is the only possible avenues of salvation for sinners and that He is the fulfillment  of the promise of the one true creator God. Jesus Christ is the Word. He is the Savior of the world. No one in the world can be saved apart from His atoning work on the cross for our sins, and only through faith in Him as Savior and Lord will anyone be saved. No one who denies Him will be saved.

The church is the primary means through which Jesus plants the seed of the gospel – through preaching and teaching the Word. But, we are laborers in the ripe fields of this lost and dying world sowing the gospel of Jesus Christ in relationships within our sphere of influence. The reaping is the harvest of spiritual fruit as people are called to repent and believe in Him alone for salvation unto eternal life in the kingdom of God. Both sowers and reapers are necessary for the kingdom harvest. They must work together to fulfill God’s mission for the church (the body of believers). Both they that sowed and they that reaped shall rejoice together and the great Lord of the harvest shall have the glory of all.