Sow What?
12/07/2008 Filed in: General
Sow What?
(1 Cor. 15:33-42)
1 Cor. 15:33-42 (NIV): Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character." [34] Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God--I say this to your shame. [35] But someone may ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?" [36] How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. [37] When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. [38] But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. [39] All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. [40] There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another.
1. Sowing seed with my life is a management activity. 1 Tim. 6: 6-9; Job 4: 8
2. Sowing seed with my life is a priority activity. Proverbs 3: 9-10
3. Sowing seed with my life is a sacrificial activity. Psalm 126: 5-6
4. Sowing seed with my life is a proportionate activity. 2 Cor. 8: 2-4; Hosea 8: 7
5. Sowing seed with my life is a systematic activity. Eccl. 11:6; Proverbs 11:24-25
6. Sowing seed with my life is a worship activity. Hosea 10:12
(1 Cor. 15:33-42)
1 Cor. 15:33-42 (NIV): Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character." [34] Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God--I say this to your shame. [35] But someone may ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?" [36] How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. [37] When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. [38] But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. [39] All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. [40] There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another.
1. Sowing seed with my life is a management activity. 1 Tim. 6: 6-9; Job 4: 8
- God entrusts each of us with abilities in varying proportions
- God's ownership of all things allows him the right to demand accountability from us
- God expects us to cultivate and multiply that which he has given us to manage.
- Good sowing offers glory and thanksgiving to God
2. Sowing seed with my life is a priority activity. Proverbs 3: 9-10
- My sowing should be thought out planed and prayed for in advance.
- My sowing should be representative of voluntary purposeful gratitude to God.
- My sowing should not be casual, impulsive, or under pressure, coercion or guilt
3. Sowing seed with my life is a sacrificial activity. Psalm 126: 5-6
- God measures are sowing not by what we give, but also by what we keep for ourselves
- God measures my giving in relation to the amount of sacrifice rather than just the contribution
- Christ sacrificed his life because of his love for us; therefore, we desire to give sacrificially in return
4. Sowing seed with my life is a proportionate activity. 2 Cor. 8: 2-4; Hosea 8: 7
- God wants my sowing to be proportionate to my prosperity.
- God wants me to make sure in my seed sowing as I grow in faith and love and knowledge of the Word and of prayer.
5. Sowing seed with my life is a systematic activity. Eccl. 11:6; Proverbs 11:24-25
- God wants me to consistently sow seeds from my life.
- God promises blessing for the diligent and faithful in seed sowing. The Ministry of sowing has its own specific rewards.
6. Sowing seed with my life is a worship activity. Hosea 10:12
- Sowing is an act of spiritual sacrifice as praise, prayer, or song.
- Sowing first begins by giving myself to the Lord, then giving of myself in other ways is a natural consequence.
- When I sow my life in others lives, I promote fellowship and unity in the family of God.
- Sowing is a spiritual sacrifice that produces eternal rewards.