Harvest Laws for Holy Living - 7 - The Law of Proportion

I heard a story several years ago about a certain man who was in the hospital as the result of a serious heart attack. Shortly after entering the hospital, his family received word that he had inherited one million dollars. Realizing that the news of all this could be such a shock to his system that he might die upon hearing the good news, his family requested that their pastor go to the hospital to gently, carefully break the news to him. Trying to be as wise as he could be, the pastor approached the patient and asked him the following question: “What would you do if you inherited one million dollars?” To which the man replied, “I’d give half of it to the church.” At the point, the pastor dropped dead of a heart attack!

This will prove to be a excellent illustration to introduce us to the fifth law of the harvest for holy living. Recall that we have deliberated on four such laws so far in this follow-up mini-series to the recently concluded study of the book of Amos.

  1. The Law of Proportion

There is essentially only one way to avoid the harvest, and that is by not sowing in the first place. This is more needful for ungodly sowing, of course. The law of proportion instructs us that we always reap in proportion to what we’ve sown. If we sow sparingly, we will reap sparingly. If we sow abundantly, we will reap an abundant harvest.

When Mr. Farmer goes out and plants an acre of ground, he’s only going to harvest what an acre of ground would produce. But if he sows a hundred acres, his harvest will be 100% greater.

At this point, we need to differentiate between this law and the previous one, because they are some- what related. The law of productivity, which we studied in our previous message, stated that we always reap more than we sow. That’s also true of the fifth law. They both pertain to the amount as well as the abundance of the harvest. But note this distinction:

The law of productivity emphasizes God’s part in the harvest, while the law of proportion emphasizes our part in the sowing process. Our part is that we need to sow all the good that we can to ensure that we that the harvest God produces will bless us rather than burden us. Note Eccles. 11:1, 2, 6.

For your edification today, I want to suggest three factors that will guide us into understanding the significance of the law of proportion. First, let’s

  1. Note the principle stated

Paul devotes two entire chapters in II Cor. to this law, relating it in a very practical way to biblical giving. cf. 9:6.

Remember that the key to the harvest is the amount sown in the first place. For instance, the more that we sow to our flesh, with its perverted passions, the more carnality, corruption, calamity we will harvest. Conversely, the more we sow the spiritual Fruit of the Spirit, the more we will reap the blessings of a righteous harvest. cf. James 3:18.

Again, I remind you that the only way to stop the harvest is to stop the sowing. David learned that lesson too late, didn’t he? Because David continued to sow to the flesh, his sin snowballed. He went from coveting Bathsheba to one sin after another until he had broken every sin of the second half of the Ten Commandments. He sinned abundantly and reaped abundant consequences.

One of the most difficult things for a Christian to realize (because we haven’t done a very good job of cultivating this habit), is that it is always far better to practice spiritual preventative medicine than to have to undergo spiritual emergency surgery. And how do we do that? By resolving...by determining that we are going to walk under the absolute control of the HS so that we won’t fulfill the lusts of the flesh.

As you, I walk the Spirit-given, Spirit-guided, Spirit-glorifying, life, He will produce the kind of fruit in our lives of which we will never be ashamed.

Secondly, this morning,

  1. Note the positive sowing

Quote Col. 1:10; Eph. 2:8-10; II Tim. 3:16, 17. Note Titus 2:14; 3:1, 8.

Is it your desire to have the right kind of personal spiritual harvest? Then sow only the proper seed! And the best way to do that is to walk the kind of life which most encourages, enhances the good works God wants you to fulfill, accomplish.

This is equally true in the area of our giving. Remember the young lad who gave the Lord Jesus his five loaves, two fish? He sowed the right seed, didn’t he? Then Christ, according to the laws of the harvest, multiplied that food in order to feed the multitudes.

Kind of reminds me of the two men who were talking one day. One inquired of the other: “How are you able to give so much money to the Lord’s work and still have so much left over?” The reply came without hesitation: “Oh, as I shovel it out, God shovels it in, and He has a bigger shovel than I do.”

The life of the Lord Jesus was a living display, demonstration of the very truth He uttered. cf. Acts 20:35. It is more spiritually advantageous, prosperous to give yourself personally and to give your possessions to the Lord than it is to receive something from someone.

In fact, on one occasion, Jesus instructed His disciples in this very truth. cf. Lk. 6:38.

We take note of the fact that the OT teaches this same principle. cf. Prov. 11:24-26; 19:17; 28:27.

And God’s method of repayment is unlike yours, mine. He repays more than we gave...He pays back with interest compounded. You see, when our giving is right...when it’s done the right way for the right reasons, God will see to it that our every need is supplied. cf. Phil. 4:17-19.

So vital was this truth in the OT, that God instructed Isaiah to devote an entire chapter to it. cf. ch. 58. Paul later would condense down this principle into one verse. cf. Eph. 3:20 (Note the progression throughout this verse).

You may be sitting here this morning thinking, “Boy, this surely sounds good to me, so let’s get going, ‘cause I would like to get in on a piece of the action!” But not so fast, for there are some conditions, criteria to be met first. You knew there was a catch somewhere, didn’t you?

Here it is: it has to do with our relationship to, attitude toward our possessions. To the best of my knowledge, every offering spoken of in the NT was for the poor or genuinely needy. Equally interest- ing is this truism: prayer is mentioned about 500 times in Scripture...faith less than 500 times, but the Word mentions material possessions about 1,000 times. About half of Christ’s parables are related to one’s stewardship, possessions.

Why the emphasis? Could it be that God realizes how much value we put on such things, and how much they can affect us? We must carefully guard that fine line that separates the fact that we possess things, from the fact that it’s easy for our things to possess us. And whether we want to admit it or not, some greedy people are never satisfied. Isn’t that what Solomon meant in Eccles. 5:10?

Many down through history have discovered this. The greedy soul finds no rest nor contentment. Alexander the Great surely discovered this.

The folks who spend their days in buying cars and clothes and rings
Don’t seem to know that empty lives are just as empty filled with things.

Lastly this morning,

  1. Note the personal stewardship

Are you using the money, material things which God has given to you to the advantage, achievement of God’s glory? Are you spending, investing in light of eternal values, eternity’s viewpoint? When God scrutinizes, examines our stewardship, will He commend it or criticize it?

Be honest! Who really controls your life, your giving? Bible teacher R. E. Neighbor tells of the time he was in the baptistery about to baptize a railroad engineer. At the last moment, the man whispered to Dr. Neighbor, “Wait! I forgot something. I want to return to the dressing room and get my wallet and let you baptize it with me!”

Does God have control of your finances? Note the similarity between II Tim. 6:17-19 and the verses I quoted earlier from Titus, Ephesians, Colossians.

It’s not what I’d do with a million,
If riches e’er fell to my lot,
But it’s what I will do at the present
With the ten dollar bill that I’ve got.

Someone has rightly observed that there are basically three kinds of givers in the world: the flint, the sponge, the honeycomb.

Would to God that we all gave because we are devoted to Him, want to delight Him! (Please do not misunderstand what I’ve said up to this point. This is one of the “givingest” churches I’ve ever known. But we all need to be reminded to give for the right reasons, in the right way).

Some Christians have a faulty view of giving because we have a faulty view of where our possessions come from and to Whom they really belong. God is both the source, supply of all we possess. We’re only the caretakers, the custodians, and He wants us to demonstrate how much we trust Him to take care of us.

When God gives, the cup always overflows. It’s the best of the fatted calves, the best robe; not plain joy, but joy unspeakable; not peace, but peace beyond human comprehension. Mere love? No way. Love that passes all knowledge. Brown paper bag grace? No sir. But grace super-abounding!

What does He expect from us in return? A heart overflowing in gratitude that does for others what we have received from our heavenly Father.

Just be thankful that we don’t pass an offering plate in this church, because a new kind has just been invented, and it has some high tech features. If you drop a quarter or more in it, nothing happens. But if you put in a dime, it tinkles like a bell. A nickel gets you a whistle, while a penny results in a shot being fired. But if you don’t put anything in, the plate takes your picture.

All kidding aside...God is the Lord of the treasury and knows exactly how much we give, as well as our motive for giving. Giving and serving others are byproducts of sowing and reaping, especially as it relates to the law of proportion.

The Lord Jesus set the example for us in giving, for He gave Himself for us. Following His example of giving can determine both the quantity as well as the quality of the harvest.

Spurgeon quote, p. 82-83 of Lawrence’s book.