Lesson 39: Sowing to the Spirit with the Gospel

“If we are sowing to the flesh, we are literally mocking God, and we will reap destruction. Just as surely as a man playing with fire will eventually get burned… What is sowing? It’s where a farmer would put a seed into the ground so that it would spring up later and produce fruit. And we think of Jesus who sowed his body into the ground for us and then He sprung up out of the grave three days later and reaped eternal life for all who would believe on Him. He never sowed to please his flesh. Quite the opposite He died to His flesh. He died to Satan’s temptations. He died to sin and rose again having paid for our sin in love. And now we are told to follow Him into the grave and out the other side to eternal life. We acknowledge if we have been deceived. We turn away from lies and instead we fix our eyes on Jesus who is the truth and we die to sin not entertaining reasons why we should keep it. No, we crucify our lust, pound nails of truth into the body of our flesh, stabbing our old man in the heart - spiritually - …with the gospel and letting Him bleed out before us. And in dying we really live. What does it mean sowing to please the Spirit? Well, the Spirit as you know is all about Jesus and so we please the Spirit when we die to sin and find life in Christ. As we study our Bibles and we see the gospel we are sowing to the Spirit. As we see the Lamb of God dying in love, as we view His suffering in our place and as we watch Him cry out in thirst to quench us, as we hear Him plead for the forgiveness of those who are crucifying Him, and as we listen to Him preach the good news to a dying thief, we are sowing to please the Spirit. As we die to sin and live a new life, we sow to please the Spirit.”