Seeds are absolutely fascinating.  A seed is a living plant embryo attached to a supply of nutrients and covered with a protective coat.  If you look closely at a bean or peanut that has been divided in two, you can see the embryo, including the beginnings of leaves, a shoot and roots.  A seed with a living plant embryo is said to be viable, which means that it can grow into a plant under the right circumstances (that roasted peanut is not viable and will never grow into anything, so you might as well eat it).  Many seeds can lie dormant in the ground for over five decades (my age) waiting for the proper growing circumstances to cause them to germinate.

The oldest viable seed that has been grown into a plant was a Judean date palm found in Herod’s palace on Masada.  It was 2,000 years old and still contained a living embryo that became a plant in 2005.  The smallest seeds are a dust-like variety of orchid.  There are about one million to a gram.  The largest seed, the double coconut palm, is about 50 pounds.  The first seed bearing plants emerged about 400 million years ago and were such an improvement over spore reproduction that they quickly covered the earth’s land masses with forests.  I find seeds absolutely fascinating.

As former big-time vegetable gardeners, Nan and I used both hybrid and open-pollinated seeds.  Hybrid seeds are first generation seeds of two distinct parental lines of the same species.  They are genetically engineered for bigger yields, but require lots of chemical inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides and water.  The seeds themselves are often sterile, or do not reproduce true, so you can only eat them and not plant them.  One hybrid we used was Improved Tendergreen bush beans.  We found them to grow well in our clay soil.

But mostly Nan and I favored open-pollinated seeds.  We bought one package of pinto bean seed that lasted seven years.  We planted all of them, ate most of the harvest, and saved about two quart jars to plant the next year.  And we kept doing that until we got out of the vegetable gardening business.  We planted an heirloom variety of corn for grinding into meal.  It was called Northstein Dent and, again, we ate most of it and planted the rest the next year, and could have gone on ad infinitum.

Charles Dudley Warner wrote, "To own a bit of ground, to scratch it with a hoe, to plant seeds, and watch the renewal of life—this is the commonest delight of the race, the most satisfactory thing a man can do."  One of these days, if the Lord is willing, Nan and I are going to get back to satisfactory joy of preparing a vegetable patch, planting the seed, cultivating the crop, putting by the harvest and then the best part: eating the fruit of our labor.

It is no wonder that seeds and planting and harvesting are so frequently used as spiritual metaphors throughout the Bible—from proverbs and psalms in the Old Testament to the parables of Jesus and the pronouncements of Paul in the New Testament.  Our message for this morning focuses upon Paul’s use of sowing and reaping as spiritual metaphors.  The title of our message is: "Seeds that Grow in the Garden of God."

Roses need full sunlight to grow well.  Fuchsia requires shade.  Blueberries prefer acidic soil, while cabbage and other cole crops prefer a more alkaline soil.  Herbs tend toward drier soil conditions (and you can guess what watermelon needs).  You want loose and friable soil for potatoes to expand in, while tomatoes will do just fine in clay.  Lima beans really need warm conditions to do well, while Brussels sprouts actually taste better if harvested after a frost.  So certain seeds will grow better in one garden than another.

What seeds grow best in the garden of God?  You will recall that God originally planted the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden a.k.a. Paradise (the Greek word paradeisos is literally "garden").  Paradise is also a biblical word for heaven, as when Jesus said to the thief crucified next to him, Today you will be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43).  Life in the garden of God is a paradise both here and hereafter.  How do we get ourselves planted in paradise—the garden of God?

Paul writes in our text, Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked.  A man reaps what he sows.  The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction… (Verses 7-8).  We deceive ourselves and mock God when we think we can sow to please our sinful nature and get away with it unscathed.  What does it mean to please our sinful nature?  Paul tells us in the verses preceding ours.  He writes, The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealously, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.  I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God (5:19-21).

There is a lot of sin represented in that statement.  The point is that if we think we can get away unscathed by being sexually unfaithful to our spouses, we are deceiving ourselves and mocking God’s law.  If we think getting drunk all the time is the answer to our problems, we are deceiving ourselves and mocking God.  God says that if we sow to please our sinful nature in these and other ways we will reap destruction.  No exceptions.  Period.  End of argument.  If we want to think that God’s law does not apply to us, or that we are an exception to the rule, we deceive ourselves and mock God.

On the other hand …the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life (Verse 8).  Eternal life is life without limit—not just in terms of quantity but quality.  Eternal life is life abundant here and hereafter.  It is life in the paradise of God—the garden of God.  We can have a foretaste of heaven on earth by sowing to please the spirit.  We now know what sowing to please the sinful nature means.  What does sowing to please the Spirit mean?

Paul continues in our text: Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up (Verse 9).  Last Sunday we read in our text how Jesus went around doing good (Acts 10:38).  We also learned that doing good meant meeting the needs of God’s children.  When we meet the needs of God’s children we are doing good and sowing seeds to please the spirit.  So then, we are not only doing others a favor by meeting their needs, we are doing ourselves a favor.  We are planting seeds that will, in time, reap a life without limit for ourselves.

There is nothing wrong with this kind of enlightened self-interest.  Indeed, it is a great motivator.  And we need motivation because there is a time lag between when a seed is planted and when the harvest comes—about four months for a gardener or farmer, and sometimes longer for people of faith.  Paul understands this and encourages us not to become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Just as sowing to please the sinful nature invariably leads to a not-so-positive outcome, so also does sowing to please the Spirit invariably lead to a very positive outcome.  To think otherwise is to deceive ourselves and mock God’s Word.  So be patient.  Don’t grow weary and don’t give up.  Therefore, Paul concludes our text, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers (Verse 10).

Why the emphasis on the family of believers?  Why not just say all people and leave it at that?  As both a pastor and a father I have tried very hard to avoid an all-too-common problem for those in the ordained ministry.  I have struggled very hard to keep from allowing my ministry to come at the expense of my family.  The wife and children God has given me are a primary responsibility because nobody else can fulfill my role as a husband and father to them.  Paul said: If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?  (I Timothy 3:5).  I thank you for the indispensable encouragement and support you have given me as a father and husband.

Having said that, we are "Raising Up a Family of Faith" here at The Church in Aurora.  That is not only our congregation’s theme for this year, it is our primary responsibility at all times.  If we cannot care for the needs of God’s children in this place, how can we presume to care for the needs of his children anyplace?  Indeed, nobody else is positioned as we are to meet the needs of God’s children in this place.  If we were situated in the inner city of Cleveland, we might operate a shelter for homeless people in our Fellowship Hall.  We give support to such things through our missions giving and hands-on ministry opportunities, but it would not be practical to operate a shelter for the homeless here.

But it is practical for us to sow seeds of kindness and caring in this field of service.  There is plenty of opportunity to do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers in this place.  Right here and now we can sow to please the Spirit in ways that will reap a harvest if we do not give up.  Our Care Team Ministry is not the only ministry at The Church in Aurora, but it is one that especially focuses upon the needs of God’s children in this family of faith.  It emerged in response to feedback from a congregational survey calling for a caring ministry to our members in need, hence its name: "The Care Team."  Speaking of feedback, the responses I have received about this ministry have been uniformly positive and continuous from those who have benefited by it.

I am always happy to receive positive feedback, but I must admit that this ministry’s success owes very little to me.  It was lay-initiated and it is lay-led and operated.  It has no budget, which means that it cannot squander money.  It offers an opportunity to do good for God’s children in need, pure and simple.  It seeks to make service a blessing and not a curse by allowing participants to determine what services they are able to render when and where and how.

For example, some people might provide and deliver a meal for a family with a young child confined to Children’s Hospital in Akron.  That family does not have time to make a meal, but sure appreciates a home-cooked one delivered to their home.  Maybe one Care Team member can provide that meal on a Wednesday while another provides one on a Thursday.  Maybe a Care Team member doesn’t cook at all, but is able to provide transportation for a member to make a doctor’s appointment.  Some Care Team members are available evenings, some during the day.  Some are available a lot, others only a day or two a month.

Our Care Team is not a substitute for professional home healthcare or other specialized and intensive services, but does fill a niche that those services are not equipped to fill.  It is, and I quote from the feedback I have received, "a godsend," "a breath of fresh air," "a life-saver" and "a blessing."  It is also an opportunity for us to sow seeds of caring and kindness that do good for God’s people in need, that please the spirit and that produce a harvest if we do not give up.

Maybe there is something I can do for our Care Team ministry. I can give it a plug.  There with be a sign-up sheet on a table in our Fellowship, together with a Care Team representative who can answer your questions about this ministry.  I can assure you that nobody from the Care Team will ever pressure you to do something you do not have either the time or inclination or resources to do.  You tell the Care Team what you can do and when.  Then, when a call comes to do good for God’s people in need, you respond as the Lord leads.