I suppose it’s sort of an obvious metaphor, but it’s called church “planting” for a reason. We don’t simply decide to start a church – we have to plant one. We start with small seeds in good soil, work the ground tirelessly, pray for growth, and…little by little a church emerges and grows stronger.
Well…that’s the plan anyway.
In our personal spiritual lives the Bible draw similar comparisons. A well-known passage is in Galatians 6 “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:7–9 ESV)
Note there are two scenarios here of sowing (“planting”):
- Sowing to the flesh. Flesh refers to our natural (sinful) desires. When we give in to them they become stronger. The more we give in to them, the more dominant they become. Sin is also progressively corruptive to our thinking processes, so that the more we give into sin, the dumber we become, the more deceived we become. The harvest (“reaping”) is therefore “corruption” – spiritual corrosion, decay, and weakening.
- Sowing to the Spirit. The Spirit (Capital S) refers to the Holy Spirit, the 3rd person of the three-in-one God. The more we practice thinking and behavior that is inline with the Bible and thus pleasing to Him, the stronger we become spiritually. We kill the flesh by starving it’s desires by not satisfying them. The harvest here is therefore “eternal life” – meaning the blessing of living in a truly restored relationship with God – a strong, healthy life both now on Earth and then someday forever in God’s presence in Heaven.
In church planting (you thought I forgot, didn’t you?) the sowing and reaping of a church plant is directly related to the sowing and reaping of it’s members. The church is not a building, but rather is made up of individual believers in Jesus. As we each are sowing to the Spirit and not the flesh we in turn corporately reap health and life.
This relationship is circular as individuals come to church to receive the blessings of God’s grace to help them grow. This happens through the activities of the church – the preaching of God’s word (all of it, not just our ideas and verses pasted on for support), the fellowship of believers together loving one another, encouraging one another, praying for one another, holding each other accountable, and serving the community alongside one another – all under the umbrella of the gospel of Jesus.
Finally, we must remember that the growth is only by the blessing of God. We work, but he gives the growth both in our individual lives and the life of the church. May he grow us all richly!
“So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.” (1 Corinthians 3:7 ESV)
