it says: “Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same” (Job 4:8). Only God knows what will happen to that which we sow (Eccl 11:6). And we need first to break up the fallow ground, the hard hearts. The Word of God does this work in hearts (Hos 10:12). And we know that “he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully” (2 Cor 9:6).
We want to sow to the Spirit, and not to the flesh. “For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting” (Gal 6:8). This sowing to the flesh question is one of the most important to keep in mind when we think of what the Bible is telling us about choices we make. For in the Bible we do not have specific answers to questions about celebrating Halloween, or going to certain entertainment places, or looking at certain things on our phones, or wearing certain items, or taking up certain hobbies. But we do have this broad warning: if we sow to the flesh, we will reap corruption. So we can ask, in any given situation, when I do this, or when I take this up, am I sowing to the flesh? And then we have our answer as to whether or not we want to keep doing what we are doing or thinking what we are thinking.
We do not want to feed the flesh. We want to starve it. Especially in difficult situations with our neighbors, when someone is in dire straits. For some demons are at work so powerfully in our neighbor, such as in the case of addictions, that Jesus says, fast (starve the flesh) and pray. This is our only hope with such people in such situations. Jesus said that “this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting” (Matt 17:21). So let us do as Daniel, and pray, and not sow to the flesh:
And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments; we have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments (Dan 9:4–5).
Love the stranger
In the Bible we are reminded: “Love the stranger, therefore, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Lev 19:34). He does not only say “love the stranger.” He says “love the stranger” and then he tells you why. He says: you were just like those strangers. At one time that was you, a stranger, in the land of Egypt, the land of the unrighteous. And the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom:
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God (1 Cor 5:9–11).
I think sometimes that unbelief, Egypt, is difficult for childhood Christians to understand and remember. This is why we have to stand by what Scripture says, and know it well, and not go by what the first inclination of our heart is. For when we grow up as a childhood Christian we are preserved from so much. The fleshpots of Egypt are foreign to us, the worldly ways of talking, the things done for entertainment, the relationships between husband and wife, parents and children—all these things are like things that happen on another planet.
But the Bible says “you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” So we have to constantly remind ourselves, I would be just like that, I would be just like those others, if God had not had mercy on me. I would be wearing all that strange adornment, I would be speaking that way and holding grudges. I would be a hater (Titus 3:3). I would be praying on the street-corners in stark self-righteousness. I would be in the drinking and entertainment venues of this world, a slave to my desires. I would never be in meekness instructing those who oppose themselves (2 Tim 2:25).
I have sometimes thought in connection with this text about loving the strangers that two of our beloved New Testament writers had their time in this world—Paul and Peter. So they understood what it had been like to be in darkness—they didn’t have to imagine themselves in the shoes of the one who was not a Christian. They had lived it. “By the grace of God I am what I am,” Paul confessed (1 Cor 15:10). Exactly. By the grace of God. We have a saying in English which is not from Scripture but captures the idea of Scripture so beautifully. We say this saying when we see a homeless person on the street, or when we see someone taking a hard fall into the fearsome places of this world: “There but for the grace of God go I.”
Hypocrites
A hypocrite is an actor. He is someone who is really one way but is pretending to be another. Luther often reminded us that what the law wants, the will never wants, unless it pretends to want it out of fear or love. We could discuss this saying in detail for a while. But I would like now only to direct your attention to the word Luther often uses, “pretend.” People by nature don’t want to be good or do good. When they seem to be good or do good, they are pretending to want to be that way. And the reason they are pretending is out of fear—they fear punishment either in this life or in the life to come, if they do not pretend to want, and obey, that which they know in their heart is good. People also pretend out of love—self-love. They like the praise and power that comes from being good, or being perceived as good.
So we are all actors—we act one way, but in our heart, if others could see what is there, they would be very surprised. Little children, who are the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, are not like this. They do not know how to act. Then, as the child grows older, as the poet says, the little actor cons another part—that is, he learns how to be an actor, and pretend.
People who were pretenders, and put on a good outward show but hated the children of God secretly, they went after Jesus. It says in the Bible: “And they watched him, and sent forth spies, which should feign themselves just men, that they might take hold of his words, so they might deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor” (Luke 20:20). How sad to see such blindness, and cruel actions against one who loved them so much!
In the book of Proverbs we read about pretending, lying, dissembling. It is joined with a heart that hates: “He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him. When he speaketh fair, believe him not, for there are seven abominations in his heart” (Prov 26:24–25). And then it says that this will become known at some point, in the congregation, how matters truly are with the one who is pretending: “[The one whose] hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be shewed before the whole congregation” (Prov 26:26).
The children of this world are wiser
I am constantly surprised by how seldom people who are Christians are willing to forgive. They, like the heathen in darkness, forgive small slights and little things, usually easily. And they go for years sometimes without anything ever happening to them that is difficult, offensive, or abusive of them. But then when that moment comes, we find out by the fiery trial that this Christian does not want to forgive. For he truly has been wronged. He is in the right, and the other is in the wrong. And the fact that the Christian is in the right and has truly been wronged makes the Christian think that somehow this makes it acceptable not to forgive. He retaliates. He calls the other person evil names as they have done to him. When conversing with other people about the other person, he hints at how bad the person is who abused him. He counter-sues. He never stops to think—this accusation, this slapping, this public shaming, has come to try me, to see what is in my heart. To answer this question: will you forgive even this?
Jesus tried (I often feel, in vain) to teach Christians about this matter of forgiving people who hurt and shame us. Jesus said something enigmatic, something that should make every child of God, every child of the kingdom, every child of light, stop and ponder. Jesus said that “the children of this world are in their generation
