Sermon for 3rd After Trinity: Weary Goodness?

Galatians 6: 7 - 10

7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

Luke 10: 1 - 20

10 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.

5 ‘When you enter a house, first say, “Peace to this house.” 6 If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. 7 Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.

8 ‘When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. 9 Heal those there who are ill and tell them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.” 10 But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 11 “Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: the kingdom of God has come near.”

‘Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.’

17 The seventy-two returned with joy and said, ‘Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.’

18 He replied, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. 20 However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.’

Have you become weary in doing good?

Doing good is not without it's problems.

It is not always easy to know what to do for the best.

Sometimes people are ungrateful, or take for granted the good that we do.

If we are too generous we may run down our resources, and no longer be any help to anyone.

Sometimes when you try to help you can actually make matters worse.

Some people are so stubborn, or misguided, they can't be helped.

And what about those who exploit our good nature, or those who do not deserve our help?

I can see why one might become weary in doing good.

In our first reading we heard that the Apostle Paul was concerned that the people of the church in Galatia had become weary in doing good, and he writes to encourage them back to the paths of generosity.

The reading is taken slightly out of context, we started at verse seven, which speaks of reaping and sowing, but the lead in, verse six, is actually about supporting Ministers, “... Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches.”

So the context of Paul's call for generosity is support for local ministers, but he then generalises this point to doing good to all, especially other members of the Church – that is, “ those who belong to the family of believers.”

To summarise, just so that we are clear on this, Paul is saying to share good things with your minister, be generous with all, especially with the people of the Church.

But what if your Vicar is a lazy good for nothing?

What if you are disillusioned with the Church of England? (Get to the back of the queue)

What if the Parish Share system makes giving a top down institutionalised form of ecclesiastical taxation, rather than an opportunity to respond in generosity?

Paul says, 'Share all good things with your teacher,' but is he just trying to feather his nest, and hiding this by tacking on some warm moralistic words about being good?

Should we not be so naïve?

However, Paul gives a game changing reason for being generous, he says,

“A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life...at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

Generosity isn't like throwing resources away, or even like giving resources away, it is like sowing seeds, and you can expect a harvest.

Generosity isn't taking a break from self interest, generosity is in your self interest.

The problem is we have misunderstood our self interest. We are fooled into only looking to our own narrow material self interest, and not to the well being of others, as if this will make the world a better place, when in fact our mean spiritedness sows destruction. We ourselves become spiritually poor, and those around us become inclined to respond in like manner.

If you sow aggression, don't be surprised to find people are aggressive with you.

If you sow deceit, don't be surprised people don't trust you.

If you sow meanness, don't be surprised if people are not generous with you.

The naïve ones are those who do not realised they reap what they sow. In part, we create the world around us after our own image.

I had a self made millionaire in one of my congregations. When asked how he did it, he said he always looked to help people, to find out what he could do for them, and he always said thank you to customers and staff. He sowed seeds of service and thankfulness, and reaped a harvest of wealth and happiness. I also knew people who worked for him, or who had worked for him, and they said he was a indeed a good employer – even if at times he was the bluntest of blunt Yorkshire men.

“Ay, I go in with two left feet first.”

To be clear, there is nothing wrong with being rich if it is earned with honest labour, you can do a lot of good with wealth, but it is a big responsibility.

By the way, do we have any wealthy people here?

80% of humanity lives on less than $10 (about £7) a day, so I suspect that everyone here is in the top 20% of wealthiest people in the world.

Paul adds to his thoughts about sowing and reaping, “God will not be mocked,” what does that mean?

Where is God in this system of sowing and reaping, is He the enforcer?

I don't think so. The system works by itself. God has created a world in which you reap what you sow, and has told us to sow goodness in order to reap a good harvest, and warned us that sowing evil brings it's own destructive reward.

That's not to say sowing goodness guarantees a life free of trouble, in fact sowing goodness can get you into trouble, but it does contribute to the conditions necessary for a better world, and it gives you a sense of purpose and peace even in troubled times.

When Paul writes that God will not be mocked, it is not because God is waiting to punish us, on the contrary, He is waiting to forgive us, so do not mock His grace by not showing grace to others. God is generous with us, that's why we should be generous with others. The motivation isn't fear of punishment, it is a thankful response to the goodness of God.

The system in Christianity is 'forgive as you have been forgiven.'

Has God been generous with you? Yes, He has.

As James 1:17 says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above...”

God gives us all the resources and tools we need to make this world good. I described a 'self made man' a moment ago, but of course no man is an island, we all contribute to each others success or failure, and we all work with the resources and tools God has given us. Every good and perfect gift is each of us, working together, as stewards of the resources and skills God has set in us and around us. If we fail in this God offers restoration through Jesus: 1 John 4: 10 – 11, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

There's that responsive logic again, 'love because you are loved.'

In our second reading we heard about Jesus sending out seventy-two disciples on a mission to do good. Jesus instructed them, “Heal those there who are ill and tell them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.” They could do this because Jesus had healed them, and in Jesus the Kingdom of God had drawn near to them. That's the model for the Christian life, proclaim the good news of the Kingdom in word and action. As disciples we are to sow the goodness that Jesus has grown and brought to fruit in our lives.

Have you become weary in doing good? I wish I could promise you it would be easier in future, but I can promise you it will be fulfilling, and life giving. “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

And if you remember nothing else from this sermon, then speaking as your teacher I commend you to commit Galatians 6:6 both to memory“... Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches.”

I await good things,

Amen.