Sowing and Reaping As a Body

God is bountiful in His grace, so we can bountifully sow our resources, expecting a bountiful harvest from Him and a multiplication of our seed. What a joy! Mostly when we read these truths from 2 Corinthians 9:6–15, we think of the individual applications for the follower of Jesus. Paul, however, is asking it collectively from the church in Corinth to give to another church in need—put the building project on hold!

There are endless financial needs and opportunities in each local church, so that giving to another church in need hardly crosses the mind. And, if we are honest, we can be pretty territorial when it comes to thinking about ministry and resources the Lord has entrusted to us. Would we give to grow another church at the expense of our own growth? Sure, other churches have needs, but what about our own?

The same can be said of “sowing our people,” too. Why send a gifted saint to another church to serve when there is plenty of work for them right here? Why shouldn’t we hold tightly to the gifted brothers and sisters in our Body and reap the blessing of their service in our own church? If we launch our best people on a regular basis, what will be left?

But He will multiply our seed!

Whether it be finances or people, we should bountifully give—even to other churches—and trust the Lord to multiply more seed to sow. And not just that; there will be a bountiful harvest of righteousness to the glory of King Jesus for all eternity as He produces a bumper crop of praise and thanksgiving.

I (Pastor Rusty) met with a brother from the Hospitality Center yesterday to discuss ways we can continue to partner together in Gospel work. As a church, we have sown financial and prayer seed in that ministry for quite a few years. Certainly, we could have used those resources internally in one way or another, but the Lord has brought a great harvest through the money we have sown in the Hospitality Center field. He shared story after story of ways the Gospel has spread to international students from almost 40 countries through their ministry. What a joy to sow seed in this field!

In addition, I thought of the pain we felt when we launched John and Chelsea Hall, the Von Ed family, Zack Mehlhaff, and others to ministry in other churches. In the moment, we are reluctant to let go of them. How are we to go forward with the loss of so many gifts? The Generous One will replenish, and the harvest will be great. Some we will see in this life, and infinitely more will be shown to us in glory. Let us sow bountifully, dear church!