Dr. Mark Ballard, Chancellor, Northeastern Baptist College
It was my privilege to grow up the son of farmers. My mother grew up on a farm in northeastern Colorado. My dad also grew up farming in North Carolina, northeastern Colorado, and on the western slope of Colorado. My first home was a small shack on a small dry land farm in southeastern Colorado. While most of my growing up years were spent living in Pueblo, CO, my parents taught me the ways of the soil. In town we always had a large garden. When I was a teenager, we lived in town, worked a large garden, farmed 80 acres outside of town, and kept a two-acre garden on the farmland.
Some of my earliest memories includes helping my parents prepare the soil, plant seeds, water the seeds, weed the garden, watch the crops grow, harvest the crops, and use the crops to feed family and friends. At every opportunity both my parents taught me Bible truths through countless farming and gardening illustrations. One of the things that was emphasized related to the laws of sowing and reaping. Here are a few of those principles.
- You harvest what you sow. (If you plant green peppers, you will not get jalapenos.)
- You harvest later than you sow. (You must sow, pray, trust God, and wait for the harvest.)
- You harvest more than you sow. (It always amazed me how much fruit could come from one seed.)
- The more you sow, the more you harvest.
Drawing on the principles of sowing and reaping, the Apostle Paul encouraged the Corinthians with the next Baker’s Dozen principle. Notice his words.
“But this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.”
For someone who grew up around gardening and farming, the principle immediately connects. Years after we were married, Cindy and I began gardening while we lived in Virginia. Each year we planted corn, onions, tomatoes, green peppers, jalapenos, serranos, habaneros peppers. I really enjoy cooking with hot peppers, but don’t care too much for green (sweet) peppers. So, we would usually plant a half row of green pepper seeds, and several rows of the hotter variety of peppers. Every year, we had more than enough green peppers for our use. However, we had far more hot peppers. Why? The answer is simple, we planted far more jalapeno, serrano, and habanero seeds than green pepper seeds. We sowed the green pepper seeds sparingly, but the hot pepper seeds were sown bountifully.
Today’s verse is sometimes taken out of context to emphasize the importance of large gifts over small gifts. However, Paul has already set the stage with the surrounding context. In fact, Baker’s Dozen Principle #8emphasized that we are not responsible to give more than we are able. The Macedonians were commended not for the size of their gift, but for the heart attitude of their giving. This verse is not intended to guilt people into giving more than they are able. Rather, it is about encouraging us to give what we are able as the Lord leads.
In our Virginia garden, it would not have made any sense for me sow only a small portion of the hot pepper seeds I had available and still expect to have more hot peppers than sweet peppers. If I sow a little, I will indeed reap more than I sow, but I will not reap as much as I would if I sowed more hot pepper seeds. If I sow sparingly (as I did the sweet pepper seeds) I will reap sparingly. If I sow bountifully (as I did the hot pepper seeds) then I will reap bountifully.
For the Corinthians, if they expected to make a bountiful impact on helping their brothers and sisters in Jerusalem, they needed to give bountifully, in accordance with their ability. If they gave sparingly (far less than their ability) they should not expect to make as big of an impact as if they gave in accordance with their ability. As the Corinthians gave bountifully, they could, and should, expect God to take their gift and bring forth a bountiful harvest of help for the Jerusalem church. This expectation allowed the Corinthians to give in joy, rather than to give out of stress.
Simply stated, Baker’s Dozen Principle #9 says, We can experience the joy of giving by sowing bountifully. When I think about this principle in relationship to NEBC, the reality of it simply amazes me. Since the earliest days until today, the Lord has taken the financial seeds sown by our partners, blessed those seeds, and accomplished far more than I ever dreamed possible. We see a bumper crop every year, as the Father takes the seeds sown by our generous partners and brings forth a large harvest. The harvest brings joy to the partners, joy to the faculty & staff, joy to the students, and joy to the new believers.
The dollar amount is not in view with this principle. To some $25 may be a bountiful seed gift, while for others a bountiful gift may be $250, $2,500, $25,000, or even $2,500,000. What determines whether we are sowing sparingly or bountifully is how we give in light of our ability and the Lord’s leading.
Yesterday, it was my privilege to see a bountiful harvest from seeds sown by our Three-Strands Partners. Last spring our students reached out to a lady in her 90s. They began bringing her to church faithfully every Sunday. In June she entered eternity. Most of her family do not live in the immediate area. However, one of our students persistently pursued connecting with her family in Maine. As a result, they asked the student if a local church plant would facilitate a memorial service for her this fall. Three of our students led that service, loved on the family, and shared the good news of Jesus with them. Yesterday, a member of the family followed the Lord in believer’s baptism.
These students would never have had the opportunity to minister this way, if it were not for the prayers, encouragement, and financial support of partners like you. We praise the Lord for you and your bountiful seed sowing!
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