REAPING WHAT WE SOW
by John Conrad, BYNA Elder
Galatians 6: 7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a person sows, this he will also reap. Luke 6: 44 For each tree is known by its own fruit. For [people] do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush.
These two statements—the first by the Apostle Paul and the second by Yeshua—depict a simple truth. Harvested fruit always reveals the identity of the planted seed. This seems so obvious that it would appear unnecessary to mention it. When we find weeds growing up in the corn patch, we don’t question whether the corn seed has gone bad. Bad fruit inexorably comes from bad seed.
Sadly, we often miss this relationship between what we have sown in our lives and the resulting harvest. We are puzzled by a crop we find distinctly unpleasant but fail to grasp that the unpleasant crop was a direct result of seeds we planted and cultivated. Accurately recognizing the identity of seeds we have planted in our lives helps us deal with unwelcome harvests that plague our walk. Bad fruit only comes from bad seed. The bad results only shock us because we neglect to identify the seed as bad.
One of the bad seeds permeating the Messianic culture was the idea that every practice had to be reviewed to ascertain whether or not its origins were pagan. While we all agree that we want to avoid pagan practices, it is necessary to distinguish pagan worship from practices pagans do that all of us do. As a silly example of how far this craziness went, I talked to a man that wouldn’t allow his kids to eat oranges because oranges were shaped like some Christmas decorations and thus tainted by paganism. This is bad fruit (pun intended.)
One way to identify bad seed is when the fruit causes us to either disregard or willfully break the dictates of YHWH’s Word. Yeshua reproved the Pharisees and Lawyers of his day because they had developed a tradition of Corban that allowed someone to devote their resources to the temple and avoid parental support. Clearly this tradition violated the command to “honor your father and mother.” Yeshua blasted them in Mark 7:13 “Thus, with your tradition which you had handed down to you, you nullify the Word of God! And you do other things like this.” CJB
We can see this twisting of scripture in both Christian and Messianic practice. Yeshua clearly says in John 14:6 “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.” This truth undergirds all of us who believe in and follow our Messiah. However, it has been manipulated to an interpretation that defines the only way to follow Yeshua conforms to my practice. Thus, if you don’t believe in Yeshua the way I do, or practice the faith the way I do, you have placed yourself outside God’s grace and my approval. As this evil seed passes down through the generations, it bears a harvest of accepting or promoting the persecution and death of those who disagree with me.
Another questionable seed is the idea that scripture teaches that God is through with the physical descendants of Abraham and that the promises given them have passed to the church. This belief undermines the over 200 times the Tanach proclaims that the literal Land belongs to Abraham’s descendants. The grotesque fruit from this seed includes opposition to the one Jewish state in the world and condemnation of the people who moved there to allow them the option to protect themselves. It also promulgates the idea that our Father had nothing to do with the Jewish restoration to the Land and that He, in fact, opposes it. Many in the church have already forgotten that for nearly 2000 years, Jews over the earth were helpless in the face of world-wide anti-Semitism and totally helpless to defend themselves.
Sometimes we fail to see that our bad seeds have created an environment where evil flourishes. A couple was vacationing in a Scandinavian country just recently and they stopped in to eat at a small café. After they sat down a young local couple came and sat down by them. They were enjoying a congenial discussion when one of the hot topics in Europe came up. The young local man mentioned that “Islamism is dangerous and is a major phenomenon that must be carefully watched.” He paused and then said, “However, the source of all our problems are the Jews.”
The original couple were dumbstruck. Finally, the wife ventured, “But what about the holocaust? Over six million Jews were destroyed for no reason.” The young man didn’t hesitate, “They brought it on themselves—they had it coming.”
Hopefully my readers are horrified by these comments. But this crop, this horrible harvest, has been cultivated in Christian and Messianic congregations. Anti-Semitism has become so prevalent that many fail to accurately discern its demonic origins and consequences.
Today as the organization of BYNA we have a sacred task in front of us. We must identify what seeds we are currently planting and cultivating, both individually and corporately, that are contributing to a harvest that is keeping the Houses of Judah and Israel apart. This is one of the reasons I so strongly believe that we must share the message of both houses—Judah and Israel/Ephraim. They cannot come together if one is destroyed. May God grant us discernment to accurately divide his Word and produce a harvest of righteousness.
