God's Circles

Text: Galatians 6:7

Series: Restoration Sermons

Date:

Speaker: Ed Rangel

Location: Waupaca Church of Christ

Bible Version: NASB 1995

Sermon Type: Expository

Learning Objectives

By the close of this lesson the hearer should be able to:

1. See the principle of the "circle" — what goes out returns — running through the physical, moral, and spiritual worlds.
2. Understand that a man reaps what he sows in conduct as surely as in nature.
3. Sow now what he would wish to reap, in time and in eternity.

Thesis

God has written one law across creation in the shape of a circle: what goes out comes back — in the physical world dust returns to dust, in the moral world a man reaps what he sows, and in the spiritual world he receives the measure he gives — so that we should sow now what we are willing to reap forever.

Burden

There is a pattern stamped on the whole universe, and once you see it you cannot unsee it: things move in circles, and they come back around. The rain falls and rises and falls again; the seasons round and return; the seed becomes the harvest that becomes the seed. The outline takes that visible pattern and presses it into the conscience, because the same God who made nature run in circles made the moral and spiritual world run in them too. "Whatever a man sows, this he will also reap" (Gal. 6:7). The burden of this lesson is sobering and hopeful at once: nothing you send out is lost — it is coming back to you. So the only question worth asking is what you are sending out.

Introduction

It has been said that God's favorite pattern is the circle — you see it in raindrops and in the curve of our horizon. The outline traces the circle through three realms: a physical law, a moral principle, and a spiritual law. In each, what goes out comes back; in each, we reap what we sow.

I. A Physical Law (Ecclesiastes 3:20)

1. All the heavenly bodies are round and move in circles — the whole cosmos turns.
2. The seasons make their "rounds," returning year by year.
3. Vegetation runs a circle — a seed produces seed; we sow, and we reap in kind.
4. Our own bodies run the circle — formed "of the dust of the ground" (Gen. 2:7), they return to it: "you are dust, and to dust you shall return" (Gen. 3:19; Job 34:15; Eccl. 3:20). The body completes its circle in the grave.

Nature everywhere preaches the same sermon: what comes from a thing returns to it.

II. A Moral Principle (Galatians 6:7)

1. "It will come home to you." "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap" (Gal. 6:7). Conduct circles back to the one who sent it out.
2. You must be a friend to have friends — "a man of too many friends comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother" (Prov. 18:24); friendship returns the spirit it is given.

The moral world is no less governed by the circle than the physical: kindness returns kindness, and cruelty returns cruelty, in God's just economy.

III. A Spiritual Law (Matthew 7:1-2)

1. You will be judged by the judgment you use — "in the way you judge, you will be judged" (Matt. 7:1-2).
2. You will receive the measure you give — "by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you" (Matt. 7:2).
3. "Give, and it will be given to you" — pressed down, shaken together, running over (Luke 6:38).
4. The merciful obtain mercy — "blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy" (Matt. 5:7).

In the things of the soul most of all, the circle holds: what you give — in judgment, in generosity, in mercy — returns to you from the hand of God.

Application

If God has built the universe to give back what we send into it, then the practical wisdom is simple and searching: sow now what you are willing to reap later. Sow harshness and you will reap it; sow mercy and mercy will return; measure others meanly and you will be measured meanly; give freely and it will be given to you. This is not superstition or karma — it is the justice of a God who "is not mocked." And it reaches past this life into the next, for the circle that returns dust to dust also returns the spirit to God. So examine what you are putting into the world: your words, your judgments, your generosity, your mercy. It is all coming back around. Make sure you will be glad to meet it.

Conclusion

The circle is everywhere — in the turning heavens, the returning seasons, the seed and its harvest, the dust that returns to dust. And the same law rules the moral and the spiritual world: a man reaps what he sows, and receives the measure he gives. Sow, then, what you would gladly reap — in time, and in eternity.

Invitation

The last circle is the one that matters most: "the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it" (Eccl. 12:7). You will stand before the God who gave you breath. Sow toward that day now — believe on the Lord Jesus, repent of your sins, confess Him, and be baptized for the remission of your sins (Acts 2:38; Gal. 6:7-9), that you may "reap eternal life" and not corruption. Come while we sing.

Word Study

Scripture Interlock Table

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Converted from H. Leo Boles, Outline 35. Doctrinal audit: core-framework / wisdom theme (the sowing-and-reaping principle across physical, moral, and spiritual realms; final accountability to God); no doctrinal correction. The "circle" motif is preserved as Boles' organizing image while being kept firmly within biblical sowing/reaping and divine-justice categories (explicitly not fatalism or karma). Style audit: OCR cleanup. Citation correction: source "Gen. 2:4" does not support "from dust / to dust"; corrected to Gen. 2:7 (formed of dust) and Gen. 3:19 (return to dust), the verses Boles plainly intended; flagged. Source note: no primary-text line; Gal. 6:7 (cited at II.1, the heart of the sermon) supplied as text and flagged. Boles' own remaining citations (Job 34:15; Eccl. 3:20; 12:7; Prov. 18:24; Matt. 7:1-2; Luke 6:38; Matt. 5:7) verified and retained.