WELL-FED and WELL-RESTED Song of Songs pt. 3

Transcription

1 1 WELL-FED and WELL-RESTED Song of Songs pt. 3 Introduction - Not primarily a story that is told, but a song that is performed. - Jerome the Historian records that men had to wait until they were over 30 to read this book. Reason being the Jews believed it was a very holy book, depicting God s heart for His people Israel. They didn t want people to abuse it, and just get silly with it. - It does combat asceticism (anti-pleasure) and hedonism (addiction to carnal pleasure) and uphold martial love. This was a book about a satisfied husband and a devoted wife. When marriage is healthy, a man so glad he s a man and a husband- embracing His role, and the wife is so glad she is a woman- embracing her role. - I know of no book that will draw you closer to Him than the Song of Songs - J. Vernon McGee - This was D.L. Moody s favorite book. - Setting: Most likely takes place in a Jerusalem palace and some of the scenes are flashbacks. Some of the flashbacks happen at the hill country of Ephriam, where she is from. - The Daughters of Jerusalem: They would be the chorus that would be keeping the tempo of the song. They are minor characters, even though their words matter, it s not the primary characters speaking. - She: The she is a Shulamite girl, the eldest of a poor hillbilly family. She is a hard worker, a shepherdess and a vineyard woker. - He: Is a shepherd (Song 1:7). He took her to dinner (Song 2:4). He told her he would come back for her. She is ridiculed for her hope (2 Peter 3:3-4). But, she trusted Him, loved Him, and constantly was dreaming about Him (Song 3:1). She could sense Him (Song 5:5). Meanwhile, He will protect us in the cleft of the rock as we wait for Him (Song 2:11-13). - He does come back for her, but comes back as a glorious King. She almost doesn t recognize him. - One day we will meet Him in the air (2 Thessalonians 4:16-17). The book ends with them running off together! - He is often referred to in this book as the Beloved, and she is my Love. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for your love is better than wine (Song 1:2)

2 2 - Solomon is a picture of Jesus. His name means peace and Jesus is the prince of peace. Solomon ruled from Jerusalem, the city of peace. The Kingdom Jess rules, the Kingdom of God is a Kingdom of peace in the Holy Spirit. The Shulamites name means daughter of peace. As sons and daughters of the Kingdom, our lives ought to be marked by peace. Blessed are the peacemakers for they are the sons of God (Matthew 5) - The Kiss was a token of peace. When He speaks to our hearts and breaths His Words into us, the result is peace. A kiss from the Lord is an impartation of peace. He doesn t just want to give us a letter to read, but wants to breath His Word into us. It s more than a text from God. It s and impartation of His mind, heart, and Spirit. That is what she is asking for here. Not just information, but an impartation of Himself. - The kiss is often the seal of marriage you may now kiss the bride. When you are asking for a kiss from the Lord, you are asking Him to confirm the relationship you have with Him. That s what a kiss fro the Lord does, your fears and insecurities dissipate and you know you are His and He is yours. It is a confirmation, a seal. I have to be honest, I sometime get insecure where I stand with Him The Accuser of the brethren is accusing continually I could definitely use a kiss from the Lord to confirm in my heart, I am my Beloved s and He is mine. - In the Hebrew, to worship means to lean in to kiss. It s when we are in worship that we position ourselves to receive a kiss from the Lord. It s because to receive a kiss we have to turn our face towards the person we want to receive from. - The Bride is on the receiving end. This is the reason the church is described as the Bride, because females are designed to receive and males are designed to give. Sometimes we think it s our job to give, give, and give to God- but it s our job to receive, receive, and receive. Only then we can give back to Him. For your love is better than wine; (Song 1:2) - It s His love that is pleasurable. Not religion, but His love. Not focusing on my love for God or my lack of love for Him, but focusing on His matchless love for me is what pleasures my heart. Honestly, my love is weak, imperfect, and fickle. His love is strong, perfect, and faithful. Honestly, my love for God makes me sick nauseous. I have to look at what doesn t change to regain my equilibrium and reclaim a sound mind- that s His love, grace, and mercy.

3 3 your anointing oils are fragrant; your name is oil poured out; therefore virgins love you. (Song 1:3) - The oils were for calming and curing. He gives peace and healing. He gives the oil of joy for mourning (Isaiah 61:3). The way anointing oil was released is that the olive needed to be crushed Jesus was crushed on the cross so we could experience His calming and His curing- His peace and healing. From the cross flows the anointing oil of peace and healing. Thank you Jesus for being crushed on Calvary, so I can receive your peace and healing! For us, let s keep looking to His crushing on the cross is what translates into our own healing (Numbers 21, John 3). We receive the calming and curing oil as we keep looking at Him being crushed for us. - Jesus was crushed for our iniquities (Isaiah 53:5). This anointing oil is applied to our hearts. Iniquities speak of heart-bents, heart-conditions, proclivities, perversions, and the state of sinfulness apart from the law. Iniquity is different from transgression. Jesus was crushed not just for our crimes to be forgiveness (transgressions), but for our hearts to be changed by His anointing oil, the Holy Spirit. God is not in the business of just forgiving our acts of sin, but curing our hearts. The Holy Spirit is the oil. His oil is that fragrant! That anointing oil changes our core desires. - Name speaks of a person s being. He poured Himself out He emptied Himself for us (see Philippians 2:6-7). Just imagine how much blood poured out on the cross, every drop had one mission- to win our love. - When we see His sacrificial love, it makes us love Him so dearly. Come back to the cross where He poured Himself out for us. Draw me after you; let us run. The king has brought me into his chambers. (Song 1:4) - We could never come to Him unless He draws us (John 6:44). - This is why Jesus said, Many are called, but few are chosen. (Matthew 22:14) He pulls on many. Few respond to the pull, in order to be among the chosen. The chosen are the ones who cooperated with the pull to come to Christ. - He has to woo us. He has to pursue us. He has to pull us. Only then can we run together. - If you are running with Him, it s because He drew you. He initiated. He chose you (John 15:16).

4 4 - Wherever you get to in your intimacy with Jesus, remember that you didn t climb yourself there, but He brought you in. Remember, we have fallen short of His glory (Romans 3:23). Just like it is impossible for us to barge into the white house and have an audience with the President it s even more impossible to just barge into the presence of God we are talking about getting somewhere that s not on this planet we are talking about the Being who the Bible says dwells in unapproachable light we are talking about the One who put breath into every king and ruler who every lived we are talking about the One who existed before time began. - Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way opened for us through the curtain of His body, (Hebrews 10:19-20). - When Jesus body was torn on the cross, the veil that kept people out of the Holy of Holies was ripped in two from top to bottom. God was saying, I opened the door where you can be brought into my Presence you can know the chambers of my heart. It ripped from top to bottom because nobody can say, I broke my way into the courts of God I m that smart, I m that strong, I m that determined The three-foot thick curtain ripped from top to bottom for God was saying, it s going to be Me who make the way for you to know Me. I made it happen. I brought you in! - Every time you have a powerful experience where you feel like you have come to the throne room of God, remember- it was because His body was torn that you can come in. He gave you an access pass, but that pass was more expensive than any human being could afford- Jesus was uniquely qualified to pay for it and gladly paid for it. That s how badly God wants us to come into His chambers. - To get into the chambers, you often need to be escorted Jesus granted the pass, but the Holy Spirit is the escort. He will lead you and teach you how to get into the chambers of the King. - When you have a spontaneous desire or longing for Him, it s because He is drawing you. - We will exult and rejoice in you; we will extol your love more than wine; rightly do they love you. (Song 1:5) - They would be the chorus that would be keeping the tempo of the song. They are minor characters, even though their words matter, it s not the primary characters speaking.

5 5 - When the Bride has been in the chambers of the King, those who are friends of the Bride rejoice and they celebrate the love of God. I ve found that if you have spent quality time with the Lord, generally people like being around you. - A church that has been in the very Presence of God and have been into the chambers of His heart will be a joyful one. It s a contagious joy. When the joy is gone, it s a good indication that we need to get back into the chambers of the King. - We are on dangerous ground when the joy is gone, because the joy of the Lord is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10). This is not happiness we are talking about that you can get from a cheesecake or engaging your favorite sport, it s joy from the Presence of God. I am very dark, but lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon. (Song 1:5) - Here we see how she feels about herself. She is somewhat conflicted. She is not saying she is of African descent, she is Jewish she is saying that she has been burned by the sun. This was considered unattractive. During the time of this book, in the Middle East, light skin was sees as beautiful. They weren t trying to get a tan like people in America. In fact, Queen Esther was kept out of the sun for an entire year. She was already light-skinned too, in order to be a candidate (Esther 2). She is saying that there is something so unattractive about her, but she knows she is lovely. - It s important for us to understand that we are loved in our imperfection. That s one of the ways God perfects us is by loving us in our imperfection. When you have acted the ugliest, sometimes, He acts the kindest to you, in efforts to bring you to repentance (Romans 2:4). Very different from most human interactions, you act ugly you get treated nasty. - I need to be perfectly loved in my imperfection in order to be perfected. - We cannot experience perfect love if we are perfect. Perfect love is not a prize given to the perfect for their perfection, perfect love is grace given to an imperfect for there imperfections. - This verse doesn t read, I am very dark, and shameful. - All of Oprah s guest ask her, Was that OK? Everyone wants to know if they are OK. Why would we be so worried about if we are OK, if we are absolutely convinced that we are OK. I think we intuitively know that we aren t perfectly OK, so we want to be OK, we try to be OK. But, we have to get to a place as the Bride to understand that although there may be unattractive parts of us still, we are absolutely loved. That s part of our beautification treatment.

6 6 - Jesus said the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak (Matthew 26:41) the willing spirit is so lovely to Him. The weak flesh is not but He sees the willing heart that wants to do what s pleasing to Him, although it gets overpowered time upon time. - His correction is not rejection He pay reveal and you may see the areas that are unclean, impure, but it s not to shame us or reject us but to change us and His correction is not rejection so correction has lost it s sting it s not that painful. - She is telling this to the daughters of Jerusalem, we are a picture of pre-believers or new-believers. In our evangelism and discipleship let s not give people the idea that we never have struggles. Then, we give people unrealistic expectations of the Christian life. Let s be real, that even after walking with the Lord for decades, we still fail there are un-attractive moments. The truth be told, we will all fail, but His love for us will never fail. This is not an equal relationship: Perfect lover with Perfect love. This is an unequal relationship: Perfect lover with imperfect lover. Does that hurt your pride? It s supposed to! Nothing is more humbling than God s grace. - The Bride needs to understand that she has a weak flesh, but also that she is made for the presence of God, and God chose to dwell inside of her. - The tents of Kedar speak of the weak flesh. Ishamael was a man who had trouble in His relationships (Genesis 16:12), and Kedar was his son. Kedar is a picture of dysfunctional relationships (Psalm 120:5-6). But, the curtains of Solomon was the container of the manifest presence of God, the holy of holies. It was white. Here is the irony, although we may have been people who have had struggles in our relationships, God chose to move in with you! You ve not done relationships perfectly, but God still took the risk, and decided to move in with you! (1 Corinthians 3:16). Do not gaze at me because I am dark, because the sun has looked upon me. My mother s sons were angry with me; they made me keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have not kept! (Song 1:6) - Why can we become broken people, the pressures of life (the sun), the rejections of life (the brothers), the failures of life (the vineyards). The stress of life (the trials and temptations - Luke 8:13). The hurts in our relationships. The regrets of our decisions. - But, God doesn t think the remedy to self-rejection is a God-rejection. - In the parable of the sower, the sun represents trials and temptations, or the pressures of life (Luke 8:13). Sometimes the pressures of life can bring out the worst in us. - It s painful when we are confronted by our own brokenness, guilt, and shame. It s humbling indeed. Yet, do you know what keeps us from being utterly hopeless and

7 7 dejected? Knowing we are still deeply loved. Also that we have been washed by the blood of Jesus, and we are now wearing new robes (white and dazzling were the curtains)- we have a new identity in Christ. Tell me, you whom my soul loves, where you pasture your flock, where you make it lie down at noon; for why should I be like one who veils herself beside the flocks of your companions? (Song 1:7) - It s easy to get ultra introspective, reflective just belly gazing having a regret retreat, a pity party, a shame-fest. Instead, spend your energies looking for Jesus. - Jesus is a good shepherd who feeds and causes His sheep to find rest. He s not an abusive shepherd. When you are part of His flock, He will make sure you are fed and He will lead you to rest. A good shepherd cares about the well-being of the sheep, not just the production of the sheep. He doesn t run a puppy-mill, forcing you to producethat s the religious spirit or your own ambitions, that s not Jesus. He knows that healthy sheep will reproduce themselves and well-fed and well-rested sheep will grow better cotton. - Check out at the difference between the brothers and the shepherd! The brothers are a picture of a religious spirit that s often found in church, same mother, different father. Mother is the church, but God is not fathering these mindsets. The religious spirit just makes people work and work and work for God, while they always feel like they have not done enough or are enough. Then they get burnt out- bitter, angry, and hurt- for they did not have time for soul care they were too busy meeting the expectations and demands of the religious people, leaders, and institutions. Especially to be met with angry criticism and rejection even while you are trying your best. This system burns you out! Such high-pressure! This pressure is what burns people out. This pressure is what drives people away from church and keeps people away. That s religion. Jesus cares most about you being well-fed and well-rested. That s when you can best multiply yourself. - Jesus wants us to be so well-fed and well-rested, that when it s the hottest time of the day, we can still rest. When the pressure is on, you can still rest. - You have a huge-presentation, you can still be at rest. - You have gigantic responsibilities, you can still be at rest. - You are needing to counsel and console a very difficult situation, you can still be at rest. - You are going through financial hardships, you can still be at rest. - You are going through a lot of spiritual warfare, you can still rest.

8 8 - The shepherds job is to keep you fed and rested. The sheep job is just stay close to the shepherd. He will take care of the meals and the rest. - When you aren t close to the Shepherd-bridegroom and following Him..then you are prone to deception from those who claim to be friends of Jesus but aren t part of His flock. The church fathers taught that this verse speaks of heretical teachers and false prophets who will act like they are for Christ and like Christ, but they are not part of His flock. They will seek to mislead the Bride. If the Bride is hungry and if she is tired- exhausted by religion and running the works treadmill verses resting in His love and grace, she may end up pulled into a different flock. Jesus promised that many false prophets would arise and lead many astray (Matthew 24:1). In the early church there were many false apostles (2 Corinthians 11:13). If we aren t walking closely with Jesus, we will be carried about with every wind of doctrine (Ephesians 4:14). If you do not know, O most beautiful among women, follow in the tracks of the flock, and pasture your young goats beside the shepherds tents. (Song 1:8) - Follow in the tracks of the true flock. When you don t know how to receive words and rest from Jesus directly- follow in the tracks of those who do. Find books of those who walked closely with Him and learn as much as you can. Ask people you respect about how they stay close to the Lord. - She doesn t think she is too beautiful, but He does. She s hard on herself. But, He sees her desire to be close to Him and not fall into error- and that is most beautiful to Him. - The Bride is also a shepherdess. As we follow the Good Shepherd, we ought to be shepherding too (John 21:16-17)- as we grow in love for Him, we also grow in love for the young believers and want to do what we can to help others to grow spiritually. - We should stay close to the shepherd s tent this speaks of a local church fellowship. God appoints under-shepherds and gives them tents. They don t appoint themselves. Going to school doesn t guarantee God appoints. But, God does appoint pastors and they do have a valid role (Hebrews 13:17). He may move their tent around. He may enlarge their tent. He may shrink their tent. - A growth requirement, you may need to get connected to a shepherds tent. He will be imperfect.