Mountains and Valleys Song of Songs 2:1-3

1 Mountains and Valleys Song of Songs 2:1-3 Intro: The Song of Songs captures the relationship between Jesus and the Church which is us corporately and us individually. I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys. (Song 2:1) Facts about the Rose 1. A Rose is a symbol of Love and Affection. She is saying, I m a lover of you, that s my identity. I have strong affections for you. I have feelings for you. I want to have feelings for Jesus. 1. (A) I want it to be that I think about Him all the time. 2. (B) When I think about Him, my heart is deeply moved with joy and excitement. 3. (C) I want to be so attracted to Him that I don t know how to stay away from Him. (Funny story of Hi Meg ) I remember something that deeply touched my heart when I was a teenager, was I went to a particular church where my sister started attending. I had gone to church all my life. But the youth pastor was on his Takamine guitar. He had a decent voice and yet that wasn t what touched me. He could strum the guitar fine, I knew He wasn t an amateur but that didn t impact me. I looked at his face, and I knew He was IN LOVE. It was a love you couldn t hide, it was a love you couldn t fake. As flies are drawn to light, I was drawn to passion- and this was passion. The affections of the human heart are the most prized possession to God. They are the only thing that God wants that He does not yet have It is what the devil is going to war with God for. - Mike Bickle 2. A Rose is not a Paycheck. She was communicating, I am not just an employee of Jesus, I m a lover. I don t just clock in and clock out, I don't just

2 do my tasks and duties, I m in love. I m not a mere servant of Jesus, I m His bride- He is my romantic obsession. I m not in this for a paycheck called heaven, I m in this because I can t get enough of Him. He s captured my heart. I m not someone who is just used and thrown into a tool box. Which is more true? A) I am a LOVER of God who happens to WORK for Him. B) I am a WORKER for God who happens to LOVE Him. (Being a lover of God is to be our primary identity. He doesn t just want to use me for 30-40-50-60 years, He wants to spend eternity with me.). 3. A Rose is not a Tool. Men, we don t present a hammer, pliers, or a wretch for Valentines Day, but you give a rose- as a token of your love and affections. Now, when you women receive a rose, you don t use it as a tool. You don t hammer anything with it, you care for a rose. You put it in water and you put it somewhere you can see, maybe your kitchen or your living room or dining table, of somewhere it s the first thing you see when you come in the house. When you put a hammer in a tool box in the garage. She knows she is a lover, but she knows she is also loved. Where Jesus is going to care for her, water her, and enjoy her. 4. A Rose is simply enjoyable. When you think of a rose, is your first thought: Useful? Or enjoyable? A hammer is useful. A clothing iron is useful. A frying pan is useful. A rose is enjoyable. It s not really something you need, but something you like. In this Scripture, the bride knows that she is enjoyed by the Bridegroom. You just take a rose and stare at it and breathe it in, for pleasure. We tell the Lord, I just want your presence Maybe He is saying the same thing, I just want your presence. I just want you to be present with me, for that is a sweet fragrance to me. Do we know the effect we have on the Lord? One minister did. I heard him tell a story about how He woke up in the morning and new in His heart that someone heart the heart of Jesus (remember we can grieve the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of Jesus We have seen Jesus weep a man of sorrows ). He told Jesus, I m going to clear out my morning schedule, cancel my meetings, and just spend time being with you. Before Jesus was captured by the Roman soldiers and led to

3 the cross, Jesus asked Peter, James, and John - just be with me, try to stay awake, and want your company. Perhaps they were three roses, refreshing his heart by their presence. It s time we know what kind of effect with have on the Lord you are a rose! 5. A Rose is an atmosphere changer. The more you believe how much He enjoys your presence, your presence becomes more enjoyable to others. When I feel condemned, I can be crabby. (I knew a kid who could pass gas at will. He was 8 years old, maybe 65 pounds, and he d pump His stomach and tighten up his stomach, push, and He could pop one out at will.) The rose doesn t strive to be fragrant, doesn't tense up to fart out a sweet fragrance. A rose releases fragrance from a place of rest. A rose changes the environment because of it s essence, not it s striving. We are to be at rest. We don t want to do witnessing, but be a witness (Acts 1:8). Those who do witnessing are trying to witness from a place of striving, those who are a witness just a witness from a place of rest. This is presence evangelism (Ex. Me and Paul at Hojas). What makes us most useful for the Kingdom is when we are enjoyable people to be around. People can get saved by the fragrance on your life. But thanks be to God, who always leads us triumphantly in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him. (2 Corinthians 2:15) I m going into another point now: While the ROSE is RED and is a symbol of LOVE and AFFECTION, the LILY is WHITE and was a symbol of PURITY. The rose is mentioned before the lily because in order to be a lily you must first become a rose. If we truly love the Lord, it would translate into a purified life. Hollywood LOVE is not Kingdom LOVE: - Hollywood love is proven by FEELINGS. - Kingdom love is proven by ACTIONS.

4 - Kingdom love has EMOTIONS but is more than EMOTIONS. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son (John 3:16) This Scripture doesn t read, For God so loved the world, that He had feelings for the world, so much so that He even cried thinking about the world, He had butterflies in His stomach when He looked at the world I m not discounting that He did have feelings and strong emotions. Jesus wept in compassion over it. But God s love was proven by actions. Kingdom love is PROVEN by how much you are willing to GIVE-UP for the object of your love. - If you are a true ROSE you will become a true LILY. There is a difference between actually loving God (Kingdom Love) and loving the feeling or idea of being in love with a High Power (Hollywood). If we actually love God, it s more than goosebumps, tears, songs, tattoos, bumperstickers, Facebook posts, but A LIFE OF NOTABLE PURITY, where we GIVE-UP impurities that were once dear to us, because of our love for Another. For (Your Name) so loved the Lord, that he/she gave What have you given up for the Lord? Did you give up something that was dear to you? Have you give up anything costly for love s sake? I will not offer to the Lord that which cost me nothing (2 Samuel 24:24). Lily of the Valley speaks of having a PURE LIFE in a world of mountains and valleys or highs and lows. Life consists of highs and lows. Actually both will test our love for God:

5 - Can we stay humble and devoted in the midst of mountains? - Can we stay joyful and faithful in the midst of valleys? In the mountains and valleys, make every effort to stay close to God. Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. (James 5:13) In life, there will be seasons of suffering and seasons of cheerfulness. Cheerfulness + Praise = Increase of Blessings Heartache + Prayer = Increase of Power You prepare a table (prayer) before me in the presence of my enemies (heartache); you anoint my head with oil (power); my cup overflows. - (Psalm 23:5) God uses the valleys to purify our lives. Valleys are low, the low emotions. - He will encounter you in the mountain-tops, but He will purify you in the valleys. - Sometimes you can have a season where God s presence is so glorious you feel like you are about to be raptured (MOUNTAIN TOP)! Then, you can have times where you are so dry and thirsty spiritually (VALLEY). - He has a purpose for both seasons. He s working in you in both seasons. - In a season of outpouring (MOUNTAIN-TOP), He s downloading new software into you. In a season of dryness (VALLEY), He s deleting the viruses. - In outpouring, He s giving you experiences that will mark you life and that you can fall back on. In a dry season, He s removing from you all that you tend to fall back on that s not Him.

6 - There are things God can accomplish in you in the valleys that He can t on the mountain top. - Even for Jesus it was a time of outpouring, open heavens, affirmations (Matthew 3:17) followed by the desert - lonely, tempted, warfare, wild beasts (circumstantial pressures, people problems), shortage (not abundance). - In life, I ve met two types of people: Those who taught me how to love, those who test my love. Mountains teach you how to love. Valleys test you love. - A time to kill and a time to heal; A time to tear down and a time to build up. A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance (Ecclesiastes 3:3-4) - You get healed on the mountains, you get killed in the valley. - You bet built up on the mountains, your pride gets torn down in the valleys. - There may be a lot of laughing and dancing on the mountain, in a dry season (in the valley) there is weeping and mourning in the valley. - In the valley, you become a Lily. The valley produces the lily. Thank Him for the purification process! - Between mountains are the valleys. He will take you from glory to glory, but in between the next glorious season is a gory one- where there is death to self. - Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me (Psalm 23:4) - I will fear no evil : The valley will not DESTROY YOU but only PURIFY YOU. - you are with me : When you are on the mountains you don t doubt that God is with you. When you are in the valleys you need to encourage yourself that God is still with you. He s with you in less obvious ways. He s working behind the scenes, rather than on center stage. He s teaching you

7 not to be too dependent on the singing angels, and the spectacular, and the feelings - so even though you don t feel much- you still believe He is with you because of what the Bible says, not what your goosebumps say. - Even though I walk through If you are in the valley, keep walkingkeep moving forward, keep spending time with God, keep coming to church, keep reading your word, keep praying, keep pressing in to know God more, keep fellowshipping, and you will find yourself on another mountain-top! If you stop walking you will get stuck in the valley keep walking, and you will go through the valley and up on another mountain! - The Mountains and Valleys of life reveal who has true faith and who doesn t: When you go through the fire, the false believers will be DESTROYED and the true believes will be PURIFIED. The false believers will be EXPOSED through trials and the true believers will be REFINED by them. Like a lily among thorns is my darling among the young women. (Song 2:2) - A lily among thorns speaks of the Bride living pure in an impure world. There is a contrast between her and other young women. - Man looks at outward appearance, but God looks at the heart (see 1 Samuel 16:7). When God sees the hearts of those who don t know Him, He sees thorns - and it pierces His heart. - When He sees the heart of one who knows Him and loves Him, He sees a pure and pleasant flower. - It PAINS Him to see hearts that don t know Him and it PLEASES Him to see a heart that knows Him. - I hope we would feel the pain in our hearts too, when people don t know the Lord, thinking about them would pierce our hearts, leading us to pray, share the gospel, invite people to church. - Also when we get around our brothers and sisters in Christ, we would appreciate them like a flower. This is why the church is so powerful, there is

8 power in numbers, corporate worship, corporate anointing, it s getting a bed of flowers (for a greater scent). - I remember when I gave my life to the Lord, I knew my heart was a thorn-bush (self-protecting, tough, angry, I ll hurt you, don t get too close), but then there were other kids my age and my sister s age, who had hearts that were as open to God as a flower. - They were not trying to be hard and cool, but they were so expressive to God. Mouths open, hands open, arms open, heart open! - Long story short, the flowers jumped on the thorn bush and prayed for Him, and I wanted what they had. I was tough, they were tender. I felt so distant from God (only knew facts), they seemed to feel God s affections and return them. But, I wanted what they had. Then this thorn bush, became converted into a flower and I began to worship God with mouth open, hands open, arms open, and heart open. - For Him to reach you, He had to be pierced. He swam through the throne to rescue you from the thorns. He was willing to be pierced so He can claim you as His own- by paying the ransom for our souls and for demonstrating true love- that is willing to be pierced over and over, in order to touch a flower. He suffered greatly to touch your heart, to reach your heart. - The cross was more than payment, or else Jesus could have just died. The cross was to be a key to opening our heart, so in His suffering for us, He would win our affections. Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my beloved among the young men. I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste. (Song 2:3) The Bride is saying that He (Jesus) stands out from all others. He has something that the others canʼt deliver. Now, this apple tree is sticking out like a sore thumb- it is full of luscious fruit. The difference between the apple tree and the other trees of the forest is not the shade, for even the big forest trees provide shade. Yet, this apple tree provides shade and fruit.

9 When the heat is turned up- this speaks of the pressures of life- where will you turn? You have many options, you can go to any of these trees, but only Jesus comes with refreshing fruit for your spirit. Only Jesus provides a double-blessing, like the apple tree: 1) Alleviation from the painful rays. 2) Nourishment for the soul. - Drugs and alcohol will alleviate the pain, but starve the soul. (The soul was made to be satisfied by itʼs Creator.) - Movies will alleviate the pain, but will starve the soul. - Binge eating will alleviate the pain, but will not satisfy the soul. - Maybe going on vacation will alleviate the pain, but will not necessarily satisfy the soul. - Speaking hatefully of someone may temporarily alleviate the pain, but will not satisfy the soul. - Only Jesus, will not just alleviate the pain, but will feed your soul- leaving you refreshed! - Those apples speak to us of when God speaks to you exactly what you need to hear, a Word in season (Proverbs 25:11). When you hang out in His shade, that is when you are able to receive a word from Him. When He speaks to you, itʼs always a ripe word. It heals you, encourages you, teaches you. Jesus said we cannot live without receiving fresh words from the Lord (Matthew 4:4). - When you are in the hot, blazing sun, it can be blinding and you have to squint. When the pressure is on, we can make terrible decisions. When we are stressed out, that is not the time to make important decisions. We need to get in the shade of His presence, and then our eyes will be opened up. In His presence is clearer perspective. - Shade is a picture of presence. You are in His shade, you lose your shade. You know you are in the presence of the Lord, for you lose self-consciousness. If you are too obsessed with self, you are not practicing the presence of the

10 Lord. You can t effectively practice your presence and His at the same time. - When you hang out in the presence of Jesus- His shade, something happens to your shade. That is how Peterʼs shadow was able to heal. - When you eat His fruit, something happens to your fruit. FRUIT: CHARACTER + INFLUENCE - In the Bible, fruit speaks of character and influence. Jesus told us to inspect peopleʼs fruits, before we trust them (Luke 6:44). Character - their Influence. Character: How they are over time? Influence: How they treat their family? - Abide in me and you will bear much fruit (John 15:5).