Craving God’s Gift
Notes
Transcript
I don’t know if I am supposed to be so excited about preaching through Song of Solomon. However, as I have been studying this book, I have found out that what Jonathan Edwards wrote about this poem is so true:
“The whole book of Canticles [i.e., Song of Solomon] used to be pleasant to me, and I used to be much in reading it, about that time; and found, from time to time, an inward sweetness, that would carry me away, in my contemplations.”
Yes, of a man’s love for a woman, but even more so, of a Christ’s love for us.
We live in a world that is so crass. That is so caught up in the baser things of this life. Reading through this book, lifts our eyes from the crass and base to the ecstatic glory of God.
Unfortunately, as we read it, we have to retrain our minds to remember what is sacred. To reflect on what God created as good, but man has twisted to be evil.
As we read, we will be surprised at what is said openly and rejoiced in openly.
The reason that we are surprised is because our minds and our morals have been twisted by this world. And we have forgotten what God created as good.
So, before we jump in, let’s get a starting point.
At the beginning of time, God created the heavens and earth, the last creation was Adam and Eve, man and woman, joined in marriage. You see a progression in beauty, with the final culmination is the image of himself.
He placed them in the Garden.
We read about this in Genesis 2.
So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of man.”
That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.
Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
After this, God said:
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
God created marriage to be complete a intimacy. They were naked and not ashamed. And he said that it was very good. It was beautiful, awe-inspiring
Now, this was before the fall, and sin entered to distort intimacy. And we have lost that understanding that intimacy is very good.
Instead, we read blatant accounts of intimacy, blatant discussions of the desirability of intimacy and sex, and we don’t think about Genesis 1:31, “it was very good” instead we go to R or X-rated movies and we say: that is wrong: don’t go near it.
Others of us might just keep it hidden, because you don’t talk about it. It is taboo, not sacred. We’ve still been influenced by the culture of crass.
There is a glory in sex, as God designed it, because it is very good and points to him.
Today, we are going to explore the first chapter of Song of Solomon and then we will explore the first part of the Glory of Sex in our Defense of Marriage.
Will you pray with me?
1. Craving: Exposition of the Text
1. Craving: Exposition of the Text
Today, we are going to discuss the passage by just walking through it. We will not always do it this way, but as the first message on the poem, I wanted to unpack it in a way that is easily understood. Many people approach this passage and wonder how to do it. So we are going to walk through it. Feel free to mark on your Bible and make everyone wonder when they flip through it.
A. Song 1:2-4
A. Song 1:2-4
Let’s read the passage:
The poem starts with a bang. The girl is not married yet. She is courting King Solomon. And she desires him.
Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth—
for your love is more delightful than wine.
Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes;
your name is like perfume poured out.
No wonder the young women love you!
Take me away with you—let us hurry!
Let the king bring me into his chambers.
We rejoice and delight in you;
we will praise your love more than wine.
How right they are to adore you!
A couple things. There are two words for Love in this book. When she says in verse 3: no wonder the young women love you: that is a love of respect, a love of friendship, devotion. Sure.
In verse 2, when she says: your love is more delightful than wine. She is using the other word for love. Dode. And it is erotic. It could be translated love-making.
She is not married yet, but she is ready to go to the bedroom. “Let the King bring me into his chambers.” Friends, I want to get a hotel room. Now, how many of us good Christian people would actually say that to a friend?
Why is she so heated? Because she respects him. When Hebrew talks about someone’s fragrance, many times they are talking about actions, how they treat people. When they talk about name, they are talking about character. She sees Solomon, sees his character, how he treats people, and she wants to be all over him. It isn’t just physical attraction, but being in the presence of a good guy. All the young women look up to him, but she gets to call him beloved.
Her friends respond:
Take me away with you—let us hurry!
Let the king bring me into his chambers.
We rejoice and delight in you;
we will praise your love more than wine.
How right they are to adore you!
They hear her desire for physical intimacy, it’s that word dode, and they rejoice in it. They praise her for her desire.
Because our desire for sexual intimacy is good. God designed it and he is glorified in it. The desire is good, what we do with it can be bad.
I need to speed up:
B. Song 1:5-6
B. Song 1:5-6
Dark am I, yet lovely,
daughters of Jerusalem,
dark like the tents of Kedar,
like the tent curtains of Solomon.
Do not stare at me because I am dark,
because I am darkened by the sun.
My mother’s sons were angry with me
and made me take care of the vineyards;
my own vineyard I had to neglect.
She bemoans the fact that she has not been able to take care of her appearance, her vineyard, because her half-brothers forced her to spend all her time working on the farm. She doesn’t think that she is pretty, though for some reason her lover does.
Pin a note in that.
C. Song 1:7-8
C. Song 1:7-8
Tell me, you whom I love,
where you graze your flock
and where you rest your sheep at midday.
Why should I be like a veiled woman
beside the flocks of your friends?
She wants to spend time with the one she loves. But she doesn’t want to be wandering around all the other shepherds. She cares for her reputation. A veiled woman is an idiom for a prostitute. She doesn’t want to be seen as someone going from tent to tent of all these men. Notice that she is going to visit in at midday, not at midnight.
Her friends help her and direct her to the right place.
If you do not know, most beautiful of women,
follow the tracks of the sheep
and graze your young goats
by the tents of the shepherds.
D. Song 1:9-11
D. Song 1:9-11
She finds her husband and he speaks of her beauty.
I liken you, my darling, to a mare
among Pharaoh’s chariot horses.
Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings,
your neck with strings of jewels.
We will make you earrings of gold,
studded with silver.
He has been listening. He meets her where she is emotionally, and encourages her that she is in fact beautiful and will do whatever is necessary to help her know it.
A farmer who listens and meets his love where she is at emotionally. What a stud!
E. Song 1:12-14
E. Song 1:12-14
She is now with him and they are eating a meal together with others around:
While the king was at his table,
my perfume spread its fragrance.
My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh
resting between my breasts.
My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms
from the vineyards of En Gedi.
Remember perfume is actions. Her actions bring joy not just to him, but everyone in the whole room. She has character, seeking to uplift, just like pleasing perfume.
As she is there, her love deepens for Solomon. He is precious to her, like expensive herbs or vibrant flowers.
F. Song 1:15-17
F. Song 1:15-17
Finally, they go for a walk after their meal, they reflect on their surroundings and on their love:
How beautiful you are, my darling!
Oh, how beautiful!
Your eyes are doves.
How handsome you are, my beloved!
Oh, how charming!
And our bed is verdant.
The beams of our house are cedars;
our rafters are firs.
Solomons words to the woman are the same as her words to him. He initiates, and she responds in kind.
Even though the woman speaks over 50% of the time, she is constantly seeking his initiation. Even at the beginning, she doesn’t say: I want to kiss him. She says: “Let him kiss me!”
Two lovers yearning to be with each other. Just as God yearns to be with us, and we should yearn to be with him.
How many times do we go through our day and express the sentiment to God:
Take me away with you—let us hurry!
Let the king bring me into his chambers.
We rejoice and delight in you;
we will praise your love more than wine.
How right they are to adore you!
Not as often as we should.
Eugene Peterson had a lady come seeking counseling. She expected to talk about her sex life. But he wanted to know about her prayer life. Prayer and sex are closely connected. They both are about intimacy.
Random fact, a survey by a secular women’s magazine discovered that the more religious a women was, the more likely she was to be sexually fulfilled.
But, I digress. Our yearning for fellowship with Christ should be greater than our yearning for fellowship with a spouse.
2. Glory of Sex, Pt 1: Defense of Marriage
2. Glory of Sex, Pt 1: Defense of Marriage
That is the exposition of the passage.
Now, let’s dive into the glory of sex.
The women exclaims:
Solomon’s Song of Songs.
Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth—
for your love is more delightful than wine.
Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes;
your name is like perfume poured out.
No wonder the young women love you!
Take me away with you—let us hurry!
Let the king bring me into his chambers.
We rejoice and delight in you;
we will praise your love more than wine.
How right they are to adore you!
She is yearning to have sex with her beloved. But, she can’t yet, because they are not married. Her friends praise her for this desire, knowing that it is God given.
Why are they able to do that?
A. Sex Is Good
A. Sex Is Good
God gave sex to us to enjoy.
In a few weeks we are going to read
I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride;
I have gathered my myrrh with my spice.
I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey;
I have drunk my wine and my milk.
Eat, friends, and drink;
drink your fill of love.
This verse and the preceding chapter speak of the enjoyment of sex with one’s spouse. I’m not going to unpack that imagery for you today. But, God says that this is a gift, enjoy it.
God created it as something good.
In a few weeks, we will talk about procreation. Sex is the only way that a married couple can fulfill one of the first commands of God, have children.
But, he didn’t just design it for having children. He designed it to feel good. For us to enjoy.
If you study biology you will know that there are times of the month that a woman cannot get pregnant. So, God did not mean for sex to be just for procreation. He meant it for pleasure, enjoyment.
This enjoyment was not one-sided.
Good Christian families used to teach their godly daughters: Guys have needs, so you must perform your wifely duties. And shaming their daughters for wanting to have sex. Sex was dirty.
Throughout Song of Solomon, the woman is desiring to be with her husband. Sexual desire is good and should be encouraged and should be responded to.
Paul wrote in the passage we studied 2 years ago:
Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
We are to enjoy each other and being with each other.
It is a travesty that so many Christian young men and women, once they are married, have a hard time enjoying sex, because they are trying to retrain their mind to realize that sex is good and should be enjoyed, that we should be passionate over each other’s bodies.
B. Sex Is Celebration
B. Sex Is Celebration
Why? Because sex is a celebration.
When man and woman come together sexually, they are engaging in a deeper knowledge of each other than any other relationship, they are being truly intimate.
And something is happening. They are not just physically connecting, skin to skin, or belly button to belly button as one pastor says.
There is an emotional connection. A oneness that is being created.
God actually designed our bodies to give off chemicals, that when we are in the throws of passion and release, our bodies and emotions are trained to desire to be with that person.
Interestingly, the act of sex provides a way that a man feels connect to his wife, so that he will talk more with her and be more open. He, biologically, desires to protect and fight for the one he has sex with.
A woman feels connected to a man and responds sexually, as the fulfillment of that connection.
There is also a spiritual connection. When we have sex, our souls are being connected.
That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.
Sex is a celebration of marriage. God designed marriage to be a oneness and sex shows that oneness.
Which is why it should be protected. Sex does things, spiritually, emotionally, physically, that should only be in the covenant of marriage.
When sex is taken outside that covenant, emotional, physical, and spiritual hurts happen.
When kept within marriage, the celebration brings enjoyment. Pleasure. Ecstasy.
C. Sex Is Worship
C. Sex Is Worship
From that, comes worship.
We don’t see God mentioned anywhere in the Song of Solomon. I believe that is because the poem is ultimately a picture of God’s relationship with us. We reflect on Christ and his passionate love for us.
Sex also reflects who God is.
I love Tim Keller’s writing on this:
Sex is glorious. We would know that even if we didn’t have the Bible. Sex leads us to words of adoration—It literally evokes shouts of joy and praise. Through the Bible, we know why this is true. John 17 tells us that from all eternity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have been adoring and glorifying each other, living in high devotion to each other, pouring love and joy into one another’s hearts continually (cf. John 1:18; 17:5, 21, 24-25). Sex between a man and a woman points to the love between the Father and the Son (1 Corinthians 11:3). It is a reflection of the joyous self-giving and pleasure of love within the very life of the triune God.
Sex is glorious not only because it reflects the joy of the Trinity but also because it points to the eternal delight of soul that we will have in heaven, in our loving relationships with God and one another. Romans 7:1ff tells us that the best marriages are pointers to the deep, infinitely fulfilling, and final union we will have with Christ in love.
No wonder, as some have said, that sex between a man and a woman can be a sort of embodied out-of-body experience. It’s the most ecstatic, breathtaking, daring, scarcely-to-be-imagined look at the glory that is our future.
Sex within the confines of marriage reflects who God is and how God relates to us in profound ways that nothing else in creation comes close to.
I bet they didn’t teach that to you in school.
So, we have sex so that we can worship God.
Think about that the next time you are taking of your spouse’s clothes. You may not think so now, but that perspective makes sex all the sweeter.
And when you have completed your passionate encounter. Spend some time worshiping God together through prayer, thanking for his good gift.
A word to the singles in this room.
You are with the woman in Song of Solomon. You desire sex, but cannot fulfill that desire yet. The desire is good. Keep it, cherish it. You are able to experience a taste of of God’s yearning to be with us, but cannot until eternity comes. Use this passion to worship him who yearns to be with you. And use your singleness to serve him in ways that no married person can.
