Come Away From Complacency

HoHum:

H.W. Jurgen, a West German sociologist, claims that married couples chat with one another 70 minutes a day in the first year of their marriage. This drops to 30 minutes a day in the second year and then only to 15 minutes a day in the 4th. His research shows that by the eighth year, a husband and wife, typically, share hardly any small talk and become nearly silent with one another. Now this is not all bad because we feel comfortable with silence after many years of marriage. On the other hand, this is bad because we have become complacent in our relationship. We get too comfortable.

WBTU:

Most of the time when I preach I center my thoughts on one Scripture text. That is my favorite way to preach. Now how would it be if I read a Scripture text and talked about everything but those Scriptures.

As I was preparing to preach from the Song of Solomon, I had a few commentaries and some ways that preachers have preached from this Bible book. After looking at the commentaries and seeing the erotic things that this book says and then reading how preachers have preached from this book, I found it laughable. How can these preachers do such injustice to the text.

We must try to stick with the main subject matter here and this is a song between Solomon and his wife called the Shullamite. This song celebrates married love and once we get beyond the poetic language and the cultural differences, we find that it is so sensual that it is difficult to present this material in worship except to spiritualize it. Many have interpreted this book in an allegorical way as a love song between Christ and his church.

Many preachers bring up a Scripture text from this book and then talk about things that have very little to do with the original meaning of the Scriptures that they bring up. As a matter of fact, this book was not read by Jewish men until they were 30 years old because too much.

However, there is one passage here that seems to me to be both helpful for married couples and also illustrates the love between Christ and his church.

Join me in this passage as we consider

Thesis: A heart for Him (spouse and Jesus Christ)

For instances:

Vs. 2-5 The Bride Dozing

It seems that they may be that they have been married for a while when the events described here take place. The honeymoon is over. This happens in marriage and in our relationship with Jesus Christ.

We see here that the bride is asleep and the bridegroom is outside her room trying to gain access. We sleep while He tries to draw near to spend some time with His beloved.

The Call of the Beloved (Vs. 2). Notice what he calls her:

My sister- should view our marriage partner as our sister in Christ.

My darling- speaking of the special place she holds in his heart

My dove- Speaks of the joyous, glorious relationship that has made them as one

My flawless one- Views her as perfect for him

We see here also a picture of the Lord Jesus seeking intimacy with His blood bought and redeemed people. He longs for us to be in His presence. He wants to fellowship with us

The complaint of the bride (vs. 3). She tells him that she has already gotten into bed and she doesn’t want to get up and indulge him.

How many of us have experienced something similar in our marriages? Something we would have done without hesitation when we were first married now seems like pure drudgery. If we were honest, we would all have to confess that we allow ourselves to become a chilly like this

Our walk with Jesus can be much the same way. Remember the early days after our baptism? Remember when church and the Bible were so exciting? Remember when prayer was an adventure? Remember when the Christian life was exciting?

How many of us have become so complacent with all of this that just being with Jesus and his people isn’t as exciting as it used to be? Many of us are there this morning, how sad

Steve Zeisler- I tell couples planning to be married that marriage is a school for faith. It teaches us to bless when we don’t feel like blessing. It teaches us to draw on reserves of love that we can’t manufacture naturally. It teaches us to make choices that are important because they are true, not because they are logical in the moment. Marriage is a school for faith, and I think the language of Song of Songs presents that lesson clearly.

The Compassion of the bride (Vs. 4).