“Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that were heard, lest haply we drift away from them.”— Heb. 2:1 (R.V.).
“Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love” (Revelation 2:4)
“Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that are destroying our great fields, for the flowers are on the vines.” (2:15).
Introduction…
Most people underestimate their Christian experience. They compare it to something out in the world and then bring that into their Christian experience. They allow the world to define who they really are.
This is why many Christians today in the church are living lives below their potential and in many regards do not differ from the person out in the world. If my life does not differ from the person out in the world, why have I become a Christian?
The question, then, is this. Why did I become a Christian?
And, what difference has it made in my life?
The question dealt with in Song of Songs is what is the Bride of Christ? As we pursue this theme we begin to understand the kind of relationship God has intended for us to have.
The whole purpose of God’s work in my life is to bring me to the place of his intended pleasure. My salvation is not “me-focused” but rather “God-focused.” Everything that is happening in my life is somehow connected to God and my relationship to him. I did not bring God into my life; he brought me into his life. Not to understand this is to misinterpret what is happening in my life.
Theme… The adornment of the Bride is reverence and the acknowledgment and appreciation of that which is sacred.
It is that sacred element that we sometimes overlook. The apostle Paul said it this way, “19What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
And…
“16And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you” (2 Corinthians 6:16-17).
The reason the bride’s gown is pure white at the marriage ceremony is to illustrate the purity of the relationship. As the Bride of Christ, I need to adorn myself with purity. That means I need to separate myself, most radically, from the world. This is where we have most of our troubles.
At this point we need to understand that the Bride of Christ is facing danger. If we do not understand that we make ourselves vulnerable to the “wiles of the devil.”
So, what is the danger we’re facing?
I think most Christians do not really appreciate the danger that they are facing as the Bride of Christ.
Let me first of all say that it is not the big things that are happening in our life. When we face a catastrophe, our normal reflex is to call out to God. However, when we are facing something small and seemingly insignificant, we assume that we can handle it ourselves.
Let me break this down and show you how it works.
First of all it starts with…
I. Theology of Complacency.
“Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that are destroying our great fields, for the flowers are on the vines.” (2:15).
Notice the phrase, “the little foxes.”
This is where it really begins. The little things in life that we sometimes take for granted and do not realize the burden they are creating in our Christian experience.
We developed a theology of complacency.
According to the dictionary the word “complacency” means, “A feeling of being satisfied with how things are and not wanting to try to make them better.”
Have you ever been at that point of complacency?
Nothing big is going on so you accept things as they are, believing that you have everything in control.
How much damage can a “little fox” do in our life?
After all, we are focused on the big things in life.
Very rarely do we pay attention to these “little foxes” and neither do we pray about them. We assume that that is just a part of life and there is nothing more we can do and we accept the situation.
This is exactly where the devil wants us to be. A theology of complacency says that I am okay as I am right now. I have nothing to worry about in my life.
In the meantime, these “little foxes” are doing damage in our life.
I think the biggest damage is that they bring us to a point in life of…
II. Religious Contentment.
“Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that are destroying our great fields, for the flowers are on the vines.” (2:15).
The word contentment means, “the state of being happy and satisfied” as things are right now. No need to change. Don’t want to change.
I call this “religious contentment.”
Some believe as long as they are doing a few things and nothing major is happening in their life, everything is okay and they are happy and satisfied.
If they go through certain motions that make them happy, they are contented.
However, in the midst of their “religious contentment” the “little foxes” are destroying their life.
What are these “little foxes”?
They are not the big things we are so much aware of. Adultery, murder, robbery, etc. Rather, they are the little things that we allow in our life.
Let me list a few of these “little foxes.”
Bitterness. Bitterness always starts very small but it grows and does a lot of damage throughout time. If we do not deal with the bitterness in our life, it will deal with us.
Hatred. This is something that we can conceal from people around us and allow it to fester within. The problem is, after a while this will explode in our face.
Lying. Every lie begins very small but its nature is to grow and grow and grow. After you tell one lie, you need to tell another lie to cover up the first lie and on and on in our life until pretty soon we are swamped with lies all around us. Lying is what really destroys a lot of relationships.
Pride. At first this seems like a good thing that we are proud of who we are what we are doing. But this nasty little fox can create a lot of havoc in our life. It starts small but has a way of evolving beyond our control.
These little foxes are responsible for compromising our relationship with God.
This religious contentment is the enemy of our spiritual life. If we are really walking in faith there is a driving hunger for more of God. It is these “little foxes” that hinders us and compromises that hiunger.
The question I must ask myself is, am I dealing with these “little foxes”? Or, am I content to let them work behind the scenes, destroying my relationship with Jesus Christ?
Being influenced by a theology of complacency brings me to the point of religious contentment and I now face the danger of a spirit of confusion.
III. Spirit of Confusion.
“Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that are destroying our great fields, for the flowers are on the vines.” (2:15).
This is the greatest hindrance in everybody’s Christian experience, to come to a point of confusion.
That confusion is that we do not see in our life what we read about in the Scriptures. We see all of the victory promised in the Scriptures and the abundance of the Christian life and the fruit of the Holy Spirit but we do not experience it in our own life.
At first we are tempted to believe that maybe we are not born again. But that may not be the situation.
The situation may be that we have allowed all of these “little foxes” to compromise our relationship with God so that we forfeit the benefits offered to the Bride of Christ.
Our prayers are not being answered…
Acts of faith are absent from our life…
Joy as spoken of in the Scriptures is not a daily experience…
All of these things create a spirit of confusion. And many come to the point of questioning whether the Bible is really one target or not. There are many today who are doubting the authenticity and authority of the Bible.
I read some of the great biographies of men and women of God and see how they were greatly used of God. Then I look at my own life and have a hard time finding the evidence of God working in my life.
Am I a Christian or not?
Why don’t I see all of these things in my life that is promised in the word of God?
Something needs to change, which is an ongoing change.
Conclusion…
The answer to all of this is simply that my relationship to God must be in complete harmony with God’s holiness and purity. I must be separated from the world and I must live a life of separation from the world daily.
This is not a one time event; rather, it is a daily discipline. I need to deal with the “little foxes” in my life on a regular basis.
When we talk about living a life of obedience many are confused as to what that really means.
That means that my life is in harmony with the word of God.
There are many things in the word of God that I do not understand and cannot explain. But that in no wise compromises my obedience to the word of God.
Just as a bride separates herself from everyone else and joins herself exclusively to the groom, so do I as the bride of Christ need to do that. I must separate myself from everything else and come to a point of giving myself exclusively to the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is a cost factor along that line.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer talks about this in his book, “The Cost of Discipleship.” If I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, there is a cost aspect to it. And if I am not paying that cost every day something is wrong and those “little foxes” will begin to deteriorate my relationship with God.
This will bring me to a point where there is no power and authority in my life that God has reserved for the Bride of Christ.
