(Song of Solomon 2: 3-3: 16)
The Christian life is the most wonderful and exciting and satisfying life there is but then on the other hand it is also the most frustrating, exhausting and trying life.
This is why religion is so popular today. Religion says if you do this and that and if you do not do this or that then you are all right. You can relax and not have to worry about a thing.
However, living the Christian life has its challenges, but I am afraid few people are willing to take.
Although the Christian life is challenging I would not want to live any other kind of life. I would not want to live religion or anything that goes along with that. I want to be in that relationship with God that each and every day his love and grace is challenged and demonstrated in my life.
Living for God can and often will get you into a lot of trouble. But it is in that trouble that I experience what it really means to follow Jesus Christ.
The major difference between religion and Christianity is the fact that Christianity is based upon a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Religion is just adhering to rituals and rites and rules and regulations. How boring can life really be.
Religion says you do these things and you are okay and you can go out and live life as you please.
Christianity says, commit yourself to Jesus Christ and separate yourself from the world and you will begin to experience the divine blessing of God in your life.
The key verse in this passage for today is 2:9, “My love is like a gazelle or a young deer. See, he is standing behind our wall. He is looking through the windows, through the wood cross pieces.”
We go back see the connection with 2:3, “Like a fruit tree among many trees, so is my loved one among the young men. With much joy I sat down in his shadow. And his fruit was sweet to my taste.”
The great joy of my Christian experience is piercing this spiritual shadow and encountering God in a personal and intimate fashion.
Some are satisfied just with rituals and routines. They think that that is all there is to the Christian experience.
However, here Solomon is suggesting that there is something more to just being a Christian. There is something in the shadow that is drawing me and enticing me.
Theme…My journey in the Christian life brings me to the point of piercing the spiritual shadow and discovering the presence of God. To walk in his presence is the greatest joy associated with the Christian life.
I must admit not many Christians really get to this point. Perhaps some of the trials and tribulations that they are going through stymie their Christian experience and they slow down. They start strong, but then they Peter out.
The great challenge is to first, be aware of that spiritual shadow and then find how to pierce that shadow and really encounter Jesus Christ. A fellowship that prepares me for heaven.
I am not talking about salvation here, but I am talking about an intimate fellowship with Jesus Christ that lifts me up above all of the elements of the world around me.
Several things are necessary as I look at this. I need to incorporate into my life these aspects in order for me to adequately pierce that spiritual shadow.
I. Understand What It Really Means to Be a Christian.
It is amazing how many people who claim to be Christians really do not understand the dimensions of the Christian life. For many it is simply accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior and then have the hope that when we die, we are going to go zooming off into heaven.
But there is so much more to being a Christian than this. I need to penetrate this whole idea of what it means to be a Christian and see the great difference that Jesus Christ makes in my life.
To understand what it really means to be a Christian I need to commit myself first of all to Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior.
That is the foundation for everything that is going to happen in my life from here on. It is what David said, “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Psalm 11:3).
Becoming a Christian is the foundation but it is not the building. Moreover, what I build on this foundation defines my relationship with Jesus Christ.
Second, if I am going to understand what it really means to be a Christian I need to separate myself from the world and the world’s values.
Yes, we are in this world. But our values do not come from the world and our life is not being molded by the influences of the world.
The work of the Holy Spirit in my life is a work of separating me from the world and this work is an ongoing process.
Thirdly, I believe if I am going to understand what it really means to be a Christian I need to associate myself with other believers. This association has to be intentional, not periodic. If we are fellowshipping together only when it is convenient we are missing what it really means to be a Christian.
Our fellowship with believers is the encouragement we need to allow the Holy Spirit to continually separate us from the world.
Our problem is we…
II. Underestimate The Challenges That Faces Me In My Christian Life.
This is a great challenge for many Christians. They underestimate the dangers facing them. They believe that in their own strength they can stand up to anything that comes along.
A whole series of Positive Thinking teachers, both secular and religious, have encouraged people to believe that if they just set their minds to it they can do anything they choose to do.
The problem with this is, it never works in the long run.
The Christian life is not what you make it out to be and what you can do if you set your mind to it, but rather it is the power of the Holy Spirit being demonstrated in your life. Our circumstances, trials and hard times are the platform upon which the Holy Spirit can do that through your life.
We fail to perceive the dynamics that make up our Christian experience and that everything out in the world opposes that.
Many people start the Christian life, but somewhere along the line, they fail and quit. Do not ask me if they are really Christians or not, for I do not know. But I do know that many people are challenged along this line and fail the challenge.
They do not comprehend the reality of the Christian experience from God’s perspective. Living the Christian life is not something that can be taught by man. We certainly can be encouraged by people that are sharing and teaching the word. What we fail to comprehend here is that my Christian life is built upon a personal and intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.
Our challenge is to…
III. Undertake The Journey That Defines The Christian Experience.
This is the most important aspect for me to deal with.
2:3 – “With much joy I sat down in his shadow. And his fruit was sweet to my taste.”
3:1 – “On my bed night after night I looked for him whom my soul loves. I looked for him but did not find him.”
This is the pursuit. And this pursuit is for the long term.
This undertaking has to be intentional and with a well-defined purpose. That purpose is to glorify God in my life.
One thing very important in the Christian life is being able to apply biblical principles to my life. This is crucial if we are going to have a strong and progressing Christian experience.
To get to these principles we have to give our time to the word of God. We must study the Bible, read the Bible and meditate upon it until the Holy Spirit is moving us in the right direction.
When we begin to understand certain biblical principles, we have the obligation to apply them specifically to aspects of our life.
If we are going to pierce that spiritual shadow and really encounter God, we will need these biblical principles to get us through it all.
Sometimes Christians face certain problems and difficulties in their life.
One reason we face this is because we are involved in “Spiritual Warfare.” This is when we engage the enemy in a spiritual battle.
The problems we are facing and the difficulties we are encountering is a direct result of the spiritual battle fatigue. If I understand that this is a spiritual battle, then I can begin to strengthen myself in the power and demonstration of the Holy Spirit.
That is one thing.
But the other thing is that many people are facing difficulties, problems, frustrations and exhaustion because they are not applying the proper biblical principles to their life.
This is an obligation that we have and it does not happen automatically.
I need to know why I am facing what I am facing.
Is it because I am engaged in some spiritual battle?
Or, is it because I am failing to apply certain biblical principles to a specific area of my life?
I would be quick to surmise that much of our problem is due to the latter rather than the former.
Now, if it is the latter, what do I need to do?
What I need to do is to begin to understand what biblical principles are available to me. I need to study my Scripture; I need to allow the Holy Spirit to minister to me through the word of God.
It may come by personal application to the word of God.
It may come through somebody preaching or teaching aspects of the word of God.
However it comes, we must learn to apply biblical principles to certain aspects of our life.
If I am not applying biblical principles to aspects of my life, I am going to find that part of my life malnourished, spiritually speaking. Consequently, I am going to face a whole lot of trouble and difficulty coming from that part of my life.
You see, you cannot apply one or two biblical principles to your life and neglect all the rest and still have a fruitful and abundant Christian experience.
What is the consequence of all of this?
1. Our prayer life has no power behind it. We pray, but there is very little going on in our prayer life.
For one, we do not know what to pray for.
Second, we do not know how to pray about a certain subject.
No two prayers are executed alike. They have purpose and intention behind them and they need to have the power of the Holy Spirit behind them.
Examine your prayer life. Can you really say that your prayer life has such potency that your prayers are being answered specifically?
2. Our testimony life is very weak. If we did not tell somebody that we were a Christian, they would not know it. We have failed somewhere along the line to apply the biblical principles that strengthen and nourish our testimony to the world around us.
What is it that the world around you thinks about you?
What do those people at your job think about you?
How is God using your life, experiences, circumstances and situations as a platform to penetrate the life of other people?
3. Our ministry life barely exists. If I were to ask a Christian, what they thought their ministry was I wonder what they would respond.
Ministry is not just preaching. That is one aspect of ministry.
If you are a Christian then you have been entrusted with some kind of ministry and that ministry can only thrive and prosper as you apply biblical principles to that part of your life.
What biblical principles are you applying?
The list can go on but let us stop here.
We need to undertake this journey we call the Christian life by applying biblical principles that have been provided for us by God.
Conclusion…
When we pierce the spiritual shadow, we will experience a relationship with God that supersedes every other relationship we could possibly have.
Nothing is more exciting than living the Christian life the way God intended us to live it. The more I get into the word of God and fellowship with the Holy Spirit, the more I begin to see the potential of my life as a Christian.
The more I begin to see my potential, the more I begin to crave fellowship with God’s people. And I am talking about the people of God who have a passion for God. That is really what it is all about.
Have you pierced the spiritual shadows in your life?
Have you experienced what God intended you to experience as a Christian?
