I'm about to do something crazy and insane, for roughly 10 weeks we are going to study in depth the Old Testament book of Song of Songs. To say that I’m a little bit nervous about the whole idea is an understatement. Talking about marriage, sex, the roles of men and women is just a little nerve racking...especially if it borders on PG-13. Thankfully, the Bible says a lot about those subjects and I won't have to rely on my wisdom but God's. So why undertake such an endeavor? We are going to do this study because it’s long overdue and we desperately need to hear what God’s Word says about those subjects.
Let me explain. In our day, people devote an extraordinary amount of time, money, and energy in pursuit of sex, making it the most popular religion in the world. God tells us that people attempt to satisfy their thirst not by drinking from his streams of living water, but instead by drinking from man-made toilets (from Mark Driscoll's translation of Jer. 2:13). This disturbing metaphor rightly describes our culture’s current thirst for smut and sin. In Romans 1:24–25, the Apostle Paul says that people either worship God their Creator and enjoy his creation—including our bodies—or people worship creation as God, and in sexual sin offer their bodies as living sacrifices (which is the definition of worship in Romans 12:1). Paul goes on to explain that those who worship creation invariably worship the human body because it is the top of God’s creation. In this mix up of rightful worship, sex becomes a religion and the sex act a perverse sacrament.
Christians throughout history have struggled to determine how this can be done. Some have chosen to essentially kill their sexual desires out of a fear of temptation to sin. Some lead destructive lives of secret sin that are eventually exposed, causing much embarrassment. Still others are simply confused and uncertain of how to speak to their spouse and children about sex, unsure of what is compatible and incompatible with the teaching of Scripture.
The study of the Song of Songs is meant neither to kill our desires nor permit them to flow into deadly sin. Rather, this series is an attempt to cultivate our desires and channel them toward our spouse according to the wisdom God gives us in his Word. We will learn about gender, dating, marriage, and sex as God intends. I tell this to you for two reasons: 1) Please be in prayer over this whole series—for me, for you, and for whoever attends that morning. This series can be life changing. 2) Make every attempt to attend each week of the series and or listen to the message on line. You are going to have you eyes opened…I guarantee it.
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