Sunday, 11th September 2022
Pastor Kit Ho (Guest Speaker)
Song of Solomon 2:8-3:5
The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Behold, he stands behind our wall; He is looking through the windows, gazing through the lattice. My beloved spoke, and said to me: “Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. The fig tree puts forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grapes give a good smell. Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away! “O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.”
Catch us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines, for our vines have tender grapes. My beloved is mine, and I am his. He feeds his flock among the lilies. Until the day breaks and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag upon the mountains of Bether.
By night on my bed I sought the one I love; I sought him, but I did not find him. “I will rise now,” I said, “And go about the city; in the streets and in the squares I will seek the one I love.” I sought him, but I did not find him. The watchmen who go about the city found me; I said, “Have you seen the one I love?” Scarcely had I passed by them, when I found the one I love. I held him and would not let him go, until I had brought him to the house of my mother, and into the chamber of her who conceived me. I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or by the does of the field, do not stir up nor awaken love until it pleases.
TO RESPOND EARLY (2:8-15)
The “beloved” of “my” is looking for, calling “me”, saying “my beauty, my sweetheart” (V10), and he is inviting the “beloved” to go out and enjoy the beautiful spring. However, the “beloved” did not respond and hid in the “rock cave…hidden place” (V14), so the lover invited the sweetheart again, hoping to see her face and hear her voice, but unfortunately the sweetheart still did not respond . Love is just looking for it, it’s not easy to find. Jesus came looking for us like the beloved, and we were unresponsive like He was transparent and non-existent. However, thank God that He never gave up on us, He affirmed that we, the bride, will never change His love for us, no matter how hard we go through all the hardships.
We seem to be testing what Jesus can do to our unmoved bride, and we know that there are little foxes in us to spoil our love (V15). When the Lord comes looking for us, do we push Him away for someone else or something? The Lord loves us with eternal love, do we know where our little fox is? Apathy, unforgiveness, indifference, etc. are all little foxes that destroy our relationship with God. We let Satan’s little foxes roam our vineyards. Let’s not just have passion without commitment, not take our little fox and leave to build another vineyard, but rather commit to a relationship that we feel has broken. May the Lord help us.
TO RECOMMITMENT (2:16-17)
We think that indifference can make our beloved go away, but we need to know that “the beloved belongs to me and I belong to him”, so we must call our beloved again. We may be habitually ignoring God, but we must invite our beloved back again, commit ourselves to this marriage with our beloved again, and cherish the opportunity that God has given us to come back.
TO WAIT IN FAITH (3:1-5)
The first 4 verses of this chapter describe the search for this “best friend” in a midnight dream. We search for our beloved in bed, but it is only imagination, not action. We belong to our beloved, so go out and seek him. Deep down in our hearts, we love our beloved, but we “can’t find it”. V3-4 is a dream, describing a woman who seems to have lost her mind and is looking for her beloved, and when she finds it, she pulls him to her mother’s house. She had this dream because she fell in love with love.
She said to “the daughters of Jerusalem” “Do not disturb love”. Why swear by “an antelope or a doe of the field”? “Antelope” originally means the Lord of Armies, and “field” means “Almighty Lord”. Have you recently committed adultery with Canaanite idols, cultures, or ghosts? We must seize the little fox in our lives, escape from the culture of the world, and prepare for the Lord’s return. In love, if we care about each other, we will be willing to pay the price no matter how hard we go.
主日讲道记录 – 2022年9月11日
#良人的邀请
- 何杰牧师
*雅歌 2:8-3:5
一、及早回应 （2:8-15）
“我”的“良人”正在来寻找、呼叫“我”，说“我的美人、我的佳偶”（V10），他在邀请“佳偶”出去享受美好的春光。然而，这位“佳偶”却没有反应, 躲到“磐石穴…隐秘处”（V14）, 于是良人再次邀请佳偶，希望能见到她的面貌、得听她的声音，可惜佳偶仍不回应。爱情就是这样寻寻觅觅，并不是随手可得的。耶稣就像这位良人一样来寻找我们，而我们就像那位佳偶一样没有反应，当他是透明、不存在的。然而，感谢主，他不放弃我们，他认定我们这个新妇，不管经过多少千辛万苦，他对我们的爱永不改变。
我们好像在考验耶稣对我们这不动心的新妇到底有什么办法，我们知道有小狐狸在我们里面破坏我们的爱情（V15）。当主来寻找我们，我们是否会为了其他人或事而推开他？主用永远的爱爱我们，我们是否知道我们的小狐狸在哪里？冷淡、不饶恕、无所谓的心态，等等，都是破坏我们和神关系的小狐狸。我们任由撒旦的小狐狸在我们的葡萄园里窜来窜去。我们不要只有激情却没有委身，不要带着我们的小狐狸离开去建立另一个葡萄园，而要委身在我们觉得已经破坏的关系里。求主帮助我们。
二、再次委身 （2:16-17)
我们以为冷淡可以让我们的良人离开，然而我们要知道“良人属我，我也属他”，所以要再次呼叫我们良人。我们或许是惯性的不理会神，但我们要再次邀请良人回来，再次委身在与良人的这段婚姻，珍惜神给我们再来一次的机会。
三、用信心等候（3:1-5）
这一章的前4节描述的是这位“佳偶”午夜梦回的寻寻觅觅。我们在床上寻找心所爱的，但这只是想象，没有行动。我们属于我们的良人，所以要出去寻找他。在我们心灵深处，我们爱我们的良人，但我们“寻不见”。V3-4 是一个梦境，描述一个好像失心疯的女人在寻找她的良人，找到了，就拉他来到自己母亲家。她做这个梦，因为她思爱成病。
她向“耶路撒冷的众女子”说“不要惊动爱情”。为何要指着“羚羊或田野的母鹿”起誓？“羚羊”原来是万军之主的意思，“田野”就是“全能主”的意思。你最近是否有去与迦南偶像、文化行淫、交鬼？我们要抓住生命中的小狐狸、脱离世界的文化，预备主的再来。在爱情中，我们若在乎对方，就会无论经历多少困难都愿意负上代价。