General Superintendent
Max EdwardsApril 16, 2024
The last of seven thoughts I’d love the church to hear is this:
“We will never be fruitful for the King, Until we are intimate with the King.”
If you’ve been around me much, you’ve probably heard this concept come out of me at some point or another in a sermon or pastoral training. It would be difficult to find a principle that I am more certain of than this.
God placed this principle at the core of His creation: l iving things bear fruit . They have offspring. They multiply. But for that to happen across the kingdoms of flora and fauna, there must be intimacy - - two things coming together in close proximity. For plants, the US Department of Agriculture puts it this way: “Virtually all of the world’s seed plants need to be pollinated. This is just as true for conebearing plants, such as pine trees, as for the more colorful and familiar flowering plants. Pollen, looking like insignificant yellow dust, bears a plant’s male sex cells and is a vital link in the reproductive cycle.” (taken from: https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/wildflowers/pollinators/importance)
We know this is true for animals as well - - simply put, intimacy produces offspring. The spiritual parallel is just as true; without an intentional connection to the author and creator of spiritual life, we will not be fruitful for Him in the spiritual realm. Fruitfulness might mean spawning intense spiritual growth in others through teaching, modeling, and training; but it also often means bearing spiritual children through sharing the gospel.
Many years ago, I came across a small book authored by missionary Hudson Tayler entitled “Union and Communion.” It contains his reflections on the Old Testament book of Song of Solomon. It was Taylor’s book that the Holy Spirit used to open my eyes to the beauty of the spiritual allegory contained in this piece of wisdom literature. In Solomon’s vivid description of the love relationship between the King and his Shulamite bride, we surely see physical intimacy, but even more powerfully, we find that there is a bounty of physical fruit throughout the book that reminds us of the productive nature of harmonious communion.
The takeaway is this: There is no need to wonder why we might be fruitless for the King, if we have not been intimate with Him.
Song of Solomon 1:4 precedes Song of Solomon 2:4
…The king has brought me into his chambers … (1:4)
… He brought me to the banqueting house … (2:4)
