The Architect's Model If you’re new to Lifpoint | Worthington, take 30 seconds to fill out our Welcome Card! Have a question about today's message? Ask it here. Song of Solomon 1:1-6 (ESV) The Song of Songs, which is Solomon's. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine; your anointing oils are fragrant; your name is oil poured out; therefore virgins love you. Draw me after you; let us run. The king has brought me into his chambers. We will exult and rejoice in you; we will extol your love more than wine; rightly do they love you. I am very dark, but lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon. Do not gaze at me because I am dark, because the sun has looked upon me. My mother’s sons were angry with me; they made me keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have not kept! Background & Overview The Song of Songs is ancient poetry that moves us from the concrete to the abstract. Poetry isn't a GPS map meant to give you directions; it’s a garden to play in. This book boldly celebrates the physical, sexual reality of human love and intimacy. Historically, this earthly love was understood as a beautiful allegory for something deeper. For the entire age is not so worthy as the day on which the Song of Songs was given to Israel. For all the scriptures are holy, but the Song of Songs is the holy of holies. — The Mishnah Yadayim Both Jewish and early Christian traditions saw human romance as a shadow of God’s passionate love for His people. This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. — Ephesians 5:32 The Architect’s Model God designed human attraction and marriage to be a physical vocabulary. A miniature 3D model helps us make sense of a reality that is infinitely larger. Human intimacy acts as a scale model pointing our restless hearts to God's eternal love story. Have a question or pushback on this? Ask it here. Level 1 (The Model): Practical truths about our horizontal relationships. Level 2 (The Reality): The model whispers about the divine love we truly crave. The Small Model: Vulnerability The poem begins with the raw reality of differences and mess. The intimacy we crave requires the vulnerability we fear. We absorb the false idea that acceptance must be earned. The Performance Trap Because we turn love into a transaction, we are terrified someone will see our mess and walk away. “The image we project is often a mask for the shameful or second-rate self we would prefer no one to see.” — Rebecca DeYoung By resisting vulnerability, we settle for shallow connections. If you never take the risk of being vulnerable, you will never truly feel loved. Have a question or pushback on this? Ask it here. The Full-Scale Reality God already sees behind the mask and knows your neglected vineyard. The Gospel is the story of how God embraces our vulnerability by stepping toward us. Jesus gave His life to draw you in while you were still broken. The safest place in the world is the place of total honesty before God. Application Vertical security in God completely changes the math on your horizontal relationships. Take off your mask this week and risk exposing your real, exhausted self to someone you trust. Taking this risk grows into the exact intimacy your soul is starving for. As always, if you'd like to talk more with me about anything we discussed, you can sign up for meeting time. If you have any questions from the message today, send them here and I'll follow up!