“I Have Found The One My Soul Loves.”

Song of Solomon 3:4 “I have found the one my soul loves.” Unfortunately to many people try to either make the Song of Solomon a strained allegory or an almost pornographic poem. It is neither. Oh, to be sure it has allegorical (probably better metaphorical) elements and it certainly expressive in it descriptive language. I see it as an effort on the part of Solomon to share the depth of the mutual affection between him and what I can only call the “love of his life.”

The New Testament speaks of love in three dimensions. 

• There is the passionate love which speaks of the physical splendors of love making. This is expressed by the Greek word eros (Έρως).

• Then there is affectionate love. This would be the love shared by friends. It carries the idea of being “Kindly affectionate toward one another.” This aspect of love would be expressed by the Greek word pheleo (φελαιο).

• The third expression of love is generally referred to as Godly love and is generally considered the highest level of love. This would be expressed by use of the Greek word agape (αγάπη).

I have mentioned those because the phrase “My soul loves” (הנשמה שלי אוהבת) seems to me in this context to include all of the above. Solomon, rather than starting at the lowest and working upward starts at the apex and then goes on to make all of the Greek ideas about love flow from what he might call “Soul Love.” 

In the phrase, “I have found the one my soul loves” the Hebrew word translated as “soul” (אוהב)  refers to the innermost core of the person. It I that which gives a person breath and life and is the seat of all emotions and passions. 

The Greek words for love look for precision while the Hebrew word for “love” is versatile and can refer to romantic love, familial love, and love from God and can represent all three rolled into one. Hence, the soul-deep love the woman is experiencing is the deepest possible connection and yearning one can feel. 

This “soul love” is what God intended when he instituted marriage and commanded that the man and the woman become “one flesh,” i.e., one being. “Soul love” is the most Godlike like love that humanity can experience and it is rare. 

It is this “Soul Love that is at the heart of Biblical marriage.  Both parties desire each other deeply. Both find rest and peace in no other person than their beloved. They are physically and sexually attracted to each other and freely and without guilt share and enjoy every part of the other’s body. “Soul love” turns experiencing the joy of a God-honoring expression of sexual love into a spiritual experience. 

The couple that possess “Soul Love” will always feel a hole in their heart that only the other person can fill and it is only when together do they truly feel complete. When they come together, the world disappears and troubles simply fade away. 

This is why when one or the other dies the remaining spouse cries out that something has been ripped from their soul. Something has. It explains why we dream of our beloved; why we cannot wait to see them at the end of the day; and why we smile when we see them as we wake each morning. 

When Adam first laid eyes on the woman he essentially said I am now complete and when death takes one of the partners they are no longer complete but following the resurrection He who began the good work in us will bring it to completion. Oh, what a glorious day that will be.

I have a feeling that when the surviving spouse dies it is going to be as if they both awakened in the morning and at the sight of each other a smile is born. So . . . . 

I will meet you in the morning by the bright riverside
When all sorrows has drifted away

I'll be standin' at the portals when the gates open wide
At the close of life's long weary day

I'll meet you in the morning with a 'How do you do?'
And we'll sit down by the river and when rapture of the plane is renewed
You'll know me in the morning by the smile that I wear
When I meet you in the morning, in the city that is built four square

I'll meet you in the morning with a 'How do you do?'
And we'll sit down by the river and when rapture of the plane is renewed
You'll know me in the morning by the smile that I wear
When I meet you in the morning, in the city that is built four square

So Your Pastor Retired . . . Now What?

I recently learned of a church, with which I am familiar, that even before its present pastor had left, albeit he had announced his retirement, had hired a “Christian” pastor search consulting firm to work with their church elected pastor search committee in locating a replacement for the retiring pastor.

Consulting with churches about finding pastors and other senior staff members is apparently a lucrative field. I came up with a list of 11 without any effort at all.

• Y Scouts
• Halftime Talent Solutions 
• Vanderbloemen Search Group
• Faith Search Partners
• Agora
• Recruiterie
• CarterBaldwin
• The Dingman Company
• True Path
• Shepherd's Staff
• Slingshot

Learning this raised a number of questions in my mind. The first question that came to mind had nothing to do with searching for a pastor. It was the idea that a company could be a Christian firm. It always bothered me just a little that we would identify for-profit companies as being Christian. I would personally prefer to refer to them as a firm owned and operated by Christians or perhaps a firm that caters to Christian people and churches.  Okay that’s out of the way now to the subject of hands. 

I must confess at the very beginning that I am pretty much old school Baptist when it comes to calling a pastor to a church. So, let me stay at the very beginning that my underlying presupposition in regard to the calling of the pastor is as follows: 

I believe that the Bible teaches that God calls, equips, commissions and assigns pastors to His churches. I also believe that it is not the job of the pulpit committee to find a pastor for their church. Their job is to find the man that God has already selected to be the under-shepherd of His church. I also believe that, regardless of the process, a committee comprised of spiritually-minded people will discover that God will reveal His choice to them with a remarkable clarity. 

Now, having said that I need to flesh it out just a little. I have an acute awareness that Scripture does not give a process for this. There are no specific instructions for the process a church uses when filling a vacancy in the office of the under-shepherd of the church. However that does not mean that the church can just choose any process to make that selection. Whatever the process of a church chooses for selecting under-shepherd it must meet certain criteria.

Clearly, it is not efficient for the church to act as a committee-of-the-whole. Therefore, the church should elect from among its body a number, chosen by the church, of spiritually minded people to serve as a pastor search committee. I would suggest that you will not find a better model that Acts 6 and the choosing of the original Deacons.  This would be a good model for this committee and how this process should work. It is the process used in Acts to which I speak and not the specifics. 

The basic requirement for such a committee is that it consist of people who are “full of the Holy Spirit” (spiritually minded) and of “good report” (have a good reputation both in and out of the church). Pulpit Committees, Pastor search Committees and Pastor Search Teams (as we are now calling them) above everything else you can say about them MUST be composed of people who are sensitive to the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Remember, the committee is not trying to find a pastor for their church. They are trying to find the person God has already selected for that position. A committee attune to the Holy Spirit will know that person when they see them. Their spirit will bear witness with the Holy Spirit with unanimity within the committee. So when making the recommendation to the church the can say with honesty and integrity, "We recommend this person to be the next pastor of our church believing them to be God's person for our church."

As a practical matter the church should decide on the number of members for such a committee.  If a list is generated from which members are chosen that list should be twice the number needed. For example: let’s say the church decides on six as the number of people on the committee. Any list presented to the church should contain at least 12 names listed alphabetically. From that list church members will select eight names. The names selected shall then be listed in order of the number of times they were selected with the top six selections forming the committee and the two below that as alternates. 

Contrary to what most might think with the first responsibility of the pastor search committee is not to obtain a list of potential pastors nor is it to begin the process of screaming a list of potential pastors. The first responsibility of such a committee is to bring themselves together spiritually. This means meeting together to share experiences and prayer. Pray for one another; to pray for the guidance of the holy spirit; and to organize themselves as a committee. I recommend that the committee at least choose a chairman and a secretary to record what they do as well as a spokesperson to speak for the committee. It is my conviction that the committee when asked by a congregant about their work could always tell the truth I’m trust the people but when telling the truth and trusting the people they do it through a single spokesperson.

Now, let us suppose that as in the church mentioned in the first paragraph the committee decides that they want to employ an outside consulting company the help them discharge their duties regarding finding the under-shepherd for the church. The question that must be addressed is, what is the role that this consulting company will play in selecting the right person for the church? 

I would suggest that the only role of the consulting firm would be to narrow down the field of candidates to a group that fits within the parameters 1st Timothy 3:1-7. This could include things such as background checks regarding criminal backgrounds, financial responsibility, domestic stability, educational accuracy and other such items. All of this in aid of narrowing the field of candidates down to the qualities the enumerated in 1st Timothy.

I also want to point out that simply because someone has had difficulty in their past does not rule them out as being God’s choice for your church. Quite frankly, not very many of the Apostles could not pass muster based on the background checks that we perform today. Such a process does not make allowance for the redemptive and reconciliation priorities placed upon the church. Besides such reports contain a lot of inaccurate and in many cases just plain wrong material.  

For example, did the negative background data predate or post date the candidate’s salvation and calling to ministry. The committee must be very careful that they do not designate what God has cleansed as unclean or unfit (See Acts 10:9-16 ). The committee must always remember it is their responsibility to recommend God’s choice not their own personal choice for under-shepherd.

In addition the committee will want to hear personally from not about each candidate on their “serious” list concerning the following:

1. Their salvation experience
2. Their call to preach (Not just to “ministry.” Ministry is too broad for the under-shepherd)
3. The nature and role of Scripture
4. Church governance
5. Their stance on Moral issues of day
6. Here them in the pulpit and not just on a recording. You want to see them in a live presentation and get the whole context. 
7. Just about anything else you want to know about.

Remember, as a representative of both the Lord and His congregation you are interested not only in their answers but in how they answer and their body language as they answer. 

So tell me, what do you think?