During the fall of 2008, Pastor Mark Driscoll from Mars Hill Church in Seattle did a 10 week sermon series of the Song of Solomon entitled The Peasant Princess. This series is available online here and I highly recommend listening to the series. I have watched all 10 parts and found that it was so refreshingly honest and while openly communicating about sex, Mark Driscoll also firmly adheard to biblical standards in establishing a firm stance on maintaining that sex is a gift from God that is meant to be celebrated freely within marriage.
The series moves through the book looking at the couple’s engagement, wedding, early married days, later married days and even an experience of sexual sin. I appreciated that it was so practical. Mark and his wife took time at the end of each sermon to answer questions that had been sent in from the congregation, and really he just gave so much great information on how to love our spouse better.
I loved that he took the time in Part 5 to exhort us to move out of selfishness within our marriages. It was a heavy message, but one that I found really encouraging actually. I am not afraid to look at my soul and ask God what work He still wants to do there. I have seen amazing benefits from doing so, and so if I hear a sermon that challenges my behavior and attitude, I often take time to look and see how I can apply it. This part looks at Chapter 5 when the beloved sexually refuses an encounter with her lover. The following part looks at how they reconcile.
Part 7 was also very good and talked about how wives need to be “visually generous” towards their husbands. I think it tended a bit towards a stereotype of men being a certain way, but the stereotype exists for a reason; that it probably does fit for most men, at least in our culture. Whether by chemistry or social influence, if your husband is visual, being visually generous is important. I hadn’t realized that this part of the Song is a description of her dancing a striptease for him. I thought that was a fun fact. 🙂
I also liked his description of how to get your husband to take you on vacation. Rather than complaining “You never take me anywhere. When are you going to take me on vacation. Nag nag nag….” the Shulamite woman says “Hey honey, we’ve been working hard and need sometime away. It’s spring time so it might be getting warm enough for us to make love outside….” So much more effective. 😀
Overall I found this series to be excellent and appreciated that finally the church is giving good sex information. There is so much awful teaching out there and I have felt in the last few years that the tide is turning in the church and people are finally seeing the importance of communicating about godly sexuality.
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Christian Nymphos 
Agreed. I stumbled upon the series a couple of months ago and listened to the sermons via podcast while I worked out. My wife and I listened to a number of them together and we were both impressed with the Biblical, honest, and frank way the topic was approached.
It’s a pity that some uber-conservative Christian leaders have criticized him of “pornifying” the church because of his honest discussion of an issue the church too often chooses to dodge.
Yeah, CM, one of the reasons I wanted to give a review of The Peasant Princess is to show that we really support what Driscoll has done. We were sad to see people criticizing him so heavily, although I think by in large much of the Church understands the need for more overt biblical teaching about sex.
I watched the first 2 videos yesterday and can’t wait to watch the rest! I decided to wait so DH and I can watch them together and we are going to start tonight =) I find while I started looking around a month ago to “spice things up” in the bedroom I am now filled with a desire for my husband that goes deeper than fun sex. I am craving deep intimacy with him and can’t believe I was happy to stay with how far we had come in our relationship before. It’s been a fun month (I am sure he’s enjoyed the change as well) and the wonderful thing is on top of all the great romps in (and out) of the bedroom our love is just growing deeper and I LOVE falling in love with my husband more and more. These videos seem like a great way to grow together =)
Thanks so much for what is such a great resource & encouragement! In my church we only seem to hear about sex in terms of what God is against and what God is in favour of is not taught…which seems pretty crazy since sex within christian marriage was his great idea!! Anyway, I have downloaded these to my ipod and have been listening to them as I was travelling today already made it through two talks and can’t wait for the rest! It is so affirming to have a pastor say to christian wives it is ok to go on the offensive rather than play defense in the sexual relationship…and that is not just his idea but from God’s word. Amen!
These have been GREAT for my fiance and I in these last few months leading up to our wedding. Due to the fact that we live on separate continents (soon to change: praise the Lord!!) we have never been able to carve out time with one person to have pre-marital counseling. We both have very supportive communities, but this has been just brilliant in helping us focus on issues as a couple and really talk through the reality of biblical marriage and how we are to prepare for that. I would recommend these without hesitation. Thank you so much for putting this article up. I’m sure I will be posting more after July when I actually have something to talk about! 😉
I, too, don’t agree with everything he says, but over all this series is filled with a lot of good stuff.
wow these are great resources, thank you for letting us in on this!!!
These are brilliant, I love how frank Mark is. Thanks for the recommendation!
I haven’t listened to this yet, but it was suggested to me by a friend, and after reading so many positive comments here, I will definitely download it. I did visit the Mars Hill web site, and they have a question and answer section about sex, and in one of the places, I don’t remember, they referred people to the Christian Nymphos web site. So I don’t know if you spice sisters knew that or not, but I thought it was pretty cool. 😉
Mars Hill has been my home for couple of years. We are blessed with an honest biblical pastor, and this sermon series was awesome for my husband and I. Since coming to this church too, jesus has used the resources here to free me from the bondage of sexual sin (porn, selfish masterbation, etc.) and I’m so excited to be living in the light, experiencing and enjoying my marriage bed and growing closer to Jesus and my husband.
Thanks for your website. it certainly is a cool tool to have, with a heart to serve God’s people with honesty and correct teaching. Bless you guys.