Ruth My Redeemer Lives Series Intro
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Today we begin a new series I am entitling, "My Redeemer Lives."
Redeemer is one of those religious words we have, that unless you have been brought up in the church you have no idea what it means.
To redeem something is to:
Recover ownership - like in a pawn shop Translated us from the kingdom of darkness unto the kingdom of His beloved Son
To free from the consequences of sin
To exchange for something of value. Kroger gas discount, S&H green stamps
To restore the honor, dignity of worth of a thing
The book of Ruth is about 3 main characters. Boaz, Ruth, Naoimi
It is a short book of only 85 verses, and yet it is so full of story that if could fill a 1000 page novel. It is a story of displacement because of bad financial times, hardship, bereavement, lost hope, a woman with a bitter outlook, the incredible devotion of a daughter in law, small tokens of hope that lead to rebounding, hope rekindled, incredible happenstance, a kind man in an unkind world, an unexpected marriage, laughter, and an incredible ending, that is really just an incredible beginning, because of the secret working of the Divine potter.
Last week I mentioned that there are two books in the Old Testament that are named after women. One is the book of Ruth, and the other, of course, is the Book of Esther. Both of them are very, very different. Esther was a queen. Ruth was a very lowly peasant girl. Esther was a Jewess who married a Gentile. Ruth was a Gentile who married a Jew. The Book of Esther opens with a feast, while the Book of Ruth opens with a famine. The Book of Esther comes to a close with the hanging of an enemy; the Book of Ruth comes to a close with the birth of a child. Both books are alike in that God is hardly mentioned in either of them, not at all in the book of Esther, and in the book of Ruth He is only mentioned in passing, - He has dealt bitterly with me, may He bless you.
Both books also teach a very important lesson: God is at work, even when you can't see it.
That is the message I want to talk about today. God is at work even when you doubt it the most. Instead of reading the text I want to watch a short video where a Jewish Rabbi reads it to a small group in a home setting.
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Watch Video
The reason I like that video is that we hear the text the way Jews hear the text. Names are more than names to the Jews. For example when Abram was 99 God changed his name to Abraham. We read his name as a name. The people of his day hear his name as a story. After his name was changed if someone were to greet him they would call him by his old name and he would say that ain't my name anymore, oh really what is your name now. Father of a multitude. I could imagine the people of his day saying, "whatever you been drinking you need to stop, because it done drove you crazy." They don't hear his name is Abraham they hear his name is father of a multitude.
Names in the bible are not simply names, they tell the story. For example in the book of Genesis 5 there is a listing of names:
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Adam
Seth
Enosh
Kenan
Mahalalel
Jared
Enoch
Methuselah
Lamech
Noah
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This is what the Jews read:
Man Appointed Mortal Sorrow The Blessed God Shall come down Teaching His death shall bring The despairing Rest, or comfort.*
So when we read the beginning of the book of Ruth we read Elimilech and Naoimi left Bethlehem Judah and went to live in the land of Moab.
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Jews read My God is King, and Mrs. Pleasant, left the house of bread and praise, and moved to God's pot for washing dirty feet. Once they were there her husband and sons kept on dying.
If you leave the house of bread, in the land of praise for the dirty washpot what do you expect will happen?
Why would they do such a thing?
Famine, sick kids, wicked judges ruling.
Remember today's lesson is about God working even when we don't see or think He is.
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Jud 14:1 ΒΆ Then Samson went down to Timnah and saw a woman in Timnah, [one] of the daughters of the Philistines.
Jud 14:2 So he came back and told his father and mother, "I saw a woman in Timnah, [one] of the daughters of the Philistines; now therefore, get her for me as a wife."
Jud 14:3 Then his father and his mother said to him, "Is there no woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?" But Samson said to his father, "Get her for me, for she looks good to me."
Jud 14:4 However, his father and mother did not know that it was of the LORD, for He was seeking an occasion against the Philistines. Now at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel.
Elimelech and Naoimi made a decision, but I believe God was in it because of a special little lady in Moab. God saw a rose in Spanish Harlem.
Ruth reminds me on old song. I first heard in Japan when the Rex Humbard family singers came and sang it: I felt it talked about me. Maybe you may see yourself if this song, I am sure Ruth did.
I'm so glad I'm a part of the family of God
I've been washed in the fountain
And cleansed by His blood
Joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod
For I'm part of the family
The family of God
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From the door of an orphanage to the house of the King
No longer an outcast, a new song I can sing
From rags to riches, from the weak to the strong
I'm not worthy to be here but thank God I belong
This story answers for me the critics, what if there is someone in deep dark Africa who hasn't heard about Jesus. God will send someone and they will hear.
God allowed persecution to come to the 1st century church because they weren't obeying Him and bringing the gospel to the whole world. What would you be willing to do go through if it would bring someone to Christ? Guess what God doesn't ask for your input.
THE ANT AND THE CONTACT LENS
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A true story
Brenda was a young woman who was invited to go rock climbing. Although she
was scared to death, she went with her group to a tremendous granite cliff.
In spite of her fear, she put on the gear, took a hold on the rope, and
started up the face of that rock. Well, she got to a ledge where she could
take a breather. As she was hanging on there, the safety rope snapped
against Brenda's eye and knocked out her contact lens.
Well, here she is on a rock ledge, with hundreds of feet below her and
hundreds of feet above her. Of course, she looked and looked and looked,
hoping it had landed on the ledge, but it just wasn't there.
Here she was, far from home, her sight now blurry. She was desperate and
began to get upset, so she prayed to the Lord to help her to find it.
When she got to the top, a friend examined her eye and her clothing for the
lens, but there was no contact lens to be found. She sat down, despondent,
with the rest of the party, waiting for the rest of them to make it up the
face of the cliff. She looked out across range after range of mountains,
thinking of that Bible verse that says, "The eyes of the Lord run to and
fro throughout the whole earth." She thought, "Lord, You can see all these
mountains. You know every stone and leaf, and You know exactly where my
contact lens is. Please help me."
Finally, they walked down the trail to the bottom. At the bottom there was
a new party of climbers just starting up the face of the cliff. One of them
shouted out, "Hey, you guys! Anybody lose a contact lens?"
Well, that would be startling enough, but you know why the climber saw it?
An ant was moving slowly across the face of the rock, carrying it!
Brenda told me that her father is a cartoonist. When she told him the
incredible story of the ant, the prayer, and the contact lens, he drew a
picture of an ant lugging that contact lens with the words, "Lord, I don't
know why You want me to carry this thing. I can't eat it, and it's awfully
heavy. But if this is what You want me to do, I'll carry it for You."
We need to remember these words when we are asked to do something that we feel
is too heavy for us to do and or carry. "God, I don't know why you want me
to carry this load. I can see no good in it and it's awfully heavy. But, if
you want me to carry it, I will."
Naoimi and Elimelech were on a mission from God, but they didn't know it. Elimelech died without knowing, and it is even possible Naoimi died without knowing that she would be the great-great grandmother to King David, and in the lineage of Jesus Christ.
Close: I am in the washpot. I feel like an orphan.
*Source: http://www.khouse.org/articles/2000/284/
