Ruth – Life Lessons during difficult times
Ruth 1:1 – 4:21
Running from God does not prove beneficial (Ruth 1:1-5)
Following God will lead to…
Times of Sacrifice
Provision of Needs
The Hope of Redemption
Intro
Slide
Good Evening/Morning,
We are so glad you are here today.
Today is the day that we typically remember Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
He came into Jerusalem to the cries of Hosanna in the highest! From a human perspective, this was a high point of his life because over the next week things got progressively worse with the Jewish leaders wanting him arrested and killed, to one of Jesus’ disciples betraying him, to Peter denying him, to ultimately His arrest, flogging and crucifixion.
But the Father had a plan for this suffering and hardship, and it was a plan that was to your benefit.
Transition
Many of us here have faced difficult times in life.
There are many here right now that may be facing difficult times.
But no matter what the hardships we face, God has a plan and not only does he have a plan, but He is also able and willing to provide His strength for us to be able to endure, get through, and experience hope.
Ruth
We are going to be going through the book of Ruth today
Slide
It is my hope that as we examine the situations and people that we find in the book of Ruth, that we will learn some life lessons to deal with difficult times and truly understand and know the hope we have.
Ruth is only 4 chapters long and is a great story, and we are going to read most of it by the end of this message, but I am going to vie a synopsis of some of the first chapter and read a few verses toward the end, So, if you would turn with me to Ruth 1 and let’s see what is happening.
Synopsis
We find in this first chapter that a man and his wife and 2 sons who are Jews, leave Israel because there is a famine and they go to the country of Moab. There the man dies and leaves the wife and 2 sons. The 2 sons get married to Moabite women and then after about 10 years both the sons die, leaving the wife and mother, Naomi, and the 2 daughters in law, Ruth and Orpah.
Naomi hears that the famine is over in Israel and is going to head back and her daughters in law are going to go with her. Naomi is bitter and doesn’t want her daughters in law giving up their lives to come back with her, so she urges them to go back to their families and their gods. One daughter in law, Orpah, heads back, but Ruth does not turn back. And beginning in Ruth 1:16, it says,
Ruth 1:16-18, 22
16 But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me." 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.
22 So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.
Interpret
Ok, so in the synopsis I gave of the story, we find that Naomi and her husband, Elimelech and their sons, leave Israel and head to Moab to live there.
In our day and age, this doesn’t seem like too big a deal. They are departing because there is a famine and they are going where there is food.
But what is happening here is that Elimelech and his family are running way from God and his discipline of Israel for their unfaithfulness.
Israel was the land of promise for the Jews. It was the place where God’s presence was.
Elimelech and his family leaving Israel for Moab is the same as running away from God.
One thing we should realize is that
Running away from God is never beneficial
Slide
They run away to what they think will be greener pastures, a better life for their family, at least in the midst of their temporary, difficult circumstances, but look what happens.
Elimelech dies there. His kids marry Moabite women, which is not prohibited, but not looked upon well within Israel. And then the sons die. Now we don’t know the reasons they died, just that they did.
But for sure, the benefit that they were hoping to find in this land away from God, did not appear.
Apply
The reality is that we aren’t much different from Elimelech.
When we are facing difficult times, we think that God does not know how to best work in our lives. So, as God doesn’t seem to be doing what we think he should be doing, we would just assume leave God out of the picture and take control over our own life because we feel we can do it better.
This, I believe, is Elimelech’s view. God’s not providing for me here, so he runs from God, from the land God had provided for him, from worshiping Him, to a land where he felt he could better live his life on his own.
Things didn’t work out so well for Elimelech and if you run from God during times of trouble, they will not work out as you hope either.
No matter what troubles you are facing right now, it is always best to stay in close relationship with the Lord, trusting Him, following Him, and worshiping Him.
It is not always easy, but it is always best.
But even when we know that it is best to not run from God, we do need to realize that
Following God will lead to…
Times of Sacrifice
Slide
We see this in regards to Ruth.
Elimelech and his sons have died, leaving 3 widows, Naomi (the mother in law) along with Orpah and Ruth.
Now, Naomi is the one who is Jewish and has a heritage of worshiping the true God, but I would argue that she is not a very good witness of God’s goodness to her 2 daughters in law. She not only fled with her family to Moab, but she encourages her daughters in law to go back to their false gods of their family.
But somehow, Ruth, I believe, has come to a point of believing in the God of Israel, Yahweh. And she is willing to truly make sacrifices to follow Him.
She is willing to leave all that she knows, to sacrifice, at least from a human perspective, the possibility of getting married, and to devote herself to her mother in law.
Now, why do I think that Ruth has come to know the Lord?
She calls Naomi’s God her God and uses the name, Yahweh, when she says May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me. She is not willing to go back to the false god’s she grew up with and she is binding herself on oath before the God of the universe and declaring Him as her God. And not only does she declare it, she follows through in her actions showing the reality of the faith she spoke.
She does what she knows to be right, supporting her mother in law who has been left without any support. She is not following the Lord because it is convenient for her. She is following the Lord because she believes that He is the true God.
Apply
What about you?
Do you follow the Lord only when it is convenient?
Do you follow the Lord only when you can understand what He is doing?
Do you follow the Lord only when things are “right in your eyes” like many of the people at the time of the judges?
Or are you willing to follow the Lord even when it requires sacrifice, when it is not pleasant in the moment, but hard?
Realize that following the Lord is going to require sacrifice, but that sacrifice is only temporary, because it is impossible to out Give God.
Transition back to Ruth chapter 2
Ok, Let’s continue on in the story
Ruth 2:1-18
Now Naomi had a relative on her husband's side, from the clan of Elimelech (Ellie–Mel-ech), a man of standing, whose name was Boaz.
2 And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, "Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor."
Naomi said to her, "Go ahead, my daughter." 3 So she went out and began to glean in the fields behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelech.
4 Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, "The Lord be with you!"
"The Lord bless you!" they called back.
5 Boaz asked the foreman of his harvesters, "Whose young woman is that?"
6 The foreman replied, "She is the Moabitess who came back from Moab with Naomi. 7 She said, 'Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.' She went into the field and has worked steadily from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter."
8 So Boaz said to Ruth, "My daughter, listen to me. Don't go and glean in another field and don't go away from here. Stay here with my servant girls. 9 Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the girls. I have told the men not to touch you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled."
10 At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She exclaimed, "Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me — a foreigner?"
11 Boaz replied, "I've been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband — how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. 12 May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge."
13 "May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord," she said. "You have given me comfort and have spoken kindly to your servant — though I do not have the standing of one of your servant girls."
14 At mealtime Boaz said to her, "Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar."
When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over. 15 As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, "Even if she gathers among the sheaves, don't embarrass her. 16 Rather, pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don't rebuke her."
17 So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah. 18 She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough.
Ok, let’s pause here
Another lesson we need to learn is that even as we sacrifice to follow the Lord,
Following God will lead to…
Provision of Needs
Slide
Ruth comes to Israel with her mother in law Naomi and they are poor. So Ruth goes out to glean in the fields.
This is how God had told Israel to provide for the poor. When harvesting their fields, the Israelites were not to strip the plant bare nor to harvest at the edges of the field, but they were to leave some so the poor could come and “glean,” or gather up the bits that were left by the reapers.
This is how the poor would be cared for.
They could come and work and collect what they could from the leftovers of the harvest.
Now there would be some people in this situation who would say God is not providing for me. I have to go out and provide for myself and I am only barely getting enough to sustain myself.
Others would be in this situation and say, God has mercifully provided a place for me to glean so that myself and my family are being provided for.
God has designed us to work. Giving people money or food without work is a terrible idea. God has here designed a system of provision that discourages greed and provides for those who will work.
And notice that as Ruth seizes the avenues that God has provided for them, she and Naomi are provided for.
At the beginning of the book of Ruth, we see that those who should have known God, Elimelech and his family, run from God and it is not beneficial, they do not experience God’s provision.
Now we see Ruth, a foreigner who has come to know God, following the Lord and finding provision.
Apply
This is where we struggle as Americans. For us to feel provided for, we think we need to have as much as everyone else. No where are we promised that. In fact the Bible tells us that generally speaking, we are going to reap what we sow.
And as we follow the Lord, we will be provided for. This is a promise that is confirmed by Jesus in the New Testament when he says to seek first His kingdom and righteousness and all our needs will be provided for. (Matthew 6:33)
Follow Him and trust Him to provide for your needs. Taking matters into your own hands, apart from the Lord, leaves you vulnerable to attack and to experiencing need without provision.
Transition
Now let’s continue on and finish the Book of Ruth and see what else we can learn.
Ruth 2:19 – 4:10
19 Her mother-in-law asked her, "Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!"
Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. "The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz," she said.
20 "The Lord bless him!" Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. "He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead." She added, "That man is our close relative; he is one of our kinsman-redeemers."
21 Then Ruth the Moabitess said, "He even said to me, 'Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.'"
22 Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, "It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with his girls, because in someone else's field you might be harmed."
23 So Ruth stayed close to the servant girls of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.
Ruth 3
3 One day Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, "My daughter, should I not try to find a home for you, where you will be well provided for? 2 Is not Boaz, with whose servant girls you have been, a kinsman of ours? Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. 3 Wash and perfume yourself, and put on your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don't let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. 4 When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do."
5 "I will do whatever you say," Ruth answered. 6 So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do.
7 When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down. 8 In the middle of the night something startled the man, and he turned and discovered a woman lying at his feet.
9 "Who are you?" he asked.
"I am your servant Ruth," she said. "Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a kinsman-redeemer."
10 "The Lord bless you, my daughter," he replied. "This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. 11 And now, my daughter, don't be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All my fellow townsmen know that you are a woman of noble character. 12 Although it is true that I am near of kin, there is a kinsman-redeemer nearer than I. 13 Stay here for the night, and in the morning if he wants to redeem, good; let him redeem. But if he is not willing, as surely as the Lord lives I will do it. Lie here until morning."
14 So she lay at his feet until morning, but got up before anyone could be recognized; and he said, "Don't let it be known that a woman came to the threshing floor."
15 He also said, "Bring me the shawl you are wearing and hold it out." When she did so, he poured into it six measures of barley and put it on her. Then he went back to town.
16 When Ruth came to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, "How did it go, my daughter?"
Then she told her everything Boaz had done for her 17 and added, "He gave me these six measures of barley, saying, 'Don't go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.'"
18 Then Naomi said, "Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today."
Ruth 4
4 Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat there. When the kinsman-redeemer he had mentioned came along, Boaz said, "Come over here, my friend, and sit down." So he went over and sat down.
2 Boaz took ten of the elders of the town and said, "Sit here," and they did so. 3 Then he said to the kinsman-redeemer, "Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our brother Elimelech. 4 I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do so. But if you will not, tell me, so I will know. For no one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in line."
"I will redeem it," he said.
5 Then Boaz said, "On the day you buy the land from Naomi and from Ruth the Moabitess, you acquire the dead man's widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property."
6 At this, the kinsman-redeemer said, "Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it."
7 (Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel.)
8 So the kinsman-redeemer said to Boaz, "Buy it yourself." And he removed his sandal.
9 Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, "Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech, Kilion and Mahlon. 10 I have also acquired Ruth the Moabitess, Mahlon's widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from the town records. Today you are witnesses!"
Then it tells us that Boaz and Ruth get married, have a son and name him Obed, who becomes the father of Jesse who is the father of King David.
The last thing I want to focus on is the fact that
Following God will lead to…
The Hope of Redemption
Slide
Boaz, we learn in these verses, is a kinsman redeemer.
What is a kinsman redeemer?
A kinsman redeemer was the nearest male relative that had responsibility of “redeeming his relative’s lost opportunities.”
If a relative was enslaved, the kinsman redeemer would buy his freedom
If a relative was forced to sell his property, the kinsman would purchase it and keep it in family
If a relative died leaving a widow without children, the kinsman would marry the widow and seek to have children for the dead man to perpetuate the family name.
If a relative was killed by another, the kinsman redeemer was responsible to seek justice and avenge his death. (Deuteronomy 19:1-3; 25:5, Numbers 35:9-34)
Now, as Ruth follows the Lord, it is the Lord that leads her to the place of finding Boaz the kinsman redeemer.
Now, I want to back up a bit here. Remember in the beginning of this story when we talked about following God requires sacrifice?
It only requires sacrifice in terms of the moment, the temporary, the stuff that won’t last.
Because the reality is that even as we sacrifice, God is leading us to something better. God has led her into a relationship with Himself and blesses her by directing her path to a Kinsman redeemer. If she was not following the Lord, she would not have been led to this place, this place of hope for redemption.
Apply
Now, while the story of Ruth is a beautiful love story of a couple from ancient history, it is also symbolically the story of us.
You see we are Ruth.
Ruth symbolizes Us, those in need of Redemption
Slide
The Lord has laid before us a path to follow. The path is a path of apparent sacrifice, but as we make the choice to follow the Lord through that sacrifice, it leads to provision and hope, especially the hope of our Redeemer, because we are in need of redemption.
We are slaves to sin. We have no hope of overcoming without a redeemer.
And just as Ruth is symbolic of us in this story,
Boaz Symbolizes Jesus, Our Kinsman Redeemer
Slide
Boaz is the one who is able to redeem Ruth,
Jesus is the One who is able to be our redeemer.
The Requirements of a Kinsman-Redeemer
Slide
Now not anyone could be a redeemer.
There were 3 requirements that had to be met.
He had to be a Kinsman
Hebrews 2:14-15 tells us Jesus became man to free us from the slavery we were in.
Not only did he have to be a kinsman, but
He had to be Free
Slide
Hebrews 4:15 tells us that Jesus was without sin, so He was not a slave to sin. He was free from being a slave.
He had to be able to pay the price
Slide
Since he had no sin, He is the only one who is able to pay because he was infinitely righteous.
Finally,
He had to be willing
Slide
This requirement was what the nearer kinsman than Boaz did not meet. He was not willing to make the sacrifice that may have been necessary.
Boaz was willing.
Jesus was willing.
When Jesus was talking about the sacrifice that had to be made by laying down his life for ours, he said in John 10:18 that “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.”
Jesus is our Kinsman Redeemer
He meets all the requirements and He wants to redeem you.
Conclusion
Have you been redeemed?
Have you received the redemption that is only available through the one kinsman redeemer that is able to meet every requirement and save you out of a life of slavery and into a life of fulfillment?
Jesus Christ is that redeemer. He is the king, the descendant of David, an actual descendant of Ruth and Boaz.
Have you received Jesus Christ as your Redeemer?
The Bible tells us that we can do that by believing in Him and confessing that belief to Him
Romans 10:9 says
“if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. “
Do you need to receive the redemption that Jesus offers? If you haven’t you need to.
For those not living as redeemed
But there are others here who have been redeemed and yet you continue to live in poverty.
You are gleaning among the harvesters, you have been given your freedom, but you still live as slaves to sin.
Realize that you are the bride of Christ, and you no longer have to live as a widow.
Step into living as redeemed by realizing the redemption that has been given to you and then follow His leading.
We had a number of people last week take steps of faith in baptism.
Take steps of faith in serving
Take steps of faith in trusting
Follow the Lord in obedience and experience the life of the redeemed!
If you need to be redeemed, then receive Christ by confessing your belief in Him.
If you need to live in your redemption, then let’s pray for the strength to obey Him and truly live.
Pray.
"Redeemed"
Seems like all I could see was the struggle
Haunted by ghosts that lived in my past
Bound up in shackles of all my failures
Wondering how long is this gonna last
Then You look at this prisoner and say to me "son
Stop fighting a fight it's already been won"
I am redeemed, You set me free
So I'll shake off these heavy chains
Wipe away every stain, now I'm not who I used to be
I am redeemed, I'm redeemed
