TEACHING BRIEF
Date Written: July 23, 2012
Date Taught: July 11, 2012
Church: OPBC (Wed Night)
FOUNDATIONAL ELEMENTS
Title: A Study in the Book of Ruth
Text: Ruth 1:6-22 (read passage)
Introduction:
6Then Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had blessed his people in Judah by giving them good crops again. So Naomi and her daughters-in-law got ready to leave Moab to return to her homeland.
It had been a terrible time for Naomi. Her husband had moved them from her homeland to a foreign country… He had died after they had arrived there and Naomi had stayed for over 10yrs.
Her sons then died and she was left alone with her daughters in law… she had lost her husband, but now her sons were gone and she was alone in a foreign land…
She was separated from her family and when her sons died it became painfully obvious to her… it was like her eyes were opened to her precarious situation. She finally realized the desperate nature of her predicament! And she was OVERWHELMED!
How awful it must have been for her. How does this speak to us today? Well there are people EVERYDAY that are convicted by the Holy Spirit and God reveals their sin to them and for the first time they ‘see’ and realize where they are spiritually… in a dark place, a place away from their Creator, a place that is NOT home! They finally realize where they are in relation to God and they see the desperation of their situation…
But we see that as desperate as her situation was, Naomi did see hope…she heard the good news that God has blessed her homeland & the famine was over… this was encouragement for her to get up and begin the journey home!
For those who are at the point of conviction and they realize their sinful state, there is Good news for them! That good news is Jesus… God has blessed them with a Savior in His Son! For those who have been convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit, this is an encouragement to get up and begin the journey by coming to Jesus!
This passage is about the beginning of redemption for Naomi, and it is a picture of what God has available for all sinners… those who are hopeless and alone… those who feel outcast and like life has come crashing down on them…
This passage also gives us a inside view of God’s role in providing redemption but it also reveals the human responsibility to act upon God’s invitation… let’s look at v7
7With her two daughters-in-law she set out from the place where she had been living, and they took the road that would lead them back to Judah.
Here we find Naomi taking this Good News and then acting on behalf of it… She hears the good news of God’s blessing in her homeland, but she doesn’t just sit there and pine about how she is so mistreated and life is so bad, and how could God help them and not her…
We find Naomi seeing the blessing of God and taking the initiative to seek out God’s blessing by returning to her homeland. She not only does this for herself but she brings along the only family she has left… her 2 daughters in law.
But there is an important lesson for us to gather here and it is that redemption is offered for all, but it comes thru the individual relationship with God. Naomi saw that there was redemption in her homeland, but told her daughters in law that they must make up their own minds about coming with her…
8But on the way, Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back to your mothers’ homes. And may the Lord reward you for your kindness to your husbands and to me.
Now here is where the metaphor of redemption breaks down a bit, because Naomi realized that even when she returned to her homeland, she was returning a woman who had NO standing and all her security that was found in her husband and 2 sons was gone!
She gives her daughters in law the option of NOT coming with her because she knew it was going to be a difficult road for them because they would be foreign women without husbands in a foreign land. Naomi turns to them and releases them to go back to the homes of their youth… back to their own mothers!
This reveals the love Naomi had for her daughters in law… I am sure that they had been a comfort to her ever since her husband had died and since her sons had died they had comforted one another… but now she had released them from any obligation they may have had to her or her family… She tries to send them away with God’s blessing.
Now one thing we CAN glean from this when it comes to the subject of redemption is that when we turn to come to Christ… it is an individual choice we must make alone… we cannot drag others along with us… we cannot make decision FOR them, they must make that choice on their own.
Our witness should always reveal that God’s way is not going to be the easy way… salvation is free and freely given, but serving God is always going to be a hard journey/destination. We must never lead people to the Lord and tell them that all will always be perfect… This world is a broken world and we will suffer because of it, but even thru our suffering, God reigns and is in control.
In the next 5 verses we find out what choices are made by Naomi and her daughters…
9May the Lord bless you with the security of another marriage.” Then she kissed them good-bye, and they all broke down and wept. 10“No,” they said. “We want to go with you to your people.” 11But Naomi replied, “Why should you go on with me? Can I still give birth to other sons who could grow up to be your husbands? 12No, my daughters, return to your parents’ homes, for I am too old to marry again. And even if it were possible, and I were to get married tonight and bear sons, then what? 13Would you wait for them to grow up and refuse to marry someone else? No, of course not, my daughters! Things are far more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord himself has raised his fist against me.”
Now in these verses we can see the frustration of her situation being spoken out by Naomi… She knows what awaits her in her homeland, and as comforting and loving as her daughters in law had been to her, her love for them did NOT want them to face the hardships that she was probably going to have to face!
She encourages them to go back to their homes and to remarry… This is an unselfish love offered by Naomi in her willingness to release these women back to their homes…
When Naomi tells her daughters in law to go back to their families BOTH of them refuse and tell her that they want to stay with her. Naomi’s love was strong and had been a great witness to these women and they had learned to love Naomi with the same sort of love… They were willing to follow her into a strange land and leave their own families behind… this reveals how special the love Naomi was to these women.
But once again Naomi insists that they return… because she understands the difficulties that lie ahead and her love for these women does not wish to see them suffer as she believes SHE is going to suffer upon her return to her homeland.
She gives them a good reason for returning home… to have a family! She tells them that if they return home that they can remarry and have a chance at a family, but if they come with her how will they?
Naomi even puts forth a rather ridiculous scenario in that she remarries and these women wait on her to have a son and the son grow to a man before they marry again… Naomi says, “You won’t do this, and I understand that and its ok… GO HOME!” Naomi’s love for her daughters in law went far beyond her own comfort and security… it was unconditional FOR these women and it was her desire that they be ‘redeemed’ and be allowed the chance to have a family.
When I look at this story we can see it as a picture of God’s love for us… He does not tell us to GO HOME… but God is calling us to COME HOME! He was willing to do what it takes for us to make that journey! His love for us went beyond HIS comfort… it was unconditional for us!
God wants us to be redeemed to Him… God is offering a chance for us to have a family…a spiritual family… one where we are loved unconditionally and accepted universally when we come in confession of sin and brokenness of heart…
We see that Naomi’s encouragement to stay with their families did have an effect on one of her daughters in law… lets continue reading:
14And again they wept together, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye. But Ruth clung tightly to Naomi.
We see it was a tearful goodbye but Orpah decided that she wanted to have a family and marry again. The scenario painted by Naomi was that if they followed her that they were dooming themselves to a lifetime of hardship and NO happiness… after all Naomi believed God was against her!
So Orpah decided to listen to Naomi and return home, but we also see in this verse that Ruth chose just the opposite! Look what it says, “…but Ruth clung TIGHTLY to Naomi…”
Ruth was NOT going to let Naomi go… and she did not care what picture she painted… she was going to stay with her!
15“Look,” Naomi said to her, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. You should do the same.”
For those who are convicted of sin and hear the good news of the Gospel and how redemption will come if we go to the Gospel… the world is there telling us that surrendering to the Gospel is a tough, hard way, and that if we take that road it is going to be struggle and hardship and we will never truly be happy. After all look at what the world can give you and what you have to give up when you choose God…
Naomi was encouraging Ruth to do the same as Orpah because it was what she saw as the best thing, but what WE see is rarely ever the ‘best’ thing for us! Even when it SEEMS like it is… Ruth refused to accept that returning to her old life was the best thing for her, she wanted to cling to Naomi!
Likewise, even when believers can get past the cynical attitude of the world, so often, we paint a grim picture of what God requires, and we choose to take the easy way out instead of having faith in God.
In the next verse we can see a picture of true faith as Ruth shares with her Mother in law…
16But Ruth replied, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. 17Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!”
Here we find the faith of Ruth being put on display… Basically what Ruth is saying here is that she has faith in Naomi and her God… and that if it is good enough for Naomi it is good enough for her. She is telling Naomi that she wants to change… she wants a new heritage…
Ruth portrays a faith in her mother in law, a faith that believed that whatever this new country held for them, be it feast or famine, that clinging to her mother in law was what was best, regardless of the outcome!
This is a great picture of the convicted sinner coming to Christ… their desire is to change, but they cannot unless they GO WITH Christ… unless they learn to cling closely to Him! There must be a faith in Christ… to cling to Him regardless of what it brings to us!
18When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said nothing more. 19So the two of them continued on their journey. When they came to Bethlehem, the entire town was excited by their arrival. “Is it really Naomi?” the women asked. 20“Don’t call me Naomi,” she responded. “Instead, call me Mara, for the Almighty has made life very bitter for me. 21I went away full, but the Lord has brought me home empty. Why call me Naomi when the Lord has caused me to suffer and the Almighty has sent such tragedy upon me?” 22So Naomi returned from Moab, accompanied by her daughter-in-law Ruth, the young Moabite woman. They arrived in Bethlehem in late spring, at the beginning of the barley harvest.
Now we see that once Ruth made her choice Naomi relented and allowed her to come with her back to her homeland in Judah.
Do you remember where they were from? Bethlehem! She returns to Bethlehem and the entire town is excited to see her… they have NOT forgotten who she was… they cry out to her in joy because she has returned!
But Naomi was not happy, she was very bitter. Even though the Lord delivered her back to her homeland, she was bitter because she was convinced the Lord had dealt sharply with her and did not love her…
Naomi even goes so far as to change her own name… she changes it to Mara which means “God has been bitter to me” This reveals the pain still in Naomi’s heart… she had been ‘redeemed’ back to her homeland, but did not see the deliverance by God to be a good thing.
Most of us here know this story and how it ends, and we know that God provides relief and salvation to both Naomi and Ruth… but at the time Naomi did not feel it… she could not see God’s hand working, and so she felt abandoned and alone… and had great portion of bitterness in her heart! So much so that she wanted everyone to know about her plight…
How this chapter wraps up… actually sets the stage for the next chapter, as we find that the grim and terrible picture painted by Naomi… her grim and awful outlook she took upon herself when she changed her name… that is NOT how God wants it to turn out!
We actually find God fulfilling their redemption in a wonderful way in the person of Boaz and him coming into the picture and the complete redemption of God begins to be realized!
