No Bread In The House Of Bread

“No Bread In The House Of Bread”

Ruth 1:1-6, 22 Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehemjudah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons. [2] And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehemjudah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there. [3] And Elimelech Naomi’s husband died; and she was left, and her two sons. [4] And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years. [5] And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband.

[6] Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread.

[22] So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter in law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.

Introduction

The priority of God’s presence has been lost in the modern church. We’re like bakeries that are open, but have no bread. It often seems like we’re not even interested in selling bread. We just like the chit-chat that goes on around cold ovens and empty shelves. In fact, I wonder, do we even know whether He’s here or not, and if He is here, what is He doing? Where is He going? Or are we just too preoccupied with sweeping out imaginary crumbs from bakeries with no bread.

Do we even know when He’s in town? The Pharisees were inside the temple praying for the Messiah to come, when He rode right by their temple on a little donkey. They missed their hour of visitation. We can be inside praying for him to come while He passes by outside. Worse than that, the insiders miss Him while the outsiders march with Him.

I. No Bread

A. Bethlehem means “House Of Bread”.

B. The reason Naomi’s family left Bethlehem to go to Moab is simple: There was no bread in the house of Bread. Its simple why people leave churches: there’s no bread. We must have more to offer than the world does.

1. Naomi and her family have something in common with the people who leave or totally avoid our churches today: They left “that” place and went somewhere else to find bread.

2. People are flocking to bars, clubs, and psychics by the millions in search of bread. They are trying to everything they can to fill their hunger because the church has failed them. They’ve looked, or know of someone that has looked to the church just to find that the spiritual cupboard was bare. There was no presence in the pantry. Just empty shelves and offices full of recipes for bread, but the ovens were cold and dusty.

3. We falsely advertise and hyped-up our claims that there is bread in the house. But when the hungry come, all they can do is scrounge through the carpet of yesteryear revivals and of modern programs, but they find no fresh manna. We talk so greatly about what He has done in the past, but can say very little about what He is doing today.

4. People have come to the house of bread time and again to find that there was too much of man and too little of God.

5. There is as much of God in most bars as there in most churches.

6. If there is no bread in the house, then who could blame the hungry for not going there.

C. Having to go Moab.

1. When Bethlehem, the house of bread, is empty, people are force to look other places. As Naomi was to discover, Moab is a cruel place. Moab will steal your sons from you. In the end, all that Naomi had left were two daughters in law.

2. In the days of Joseph, all of the land (Egypt and Canaan) was in famine. Egypt just had more to offer than Canaan because they prepared. Israel went to Egypt because they were the ones who could satisfy their needs in the time of famine; by doing so, they left the promised land and walked into over two hundred years of bondage.

3. Our constant cry of hot bread backed only by stale crumbs on a frayed carpet of man’s tradition have left countless generations hungry, homeless, and with nowhere else to go but Moab.