Character in the Crucible
Ruth 2
© 2007 Eric Bain
This sermon is available in audio format at www.sanctuary-church.com
Two weeks ago we began a new series in the book of Ruth. We’re going to continue that today. So, grab a Bible – if you don’t have one – and open it to Ruth, Chapter 2.
In case you missed it, let me just fill you in on some important details. In Ruth, Chapter 1, we learned…
• That there was a famine in the land of Israel.
o And one of the things we talked about is how, in Old Testament, God would use things like famines to teach his people about himself.
A lot of people think that’s sort of mean… or weird
But God was communicating in a way that they would understand
In their culture… people associated weather with God’s blessing & judgment
o They would have understood the famine to be a consequence of their sins.
• Then we learned about a guy named Elimelech…
o Elimelech is a lot like me (and maybe you can relate). When things went wrong… when things got bad… Elimelech took matters into his own hands and tried to fix things.
o The only problem was… he didn’t fix things by turning to God… he ran from God!
o Elimelech understood the famine to be a consequence of sin… and rather than dealing with the problem, he thought, “That’s it… I’m out of here!” Then he took his family and moved to Moab.
o Moab was foreign land… it was a Godless place.
• A place where no-one knew of his sin.
• A place where there would seem to be no consequence to his sin.
o The only problem was… he died there… away from God.
o He left behind his wife (Naomi) and his two sons.
o His two sons got married… but they married Moabite women. Women that didn’t worship Yahweh.
o Nonetheless, they soon also died. Leaving behind, two daughters-in-law. One of which is named Ruth the Moabitess.
• Ruth
o In spite of growing up in what we would call a “non-Christian home”… she learned about God. She learned about God through her relationship with her mother-in-law… Naomi.
o And then when tragedy struck… cause her husband died.
o And it would be very easy for her to take matters into her own hands… to just go back to her old home… back to her old forms of religion… and to look for a new husband that could take care of her and give her children (that’s the way that women in that time and culture found their identity & worth)… So, it would be very easy for her to take matters into her own hands and turn back to her old ways of life… but rather…
• She becomes a follower of God
• And she abandons her faith in everything else… And she begins to pursue that voice that she heard calling in the distance (a voice calling her home)… But clearly it’s not her home in the physical sense… it’s a spiritual sense!
• So with what may seem like reckless abandon…
• She leaves her physical home
• She leaves her family
• Leaves her friends
• Everything that was familiar… and goes to Bethlehem. And Bethlehem is found in what was known as the Promised Land…. the Land of Yahweh… the land of God.
• And the plan is to start a new life.
If we think of the story of Ruth in the symbolic sense… I think many of us in this room have been there:
• We’ve given up our homes
• We’ve left our families
• Our friends…
• All to pursue a new life… in relationship with the living God.
Some of you may not understand that… but those of you that do… I would bet that you’re able to relate to Ruth on a very deep level.
(Personal Illustration) Tell the story of me moving from Florida to Michigan…
• I ran with reckless abandon… to a new life!
• I can relate to the story of Ruth
(pause)
When we left off at the end of Chapter 1… we didn’t know what was going to happen to Ruth.
• I mentioned that it seemed like she’d made the right decision, but life was yet to be lived.
• There was one hint… They arrived in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.
• The famine is over!
Ruth, Chapter 2…
RU 2:1 Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, from the clan of Elimelech, a man of standing, whose name… was Boaz.
(quick) So, as Chapter 2 begins, we’re introduced to a new character. A man of standing… named, Boaz.
Now, I got to tell you, the Hebrew behind this translation, a man of standing, carries a bit more punch than the English translation allows...
You see, a man of standing carries the meaning that Boaz…
• Is more than just an important man…
• He’s a rich man
But it also insinuates that he’s…
• A man of great valor
It could mean that he’s…
• A great warrior
And it carries the connotation that…
• He’s a man of great moral fortitude
In other words, although Boaz is related to Elimelech, and they have some similarities… the story wants us to know, that when it comes to Character… Boaz is nothing like Elimelech!
Boaz is a man of great Character!
One of the things we should note, is that Character is becoming one of the up-front themes in the story of Ruth.
• Chapter 1 --- Ruth vs. Elimelech
Verse 2…
RU 2:2 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.
RU 2:4 Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, "The LORD be with you!"
"The LORD bless you!" they called back.
RU 2:5 Boaz asked the foreman of his harvesters, "Whose young woman is that?"
RU 2:6 The foreman replied, "She’s 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."
Alright, let’s pause right there… You know, a few minutes ago I mentioned that Ruth has begun… following God. And now here, as we begin Chapter 2, we learn that she get’s to Bethlehem and she goes out and starts gleaning in this field that belongs to her rich relative… and she’s got a shelter… It all sounds kind of rosy! Kind of lofty! So let’s bring it back down to earth a little bit.
You know, I recently moved… I moved out into the suburbs. Nice new house… in a nice new neighborhood. And every Thursday the garbage man comes and picks up my – not one… but my three – distinctly different garbage cans… and he dumps them into his truck.
But you know, I’ve noticed something about Thursday mornings. (pause)And that’s this…
If you go out early in the morning on Thursday, you will notice several people making their way through my neighborhood. They’re homeless people… the poorest of poor. And they make their rounds to the various trash cans collecting people’s left-over’s… collecting my trash! And they do this, in order to survive! (pause)
Guy’s… that’s Ruth! (Don’t glorify her position)
In her time and culture, people of means (people like you and me) were told not to worry about doing a really great job when it came to harvesting our fields. Why? Because the poorest of poor would come along behind us and pick up our left-over’s - that’s what they call gleaning! The truth is, they needed those left-over’s… those scraps… just to survive.
You see, let me remind you… this story begins as a tragedy! Ruth loses her husband and becomes a foreigner in a foreign land. And add to that, she’s a woman in a society where women don’t really get jobs.
• And so, what do you really thing she’s gonna do?
• How’s she gonna to survive?
Well, we learn that what she does… is goes out into a stranger’s field and begins scrounging for leftovers.
It’s a horrible life. Women like this are often abused. It’s a dirty… frustrating job… and it’s not very productive!
But, do you know what else it is?
It’s God’s supply! (In this story)
You see, it was God – through his Commandments – that told those early farmers not to harvest all the crops…. to leave some for the widows and the poor. So, in other words, that lame, stinking, dirty… job that Ruth has…. It’s God’s supply… It’s God’s gift to Ruth!
Now, I want you to think about that for a second… Cause, I hope it might begin to put some perspective on a few things in your own life.
Let me ask you…
• Have you ever found yourself at a point in life where you just hate what you’re doing?
• Maybe you even wonder how you ever got there…
• You think… I’m better than this!
• And you find yourself asking… Why God?
o Why are you letting me waste my life doing this? (Whatever it is…)
o Especially if you’ve been trying to follow him!
You see, I think you might have something in common with Ruth….
Verse 8…
RU 2:8 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’re thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled."
RU 2:10 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?"
RU 2:11 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 didn’t know before. 12 May the LORD repay you for what you’ve done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge."
RU 2:13 "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."
RU 2:14 At mealtime Boaz said to her, "Come here... Have some bread… 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 from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t scold her."
RU 2:17 So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening… Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah.
Oh… well now the story’s getting warm and fuzzy… right?
Think of this… Going back to my trash can illustration --- If I was to peer out my window on Thursday morning, and I somehow came to the realization that it was you digging through my trash. But not only that, to my surprise, I find out that you’re my now dead… second-cousin’s… wife’s… widowed, daughter in-law… (For you men, that would be an extra surprise!) But, then if I came out and greeted you and said…
• Praise the Lord! God’s taking care of you!
• Or… “Hey! I’m glad you’re here – and not down town. At least it’s safer here.”
• Or, I went through my fridge and brought out some of my best left-over’s… you know, while they’re still fresh.
• Or, even if I offered you some spare cloths… extra blankets… and maybe a little cash.
If you were on the receiving end of that… would you consider that to be gift from God? Probably not! Probably what you’d think is...
Hey, I’m suffering here!!!
(pause)
Ruth follows God to a distant land and it brings her to a place of suffering… to a place of doubt… a place of desperation…
You know, in the New Testament there’s a passage that says this (and I hear it quoted often)….
My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
(repeat)
I think there’s a tendency to assume that it means…
• that God will never let me suffer…
• that God will never let me struggle…
• That God will always give me the good life… (Just the way I want it.)
But here’s the problem… that’s not the God that teaches us about himself in the Bible!
• Ruth follows God to a distant land and it brings her to a place of suffering… to a place of doubt… a place of desperation…
You see, the Apostle Paul does say…
My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
But listen to what he says just before that…
12 I know what it is to be in need… I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation… whether well fed or hungry… whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
PHP 4:14 Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles… (he then goes on to say…)
19 …And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
You see… we think about our needs… and we think we need…
• That perfect job…
• That brand new house…
• To be entertained…
But…
• Maybe what we need… is some time of struggle!
• Maybe what we need… is a time of barely getting by… a time of hunger!
Not always physically… but sometimes emotionally… or spiritual.
• Maybe what we need… is a time of suffering!
• A time when we are absolutely broken… and we learn what it is like to be dependent upon him!
And in those times… maybe (just maybe) it’s a gift from God?
And maybe it’s just what we need.
(pause)
You see, the story in context teaches us something about God (who he is/what he’s like)… and our response to him.
I mentioned that one of the Themes that’s beginning to emerge has to do with Character.
Through the story we learn that Ruth has been out in this field from morning till evening… working hard in the heat. We don’t get the sense that she likes it… but she does it - she perseveres… and she does it well. We’re told that she gathered about an ephah of barley – that’s the equivalent of 4 gallons (that’s a lot!).
Nonetheless, we get the sense that while she’s doing this rough work… she doesn’t complain… she doesn’t say, “Why me Lord!” But rather… she embraces the task at hand and does it to the best of her abilities.
The Bible teaches in the book of Romans, that we should…
Rejoice in our suffering… because suffering produces perseverance…
and perseverance produces character… (Romans 5:3-4)
Let me say that again… and then I have two comments… (in relation to Ruth…)
Rejoice in our suffering… because suffering produces perseverance…
and perseverance produces character… (Romans 5:3-4)
Like I said, I have two comments…
#1… What we’re seeing in this story of Ruth, Chapter 2, is that God has given Ruth the gift of Suffering!
• And she doesn’t complain… she embraces it!
• And through embracing it… it develops her Character.
• Question: How is God giving us that gift?
• Character is important to God!!!
Rejoice in your suffering…
The Second Comment I have is… Notice this…
That Character development only occurs if we persevere!
• You see, if we experience suffering… and we run from our suffering (like Elimelech)… then we may be lucky enough to come to the other side of that suffering… but it will be for what?… Nothing!
• One of the biggest challenges that high-functioning Christians have – people like you and me…
o People with degrees…
o People with resources…
o People with connections…
…is that it’s awful easy for us… to run from suffering.
• But character is built in the crucible of suffering… and we must persevere.
Rejoice in our suffering… because suffering produces perseverance…
and perseverance produces character…
In Ruth, Chapter 2… Character is being built…
Let’s finish today’s text reading. Verse 17…
RU 2:17 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 (at lunch).
RU 2:19 Her mother-in-law asked her, "Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!"
Recognize… this a lot of barley!
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.
RU 2:20 "The LORD bless him!" Naomi said… "God 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."
RU 2:21 Then Ruth the Moabitess said, "He even said to me, `Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.’ "
RU 2:22 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."
RU 2:23 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.
Two comments I want to make today in closing…
The first is this…
Character development doesn’t happen over night!
This suffering that Ruth perseveres through… I want you to note that it lasts more than a day. In fact, it’s at least a season. And what that means, is that Ruth is going to have to wait. She is going to have to wait on God.
And so as we read through Chapter 2, what we have is this development of Character as a major theme… but as we move into Chapter 3… the story sets us up the theme of Waiting on God… and how those two come together.
• That’ll be important to remember next week…
• In the mean time, you might think of this… have you ever experienced a season of waiting on God?
o Many of us have…
o I’m sure Ruth, Chapter 3 will have a great deal of insight for us…
The last thing that I want to bring up today, has to do with God’s providence. In other words, I want to talk briefly about how this story brings up the issue of God’s interaction in our lives.
You see, we’re told in verse 3, that…
3 As it turned out, Ruth found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz, who just happened to be from the clan of Elimelech.
And so what I want to point out is… is that just happenstance?
Later, in verse 20, Naomi tells Ruth…
"That man is our close relative; he is one of our kinsman-redeemers."
Well, I don’t want to go into a bunch of detail about what that means… but for now, just know that means… that this Boaz has the ability… to redeem the apparent worthlessness of Ruth and Naomi’s life.
Did that happen just by chance?
Well, the story wants us to know that…
• No, it didn’t!
• That God is somehow in control.
And yet at the same time, it wants us to know that Ruth… and Naomi… and Boaz… and Elimelech… all have the ability to make choices… and those choices effect their destines!
You see, there’s tension there. And our lives are lived in this tension!
God is ultimately in control… and yet we have choice.
Now, I’ll tell you… I never like it when someone says to me that something bad happened to them, and therefore God must have it out for them. Or, that something good happened to them… and therefore, God must be rewarding them. Because that’s generally bad theology! But there is a kernel of truth there… and the story of Ruth sheds some light on it….
You see, it seems that when pursue God… when we draw closer to God…
• There is blessing in that…
• That somehow there really is a reward…
• That God is working behind the scenes in ways that are just beyond our understanding…
And that when we run from God…
• It tends to bring about greater suffering…
• That life really isn’t better… but worse… and yet our choices play a significant role in that.
It’s tension…
And I don’t really have much more to say about it, other than… I would love it if you would just ponder that.
You see, this is one of the reasons that I really like Old Testament Narratives. You see, they bring us face to face of the reality of life with God. And they do it in a way that is so hard to teach.
(long pause)
COMMUNION –
• We say we want to be followers of Christ
• We say we want to be Christ to others
• Christ suffered…
© 2007 Eric Bain
