INTRODUCTION
• SLIDE #1
• God can use the most unlikely of people and situations for His glory, or to carry out His purpose.
• Today as we come to chapter 9 in The Story, we come to the book of Ruth. I bet you do not hear a lot of sermons on the book of Ruth.
• The book of Ruth records the events surrounding a woman named Naomi who lived in Bethlehem and her daughter-in-law Ruth who is from Moab,
• This is an interesting mix because Moab had been and off and on enemy to Israel!
• As we begin our journey into chapter 9 of The Story, as we will see it looks from the lower story that all is lost, that God had abandoned Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth.
• But as the story unfolds we will see some great themes laid out for us on the pages of the book of Ruth, themes like grace, God’s providence, and the power of faithful love.
• As we journey through our narrative today, I want us to look for those themes. They will show us that God can and will use the most unlikely people to fulfill His purpose!
• Remember, once the fall took place in Genesis, the rest of the bible is about God’s pursuit of us, it is a pursuit of love!
• We all crave and need acceptance.
• God has gone to great lengths and ultimately great expense to allow us to be accepted by Him!
• Let us begin our journey by looking at Ruth 1:1-2
• SLIDE #2
• Ruth 1:1–2 (NIV) 1 In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. 2 The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon (MAHL LON) and Kilion (KILL LEON). They were Ephrathites (F FRA THIGHTS) from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.
• SLIDE #3
SERMON
I. Three opening observations about the story of Ruth.
• In the opening passages of the Book of Ruth we see three brief opening observations.
• First…
A. Ruth’s story takes place during the time of the Judges.
• The story of Ruth takes place during the time of the Judges. Most likely around 1175-1125 BC, this would place her story between the Judges Jephthah and Samson.
• This is important because this is in the period where Israel was running though the cycles of sin to slavery, to repentance to salvation.
• Even though the nations of Israel and Moab had been enemies, but during this time there was an unusual time of peace between the two nations.
• Next we see…
B. The story takes place primarily in Bethlehem of Judah.
• The story of Naomi and her husband Elimelech begins in Bethlehem, then for a short period of time moves to Moab, then back to Bethlehem.
• This makes sense for Elimelech and Naomi because that is their homeland, but for Ruth this was not her homeland.
• The next observation we notice is…
C. In the story God again uses a famine to accomplish his purpose.
• In verse 1 we see there was a famine in the land. Remember we are in the time of the Judges so the nation was be in and out of experiencing God’s blessings. So a famine would not be unusual.
• This famine will cause Elimelech and Naomi to move away from Bethlehem to Moab. This will open the possibility of the two sons to marry Moabite women one of those women will be Ruth and as we will see a little later plays an important role in the family line of Jesus.
• So once again we see God working no matter what the lower story circumstances are!
• As the Story continues we see…
• SLIDE #4
II. Ruth the Moabite returns to Bethlehem with Naomi.
A. The famine in Judah drives Elimelech and his family to Moab.
• From verse 1 we already see that the family moved out of Bethlehem because of a famine.
• We also see from verse 1 that the move was not meant to be permanent, but for a while most likely until the famine ended.
• Verse 4 tells us Naomi was in Moab for 10 years. And during that time their sons did something.
• From the lower story perspective Elimelek moving his family to Moab was a huge mistake because it puts his family right in the middle of pagan worship. But we will see that God’s upper story will triumph through this poor decision.
• Look at verses 3-4
• SLIDE #5
• Ruth 1:3–4 (NIV) 3 Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years,
B. Elimelech’s sons, Mahlon (MAHL LON) and Chilion (KILL LEON), marry Moabite women, Orpah (OR PA) and Ruth. Ruth 1:3-4
• The sons do what sons do, they look for female companionship. They find these two fine Moabite women.
• Now a literal reading of Deuteronomy 7:1-4 the Moabites are not listed with these Canaanite nations, but since they were the people of a foreign God, the spirit of the law would have them included.
• Suffice to say the young men took these women on as their wives. It is interesting that from a lower story perspective this does not look right, but God will use this situation in a great way generations down the road.
• Then some bad things start happening.
• SLIDE #6
• Ruth 1:5 (NIV) both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.
C. Elimelech and his sons die, leaving the three women as widows. Ruth 1:5
• In verse 3 we see that Elimelech died, not her sons both die also.
• During the 10 years they were in Moab, the Naomi’s husband dies, then her sons die.
• They may not have been married too long to their Moabite wives because they were also without children.
• What a terrible thing to happen. Naomi realizes that she really needs to go home now so she makes a decision.
• SLIDE #7
• Ruth 1:8–9 (NIV) 8 Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the LORD show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. 9 May the LORD grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.” Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud 10 and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”
D. Naomi returns to Bethlehem but urges her daughters-in-law to stay in their own country of Moab. Ruth 1:8-9
• Orpah (OR PA) tells Naomi that she will go with Naomi, but she finally relents and stays in Moab. But Ruth will not be convinced to leave her mother-in-law.
• And in a passage that is used in weddings even to this day…
• SLIDE #8
• Ruth 1:16–17 (NIV) 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. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.”
1. Ruth, the foreigner, will not stay in Moab.
• So for Ruth this could end up very badly, it was tough enough for Naomi because she was widowed even though she was going back to her homeland, but for Ruth, she is a foreigner and being widowed also and going into a strange land was not a good combination.
• From the lower story perspective this was another bad decision. But Ruth is determined and she wants to follow the God of Naomi. I wonder why? MAYBE NAOMI WAS A GOOD EXAMPLE TO RUTH?
• Naomi has believed that God had forsaken her because of her circumstances. When she gets back to Bethlehem, folks are glad to see her, but…
2. Naomi wants to be called Mara (“bitter”) because of life’s hardships.
• Life’s circumstances can really take their toll on us at times. From the lower story perspective Naomi’s circumstances look as close to helpless as one could get. Yet something great is going to happen for both Naomi and Ruth!
• SLIDE #9
III. Ruth meets Boaz and Boaz shows her favor.
• In chapters 2-4 we find how life in Bethlehem is going to be for Ruth and Naomi.
• Things in the beginning do not look too good from our lower story perspective, but as usual God is on the move.
• The Nation of Israel did not have Social Security or other death benefits, IRA’s etc… to take care of a widow. She would be on her own unless some family would take her in.
• There was a way for the widows and the poor to feed themselves.
A. As a poor widow, Ruth, the pagan foreigner, gleans in the fields of Boaz.
• Ruth offered to go to the fields to glean what the harvesters missed.
• SLIDE #10
• Ruth 2:3 (NIV) So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek.
• This was a God shot for Ruth and Naomi! Ruth did not know the field belonged to Boaz, who was a relative of Elimelek!
• Boaz notices her in the field and inquires about her, he finds out who she is and then tells her something that will be a true blessing!
• SLIDE #11
• Ruth 2:10–12 (NIV) 10 At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, “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.”
B. So Boaz respects Ruth’s character, courage and faith and favors her.
• This is a huge blessing because Boaz was protecting Ruth from harm, she would have been or could have been abused and molested working in fields where she had no protection
• Boaz even told his workers to leave a little bit extra for Ruth to pick up!
1. Ruth risked being rejected as a Moabite (the nation that oppressed God’s people for 18 years).
• This is part of the faith and bravery Ruth had to go to a land where she was an outsider!
2. Ruth hears “You’re accepted” from Boaz.
• Boaz opened his heart up to Ruth. Then to make a long story short…
C. Because of a provision in God’s law, Boaz, as a kinsman-redeemer, marries Ruth to carry on the family name of Elimelech. (Deuteronomy 25, Ruth 4)
• He went through the legal channels to take care of Naomi and Ruth.
1. Boaz risks his own inheritance in marrying Ruth. It cost him.
• He put his money out to purchase all of Naomi’s husbands property.
• Now technically there was another person who had first rights to redeeming Naomi’s property and the man was going to do it until Boaz shared some information with him.
• SLIDE #12
• Ruth 4:5–6 (NIV) Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the land from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the dead man’s widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property.” At this, the guardian-redeemer said, “Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it.”
• Later after Ruth marries Boaz…
2. Boaz and Ruth have a son and call him Obed (“worker”).
• Talk about God’s upper story plan! Look at this!
3. Obed is the father of Jesse who is the father of David, the king.
• So we see that through all these seemingly poor choices from a lower story perspective, with all the bad things that was happening, God’s upper story shines through!
D. Ruth’s name, along with another foreign woman’s name, Rahab, is in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Matthew 1:5.
• So in the line of Jesus was have a prostitute and another foreign woman!
• Ruth needed a Boaz to be a blessing to her.
• How many of us are willing to be a blessing to other people?
CONCLUSION
• It all worked out for Ruth and Naomi in the end. While they were struggling with their lower story, God was working on His plan not only to get Naomi and Ruth back to Jerusalem, but He was working on the ultimate upper story plan!
• To give each one of us the opportunity to come home to Him!
• Matthew 1 tells us that Jesus came through the line of David, without Ruth that line would have never been!
• We can have acceptance through Jesus! Jesus is our Boaz!
• There are a lot of people in our community who feel lost and like outsiders. They crave acceptance from a world that has not been to kind in the area of acceptance!
• Will you be willing to share the fact that they can be accepted by the creator of heaven and earth?
• Jesus paid a high price to redeem you, do not live as one who is seeking acceptance because Jesus wants you to accept Him!
