LOVE IS MORE THAN KISSING
Ruth 1:1-18
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. A man once commented after a revival service to the evangelist, "If you could see how people don't pay attention! And they get up and wander around. It’s terrible!” The evangelist answered, "If you think the back of their heads his bad, you should see the front!”
2. A forgetful husband thought he had conquered the problem of trying to remember his wife's birthday and anniversary.
a. He opened an account with a florist, provided the florist with dates and instructions to send flowers along with an appropriate note signed, "Your loving Husband."
b. His wife was thrilled by this display of attention. All went well until one day, many bouquets later, when he came home, kissed his wife, and said offhandedly, "Nice flowers, honey. Where did you get them?"
B. TEXT
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 and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there. 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, 5 both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband. 6 When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. 7 With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah. 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.” 11 But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? 13 It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!” 14 At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her. 15 “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.” 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 even death separates you and me.” 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her. Ruth 1:1-11,13-18.
C. THESIS
1. There are all kinds of definitions of love. “Love is like an hourglass – the heart is filled as the head is emptied.”
2. People love: football, fishing, pizza, Coca-Cola, french fries, their husbands or wives….
3. Hopefully the same definition doesn't apply to all. Today we’re looking at true love. This passage teaches us that “Love is More than Kissing.”
I. HOW LOVE RELATES TO MARRIAGE
A. COMMITMENT, NO MATTER WHAT
1. Verses 16-17. One of the most romantic verses in the Bible.
2. It speaks of a Commitment to Each Other -- "For better, For worse; for richer, for poorer; in sickness and in
health; and forsaking all others, keep...”.
3. One Young Woman wrote a letter to her fiancé: "I haven't slept a week since I broke up with you. I can't live without you. Please know, I love you, I love you, I love you. Love Sue. PS: Congratulations on winning the $38 million Powerball lottery.”
4. One lady was reflecting her wedding vows, "Do you take him for better or for worse?" She later replied, "He’s a lot worse than I took him for!"
B. 4 IMPLICATIONS OF REAL LOVE
1. UNITY. 2 becoming one. “They 2 shall be one flesh.”
a. Not two houses, two roads or two families -- but one.
b. Marriage calls for flexibility, molding, acceptance and willingness to change.
c. Someone has said, "Marriage is when a man and woman become as one. The trouble starts when they try to decide which one." Treasury of Humor, p. 247.
2. PUTTING THE OTHER PERSON FIRST.
a. NOT focusing on MY wants or needs, but focusing on blessing/edifying our spouse.
b. “Don't let the Sun go down on your wrath.” Following an especially angry argument, Uncle Ted and his wife went to bed not speaking to each other. Needing to arise early the following morning, Uncle Ted left a note on his wife's bedside table that said, “Wake me at six."
c. An exasperated Uncle Ted woke at 10 the following morning and rolled stiffly out of bed to see a note on his bedside table: "It's six! Get out of bed!" The more we bless our spouses, the more blessings will come back to us.
3. LEAVING & CLEAVING.
a. The Bible’s clear we must leave our parent's family to form our own. We must be willing to put our spouse ahead of our parents.
b. That's why the Bible says, "For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife."
c. Verse 14 says, "Ruth ‘clave’ to her.” This is the same word used in Genesis 2:24, "Cleave," meaning "to be United."
4. NO GOING BACK. If God puts us together it’s not our decision whether to call it off. Verse 17, "Where you die I
will die and there I will be buried." Marriage is to be "until death do us part," not "until divorce do us part."
C. WHO WILL GET THE BLESSING?
1. God knew He would one day send His son, Jesus Christ, into the world. He handpicked those who would be in the Royal Line of ancestry.
2. God sent Naomi to that land to bring back a Moabitess to be the ancestor of Christ. One of these two ladies -- Orpah or Ruth, would be chosen/elevated to a Queenly status for all time.
3. Which one would prove worthy? It probably could have gone either way. If Orpah had been the faithful one, we might be reading from the Book of Orpah tonight, instead of the Book of Ruth!
II. IT REVEALS 2 TYPES OF COMMITMENT
A. ORPAH’S SHALLOW COMMITMENT
1. Verse 9, "And they lifted up their voice and wept...."
2. Some people get emotional, but never make a decision for God! It takes a Once-And-For-All decision, for a person’s life to be changed.
3. Both Orpah and Ruth had an affection for Naomi. We all have a degree of affection for God. But the hour of testing came. Affection alone won't carry the day.
4. Both Orpah and Ruth started toward the Promised Land with Naomi. Many people start toward heaven but don't finish.
5. EMOTION ALONE has insufficient power to finish the race. It will take an act of the will. DECISION DETERMINES DESTINY.
6. They reached the border of Moab. Would they leave their: family/country/inheritance/traditions/a future they could control? The moment of ultimate testing came.
7. Verse 14 captures it: "Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye" and turned her back on the God of Israel and went back into the world of sin and idolatry. BUT RUTH CLUNG TO HER (and her God).
B. RUTH’S DEEP COMMITMENT
The kind of Decision/commitment Ruth made, is the same kind demanded by the Lord Jesus Christ. It was a…
1. COSTLY DECISION.
a. She chose to abandon the securities this world could offer and stake her life on following the God she had come to know.
b. She left family -- who could take care of her; family property and wealth; lifetime relationships -- her Dad, Her Mom, brothers, sisters, aunts, cousins, uncles....
c. What was she getting? A bitter, old woman who was poverty-stricken, living in rejection in a foreign land. Oh -- and she got Naomi's GOD! For us, it will be a costly decision too.
2. DECISION OF DIRECTION. Surrendering to a new direction -- she didn't know anything about where we she was going.
3. PERMANENT DECISION. Verse 17. "Where you die, I will die and there I will be buried." She was going all the way with this decision. There wasn't any thought, "Well, if this doesn't work out, I'll go back." No, it was a complete commitment to God.
C. CHRIST’S DEMAND
1. 34 Then [Jesus] called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” Mark 8:34-38.
2. How much more important to make this decision for Christ (Who is so much more worthy of our allegiance) than to make such a decision for a person like Naomi!
CONCLUSION
A. MAKE THE ULTIMATE DECISION
1. Many men of the world have understood the necessity for commitment if they are to accomplish great things.
2. For example, when the Spanish explorer Cortez landed at Veracruz in 1519 and began to make his conquest of Mexico with a small force of 700 men, legend has it that he purposely set fire to his fleet of 11 ships (history tells us he actually ran the ships aground.)
3. Presumably, his men stood on the shore & watched their only means of retreat sink to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. There was now only one direction to move -- foreword into the Mexican interior.
4. It's easy to say, "I love the Lord," but it's phony unless we back it up with a full surrender.
5. Decision determines destiny. Where are you headed? Orpah just kissed Naomi, but turned back. Judas kissed Jesus too. Love is more than kissing.
B. THE CALL
1. Deut. 30:11-14, “11 Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. 12 It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” 14 No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.
2. Rom. 10:6-11, Paul interpreted this quote as speaking of the faith necessary to save you; "The faith necessary to save you is already in your mouth and in your heart, to speak it out and believe it." Being saved isn’t hard, it’s easy!
3. If you want to confess Christ, raise your hand.
