Do you know who this is? It's the Queen of England. Does anybody here know her personally? Bruce, you know everybody. Do you have her cell #? I'd like to give her a call. I have some questions. No? Well, let me ask you this. If you wanted to know the queen, what would you do? Let's say you are a citizen of the United Kingdom and you somehow have the opportunity to meet the queen and ask her for something, what would you do? Do you show up in shorts and a tank top? Do you rush up to her, hollering out, "Hey, queenie baby!" and give her a big hug and ask how her little Corgi dogs are doing? No. None of that will help you at all and will probably get you escorted out quickly and maybe even put in jail.
There are rules for seeing the queen -- lots of rules. You need to wear really nice clothes. Be clean. Be quiet and don't speak unless she asks you a question. Don't touch her. Don't sit until she does. Don't eat until she starts eating. She is a woman of great power and status and should be treated as such. But if you need something in England, there is no better person to know than the queen.
Now, let me ask you another question. What do you want more than anything in this life? Do you want happiness, contentment, money, fame, power? What? So...how's that working out for ya? Are you there yet? Maybe you want to be healed of cancer or you want your loved one to be healed. Maybe your child is hooked on drugs or alcohol. Maybe your spouse in not a true believer in Jesus. Those are real needs. Is God answering your prayers for those things?
If not, then maybe you don't know Him well enough. If the Queen of England is not taking your calls, then maybe you don't know her well enough. Maybe you aren't doing what she wants you to do. Maybe you aren't coming to her in the right way. It's the same with God but much more important.
Turn to the Book of Ruth in your Bibles. Ruth is between the Book of Judges and the first book of Samuel in the Old Testament. We are continuing our look at this love story and will again next week, Lord willing. But what you need to remember about the Book of Ruth -- what you always need to keep in the back of your mind is that Ruth...is you. Ruth is a picture of the church, of all Christians. And Boaz is a picture of Jesus Christ. Just keep that in mind as we go through here.
Now, just like you want and need and have to have some things to live and to be content and live a full and abundant life, so too does Ruth need some things. You need peace and joy and healing and so you go to God through His Son Jesus in prayer. Well, we are going to see in chapter three of Ruth that Ruth needs some things from Boaz and in studying this closely, I think we can find out how better to get what we want and need from God. In fact, I believe God has put this book in the Bible to help us understand how to know Him better.
As you turn to Ruth chapter three, remember that this is an ancient book with an ancient culture written with some ancient words that we can't always interpret but we get enough to know what's going on. And what's going on is that Ruth and her mother-in-law Naomi have come back to Bethlehem empty. No husbands, no jobs, no money, no welfare and nobody to look after them. It "just happens to be" the time of the barley harvest and Ruth has been able to get a few days groceries from the nice man down the street whose name is Boaz.
Boaz is a successful farmer and landowner. He has been very generous to Ruth as she gleans some of the barley from his fields and he "just happens to be" related to Naomi in some way. Now, we will get more into what it means to be a kinsman redeemer next week but you need to know something about their ancient customs to really understand this chapter.
In those days, if you had to sell your property for some reason, there was a law that allowed for one of your relatives to buy it back for you. And if times got really bad, you might have had to sell yourself to be a slave to somebody and the law was good for that as well. A relative could buy you back. If that relative bought you back, they were considered your kinsman redeemer.
Now, evidently, Naomi was familiar with this law and one night while they were watching TV or something, an idea just came to her. Let's read chapter three and see what happens in this episode of "Days of Our Ancient Lives."
One day Ruth's mother-in-law Naomi said to her, "My daughter, I must find a home for you, where you will be well provided for. 2 Now Boaz, with whose women you have worked, is a relative of ours. Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. 3 Wash, put on perfume, and get dressed in your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don't let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. 4 When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do." 5 "I will do whatever you say," Ruth answered. 6 So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do. 7 When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down. 8 In the middle of the night something startled the man; he turned--and there was a woman lying at his feet! 9 "Who are you?" he asked. "I am your servant Ruth," she said. "Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a guardian-redeemer of our family." 10 "The LORD bless you, my daughter," he replied. "This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. 11 And now, my daughter, don't be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character. 12 Although it is true that I am a guardian-redeemer of our family, there is another who is more closely related than I. 13 Stay here for the night, and in the morning if he wants to do his duty as your guardian-redeemer, good; let him redeem you. But if he is not willing, as surely as the LORD lives I will do it. Lie here until morning." 14 So she lay at his feet until morning, but got up before anyone could be recognized; and he said, "No one must know that a woman came to the threshing floor." 15 He also said, "Bring me the shawl you are wearing and hold it out." When she did so, he poured into it six measures of barley and placed the bundle on her. Then he went back to town. 16 When Ruth came to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, "How did it go, my daughter?" Then she told her everything Boaz had done for her 17 and added, "He gave me these six measures of barley, saying, 'Don't go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.' " 18 Then Naomi said, "Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today."
Okay, first off, let me just assure you that nothing inappropriate happened. I know it sounds like it might have. This whole thing is just weird, right? This is not how we do things and I don't recommend you do exactly what Ruth did either. Sneaking over to where somebody is sleeping and laying down on their feet is a good way to get yourself shot these days and you might at the very least have somebody see you and wonder just what's going on over there. But what Naomi told Ruth to do was basically go ask Boaz to marry her.
To us, it's a crazy custom and doesn't make any sense but that's the way it was back then. When she asked him to spread his garment over her, she wasn't asking because she was cold. That was their way of asking to be protected by way of marriage.
But it is what Naomi told Ruth to do to prepare for this that caught my eye and I want us to look at this further. Go back to verses 3-4. There you will see Naomi tell her daughter-in-law to do five things. Wash, put on perfume, put on your best clothes, uncover his feet and then wait until he tells you what to do.
With Ruth being the picture of the church (us) and Boaz being the picture of Jesus, let's look at some ways we can know Jesus better. First, wash up. I remember my mama telling me to go wash my hands before dinner. I had been out playing like little boys do and I'd get filthy and it seems like I never could get clean enough for Mama. "Nope. Go back and wash again. Wash all the way to your elbows!"
Now, remember, Christianity is not just a religion. It's not just a way to get to Heaven. It's not just our culture or something we do because it makes us look good. Christianity is a relationship and if, like Paul, you want to know Jesus better, then you better start by being clean. But how do we do that?
James 4:8 tells us, "Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded." 2 Corinthians 7:1 says, "Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit."
I hear people complain sometimes that their prayers just never seem to get answered. In Isaiah chapter 1, God says, "When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean." Okay, okay. So...how do we do that? How do we make ourselves clean?
We make ourselves clean through the Word of God. Do you know how I know that? The Word of God tells us. We read part of Ephesians 5 last week that says, "Husbands, love your wives as Christ loves the church..." but it goes on to say that Christ gave Himself up for her to make her holy and cleansing her through the washing with water through the Word. Psalms 119 (NKJV) says, "How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your Word."
Now, when you dive into the Word of God, the Bible, and you start reading, your life will be changed. You will read also that it is the blood of Jesus that cleanses us. 1 John 1 says, "the blood of Jesus purifies us from all sin. 8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."
We are cleansed by the blood of Jesus when we truly believe that His sacrifice was enough to cleanse us. As filthy and nasty as your life is before you accept Jesus, His life was perfect and His sacrifice of His life was the perfect sacrifice that the Father said was due for your sins. And all you have to do is believe that and when you do, His blood purifies you. It cleanses you of all those sins. Thank you, Lord!
We need to move on. Let's look at the second thing Naomi tells Ruth before she goes to meet Boaz. She tells her to put on some perfume. Now, in the physical realm, some of y'all need to go easy with this. A little goes a long way. But we are talking about how we can spiritually be a sweet smell to God and we do that through our worship. Specifically, the Bible says there are several ways to be a sweet aroma to God.
Our prayers are a sweet smell to God, especially those prayers of praise and adoration. Revelation 5:8 says God keeps our prayers in golden bowls of incense. Numbers 15 says that our repentance is a pleasing aroma to the Lord. And Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 2 that when we witness, we are the "aroma of Christ to God." And also, in Ephesians 5, it says when we walk in love, we are "an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma." When we are prayed up and we are obedient to God to witness by speaking the truth in love, God smells us and says, "Mmm...I like that!"
The third thing Naomi tells Ruth is to put on her good clothes. I'm sure Boaz had only seen Ruth in her work clothes and only seen her when she was hot and dirty and probably didn't smell too good. Just like if you were going to see the queen, you would dress up, Ruth dresses up to see Boaz. Naomi tells her in verse 3 to put on her best clothes.
Now, if you are going to go to God and ask Him for something or if you just want to know Him better as we all should, I suggest you do the same thing spiritually. Let me show you what this doesn't look like and then what it does look like. I don't care what you are going through or what you have done, if you are forgiven of your sin and you are a true follower of Jesus then don't go into His throne room saying, "Oh, God, I know you don't love me. I know I have messed up and I hate myself and I know you do too."
If you truly are a child of the one, true King, then dress like it. Isaiah said in chapter 61,
"I delight greatly in the Lord;
my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness."
God has given you the clothes of salvation and righteousness. He has provided you with the promise of Heaven in the future and the ability to be right with Him right now. You ought to wear those clothes when you pray. This is not a place for pride though. You didn't do anything. This just means to remember whose you are and what He has done for you and that you are who He says you are. Dress like it. Act like it. Pray like it!
The fourth thing Naomi tells Ruth to do is uncover his feet and lie down. Adrian Rogers said, "The most sacred place on earth is not that pew where you are sitting. It is not at this altar, not at this pulpit, not some temple somewhere. The most sacred place on this earth is at the feet of Jesus when you are fully committed to Him."
And what do you do at the feet of Jesus? What was Mary doing in Luke 10:39 when she sat at the feet of Jesus? It says she was listening. She was just still and quiet and listening to what the Master had to say. I think we would be able to hear God speak to us in our prayers and see that He was answering our prayers if we just would sit there and be quiet for a while. It's hard to hear His still, small voice over our own. Uncover His feet and lie down and listen.
The fifth and last thing that Naomi told Ruth to do was to just lay there at his feet and then...He will tell you what to do. He will tell you what to do, Ruth. He will tell you what to do, Christ Fellowship. Be quiet, Todd, and He will tell you what to do. If you do all these things -- if you come to Him in the right way, with the right motive, clean and sweet smelling with His righteousness -- then He will tell you what to do.
Want to know God's will about something? Do you want God to give you a word or some instruction? Are you trying to hear His voice through all the other voices in your head including your own? Put down the TV remote. Put down your phone. Turn off the computer and the radio and everything else. Get alone. Then immerse yourself in scripture. Read it and read it again. Roll around in it. Read it backwards and forwards.
Ask God to search you and try you and see if there is any wicked way in you like David did. Then confess and repent of that sin. Then praise Him, praise Him, praise Him. Praise Him just for who He is. Praise Him for His power, His sovereignty, His creativity. Let's do it right now. Bow your heads and close your eyes and just praise Him. Praise Him out loud. Praise God for His grace and His mercy. Praise Him for His forgiveness. Praise Him for the sacrifice of Jesus. Praise Him for the cross. Praise Him for changing your life. For heaven. For peace.
You are a child of the one, true King. He tells you to come into His throne room with confidence, not because of anything you have done or who you are but because of who He is and what He has done. Walk boldly to the throne of Glory and fall at His feet in submission and let Him tell you what to do.
While you believers are doing that, I want to speak to any unbelievers today. If you aren't a true follower of Jesus or if you aren't sure you are then probably none of this applies to you. You can't put on His clothes or smell sweet or hear God speak to you. You have to admit you are a sinner then repent or turn away from that sin and go in the other direction.
Ask God to forgive you of all your many sins based on what Jesus did on the cross and allow the Spirit of God to move into your life and start changing you from the inside out. Don't hold back any part of your life from Him. That's not submission. Do it right now as the music plays.
