“Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the LORD do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.” [1]
Bitcoin was introduced at a price of zero when it was introduced in 2009. It had jumped all the way to nine cents by July 17, 2010. The price had jumped to a peak of $29.60 by June 7, 2011. By the way, Bitcoin reached an all time high of $67,549.14 on November 7, 2021. Did you ever consider investing in Bitcoin when it was first offered at a price of zero dollars? Had you done so, you would be fabulously wealthy today. A similar story could be told of Microsoft shares or Apple shares.
Or how would you like to be James Howells. Howells is a 35-year-old IT engineer from Wales who began mining the cryptocurrency in 2009. He was cleaning his office in 2013 when he threw away the hard drive with over 7500 bitcoins which grew to be worth over 280 million dollars! Since that time, the man has sought permission to dig through a dump site in which he believes the hard drive was dumped. [2]
It is all well and good to speak of financial opportunities, but other opportunities have come to each of us. It might have been that handsome man who once showed such interest in you ladies, and he went on to become an industrial titan. Or it might have been that gracious girl who once shared a soda with you men, and she went on to be a brilliant jurist or an accomplished scientist. I would suppose that each of us can look back at opportunities recognised just a little too late, saying, “It might have been.”
Maybe it was the opportunity to keep your mouth closed before you spoke. You didn’t know all the details, but you weighed in anyway. The repercussions of that one moment damaged relationships you valued and created an incredible mess in the lives of others. Now, you can only look back in regret, thinking of what could have been.
Opportunities come to each of us; but too often these opportunities are ignored. We can’t predict the future; we are too often incapable of understanding the consequences of our failure to seize opportunities as they arise. There is a time to receive the life that the Saviour offers each of us. It is to be hoped that each person would say to the Master, as did Ruth to Naomi, “Do not urge me to leave You or to return from following You. For where You go I will go, and where You lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.”
There is a powerful truth revealed through these verses—a truth that can benefit any of us. That truth is that the transformation that accompanies faith in God brings newness to our lives. Or perhaps for those of us who are in the Faith, we could say that the truth speaks of the opportunity for us to begin to walk with the Master as we know we should, it is the opportunity for us to begin to walk in Christ’s power.
Naomi repented of her sin, and as consequence of her determination to return to her roots, Ruth experienced her own challenge. How would she respond to the new challenges as the old relationships were loosened and new horizons stretch before her? The life she had known was forever gone, and now a new world stretched before her. What happened in Ruth’s life is what happens in our lives when we begin our walk with the Risen Saviour in the power provided by the Spirit of God.
Naomi made the decision that she would no longer pursue her husband’s dream, but she would accept responsibility for making her own decision. Whether embracing Elimelech’s vision or not, she had acted in submission to his vision as he forsook his heritage to emigrate to Moab. Now, however, Elimelech was dead, as were Naomi’s sons, Mahlon and Chilion. Naomi was on her own, and she made the difficult decision to return to her roots. She was no longer following her husband’s dream; henceforth, she would make a future for herself.
I understand the danger inherent in arguing that a wife must be responsible for her own decision rather than embracing her husband’s decisions. Though a husband and a wife are to be a team in this life, we must not forget that each enters heaven as individuals. Each person is responsible before God for her or his own decision. Because this is true, husbands and wives must communicate with one another and make the effort to be united in their decisions. Husbands do bear the ultimate responsibility before God for family decisions, but the husband that does not consider his wife or solicit her participation is a fool. Likewise, the wife who rebels simply because she bought into the modern fantasy of “the strong woman,” is a fool.
There will be people listening at this hour who are fully aware that they have strayed from their spiritual roots. You confessed Christ at one time. You openly identified with Him, confessing Him through baptism as a believer, and you united with a good church. You served Him for a period, perhaps for years, fulfilling responsibilities among the believers in that congregation. But things happened and you were disappointed. Perhaps the preacher was run off by petty tyrants who were part of the congregation, self-important people who were acting like power brokers rather than acting like godly people. No one opposed them, and the assembly was wounded. Or perhaps the preacher grew old and was not as physically vigorous as he once had been. Or perhaps some sour sister failed to recognise the work you performed in the church. Perhaps you didn’t leave the congregation, but you nevertheless ceased labouring in the Name of the Lord as you once had done. Whatever happened at some point in the past, things changed, and you lost interest in serving within the Faith. However, and this is the good part, God never let up on you. You know you need to return to where you once were, and His Spirit keeps on prompting you to reconsider your present course. The account of Naomi, and the account of Ruth, assures us that God waits to restore us.
When we preach that God preserves His saints, people don’t always understand that this doesn’t mean that the redeemed of the Lord are always faithful and unswerving in their service before the Lord. Peter tried to quit serving the Lord, imagining that he could return to his fishing nets. Paul picked a fight with the man who had shown him such incredible grace when no one else believed in him. Mark quit at a critical point in his first missionary journey. None of these acts can be said to be commendable; but none of these who wanted to quit were disowned by the Risen Lord. Each one needed a new call, and when that call came, they returned to the work with new zeal.
When one comes to faith, life changes. In the same way, when one makes a fresh start, God restores that one in such a way that life is refreshed and that one is reenergised to serve Him with new power. The message this day explores what can be expected in the life of someone when they have come to faith in the Risen Saviour, or when someone begins again to serve Him after a time of rebellion. God promises,
“I will restore to you the years
that the swarming locust has eaten”
[JOEL 2:25]
Life for the twice-born individual is going to change, and the change will be dramatic. At one time the individual was dead in his trespasses and sins; now he is alive in Christ the Lord. Once she had no vital relationship with the Father; now she is a child of God with an eternal inheritance. Once he was alone in the world, without hope and without God; now he walks in power, and the Spirit of Christ lives in him. Once she was separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and a stranger to the covenants of grace; now she has been brought near by the blood of Christ. Having come to faith in the Risen Saviour, life is filled with hope and the redeemed individual is set free from all condemnation.
Don’t ignore the fact that likewise life will take a dramatic turn for the one who returns to the God Who redeemed them after they have wandered away. Those who accepted the siren song of this dying world, believing that they could live as they wish without thought of God who gives life, will already know how cold, how difficult it is to attempt to live without the presence of the Lord. When they turn again, they will be restored to the position of grace and power they once knew. God, the gracious Father of the redeemed, will receive that one and restore her to His service. Amen.
A NEW DETERMINATION — Ruth pleaded with her mother-in-law, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you” [RUTH 4:16a]. Ruth seems to have witnessed something beautiful in Naomi’s life. She realised that her own spiritual impoverishment; she didn’t have what she witnessed in Naomi’s life. When one is born from above, you may be assured that something beautiful, something highly desirable in the life of other believers will draw that one to want what they have.
I am aware that one can find individuals who will argue that their evangelism is focused on a particular preacher, or perhaps a particular congregation. These dear souls will contend that they must bring people to a particular church because they enjoy hearing the preacher who delivers the Word of God from behind the sacred desk in that place. I know this to be the case because I have had on several occasions had people brought to my services because I was told, “You specialise in seeing people saved.” Well, I admit that this is a good reputation, but I know, and you know, it is God Who does the saving, and He is delighted to use each man of God who seeks to honour Him. Nevertheless, I suggest there are many more people who come into the Faith and who enter through the doors of a particular church because they see something real, something beautiful in the life of the people who attend services of that congregation. Dear people, your life has an impact on the people who know you. And if you are serving the Risen Saviour, don’t ever doubt that those who know you know Who you are serving.
Here is the wonderful thing about the new birth. When one is truly born from above, that person will no longer go to the House of the Lord out of mere duty. The new follower of the Christ will go up to the House of God because she loves the Lord and she longs to be present with His people! This new life in the Saviour does change our desires, renewing even what we desire so that Christ is glorified in our life. There is a spiritual perspicuity in the newborn follower of the Lord. They may not precisely know what is wrong with another who is not walking with the Master, but they will definitely know that something isn’t right. This is one reason that I urge younger Christians to model their walk after one who is walking with the Lord. Paul would urge the saints, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” [1 CORINTHIANS 11:1].
You will witness the Apostle making the same demand of those who lived in Philippi when he wrote to the saints gathered there. Paul wrote, “Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ” [PHILIPPIANS 3:17-18].
The Apostle’s grief over the many who were walking as enemies of the cross of Christ was pronounced because these were people who professed to be followers of Christ, but they had chosen a path that led them away from Him. They had no desire to live as godly people identified with the Master. Perhaps they had once heard the call of the Master, but they had chosen to pursue their own desires. Don’t forget the call we each received, and which is incumbent upon each follower of the Christ, “As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving” [COLOSSIANS 2:6-7].
I advise each Christian, find a godly man, or a godly woman, and model your life after that one. Don’t make the denizens of this dying world your role models; choose to follow those who are godly. Choose to associate with those who are walking in harmony with the Risen Saviour. Here’s a great verse for you to memorise from the Proverbs.
“Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise,
but the companion of fools will suffer harm.”
[PROVERBS 13:20]
Younger Christian must be cautious about insisting on attending a particular church because of those who belong to that congregation. Rather, the one who is spiritually astute will assess whether God is honoured in a given assembly, whether Christ is glorified through the worship presented. To be certain, the character of those in attendance is important, but character reflects the work of the Saviour in their lives.
Pursuing hard after the Lord God is demanding. Going to church when everything is going our way is one thing. When the sun is shining, the bills are paid, and everyone speaks well of you ensures that attendance at the house of God is pleasant. However, when the storms of life are raging, when unexpected bills arrive and payment is demanded now, or when people ignore you because they are angered that you aren’t doing things their way, going to the House of the Lord can require more energy than you can imagine. However, the Spirit of Christ will energise us to want to be with God’s people and to be in the presence of the Lord even though the demands may seem otherwise excessive. His presence will instill in each Christian a new determination.
A NEW DIRECTION — “Where you go, I will go” [RUTH 4:16b]. Naomi exhibited a new and desirable determination that would lead her in a new direction. She determined that she would return to her roots. Ruth witnessed Naomi’s new determination, and she determined that she would go in that same direction. Orpah chose to return to the gods she had known previously and Ruth could have gone with her. Naomi urged her to do so, but Ruth determined that she would follow her mother-in-law wherever that new direction should lead.
To be sure, Naomi influenced Ruth by the determination she showed, but Ruth saw that a new direction was being charted, and she chose to walk in that new direction. Just so, when you determine to follow the Saviour, be certain that you will be drawn to look in that same direction. And when your heart is renewed because God has revealed His work of grace in your life, you will find yourself drawn to follow Him. There is a corollary to this statement that reminds us that our new walk will encourage others, drawing still others to look to the Saviour that they, also may follow Him.
Paul appears to hold the opinion that our walk is vital. Among other admonitions that he delivers to the churches are numerous admonitions concerning our walk as those who are born from above. For instance, we witness Paul writing the Romans, “Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy” [ROMANS 13:13]. And of course, newborn saints of the Most High God want to do what is right.
We have often heard the statement concerning salvation which is included in the Encyclical we have received as the Book of Ephesians. “By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” [EPHESIANS 2:8-9]. Often, when these verses are cited, the following verse is ignored. It should not be neglected. The Apostle continued, writing, “We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” [EPHESIANS 2:10].
Make no mistake! Those who have no love for the Saviour and no desire to be with the people of God are revealing where there heart actually is, and it is not moving alongside the Saviour. The Apostle of Love emphasises this truth repeatedly when he writes, “By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother” [1 JOHN 3:10].
Shortly, John will strengthen this teaching when he writes, “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him” [1 JOHN 3:16-17]? Don’t tell me how you love God when you have no love for the brothers. All you do in that instance is reveal that your heart is deceived.
Here's the definitive word on this concept that the twice-born child of God is prepared to walk in a new direction, a direction that seeks to be with the people of God. The Apostle writes, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother” [1 JOHN 4:20-21].
A NEW DEPENDENCE — “Where you lodge I will lodge” [RUTH 4:16c]. Ruth declared that she would not only follow Naomi into a new land, but she voiced her determination to attach herself so closely to her mother-in-law that she was willing to allow Naomi to direct her life. Ruth was willing to move in with her mother-in-law, trusting that Naomi understood what was needed for the women to survive.
The newly redeemed child of the Living God will discover a longing to be with God—as it were, to move in with God, or more accurately, to open herself so as to permit God to move into her life as a new believer. While it is true that God is ever with us, the twice-born individual will always seek God, always long to know God’s presence. They will cultivate the ability to see God at work in their life and in the world.
I don’t mean that the follower of Christ will never have doubts—he or she will. But the Christian will discover that the Master is always there to restore him when he begins to doubt. When the disciples questioned whether it was actually Jesus standing before them following His resurrection, Jesus spoke to these men. He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have” [LUKE 24:38-39]. The Saviour will assure the heart of the one who struggles if that one seeks Him and permits Him to minister to them.
You will perhaps remember that Thomas questioned whether Christ was truly alive despite the testimony of the other disciples, until the Saviour removed all doubt, appearing to the struggling disciple. The account provided in John’s Gospel reads, “Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.’
“Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed’” [JOHN 20:24-29].
Have you ever struggled with doubt? Have you ever questioned how Jesus could be God? Human nature will tell you to reject this truth out of hand. Your mind will argue that it is illogical that anyone would rise from the dead. When the child of God stands testifying of Christ in the presence of those who live solely for the flesh, the unbeliever will cry out, “You’re out of your mind, Paul! Too much study is driving you mad” [see ACTS 26:24 CSB].
When you struggle with confidence in Christ and His character, know that at the appropriate time the Master will reveal Himself to you to encourage you and to strengthen you so that your faith will not rest as a mere illusion. He will reveal His presence to your heart so that your confidence will grow and doubt will flee. As a follower of the Risen Lord of Glory, you will want to be with Him at all times—even when you thought to flee from Him! His Spirit lives in you, and you long to rest in Him, even when you are attracted by the glitter of this dying world.
A NEW DESIRE — “Your people shall be my people” [RUTH 4:16d]. Ruth was prepared to become a part of the People of God. Naomi was a Jewess, though she had followed her husband to Moab. Naomi’s Jewishness was not something external, it was integral to her person. Wherever she lived, she would be Jewish. And now Ruth testified that she, also, would embrace the faith of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, identifying as a Jewess. This was not a casual affirmation Ruth was making—it meant major changes in her life.
Throughout the years of my service among the churches, I’ve heard with ever increasing frequency the complaint from teens and young adults that church is boring. Let’s admit a truth that seems often to be neglected. Church services are boring if you have no heart for God! Seeker sensitive churches, or whatever the current fad concept may be, informs us that we must make concessions to lost people so they will hear the message of Christ. The major problem with that concept appears to be that it is incredibly easy to become lost in the constant effort to ensure that the lost are entertained. To make the lost comfortable, the saints appear prepared to surrender holiness.
Also, there is the problem that if we draw lost people to the house of God with a programme that is entertaining, then we must constantly up the entertainment quotient on an ongoing basis just to keep the lost coming back. If we should slip and introduce sound instruction in the Word, or if we should press the demands of faith in the Risen Saviour, it will detract from the entertainment and drive away the customers.
Vance Havner told of a church that invited an evangelist to speak. This particular evangelist advertised a talking horse that was sure to bring in people to hear the message. On the first night, the evangelist brought out the horse and asked, “How many gospels are there.” The horse tapped his hoof four times.
“And how many Apostles were there?” the evangelist asked. Again, the horse dutifully tapped twelve times.
The horse put on a pretty good show until the evangelist asked, “How many hypocrites are in the church?” And the horse broke into a dance with all four hooves.
Here is the truth that must be confessed, those who are born from above want to be part of the fellowship of believers. They want to associate with the redeemed. They want to walk with the Christ, and it is impossible to walk with the Saviour without walking with the redeemed. How else are we to understand Paul’s admonition to the Christians of Salonica when he wrote, “Concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another” [1 THESSALONIANS 4:9]. Too many professed followers of Christ have adopted a theology that mirrors that attested by Linus who was portrayed as saying, “I love mankind; it’s people I can’t stand.” This class of Christians says, “I love the church; it’s Christians I can’t stand.” And because they can’t stand Christians, they only participate in the life of the assembly when absolutely necessary or solely to keep up appearances.
Jesus expected that His disciples would love one another. He commanded us, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” [JOHN 13:34-35]. It is not wrong to tell our fellow worshippers that we love them, but it is wrong to aver love when we want nothing to do with one another. If we love those whom Christ has redeemed, then doesn’t it follow that we will seek to spend time with them?
A NEW DEVOTION — “Your God [shall be] my God” [RUTH 4:16e]. What is interesting about this testimony of Ruth’s devotion is that all she knew of Naomi’s God was that He was a God of sorrow and suffering! Ruth had witnessed Naomi lose her husband. Why had God allowed this gracious woman to lose her husband? There was no answer to the question. Then, Ruth saw her sister-in-law lose her husband around the same time that Ruth lost her husband. The God Whom Naomi worshipped had allowed the men in the lives of each of these three women to die. What kind of a God would allow the sole support system of these women under that system of life to be taken in a stroke.
We are conditioned to seek a God who will never allow us to experience hard times. We want a God who will provide us with the things we want to make our life easier. Ruth was not drawn by God’s rich provision for Naomi, and she certainly was not thinking of all that God was doing for her. Ruth was not attracted by God’s grace or by His mercy. At this point, she affirmed her devotion to Naomi’s God because she knew Naomi. Naomi served as Ruth’s introduction to the God Who Lives. Almost always, people are attracted to God because they witness Him at work in the life of those who know God and who walk with Him.
People will not be drawn to the Faith of Christ the Lord because they are seeking Christ—Christ is seeking them! It is as Jesus said, “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” [LUKE 19:10]. And He seeks the lost, drawing them by using His beloved people as they reveal His grace and His mercy through their lives.
It is natural for us to attempt to base our faith on the lack of negative events. We plead with God to heal our child. We beg Him to provide money to pay the debt we incurred. We ask Him repeatedly to allow us to have a respite from the pressures we are experiencing. But if God doesn’t answer the way we want Him to answer, does it mean that He is no longer God? Does His silence, His failure to do precisely what we ask of Him, mean that He has ceased loving us?
Randy Alcorn has stated quite accurately, “If we base our faith on lack of affliction, our faith lives on the brink of extinction and will fall apart at any moment because of a frightening diagnosis or a shattering phone call. Token faith will not survive suffering, nor should it. Only when we jettison ungrounded and untrue faith can we replace it with valid faith in the true God—faith that can pass, and even find strength in, the most formidable of life’s tests.” [3]
We who follow the Saviour must remember the words which Peter has written, instructing us that the trials we encounter have been permitted by the God Who loves us, “so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” [1 PETER 1:7]. Our devotion must be to the Lord and not to what He can do for us. Alcorn cites Paul Tournier, who wrote, “If healing through faith is striking, how much more so are spiritual victories without healing.” [4]
Our tendency is to reduce the Living God to a convenience Who exists for our benefit. We who know the Lord God understand that He is God—not us! Despite our understanding of Who God is, He shows us mercy and draws us to Himself.
A NEW DEDICATION — “Where you die I will die” [RUTH 4:17a]. With this affirmation, Ruth expresses her determined dedication. She is determined that she will be with Naomi until death. She will serve her mother-in-law and learn from her wisdom until death intrudes to separate the two women. Ruth chooses to support her mother-in-law, doing whatever is required to honour her and to serve her. It will not longer be Ruth alone against the world. Now it will be Ruth together with Naomi.
The Christian Faith provides a means to memorialise the believer’s dedication to the Master. That memorial is baptism, the immersion and lifting out of the water for that person who has placed faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a reason for not baptising our infants as practised in some communions. We don’t baptise our babies because they haven’t the capacity to dedicate themselves to the Saviour and to His cause. We believe that our infants, those without the capacity to discern good and evil, are kept safe in Christ the Lord. When Paul writes, “As in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” [1 CORINTHIANS 15:22], we are told that those dying for Adam’s sin and not for their own sin, are kept safe in Christ the Lord. However, when we reach maturity and we are able to discern good from evil, we become responsible for ourselves.
When that time of understanding comes and the individual makes the decision to follow Christ as Master over life, as a newborn Christian that one is encouraged to openly stand with the Lord identifying as His follower. In ROMANS 6:3-11, Paul writes of that memorial when he instructs the Romans, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
“If we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
In baptism, the one who has decided to commit himself or herself to the Risen Lord of Glory identifies with Christ. The one to be baptised confesses their faith that they were dead in their trespasses and sins, and that just as Christ was buried following His sacrifice because of our sin, so they are counting their old life as dead. They are saying that they were dead to God, and dead to righteousness. However, their faith is revealed that they believe that just as Jesus was raised from the tomb, so they have been raised by faith to walk in a new life revealing the life of Christ through their own walk. At the same time, they are confessing faith that even should they experience physical death, they believe with certainty that Christ shall raise them from the grave at His return. It is a memorial commanded for all who will openly identify with the Saviour.
The Risen Saviour commanded those who would follow Him as disciples, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” [MATTHEW 28:18-20].
A NEW DESTINY — “There will I be buried” [RUTH 4:17b]. In effect, the younger woman said that her commitment to her mother-in-law and to faith in the Living God, her affirmation was no flash in the pan. She was determined to change her life. It is all well and good to demure, saying that only God can change one’s life, but we must be determined to follow Him in order for Him to effect the transformation. Ruth saw that she had set herself on a new course from which there would be no turning back.
I’ve witnessed some bold moves in recent years. Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Scheller was an officer in the United States Marine Corps. He witnessed a disastrous retreat of United States Forces from Afghanistan, a retreat that cost of the lives of thirteen Marines, Sailors and Army members together with hundreds of civilians. He spoke out, wondering why brother officers hadn’t thrown their career on the table to resist the politically expedient course of avoiding any criticism of poor leadership. When he posted his YouTube video, it meant that his future was changed dramatically.
Major Chledowski spoke out in favour of the Truckers’ Freedom Convoy, and he did so while in uniform. As soon as his view on the issue was publicised on YouTube, his career path was altered forever. There would be no turning back for him. The Canadian military would see that he was promptly separated from the armed forces.
I’m making no pronouncement on whether the stands taken by these men was valid or not, I’m simply noting that they acted with full knowledge of what they were doing and fully understanding that their decision would have consequences. Either of these officers should be commended for their courage and for their consistency. Unlike many in our world today who seem determined to act on what they call convictions, and then whine and whinge when consequences for their actions are demanded, these two men were willing to accept the consequences of their choices. In this, they are models of the position Christians should take concerning morality and righteousness.
When Peter and John were commanded not to speak in Jesus’ Name, they responded, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” [ACTS 4:19-20]. In short, the Apostles were adamant that their destiny was in the hands of the Living God.
When the Apostles were again haled before the same religious leaders, they faced the wrath of the religious and civic elite. The account Luke has provided us reads, “When they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, saying, ‘We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.’ But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him’” [ACTS 5:27-32].
I know something of the cost of taking such determined and principled stands. When politicians masquerading as denomination leaders demanded that I fall in line with their unholy dicta or I would never again be accepted within denominational circles, I realised that the choice I must make would either lead me to continue following Christ or swerve to follow the path that led to comfort and earthly security. I cast my lot with Christ and refused to turn aside to make the politicians feel comfortable.
I have spoken longer than I had meant to speak. What should be apparent to anyone who hears what I am saying, or more importantly who reads the words Ruth spoke to her mother-in-law, is that one must never imagine that he or she can casually come to Christ as Master. He will either be Lord over the entirety of life, or He will be just another religious figure—without any particular authority and without any particular reason for anyone to look to Him.
Nevertheless, Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God Who gave Himself as a sacrifice for fallen people. Now, the Risen Saviour calls all who will receive Him as Master over life to believe this message of grace. The Apostle to the Gentiles calls each one to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ so that they can be saved. In Scripture we hear the invitation of the Lord calling each person, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved” [ROMANS 10:9-10]. If that call seems confusing, it is simplified when the Word of God invites all who are willing to receive it, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” [ROMANS 10:13]. Believe Him and be saved. Amen.
[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[2] Sanya Jain, “Man Accidentally Throws Away Hard Drive With Bitcoin Worth $280 Million,” NDTV, January 18, 2021, https://www.ndtv.com/offbeat/british-man-james-howells-accidentally-throws-away-hard-drive-with-bitcoin-worth-280-million-2354148, accessed 21 March 2022
[3] Randy Alcorn, “What Faith Is, and Is Not,” Eternal Perspective Ministries, May 13, 2022, https://www.epm.org/blog/2022/May/13/what-faith-is, accessed 19 May 2022
[4] Ibid.
