INTRODUCTION
Opening Statement: As you walk down the red carpet, a frenzied mob
swarms around you, demanding your autograph. The reporters are snapping your picture, nearly blinding you. Every ten feet, a television crew stops you for an interview. Have you just become the hottest newest star? No, you’re at Tinseltown Studios, a new theme park in Anaheim, California. For $45, the studio will treat you as though you really WERE a star. It’s the latest manifestation of our celebrity culture, where "image is everything." At Tinseltown, fighting your way through adoring fans
is just the beginning. The next stop is an auditorium filled with gorgeous models who are dying to have their picture taken with you. Over dinner, you and the other stars-for-a-night can watch videos of the red-carpet treatment you’ve just received. And, for an additional fee, you can go into an editing room and have yourself edited into a scene from a famous
movie. The audience then votes on the best performance. The winners go on stage to accept their awards, and if words fail them, Tinseltown provides them with prepared speeches. Well, maybe it’s harmless to spend $45 for an evening of pretending we’re living the lifestyles of the rich
and famous. There’s one problem with all of this. You have to go home after the theme park closes.
Transition: I’ve talked lately about being heroes/heroines in our culture, not the kind of hero/heroine that you’ll find at Tinseltown, however. I’ve been talking to you about real men and women who have overcome their obstacles and consequently have been able to find their sense of personal identity in God and as a result were used mightily by God. We’ve considered: Daniel - A Hero in a Pagan Culture; Esther - A Heroine in Personal Crisis. Perhaps, you’re feeling like you could never become "a Daniel," a very powerful political statesmen in our nation. Maybe you’re feeling that you could never achieve an "Esther-like status," of saving an entire people group with your trickery and stunning beauty. I’ve got great news. Today, I want us to look at a domestic heroine - a lady who championed the cause of the home.
Title: The Story of Ruth - A Heroine in Search of a Home
Notation: No one ever asked for her autograph. She never had her picture taken. She never had any applause, no speeches to deliver, no red-carpet treatment. She was just a common, ordinary homemaker in search of a place to call home. It is not a story about the great public or national events of the time but about the domestic life of a family in search of a suitable home. What’s interesting is that God shows us how two of his chosen people in the person of Daniel and Esther made it in a foreign land. Now, God is going to show us how a foreigner made it in the promised land.
Theme: The major motif to watch for as you work your way through this story is a movement from emptiness, famine, and death to fullness, plenty, and life.
OUTLINE
I. Setting the Stage
A. Background Information: Ruth’s story takes place during one of the darkest times in the history of Israel - the period of the Judges, i.e., apostasy, warfare, moral decay and anarchy (Ruth 1:1). The people had forgotten God and there was a famine in the land of Judah. A man by the name of Elimelech, along with his wife, Naomi, and his two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, skip town. Some see this as an act of disobedience; he left the land of the redeemed community of God with his family to a foreign land called Moab (Gentile territory; Lot’s descendants from incest). He went from bad (apostasy in God’s land) to worse (complete paganism). While there, his two sons marry Moabite (Gentile) women, Ruth and Orpah, something that was frowned upon and seen as disobedient to the Jewish ideal (Deut.23:3). Things went great for about 10 years when calamity struck. Elimelech dies along with his two sons. Some see this as divine punishment for forsaking God’s covenant community. Naomi was "dead" in the sense of having any offspring or a family and she was in a pagan land. She essentially say’s "Forget this. When I moved here, I was full. But now, I’m empty (see 1:21)." Hungry, without a husband, or sons, Naomi decides to move back home. This presented a major dilemma for the daughter-in-laws. "Do I go with my mother-in-law to Judah or do I stay here in the land of my birth?" This was a major issue because Judah was a land and culture that prized young virgins. Widows would be looked upon as "used goods."
B. Recitation: Look at how the narrator sets this up in Ruth 1:6-22: 1:6 She started back home from the region of Moab, accompanied by her daughters-in-law, because she heard in Moab that the LORD had provided food for his people. 1:7 She and her two daughters-in-law left the place where she had been living and began the trip back to the land of Judah. 1:8 Naomi said to her two daughters-in law, "Go! Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home! May the LORD show you the same kind of devotion that you have shown to the dead and to me! 1:9 May the LORD give each of you security in the home of a new husband!" Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept loudly. 1:10 They said to her, "No! We will return with you to your people." 1:11 But Naomi replied, "Go back, my daughters! Why would you want to come with me? Am I still capable of having sons and supplying you with husbands? 1:12 Go back, my daughters! Go! For I am too old to get married again. Suppose I were to say, ’I have hope!’ Suppose I got married this very night and had sons. 1:13 Would you wait until they were grown? Would you remain unmarried all that time? No, my daughters, you must not come with me. For you should not have to experience my intense suffering. After all, the LORD has attacked me." 1:14 They wept loudly again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth hugged her tightly. 1:15 Then Naomi said, "Look, your sister-in-law has returned to her people and to her god. Follow your sister-in-law back home!" 1:16 But Ruth replied, "Stop urging me to abandon you and to leave you! For wherever you go, I will go. Wherever you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. 1:17 Wherever you die, I will die and I will be buried there. The LORD will punish me severely if I do not keep my promise. Nothing but death will separate you and me." 1:18 When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more about it. 1:19 The two of them went on their way until they arrived in Bethlehem. When they entered Bethlehem, the whole town was excited about their arrival. The women of the town said, "Can this be Naomi?" 1:20 Naomi replied to them, "Don’t call me ’Naomi’! Call me ’Mara’ because the Sovereign One has treated me very harshly. 1:21 I left here full, but the LORD has caused me to return empty-handed. Why do you call me ’Naomi,’ seeing that the LORD had opposed me and the Sovereign One has made me suffer?"1:22 So Naomi returned, accompanied by her daughter-in-law Ruth, the Moabite girl who returned with her from the region of Moab. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
C. Explanation: Orpah is a literary foil for Ruth. Orpah is a commendable and devoted person (see v. 8); after all she is willing to follow Naomi back to Judah. However, when Naomi bombards her with good reasons why she should return, she relents. But Ruth is special. Despite Naomi’s bitter tirade, she insists on staying. Orpah is a good person, but Ruth is beyond good-she possesses an extra measure of devotion and sacrificial love that is uncommon, even among the Orpahs of the world.
D. Climax: Ruth, the farm girl, meets a distant, wealthy relative of Naomi whose name is Boaz (the son of Rahab, the harlot), who owns the farm that Ruth gleans grain on. After a very unique courtship period with a rather elaborate betrothal process involving many customs and traditions, Boaz takes Ruth, the Moabitess, as his wife. It’s interesting how this happens. Boaz was the second in line to be the kinsman-redeemer of Mahlon’s widow, Ruth. He loved her and wanted to purchase rights to her and Naomi’s land. However, to do this legally, the first in line to be the kinsman-redeemer had to pass on this opportunity. At first, it looked like he might buy Ruth right out from under Boaz’s nose. Ruth 4:4-10 4:4 So I am legally informing you: Acquire it before those sitting here and before the leaders of my people! If you want to exercise your right to redeem it, then do so. But if not, then tell me so I will know. For you possess the first option to redeem it; I am next in line after you." He replied, "I will redeem it." 4:5 Then Boaz said, "When you acquire the field from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite girl, the wife of our deceased relative in order to raise up a descendent who will inherit his property." 4:6 The guardian said, "I am unable to redeem it then, for I would ruin my own inheritance in that case. You may exercise my redemption option for I am unable to redeem it." 4:7 (Now this used to be the customary way to finalize a transaction involving redemption in Israel: A man removed his sandal and gave it to the other party. This was a legally binding act in Israel.) 4:8 So the guardian said to Boaz, "You may acquire it," and he removed his sandal. 4:9 Then Boaz said to the leaders and all the people, "You are witnesses today that I have acquired from Naomi all which belonged to Elimelech and to Kilion and Mahlon. 4:10 I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite girl, the wife of Mahlon, as my wife in order to raise up a descendent who will inherit his property so that the name of the deceased might not disappear from among his relatives and from his town. You are witnesses today."
E. Conclusion: The conclusion of this story is absolutely beautiful. Let’s read the conclusion of the story in Ruth 4:13-17: 4:13 So Boaz married Ruth and had sexual relations with her. The LORD allowed her to conceive and she gave birth to a son. 4:14 The women said to Naomi, "May the LORD be praised because he has not left you without a guardian today! May he be famous in Israel! 4:15 He will encourage you and provide for you when you are old, for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, has given him birth. She is better to you than seven sons." 4:16 Naomi took the child and placed him on her lap; she became his nurse. 4:17 The neighbor women named him, saying, "A son has been born to Naomi." They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, David’s father.
F. Observation: This book began with a funeral and ends with a wedding. It began with a famine and ends with feasting. Ruth finally found her a husband, a home, and a legacy as the great grandmother of King David and Naomi’s empty life became full again and she will be cared for in her old age. This book provided bold relief from the degeneracy of the times.
G. Application: Before I take you to the major lessons of this story, one application jumps out at me. God loves and takes care of widows and single persons. Some of you have been on a quest for a home (not just a house) for a long time, longing for a fixed place of blessing and companionship, security and love, provision and relationship. Maybe you’re thinking "Why doesn’t someone come along a love me?" If you’re not careful, you’ll project your bitterness and you’ll be deprived of contentment and fulfillment because no one wants to be with a bitter person. Be the right person, don’t look for the right person. For now, God has blessed you with singleness. Embrace your singleness and trust God. Tomorrow, God may bless you with a companion that you seek. You can be single, but not lonely. God will bring Ruth’s into your life. Be alert church, God may want you to be a Ruth. A special note on single parenting. Allow me to give you a profile on what’s going on in many single parent homes: maintaining an income is difficult; day care is an everyday thing; a child that needs emotional bonding; guilt feelings drag you down daily; a childs anger is expressed. Isn’t it amazing how God used the women of this story to raise up a new family? For some of you women who feel displaced and abandoned, God may use you to hold it all together in the home.
II. Seeing the Major Lessons
A. Question: Why would God include this little slice of family life in the Bible? In our quest for a place to call home, I think God is teaching us through the heroine story of Ruth that there are some things to bear in mind during our search.
1. Maintain your connection with the redeemed community of God no matter how bad things get. Naomi’s problems began when her husband moved them away from God’s land into pagan land. Even though it was an apostate land, it was still God’s land. The new community of God is not a community without mistakes and problems. It is, however, a new community that offers the world a contrast to they way they are presently living. No matter how bad things get, you stay connected with God’s redeemed community and embrace His people. Good things will eventually happen there.
2. Maintain an undying commitment to the home. Even though we may be living in the period of the Judges, i.e., apostasy, warfare, moral decay and anarchy, we can still have a strong family life. The narrator goes out of his way to drop domestic and family clues into the drama which drives the story-line forward. One of the greatest acts of heroism that you could every perform in today’s culture is to make your house a home - to somehow see the beauty of ordinary life in ordinary families, to live above the decay. The home is in trouble today.
Additional Notes:
3. Maintain your focus on Christ. What’s really interesting is that God moved beyond the Jewish boundaries to use a Gentile woman in the Messianic line that would eventually produce the Messiah (see Deut. 23:3). This story is advancing the bigger story-line of Christ, the Redeemer of the World. God is saying "If my own people won’t obey me, then I’ll call out a Gentile to fulfill my purpose in history." The moment you feel that God can only work with your set of paradigms and views, He will shatter your paradigm and you’ll have to pick up the pieces. It’s not religions, churches, or someone’s doctrinal statement that’s being taught in this story; it is Christ and His love for all people groups. Some feel that this book was written to provide the missing link in the ancestry of King David and of the Messiah. Perhaps Christ is the missing link in your life today.
CONCLUSION
Application: If you’re searching for a place to call home, a family to which you can belong, our arms are open to you today. This new community of people will rise up with one Ruth-like voice and proclaim "Your people will be our people…" Perhaps, you’ve journeyed away from God’s new community, you’ve lost your commitment to the home, and you’ve never really come to place your total trust in Christ. In a word, you’re "empty." If you’re empty, come on home to fullness and celebration. God can restore you to favor and blessing in a new home and community.
Quotation: Rod Serling said, "Everybody has to have a hometown… In the strangely brittle, terribly sensitive makeup of a human being, there is a need for a place to hang a hat, or a kind of geographical womb to crawl back into, or maybe just a place that’s where you grew up…"
