Sermon for 5/12/2002- Mother’s Day
Ruth 3:16
Introduction:
A. Read Ruth 3:16-18
B. Attractive = Pleasing to the eye or mind.
C. Beauty = A pleasing quality associated with harmony of form or color, excellence of craftsmanship, truthfulness, originality, or another, often undefined property.
D. To be attractive, pleasing to look at involves aesthetically pleasing measurements, the right color, the right texture, and the right this and that. If we don’t have it we are sorry, out of luck. This world can be cruel.
E. There are qualities that transcend the outward appearance. They can make us attractive, one that people are drawn to or they can make unattractive, one that people are repelled by.
F. How do we become attractive to those around us? How do we become someone with whom people want to be around? How do we become attractive to our co-workers? How do we become attractive to our family? Most importantly, how do we become attractive to the one who matters most, and that is God?
G. Women go and put on lots of makeup, get a fancy haircut, get a tan, get a face lift, get a tummy tuck, get their nails done, go out and run 10 miles a day, use Oil of Olay, use the right perfume, all to look attractive to others.
H. Men go out and lift weights, make sure their hair is done in the coolest style, get a toupee, know the correct etiquette and chivalry, they must be tough yet sensitive, and they must have the coolest car in town, all to make themselves attractive to others.
I. WE must look good in a swimming suit!
J. Joe McKeever- As a cartoonist and sketch artist, I love to draw people. So I notice people who have that something extra, that inner glow that makes the difference between "Nice-looking" and "wow." It’s like someone has turned on a light inside them causing a radiance to seep out the pores of their skin. It surely must be what Peter intended when he said true beauty is "the hidden person of the heart." Inner beauty. Estee Lauder and Mary Kay will never figure out how to bottle it. It is a spiritual quality.
K. I have noticed that when people lose their inner beauty (due to sin and only due to sin), or when they’ve never had it, they often fake it with an over-emphasis on makeup, hair and nail treatments, clothing, and jewelry. The effect is like trying to reproduce the Mona Lisa with crayons. It never works. You take two young people, one with an ugly attitude but beautiful outwardly, and the other who has a lovely spirit but is plain outwardly, and in time, the situations will reverse. The lovely spirit will transform the person into a true beauty, and the bad attitude will rob the other of his or her youthful beauty. The inner quality- whatever it is, good or not good- will eventually come out and will rule.
L. A beautiful heart more than offsets the handicap of a homely face!
M. Last week we talked about what to put on, what to wear.
N. Isaac Asimov- She (Ruth) has remained ever since, to all men, one of the most attractive women in the Bible.
WBTU:
A. Why? Why did this man say that Ruth is one of the most attractive women in the Bible?
B. Esther, Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Philistine women, these women are all mentioned as very attractive.
C. So why is Ruth an attractive woman? She is never mentioned as being attractive in the Bible. No mention of physical beauty.
D. We do not have a picture of Ruth but assuming the reaction of Boaz, she probably was very attractive. Maybe physically but an inner radiance that shone through. Boaz noticed it and was attracted to it.
E. Attraction does not always depend on looks- we have known beautiful women or men who have terrible attitudes. Not so attractive even though they may be physically beautiful. An average woman or man of modest physical beauty who have a great outlook and attitude.
Thesis: Let’s look at some of the attributes and characteristics of Ruth that made her so attractive.
For instances:
I. Ruth was a great lover.
A. Ruth was a great lover. Not talking about a Don Won or a Cleopatra or some kind of seductress, but a great lover of people and a great lover of God.
B. The story of Naomi.
C. Mahlon married Ruth.
D. The famine is over.
E. Naomi released them from any responsibility to her. Go back to your families and homes and find other husbands. In these days it was the custom that when a son was married that the new daughter in law cut off ties with her family and her new family was her husband’s.
F. Naomi pleaded with them to return. It would be hard for them. Widows could not get stead jobs. Naomi could not provide them with husbands. It was customary when a son died, that another son would marry the widow and provide children for his brother. Naomi could not provide this.
G. Read Ruth 1:14-18.
H. Ruth had a great love for her mother-in-law Naomi. She saw the Naomi needed her even though Naomi did not think so.
I. It is a shame that there is not that kind of love between mother-in- laws and daughter in laws today. I have a wonderful mother in law.
J. Ruth understood true love. Love is not self-seeking.
K. Many people once love; the relationship becomes inconvenient or restricting, many people end that love, that relationship. Throw off marriages, throw off friends, and throw off children.
L. Immature love follows the principle: "I love because I am loved" Mature love says: "I am loved because I love." There has to be a give and take and when it all becomes giving and no taking, many people grow weary and abandon ship.
M. On mother’s day we need to remember to love our husbands and children. Love them and not despise them. (Titus 2:4 NIV) Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children,
N. There was another reason that Ruth stuck with Naomi. Ruth did not want to go back to her family or to the old gods. The god of Moab was Chemosh. Chemosh was worshipped with fertility rites. Immoral worship, like going to a club for men. Chemosh also wanted the people to sacrifice their firstborn sons in the fire to him. Not required but it was recommended.
O. Ruth saw something vastly different in the Israelites God. She saw worship that built up the family. She saw worship that was not provocative to the flesh but convicting to the soul. She saw the laws and rules and regulations of the Israelite God and she said that these things are good. Not that she understood everything but she saw that they were different and good. She saw a God who showed loving-kindness and compassion to people. Not like Chemosh who had to be appeased with sacrifices and even then he might not show favor.
P. When she married Mahlon, God gained a convert. It was not right for Elimelech and his sons to go to Moab; it was not right for Mahlon and Chilion to marry foreign women, but in the end it turned out good for Ruth. She loved the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. She heard the stories of Moses and the miracles and she was hooked. Not that the Israelites were perfect, but she saw God and she loved him.
Q. Vs. 15- Ruth did not want to go back to that.
R. Ruth was a true worshipper of God and went with Naomi to Judah because of that love. Boaz says in 2:12.
S. Many people accept Christ through superficial motives. They never surrender all. They do it to please family, friends, and romantic interests. They love God to a point and leave him when it becomes inconvenient. They do not love God enough. They love other things better.
T. Do not love the world…
II. Ruth showed great loyalty.
A. She showed loyalty to Naomi and her covenant with Elimelech’s family.
B. Ruth went the extra mile, even though Naomi loosed her from this responsibility; still she remained loyal to Naomi and to God.
C. She took her words and promises and commitments seriously.
D. These verses (16-17) are used in many wedding ceremonies because it depicts love and loyalty to the wedding vows. However, it can apply to many other areas.
E. In our day we have no idea of what loyalty is. Years ago people used to work at one place and they were loyal. Now our society does not value loyalty.
F. Horton hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss- Lazy Mayzie the bird was sitting on an egg. Horton the elephant passes by and Mayzie gets him to sit on the egg. Mayzie leaves and doesn’t come back. Horton continues to sit on the egg through all kinds of weather. Then some men find Horton sitting on the egg and they are so fascinated with an elephant sitting on an egg that they take Horton and the egg and sell him to a circus. Throughout all of these episodes, Horton says, "I meant what I said, and I said what I meant… An elephant’s faithful- one hundred percent." Finally, the egg hatches and out pops an elephant-bird. And it should be, it should be, it should be like that! Because Horton was faithful! He sat and he sat! He meant what he said And he said what he meant…And they sent him home Happy, One hundred per cent!
G. How many people would fulfill such a promise!
H. We see here a woman of great character.
I. It is comforting to know some people who mean what they say and try to follow through on their promises. It is refreshing to have people as friends who say they will help you and support you and they actually do it.
J. We need more Ruth’s in our society. We need more people who will not stab us in the back. We need more people who will lead us down the right path. We need more people who will stick with us when we are right and when we are wrong.
K. These people are few and far between. That is why they are so attractive.
L. Hold To Christ, cling to Him.
M. We will stick with Christ; we will stick with our families even though better offers come.
N. On Mother’s Day we need to be loyal to our mothers and mothers need to be loyal to their children.
O. Ruth remained loyal even in the midst of adversity. Naomi was old and was unable to provide for herself. Custom in Israel that the corners of the fields were reserved for the poor.
P. Ruth and Naomi came back to Bethlehem during the barley harvest. Ruth went to a field and started to glean what was there. Went to the field of Boaz. Chapter 2.
Q. Boaz helped her to gather a lot because he knew who she was and he respected her and her character. It was hard work but Ruth was loyal.
III. Ruth sacrificed a lot for her love and loyalty to family and to God.
A. Ruth knew that going with Naomi put her in a very low position. Not just one widow but two.
B. No income. No steady work.
C. Had to work as a poor woman gleaning in the fields- not an easy job and maybe even a dangerous one.
D. Usually not get much from a day’s work.
E. She was a foreigner.
F. Culture shock in moving to a different culture. Many unfamiliar ways of doing things, many unfamiliar customs and sayings, not to mention language differences.
G. She left her father and mother and homeland, never to return.
H. Ruth had to sacrifice much.
I. A lot of times there is a sacrifice, a giving up of something (carrying a cross) to be a Christian.
J. Our mother’s had to sacrifice a lot for us. To sacrifice is to love. (1 John 4:10 NIV) This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
K. Ruth even sacrificed a lot of her dignity. In Chapter 3.
1. Naomi comes up with a plan.
2. Boaz is one of their kinsman-redeemers. "A brother in law or a close relative who bought back the land of an impoverished or deceased relative to carry on his name in Israel. If there were a widow from a deceased relative, the kinsman-redeemer would have to marry that widow and provide children for his brother in law or close relative so that his name would be carried on in Israel.
3. For a woman to make a marriage proposal or ask permission of a kinsman-redeemer to come and redeem she had to uncover her feet and place them on the man and then the man would make that decision.
4. Boaz was an older man that Ruth. Very embarrassing for Ruth.
5. During the night when Boaz is working hard at threshing floor and is taking snooze, Ruth comes in a places her feet on Boaz.
6. Vs. 11.
7. Boaz needs to approach the closest kinsman-redeemer and have him redeem or allow Boaz to redeem.
Conclusion:
A. Ruth is one of the most attractive women in the Bible. Boaz says why.
B. What made her virtuous and attractive? Her love, her loyalty and her sacrifice.
C. Matthew 6:33- Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
D. The Lord blesses those who please him. What happened?
E. Chapter 4.
1. Boaz is allowed to be Ruth’s kinsman-redeemer.
2. Boaz and Ruth are married and Ruth gave birth to a son.
3. Naomi was comforted in her old age with a grandson.
4. Named him Obed, the grandfather of King David, in the line of the genealogy of Jesus Christ.
F. WE have a kinsman-redeemer and that redeemer is Jesus Christ. He bought us back from being poor, wretched, and miserable. We were like Ruth and Naomi and even worse. Much like Boaz, who had nothing really to gain financially. Jesus Christ gained a bride through his love, loyalty and sacrifice, the Church. May we be an attractive bride like Ruth was to Boaz.
G. Plan of salvation. Part of church.
