Sermon Tone Analysis

Good morning!

If I haven't had the pleasure of meeting you my name is John and I serve Mission Church as the Senior Pastor.

I am honored and humbled to be with you this morning!

If you have a Bible go ahead and open it to Ruth 4. And....If you are able to please stand for the reading of God’s word.

Ruth 4 (CSB)

1 Boaz went to the gate of the town and sat down there.

Soon the family redeemer Boaz had spoken about came by.

Boaz said, “Come over here and sit down.”

So he went over and sat down. 2 Then Boaz took ten men of the town’s elders and said, “Sit here.”

And they sat down.

3 He said to the redeemer, “Naomi, who has returned from the territory of Moab, is selling the portion of the field that belonged to our brother Elimelech.

4 I thought I should inform you: Buy it back in the presence of those seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people.

If you want to redeem it, do it.

But if you do not want to redeem it, tell me so that I will know, because there isn’t anyone other than you to redeem it, and I am next after you.” “I want to redeem it,” he answered.

5 Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the field from Naomi, you will acquire Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the deceased man, to perpetuate the man’s name on his property.”

6 The redeemer replied, “I can’t redeem it myself, or I will ruin my own inheritance.

Take my right of redemption, because I can’t redeem it.”

7 At an earlier period in Israel, a man removed his sandal and gave it to the other party in order to make any matter legally binding concerning the right of redemption or the exchange of property.

This was the method of legally binding a transaction in Israel.

8 So the redeemer removed his sandal and said to Boaz, “Buy back the property yourself.”

9 Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses today that I am buying from Naomi everything that belonged to Elimelech, Chilion, and Mahlon.

10 I have also acquired Ruth the Moabitess, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife, to perpetuate the deceased man’s name on his property, so that his name will not disappear among his relatives or from the gate of his hometown.

You are witnesses today.”

11 All the people who were at the city gate, including the elders, said, “We are witnesses.

May the Lord make the woman who is entering your house like Rachel and Leah, who together built the house of Israel.

May you be powerful in Ephrathah and your name well known in Bethlehem.

12 May your house become like the house of Perez, the son Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring the Lord will give you by this young woman.”

13 Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife.

He slept with her, and the Lord granted conception to her, and she gave birth to a son.

14 The women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you without a family redeemer today.

May his name become well known in Israel.

15 He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age.

Indeed, your daughter-in-law, who loves you and is better to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.”

16 Naomi took the child, placed him on her lap, and became a mother to him.

17 The neighbor women said, “A son has been born to Naomi,” and they named him Obed.

He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

18 Now these are the family records of Perez: Perez fathered Hezron, 19 Hezron fathered Ram, Ram fathered Amminadab, 20 Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon, 21 Salmon fathered Boaz, Boaz fathered Obed, 22 Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David.

This is the word of the Lord.

Let’s Pray.

You may be seated.

Life is not an open freeway through the desert where you can see for miles but it’s more like a dirt road through the mountains.

On this road called life...there are rock slides, steep cliffs, slippery curves, sharp turns, and bears…lots of bears.

But all along this hazardous and exhausting road, there are road signs that say, "God is in Control" and "Come to me all who are weary."

Well...the book of Ruth is one of these road signs, and as we have studied it this Advent season, I pray that you have been encouraged with the hope that all of these perplexing turns and rocky roads in your life are not dead-end streets.

But instead....in all the setbacks of life you can be sure that God is providentially arranging the details of your life for your good and His glory.

But let’s be honest..... as we travel the difficult and winding roads of life.....it’s easy to miss the signs of God’s grace and His goodness.

We look around and see a world that aches with sin and the consequences of sin.

Tell me...What do you do when you are faced with …not only the world’s brokenness and depravity ....but your own brokenness and depravity?

How can you know that God loves you?

And what hope do you have in ever being accepted by a holy and righteous God?

Well....for many of us ....We try to be good enough…we attempt to make a fresh start or turn over a new leaf....and it goes good for awhile but eventually we hit a dead end and we fail.

We realize that we can’t be good enough.

So we try to be smart enough.... we search for all of the right answers.

We try to be spiritual enough by signing up for religious activities.

But “good enough,” “smart enough,” and “spiritual enough” are all dead ends.

Trying to be good or spiritual…or smart leads to despair or self-deception.

You see....eventually the pain and brokenness of a disconnected world shows us that something is wrong…and the more we try to fix it …the more we realize how frail, empty, hopeless, and helpless we are....and the more we realize we need someone to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

We need a redeemer.

Like Naomi and Ruth…we too have no ability to fix the mess of our situation…we too need a redeemer who is willing to pay the price of redemption.

And this morning we will see that God is currently weaving our ordinary stories into the bigger tapestry of the Kingdom of His Son, even in the messiness and mundane of life, we can know that God loves us and has a plan for us.

Now.... we have arrived at the last Act....the final episode of our sermon series through the book of Ruth entitled, “From Ruin to Redemption.”

I know that some of you are new to Ruth’s story and perhaps you have missed an episode or two.....

So I want to take a moment to set the stage before we come to Act 4: The Willing Redeemer.

In Chapter 1 we are given front row seats to the bitter providence of God in the life of Naomi.

She had left her land in disobedience.... lost her husband....lost her sons...and lost one of her daughters-in-laws.

But…although Naomi could not see it......the sweet providence of God was present as well.

God ended the famine in Bethlehem...and Ruth committed herself to caring for Naomi.

But still..... the chapter ends with Naomi so overwhelmed with her losses that she tells people that God is against her and she even changed her name to “Bitter.”

You see ....Naomi had allowed her circumstances to define for her who God is and how God sees her and as a result she felt empty.

In chapter 2 the mercy of God breaks through bright enough for even Naomi to see it.

We met Boaz, a man of wealth, a man of God, and a relative of Naomi's late husband Elimelech.

We see Ruth taking refuge under the wings of God in a foreign land and being led mercifully by God to the field of Boaz to glean.

And we see Naomi recover from her bitter season of hopelessness as she sees that God never left her and she praises Him for providing for her.

Chapter 2 overflows with hope…a hope that spills into chapter 3 and empowers Naomi and Ruth to live with audacious faith.

In fact....they make a risky move in the middle of the night.

Ruth goes to Boaz on the threshing floor and essentially proposes to Boaz.

Now, Boaz had been caring for Naomi and Ruth up to this point by providing Ruth with protection and provision.

Not only that but he is a relative of her late husband and is qualified to serve as a family redeemer.

According to the Law of Moses a family redeemer could redeem the widows land and provide an heir for the deceased.

So....Boaz was flattered and excited by Ruth’s proposal…but he remembers something.....unfortunately there is a closer relative that has dibs on Naomis land and Ruths hand in marriage.

Right when the tragedy of Ruth’s widowhood seemed to be resolving into a beautiful love story....she experiences another setback and another potential heartbreak.

I can only imagine Ruth’s heart sunk.

What would she do?

Well..…there was nothing she could do but to just trust Boaz.

After all.....He did tell her to be patient and to trust him… he did promise her that her future would be secure and that he would ensure her protection.

Not only that but Naomi reassured her that Boaz was a determined man and he would not rest until he did what he said he would do.

Naomi’s confidence in Boaz’s was not misplaced…for.

....he was indeed a man of resolve and action.

Look at v1

Ruth 4:1 (CSB)

1 Boaz went to the gate of the town and sat down there.

Remember..... Boaz was just sleeping at the threshing floor …he was guarding his grain from thieves.

Clearly it was not in his plan to return to town in the morning.

He was most likely anticipating a full day of work transporting his grain back from the fields.

But he didn’t wait until evening…he didn’t wait until after work to take care of Ruth.

Boaz had a change of priorities......you see.... he was no longer thinking about business but about his bride… so he leaves his grain and he goes to the town gate.

Now…the town gate was an open space with benches and it served…not only as a natural meeting place but like a modern-day courthouse.

The gate was also the best place to find someone.

So Boaz sat and waited for this other potential redeemer.

look back at v1