Unexpected Acceptance; Stepping Out In Faith

This week at camp, we spent time looking at the story of Moses, Joseph, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. We have learned about men who had a vision of how they should act in the face of certain circumstances. However, it did not always work out the way they initially imagined. Sometimes we saw them suffer as they chose to follow what God had placed in front of them. Other times we saw them rush God’s timing instead of taking their time to follow him. This demonstrated how when we rush God’s timing, sometimes he pulls us back in because he has a plan for us. We also learned that sometimes, the results of us rushing things have definite consequences.

Further, we learned how sometimes we get so caught up in looking at what our neighbours have, seeing that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, that we want to go and move in and take advantage of the benefits that they are experiencing. In fact, sometimes, we make those moves before talking to God about it. The growing pains, and frustrations of political climates, agricultural climates, and social and religious climates often make us want to look someplace else to start afresh and avoid the consequences of the current situations we are in. The problem is we, as Christians, aren’t called to be comfortable. In fact, alternatively, we are called to take up our cross and follow Jesus.

Matthew 16:24–27 NASB95

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds.

Recently, I joined my youth group in going to Calgary on a missions trip. While there, we heard about a church that did a daring thing. This church felt a calling; they felt a clear direction from God, so they did something radical. They tore down their church building! They tore down a building that they had a long history in! They then began building an apartment building, with the intention of donating the building to the Mustard Seed. They made an agreement that they would use the main floor of the building to be the church they felt called to be. As a result, when the people who live there go through the main entrance of the building, they actually walk through a church that is used every day. This church heard the calling that Jesus Christ placed on their hearts, and they picked up their cross and tore down their church so that people in their community could have a home to live in. Many people would not think about giving up their comfort for another person. Still, this Church gets to share in some authentic Joy because of their willingness to follow Jesus no matter how uncomfortable the calling is. The question that arose from hearing their story is, "What are you willing to do to follow God?"

There is a story that I have been thinking of a lot this week. It is about a lady named Ruth, her mother-in-law Naomi and a man named Boaz. Naomi and her family left Bethlehem and moved to Moab because things were not going well in Bethlehem, so Naomi and her husband made the calculated decision to leave the land that God had placed them in. While in Moad, Noami’s two sons married two Moabite women named Ruth and Oprha. One thing led to another, and Noami’s husband and two sons died. After a little while, Naomi heard that Bethlehem had been once more blessed by God, and so she began to make her trek back home. Eventually, she stops and tried to urge her daughter in laws to return home. Orpha left; however, Ruth was committed to following her mother-in-law, but more importantly, she was committed to following this God that she had been introduced to. In fact, she says in Ruth 1:16-17 these words

Ruth 1:16–17 NASB95

But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or turn back 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 I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me.”

Ruth was so committed to following Naomi and the calling that God placed on her heart that nothing was going to stop her. She was committed to her new family and the God she had discovered because of her this family.

Ruth was so committed that she left her biological family, friends, and homeland to move to a whole different country to follow God’s will!

For these two women, the very act of trying to live life would be difficult during this particular time of history, but they were brave and trusted in God to take care of them. And God indeed did! Ruth, knowing she needed to do something to take care of her and her mother-in-law, went out to the fields to work and ended up in the fields of Boaz, which was indeed God's hand at work because Ruth would be blessed and protected working in Boaz’s fields!

Ruth 2:17–23 NASB95

So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. She took it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She also took it out and gave Naomi what she had left after she was satisfied. Her mother-in-law then said to her, “Where did you glean today and where did you work? May he who took notice of you be blessed.” So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, “The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz.” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed of the Lord who has not withdrawn his kindness to the living and to the dead.” Again Naomi said to her, “The man is our relative, he is one of our closest relatives.” Then Ruth the Moabitess said, “Furthermore, he said to me, ‘You should stay close to my servants until they have finished all my harvest.’ ” Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his maids, so that others do not fall upon you in another field.” So she stayed close by the maids of Boaz in order to glean until the end of the barley harvest and the wheat harvest. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

God had his hand of blessing on Ruth even though she had only been following Him for a relatively short period of time. But she followed God and the advice of Naomi with unwavering faith from the time she had resolved to leave Moad.

In fact, in Ruth chapter 3, we see Ruth taking the advice and guidance of her mother-in-law, and very boldly, she approaches Boaz. She (in a roundabout way) proposes to Boaz as her “redeemer.” This is risky because she is a Moabite woman, and although the Torah mentions in Deuteronomy 23:3-8 that a Moabite may not enter into the assembly of the Lord, most Orthodox Jews of the time would have taken that a step further and not even attempted to marry anyone suggested in this Criteria. Further, Boaz, wanting to take Ruth up on her proposal, knew there was one other man who had more rights to Ruth, according to Jewish costumes and laws.

Luckily for Ruth, Boaz was a brilliant man when it came to the law. Even Naomi knew Boaz’s determination and told Ruth to give Boaz the space he needed to resolve the “situation” because she had faith in him.

Ruth 3:18 NASB95

Then she said, “Wait, my daughter, until you know how the matter turns out; for the man will not rest until he has settled it today.”

And in Ruth 4, we get the pleasure of seeing Boaz’s smarts and wits being presented, I would confidently argue that God had everything thing to do with Boaz’s ability to navigate the word of the Lord at that point in his life because God provided Boaz with the opportunities to talk to the men at the gate and also to be educated in the law. What is even more outstanding is if we dig deeper into Boaz’s parents; Boaz was the son of Salmon through Rahab. Rahab, as we read in Joshua 2, was notable because she was the Canaanite prostitute who helped the Israelite spies and was later spared for helping them. So Boaz already has a heart for people who might not be born as Jews, and he knows that certain circumstances allow Non-Jews to be married into the Jewish faith.

Let’s read Ruth 4 together:

Ruth 4 NASB95

Now Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there, and behold, the close relative of whom Boaz spoke was passing by, so he said, “Turn aside, friend, sit down here.” And he turned aside and sat down. He took ten men of the elders of the city and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down. Then he said to the closest relative, “Naomi, who has come back from the land of Moab, has to sell the piece of land which belonged to our brother Elimelech. “So I thought to inform you, saying, ‘Buy it before those who are sitting here, and before the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it; but if not, tell me that I may know; for there is no one but you to redeem it, and I am after you.’ ” And he said, “I will redeem it.” Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must also acquire Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of the deceased, in order to raise up the name of the deceased on his inheritance.” The closest relative said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, because I would jeopardize my own inheritance. Redeem it for yourself; you may have my right of redemption, for I cannot redeem it.” Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning the redemption and the exchange of land to confirm any matter: a man removed his sandal and gave it to another; and this was the manner of attestation in Israel. So the closest relative said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself.” And he removed his sandal. Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses today that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and Mahlon. “Moreover, I have acquired Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Mahlon, to be my wife in order to raise up the name of the deceased on his inheritance, so that the name of the deceased will not be cut off from his brothers or from the court of his birth place; you are witnesses today.” All the people who were in the court, and the elders, said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, both of whom built the house of Israel; and may you achieve wealth in Ephrathah and become famous in Bethlehem. “Moreover, may your house be like the house of Perez whom Tamar bore to Judah, through the offspring which the Lord will give you by this young woman.” So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife, and he went in to her. And the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed is the Lord who has not left you without a redeemer today, and may his name become famous in Israel. “May he also be to you a restorer of life and a sustainer of your old age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you and is better to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.” Then Naomi took the child and laid him in her lap, and became his nurse. The neighbor women gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi!” So they named him Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David. Now these are the generations of Perez: to Perez was born Hezron, and to Hezron was born Ram, and to Ram, Amminadab, and to Amminadab was born Nahshon, and to Nahshon, Salmon, and to Salmon was born Boaz, and to Boaz, Obed, and to Obed was born Jesse, and to Jesse, David.

What has always amazed me about this story is Ruth’s willingness to step out of her comfort zone in faith to follow the will of God. And in doing so, Ruth (a gentile by Jewish standards) was redeemed by a Jew, and by being redeemed by a Jew, she was given the benefits of a Jewish woman. But that's not even the coolest part. Ruth, a gentile, had a son with Boaz named Obed, who was the father of Jesse, the father of David! So knowing Jesus’ genealogy from Matthew 1:1-17, we know that Ruth was Jesus' Great+28 Grandmother! The Jews despised Gentiles, but long before Jesus came into the world, a gentile woman took a step of faith out into what seemed like stormy waters and not only became the great-grandmother to David himself but was part of the family tree of Jesus Christ!

This woman knew she needed to follow Noami and her God, and because of her faithfulness, she was blessed!

One of my other favourite stories is when Jesus was approaching the disciples during a particularly bad storm

Matthew 14:22–32 NASB95

Immediately He made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the crowds away. After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone. But the boat was already a long distance from the land, battered by the waves; for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” Peter said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” When they got into the boat, the wind stopped.

Peter had enough faith that he climbed out onto the waters to be with Jesus, but when he took his eyes off of Jesus, that is when he began to sink.

I guess my question is, what are we willing to do as a church to step out in faith? Are we willing to recognize that sometimes we need to fix our eyes on Jesus and willingly walk on the waters he has called us to walk, no matter how unlikely? Are we willing to recognize that sometimes we are called to leave the comforts of home to follow Jesus, no matter how crazy it seems? Are we willing to tear down our church building to allow Jesus to use the property that we are sitting on for Big, God Honouring things?

Or do we turn back to comfort? Saying instead that this is what the people who came before us would have wanted. Not realizing that the people before us stepped out in faith so we could enjoy the fruits of their labours that indeed contributed to the Great God Honouring things in their time.

Let’s Pray.