The Sovereignty of God and Kindness (Ruth 2)
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
Being still relatively new to the Northwoods, I find that I keep pinching myself to be living in the midst of the beauty here. Whether it was the peak of the fall colors, the glistening white of the snow covered trees this past week, the beauty out the pastor’s window looking at the Wisconsin River, the beauty of the wildlife. I’ve seen an eagle, deer, turkeys, and a hawk already in their natural habitat. God’s creation leaves me in awe. I hope I never stop being in awe of it, where I stop noticing it.
What about you? What things awe you? Or more importantly what are things that once left you in awe that you have stopped being in awe of? Particularly what about remaining in awe of God’s kindness towards us in Christ? That’s what I want to talk about this morning as we continue our study in the book of Ruth this morning.
You can find our text this morning on page #263 if you are using one of the Red Pew Bibles in front of you.
For the next little bit, we want to open this passage and work our way through it. Trying to make sense of the text and finding out just how much it still speaks to us today both as individuals, as well as corporately as the Land O Lakes Bible Church.
Last week we looked at Ruth chapter 1 in its entirety. We began to follow one particular family from the city Bethlehem in Israel. A family that left their home to find refuge in a foreign land and in doing so, sorrow upon sorrow came upon the family. First, the loss of their homeland in having to leave because of a lack of food, then the loss of a husband and father, and then the loss of two sons. The sorrow created bitterness in the heart of Naomi, now the main character in the story. And yet, while Naomi felt the Sovereign Lord of the universe had dealt bitterly with her, we as readers got to see God’s kind hand at work in caring for her in providing her Ruth and bringing them back to Bethlehem as barley harvest begins. And that is where we pick back up this morning. Ruth 2, verse 1. . . .
The main idea this morning of Ruth, chapter 2 is this: The kindness of God should leave us perpetually in awe.
We are going to unfold this in four points this morning: (1) the providence of God’s kindness (Ruth 2:1-3), (2) the means of God’s kindness (Ruth 2:4-13), (3) the abundance of God’s kindness (Ruth 2:14-23), and (4) the unmerited favor of God’s kindness (Ruth 2:13).
Point #1: The providence of God’s kindness (Ruth 2:1-3)
Point #1: The providence of God’s kindness (Ruth 2:1-3)
The book of Ruth is what is called a historical narrative. It’s history told in story and details and descriptions of actual events. But one of the most telling parts of a historical narrative is when the author pauses to clue us as readers in on important details to help us understand the point of the narrative, such as here in Ruth 2:1
Now Naomi had a relative of her husband’s, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz.
We have just come from hearing of Naomi calling her life bitter because she left full and now returns empty handed with her Moabite daughter-in-law, Ruth. But then the author clues us in here that Naomi isn’t left hopeless. That there is a family relative of her dead husband Elimelech. And this relative’s name is Boaz.
This Boaz is put forward between the returning to Bethlehem in a timely manner at the start of barley harvest and the rest of the story. For Boaz is a kinsman redeemer, one who is able to step in and help ensure the family name of Elimelech continues. But not only is he able to be this, he is a worthy man, insinuating that he will be faithful to carry this out.
This is the scene that is set for us. But how will this transpire? How will it come about? God’s providence! For the LORD will put Boaz and Ruth together. Starting with Ruth.
And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor.” And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.” So she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers, and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech.
Ruth here desires to go and find favor in order to provide for her mother-in-law Naomi. Stating here in whose sight I shall find favor. And she just so happens to come to the field of that of Boaz, Elimelech’s relative.
Did you catch that? Ruth just happens to land in the field of Elimelech’s relative, Boaz. As if by luck she winds up in his field. It is not by luck, but by the providence of God himself.
What is providence? I’m going to borrow John Piper’s definition here, providence is the purposeful sovereignty of God. God doesn’t just order Ruth to go to the field of Boaz, he sees to it happening for her and Naomi’s good. To not only ensure Ruth ends up in a field where she is able to gather barley on the edges, but to ensure she ends up in Boaz’s field, a worthy man who is also a relative of Naomi’s. One who is able to redeem her.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we need to see that our lives are not left to luck and chance, but that God’s kindness is at work in every detail of our lives. In his providence, God is working to care for us in both giving us our daily provisions and in shaping us to be more like the beloved Son, Jesus.
God’s kindness comes through his providence, but the means of that kindness are often those God providentially puts around us.
Point #2: The means of
God’s kindness (Ruth 2:4-13)
Point #2: The means of
God’s kindness (Ruth 2:4-13)
In the case of the story of Ruth, the means of God’s kindness come through the worthy man, Boaz. For Boaz is God’s servant. Boaz isn’t a worthy man in name only. The character of God flows down into his work and the relation he has with those in his care.
And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. And he said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you!” And they answered, “The Lord bless you.”
This interaction between Boaz and his workers puts on display the kind of work environment that Boaz has established. He cares for those in his care, and they have reverence for him as a good employer. God’s kindness to the workers is spread through Boaz. By placing them under him and in his care. And care he does, for he knows those under him, so much so, that as he comes, he notices a stranger in their midst.
Then Boaz said to his young man who was in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?”
Boaz notices Ruth in the fields. But he notices her not because he is struck by love at first sight. No! Friends, we need to de-disnify this story. This isn’t Aladdin seeing Jasmine for the first time and saying wow. Boaz notices Ruth because he knows his people, his workers, he cares for them in such a manner that he notices a stranger in the field working. And he inquires about her to know who is working for him and in his field. And then he finds out who she is.
And the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered, “She is the young Moabite woman, who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers.’ So she came, and she has continued from early morning until now, except for a short rest.”
And what does Boaz do after hearing this? He approaches Ruth.
Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Now, listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. Let your eyes be on the field that they are reaping, and go after them. Have I not charged the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn.”
Boaz assures Ruth that she is safe in his field to glean and reap of the barley and wheat harvest. That provisions are there for her as she labors, that of water.
Ruth’s prayer to go and glean after him in whose sight she shall find favor is answered. The LORD providentially leads her to the field of Boaz. It is the Lord whose sight she finds favor and kindness, but it comes through the hands of God’s servant, Boaz.
But Boaz answered her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before. The Lord repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!”
Boaz has noticed all that Ruth has done in caring for Naomi. And in hearing of it, he prays for the LORD to bless her. Again, let us look at:
The Lord repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!”
The prayer of Boaz is for the very God whom Ruth has taken refuge in to bless her. Boaz is not praying here for a works righteousness and works earning favor. In fact, this could not be further from his prayer.
The prayer of Boaz is that the very God, YHWH, whom Ruth has sought to take refuge in, will abundantly provide and care for her out of his kindness.
Ruth sought refuge from her troubles in YHWH, the God of Israel. She sought protection and provision from him. And Boaz is praying that God does just this. That God would provide for Ruth like a mother eagle would her little eaglet.
John Piper puts this well. He says, "God is not an employer looking for employees. He is an Eagle looking for people who will take refuge under his wings. He is looking for people who will leave father and mother and homeland or anything else that may hold them back from a life of love under the wings of Jesus."
And because God looks for those in whom will take refuge in him, he will care for these who come and rest under his wings! Boaz knows this, and this fuels his prayer!
Christian, our Christian lives are not about what we can do for God, but about us continually humbling ourselves before God, finding our refuge in him and him alone! And knowing that this pleases our God.
His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
nor his pleasure in the legs of a man,
but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
in those who hope in his steadfast love.
Therefore let us hope in God as Boaz commends Ruth for!
Returning to Boaz, what he doesn’t realize is that he is the means in which his prayer will be answered. Boaz will be how the LORD providentially cares for Ruth and Naomi. That he will be the one who comforts and repays and rewards Ruth for her faithfulness to Naomi. But this kindness through Boaz goes much further! For it is not only a means of kindness to Ruth and Naomi, but to us as well.
Here is a spoiler alert if you are unfamiliar with the book of Ruth. Boaz and Ruth are the means in which King David will come. King David is their great grandson. And it is then through the line of David in which the Messiah will come, Christ Jesus himself!
It is through the means of these people that God’s greatest kindness comes into the world. He who comes to take away the sin of the world comes through these ordinary, faithful servants starting with his providence in bringing them together here in a field in Bethlehem, Boaz’s field that is.
The Lord in his providence also brings others into our lives in order to show his kindness to us. The Lord does not expect the Christian life to be lived alone. In fact, that is contrary to his design. God gives us the local church as a means of kindness to help us persevere in our faith. He is kind to give us shepherds who are to labor for our souls. He is kind to give us brothers and sisters to encourage us, to care for us, to even admonish and rebuke us when we are in the midst of unrepentant sin. It is the kindness of God to give us others to help us in the process of our sanctification, that is others to help us become more like Jesus.
This is the means of God’s kindness to us in this life! And we should both rejoice in it, as well as labor to be the means of God’s kindness in others lives. Laboring to care for others.
Now, I’ve just got to say this, I know for a fact many in this congregation are doing well in this area. In the last two months alone, I can testify that various meals have been asked for and an abundance has been provided. Church, keep doing just this! Don’t grow weary and slothful in our care for one another.
We too are to come alongside others and help them to be more like Jesus! This is the call of our Christian discipleship to make disciples, teaching them all that Christ has commanded!
God’s kindness isn’t just provided through others hands at bare minimum, it is provided in abundance!
Point #3: The abundance of God’s kindness of God (Ruth 2:14-23)
Point #3: The abundance of God’s kindness of God (Ruth 2:14-23)
The worthy man Boaz wasn’t merely showing God’s kindness at bare minimum. For here is what the law requires:
“When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over them again. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not strip it afterward. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this.
This was the letter of the law. And this would have been all that Boaz was required to do. But Boaz we have already seen provided Ruth an invitation to take from water drawn by his men as she worked. And then he goes further.
And at mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here and eat some bread and dip your morsel in the wine.” So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed to her roasted grain. And she ate until she was satisfied, and she had some left over.
Boaz invites Ruth to eat with his men until she was satisfied, providing her extra provision.
He then adds to the abundance of his kindness to Ruth.
When she rose to glean, Boaz instructed his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her. And also pull out some from the bundles for her and leave it for her to glean, and do not rebuke her.”
Boaz goes far beyond the requirement to allow the edge of the field to be gleaned. He instructs his men to drop bundles for Ruth and leave them for her. Ruth is to be allowed to glean among the the sheaves, and not just the forgotten leaves. The sheaves are the bundles of barley and wheat.
Because of Boaz’s provision and care for Ruth, when it is said and done, Ruth has an overflow of abundance.
So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. And she took it up and went into the city. Her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She also brought out and gave her what food she had left over after being satisfied.
An ephah of barley, we can see in our footnotes is about 22 liters of barley in one day. Or 3/8 to 2/3 of a bushel. This is to stand out. Ruth didn’t just get a few scraps to feed on. She went home with probably around 30-35 pounds of barley. That’s a lot of meals for Ruth and Naomi to come. There is now extravagant provision for Naomi and Ruth by God’s kindness through Boaz.
And yet, there is still more. The dots connect for Naomi.
And her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you glean today? And where have you worked? Blessed be the man who took notice of you.” So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, “The man’s name with whom I worked today is Boaz.” And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by the Lord, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!” Naomi also said to her, “The man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers.” And Ruth the Moabite said, “Besides, he said to me, ‘You shall keep close by my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’ ” And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, lest in another field you be assaulted.” So she kept close to the young women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvests. And she lived with her mother-in-law.
Ruth continues to go day in and day out and glean in Boaz’s field for next few months until the end of both barley and wheat harvests. Naomi has connected the dot, that here is a glimmer of hope in Boaz, for he is our family redeemer.
“If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel. And if the man does not wish to take his brother’s wife, then his brother’s wife shall go up to the gate to the elders and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to perpetuate his brother’s name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.’ Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him, and if he persists, saying, ‘I do not wish to take her,’ then his brother’s wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face. And she shall answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.’ And the name of his house shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal pulled off.’
So not only has food provision now been provided, protection provided for Ruth’s safety, but further provision is possible in this family redeemer. God provides in great abundance through the man Boaz for Ruth and ultimately Naomi.
And he has done the same for us. God has lavished his grace and kindness upon us through his beloved Son, Jesus.
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
The LORD our God has emptied his treasury as he poured out his grace upon us in the offering of his Son on the cross in order to take away our sins. He did not hold back, but poured out his love for us. And to make the awe of this lavishing of kindness upon us even greater, it is a treasure in which we did not deserve.
Point #4: The unmerited favor of God’s kindness (Ruth 2:13)
Point #4: The unmerited favor of God’s kindness (Ruth 2:13)
Look back with me to Naomi’s reaction in chapter 1.
She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.
For Naomi, in the midst of her sorrows, she felt the LORD had dealt bitterly with her in the sorrow upon sorrow that had come upon her.
In his short book on Ruth, John Piper comments on this fact. He writes, "Proud people don't feel amazed at being treated well. They don't feel deep gratefulness. But humble people do. In fact, they are made even more humble by being treated graciously."
Ruth, was more humble. Look at her reaction to God’s kindness through Boaz:
Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?”
Then she said, “I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, for you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not one of your servants.”
Ruth has the right approach to God’s kindness. We in our humanity are undeserving of God’s kindness. In fact, we are disqualified from it.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
We should never presume on God’s kindness, and yet that he extends it is a remarkable thing! For though our sin disqualifies us, God makes a way for his kindness to break through. A redeemer comes and lays down his life in our place so that we can live. So that we can taste the kindness and mercy of God. A savior named Jesus!
You who are here this morning, who have thought of God as some cruel taskmaster and ungracious, unforgiving being. Do you see that you could not be further from the truth? God’s kindness is shown through his servants. First Boaz and then Christ Jesus. This kindness is not something that we are owed, but a gift. A gift, friend, that is extended to you this morning. Jesus stands ready to save you, if you will turn from the allegiance to sin and come and rest in his arms, trusting him alone for your deliverance from sin and death. Won’t you cry out to Jesus and ask that he would save you. I’d love to talk with you more about this as we close our time together here shortly. Friend, let the awe of God’s kindness sway you to come to faith.
And you, Christian, let us too not leave here without being awed again by the kindness of God to us! Let us perpetually keep this awe again and again as we look to the cross. Remembering that Jesus shed his blood in order to wash us clean. It was our guilt that put him there. It is the awe of the cross that will help us to grow more in humility like that of Ruth and continue to seek refuge under the wings of the LORD and to grow in holiness.
Let’s pray.....