Father, I’m Coming Home

Introduction

We return to our spiritual father and home when we …

Reach the bedrock of ourselves

Reach the limit of our comfort

Witness certainty amid uncertainty

Review

A. Running from our problems

When we began the book of Ruth last week, we were introduced to a Jewish family who had experienced God’s judgment in Israel. Because of the spiritual famine in the people’s hearts, a physical famine ravaged the land.

We can only imagine a country whose political landscape was in chaos, whose economy was collapsing, where jobs were scarce and providing for your family became a tremendous challenge.

So, Elimelech packs up his family and moves them to Moab.

Never mind that God had instructed His people to separate themselves from the godless nations around them. Never mind that God had promised He would restore a wayward people if they turned back to Him.

Elimelech saw an opportunity to escape God’s judgment, to quit and throw in the towel. He justified his actions under the pretense of providing for his family, but in reality he was abdicating his responsibility as the spiritual leader of his house and attempting to solve his problems apart from God.

Can you see the irony in this decision? Why was Israel in this position?

Because they left God

What is Elimelech’s solution?

Attempting to solve his problems apart from God.

God’s desire is never that His people flee from the consequences of their sin. The purpose is not the punishment. The purpose is restoration and redemption. He uses consequences and trials, even ones of our own making, to refine and perfect our faith, to bring it to completion.

We are dealing with the same temptations Elimelech gave into today.

I’ve heard so many Christians who see the state of our culture say (though often jokingly) that they’re going to take their family, live off the grid, become self-sustaining, and minimize the control of government and technology over their lives.

Is there anything wrong with this?

No! In fact, I would argue its an admirable desire; though, most of us wouldn’t survive fifteen minutes in this lifestyle unless it was born out of necessity, myself included. We still have people today that think the grocery shelves just magically restock week after week.

However, if pursuing that desire comes at the cost abandoning our cultural sphere of influence, we are actively disobeying God’s call for His people to be salt and light in a ever darkening world. Our inaction becomes our action.

If there is one institution that has been created by God that has the ability to see people through the consequences and trials of this life, it is the Church!

Even in the midst of judgment, God desires His people to demand the welfare of their nation.

Jeremiah 29:7 NLT

7 And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.”

God spoke this to the Israelites in the midst of exile. He did not command them to run and hide. He did not command them to quit in the face of troubling circumstances. He commanded them to demand the welfare of their nation, because their welfare was tied to its welfare.

This was God’s desire for Elimelech and his family. Demand the welfare of your nation in the midst of struggle. Return to Me. Cry out to Me. Seek Me.

And how do we demand the welfare of our society?

We turn back to God.

2 Chronicles 7:14 NLT

14 Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.

B. This was not Elimelech’s response

A choice was made, one that very likely had tragic consequences.

As we discussed last week though, God has the ability to use our poor choices as preparations for redemption.

So we pick up where we left off, with Naomi, Orpah, and Ruth thrust into their lowest and darkest moment.

How though, will each of these three women respond in this critical moment? Where and to whom will they return to?

We will see each of these women return to their father.

A father possesses authority.

We will see each of these women return to their home.

Home is a place of rest.

Home is a place of comfort.

Home is a place of familiarity.

Home is a place of specific attention.

C. The title of the message: Father, I’m Coming Home.

I got the idea for the title of this message from Ozzy Osbourne’s song Mama, I’m Coming Home.

The title of the message comes from John 8:44 where Jesus tells the Pharisees, “You belong to your father, the devil.” The point Jesus makes is clear: if you belonged to Me, you would love Me, obey Me, and share My heart. But you don’t love Me. Your spiritual parentage is not Me, but satan.

Whether or not we like it, we all have a spiritual father we choose to serve, and there are only two choices: God the Father or satan. It’s light or dark. It’s good or evil. Someone has to sit on the throne! There is no neutral ground.

Without Jesus Christ, our father is satan. We live in bondage to sin. We live how we want to live and worship how we want to worship.

Not everyone is a child of God. In fact, most are not.

John 1:12 NLT

12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.

But every person has the ability to become a child of God. God grants the right to become a child of God to those who believe in His name. This word believe is active, meaning it is evidenced in our lifestyle.

James 2:17 NLT

17 So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.

In other words, our lives reflect our belief. Faith (belief) in Jesus is the roots, works are the fruits.

With that in mind, let’s examine the three responses of these women, the fruits of their lives. When push comes to shove, which father do they cling to, and in which home do they find rest?

We return to our spiritual father and home when we …

I. Reach the Bedrock of Ourselves (vv. 6-7)

Have you ever experienced a point in life where you reached rock bottom? A point where you felt like you couldn’t go anywhere but up?

A. Rock Bottom

This looks different for everyone

You lost your job

You have seemingly insurmountable financial problems

An addiction wrecked your life

You failed school

You experienced a broken marriage or relationship

You lost a loved one(s)

For Naomi, Orpah, and Ruth, this was rock bottom. Their husbands, sons, and entire support system disappeared.

We will all likely experience intense moments like this in our lives. We wouldn’t choose to go through them, but we can choose how to respond to them.

When we boil it down, there are two choices:

B. We either run from God, or we run to God.

Many people like to acknowledge God’s hand on their life when things are going well.

But often it’s only when they experience what they consider to be good things in their lives

You see this with athletes. When a player or team gets to the super bowl, or the championship game, or takes home the gold medal, they will often pound their chest, point to the sky, and say they are thankful for what God has done for them.

They quote verses like Philippians 4:13 saying, “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”

In many ways, its easy to give the glory to God when life seems great.

But what happens when you fail? What happens when crisis hits? What happens when life falls apart around you?

C. Faith, especially in crisis, is not the absence of doubt or questions

Faith is purposing to trust God even in the midst of our doubt and questions.

There are many things we will experience in this life for which there is no explanation, at least not one we could understand.

As we will see in future weeks with Naomi, she still has doubts and questions. What matters is not her questions and doubts. What matters is where she lands after confronting her doubts and questions.

Naomi could have resolved to stay in Moab, attempting to solve her problems apart from God.

But she heard that God was working among His people.

Naomi could have blamed God for what she was experiencing. She could have chosen to worship the foreign gods of the land she was in.

But in her experience of rock bottom we are reminded of Peter’s words: Lord, to whom will I go? Even now I see that it is You alone who provides life.

Naomi could have run from God.

But she runs back to her Father, back to her home.

We return to our spiritual father and home when we …

II. Reach the Limit of Our Comfort (vv. 8-14)

A. The reality of the situation

Naomi’s decision to return to Judah sets in motion two starkly different responses from her daughters-in-law.

At this point in the account, we get the picture that maybe Naomi didn’t expect Orpah and Ruth to go the distance with her. Naomi is certainly lonely, and confused, and scared, but she doesn’t just want company for the sake of company. She’s a no-nonsense woman, so she just bluntly explains the reality of the situation.

She encourages them to return home — the road ahead will not be easy.

She reminds them they have no husbands, no support system.

She explains she won’t have more sons, and even if she could, would they wait until they were grown to marry again?

B. Orpah’s response

Even though Orpah initially tells Naomi she will go follow her anywhere, she begins to feel uncomfortable.

It’s likely she also had heard of God’s work in Israel. It’s likely she began the journey trusting in the hope Naomi clung to.

But the roots of her faith were shallow. Soon the hope was overshadowed by a looming sense of impossibility.

We can picture Orpah at a fork in the road:

One path, though potentially uncomfortable, leads to life

The other path, though seemingly comfortable, leads to death.

Words are not enough. Feelings are not enough. A choice must be made.

Orpah could have chosen to push forward, even though the steps were uncertain.

But she felt the pull of familiarity and comfort.

She runs back to her father, back to her home.

We return to our spiritual father and home when we …

III. Witness Certainty Amid Uncertainty (vv. 14-18)

A. An opposite reaction

The shadow of uncertainty and impossibility hangs over Ruth as well. She is experiencing the same questions and doubts. She stands at the same fork in the road. Her mother-in-law heading one direction, her sister-in-law the other.

For those of you who have experienced a total eclipse, it is a wild event. It gets dark, dark enough to draw the nocturnal animals out, dark enough to feel a change in temperature, dark enough to turn on solar powered lights. If you are unprepared, it can be an extremely unnerving event.

We can imagine all of the trials these women went through like a total eclipse.

Their world was dark. Their world felt cold.

Naomi understood there was no point in wallowing in the dark. She pressed forward waiting for the Light to return.

Orpah felt overwhelmed, and chose to remain in the dark.

Ruth seeing the responses of both, marvels at the faith of Naomi. She recognizes the darkness in her life is caused by something obstructing the Light. Part of it is her own actions. Part of it is tragedy she was unprepared for.

And even though she doesn’t yet fully understand it, she looks to Naomi and says, “I want the certainty she has in the midst of this uncertainty. I want the Light she seeks in the midst of this darkness.”

B. Ruth’s statement of faith

Where you go, I will go

Where you live, I will live

But she doesn’t stop there

Your God will be my God

C. 10 years in a moment

For years Naomi and her family compromised by living in Moab. Years of this example and never once did it cause Ruth to choose to follow the God of Israel.

But in a moment of incredible faith, in a moment where Naomi declares, “I’m going back to my Father, I’ll put my fate in His hands,” Ruth declares the same.

Ruth runs away from the father of this world and into the heads of her heavenly Father, to her heavenly home.

Conclusion