Who Is The Redeemer?

Welcome

Memory verse for the quarter:

“do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:6–9, ESV)

Announcements

Movie Nights For Youth

Prayer meeting this Tuesday evening @ 7 P.M.

†CALL TO WORSHIP based on John 15:1-9

Pastor Austin Prince

Minister: I am the vine, Christ calls out, you are the branches.

Congregation: We come because we seek to abide in Christ.

Minister: The branches that remain in him bear much fruit.

Congregation: We come because we long to be faithful disciples.

Minister: Abide in my teaching, Christ calls, and you will abide in me.

Congregation: We come to glorify the Father with our lives.

Minister: Come, all you who know his voice, abide in the true vine.

Congregation: We come to abide in the love of Christ. Let us worship God!

†PRAYER OF ADORATION AND INVOCATION

Glory be to you, O Father everlasting, who sent your only-begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. Glory be to you O Jesus Christ, who hast brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. Glory be to you O Holy Spirit, who quickens us together with Christ, and does shed abroad his love in our hearts. Come to us now thou Blessed Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; Blessed be thy glorious name now and forevermore.

†OPENING PSALM OF PRAISE #149A

“Give Praise to the Lord”

†CONFESSION OF SIN & ASSURANCE OF PARDON

based upon Isaiah 64:1-9

Have you ever had someone bring something up to you, maybe a criticism, and they absolutely nailed it? It frustrates you because what they are saying is accurate and you know it is. What you couldn’t see they could see with clear eyes. In much the same way, we often can’t see our situation correctly, but God can. We are constantly bombarded with guilt, or shame that makes us feel that we couldn’t possibly be loved by God or saved. Or, we are filled with pride and self-assurance that we are nearly sinless and always have pure motives. But God’s word is like that friend who confronts us with the truth, and we know that he is right. For those who trust in Christ but still feel the attacks of insecurity and guilt, God’s word assures you of your pardon, in Him. But to those who don’t trust in Christ, who have no real love for Him and don’t trust on his saving grace, God’s word brings the clarity of your prideful and hopeless state, the guilt and feeling of being untethered is also the truth that you know is accurate. And so we stand under God’s word to dispel the myths and shadows and accusations and have the truth set us free.

Minister: O that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence. Be not so terribly angry, O Lord, and remember not iniquity forever. Behold, please look, we are all your people.

Congregation: Restore us, we pray, through the coming of our Lord Jesus, in whom we place our hope and trust. Amen.

Minister: Sing aloud, O people of God, rejoice and exult with all your heart! The Lord has taken away the judgments against you, he has turned away your enemies.

Congregation: The Lord our God is in our midst. A warrior who gives victory! He will rejoice over us with gladness. He will renew us in his love. He will exult over us with singing.

Minister: Know that your sins are forgiven and be at peace.

Congregation: Thanks be to God!

CONTINUAL READING OF SCRIPTURE I Timothy 4

Paul Mulner, Elder

THE OFFERING OF TITHES AND OUR GIFTS

CONGREGATIONAL PRAYERS

THE LORD’S PRAYER

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

†HYMN OF PREPARATION #399

“For Your Gift of God the Spirit”

SERMON “Who Is The Redeemer?” Ruth 2:4-13

PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION

Almighty God, enter our hearts, and so fill us with your love, that, forsaking all evil desires, we may embrace you, our only good. Show unto us, for your mercies' sake, O Lord our God, what you are unto us. Say unto our souls, "I am your salvation." So speak that we may hear. Our hearts are before you; open our ears; let us hasten after your voice and take hold of you. Amen.

TEXT: (We will just start back at v.1 and read through v.13) Ruth 2:1-13

Ruth 2:1–13 ESV

1 Now Naomi had a relative of her husband’s, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. 2 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.” 3 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. 4 And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. And he said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you!” And they answered, “The Lord bless you.” 5 Then Boaz said to his young man who was in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?” 6 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. 7 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.” 8 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. 9 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.” 10 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?” 11 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. 12 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!” 13 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.”

AFTER SCRIPTURE

As for God, His way is perfect, the word of the Lord is flawless.

Intro:

(Thesis: Who is this kinsman redeemer? What is he like?)

We’ve noted that the backdrop of Ruth’s story is that it was in the time of the Judges, where “everyone was doing what was right in their own eyes”. Last week, Paul fleshed this out a bit, how this was a time in Israel’s history where God’s law was neglected and abandoned, which never ushers in the utopia that “liberation” offers but instead brings pain, chaos, and bleakness. But the question for us becomes, why this story at this time? Why, in the midst of a crisis of leadership and moral clarity, do we get this little story of Ruth, which on a surface level looks like a small town romance? What are we supposed to notice?

On one level, we are to see what real faith looks like in a time of doubt and cynicism. Over the past few weeks, that’s exactly what we have been looking at in the character of Ruth, who embodies this concept of radical faithfulness and kindness called “hesed”. Remember, “hesed” means something like superabundance of loyalty and kindness — a kind that exceeds expectations and obligations. That’s been Ruth’s story of devotion to Naomi and to YHWH, the covenant God of Israel. And in her poverty and hopeless state, she sows obedience and reaps the reward. God is faithful. We are to see that.

And on another level, we are to take notice of hope coming to Israel. It’s no spoiler that Ruth and Boaz do end up together and their son Obed becomes the grandfather of David, the King who would bring stability to this chaotic time of the Judges. He would be a man after God’s own heart - a picture and foretaste of the true King that would come through his line, the same line as Ruth and Boaz.

When we look at Ruth, we see someone who’s character and faith we are to emulate. But when we look at Boaz, who is our focus for today, we aren’t so much challenged to emulate him as we are to recognize in him the type of redemption that we have in full through Christ Jesus.

Set against this black backdrop of the Judges, the story of Boaz and His righteousness and his redemption of Ruth is a pinprick of light that shines in the Old Testament. Much like many other of the pinpricks of light (Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah, etc.). They are a ray of light that make sense once the full light of Christ is present. Once Christ is seen, it’s possible to go back and see that the pinprick of light was Him — it was Christ shining through. Ultimately, that’s what we will look at today in the character of Boaz.

Ruth we have begun to see, but who is Boaz? At one level, who is this man, this kinsman redeemer? And at another level, why were we supposed to see this story and this character at this moment in the history of Israel?

Let’s look at three things this morning:

The character of our characters (vv.4-7)

Boaz the man - Boaz The Redeemer (vv.8-12)

Ruth’s response (v.13)

The Character of Our Characters (v.4-7)

“And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. And he said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you!” And they answered, “The Lord bless you.” Then Boaz said to his young man who was in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?” 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.”” (Ruth 2:4–7, ESV)

[The character of our characters] With remarkable economy of words, the writer gives us a glimpse at who these people are by focusing our attention on simple actions of their faithfulness.

For Boaz’s part, we are introduced to him with a brief note as to how he greets his workers. It’s the simplest of insights, but it colors his character in such a way as to suggest that this is how he would go about anything. He comes to inspect his fields saying, “The Lord be with you!” with the worker’s response being, “The Lord bless you”. It demonstrates that Boaz knows who is the Lord over the harvest, who the Lord over the weather is, and who the Lord over the land is. Against the backdrop of the time of the Judges and the faithlessness of Israel, here is a man who is living by faith. And we know that it is the righteous who live by faith.

We are also told that he takes note of Ruth. We aren’t told why. Maybe as a Moabite she dressed differently. Maybe he knew his workers well and he simply didn’t recognize this new gleaner who was working in his field. Maybe she was very attractive. We aren’t told why, but we are to know that she caught his eye.

As for Ruth, we are told that she inquired with the foreman if she could glean, and then proceeded to work all day with minimal breaks. “She was there early and hasn’t stopped working”, he said.

As we have already noted of her character over the past few weeks, here is Ruth demonstrating her faithfulness. She could have presumed on Israel’s legal system and her rights to glean from the fields but she didn’t, she asked if she could glean. As a suggestion that Boaz notices, it’s almost like a bow or a curtsy. She is humbly seeking the favor of God and his people. We know that she has thrown her lot into the hands of YHWH, but we also see her wake up early, get to work, and remain there diligently.

I think a word to encompass her in this moment is the word “initiative”. She doesn’t take her work into her own hands in a desperate way, a way that says that she doesn’t need God or trust him to help her. She isn’t pulling herself up by her boot straps (Or, sandal straps). And she’s not throwing herself onto YHWH and simply sitting around the house waiting for bread to show up. She both trusts the Lord and then wakes up to put her hand to the plow. We can easily fall off into these ditches and miss this kind of thing. We can pray and pray and pray that God will change our situation and bless us, while completely failing to act with obedience. Or, we can convince ourselves that God isn’t really going to do anything at all so we work and live by fear or frustration or resolve in an effort to take care of ourselves. We can over spiritualize at times and neglect to act by faith and we can doubt at times and act by fear. For Ruth’s part, she navigates this rightly, both trusting in God’s provision and working diligently in that faith. God uses the weak things of this world to shame the strong. And for this, her reputation proceeds her, as we will see now as we pick up in v.8 as our attention shifts to Boaz and who he is.

Boaz The Man - Boaz The Redeemer (v.8-12)

English Standard Version Chapter 2

8 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. 9 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.” 10 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?” 11 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. 12 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 heard of Ruth, “a full accounting of her actions and her faithfulness (hesed) has been told to him”. And when he finally ran into her, there she was, working faithfully and humbly. He tells her that he knows all that she has done for her mother-in-law, Naomi, and he perceives that what she is doing is that she is actually coming to the LORD, the God os Israel, for refuge, seeking shelter under His wings. And so he says to her, “the Lord bless you and repay you”. And then he himself becomes and embodies part of that very blessing.

Gently calling her his daughter (affectionate, but probably also noting a great age difference), he tells her that she no longer needs to glean in other fields — He will provide for her.

He tells her that she can keep close to his young women, those who are the legitimate workers of his field. He is elevating her status, bringing this foreigner into dignity and community.

He has told the young men not to touch her. She is vulnerable, husbandless, poor, and a foreigner—she could have been easy prey for the wicked. But now she is marked by the word of Boaz, and anyone who harasses her will answer to him.

And he tells her that when she is thirsty she need only say the word and take what the young men have drawn. She no longer needed to stop her work to draw her own water from the well — she need only be thirsty and her needs would be supplied.

As for Boaz the man, it is here where we really see him as the gibbôr ḥayil (the man of worth). We see that he is not only a match for Ruth in her great need with all of his wealth and provision, but we see that he is a match for her in great faith and loving-kindness as well, this hesed love which goes beyond expectation and obligation and overflows with glory.

In the character or Ruth, we see someone whose life and faith we are to mimic. But in the character of Boaz, we see someone in whom we are to marvel. Like we said asked at the beginning, why are we to see this seemingly small love story during the history of the Judges “where everyone was doing what was right in their own eyes”?

The answer is to see what faith and faithfulness looks like when the covenant children have forgotten it. And to see a foretaste of redemption — that beam of light shining through that points us to the Light of the world.

We are to see in Boaz a story of partial redemption that we receive from Christ in full. Christ, whom Spurgeon calls “our glorious Boaz”.

We are to know that Christ has his eyes on his fields, and takes notice of those of low estate, those who are outcasts and poor and needy, those who feel ashamed and unworthy and abandoned.

We are to know that Christ offers to us his fields, calling us to forsake all others for provision.

We are to know that Christ elevates our dignity and calls us into his family.

That he is our protector from our enemies and our provider, the one who offers to us Living water.

He it is who speaks to us kindly and who goes far beyond the level of obligation to the law, pouring out upon us hesed love.

And when the time comes, Boaz pays the price necessary to redeem Ruth and make her his bride.

Boaz calls for Ruth to be repaid by YHWH for her faithfulness and rewarded in full, and it is he who becomes that reward and repayment. At the end, Ruth doesn’t just get bread and a roof; she gets Boaz and all that belongs to him.

In the same way, our salvation isn’t merely the getting of bread but the getting of the Bread of life. Heaven isn’t heaven because riches are there. Heaven is heaven because God is there. The gospel (the good news) is that we get the Redeemer. We get God. The gospel is not merely that our debts are cleared but that God has deposited into our account the riches of Himself. He becomes the reward (our glorious Boaz).

We are meant to see this in the character of Boaz, which from his very line Jesus comes, a line of faith and hesed - the line and household of David, all of which are merely pinpricks and shafts of light, testifying of this fuller and more glorious Redeemer and King of Christ Jesus.

In response to this great kindness, here again we are to emulate Ruth in her response. Not only to Boaz, but to our Redeemer, this greater Boaz. Let’s look at v. 13.

Ruth’s Response

Ruth 2:13 ESV

13 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.”

This response from Ruth, this humble bewilderment and awe that she has been cared for, loved, and provided for, is the only right answer before the throne of God. “Why me? Why this grace?”

She is astonished at her provision, but Boaz notes that that is what happens when you take shelter under the wings of the Lord. A wonderful phrase that Boaz and Ruth’s great grandson, David, adopts in much his poetry and prayers from the Psalms.

“He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.” says Psalm 91:4

And this is an image that Jesus uses when he wished that Jerusalem would cast themselves upon him for care.

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” (Luke 13:34, ESV)

This is the glory of Ruth’s faith. She leaps to fly and finds that she is covered, sheltered, and secure.

And how you respond to grace is the dividing line. We don’t come before the Lord with boasting, or indifference, or entitlement. We come to him with need and he comes with fullness. We come to him with gratitude, for he has provided for us in every way. We come to him in awe, because he has condescend and loved us. We come to him in joy because he cares for us - he goes beyond any obligation to the law and for the joy set before him endured the cross. He enjoys us and calls us friend. He calls you who come to his wings for refuge and shelter friend.

Like Ruth, we look on this love with astonishment and marvel in this Redeemer, Christ, our glorious Boaz.

†HYMN OF RESPONSE #444

“Come to the Waters”

THE MINISTRY OF THE LORD’S SUPPER

Leader: Lift up your hearts!

Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord.

Leader: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

Congregation: It is right for us to give thanks and praise!

CONFESSION OF FAITH - The Apostles’ Creed (p.851)

INVITATION TO THE LORD’S TABLE

The meal which we are about to celebrate is a feast of remembrance, communion, and hope.

We come to remember that Jesus was sent into the world to assume our flesh and blood, to become God with us, that we might be redeemed. We come to have communion with this same Christ who has promised to be with us even to the end of the world.

We come in hope, believing that this bread and this cup are a pledge and a foretaste of a new heaven and a new earth, where we shall behold God.

In his earthly ministry Jesus praised those who provided for him, saying, I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink. Now here, for us, is the bread of life given; let all who hunger come and eat. Here is the fruit of the vine, poured out for us. It is for all who belong to Christ through repentance, faith, baptism, and continuing union with his church. Let all who thirst come and drink.

Let’s pray together:

PRAYER

Congregation: Most righteous God, we remember in this meal the perfect sacrifice offered once on the cross by our Lord Jesus Christ for the sin of the whole world. United with Christ in his suffering, strengthened by the Holy Spirit, trusting in the power of God to triumph over evil, we wait in joyful hope for the fullness of God’s reign. Send your Holy Spirit upon us, we pray, that the bread which we break and the cup which we bless may be to us the communion of the body and blood of Christ.

Grant that, being joined together in him, we may attain to the unity of the faith and grow up in all things into Christ our Lord. And as this grain has been gathered from many fields into one loaf, and these grapes from many hills into one cup, grant, O Lord, that your whole Church may soon be gathered from the ends of the earth into your kingdom. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! Amen.

Congregation is seated.

THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE ELEMENTS

THE WORDS OF INSTITUTION AND SHARING OF THE SUPPER

“Eat and drink.”

Mark 14:22-25

And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

†OUR RESPONSE #234

Tune: The God of Abraham Praise

The whole triumphant host gives thanks to God on high;

“Hail, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!” they ever cry.

Hail, Abraham’s God and mine! I join the heav’nly lays;

all might and majesty are thine, and endless praise.

†BENEDICTION: GOD’S BLESSING FOR HIS PEOPLE

Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord? He is your shield and helper and your glorious sword. Go in confident peace, for the Lord is with you. Amen.