Matchmaker, Matchmaker

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Welcome:
Welcome — Old English willa "pleasure” + cuma "guest" Means your coming suits my will. Or, your arrival is pleasant.
How often do we feel that our arrival is un-welcomed? That we are a bother, a tax, or a burden. But God welcomes us — he is pleased with our arrival. He is pleased with your arrival. And Covenant of Grace welcomes you, too.
So, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, welcome.
Announcements:
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COG in the wheel 2
HYMN OF PREPARATION #
†CALL TO WORSHIP based on Psalm 85
Pastor Austin Prince
Minister: Christians, the Lord’s salvation has come near to those who fear him. His glory dwells among his people.
Congregation: Show us your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation. Let us hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints; and let us not turn back to folly.
Minister: He offers to revive our hearts, that his people may rejoice in him.
Congregation: Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other. Faithfulness springs up from the ground, and righteousness looks down from the sky. Yes, the Lord will give what is good and righteousness will go before him. Let us worship God!
†PRAYER OF ADORATION AND INVOCATION
O Lord our God, Creator of all that is visible and invisible–the earth and all that dwells in it is for your honor. The earth declares it and we your people declare that you are the Lord. Receive our worship this morning as a testament to your glory. Perfect our worship by the blood and intercession of Christ, and send us the Helper, the divine Spirit that our words and actions could be pleasing to you. Receive our prayer offered in the name of Jesus.
†OPENING PSALM OF PRAISE #104B v.1-4, 14, 16
“My Soul, Bless the Lord!”
†CONFESSION OF SIN & ASSURANCE OF PARDON
The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven; his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man. The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.” “For the Lord is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face.” (Psalm 11:4–5, 7 ESV)
As we prepare to confess our sins together, let’s take a moment for personal and silent confession.
TIME OF SILENT CONFESSION
Let’s confess our sins together
Minister: Father in heaven, forgive us for thinking so highly of ourselves.
Congregation: We often think that we are righteous by our own actions, forgetting that true righteousness comes only through the blood of Christ. We look at the failings of others and do not like to admit we are weak. We forget that true strength comes from the joy of the Lord.
Minister: Forgive us, Lord for our pride and self-righteousness.
Congregation: We do not love others as we love ourselves, and in so doing, we fail to love you, the Creator of all. Forgive us, heavenly father, and in your mercy change our hearts and put our sins out of your sight. We ask this in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, Amen.
ASSURANCE OF PARDON
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6, ESV)
CONTINUAL READING OF SCRIPTURE. I Timothy 6:2b-21
Steven Hoffer, 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.
It’s a great joy to celebrate the baptism of Ethan Hoffer today. Please stand for the sursum corda.
†THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM
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!
Please turn to pg. 852 in your red Trinity Hymnal
Baptism of Ethan Hoffer
Baptism is a naming ceremony — setting someone apart as a Christian. As we behold that this morning, let us confess together what those who carry that name believe from the Nicene Creed.
‡CONFESSION OF FAITH
The Nicene Creed P. 852
You may be seated
BAPTISMAL REMARKS
Jesus famously rebuked his disciples by saying, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.”
When Jesus blesses – it’s a big deal. Consider the Beatitudes, where Jesus is not simply making a list of desirable attributes but is actually dispensing covenant blessings on those who belong to him. And here, people are bringing children to Jesus in faith (their faith, not the child’s!), and Jesus is blessing them.
We see throughout the New Testament, and in our own experience, that when parents believe in Jesus Christ the entire family is blessed by it. Like a pitcher pouring cool water on a parched face and hands, God’s favor and blessing spills over from the believing parents and lands on their children. Scripture says the children are counted holy and they receive rich blessings that come from being part of the household of God.
Baptism does not save – it sets apart a person, signifies a promise, and seals the covenant obligations on the one who receives it. With its flowing water, baptism shows forth that fountain of blessing which eternally springs from the heart of God. It puts the baptized beneath that fountain and it offers them a promise: if you believe, you will be saved. The fountain flows this morning for Ethan Hoffer, because by God’s grace, John and Feagan have the faith to see it.
In light of God’s gracious covenant, to us and to our children, let’s stand and sing together Hymn 191 – Our Children Lord in Faith and Prayer.
BAPTISMAL HYMN
"Our Children, Lord, in Faith and Prayer
THE BAPTISM OF ETHAN MICHAEL HOFFER
You may be seated
John and Feagan, please join me.
What is the name of this child?
Ethan Michael Hoffer - I baptize you in the name of Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Covenant of Grace: We are the family and household of God and Ethan has been baptized into this family. I charge you therefore to love him as family is to be loved: with honor, service, compassion, help in times of need, and prayer in all things.
Please take time this morning after the service to welcome Ethan into this family.
PRAYER
Let’s pray:
Our almighty and eternal God, how often you speak through water. You judged the unbelieving and unrepentant world with the flood; and in mercy, you saved and protected believing Noah and his family. You drowned the obstinate Pharaoh and his armies in the Red Sea; and in mercy you led your people through to the dry ground. Now, with water, you speak to us and these children by baptism: “believe, and be saved.” We ask that in your mercy you will look graciously upon them, that they may, by your grace, cleave to Jesus in true faith, firm hope, and ardent love. Give faith, and where you have, persevere that faith to the last day, where they may appear without terror before the judgment seat of Christ; who with you and the Holy Spirit our one God lives forever and ever, Amen.
Let’s stand one more time and sing our hymn of preparation
†HYMN OF PREPARATION #170
“God, in the Gospel of His Son”
SERMON Ruth 3:1-5 // “Naomi’s Ambitious Plan”
PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION
Teach us, O Lord, the way of thy statutes, and we shall observe it to the end. Give us understanding, that we may observe thy law and keep it with all our hearts. Amen.
TEXT RUTH 3:1-5
Ruth 3:1–5 ESV
1 Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, should I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you? 2 Is not Boaz our relative, with whose young women you were? See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor. 3 Wash therefore and anoint yourself, and put on your cloak and go down to the threshing floor, but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. 4 But when he lies down, observe the place where he lies. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down, and he will tell you what to do.” 5 And she replied, “All that you say I will do.”
AFTER SCRIPTURE
The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart.
Intro
We haven’t spoken about it at length, but one crucial concept in Israel’s culture and of this story is that of the kinsman redeemer. If you were an Israelite, you would have grown up with a familiarity with what this is. If you found yourself in some sort of trouble, a kinsmen could step in to save you. Maybe you are laden with debt and must sell yourself into slavery, a kinsman redeemer could come and buy you out of it. Or, maybe you had to sell some of your land, presumably like Elimelech and Naomi did; your kinsman redeemer could come and buy that land back, restoring your home and your livelihood. Even more, if someone had grievously wronged your family, the kinsman redeemer had the right to hunt them down and bring them to justice, taking the title of blood avenger.
And this redeemer would have to be a good man who also has his affairs in order. After all, they must be wealthy enough to be able to pay the redemption price. But they must also be a worthy man — someone who would be willing to stick their neck out simply for the sake of their family. If they redeem your property, they are essentially paying the cost of redemption and handing it back over to you. If they stand in as the Levirite, they are providing an heir to their family (their brother), but they are not going to receive back upon themselves the reward of this heir. This heir will take the name and property and inheritance of their deceased father. So, you could say that it must be for the joy that is set before them that they would take on such a burden.
And, it’s the kind of thing where you would begin to wonder as a child who your redeemer would be. Maybe you were at a funeral of a family member—with all your relatives around you may look and think, “which one of these people is going to help me out if I’m in trouble?” Where does my help come from? Does a redeemer for me live? This is why, for Job’s part, when we are told of his great loss and despair, he still cries out that he knows his Redeemer lives — that he will be protected and provided for, even though he doesn’t know who it’s going to be.
And by this custom, a person could face troubling times with a sense of rest. They could know that even if they came upon hardship, they had support and hope.
This is the kind of hope that Naomi holds out for Ruth. When she was told the name of the man who had found favor upon Ruth, this Boaz and how he had lavished her with provision, she makes the connection that this man is how God is going to bless them with rest. “This man is our relative — he is our kinsman”, she says. “And maybe this man would be willing to be our redeemer?” ***And it is “our” redeemer. For Boaz would be providing for both Ruth and Naomi.
Now, the desire for protection and rest is completely understandable. But at this possibility of redemption, what we see in our text this morning is that Naomi tries to secure that rest by taking matters into her own hands. She crafts a plan to get Boaz’s attention and force the issue of redemption. Now, one the one hand, is she wrong for doing this? God has clearly opened a door for them through Boaz. Is she right to lean into that opportunity and run through that door? Or, is she, in her excitement of the possibility and fear of vulnerability, plowing ahead too quickly? Is she trying to take hold of this rest that she wants for Ruth and for herself by the wrong means? That’s our question for this text.
So let’s take a look back at Naomi’s scheme and then Boaz’s response to it:
Naomi’s Ambitious Plan
She begins to craft a plan for Ruth. “You know, tonight there will be this great party, Ruth. Since the harvest is in, they will take all the barley down to the threshing floor where they crush the grain and separate the chaff, stacking up the year’s harvest to take home and to sell. And it will be full of revelry, eating and drinking and singing and dancing. And Boaz will be there. Why don’t you go and put on that one nice cloak that you have and make sure to add a little of my perfume. But don’t let anyone see you. Slip in late at night after he has taken his drink and lie down and uncover his feet. Once he wakes up, he’ll tell you what to do.”
Now, it’s not hard to see that this plan of hers is manipulative and sneaky. Basically, it’s “put on that red dress and make yourself available. After tonight, according to the law, he’ll be obligated to redeem you.”
And we know that she is a bit rebuked for this because Boaz ultimately puts a stop to this plan and sends Ruth back home before anyone can see her.
And I I think that given Naomi’s desire for rest and for security, and given her state of vulnerability (looking around at what little food or future you seem to have), scheming to get security makes a good deal of sense to us.
And this seems to be the dividing line between operating out of faith or of fear. At any moment of our lives, we have to navigate in the present with an unknown future. Faith approaches what is unseen with an assurance of things hoped for (as Heb. 11:1 says) and that means that it holds onto God and his promises and his character, walking forward through life with open hands. But fear, its response to the unknown and unseen, is to cling onto what it can see now for security and stability and rest. It tries to take it by force.
But there is nothing good that comes when living by fear.
First, we aren’t made to live that way. We aren’t to be twitchy and skittish and panicked. Christians, instead, are to be filled with hope and joy and rest and abundant life. We aren’t trying to flail our legs and grab onto whatever floats to stay alive. We have been transferred out of the kingdom of darkness with its sin and death and the fear that comes with it into new life with Christ where we cannot sink, where He is not distant, and where his perfect love casts out all fear.
Second, fear tempts us to scheme and to give our trust to that which is sin, but no rest comes of it. Fear triggers that response to cling to what is seen, trusting in it for security. But not a thing in this world can give you the rest that you are hoping for. Not a thing. We spend much of our lives sadly testing out this theory — trying again and again to take rest by our own hands through what is expedient and available, only to find is illusory and insufficient.
But as Augustine famously said, “our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”
We’ve seen this dynamic at play time and again in the scriptures. When Abraham and Sarah were promised an heir, they waited for a little while, but eventually it was too much, so they began to scheme. They still believed that God was going to bless them, but they were going to get it their way and at a timing that was convenient for them. They were scared because they were getting older. So Sarah gives Hagar to Abraham and forces the issue, trying to take an heir by force.
Isn’t this an easy temptation? We simply believe that God is taking too long, so we take matters into our own hands.
And we can feel that we are motivated by the right things. Naomi was right to seek rest, but she was seeking it in the wrong way. Peter was right to love Christ, but he wasn’t to defend him or his arrest by taking out his sword and slashing at the guards.
You can rationalize all you want and you’ll be somewhat right. You want rest, you need rest, you were designed for rest. And you can tell yourself that this justifies whatever means you might take to get it.
You need the rest of companionship and love and physical relief, so you indulge in lust.
You need the rest of security, but you buy things that you can’t afford.
You need the rest of stability, so you take a job away from community and church and take too much time away from your family.
You need the rest of companionship but you date or marry the only person who seems available to you.
You need the rest of financial margin so you don’t give or engage in hospitality, etc.
And so we let fear drive us to cling to what looks certain and stable.
One last example of this also serves as a literary shadow over our particular story. Ruth is a Moabite, but where do the Moabites come from? They are descendents of Lot’s family. In a horrendous story from Genesis 19, when Lot’s daughters didn’t have heirs of their own, they waited until their father had taken his drink and had fallen asleep (an almost exact parallel to our story), and in their fear of childlessness they took matters into their own hands. The firstborn from that situation being named Moab, the father of the Moabites.
So Ruth, and how she will respond in this story, hopefully stands in a contrast to the Moabites and to Naomi. Will Ruth act in faith or in fear? Will she be a Moabite? Will she be like Naomi, who was of a generation in Israel who did what was right in their own eyes, or will she go a different way?
Rest is something that we all want. But he only suitable source for our security and rest is the Creator, not His creations. And as you walk through the unknown and the unseen, you must let go of fear which clings onto false rest-givers, and give yourself over to God. He can hold the weight of your needs.
Let’s look at Boaz’s response
Boaz’s Hesed
(Now, we’ll cover this in detail next week, but it’s enough today to simply see what Boaz does)
Apparently, the whole uncover his feet thing means that he will eventually wake up in a shiver. And he does. Ruth is there, she is in her best robe and she’s smelling good, but she doesn’t make any moves on Boaz (an important point we will look at later).
And really, there are only two things to make note of at present:
1) Boaz turns down Naomi’s scheme. He speaks to Ruth tenderly and then he sends her home before daylight, before anyone notices her.
And 2) He tells her not to fear, that he will gladly “spread his wings” over her and take her as his wife, and give her rest.
It turns out, Boaz didn’t need to be lured. He didn’t need to be persuaded in this way. He was delighted to be Ruth and Naomi’s kinsman redeemer. He is the worthy man. He doesn’t take advantage of her. He takes her under his wings. He wants to take on the cost of Ruth and Naomi.
We have Naomi scheming and plotting and planning saying, “If I don’t do this it isn’t going to happen for me”. But they needn’t have worried about this at all. Boaz’s heart went out to her.
And this is just as Jesus teaches us — “do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:31–33, ESV)
Conclusion
I think this story plays out in such a way as to tell us something profoundly comforting about God. That with our desire for rest, and the insecurity of our circumstances, we don’t have to cling on to whatever scraps (or gleanings) of hope that we can find. And we don’t have to lure God into helping us, either. He isn’t going to be moved to compassion by the perfume of our good works, nor will he be manipulated by dressing ourselves up in our nicest coverings. We don’t have to scheme. He is our Kinsman Redeemer — a worthy one who delights to protect and to provide at whatever cost to himself. The one who calls all who labor and are heavy laden, that he will give them rest. To take his yoke upon you, and learn from Him, for He is gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For His yoke is easy, and his burden is light.”” (Matthew 11:28–30, ESV).
Again, ““Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live…(Isaiah 55:1–3, ESV).
You don’t have to trick God, or prove yourself to God. You don’t have to scheme and plot and plan and live by sin because God won’t help. It’s all noise and it’s all a lie. You don’t have to wonder if God might love you, you turn your eyes to the cross and see it. Look at it and live. Look at it and know that your redeemer lives.
There are many things that God might not give you because he has timing and teaching for your good in mind, but rest is not one of the things that he delays. He promises all who come to him for rest, even though they walk through the difficult and the unknown and the unseen, especially because they walk through the difficult and the unknown and the unseen. Live by faith and walk in rest.
†HYMN OF RESPONSE #515
“More Than Conquerors”
†OUR RESPONSE #572
Gloria Patri”
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
†BENEDICTION: GOD’S BLESSING FOR HIS PEOPLE
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” (Romans 15:13, ESV)
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