Reward of Goodness

Prayer

God’s Purposes & Human Decisions

Several weeks ago, when we were covering the story of Samson, we saw that in spite of Samson’s many flaws, his many sins (and there were a lot of them), that God will accomplish his purposes in spite of our sinful actions. We see the same thing in the story of Joseph, when he tells his brothers that what they meant for evil (selling him into slavery), God meant for good (saving Jacob’s family from the famine).

It’s a reminder that God always reigns. He is the sovereign one, we cannot thwart his purposes even when we go against his will.

But, rather, God wants us to join in on his purposes, work in accordance with God. Our will in conjunction with his greater will - even if we don’t know exactly what God is doing, what wonderful things he is going to accomplish. But trusting that he will accomplish them because that’s what God does. He saves. He blesses. He brings life. He restores.

This is exactly what we see in the story of Ruth, particularly in the lives and actions of two of the main characters, Ruth and Boaz.

Quick recap of our story so far. We were introduced to Ruth last week, along with Naomi. Naomi, and her husband, Elimelek and their two sons, left their homeland of Bethlehem due to a famine, and traveled to the land of Moab, a foreign land. The sons married Moabite women, and over time, Elimelek and the two sons die, leaving Naomi and the two daughters-in-law as widows.

Naomi decides to return to Bethlehem, and Ruth, one of the daughters-in-law, is so devoted to Naomi that she returns with her to her homeland. Story ends with Naomi expressing her bitterness to God, seeing her life as empty, failure to recognize what an incredible gift she has in Ruth.

And we begin to see God at work behind the scenes when we learn that they returned at the beginning of the barley harvest. And that’s where we’ll pick up what we want to look at today, Ruth 2.

Ruth 2:1-23 - Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, a man of standing from the clan of Elimelek, whose name was Boaz. 2 And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.” Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.” 3 So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek. 4 Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, “The Lord be with you!” “The Lord bless you!” they answered. 5 Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, “Who does that young woman belong to?” 6 The overseer replied, “She is the Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi. 7 She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.’ She came into the field and has remained here from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.” 8 So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me. 9 Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.” 10 At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?” 11 Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. 12 May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.” 13 “May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord,” she said. “You have put me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing of one of your servants.” 14 At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.” When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over. 15 As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, “Let her gather among the sheaves and don’t reprimand her. 16 Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her.” 17 So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah. 18 She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough. 19 Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!” Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,” she said. 20 “The Lord bless him!” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.” She added, “That man is our close relative; he is one of our guardian-redeemers.” 21 Then Ruth the Moabite said, “He even said to me, ‘Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.’” 22 Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with the women who work for him, because in someone else’s field you might be harmed.” 23 So Ruth stayed close to the women of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

We have Boaz introduced right at the beginning of the chapter, a bit of foreshadowing. Ruth, the Moabite, decides that it might be helpful for them to have something to eat, so she goes to the fields, hoping she can find one that would be friendly to her gleaning in their fields. We get this important hint as to God’s working behind the scenes in verse 3, “As it turned out” - it just so happens that Ruth ends up working in Boaz’s field.

It also just so happens that Boaz shows up and notices Ruth, asking his overseer about her. He learns not just that its Ruth, but about her work ethic - she’s been working hard all morning, except for a brief break. Boaz immediately shows kindness to Ruth, telling her to stay and glean in his fields, that he will provide protection over her (as a lone woman, she was vulnerable - and a reminder of the evil that existed in the land - this is the time of the judges). He invites Ruth to share in their water.

Ruth is blown away, she can’t figure out why he’s being so kind to her - a foreigner. Boaz tells her - her reputation precedes her, the whole town has heard about the kindness and devotion she has shown to Naomi. Boaz shows even more kindness to Ruth, not just providing her the lunch that’s there for the workers, but serving it to her himself. On top of it all, he commands his workers to intentionally leave some of the stalks on the ground so her gleaning will be easier.

And it pays off, by the end of the day, after she threshes all she’s gathered, she returns to Naomi loaded - an ephah of barley, which is about five gallons worth (think the orange Home Depot bucket). Naomi is blown away - she can’t believe what Ruth came home with. She has to know where she ended up. It was Boaz. And notice Naomi’s response - her tune about God begins to change. “The Lord bless him! He - talking about God - has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and dead.” (the dead here is a reference to her deceased husband and sons, that family). Naomi is beginning to recognize God’s goodness.

A side note - Naomi mentions that Boaz is a close relative, he is one of our guardian (or kinsman) redeemers. Hang on to that - it’s another foreshadowing, significant part of how story will play out.

The chapter ends with this sense that Naomi and Ruth are going to be okay, at least that they will have enough to eat. Ruth continues to work through the harvest season, both the barley and wheat harvests.

Good & Beautiful Life

In this story we see two beautiful examples what it look like to live a good and virtuous life

We talked about Ruth in chapter one - her amazing sacrifice, willingness to leave her homeland and her family and go to a foreign land in order to support Naomi, to be with her. An incredible act of devotion and love. She continues that devotion and love by going to fields, working hard all day long, in order to provide food for the both of them. There’s a beautiful humility in all of this, you see it in how she interacts with Boaz and Naomi.

And then there’s Boaz, another great example of a good and virtuous life. He shows unexpected kindness and generosity to Ruth. He sees a need (Ruth needs food for Naomi and herself, she needs protection) - he recognizes those needs and doesn’t just recognize them, but acts to meet those needs. And meets them with generosity. He recognizes and appreciates and affirms Ruth’s character - she’s a catch!

No wonder they have such good reputations - clearly, the whole town has been talking about this foreigner in a good way. And Naomi knows Ruth will be safe in Boaz’s fields, because she knows he is a man of character.

It reminds me of this wonderful quote from James Bryan Smith in his book, The Good and Beautiful Life, writing about John Wooden, the famous UCLA men’s basketball coach: I want to be clear that God did not bless John because he did good deeds. John’s good deeds led to a virtuous life, which is its own reward. God does not mete out blessings and curses based on our behavior alone - if that were so, all “bad” people would suffer and all “good” people would be blessed. But there is a life of joy and peace that only who follow God can know…Each day we make decisions that move us closer to a life of virtue or vice. We face decisions whether to be greedy or generous, self-centered or self-sacrificing, condemning or forgiving, cursing or blessings.

Love this idea that goodness is its own reward. If we think about it, we can see why that’s true, for a couple of reasons.

When we live out a virtuous life, we are living out how were were designed to live - why it’s a life that offers joy and peace, because it fits us. We’re not working against how we were made to live. So much of our lack of joy and peace is self-inflicted - because we chase after the wrong things, because we hold onto our pride, because we live in fear rather than faith.

And it’s not just that we were designed to live this way, but because now we’re working in conjunction with God, not against him. Though God can work in spite of our actions, using even our evil, our wrong doing - he wants us to work with him. He wants to use us, the good we do as a blessing to others. Use the beauty and goodness of our lives to bless others.

God used Naomi to bless Ruth - through her great affection for Ruth, embracing her as not just a daughter-in-law, but as a daughter. And vice versa (this is the beauty of mutual loving relationships), God used Ruth to bless Naomi - her deep devotion, her sacrificial commitment to stay with her, her willingness to work hard to provide for both herself and Naomi. Her blessing of Naomi went beyond her to the whole town (this foreigner!).

God used Boaz to bless Ruth (and through Ruth, Naomi) - in all the ways we mentioned before (providing a safe place to work, making her gleaning easier, on it went). Interesting to note that part of his desire to bless Ruth was motivated by what a blessing she had been to Naomi, he wanted to reward that. Blessing begets blessing.

And, of course, that all begins with God, with God blessing us - wants us in turn to bless others. It’s the central story of the people of Israel - we’ve talked about this a lot. It’s the whole foundation of the covenant God made with Abraham:

Genesis 12:1-3 - The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. 2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

And I want you to really hear this, because this is what God is calling us to do. And why it’s so important that we pursue life in Jesus Christ, in active discipleship, becoming like Jesus. So that we can live good and beautiful lives, virtuous lives (which is what we talk about every Sunday, as we engage in Discipline of Confession as part of worship, in every time of teaching - ending with a focus on Spiritual Disciplines, soul-training exercises).

We do that not only because a good and virtuous life is its own reward, having joy and peace that only that kind of life offers. But because God wants us to bless others. He is blessing us in order to bless others through us. And this is a primary reason that we’re going through this Cultivating Flourishing Congregations process, to seek God’s guidance, his leading, into what the unique Kingdom calling God has for us - how we can bless people in this community for the sake of Jesus Christ.

And it’s helpful to look at this story - because it’s easy to see how Boaz could be a blessing. He was a man of standing - he had wealth, owned a lot of land, had workers under him. He could bless generously out of all that he had - and he did. But notice Ruth - Ruth had nothing! She was a impoverished widow in a foreign land. And yet she was an incredible blessing. Because she was willing. Willing to devote herself to others. Willing to work hard for others. Willing to make sacrifices for others. (remember, the book is named after her!)

It’s easy to look at big churches - of course it’s easy for them to do a lot in the community. And we may look at ourselves - look how small we are, small building, small number of covenant partners, not a whole lot of money. But if we look to Ruth, we can trust that the blessing we can be to others doesn’t depend having lots. It depends on our willingness. To devote ourselves. To make sacrifices. To put in the time and effort to love others.

On Wednesday, in our Congregational Gathering we spent time taking a look at our church. What our strengths are, some of our needs, what limitations we have, as well as the resources we have. Just trying to get some clarity on what we have to offer - and what we don’t have to offer. Helpful just to get a better sense of that as we seek God’s will for us.

But what was really telling was the time we took to brainstorm needs in the community. And that could have been any of the needs in a number of ways - practical needs, social needs, emotional needs, spiritual needs. And to be honest, it was a short list. Not because there aren’t a lot of needs in the community - it spoke more to our lack of connection to the community. We didn’t know. That put us in a bit of a conundrum - after all, it’s hard to meet needs, to be a blessing, if we don’t know what they are. If we aren’t connected enough to be aware of them.

I want to ask two things of you this morning. Two essential things for you personally, and for us as a church. One, is that you would join me in pursuing the good and beautiful life. A life of virtue. Pursuing to be like Jesus Christ through every aspect of our lives. People who exhibit the fruits of the spirit - goodness, truth, kindness, joy, faithfulness, mercy. Actively seeking - through spiritual disciplines - focusing our attention on Jesus, centering our lives on him and his love, opening ourselves to the work of the Holy Spirit in us - shaping, forming us to become like Jesus.

Second thing you would join me in seeking what community need - what group of people, what their particular need might be - God wants to use us to meet. The specific way we can be a blessing. That as we’ve been praying for the church in this Cultivating Flourishing Congregations process (you have been praying, right?), that we would pray specifically for that. And to keep our eyes and hearts open to where the Spirit might lead us. Who knows how it might come to us (Boaz certainly had no idea that Ruth would show up in his field that day)?

The goal would be to find something that we - with our unique strengths and resources - could work to meet a particular community need, be a blessing. A friend of mine, his church, has pinpointed childcare has a strong need in his community, God has blessed them with significant financial resources, working to see how they can meet that need. Another friend of mine, his church, they have space, need for preschools in his community - working to develop that as a ministry. Maybe there are particular needs in this neighborhood right around us. Maybe it will be something like along the lines of Young Life Capernaum, where it’s a specific group of people in this community that we seek to love in the name of Jesus Christ.

Close in prayer - trusting that God is going to answer this prayer. With an openness.