Don't Fear the Reaper

Lead Vocalist (Joel)

Welcome & Announcements (Hopson)

Good morning family!

Ask guests to fill out connect card

3 announcements:

1) Pillar Network

Joint worship service at PBC on September 29 at 6 PM

Conference on Building a Culture of Evangelism at SBC on 10/5

2) Trunk or Treat, October 27 at PBC

Collecting candy donations (let’s start with anything that’s not chocolate)

Bring donations to the plastic bin near the announcement board

Also, you can sign up to host a trunk at the announcement board

3) The Disciple-Making Parent

Talk about the bookstall

Talk about the conference—March 14 and 15 at PBC. Register online SOON!

Now please take a moment of silence to prepare your heart for worship.

Call to Worship (Psalm 34:8-10)

Prayer of Praise (Dennie Hamontree)

For the Cause

Revelation Song

Prayer of Confession (Sam Hamontree), Greed

Assurance of Pardon (Isaiah 1:18)

Now Why This Fear

Christ the Sure and Steady Anchor

Scripture Reading (Ruth 2)

You can find it on page 263 in the black Bibles

Pastoral Prayer (Hopson)

Prayer for PBC—Sunday School

Prayer for sister church—Petsworth Baptist (John Pouchot)

Clarity and wisdom in the building of the new Worship Center

Budget preparation for 2025 that continues to reflects our mission

Hiring of new Pastor of Student Ministries - trust while wait.

Discipling new believers that are continually be added to this community of faith.

Prayer for US—Public schools

Teachers

Children

Local, state, and federal administrators who oversee school curriculum

Prayer for the world—Spain

Leader—Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez

Social issue(s)—Pray against the rise of addiction (alcohol, drugs, sex, gambling)

Spiritual issue(s)—48 million souls, but only 1% evangelical Christian

Local churches—Pillar Network sister church Iglesia Bíblica Vida Nueva in Madrid

Laborers

Pray for the sermon

SERMON

START TIMER!!!

In the fall of 2003 my life was in shambles.

I lost my baby brother a year before, sending me spiraling down a path of selfishness and sin.

I lost my driver’s license a few months before because of my foolishness.

I lost the good relationship I had always enjoyed with my parents because of my anger and rebellion.

I had lost my relationship with another brother, Preston. For most of my life he was my best friend, but not anymore, thanks to my extreme selfishness in pursuing a girl I knew he liked.

I had lost my relationship with that girl—who I thought I loved—and I was listening to a LOT of emo music.

I felt like I had nothing left, and nowhere to turn.

And to add insult to injury, God seemed silent and distant.

Perhaps He was preparing a lightning bolt or two to strike me down. That was what I deserved.

Well, somewhere in the middle of that mess, I met a girl named Holly.

But this is not first and foremost a love story.

Yes, there was a boy named Hopson who met a girl named Holly, and they eventually got married.

But this story is much bigger than that.

This is a story about a God who holds onto His people, even when they try to let go of Him.

This is a story about a God who runs faster than His children who run away.

This is a story about a God who provides better than His people could ever ask or think.

It’s a story that reminds me a lot of our text in Ruth 2.

The story of Ruth begins with a family in shambles.

In the time when the Judges ruled, a man named Elimelech took his wife Naomi and their two sons to look for food in the fields of Moab.

But Elimelech and his two sons all died, leaving Naomi a childless widow.

When she heard the famine had ended in Israel, she made the decision to take the long journey home.

But she returned home a completely different person. She wasn’t pleasant, now she was bitter.

She left full, but returned empty.

But somewhere in the middle of that mess, was a girl named Ruth.

Even though Naomi said she returned empty, she did have Ruth with her.

Ruth had left her religion, her family, her friends, her culture, and her homeland to follow Naomi and serve the God of Israel.

And in our text today a girl named Ruth is going to meet a boy named Boaz, and they will eventually get married.

But this story is much bigger than that.

This is a story about a God who holds onto His people, and runs after those who run away.

This is a story about how God will provide every need for every one of His people.

That’s the Big idea I hope to communicate from God’s Word this morning.

With God’s help, I want to show you from our text Six Truths About How God Provides for His People:

God provides through just LAWS,

… through divine PROVIDENCE,

… through human EFFORT,

… through lavish GENEROSITY,

… through answered PRAYER,

… and through amazing GRACE.

Let’s begin by learning how...

1) God Provides Through Just LAWS.

Ruth 2:1–2—Now Naomi had a relative of her husband’s, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. 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.”

In verse 1, we’re introduced to a new character: a worthy man from Elimelech’s clan named Boaz.

At this point, we’re not sure why he’s mentioned, but eventually the narrator will explain it to us.

For now, I want you to notice what Ruth is going to do in verse 2.

She wants to go to GLEAN in one of the grain fields in Bethlehem.

What is gleaning?

Way back in the days of Moses, God gave His people a LAW that was intended to care for the poor living among them.

Leviticus 19:9–10—“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.”

If you want to make the most money possible selling produce from your crops, you need to harvest EVERYTHING! But the law of God explicitly commanded farmers NOT to do that.

Instead, they shouldn’t harvest the edges of their fields. If they dropped something, they shouldn’t pick it up. Instead, they should deliberately leave all of this for the poor, the immigrant, and the widow.

Now let’s think for a moment about the beauty of a law like this:

It reminds the wealthy that efficiency and maximizing wealth are not the most important things in life.

Think about how laws like this could have worked against the human temptation towards greed!

Gleaning also reminded the poor there is beauty and dignity in working for what we need.

The Law could have said “give the poor money so they can buy food,” but it didn’t.

Instead, it dignified and empowered the poor by encouraging them to work if they were able.

Think about how laws like this could have worked against the human temptation towards laziness!

We don’t live in an agricultural society today, so applying principles like this will take serious thought.

Most of us don’t have jobs like the farmer where we can leave some of our work for the poor.

But perhaps there is work around your house you could easily do yourself, but instead you choose to generously pay someone else to do the work as a way to bless them.

Like paying a young man to cut your grass so he can raise enough money to provide for a wife one day.

Or paying a single mom to help with housework or babysitting.

Maybe the Lord will call some young person in this room to a career in politics, to help pass laws that reform our welfare programs in ways that empower the poor to work and encourage the wealthy to give.

Years ago I went on a tour of the Kentucky School for the Blind in Louisville. It was amazing to me how this school taught the blind to work, even though they could not see. I asked the tour guide why they went to such trouble to teach them. He said the depression and suicide rates for blind people with careers was drastically lower than for those who never learned how to work.

There’s something about work—even for the disabled—that brings dignity and meaning and purpose!

God provides through just laws. But also...

2) God Provides Through Divine PROVIDENCE.

Before we look at the next few verses, remember the historical context of this story.

Ruth 1:1 says it was “in the days when the judges ruled.”

This was a time of great wickedness among the people of God.

They were intermarrying, committing idolatry, making false images, engaging in sexual depravity, and embroiled in violence.

How safe do you think a single young widow would be in the fields of Bethlehem in those days?

How many landowners do you think actually OBEYED the law of God about gleaning?

It really matters where Ruth goes to glean!

But she’s a Moabite woman who’s never been to Bethlehem in her life! How could she possibly know where to go?

Perhaps Naomi could have told her, but Naomi seems depressed.

In verse 2, Naomi didn’t offer to go with Ruth, or give her any tips on the safe parts of town. She just said “Go, my daughter.”

Is there anyone to guide Ruth to the right field?

Ruth 2:3—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.

The narrator tells us Ruth just happened to come upon the field of Boaz.

That’s true, from a human perspective.

But from heaven’s perspective, this was not mere chance. This is the providence of God, providing for His people through what looks like coincidence.

John Piper explains it this way, “Ruth happened to come to Boaz’s field because God is gracious and sovereign even when he is silent.” [1]

In other words, Ruth made it to Boaz’s field because a sovereign God was silently leading her there.

This is what theologians call the doctrine of providence.

One of the best explanations of this doctrine comes from 1561 in the Belgic Confession: “We believe that the same God, after He had created all things, did not forsake them, or give them up to fortune or chance, but that He rules and governs them according to His holy will, so that nothing happens in this world without His appointment.” [2]

In our text, God’s providence is working to provide for the needs of Ruth and Naomi.

Do you believe God’s providence is still actively working today for your good?

Do you believe God is sovereignly guiding the events unfolding around you for your good?

God provides through divine providence. But also...

3) God Provides Through Human EFFORT.

God’s providence led Ruth to Boaz’s field, but it was also providence that Boaz arrived to the field when he did.

Apparently the harvesting was well underway when Boaz arrived, so perhaps he was taking care of paperwork in his home office before he went into the fields.

And when Boaz got to his work, like any good supervisor would, he looks around to see how the work is getting along.

And he notices a young lady he had never seen before.

Ruth 2:4-7—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.”

Here we see another principle about how God provides for His people.

Belief in God’s providence does NOT mean we simply kick up our feet and wait for God to drop everything into our laps.

That’s an erroneous belief called FATALISM.

Charles Spurgeon explains the difference between fatalism and providence this way: “What is fate? Fate is this—Whatever is, must be. But there is a difference between that and Providence. Providence says Whatever God ordains must be; but the wisdom of God never ordains anything without a purpose. Everything in this world is working for some one great end. Fate does not say that. Fate simply says that the thing must be . . . . the doctrine of Providence is not: what is must be; but that what is works together for the good of our race, and especially for the good of the chosen people of God.” [3]

A simple way to test if you believe in providence or fatalism is to test your willingness to work for the good you seek.

For example, many Christians who profess to believe in a big God who is sovereign over salvation also NEVER invite people to repent and believe in the gospel. We say things like, “God will save whoever He wants to save!” but we never open our mouths to TELL THEM about the God who saves.

That is NOT providence, that’s fatalism!

A belief in providence leads us to open our mouths and speak the good news because we really believe God intends to save some through our faithfulness to tell them!

Ruth has turned and trusted in the God of Israel, but that doesn’t mean she simply expects everything to be handed to her.

She walks into Boaz’s field, rolls up her sleeves, and starts working her tail off to provide for her needs.

Martin Luther once put it like this: "God provides food for the birds, but He does not drop it into their beaks."

So let me ask you, Christian, do you believe in fate or providence?

Do you believe God will drop the good you seek into your lap, or do you believe He calls you to take certain steps of faithfulness even as you wait on Him?

If you need financial provision, it’s not enough to trust God to provide. You need to trust God to provide and get a job!

Guys, if you’re like Boaz and you’re interested in one day finding a wife, it’s not enough to trust God to drop the perfect girl into your lap. You need to trust God to provide and start going taking godly girls out on dates!

If you’re longing for a child, it’s not enough to trust God to simply give you a baby miraculously! You need to get busy. . . filling out your adoption paperwork or whatever.

You get the point!

God provides through human effort. But also...

4) God Provides Through Lavish GENEROSITY.

Now our love story is beginning to unfold.

After inquiring about Ruth, Boaz decides to approach her...

Ruth 2:8–9—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 tells Ruth, “Listen young lady, you’ll have more than enough if you stay in my field. You can have whatever you need. I’m going to protect you from any of my creepy employees trying to hit on you. Whenever you’re thirsty, come to the official water cooler and you can have what you need.”

Now we see why verse 1 said Boaz was a worthy man.

He is going far beyond the requirements of the law.

He is treating this Moabite girl as if she’s a Jewish queen!

And the only thing Ruth can say is “Why me?”

Ruth 2:10–12—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?” 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!”

I want you to notice first what Boaz doesn’t say. He doesn’t say “I’m treating you this way because you look SO good!”

Ruth probably looks pretty horrible at this point. She’s sweating like a pig working in Boaz’s field. She probably stinks. She doesn’t have fancy clothes or perfume or makeup. She’s a poor widow doing manual labor in the hot sun just to survive.

That is NOT why Boaz is developing an attraction for Ruth.

Young people: do not make physical appearance the most important thing when it comes to your romantic life.

I am NOT saying that physical appearance isn’t important. But some of you have Jerry Seinfeld standards that NO real woman could ever meet!

Proverbs 31:30—Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

You would do well, young men, to follow in the footsteps of Boaz.

He is attracted to Ruth because of her CHARACTER.

And because of that initial attraction, Boaz responds to Ruth with lavish generosity...

Ruth 2:14–17—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. 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.” So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley.

First, Boaz buys Ruth’s lunch.

Guys, when you take a young lady on a date YOU need to pay for the food. Okay? We will put you under church discipline if we hear any of you men go dutch on a date with a young lady.

And you do this, not expecting some sort of physical return on investment. You do it because you’re an honorable man who wants to demonstrate what it looks like to care for and lead a lady.

Then, Boaz tells his workers, “don’t mess with this girl when she’s out there in the fields. And why don’t you drop a little extra grain on the ground for her to pick up.”

At the end of the day, Ruth gleans an entire ephah of barley!

Wow, a whole ephah huh? Impressive!

This would’ve been somewhere between 29-50 pounds of barely, or several week’s worth of food for the average worker.

It’s basically the size of one of those colossal bags of dog food at Costco. [4]

That is lavish generosity!

But you know, even if there’s a little attraction here, I don’t think Boaz is primarily motivated by romantic feelings for Ruth.

I think Boaz is motivated to show grace, because he is a recipient of grace.

Do you remember who Boaz’s mother was?

She’s not mentioned in this book, but she is mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus.

Matthew 1:5a (CEB)—Salmon was the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab....

Like Ruth, Boaz’s mom was a foreigner. Like Ruth, Boaz’s mom was formerly an idol worshipper. And I’m sure people thought Ruth was damaged goods, much like they thought about Boaz’s mom who was formerly a prostitute.

But Rahab forsook her old life in order to follow the God of Israel, and Ruth has done the same thing.

And Boaz is drawn to show grace, because he has seen what grace can do in his own family.

What about you, Christian?

Is your life marked by lavish generosity?

Do you freely extend grace to others, even when they don’t deserve it, knowing you have received grace yourself?

I want to take a sidebar here for a moment to address something in our life together as a church.

Holly and I were having a conversation with some of our kids recently when we realized they didn’t understand why GIVING is an important part of our life together as a church.

And it occurred to me that if my kids—who are here almost every time the doors are open—don’t understand the importance of giving, than maybe some of you don’t either.

I shared this concern with the elders, and we agreed it was time to bring back an old ingredient to our worship services here at PBC.

If you were here before the advent of Covid-19, you remember we used to pass around an offering plate during our worship services.

And then we were all afraid that we’d infect each other if we touched the same surface, so we transitioned to the giving boxes near the exits.

And then we just got used to that, and never collected an offering again.

Now I want to be clear: PBC’s finances are fine. If you were with us last Sunday night for our Members’ Meeting, you know that.

This is not about some urgent financial need. But it IS about God’s people needing a regular reminder that we need to be GIVERS.

So beginning next Sunday, after the prayer of confession, you’re going to remain seated for the first verse of the song while an offering plate is passed. You may have already given online or in the black boxes. Maybe you’re not able to give anything. That’s fine! But let that offering plate be a visual reminder to you as it passes that God wants His people to be gracious givers!

God provides through lavish generosity. But also...

5) God Provides Through Answered PRAYER.

I want to go back for a moment to something Boaz said to Ruth in...

Ruth 2:12—“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!”

This is basically a prayer that Boaz is offering on Ruth’s behalf.

He’s praying, “May God provide for you, Ruth. You’ve taken refuge under His wings. May God keep His promises and meet every single one of your needs!”

Now here’s what I love about these words.

God is going to answer Boaz’s prayer.

But God is going to use Boaz to answer his own prayer request!

Boaz prays, “God, please take care of Ruth,” and God replies, “Alright, you marry her then!”

Here’s the takeaway for us: God provides in response to the prayers of His people, but He loves to use US as the human means of His provision.

For example, don’t just pray “God save my children!” Pray that, then tell your children the gospel!

Don’t just pray, “God help those missionaries!” Pray that, then see what the Lord would call you to give to help them.

Don’t just pray, “Lord, meet that need in my church!” Pray that, then ask the Lord what you should do to help.

Don’t just pray along with the elders as we pray for needs in our country or around the world. Pray and ask God how He wants you to get involved.

God provides through answered prayer. But finally...

6) God Provides Through Amazing GRACE.

At the end of a hard day’s work in Boaz’s field, Ruth heads home to her mother-in-law, Naomi.

Now remember where we left Naomi in chapter 1.

She was bitter and angry. She told people to stop calling her Naomi, which means “pleasant” and start calling her Mara, meaning “bitter.”

She’s depressed, and has no motivation to do anything but sit at home.

This is a woman who has been devastated by unspeakable loss.

This is a woman who needs a reason to continue. This is a woman needing hope.

Thankfully Naomi serves a God who provides every need for every one of His people.

Even while Naomi’s heart feels dead and empty, God is working to bring it slowly back to life.

And it begins when she sees her daughter-in-law walking home with a MASSIVE haul from her day gleaning in Boaz’s fields...

Ruth 2:19—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.”

Now remember, Ruth is new to Bethlehem.

She didn’t know Boaz from Adam. To her, he’s just an incredibly generous and godly man who took notice of her.

But Naomi’s not a move-in. She’s from here. She knows something Ruth doesn’t know...

Ruth 2:20—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.”

What does Naomi mean that Boaz is “one of our redeemers?”

Remember last week we talked about LEVIRATE MARRIAGES.

SHOW LEVIRATE MARRIAGE SLIDE

In those days, women had very few civil rights, and were incredibly vulnerable without a husband to care for them.

If a woman’s husband died, she was even more vulnerable since many men wouldn’t want to marry a woman that had already been married.

So God’s law created a way to provide for widows. The widow’s husband’s brother, if he was unmarried, would marry the widow and care for her.

That man was called a redeemer.

Now technically the law only applied to the brother of the deceased, but occasionally other relatives would care for a widowed woman in this way.

And Naomi is saying, “Boaz just may be one of those guys!”

But I want you to notice two comments Naomi makes that suggest the Lord is graciously softening her stony heart...

First, she says “our.”

That might not seem like a big deal, but read chapter 1 again this afternoon.

Naomi says “I,” “me,” and “my” a LOT in chapter 1.

Who could blame her? She’s lost almost everything.

But in her loss she is blind to the amazing grace God gave her when He gave her Ruth.

But now, Naomi’s eyes are beginning to open.

Second, Naomi says God is kind.

Remember last week we said Naomi believed God was sovereign, but she didn’t believe God was good.

God is reminding Naomi of His goodness.

And she admits that God’s kindness hasn’t forsaken her!

Isn’t our God’s grace amazing?

He doesn’t only provide for our physical needs, He provides for the needs in our hearts too.

Naomi needed a reason to hope again, and God gave it to her.

He didn’t angrily condemn her for struggling to believe. He gently opened her eyes.

As I look back on my own story, I can see countless times when God was doing the same thing in my life.

In 2002, when I prayed fervently for God to save my baby brother, God said no.

Although I couldn’t see it at the time, it wasn’t because God wasn’t strong or kind.

God said no because He wanted to say yes to something better.

To this day, I do not know all the ways God has turned that tragedy into good.

But I do know this.

Had God answered my prayer that night, I probably wouldn’t have run from Him the way I did.

Which means I probably wouldn’t have made a mess of my life by the fall of 2003.

Which means I would never have received a random message on AOL Instant Messenger from some random girl, confronting me for the stupid and selfish ways I was treating my brother Preston.

And if you haven’t already guessed it, that girl’s name was Holly.

Christian, when God doesn’t give you what you ask for, it’s because He’s giving you something better.

Sometimes we can only understand this by looking in the rear view mirror.

And as helpful as it is to look at all the ways God has provided for you in your life, it’s even more important to look further back.

Look back, not merely to the past few decades. Look back two thousand years to a bloody hill.

Romans 8:32—He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?

This is not a promise that God will give you everything you want.

But a promise that He will give you everything you NEED.

And the reason for the promise is because He has already given you the best thing He could ever give you! He’s already given you His Son!!!

Unbeliever: repent and believe!

Christian: rejoice! God will provide EVERY need for EVERY one of His people, because He has already given us amazing grace. He has already given us His Son.

Prayer of Thanksgiving

This Is Amazing Grace

Benediction (Philippians 4:19–20)

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.