Unit 9 Session 3 Following God’s Guidance

ANNOUNCEMENTS

All Church Outreach this Saturday at 10am

No midweek prayer gathering this week.

Combined adult Sunday school next week for Missions Conference. Meet in the auditorium.

Awana begins October 6th at 5:45pm. Please sign up your child.

INTRODUCTION

Big Picture Question: What is the fair payment for sin? The fair payment for sin is death.

Key Passage: Romans 6:23 “23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Last week we saw the state of chaos in which the children of Israel lived during the time of the Judges. The dominant narrative of this time period was sin, suffering, and chaos.

Today, we’re going to follow one family that lived during the time of the judges. This story abound with radical love, unmerited grace, and redemption.

The book of Ruth is a surprising story of redeeming love that proves God has not abandoned His mission. His faithful love will never give up.

I want you to think about this question as we walk through the book of Ruth: What are some pictures of the Gospel that we find in this story?

Here’s where we’re going today — Faithful love is not focused inwardly, but outwardly, seeking the welfare of others.

All the Light We Cannot See is a 2014 war novel by American author Anthony Doerr. The novel is set during World War II. It revolves around the characters Marie-Laure LeBlanc, a blind French girl who takes refuge in her great-uncle's house in Saint-Malo after Paris is invaded by Nazi Germany, and Werner Pfennig, a bright German boy who is accepted into a military school because of his skills in radio technology. The book alternates between paralleling chapters depicting Marie-Laure and Werner, framed with a nonlinear structure.

The Bible follows this same structure. A story within a story. How does Ruth fit with the broader story of Scripture.

In our own lives/stories, sin is so overwhelming and the resulting brokenness so vast, that it’s easy to lose sight of the larger story — the story of God’s saving grace that overcomes all odds. That’s why the Bible turns our attention to it consistently.

In the book of Ruth, we get to follow Ruth, Boaz, and Naomi as they navigate the world of sin while also being able to situate this story in the broader narrative of Scripture.

So here’s a question as we begin: What examples of faithful love have you experienced, and why are these stories compelling? (a marriage that lasts five or six decades; parents who consistently seek after a wayward son or daughter; a church that loves a suffering member and intentionally bears his or her burdens)

Transition: Stories such as these show the blessing of maintaining love and commitment in the face of suffering or sin, the costly nature of true love, and the beauty that comes from faithful love over time.

POINT #1: FAITHFUL LOVE IS LOYAL (Ruth 1:6-9,16-17)

Ruth 1:6–9 KJV 1900

6 Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread. 7 Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was, and her two daughters in law with her; and they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah. 8 And Naomi said unto her two daughters in law, Go, return each to her mother’s house: the Lord deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me. 9 The Lord grant you that ye may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them; and they lifted up their voice, and wept.

Naomi and Ruth found themselves in a brutal set of circumstances. They were without husbands and children, and Ruth was a Moabite.

Widows

Moabitess

What reasons would Ruth have had to return to Moab with Orpah? (she was familiar with life in Moab while Bethlehem was totally unknown; her prospects of a healthy, fruitful life were much more likely in Moab; her familial connection to Naomi was dead; she would be considered an outsider in Israel and likely despised for her heritage and history)

Ruth 1:16–17 KJV 1900

16 And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: 17 Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.

Think of what Ruth was saying here:

First, she was leaving her homeland and all that she had known to go to an unknown country.

Second, she would enter that country as an outsider — a hated outsider at that — where she would need to fight for her survival alongside an aged widow.

Third, she was also giving up the hope of finding a Moabite husband who could provide for her, give her children, and offer her the normal life she surely desired.

Ruth chose to leave behind her own people and her old gods to align herself with Naomi’s “people” and Naomi’s “God.” She laid down all of her hopes and dreams and chose to go and stay with Naomi until “death.”

Ruth chose loyal love for Naomi over her own comfort. In this, she reflected the faithfulness of the God in whose image she was created.

Many stories found in the Old Testament are meant to portray an aspect of the character of God. This is true of Ruth’s loyalty to Naomi.

God is faithful to the promises He makes to His people. God, through the Son, willingly entered into the pain and brokenness of the human experience and stayed true to His commitment to love His people, even though faithfulness to that commitment would come at great cost. This type of loyal love is the only hope sinful humans have for salvation. Surely, we who are dead in trespasses and sins have no hope of salvation apart from the loyal love of God keeping His word, seeking us out, and providing a way for us to be brought back into right relationship with Him.

Like Ruth, What are some ways we can model the loyal love of God in our relationships? (through commitment and faithfulness to our marriage vows; through loyal membership in the local church; through meaningful friendships with others that bear one another’s burdens no matter the cost)

Transition: Loyalty isn’t merely a sentimental feeling or fleeting emotion. It involves action. God always acts with faithfulness toward His people. He also shows grace to the outsiders. We see this attribute of God reflected in the way Boaz treated Ruth.

POINT #2: FAITHFUL LOVE IS GRACIOUS (Ruth 2:2-3,8-12)

Ruth 1:19 KJV 1900

19 So they two went until they came to Beth-lehem. And it came to pass, when they were come to Beth-lehem, that all the city was moved about them, and they said, Is this Naomi?

Imagine going back to your hometown after being away for a few decades and bumping into people you once knew (like a Hallmark movie or something). Perhaps life has gone well and you are pleased to show off your family and successful life. Maybe things have not gone so well for you. You might be ashamed of the choices you’ve made, the weight you’ve gained, or the relationships you’ve lost. Some of us would go home with our heads held high. Others, would come back looking at the ground.

Naomi surely would have been in the latter group, which is why she told people to call her “bitter.” (Ruth 1:20-21) She’d been beaten up by life and would not have been the person you’d pick to bounce back.

Naomi and Ruth had two needs: food and family.

Ruth 2:2–3 (KJV 1900)

2 And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said unto her, Go, my daughter. 3 And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech.

Ruth the Moabite knew she needed to work to provide for her and Naomi, but she also knew she would need favor, or grace, if they were to survive.

Why did Ruth recognize she would need grace? (Moabite status)

I hope you can begin to see God’s providence at work in the lives of our main characters — Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz. Naomi didn’t just “happen” upon Boaz’s field. etc…

Throughout this book, God is the One orchestrating events, not Ruth or Naomi, yet it is also God working through Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz to arrange the circumstances of the story to show His manifold generosity to His people.

Ruth is not only a story of God’s kindness to His people Israel, it is also symbolic of the myriad Gentile outsiders whom God grafts into His grand story of redemption.

Last week we saw God keep His promise to Israel by sending Samson to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines. This week we find an Israelite man being the conduit through which God’s grace and redemption flow to a Moabite widow.

Ruth 2:8–12 KJV 1900

8 Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens: 9 Let thine eyes be on the field that they do reap, and go thou after them: have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee? and when thou art athirst, go unto the vessels, and drink of that which the young men have drawn. 10 Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger? 11 And Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath fully been shewed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother in law since the death of thine husband: and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore. 12 The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust.

Boaz was a conduit of God’s grace to Ruth and Naomi as he secured Ruth’s provision and protection. In this, Boaz prefigured Jesus, who showers His grace on all who come to Him for refuge.

What’s significant about Boaz’s actions towards Ruth?

For all who have trusted in Jesus, all who know God, who are children of God, who have trusted in God’s grace to save them from their sins, to restore them into relationship with Him. For everyone who has done this, you have come to the God of the universe and under His wings you have refuge. — David Platt

What does it mean to find refuge in God? (we trust God for our provision and protection; believing that God is the Creator and Sustainer of the world with sovereign control over it; trusting God that He has the solution for our sin problem and saves us from sin’s eternal consequences; leaving behind every other source of comfort in this world for the promise of God’s reward

Transition: Tied up in the truth that faithful love is gracious is the outworking of that grace. We find God’s love and grace revealed in the biblical concept of redemption, by which God makes us His own.

POINT #3: FAITHFUL LOVE IS REDEEMING (Ruth 4:9-10,13-17)

Ruth 4:9–10 KJV 1900

9 And Boaz said unto the elders, and unto all the people, Ye are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, of the hand of Naomi. 10 Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place: ye are witnesses this day.

Here we find a sneak peak into an Israelite cultural practice called the Levirate Marriage: The process by which a brother or closest male relative (known as the kinsman-redeemer) would marry a dead Israelite’s childless widow so as to father a son to preserve the dead man’s family line (Deuteronomy 25:5-10). The son would take the dead man’s name and inherit the deceased’s land (see Ruth 3:12-13; 4:1-15)

In the book of Ruth, the obligations of a kinsman redeemer play out in a real-life scenario. Naomi’s husband and sons had died in Moab, and after many years Naomi and Ruth arrive in Bethlehem. Boaz is a near kinsman and is honored to be asked to act as the redeemer, but there is a closer relative who has the first right. When the closer kinsman declines because the cost of redemption and marrying Ruth would put his own estate at risk, Boaz, at great cost to himself, pays the price to redeem the land and takes Ruth as his wife.

But this theme points beyond finances, because our greatest need is not for someone to pay off financial debts—however great that need might be—but for someone to redeem us from the debt our sins have incurred. This is how the Old Testament idea of the kinsman redeemer bears on our understanding of redemption through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

In the story of Ruth, Boaz’s actions go beyond mere rescuing from debts. Here we find an Old Testament image of an Essential Doctrine.

Essential Doctrine #78: Bride of Christ: The church is described as the bride of Christ, faithfully waiting for the day when Christ will return and heaven and earth will be one. Made up of all believers from all tongues and nations, the church is the bride that Christ redeemed. The picture of a bride also speaks to the permanence of Christ’s relationship with the church, for marriage was intended by God to be a lasting covenant between a man and a woman (Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:5).

The Lord does not merely forgive sins; He brings people into a covenant relationship with Himself so they become one — like a marriage. Because Jesus, the Son of God, laid down His life for the purification of sinners, we, the church, become the pure bride of Christ (see Ephesians 5:22-33).

What are some ways believers resemble or ought to resemble Ruth? (by nature, being children of Adam, we are born outside of the people of God and live as enemies of God; we should work hard and hold on to the promise of God’s grace at the same time; our redemption from sin has been purchased by and graciously applied to us in Jesus Christ; we ought to be committed to the people of God, the church, with loyal love)

Ruth 4:13–17 KJV 1900

13 So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife: and when he went in unto her, the Lord gave her conception, and she bare a son. 14 And the women said unto Naomi, Blessed be the Lord, which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel. 15 And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age: for thy daughter in law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath born him. 16 And Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became nurse unto it. 17 And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

The true love story of Ruth illustrates our need for redemption from sin, and Ruth’s descendant, Jesus Christ, came to redeem the nations.

The love story that we find in Ruth is part of a bigger story in Israel and an even bigger story in the world. Centuries later, the name of Ruth shows up in a far more important genealogy — that of Jesus Christ, the redeemer of the nations (Matthew 1:5,16).

MY RESPONSE

Because we have been redeemed by an act of God’s love, we extend the same kind of steadfast, gracious love to others so that they too might find redemption through Jesus Christ.

HEAD:

The gospel reminds us that God loved sinful outsiders like us enough that He sent His Son to redeem us from the sinful messes our lives became. He entered into a covenant relationship with us as the redeemed church symbolized by marriage. We should be astounded at the great cost God paid to redeem each and every believer and forever be grateful for the grace He has shown in making His church the bride of Christ.

How could the metaphor of human marriage help you testify to the love of Christ for sinners?

HEART:

What are some ways you will express your thankfulness for who Jesus is and what He has done to love you?

HANDS:

The love demonstrated in the true story of Ruth is active. Love requires that wee do something both to see a need and to act to meet that need.

What needs have you observed that you will now meet and so demonstrate the love of God in Christ?