Ruth: God’s Faithfulness to Ruth

NOTES: God’s faithful witness to Ruth

God’s faithful redemption of Ruth

Ruth was willing to take a step of faith and follow Naomi back to Bethlehem. She put herself under the Lordship of YAHWEH and God was faithful to her.

Think of all the people on earth and all the people who have ever lived. Ruth was a nobody and yet here God is faithfully reaching her in the land of Moab and bringing her to Himself.

Ruth was a nobody. You are a nobody. Let’s all be nobodies telling everybody about somebody.

SERMON:

Introduction:

We are going to be in the book of Ruth again this morning. Last week we saw God’s faithfulness to Naomi. Today we are going to see God’s faithfulness to Ruth.

God’s faithful witness to Ruth

Now I really want you to see something in Naomi’s conversation with her daughter in laws before they make their trip back home. It’s what I’m calling Naomi’s realistic example of evangelism.

Evangelism is something that I personally struggle with. I have a hard time finding ways to naturally transition the conversation to spiritual things. I often find myself lacking the boldness needed to say what is needed and as a result I often feel guilty for not sharing Jesus with others the way I should.

Can anyone else relate to that feeling???

So I have read many different books on evangelism hoping that I will find a method to use that will transform my evangelism efforts. Some of these books are good some not as good. Sometimes I’ll read a book and the author will tell story after story of ways they’ve used their method to great success.

You know they strike up a conversation with the person sitting next to them on their flight home from some conference and by the time they land the whole row has repented of their sins and put their faith in Christ.

But when I try it it seems to never work and I’m left feeling discouraged wondering if I have the “gift” of evangelism whatever that is.

But with Naomi it’s different. Naomi is far from a super Christian. In fact this conversation she has with her daughter in-laws comes in the middle of a faith crisis. She’s struggling to understand why the Lord has dealt with her this way. She is a long ways from being classified as on fire for God.

But as we will see she has been changed by God and although she doesn’t evangelize Ruth and Orpah in the way I’d necessarily recommend it is realistic it is doable and it’s not based on a strict method or conversation plan. But instead it comes from a place of sacrificial love and mustard seed sized faith. She evangelized with word and deed with love and truth.

Let’s read and see what we can learn.

Ruth 1:7–18 (ESV)

7 So she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. 8 But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to her mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. 9 The Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband!” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. 10 And they said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.” 11 But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? 12 Turn back, my daughters; go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons, 13 would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me.” 14 Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. 15 And she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” 16 But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.” 18 And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more.

See what I mean by a realistic example of evangelism? Maybe even realistic is too positive of a word. Because her strategy is very flawed.But what’s beautiful and effective about her approach to evangelism is that there is no strategy here. There’s no method. There is truth covered in sacrificial love.

Naomi tells her daughter in laws to return to their mothers home in hope that they can find another husband. They are still young and there’s hope that they could re-marry.

Again, in this culture marriage and children was the moabite version of the American dream. It was everything to the women of this day. So Naomi tells them it only makes sense for them to stay. She after all is old and has no more sons to give them.

But it’s interesting. You know how in Ecclesiastes Solomon says their is nothing new under the sun? He was right. We live in a post-modern world where everyone is entitled to their truth. It doesn’t matter if my truth contradicts your truth what’s true for you is true for you and what’s true for me is true for me.

And actually it’s quite offensive to imply that my truth is wrong just because it contradicts with your truth.

Well the same was true in this day when it came to religion. Every nation or tribe or family had their god. And their god was true for them. They would never expect you to convert to their god and they wouldn’t expect you to try to convert them to your god. The only wrong thing you could do was to say that only my god is the true god.

That would be offensive. That would be saying their truth is wrong. But that’s what we see over and over again with the God of the Old Testament the God that we still worship today. He is constantly making an exclusivity argument. He says he is the only God their are no other gods before Him.

Why does that matter for our text today Well look at what Naomi says to her daughter in-laws. She says, “May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. 9 The Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband!”

When she says LORD she’s using the proper name for God of YAHWEH. It’s an exclusivity claim. This wouldn’t be the norm for this day. It would have been far more polite to say, May your gods bless you and give you rest.”

But Naomi doesn’t do that. As her parting words to Ruth and Orpah she wants them to know that it is only YAHWEH that can bless them. Only the LORD can give them rest. Their gods have no power only the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob have any power to grant blessings and rest.

She’s loving them with truth. She wants them to remember who is in control. Now she doesn’t do this perfectly. Lets read verses 14 and 15 again

Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. 15 And she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.”

See what I mean. She tells them that it’s the Lord who will bless them. It’s only the Lord that can grant you rest. Your gods can’t do that. Your gods have no power. Only the Lord can be kind to you. But in the same breath we see the weakness of her faith when she continues to push Ruth to follow Orpah back to her gods.

But Ruth see’s something in Naomi that radically changes her life. Ruth sees something in Naomi that doesn’t allow her to go back to the land of Moab. Look at verses Ruth 1:16–17 “16 But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”

That’s a conversion experience. When she says your God will be my God and when she says, “May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.” It’s in this moment that Ruth puts herself under the Lordship of Yahweh. The God of Israel. The only true God.

And in this moment we see that Ruth actually has more faith than Naomi. But what is it that lead to this conversion. What did Ruth see in Naomi that led to her conversion to Yahweh?

It was sacrificial love. Why did Naomi not want Ruth to come with her back to Bethlehem? Was it really because she was indifferent towards the differences between the moabite gods and Israel’s God? Was she really indifferent to having a companion with her?

No i don’t think that’s the case. In every way imaginable Naomi would be far better off with Ruth by her side. Naomi was growing old. She needed someone to go into the fields and harvest the scraps that were left over. She wasn’t able to do that anymore in her old age.

She needed someone to look after her as she continued to age. Don’t get me wrong as two other widows Ruth and Orpah wouldn’t be too much help but they would be far better than no one. Naomi was about to finish her life in extreme poverty and loneliness. Having her two daughter in-laws would have been a tremendous help to her in her old age. But instead she tells them to stay. Why? Why wouldn’t she want them to come with?

Well there are some very ominous clues in the book of Ruth that make Naomi’s desire to for Ruth to stay in Moab make sense.

Look at verse Ruth 1:1 “1 In the days when the judges ruled.

The story of Ruth takes place during the time of the Judges. If you read the book of Judges what you will find is Israel falling into increasing depths of depravity epitomized by the account of a group of evil men who sexually assault a woman then divide her limb by limb and send her body across the twelve tribes of Israel. Diabolical. Disgusting. Evil. That’s the culture of Israel in the time of the judges. It’s no wonder the Lord had brought a famine.

But then look at Ruth 2:8–9 when Ruth mets Boaz and begins to glean in his field. Listen to what Boaz says to Ruth.

“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?

Then again look at Ruth 2:22 “22 And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, lest in another field you be assaulted.””

Do you see the implications here? Ruth if you go to another field you will be assaulted by men. In fact, Boaz had to give specific instructions to his own servants not to touch her.

Israel was not a safe place for women. But even worse. Israel was not a safe place for a moabite woman a foreign woman. If it wasn’t for Ruth’s chance encounter with Boaz then Ruth would have most likely lived a life filled with unimaginable horrors. She would have been in constant danger of what evil horrifying men would do to her.

And Naomi knew it. Do you understand a little more why Naomi wanted Ruth to stay in Moab. In Moab Ruth would have a chance to marry again she was still young. But in Israel. In Israel she would be in constant danger.

So Naomi pleads with Ruth to stay. She pleads with Ruth to stay in Moab and she prays that the Lord would be kind to her. There was no chance that Ruth would find a husband in Israel. She was a foreign woman. She would only find abuse.

My favorite definition of love is this. Love is a self sacrificing commitment to secure at any cost the highest good of another without expecting anything in return.”

That’s what Naomi did for Ruth. She sacrificed her well being for Ruth. Naomi would have been far better off with Ruth by her side. But instead she sacrifices her good for the good of Ruth without expecting anything in return. In fact the way Naomi loved Ruth was to leave her behind so Ruth couldn’t repay her.

It was sacrificial love that blew Ruth off her feet and it changed her. She wanted to be apart of that love. She wanted the God of that love to be her God.

This is how we share the gospel with others. It’s not through some carefully crafted method of conversation. Naomi loved Ruth with the truth. She acknowledged that it was only the God of Israel that could bless Ruth. That only the God of Israel was the true God. But she also loved her with sacrifice.

But you also see that Naomi’s love for Ruth was not based on Ruth’s chances of conversion to judaism. You see that’s the problem with the way we often love people. We love others hoping that our love for them will allow us to share the gospel with them and our love for them becomes part of a greater strategy to win them to Christ.

When we love people in order to share the gospel with them that’s just manipulation and people can spot it a mile away. Your neighbor, friend, co-worker need to know that you will love them sacrificially whether they become a Christian or not.

Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 2:8 “8 So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.”

Do your neighbors know this? Do they know that you are willing to share not only the truth with them but your very lives? Do they feel loved by you in a way that doesn’t make sense?

Some of you really like to “love” people with the truth. You love to get in arguments with people and prove how the truth of the bible is far superior to their truth. But in reality you don’t really love people you love winning arguments.

This might be you if you find yourself “winning” a lot of arguments online but seeing no evidence of actual fruit in peoples lives. Maybe you like to “own the libs” In fact you are probably beating me in an argument in your head right now about how your right and I’m wrong.

Or maybe your more like me…

You love to be nice to people. You serve them. Your kind to them but you never quite find a way to bring up truth. If that’s you the reality is that you don’t really love people. You love how it makes you feel when you do something nice. You love the feeling of being loved by others because of how nice you are.

If you truly love people. You will be willing to say the hard things. You’ll love people with the truth. But you will also love people through sacrificial love.

I think in Naomi we find another way. A better way even if it may be somewhat flawed. You see the problem with our strategy is that it’s a strategy. Naomi didn’t have a plan. She didn’t have steps to follow. She wasn’t trying to win an argument and she wasn’t just trying to be nice at the expense of sharing truth.

She didn’t love Ruth in order to share her faith with her Rather, she share’d truth and sacrifice with Ruth in order to love her.

Here’s the point and we can move on. Share truth and love with your neighbor. Share your faith and yourselves with the lost.

Worry less about a strategy and just love them with word and deed.

You don’t have to be a super Christian to do this. Naomi shared her life in the middle of pain. Things weren’t going her way. She was struggling. She wasn’t happy with God. She was wrestling with God. She was angry with God. But God had changed her. Has He changed you? If He has. If you’ve experienced the saving love of God in your life then you can do what Naomi has did