The God Who Loves

Observation: Boaz uses his authority to protect and provide for Ruth

Is this a Love Story?

YES!

Recap CH1-3

Ch 1 Acquisition of Ruth - Ruth’s love and dedication to Naomi

Ch 2 Kindness of Boaz to Ruth & affection

Ch 3 The Proposal

Ch 4 The Redemption

Ch 5 The Marriage

This love story is meant to tell of a greater love story

The primary characters are not the primary love story

Today I want us to take a closer look at these two lovers because in doing so I believe God will give us clarity of His love through human agency

The Nobility of Boaz

Ch3

Right thing, Right way, Right time

Didn’t take advantage of her

Then he follows all of the steps legally he doesn’t cut corners

Engagement is a season where you want to cut corners!

What makes lust is not that the END that is to be desired is BAD - it’s only bad because lust does not honor God’s TIME or God’s way! - Sex is GOOD and it can be the RIGHT thing to be desired

The MEANS do not justify the END. The means matter!

Ch4 Legality -

Price to be paid

Land

Marriage

Name

today people opt for cohabitation and lustful living because the cost of marriage is too high

to be bound legally, covenantally, financially and sexually

Boaz is willing to pay this price - WHY

Cost of Kindness

Ruth 1:8 NIV

8 Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me.

Ruth 2:20 NIV

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.”

There is much debate as to whose "kindness" Naomi is referring to. The ESV adds a comma after "LORD," thus indicating Boaz's kindness. The NASB has no comma, indicating God's. The NET footnote claims Boaz's kindness because of the grammatical similarity to 2 Samuel 2:5, saying that a clearer English translation would be "May he be blessed by the LORD because his kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!" "The living or the dead" refers to Naomi and Ruth as the living and Naomi's husband and sons as the dead. The men had a responsibility to protect and provide for their wives; with their deaths, God fulfills His promise to take on that responsibility (Deuteronomy 10:18).

Ruth 3:10 NIV

10 “The Lord bless you, my daughter,” he replied. “This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor.

Psalm 100:5 NIV

5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

"Kindness" is hesed and serves as a major theme of the book of Ruth. Despite living in a foreign country without their husbands, Naomi and Ruth gradually learn that God has not forsaken them. That power, sovereignty, and authority protects as well as judges.

Boaz is a conduit of the Kindness of God

His hesedendures forever. God’s hesed always inspires people to show hesed.

§ In chapter one, Naomi prays that God would show hesed to her daughter-in-laws because they showed hesed to their dead husbands and to Naomi.

§ In chapter two, Naomi says that Baoz hasn’t stopped showing hesed but she also means that God hasn’t stopped showing His hesed.

§ In chapter three, when Boaz realized Ruth is willing to marry him for the sake of helping to support and redeem Naomi, he says that what she displays is hesed.

In response to Ruth’s hesed, we now see Boaz embody hesed. He is inspired and shows the loyal love that Ruth has showed, and that God has showed.

Here is a helpful way to think about hesed: Kindness that cost something.

What’s the diff between lust & love?

Lust is cheap Love is costly!

How do we apply this message?

1 John 4:7–11 ESV

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

We demonstrate a costly kindness towards others.

Examples

§ Maybe there is a family member who is in need, and giving them time to listen to them or help them with something they need is time you don’t have. When you give up your time to be with them; that is a kindness that costs you something.

§ It could be a co-worker who needs help. It isn’t your job to help them, but you are going to give up time you don’t have to help them, it will cost you something.

§ Students, if you are living at home and you give up some chill time to help one of your parents clean the house, unprompted. I promise that is a kindness that won’t go unnoticed!

How we show love to others is the defining characteristic of a follower of Jesus. Is that a defining characteristic of your life?

The kindness that costs something isn’t just limited to how we express love to other people, it is also how we express love to God.

§ When was the last time you gave financially to the Lord and what you gave actually cost you something? You had to give up something to willingly and intentionally to honor God?

§ Think about our worship, it costs us something. Showing up on Sunday mornings is not convenient. But that is part of the point. When we are willing to give up one thing to be here to worship God, don’t you think He notices and is blessed by it?

§ When we publicly tell others we love and follow Him, it costs us something.

Baptism has been the historic Christian expression of love and worship for God by publicly proclaiming we have decided to follow Jesus. It is like Boaz gathering the elders of the town for a court hearing and making public our commitment to follow Jesus no matter what. And like the town celebrated, when Christians make their faith public through baptism, we celebrate.

What is a decision you can make to love that will cost you something?

Main Idea: Kindness is costly

Redemption is costly, but not only is redemption costly, love is costly - kindness is costly.

Are you willing to pay the cost of kindness?

Passage

Ruth 4:1–12 NIV

1 Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat down there just as the guardian-redeemer he had mentioned came along. Boaz said, “Come over here, my friend, and sit down.” So he went over and sat down. 2 Boaz took ten of the elders of the town and said, “Sit here,” and they did so. 3 Then he said to the guardian-redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our relative Elimelek. 4 I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do so. But if you will not, tell me, so I will know. For no one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in line.” “I will redeem it,” he said. 5 Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the land from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the dead man’s widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property.” 6 At this, the guardian-redeemer said, “Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it.” 7 (Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel.) 8 So the guardian-redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it yourself.” And he removed his sandal. 9 Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, “Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelek, Kilion and Mahlon. 10 I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from his hometown. Today you are witnesses!” 11 Then the elders and all the people at the gate said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the family of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. 12 Through the offspring the Lord gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.”

Kyle’s

The God I Wish You Knew The God Who Loves Ruth 4:1-12

How do you know if someone loves you?

Is it a feeling thing? Is it what they say? Or is it what they do?

Today, we come to point in the story of Ruth that is all about love. Turn open to Ruth chapter four. As you are turning there let me catch you up if you are just joining us.

Naomi left her hometown during a famine to move to Moab; there her husband and her two sons died. She moves back home to Bethlehem with her daughter-in-law, Ruth from Moab. The situation these women faced was dire. But God has showed up throughout this story, He is the God who welcomes them, He provided for them and protected them, and as we saw last week, He is the God who redeems. We left off last week after Ruth had basically asked Boaz, a relative of Naomi, if he would marry Ruth to help save the family land and the family name. Last week ended on a cliff-hanger, wondering what would happen with Boaz and if he would be successful in legally saving Ruth and Naomi. That brings us to the court.

The Court: Ruth 4:1-4

Boaz shows up to the town gate as this is the place where business was done in cities in the Ancient Near East. He shows up “just”as the other man mentioned last week walks by. What chance! Here again, this phrase is to remind us of a similar phrase we read in chapter two when “as it turned out” Ruth walked into Boaz field for the first time looking for a place to glean. The storyteller doesn’t want to stray too far from God’s active hand leading and guiding the events of this story. This is to remind us, yet again, that God’s hand is active in our own lives, leading and guiding us to be at the places and around the people He has arranged. So often God works in and through the normal, ordinary moments of our lives.

Take today’s service. It “just so happens” you are here today. Or it “just so happens” you are listening to this message. Or is it? Is it the hand of God which led you here, brought this up on YouTube, suggested this Podcast, or prompted someone to send you this message? There are no “just so happens” in life; it is God’s hand leading us because He has something for us.

For Boaz, the providential hand of God made the assembly of the court quick work. In these days legally binding decisions were made by a court of Elders, respected heads of large families in that town. Boaz was able to gather ten of them, likely a requirement for quorum. While subtle, this speaks to Boaz’s importance in this community and his reputation and standing. Folks listen to him and are happy to assist him in legal matters.

The matter at hand from last week was Ruth asking Boaz to marry her for the sake of redeeming her, Naomi, and Naomi’s family. But when Boaz brings this up in court, it seems like he has forgotten what matters. Instead of talking about marriage, he starts talking about land. It is almost like he got distracted, like he forgot the relational stuff and went right into the material stuff. Can anyone relate to this? I had a lunch with a friend of mine a few weeks ago and when I got home Stephanie asked how it went, she asked: “So, how are his girls? How is his wife doing? How is her health? How are they feeling about their new house? How has the move been?”

“He got a new car.”

But have faith. Boaz has a plan. Actually, the way he brings up Naomi is interesting. These events happened some 3,000 years ago, so understanding the details of these legal transactions leaves us with a few gaps in our knowledge. When Boaz says Naomi is selling the land, which means one of two things is going on.

§ Naomi actually owned the land. When Elimelek died and her two sons died, the land really didn’t have anyone to go to and even though it would have been uncommon for a woman to own land, it did happen at other times recorded in Scripture (Numbers 26, 2 Kings 8). If she was selling it, then it would be expected a guardian-redeemer would buy it to keep the land within the family.

§ The other option could be that when Naomi left for Moab, her husband could have sold the land. Since it was during a famine it is possible someone outside the family bought it as we could imagine the family was so poor no one had money. But now that she was back, a guardian-redeemer could buy the land back to keep it within the family.

Either way, the court is here to see if this other guy will buy the land to help Naomi. He says yes. At which point, it seems like Boaz blew it. This takes us back to last week when Ruth asked Boaz to redeem her and Boaz said he was going to do the right thing and give this closer relative a chance to be the redeemer, and it feels like this is the wrong outcome! You can almost hear someone saying, “Why be all legalistic about this, he should have just married her!”

How often do we give up on God and God’s ways before the fullness of the plan is revealed?

Sometimes, we just need to wait on God. Boaz didn’t blow it, he was positioning the proposition to end with a twist. Now, he reveals the full cost of land.

The Cost: Ruth 4:5-10

In situations with guardian-redeemers, a son born to a dead man’s widow would be credited to the dead man, not the biological father. This was done to help carry on family names so they aren’t lost. In the case of Ruth, not only was her husband dead, and her brother-in-law was dead, and her father-in-law was dead too. So, it isn’t just her husband’s name that was at stake, it was Naomi’s late husband, Elimelek’s name that was at stake. By attaching Ruth to the sale of the land for Naomi meant that if Ruth had a son through a guardian-redeemer, that son would carry Elimelek’s family name and, in effect, be a son for Naomi.

Which meant, if you were already married and had other sons, now your land could get confused. Or if you didn’t have another son, this son would be the heir and he could carry on the name of your dead relative. This might sound a little silly to us, but names meant a lot to the Hebrew people. They kept detailed genealogical records, especially for the tribe of Judah because there was a prophecy that a ruler was going to emerge from the tribe of Judah and when that happened, people wanted to show if and how they were related.

But even in our own day, if you know someone or if you yourself are involved in a remarriage situation and you have kids from your first marriage, you know how complicated and tricky navigating situations like this can be for people.

So this guy, for whatever reason, counts the cost and says, “Nope, too risky, could be too costly to me, I’m out. If I do this my name could be lost among the town records and I could be forgotten.”

By the way, what is this man’s name?

You won’t find it, it isn’t listed. The man who was so worried his name might be lost is the only character in this story who isn’t named. We even know the names of the sons who died before the story began and the other daughter-in-law who stayed in Moab, but the guy who didn’t want to lose his name isn’t named. It reminds me of something Jesus said once,

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. Matthew 16:24-25 (NIV)

When we fail to follow God, when we don’t trust Him to provide for us, when we try to take matters into our own hands, we miss out on what God has for us. Mr. No Name stands as a stark reminder for us that when we try to hold onto our lives, we end up losing our lives. But when we trust God and do what He is calling us to do, we find our true life.

Boaz took the risk. He swapped sandals in order that his dead relative’s name would not disappear from the records. This prompts a great celebration in town.

The Celebration: Ruth 4:10-12

This is more than a congratulations message at a wedding. The blessing the town gives to Boaz and Ruth is both historic and prophetic.

Ruth was not from Israel. She was an outsider. She was from Moab, an enemy people of the people of Israel. There had been some bad blood between them, they were pagans, they had a past, and it would have been totally understandable for them to reject the marriage and throw Ruth out of town. But they don’t at all. Instead they honor her by comparing her to Rachel and Leah.

Rachel and Leah were the two wives of Jacob, whose name is later changed to Israel by God. The two wives thing is not an endorsement by God of having multiple spouses or having an open marriage or anything of the sort. This was actually a messy, complicated, and heartbreaking part of Israel’s history.

So why mention Rachel and Leah? The townspeople bring it up because by doing so they place Ruth in line with the women who created the people of Israel. This is them accepting Ruth as their own. No longer is she an outsider. She is now considered to be one of them.

The comparisons continue. They then ask God that Ruth and Boaz’s offspring be like Perez. Tamar is a woman who gave birth to Perez and his descendants became the line which settled in Bethlehem. This is high praise and it is clear from these blessings that Ruth has been welcomed into the community and into the family of God.

There is more in the conclusion of the story, but that is for next week. Today, I want to ask a simple question about this story.

Why did Boaz do it?

Boaz didn’t need more land, he was already a landowner and a man of standing. If anything, this risked his land. We don’t know Boaz’ family situation, it does appear from the story he is older than Ruth, but we don’t know how much older. We don’t know a lot about the details of the transaction. But what we do know is this was risky enough that it scared off Mr. So and So from even being involved. Why did Boaz say yes? Why take on this burden?

I’ve mentioned a few times in this series that Ruth is told by a master storyteller. One of the nuggets of this story is woven throughout the text, but as we have been reading it, it can be missed. Scripture was written in different languages and has been translated into English. Last week I pointed out a few of those translations, don’t let that shake your confidence in the Scripture. When it is translated into English it is done in a way that is accurate to the text but also in a way to help us understand what is going on. So I want to point out this gem to help enhance our understanding, it doesn’t change the meaning of this story, but I do think it will help to deepen our understanding.

There has been a word used in each of the first three chapters of Ruth that gives us a clue to what is happening with Boaz and why he accepted the cost.

Here are the three lines in which this word comes up.

Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. Ruth 1:8 (NIV)

“The Lordbless him!” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.” Ruth 2:20 (NIV)

“The Lordbless you, my daughter,” he replied. “This kindnessis greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. Ruth 3:10 (NIV)

Kindness is a great word to use. But, like in any translation between languages, more can be said about the original Hebrew word. In the Hebrew the word is hesed. It means kindness, goodness, mercy, loyalty or love. It is a key defining attribute of God’s nature, character and His promises. In fact, when the psalmist is describing God in Psalm 100:5, our verse of the year:

For the Lordis good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. Psalm 100:5 (NIV)

His hesedendures forever. God’s hesed always inspires people to show hesed.

§ In chapter one, Naomi prays that God would show hesed to her daughter-in-laws because they showed hesed to their dead husbands and to Naomi.

§ In chapter two, Naomi says that Baoz hasn’t stopped showing hesed but she also means that God hasn’t stopped showing His hesed.

§ In chapter three, when Boaz realized Ruth is willing to marry him for the sake of helping to support and redeem Naomi, he says that what she displays is hesed.

In response to Ruth’s hesed, we now see Boaz embody hesed. He is inspired and shows the loyal love that Ruth has showed, and that God has showed.

Here is a helpful way to think about hesed: Kindness that cost something.

I’ve been mentioning a few times in this series that Ruth isn’t a romance story. But it is a love story. We just need a better understanding of love. So often we define and think about love as an emotion or a feeling. But love is not an emotion, it is an action. Love is a series of intentional actions done for the good of another person. When you do something that costs you something to help someone else out, that is love. Love is kindness that costs us something.

There is a lot of love in this story of Ruth. Naomi showed love to her daughter-in-laws. She could have demanded they stay with her and go back to Bethlehem with her after all the men died in Moab. But she didn’t. She gave up their security and companionship so they could restart their lives in Moab. But Ruth didn’t stay. Instead she sacrificed everything she knew to go with Naomi for her good. Once they arrived in town, Ruth worked hard to provide for Naomi. When Boaz saw Ruth working so hard for Naomi, he gave some of his profits to bless Ruth and Naomi. Then Naomi showed love to Ruth by telling her it was time to remarry, even if that meant Ruth married into another family who wouldn’t support her. But Ruth went right to Boaz and showed love back to Naomi by asking Boaz to marry her and redeem Naomi. In response, Boaz showed love by risking his estate and name to show love to Ruth and Naomi.

What a family!

Many of us might think, “I wish I had a family like that!”

You can. If you have accepted Jesus, you do.

The God I want us to know is The God who loves.

The God who loves invites you to be part of His family. Jesus is God’s ultimate hesed. The Apostle John writes:

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:7-11 (NIV)

When we realize how much God loves us, our response must be to show this same type of love to others. We are to be people, like Boaz and like Ruth, who out of our love and worship of God, are willing to show a depth of kindness to other people that actually costs us something.

Here is the question to consider: To whom can I show a kindness that cost something?

§ Maybe there is a family member who is in need, and giving them time to listen to them or help them with something they need is time you don’t have. When you give up your time to be with them; that is a kindness that costs you something.

§ It could be a co-worker who needs help. It isn’t your job to help them, but you are going to give up time you don’t have to help them, it will cost you something.

§ Students, if you are living at home and you give up some chill time to help one of your parents clean the house, unprompted. I promise that is a kindness that won’t go unnoticed!

How we show love to others is the defining characteristic of a follower of Jesus. Is that a defining characteristic of your life?

The kindness that costs something isn’t just limited to how we express love to other people, it is also how we express love to God.

§ When was the last time you gave financially to the Lord and what you gave actually cost you something? You had to give up something to willingly and intentionally to honor God?

§ Think about our worship, it costs us something. Showing up on Sunday mornings is not convenient. But that is part of the point. When we are willing to give up one thing to be here to worship God, don’t you think He notices and is blessed by it?

§ When we publicly tell others we love and follow Him, it costs us something.

Baptism has been the historic Christian expression of love and worship for God by publicly proclaiming we have decided to follow Jesus. It is like Boaz gathering the elders of the town for a court hearing and making public our commitment to follow Jesus no matter what. And like the town celebrated, when Christians make their faith public through baptism, we celebrate.

This is because of what baptism symbolizes. In baptism we express outwardly the decision and transformation that has taken place inwardly. We are saved by faith alone in Jesus through His grace alone. Our actions don’t save us. Jesus’ action did and that is what we symbolize in Baptism. When we go under the water we are symbolizing the death Jesus died on the cross. He died to take on the punishment for our sins and when we accept Jesus we, in effect, die to our old self. We no longer live how we used to live. But Jesus didn’t stay dead and we don’t stay under the water. Just as Jesus was raised to New Life on the third day so we too come up out of the water, having been washed clean from our sin. When we do, it is cause for celebration. Not for the person being baptized, but for Jesus, the God who loves us so much it cost Him everything.

Let’s worship the God who loves by celebrating baptism.