Ruth - 4

A Legacy of Faith: Embracing God's Redemption

Recap

The Book of Ruth Overview

Ruth is a beautifully crafted story highlighting God’s involvement in the everyday joys and hardships of life through themes of tragedy, integrity, and generosity.

Main Characters: Naomi, a grieving widow; Ruth, a loyal Moabite woman; and Boaz, an Israelite farmer known for his noble character.

Context: Set during the time of the Judges, a turbulent period in Israel’s history, after the Israelites settled in the promised land but before the reign of King David.

Key Themes: Redemption, legacy, tragedy, restoration.

Structure: Divided into four chapters, each moving the story from tragedy to redemption.

Chapter 1: Naomi and Ruth’s Tragedy

Famine drives Naomi’s family from Bethlehem to Moab, where Naomi’s husband and sons die.

Naomi urges her daughters-in-law to stay in Moab, but Ruth’s loyalty shines through her famous declaration: “Where you go, I will go. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.”

Naomi and Ruth return to Bethlehem, with Naomi lamenting her losses and renaming herself Mara, meaning “bitter.”

Chapter 2: Ruth Meets Boaz

Ruth goes to glean in the fields for food during the barley harvest and providentially ends up in Boaz’s field.

Boaz, impressed by Ruth’s loyalty to Naomi, extends generosity by ensuring Ruth is provided for while gleaning.

Naomi recognizes Boaz as a “family redeemer,” someone responsible for protecting and preserving a deceased relative’s family line, sparking hope for their future.

Chapter 3: Ruth’s Proposal to Boaz

Naomi advises Ruth to signal her availability for marriage by shedding her mourning clothes.

Ruth approaches Boaz at night, requesting him to fulfill his role as a family redeemer and marry her.

Boaz praises Ruth’s noble character and agrees to marry her but must first settle the matter with a closer relative who has the first right to redeem the family.

Bible Passage: Ruth 4:1-22

1. Boaz's Bold Movement

Ruth 4:1-6

Boaz waits at the gate for this person who is supposed to be the closest relative to Naomi, therefore being the first one to have the right to a business transaction of sorts to purchase her inheritance - everything that belonged to Elimelech (Naomi’s husband). If you notice that this action was something that could’ve resulted in the other relative receiving the legal right to Ruth and all the inheritance that came with her. Boaz approached this deal in the sight of others, with honor and integrity, seeking to redeem Ruth more than getting what he wanted. He had a trust that God would take care of the situation and that his actions would be just and God will use them to fulfill His purpose. Boaz didn’t tell Ruth to let him know how it went and to come back if it didn’t work out. He went out to deal with this himself after he had developed a relationship.

Naomi reassured Ruth to “wait” because Boaz would go figure it out and wouldn’t rest until he did (3:18). We see here Boaz, like Jesus, goes ahead to fight our battles. Deut 31:8

Deuteronomy 31:8 NASB95

“The Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

How long was Boaz waiting at the gate? He went ahead to make sure he could be with Ruth. Naomi is confident “he won’t rest.” Did he stay all night? This gesture in a romantic sense shows the level of commitment Boaz has for Ruth even though he has no legal right to her. To him, its not a transaction, but its about the relationship that he desires for her. This same gesture in a spiritual sense is shown to us by Christ. He will go to the place where there is someone or something that is threatening to get in the way of our relationship with Him and He will not leave us, or forsake us but fight for us. We should have confidence in this without fear. Boaz gathers the elders and confronts the relative who they refer to as the redeemer.

As just a story, this might look like a romantic moment of two men fighting over a woman and either one of them could’ve been the winner when they just had to prove themselves. You might find that entertaining and easier to relate.

However, this is anything but that. Even though there was a right for the closer relative, didn’t mean they were capable of redemption. Still seeing Boaz as Christ, we’d have to see him as the only redeemer as Christ is the only way to redemption for us.

There will seemingly be people, places, and things that offer us redemption and come to us in the name of redemption. We will never find redemption in people, places, and things. Why? Because they might offer it, but they can’t fulfill it. They might be labeled as redemption, but when it comes time to redeem, the price won’t be paid. In fact, it will just be more of us taken and consumed by lies. The enemy wants us without paying the price for us. The world wants us without paying the price for us. Its like when you see something is free but the only way to get it is by giving all your information, agreeing to the terms of service which probably just gave them the right to collect your paycheck, retirement, and code to your house and firstborn child. Redemption is offered, but can’t be fulfilled. It might look easier or better, but it will cost you and the enemy isn’t after your information. He wants everything.

Jesus also wants everything. He desires relationship, but will offer redemption that sustains and fulfills. He also has given all of Himself to us before we have ourselves to Him. He’s paid the price of redemption, therefore redeeming us. We see Boaz as Jesus, but the relative isn’t named. That other option, the thing that may look like “redemption” could be any person, place, or thing. Whatever it is, its willing to take on the benefit of receiving everything that comes with you without taking the risk of giving up anything to you.

How do we tell the difference? Put yourself in Ruth’s shoes. She has met her redeemer, she’s been in his presence. When she met him, she recieved an undeserved blessing and was elevated to a position of favor. When she met her redeemer, she didn’t immediately receive redemption. God’s timing is God’s timing. We can’t bend it to our will. So she couldn’t change the time, but what she did have control over is what she did next; waited. Did

When you’re waiting on the Lord, don’t go looking for another redeemer. Rest in the fact that He’s gone before you.

2. Sealing the Sacred Promise

Ruth 4:7-10

You could discuss the legal transaction that secures Ruth's redemption. This transaction prefigures Christ's redemptive work, which fulfills God's covenant promises. It encourages us to see our participation in God's covenant as essential, urging us to take deliberate steps of faith that align with His will.

When it came down to the transaction of redemption - the “relative” said, “you do it.” Without hesitation, Boaz removes his sandal and gives it to him. He purchased the inheritance, Ruth and Naomi, restoring their family line and bringing significance back to their family name. When we ask for redemption of the world, there will always be a hesitation resulting in a dead end.

Some people think they’ve found the shortcut or the solution through other faiths, other practices, other forms of idols. They might even say they figured it out and write a self help book. All of this is easily accessible and you can just buy it. But to me, this is the same thing as when someone calls and says that you’ve won 1 million dollars but you have to sent them 50k first. I mean don’t you know that all you have to do if you want 1million dollars is to open your email and respond to one of the relatives of a prince who is ready to give us their fortune? We’ll pay up real quick for a chance at that. The scams are getting so bad that its not just the elderly that are getting scammed, its the millennials. Its amazing to me that we will cough up our finite resource to receive more finite resource but the creator of the creator of the universe is offering us unlimited, eternal resource and says, “theres no downpayment, I gave everything that was needed for you to receive the inheritance.”

How do you know if its God or not? God won’t send you His Venmo before He purchases you. In fact, He’s already made the purchase. He’s already acquired the bill. It just comes down to our decision to accept it. God’s redemption doesn’t come with a “whats in it for me mentality.”

It might be easy to think of this when we think of the words purchase or acquire. We might not like those words. Its ironic however since we’re so willing to sell out to the world, but when it comes to Christ it becomes a not worthy exchange: Our life for redemption.

To buy, the word used here in Hebrew is “Canah”. This word can be translated several ways.

To acquire

To obtain

To buy

To redeem

To create

To make or manufacture

So now we’re talking about something that wasn’t, now being. We might think of buying as “taking away” in a sense, but we need to see it through the proper context of the language of the time: to create, to make or manufacture.

Deuteronomy 32:6 ““Do you thus repay the Lord, O foolish and unwise people? Is not He your Father who has bought you? He has made you and established you.”

Psalm 139:13 “For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb.”

These are both using the same word. You might have been confused by the Christian term, “born again,” but when we’re born into the world we are born into sin. We need a redeemer to then be redeemed. We might look for it in the world, but we’ll never find it. When we find salvation, we are redeemed by the redeemer, Christ and are then formed, made, created, bought… again.

God not only created you in the womb, but He created and prepared the inheritance that you receive and that you get to live for eternity in that redemption that someone else has paid for. As we close out the series, we’ll see that its not only ours, but generationally impactful.

The taking off of the sandal was a sign of confirmation. When people ask me, “how do I know if I’m really walking with God.” I typically say something like this, “there will be confirmation.” There will be visual, physical, maybe a more internal peaceful confirmation of what He’s done. Now, when Boaz walks, he walks with the evidence of what he’s done and the other relative might’ve gained a sandal, but he’ll walk exactly the same. I’ve seen most people who will resist God “try everything” the end result is always exactly the same.

What we desire and search for in relationship is someone who will do something for us. Don’t get all righteous and say that its not something that isn’t true. A feeling, a sense of value, of completion, of compatibility. You wouldn’t have a healthy relationship with someone who wasn’t good for you but you continued because you knew you were good for them right? In search of that desire that parallels the resistance to God, we see that never being fulfilled. I’m not just talking about romantic relationships. Our friends, family, co-workers too. The irony here is the more we resist God, the more we resist the very thing we’re searching for that only He can offer. We’ll see Christ walking around with one sandal signifying that He gave up something, and the other thing will be walking around like nothing ever happened.

The significance of the sandal might be less spiritual than I’m making it since its clearly a cultural thing. Regardless, its a cultural parallel to the fact that if we’re not “bought with a price” by God, then we’re simply owned by someone else. We might think we’re “free,” but we are not. We either are a slave to sin, or willingly submitted to Christ. Christ however, is willing to sign the contract, pay the price, give up the sandal, but really… give His body and blood in suffering to rescue us out of bondage from another person, place, or thing that doesn’t share that kind of commitment. The world may seem like it fulfills our needs, but when the moment comes for the world to rescue you, it will always “not want to risk it.”

3. Redemption at Work

Ruth 4:11-22

When I was in pastor’s class, our teacher, Pastor Joel was a one legged pastor who never smiled. His favorite parts of the bible were the family lineages. I’m pretty sure that was the only time I saw him smile. I remember him talking about the significance of the family lineage if you took the time to study it. He said, “you can see God’s divine working throughout the generations. You read through a book of the bible about someone who has nothing to do with another book, until you see they’re in the same family. Then you see what Go has done from here to here.” I never forgot that because without him bringing this to my attention, I would’ve seen it as insignificant spiritually and more of a record keeping thing.

In our American culture, we’re individualistic. The bible speaks to us as individuals, but also corporately. Whether through the church, or a blood family line. This is not an “olden times thing.” This is a culture thing. Different cultures have this value today. It becomes less about what you do and more about what part you have in your family. In America, even though we’re a nation of immigrants, a lot of the immigration success stories were from people who came here and started a good life for them. Generally, the next generations start over. We don’t see families building teams, values, knowledge, assets, wealth over the generations as we do in other cultures and during biblical times.

This is an interesting subject that I’ve studied over the last few years. Could be something we dive into more later… but I want us to get this simple thing that can be produced not just in our lives, but in our families and groups…I want my faith to produce Jesus not just in my life, but in my children’s lives and their children…

You might have heard the word redemption and understand the meaning of it, but we see in these last verses redemption at work. When redemption starts to roll out, its not a one off event.

If I walked into an expensive restaurant and told one person that I will pay for their meal and anyone else who recognized me as the one who will pay, they will get their meal and probably get the steak. As they’re consuming, others will see and wonder how they did it, and the guy will point to me. The people can go to other people in the restaurant and ask them to buy, but they’ll probably say no. Why would they even do that if they know that I’ll do it. Pretty soon, everyones getting their meals paid for. Why wouldn’t you do that!?

Though you can poke holes in analogies, I do believe it is this simple. Everything turned around when Boaz redeemed Ruth. These are some of the verbs we see here.

Relations

Enabled

Conceive

Gave birth

Blessing

Redeemer

Famous

Restores

Sustains

Love

Betters

Gives

Like a flood, we see the redemption of Ruth sweep through her life and then an account of how it doesn’t stop until the ultimate Redeemer is born through this very family line. She came out of hopelessness into a restoration and redemption that made her new and her family line restored and new.

Did she pay for it? No. Boaz did. We always get stuck on what we have to do to pay for it.

Going back to the restaurant; sometimes we think, “I can’t afford to eat there! I know thats where all the Christians are hanging around and where the God of the universe is, but man… have you seen the prices on that menu? They want death. They want my soul.”

And the only reason we can’t afford it is because we won’t give up the control that the world has on us. We’re spending all of us on McDonalds when Christ is like “I’ve got free Ruth’s Chris.” Then we’re full. Then we’re satisfied.

Ruth is now walking in redemption that comes from and produces and results in Christ. What is literally being produced in this case is Jesus. Their family line produces Jesus. The elders say, “be like Rachel & Leah” who are attributed as the ones who built the house of Isreal.

In Boaz’s acquisition, or creation something new happened.

Something new can happen in your life today.

Big Idea: Every act of faith, no matter how small, contributes to a legacy of redemption that transcends generations.

Application: This message encourages believers to embrace their role in God's redemptive narrative, inspiring them to live faithfully in their current circumstances, with the assurance that their actions can create a lasting legacy of faith and hope for those who follow.

How this passage could point to Christ: This story serves as a precursor to Christ, who fully embodies redemption. Just as Boaz made a sacrificial commitment to redeem Ruth, Christ’s sacrifice offers salvation to humanity, fulfilling the promise of restoration to all who believe.