When Faith Takes Action

Introduction

There are two paths: One that leads to eternal life, and one that leads to an eternity of despair. The way to eternal life is through faith in Jesus Christ. While declaring and believing that Jesus Christ is Lord and repenting is enough according to Paul in Romans 10, James tells us in James 2 that faith needs to be paired with action as it proves that our faith is genuine. In our passage today we will see how this truth played out in Ruth’s life and how her radical faith lead to our redemption.

[Main Point of the Text Statement] Ruth acting on her faith in the midst of tragedy lead to God redeeming her family and ultimately, lead to redemption for all. [Main Point of the Sermon Statement] When tragedy strikes, there are two options: Abandonment and faith. Faith, when lived out, denies the old self and leads to radical results.

[Transition] I hope that Ruth’s actions inspire you today to have the same radical faith.

Tragedy Strikes (1:1-5)

[Explanation] Verses 1-5 present the easiest “what’s wrong with this picture?” Game ever. In fact, verse 1 alone introduces three major problems.

The first thing we see is that the story is set in the time of the Judges (verse 1a). The judges were appointed by God to rule over the rebellious and disobedient Israel after the conquest of Caanan. The period of the Judges is known to be the darkest time in Israel’s history.

The second thing we see is that there is a famine in the land (verse 1b). There is some good news here as God often uses famines to bring about His good will but we will address that later.

The third thing we see is that because of the famine, a family from Bethlehem left to live in Moab (verse 1c). The Moabites came from the sinful incestual encounter with Lot and his daughters. (Gen. 19:37) (MacArthur Study Bible).

If the setting didn’t present enough issues, when the family arrives in Moab, Elimilech, Naomi’s husband, dies. In this culture, being a woman without a husband meant no protection and no provision. (Evans, 2017, p. 234). With nowhere to go, Naomi and her two sons remain in Moab for ten years (verse 4).

Next, Naomi’s sons marry Moabite women, deliberately breaking the Torah (Deut. 7:3).

Finally, as if Naomi’s widowship wasn’t bad enough, Mahlon and Chilion die (verse 5). Many Jewish scholars agree that their deaths were a direct result of breaking the Torah (Jamieson, Fausset, & Brown, 1996, para. 3223). Regardless of the cause of their deaths, the point remains: tragedy has struck.

[Transition] Now, we are left with our three women, Naomi, Orpah, and Ruth. In verses 6-14 we will compare Orpah’s response to this tragedy to Ruth’s.

Orpah Abandons, Ruth Clings (1:6-14)

[Explanation] So after the men die we actually get some good news as verse 6 tells us that the Lord visited His people and gave them food. The phrase used here is very similar to the phrase used in Exodus when God saves His people from the Egyptians. This news would have given Naomi a lot of hope.

Naomi gets ready to go back home and Orpah and Ruth get ready to follow her. Naomi however, encourages them to leave her and return to their people. Her reasoning is that they would have to wait for her to have more sons for them to marry as was written in Jewish law. This was not a selfish request, but it was with her daughters’ best interest in mind as them leaving her would have been to her disadvantage (Baldwin, 1994, p. 289).

Furthermore, Naomi’s situation leads her to believe that she is cursed. In her despair she declares, “the hand of the Lord has gone out against me” (verse 13). Naomi has lost hope. She has lost everything, and now she is sending her only family away. The reasons are fair. It is in the daughters’ best interest to return to their people and to return to their gods. There is nothing left for them with Naomi. What are they going to do? Verse 14 says, “Orpah kissed her mother-in-law.” Orpah took the easy road. She saw the hardship, the tragedy, and gave up. She abandoned hope. Ruth however, “clung to Naomi” (verse 14).

Ruth is taking a massive risk here. She has so much more security back with her people. But her love for Naomi outweighed the reasoning. She took the leap of faith.

[Illustration] The word used for “cling” here is the same word that is used to describe the marriage union in Gen. 2:24 (Baldwin, 1994, p. 289). Ruth so joined herself to Naomi, that the two couldn’t be separated. Our faith should be comparable to this as we join ourselves to Christ.

[Application] Is your faith like this? For those of you who are married, would you describe your faith in Christ the same way that you would describe your relationship with your spouse?

[Transitional] What caused Ruth to do this? We will explore her declaration in this next section.

Ruth Declares the Faith That She Proved (1:15-18)

[Explanation] Naomi’s response is almost like peer-pressure: “see, she did it. It’s ok. Go follow her” (verse 15).

[Illustration] There are many peer-pressure scenarios in our culture: “sleeping around is ok, everyone does it.” Or, “everyone has a drink every now and then. It’s ok.” Or on the subtler side, “he talks about you behind your back, you might as well do the same.”

[Application] Do you fall into the temptation of peer-pressure? Is it hard for you to choose the Lord when everyone else around you isn’t? I hope you find encouragement in Ruth’s response to Naomi:

“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” (verse 16).

[Explanation] Ruth’s response is bold. We see a complete turn from her people and a commitment to follow Naomi and to call the God of Israel her own God. This is faith in action.

This radical faith not only impacted Ruth and Naomi as later in the story we see that Ruth’s faith lead to Ruth and Naomi being redeemed by Ruth’s marriage to Boaz, but we see that Ruth is actually included in the line of David, and therefore, of Christ. (Matt. 1).

It is amazing to see that Ruth, being a Gentile (not just any Gentile, but a Moabite for that matter) was used by God to bring about redemption for all through Christ. Her radical faith brought about radical results.

Conclusion

[Main Point of the Text Statement] Ruth acting on her faith in the midst of tragedy lead to God redeeming her family and ultimately, lead to redemption for all. [Main Point of the Sermon Statement] When tragedy strikes, there are two options: Abandonment and faith. Faith, when lived out, denies the old self and leads to radical results.

[Transition] I pray that Ruth’s faith would be an example to you of the kind of faith that we are all called to have in Christ.

[Response] Will you act on your faith the way Ruth did? Will you trust that God is sovereign and has a plan for your life and all He asks for is for you to have faith in Him?