The friend we need

Hope you had fun

Are you ready for our new series? I am. Buckle up because there is a lot to cover!

But first.

What is the furthest you have ever hiked?

Have two students answer

So, once I went on a journey that was basically rock climbing down a canyon, 16 miles long

Basically from Flagstaff to Sedona; it's called West Fork

show picture

it took two days; we went through harsh terrain

got all strapped up

but it was super fun

cause I had friends to do it with

it probably would be a different experience if I went alone

When we are on a journey, we prefer to go with friends, we need a friend to go with

Tonight we are going to see the Jounrey of Naomi, thorugh trial snot just of walking, but of death, isolation, but she finds a friend who stays loyal.

Ruth 1 ESV

In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there. But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years, and both Mahlon and Chilion died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband. Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the fields of Moab that the Lord had visited his people and given them food. 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. 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. 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. And they said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.” 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? 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, 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.” Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. And she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” 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. 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.” And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more. So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them. And the women said, “Is this Naomi?” She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?” So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabite her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.

leaving the house of bread 1-5

so verse one is the hook, and then verse two zooms in and 3-5 is the results

(v.1)wicked and desprete times , house to bread, tribe of Judah, leaves to Moab.

So rember we should be thinking, right off the bat, judges “oh no!” and wow, the kingly tribe is leaving the land he is meant to rule.

moving back then was no joke eather, way harder than now days, i know some of you guys have moved and its not fun

Sabrina just moved into her apparment and its tedious, and i have a car to move things

So then we zoom in

(v.2)So this guy's name elimalk is “God is king" in Hebrew,

leaves, with Noami “pleasent in Hebrew”

So, just from their name and that they are from the tribe of Judah, we should be thinking you guys got it made, and you are literally in the best spot for a famine, the house of bread.

Dude is literally living in the Chick-fil-A, is the manager, and his wife's name is almost the chick fil a sayin “pleasantness”

So he goes to Moab?

then we are introduced to Mahloh and Chilion,“weakness” and “coming to an end”

go and move into Moab 50 miles away.

leaving Chick-fa-la as a manager in Scotdale, and moving to Tacobell in Ajo as a ganater

(v.3) The scriptures make clear this was a bad move cause he dies, don’t eat tacobell

(v.4) so the two sons find wives, which in scipture is nomaly seen as abonding God’s commands as it meant being in right realtionship with the ofther family, and rember that meant being ok with their wicked worship we talked about last week.

Here we see Orpah, and Ruth for the first time.

(v.5) Taco bell strikes again, both Mahlon and Chilion die after ten years, shocker

So Naomi is left without her husband and sons, and now just has two daugther in laws in moab

This is bad bad very bad

application

The main purpose of this section is to set up the story

but i think we can take a simple point here

When God gives you a great situaitation, and you neglect it and go after other things, things will go bad for you.

Elimalek kinda had it made, but the fear of a famine, made him forfit his loayity to what God gave him, and then it went horriable.

A faithfull friend 6-14

Things are bad

But in (v.6-7) we get a zzomed out picture in whichNaomi here that God has visted his people, where excatly what makes sense in the twon called house of food, so she reurns to the land of judah, with her daugther in laws.

zooming in (v.8-9) Naomi bassicaly starts to feel bad Ruth and Oprah have given enough, go and hopefull find a new husband

they snap back In (v.10) no we want to go with you

Noami responds in (v.11-13a) with a three fold agrument, I don’t have old to have other sons, i won’t have other sons, and if i did would you wait until they are gown.

thi seems weird to us, but rember the kinsmen redeemer, from Deut 25, thats what is happening here: Naomi is basically saying What Judah told Tamar in Genesis 39, go back to your father's house

There is no one in my family for you to marry

(v.14) Oprah says her good by, and leaves.

Which to be honest from her point of view is logical, her mother in law has nothing to offer, is from strange land, why stay

But we see Ruth, Friend in Hebrew, clinging to Naomi.

(v.15) Naomi says what are you doping, see even your sister in law has gone back.

Im going to read this next part, as its just so good

Ruth 1:16–17 ESV

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. 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.”

Ruth is making clear that she will not leave she is a loyal friend.

This is so remarkable, a moabite, is making one of the clearest picutres of what Biblical love is

and that leads us to are main point tonight

Main point: love is faithfulness

We live in a culture that says love is acceptance, or affirming all that we do.

something that can be taken away.

I know this is unpopular, but i think this stinks

why?

Because when I'm at my worst, like Naomi is here, i don’t want a freind who stops loving, someone who says well i can’t accept you any more.

We see this all the time, someone sayiong they will allways “love you” or accept and then something happens, and they leave

That's not love

thankfully that's not what the Bible says love is.

Love is faithfulness

See Proverbs 3:3 “Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart.”

Here the word hesed is used again. And this is exactly what Ruth does to Naomi

She clings to her; she paints the picture of true loyalty to Naomi

Love is not just merely feeling, or being accepted loyalty

It unwavering commitmit

That's what I need: someone who is with me even when I don’t see my value, when I feel like Naomi did, and had nothing to offer.

I think we all deep down know that love really is faithfulness, why?

Well, I like what Tim Keller says about love “the reason time flys when you are with those you love is because it’s from eternity”

Love is directly connected to the character of God 1 John 4:8 “God is Love”

God is eternal, timeless, never changes, faithful,

this is why he is love

That’s why time flies when we are with those we love, because love is inherently faithful, unchanging, perfect.

And what we see Ruth the last person we should expect here gives one of the clearest examples of how we can experience love :

faithfulness,

As a friend, she stays with Naomi, fully commits to her, even when she has nothing to offer her.

We need this kind of love; we need faithfulness, a taste of eternity.

This is who Christ is why he came, he is our faithful freind and king, who was faithfull when we were not, laying his life down for us. John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”

PErfect faithfullness, even when we were not pause

lets finish the passage tonight

(v.18) tells that Naomi accepted this, now lets turn to the final section tonight

Did the LORD deal bitterly? 19-22

So they come to Bethlehem, at the barley harvest (v.22) to the house of bread

And people start recognizing her, and the women are saying, " Is this Naomi? "

Let's read what Naomi responds: Ruth 1:20–21 “She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?””

So Mara means bitter

Naomi thinks that she has been dealt bitterly with by God

So the question we will answer throughout the rest of the book is: Did the LORD deal bitterly with Naomi

Here is a challenge for you guys

Write down each time Naomi is called mara as we are reading through the book.

Names are connected to a person's identity, so Naomi is saying she is no longer pleasant but bitter,

she is Mara, well see if that's true.

Take aways

Rejecting God’s gift to you will result in suffering

Know the Love of God.

When in suffering, if you are in sin, change; if you are not, wait.

Elimelech thought the grass was greener in Moab: no more nuggets, time for whatever is actually in a Taco Bell taco

If you have grown up in church, know that being rebellious won’t go well for you

Know that God’s love is what we need, and that faithfulness, something that Ruth, who we should not expect to know this, proclaims, is vividly clear in a manner.

Finally when you are in suffering, if you are in sin change,

Ruth choose to do somthing diffrent, to fosake the land of Moab, leaving behind the gods of the land, she left her old self behind, she made a a change, and we will see how this brings her into the greatest story ever told

so if you have sin to deal with deal with it

But if you don’t and are in suffering, wait

Elimalech in fear of death in starving went to Moab leaving the house of bread, and guess what he deid, and we know that if he would just have been panicent, food would have come to him

This is not rocket scince, its common sense, if you are hungry you should proably stay in the place that is called the house of bread

So don’t do that stay doing the right thing, it may take years, but staying in the right place, doing the right thing, God will be faithfull.

Conclusion

So tonight, we saw some great storytelling: a person who should get it from the kingly tribe with a name that describes the greatest truth of the Bible, making horrible decisions

Noami, who is questioning her identity, who has become bitter. Someone who should be pleasant

But the tension or twist is that a lowly Moabite woman, named Ruth, is a faithful friend and shows what love actually is: faithfulness.

We need this kind of friend, there is only one person who is the friend we need,

Christ

who Ruth just gave a glimpse into his kind of love

lets pray