He Is Still Working – Introduction to Ruth // Ruth 1:1-5

Intro

Introduction to Ruth: The Rogue One of the Bible.

Clone wars is like the conquest.

Revenge of the Sith is like Judges.

Ruth is like Rogue One

Samuel is like A New Hope

Why this book? For the theme: God is always redeeming his people through His love.

Key Word: “hesed” - Covenant faithful love. It’s not lust and passion, but a choice to remain faithful even when there is unfaithfulness.

Why for this summer? Because a youth summer has falls.

Covenant renewal at camp, conquest of your life, but then you did everything right in your own eyes. (If not this summer, you will have seasons like this).

What guilt and shame leads to:

“I need to get my life together”

“I’m not ready to serve God.”

“I’m taking a break right now.

The actual thoughts…

God couldn’t love me after that.

God has probably moved on to more faithful people.

Since I sinned once, might as well stay in it.

It doesn’t affect anyone else, only me.

I think I am just stuck like this forever.

What to expect in Ruth?

In Ruth, God’s people have fallen. The excitement of their Clone Wars now just feels like an empty Jedi Temple.

No seas are split, no fire from heaven, no prophets, no miracles, no battles. Just ordinary people, with sad problems.

But their God is still working: The calamity, the corruption, the consequences are not glitches in the system. They are part of the story.

I use to think my sin slowed down God’s plan for me. It sabotaged it even. I would think other peoples mistakes would do the same.

God does not work in spite of those things, he works through those things.

Illust: My brothers and I playing Story Cubes.

God’s plan isn’t like story cubes. It’s Scripture. It’s written. He has penned the story, and he knew you would be disobedient.

Today, we are reading the first five verses. They are sad verses, but they are needed to show how faithful God will be.

Three Areas of Life You Need to Watch for God’s Work In:

*Read and summarize the passage*

1. God is working through calamity

Calamity: Things out of your control

Three Examples of Calamity

People: The period of the Judges

A terrible time to be alive.

What do we need to know about judges?

Judges 21:25 ESV

In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

The entire book talks about this age like a wicked time. The people of Israel came off the spiritual high of the conquest, but they fell into a cycle of sin that grew worse and worse.

To be a Jew in this time, you would have been surrounded by wickedness at every turn.

Punishment: Famine

Famine is a discipline. Israel is grounded.

Deuteronomy 32:24 ESV

they shall be wasted with hunger, and devoured by plague and poisonous pestilence; I will send the teeth of beasts against them, with the venom of things that crawl in the dust.

The whole nation is suffering because of how bad things are.

Pain: Death

Unforeseen death occurs. Three Israelite men pass away unexpectedly.

These men were not anticipating to die based on the state they left their wives in.

The closest thing you guys would have to experiencing this is COVID!

Application: Jesus was surrounded by all three of these things and subject to them. People, punishment, and pain all had their way with him. Does that mean God wasn’t working?

There are circumstances out of your control God allows. He will reveal your heart and the sin in it, and that could be done through wrongdoing done to you, or it could be through famine, feeling like you lack something.

But he is working. Christ trusted that his father was working even in the calamity he faced.

2. God is working through corruption

Corruption: Things within your control. Your disobedience or wickedness.

It is one thing to trust God when the world is making mistakes around you. It is another to trust him when you have made the mistake.

What details do we learn?

First, Elimelech

We learn a couple of things about this man:

His name means: “My God is King.”

He is of the tribe of Judah. “thankfulness”

He is of the clan of Ephrathah. The name means “fruitful.”

He lives in Bethlehem. That means “House of Bread.”

What does this mean?

All these names would jump off the page at you as a Jew, because they all communicate grace.

It keeps his name secret at first, but slowly builds after revealing his name.

He leaves. He “sojourns.” He wanders. This is disobedient to God.

Israel had a mission: stay in the land and trust God.

Not only does he leave the land, he goes to Moab. This is the place Israel lived right before they were in the promised land.

Illust: This is the equivalent of a foster kid going from a difficult, worldly family, they always argue, without good values, to a Christian family. They learn the word, they are fed, but then the Christian dad loses his job so things get hard for a bit. The foster kid then leaves and goes to the other family.

Times were hard, but God set him up with a very gracious life. He just couldn’t see it.

When faced with calamity, he does not trust that God is his king. Instead, he removes himself.

Have you ever been involved somewhere, a sport, a school, a situation, where you started to get uncomfortable because it was difficult? And instead of asking God, “do you want me to be here? Will you help me?” You just left?

Application: You cannot blame your corruption on calamity. But we do. This is us. Hard times come and we flee them. I remove myself, I return to Moab and I wander again.

Christ had no corruption and has no corruption. He didn’t leave the earth God assigned him to even when it hated him. We look at Elimelech and see a man fleeing Bethlehem, while we look at Jesus’ birth and see God running towards Bethlehem.

3. God is working through consequences

Consequences: Calamity in response to your corruption. The fallout of your actions.

What types of consequences happen here?

Mahlon and Chilion

Their names. In the Old Testament, you would name your child after the story of the birth or whatever was happening in your life at the time (Ex. Leah in Genesis 29).

Illust: It would be like naming my child “Treasure” after Kickback.

Elimelech names his two children “Sickness” and “destruction.”

Not the optimist!

They dwell in the land their father brought them to.

Their dad wandered a bit in the land.

Took foreign wives against God’s command.

They lusted.

Numbers 25:1–3 ESV

While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.

Deuteronomy 7:1–4 ESV

“When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than you, and when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly.

But their removal from the clan and from the family means no one is around to care for those wives when they passed.

The sons, instead of leaving, pursue the lifestyle even more than their parents. The death of their father provided opportunity for obedience but they stayed. Elimelech was in Moab, but his sons dwelt there.

Application: Your wandering does not just affect you. Your little departure may lead to someone’s dwelling. However, do not lose hope. The greatest consequence of sin that ever

Conclusion

Matthew 1:5 ESV

and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse,

What does this show? God was using all these factors: the calamity, the corruption, and the consequences to bring his king.

Israel messed up, Elimelech messed up, his sons messed up, and God is taking the mess and making a miracle.

God has not given up on you. You may be taking a break from God but he is not taking a break from you. You may feel distant from God but he is not distant from you.

Conclusion:

No matter how great the calamity, no matter how wicked your corruption, no matter how painful the consequences, he loves you and is using those things to bring his king.