Session 3: Ruth
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Handout
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
A Test of Faith
A Test of Faith
(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.
This was during the period of the Judges. How would you characterize the maturity of Israel’s faith in God? Go to
In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
A Comparison of Sojourns
A Comparison of Sojourns
Go to . What did Jacob (Israel) do that Elimelech did not?
. What did Jacob do that Elimelech did not?
Then he said, “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation.
So Israel took his journey with all that he had and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation.
This is another great example of how a particular verse, read many times before, jumps out with new clarity when read once again. It is the reference to the time of the judges that caused me to look deeper. If you remember, the time of the judges was one of great unrest in the nation of Israel, a time of cyclical patterns of turning away from God, crying out for help, God showing mercy by raising up a judge to help them, turning back to God, and then the pattern would soon repeat. At this stage of Israel’s spiritual maturity, they were but babes, immature in their understanding of God and weak in faith, trust, and obedience.
Applying this context with the study verse above, we see a patriarch showing signs of such immaturity in faith. As famine gripped the land—the Promised Land—Elimelech makes the decision to flee from their hometown of Bethlehem to the land of the pagan worshipping Moabites.
His error was not recognizing that this onset of famine was to be a test of faith, likely the result of some previous apostasy on the part of the people. Rather than trust in God and stay in the land and fully depend on God, Elimelech made the choice to leave the land God had provided for them, and in effect, sealed his fate. In an interesting comparison, consider how God gave approval for Jacob to leave the land and go down into Egypt during the days of Joseph ().
What is the application for us?
What is the application for us?
Where do we turn first when times are hard or when the situation seems desperate? Is God the last resort or the first?
If we say we have faith but act in accord to our own will without even petitioning God, how is this faith? Do we fully trust in the ways of the Lord () or is our faith merely lip service? ()
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
“ ‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
Look at . What is the issue here?
Look at . What is the issue here?
These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years,
But the consequences did not end there. While Elimelech sinned against God by not consulting him before leaving the promised land, he also encouraged his two sons to violate the law given in not to intermarry with those who worship false gods by commanding his two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, to take wives from among the Moabites.
You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons,
We know God is sovereign. How is an example of this?
While Ruth went on to be an extraordinary woman of faith and the great-grandmother of David, the ends do not justify the means and the sons of Elimelech violated God’s law.
Finding the Gospel in
Finding the Gospel in
Where do we turn first when times are hard or when the situation seems desperate? Is God the last resort or the first?
If we say we have faith but act in accord to our own will without even petitioning God, how is this faith? Do we fully trust in the ways of the Lord () or is our faith merely lip service? ()
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
“ ‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
Finding the Gospel in
Finding the Gospel in
Finding the Gospel in
Finding the Gospel in
Finding the Gospel in
(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.
What was Ruth’s background?
In verse 16, Ruth makes a choice. What can we learn from this?
And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”
The story of Ruth is one of profound faithfulness and love and if we study it well, a foreshadowing of the Gospel of Christ can be discovered. In verse 16, Ruth made a conscious choice to abandon all of her natural relations and her own country, the land of her nativity, and all her former possessions there, for the sake of the God of Israel. Her words of “your people shall be my people, and your God my God” are a reminder of the central covenant of .
What about Orpah?
What about Orpah?
Someone read
7 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. 8 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. 9 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. 10 And they said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.” 11 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? 12 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, 13 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.” 14 Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.
Notice also that Orpah started to go with Naomi and Ruth to Israel but then changed her mind
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.
Notice also that Orpah started to go with Naomi and Ruth to Israel but then changed her mind
Notice also that Orpah started to go with Naomi and Ruth to Israel but then changed her mind—it was too difficult a path to endure.
Why do you think she chose not to follow Naomi and Ruth?
Compare this to the decision made by her sister Orpah, who, faced with the same choice, decided to return to the comfort of her known existence. In this simple example, we see a similar decision that every professing Christian must also make: to turn from a life drenched in worldly things and all of the sin we cling to and as an act of faith turn to our Savior and seek His righteousness. How many of us can recognize our own selves in this? How many church services, revivals, and calls to repentance did we ignore before we finally opened our hearts to Him? Sadly, we do not learn of the fate of Orpah but one can assume she died without knowing the one true God. Many of us were given multiple opportunities to come to Christ (and we should be thankful for this), but here is an example of a single and possibly sole opportunity to choose Him. There are no guarantees of tomorrow.
Just as the choice was too difficult to make for Orpah, we see similarities in ourselves and the bondage of sin in our lives. Some try to leave it and follow what they know they should, but the draw of this world is too strong. We know in our hearts we should follow Christ, but the cost is too great. Such is the example of Orpah. Just as He does with us today, God provided a choice for both Orpah and Ruth to make: the gods of the world they have always known and the comfort of the present life or a path of new beginnings that might be filled with challenges and unknown trials. Whereas Orpah chose one direction, Ruth chose the other and in doing so provides a wonderful example of resoluteness. There was certainly no promise of a better life waiting for her in Bethlehem, but yet she pressed forward.
Our Takeaways From This Lesson
Our Takeaways From This Lesson
Ruth counted the costs and was determined to follow the right path no matter what (see ; ). Just as Ruth turned away from the false gods of Moab and set her eyes on the God of Israel, so should we repent (turn away from) from our sins and the gods we worship and turn towards Jesus.
33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
29 Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, 30 who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
Ruth is indeed a wonderful part of Scripture and provides a glimpse of God’s Providence in the redemption of His people. But if we look a little closer, we can also see parallels in the choices these two sisters faced and the choices we all must face in accepting Christ as our Savior.
(ESV)
1 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. 2 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.
This is another great example of how a particular verse, read many times before, jumps out with new clarity when read once again. It is the reference to the time of the judges that caused me to look deeper. If you remember, the time of the judges was one of great unrest in the nation of Israel, a time of cyclical patterns of turning away from God, crying out for help, God showing mercy by raising up a judge to help them, turning back to God, and then the pattern would soon repeat. At this stage of Israel’s spiritual maturity, they were but babes, immature in their understanding of God and weak in faith, trust, and obedience.
Applying this context with the study verse above, we see a patriarch showing signs of such immaturity in faith. As famine gripped the land—the Promised Land—Elimelech makes the decision to flee from their hometown of Bethlehem to the land of the pagan worshipping Moabites.
His error was not recognizing that this onset of famine was to be a test of faith, likely the result of some previous apostasy on the part of the people. Rather than trust in God and stay in the land and fully depend on God, Elimelech made the choice to leave the land God had provided for them, and in effect, sealed his fate. In an interesting comparison, consider how God gave approval for Jacob to leave the land and go down into Egypt during the days of Joseph ().
But the consequences did not end there. While Elimelech sinned against God by not consulting him before leaving the promised land, he also encouraged his two sons to violate the law given in not to intermarry with those who worship false gods by commanding his two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, to take wives from among the Moabites.
While Ruth went on to be an extraordinary woman of faith and the great-grandmother of David, the ends do not justify the means and the sons of Elimelech violated God’s law.
What is the application for us?
Where do we turn first when times are hard or when the situation seems desperate? Is God the last resort or the first?
If we say we have faith but act in accord to our own will without even petitioning God, how is this faith? Do we fully trust in the ways of the Lord () or is our faith merely lip service? ()
It’s easy to profess a faith that is never tested by dire circumstances, but can we say we will have a similar faith when those same dire circumstances become reality?