Epicenter: Where Action and Providence Collide

Collision

We experience God’s providence as we respond in action

Ruth

Introduction

1. Image
• Seeking a pastoral position
2. Need
• Events and circumstances will shake our lives, either in a minor or major way.
• Explain epicenter—the portion of the earth’s crust just above the shifting plates.
• How do we know what to do in these times?
• How do we know when we are in God’s will?
3. Proposition
• We experience God’s providence as we respond in action.
4. Overview
• Book of Ruth
• What is God’s Providence

Overview of Ruth

The book of Ruth is a story about very ordinary people facing very ordinary events.—David Atkinson

• The book of Ruth is about two widows, a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, seeking refuge.

1. Author of the book
• Not mentioned in the book
• Samuel is believed to be the author
• Babylonian Talmud—Jewish collection of tradition and law regarding the OT
2. Date of writing
• Samuel—1115-1021 BC
• David—1041-971 BC
• Between David’s anointing and Samuel’s death—1031-1021 BC
• Saul reigns—1050-1010 BC
3. Time of Events
• Period of the Judges—1368-1050 BC (318 year period)
• Judges 21:25
• Judges were men (and Deborah) whom God raised up to deliver the Israelites from foreign nations
• 7 Cycles of Rebellion, Repentance, and Rescue
4. Characters in the story
• Naomi
• Ruth 1:20-21
• Faith—How we view God
• Ruth
• Ruth 1:15-18; 2:11-12; 3:10-11
• Matthew 1:5
• Action—How we view life
• Boaz
• Ruth 2:1
• Character—How we view others
5. Purpose of writing
• Lineage of King David (Ruth 4:17-22)
• People of faith during a time of faithlessness
• It is the story of what the life of faith should look like.
• The measure of a person’s faith is not found in the miracles that one can wrest from the hand of God nor in one’s personal health and prosperity, but in demonstrating ethical character.—Daniel Block
6. Theme—Providence
• Providence is an expression of God’s sovereignty—that God is all-powerful. Because God is sovereign, he has providence over creation.
• Providence is distinct from miracles—God supernaturally defying the rules of nature (parting the Red Sea, raising the dead); see with the physical eye.
• Providence is the truth that a living and personal God is actively involved in the world he created.
• Behind the scenes
• Others use the word chance, fate, luck
• Seen with the eyes of faith
• Your will be done on earth as in heaven”
• God is continually involved with all created things in such a way that he (1) keeps them existing and maintaining the properties with which he created them; (2) cooperates with created things in every action, directing their distinctive properties to cause them to act as they do; and (3) directs them to fulfill his purposes.—Wayne Grudem
• Famine (Ruth 1:1); Barley harvest (Ruth 1:22); Boaz’s field (Ruth 2:3); Middle of night (Ruth 3:8); So-and-So’s rejection (Ruth 4:6)

God’s providence brings about…

1. Peace in life – Romans 8:28
2. Purpose in life – Ephesians 2:10
3. Apprehension in life – Matthew 25:25

We see God’s providence through the eyes of faith but we only experience it through willful action.

• Choices/Decisions must be made.
• You cannot steer a parked car.
• God does not steer a parked life.
• Providence says that God is there, he cares, he rules, and he provides. Faith in such a God undergirds every chapter of Ruth

Outline of Ruth

• Ch 1 – Trusting in God’s Goodness – Commitment
• Ch 2 – Acting on What We Know – Obedience
• Ch 3 – Stepping Out Into the Uknown – Faith
• Ch 4 – Leaving the Results to God – Hope

Conclusion

• At times, we find ourselves in the epicenter where our lives are shaken by circumstances in life. We then go to God seeking his will and what we should do.
• But even more powerful is when we make our own epicenter, we shake our world by acting in faith and trusting in God.

It seems better to affirm that God causes all things that happen, but that he does so in such a way that he somehow upholds our ability to make willing, responsible choices, choices that have real and eternal results, and for which we are held accountable.—Wayne Grudem