Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
Emotion Tone
Anger
0.61LIKELY
Disgust
0.12UNLIKELY
Fear
0.13UNLIKELY
Joy
0.61LIKELY
Sadness
0.64LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.69LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.88LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.53LIKELY
Extraversion
0.1UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.84LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.36UNLIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Introduction
Have you ever found yourself in need?
Have you ever lacked food?
Have you lacked money?
Have you lacked resources?
Have you lacked access to opportunities?
There are many times in our life where we will find ourselves in need of something.
Having a need can be an uncomfortable position to find ourselves.
How do we respond in a time of need?
Do we despair?
Do we become angry?
Do we try to find a way?
Many people wrongly think that Christians should never experience need or scarcity.
There are those who think that Christians should be wealthy simply because they are believers.
There are people who preach that Christians should have abundant material resources.
We call this type of false teaching the prosperity gospel.
The prosperity gospel is a heresy that teaches that Christians should be wealthy, healthy, and prosperous.
This heresy says that Christians simply need to command and declare material blessings in their life.
The book of Ruth teaches us that trials are part of God’s dealings with his people.
Today, we will consider:
Naomi’s surprising return to Bethlehem.
Naomi’s surprising declaration.
I. Naomi’s surprising return to Bethlehem
I. El regreso sorprendente de Noemi a Belén.
Naomi and Ruth are on their way to Bethlehem.
They have left the land of Moab.
They have left a land of idolatry, of human sacrifice.
They have left a land that had openly declared their enmity against God and his people.
They have left Ruth’s homeland.
Ruth has left the comfort of her home and security of her family network.
She has set off to an uncertain life.
Ruth 1:19
They have finally arrived in Bethlehem - the house of Bread - where the Lord has started to pour out his blessing upon his people.
We are not told how long their journey from Moab to Bethlehem had taken them.
Surely it was a dangerous journey but thy have made it safely to be near the people of God once more.
What is immediately apparent is the people’s reaction to the sight of Naomi.
The Bible tells us that the entire town was stirred up because of Naomi and Ruth.
The people could not believe who they were seeing.
It has been at least 10 long years from the time Naomi, Elimelech, Mahlon, and Quillion had left their homeland.
It has been at least 10 years since they set off in their journey desperately seeking food because of the famine in the land.
People start to ask themselves whether the woman they are looking at is really Naomi.
10 years can do much to change a person’s appearance.
10 years of problems, death, depression, famine, trials and tribulation will take its toll on a person’s appearance.
It is very possible that Naomi’s face showed the signs of premature age because of all that she had experienced while in the land of Moab.
Her life in Moab was not easy by any stretch of the imagination.
Her life in Moab had been a living nightmare since the day they arrived.
II.
Naomi’s surprising declarations.
II.
La declaraciones sorprendentes de Noemí.
The townswoman call her by her name.
Although she shows the signs of age and a hard life they can tell it is Naomi.
They call her by her name - Naomi - the pleasant one or sweet one.
It is so ironic that someone that had experience such a hard life would be called pleasant/sweet.
Ruth 1:
Naomi notices the irony and refuses to be called by her name.
This is her first declaration.
She refuses to be called Naomi and prefers to be called “Mara” which means bitter.
Her life’s joy had been practically obliterated.
She demands to be called bitter!
Although this first declaration is surprising it is not at all unexpected!
How do we expect people to act when they have lost a loved one?
How do we expect a grieving widow to act?
How do we expect a cancer patient to act after hearing a negative report showing the progression of their cancer?
We live in a society that does whatever is necessary to flee away from pain and suffering.
We do whatever we can to avoid pain and suffering in this world.
We say we are always doing well.
We say we are just fine!
We don’t suffer.
Other people suffer, after all, we are Christians!
We refuse to accept the fact that there is pain, suffering, and agony in the lives of those we worship with every Sunday.
We can pretend there is no pain but the reality is that pain is ever present in the lives of our congregation.
However, Naomi’s second declaration is startling.
Naomi says: The Almighty has made my life very bitter.
Naomi does not speak of the work of the enemy as being responsible for her pain and suffering.
Naomi does not attribute the trials and tribulations she has experienced to sin in her or her family’s life.
Naomi does not even attribute all this pain to unfortunate circumstances that are simply beyond her control.
Naomi is very clear and she knows it is God’s doing.
In fact, earlier in the chapter she has already made this declaration:
Ruth 1:
Naomi knows that it is the hand of the Almighty that has been behind everything that has happened.
This kind of thought tends to startle us because we always associate healing, blessing, and abundance with God and do not think that God could be involved in the suffering that we often face.
Naomi’s theology is rooted in a right understanding of who the sovereign God of the universe is!
Naomi goes on to express her conviction even clearer:
It is the Lord who has brought her back empty handed.
It is the Lord who has afflicted her.
It is the Lord who has brought misfortune upon her.
It is the Lord who has shown his hand to be, at least from Naomi’s perspective, to be against her.
Was Naomi speaking out of her own pain as if she were delusional or did she present an accurate picture of who God is?
Naomi certainly was in pain.
Naomi certainly was in extreme anguish after having lost a husband and two sons.
But, we cannot deny that the God of the Bible is sovereign over all.
The God of the universe has a purpose in everything that happens to us - be it pain or blessing.
The God of the universe was intimately involved in the pain and suffering that Naomi was experiencing.
From Naomi’s perspective, God was against her, but the truth is that God’s hand is always for his people although at time the circumstances that God allows in our life seem as if God is against us.
Job knew firsthand what it was to know the sovereign God in the midst of pain and suffering.
After Job had lost his children, his livestock, and even his health he declares:
Job 1:
Job didn’t have a fantasy image of God.
Job knew the God of the Bible.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9