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
0.12UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.08UNLIKELY
Fear
0.09UNLIKELY
Joy
0.57LIKELY
Sadness
0.57LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.51LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.6LIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.82LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.54LIKELY
Extraversion
0.4UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.94LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.44UNLIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
From Empty to Full.
A Walk through the Book of Ruth.
What sort of things make you feel empty & Hopeless?
The Overwhelming school work?
You couldn’t get your dream job?
You don’t have enough money to pay for the bills?
You’re lonely and you just want to find that significant other.
Or perhaps you lost a loved one.
All of these are things that can make us feel empty and hopeless.
Our question today is what is God doing in the midst of our emptiness, and our hopelessness.
For an answer we are going to do a quick overview of the book of Ruth.
The book of Ruth takes place in the time of the Judges, so it’s a very harsh time period where Israel is either constantly being attacked or is experiencing famine.
Israel also was not being very holy at this time.
Throughout the book of Judges we see less than ideal characters.
Such as Gideon
And Samson
Such people are not to be copied, yet in the book of Ruth, we find two of the main characters to be a very different story, and to be great examples to follow.
The book of Ruth is about the empty being made full.
So first we start with Tragedy.
Naomi Returns Empty
So we are introduced to Elimelech, Naomi, their two sons (Mahlon and Chilion) and soon, Ruth and Orpha.
Bethlehem means ‘the house of bread.’
This is part of the promised Land, God had promised his people he would provide for them.
But ironically, the place where there was supposed to be bread and food.
There was NONE!
So Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and their two sons had a choice: Stay in the land and be hungry or move to Moab, which (fun fact) despite having plenty of food, did not have a very good history with Israel.
In we see Moabites inviting the Israelites into Baal worship.
Neverthelesss, Elimelech and Naomi left for Moab.
The saddest part about this situation is yet to come though.
(read )
They came to Moab hoping to find food in their fields, but in the end, they only found death.
Elimelech, Mahlon and Chilion died.
Leaving Naomi, Ruth and Orpha as widows.
It’s a tragedy.
Naomi, hoping to be made full in Moab, only found emptiness.
Application: Don’t we do this sometimes.
We go to things that we think will make us full.
It’s not always bad things, it could be finding marriage, it could be having a house, getting a car, being a straight A student.
These are not bad things but if we are so focused on getting these things and don’t trust in God to provide for us, we will have only found a false fullness and be left empty when God take them away.
It could be other things that are not good too, like drugs, pornography, or even pride, I suppose, as we try to make others smaller and ourselves bigger.
These things will leave us emptier than we were before.
There was no one there for Naomi.
Actually there was, but she tried to get rid of them.
Ruth Refuses to Leave
In verse 6, we see a transition.
For the first time, the LORD is referenced.
Here we see for the first time that the LORD is providing for his people.
So Naomi decides to leave for Bethlehem, the house of bread.
But halfway there she says this (Read )
Naomi asks Ruth and Orpha to leave.
Lets not give Naomi a bad rap here, she is simply looking out for the wellbeing of her daughter in laws.
She says “May the LORD deal kindly with you.”
But Ruth and Orpha refuses to leave.
We don’t have time to get into it, but Naomi begs them again to leave.
She gives them a few reasons, but I think the most significant is this.
Read the later part of with me.
Naomi’s final plea is this.
‘The hand of the Lord is against me.
So leave me.”
All of this loss she has attributed to the hand of the Lord.
And this may be true, at least in part.
The Israelites were not supposed to live among the other nations, including the Moabites.
We see what happens next.
READ .
So Orpha leaves, but Ruth clings!
Lets not villianize Orpha, Naomi was pretty persuasive anyways and there is safety returning back to Moab.
She will likely find a husband whereas in 0Israel, it would be much harder to.
But Orpha does serve as a FOIL.
A foil is a character who is basically the opposite of someone else.
To put it simply.
Orpha’s decision to leave makes Ruth’s decision to say far more impressive.
Nevertheless, Naomi is consistent.
Look what happens next.
First off.
Notice what Naomi is essentially saying.
She is saying follow your sister in law.
But where is her sister in law going?
To her people (which is ok… but what comes next really isn’t ok for Naomi to encourage Ruth to do).
Naomi is essentially saying ‘go back to your gods.
But Ruth, clings all the more harder.
“Your people shall be my people, and your God my God!”
In our day in age it’s easy to leave and forget about those older than us.
We put our parents and grandparents in nursing homes and leave them their without visiting.
But Ruth is not such a person.
Here we begin to see the noble character of Ruth.
She refuses to leave her mother-in-law all by herself.
She is a woman of determination, but also someone of immense care.
Essentially she has promised to be with, and care for her bitter old mother-in-law… up until death.
And so they return to Bethlehem.
Or at least Naomi does… this is Ruth’s first time there .
I’d like to show you a visual of what happens next.
So basically Naomi and Ruth arrive in Bethlahem, and the women of the city becomes intrigued and begins to ask themselves (not Naomi, but themselves) if this is Naomi.
Naomi apparently overheard than and gives them an answer.
I want to show you this visually because I think it’s helpful.
This is from the NIV Application commentary.
Naomi tells them not to call her by that name twice, and then repeats the reason twice.
If someone says something to you twice, you better believe they are serious about what they are saying.
So whatever Naomi is about to say, she is super serious about.
Prologue (1:19)
When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9