From One Redemption To Another
Notes
Transcript
Handout
6:40 - Countdown
6:40 - Countdown
6:45 - “God With Us” Lyric video
6:50 - Welcome (FW announcement OR video of Drey for FW)
6:55 - song 1 and 2
7:05 - Video
7:10 - song 3
7:15 -
7:15 - Jesus announced to shepherds video
7:20 - “God With Us” Lyric video
7:20 - message
7:45 - questions
1 Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat down there just as the guardian-redeemer he had mentioned came along. Boaz said, “Come over here, my friend, and sit down.” So he went over and sat down.
2 Boaz took ten of the elders of the town and said, “Sit here,” and they did so.
3 Then he said to the guardian-redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our relative Elimelek.
4 I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do so. But if you will not, tell me, so I will know. For no one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in line.” “I will redeem it,” he said.
5 Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the land from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the dead man’s widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property.”
6 At this, the guardian-redeemer said, “Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it.”
7 (Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel.)
8 So the guardian-redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it yourself.” And he removed his sandal.
9 Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, “Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelek, Kilion and Mahlon.
10 I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from his hometown. Today you are witnesses!”
11 Then the elders and all the people at the gate said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the family of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem.
12 Through the offspring the Lord gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.”
Ruth 4:14-17
14 The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel!
15 He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.”
16 Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him.
17 The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
IMAGE:
Arthur Berry, [35 NPYD]
Heinrich Ackermann [38, 101st floor 2nd tower]
Shannon Adams, [25, 101st floor 1st tower]
Joanne Ahladiotis, [27, 104th floor 1st tower]
Marie Abad [49, 86th floor 2nd tower]
Mark Ellis [26, FDNY]
MOSAIC
These small pictures all have a story, these were real people, with jobs and families. And each one of these smaller pictures tell part of the story of 911.
Picture Mosaic, when you zoom in you see one person or story, when you zoom out you see that that one person or story is part of a bigger story.
So what does that have to do with the story of Ruth? Ruth is a small picture that helps tell us the big picture. The book of Ruth is about redemption and restoration. And this smaller story points us to a much bigger story that God is telling.
NEED: Redemption. I’m guessing that most of us already know that we aren’t perfect. I’m assuming that you all realize that you don’t always measure up to your own standards, let alone God’s! And because we don’t measure up, we need redemption.
SUBJECT: Redemption: For Naomi, Israel, and us.
CONTEXT: Naomi has a problem, her husband and sons all died and left her without a man to take care of her. She needed someone to redeem her and take possession of the land so that her family line could continue.
TEXT:
PREVIEW:
This story takes you on a journey doesn’t it? We’ve seen a famine, marriage, death, hope, despair, provision, and how God works in the hard times and even in the waiting…
And tonight we see that the story comes full circle. Naomi, who has lost nearly everything in this story, now holds a baby boy. Naomi who once said I went away full but the Lord has brought me back empty now holds her hope for the future in her arms.
Let's take a look at how we got from fleeing a famine to redemption.
BODY:
I: REFUSAL
Boaz keeps his word and doesn’t rest until he settles the matter, you remember, Ruth goes to him and pretty much says, hey dude, you’re our kinsmen-redeemer, why don’t you get redeeming already?
The first guy refuses to take the land because he didn’t want to marry Ruth and endanger his own estate.
What Boaz does seems odd, but by gathering the elders and presenting the whole story he is trying to ensure that Ruth and Naomi are cared for. Because the elders and witnesses now know that Ruth and Naomi are tied to this land, if this guy says he’ll marry Ruth but does not, he would dishonor Ruth and himself in the process.
And if he dishonors himself, it could hurt his bottom line. And more importantly, would keep him from being right with God.
Boaz is appealing to the man’s honor, because honor was everything in their culture.
The importance of a kinsmen-redeemer is to prevent the family line from ending.
Lineage was a big deal you didn’t just go buying and sell land, the land you had was generational.
Knowing where you came from was a big deal.
To die without an heir would jeopardize your lineage and essentially erase you from the history books.
When a man died without an heir it was up to the next in line to provide an heir to inherent the land and keep the family line in tact.
so when a man died without an heir it was up to the next in line to provide an heir to inherent the land and keep the family line in tact.
So if the next in line isn’t in a position, financially or otherwise, to redeem a family, it would fall to a more distant relative, in this case, Boaz.
II: REDEMPTION
Boaz declares that he will marry Ruth and take over the land.
[maybe office meme and write over text with declare marriage to ruth]
This was not as easy as saying “I declare Ruth as my wife and her land is mine” their land was probably inhabited by someone else and they would need to go to them and work out a deal. And Boaz would be responsible to pay the cost of getting the land back.
Legitimate redemption never bypasses the law or takes the easy way out.
Boaz could have just married Ruth if he wanted to, he could have just never told the nearer redeemer about any of it and just done it all under the table and got what everyone wanted.
But I think this wrinkle is in here to show us that true redemption never bypasses the law, by orchestrating all of this out in public and doing everything on the level
Boaz provides legitimate redemption.
There is this wired custom with the sandal, basically, if anyone ever tried to come against Boaz and accuse him of wrongdoing, all he had to do was produce the other dude’s sandal and prove that the transaction was legal.
So it’s done, all out in the open and Boaz and Ruth get married and have a son.
III: RESTORATION
The last time we see Naomi she is holding a baby boy, in her own words she… [look up reference]
Naomi went away full and the Lord brought her back empty.
I wonder if Naomi expected Ruth to have a child. She was married for 10 years with no babies…This baby boy in her arms
Obed completed the redemption process and provided restoration.
This baby boy in her arms completed the redemption process and provided restoration.
This baby boy
Obed was her hope for a future.
SUMMARY:
This story of redemption doesn’t stop at Naomi and Ruth, in one of Israel’s darkest times (time of the judges)
God provides redemption and in doing so, preserves the line of ultimate redemption.
RE-IMAGE:
The story of Ruth is a small picture within a much larger picture. This one zoomed in picture points us to the greater story of redemption.
The book is called Ruth, but it’s Naomi’s story. So we have to ask the question, why is this here? Why did God choose to do it this way? If this story is being told to Israelites, why Ruth?
Because, I believe, God was pointing to a greater redemption to come, and that redemption wasn’t limited to just Israel. How many times in this story is Ruth called a foreigner or a Moabite? [count and see]
I believe God is saying that His blessing, His promise, His salvation is available to everyone. And, unfortunately, religious people are really good at saying “you don’t belong”
When you read the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew you see some interesting names. Abraham gave his wife up to save his own skin, Jacob was liar, Judah did some real bad stuff…Rahab was a prostitute from Jericho, she had Boaz and Boaz had Obed with Ruth…lots of messy stuff in here…David’s short comings are well documented and so on and so forth on down the line…and then Jesus is born.
Who were some of the first people to meet Jesus after He was born? Shepherds. Why is that significant? Were they just the closest people to Jesus at the time so they went and told them? I think it’s because shepherds were dirty, outcast, and viewed almost like women were at the time. The were second class citizens at best.
They were not to be trusted, they were unclean, and unwelcome in the temple. And when Jesus is born, God says “you are welcome here.” God brought the outsiders in. They might not have been welcomed in church, but they were welcome in the presence of Emmanuel, they were welcome in the presence of God!
Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners, associated with a Samaritan woman, didn’t condemn a woman caught in the act of adultery, allowed the Roman soldiers to beat and mock Him. He was reviled and didn’t retaliate. He did what no one else could do, He didn’t bypass the law, He fulfilled it!
So what is God trying to tell us through all of this? I think it’s that
No one is beyond His grace.
Whether you’re a foreigner, woman, man, sinner, tax collector, Roman solider…or just an everyday human trying to make it through this life. God’s grace is for you.
And if you don’t get anything else out of tonight, listen up,
God loves you, and no one is unimportant or insignificant to Him.
I’m not talking about some future version of yourself. He’s not waiting for you to get your act together before you come to Him. He is big enough to handle you junk.
He will not refuse you, He will redeem you and restore you to a life with Him.
While Naomi held the hope of her family in her arms, Mary held the hope of the world in her arms.
While the narrative of Ruth and Naomi show us that God is near and working, the story of Jesus shows us that God is here and working.
And Obed is born into an inheritance that he did nothing to earn, and when we place our trust in Jesus we enter into an inheritance that far out shadows Obed’s. The inheritance we enter into with Jesus is secure and final, nothing can take it away or destroy it. It is not of this world and it never ends.
QUESTIONS:
Are there parts of your story that tell the bigger story that God is telling in the world?
Do you believe that all people are in need of redemption? Why/Why not?
How can we use our story to tell God’s story?