08-23-2020 - Loving When it is Easy

Loving When it is Easy

Scripture:

Ruth 1

Summary: Being obedient to God makes it easier to love Him and others.

Intro

One of my favorite parables of Jesus is also one of the shortest ones.

Parable of Two Sons (Matthew 21:28-30)

A Father has two sons.He asks them both to go work in his field.The first son says he will, but changes his mind and does not do it.The second son says his will not, but changes his mind and works the field after all. Which son was obedient? Jesus says the Kingdom of God is like this. Which son are you?

Story of Two Daughters

There is another story in the bible that is similar to this parable.

The book of Ruth tells a story of a Mother and two Daughter-in-Laws instead of the Father and two sons.

It is not a parable, it is a true story, and it is a family history story for Jesus.

Similar and Different

Thesis: When you strive to be obedient to God, loving God and others is easier.

Seeing the Need

Beginning

The story of Ruth is a story of rescue and redemption with some unlikely heroes.

It begins with the people of Israel living in troubled times - famine in the land.

One couple, Elimelech and Naomi decide to move to another country and hope to find a better life there in Moab.They took with them their two sons, Mahlon and Killion.They settled in Moab and after Elimelech, the father died, their two sons married women from Moab: Orpah and RuthThey were married for about ten years, but then both Mahlon and Kilion died, leaving the women alone.

Background

Back then, they would have all lived together, working together, supporting the overall family.

However, Naomi and Elimelech, being the foreign immigrants, would have had to learn the language, customs, and religion of the people in order to be accepted into the country.

After ten years of being married into the Moabite culture, they may have left some of their Hebrew heritage behind.

The Need

Here are three widows, without children, with roots in two different countries and cultures, trying to figure out how to make it in the world.

Scripture: Ruth 1:6-15

Ruth 1:6–15 NLT

Then Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had blessed his people in Judah by giving them good crops again. So Naomi and her daughters-in-law got ready to leave Moab to return to her homeland. With her two daughters-in-law she set out from the place where she had been living, and they took the road that would lead them back to Judah. But on the way, Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back to your mothers’ homes. And may the Lord reward you for your kindness to your husbands and to me. May the Lord bless you with the security of another marriage.” Then she kissed them good-bye, and they all broke down and wept. “No,” they said. “We want to go with you to your people.” But Naomi replied, “Why should you go on with me? Can I still give birth to other sons who could grow up to be your husbands? No, my daughters, return to your parents’ homes, for I am too old to marry again. And even if it were possible, and I were to get married tonight and bear sons, then what? Would you wait for them to grow up and refuse to marry someone else? No, of course not, my daughters! Things are far more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord himself has raised his fist against me.” And again they wept together, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye. But Ruth clung tightly to Naomi. “Look,” Naomi said to her, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. You should do the same.”

Expressing Needs

People are different in the way they express their needs.

Men are different than women.Biological family is often different than those that marry into families.

Some people are more open than others.

While the Father in the parable could ask his sons directly to help him, Naomi may have not been able or comfortable doing that.

The need was real

It has never been safe for older women to cross countries on foot by themselves.

Even in times of peace, you cannot account for the dangers of wildlife and the even greater dangers of starvation or dying of thirst in the wilderness.

It was about a week long journey on foot in those days

And it was not during peaceful times.

Naomi tells them to go home to their own mothers, they have lives left to live

There are questions of loyalty:

Loyalty to birth family or in-laws?

Loyalty to your own country or to a country you have never visited?

There are questions of ability:

Women were often transferred to the families they married into in to seal a treaty and sometimes transfer of property between families.

Orpah and Ruth did not have a lot to offer other than perhaps the land they lived on in Moab.

If they moved back to Bethlehem, they would have nothing to offer but themselves

Obedience

There is no easy way out of grief and loss.

There are consequences to whatever choices you make.

And there are changes that are inevitable, even if you refuse to make a choice yourself.

What makes this story powerful is not the grief and loss. It is the love that is shared even in the midst of grief and loss.

Both daughters are left with a choice, and no one is going to judge them for the choice they make.

They both share love with their words.

One of the daughters-in-law shares love with her choice.

Scripture: Ruth 1:16-22

Ruth 1:16–22 NLT

But Ruth replied, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!” When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said nothing more. So the two of them continued on their journey. When they came to Bethlehem, the entire town was excited by their arrival. “Is it really Naomi?” the women asked. “Don’t call me Naomi,” she responded. “Instead, call me Mara, for the Almighty has made life very bitter for me. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me home empty. Why call me Naomi when the Lord has caused me to suffer and the Almighty has sent such tragedy upon me?” So Naomi returned from Moab, accompanied by her daughter-in-law Ruth, the young Moabite woman. They arrived in Bethlehem in late spring, at the beginning of the barley harvest.

Ruth chooses Naomi

We often think about these kinds of choices as whether to go or stay.

For the daughters though, it is a choice to go with Naomi to a new land, far from family or to go back to familiar places with birth family.

It is a choice between blood family and adopted family.

Why?

We don't know why Ruth chose to go with Naomi.

In a wild plot twist, the new disciple stepped up to save and protect her disciple-maker.

Would you be willing to give up everything and move to another country because God called you to be with someone?

Judging from her words, God was not a big part of her life yet.

Perhaps it was a last request from her husband, that she take care of Naomi.

We don't know. What we do know is that Ruth chose Naomi and God together.

In a wild plot twist, the new disciple stepped up to save and protect her disciple-maker.

Many of you have already done this.Are they your disciple-maker?

Consider the other angle

If you were in need, in grief, and hurting, and someone came to you and said they would go with you wherever you went and that your God would be their God, what would you give them in return?

How would you shape that person into a disciple of Jesus?

Sometimes God gives us freebies.

Occasionally God sends someone to you who asks to be discipled.

CTA

God gives us these kinds of opportunities.

Sometimes we call them "Persons of Peace".

They do not always come at peaceful times though.

Sometimes they come during our darkest days when we feel furthest from God.

Somedays God sends a young disciple to rescue a disciple-maker who has lost their role and purpose in life.

Sometimes we are that young disciple being sent out to help encourage and remind our own disciple-makers of their role and purpose in life.

It comes down to obedience to God in loving Him and Others.

Who in your life needs encouragement and an example of loving God and Others?

Who have you seen God working through that you can you be a person of peace to, and remind and encourage them as a disciple-maker?