Ruth 3: God's providence works through human agency

Welcome

We are so sad to not be together in person this morning, but we are glad to be gathered to worship God nonetheless

I was over at the church this morning, and Mitchell and I saw that, looking from the sanctuary into the fellowship hall, there is a misty haze in the building

That’s what we get from an old, drafty building!

But we are gathered nonetheless to worship the triune God together

Announcement: We want to help out with the wildfire relief, and we have a clear way to do so as a church

We are going to partner with Mill City Christian Church to provide funds and resources to help families in the community weather this difficult time

There is a need for specific items that Lisa has sent out a list for via email

In addition, there is a need for financial aid, and we have set up a specific giving opportunity to help out with wildfire relief

RCC is going to give $1,000 out of our benevolence fund, as well as any funds that you decide to give

This will go to Mill City Christian Church to a specific account they have set up to disburse funds into the community in wise and prudent ways to help out

If you want to write a check for this, just write a check to RCC with “wildfire relief” in the memo line, and we will know to include this in our gift to Mill City Christian Church

You can also give toward this specific need via the church center app as well as on our web site

Please consider giving in addition to your normal giving to support the gospel witness of RCC

Paul, in encouraging the Corinthian church to give generously to support the church in Jerusalem during a famine, said: 2 Corinthians 8:8-15

2 Corinthians 8:8–15 ESV

8 I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine. 9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. 10 And in this matter I give my judgment: this benefits you, who a year ago started not only to do this work but also to desire to do it. 11 So now finish doing it as well, so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of what you have. 12 For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. 13 For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness 14 your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. 15 As it is written, “Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack.”

Introduction

Tension between faith in God and acting

Some people believe that faith in God means we can sit passively by and wait for him to act

We wait for God to miraculously provide instead of going job hunting

We wait for God to drop a spouse into our lap rather than actually trying to meet people and put ourselves out there

Some people make all of their life decisions and plans without ever really even considering God, let alone consulting him in prayer and scripture

We make the assumption that things like career, house purchases, where we go to college are OUR decisions to make and we act like God has no right to speak into those things

Some people balk at the idea that perhaps God wants them to do something completely other than what they themselves would have planned for themselves

One of the most important places where this tension resides is in what we do as a church and how we move forward

We want to honor God above all else in all things, and we never want to make plans that neglect his purposes, desires, or guidance

But we do have to make plans, implement strategies, conduct ministry efforts, TRY

I think we will see some of how this plays out through our text today as we study the story of Ruth

Ruth is a story about an Israelite widow and her Moabite daughter in law living during the time of the judges, a dark time in Israel’s history

This is a story that screams of God’s providence - meaning, his gracious wisdom and foresight by which he reigns over all creation in order to bring about his good purposes

God’s providence is seen in all kinds of ways that we have seen so far

God’s providence is seen through human family and human devotion, in Ruth’s fierce devotion to Naomi

God’s providence is seen through what appears to us to be random chance

God’s providence is seen through human kindness and generosity

God’s providence is seen through human obedience to his commands

Today, we will see how God providentially works through human agency - that is, through human plans and actions

This does NOT give license to do whatever we want and say it’s God’s will

Some people adopt a hyper-deterministic view that justifies any human action by saying “well, that’s God’s will, so you can’t fault me for doing this.”

While it’s true that even evil human actions fall under the sovereignty of God, that by no means gives us license to do things that do not honor him

In essence, we are concerned with how we go about making plans and decisions that God is delighted to work through

This DOES give us the beautiful hope that through our humble, faithful, God-seeking plans, God indeed does work to bring about his good purposes

Both being widows, Ruth and Naomi have very poor prospects for their future in and of themselves

But we have seen over the last few weeks how they were blessed immensely by the generosity of a relative of Naomi’s husband named Boaz

Because Boaz is a relative of Naomi’s husband, he possesses the right and the biblical duty to “redeem” Ruth

One of our members, Forrest McCauley, is going to talk more about what that means in a couple weeks

But for now, it basically means that if he desires to, Boaz possesses the right and the duty to purchase back Naomi’s husband’s land and marry Ruth in order to bear children on behalf of Ruth’s dead husband so that their family name would not be cut off

So Naomi knows at this point that Boaz provides a very real possibility for security and provision for Ruth’s future, and she hatches a plan to bring this about

This plan shows us three primary realities of godly plans

Godly plans benefit others rather than myself

Godly plans flow out of God’s revelation

Godly plans are wise and reasonable

I. Godly plans benefit others and follow Scripture

Naomi sees a problem and a solution

Ruth 3:1–2 ESV

1 Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, should I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you? 2 Is not Boaz our relative, with whose young women you were? See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor.

Ruth has been gleaning in Boaz’s field now for perhaps 2 months, because she started gleaning at the beginning of the barley harvest and it’s now time to winnow the barley

We know from Ruth 2:20 that Naomi was very excited to hear about Boaz, because as a relative of her husband, he was qualified to rescue their family through marriage to Ruth and buying back Naomi’s land

Naomi was likely hoping that Boaz would perhaps initiate and take the lead in moving his relationship with Ruth forward, but he didn’t

So as the barley season comes to an end and it appears that perhaps Ruth will no longer be gleaning in Boaz’s field

Essentially, Boaz is not moving fast enough (or at all!)

This may be perhaps because he is noble and kind to give Ruth her space as she mourns the loss of her husband

Or it may be because, as is often the case, men do not always pick up on the more subtle cues in life

Either way, since Boaz isn’t getting the job done, Naomi takes matters into her own hands and hatches a strategic plan

She approaches Ruth with two rhetorical questions that invite Ruth to think with her

She states the problem: Should I not seek rest for you? Ruth is going to need a husband in order to have long term security

Naomi is mostly concerned with Ruth’s well being and not her own

Applicable principle: Godly plans benefit others

Do you make plans that primarily benefit and revolve around you, or primarily benefit and revolve around others?

She states the solution: Is not Boaz our relative, the one whose young women you worked with, the one who showered you with gifts and generosity?

Nothing about Naomi’s plan makes any sense outside of God and his law for Israel

Naomi’s plan is critically dependent upon God’s law in the Torah regarding the redemption of land and people by kinsman

Naomi’s plan is critically dependent upon Boaz’s willingness to obey the Torah, which Naomi believes in because of how he has demonstrated his character so far.

So the Hebrew Bible provided the means by which Naomi could hope that someone could help, and Boaz’s upright faithfulness provided by means by which she might hope that he in particular would help

Applicable principle: Godly plans flow out of God’s revelation

Do you make plans out of dependence upon God for direction through his Word?

Do you make plans and decisions out of your own opinion and wisdom?

Do you go to God with your problems and circumstances?

She then presents an opportunity: Boaz is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor

Cultural note: what did winnowing barley at the threshing floor look like?

Winnowing barley was a process by which the grain could be separated from the chaff, the worthless part of the grain (like the husk of corn)

The person doing the winnowing would grab a bunch of harvested barley in a large fork and throw it up in the air

Because the grains were heavier than the chaff, they would fall to the ground while the wind blew the chaff away

This was hard manual labor, and Boaz was the kind of man to see to it himself

The threshing floor would have been in a rocky, flat space outside of town where grain could be piled up and swept cleanly

The threshing floor would be on some sort of hilltop or rocky outcropping where it would be windy

Boaz was doing this work at night, presumably because it was cooler than the day and because the breezes at night are gentler and more predictable than the gusts during the day in the near east

So seeing a problem and then a biblical solution, Naomi hatches a plan to help Ruth secure her future.

II. Naomi hatches a plan

Ruth 3:3–5 ESV

3 Wash therefore and anoint yourself, and put on your cloak and go down to the threshing floor, but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. 4 But when he lies down, observe the place where he lies. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down, and he will tell you what to do.” 5 And she replied, “All that you say I will do.”

Naomi tells Ruth to approach Boaz in order to ask him to redeem and marry her, and her plan has four key elements that I think we can learn some basic principles of wise and prudent planning

First, she tells Ruth to wash and anoint herself

Meaning of washing and anointing

Naomi is helping Ruth prepare to look (and smell) good in such a way as to hopefully elicit a favorable reaction from Boaz

Applicable principle: Naomi is taking simple measures to set Ruth up for success

If Ruth shows up looking and smelling less than pleasant, that is surely not going to IMPROVE the odds of Boaz responding favorably

Sometimes we overthink our plans when instead we ought to simply take simple steps to set our plans up for effective success

If you are trying to impress an interviewer, put on some nice clothes and prepare some notes

If you want to grow in maturity of faith, devote time to read your Bible and talk about it with friends

If you want your plans to succeed, you need to set them up for success

Second, she tells Ruth to put on a cloak

There were particular clothes worn in the Hebrew culture to denote a grieving, mourning widow, and to put a cloak on signified that the time of grieving was over

Naomi wants to make sure that Ruth sends the signal that she is no longer in formal mourning over her dead husband and is ready to re-enter normal life, including marriage

Applicable Principle: Naomi is prompting Ruth to act in culturally appropriate and aware ways in order to communicate clearly

Especially when your plans involve other people, you need to be aware of cultural realities that may affect how they perceive you, your words and your plans

If you want to make friends, you have to be friendly

If you want to get married, you have to signal that you are available in culturally appropriate as well as godly ways

A lot of ministry efforts fail because we don’t actually listen to people or understand where they’re at

This is one of the biggest struggles with American evangelicalism today

Because we don’t often practice what every other missionary in the world does

We assume that our society is culturally static

We assume everyone perceives things the same way we do

This is a massive barrier that we have to humbly work to overcome through thoughtful listening and consideration of others’ perspectives

A word of warning here: I am NOT advocating for the idol of relevance here

A great deal of harm has been done to the gospel witness in our society because of the desire to be “relevant”

Often this simply means making everything subjective and wishy washy

It also often means compromising godly values out of some misguided sense of cultural awareness

We do not desire so much to be “relevant” as we desire to be “clear”

We don’t want to adopt the same values as everyone else, but we do want to make sure we are not misunderstood simply because we have not listened to the culture around us

Third, Naomi tells Ruth to wait to approach Boaz until he has finished working, eating and drinking

In essence, Naomi is telling Ruth to wait until the right timing

Applicable principle: Isn’t timing important in how we relate to other people?

Naomi knows that if Ruth tries to approach Boaz with such a weighty matter during the hard work and stress of trying to get the winnowing done on time, she is not likely to succeed

Boaz is working hard, hungry, and probably on a deadline - not a good time to make a big ask

If Ruth waits until Boaz has finished his work, eaten a good meal, drank a little bit of wine, and is relaxed, she is much more likely to experience success

Timing is important, right?

How many of you that are married know what I’m talking about?

Sometimes we can have the best of plans that are well set up for success, but poor timing can ruin them

Sometimes it’s not that the plan is a bad plan, but that the timing is not yet right

Example: Mitchell first asked me to consider applying for this job in August of 2018

We were trying to sell our house, leave a job, start seminary classes, move, and we had just found out we were expecting Gwennie

I said, “Man, thank you, but it’s just not a good time to be trying to discern whether to move across the state and take on a whole new job - if it were another time, i’d love to consider it”

Well in God’s providential timing, we got to December and things were settled and different, and I was asked again, this time by Jason, Dave, Lisa, Mitchell and Jacquelyn. Same ask, different timing.

Sometimes the success of your plans has everything to do with timing

Kids, the success of your requests of your parents will often depend on timing

If you ask for something during the stress of the day right after work and school when everyone is tired and just trying to get home, probably not going to work

If you wait until after dinner when everything is cleaned up and everyone is relaxing, and maybe you even helped clean up the dinner dishes, and THEN you make your ask, if its a reasonable ask you are much more set up for success.

Fourth, Naomi tells Ruth to “uncover Boaz’s feet and lie down”

This is super weird, isn’t it?

Well, not really - this was a simple way of forcing a resolution and getting the ball rolling

Since Boaz was winnowing at night and sleeping outside next to his hay, uncovering his feet was a sure way to wake him up from the cold and get his attention

Naomi wisely saw that even if Boaz fell asleep before Ruth got to him, she could guarantee at least a conversation and get the ball rolling by forcing the situation to move forward

Applicable principle

Very simple - you can make all the plans you want, make sure they are culturally appropriate, get the timing right…

But if you never actually act to get things moving, nothing will happen

Some folks from our church went to a BLM march yesterday in order to talk to people about the gospel

You can talk all you want about sharing the gospel, you can think of the most culturally appropriate way to talk clearly about it, you can prayerfully consider the right timing…but at some point you have to just go and speak the truth of the gospel

There’s a principle here that “action today accomplishes more than plans for tomorrow”

At some point you have to stop talking about the plan and execute it

Which is exactly what Ruth does - she responds to Naomi, “I will do everything you say”

So what should we see today in this story? Certainly that our plans and efforts matter, and that God is at work through our faithful, thoughtful, prayerful, biblical planning.

But I also think that there is a beautiful gospel connection here.

Conclusion: On the other side of the cross, we see that ultimately our fate is not left up to our plans

In a couple of weeks, we will see how Boaz, in his redemption of Ruth and Naomi, provides a type, or a picture, of Jesus

But here, we actually see a sense in which Jesus is so much better than Boaz

Naomi had to take action and make a plan because Boaz wasn’t moving fast enough, or maybe at all

She had to help Ruth take the initiating step in order to get the ball going and overcome Boaz’s hesitation

But Jesus had no hesitation

The gospel is not that Jesus is kind of moving slow, dragging his feet, and you really need to make a good plan to get the ball rolling there

The gospel is that Jesus came for you first before you ever even knew you needed him

Ephesians 2:4-9

Ephesians 2:4–9 ESV

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

You didn’t initiate a plan that brought you salvation

You were dead in your trespasses and sins

You were by nature a child of wrath

BUT GOD, even when you were dead, made you alive together with Christ - by grace we have been saved

You have been saved by grace through faith

It is NOT your own doing - not a product of your excellent strategic planning, not a result of your cultural awareness or perfect timing, not because of your action

It is the gift of God, and the reason that God did this was SO THAT NO ONE MAY BOAST

In Christ, God is not waiting around for you to implement some grand plan to “clean your life up” or “make things right with him”

He has already made things right with you

He has implemented the grand plan to clean your life up

And he invites you to respond with faith and trust in Jesus and repentance from your sin

I think this actually provides us the most beautiful grounds on which we can make plans

Because the plan that matters above all else is not up to us at all and has already been accomplished

Because we can rest in knowing that none of our plans are actually of ultimate importance, because our eternal destiny is sealed and secure in Christ

So we are therefore free of anxiety in making our plans, and we can submit our plans to God as we try to participate in his work to reconcile the world to himself

So may we make strategic, godly, wise, discerning plans in order to participate with God in bringing his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, and may we rest confidently in our eternal security in Christ not because of the quality of our plans but because of our faith in the finished work of Jesus.

If you are listening and have never made the decision to turn from sin and trust in Jesus with faith, may I suggest that ultimately you are trying to do life simply on the strength of your own insight, wisdom, and understanding, and that is an ultimately meaningless attempt at true life. Perhaps today is the day that you need to decide to stop living according to your plans, and instead submit your plans and your life to Jesus and let him direct your path.

If you are a Christian, then we welcome you to take communion with us as we remember and celebrate what Jesus has done for us, and how God’s ultimate plan of salvation has found its fulfillment in him.