Staying Committed (A Study through Ruth)

Intro:

Well, here we are… 2021. 2020 is in the rear view mirror and now we are looking ahead to see what may be in store for the New Year. 2020 sure had it’s ups and downs, there were good times and there were some hard times, and some of the affects of the hard times may linger on into this new year… but we need to remember that “God is good All the time and All the time God is good”.

Review of 2020:

By way of review... When 2020 started, we were studying through the book of Philippians… not knowing at the time, that in 6-7 short weeks we would be shut down for a few months… … We were able to finish that study just before we shut down… The title of that series was “ Count it ALL Joy”… We looked at how we could have Joy in any situation and how our current circumstances could make us bitter or they could make us better, depending on how we choose to react to them…

Then we were shut down for, pretty close to, three months. During that time, I had posted some videos on youtube and facebook and shared some encouragement through a few Psalms.

When we started having in person meetings again, we went through the book of James, with a series that I called our “Grow Up Series”. We looked at how we could be and should be growing and maturing in our relationship with Christ… and how we should be Living out what we say we believe… James also reminded us to Count it all joy, when various trials come our way...

A new year usually includes new resolutions… maybe you’ve made a few new years resolutions yourself… Loose weight and exercise more,... eat more food, spend more time with family, … spend less time with family, read more books, get more sleep, save more money… spend more money… the possibilities are endless...

Last Sunday we were challenged to look at the foundation that we are building on… Did you take on that challenge? Did you find any faults in your foundation that needed to be fixed? Did you make a commitment to make the necessary changes in order to start building on the firm foundation?

As we start this new year, I also want to start a new study. I’ve been looking forward to this study for quite some time and I hope that it will be a blessing to you as well. I’ve entitled this study… Staying Committed (A Study through Ruth) ***Put title slide here***

Meat:

Whenever I start a study on a new book of the Bible, I like to start with the background of that book. I do this in order to give a clear picture of what the people, listed in the book, were going through at the time when these events took place. So, my plan for this morning is to read a few verses, just to get our setting and then give you some background… I am hoping that, even with the background, you can still find some encouragement today… … that being said, please turn with me to the book of Ruth… (Read 1:1-5)…

In these first few verses we are introduced to the main characters of our story. Some characters will last throughout the remainder of our story and, as we just read, a few of them didn’t make past the first scene… the first thing that I want to look at this morning is… …

1. Who is Ruth?

Both Ruth and Naomi are talked about quite a bit throughout the few chapters of this book. However, this book is centered on Ruth… Hence the Name of the book...

Interesting fact, at least I find it interesting… … Ruth and Esther are the only women in the Old Testament who have entire books devoted to them. The book of Ruth tells the story of a Gentile who married a Jew and became an ancestress of the Messiah (Matt. 1:5). The book of Esther introduces us to a Jewess who married a Gentile and was used of God to save the Jewish nation from destruction so that the Messiah could be born… Like I said, it was interesting to me, so I thought that I would share it with you...

So.... Who is Ruth??? First of all, she is…

(1)a. A Moabite

Ok, who were the Moabites? They were the decedents of Moab… who was Moab?… this part of the significance… Moab was the son of a man named Lot. Lot was the nephew of Abraham… (Give short summary of events)… and that is the foundation that the Moabite nation was built on…

The Moabites worshipped many different gods and at one point they had such a negative influence on people of Israel, that God became angry with Israel… (Read Numbers 24:1-3)

Baal of Peor that is mentioned in this verse is also known as “Chemosh” and He was the national god of Moab. One of the ways that the Moabites would try to appease this god was by human sacrifices… 2 Kings 3 talks about a Moabite king that sacrifices his son to try and win a war...

This is the culture that Ruth grew up in...

We also learn from the first few verses in Ruth, that she was...

(1)b. A Widow

Ruth’s husband has died, leaving her destitute and alone. To fully grasp the depths of her despair, we must understand that in this ancient culture, to be widowed meant that a woman would be without security–no one to provide for her food and shelter, and no one to protect her from physical harm.

So often, when we make a resolution, when we make a commitment, we are able to stay true to that commitment… as long as it is easy to do so. But when trials or hardships come our way that we didn’t expect or plan for, when we realize that staying commited isn’t as easy as we thought... That is when we have a choice to make...

Ruth had an important decision before her: As a widow, she could leave her mother-in-law, Naomi, and go back to her hometown to remarry and start all over again, or she could stay with her mother-in-law, remain alone, and most likely live out the rest of her life in poverty. We’ll never know exactly what went through her mind, but if she was tempted to take the easy way out, that temptation did not last long.

This is evident in her words…

Ruth 1:16-17

Ruth 1:16–17 NKJV

16 But Ruth said: “Entreat me not to leave you, Or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, And your God, my God. 17 Where you die, I will die, And there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, If anything but death parts you and me.”

Ruth was commited! Not only to taking care of her mother-in-law, but she was also commited to the One True God. Ruth trusted in Naomi’s God–the true and living God of Israel–and by faith resisted the temptation to take the easy way out.

As we study through this book, we are going to see God bless Ruth in many different ways as she stays commited to Him. One of the ways that she was blessed, was the fact that she became...

(1)c. A Great Grandmother

Yes, we know that children, grand children and great grand children are all a blessing. But for Ruth it was even more so… This woman, that was raised to worship idols, raised to believe that human sacrifice was a necessity to please the gods, because she put all that behind her, made a commitment to the One True God, and stayed true to that commitment… became the great grandmother of King David, which means that she was added to the very lineage of Jesus Christ.

Matthew chapter 1 lists the genealogy of Christ and in vv.5-6 it says..

Matthew 1:5-6

Matthew 1:5–6 NASB95

5 Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse. 6 Jesse was the father of David the king. David was the father of Solomon by Bathsheba who had been the wife of Uriah.

So Ruth was a Moabite, a widow and a Great grandmother...

The next question is...

2. When Did This Happen?

When did all of this take place?… according to Ruth 1:1 it was during the…

(2)a. Time of the Judges

The time of the Judges falls in between the time of Joshua and the time of the Kings (1370-1041BC). Joshua was the leader of Israel after Moses passed away. He led the conquests to claim the promised land that God had given to Israel.

After Joshua passed away 110 years old, we are told in Joshua 24:31

Joshua 24:31 NKJV

31 Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had known all the works of the Lord which He had done for Israel.

Once all of these elders had passed away, Israel started to get into an unfortunate routine and this was considered the (SLIDE… find one of routine of Israel) time of the judges… (Explain Slide)...

God used “a famine in the land” of Judah (1:1) to set in motion this redemptive story.

Our Final question this morning…

3. What will we see?

What are we going to see and study as we make our way through the book of Ruth? As stated before, the title of this new series is “Staying Committed” … We are going to see how Ruth was able to stay committed through...

(3)a. Times of Sorrow

(3)b. Times of Service

(3)c. Times of Submission

and...

(3)d. Times of Satisfaction

Closing:

There is no question that even the best laid plans can go awry and leave us in a desperate situation. As we start off this new year it is my hope and prayer, that we will stay committed to what God has called us to do… that we will stay committed to living out what we say we believe. Because I firmly believe that God will bless us for our faithfulness, just as He blessed Ruth for hers.

There is a phrase that some old timers like to use… “Life is hard and then you die.”… when you first think about that it can be quite depressing, but the more you think about it, the more you realize how true it is...

Life is both difficult and brief. It’s not that life is without its good times, but unfortunately, those good times don’t seem to last very long. Much of the “stuff” of life revolves around navigating challenging decisions and enduring difficult seasons that seem to last forever. And one of the great temptations that we all face during these difficult situations is whether to take the path of least resistance or the path of faith.

As we talked about last week… the path of least resistance, the easy path, the broad path, leads to destruction… but the path of faith, the hard path, the narrow path, leads to everlasting life.

May we stay committed to the path that leads to everlasting life!

Prayer: