Redeemed
Notes
Transcript
Spiritual and Physical Famine in Israel
Spiritual and Physical Famine in Israel
1 Now it came about in the days when the judges governed, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the land of Moab with his wife and his two sons.
God’s chosen people vs. foreign nations
In a time when God’s people should have been enjoying the blessings of the promised land, they were engaged in constant struggles due to the sin in their lives.
Naomi and her family were forced out of the promised land to go live amongst the pagan Moabites.
Noble character/integrity
Integrity is doing what is right even when no one is watching
Israel’s lack of integrity
Israel lacked any evidence of being set apart from the foreign nations around them. They were filled with idolatry, adultery, and murder during the time of the Judges. Even those that would rise up to the office of Judge turned out to be sorry leaders.
The culture had dissolved into post-modernism They did what was right in their own eyes, they questioned any authority God had over them and they chose to rebel against Him.
The world of the Judges and our world today aren’t all that different.
Our world wants to live without consequences but the problem is that every sin we commit has consequences. No matter how small a matter we believe it to be, there are relational, emotional, physical, and spiritual consequences to our sins. Our society celebrates homosexuality and abortion and mocks humility, gentleness, and purity. It mocks the things that sets Christians apart from the culture and as a result what we see is churches conforming to the cultures they live in. The temptation for us all is to wander from the truth, but the truth is the solution. Jesus is the truth.
Naomi’s Sorrow
Naomi’s Sorrow
1 Now it came about in the days when the judges governed, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the land of Moab with his wife and his two sons.
2 The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife, Naomi; and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem in Judah. Now they entered the land of Moab and remained there.
3 Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left with her two sons.
4 They took for themselves Moabite women as wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. And they lived there about ten years.
5 Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was bereft of her two children and her husband.
6 Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the land of Moab, for she had heard in the land of Moab that the Lord had visited His people in giving them food.
7 So she departed from the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.
8 And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to her mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me.
9 “May the Lord grant that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband.” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept.
10 And they said to her, “No, but we will surely return with you to your people.”
11 But Naomi said, “Return, my daughters. Why should you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?
12 “Return, my daughters! Go, for I am too old to have a husband. If I said I have hope, if I should even have a husband tonight and also bear sons,
13 would you therefore wait until they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters; for it is harder for me than for you, for the hand of the Lord has gone forth against me.”
In only a short time, Naomi lost her husband and her sons. Later on in the chapter she would change her name Naomi, which means pleasant, to Mara, which means bitter. In times of grief and sorrow it is easy to let those things make us bitter. Just like Naomi we feel like the hand of the Lord is against us.
The Lord is in the business of taking things that are bitter, and making them better
Joseph
Joseph background
15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong which we did to him!”
16 So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father charged before he died, saying,
17 ‘Thus you shall say to Joseph, “Please forgive, I beg you, the transgression of your brothers and their sin, for they did you wrong.” ’ And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.
18 Then his brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.”
19 But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in God’s place?
20 “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.
21 “So therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.
James
2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,
3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
The Lord’s faithfulness to us in times of grief
In the book, “A Grief Observed” C.S. Lewis journals the weeks following the passing of his wife. In the book he says this about God’s faithfulness,
“The terrible thing is that a perfectly good God is in this matter hardly less formidable than a Cosmic Sadist. The more we believe that God hurts only to heal, the less we can believe that there is any use in begging for tenderness. A cruel man might be bribed - might grow tired of his vile sport - might have a temporary fit of mercy, as alcoholics have fits of sobriety. But suppose that what you are up against is a surgeon whose intentions are wholly good. The kinder and more conscientious he is, the more inexorably he will go on cutting. If he yielded to your entreaties, if he stopped before the operation was complete, all the pain up to that point would have been useless. Bus is it credible that such extremities of torture should be necessary for us? Well, take your choice. The tortures occur. If they are unnecessary, then there is no God or a bad one. if there is a good God, then these tortures are necessary. For no even moderately good Being could possibly inflict or permit them if they weren’t.
Either way, we’re for it.
What do people mean when they say, “I am not afraid of God because I know He is good’? Have they never even been to a dentist?
Yet this is unendurable. And then one babbles - ‘If only I could bear it, or the worst of it, or any of it, instead of her.’ But one can’t tell how serious that bid is, for nothing is staked on it. If it suddenly became a real possibility, then, for the first time, we should discover how seriously we had meant it. But is it ever allowed?
It was allowed to One, we are told, and I find I can now believe again, that He has done vicariously whatever can be so done. He replies to our babble, ‘You cannot and you dare not. I could and dared.’
In times of sorrow and heartache remember that Christ has taken our place. He became a man of sorrows so that we might find joy in Him. When it feels as though the hand of God was against us and we taste grief for a moment, Jesus was acquainted with it and because of His life death and resurrection we are held firmly in the palm of His hand.
Ruth’s Loyalty
Ruth’s Loyalty
14 And they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.
15 Then she said, “Behold, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods; return after your sister-in-law.”
16 But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where 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 I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me.”
18 When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.
19 So they both went until they came to Bethlehem. And when they had come to Bethlehem, all the city was stirred because of them, and the women said, “Is this Naomi?”
20 She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.
21 “I went out full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has witnessed against me and the Almighty has afflicted me?”
22 So Naomi returned, and with her Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, who returned from the land of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.
In difficult times, isn’t it nice to have a friend come along side you?
Ruth was Loyal/Faithful to Naomi
In a society that is focused on self, these characteristics are a rarity. This characteristic of faithfulness is something Israel lacked. To people in the Old Testament culture, the idea of a foreigner having better character than one of God’s chosen people is embarrassing. Yet, over and over, God chooses to use the least of these to accomplish His will. He uses regular people like you and me.
Christ’s faithfulness to us
One of the greatest descriptions of God’s love is Steadfast Love. In every situation, God’s love endures. It is this love that serves as an example for us. God demonstrates His great unfailing love for us in this way, even while we were sinners, He died for us. That is faithfulness.
Our faithfulness to Christ
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength
Our faithfulness to the others
Love your neighbor as yourself
The Harvest is Plentiful
The Harvest is Plentiful
Ruth 2:1–23 (NASB95)
1 Now Naomi had a kinsman of her husband, a man of great wealth, of the family of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz.
2 And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Please let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after one in whose sight I may find favor.” And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.”
3 So she departed and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers; and she happened to come to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.
4 Now behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, “May the Lord be with you.” And they said to him, “May the Lord bless you.”
5 Then Boaz said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?”
6 The servant in charge of the reapers replied, “She is the young Moabite woman who returned with Naomi from the land of Moab.
7 “And she said, ‘Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.’ Thus she came and has remained from the morning until now; she has been sitting in the house for a little while.”
8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen carefully, my daughter. Do not go to glean in another field; furthermore, do not go on from this one, but stay here with my maids.
9 “Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them. Indeed, I have commanded the servants not to touch you. When you are thirsty, go to the water jars and drink from what the servants draw.”
10 Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your sight that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?”
11 Boaz replied to her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband has been fully reported to me, and how you left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and came to a people that you did not previously know.
12 “May the Lord reward your work, and your wages be full from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge.”
13 Then she said, “I have found favor in your sight, my lord, for you have comforted me and indeed have spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your maidservants.”
14 At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here, that you may eat of the bread and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar.” So she sat beside the reapers; and he served her roasted grain, and she ate and was satisfied and had some left.
15 When she rose to glean, Boaz commanded his servants, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not insult her.
16 “Also you shall purposely pull out for her some grain from the bundles and leave it that she may glean, and do not rebuke her.”
17 So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley.
18 She took it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She also took it out and gave Naomi what she had left after she was satisfied.
19 Her mother-in-law then said to her, “Where did you glean today and where did you work? May he who took notice of you be blessed.” So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, “The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz.”
20 Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed of the Lord who has not withdrawn his kindness to the living and to the dead.” Again Naomi said to her, “The man is our relative, he is one of our closest relatives.”
21 Then Ruth the Moabitess said, “Furthermore, he said to me, ‘You should stay close to my servants until they have finished all my harvest.’ ”
22 Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his maids, so that others do not fall upon you in another field.”
23 So she stayed close by the maids of Boaz in order to glean until the end of the barley harvest and the wheat harvest. And she lived with her mother-in-law.
The Lord’s sovereignty in sending Ruth to Boaz’ field
Is there any coincidence that Ruth somehow landed in the field of Boaz? Naomi may have felt the hand of the Lord against her but really He was leading them to joy
Boaz’ generosity
Coming out of a serious event like a famine would give anyone cause to withhold generosity, but Boaz gave freely and generously to Ruth.
Boaz: a man of noble character/integrity
God treats us in the same manner Boaz treats Ruth. Even though we were outsiders, God has shown us his unmerited favor. He welcomes us in and gibes us purpose, He gives us a mission to do.
God’s sovereignty in sending us to our mission field
God is calling us to commit our hands to the work
37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.
38 “Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”
The Lord has prepared the harvest.
6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.
7 So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.
8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
Just like Paul and Apollos, we all have a mission field and a responsibility to commit to the work of God’s Kingdom. In Luke 9, Jesus was approached by a man who desired to follow Him.
61 Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.”
62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Let us remain faithful to the calling God has placed on our lives. We live not for ourselves but for Christ who died and was raised on our behalf. He is our life, and so let us commit ourselves to Him faithfully in the way Ruth did to Naomi. “Where you go, I go” no questions asked. Let us give generously of the love and forgiveness Christ has shown us just like Boaz
A Date With Destiny
A Date With Destiny
Naomi: a woman of noble character
The Threshing Floor
The Threshing Floor
The City Gate
The City Gate
Redeemed
Redeemed
The Wedding Feast of the Lamb
The Wedding Feast of the Lamb
Birth of the Redeemer
Birth of the Redeemer