Sermon Tone Analysis

Living Nativity Volunteer Announcement...

Start of a new book journey.

We will finish Ruth during our Christmas Eve services.

It is going to be amazing!

If you miss that service, you will miss the amazing climax and the point of the whole book of Ruth.

So mark your calendars now to be there.

Author - No one knows, Rabbinic tradition says it is Samuel but due to the details of Ch. 4 some doubt this claim.

Date - No one knows exactly, speculation spans from 1010BC to 430BC

Main Point - Not Naomi, Ruth, or Boaz but how God sovereignly keeps His covenant through times of chaos and miraculously provides when all hope seems to be lost.

So with that being said, let’s dive into the book of Ruth.

Book of Ruth starts out negative, it is like starting a movie

as the boats are coming to the shores of Normandy

as a tornado is about to move through a neighborhood

as a person is about to get mugged and beat up in a back alley

Days of the Judges - everyone does right in their own eyes

Famine stalked the land - Book does not tell us if this is God’s judgement or not

Family lives in Bethlehem in Judah (2 Bethlehems) same Bethlehem that Jesus would be born in.

Family moves to Moab

30 miles SE (distance from GV to Itasca)

7-10 day journey due to the Dead Sea being in between them.

Family arrives

Dad dies

Sons marry Moabite women

Sons die

Deadly Decade

At the end of our text.

Death is on display, suffering is all around, and Naomi and her two DIL’s are uncertain about the future.

Why did we stop here?

It is because often people blow through how bad it was and I did not want to do that.

Suffering is real and to ignore that it is a part of life is to deny reality.

There are three observations about suffering I want to look at with you for a moment.

Suffering Observation #1 - Suffering has no location.

Famine in Judah/Death in Moab

A location change might bring temporary ease but it will never eliminate suffering.

Suffering Observation #2 - Suffering sees no person.

Famine struck everyone/Death strikes young and old

You do not reach retirement age when it comes to suffering

Suffering Observation #3 - Suffering knows no boundaries.

Famine is temporary/Death is final

It can always be worse

but are you dead?

So if these truths about suffering are true, why are they true?

In order to answer that we have to answer two other questions.

Why is there suffering in this world that we have to endure?

These are two questions that all people must wrestle with but it is only Christians who have the answer to them.

SIN

As long as sin exists, suffering will exist.

No amount of good works can fix this.

Which leads us to the second question,

Where is our help in the midst of suffering?

The only way for suffering to cease, is for sin to be no more.

This is why the only answer to suffering can be Jesus.

GOSPEL

So in light of the truth of suffering as we see in our text and how we know the gospel impacts us, how should we as Christians live differently than the world as we suffer?

We Trust in God as we suffer.

Trust of a child versus trust of an suspicious adult on God

We Remember that God is merciful as we suffer.

As your suffering persists, God’s mercy persists.

God is not ignoring you in your suffering, He is comforting you with His mercy every day.

We know our suffering has a purpose.

preparing us...

Naomi was in the moment of suffering she knew had lived the truth that suffering

has no location

sees no person

knows no boundaries

Her future was unclear at this moment and she was hurting, maybe you are like this today?

But you know something that Naomi did not know and that is,

Suffering is a result of living in a sinful world, it isn’t going away, but we have a hope in our suffering in Jesus, so as we suffer may we trust, remember, and know that our suffering has an eternal purpose as we follow Him.

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