Sermon Tone Analysis

A man pedaled a bicycle across Niagara Falls on a wire cable.

Arriving on the other side he found another man who marveled at the feat.

The cycler asked the man if he believed he could pedal back across the turbulent falls.

The man agreed the cycler could.

Nevertheless, he refused the invitation to ride across with him.

He believed about the man but not in him.

It is easy to SAY we believe in someone or something, but far harder to actually take the steps of belief.

When it comes to finding hope we can say we believe God will provide it, but is it a passive position, or a participatory position?

In other words, do you ever initiate some aspect of the process?...not because you don’t trust God, but because you do?

Do you have any responsibility to move things along?

another way of asking this is – does biblical trust passively wait until a door is opened, or does it ever reach out, grab the doorknob, and see if it will open?

How you answer those questions will go a long way in determining your quest for hope.

with that thought in mind, please open your Bible to Ruth 3

With a break from this study last week…we are continuing this morning with our series There is Always Hope…this is a verse by verse study of the book of Ruth

Our Story So Far...

this story unfolds in the days when the judges governed…summarized in … Judges 21:25 - In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

it’s in that setting that a woman named Naomi and her husband Elimelech, and their two sons leave Bethlehem in the land of Judah to sojourn in the land of Moab because of a severe famine…while they were there, Naomi’s husband Elimelech dies…

her two sons marry Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth…and then the two sons pass away…and neither of their wives had conceived children…

then they hear that the famine has subsided back in Bethlehem and choose to head back to where Naomi is from…

but at some point in the journey Naomi sits down with her daughters in law and says…you should go back to Moab, to be with your people, and your gods…

the key verse is…Ruth 1:9 - May the Lord grant that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband…[please note that terminology carefully…it will play an important role in what we’re studying today…

what’s curious about that is Naomi admits that by their doing so…they will be returning to their own gods…which apparently doesn’t matter much to Naomi, because after one of the daughters in law takes her up on the offer, Naomi tries to persuade Ruth to do the same by saying…Ruth 1:15 - Then she said, “Behold, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods; return after your sister-in-law.”

see, your hope is in finding a man, regardless of what he believes, and about now, any man will do…she was functioning as an individual like Israel was functioning as a nation…that’s the clear point of all of this – everybody does that which is right in their own eyes…

in an amazing contrast to that lack of faithfulness, this young Moabite woman says…

Ruth 1:16 - 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…Ruth believed – The God of Israel is capable of being faithful to me, I choose to be faithful to Him…

Unfortunately, Naomi chooses the path of bitterness…and when they got to Bethlehem and women of the city asked..isn’t this Naomi…she replies… Ruth 1:20-21 - …“Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.

“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?”

In chapter 2, Ruth asked permission, since it was the time of the barley harvest, to go glean in the fields in accordance with the provisions in the OT for people who were poor…and she just so happens (the writer teasingly says in verse 3) to come to the fields of a man named Boaz, who was actually a relative of her deceased father-in-law…

and the last time we visited Ruth we saw that God led Boaz to treat Ruth in a way that was incredibly abundant…and when Ruth took all that grain home, Naomi’s bitterness finally began to melt…because she started to realize that she was wrong in her bitterness, and Ruth was right in her “hesed”, her covenant loyalty, her unwavering faithfulness…

but curiously, the chapter ends with nothing…

Ruth continues to glean in Boaz’s fields for nearly 2 months…which on the one hand is a blessing, but what about Boaz being the kinsmen redeemer…

that part of the story has stalled out…maybe it’s time for someone take some initiative…

maybe you don’t always wait for a door to open…perhaps you need to reach out and turn the knob yourself…

perhaps that’s part of the journey to finding hope…

read 3:1-13…

Main Point: Gaining Hope Sometimes Requires Practical Steps of Obedience!

let’s look for 3 reasons...

Finding Hope in the Provision of God Means that You Have to Do Your Part.

that is clearly one of the lessons of this passage…bitter people are often inactive…either because they’ve given up, or they’re angry, or they’re paralyzed by fear…

but trusting people, faithful people, hopeful people are willing to take steps they will believe will please God and place them in a position to receive His blessing…

we saw that in chapter 2 – Ruth was the one who initiated the idea of her going out and gleaning in the fields…and she clearly said – perhaps someone will show me favor – meaning, perhaps God will lead someone to obey the OT law about allowing poor people to glean in your fields during a time of harvest…

and sure that required trust, but it also required a willingness to do her part…she didn’t just sit around and wait for a wealthy landowner to come knock on her door – she went out and knocked on his…

now that Naomi has seen the result of that kind of trust, that kind of faithfulness, that kind of hesed, covenant loyalty to/belief in the God of Israel…now we need to see if Naomi is going to follow suit…

and I think it’s fair to say that Naomi follows suit…she may have been bitter…she may have believed God couldn’t provide or work out the details…but she’s over that…she is making up for lost time for sure…let’s think about…

A. Naomi’s proposal.

Ruth 3:1 - Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, shall I not seek security for you, that it may be well with you?

1.

The purpose.

Naomi isn’t focusing on what she can get out of this – she’s concerned for Ruth’s well being as a young widow…and she wants to do something about that…no more stewing around in faithless and inactive bitterness…

now, the phrase “seek security” is from the Hebrew word manoah – “place of rest”…

it’s directly related to the word she used in chapter 1 verse 9 – go find rest in the home of your new husband, regardless of what he believes…this word speaks of the security and tranquility that a woman in Israel longed for and expected to find in the home of loving husband

but now it’s different, a lot different…and here’s why…

2. The process.

She knew who Boaz was.

she is pinning her entire plan on this fact…3:2 - Now is not Boaz, our kinsman…

now we need to stop there for a moment…and I mentioned several weeks ago that we would do this…this entire text makes no sense unless we know a bit about OT customs…

there was a specific provision in the OT law for a situation where a man died without any children…it was called levirate marriage, and it’s outlined in…

now I realize that you might hear that and say – “yuk”…that’s because it’s hard for us to understand how vulnerable a position it was for a woman to be a young widow in that culture, and also how important it was for families, or clans to stay together and protect and love and provide for one another…

there’s a lot that we could say about that that is outside of our purpose today – but please especially think about this –

Naomi is basing her entire plan on the appropriateness and trustworthiness of the Word of God.

…that is, the Word of Jehovah, the God of Israel…

no more of this “any old god will do” stuff…no more of this everybody does that which is right in their own eyes…”

she is becoming more like Ruth by the minute…finding her hope in a God who provides…

if God does not show up and bless and honor His Word, this entire plan could become an absolute nightmare…

so she knew who Boaz was, from a biblical perspective – he’s our kinsmen…

She believed it was appropriate for Ruth to conclude her time of mourning.

Ruth 3:3 - Wash yourself therefore, and anoint yourself and put on your best clothes…

now some writers have suggested that there is something sexual here…that would do incredible violence to this text because of everything we know about both Ruth and Boaz’s character…we’ll say more about that later…

this has nothing to do with… “try to make yourself look really hot”…

the best parallel passage to this is II Samuel 12 where David concludes the period of mourning for his deceased son…

in Bible times, while your mourning, you would not bathe, at least not as regularly…you would wear certain kinds of garments…you were mourning…and you may recall in 2 Samuel 12:20 “So David arose from the ground, washed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he came into the house of the Lord and worshiped.

Then he came to his own house, and when he requested, they set food before him and he ate.”

the point is – the formal time of mourning for her deceased husband [who of course would have been Naomi’s son] was concluding…

the fact that Naomi was the one who made that suggestion, and Ruth waited until her mother-in-law would be comfortable with that...that time had come is beautifully touching…that’s why when people try to make this text something it’s not, they miss some very wonderful and important lessons…

She knew what Boaz would be doing.

Ruth 3:2 – Behold, he winnows barley at the threshing floor tonight…

the threshing floor would have been a large piece of rock probably at the top of a hill that would take advantage of the afternoon breezes…that’s why they did this kind of work in the late afternoon and evening…

then they would sleep there to protect the grain from being stolen before it could be transported…

and remember, they had just been through a famine…this would have been a very happy and important time for them…

She knew that Ruth had to take the next step.

Ruth 3:4 - It shall be when he lies down, that you shall notice the place where he lies, and you shall go and uncover his feet and lie down; then he will tell you what you shall do.

Naomi had this planned out to a tee…but the $100 question is – why not just wait for Boaz to approach Ruth?...if they’re finding their hope in a God who provides, why just passively wait?...

for a lot of reasons…

They didn’t have to…there was nothing unbiblical in what they were doing…a bit unconventional, yea…a bit risky---you better believe it [we’ll talk about that in a moment]…but not wrong…so they’ didn’t have to wait…

It is highly unlikely that Boaz would have ever acted in this situation…

out of respect for Ruth’s grief…it would have been insensitive to Ruth, and potentially offensive to the memory of her deceased husband if Boaz was the one who suggested the time of mourning should be concluded…

because Boaz was a significantly older man…that point becomes part of this text…now he wasn’t some feeble guy---remember he had just worked all day and well into the evening…but it probably would have been presumptuous for a man his age to assume Ruth would have any interest in him…

and as we learn later in the text – while it’s true that he was a relative – what Ruth nor Naomi did not know but apparently Boaz did – was that there was a man who was even a closer relative than him…and Boaz has already proven him to be an extremely honorable man…

so here’s the whole point – somebody had to act…and if it was unlikely or unreasonable for Boaz to be the one acting, then maybe it was time for the ladies to do a little something…

now, switch perspectives…let’s say you’re Ruth…and you’ve just heard this plan…how would you respond?...

B. Ruth’s willingness

3:5 - …all that you say I will do.

which is absolutely amazing for 100 reasons, including its incredible brevity…

this plan makes sense because it is rooted in hesed…faithfulness, covenant loyalty…fidelity to the Word of God…

this could potentially result in her husband’s name being perpetuated and Naomi’s future being protected along with her own…

let’s not simply do that which is right in our own eyes…

Let’s take steps that only make sense if God’s Word is really true and He’s able to provide the way He’s promised to over and over in His Word.

all that you say, I will do…and one of the questions we all have to face this morning is, are you finding hope in a God who provides because you’re embracing the journey of doing your part…

This principle is illustrated in many places in Scripture.