An Ordained Outcome!

[0:00] Now to reflect on the words of Ruth chapter 4.! You can speak into our reality.

[0:32] And I pray you would through these verses, through this chapter. In Jesus' name. Amen. Well, as I said last week, we will complete the book of Ruth today.

[0:45] But as we come to the conclusion of this story, it's essential to understand how we've arrived at this point. So it's just good to just to recap a little bit.

[0:55] Back in chapter 1, we learned that Naomi and her husband Elimelech, in a time of drought in Israel, travelled to Moab in the hope of a better future. Naomi had two sons, Marlon and Kilion.

[1:10] And while in Moab, Elimelech, Naomi's husband, dies. The two sons that she has, they marry Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. And then tragedy upon tragedy, Marlon and Kilion both die.

[1:25] And what's more, the widows, Orpah and Ruth, don't have any children. Well, there's nothing left for Naomi. So when she hears that things have improved back in her homeland, back in Israel, she naturally wants to return home.

[1:41] So she returns to her hometown, Bethlehem. Following an emotional separation, her daughter-in-law, Orpah, decides to stay with her people, the Moabites. But Ruth doesn't.

[1:53] Ruth clings to Naomi. And vows to go with her, no matter what. Where you go, I will go. And your God will be my God. That's what Ruth said to Naomi.

[2:06] As these two women arrive in Bethlehem, Naomi renames herself. She calls herself Mara, which means bitter. Because she believes God's given this very bitter blow.

[2:18] And you can understand that, can't you, of course. No husband. No sons. And technically, no home. And no inheritance. And the writer wants us to understand something.

[2:29] He wants us to understand that Israel, like those passages we looked at earlier, was a nation called into existence by God. They were his people. A royal inheritance.

[2:41] They weren't free to just up sticks and abandoned the promised land when things got difficult, when things got tough. What they should have done, what Elimelech should have done, was appeal to Yahweh, was to pray to God, was to cry out to God in his situation of need.

[3:00] And that's one of the critical lessons that the writer wants us to understand from this passage. He wants to understand that when things get difficult, you don't run away. You cry out to him.

[3:12] But instead, Elimelech heads off to green pastures, or so he thought. And by so doing, he's brought a judgment upon himself. And of course, we're talking about the Old Testament here, so these lessons are very black and white and important.

[3:27] In other words, God invested in Israel. And you can't just turn your back on him and then expect no consequences. Well, on return to Israel, Naomi is depressed, but Ruth isn't.

[3:41] Ruth shows nothing but love and concern for her mother-in-law. And we can clearly see as we cast our mind back over these last three chapters that God's hand was upon this situation. God blesses Ruth as she takes on the role of providing for the two of them.

[3:57] They arrive back in Bethlehem at the time of harvest, at the time of the wheat harvest and the barley harvest and so on. And through what can only be described as the guidance of God's Holy Spirit, Ruth unknowingly gleans in this field.

[4:14] It happens to be the field of a man called Boaz. Now, the unbeliever might argue that this is just pure coincidence, you know, some random chance.

[4:27] But trust me, there are no coincidences when it comes to the purposes and the will of God. when I was training to become a missionary pilot, an MEF pilot, just after qualifying, got all my qualifications, I've got no money and I got no job.

[4:49] And I tried everywhere to apply for a job and sent CVs everywhere and I got the same reply from all, thank you for your CV, it's on record, no vacancies at this time. And that went on for weeks.

[5:00] And so I was forced to sign up for unemployment benefit and that got to the stage where I'd been for a few interviews and there was no jobs forthcoming. And they told me, the next time you come, really, you've just got to look at any job and take any job.

[5:14] In the spring of that year, it was back in 1995, 30 years ago, my dad had died unexpectedly. Suddenly, he was only 62, but he took a very deep stroke and he died as a result of that.

[5:26] So later on in the year, when it came to the harvest October holidays and our kids were in school, my mum and my dad lived in Leeds. My mum was now widowed in Leeds.

[5:37] So we said, well, we'll go down to Leeds and spend the October harvest with my mum who's been recently widowed. We needed to take our three children down and of course, the October harvest holidays had just started, hadn't they?

[5:59] You know, Friday, they started here on Friday. But I needed to do something in the church that weekend. So we said, well, let's travel on the Monday. Let's drive down to Leeds on the Monday.

[6:11] After church, we came home. We had lunch. After lunch, the phone rang. And this was a flying school in a small airline in Leeds were phoning up.

[6:25] We were looking for a pilot just out of the blue like that. And the guy said to me, can you come for an interview on Tuesday? We lived in Gelloch.

[6:38] Well, of course I could because the very next day I was driving down to Leeds to see my mum. He just randomly phoned up and said, could you come for an interview on Tuesday? And here we were living in Gelloch having planned to travel down to Leeds on the Monday.

[6:53] Well, to cut a very long story short, I attended that interview. I got that job. My mother lived two miles from the airport so I was able to stay with her in that year when she'd been widowed.

[7:05] And I, of course, was able to comfort her and she was able to comfort me because, of course, I'd lost my dad as well. But it was difficult for us as a family because Mary Ann and the three children lived in Gelloch and I was now based in Leeds.

[7:19] Ah, but the Lord knew exactly what he was doing because this flying school little airline ran scheduled flights from Leeds to Aberdeen about three times a week.

[7:31] And so I used to get a cheap return ticket once every five to six weeks from Leeds to Aberdeen. I'd be in Aberdeen on a Friday morning by about nine o'clock in the morning, catch the train and I'd meet Mary Ann and Vanessa by about 11, 12 in the morning.

[7:45] And we did that for a good 10 months of our lives. And that's the way we lived, as I say, for 10 months of our situation.

[7:59] No coincidences. God knows what he's doing. Well, Ruth unknowingly chooses to glean the field of Boaz and it's long before Boaz turns up and he shows great kindness and generosity to her.

[8:16] But then Naomi now recognizes that Boaz is a relative of Elimelech, a late husband. And so, as we got to the stage last week in chapter three, she instructs Ruth to dress and perfume herself and go down to the freshing floor.

[8:31] And as I said last week, this wasn't to give some sort of message that she was now a loose woman readily available. This was a cultural message to become her kinsman redeemer.

[8:45] Naomi tells Ruth to notice where Boaz sleeps and then uncover his feet and lie down next to him. These slightly unusual sort of behavior that she gave to Ruth, this thing that she has to do, seemed very strange.

[8:58] But of course, it was a cultural thing and by doing that, she was giving the message to Boaz that I want to be your husband and you have a responsibility to me as a kinsman redeemer.

[9:09] Of course, in the middle of the night, Boaz stirs and he starts to see Ruth lying at his feet and then, of course, he realizes that it's Ruth and she asks him to become her kinsman redeemer.

[9:22] The ancient laws of Leviticus made provision for a kinsman redeemer to take care of widows and to ensure that their family name and estate are maintained. Boaz expresses to Ruth that what she's done is to show him a great kindness.

[9:39] He's clearly an older man and we know that from the comment he makes in chapter 3 when he says, you have not run after the younger men whether rich or poor in chapter 3, verse 10. But he's a man of great integrity and reputation and he assures her that he will redeem Elimelech's land and in the process take Ruth as his wife.

[10:00] But there's a fly in the ointment, isn't there? There's a problem because he's not first in line to Elimelech. There's another family relative who is closer and therefore that closer relative has the right to redeem the land and take Ruth.

[10:18] So this could be a spanner in the works as we ended chapter 3 last week. But Boaz reassures Ruth that he will deal with this according to the law and custom and that's, as I say, where we left off last week in chapter 3.

[10:32] Well, to describe the Bible in its entirety as a guide to life is to oversimplify the treasure and wonder that is contained within its pages. But from within Scripture are many examples that teach us values and wisdom, values that will help us to navigate life and to live life in all its fullness, in all its abundance.

[10:54] Remember, Jesus, the Word made flesh, said to us, I've come that you may have life and have it in all its abundance in John chapter 10 verse 10. Today, we live in an amazing consumer culture, don't we?

[11:07] A day of Amazon.com where you can order virtually anything and everything you need and it will be here by tomorrow. In fact, in some places now, it will be here by later on today. An age of broadband where you've got Netflix and Amazon Films and who else, documentaries, anything you want, you can screen into your living rooms.

[11:25] We can order food any time of the day and it can be delivered to our doorstep. We can speak to people and see them on the other side of the world in high definition any time of the day or night, things like Skype and WhatsApp and Messenger and so on.

[11:41] But one thing the internet and our instant society cannot give us is character and integrity. As instant as life is today, integrity is not a common commodity that you can purchase, is it?

[11:59] I would argue that integrity comes from character and character is formed by lifestyle. It's formed by values. It's not something that's displayed in an instant.

[12:11] It's something we see in the context of life, in the context of human behavior. It's not an instant thing. It needs a little bit of time, doesn't it? It needs the experience of life to form character and integrity.

[12:26] Through these chapters we've begun to deduce that Boaz is a man of great integrity. He could have refused to help Ruth. Worse, he could have taken advantage of Ruth. He did neither, but showed nothing but genuine concern, genuine kindness and generosity.

[12:45] Here in chapter 4, Boaz is determined to do the right thing by Ruth and Naomi. And as we follow this story, you get a genuine impression that Boaz warmly admires Ruth's noble character.

[12:59] How she has self-sacrificially sought to look after her mother-in-law, Naomi. But there's also more to it than that. There's also a, you kind of begin to read between the lines, there's also a genuine attraction, isn't there, to this young widow.

[13:14] Boaz responds to Ruth's choosing of them as her kinsman redeemer. He says, this kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier. You've not run after the younger men whether rich or poor.

[13:28] That was chapter 3, verse 10. He's almost surprised, isn't he? But pleasantly surprised. Surprised this younger woman of noble character has chosen him as her future husband.

[13:41] He then promises he will sort this whole issue out of who will redeem Elimelech's land. And that very morning, Boaz heads down to the town gate to await the other kinsman relative.

[13:53] And I know what you're going to say. How did he know he was going to be there? How did he know he was going to turn up on that very day? Well, the passage doesn't tell us that. But again, it's in harmony with the way that the writer's sort of written this book to convey something to us that in the same way that Ruth wanders into a random field which just happens to be Boaz's field.

[14:16] As I say, it seems like coincidences but really what the writer's conveying to us is that it's God who's orchestrating this story all the way through. He's orchestrating his purposes to achieve the outcome he ordains.

[14:30] Well, as Boaz waits at the town gate the very relative he's looking for turns up. Surprise, surprise. As I say, this is about God's control over events, isn't it?

[14:42] Rather than chance or coincidence. Boaz has made sure that in some way, again, not explained the text that ten of the elders of this small town of Bethlehem are also around.

[14:54] He's determined to have this matter dealt with once and for all as soon as possible. Basically, when Elimelech left Israel he probably sold off his land so on Naomi's return there's no inheritance.

[15:12] But under Levitical law sold land must eventually return to its original family line which would be Elimelech's relatives. However, where there's a widow involved she has a right to access and use the land but she just can't take ownership.

[15:30] If the land is redeemed by a close relative then this kinsman redeemer takes responsibility for any family members, any widows.

[15:41] And if she's of childbearing years then he takes her as his wife to ensure that the lineage of the family name is preserved in order to inherit the land in the future.

[15:54] Boaz is a shrewd man and he asks the nearest kinsman redeemer if you'll redeem Elimelech's land. Yes, comes the reply. But then when Boaz explains that you'll have to take Ruth as your wife whoops, he realizes that he can't possibly do that as that would jeopardize his own children's inheritance in verse 6.

[16:16] This close relative was certainly interested in the land but he didn't want any strings attached. He certainly didn't want the Levitical responsibilities of Naomi and Ruth. Well the way is now clear, isn't it, for Boaz to redeem the land and take Ruth as his wife.

[16:34] In the way of the old custom of making an agreement Boaz and the kinsman redeemer exchanged sandals in the presence of these ten elders, ten witnesses. And that way Boaz is ensuring there's no comeback, there's nobody can reproach him, there's going to be no allegations of corruption or underhand working.

[16:54] And he kind of makes an agreement much in the same way that sometimes people used to make agreements by, it's gross isn't it, spitting on their hand and shaking hands, people used to make agreements that way didn't they. Then Boaz announces to the elders that this day he redeems Elimelech, Kilion and Marlon's property.

[17:12] He also states he will take Ruth the Moabites as his wife to maintain the deceased's name. Then the elders respond, stating, we are witnesses and then offering a blessing.

[17:26] A blessing that Ruth will be to Boaz as Rachel and Leah were to Jacob. And then a second blessing, that Boaz's family will be like that of Tamar who bore Perez to Judah.

[17:38] May you have standing in Epaphras and be famous in Bethlehem. Little did they know how those words would become the reality. Boaz and the fact that we are here today 3,000 years later going through this passage and talking about Ruth and Boaz is testimony to the very fulfillment of that statement, doesn't it?

[18:02] The passage then goes on to describe after taking Ruth as his wife when a very short period of time she bears him a son. This son is a delight to Naomi giving Naomi a renewed vitality as his grandmother.

[18:17] She even has a role of looking after the child, being a nurse to the child. The boy is given a name. The name is Obed. And as we discover Obed becomes the father of Jesse and Jesse becomes the father of David, later become Israel's great king David.

[18:40] It's an amazing story of redemption for Naomi and Ruth, of rich integrity and noble character on the part of both of these people, Boaz and Ruth, of God's sovereign will and purpose breaking through what seems to be almost impossible and difficult circumstances.

[19:00] You know, many of us get anxious sometimes about I wonder what the Lord's will is for me. What does the Lord have planned for the future? His guidance, I'm seeking His guidance. Especially if you are in or seeking to do full time Christian work or ministry.

[19:15] I've got anxious about it in the past. But I find this book of Ruth to be a wonderful reassurance of how God almost laughs at our plans and possibly our anxieties too.

[19:29] He demonstrates clearly His incomplete and sovereign control of every little detail. Psalm 37 verse 5. Commit your way to the Lord.

[19:41] Trust in Him and He will do this. And in the preceding verse, verse 4, it says, delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.

[19:54] Do we grasp that? Do we grasp it? And we seek to follow God that what begins to happen in our lives is not by some random chance or coincidence but God ordained opportunities that He places before us.

[20:09] And I'm not just talking about things that relate to becoming a minister or a missionary or someone. This relates to every aspect of our lives, whatever role we find ourselves doing in this life.

[20:23] In the wonderful jigsaw of salvation, Boaz becomes the great grandfather of King David. David, of course, is central to our Christian faith. Jesus was born in the line of David.

[20:38] Jesus the Christ through the cross becomes our redeemer. He's the one who redeems us back to our inheritance. And as the apostle Peter says in his first letter, an inheritance that can never perish,!

[20:53] spoil, or fade. This story of roof and Boaz shines a window into the sovereign, completely sovereign ways of God.

[21:04] He knows our thoughts, our desires, and if we commit our ways to him, he's able to guide us. And Boaz and Ruth are also biblical characters that offer us examples of noble behavior and integrity.

[21:22] Yes, we do live in an instant age today, don't we, an age of the internet, Netflix, Amazon, et cetera, Prime, and all that, where issues of morality and ethics are bypassed purely to satisfy demand, to satisfy self.

[21:41] So this account of roof and Boaz is such a refreshing story, isn't it? It's a refreshing story of faith and love, of trust and patience, but it also offers us an alternative way to approach life, the way of selflessness, the way of loving sacrificially, the way of kindness and generosity.

[22:09] I would argue how much better might our society be if more people adopted such values. Amen.