And turn back to Ruth chapter 2. Ruth chapter 2. It's on page 222. Ruth chapter 2. Emma and I have just signed up for another free trial month on Amazon Prime.
! So it was Netflix. We did the month on that, had to cancel it, and now we're on Amazon Prime. But it means that there's now the inevitable argument
about which film to actually watch if we've got time. Now can I say, Emma is much more accommodating than me.
The decision is usually between Bruce Willis action films or Pride and Prejudice romance. I'm sure you can guess which of us want either of those.
So if Ruth, the book of Ruth, was a film on Netflix or Amazon Prime, it probably would be one of the films that I, as a typical bloke,
would ordinarily miss out on. And if Ruth chapter 2 was a film, it would probably be more like Romeo and Juliet, wouldn't it, than Rambo.
Because it is a story of an unlikely romance. An unlikely romance between a man and a woman who should never have been allowed to be together in the first place.
It's a kind of far-from-the-madding-crowd sort of story. It's an unlikely romance.
And the writer that Ruth paints for us is a picture of a rural scene in the harvest fields of Boaz,
where the seeds of an unlikely courtship begin to blossom, don't they? They are planted.
Ruth meets the man who will redeem her situation.
Now the setting in Ruth 2 is full of activity, isn't it?
It's full of reaping and production and agriculture and farming.
Don't we get the contrast there with what we saw Naomi and Ruth's life was like in chapter 1, if you were here last week?
Where leaving the Lord to go to Moab brought bitterness, death and emptiness.
But at the end of chapter 1 they return to Bethlehem in Judah, they return to the Lord's land,
and now we're meant to see the contrast.
They arrive at the beginning of the barley harvest, the end of chapter 1.
And the fields are white, ready to be harvested, full of crops.
We go from the emptiness of chapter 1 to fullness, from famine to fields of plenty, from sadness to satisfaction.
And the key reason that the writer gives us for that, I think is in verse 11 and 12 if you look there.
Boaz answered Ruth,
So it's important to see the truth.
See, isn't it, that the change of scene, from chapter 1 to chapter 2, this change of life for Ruth has come through a changed perspective on God.
To leave one life behind and come to God's people and his place.
That's what repentance looks like, isn't it?
Instead of running from God, Ruth has turned around and starts to come towards God, to take refuge under his wings in his land.
It's a lovely image that, isn't it?
The image of little chicks, little birds, sheltering from the hot deadly sun in the cooling shadow of a mother's wings.
Ruth has found an oasis in the famine desert as she comes back to God, as she shelters under his wings.
And under the wings of God, God has purposed a man to bring his blessings and care into her life.
Under the wings of God, Ruth meets the Redeemer of God.
Now Ruth, too, is shot through, isn't it, with the impressive figure of this man, Boaz.
Who is Christ-like in his provision for her and grace and love for Ruth.
Boaz is the one who brings blessings to bear in her life.
He says,
It is Boaz, isn't it, who pronounces and provides God's blessings on her.
He is Christ-like.
But as we dive into this, I want us to see how unlikely and impossible the meeting of Ruth and Boaz really is.
Every good love story has impossible odds, doesn't it?
Romeo and Juliet.
Juliet, they come from different warring families.
Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet both hate each other's guts at the beginning.
Beauty and the Beast.
Well, one of them's a beauty and one of them's a beast, isn't it?
Every great love story has impossible odds.
They always have a hurdle to climb over.
Something that would normally keep them apart.
So, for Ruth, this isn't a simple story of boy meets girl and the rest of history.
Because, first of all, there is the locked door that keeps Ruth out.
The locked door that keeps Ruth out.
So, amidst the excitement of watching Ruth and Boaz meet in this book,
is the underlying fact of the girl's past, isn't it?
Ruth's skeletons hidden in the closet.
There is something about her identity, about her very nature,
that means that this union is an illicit relationship.
It could be something that would pass us by on, on first reading, actually.
But the writer leaves us in no doubt that something is amiss with Ruth.
So, how is she described?
Look at verse 2.
Ruth, the Moabite, said to Naomi,
let me go to the field and glean.
Verse 6.
The servant who is in charge of the Reepers answered,
she is the young Moabite woman.
Verse 21.
Ruth, the Moabite, said.
As a Moabite woman,
Ruth has got baggage in this relationship.
Her identity as a Moabite
closes the door on her
to receive any blessings from God.
She should be kept out
from the assembly.
Now, if you'd like to,
you don't have to,
but if you'd like to,
turn back with me to
Deuteronomy chapter 23.
It's on page...
when I get there.
165.
Now, in this part of the Bible,
Moses preaches to God's people
the laws of the Lord.
And God's land is to be lived in properly.
It is to be a holy land
where those who reject God
cannot receive his blessings.
Now, historically,
the people of Moab
have been at war with Israel.
So the Lord gives a law about them
specifically.
Deuteronomy chapter 23,
verse 3 to 4.
No Ammonite or Moabite
may enter the assembly of the Lord,
even to the tenth generation.
None of them may enter
the assembly of the Lord
forever.
Because they did not meet you
with bread
and with water on the way
when you came out of Egypt.
And because they hired against you
Balaam, the son of Beor
from Pethor of Mesopotamia,
to curse you.
The Moabites are a marked people.
Marked for exclusion,
not inclusion,
into God's people.
If you're born a Moabite,
you're born into a marked people.
So you can take the girl
out of Moab, can't you?
You can take her there,
but you cannot take Moab
out of the girl.
It was down to her very nature
that she wasn't permitted
to be in the covenant.
She was naturally an outsider.
Moab was in her blood.
It was what made her tick.
She was a Moabite
at the core of who she was.
She was part of a people
who had warred against the Lord.
So God's law kept her
from coming to him
and meeting him.
And so we see, don't we,
the barrier for Ruth
ever receiving blessing
from the Lord.
God's covenant promises
were not for her.
She was an outsider.
The Moabite woman
could not just stroll in
to God's presence
and ask for blessing.
It would be an impossible thing.
None of them
may enter my assembly
forever.
What a sentence that is.
I don't know if I could
stomach those words.
You are never allowed in,
God says.
You are never allowed in
to my blessings.
God's perfect,
holy, pure law
was the locked door
that kept Ruth
the Moabite out.
Now if this is sounding
a bit harsh,
we know, don't we,
that God is a God of love.
God is a God of love.
We all know that.
But God doesn't love
everything in his land.
He is a God of love,
but he doesn't love everything.
He doesn't love rape.
He doesn't love murder.
He doesn't love sex abuse.
He is a God of love,
but he doesn't love
those things,
and we're glad of that,
aren't we?
He doesn't love liars.
He doesn't love cheaters.
He doesn't love impure thoughts.
He doesn't love evil speech.
Now as we go through that list,
it gets quite close to home,
doesn't it?
As we realise that actually
we've all got
a bit of Moab in us.
Let me read to you
some verses from Paul's letter
to the Ephesians.
Ephesians chapter 2.
We all once lived
in the passions of our flesh,
carrying out the desires
of the body and the mind,
and were by nature
children of wrath,
like the rest of mankind.
Paul says it was in our nature.
We had Moab
in the passions of our flesh,
Moab in the selfish desires
of the body,
and Moab in the mind.
Like Ruth,
we come to God
as total outsiders,
naturally excluded
from his presence
and his blessings.
Now perhaps you're here tonight
and you wouldn't call yourself
a Christian.
You're very, very welcome.
But I wonder if you feel
the reality of that
tonight.
It just feels like
there is a total canyon
between you and God.
something huge
is in the way,
separating you.
It feels like a locked door.
Even to the tenth generation,
God says in Deuteronomy,
the Moabites
are excluded.
Now I think that helps us,
doesn't it,
with the distinction
between feeling guilty
and being guilty.
Feeling guilty
and being guilty.
You didn't have to feel guilty
to be guilty.
You don't have to be
conscious of sin,
but it's in our blood.
By nature,
we are all Moabites.
Paul says,
we were children of wrath,
excluded from God's
covenant blessings,
children of Moab.
And God's law
is uncompromising
and exclusive.
He is a God of love,
but he doesn't love everything.
Psalm 24,
who shall ascend
the hill of the Lord?
Who shall stand
in his place?
His holy place.
Leviticus 18,
it's one of my favourite passages,
speaks about the land
vomiting out the people
if they make it
unclean with sin.
By nature,
I am a Moabite.
And by nature,
God cannot stomach that.
His land
would vomit me out.
He wants sin out.
He wants rid of it
to vomit it out.
You can take me out of Moab.
You can put me
in a Christian culture.
But actually,
it's much, much harder,
isn't it,
to take the Moab
out of me.
And so the door
is firmly locked
for Ruth
to reach God's
assembly.
God's perfect law
marks her
as a Moabite.
And perhaps we
need to feel that
a bit more,
don't we,
these days?
To walk into
God's assembly
and simply ask
for his blessings,
it should be,
should be,
impossible.
Prayer meetings,
a prayer meeting
on Wednesday evening,
it should be impossible,
shouldn't it?
Knowing God,
receiving his blessings,
being in his assembly,
should be impossible.
By nature,
we were all children
of wrath,
outsiders.
He should vomit us out.
So there was the door
that kept her out.
There was the door
that kept her out.
But then,
there is the man
who gets her in.
The man who gets
her in.
Just have a look
with me at
verse 4 to 6.
Verse 4 to 6.
Behold,
Boaz came
from Bethlehem
and he said
to the reapers,
The Lord be with you.
And they answered,
The Lord bless you.
Then Boaz said
to his young man
who was in charge
of the reapers,
Whose young woman
is this?
And the servant
who was in charge
of the reapers
answered,
She is the young
Moabite woman
who came back
with Naomi
from the country
of Moab.
Behold,
it's Boaz.
It's Boaz.
And Boaz
is a definitively
beautiful character,
isn't he?
We're told in verse 2
that he is a worthy man.
And the fields
belong to him,
don't they?
And as he appears
in the field,
he comes pronouncing
the Lord's blessing
on his workers,
on those in his land.
The Lord bless you.
And they reply,
The Lord bless you.
Boaz is surrounded
by blessing
and bounty
and activity,
by production,
by life.
He is the head
and the workers
all surround him
in the fields.
It's the harvest
and Boaz
is at the kernel,
isn't he?
He is at the centre
in the midst
of his workforce,
talking to them,
near to them,
proclaiming God's blessings
upon them
as they work.
He is the mediator
and focus
of the blessings
that God has given
the people here,
Boaz.
And Ruth
just so happens
not only to be
in the right field
at the right time,
but in the right part
of the field
just at the time
when Boaz appears.
It's a providential
moment in her life
because actually
seeking refuge
under the wings
of the Lord
brings her
directly to the fields
of Boaz.
Even though
we're reminded
she's an outsider,
the Lord brings her
providentially
into contact
with him.
With him.
The core of all life
for the people.
The Lord brings her
to this Christ-like
figure.
So there's a great
paradox there,
isn't there,
in the work of God.
Now think about
your front door
for a second.
Your front door
is not just there
for one reason,
is it?
It's there for two reasons.
One reason
is to keep
unwanted people out,
isn't it?
Stay out.
It is to keep
outsiders away
from your family,
keeps your house
safe from harm.
But actually
that same door
is also used
to let people in.
Isn't it?
It's a paradox.
The same door
keeps people out
but it lets people in
at the same time.
Now just going back
to Deuteronomy again.
Do you remember
chapter 23?
The uncompromising
force of God's law.
Keeping Moabites
out.
But then only
in the next chapter,
Deuteronomy
chapter 24,
listen to these words
in verse 19.
When you reap
your harvest
in your field
and forget
a sheaf
in the field,
you shall not
go back
to get it.
It shall be
for the sojourner,
the fatherless
and the widow,
that the Lord
your God
may bless you
in all the work
of your hands.
When you reap
your olive trees,
you shall not
go over them again.
It shall be
for the sojourner,
the fatherless
and the widow.
When you gather
the grapes
of your vineyard,
you shall not
strip it afterwards.
It shall be
for the sojourner,
the fatherless
and the widow.
You shall remember
that you
were a slave
in the land
of Egypt.
Therefore,
I command you
to do this.
Moabites
stay out.
Chapter 23
gives reasons,
doesn't it,
why Ruth
should be excluded.
But then only
on the next page,
chapter 24,
gives reasons
why she should
be included.
It's a funny thing.
Ruth qualifies
on all three counts,
doesn't she?
She is a sojourner,
foreigner from Moab.
She is fatherless
and she is a widow
at harvest time
as well.
It shows us,
doesn't it,
that contained
within the very law
which prevented
her access
is a provision
for access.
We see that
the paradox
of God's law,
the open,
closed door.
God says
to sinners,
stop.
There is no question
about that.
And yet,
somehow in his grace,
the same law of God
opens a way
for sinners
to join in.
Stop,
come in.
A door keeps people out,
stop,
but it also lets people in.
And without that same door,
nobody can enter.
And this opened door
is opened
by God's
Christ-like
figure,
Boaz.
The door was closed,
but the man
gets her in.
The man
is the means
whereby Ruth
can come into
the full blessings
of God's covenant
assembly.
He is the one
through whom
God gives grace
to her,
through whom
he welcomes
outsiders.
He notices her,
doesn't he?
Whose young woman
is this?
He seeks her out.
He pursues her
and shows her
where to glean
her barley.
Have a look at
verse 8 and 9 again.
Back in Ruth.
Boaz said to Ruth,
now listen,
my daughter,
don't go to glean
in another field
or leave this one.
Keep close to my
young women.
Let your eyes
be on the field
that they are reaping
and go after them.
Have I not charged
the young men
not to touch you?
When you are thirsty,
go to the vessels
and drink
what the young men
have drawn.
He leads her
to green pastures
and to still waters.
He provides safety.
He fends off
rebuke from her,
doesn't he?
In verse 15,
when she rose to glean,
Boaz instructed
his young men,
saying,
let her glean,
even among the sheaves.
Don't rebuke her.
Verse 16 as well.
Also,
pull out some
from the bundles
for her
and leave it
for her to glean.
Don't rebuke her.
Boaz seeks her out,
provides,
and includes,
and welcomes,
and protects.
There's a lovely scene,
isn't there?
A mealtime scene
in verse 14.
At mealtime,
Boaz said to her,
come here
and eat some bread
and dip your morsel
in the wine.
So she sat beside
the reapers
and he passed to her
roasted grain.
She ate until
she was satisfied
and she had
some left over.
From emptiness
to fullness.
From sadness
to satisfaction.
From exclusion
to inclusion
through the man
Boaz.
The Lord Jesus
says,
doesn't he,
in the Gospels,
in John's Gospels,
I am the door.
If anyone
enters by me,
he will be saved
and will go in
and out
and find pasture.
I am the bread
of life.
Whoever comes
to me
will not hunger.
Whoever believes
in me
shall never thirst.
This Christ-like
man
says to
outsiders,
no, no,
don't rebuke him.
Don't rebuke her.
Let him
glean.
Let her
glean
in God's
field.
Don't reproach
her.
Let her
glean here.
God's
holy law
says,
stop.
But God's
holy Christ
says,
come here.
Dip your
morsel in
the wine.
He passes
the grain
to outsiders
out of his
abundance,
satisfaction
to sinners.
This man
is the
means
where
Moabites,
outsiders,
can come in.
He is
God's
redeemer.
I was in
Waitrose
the other
day,
and there
was a
magazine on
the shelf
there,
and it
had Dawn
French on
the front,
and it
had her
tips on
minimalistic
living.
The headline
said at the
top,
less is
more,
declutter,
get
organised,
live
lighter.
Less is
more,
declutter,
get organised,
live lighter.
And that
in a sense
is exactly
what Naomi
and Ruth
have done
since chapter
one.
So they
started off
in the
land of
Moab,
which is
representative
of the
world outside
of Judah,
outside of
Israel.
And they
moved to
a little
piece of
land,
the Lord's
land.
They
downsized,
don't they?
And then
they come
to a
little town,
little town
of Bethlehem.
And now
Ruth is
restricted to
just one
little field.
Out of
all the
places she
could be,
she's in
one little
field.
Boaz
says to
her,
don't
glean in
any other
field.
So she's
downsized in
life.
She's
become very
focused.
She's
decluttered
and become
very
minimalistic.
Just this
one field.
Boaz's
field.
But where
Boaz is
concerned,
less is
more.
Less is
more.
It is
specifically
where
Boaz's
field is.
Where the
fruit is,
isn't it?
They're in
one tiny
field,
but in
their travels
the quality
of their
lives has
been inversely
proportional to
what they
appear.
She becomes
focused on
Boaz.
Life has
become more
focused in
this one
place.
But the
more tight
her focus
is on
him,
the more
fruitful
and vibrant
and satisfying
and full
of life
she has
become.
She's
now sitting
with him
eating grain
with it
brimming over
into leftovers.
And so
the way
Ruth knows
the blessings
of God
to know
him is
to glean
specifically
in the
field of
Boaz.
she
gleans
and she
gleans
and she
gleans
and she
gleans
only there.
Look at
verse 7
again.
She said
please let
me glean
and gather
among the
sheaves
after the
reapers.
So she
came,
she continued
from early
morning until
now except
for a short
rest.
Sometimes
I chat to
folk in
Ealing who
call themselves
spiritual,
spiritual people.
But often
these folk
can be quite
cluttered
in their
thinking.
Well we're all
cluttered in
our thinking
aren't we
really?
I met a
lovely guy
the other
day.
He called
himself
spiritual.
But in
many ways
he was
quite confused
about God
and what he
really believed.
He was one
of the kinds
of people who
didn't want
to commit
to anything.
To have a
little bit
of every
religion.
He liked
Jesus.
But he
said all
these gods
are all
the same
aren't they?
I'm just
a spiritual
person.
I don't
want to
restrict
myself to
one way
of thinking.
That's just
bigoted and
narrow.
But Ruth has
had to learn
hasn't she
that with
God's
Christ
what seems
less
is more.
To focus
on one
God
and one
person in
Jesus
Christ
to glean
from him
alone
is true
spirituality.
It is
true blessing
and satisfaction.
The more
pointed and
focused we
are in the
field of
Jesus
on him
alone
the wider
and greater
and more
abundant
the fruit
becomes.
Less is
more
with him.
Sometimes we
need to listen
to Dawn
French don't
we?
Less is
more.
Declutter.
Get organized.
Live lighter.
Get specific
with Jesus.
Get specific
with Jesus.
Glean from
him and
him alone.
Get rid of
the spiritual
clutter.
Don't do
pick and mix
religion.
There's a
great artist
called
Millet.
He painted
a picture
it's called
the Gleaners.
It shows
two women
in the
foreground
bending over
to pick
tiny pieces
of grain
off the
soil.
In the
background
are the
farmers
with sacks
of grain
and these
two women
pick up
the straps.
It looks
like hard
work and
you're aware
of the
abundance
of the
farmers
have.
But there's
something
honorable
about these
women in
this painting.
They're in
the foreground.
They're
gleaning in
the right
place.
They pick
with their
right hands
and in
their left
hands are
bunches of
corn.
There's a
humility about
them.
Ruth sits
with Boaz
and his
people.
She eats
until she's
satisfied.
She sits
and receives
from him.
And note
how the
provision
just snowballs
from there
doesn't it?
So after this
evening meal
Boaz changes
the policy
on gleaning.
Have a look
at verse
15.
When she
rose to
gleam
Boaz
instructed
his young
men saying
let her
glean even
among the
sheaves.
Don't
reproach
her.
And also
pull out
some from
the bundles
for her.
Leave it
to her
for her to
glean and
don't rebuke
her.
Boaz
slightly
cheats
the system
there
doesn't
he?
Boaz
gives
her a
hand.
He gives
her a
head start
in the
gleaning.
As she
comes to
him she
gets specific
about receiving
from him
alone.
She declutters
the more
she focuses
on him
actually the
more and
more she
gets back.
Similar to
what Jesus
says isn't
it in Mark
chapter 4
Jesus said
to them
pay attention
to what
you hear
and with
the measure
you use it
it will be
measured to
you.
Still more
will be added
to you for
to the one
who has
more will
be given.
The more
attention you
pay with
him
with the
Lord Jesus
Christ
the more
you glean
from him
the more
that that
will be
measured
back to
you.
And the
more and
more he
gives.
And he
gives us
a head
start.
He gives
us more
and more
from his
abundance.
So get
specific with
Jesus
and him
alone.
This
man
the Lord
of the
harvest
his
workers
are
happy.
They
receive
the
Lord's
blessing.
It's
the harvest
and Boaz
is in
the middle
in the
midst of
his
workforce
talking to
them
near to
them
proclaiming
God's
blessing
upon them
as they
work.
And
outsiders
who
glean in
his
field
are
satisfied.
He is
the man
who gets
her in.
As we
close,
there is
a reminder
isn't
there
that at
the end
of chapter
two that
you can
take the
girl out
of Moab
but less
easily
Moab
out of
the girl.
We leave
the chapter
with a
conversation
between
Naomi and
Ruth who
comes back
to her
mother-in-law
with the
abundance of
the gleanings
from Boaz's
field plus
the left
Davis from
the meal
that evening.
Now you
can imagine
them in
this conversation
giggling like
little girls
can't you?
The questions
come out
in verse
19.
Imagine
Ruth with
all of
this barley
verse 19
Where did
you glean
today?
Naomi says
Where have
you worked?
Blessed be
the man who
took notice
of you.
Ruth replies
the man's
name was
Boaz.
Well,
she says,
he may be
blessed by
the Lord
whose kindness
has not
forsaken
the living
or the
dead.
There's more
she says.
The man,
the man is
a close
relative of
ours.
One of
our
redeemers.
It is a
moment,
isn't it,
of seeing
God's grace
to them
through this
man.
Naomi is
seeing Ruth
beginning those
early stages
of coming
into the
covenant
community.
And she's
met the
man who
will be
able to
redeem her
as her
relative,
to marry
her into
the people.
She's
finally be
able to
have rest
and security.
Now you
can imagine
them picturing
the wedding
already,
can't you?
She's almost
going to buy
the hat,
getting ahead
of themselves.
The hysterics
continue,
verse 21.
Besides,
he said to
me,
you shall
keep close
to my
young men
until they
finish the
harvest.
you shall
keep close
to my
young men,
he said.
No,
he didn't,
did he?
What did
Boaz actually
say to her?
Look back
at verse
8.
Boaz said
to Ruth,
now listen,
my daughter,
do not go
to gleam
in another
field or
leave this
one,
but keep
close to
my young
women.
keep
close to
my young
women.
Naomi
hears the
problem
there,
doesn't
she?
She
corrects
Ruth in
verse 22.
Naomi
said to
Ruth,
her daughter-in-law,
it is good
my daughter
that you
go out
with his
young
women,
lest in
another
field you
be
assaulted.
See,
whilst it's
exciting
to see
Ruth coming
close to
this redeeming
man,
there are
signs of
Moab
reappearing,
aren't there?
Signs of
not quite
getting that
she needs
Boaz and
Boaz alone.
Stay only
in my field,
he says,
stay near
the women.
From quite
early on,
we get
sense,
don't we,
I think,
that Boaz
wants to
provide for
her,
wants her
for himself,
he wants
to be the
sole provider,
the sole
redeemer.
And
Naomi has
to put
her back
on the
straight and
narrow,
doesn't she?
Verse 23,
Ruth listens
to Naomi
and keeps
close to
the young
women of
Boaz,
disaster
averted.
She remains
available for
Boaz to
redeem her in
marriage.
So isn't
it a reminder
of how we
were part
of a people
who'd warred
against the
Lord and
sometimes that
cluttered,
living in the
passions of
our flesh
kind of life
we'd come
from can
sometimes pull
us back.
We need
more Naomi's,
don't we?
More Naomi's
who pull us
up and say,
no, no,
what are you
doing?
It's good
that you
stay near
Jesus and
make yourself
available for
him and
him alone.
We've all
got that bit
of Moab
in us that
craves
independence
from him.
But the
door that
has kept us
out of God's
blessings is
the door,
it's the only
door that
lets us in
through him
and only
him.
So get
specific about
Jesus.
It is a
story, isn't
it, of an
unlikely romance
between a
man and a
woman because
Ruth and
Boaz should
never have
been allowed
to be
together.
And we
should never
have been
allowed to
be with
Jesus.
But God
has sent
him to
us that
we might
be like
Ruth here
like
little
chicks
sheltering
from the
hot daily
sun
in the
cool shadow
of a
mother's
wings.
Ruth has
found the
oasis in
the desert
of coming
back to
God.
Under the
wings of
God,
Ruth meets
the
Redeemer
of God.
Let's
play in a
short
prayer.