morning. It's my joy to be with you all again and bring God's Word to you. If you've been with us
over the last several weeks, you know that we are in the book of Ruth. And we're in Ruth chapter 2,
kind of at the middle point. We're going to be starting at verse 14 this morning.
Now as we start, if you live in Colorado Springs, I'd imagine that like me, you see a lot of cyclists
on the road. And they're usually doing one of two things. They're either going up or they're going
down. Because that's most of the options. In fact, that's not just cyclists. That's most of us here
here in Colorado Springs. We're either going up something or down it. And I'm not saying
completely there. There are some flat places. But if you're a hiker, you're probably not hiking flat.
You're going up. You get to see a beautiful view. And then you go down. And I've been telling you
for the last several weeks that Ruth is a book about suffering. And I've told you that it's a book
about suffering because it's a book about widows and because it's a book about those who live in a
country where they weren't born. But that is just one half of the story. I've been holding back on you
a little bit. That has just been the uphill climb. It's not just a book about suffering.
It's also a book about redemption. And it's a book about redemption because it's about God
caring and sustaining people who are in the midst of suffering. And so for the last several weeks,
we've been doing the very hard work of hiking uphill on a steep grade. We've had to talk about
very serious suffering week after week after week. And I'm here to tell you that we are now
at the glorious view that we've been waiting for. We've made it to the lookout. And if you're a
cyclist and you make it to the very top, you know that the steeper the climb is, the more frightening
and fast the descent. That sometimes you have to hold on to your handlebars and make sure to see if
you can actually make it down without wrecking. At least if you're an inexperienced cyclist like me.
Grant doesn't do that. He takes his hands off the wheels when he's going downhill.
And so we've done this uphill climb all the way up of seeing this intense suffering through chapter
one and part of chapter two. And now we're going to get to see the payoff. We're going to get to see
not just the Ruth and Naomi of chapter one, but the Ruth and Naomi of chapters two and three and four.
And as one of my friends puts it, when we're in chapter one in our lives, we have to remember the rest of
the book. We have to remember chapters two and three and four. If you've been with us, then you're
familiar with the story. You know that at the beginning we met a woman named Naomi. Naomi lived
in the country of Israel, the land of Israel. And there was a problem. There was a famine. So Naomi
and her husband, the Limelech, and their two sons moved from the land of Israel to the land of Moab.
Now the land of Moab was not God's promised land. It was not filled with God's people. And so
they left God's people for a land where there was worship of other gods, the worship of Baal and
Chemosh. But they left there because there was a famine. While they were there, both their sons
were married to two women, Ruth and Orpah. And after 10 years without any children, all the men die.
Elimelech dies as well as his two sons. And so Naomi and her two daughters-in-law are left to
return from the land of Israel, or excuse me, from the land of Moab to the land of Israel because they
hear at that very time God has finally visited his people with food. On the way back, Orpah and Ruth are
both going with Naomi, but Naomi urges them as strongly as she can not to stay with her. So Orpah chooses to
return, but Ruth, making an incredible vow in chapter 1 verses 16 and 17, says that she will stay with
Naomi no matter what. When they return, Naomi is filled with her own grief and bitterness. And despite
all the ways that God has been caring for her and sustaining her, she accuses God of making her empty
when she had been full. And in all of this, more than suffering and redemption, we have seen
God's love. Remember I told you about the Hebrew word hesed, which roughly translated by the Jesus
Storybook Bible means God's never stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always and forever love.
And so what we've seen up to this point could be broken into two things. God's hesed towards us,
God's unbreaking, unstopping love towards us. We see that love towards Ruth and Naomi as he provides food
in their homeland for them. We see it to Naomi specifically as he provides Ruth. We see it as they come to
the land of Israel right at the time of harvest, at the exact time when they need to come to be able to eat.
But we don't just see God's steadfast love to his people, we also see his people's steadfast love to each other.
We saw Ruth's commitment to Naomi.
We saw that faith commits to those who suffer even when there's nothing to gain.
And we saw Ruth's continued commitment at the beginning of chapter 2. Remember last week,
we asked a question, how do we sustain the life of faith?
How do we keep up our love towards other people?
And we saw that it just so happened that Ruth came to the right field at the right time.
We saw that the way that we sustain our faith is that God sustains us.
That when God's people go on God's mission, he is the one who motivates and sustains.
We've been focusing heavily on Ruth, and even with last week's reading, I didn't point out many things about Boaz.
But now we're going to be turning from Ruth to Boaz.
And we're going to ask the question, what does it mean to go on God's mission?
If God supports his people when they go on his mission, then what is that mission?
We've seen part of it with Ruth, we've seen her commitment to Naomi who was suffering.
And now we're going to continue with this character called Boaz.
Now, I'm confident that some of you are disappointed at this point in the series on Ruth.
Because I have not addressed an incredibly important topic.
And it's this.
What are the 12 ways to find your Boaz?
You can laugh. It's a joke.
We are unfortunately not going to be discovering 12 ways to find your Boaz.
But we are going to look at Boaz as part of our answer for this question.
What does it mean to go on God's mission?
If it's true that what we learned last week, if it's true that God's people have God's support when they go on God's mission,
what is that mission?
So we are in Ruth chapter 2.
We're picking up at verse 14.
Remember that this is God's word.
And God tells us that his word is more precious than gold.
Even the finest gold.
And that it is sweeter than honey.
Even honey that comes straight from the honeycomb.
And so we're going to turn to it now.
We're in Ruth chapter 2, starting at verse 14.
Verse 16.
Verse 17.
Verse 22.
And 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.
So she kept close to the young women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvests.
And she lived with her mother-in-law.
And she has been with her husband, lest in ut店.
And she bleeds into their ziehen.
And she even healed.
And so we said to you,
God's word.
Dear Father in heaven,
we thank you that you have given us
the gift of your word
and that it is for our good
and your glory.
We ask that you would help us
because when we open your word,
we are trying to do something
that is impossible without you,
which is to hear you speak.
And so we ask that you would speak to us today,
that you would open up our ears
so that we can hear.
You'd open our eyes so that we can see,
that you would soften our hearts,
that we would be willing to hear
and believe everything
that is written in your word.
We ask this in the name of your son.
Amen.
Remember, we're asking the question of
what does it mean to go on God's mission?
And we're focusing on the character of Boaz.
We saw a little bit from Boaz last week,
if you remember in verses 8 and 9,
he showed this incredible generosity
to Ruth as she was gleaning.
He says to her in verse 8,
Now listen, my daughter,
do not go to glean in another field
or leave this one,
but keep close to my young women.
He gives her special status as a gleaner
and has her keep close to his personal staff
so that she can have the first pick
of the gleanings.
And then in verse 9,
And so he doesn't just give her special access
to the gleanings,
but he gives her special protection as well.
And he gives her a special water source
that instead of being a woman
who draws water for men,
men are going to draw water for her.
This same generosity continues even more.
If that were not enough,
it grows in this section that we just read.
In verse 14,
he invites her to the company lunch table.
And so she's not left for
what she may have brought on her own.
And not just that,
she gets to take a doggy bag home with her.
Did you notice that?
They pass her the roasted grain in verse 14,
and she ate until she was satisfied
and since she had some left over.
And then you'll notice later on,
she gives that to her mother-in-law.
So verse 18,
She also brought out and gave her
what food she had left over
after being satisfied.
And so Ruth is not just gleaning
an excessive amount.
She also gets a free lunch
for her and Naomi,
who isn't even there.
So Boaz's generosity here is overflowing.
In fact, he gives her even greater access
in verse 16 and 15.
It says,
Let her glean even among the sheaves
and do not reproach her.
Remember that the practice of gleaning
was one where someone would follow
after the reapers during the harvest,
and what was dropped,
they would be able to pick up.
They were essentially the cleaning crew.
But here he's saying,
she doesn't have to just be
the cleanup crew behind the reapers.
She can come after the sheaves have been stacked.
She can have a second go through,
something that none of the other gleaners
would be given access to.
And they're even going to pull out
extra for her.
So it's not just going to be
what's been accidentally dropped,
it's going to be what's purposefully dropped.
And so if Boaz's generosity
seemed large last week,
it's even more this week.
It's even greater.
It's almost too much to believe.
And so that's why Naomi
has the response that she does.
So what does it mean
to go on God's mission?
We saw several weeks ago with Ruth
that she had nothing to give
but her commitment.
And so that's what she gave.
She committed to Naomi no matter what,
even though she had nothing to gain from it.
But now Boaz models to us
incredible generosity.
Boaz models incredible generosity
and it's not just generosity to anyone.
Remember I pointed out last week
that Ruth had a new name.
In chapter one, she was just Ruth,
but all throughout chapter two,
she is Ruth the Moabite.
Because now that she's in a new land,
she is a foreigner.
And she's a foreigner
with all the liabilities
that come along with it.
And so Boaz,
he's not showing generosity
to his daughter.
He's not showing generosity
to his neighbor.
Boaz is showing generosity
to one of the most vulnerable women
in all of Israel.
She's vulnerable
because she has a widow.
She doesn't have a husband
to care for her.
Her father-in-law has died.
Her brother-in-law has died.
There is no man to stand up for her.
And on top of that,
she is a foreigner.
There are certain things
she probably doesn't understand,
certain things she doesn't get.
This is all what we talked about last week.
And Boaz,
of all the people
he could show generosity to,
he shows generosity to her.
So my question for us this morning
is this.
Who is gleaning from us?
Who is gleaning from you?
What type of person
is gleaning?
Who, because of your,
whether it's your power
or your wealth
or your ability
or your status,
how are those things
helping those
who are the most vulnerable
and the most marginalized?
Because what Boaz is showing us
is that God's mission,
it's so big
that it's not just
the commitment
that Ruth models,
but it's the generosity
that he models.
And it's not just
any generosity,
but generosity
to remember our New Testament
reading this morning
from James.
True religion is what?
To care for orphans
and widows
in their distress.
And so we get to continue
to turn the diamond
of Ruth
and see all the different
aspects of God
and his love towards us
and our love for others.
Now I'll give some caveats here.
She's gleaning, right?
This is not a handout.
But Boaz has provided her
with work in his fields.
You know, I found out
a few weeks ago,
I continue to find out
things about you all,
things about our congregation,
and brings me joy
when I do.
I found out a few weeks ago
that people in this congregation
have made jobs for each other
when they needed it.
People who own businesses
and establishments
created opportunities for work
for people who are like Ruth,
who are vulnerable,
who are on the margins.
It's the reason why
we have a diaconate here
as a church.
Because we want there
to be gleaning from us.
We're not just here
for our own sake,
for our own edification.
We're here
as part of God's mission.
And that's not all
of God's mission,
but it's a large part of it
that God wants us
to care for the widow
and the orphan,
for the foreigner,
in generous,
in shocking ways.
And so God wants us
to ask not
how much do I have to give,
how much am I able to give?
Not what's the lowest amount
that I can give,
but what's the greatest?
What's the greatest amount
that I can give
to help those in need?
Because the gospel,
it's for us to use
our resources
to lift other people up
rather than to push them down.
And we live in a world
where we're told
that as we are given
resources and ability
and power,
we're able to use it
to push ourselves up.
We've had a lot of scandals
in our society
this last year
from people who
took their power
and they used it
to push other people down
rather than to lift them up
in all kinds of ways.
You see what Naomi says
in verse 20?
Naomi has her first positive word
in the whole book of Ruth.
And Naomi said
to her daughter-in-law,
May he be blessed
by the Lord
whose kindness
has not forsaken
the living or the dead.
Remember,
it's that word kindness
that we translate
as God's never stopping,
his never giving up,
unbreaking,
always and forever love.
And so Naomi,
for the first time,
through Boaz's generosity,
is able to praise God.
And for the first time,
she's able to finally see
a glimmer of hope
that what we've been seeing
all along,
Naomi finally sees
that God has been
at work in the dark
and God has been at work
behind the scenes for her.
And so would our generosity
have the same result
that people would be able
to say like Naomi,
may he be blessed
by the Lord.
What kind of Lord?
The Lord whose kindness
has not forsaken
the living and the dead.
And his kindness
that forsakes
not the living
nor the dead
in practical ways
through God's people.
We'll see this more next week,
but God ministers
through his people
to his people.
He ministers
through his people
to his people.
And so Boaz here
is the instrument
of God's redemption.
Then we find out
in verse 20,
the man is a close relative
of ours,
one of our redeemers.
What does it mean
to be a redeemer?
Well, if you remember
the Old Testament story,
you know that God
delivered his people
from slavery in Egypt.
And he tells them
in Leviticus chapter 25
that because he delivered
them from slavery,
he never wanted them
to be slaves again.
And so if there was ever
an Israelite
who was in trouble,
if they had to sell
their property,
if they had to sell
themselves into slavery
because they were destitute,
that there should be
a relative,
a redeemer,
who would come
and pay the price.
That redeemer
would buy back
the land,
they would buy back
their relative
from slavery,
and so that God,
because of his great
redemption of his people
by bringing them
out of Egypt,
wanted his people
to act as lesser redeemers,
redeeming each other
out of slavery.
That he had redeemed
them out of slavery
and he wanted them
to stay that way.
And so a redeemer
was simply someone
who paid the price
for another person's freedom.
Someone who paid the price
for another person's freedom.
You might think of
some examples today,
just to help us understand,
redemption might be
if your car is impounded,
you are going to have
to redeem that car
from slavery.
slavery.
You have to pay the price.
If someone gives
a piece of property
to a pawn shop
because they need
the money,
that has to be redeemed.
Someone has to pay
the price
to bring it out
of the slavery
of the pawn shop.
And so we see here
that Boaz
doesn't just fulfill
the office
of a redeemer,
he overflows it.
We find out
in verse 20
that he's a redeemer,
but in a sense
we already knew that.
We already knew that
just by his actions.
He was willing
to sacrifice
his own resources
to buy people
out of slavery
to help Ruth
and Naomi.
Now we could
end the sermon here.
I could say,
Boaz models
generosity for us
so go and be generous.
And some of you
would be able to do that
for a little bit
and you might
become incredibly proud
in all the ways
you've been able
to be generous.
And some of you
would go out here
and you wouldn't
be able to do it
and you'd be crushed
because you wouldn't
be able to meet
this great expectation,
this thing that God
is telling us
about generosity
to people who are
on the margins.
And so what do we
do with that?
Why was Boaz
of all the men
in Israel,
why was Boaz
the one that showed
generosity to Ruth
and Naomi?
Do you think
he just happened
to be a worthy man
as we found out
in chapter 2,
verse 1?
Why was it Boaz
and not someone else?
Do you know
who Boaz's mom
was?
Boaz's mom
was Rahab.
Rahab,
if you remember
from the story
of Israel,
was a prostitute
and she was a pagan.
And she lived
in the city
of Jericho.
She was someone
who was vulnerable
and destitute.
She was a foreigner.
And when the spies
came in
to look into
the promised land,
they met Rahab
in the city
of Jericho
and they made
a deal with her.
They said,
if you'll betray
the city of Jericho
and leave it behind,
you can come
and be a foreigner
who joins God's people.
And so Rahab
is a scandalous
prostitute
in a pagan city
who comes
and joins
God's people.
Who does that
sound like?
Ruth's not
a scandalous woman,
but she is
a foreigner.
She has come
to join God's people.
So Boaz
is not just
some rich man,
but he's
a rich man.
If there's
any man
in all of Israel
who's going
to know
anything,
something
about what
it's like
to be a foreign
and helpless
woman among
God's people,
it's probably
Boaz.
I don't know
for sure,
but I would imagine
as Boaz
grew up,
his mother
must have told him
something about
her past
and her history.
Hopefully she
shared some
of her struggles
joining God's
people with
her past
in a different
nation,
a foreigner.
And Boaz
himself
carries her
blood.
And so this
isn't just
a rich man
showing
generosity.
This is a
foreigner
helping a
foreigner.
And this
is a man
who knows
from his
mother
that God
is a
God with
a heart
for the
foreigner,
who welcomes
foreigners into
his people.
He knows
that this is
a God
of never
stopping,
never giving
up,
unending,
unbreaking,
always and
forever love.
love.
And so
because Boaz
knows he's a
foreigner who's
been brought
in,
I would
imagine this is
why he of all
the men in
Israel is the
one who shows
this incredible
generosity.
And so
how do we
avoid
being proud
because we
can show
generosity
or broken
because we
can't?
What
motivates us
to show
God's
never stopping,
never giving
up,
unbreaking,
always and
forever love?
We have
to understand
when we
understand that
we are
foreigners
that have
been brought
in to
God's
family.
And we
are foreigners
that have
been brought
with a
price.
Imagine that
not many of
us here
today are
Jews.
We're not
part of
some of
us perhaps
but most
of us
not.
We're not
part of
God's
original
people.
We're not
part of
the nation
of Israel.
And yet
part of
God's
plan was
to bring
us in
as well.
Not only
that but
we're people
who have
been redeemed
and bought
with a
price.
It cost
God
something.
It's not
just that
we're
foreigners
who've been
brought into
a family.
We got to
see a
beautiful
picture of
that today
with Doug.
But what's
true of
Doug is
true of
all of
us who
have joined
this church.
That we
were not
originally
part of
God's
family but
that he's
brought us
in.
And so
when we
understand that
we are
foreigners that
God has
redeemed,
then we
can show the
kind of
generosity that
Boaz shows
here, not
with pride,
not with
being crushed,
but because we
know what it's
like.
And out of
thankfulness and
joy and
gratitude for
what God
has done
for us.
There's one
man who
describes the
gospel this
way, that
it's one
beggar asking
another beggar
for bread.
We can think
of our
generosity in
this way, it's
one foreigner
giving another
foreigner what
they need.
Because we've
all been brought
in to God's
family.
We all have,
in a sense,
Rahab as our
mother.
And so we
can show mercy
to Ruth.
I'll close
with this, we
sang about this
just a little
bit ago, and
we sang grant,
O Lord.
Grant, O Lord,
that we may
hear your people
be a witness to
your faithfulness,
faithfulness that
we've known and
seen.
Skip down to the
third verse.
Grant, O Lord,
that we may ever
faithful be to
you whose gift to
us is life, and
in whose service
we are free.
It's when we
understand,
that we are
free in the
service of God,
and that his
gift to us is
life, that we
can be faithful
to him.
It's when we
understand that we
are foreigners,
that Jesus, in
Hebrews 2, we
find out he calls
us his brothers.
In Romans 6, we
find out that we're
free from the
slavery of sin.
God's mission of
generosity, because he
has brought us in as
foreigners and his
family.
Please pray with me.
Dear Father in
heaven, we thank you
for your great
provision in Christ,
Christ, that he, as
your firstborn son, was
willing to bring us
in, that you adopted
us, even though we
were foreigners from
you.
You tell us in Romans
that it's while we were
still sinners that
Christ died for us, not
when we were part of
the family, but that
because he died, he
brought us in.
We ask that you would
move in our hearts that
we would not become
proud or crushed, but we
would be confident in
your love for us, humble
in your grace, and
motivated by that
towards generosity
towards each other,
because you have been
generous towards us.
We ask all these
things in the name of
your son.
Amen.
Please.