today. A special welcome if you're a visitor with us. We're glad you're here. And we're glad you're
here not because we're interested in just filling seats, but we're glad you're here because we
believe that as we're following after Jesus, that there's no one so good that they don't need God's
grace. And there's no one so bad that they can't have it. And so we're glad you're here because
we're all trying to learn from Jesus and follow after him, and we believe that he has something
to offer to every single one of us. If you've been with us for the last, now almost two months,
you know that we are going through the book of Ruth. And I have to say, personally, I'm a little
bit sad because we're almost at the end. We have two more sermons left in Ruth, and it's been
a delight for me to go through this book with you and just a joy. You know if you've been with us that
Ruth is a book about suffering, and it's a book about suffering because it's a book about people
who live in a country where they weren't born, and because it's a book about widows. But you also
know that it's a book about redemption because it's about God sustaining and providing and caring for
his people even in the middle of that very same suffering. And even more than that, we've talked
about the fact that this is about God's chesed love. Remember, chesed is that Hebrew word that
means God's never stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always and forever love. And we've
seen that love as we've gone through the book from God to his people, but we've also seen it from God's
people to each other. That it's a love that comes from God through his people to his people. And that's
part of what we looked at last week. As we come to the end, remember at the very beginning, we talked
about stories. I asked those of you who are kids why it was that your parents read stories aloud to you.
And there were many reasons, but one of them was that we would become wise. That God as a loving
Father wants us to know what's ahead of us. He wants us to know how to handle suffering in our lives.
And now we're at the very end. We're in the last chapter. And so there's something else that happens
with stories. And that is, how do we handle endings? There's at least two kinds of people when it comes
to endings. And I learned this growing up because my mom is one of those kinds of peoples. My mom has
to know the ending of a story before she starts it. And so she'll skip to the very end and read the last
chapter. Because if she doesn't know the end, she can't enjoy the rest of the story. She wants to watch
how it all comes together. And then there are others of us who will tell friends if we're reading
a new book that's just come out, hey, I'm just reading this book. You cannot tell me the ending
because you'll spoil the rest of it for me.
We have a little bit of a teaser. Remember we saw last week that Boaz was going to go and see if he
could redeem Ruth. And yet there's a closer redeemer. And so we're not sure how the story is
going to end. Now last week we also saw that there were three words repeated in chapter three that we
had seen earlier in the book. And we're not done. We have one more word in this chapter. Now this is
the word that's going to appear not for the second time, but for the third time. So I'm going to tease
you with that a little bit. And so our question is, how is this story going to end? Some of you at
this point know how the story is going to end. So you might think, well, I have nothing else to
listen to at this point. I've read Ruth before. And yet if this is a story that God has given us to
become wise, it's not just a question about how does this story end. But how do all of our stories end
when we walk and work with God? Because this is not just a book about Ruth. It's not just a book
about Naomi, but it's a book for us and about us. It's a book about God's people that he's given to his
people. And so the ending here for these characters is in some ways the ending for us as well.
So what happens? How is the story going to end for anyone who walks with God and works with God?
And whether you like it or not, you're going to be like my mom this morning because we're going to
talk about how the story ends for each and every one of us. With that, we're in Ruth chapter 4. We're
in the last chapter. We're starting at verse 1. 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 4, starting at verse 1. Please read with me.
Now Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there. And behold, the Redeemer of whom Boaz had spoken
came by. So Boaz said, turn aside, friend, sit down here. And he turned aside and sat down.
And he took 10 men of the elders of the city and said, sit down here. So they sat down.
Then he said to the Redeemer, Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel
of land that has belonged to our relative, Elimelech. Verse 4. So I thought I would tell you of it and say,
buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people.
If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not, tell me that I may know. For there is no one
besides you to redeem it. And I come after you. And he said, I will redeem it. Verse 5.
Then Boaz said, the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth, the Moabite,
the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.
Then the Redeemer said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance.
Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it. Verse 7.
Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging.
To confirm a transaction, the one drew off his sandal and gave it to the other.
And this was the manner of attesting in Israel. So when the Redeemer said to Boaz,
buy it for yourself, he drew off his sandal. Verse 9.
Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, you are witnesses this day that I have bought from
the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and Malon.
Also Ruth, the Moabite, the widow of Malon, I have bought to be my wife, to perpetuate the name of the
dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers
and from the gate of his native place. You are witnesses this day. Verse 11.
Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, we are witnesses. May the Lord make the
woman who is coming into your house like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel.
May you act worthily in Ethraphah and be renowned in Bethlehem. And may your house be like the house
of Perez whom Tamar bore to Judah because of the offspring that the Lord will give you by this young
woman. Verse 13. So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. And he went into her and the Lord gave her
conception and she bore a son. Then the women said to Naomi, blessed be the Lord who has not left you
this day without a redeemer. And may his name be renowned in Israel. Verse 15. He shall be a restorer to you
of life and a nourisher of your old age. For your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more than
more to you than seven sons has given birth to him. Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap
and he became his nurse. And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name saying, a son has
been born to Naomi. They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
Please pray with me as we come to this portion of God's word.
Dear father in heaven, we thank you that you are a good and loving father who longs for us to know
more about you and your ways. And so you've given us your word. We ask that you would help us to
understand what you've given us. That everything that is written about you, we would hear and see
and know and believe. We ask these things not because we have earned it, but because your son has.
And so we ask it in his name, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
We're jumping in at a high point of tension here because as you remember from last week,
we are not sure exactly what's going to happen. Ruth has proposed that Boaz would be her redeemer
by marrying her. And yet there's a complication because there's a closer redeemer. Now we've
learned before that the redeemer was someone who was related to a person in their family who was in
a very bad situation. Maybe someone had been sold into slavery because they were in debt. Maybe they'd
had to give up their land due to an unforeseen circumstance. But for whatever reason, this person
was very dire circumstances. And so a redeemer was someone who would come and they would buy them
back out of slavery or they would buy that land back so that they could have it, so that they could
restore them to fullness. And so a redeemer, in a sense, is someone who makes an investment
but never gets to see the return. They make an investment for someone else's sake. And as we saw last
week, a redeemer can also marry a widow who has not had children. And the idea of marrying the widow
who has not had children is to carry on the name of the man who died. We see that in this passage in
verse 5 and 10, Boaz talks about the necessity of carrying on the name of Elimelech. The purpose for
this in God's plan for his people of the Old Testament was that the family was the core of society,
family, number one. And so he wanted the family name to continue. But number two, God wanted to
protect his people from the tragedy of having the haves and the have-nots. And so he wanted to prevent
the death of a man without an heir from causing that heir's inheritance to transfer to someone else in
the family. In other words, he didn't want one man to begin to amass large amounts of property
while other people had no property to work with. And so this idea of land and marriage are all tied
together. And we come upon that very issue in this chapter because we have a surprise. We expect that
Boaz is coming here to marry Ruth. He takes action. He shows up at the city gates. And yet, for some reason,
he doesn't want to talk about marriage at all. Did you notice that? He wants to talk about land.
He says in verse 3, by the way, this redeemer, this closer redeemer that he's trying to talk to just happens
to pass by at the right time. And so we continue to see what we learned a few sermons ago, that
there are things that just happen. But really, it's God's providence blessing his people as they
follow after his mission. So Boaz takes action. On the one hand, he's not passive, but God meets him
at the same time. He brings him to the right place at the right time. And Boaz is talking about land,
not marriage. So we have a surprise here in verse 3. He says, Naomi, who has come back from the country
of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech. So I thought I would tell
you of it and say, buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my
people. If you'll redeem it, redeem it. Now, this doesn't just raise a surprise for us why he's talking
about land rather than marriage, but it also raises another question about the previous three chapters.
If Naomi has this plot of land, why has she been so destitute this whole time?
She came back looking for food, and Ruth had to glean for them. And yet it turns out that she's had
property all along. Well, the book doesn't answer this question for us directly, so we have to piece
a few things together. Presumably, the original audience would have known exactly what was going on
because they were familiar with the customs at the time. But the best that we can figure out that
happened is this. When Elimelech and Naomi left, it was impossible to permanently sell your land if
you lived in the land of Israel. And so what they most likely did was they sold the rights of use to
the land to someone else. This is a typical practice to sell the rights of use for a time. In fact,
if you were in a dire strait financially, this is something you might do to regain money, something you
might do to pay off the debt. And that's part of what a redeemer would do. A redeemer would buy back
the land so that you could have the use of it again. They would buy back your livelihood. So the most
likely thing that happened is that Elimelech and Naomi left for Moab, and they sold someone the rights
to the land. And for whatever reason, when Naomi came back, she wasn't able to buy back the rights.
And whoever had the land had no interest in helping her.
And so there's someone that's been using her land this whole time, and she's been unable to repossess
it. And this is the very situation for which a redeemer is needed. The redeemer comes back and
gets the land back for the person who can't afford to buy it, so that they can once again have the
family plot, the family land. And so that's what this man is suggesting here. He's saying, would you like
to buy back the rights of this land? But remember, he doesn't mention the name Ruth at all. Why is that?
He says, would you like to buy back the land of Naomi? Well, this redeemer seems very eager to buy
back the land until Boaz's brilliance comes through in verse 5. He says, oh, by the way,
this redeemer said he's going to redeem it, right? He's eager for this deal. It's interesting, he's at
the city gates. He hasn't taken any time to think about it. He doesn't need to go back and check his
bank accounts or his investments to know if he can afford it. He jumps at this opportunity until verse 5.
Then Boaz said, the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi,
you also acquire Ruth, the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the
dead in his inheritance. Then the redeemer said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own
inheritance. Take my right of redemption for yourself, for I cannot redeem it. Why does this change the deal
so much? You see, when this redeemer first heard about this opportunity, he thought it was an
opportunity just tied to Naomi. And so he would be able to perform the rights of a redeemer by the
letter of the law. But remember, Naomi is an older widow. He's probably not going to have to produce an
heir. And so if he does this, most likely he is going to be able to take this land for his own.
Now he'll have to support Naomi while she's a widow, but he'll do that from the proceeds of the land.
And then when Naomi passes away, instead of it going to the heir of Naomi, it's going to go to him.
And so he has a wonderful business opportunity in front of him. He can look great. He can come in and
play the part of a redeemer. He can buy back the land. He can support Naomi. And he can also end up
getting a great business deal. And so this redeemer is not interested at all in redemption.
He has no interest in actually helping the foreigner. He's not interested in making an
investment that someone else is going to see the profit for. And so when he hears that Ruth goes along
with it, he realizes that if Ruth comes with it, there might also be an heir. And if there's an heir,
this land that he buys is going to go to that heir. It's going to go to Ruth's first son. It's not going
to go to him. And so we find out that this redeemer actually has no interest in redemption.
Because a redeemer is someone who's willing to save someone else at great cost.
This man looks and realizes that it's going to cost him something.
It's interesting because if we look at the pattern of redeemers like this in the Bible,
it usually involves them trying to get out of their responsibilities.
This happened with Judah and Tamar, who we're going to talk about in a little bit in Genesis 38.
It happened another time in Genesis as well.
That the redeemers are always trying to figure out a way to not have to redeem.
Because it's very expensive to be a redeemer. Very expensive.
And so this man pulls out completely. Verse 6, I cannot redeem it.
I'm not willing to pay the price for someone else.
I'm only willing to pay the price if I can actually do what God's intention was not to happen.
If I can accumulate more and more property for myself.
And of course this is what Boaz had planned all along.
We see his brilliance here that he waits until verse 5 to suddenly turn the tables on this man.
And show him that this is a real opportunity for real redemption.
And of course that's something that this quote-unquote redeemer has no interest in.
And so Boaz quickly seals the deal.
He's brought in 10 elders.
We saw that at the very beginning to make sure that this is done in all the right legal proceedings.
He does it with witnesses so it can never be undone.
They follow an ancient custom of exchanging sandals.
And then they have all the witnesses in verse 11 who bless them.
And so this redeemer highlights for us what Boaz is doing.
Remember I said last week we were going to see that Boaz was also going to pay a great price.
The fact that this redeemer, this nameless redeemer backs out, underscores the sacrifice that Boaz is willing to make.
This redeemer, in a sense, serves as a foil for Boaz.
Highlighting and underlining and accenting the ways in which Boaz is a true redeemer.
He is willing to sacrifice, to give up, to buy land that he's not going to see his investment come back on.
Because he's only going to keep this land until Ruth's oldest son is able to take it for his own.
So he's never going to see the money come back.
He's making an investment for someone else's sake.
Remember we started by asking, how does the story end when we walk and work with God?
The first way that the story is going to end is sacrifice.
If we walk and work with God, whether we're suffering or someone else is suffering,
we will end up giving a lot.
We'll end up sacrificing a lot.
In fact, if we walk with God and work with God, we will end up giving up everything.
Because God's heart is towards the marginalized.
And it's towards the foreigner.
You notice the other thing that Boaz did in verse 5?
He gave Ruth her full name.
Ruth the Moabite.
You're not just redeeming someone.
You're going to get to redeem a foreigner.
And this land that you invest in is going to go to someone who does not have pure Israelite blood.
But Boaz here models for us the sacrifice that will happen.
That if we walk with God, if we follow after Jesus, it is going to cost us tremendously.
It might cost us, like it does Boaz here, it might be a financial cost.
Boaz is using his resources not for his own fulfillment, but to save those around him.
To save a foreigner.
It might not be a financial sacrifice.
It might be a sacrifice of time.
As we do the things that Boaz and Ruth have shown us here, as we commit to people who are suffering.
It's going to involve a sacrifice of our comfort.
Sometimes of our happiness.
But it might just lead to joy.
And it also doesn't end with sacrifice.
Because that's only the first answer to our question.
Remember we've talked before about how important names are in the book of Ruth?
There's not many people who aren't given a name.
I think the only other character I can think of is Boaz's servant in chapter 2.
We didn't find out his name.
In verse 5 and verse 10, Boaz reminds us what he's doing.
Did you notice it?
In verse 5.
You acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.
That Elimelech's name is going to continue.
And then we hear that in verse 10 when he tells everyone what he's done.
Also, Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Malani, bought to be my wife to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.
That the name of the dead may not be cut off.
What was the Redeemer unwilling to do?
He was unwilling to perpetuate the name.
He was unwilling to raise up someone else's inheritance.
And in the Old Testament, the punishment fits the crime.
And so this Redeemer has no name.
The one who would refuse to raise up someone else's name also loses the chance to have a name.
When we know the names of everyone else, this is the man who's cut out.
And as we'll see next week, it's Boaz's name that's going to continue.
It's Boaz who's going to show up in Matthew chapter 1.
And here.
Because he was willing to raise up the name.
And so we're not just left with sacrifice.
Verses 11 and 12, we see the blessing that everyone asks for, for Boaz.
In verse 11.
In other words, you're from the tribe of Judah.
And may you be considered just as great as the founders of your tribe because of what you've done.
May the Lord bless you for your sacrifice.
And we see immediately that that blessing begins to take place in the very next verse.
In verse 13, Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife.
And he went into her and the Lord gave her conception and she bore a son.
This is only the second time in the entire book of Ruth that something has been explicitly ascribed to God.
The first time was in chapter 1 when the Lord visited his people with food.
And now he visits Ruth and Boaz with his special blessing.
If you remember from chapter 1, it was interesting that Ruth had been married for 10 years.
And yet there was no heir.
And it's not stated, but we can only assume that she and Orpah were unable to have children.
And now God extends his blessing to her and Boaz.
Then the women said to Naomi,
Blessed be the Lord who has not left you this day without a redeemer.
And may his name be renowned in Israel.
He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age.
This blessing is not just going to be for Boaz and Ruth.
But as we saw last week, it's going to bless the rest of God's people too.
And so Naomi is going to have a blessing.
And here's the word.
Here's the third occurrence of the word.
Verse 17.
And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name saying,
A son has been born to Naomi.
We haven't seen the word son since chapter 1.
And when we saw it in chapter 1, it referred to Naomi's sons who died.
Remember at the end of last chapter, we saw the first problem solved.
That Ruth came back with lots of food from Boaz so that Naomi would not be empty-handed.
And here, Ruth solves her second problem.
She comes back with a son.
And so the question that was started at the beginning of Ruth,
all the way when we started at the beginning of July,
what's going to happen to Naomi because she has no sons and no food?
It's because of Boaz and his sacrifice
that now Naomi is going to be able to go all the way from empty to full.
She's been restored, not just with food, but with a son.
And it's interesting that they say this son has been born to Naomi
because of course we know that Naomi didn't give birth to the son, right?
But it's God's restoration here.
And so what happens when we walk and work with God?
It's not just tremendous sacrifice, but it's also great reward.
Because God delights to bless and reward his people who walk with him,
who follow his path of sacrifice.
God delights to do what he does just here.
He visits Ruth and Boaz.
He blesses them.
He uses them to restore Naomi.
And so when we walk and work with God,
the story ends with sacrifice, but also great reward.
Because God delights.
He delights to bless and reward his people.
And yet if we were to stop there, it would be in some ways trite.
Because if you have been through suffering,
if you've lived in Ruth chapter 1,
you know that this is not complete fullness.
Naomi is still a widow.
There are perhaps still going to be times that Naomi wakes up at night
and realizes that Elimelech is not with her.
Perhaps as she holds a grandchild,
it will remind her of her own children who aren't with her.
Remember that Boaz and Ruth have a great gap in age.
That most likely Boaz is a generation older than Ruth.
And as they have this great marriage that's been blessed by God,
there will probably be times when they have struggles.
Ruth will realize the truth of what Boaz said
when he said you could have gone after younger men,
whether rich or poor.
And Boaz perhaps will come to realize
some of the challenges of marrying someone much younger than him.
And so while we see a restoration of Naomi,
they still live life in this world.
The ends are not all tied up.
Not everything is brought back.
No one is going to come back from the dead.
Elimelech.
Milan.
Chilean.
That this is not some trite and sappy story
about God taking someone and giving them back everything they had.
It is about God restoring and blessing.
And yet in this life,
we never experience complete fullness.
We'll never experience complete restoration.
And that's where the end of Ruth is going to point us.
We'll talk more about this next week,
but we see it a little bit here.
Remember,
a son has been born to Naomi.
They named him Obed.
And then we find out some things.
He was the father of Jesse,
the father of David.
Remember,
we talked in chapter one
that this would happen during the time of the judges.
That there was tremendous political turmoil happening.
And so they're not just looking for
restoration as a people,
but as a nation.
And David is going to bring that in part,
but he's going to point forward to someone else.
We talked last week that God
brings his power and his presence
through real people in real time and real space.
And he's going to do that
through a descendant of David.
He's going to do that through Jesus.
And he's not going to do that
through Jesus the bumper sticker.
He's going to do that through Jesus the real man.
He's a Jewish man.
He's born in a village,
not a town.
He's born in Galilee called Nazareth.
He's going to live a real life.
He's going to serve as a builder.
He's going to walk with people
and he's going to teach them.
But he's also going to be more than a man.
He's going to be the only one
who can bring complete fullness.
And while Elimelech
is not going to come back from the dead,
Jesus is going to raise the dead.
We discussed when we went through the book of Matthew
the fact that Jesus' miracles are meant to show us
what true and complete fullness will look like.
It will look like
the dead being raised
and the sick being healed.
And so while there's partial fullness here
for Naomi,
the end of this book points us to full fullness.
It points us to the fullness
that Jesus is going to bring
in real time
and real space.
And Jesus is going to follow
this pattern of suffering
and reward.
Remember that the Redeemer
is someone who helps
a person who's related to them.
And yet Jesus is going to take that pattern
and he's going to break it
and fill it even more.
Because he's going to come for people
who are estranged from him.
Who are not his blood.
He's going to come
and he is going to pay the price
for someone else
to see the reward.
And his sacrifice
will be his reward.
Because his sacrifice
is for you and me.
And that is what he longs for.
For that to be the reward.
And so what happens
when we walk with God
and work with God?
We follow after the same pattern
that Jesus did.
We follow after the pattern
of sacrifice
and reward.
And just like Boaz for us,
the reward is worth it.
It is worth everything.
One of my favorite stories
is about Steve Jobs.
I'm fascinated by Steve Jobs.
I probably wouldn't want
to be his friend
because he was
quite the character.
But I would love to
at least be able to sit down
with him and talk
for a little bit.
And probably my favorite story
about Steve Jobs
happened when he was 26 years old.
When Steve was 26,
it became clear
that he did not have
the maturity to run Apple.
And so while he was the founder
and the starter,
the board told him,
you are not going
to be able to do this.
We need to bring in some adults.
And so,
but they told him,
you can have a veto power
over who we bring in
as the CEO.
And so Steve Jobs,
they interviewed 20 people
and Steve Jobs said no
to all of them.
And then they finally
identified someone
outside of the tech industry.
They brought in John Scully
who had been
the rock star of Pepsi.
He was the one
who had first introduced
the two liter bottle
as well as the Pepsi Challenge.
He had taken Pepsi
from being a regional brand
to a national brand.
And he'd moved
from driving trucks
to Pepsi
to being its CEO
in a very, very short
amount of time,
about a decade.
When he first showed up
at Apple,
it was just a few houses.
And Steve Jobs
had a pirate flag
flying from the top.
So he'd come from
this great corporate headquarters
to talk to this man
who was eccentric,
strange.
Jobs tried to court him
over several months
and it finally came down
to the moment
where Scully
had to give him an answer.
Whether he was going
to stay with Pepsi
where he'd been successful,
where he was safe
and secure,
where he could continue
on this great trajectory.
And of course,
Scully realized
all of that.
And so he finally
had to let Jobs
down gently.
And he said,
Steve,
I really like you.
I'm willing to be
a consultant for you,
but I think I need
to stay where I'm at.
I think I'm going
to stay with Pepsi.
I'm not going to come
to your pirate flag house.
Thank you.
Steve Jobs paused
for a second
and then he turned
to him and said,
John,
do you want
to sell sugar water
for the rest
of your life?
Or would you like
to come with me
and change the world?
John didn't give
his two weeks notice
because the following
Monday,
he started his first
day at work.
at Apple.
Brothers and sisters,
Jesus has come
and he's died
and he's risen again
and because of that
he has unleashed
the most powerful force
in the world
and there are many things
that we might not want
to sacrifice
but when we realize
that that is what is
at stake,
there is no way
we'll want to continue
selling sugar water
because that's what
Jesus offers
to all of us.
He offers complete
and full restoration
for those
who will follow him
in sacrifice
and reward.
And so he asks us
to do that,
to walk with him
to the end.
Will you pray with me?
Dear Father in Heaven,
we thank you
for this book.
Thank you for giving us
stories to make us wise
so that we can learn
about you.
Thank you that you
were not satisfied
with partial restoration,
with partial fullness,
but that you wanted
complete fullness
and so you sent
your son
and he was
the fullness
of God
and yet he was
our greatest redeemer
who gave up everything
not for his kinsmen
but for us.
We ask that you
remind us of it,
you'd strengthen us,
that we would be able
to follow after you
paying the price
of sacrifice
but also following you
with the reward.
We ask all these things
in the name of your son.
Amen.