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Sermon on Ruth 1
Title:  Bitter Mother-in-law
 
Theme:  God develops people of character as he shows his loving kindness.
Goal:  to encourage believers that God develops people of character as he shows his loving kindness.
Need:  In the midst of bitterness, people do not recognize the possibility of growth of character or God’s loving kindness.
Outline:
Prescripture explanation of the laws of Israel concerning the responsibilities of a daughter in law.
Scripture reading:
Part 1:  Our bitterness and misunderstanding of circumstances and God
Part 2:  naomi’s bitterness
Part 3:  Loving Kindness shown to Naomi.
Part 4:  Loving Kindness show to us through Jesus Christ.
Congregation:
  This morning we are going to look at the first chapter of the book of Ruth.
But before we get into it, we have to talk about a big difference between the time of Ruth and what we have today.
That big difference has to do with the purpose of family.
Today family is something we value and appreciate as a place where we can be ourselves.
And at the heart of the family relationship is love.
That’s especially true for the relationship of husband and wife.
The relationship between a husband and a wife today is about love and fulfillment and family.
But it is less about carrying on the family line.
In the days of Ruth, having a descendant was almost the most important part of the marriage relationship.
You have to have an heir to continue on the family line and it was the only way to care for the elderly in their day.
There were no pensions and no savings accounts.
You had children who provided for you.
It was of such importance to them that if a woman didn’t bear any children it was shameful.
And if a husband passed away without providing his wife any children to care for her and carry on his name, then it became the responsibility of the brother-in-law to get her pregnant.
This child would then carry on the dead brothers name and provide for the wife.
To our ears it sounds weird.
But as we read the passage we need to try to step into that cultural mindset and listen to the message of a bitter mother-in-law and the loving kindness of God.
Let’s look at the passage together.
Ruth chapter 1.
 
Read the passage.
Part 1
 
  Life sure can have some amazing moments can’t it?
Wasn’t it absolutely amazing to see those miners brought out of the collapsed mine alive.
It was about time we had some good news, wasn’t it.
Way too often, the only thing that seems to be going on is the bad news.
Hurricanes.
Earthquakes.
Floods.
Disease.
Isn’t it incredible that in the week we all were giving thanks for his blessings to us, we could see the way God was blessing those miners with safe passage to the surface.
Its good to hear good news every once in a while.
The bad things always seem to be right around the corner.
And they always seem to come all at the same time.
Its not just that the car has broken down.
Its that the car is broken down and the kids need to be brought to the doctor and the folks at the job sight are breathing down your neck.
And it doesn’t have to be a lot of things to make a person feel like life has become bitter.
A spouse gets sick and passes away.
The world turns bitter.
Your child comes down with a serious illness, the whole world can lose the sweetness that it once had when things were going well.
It can leave you looking to God wondering where exactly the sweetness of his promises to love us has gone.
The book of Ruth helps to show us that God allows our lives to taste bitter.
But he doesn’t do that to tear us down, but to build people of character.
And to show allow us to experience the depth of his love in a more fantastic way.
In the book of Ruth, who would you figure would be the main character?
Hmmmm.
Let’s see.
Just a stab in the dark here, but we would probably think Ruth would be the main character in the book.
But she isn’t.
She’s a major player in the story.
But the main character in the story is actually Ruth’s mother-in-law.
Naomi.
She is the main character.
The events that unfold are all told about what happens in the family of Naomi.
In fact, the story is all about the bitterness of this mother-in-law.
Does anyone here, have a bitter mother-in-law.
Don’t you dare raise your hands.
J
 
Naomi even confesses it herself in verse 20 “Don’t call me Naomi,b” she told them.
“Call me Mara,c because the Almightyd has made my life very bitter.
[1]
The meaning of the name Naomi is Pleasant.
But she does not want to be called “pleasant” any more.
Her own name makes her gag.
Pleasant.
Hardly.
The Lord has caused bitterness.
Life is just plain bitter for her.
This bitterness comes from the complete loss of everything that meant anything to her.
The book of Ruth starts off setting the scene saying there is a famine in the land of Israel during the time of the Judges.
The days when Israel is going from ruin due to godlessness to salvation through judges like Samson, Gideon and Deborah, there is a famine in Israel.
People are going hungry.
The economy of Israel is in the tank because of this famine.
To survive families have to make drastic changes.
Naomi’s husband decides that there is more chance of economic prosperity if they move away from Israel and head to the nation of Moab.
That already is the beginning of the bitterness for Naomi.
Away from her homeland.
Away from the promised land of Israel.
And it gets worse.
Her husband dies in Moab.
Elimelech leaves her with two sons to raise.
And as they grow up in Moab, they get to know the Moabite girls and each one marries a foreigner.
Lose your homeland.
Lose your husband
And then lose your children.
We find out that the bitterness reaches its peak when even the boys who would carry on the family name both die without having any children.
The line of Elimelech is going to die out.
Naomi will have no one to support her as she ages.
Her line is going to be completely cut off.
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