Sermon Tone Analysis

Trust and Obey

Book of Ruth

 

Preached at CGEFC

July 29th, 2007

 

 

I hope you enjoyed this comical look at living in the comfort zone.

Today we will be looking at how one amazing woman of God did just the opposite – she stepped outside of her comfort zone to trust and obey God no matter where His path led.

Let’s pray.

If you have your Bible please turn to the book of Ruth.

You can find this powerful story sandwiched between the book of Judges and 1st Samuel in the Old Testament.

You know this has been a tough summer on our church family.

Within a few weeks time, not one but two pastors have moved on and we are about to embark on a journey in building a vision for the future of this church, which for us contains uncharted waters and some unknowns.

As humans it is natural that we do not like change because we like to be in control.

We like to know what is coming next.

We have that same prideful inclination as Adam and Eve did… to be like God because we know that, unlike us, He is ultimately in control of everything, because He is the Creator.

He holds the reigns to our lives and He has never let go!

When life becomes unsteady, when our boat is “rocked” a bit, we want that solid ground where we have more control over our own footing and a place we can know with somewhat certainty that the next step we take won’t swallow us alive.

It is at these times when we need courage and boldness to do what is right, to trust and obey the God who tells us “My yoke is easy and my burden is light”, and to step into the unknown knowing that God knows.

For Ruth, this was the clearest choice.

When all seemed to be lost, the only solution to her was to trust and obey.

Chapter one, verse 16 has Ruth exclaiming to her mother-in-law: “Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.”

To summarize chapter one up to this point, we have Ruth, a Moabite woman, who married a Hebrew man by the name of Mahon who was living in Moab.

His family came to live there when Israel had begun to experience a famine.

Sometime after his family had relocated, his father, Elimelech, died leaving Mahlon’s mother, Naomi, his brother Chilion and himself.

The men then married Moabite women – Ruth and Orpah, but before they could have children, the two brothers died.

So now we have three women, Naomi, Ruth and Orpah, in the middle of Moab.

Naomi had heard that the famine in Israel was over so she decided to return to her native Bethlehem.

She told Ruth and Orpah to return to their families, but Ruth insisted on accompanying Naomi to Bethlehem.

| *1* |

Now it would have been safer and easier for Ruth to have stayed among her own people and find a husband who could give her children than to go with Naomi, her mother-in-law to a foreign land.

First of all, the journey itself was dangerous.

Secondly she was going to a place where it would be custom for a Moabite woman to be shunned and given the lowest status – even lower than a slave.

By claiming Naomi’s faith as her own and by following her back to Bethlehem, she was going into the unknown and we see the first character trait of a person of obedience – It is a person who is a risk-taker fully devoted to God.   

\\ In the old testament we see another man of faith who is the model risk-taker.

Turn with me to Hebrews 11:8.

You are familiar with this chapter – it is the hall of faith.

This chapter pours out for us role models to encourage us in our faith and one of those role models for risk-taking is Father Abraham.

Take a look at verse 8:  “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.

By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign /land/, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise.”

Do you realize what kind of risks Abraham took as he acted on his faith in God?

He had a secure future.

He risked leaving friends and family (forever!), he risked financial loss (the loss of his inheritance), he risked highway robbery (it was a frequent even of those days), he risked bad health, he risked food and water shortages for himself and his livestock – he risked it all!

And God blessed him through making his name famous by creating a whole nation out of his descendents.

The people who just gave testimony about their experience in Honduras also took risks and because of the risk they saw God’s blessing on their lives and in their ministry toward the Hondurans they encountered.

Sometimes the blessing of God on our lives comes in physical form, sometimes in other forms like the enjoyment of seeing people coming to know Christ.

And sometimes we won’t experience God’s blessing and see the total fruit of our obedience until we’re heaven where our full reward is.

But we will be blessed in some way for our obedience to Christ, just as Abraham and just as Ruth were.

| *2* |

Ruth states in verse 16 and 17 of chapter one “Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.

Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried.

Thus may the Lord do to me, and worse, if /anything but /death parts you and me.”

Loyalty.

Ruth’s loyalty to her mother-in-law became one of the cornerstone features of this amazing story of obedience and love and is the second characteristic of a person of obedience.

Perhaps the author of Proverbs thought of his great-great-grandmother Ruth when he wrote these words in chapter 3 verses 3 and 4: “Never let loyalty and kindness get away from you! Wear them like a necklace; write them deep within your heart.

Then you will find favor with both God and people, and you will gain a good reputation.”

The Hebrew word for loyalty here is ḥeseḏ and can be translated as love and it means loyalty to one’s covenant or commitment.

When we speak of a marriage covenant, we speak of a relationship marked by ḥeseḏ – it is a deep love motivated by commitment.

If we are have ḥeseḏ with God we love God to the extent that we are committed to Him and to His teachings.

Jesus said that if you love me, if you are loyal to me, you will obey my commandments.

Loyalty and obedience go hand in hand.

You cannot be loyal to a King and disobey Him.

If you disobey, you are not loyal.

Ruth’s display of ḥeseḏ toward her mother-in-law, her display of commitment, is a mark of  her obedience.

At the beginning of chapter two a new name is introduced into this narrative, Boaz.

What do we know of Boaz?

Well, if we look ahead a little we discover that he was a relative of some sort to Elimelech, Naomi’s deceased husband.

He was also a wealthy land owner in Bethlehem (as verse 3 tells us), verse 8 tells us that he was a generous person and from the title that is given him in verse 1 of chapter 2 and from his actions displayed at the end of chapter 3 he was “a man of standing”  - he was obedient to the law of the land and lived an exemplary lifestyle.

– Men – don’t you want people to say these things about you?

I knew a man once who held a leadership position in his community.

Now we all know that anyone can hold a leadership position yet not have the respect of the people.

However this man that I knew had the people’s respect and every time his name was mentioned, there was nothing but good things to say.

It was the same with Boaz.

A man with integrity.

A man who had sensitivity.

A man who displayed honor and was honored.

\\ | *3* |

Naomi and Ruth, now living in Bethlehem, needed food.

So Ruth offered to Naomi in verse 2: “Please let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after one in whose sight I may find favor.”

We see a third characteristic of a person of obedience:  A person of obedience seeks ways to serve!  Ruth sought ways to serve her elderly mother-in-law.

She basically became a servant when she followed Naomi back to Bethlehem.

If you are a follower of Jesus then you must be a servant.

Anyone who calls themselves a Christian takes on the identity of the ultimate Servant of the world.

Are you willing to lay down your life?

Are you willing to become the lowest of the lowly as Christ did on the cross as he hung up there with murders and thieves?

We are to take on the same attitude of Christ who took on a posture lower than a Jewish slave when he washed the disciples dirty and calloused feet.

Paul states in Galatians 5:13 that we were “… called to freedom… only /do /not /turn /your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love *serve one another*.”

And Peter in 1 Peter 4:10 states: “As each one has received a /special /gift, employ it in *serving one another* as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”

You are in obedience to Christ when you serve one another, for Christ said in Matthew 25:45: “‘I assure you, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.”

Servanthood is a mark of obedience.

| *4* |

Going back to our text, we see Ruth seeking a place to glean grain, and she just happens to find herself in the field of Boaz.

Was this a coincidence?

Of course not – God is directing the path of Ruth for His divine purposes and her eventual enjoyment.

Now it states in verse 7 that she had come in the early morning and according to verse 17 she gleaned until the evening.

This woman was a hard worker and she displays the fourth characteristic of a person of obedience.

If you are going to follow God’s call – know that He will provide the gifting and skills and you need to follow His call, but He expects hard work.

Again, Solomon, the great-great-grandson of Ruth might have thought of her as he wrote the words in Ecclisiates 9:10: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.”

And Jesus addresses this quality in his parable of the talents in Matthew 25.

The servants who were rewarded were those who did the most with the master’s gifts.

The servant who did nothing, was rewarded with nothing.

Following the call of God requires work and the investment of the gifts which He has promised.

A person of obedience is a person who understands hard work and does it joyfully knowing their reward is in heaven.

Going back to the second chapter of Ruth we see that Boaz takes notice of this woman gleaning in his fields and asks his servant in verse 5 “Whose young woman is this?”

When he finds out who she is, he approaches her and grants her permission to gather the same amount of grain which his servants are gleaning.

Talk about a huge blessing!