Pastor Jim’s sermon on August 30 2015 took us to the book of Ruth. This book reminds us that God works invisibly and mysteriously all the time- even in the midst of tragedy and heartbreak.
Click the “Play” button below to begin listening to the recording (from the 9:30 service), then scroll down and follow along…
The scripture reading was from Ruth 1:1-18. Pastor Jim was reading from the Living Bible…
Ruth 1
1 In the days when the judges ruled in Israel, a severe famine came upon the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah left his home and went to live in the country of Moab, taking his wife and two sons with him. 2 The man’s name was Elimelech, and his wife was Naomi. Their two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in the land of Judah. And when they reached Moab, they settled there. 3 Then Elimelech died, and Naomi was left with her two sons. 4 The two sons married Moabite women. One married a woman named Orpah, and the other a woman named Ruth. But about ten years later, 5 both Mahlon and Kilion died. This left Naomi alone, without her two sons or her husband.
6 Then Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had blessed his people in Judah by giving them good crops again. So Naomi and her daughters-in-law got ready to leave Moab to return to her homeland. 7 With her two daughters-in-law she set out from the place where she had been living, and they took the road that would lead them back to Judah. 8 But on the way, Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back to your mothers’ homes. And may the Lord reward you for your kindness to your husbands and to me. 9 May the Lord bless you with the security of another marriage.” Then she kissed them good-bye, and they all broke down and wept.
10 “No,” they said. “We want to go with you to your people.” 11 But Naomi replied, “Why should you go on with me? Can I still give birth to other sons who could grow up to be your husbands? 12 No, my daughters, return to your parents’ homes, for I am too old to marry again. And even if it were possible, and I were to get married tonight and bear sons, then what? 13 Would you wait for them to grow up and refuse to marry someone else? No, of course not, my daughters! Things are far more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord himself has raised his fist against me.”
14 And again they wept together, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye. But Ruth clung tightly to Naomi. 15 “Look,” Naomi said to her, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. You should do the same.” 16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. 17 Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!” 18 When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said nothing more.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation ®, copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
A Ruthless Period…
The book of Judges is a dramatic record of how “Everyone did what was right in their own eyes.”
This is the period in which this story about Ruth takes place…. Naomi’s husband decides to leave Israel to escape the famine… Naomi’s sons decide to marry women from Moab… Naomi encourages her daughters-in-law to return to “their gods.”
Naomi was looking for “Comfort Food.” When things go bad, we look to the familiar; we want to go back to the way we were before and we don’t see where God may be trying to take us.
But God has a different purpose. He uses one of these non-Jewish women (one of “Those People”) to carry on the blood line which led to David and eventually to Jesus.
What the World Needs Now is Love Sweet Love…
In a very real way, this is a love story. We get a vivid picture of the young woman (Ruth) hanging on to Naomi- refusing to leave her mother-in-law as her older sister turns towards the other direction and as Naomi returns to her people. Ruth says:
“Don’t ask me to leave you! Let me go with you. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Wherever you die, I will de, and that is where I will be buried.”
This is an amazing picture. What superlatives can we find to describe such love between a mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law? Our English word “Love” doesn’t cover it. The Greek language does a better job at capturing the various meanings of Love:
How can we wrap our heads around this kind of love? Our culture tells us that love isn’t so much what I can give to a relationship; it’s what I can get from the relationship. The love that Ruth shows here is completely selfless, generous… and rare. She’s not asking “What’s in it for me?”
When the sister Orpah turned around (at Naomi’s encouragement), she was demonstrating human logic. Leaving Naomi and returning to her own culture was a logical thing to do. But God defies our human logic! Our logic can’t chase God away. Even our sin can’t chase God away. God continues to pursue us, even as Ruth “pursued” Naomi by following her against all logic.
This is the same love that Jesus demonstrated…
Jesus had no regard whatsoever with how He would benefit from giving Himself totally in love. He was prepared to endure the stares of those who disapproved of his mixing with prostitutes and tax collectors, He forgave and loved those who were totally (in our eyes) unlovable.
Responses to Suffering…
There’s much to be learned ab out HOPE in SUFFERING in this text. Together, each of these three individuals experienced hardship upon hardship- and they each responded to it differently. The question isn’t IF suffering will occur, but WHEN.
WHEN suffering occurs,how will WE respond to it?
1- Naomi: Hopes in Nothing
In verses 19-22 we see that Naomi has been left in a state of despair. She’s not trying to control her suffering, nor is she running from it. She is sitting smack dab in the middle of it and it has left her feeling “Bitter.”
“Don’t call me Naomi,” she responded. “Instead, call me Mara, for the Almighty has made life very bitter for me. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me home empty. Why call me Naomi when the Lord has caused me to suffer and the Almighty has sent such tragedy upon me?”
So Naomi returned from Moab, accompanied by her daughter-in-law Ruth, the young Moabite woman. They arrived in Bethlehem in late spring, at the beginning of the barley harvest.
She’s in a “woe is me”, “the glass is half empty” attitude.
But as bitter as she is, at least she holds on to some serious theology: God is in control- even in the face of affliction. Maybe that does help her to hang on to some hope (Psalm 34:19)…
A righteous man may have many troubles,
but the Lord delivers him from them all;
This doesn’t mean that God causes every bad thing that happens. But it does mean that God is King, God reigns; even in the face of suffering and affliction, God is in control of everything that happens in our lives.
Noami is bitter, but the door is still open to God.
In the midst of our suffering, are we swallowed up by bitterness? Are we paralyzed? Or, do we cling to God for hope. Suffering is temporary…
In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation. 1 Peter 5:10-11
God is our refuge and strength,
always ready to help in times of trouble.
So we will not fear when earthquakes come
and the mountains crumble into the sea. Psalm 46:1-2
When bad things happen, God is still in control. When we cling to Him in faith, He will bring something good out of the bad…
2- Orpah: Hopes in False Gods
Then we have Orpah. She runs from suffering and places her hope in false gods. She’s willing to try her luck on Match.com.
Do we trust God with every detail? Or, do we rush to our “human logic” and do what seems best in our own eyes?
Most of us probably view what Orpah does as reasonable. This is the ordinary “human” response to a bad situation that’s our of our control. She is returning to what she has known and is comfortable with. Instead of the God of Israel, she’s seeking the “gods of her comfort zone.”
The world tries to draw us into its version of Comfort Zone.
Just as with Johnny Lee’s 1980 hit (“Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places), the world tries to get us to look for strength (“gods”) in all the wrong places. Christmas Ads try to convince us to think that we “Can’t live without ____”. (Check Out Pastor Jim’s sermon, “A Green Christmas.“) But true strength- and true hope- can only be found in God.
3- Ruth: Hopes in Faith
Finally, there’s Ruth the Moabite- the now Jew- the one who will be redeemed into the family of God. The story of Ruth is the story of us!
Ruth experiences the same suffering, but she responds completely differently She does not try to run, she does not remain bitter, she in fact walks deeper into her faith in the face of suffering. She takes the same “walk into faith” that Jesus calls us into:
These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation but be of good cheer: I have overcome the world! (John 16:33)
In Matthew 14, after Peter stepped out onto the water to walk to Jesus but then started to sink when he saw the waver, Jesus tells Peter “Oh ye of little faith.” But it was that “little faith” that enabled Peter to step out onto the water in the first place.
This Moabite woman had “little faith.” She stepped out, and it turned Naomi’s life around and led to the lineage from which Jesus came.
Conclusion
There IS hope in suffering. God is a God of wisdom, a God of foresight, a God of love. The story of Ruth reminds us that God works within the ashes of creation to create beauty. God is King and He reigns in all the affairs of men, big and small, nations and families.
Whether the Lord gave or the Lord took away (Job 1:21), Naomi never completely doubted that God was involved in every aspect of her life. Even though she may not have liked the way God was involved!
Many of us are suffering now. Honestly, I cannot telly you why beyond the fact that we live in a broken world, with broken people, who have broken bodies, and who do awful things. Our faith in God through Jesus Christ does not take away every tragedy, but our faith reminds us that there is hope…
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet was without sin.
Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
(Hebrews 4:14-16, NIV)
Where is your faith? What are you trusting to get you through the rough stretches?
Quiz Time!
As you reflect on what you’ve just heard/read, give this quiz a try. If you don’t understand an answer (or if you disagree with the “correct” answer, post a comment)…
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