Sermon - James Duff: Ruth 1

Flashes of Redemption

1st of the 5 part series on the book or Ruth

Ruth Chaper 1

Full Transcript

Today we embark on a profound journey through the ancient narrative of Ruth starting in chapter one obviously. If Ruth was a theatre production being played in Broadway or maybe at the West End of London and there was a poster advertising it, it would say Ruth crossing big letters over the top starring and then their faces would be Naomi, Ruth and Boaz. Now it could be argued that if you had to pick one hero or heroine of this story it would be Naomi rather than Ruth. But fair to say that Naomi, Ruth and Boaz are the main characters of this wonderful beautifully written story so let us delve into this timeless tale seeking wisdom and inspiration for our lives today and I'm praying that as we do it will be significant, it will be a significant time for us in our faith, in the faith of collectively as the common but also personally. So can I encourage you that you try to read this book through at least once per week? What would that look like to you at once per week over the following four weeks? It should only take you about 20 minutes or so to do that and so I'm hoping you do that so when you can look back on this time and it'll be a time where you go yeah that was that was a really great time where I drew close to God and I heard from him and I learnt much and it was a significant time. I hope that this and I'm praying that this will be that for you and so the invitation is for you to lean in as much as you possibly can. When you're on a honeymoon you would hope that there would be some romance in the air. Jane and I were married in Adelaide and we honeymoon here actually here in Perth many of you know that. Sadly Jane became sick I think on about the second or third day we were here and so one night it was raining it was in October here in Perth and we decided that we'd have just bunkered down and we'd get a video. Jane sent me off to get a VHS. Now in the olden days many of you might not know this but we drove our car to a store and we got a VHS cassette that we would have we'd go into a shop we'd find there'd be hundreds of videos to choose and we'd rent one and so I went to a place called Blockbuster and believe it or not the last Blockbuster in the world was here in Perth closed down in 2019 but anyway I went off to a shop and I rented a video and after much deliberation I walked around the shop now remembering I remembered that there was romance in the air this was the honeymoon and I was thinking of something that Jane would love and something that would just you know all those lovely romantic movies or maybe a good comedy or something like that so I looked around what would be best for this situation and I chose Saving Private Ryan the war movie. It was only 22 but the first 24 minutes of this movie are described as the most brutal depictions of war ever that have flashed across our screens. Oh James it was it set in World War two and it was a time of carnage and this scene these first 24 minutes was absolute carnage. Jane couldn't even look at it but it did settle down and it focused on a personal story of hope. The time of judges was absolute carnage it was a period mark with political instability a spiritual apostasy and moral decay and the book of Ruth is set in this time and we know that because it's right from the get-go we read in verse one we're transported back to a confused and chaotic time in Israel's history it tells us there it was in the days when the judges ruled and we know it was a chaotic time you can just read the book of judges but in the book of judges it finishes with a line that is often repeated throughout the book it's a theme throughout the book that everyone did what was right in their own eyes and so that's the context of Ruth as we now read this book and it's like God has stepped back from using a wide lens where he focuses on the national troubles of Israel like that romantic DVD of Saving Private Ryan and but now God uses a narrow lens and he and he focuses in on a very personal and local story God hones in into the life of a family who experience loss loyalty and ultimately redemption loss loyalty and redemption they're the three points the three themes that I'll touch on in today today's sermon loss firstly then loyalty and then we'll see flashes of redemption so loss and the family is from Bethlehem it tells us in verse 1 the word Bethlehem means the house of bread but ironically there was no bread in Bethlehem at the time we read it was a time of famine in the land and so this small family made up of four people the dad Alem alec and husband Alem alec Naomi wife and mum and their two sons Marlon and Killian and they seek refuge from the famine in a land called Moab and verse 2 tells us that they remain there remain there yet what happened what appears sorry to be a temporary and good solution would soon become a journey fraught with tragedy sorrow and loss and the author who who we don't know who that is tells us of the first loss is that Alem alec dies the dad the husband dies it's tragedy the first loss and then tragically the second loss probably closer to about ten years later the sons who have married Moabite women orper and Ruth are their names they married them these sons and husbands of these Moabite women also die a tragedy leaving the family as three widows what a sad and hopeless sight all the blokes are dead and three women in a patriarchal society are left on their own now the original readers of ancient Israel who have would have felt and understood this great tragedy and loss of Naomi's husband and children her sons they would understand this situation and feel it more intensely than us today for in that time sons were not only his to the family estate but also the bearers of the family name and the legacy of that actual family they were responsible for for carrying on the family traditions providing for their parents in old age and ensuring worship of Yahweh they would worship their God and not worship the foreign gods like they did in Moab and also in in a patriarchal society a woman's status her security and well-being were tied closely in in her relationship with male relatives particularly her husband and sons the very things that Naomi has lost and so now without them without a husband to provide protection and provision and without sons to offer support and security Naomi finds herself completely vulnerable and marginalized within her community the tragedy it's a tragedy of personal loss but it's also a tragedy and a loss of societal security these first five verses is just complete loss it's carnage and verse five finishes by saying the woman was left without her two sons and her husband the woman I think this is important I think the author is telling us something here Naomi is not referred to by name but just as woman Naomi has lost everything her very identity has been lost and Naomi believes this also she believes it deeply because by the time we get to verse 20 in chapter 1 of Ruth she calls herself Mara which means bitter and Naomi says in verse 21 I went away for when she's in Bethlehem she's telling the people in Bethlehem I went away for and the Lord has brought me back empty I went away for and and the Lord has brought me back empty now what do we think of Naomi's theology well I'd say yes it is true God does control the weather yes God does control life and death he one he gave us life and one day he'll take that again and so it's true God has emptied her and that's a big theme in this book but it's so easy when in situations of great loss and many of you have experienced more than me it's easy to not see God's good and gracious hand upon it upon us and here is Naomi telling the locals in Bethlehem that she is completely empty while the whole time on her shoulder actually it says literally clinging to her is a young Moabite woman maybe 20 years of age named Ruth a 20 year old Moabite woman who said to Naomi some of if not the most famous words of this book where you go I will go and where you stay I will stay your people will be my people and your God my God in the loss we start to see signs and flashes of filling up God filling up his people and Ruth might not see that but that's what's starting to happen and that's a huge theme in today's reading but it throughout Ruth which brings me to my second point loyalty that'll look at a loss let's look at loyalty Ruth's pledge of loyalty and love of Naomi in verse 16 to 17 defies logic and convention firstly Ruth a Moabite the Moabites they're bad news they're the enemy of God's people when the family decide to leave Bethlehem and go to Moab it's not like they're just going from Perth to Adelaide or Perth to Albany it's like going from living in Perth to living in an Islamic state you see you can read the history of the Moabites especially in numbers 25 where the Moabites enticed the Israelites into immorality and into idolatry Moab the Moabites are sworn enemies of the Israelites think about your most disliked AFL team that's easy for some of you it'd be like putting on their jumper setting up your family you know giving your family membership and you as well moving there to be close to the team and sitting in the cheer squad each week I've seen some of those cheer squads they're they're pretty rough but them the Moabites they're sworn enemies and that's where they've gone to the family went to Moab and here is a woman from there the sworn enemy territory she's low down in the social hierarchy maybe the lowest she's a Moabite and if she's saying to Naomi who also has nothing you've got to remember Naomi is not a good bet if you want to produce a family and have a future to be looked after you wouldn't hit your wagon to her you wouldn't do it actually Orpa the other daughter-in-law makes a wise decision she kisses Naomi and heads back to Moab back to her family where she's got a chance of actually finding a husband and being looked after and and the family the generation to continue but not Ruth this Moabite clung to Naomi what a beautiful picture of loyalty this is a great example of loyalty but it's also a glimpse of how God is filling Naomi up in the most unexpected ways he's filling her up with a widow from Moab a woman with no social capital and theologically she's from the opposition that is who God is using yet through Ruth's selfless devotion and loyalty we do get catch we start to catch a glimpse of the redemptive plan of God out of the most unusual and like unlikely places God is always redeeming my third point redemption we see how God is unfolding his plan when deep loss is occurring God is there working in ways in our lives that we cannot see personally and corporately maybe it's this little church that gathers at the back of a shopping strip in a suburb a suburb that is often mocked and ridiculed that's made up of people that might be seen by many as enemies of middle and upper-class Australia maybe maybe God is using his people in this church in Willergy to be doing way more than you and me can ever know maybe he's doing that in and through us maybe maybe God will bless the city of Melville and beyond in ways we can't see actually I think he is could could it be that in this little church that sometimes a struggle that sometimes we have to talk to people who we don't actually would and hang around people who are different in different areas suburbs than us maybe God is redeeming our hearts through that I believe he is in ways more profound and beautiful than what you and me see or know and my prayer is that that in the common that God will slay those idols of our hearts whatever they may be remember if you I think you do know this but idols are good things that we make ultimate things it's a disordering of loves of affections of our hearts maybe God's gonna stop cutting those down as we commit to a little church in Willergy because God works through his people God works through the church I think Ruth and Naomi understand the idols of their heart maybe maybe Ruth more than Naomi in this first chapter you see we see Ruth trust God first we see Ruth's affections of her heart we we have a Moabite showing God's people what it is to trust in him Ruth has turned her back on Moab the chance to have a husband to have a family why I actually don't think it's just loyalty to Naomi but to God for your God will be my God is the Lord Jesus our God is here our ultimate love or is it other good things like community or family or work or money or retirement or uni or whatever those good things are they are they strangling your walk with Jesus are those good things being placed in an ultimate position and they're not bringing life at all actually they're strangling you so Naomi returned verse 22 the end of our reading and Ruth the Moabite her daughter-in-law with her who returned from the country of Moab and they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest we now see more glimpses of redemption and filling up that chapter starts with a famine but it ends with a harvest and can you see can you see can you read it there Ruth a Moabite returns from the country of Moab she's returning she returns to Israel she returns to God she's always been in God's family you see it could be easy to moralize this story the takeaway could be we need to be like Ruth and show loyalty or be like Naomi and return to God and I think these are good things for us to look up to of course they are loyalty to a friend to a church returning to God and trusting him are good things they are good things to aspire to and worthy application from today's reading but friends I think we can be like Naomi what I mean we can think that we are empty and without anything while the whole time God is redeeming us in our loss I'm not saying we shouldn't fall in our faces if we experience tragedy and loss we all have and we all do the takeaway is not to be a good girl or good boy you know it's not to be like Naomi it's not stoicism my point is in tragedy and loss God is always redeeming it's what he does he can't help it he is our Lord who is for us and because of this whenever we face great great loss even if it feels like for years upon years God is still redeeming your situation is never hopeless it's never hopeless actually your name is written in God's book for eternity even when your loyalty to him is far from being like Ruth's there is only one who has shown ultimate loyalty and he did it for us and he doing so he opened up the world to be redeemed by him that God would start with a few people like Moabites a trickle of people coming from outside the promised people in Israel to come in to his kingdom a Moabite woman who had nothing to give and no right to be in God's family but she came and she returned she was got she got married she was probably converted in Moab and she returns home she's probably never been to Israel yet it says here that she returned to Bethlehem a Moabite woman who had nothing to give and no right to be in God's family but she came in as an heir not because of where she was born or her loyalty to Naomi but by pure grace Jesus had every right to be the true heir to be not just to be in the family of God but the king of it instead he was crowned as a king on a cross and separated from the father so we will never be and because of that it says in the book of Ephesians in the New Testament we it says it is through the gospel it's it's through the mystery of the gospel the Gentiles the Moabites the ones who have lost all things those who have made poor decisions those who have sinned and turned away from God those who are struggling in their life who need mercy are heirs heirs together with Israel members together of one body and a share in the promise in Christ Jesus it's a promise of life in the Savior now and forever when you get to the end of Ruth friends it finishes with this genealogy just read it that shows us what happens to this family a family at the end of chapter 2 consists of two widows one an Israelite who can't see any future and then another a Moabite who was clinging to the hopeless Israelite hopeless on all fronts yet God is redeeming them in a time of history that was chaotic and looked hopeless God in this little family was organizing the Messiah the great Redeemer himself the Lord Jesus the Son of David to come out of this family God is redeeming our lives for eternity we are just like Naomi and Ruth hopeless lost without God yet once we were alienated friends from God we were enemies we were Moabites in our minds because of our evil behavior we chose it we chose Moab but now he has reconciled us by Christ's physical body through death to present us holy in his sight without blemish and free from accusations do you see the glory of God the glory of Jesus the God of grace and mercy see like Naomi and Ruth may we cling to the hope of this Savior of redemption as we read Ruth together trusting in the promise trusting in the promise it's a promise that our God is a God who brings life out of death joy out of sorrow and beauty out of the ashes. Amen.