Over the last 4 weeks we have taken a quick trip through one of the shortest books in the Bible, the book of Ruth. We spent one Sunday in each chapter and found each part of the story to be packed with narrative intrigue and wonderful theological truth. Since it was such a short time in such a wonderful book, I thought it would be a good idea to revisit the general themes of the book.
Theme #1 -- God is always in control and working to his ends
We noted in the first sermon that the book of Ruth celebrates God’s sovereign rule over his people in an age marked by spiritual and moral anarchy. Ruth’s time was the time of the judges when “[e]veryone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25). Even when Elimelech sought to solve his family's problems in his own ways by leaving the Promised Land for Moab, we saw that “[m]any are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.” (Proverbs 19:21) Though not explicitly mentioned often, the entire book reveals that God was governing and controlling and working to his redemptive ends in extraordinary ways in the lives of ordinary people. He brought harvest out of famine (1:6) and he brought life out of the union of Boaz and Ruth (4:13) all to fulfill the need of a king for his people. (cf 4:22)
But it was so much more than that. The genealogy of Matthew 1 quotes from Ruth 4:18-22 reminding us that what happened in Bethlehem in the days of the judges was actually for the purpose of the birth of God’s greater Son, Jesus Christ. (1:4-6) God used all of the ordinary events we read about in the book of Ruth to bring about his goals that were so much bigger than any of the characters of the story could have possibly imagined.
Theme #2 -- We are to find comfort in the fact that God is always in control
We noted in the final sermon that our lives are never straight and easy with the ability to see things far into the future so that we can anticipate and plan for whatever may come our way. Instead, our lives are filled with twists and turns, hills and valleys, corners around which we cannot see, and dangers that we cannot anticipate. But we can be confident no matter what may come our way because we know that God is in control, we know that he is working to his ends, and we know that his ends are the bring his children to their full and complete redemption. (cf John 10:27-29; Romans 8:18ff) We don’t need to understand the past, we don’t need to know the present, and we don’t need to be able to anticipate the future. We only need to trust in our God who is behind us, with us, and ahead of us because he is the sovereign God who has planned the beginning and the end from eternity past. (cf Ephesians 1:3-14)
Thus, our attitude should never be that of Naomi in CH 1 - bitterness had overwhelmed her because all she saw was her immediate need and her emptiness. Instead, it should be that of Ruth who, throughout the book sought shelter in the God of Israel, (CH 1) was obedient and worked hard despite her difficult circumstances (CHS 2-3), and was patient in waiting upon the Lord’s timing and plan to provide her with rest (CH 4).
Theme #3 -- We need redemption
The story of Ruth is a story of redemption. A foreigner in the Promised Land, an outsider among the people of God, who needed to be brought into the people of God by the act of a redeemer. She found this redeemer in Boaz who laid down his life for Ruth in order to redeem her. (more on this later)
Her physical situation in Israel reminds us of our spiritual situation before the Most High God. Paul says in Ephesians 2:11-12, “Remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh… were separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and w/out God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.” Like Ruth we also recognize that we are unable to save ourselves and are at the mercy of God to provide a redeemer for us. Which he has! He has given us his Son, Jesus Christ who bore our sin that we might become the righteousness of God and thereby receive his everlasting acceptance (cf 2 Corinthians 5:21).
Theme #4 -- We find redemption through humility
Boaz recognized that Ruth had taken shelter under the wings of the God of Israel. He recognized that she was a true disciple, a woman who had turned from her nation and its gods in order to embrace Israel and YHWH as her own. She was willing to abandon herself and her worldly comforts in order to live with God in his Promised Land. We recognized that in Ruth we see how one is saved for she perfectly demonstrated that which God is looking to save. God declared in Isaiah 66:2 “this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.” These words describe Ruth - humble, contrite in spirit, obedient to the word of God.
The same holds true for us. God desires to save those who come to him humbly, empty, with nothing to offer him. He saves those who by repentance turn from their sin, and by faith accept the sacrifice of Christ on their behalf to cover that sin. That’s it. There is no price for us to pay. There is no work to undertake. There is no ritual to perform. There is only one thing we must do to find salvation -- “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
Theme #5 -- We need to be redeeming people
We took note in CH 4 that Boaz was a type of Christ as well as an example of selfless sacrifice. He was willing to be a redeemer to Ruth as an extension of his commitment to God’s word and the redemption he had enjoyed in the land of Israel. In this way, Boaz is the epitome of selfless, sacrificial love in the performance of duty and service of others. Jesus told his disciples in John 15, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.” Unlike the unknown man who was unwilling to sacrifice for Ruth and Naomi Boaz accepted the cost of being Ruth’s redeemer. He laid down his life, his wealth, his comfort, his future plans, his desires, and much more in order to be obedient to the spirit of the law which asked him to redeem a foreign woman.
The challenge is clear - because we have been redeemed by one who has given his life for us we are to also seek to give our life for others. We too must sacrifice whatever is asked of us in service of God in the lives of others.
Soli Deo Gloria
Commenti