Sermon Cloud

Text: Ruth 1.6-22

INTRO: “Redeeming the Mess”
Specifically looking at how God is at work in our lives in constant yet invisible ways – Insignificant story!

Context, v.6-7
1.    Begins in a day of desperation: the godlessness of the judges, the cycle of sin, judgment, mercy, judge, sin
a.    Zoom lens: Elimelech acting it out, “whatever is right in his own eyes”
b.    Last week: the mess we’ve made
i.    Consequences when we do what is right in our own eyes: forget God or
ii.    Others decisions, sin, failures affect us: don’t choose your parents (Rodney)
iii.    Even best intentions go wrong: can’t insulate ourselves from the mess (not as planned!)
2.    Consequences: Naomi is husbandless, childless, in a foreign land, broke, and alone (weep for her!)
a.    Into the dark comes a ray of Hope: God has visited his people
b.    He is the HERO: he provides bread, he provides conception
c.    The only OVERT mentions of GOD by the narrator… most of God’s work is behind the scenes
i.    Everywhere else it is his hidden hand in the ordinary events of life: MAIN THEME!
ii.    In work and food and relationship… God is just as much at work!
3.    What RUTH is about: God’s hand in the ordinary messes of life, bringing about GOOD from EVIL
a.    And now, Naomi is going home, “returning” – time for repentance & forsaking her sin & Moab
b.    But glitch: can’t shake the pagan daughters-in-law! Think they should come, too… pick it up!

Prayer, v.8-10
1.    Stopping to talk: 55 of 85 verses are dialogue – the characters are developed primarily through it (women)
2.    Go home! Attempt to break ties: till
a.    Is she concerned for how they will be treated in Israel?  Israel not into BLESSING NATIONS!
b.    Is she ashamed to bring them to Bethlehem? Reminder of sin & foolishness; embarrassment!
c.    Is she a glutton for punishment? They WANT to care for her… she’d rather wallow in it!
3.    BUT then she PRAYS for them: corollary to the Sovereignty of God theme!  SURPRISE?
a.    Every prayer in RUTH is for someone else, and every prayer in RUTH is answered by the end!
i.    The fact that God is in it and works through it lends strength to prayer
ii.    Not that God does what we say, but b/c he will act and will do what is best if we ask
iii.    And he has ordained that we participate with him – have not because you ask not!
b.    WE PRAY because GOD IS SOVEREIGN and IN THE DETAILS!
4.    Asks that GOD act with HESED toward them: how & what you pray reveals your VIEW of God
a.    Key term in RUTH: “loving kindness” – used 248 times in Scripture, mostly of GOD
i.    God’s grace and mercy combined with his patience and faithfulness – ongoing stance
ii.    His faithful commitment to be for his people, to do them good, not harm: to bless!
b.    In fact, RUTH is later described as acting with “hesed” – she displays his character!
5.    And they cried out and wept and refused to go home: such loyalty and love in these relationships!
a.    The surprising commitment of these young pagan girls to their mother in law!
b.    They have acted kindly, in their own way reflecting the character of God – often pagans will!

The Cost, v.11-13a
1.    Naomi’s case for returning home to Moab: “turn back my daughters…” LOVE for THEM!
a.    BANKRUPTCY: Too old for a remarriage; Even if I did have sons… you can’t wait for them!
b.    Ultimately: God’s hand has gone out against me – you don’t want to be too close to that!
c.    This might just be the beginning… if God has done all this, being close to me is dangerous!
i.    Who knows what he might do to you! Don’t follow me… DANGEROUS!
ii.    God has become my adversary! He has not blessed me, he’s ruined my life! Go to MOAB!
2.    What is she doing? Why is she so insistent? Anti-evangelism? Laying out the cost:
a.    Stay in Moab, marry, kids, peace, rest… who knows what might come of your life!
b.    There are guarantees if she returns to Moab: got family, friends, a steady provision
c.    Come to Bethlehem, no promise for husband, kids, acceptance, welcome, provision…
d.    Seems harsh; but this is the reality of true commitment to GOD: he must be the only thing
i.    You cannot come to GOD to get something else, or that thing is GOD to you
ii.    With the GOD of SCRIPTURE, there are NO GUARANTEES: he is not a means to an end!
iii.    ONLY GUARANTEE: his grace will be sufficient: Naomi has lost all!
e.    AKIN to Jesus w/rich man – he’d obeyed everything, but he’d not given his ALL – went away
i.    For NAOMI, sign of FAITH: when she was living in sin, she could not have said this!
ii.    But now, she is in the process of REPENTANCE, coming home
iii.    Not there yet, but on the journey, and can therefore speak personally of cost
iv.    God is not the means to our happiness; our happiness must be in God

Decision & Conversion, v.14-18
1.    Orpah makes the logical decision: grass is still green in Moab, going HOME makes good sense!
a.    And she marches out of the Story of Redemption… went half way, back to MOAB: Oprah!
b.    Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.
i.    Weep for Orpah: does she even know what she is missing?
ii.    Worse: maybe she had everything back home, dreams came true… but did she have GOD?
iii.    What does it profit a man to gain the world but lose his own soul?
2.    BUT Ruth clung to her: deep loyalty & affection; also used of the response God wants from his people!
a.    Deut. 10.20-21: “You shall fear the Lord your God. You shall serve him and hold fast [cling] to him, and by his name you shall swear. He is your praise. He is your God who has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen.”
b.    Narrator is giving clues to what is happening with Ruth
i.    Returning: repentance
ii.    Counting the Cost: forsaking family and security in Moab
iii.    Forsaking her false gods: she is turning away from Chemosh and the gods of Moab
c.    Turning towards YAHWEH, the one TRUE GOD, the God of the BIBLE: look at her speech!
i.    Center sentence is the heart of the speech: your people, and your God!
ii.    She is clinging to NAOMI and to God’s people and ULTIMATELY to GOD HIMSELF
3.    This is QUITE PROBABLY the MOMENT of RUTH’S CONVERSION
a.    Ruth takes a COURAGEOUS STEP of faith:
i.    Forsakes her family & security & hope for children for a GOD who is CLEARLY not SAFE
ii.    WHY would SHE DO THIS, given NAOMI’S CURRENT STATE?
1.    Because in YAHWEH she sees a LIVING GOD, an UNTAMABLE but GOOD GOD
2.    Lewis: He is not SAFE, but HE IS GOOD: may cost all, but you get LIFE
b.    Let that Encourage YOU: WRESTLE with GOD HONESTLY: love Naomi’s HONESTY in this.
i.    Ruth’s conversion is not up to NAOMI getting everything right about GOD
ii.    God is drawing RUTH, Naomi is simply returning to GOD with HONESTY, bitterness too!
4.    TONIGHT: Responding to GOD always includes BOTH Repentance and Faith: modeled in Ruth
a.    She responds to God’s power & goodness by forsaking sin and clinging to the Lord
        
And for the first time, Naomi stops talking… at least until she gets back to Bethlehem!

God’s Severity, v.19-21
1.    Bethlehem: the whole city is in an uproar; everyone is talking: Is this NAOMI? The PLEASANT ONE?
2.    Mara – Bitter old woman: v.20-21: What is going on with Naomi?
a.    Dealt bitterly; emptied me; testified against me; brought calamity on me!
i.    The Almighty: emphasizing God’s sovereign power! HE HAS RUINED MY LIFE!
ii.    She holds GOD responsible… What do you make of that? (what about Elimelech?)
b.    PROVIDENCE of GOD: God is SOVEREIGN over everything, causing or allowing what happens
i.    Doesn’t mean he WILLS it all: MUCH opposition to his will: Sin! Foolishness! Death!
ii.    God hates these things: in JESUS we see that GOD weeps at sin at death and brokenness!
c.    BUT HE IS GOOD: he is working them ultimately to his REDEMPTIVE GOOD
i.    He causes or allows things to happen; they must pass through his HANDS
ii.    Though they may not BE GOOD, he is WORKING IN IT FOR HIS GLORY & our JOY!
iii.    EX: Joseph, “what you meant for evil, God meant for good, that many would be saved”
3.    Love Naomi’s Honesty (unlike many of us!); Love her belief in the Sovereign Power of God (Calvin)
4.    BUT: she forgets/is questioning his HESED – Judges God’s character based on her circumstances
a.    And it has made her BITTER: because HE WON’T DO WHAT SHE WANTS!
i.    TENSION with the PROVIDENCE of GOD: his long-term good can hurt in the now!
ii.    When it does, we QUESTION his INTENT and respond BITTERLY to his ACTIONS
b.    QUESTION: IS HE REALLY GOOD? Does he CARE? Does he have my best interest in mind?

5.    Naomi’s Assesment (v.21): I went away full, and the LORD has brought me back EMPTY: he hates me!
a.    BUT FULL of WHAT?  They went away in a time of famine…
b.    BUT Ferguson: “full of themselves, and full of their own plans and what they would accomplish”
c.    She comes back empty BECAUSE the LORD can’t FILL those who are FULL ALREADY
d.    Emptied because he wants to give us more of himself, the only thing that satisfies & fills
i.    Flavvel: “Sanctified Affliction” – hardship as a sign of GRACE?
ii.     “God is most angry when he shows no anger.  God keep me from this mercy; this kind of mercy is worse than all other kinds of misery. Woe, woe to the soul that God will not spend a rod upon! This is the saddest stroke of all, when God refuses to strike at all.” (Brooks, Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices)
iii.    True for NAOMI, though she can’t SEE IT NOW.    
e.    She doesn’t see how that is GRACE of GOD: and neither usually do we: GOOD?
i.    The REST of OUR STORY TRACES the REALITY that it IS GOOD
ii.    THAT HESED is the HEART of GOD, despite the tragedy, pain, afflictions

Grace, v.22: the HINTS of WHAT IS TO COME at the end of CHAPTER ONE
1.    FIRST, Ruth is there: best thing that ever happened to Naomi, and she doesn’t see it
2.    SECOND, Barley harvest – another glimmer of hope…
a.    Chapter 1 has been PLOWING the HARD & FALLOW GROUND of NAOMI’S HEART
b.    HER rebellion, sin, foolishness: her “fullness” is emptied out BY A SOVEREIGN & GOOD GOD
c.    But THIS is going somewhere GOOD (stick around!)

3.    If we take our FAILURES and, like NAOMI, run to God and to God’s people with them, become plan A
4.     Naomi isn’t free from her bitterness until the end of the story; all she sees now is emptiness
a.    BUT GOD is ABOUT MAKING SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL from this MESS
b.    BUT WHAT ABOUT US? How can we trust the GOODNESS of GOD in the MESS of LIFE?

FIRST: Ruth is getting saved though Naomi’s suffering: might be happening under your nose!

SECOND: The God of Providence is the GOD who has experienced SUFFERING
    Unlike any other GOD, our GOD KNOWS what it is like to SUFFER unjustly in a messy world
    He wept for sin, death, suffering – and then he took it upon himself & suffered more than ALL
        He experienced the SILENCE of GOD, the full wrath of God against sin, death, & evil
        The God of Providence has suffered beyond what we can imagine

THIRD: On the cross, the SOVEREIGN POWER of GOD is brought together with his LOVING KINDNESS
He gives up his POWER, dies for our SIN, and through his death & resurrection God is REDEEMING
Worst evil in the world has already been made into good –
God’s promise that yours will, too!