Sermon Cloud

INTRO: “Redeeming the Mess”

Where we ENDED:
Tragedy: of Naomi losing husband & 2 sons – bitter and angry with God b/c HE is RESPONSIBLE: Big view
But God shows his hesed, favor & faithfulness & power
Theme of Providence of God: in the TRAGIC & DIFFICULT, and even in the mundane, GOD IS AT WORK!
Not that he causes evil, or likes tragedy, or enjoys disaster in our lives; he HATES sin, death, evil!
But everything must pass through his hands, and he can stop or allow it to happen.
Naomi understands this and so is RIGHT to QUESTION & BLAME GOD – as she runs to him
Scripture says he is SOVEREIGN over GOOD and EVIL – and adds something MORE:
REDEMPTION: started perfect, and NOW He is at work constantly to good & redemptive ends!
Begins to TURN: Ruth goes gleaning in Boaz’s field – beginning of beautiful relationship!
Naomi: Stay put where God is blessing – don’t run off from there like I did (good advice)
BUT: when it doesn’t happen, she offers more advice… our story gets really weird.

1-5: Bad Advice
1.    Seek Rest: in 1.9, Naomi prayed for REST for the girls – husband, family – the LORD grant it!
a.    But NOW – it is so close! She can see where this is going, but seems to be passing by
b.    Naomi is going to HELP GOD wrap this story up with a bit of motherly meddling!
2.    Brief History of Dating
a.    Pre 20th Century: Man came calling at a woman’s home; all under parent’s watchful eye
i.    Man did everything in his power to be respectful and do things right – or he was done!
ii.    At this point, “Date” was slang for booking a prostitute
b.    Early 1900s, families increasingly lived in cities & apartments; Young working girls in apts.
i.    Increase in public opportunities: go to dinner, share a soda, see a movie, etc
ii.    Courtship moved OUT of the private parent-watched home to public & unsupervised
c.    Subtle Shifts:
i.    The woman & her family was no longer setting the pace, determining who could call
ii.    The date became an economic transaction – courtship discouraged gifts from men
1.    To go out required a man to spend money: increasingly men expected return
2.    Date moved from the parlor or front porch to the back seat
d.    ADD to all that the sexual revolution and the birth control pill, and we have TODAY!
i.    NOW: we meet someone, sleep together, mess around, shack up, break up and move on
ii.    And we are born into that culture – but just so you know it is not the historical NORM
3.    These are the 2 options for RUTH:
a.    Courtship: significant challenge b/c they live – like us – in a messy world: JUDGES & sexual sin!
i.    Boaz has not been taught how to close the deal (like many men in our day): still single!
ii.    She had no daddy to protect her & to take up issue with Boaz (like many women in our day)
b.    The Moabite way – date, sleep together, & then shack up w/him in hopes of eventual marriage

4.    Her Advice: v.2-5 – a THIRD WAY?  “pulling a Ruth”
a.    Boaz is a redeemer (land & legacy) – and he’s throwing a harvest party! Get YOURSELF THERE!
b.    So Get Dolled-up: Wash, anoint (perfume!), cloak (fragrant robes of the beloved in SOS)
c.    But do not make yourself known until he’s finished eating & drinking
i.    Let the man eat! Let him drink! Let him celebrate! GOOD ADVICE.
ii.    No DTR! No emotional train wreck! No interrupting his party – we have to talk!!
d.    Watch where he lies (to protect the harvest):
e.    Then go & “uncover his feet:” And he will tell you what to do – SURE HE WILL!

5.    What do you make of Naomi’s Scheming: Recklessness? Or Trusting God and Boaz?


6.    One HAND: LACKS PATIENCE: she sees what God might be up to and jumps to making it happen
a.    Providence tells us how he works, & has worked, but not how we cooperate
b.    Can’t jump ahead of God thinking you know where he is going – patience & trust
c.    Close to Presuming on the Providence of God – he will work it out anyway, so I can sin…
i.    Premarital counseling – we are getting married, no doubt, so we can sleep together now…
ii.    God does not bless SIN
d.    I THINK she has been home watching soap operas while Ruth has been out working in the field
i.    Moabites began when a man got drunk and slept with his own daughter – funky family!
ii.    Numbers 25: Moabite women led Israel into sexual sin and idolatry! HISTORY!

7.    ON the other HAND: Perhaps she is renewed in FAITH (last week) and taking a RISK:
a.    You need to MOVE on this RUTH: subtly, carefully, respectfully get in his way & let him know!
b.    Sometimes, b/c life is MESSY: we HESITATE when we should BE MOVING!  WISDOM!
c.    Not black and white! The GRAY AREAS where we need WISDOM: godly married people!

8.    Whatever you make of it, this is A VERY RISKY MOVE FOR RUTH:
a.    NOT a COMMAND! Don’t suggest this course! Descriptive not prescriptive
b.    Humiliation and rejection: she might be seen or Boaz might be offended and run her off
c.    Sexual exploitation: this is the time of the Judges! Young men are after her!
d.    Accusation of prostitution: often came to threshing floors where men were drunk & had money
e.    Sense the tension in this!? Then you are RIGHT where the author wants you!
i.    No sense that this is over the line – but it is RIGHT ON IT: this is RISKY!
ii.    A night of passion could ruin this really beautiful & redemptive work God is orchestrating
iii.    So much Pressure and Weight riding on this SINGLE EVENT – providence & moment!

6-9: The Test of a Man
1.    Boaz and the party: he ate, he drank, he lied down, and he’s merry! Heart is connected to his stomach!
a.    SNORING on the edge of the grain pile – she comes SOFTLY (cat-like) cuddles up to his feet
b.    At MIDNIGHT: pitch black of rural farm land, had a few drinks, heart is merry in the LORD.
i.    The temptation of a sweet-smelling woman!
ii.    Who are YOU? A good place to start!  Only RIGHT answer: YOUR WIFE.
iii.    Whoever it is has a NAME and a STORY and a FUTURE: fear God for what you might do.
c.    I am RUTH – and then she bares her heart to him!
i.    Spread your wings! Request for him to propose marriage to her! (I got this ring… for me)
ii.    Request for him to fulfill his prayer for her in 2.12: Similar wording!
2.    What man would NOT find himself TEMPTED in this situation? ELABORATE on THIS!
a.    REALITY: NO ONE would EVER KNOW WHAT HAPPENED: dark, far from town,
b.    If you think you would succeed here, then you have already failed – unaware of yourself, man!
c.    ONLY pass if this is the PATTERN of YOUR LIFE – Boaz called her daughter from the get-go!

10-11:
3.    V.10: Boaz PRAYS : that puts an END to the POSSIBILITY of FAILURE.
a.    Tenderness and compassion toward her – she has not made a wise decision here!
b.    But he doesn’t rebuke her with harshness – he prays and comforts and praises her!
c.    Boaz thinks – and with his head.
4.    Gratitude: Ruth hasn’t gone after the younger men… LADIES: what is on your list?
a.    Boaz has a JOB: has the means to provide for and protect her
b.    But he’s older and perhaps not all that attractive (encouragement guys!)
c.    KINDNESS: this is RUTH’S ACT of HESED – to choose an older, righteous bachelor: HUMBLED!
5.    Don’t fear – Ruth is shaking with FEAR: she knows this is RISKY, and fears how BADLY it could GO
6.    FOR: Ruth is a WORTHY WOMAN
a.    Same word used of BOAZ in 2.1: saying they are a good match in every way, walk together
b.    She is the Prov 31 “excellent wife:” 2 kinds of women, good time & good legacy!
7.    V.1213: a “BUT:” there is another man… ALWAYS AN ISSUE TO OVERCOME!
a.    Guys – if you want to marry a RUTH, be prepared for obstacles: debt, illness, abuse, fear, shame
b.    Gals – let the man work it out; If not, you don’t want him: he MUST take initiative to accomplish!

8.    But NOW WHAT? She is there. It is dark. She smells dang good.
a.    We might question the wisdom of the decision, but now what? Can’t send her home! WISDOM!
b.    So he invites her to lie back down and rest – an awkward long night at his feet!
9.    V.14-15: Protected her physically, but also protects her REPUTATION: let it not be known!
a.    As a man, you must DO BOTH: must treat her as a daughter of the KING, reverence & protection
b.    AND you must protect her REPUTATION: dating or courting in such a way that no question!

16-18: From Risk to Rest
1.    Boaz sends a message to Naomi through the Grain: WOMAN RELAX.
a.    Naomi and Boaz have never talked; all been done through RUTH!
b.    Boaz is not only concerned for RUTH, but also for the bitter old mother in law: COURT HER, too!
2.    NAOMI’S final ADVICE is much better than her FIRST: WAIT!
a.    Maybe she should have said this in the BEGINNING?
i.    Wait, rest, trust in the Lord and his providential plans. He doesn’t need our help, Ruth!
ii.    YET, There is a time for calculated risk – to step out and trust in PROVIDENCE
iii.    Seems Ruth and Naomi were aware of the risk – how could they not be? – but did it
b.    And the LORD was FAITHFUL INDEED.

IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE A PERSON WHO LIVES IN OUR MESSY WORLD WITH INTEGRITY AND CHARACTER LIKE RUTH & BOAZ, YOU’LL NEED TO EMBRACE 3 THINGS:
1.    Wisdom: find godly older people, married and not, and glean, invite accountability, counsel!
a.    Finding the right person vs. Becoming the right person.
b.    Intimacy precedes commitment vs. commitment precedes intimacy
c.    Role-playing marriage, then official OR divorce vs. guarding relationship BEFORE official!

2.    Risk: a time for calculated risk, where men & women entrust themselves to providence of GOD and do what is HARD and what may have NO GUARANTEES – particularly in dating relationship:
a.    Relationships that are godly and life-giving require RISK: prayerful, calculated, faithful risk
i.    Ladies: when the man wants to shortcut, the RISK of making him rise to the occasion!
ii.    Men: the RISK of rejection or humiliation often cripples us from initiating!
b.    NOT FOOLISHNESS – number 1!

3.    The HESED of GOD: why do BOAZ and RUTH pass this TEST & Make it to BEAUTY of ch. 4?
a.    The path of least resistance is right before them & in a day when it was commonplace: why?
b.    They are recipients of the soul-griping HESED of GOD: abundant, steadfast love to them
i.    We take the path of least resistance not because we are seeking SEX
ii.    Rather: because we are seeking Significance, identity, a sense of worth in INTIMACY
c.    IF you have a soul-level contentedness and satisfaction with WHO YOU ARE
d.    Your NEED to FIND THAT in SEX is UNDERMINED!
i.    And SEX is FREED from being a MEANS to an END, simply a “useful” event
ii.    To a God-glorifying, SOUL-UNITING celebration in the sacredness of marriage

Psalm 36.5-10:
    If this were true of you – “feasting on the abundance of your house, drink from river of delights”
    If this LOVE of GOD was REAL to you, palpable, present, intensely satisfying experience
    How many of you would put an end to a relationship today?
If this GOD is the SOURCE of your IDENTITY, WORTH, & SIGNIFICANCE
        Undermines YOUR NEED to find SIGNIFICANCE in RELATIONSHIP

The Cross: that is where all this is going, of course: where HESED is most VISIBLE: his SON for YOU
    Your SIN separated you from him, you are rebel against him
    His SON lives the perfect life you couldn’t, but dies the death you deserve: so you can KNOW HIM.