#1 (THE "BOOK OF RUTH"
SERIES)
"RUTH RENOUNCING!"
TEXT: Ruth
1:1-22
INTRO: The book of
Ruth is an interesting story, one that makes us quite uncomfortable ... because
we find believers who suffer severe pain and loss without explanations as to
why. Tragedy strikes godly people
without reason and bitterness sets in along with despair. This makes the book of Ruth a “must
read” for every believer!
In this story however there is also a
message of hope even though the explanation or WHY for suffering is not
always answered! It is also the
story of how an outsider brings back hope through love; no answers, just
love! Maybe it isn’t the questions
that can’t be answered that should concern us the most but how we minister when
there are no answers that should concern us most!
Several things become apparent that can
make us a little uneasy in a world where we want quick fixes and easy
explanations and an easy faith:
a. Senseless tragedy can strike godly
people!
b. Bitterness does happen to people of
faith!
c. Loss of hope for the future does
occur even in the best of believers!
d. Ministry to help heal us can come
from strange places! (Ruth was a
Moabitess -- they were pretty much despised by
e. Ruth
never offers a theological answer to the dilemma of Naomi's loss, she simply
loves Naomi and commits herself to her!
f. No answers are ever given in
the book as to why Naomi suffered so, but God brought healing to her by way of
this outsider Ruth's love!
g. Faith in God is difficult and
demands that we love unconditionally, the only way to heal the broken is to love
them, not by winning every argument or debate with
them!
h. Love means embracing another's
pain, not lecturing them over their pain.
ILLUS: ELTON
TRUEBLOOD IN “THE YOKE OF CHRIST” SAID THIS: "THIS THEN IS THE ADVICE TO GIVE ANYBODY
WHO NEVER WANTS TO BE HURT: DON’T CARE!
DON'T CARE AND THEN NOBODY CAN EVER SAY, ‘I TOLD YOU SO.’ DON'T CARE AND YOU CANNOT BE WOUNDED
BECAUSE OF THE CARING. IF YOU DON'T
WANT TO BE HURT, DON'T MARRY, THEN YOU CAN'T LOSE. IF YOU NEVER WANT TO BE HURT, DON'T HAVE
A CHILD. A CHILD WHOM YOU LOVE SO
MUCH COULD BE A TERRIBLE DISAPPOINTMENT.
IF YOU NEVER WANT TO BE HURT, DON'T ENTER THE CHURCH. EVEN THIS REDEMPTIVE FELLOWSHIP ON WHICH
CHRIST DEPENDS CAN ITSELF BE DISAPPOINTING AND MANIFESTLY UNWORTHY. DON'T CARE AND THEN YOU WILL BE
SAFE! BUT THOSE WHO TAKE THIS ROAD
TO SAFETY PAY A HEAVY PRICE, THE PRICE OF TURNING THEIR BACKS UPON ALL OF THE
BEST THINGS IN LIFE!" -- Source
Unknown
The goal of the Christian life is not
to be right or have all the answers, it is to bring healing to the broken and
love to the hurting, to “be a friend that sticketh closer than a
brother” because of our faith in God!
PROP.
SENT: The Bible teaches
us that we are to demonstrate our faith in God by our commitment to love the
broken, the lost, the despairing, and the confused -- not to offer explanations
but to offer ourselves and God’s love!
I. FORMIDABLE CALAMITIES! 1:1-5
A.
Public 1:1-2
1. Elimelech and his family -- Naomi,
Mahlon, and Kilion, decide to leave the Promise Land during a particularly tough
time in Judah, during a famine!
a. Believers everywhere were
struggling and many were hurting!
b. Was it due to sin in their personal
lives? NO! It was due to no rain for a
while!
c. Sometimes suffering comes to us
just because it does! Mat
2. Fortunately for them no one
condemned them for leaving at this time.
a. The super spiritual in Judah might
have suggested they didn't have enough faith like the rest of them to stay and
trust God!
b. Others might have challenged their
commitment to the rest of the people who did stay!
c. No doubt after they returned there
could have been some who might have suggested that the deaths of the husband and
two sons were related to Naomi’s lack of faith to stay put, or the sin of the
sons marrying Moabite women!
3. This was a very public ordeal,
both the good and evil were suffering equally!
4. In many Christian circles today you
won’t hear talk about suffering, rather you hear teaching about how you can
escape all pain if you are living right before God and if you have adequate
faith! This is simply
nonsense!
a. The Bible is full of stories of
godly people who suffered, and while there were “some who
received back their dead” or had their afflictions healed there were
also many who did NOT and the writer
of Hebrews said of those who “DID NOT RECEIVE” answers to prayers,
Heb 11:38 “…the world was
not worthy of them.” (Read Heb. 11:35-39)
b. Faith does
not prevent suffering; it just puts a different perspective on
it!
5. The best ministry to people is not
so much giving them all the "answers" as much as it is giving them “presence” –
both God’s and ours!
ILLUS: A CHILD WHO
HAD TO WALK EACH EVENING PAST A DARK, SPOOKY HOUSE WAS ALWAYS SO
FRIGHTENED. SOME ADULTS SOUGHT TO
GIVE THE BOY COURAGE. ONE HANDED
HIM A GOOD LUCK CHARM TO WARD OFF THE GHOSTS. ANOTHER HAD A LIGHT PUT ON THE DREADED
CORNER. STILL ANOTHER SAID
EARNESTLY, “IT IS SINFUL TO BE AFRAID!
TRUST GOD AND BE BRAVE!” THE ADVICE WAS GOOD, BUT HE OFFERED
NOTHING MORE! THEN SOMEONE SAID
WITH COMPASSION, “I KNOW WHAT IT IS TO BE
AFRAID. I WILL WALK WITH YOU PAST
THE HOUSE!” HE DID NOTHING TO
REMOVE THE FEAR ... EXCEPT TO LIFT IT FROM THE CHILD'S SHOULDERS AND PLACE IT ON
HIS OWN! "PRESENCE" CAN BE A BETTER
MINISTRY THAN "KNOWLEDGE"! -- Source
Unknown
B.
Personal 1:3-5
1. They arrived in the land of Moab at
a time when Moab and Judah were at temporary peace with each
other!
a. They had a long history of being at
odds with one another!
b. Here their boys found wives among
the "outsiders" -- Moabite
women!
2. While the law did not outright
forbid marrying Moabites it did consider the children of such a marriage as "unacceptable" until the 10th generation
before they could be accepted into the “Assembly of
God!” (See Deut. 23:3)
3. The national tragedy now had a
personal tragedy added to it, their boys were in mixed marriages that would make
any return very unpopular for them!
a. Imagine the accusations that could
arise when Naomi returns with the news of her husband's and her sons' deaths
when she arrives with a Moabite daughter-in-law!
b. The super spiritual would have a
hay day in attacking Naomi for all this!
4. Her husband dies, whose name
Elimelech meant "God is King."
5. Her sons both die, their names were
interesting too: Mahlon meant “Weak or
sickly!” and Kilion meant "failing or
pining!"
a. Boy could this set the stage for
accusations too!
b. Naomi's pain was
great!
6. No doubt the question came up in
her mind: "What did I
do to deserve this?"
a. No answer to this question is ever
given in the entire book!
b. God does not answer all our
questions here and now! (Sorry ... but it is
true!)
c. But, at the same time God does not
leave Naomi without comfort or help either … He still is in control and has not
forgotten her.
ILLUS: WARREN
WIERSBE NOTED THAT WHEN GOD PERMITS HIS CHILDREN TO GO THROUGH THE FURNACE HE
KEEPS HIS EYE ON THE CLOCK AND HIS HAND ON THE THERMOSTAT! -- Source
Unknown
7. For an Israelite woman in the day
of the Judges Naomi could not have been worse off!
a. No
security!
b. No
future!
c. No companionship ... except
Moabites!
d. No peace!
II. FACING CHOICES! 1:6-18
A.
Promise! 1:6-9
1. A small glimmer of hope emerges
right at this time; the famine is finally over back
home!
a. Though a small comfort ... it was
something positive!
b. Rather than totally give up she
chooses to go home, and though bitter she makes a good choice and returns to
God's people!
2. Her Moabite daughters help her get
ready to leave and even travel a ways with her.
3. It becomes clear here that there is
a real love relationship between these women and
Naomi.
a. Though they no doubt saw things
differently they cared greatly about each other!
b. Naomi seeks to release the girls to
go back to their own homes and people, her love does not demand their
presence!
c. She praises the girls’ care for her
and her sons, though from very different worlds they had learned to care about
each other deeply!
4. Their reaction to her suggestion to
leave her and return home indicates great love, “they wept
aloud!”
a. The Moabites didn't believe in one
God, they believed in many gods!
(Polytheistic)
b. The Moabites had very different
values and ideas from
5. Naomi's love does not obligate
these women, love never does, it does not demand its own way as Paul wrote in
I Cor. 13.
6. The girls offer no reasons for
Naomi’s tragedy, they simply love her and weep for her and with
her!
a. This can be the best ministry when
people suffer losses!
b. Too
many times we want to wrap up uncomfortable things in tidy intellectual or
Biblical-theological answers when what we need to do the most is simply be there
for people!
ILLUS: A WOMAN WAS
HAVING ONE OF THE WORST DAYS OF HER LIFE -- THE WASHING MACHINE BROKE DOWN, THE
TELEPHONE KEPT RINGING, HER HEAD ACHED, AND THE MAIL CARRIER BROUGHT A BILL SHE
HAD NO MONEY TO PAY! ALMOST TO THE
BREAKING POINT SHE LIFTED HER ONE YEAR OLD INTO HIS HIGHCHAIR, LEANED HER HEAD
AGAINST THE TRAY AND SHE BEGAN TO SOB!
WITHOUT A WORD HER BABY SON TOOK HIS PACIFIER OUT OF HIS MOUTH AND STUCK
IT INTO HERS! HE HAD MORE WISDOM TO
MINISTER TO HIS MOM THAN THE GREATEST THEOLOGIAN! HE OFFERED WHAT HE HAD, HIMSELF AND WHAT
HE HAD, NO ANSWERS, JUST PRESENCE! -- Source
Unknown
7. They would part as friends who
cared and loved each other! At
least Naomi could return home again!
B.
Possibilities!
1:10-15
1. At first both girls refuse to leave
Naomi, their love and compassion for her and her suffering puts her need before
their own!
a. They had every right to return to
their own people but love gives up its rights for
others.
b. Is it possible to love like this!? YES!
2. Naomi however is more practical,
she instructs the girls how impractical their love for her is, they should
return to their own kind and marry again.
a. She is too old to have any more
sons to give to them in place of her dead sons, the normal practice of that day
when a daughter in law lost her husband.
b. Even if she did have more sons born
they would have to wait almost 20 years for one of them, it would be too late
for them by then! (Besides, Naomi
herself would have to find a new husband first
herself!)
c. It was not a reasonable
thing for them to stay with her!
3. Orpah (whose name by the way
probably means something like "stiff neck") listens to reason and decides to
take Naomi’s advice and return back to Moab and her own
people!
a. Before we are too critical about
Orpah however remember that a sign of respect then was to take the advice of the
elderly, which is just what Orpah does here!
b. This is not coldness on Orpah's
part ... but unlike Ruth who wished to stay a daughter Orpah wishes to be a
wife again!
c. Unlike before, this time Orpah is
the one to offer the kiss, her way of finalizing her decision to return to her
people and to her gods!
4. Ruth however has a different
response: She "clings"
to Naomi and won't let go!
a. This is godly love, she knows Naomi
needs love; Naomi is bitter and struggling with her
faith!
b. Ruth's decision is not just
emotionally based, it meant renouncing her own identity as a Moabite, it meant
not being fully accepted by Israel, it meant rejecting the Moabite god called
"Chemosh" for the God of
c. It meant turning her back on
everything she knew to accept a God she didn't understand and a people who were
vastly different from her!
5. Ruth (whose name meant something
like "pleasant") will choose Naomi over self, the
true God over idols!
a. Naomi has some new possibilities
through love!
b. She won't be
alone!
c. She still has no answers for her
suffering and Ruth offers none, just herself!
d. Ruth does not try and condemn
Naomi's bitterness, she just seeks to console her.
6. Love will open up a whole new set
of possibilities for both Naomi and Ruth!
This is the power of love!
7. Naomi's faith, though damaged, with
love will return to wholeness in time!
ILLUS: NATURE
REVEALS THAT LIFE CAN BE TRANSFORMED BY TAKING SOMETHING UNATTRACTIVE AND
CONVERTING IT INTO SOMETHING OF BEAUTY.
BY ITS CHEMICAL MAGIC, A TREE OR PLANT CAN TAKE THE DARK DIRTY SOIL AND
THE WASTE CARBON DIOXIDE IN THE ATMOSPHERE AND COMBINE THEM WITH THE AID OF
SUNLIGHT AND PRODUCE GREEN LEAVES, BEAUTIFULLY COLORED FLOWERS, AND A MILLION
DESIGNS! FAITH MIXED WITH LOVE CAN
TRANSFORM SIMILAR DIRTY DARK AND WASTED MOMENTS OF OUR LIVES INTO SOMETHING
BEAUTIFUL IN TIME TOO! ALL IT NEEDS
IS THE LIGHT OF THE SON! -- Source
Unknown
C.
Permanent! 1:16-18
1. Now in one of the greatest passages
about self-sacrificing love, (see 1:16) Ruth
commits her “presence” to Naomi for life!
a. Ruth was quite clear on all this
meant, it meant permanently leaving behind her former way of life as a
Moabitess, including all her false gods!
b. It meant an active commitment to
God's people and to God Himself!
c. This was akin to making a
confession of faith in the God of Israel!
d. Naomi finally accepts this "pleasant"
gift. (The name Ruth
means "Pleasant")
2. There will be no turning back for
Ruth, this will be permanent!
3. Ruth will no longer think of her
own life apart from Naomi's life, love does not make a commitment only when it
is convenient or easy.
4. While Ruth lost a husband Naomi's
bitterness was greater because she lost a husband and also 2 sons and any future
grandchildren; to a woman of that day it meant sure poverty and no
future!
5. Ruth is willing to embrace being an
"outsider" to the Israelites in order
to love a bitter old woman.
a. Notice that Naomi adopts for
herself a new name, "Mara" which means “bitter.”
b. She has nothing to offer Ruth, but
Ruth has much to offer her!
c. It really was not a "mutual"
relationship! But when has love ever demanded everything be "equal!"
6. Ruth will "carry" her in love even
if it means giving up everything that could have been
hers!
ILLUS: 2 SOLDIERS
WHO HAD BEEN RELEASED FROM A PRISON CAMP IN SIBERIA FOLLOWING WW II TOLD THIS
STORY. WHEN IT WAS TIME TO START
LETTING MEN GO FROM PRISON THERE WAS ONLY A SMALL NUMBER OF MEN THAT COULD BE
RELEASED BEFORE THE COLD WINTER SET IN AGAIN BECAUSE OF THE SIZE OF THE
BOAT. AMONG THOSE WHO WERE ANXIOUS
TO LEAVE WERE 2 MEN THAT HAD BECOME BEST FRIENDS IN THE CAMP. WHEN THE SELECTION TIME CAME FOR THE FEW
WHO WOULD BE ALLOWED TO LEAVE, ONE OF THEM WAS SELECTED, THE OTHER WAS NOT. AN ORDER WAS GIVEN THAT THOSE LEAVING
COULD TAKE ONE IMPORTANT ITEM OF LUGGAGE.
THE MAN SELECTED TO LEAVE WENT TO HIS BUDDY THAT WAS SUPPOSE TO STAY AND
HE TOOK FROM HIS LUGGAGE ALL HIS WORLDLY GOODS AND ASKED HIS FRIEND TO GET IN
HIS BAG, THEN CAREFULLY LIFTING THE BAG OVER HIS SHOULDERS HE BOARDED THE SHIP
WITH HIS FRIEND, HIS SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT POSSESSION! -- Source
Unknown
7. Love found a
way!
III. FELLOWSHIP CONTINUED!
1:19-22
A.
Perspective 1:19-21
1. They arrive in Judah back in
Bethlehem.
a. They whole town is stirred when
they come in, suggesting that Naomi's family had been one of importance in the
community and probably wealthy!
b. Naomi is hard pressed to accept her
own name ... she is “Mara” instead --
bitter!
2. Just think how the Israelites could
have judged her showing up in poverty, having left them instead of trusting God
and staying there with the rest of them.
Now showing up with a Moabite woman as a daughter-in-law and her husband
and two sons dead!
a. The gossip mill would have had a
great time coming up with reasons for all this misery no
doubt!
b. Certainly Naomi deserved some kind
of lecture about faith! Yet no one
gives her one!
3. She left full, she returned
empty!
a. How many have had this experience
before in their journey of faith!
b. How many have experienced
bitterness for things they cannot explain, and all the theological explanations
in the world can't answer or help?
4. Yet, there stands Ruth next to her
in love!
ILLUS: SOMEONE
ONCE WROTE THIS: "DON'T WALK IN
FRONT OF ME, I MAY NOT FOLLOW, DON'T WALK BEHIND ME, I MAY NOT LEAD, JUST WALK
BESIDE ME AND BE MY FRIEND!" -- Source
Unknown
5. In the whole book we can never find
answers to Naomi's suffering, just an example of what love and friendship
does!
a. Perhaps we spend too much time on
trying to figure out the right and wrong answers all the time to tough
situations!
b. Maybe we would do better learning
to love rather than learning to answer everything!
6. Ruth never seeks to correct Naomi's
perspective, she only seeks to give her love and herself! The
answer was a friend!
B.
Provision!
1:22
1. Though the bitterness is still
there and the questions still remain God is providing a way of ministering to
those deep hurts and sorrows in the person of Ruth!
2. It was the Spring, a time for a new
harvest, the hope of prosperity again!
3. God was surrounding Naomi with
fellow believers again and a loving daughter in law who cared about her a great
deal!
4. Ruth was no theologian, no trained
counselor, no great philosopher, no rich kid who could solve her financial
problems, not even from her same background, yet:
a. In Ruth Naomi would slowly find her
bitterness subside!
b. Ruth would help heal the hurt in
Naomi in time!
c. Love takes
time!!!
5. Ruth offers no simplistic answers,
just her presence and a loving hand!
ILLUS: A MAN FELL INTO A PIT AND COULDN'T GET
HIMSELF OUT, SEVERAL PEOPLE CAME AROUND BUT ONLY ONE HELPED HIM ... HERE ARE
THOSE WHO SHOWED UP!
A
SUBJECTIVE PERSON CAME ALONG AND SAID: "I FEEL FOR YOU DOWN
THERE!"
AN
OBJECTIVE PERSON CAME ALONG AND SAID: "IT'S LOGICAL THAT SOMEONE WOULD
FALL DOWN THERE SOMETIME!"
A CHRISTIAN
SCIENTIST CAME ALONG AND SAID: "YOU ONLY THINK THAT YOU ARE IN THE
PIT!"
A PHARISEE
CAME ALONG AND SAID: "ONLY BAD
PEOPLE FALL INTO PITS!"
A
MATHEMATICIAN CAME ALONG AND SAID:
"LET ME SEE IF I CAN CALCULATE HOW YOU FELL
IN!"
A NEWS
REPORTER CAME ALONG AND SAID: "CAN
I GET THE EXCLUSIVE STORY ON HOW YOU FELL INTO THE
PIT?"
A
FUNDAMENTALIST CAME ALONG AND SAID:
"YOU DESERVE YOUR PIT!"
CONFUCIUS
CAME ALONG AND SAID: "IF YOU WOULD
HAVE LISTENED TO ME, YOU WOULD NOT BE IN THAT PIT!"
BUDDHA CAME
ALONG AND SAID: "YOUR PIT IS ONLY A
STATE OF MIND!"
A REALIST
CAME ALONG AND SAID: "THAT'S A
PIT!"
A SCIENTIST
CAME ALONG AND SAID: "I COULD
FIGURE OUT HOW MUCH PRESSURE IS NECESSARY TO GET YOU
OUT!"
A GEOLOGIST
CAME ALONG AND SAID: "LOOK AT AND
APPRECIATE THE ROCK STRATA IN THE PIT!"
AN
EVOLUTIONIST CAME ALONG AND SAID:
"YOU ARE A REJECTED MUTANT DESTINED TO BE REMOVED FROM THE EVOLUTIONARY
CYCLE ... IN OTHER WORDS, YOU ARE GOING TO DIE IN THE PIT SO THAT YOU CANNOT
PRODUCE ANY "PIT-FALLING OFFSPRING"
A COUNTRY
INSPECTOR CAME ALONG AND ASKED: "DO
YOU HAVE A PERMIT FOR THAT PIT?"
A PROFESSOR
GAVE HIM A LECTURE ON THE "ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES OF
PITS"
AN EVASIVE
PERSON CAME ALONG AND AVOIDED THE WHOLE SUBJECT OF PITS
ALTOGETHER!
A
SELF-PITYING PERSON CAME ALONG AND SAID, "YOU HAVEN'T SEEN ANYTHING UNTIL YOU'VE
SEEN MY PIT!"
A
CHARISMATIC SAID, "JUST CONFESS THAT YOU'RE NOT IN THE
PIT!"
AN OPTIMIST
SAID, "THINGS COULD BE WORSE!"
A PESSIMIST
SAID, "THINGS WILL GET WORSE!"
JESUS
FINALLY CAME ALONG AND PULLED THE MAN OUT!
HOW DO YOU
MINISTER TO OTHERS IN TROUBLE!!?
-- Source
Unknown
6. Healing is not the result of
proving who is right or having answers to difficult questions, it is loving the
bitter, being present with the suffering, committing oneself to
others!
7. Ruth renounced herself, her gods,
her past, and made herself available to love others unselfishly ... have
we!?
a. The power of the Gospel is not
found in creeds, it is found in credible
witnesses!
b. The answers the world is looking
for are not found in pages, they are found in
people!
CONCLUSION:
Sometimes God ministers to us from the most unlikely sources! Too often WE want to have quick easy
answers to life's tough spots. Do bad things happen to good people? YES! God however is always at work to shore
up our faith and sometimes this takes place in ways we don't always
anticipate! What is certain are the
choices we can make at such tough times, to embrace the pain and embrace God and
His people!
LOVE!