A sermon preached by Derreck on the book of Ruth on 27th March 2022 Mothering Sunday. Picture with thanks to those who prepared the Mothering Sunday bouquets
Ruth
Intro A Moabite woman.
Moab had been the enemy of Israel since the Exodus period.
Could trace ancestry back to Jewish roots, Lot via incest with older daughter, (Gen 11:31-> Gen 19:37->Ruth 1:4)
Ruth’s story intertwined with her mother-in-law Naomi.
Naomi’s husband and two sons died, leaving her, Ruth, and her second d-in-law widowed.
Naomi decides to return to her hometown – Bethlehem.
Sends her d-in-laws back to their mothers.
Orpah goes but Ruth stays with Naomi.
Let’s consider the ramifications of her decision, and how her actions may apply to us today.
We will focus upon the vow/promise that Ruth took in Ruth 1:16
“Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you.
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 taking this promise Ruth commits to six things:
- A new land: In going to Bethlehem Israel Ruth ‘became’ a foreigner.
That was only a small part of the challenge.
She was marginal in just about every way that mattered in the Ancient Near East.
She was an OT equivalent of an undesirable alien, worse, coming from an enemy country.
She would have aroused the same suspicion and unease as an a Syrian, Libyan, Iraqi or Afghan refugee would attract in a post-9-11 world.
Everything from her accent to her clothes and hair would scream at everyone in Bethlehem, “This kid aint from round here.”
She was also a religious outsider, coming from a nation that worshipped other gods that demanded child sacrifice (2Ki 3:27).
She was husbandless and childless (worse – sonless).
In ANE the value of women was closely linked to their male relatives.
She had already been married (at least 10yrs Ruth 1:4) and not produced a son! Not likely to find another husband then!
Without a male relative Naomi and Ruth would have difficulty in legally managing their own affairs, e.g. Naomi returned to the family estate in Bethlehem, but property went down the male line, so she couldn’t work the land or sell it.
If Ruth had been Naomi/Elimelech’s daughter she could have inherited, but she wasn’t – was only daughter-in-law.
Arriving in Bethlehem Ruth was the definition of ‘outsider’ – wrong heritage, wrong religion, wrong gender, wrong marital status.
The only thing she could offer Naomi beyond mere companionship was her ability to glean – the ancient equivalent of receiving welfare benefits.
- A new leadership: Ruth is willing to submit to Naomi, allowing her to guide her life. Ruth was no longer doing it her way.
Naomi often counsels Ruth concerning the customs of her new home, both the written (in Torah) and ‘unwritten rules’ (Ruth 2:22, 3:2-5)
Ruth obeys, without question.
- A new lifestyle: Ruth is willing to give up all that has gone before to live this new life.
She consciously left behind previous practices attitudes/perspectives, opinions, the customs and culture, the priorities, the comfortable familiarity of life in Moab – all left behind for this new lifestyle.
- A new lineage: Ruth is willing to cut ALL ties with the past.
She is ready to immerse herself into the nation she is soon to marry into.
She is focussed upon claiming a new lineage/heritage, a new family line back to Lot, Abraham, replacing her Moabite roots.
- A new Lord: This is the greatest commitment that Ruth makes.
She is determined to give up her old gods of Moab and wholly receive Jehovah, the One True God of the Jews.
- With no limits: Then Ruth closes with a remarkable declaration,
“Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried.
May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely,
if anything but death separates you and me.” (Ruth 1:17)
Ruth put no restriction upon her new life.
She even requested that God judge her if she fell short in any way letting down Naomi.
Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty now.
It doesn’t take much imagination to see Ruth’s declaration to Naomi as parallel to our commitment to God.
It would be easy to make the spiritual contrast with Ruth’s relationship with Naomi, and our relationship with God.
a). A new land: As Christians we make the claim that we are not part
of this world, even though we exist in it (Jn 15:19, 17:14-16) Jesus prayed that it would be so – “…being in the world but not part of it.”.
Living in the new ‘spiritual’ land of faith can be uncomfortable, things are so different.
If we feel comfortable with the world, if we feel we ‘fit’ there is something wrong – we shouldn’t feel comfortable, we shouldn’t ‘fit’.
Life with God can seem to be so complicated, the customs and culture of faith can feel so different that they seem counter-intuitive.
The idea that the ‘first shall be last’ (Matt 20:16), ‘the greatest shall be the least’ (Matt 23:11, Lk 9:48) seems back-to-front/upside down according to worldly common sense.
But that is the ‘spiritual land’ we make claim to live in……the Kingdom of God.
b). A new leadership: Ruth submitted to be led by Naomi, are we
willing to do the same with God?
Are we ready, willing and persistent enough to seek His face in prayer to define how, where, we live our lives.
Or, are we content at making our own decisions about how we live (it’s our life!), not complicating it with God’s opinion – careful, avoiding the question is as much disobedience (sin) as outright rebellion.
Do we have the persistence and patience to listen, recognise, discern God’s voice speaking in our hearts as we take decisions day by day?
Do we recognise God ‘speaking to us’ through others, through circumstances, through the scripture?
c). A new lifestyle: Have we really left everything of the world behind
to fully engage in a relationship with Jesus in this Kingdom of God?
Or have we kept some bits we like?
Habits, perspectives, attitudes, character traits that we don’t want to let go of?
As one preacher from my youth would say, have we been raised to new life – but taken the grave clothes with us?!
d). A new lineage: Do we understand that we are now related to
Christ through adoption?
We no longer trace our ancestry back to Adam and the failure of sin, but to Christ and the wonder of adoption and redemption (Is 43:1-3)
We are God’s children, Jesus’ friends and brothers/sisters (Heb 2:11, Matt 11:19)
Do we live as Sons and Daughters of the King, the Most High God?
Not in arrogance and a sense of entitlement looking down upon those around us, but with a humility and assurance that comes when we truly know who our Father is.
e). A new Lord: Ruth gave up the gods of her childhood, probably the
biggest wrench of all.
Have we put aside anything that stands between us and God?
If not, if there is a priority in our lives that comes before Him, that is an idol and we need to deal with it – God does not share His worship.
That’s why Satan was thrown from heaven, “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High.” (Is 14:14)
If anything takes precedence in our lives it steals ‘worship’ from Him (Lk 4:8, Mk 12:30, Ex 20:1-2) – be clear/honest about our priorities.
f). With no limits: Ruth put no restriction upon her relationship with
Naomi, neither should we with God!
Do we limit God’s work in our lives?
Do we say, “I will follow God in that, that, and that, but NOT THAT!”
Do we have ‘red lines’ in our lives that we do not allow God to cross?
Do we ringfence parts of our lives that we don’t want God interfering with?
This is the time of year that we have the opportunity to ask these questions!
Lent, it is a time of self-examination, a time when we can, should, must, look at ourselves and take a spiritual audit.
A time when we come before God and ask, what would you have me do?
This commitment by Ruth towards Naomi sounds a little like a prayer. With just a little adaptation we could use it as such and pray it to our Father in heaven.
Father in heaven,
I will never leave you nor turn back from you,
as you will never leave nor forsake me.
Where you lead me, I will follow,
where you stay, I will stay with you.
Your family will be my family,
and you will be my only God,
now and forever. Amen.
Ruth 1
In the days when the judges ruled,[a] there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. 2 The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.
3 Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, 5 both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.
Naomi and Ruth Return to Bethlehem
6 When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. 7 With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.
8 Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. 9 May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.”
Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud 10 and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”
11 But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? 12 Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— 13 would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!”
14 At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.
15 “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”
16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.
19 So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”
20 “Don’t call me Naomi,[b]” she told them. “Call me Mara,[c] because the Almighty[d] has made my life very bitter. 21 I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted[e] me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”
22 So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.
Colossians 3:12-17
12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.