Sermon
From Empty to Full
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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today. A special welcome if you're a visitor with us. We're glad you're here. And we're glad you're
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here not because we're interested in just filling seats, but we're glad you're here because we
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believe that as we're following after Jesus, that there's no one so good that they don't need God's
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grace. And there's no one so bad that they can't have it. And so we're glad you're here because
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we're all trying to learn from Jesus and follow after him, and we believe that he has something
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to offer to every single one of us. If you've been with us for the last, now almost two months,
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you know that we are going through the book of Ruth. And I have to say, personally, I'm a little
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bit sad because we're almost at the end. We have two more sermons left in Ruth, and it's been
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a delight for me to go through this book with you and just a joy. You know if you've been with us that
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Ruth is a book about suffering, and it's a book about suffering because it's a book about people
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who live in a country where they weren't born, and because it's a book about widows. But you also
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know that it's a book about redemption because it's about God sustaining and providing and caring for
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his people even in the middle of that very same suffering. And even more than that, we've talked
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about the fact that this is about God's chesed love. Remember, chesed is that Hebrew word that
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means God's never stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always and forever love. And we've
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seen that love as we've gone through the book from God to his people, but we've also seen it from God's
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people to each other. That it's a love that comes from God through his people to his people. And that's
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part of what we looked at last week. As we come to the end, remember at the very beginning, we talked
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about stories. I asked those of you who are kids why it was that your parents read stories aloud to you.
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And there were many reasons, but one of them was that we would become wise. That God as a loving
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Father wants us to know what's ahead of us. He wants us to know how to handle suffering in our lives.
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And now we're at the very end. We're in the last chapter. And so there's something else that happens
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with stories. And that is, how do we handle endings? There's at least two kinds of people when it comes
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to endings. And I learned this growing up because my mom is one of those kinds of peoples. My mom has
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to know the ending of a story before she starts it. And so she'll skip to the very end and read the last
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chapter. Because if she doesn't know the end, she can't enjoy the rest of the story. She wants to watch
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how it all comes together. And then there are others of us who will tell friends if we're reading
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a new book that's just come out, hey, I'm just reading this book. You cannot tell me the ending
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because you'll spoil the rest of it for me.
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We have a little bit of a teaser. Remember we saw last week that Boaz was going to go and see if he
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could redeem Ruth. And yet there's a closer redeemer. And so we're not sure how the story is
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going to end. Now last week we also saw that there were three words repeated in chapter three that we
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had seen earlier in the book. And we're not done. We have one more word in this chapter. Now this is
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the word that's going to appear not for the second time, but for the third time. So I'm going to tease
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you with that a little bit. And so our question is, how is this story going to end? Some of you at
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this point know how the story is going to end. So you might think, well, I have nothing else to
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listen to at this point. I've read Ruth before. And yet if this is a story that God has given us to
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become wise, it's not just a question about how does this story end. But how do all of our stories end
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when we walk and work with God? Because this is not just a book about Ruth. It's not just a book
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about Naomi, but it's a book for us and about us. It's a book about God's people that he's given to his
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people. And so the ending here for these characters is in some ways the ending for us as well.
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So what happens? How is the story going to end for anyone who walks with God and works with God?
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And whether you like it or not, you're going to be like my mom this morning because we're going to
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talk about how the story ends for each and every one of us. With that, we're in Ruth chapter 4. We're
Ruth 4 chapter mention
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in the last chapter. We're starting at verse 1. Remember that this is God's word.
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And God tells us that his word is more precious than gold, even the finest gold, and that it is
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sweeter than honey, even honey that comes straight from the honeycomb. And so we're going to turn to
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it now. We're in Ruth chapter 4, starting at verse 1. Please read with me.
Ruth 4 chapter mention
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Now Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there. And behold, the Redeemer of whom Boaz had spoken
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came by. So Boaz said, turn aside, friend, sit down here. And he turned aside and sat down.
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And he took 10 men of the elders of the city and said, sit down here. So they sat down.
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Then he said to the Redeemer, Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel
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of land that has belonged to our relative, Elimelech. Verse 4. So I thought I would tell you of it and say,
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buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people.
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If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not, tell me that I may know. For there is no one
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besides you to redeem it. And I come after you. And he said, I will redeem it. Verse 5.
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Then Boaz said, the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth, the Moabite,
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the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.
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Then the Redeemer said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance.
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Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it. Verse 7.
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Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging.
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To confirm a transaction, the one drew off his sandal and gave it to the other.
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And this was the manner of attesting in Israel. So when the Redeemer said to Boaz,
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buy it for yourself, he drew off his sandal. Verse 9.
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Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, you are witnesses this day that I have bought from
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the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and Malon.
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Also Ruth, the Moabite, the widow of Malon, I have bought to be my wife, to perpetuate the name of the
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dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers
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and from the gate of his native place. You are witnesses this day. Verse 11.
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Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, we are witnesses. May the Lord make the
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woman who is coming into your house like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel.
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May you act worthily in Ethraphah and be renowned in Bethlehem. And may your house be like the house
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of Perez whom Tamar bore to Judah because of the offspring that the Lord will give you by this young
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woman. Verse 13. So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. And he went into her and the Lord gave her
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conception and she bore a son. Then the women said to Naomi, blessed be the Lord who has not left you
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this day without a redeemer. And may his name be renowned in Israel. Verse 15. He shall be a restorer to you
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of life and a nourisher of your old age. For your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more than
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more to you than seven sons has given birth to him. Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap
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and he became his nurse. And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name saying, a son has
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been born to Naomi. They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
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Please pray with me as we come to this portion of God's word.
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Dear father in heaven, we thank you that you are a good and loving father who longs for us to know
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more about you and your ways. And so you've given us your word. We ask that you would help us to
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understand what you've given us. That everything that is written about you, we would hear and see
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and know and believe. We ask these things not because we have earned it, but because your son has.
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And so we ask it in his name, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
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We're jumping in at a high point of tension here because as you remember from last week,
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we are not sure exactly what's going to happen. Ruth has proposed that Boaz would be her redeemer
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by marrying her. And yet there's a complication because there's a closer redeemer. Now we've
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learned before that the redeemer was someone who was related to a person in their family who was in
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a very bad situation. Maybe someone had been sold into slavery because they were in debt. Maybe they'd
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had to give up their land due to an unforeseen circumstance. But for whatever reason, this person
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was very dire circumstances. And so a redeemer was someone who would come and they would buy them
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back out of slavery or they would buy that land back so that they could have it, so that they could
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restore them to fullness. And so a redeemer, in a sense, is someone who makes an investment
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but never gets to see the return. They make an investment for someone else's sake. And as we saw last
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week, a redeemer can also marry a widow who has not had children. And the idea of marrying the widow
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who has not had children is to carry on the name of the man who died. We see that in this passage in
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verse 5 and 10, Boaz talks about the necessity of carrying on the name of Elimelech. The purpose for
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this in God's plan for his people of the Old Testament was that the family was the core of society,
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family, number one. And so he wanted the family name to continue. But number two, God wanted to
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protect his people from the tragedy of having the haves and the have-nots. And so he wanted to prevent
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the death of a man without an heir from causing that heir's inheritance to transfer to someone else in
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the family. In other words, he didn't want one man to begin to amass large amounts of property
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while other people had no property to work with. And so this idea of land and marriage are all tied
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together. And we come upon that very issue in this chapter because we have a surprise. We expect that
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Boaz is coming here to marry Ruth. He takes action. He shows up at the city gates. And yet, for some reason,
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he doesn't want to talk about marriage at all. Did you notice that? He wants to talk about land.
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He says in verse 3, by the way, this redeemer, this closer redeemer that he's trying to talk to just happens
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to pass by at the right time. And so we continue to see what we learned a few sermons ago, that
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there are things that just happen. But really, it's God's providence blessing his people as they
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follow after his mission. So Boaz takes action. On the one hand, he's not passive, but God meets him
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at the same time. He brings him to the right place at the right time. And Boaz is talking about land,
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not marriage. So we have a surprise here in verse 3. He says, Naomi, who has come back from the country
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of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech. So I thought I would tell
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you of it and say, buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my
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people. If you'll redeem it, redeem it. Now, this doesn't just raise a surprise for us why he's talking
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about land rather than marriage, but it also raises another question about the previous three chapters.
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If Naomi has this plot of land, why has she been so destitute this whole time?
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She came back looking for food, and Ruth had to glean for them. And yet it turns out that she's had
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property all along. Well, the book doesn't answer this question for us directly, so we have to piece
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a few things together. Presumably, the original audience would have known exactly what was going on
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because they were familiar with the customs at the time. But the best that we can figure out that
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happened is this. When Elimelech and Naomi left, it was impossible to permanently sell your land if
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you lived in the land of Israel. And so what they most likely did was they sold the rights of use to
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the land to someone else. This is a typical practice to sell the rights of use for a time. In fact,
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if you were in a dire strait financially, this is something you might do to regain money, something you
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might do to pay off the debt. And that's part of what a redeemer would do. A redeemer would buy back
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the land so that you could have the use of it again. They would buy back your livelihood. So the most
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likely thing that happened is that Elimelech and Naomi left for Moab, and they sold someone the rights
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to the land. And for whatever reason, when Naomi came back, she wasn't able to buy back the rights.
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And whoever had the land had no interest in helping her.
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And so there's someone that's been using her land this whole time, and she's been unable to repossess
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it. And this is the very situation for which a redeemer is needed. The redeemer comes back and
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gets the land back for the person who can't afford to buy it, so that they can once again have the
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family plot, the family land. And so that's what this man is suggesting here. He's saying, would you like
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to buy back the rights of this land? But remember, he doesn't mention the name Ruth at all. Why is that?
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He says, would you like to buy back the land of Naomi? Well, this redeemer seems very eager to buy
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back the land until Boaz's brilliance comes through in verse 5. He says, oh, by the way,
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this redeemer said he's going to redeem it, right? He's eager for this deal. It's interesting, he's at
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the city gates. He hasn't taken any time to think about it. He doesn't need to go back and check his
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bank accounts or his investments to know if he can afford it. He jumps at this opportunity until verse 5.
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Then Boaz said, the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi,
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you also acquire Ruth, the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the
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dead in his inheritance. Then the redeemer said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own
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inheritance. Take my right of redemption for yourself, for I cannot redeem it. Why does this change the deal
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so much? You see, when this redeemer first heard about this opportunity, he thought it was an
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opportunity just tied to Naomi. And so he would be able to perform the rights of a redeemer by the
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letter of the law. But remember, Naomi is an older widow. He's probably not going to have to produce an
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heir. And so if he does this, most likely he is going to be able to take this land for his own.
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Now he'll have to support Naomi while she's a widow, but he'll do that from the proceeds of the land.
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And then when Naomi passes away, instead of it going to the heir of Naomi, it's going to go to him.
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And so he has a wonderful business opportunity in front of him. He can look great. He can come in and
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play the part of a redeemer. He can buy back the land. He can support Naomi. And he can also end up
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getting a great business deal. And so this redeemer is not interested at all in redemption.
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He has no interest in actually helping the foreigner. He's not interested in making an
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investment that someone else is going to see the profit for. And so when he hears that Ruth goes along
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with it, he realizes that if Ruth comes with it, there might also be an heir. And if there's an heir,
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this land that he buys is going to go to that heir. It's going to go to Ruth's first son. It's not going
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to go to him. And so we find out that this redeemer actually has no interest in redemption.
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Because a redeemer is someone who's willing to save someone else at great cost.
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This man looks and realizes that it's going to cost him something.
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It's interesting because if we look at the pattern of redeemers like this in the Bible,
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it usually involves them trying to get out of their responsibilities.
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This happened with Judah and Tamar, who we're going to talk about in a little bit in Genesis 38.
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It happened another time in Genesis as well.
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That the redeemers are always trying to figure out a way to not have to redeem.
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Because it's very expensive to be a redeemer. Very expensive.
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And so this man pulls out completely. Verse 6, I cannot redeem it.
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I'm not willing to pay the price for someone else.
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I'm only willing to pay the price if I can actually do what God's intention was not to happen.
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If I can accumulate more and more property for myself.
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And of course this is what Boaz had planned all along.
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We see his brilliance here that he waits until verse 5 to suddenly turn the tables on this man.
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And show him that this is a real opportunity for real redemption.
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And of course that's something that this quote-unquote redeemer has no interest in.
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And so Boaz quickly seals the deal.
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He's brought in 10 elders.
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We saw that at the very beginning to make sure that this is done in all the right legal proceedings.
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He does it with witnesses so it can never be undone.
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They follow an ancient custom of exchanging sandals.
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And then they have all the witnesses in verse 11 who bless them.
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And so this redeemer highlights for us what Boaz is doing.
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Remember I said last week we were going to see that Boaz was also going to pay a great price.
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The fact that this redeemer, this nameless redeemer backs out, underscores the sacrifice that Boaz is willing to make.
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This redeemer, in a sense, serves as a foil for Boaz.
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Highlighting and underlining and accenting the ways in which Boaz is a true redeemer.
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He is willing to sacrifice, to give up, to buy land that he's not going to see his investment come back on.
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Because he's only going to keep this land until Ruth's oldest son is able to take it for his own.
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So he's never going to see the money come back.
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He's making an investment for someone else's sake.
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Remember we started by asking, how does the story end when we walk and work with God?
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The first way that the story is going to end is sacrifice.
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If we walk and work with God, whether we're suffering or someone else is suffering,
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we will end up giving a lot.
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We'll end up sacrificing a lot.
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In fact, if we walk with God and work with God, we will end up giving up everything.
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Because God's heart is towards the marginalized.
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And it's towards the foreigner.
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You notice the other thing that Boaz did in verse 5?
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He gave Ruth her full name.
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Ruth the Moabite.
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You're not just redeeming someone.
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You're going to get to redeem a foreigner.
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And this land that you invest in is going to go to someone who does not have pure Israelite blood.
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But Boaz here models for us the sacrifice that will happen.
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That if we walk with God, if we follow after Jesus, it is going to cost us tremendously.
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It might cost us, like it does Boaz here, it might be a financial cost.
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Boaz is using his resources not for his own fulfillment, but to save those around him.
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To save a foreigner.
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It might not be a financial sacrifice.
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It might be a sacrifice of time.
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As we do the things that Boaz and Ruth have shown us here, as we commit to people who are suffering.
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It's going to involve a sacrifice of our comfort.
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Sometimes of our happiness.
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But it might just lead to joy.
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And it also doesn't end with sacrifice.
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Because that's only the first answer to our question.
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Remember we've talked before about how important names are in the book of Ruth?
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There's not many people who aren't given a name.
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I think the only other character I can think of is Boaz's servant in chapter 2.
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We didn't find out his name.
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In verse 5 and verse 10, Boaz reminds us what he's doing.
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Did you notice it?
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In verse 5.
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You acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.
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That Elimelech's name is going to continue.
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And then we hear that in verse 10 when he tells everyone what he's done.
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Also, Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Malani, bought to be my wife to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.
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That the name of the dead may not be cut off.
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What was the Redeemer unwilling to do?
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He was unwilling to perpetuate the name.
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He was unwilling to raise up someone else's inheritance.
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And in the Old Testament, the punishment fits the crime.
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And so this Redeemer has no name.
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The one who would refuse to raise up someone else's name also loses the chance to have a name.
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When we know the names of everyone else, this is the man who's cut out.
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And as we'll see next week, it's Boaz's name that's going to continue.
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It's Boaz who's going to show up in Matthew chapter 1.
Matthew 1 chapter mention
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And here.
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Because he was willing to raise up the name.
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And so we're not just left with sacrifice.
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Verses 11 and 12, we see the blessing that everyone asks for, for Boaz.
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In verse 11.
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In other words, you're from the tribe of Judah.
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And may you be considered just as great as the founders of your tribe because of what you've done.
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May the Lord bless you for your sacrifice.
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And we see immediately that that blessing begins to take place in the very next verse.
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In verse 13, Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife.
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And he went into her and the Lord gave her conception and she bore a son.
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This is only the second time in the entire book of Ruth that something has been explicitly ascribed to God.
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The first time was in chapter 1 when the Lord visited his people with food.
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And now he visits Ruth and Boaz with his special blessing.
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If you remember from chapter 1, it was interesting that Ruth had been married for 10 years.
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And yet there was no heir.
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And it's not stated, but we can only assume that she and Orpah were unable to have children.
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And now God extends his blessing to her and Boaz.
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Then the women said to Naomi,
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Blessed be the Lord who has not left you this day without a redeemer.
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And may his name be renowned in Israel.
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He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age.
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This blessing is not just going to be for Boaz and Ruth.
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But as we saw last week, it's going to bless the rest of God's people too.
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And so Naomi is going to have a blessing.
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And here's the word.
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Here's the third occurrence of the word.
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Verse 17.
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And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name saying,
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A son has been born to Naomi.
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We haven't seen the word son since chapter 1.
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And when we saw it in chapter 1, it referred to Naomi's sons who died.
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Remember at the end of last chapter, we saw the first problem solved.
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That Ruth came back with lots of food from Boaz so that Naomi would not be empty-handed.
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And here, Ruth solves her second problem.
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She comes back with a son.
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And so the question that was started at the beginning of Ruth,
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all the way when we started at the beginning of July,
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what's going to happen to Naomi because she has no sons and no food?
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It's because of Boaz and his sacrifice
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that now Naomi is going to be able to go all the way from empty to full.
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She's been restored, not just with food, but with a son.
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And it's interesting that they say this son has been born to Naomi
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because of course we know that Naomi didn't give birth to the son, right?
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But it's God's restoration here.
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And so what happens when we walk and work with God?
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It's not just tremendous sacrifice, but it's also great reward.
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Because God delights to bless and reward his people who walk with him,
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who follow his path of sacrifice.
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God delights to do what he does just here.
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He visits Ruth and Boaz.
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He blesses them.
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He uses them to restore Naomi.
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And so when we walk and work with God,
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the story ends with sacrifice, but also great reward.
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Because God delights.
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He delights to bless and reward his people.
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And yet if we were to stop there, it would be in some ways trite.
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Because if you have been through suffering,
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if you've lived in Ruth chapter 1,
Ruth 1 chapter mention
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you know that this is not complete fullness.
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Naomi is still a widow.
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There are perhaps still going to be times that Naomi wakes up at night
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and realizes that Elimelech is not with her.
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Perhaps as she holds a grandchild,
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it will remind her of her own children who aren't with her.
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Remember that Boaz and Ruth have a great gap in age.
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That most likely Boaz is a generation older than Ruth.
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And as they have this great marriage that's been blessed by God,
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there will probably be times when they have struggles.
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Ruth will realize the truth of what Boaz said
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when he said you could have gone after younger men,
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whether rich or poor.
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And Boaz perhaps will come to realize
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some of the challenges of marrying someone much younger than him.
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And so while we see a restoration of Naomi,
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they still live life in this world.
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The ends are not all tied up.
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Not everything is brought back.
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No one is going to come back from the dead.
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Elimelech.
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Milan.
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Chilean.
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That this is not some trite and sappy story
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about God taking someone and giving them back everything they had.
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It is about God restoring and blessing.
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And yet in this life,
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we never experience complete fullness.
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We'll never experience complete restoration.
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And that's where the end of Ruth is going to point us.
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We'll talk more about this next week,
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but we see it a little bit here.
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Remember,
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a son has been born to Naomi.
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They named him Obed.
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And then we find out some things.
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He was the father of Jesse,
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the father of David.
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Remember,
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we talked in chapter one
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that this would happen during the time of the judges.
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That there was tremendous political turmoil happening.
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And so they're not just looking for
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restoration as a people,
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but as a nation.
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And David is going to bring that in part,
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but he's going to point forward to someone else.
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We talked last week that God
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brings his power and his presence
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through real people in real time and real space.
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And he's going to do that
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through a descendant of David.
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He's going to do that through Jesus.
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And he's not going to do that
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through Jesus the bumper sticker.
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He's going to do that through Jesus the real man.
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He's a Jewish man.
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He's born in a village,
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not a town.
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He's born in Galilee called Nazareth.
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He's going to live a real life.
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He's going to serve as a builder.
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He's going to walk with people
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and he's going to teach them.
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But he's also going to be more than a man.
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He's going to be the only one
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who can bring complete fullness.
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And while Elimelech
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is not going to come back from the dead,
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Jesus is going to raise the dead.
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We discussed when we went through the book of Matthew
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the fact that Jesus' miracles are meant to show us
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what true and complete fullness will look like.
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It will look like
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the dead being raised
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and the sick being healed.
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And so while there's partial fullness here
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for Naomi,
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the end of this book points us to full fullness.
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It points us to the fullness
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that Jesus is going to bring
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in real time
-
and real space.
-
And Jesus is going to follow
-
this pattern of suffering
-
and reward.
-
Remember that the Redeemer
-
is someone who helps
-
a person who's related to them.
-
And yet Jesus is going to take that pattern
-
and he's going to break it
-
and fill it even more.
-
Because he's going to come for people
-
who are estranged from him.
-
Who are not his blood.
-
He's going to come
-
and he is going to pay the price
-
for someone else
-
to see the reward.
-
And his sacrifice
-
will be his reward.
-
Because his sacrifice
-
is for you and me.
-
And that is what he longs for.
-
For that to be the reward.
-
And so what happens
-
when we walk with God
-
and work with God?
-
We follow after the same pattern
-
that Jesus did.
-
We follow after the pattern
-
of sacrifice
-
and reward.
-
And just like Boaz for us,
-
the reward is worth it.
-
It is worth everything.
-
One of my favorite stories
-
is about Steve Jobs.
-
I'm fascinated by Steve Jobs.
-
I probably wouldn't want
-
to be his friend
-
because he was
-
quite the character.
-
But I would love to
-
at least be able to sit down
-
with him and talk
-
for a little bit.
-
And probably my favorite story
-
about Steve Jobs
-
happened when he was 26 years old.
-
When Steve was 26,
-
it became clear
-
that he did not have
-
the maturity to run Apple.
-
And so while he was the founder
-
and the starter,
-
the board told him,
-
you are not going
-
to be able to do this.
-
We need to bring in some adults.
-
And so,
-
but they told him,
-
you can have a veto power
-
over who we bring in
-
as the CEO.
-
And so Steve Jobs,
-
they interviewed 20 people
-
and Steve Jobs said no
-
to all of them.
-
And then they finally
-
identified someone
-
outside of the tech industry.
-
They brought in John Scully
-
who had been
-
the rock star of Pepsi.
-
He was the one
-
who had first introduced
-
the two liter bottle
-
as well as the Pepsi Challenge.
-
He had taken Pepsi
-
from being a regional brand
-
to a national brand.
-
And he'd moved
-
from driving trucks
-
to Pepsi
-
to being its CEO
-
in a very, very short
-
amount of time,
-
about a decade.
-
When he first showed up
-
at Apple,
-
it was just a few houses.
-
And Steve Jobs
-
had a pirate flag
-
flying from the top.
-
So he'd come from
-
this great corporate headquarters
-
to talk to this man
-
who was eccentric,
-
strange.
-
Jobs tried to court him
-
over several months
-
and it finally came down
-
to the moment
-
where Scully
-
had to give him an answer.
-
Whether he was going
-
to stay with Pepsi
-
where he'd been successful,
-
where he was safe
-
and secure,
-
where he could continue
-
on this great trajectory.
-
And of course,
-
Scully realized
-
all of that.
-
And so he finally
-
had to let Jobs
-
down gently.
-
And he said,
-
Steve,
-
I really like you.
-
I'm willing to be
-
a consultant for you,
-
but I think I need
-
to stay where I'm at.
-
I think I'm going
-
to stay with Pepsi.
-
I'm not going to come
-
to your pirate flag house.
-
Thank you.
-
Thank you.
-
Thank you.
-
Thank you.
-
Thank you.
-
Thank you.
-
Thank you.
-
Thank you.
-
Thank you.
-
Thank you.
-
Thank you.
-
Thank you.
-
Thank you.
-
Thank you.
-
Steve Jobs paused
-
for a second
-
and then he turned
-
to him and said,
-
John,
-
do you want
-
to sell sugar water
-
for the rest
-
of your life?
-
Or would you like
-
to come with me
-
and change the world?
-
John didn't give
-
his two weeks notice
-
because the following
-
Monday,
-
he started his first
-
day at work.
-
at Apple.
-
Brothers and sisters,
-
Jesus has come
-
and he's died
-
and he's risen again
-
and because of that
-
he has unleashed
-
the most powerful force
-
in the world
-
and there are many things
-
that we might not want
-
to sacrifice
-
but when we realize
-
that that is what is
-
at stake,
-
there is no way
-
we'll want to continue
-
selling sugar water
-
because that's what
-
Jesus offers
-
to all of us.
-
He offers complete
-
and full restoration
-
for those
-
who will follow him
-
in sacrifice
-
and reward.
-
And so he asks us
-
to do that,
-
to walk with him
-
to the end.
-
Will you pray with me?
-
Dear Father in Heaven,
-
we thank you
-
for this book.
-
Thank you for giving us
-
stories to make us wise
-
so that we can learn
-
about you.
-
Thank you that you
-
were not satisfied
-
with partial restoration,
-
with partial fullness,
-
but that you wanted
-
complete fullness
-
and so you sent
-
your son
-
and he was
-
the fullness
-
of God
-
and yet he was
-
our greatest redeemer
-
who gave up everything
-
not for his kinsmen
-
but for us.
-
We ask that you
-
remind us of it,
-
you'd strengthen us,
-
that we would be able
-
to follow after you
-
paying the price
-
of sacrifice
-
but also following you
-
with the reward.
-
We ask all these things
-
in the name of your son.
-
Amen.