Ruth 2

Well, good morning again, church.

We're looking at Ruth, chapter 2, this morning.

Ruth 2 · chapter mention

Let me invite you to go ahead and turn there with me.

As we've been saying, this time of year in the church calendar is traditionally called

Advent.

Advent, in addition to being a fun time to put plants that belong outside, inside our

buildings, we also remember Jesus' first coming and look ahead to his second coming.

That's what Advent's all about.

The word Advent actually is just from the Latin word that means arrival or coming.

And particularly the way that word sort of functions in Latin, so I'm told, is that it

doesn't mean just any old thing coming or arriving, but something coming that is worthy and history

shaping, even life changing.

It's a coming pregnant with anticipation.

In other words, kind of like the coming of a king.

And the text we're looking at this Advent season is the Old Testament book of Ruth.

Now, as we said last week, Ruth isn't traditionally thought of as an Advent sort of text.

Some of you probably were wondering, what in the world are we doing preaching through Ruth

at Christmastime?

But actually, you know, it works quite nicely.

You see, in this sort of overarching kind of narrative of the Old Testament, the book of

Ruth functions sort of like a prequel to the story of King David, to Israel's greatest

king.

In other words, Ruth is sort of like the Hobbit is to the Lord of the Rings.

It's kind of the shorter, much-loved prequel or prelude to the bigger epic of wars and kings

and the triumph of good over evil.

So that's why Ruth is a really great Advent book, after all.

It's as we've titled this series, The Prelude to the King.

Prelude to King David, yes.

But you know, even more so, in the arc of the whole Bible, it serves as a prelude to

King Jesus.

So we're going to pick up this story, Ruth chapter 2.

Ruth 2 · chapter mention

It's page 222 in the Pew Bible, if you want to turn there.

Ruth chapter 2.

Ruth 2 · chapter mention

And before I read this for us, let me pray.

God, we're so grateful for your word.

We're grateful for the ways in which you have given us not just letters and not just poems

and not just collections of wisdom, but God, you have given us stories, narratives, historical

accounts of the ways in which you've interacted with your people.

Lord, and we know that you are the same yesterday, today, and forever.

So when we read these narratives of your dealings with God's people in the past, we know we can

look to you and know that you are faithful.

You're the same God.

So Lord, as we open up the book of Ruth again this morning, would you teach us more about

yourself, about your great work of redemption through your son, and about your life-giving power

among us by your spirit?

Pray all this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

All right, Ruth chapter 2.

Ruth 2 · chapter mention

Now, Naomi had a relative of her husband's, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose

name was Boaz.

And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, let me go to the field and glean among the ears of

grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor.

And she said to her, go, my daughter.

So she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers.

And she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan

of Elimelech.

And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and he said to the reapers, the Lord be with you.

And they answered, the Lord bless you.

And Boaz said to his young men who was in charge of the reapers, whose young woman is

this?

And the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered, she's the young Moabite woman who

came back with Naomi from the country of Moab.

She said, please let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers.

So she came, and she has continued from early morning until now, except for a short rest.

Then Boaz said to Ruth, now listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave

this one, but keep close to my young women.

Let your eyes be on the field that they are reaping and go after them.

Have I not charged the young men not to touch you?

And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn.

Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground and said to him, why have I found favor in

your eyes that you should take notice of me since I am a foreigner?

But Boaz answered, all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your

husband has been fully told to me.

And how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you

did not know before.

Therefore, the Lord repay you for what you have done and a full reward be given you by

the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.

Then she said, I have found favor in your eyes, my Lord, for you have comforted me and spoke

kindly to your servant.

I'm not one of your servants.

And at mealtime, Boaz said to her, come here and eat some of, uh, eat some bread and dip

your morsel in the wine.

So she sat beside the reapers and he passed her her roasted grain and she ate until she was

satisfied and she had some leftover.

When she rose to glean, Boaz instructed his young men saying, let her glean even among the

sheaves and do not reproach her and also pull out some of the bundles for her and leave it for

her to glean and do not rebuke her.

So she gleaned in the field until evening and she beat out what she had gleaned.

And it was about an ephah of barley and she took it up and went into the city.

Her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned.

She also brought out and gave her what food she had left over after being satisfied.

And her mother-in-law said to her, where did you glean today?

Where have you worked?

Blessed be the man who took notice of you.

So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, the man's name with whom

I work today is Boaz.

And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, may he be blessed by the Lord whose kindness is not

forsaken the living or the dead.

Naomi also said to her, the man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers.

And Ruth the Moabite said, besides, he said to me, you shall keep close to my young men

until I have finished all my harvest.

And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, it's good, my daughter, that you go out with

these young women lest in another field you be assaulted.

So she cut close to the young women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat

harvests.

And she lived with her mother-in-law.

Well, at the end of chapter one of the book of Ruth, Ruth has basically ventured everything

on the Lord.

You see, by committing to go with her mother-in-law, Naomi, back to Israel, by committing to take

care of her no matter what, Ruth is pretty much leaving everything and entrusting herself

to the God of Israel.

Now, where you go, I will go, she swore to Naomi.

Where you lodge, I will lodge.

Your people shall be my people and your God, my God.

Where you die, I will die.

And there I will be buried.

Ruth is completely and utterly all in.

As Paul Miller says in his little book, A Loving Life, she is loving without an exit strategy.

She was venturing everything on the Lord, the God of Israel.

If you were here last week, you'll remember that Ruth was from a little country called Moab,

a neighboring nation to Israel.

You probably caught it in our text this morning.

A number of times, Ruth is called the Moabite.

So in coming to Israel, you see, in coming to trust in Israel's God, Ruth was leaving her home,

her nationality, her people, her culture, most likely leaving any good prospects of marriage and a family.

She was leaving all that was comfortable and familiar, all that she had constructed and built her life around,

and she was entrusting it wholly to this God.

And the question, sort of lingering as chapter 2 opens, is,

is she going to be okay?

What's going to happen to her?

And more directly, more particularly, is she simply going to remain empty?

She's a young immigrant widow caring for her aged, widowed mother-in-law in a place where she knows no one.

That's about as empty as you can be in the ancient Near East.

Is she going to remain that way?

And I think in a lot of ways, these are the questions that we ask, too.

I think it goes something like this.

If I follow God,

if I leave my old life to go after him,

to believe in him,

to trust him,

to do what his word says,

if I make that step and venture my whole life on him,

am I actually, at the end of the day, going to be okay?

Or, having left everything,

will I simply end up empty?

Alone?

Having given up everything,

will I end up with nothing in return?

Maybe you're here this morning and you've been wrestling with that for actually quite some time.

You've been wrestling with all that you'll potentially need to leave behind

if you become a Christian.

Maybe you're compelled by the picture of God that Jesus Christ reveals to us.

Maybe the fact that he would come and he would live and die for you

is drawing your heart out to him.

And yet, when you hear his call of discipleship,

to leave everything and come follow me.

To take up your cross and come follow me.

Suddenly, everything that you realize you might potentially need to leave behind

becomes for you the great sticking point.

Maybe you are a Christian.

And all that you potentially stand to lose

by actually following what Jesus says as one of his followers

is becoming very difficult.

But here's where Ruth chapter 2 comes in.

Ruth 2 · chapter mention

As we watch the chapter unfold,

we see how God works in Ruth's life.

Until by the end of the chapter,

Ruth's emptiness has been met with what?

With a surprising fullness.

Even bereaved and bitter Naomi

by the end of chapter 2

is beginning to hope again.

The empty are made full.

The hopeless are suddenly hopeful.

The one who's ventured everything on God

finds that the Lord doesn't leave her empty.

How does God do it?

Well, we see in this text that God meets Ruth

and he meets us

in at least three ways.

First, he meets her through his law.

Second, he meets her through his providence.

And lastly, he meets her through a person.

So let's just look at each one of those in turn.

First, God meets Ruth in her emptiness

through his law.

Did you notice when we were reading this

how many times the word glean

comes up in this chapter?

You think, man, these Hebrew narrators

need to pull out a thesaurus from time to time.

Come on, it's like 12 times

in like 20 chapters.

Well, you see the backdrop to this whole chapter,

this whole scene,

is this special provision in the law of Moses

about gleaning, about harvesting.

In places like Leviticus 19 and Deuteronomy 24,

there are laws that allow for the socially

and economically disadvantaged,

the fatherless, the widows, the sojourners,

to actually come and glean the edges of the fields

and to gather what's been dropped

or passed over by the reapers

so that they can provide for themselves.

In other words, landowners were commanded by God

to leave parts of their fields

for the use of the poor.

And they were even commanded

not to utterly strip bare everything

from what they did harvest

so that the needy could have something

to gather there as well.

And God tells his people to do this for two reasons.

First, because all this is meant to be a picture

of the kind of God he is.

God's people were meant to display

his generosity and his compassion

and embody it even and especially

in their economic practices

and how they manage their fields.

After all, there were very few sort of hobby farmers

in ancient Israel, right?

Like this was their livelihood.

This was their base economic structure.

And secondly, God tells them to do this

as a reminder not just of who he is

but as a reminder of who they are.

Remember, God says in Deuteronomy 24

after giving them this command,

remember that you were once slaves in Egypt,

he says.

Remember that you once had nothing

and that you were once destitute

and I rescued you.

In other words, these laws

about keeping some of your fields

for the poor and the needy

and disadvantaged

were meant to be an overflow of God's grace,

an overflowing sign of his redeeming love

that they had received.

God had rescued them from their emptiness

and now they were to act towards others

to make provision for them.

So when Ruth in verse 2 says to Naomi,

let me go to the field and glean,

she's probably thinking about

these kinds of provisions

in Israel's law, in God's law.

And what does that mean?

Well, it means that God's word,

God's law,

had provided this framework,

had provided this beautiful structure

where Ruth's emptiness could be met.

God had inscribed his very generosity

and compassion

into the very way his people

dealt with their finances,

with their fields.

And in that God-centered structure

or framework that's articulated in the law,

Ruth, this empty immigrant widow,

found a place of provision and protection.

You know, sometimes we go back

and we read the Old Testament law

and we think this stuff

is just completely and utterly bizarre.

Right?

But when you start to see

how it's functioning in the context,

you realize that it's a picture

of God's mercy and compassion.

Here is a space created by God's word,

by his law,

where one who had nothing

could still find the means to flourish.

Now, of course, for us today,

living on this side

of Jesus's death and resurrection,

these particular Old Testament civil laws,

in other words,

these laws about Israel

sort of ordered its kind of political

and financial life together,

they're not in effect in the same way,

just like the ceremonial laws

have been fulfilled

through Jesus for us today.

But the overarching point

is still the same,

that God's word to us today,

his commands and instructions

for how to order our lives together,

more particularly,

all those imperatives

that we find in the New Testament

gospels and epistles,

friends,

they're there for our good.

They're there indeed

for our flourishing.

God still wants to display

his character in the world

through his people.

God still wants the overflow

of his redeeming grace

to be exhibited in our lives.

And how do we do that?

How do we take part

in that great privilege?

We do it through patterning our lives

in accordance with his word.

After all, friends,

God made us

and he certainly knows

how our lives work best,

doesn't he?

And moreover,

this is actually one of the ways

that God meets us

to fill us.

God's rules aren't there

to kill all of our joy

or to make our lives

excruciatingly difficult.

Just the opposite.

My wife will often

make fun of me

for the fact that I took

swing dance lessons

in high school.

I often make fun of myself

for that fact.

But I learned one thing

taking swing dance lessons.

You know,

when you're learning

a new dance step,

at first it feels

a bit awkward.

It feels like something

you're never going

to get the hang of.

And sometimes it feels

so difficult

and so complicated

that you just want

to give up.

And of course,

what's true of real dancers

and not just amateur

high schoolers

trying to impress

their girlfriend,

what's true of real dancers

is that learning the dance

is not just difficult,

but it's actually costly.

It's time,

it's energy,

it's discipline.

But friends,

look at the end result.

Look at a ballet dancer.

How she can move

with complete control

and grace.

look at a whole company

of ballet dancers

and see the beauty

and the synchrony

and the symmetry

of their motion together.

Yes,

you have to change your diet,

I'm sure,

to be a good ballet dancer.

You certainly have to change

your posture,

at least I would,

as I hunch more and more.

And you know,

you'll probably get some bruises

on your feet along the way.

But the end result,

on the far side

of the awkwardness,

the frustration,

and the cost,

the end result

is the beauty

and the deep satisfaction,

the fullness

of participating

in that dance

that God has choreographed

for his glory

and for our good.

And what's more,

when you become a Christian,

or if you already are a Christian,

God actually comes

to live inside of us

through his Holy Spirit.

And he begins working in us

this transformation,

making us,

making all of us together

through the awkwardness

and through the frustration

and through the cost,

making us into a thing of beauty.

Paul says,

keep in step

with the Spirit.

Speaking of this very thing,

God's making us holy

through his grace

and through his word.

So friends,

God doesn't leave us empty.

Like we see here in Ruth,

he gives us his word,

he gives us his law

as the structure,

as the framework

of our flourishing.

But next we see

that it's not just God's law,

but it's God's providence.

In verses one through three,

the narrator does

this incredibly artful thing.

Maybe you noticed it.

In verse one,

what does he do?

He introduces a new character,

Boaz.

Ah, but Boaz

hasn't entered the story

just quite yet.

The narrator is just making sure

that we, the audience,

know who he is ahead of time.

In other words,

he's building

some dramatic irony,

he's building

some dramatic expectation.

And then,

with this figure of Boaz

in our minds

and all the anticipation

of what part he might play

in the story,

in verse three,

Ruth goes out into the fields

and lo and behold,

what happens?

She happened to come

to the part of the field

belonging to,

you guessed it,

Boaz.

Ruth happens

in the field

It's wonderfully

understated.

But at the same time,

it's so clear,

isn't it?

That here we see

God is at work.

That through his

providential hand,

Ruth happens

into just the right field

at just the right time.

And of course,

notice here

that Ruth is still

making real choices.

It's her initiative

to go out

into the fields.

But friends,

this is the wonder

of it all.

That in and through

Ruth's own initiative,

in and through

her own agency,

in and through

her own responsibility,

God sovereignly

orchestrates

his wise

and good plan.

Now,

I don't know

about you,

friend,

but I think

we stand

on the edge

of a deep mystery

here.

How God's sovereignty

and our human agency

and responsibility

are both fully

and completely true

is something

that we can speak

intelligently about.

It's something

that we can live

faithfully and light of,

but it's not something

that our finite minds

will ever fully grasp.

Not in this life.

And I'm wondering

probably,

maybe even not

in the life to come.

And yet,

it's a sweet reality,

isn't it?

It's a reality

that's actually here

for our comfort.

I've always loved

the way the Heidelberg

Catechism talks

about God's providence.

This is how it describes it.

It says,

God's providence

is his almighty

and ever-present power

whereby,

as with his hand,

he still upholds

heaven and earth

and all creatures

and so governs them

that leaf and blade,

rain and drought,

fruitful and barren years,

food and drink,

health and sickness,

riches and poverty,

indeed,

all things

come to us

not by chance,

but by his fatherly hand.

Friends,

make no doubt about it.

In this fallen world,

Christians will experience,

as the old catechism says,

drought and barren years,

sickness and poverty.

There are no guarantees

for health or wealth

in the gospel,

but we are assured

that even the barren years

are not meaningless,

that they are not

the mere doings

of a cold,

faceless fate.

They're not by chance.

But actually,

that they're wrapped up

in the great story

that God is weaving

in our lives.

Paul Miller,

who wrote an excellent book

on prayer,

by the way,

he puts it this way

in his book in prayer.

He says,

if God is sovereign,

then he's in control

of all the details

of my life.

If he is loving,

then he's going to be

shaping the details

of my life for my good.

If he's all wise,

then he's not going

to do everything I want

because I don't know

what I need.

And if he's patient,

then he's going to take time

to do all this.

And when we put

all these things together,

he says,

God's sovereignty,

his love,

his wisdom,

his patience,

we have a divine story.

And if you immerse yourself

in that story,

friends,

you begin to see

that it's often a story,

in fact,

almost always a story,

of great reversals.

Blessed are those

who mourn,

Jesus said,

for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,

for they shall inherit

the earth.

Blessed are those

who hunger and thirst

for righteousness,

for they shall be satisfied.

I remember sitting

with a friend

not so long ago

while he was reflecting

on the cost

of discipleship.

He was in a particularly

trying season.

And as he looked out

at the road before him,

at the road of following Jesus

and what that would mean,

all he could humanly see

was loneliness

and unfulfilled longing.

But friends,

you know,

the truth is

that that would not

be the only reality.

Of that leg of the journey,

for him or for us.

God's providence,

his care,

his almighty

and ever-present power

would also be at work.

And even the steps

that may have led him

through mourning

or hunger

or thirst

or loneliness

would be the very same steps

that led him ultimately

to glory

and to joy.

friends,

Ruth has not just

God's law

but also

God's providence

meeting her

in her emptiness,

leading her

to fullness

and so do we.

But finally,

God meets her

in a person.

Amidst all the danger

of being a single

vulnerable woman

in a time of political

and social chaos,

verse 22

alludes

to the threat

of living

in the time

of the judges

as the narrator says

in chapter 1.

Amidst all that,

Ruth finds

a person

who will actually

extend her

favor.

Enter Boaz,

the one described

in verse 1

as a worthy

man.

Strong,

wealthy,

honorable,

the word

can mean

all of the above.

It's funny,

when Beth and I

were thinking

of names

for our sons,

it struck us

that Boaz

is one of the

few characters

in the Bible

about whom

nothing bad

is ever really

said.

You know,

you sort of

rifle through

the list of names.

Abraham,

well,

there was that

whole thing

with passing

off Sarah.

Jacob,

well,

okay,

he had his

issues.

And you just

keep going

down the list.

And then you

meet Boaz.

So there it was,

if we were going

to go with a

biblical name,

Boaz Lauer.

We went in a

different direction.

Okay.

But it's still

a great name,

isn't it?

Go ahead.

It's all yours.

Take it.

But you see,

friends,

in many ways,

Boaz represents

and he embodies

here what Israel

was all along

supposed to be.

God honoring,

generous,

strong,

compassionate

to the weak

and lowly.

This is all

that God's people

were meant to be

and he's living

it out.

And as a result

of Boaz

showing favor

to her

and ordering

his men

to do the same,

hey,

by the way,

when you're gleaning,

don't just leave

some on the ground

but actually pull

some out

and leave it

on the ground

for her.

That's what he

says to his men.

As a result

of Boaz

showing all

that favor

to her,

Ruth ends

up going

home

in one day

with almost

two weeks

worth of grain

for her

and Naomi.

That's what

one ephah

would have

amounted to.

That's a pretty

good yield.

One day,

two weeks

pay for two

people.

She goes

home incredibly

full,

overflowing.

You can see

in verse 19

that Naomi

is just

shocked

by the amount.

Who put

his eyes

on you?

Golly!

And Boaz,

in fact,

allows Ruth

to come back

day after day

for the rest

of the harvest

as the chapter

ends.

come back.

Stay with

my women.

Drink

from my

well.

Eat

with my

men.

And take

all you

need.

And friends,

on the one

hand,

we see

here how

God works

through his

people,

don't we?

If Boaz

is an example

of a,

is a representation

of what the

Old Testament

church was

supposed to be,

he still

functions that

way for the

New Testament

church today.

that we

too ought

to meet

the sojourner,

the widow,

the fatherless,

the weak,

the empty,

with compassion,

with generosity,

with friendship.

Did you

notice here

that Boaz

goes simply

over and

above what

the law

prescribes?

He doesn't

just allow

Ruth to glean

the edges

of his field

or follow

the reapers.

Take even

more,

Boaz

says.

He even

shares his

own meal

with her

and she

can eat

and drink

until she's

satisfied.

And friends,

just like in

Ruth's day,

there are

those among

us who are

especially

vulnerable

today.

and the

church ought

to be like

a harbor.

It ought

to be like

a safe

field during

the harvest

where those

people can

come and

be shown

favor and

be allowed

to flourish.

and like

Boaz,

that's going

to mean

perhaps making

a financial

investment.

One wonders

how many

landowners

in Bethlehem

in the time

of the judges

actually followed

the Mosaic

law with

respect to

these gleaning

laws.

Did they

actually bear

the cost of

leaving their

field a little

under harvested

just for the

sake of the

sojourner or

the widow?

Were they

willing to

lose some

of those

profits just

to care for

the needy

around them?

Friends,

that's the

opportunity

that's before

us as a

church.

To leave

some margin

in our

budgets.

To maybe

forgo some

of our

expenses so

that we can

be generous

to those

in need.

To make

some costly

moves so

that we

can be the

place where

the empty

or filled.

But of

course our

time,

right,

is probably

more precious

than our

money.

And the

emptiness that

so many

people around

us face

isn't necessarily

financial,

is it,

but it's

relational.

There's a

deep need

for friendship.

Friends,

when I look

out at the

world,

I think it's

one of the

greatest needs

that I see.

people hungering

and longing

for friendship.

There's a

deep need

in our

world for

the costly

work of

knowing one

another and

being known.

And as we

find when

Boaz approaches

Ruth, what

does she

find?

Ruth finds

that he

actually knows

her, that he

knows her

story.

He knows

what she

had given

up to

come to

Bethlehem

with Naomi.

He actually

knew her

and he

viewed her

with favor.

Again and

again in

this chapter,

there's that

motif, that

theme of

being seen

with favor

at almost

every move

in the

narrative.

It's

mentioned.

Ruth sets

out and

says, I

hope I

find someone

in whose

eyes I

can find

favor.

And when

she meets

Boaz, she

says, what

have I done

to find favor

in your eyes?

And at

last, Naomi

kind of gets

the last

word and

says, someone

must have

seen you

and shown

you favor.

Friends, what

if someone

knew that

they could

walk into

a church

and be

seen with

that kind

of gracious

favor?

That they

could be

valued as

a person

made in

the image

of God

regardless

of their

background.

And that

they could

be accepted

as someone

for whom

Christ died

regardless

of their

personality

quirks.

that they

could be

seen as

someone

headed

towards

unimaginable

glory when

Christ

returns.

Not a

place where

sin is

excused.

No, but a

place where

we stick

with one

another through

the hard

work of

change.

church.

In other

words, a

place where

we love

each other.

A place

where we

take friendship

building as

a serious

calling.

After all,

it would seem

that that's

something of

what's forming

here between

Ruth and

Boaz, isn't

it?

And how

unlikely a

friendship it

is.

She's a

Moabite

after all.

the people

of Israel

and the

people of

Moab didn't

necessarily like

each other a

whole lot.

But isn't

that how it

is in the

church?

Don Carson

puts it this

way.

I like this.

He says,

the church

itself is not

made up of

natural friends.

It's made up

of natural

enemies.

What binds

us together

is not

common

education,

common

race,

common

income

levels,

common

politics,

common

nationality,

common

accents,

common

jobs,

or anything

else of

that short.

I might

add common

marital

status,

common

family

sizes.

Christians

come together,

he says,

not because

they form a

natural

collocation,

but because

they have

all been

saved by

Jesus

Christ and

owe him

a common

allegiance.

In the

light of

this common

allegiance,

in the

light of

the fact

that they

have all

been

loved by

Jesus

himself,

they commit

themselves to

doing what

he says,

and he

commands them

to love

one another.

In this

light,

they are a

band of

natural

enemies who

love one

another for

Jesus' sake.

Why does

Boaz love

Ruth?

Because they

both know

the same

Lord,

under whose

wings you've

come for

refuge.

So friends,

on the one

hand,

we see in

Boaz how

God works

through his

people to

meet us

in our

emptiness.

And let me

just say,

if you're

feeling empty

this morning,

are you a

part of his

church?

Are you

pushing into

the fellowship?

It's part of

the means that

God's given

to meet you.

But you

know,

on a much

deeper level,

Boaz,

as a

representative

Israelite,

as a

truly

worthy

man,

does he

not

prefigure

the one

who would

come and

truly be

and do

all that

Israel was

meant to

be and

do?

You see,

friends,

Boaz,

in obedience

to God's

law,

was willing

to sacrifice

a little

so that the

needy and

weak could

be fed.

But the

one who

would come

after him,

Jesus Christ,

sacrificed

everything in

obedience to

his father

so that you

and I could

be satisfied

eternally.

The

apostle Paul

puts it this

way,

he says,

for you

know the

grace of

our Lord

Jesus Christ,

that though

he was rich,

yet for your

sake he became

poor,

so that you

by his

poverty might

become rich.

And isn't

that what

Christmas is

all about,

after all?

That he

was willing

to leave

everything

behind,

he was

willing to

lose

everything

for us,

so that now

when we

come to

him,

what we

lose is

nothing

compared to

what we'll

gain.

Friends,

you see the

blessings and

the fullness

of coming to

know Jesus

Christ,

the forgiveness

of sins,

to at long

last have a

conscience

utterly at

peace,

knowing that

God is

now

reconciled

to you.

To have

membership in

God's own

family,

knowing that

the almighty

God loves

us and

cares for

us as

his own

daughters

and sons.

It's

increasing

holiness by

the presence

of his

spirit,

sanctification,

finding more

and more of

the very

purpose for

which we

were created

to reflect

his beauty

in the

world.

God's

God's

glory.

It is the

participation

in God's

own glory

that one

day we

will be

radiant,

glorified

when he

comes to

make all

things new.

All of

this we

have in

Christ.

On more

than one

occasion during

his earthly

ministry,

Jesus fed

hungry crowds

of people

from just a

few loaves

of bread.

In the

gospel of

Mark,

both times

he tells

about those

events,

says,

and they

all ate

and were

satisfied.

And they

all ate

and were

satisfied.

Ruth

meets

Boaz and

her emptiness

is filled.

Friends,

it's the same

way with

everyone who

meets the

Lord Jesus

Christ.

He will

fill your

emptiness.

You will

eat and

you will

be satisfied.

in just a

second we're

going to go

to the

table.

We're

going to

go to

the

Lord's

Supper.

And

friends,

this is

the place

for believers

to take

that truth

and press

it down

into your

heart.

That his

broken body

and his

shed blood

were for

you.

So that

you could

be filled.

So when

we come

to the

table,

we get

to come

and we

get to

bask in

the beauty

of what

he's done.

So bask

in the

beauty of

what he's

done for

you.

And

remember

the cost

of what

he's done

for you

here.

And do

all that

so that

you can

be renewed

and so

you can

be filled

again.

And

Jesus

gave us

this

great act

to do

together

as his

church.

And we

do it

together.

God

and we

go out

and we

reflect it

in the

world.

Let's

pray.

Lord Jesus,

would you

fill the

hungry?

Would you

give hope

to the

hopeless?

And Lord,

as we come

around your

table,

pray that

those who

are anxious

to come

after you

would see

that there

is great

gain in

following you,

our Savior.

Jesus, we

remember the

words that you

said that

whoever has

left father

or mother,

relatives,

or houses,

or lands,

whoever has

left all that

for your sake

and for the

gospel,

will receive a

hundredfold in

this life,

and in the age

to come

eternal life.

Lord, help us

to embrace that

truth and to

follow you, we

pray.

Amen.

Well, friends,

we come to the

Lord's Supper,

as we said.

I wonder if

those who are

helping to serve

would come

forward.