Beauty From Ashes - Ruth’s Story

is there's this ancient uh Japanese

legend called kinuji and it's basically

where you have a bowl or a treasured

item, a cup even uh that that gets

broken. And what they would do is they

would take this broken bowl, this broken

cup, and they would uh use enamel and

put it back together. But the thing

about it is they would actually put gold

in the enamel. So when the cup or the

bowl was put back together, all the the

cracks would still show, but it would be

more valuable than it was before it was

actually broken. It's more unique. It's

more valuable. It It's something that

only really God can do. Because we all

have those situations, right? We look

out there and we see maybe someone

else's life or our own life. We see

these situations where it just looks

like, hey, this is hopeless. This is

broken beyond repair. There's nothing

that can be done here. But then we look

and we see God step in and do what only

God can do, which is restore the thing

that was ruined. And those are the

stories that we've been looking at over

the last couple of weeks as we've

studied the women that are in Jesus

family tree. And we see these lives that

were marked by scandal and heartbreak

and injustice and failure. And then we

watch as God steps in with his divine

providence and raises beauty from the

ashes. And so I'd like to conclude this

series by talking about a woman by the

name of Ruth. Ruth. Now she is one of

the only uh two women in the Bible to

have a book of the Bible named after

her, named after them. And she is the

only gentile woman in the Bible to have

a book of the Bible named after her. and

we're going to read her by far most

famous quote uh that that uh she says in

this p in this book of the Bible which

comes out of chapter 1 verse 16. So Ruth

replied she's talking to Naomi. Naomi is

trying to get her to leave. Ruth is

like, "Don't plead with me to abandon

you or to return and not follow you. For

wherever you go, I will go. And wherever

you live, I will live. And your people

will be my people, and your God will be

my God. Where you die, I will die. And

then I will be buried there. May the

Lord punish me and do so severely if

anything but death separates you and I."

Now, that's just the beginning of the

book. If you've never read the book of

Ruth, I would encourage you go on and

read it. It only takes about 30 minutes

to read the entire story. Um, it's

absolutely amazing. It has all the

elements of the classic meat cute. Uh,

you got the the the foreign woman and

the noble land owner and they have this

chance encounter in a field and it

changes their lives forever. It's really

a true Cinderella story in the Bible as

well. Well, I mean, you got the the

tragedy and the heartbreak and the

romance and the redemption. There's even

a major plot point involving a missing

shoe. Um, so it's just an incredible

story. But Ruth is so much more than

just a charming love story. Ruth's story

points to something that is far greater

than this romance that we see on the

surface. Now, we recently studied the

book of Revelation. And in Revelation,

there is a scene in heaven where all

creation is gathered in the throne room

of God. And there's this scroll that is

being talked about. And the scroll

represents the the deed. It's like the

title deed to the earth and all the

people that live on the earth. And this

was representative of the authority that

originally belonged to Adam and Eve in

the garden. But through their sin,

humanity handed over that title. They

handed over that authority to Satan.

First John says, "The one or the whole

world lies under the sway of the evil

one." Why? Because we gave it away. We

had paradise and through our sin, we

gave it to the evil one. But then

there's this question that is asked in

heaven. Uh it changes everything. And it

says, "Who is worthy to open the scroll?

Who is worthy to take back the deed to

the earth? who is worthy to redeem the

peoples of the earth? And the Apostle

John begins to weep at this point

because he looks around and he's like,

there's no angels, there's no kings,

there's no no prophets, there's nothing.

There's no one that can open the scroll.

But then this angel comes to him and

says, "Chill out, man. Stop crying

because the lion of the tribe of Judah

is worthy to open the scroll." And so

John turns around and he's looking for

this lion. And what does he see? He sees

a lamb. a lamb that looks like it's been

slaughtered. See, the lion redeems us by

becoming the lamb. And this is the

moment that all of our hearts long for.

Whether you know Jesus or you don't,

that missing thing in your soul is your

relationship with Jesus. You long for

this reclamation

uh where he takes back what was lost,

where he renews his kingdom, and where

he redeems his people. And here's why

that's important to today's sermon. All

of the mechanics of redemption, the

framework, the legal framework, the the

kinsman redeemer concept, all of it is

illustrated in the book of Ruth.

Ruth isn't just some romcom in

scripture. Ruth is actually an

illustration of how Jesus plans to

redeem us. So there's four important

elements in this scripture that you

really need to understand as you read

through this book in order to really

grasp what redemption means and how it

can change your life. And the first

thing that jumps out, now obviously I

don't have time to read the whole

scripture to you. So we're just going to

kind of story it a little bit today. So

the first thing that will jump out to

you as you read is the fact that culture

matters. culture matters. So, we're 1100

years at the point in Ruth, 1100 years

before the birth of Jesus. And we're

just really right after last week's

sermon where Sammon marries Rahab and

they go to establish this new city

called Bethlehem. And while they're

there, they have a son and his name is

Boaz. But what's happened now is the the

people, the Jewish people, the

Israelites have taken the promised land.

They've moved into the promised land and

they've started to establish their lives

there. They're they're building homes.

They're building cities. They were a

nomadic people forever. And now they

actually have a place to live. And so as

they're establishing these things,

they're meeting new people, new

cultures, new philosophies, new world

views, just new people. And God warned

them before they moved in. He said, 'You

cannot bless the world if you look

exactly like it. He says, 'You guys are

the salt and the light, and if the salt

loses its saltiness, it just tastes like

everything else. So, it's no longer of

any use. But Israel really struggled

with that calling. Slowly and subtly,

the values of the surrounding nations

began to weigh on them. And cultures

influenced by pagan worship and false

gods began to infiltrate and creep into

Israel's vision of morality and sex and

entertainment and philosophy and

religion. And it was just little

compromises at first, but these these

little compromises eventually became

normalized behaviors. And it led to

spiritual chaos. It it was like the

spiritual wild west. There was no

central authority anymore. God. So God

raises up these judges uh guys like

Gideon and Samson in the Bible to

restore people and bring them back to

him. The defining phrase in the book of

judges is everyone did what was right in

their own eyes. You read that over and

over again. It sounds very similar to

what we're seeing in our culture today.

Everyone is just doing whatever seems

right in their own eyes. So sometimes to

get their attention, God would withhold

the rain and create a famine. And he

would do this not to destroy his people,

but to remind them that he is God, to

remind them that they need to be

dependent upon him. Like a loving father

that sees something in the future for

their child that is very dangerous. And

so the loving father or mother would

come in and discipline the child to make

sure they didn't continue down that

path. So God doesn't waste any hurts

here. He's calling his people back to

joy, back to blessing, back to

dependence, and he's using a famine to

do so. But friends, culture matters

because get this, what you tolerate and

what you celebrate will eventually shape

who you become.

friends, what you tolerate and what you

celebrate will eventually shape who you

become. And that's one of the key

central themes of the book of Ruth.

Number two, providence matters. So

Ruth's story unfolds in the time of the

judges. It unfolds during a time of

famine. So you got IMC who marries Naomi

and and IMC sells his land in Bethlehem.

He he sells off his property because of

this famine and he moves this family to

Moab. He's got Malon and Chileon are his

sons. His wife's name's Naomi. Um and

they move into this land of Moab which

is not neutral territory. These people

are the enemies of Israel. So this

wasn't a move toward God. This wasn't

some, well, I got to save my family from

starving to death. Uh no, this is a

compromise. He's leaving his covenant

community where God told him to stay and

he's moving in to a foreign land full of

enemies. And so in Moab, his sons marry

these Moabitete women. Malon marries

Ruth. Chileon marries Orpha. And one

cool thing that happens is that uh Ruth

abandons her worship of Kimoth, which

was the god of Moab. And she begins to

trust the God of Israel. She's a lot

like Rahab before her. She's a she's a a

Gentile. She's a Moabitete. She's not an

Israelite. So, she wasn't raised with

this stuff. And so, what she learned

over time was that God is good. She

heard the stories about his blessing and

his providence and how he cares for his

people. And so, she rejects all of those

pagan gods and she starts to worship the

God of Israel. But then tragedy strikes.

IMC dies and then both of the boys die.

And so, we got these three widows,

Naomi, Orpha, and Ruth. And they're all

that remain. So Naomi finds out that the

famine is over, that there's going to be

a barley harvest festival back in her

hometown of Bethlehem. And so she tells

her two daughter-in-laws to go back to

their families and she's going to go

back home. And at first they say no, but

then Orpha eventually turns back. But

then Ruth refuses, and that's where her

beautiful speech comes from. She's like,

"Your people are going to be my people,

and your God is going to be my God."

She's ride or die with Naomi all the way

to actually the grave. And so she's

like, Naomi's like, "Well, I guess I

don't have a choice. You're coming with

me." So the two widows, they arrive in

Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley

harvest. And as the scripture says over

and over again, it just so happens,

okay, that that's God's ironic way of

saying it's not a coincidence. I'm

actually in control of all these things.

So it just so happens that she goes out

into a field uh owned by a man named

Boaz. Is it coincidence? No. It's

providence. And what we learn from that

is even in famine, even in times of

relocation, even in times of loss, God

is always up to something. He He's

weaving redemption through these

ordinary decisions and these painful

circumstances. Friends, providence means

that even though you might not

understand why things are happening, God

always does. He's never caught off guard

and he's never confused. He is uh

providentially sovereign over all of

your life choices. Number three,

generosity matters. Just a little

practical life advice. If you want to

marry someone or be in a relationship

with someone who is generous and who has

high integrity, then you need to be a

person who is generous and has high

integrity because light attracts light

and dark attracts dark. So, we see this

in the scripture because Boaz is a man

of character long before he meets Ruth.

He's a man of good character and we see

that in the way he handles his business

in the way that he is generous.

Leviticus 19 has a law and the law

instructed land owners to leave the

corners of their fields untouched. So,

when they harvest their crops, they

don't touch the corners of the field.

And it also says that they're only

allowed to make one swipe across the

field. So anything that is not picked up

on that first swipe is left behind. And

the reason they leave the corners and

the other stuff behind is so that poor

people or widows or foreigners can come

and what they call glean the fields.

This wasn't a handout system. This was

an opportunity system. People, you're

allowed to admire that, by the way.

People still had to work. Oh my

goodness. They they

They they had to go into the fields and

gather what was left behind. But in

doing so, their dignity is preserved and

provision is given. It's the God

designed welfare system. Compassion,

generosity, and responsibility. All

three of those things put together. And

you say, "Well, maybe that was just an

Old Testament thing." Nope. It's a New

Testament thing, too. In 2 Thessalonians

chap Thessalonians 3:10,

God says, "If anyone is not willing to

work, neither should he eat." Now,

notice it says not willing. It does not

say unable. Scripture makes room for

those who cannot truly help themselves.

There is a tithe. there are other

systems in place to help people that

truly cannot earn a living or have their

own food. So what what do we take from

that? What do we take from the book of

Ruth? Well, number one, I think it means

that we don't have to spend every dollar

that comes our way. We can actually

honor God and bless others with what

he's entrusted to us. We are stewards of

what God has given us. So we can plan

our finances in a way that honors God,

helps promote the gospel being spread

all around the world and takes care of

people in their time of need. Now, my

personal takeaway from that is when my

finances level up, so should my giving.

I keep those things equal. So now we

have this this picture of Ruth Naomi,

the these two widows that come back

during the barley harvest. They have no

steady income and likely they're living

in whatever shelter they could find

which could be a barn or a cave because

at this time the the shepherds and the

sheep were away. This is the offseason.

So they're up in the m they're east of

Bethlehem right now. So all those

dwelling places are open. So I imagine

that Ruth and Naomi are staying in one

of those spaces. Now here's a really

cool possibility. They're in the city of

Bethlehem. And I know it's 1100 years

before Jesus, but there's a very real

possibility that Naomi and Ruth are

staying in the same place that Jesus

would one day be born. Okay, that's not

in the Bible, but I just like to kind of

picture that. I think it's pretty cool.

So Ruth says, "I'm going to go glean."

And she just so happens to end up in the

field of Boaz. Why does Ruth wind up in

the field of Boaz?

Because Boaz was generous.

Boaz is following the law of God in

Leviticus 19. He's leaving behind the

crops so that people like Naomi and Ruth

can come and glean uh from his crops.

See what happens here is providence

meets generosity

and generosity becomes a doorway to

redemption.

So you might not think generosity

matters, but it does. Your generosity

could be a doorway for someone else's

redemption. Also, we see that character

matters. I'm sure you've heard it said,

character is what what you do. It's who

you are when no one else is looking.

Ruth was a woman of high character. We

see it in her work ethic. Like, she

doesn't wait around for people to feel

sorry for her and bring things to her.

She doesn't use her Saabb story as an

excuse to try to manipulate people. She

doesn't play the victim card. She

immediately goes out to glean, which is

really scary because again, the Moab,

the Moabites were enemies of Israel. So

this Moab Moabitete woman is now placing

herself in the field of a bunch of

Israelites. like things could have went

really poorly for her, but she knows

that she needs to provide for Naomi, who

is now too old to get out in the field

herself. And so, she sacrifices

everything for her mother-in-law. Puts

herself at great personal risk to take

care of her. And while she's out in the

field, Boaz pulls up in his F-150 or

his, I don't know, Chevy Silverado or

his Dodge Ram. I don't know what Toyota

Tundra, is that all of them? Honda,

Ridgeline, I think I named them all.

Don't want to offend any truck owners.

They were pretty uh pretty uh angry

people sometimes. So, um anyway, so he

rolls up in whatever uh his Hummer.

Okay. Pulls up in his Hummer in his

field and he's looking out and he sees

this woman. He's like, "Who's that

lady?" And his men come and they talk to

him and they say, "Look, uh she's a hard

worker. She's devoted to her

mother-in-law. She is loyal. She's the

real deal, man." Friends, your character

speaks before you ever get the chance

to.

Young people, please take note of that.

Your character is going to speak before

you ever even get the chance to. So Boaz

is now, you know, he's like, "Wow, this

is awesome." So he goes out to talk to

her and he says, "You have come to take

refuge under the wings of the God of

Israel." I love how he deflects. He's

like, "You're not dependent upon me.

You're dependent upon God." And that's

attractive to him. And then he says,

'All of my workers are going to treat

you with respect. You have nothing to

worry about while you're out here in my

fields. And later he com commends her

again and he he he says,"Hey, it's

really awesome that you didn't come here

running after the younger men, but you

are patient and waiting for the person

that God has for you." He he sees her

faith. He sees someone who is trusting

in God's timing. It speaks to her

character. But Boaz is also a man with

really good character. He's created a

workplace culture that is Godhonoring.

His employees would greet each other

with the Lord bless you. And this wasn't

some performance. This was a culture

that Boaz had created. No one in his

field was going to feel unsafe. No one

in his field was going to be exploited.

No one was going to be treated like they

were less than anyone else. Boaz

character shaped his working

environment. So friends, before you

align yourself with someone in a

relationship or before you go and take a

job, you need to ask yourself, what is

the character of these people that I'm

getting involved with? What are they

like when no one else is looking? What

are the things in the workplace or in

their personal lives that are tolerated

and celebrated?

Because culture reveals character and

character determines direction.

So, we have culture that's revealing the

character and then we have character

that's determining the direction. So, so

Ruth and Boaz, they weren't perfect

people. Don't they're not, you know,

saints or whatever. They're just they're

just normal people, but they were people

of good character. And because of that

good character, God found them worthy to

be the bloodline that he would bring his

own son Jesus from. Because ultimately

all those things point us toward this

story of redemption. Ruth is a story of

redemption. So So Boaz, he he meets Ruth

out in the field. He falls in love with

her immediately and he gives her so much

grain that Naomi will not know what to

do with it all. I guess that's a

farmer's way of flirting. I don't know.

So Ruth comes home and Naomi's like,

"Where have you been today?" And she's

like, "Well, I was in the field of a guy

named Boaz." And then Naomi is like,

"Yes, because Boaz is a family kinsman,

redeemer." Now, if you remember two

weeks ago, we talked about the Leverite

marriage law, which says if a man dies

without a son, the next closest male

relative could step in as a kinsman

redeemer and marry the widow, restore

the land, and preserve the family name.

So, IMC has relinquished his rights to

the land. Do you see the symbology here?

Just like we when we sinned, we we

relinquished our rights to the earth and

to heaven. Well, that's what happened

here. He relinquished his his rights in

a desperate move in this time of famine.

And so now Naomi has no legal standing

to reclaim it. She doesn't have the

money. And so what she needs is a

kinsman redeemer to come and buy it back

for her. So Naomi knows that Ruth and

Boaz are really into each other. She

also knows at the end of the the barley

harvest festival that most of the men on

the threshing floor just kind of like

pass out. They just they've had a good

party and they just kind of pass out on

their threshing room floor. And so she

sends in a very brazen move, she sends

Ruth to the threshing floor. And she

tells her when you get there, you go and

you find Boaz and you uncover his feet

because it's kind of cold, right? So you

don't like wake him up. You just let him

wake up on his own. You uncover his

feet. He'll get cold. He'll wake up. And

when he wakes up and he sees you, then

you tell him that you want him to spread

your garment over you. Okay, which

sounds kind of weird. I understand. Um,

but the hem of the garment symbolized

your authority just like a military

uniform would symbolize the authority of

the the person wearing the uniform and

have all its badges and patches and

buttons and all that stuff. Um, well,

the same thing for the the the hem of

the garment of a man in this culture.

That's why when Jesus was walking by the

woman who had the the ailment and she

wanted healing, she reached out and she

grabbed the hem of his garment because

that's where the authority was. She knew

if she was going to be healed, that's

where it would come from. And so that's

the same thing that's going on here.

She's basically saying, "Cover me with

your authority. Redeem me." So Boaz is

willing. He's like, "Yes." You know,

he's excited. But then he remembers

there is this one guy that's in between

us. There's this one guy that has first

right of refusal. And so Boaz sends Ruth

home with another six measures of grain,

by the way. Um, so Naomi when she sees

that, she's like, "Oh, this man going to

put a ring on it." Mhm. Um,

so the next day, Boaz goes to the city

gate where all the legal business took

place. He goes to the city gate and he

finds this nearer relative who has dibs

on the land and he says, "Naomi wants to

to buy back what belonged to. Uh, but

you got dibs, so do you want to buy it

back or do you want to buy it?" And he's

like, "Absolutely." I mean, who wouldn't

want to buy this this land, right? And

Buzz is like, "Well, cool." But uh just

just so you know, according to the law,

you have to also marry Ruth the

Moabitete. And if a son is born, the

land is going to belong to that child

carrying on a Limc's name and not yours.

So suddenly the deal doesn't sound so

good. So the man says, "No, I refuse."

And to show that he refuses, he reaches

down and he takes off his sandal and he

gives it to Boaz. which also seems

weird, but remember how we talked about

last week where before Joshua went into

the promised land, God made a promise

and said, "Everywhere the souls of your

feet touch, that property will be

yours." Okay? So, what what this man is

doing is symbolically, according to the

Old Testament law, handing over his

rights to this land. So, he gives Boaz

the rights to the land and uh Boaz is

like, "Okay, cool." So, he goes and he

starts his redemption process. He he

marries Ruth. They have a son named Oed,

a child that becomes the grandfather of

the great King David. Um, so so what's

the major takeaway? What's the major

takeaway of this story? Well, I would

say it's this, and not just this, but

all two all three of these sermons

together. The major takeaway is that we

cannot lose hope.

Naomi is a perfect representative of

what it's like to lose hope. Her name

means pleasant. But when she moved back

to Bethlehem after her sons and her

husband had died, she changed her name

to Mara, which means bitter. She she

made the mistake of living at the level

identifying herself at the level of her

current circumstance. Just listen to her

words in chapter 1 12.

She tells her daughters, "Return home.

Go on, for I am too old to have another

husband. Even if I thought there was

still hope for me. You ever said that

before? Even if I You ever been there or

know someone that has like even if I

thought there was still hope for me?

That means you have no hope. You've lost

your hope.

But we can't lose our hope because God

makes beauty rise from the ashes. Naomi

in that moment with that fresh wound.

She could not see it. She is standing in

her grief. She is standing in her

emptiness. She has no idea that the most

honorable, wealthy, godly, influential

man in all of Bethlehem was going to

marry her daughter-in-law

and restore everything that she thought

was gone. See, all Naomi saw were were

graves. She saw her husband buried. She

saw her two sons buried and with them

she saw her future buried. But that's

not what God saw. God saw a wedding. God

saw a prophetic lineage. God saw the

redeemer Jesus on his way. Remember

Tamar couple weeks ago we talked about

her. Remember remember her story? Well,

check this out. In chapter 4, verse 12

of Ruth,

this is at the the wedding celebration.

All right, this is a toast that someone

made at Ruth and Boaz's wedding. Says,

"May your house become like the house of

Perez, the son of who?"

Tamar, born of Judah,

because of the offspring the Lord will

give you by this young woman. Tamar,

the woman whose family thought she was

cursed, the woman whose darkest chapter

of her life was filled with scandal and

with loss and with shame and with

brokenness. And now her name is being

lifted up at a wedding feast as for this

happy couple, Ruth and Boaz, as someone

they would want to aspire to. Like the

the moments that she wished, Tamar, that

she wished were not a part of her story

were actually the moments that were

being celebrated at this wedding. That's

what God does.

He takes the chapter of your life that

you wish you could rip out of your story

and throw away and he turns it into the

cornerstone of your testimony.

He takes what felt cursed. He takes what

felt like ruin and he redeems it.

Friends, that's why we should never lose

hope. Not because you see how it's going

to work out. Not because the math makes

sense. Not because the pain is gone, but

because you trust in the author and the

perfector of your faith. So maybe today

all you have is ashes. Maybe all you

have is these broken pieces. Well, I

would point you to the ksuji. Like God

is gathering those broken pieces and he

is mending them back together with gold.

Your your scars aren't meant to be

hidden. They're meant to be highlighted

because you are made more beautiful

after you are broken. and God restores

you. That's the only God can do that

moment. So Tamar's ashes, they led to

Perez. And Rahab's ashes led to Boaz.

And Ruth's ashes led to Oed. And Oed led

to King David. And King David eventually

led to Jesus. Oh, that's right. King

Jesus, the one that can open the scroll.

The only one that can reclaim what was

lost. the only one that can redeem you.

But like Ruth, you have to ask for that

forgiveness. You have to ask for that re

that salvation. You have to make your

request. You have to confess your sin

and believe that Jesus is who he says he

is. And then and then you let God do

what only God can do.

Once Ruth made this commitment to Boaz,

once she made this this request of him,

she had nothing else to do with the

story. That was it. She made the

request. Boaz went and did all the the

work. He did all the the legal things he

needed to do in order to redeem the

property and redeem Ruth and provide for

these people. Once she made the request,

Boaz did the work. Friends, that's the

gospel. Jesus keeps the law when you

cannot keep it. Jesus pays what you

cannot pay. Jesus walked up Calvar's

hill to that cross doing what you could

not do for yourself. He went to the

cross. He went to the tomb. And he came

back from the dead for you. He walked

right into your ashes, into your sin,

into your shame, and into your

brokenness so that he could make

something beautiful rise from it. He

came back from the dead and he took back

what was his. He opened that scroll. He

redeemed the earth and he redeemed your

soul. He redeemed it all so that you

could be a child of God and adopted into

his family. So, I'm just going to leave

you with this question today. Have you

been redeemed?

Have you ever, like Ruth, went into the

presence of God and said, "Spread your

authority over me." Have you ever asked

God to forgive you? Have you ever placed

your faith in him? Have you allowed him

to take his authority and redeem all of

who you are?