Ruth 3 "A Love That Matters" Rick Graumlich

Well, Church, chapter three of Ruth is about taking initiative, taking some risk for the sake of others.

It teaches us that love sacrifices, or that love is selfless, that love is trusting, and that love is honorable.

And we're going to see this through through chapter three, and how Naomi is selfless in her love, how Ruth is trusting in her love, and how Boaz is honorable in his love.

And this is a love that matters.

But not all love is equal, and not everything that passes as love is love, as you know.

And if we remember back into chapter two, we see the story of Ruth meeting Boaz and showing Boaz showing Ruth kindness and great mercy.

And this kindness and mercy turned Naomi's grief into rejoicing again.

And now here in chapter three, we will see how things begin to play out between this very rich and honorable Boaz and this Moabite widow Ruth.

So let's read the first few verses here, picking it up in chapter three, verse one.

Then Naomi saw her mother-in-law and said, My daughter, should I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you?

Is not Boaz our relative, with whose young women you were?

So he is now winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor.

Wash, therefore, and anoint yourself, and put on your cloak and go down there to the threshing floor, but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking.

But when he lies down, observe the place where he lies, then go and cover his feet and lie down, and he will tell you what to do.

See, it's an interesting beginning of this passage.

Now, if you're familiar with the story of Ruth, this is the most controversial story.

This is one of the most controversial stories, kind of in the Old Testament, like what's going on, what's actually happening.

We know that this is only a few weeks after chapter or chapter two ends.

So the barley harvest is kind of winding down and they're winnowing, they're thrifting through, if you will, the barley from the chaff, and they're separating that.

And then in chapter two, Naomi begins with his heart for Ruth.

She's seeking security for her.

She says, My daughter, should I not seek rest for you?

And then maybe well with you.

See, Naomi wasn't just looking for her own interests.

And she's not saying you need a day off.

She's saying you need a husband, but not just anyone, someone who's going to love you, who can provide for you and give you rest.

And Naomi looks to Boaz for this because remember, he is of the clan of Elimelech, right?

So there's this thing called leverett marriage in the Old Testament.

We don't have a whole lot of examples of this, but this is essentially where, as a clan, you're responsible for procuring offspring and maintaining property within the clan.

So someone dies and leaves his wife, a widow, someone else is supposed to marry that person, and then they together will have more offspring and possess, uh continue the name and protect the land.

And so this is the thing that's going on in Naomi's mind is I need to find rest for Ruth.

She's been so good to me and kind, I need to find rest for her.

And she looks to Boaz for this, who is a kinsman redeemer.

That's the title for the person who comes and redeems the widow and the property and the possessions.

So this leverett marriage system was in place by God to protect the unfortunate, the widow.

And here Naomi's appealing to this.

She's appealing to the law for God's provision.

She's saying, Man, I don't want to just kind of come in here and just be at the mercy of everyone, but rather, our creator God, the God of Isaac and Jacob, has instituted a means for those who are widows to be protected.

And so this is her plan.

She begins to lay out this plan to Ruth.

Now, the instructions that Naomi gives seem very much out of place.

Go to the field.

Find this guy that you want to marry, uncover his feet, lay down on his feet, and see what happens.

Now, here at Proclamation Church, we're big fans of marriage.

I just want to tell you, big proponents, big fans of marriage.

We think it's a wonderful thing.

We are big fans of people falling in love.

We love that stuff.

It's great.

But, ladies, if you're trying to find a husband, I just want to tell you, this is not the means.

This is not what we call prescriptive scripture.

This isn't telling you what to do, this is just telling you where the story went, right?

So just be clear, this isn't a good plan to follow, which is pretty evident.

This is bizarre.

Go out, uncover the guy's feet, and see what happens.

Now, a couple of the um people have some commentary on this, as you can imagine, and have take some different positions.

Some people read this and think this is much more um sensual than this.

That rather the words that they're using is to uncover much more than just his feet, but it could be his legs, which that same word is used several times in the Old Testament to mean legs, or it could mean even other parts that are more revealing, which that word has been used for that a couple times as well.

But I have, I think, good reason to believe that when Naomi said to Ruth, go uncover his feet, she meant his feet.

Now I do believe Naomi is being aggressive in her plan to find a suitor, so to speak, for Ruth, but she's not being reckless.

See, everything that's gonna happen from here on out for Naomi.

Because guess what?

Naomi's the first one to be redeemed.

Right?

She's entitled to marriage before Ruth is.

She's a widow.

Her husband is older, he's of the clan of Elimelech.

So she technically should be redeemed before Ruth should.

But she's not putting herself out there saying, listen, Ruth, sorry, sweetie, wait your turn.

I'm first.

No.

She says, I'm older, I'm past.

We know from the earlier text, she's past childbearing years.

And so she's staking her own security, her name, the land that's part of her family, all these things, to this plan for Ruth.

And so it would be reckless for Naomi, whose whole future and livelihood and survival is just kind of hashed out of this plan to go expose this guy and say, hey, I'm here, have me if you want me, let's get married.

That's not what Naomi's doing.

But she's being very sacrificial by kind of putting all of her chips in on this plan for Ruth.

But what she knows about Ruth is she knows that Ruth is loyal and that she's held her, she's kept her commitment.

And so the love that Naomi shows Ruth is this selfless love.

And so she begins this plan.

Now we know that Naomi as a person isn't flawless, right?

We see this in the other two chapters where she's kind of complaining to God about the circumstances and all these things, but I don't think that she is kind of conniving and just kind of trying to weasel her way into a situation either.

I believe that she's trying to come up with a way for her to approach Boaz in a discreet, non-public setting where he can then respond appropriately.

And so she puts this plan together.

The other reason I think that this was just a very simple, modest uncovering the feet, there wasn't more to this than that, is that Ruth, as we'll see, has a reputation among the village, among the community, for being an honorable woman, a worthy woman.

And so to put in a plan that's so risky, that would reject, that would, that would force her reputation to be destroyed, seems so unlikely when she has a reputation for being a worthy woman.

The third thing is that Boaz had a very, very good reputation of being a worthy man, a man of honor.

And he could have taken advantage of Ruth.

And there's a lot of other things that he could have taken advantage during this time as well, but he did not.

See, this harvest time in this culture, and especially in the pagan cultures around, especially Moab, where Ruth was from, it was very common to have lots of sexual immorality around harvest time.

It had to do with cult worship and the fact that this is the time of the judges when people just did whatever they wanted.

But the fact that Boaz, one, was by himself as commending his reputation and his honor, but he is known to be a man of honor.

So why would Naomi risk such a ploy if she knew that Boaz was such a man of integrity?

So I think, again, the plan was to for Naomi to make a simple declaration of her desire, for Ruth to make a declaration of her desire to Boaz, without the risk of Boaz having to be in a public setting or situation.

So again, Naomi is showing her selfless, selfless love toward Ruth.

She's looking to her interests.

If you are a Christian, sorry, if you're not a Christian, in your estimation, okay, what does selfless love look like and where does it come from?

And just think about it.

If you don't have the Christian worldview and you're familiar with this idea of selfless love, it means there's nothing of you is in there, it's for the other person, but where does it come from?

It doesn't come from the God of the Bible.

Where does the selfless come from love come from?

Now, if you are a Christian and you're seeking to show selfless love to others, how's that going for you?

Have you been doing that or seeking opportunities to show love?

Now, I I will say with all of us, we're fallen.

We have sin in our hearts.

So none of us are fully selfless in our love.

Right?

Only God can do that.

But he's working that kind of love into us.

And so the question I just want you to think for a moment, how are you doing at showing this kind of love to others?

Are you really good at showing this love to others who maybe you'll see once?

You know, I grew up in through my younger years and my young adult years doing short-term mission trips.

And I found it just, it was the easiest thing in the world to get on a plane, fly to another place on the planet, and see all these people and just show them kind of love and hold them and talk to them and share the good news of Jesus with them and do all these things.

But then you come back home and you're like with your family, and it's so hard to show love.

It's so hard to show love to people that you work with that you don't like.

It's so much more difficult.

How are you doing and showing this kind of love?

In Luke chapter 7, verse 47, it says, Therefore I tell you, her sins which are many are forgiven.

Luke 7:47

For she loved much.

But he who forgives little loves little.

He who forgives little loves little.

And you think about your own heart?

Are you struggling with your affections for the Lord?

Not a whole lot of love for the things of God or love for people around you?

Is it?

Could it be that you are forgiving little?

And you're still clinging on to these things that someone has done to you or you think they've done to you?

Or how you think life should have happened, and you're you're just not forgiving, you're holding on to these things, and it's killing your love.

It's killing your love for God, first and foremost, and it's killing your love for others.

You find this in any relationship.

When there's a relationship dynamic where someone is not forgiving, they're not showing forgiveness, that relationship will die.

Now they might still, whatever the dynamic friends or co-workers or married couple or siblings, they might still have to function around each other to get things done.

But with no love, the relationship dies.

So we must be quick to forgive, so that there might be love, so that we might then show selfless love to others.

And this is what Naomi showed to Ruth.

And then we see Ruth stepping out with this trusting love.

A love that trusts.

This is what Ruth said, and she replied, All that you say, I will do.

So she went to the threshing floor, she did everything, she uncovered Boaz's feet.

He wakes up, he said, Who are you?

And she answered, I am Ruth, your servant.

Spread your wings over your servant, for you are a redeemer.

Ruth reply, her reply to Naomi, I will obey.

I will trust you.

Isn't that the same thing we heard her say when she lost her husband and they were gonna move back?

And she says, I will cling to you, Naomi.

Where you go, I'll go.

I'll worship your God with you.

Where you die, I'll be buried.

And she's now just living that out.

She made the vow.

We're singing here, keep her here, keep the vow.

I will obey, I'll trust you.

I will do as you say.

Now, Ruth, I'm sure, was not as well known on the Leverett law, the Levitical system of marriage and all these things, but she trusted Naomi's wisdom and kindness.

And this happens.

You're in a desperate situation.

Things are, you know, life has changed a lot.

Your father-in-law's died, your brother-in-law's died, your husband's dead, you've left your land now to come to a foreign land for Ruth, a foreign land.

You're trusting your mother-in-law.

She does this.

She's trusting Naomi's love for her.

She's trusting that whatever Naomi has her do, it's going to be for her good.

It might not make sense to her, she might not understand it, but it's going to be for her good.

And so what does Na what does Ruth do?

She obeys.

She does this.

And in this interaction, when Boaz says, Who are you?

Ruth replies, put um, sorry, spread your wings over your servant, for you are a redeemer.

See, Ruth, when she came from Moab back to Bethlehem, or to Bethlehem for her, she was putting herself under the wings of Yahweh, the God of Judah, the king of Judah.

Now she seeks also to put herself under the wings of Boaz.

And we remember talking about that passage, and then there's that reference in Matthew where Jesus is speaking to Jerusalem, and he says, Oh, how I longed to gather you up as a hen gathers her chicks and spread my wings over you, but you would not repent, you would not turn from your sin.

And here, Ruth in her humility, comes to a foreign land, trusting God.

Comes, works in a field, trusting God.

And now, here in this situation at night at the threshing floor, and she says, in a sense, I'm trusting God by saying to Boaz, spread your wings over your servant, for you are a redeemer.

See, Naomi took the initiative, and here Ruth is keeps taking the initiative, even when things seem blurry or unclear.

I don't know about you, but for me, I often want like a kind of a 12-step ahead perspective.

I'm fine with God's plan.

I'm in love with it.

I think it's great.

I just want to see it.

If I can just see it, that's great.

It's cool.

I know it's better than anything else.

I just want to see what the next 12 steps are.

But God is often calling us to just take the next step.

See, Ruth trusted God and she trusted Naomi to take the next step.

Naomi didn't say, hey, you're gonna go do this, you're gonna cover his feet.

He'll wake up, here's what he's gonna say, here's what you're gonna say, and by morning you'll be married.

She didn't say that.

She just said, go do this.

Naomi, Ruth doesn't know how it's gonna turn out.

She had to trust.

And this is what happened.

She's trusting the Lord.

Step at a time, one step at a time.

And think about our own life and how quickly we shy away from taking steps of obedience to God.

And this happens in two different ways.

One, there's this clear commands in scripture love your neighbors.

Do good to those who don't do good to you.

Show kindness.

Be quick to forgive.

Those are just very clear steps that we as followers of Jesus Christ are supposed to be taking.

Repent of our sin.

Gather with the church, honor one another, be encouraging to one another to take these clear steps.

And I just want to say if you're not taking those steps, if you're not taking the clear, just laid-out steps in scripture that God has given his church to do these things, if you're not being clear and just obeying those, then odds are you're not hearing or obeying any kind of other steps that God might be calling you to.

Case in point, going back to the kind of context here about marriage, if you're looking for someone to marry, you're thinking, man, I'm just trying to follow God's will for my life, who am I supposed to marry?

I'm just trying to take the next step.

But if you're not obeying what he's commanded, clearly commanded you in his word, then why do you think you're gonna be have success in following the other steps he has for your life?

Does it make sense?

If God has revealed, well, do these things.

And as you're doing these things, I'll I'll show you.

I'll show you who you're supposed to marry, I'll show you where you're gonna work, I'll show you kind of what's next for you.

Those things will come.

But do this first.

And if you get those out of order and you're trying to do one before you're trying to just do your thing before you're doing God's thing, then your thing is just gonna rob your affection and your joy for the things of God.

And then you might become bitter.

God, what's going on?

Why didn't you do this?

Why didn't you fulfill this promise?

Why aren't you doing these things?

It's because you're not following the steps that God has laid out for his people.

So here, Ruth is just taking a step at a time.

And just, I want you to think, church, for a moment.

What is it that's before you that you're like, I'm pretty sure God's telling me to do this thing, but you're not doing it.

Either you're not doing it because you're fearful, you're not doing it because you're comfortable and you don't want to change that, or you're not doing it because you don't trust him.

You know he's calling to you, but you just don't trust him.

And I just want to say to those who might who might be here who aren't Christians who's guiding your steps at all?

Is it you?

Is it really you though?

Or is it the world?

Is it society?

Is it the culture?

Is it social media and your social circle who's telling you what steps you should take, and therefore you're just taking those steps.

But who's instructing you on how to walk?

Ruth took initiative.

She had this trusting love in God, and this trusting love in Naomi.

So she took initiative, she took steps, she took action.

And then we see Boaz respond with an honorable love, a love that honors.

And he begins in verse 10.

May you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter.

You have made this last kindness greater than the first, in that you have gone after you have not gone after young men, whether poor or rich.

And now, my daughter, do not fear.

I will do for you all that you ask from me, for all my fellow townsmen know that you are a worthy woman.

And now it is true that I am a redeemer, yet there is a redeemer nearer than I.

Remain tonight, and in the morning, if he will redeem you, good.

Let him do so, let him do it.

But if he is not willing to redeem you, then you then as the Lord lives, I will redeem you.

Lie down till the morning.

So she laid at his feet until the morning, but arose before one could rec anyone could recognize her, and he said, Let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing.

Floor.

And he said, Bring the garment you are wearing and he hold it out.

And so she held it out, and he measured out six measures of barley and put it on her.

Then he went out.

Then she went into the city.

So this is this response of Boaz is really remarkable.

And you know, sometimes you meet people in your life, and you're just like, are they really that like good of a person?

You know, I'm like, can they really be that quality of a guy?

Are they really that great?

And then just as you go through, you're like, man, they are.

This is like the story of Boaz.

I mean, he's right at the beginning of the book, a man of a worthy man, a man of valor.

We're introduced to Boaz.

And he just keeps proving himself again and again.

He begins with a blessing.

Bless may ye be blessed by the Lord, my daughter.

You have made this last kindness greater than the first.

He's saying, you could have anyone, you could have gone to the rich or the poor, but you could have gone for a younger man, but you haven't done that.

And he says, Do not fear.

For all I will do all that you ask.

For all my fellow townsmen know that you are a worthy woman.

So he's showing her even love and kindness by clarifying.

You've done this thing.

You've come to me at night, you've uncovered my feet.

We're now having this conversation in the relative darkness alone.

But everyone knows that you are a woman of integrity, a woman of honor, and I will do everything I can.

But he doesn't say, hey, I'll marry you.

Let's do it this morning.

Let's do it today.

Let's do it tomorrow.

He says, Yes, I am a redeemer, but there is one nearer to me.

And even in this, Boaz is not looking after his own interests.

Like here, an older guy, he's rich, he's got honor, he's got people's approval, he's got land.

He can really use a wife.

On top of that, maybe a younger, more attractive wife.

That's not what he does, is he?

He says, Yes, I give him a redeemer, but there is one actually ahead of me in line for this thing.

And let him decide.

If he will redeem you, good.

Praise God that the way that God has structured for his people to be provided for in his covenant is working.

Praise God for that.

But if he doesn't, I will surely redeem you.

And then he gives this promise.

It will be taken care of.

Like I'm going to take care of it today.

And then he also looks after her own honor as well.

He says, stay here where you're safe.

Stay here where people won't see you, and then I will give you grain in the morning and you will be on your way.

You'll have more food.

See, the harvest is coming to an end.

It's done now.

And even for Ruth and Naomi, there's just a really pressing question of what are we going to eat?

Like, how are we going to survive?

And Boaz was aware of that, and so he gives more food to them.

And this just affirms his integrity and his character as well.

But he was not reckless.

He didn't just kind of do whatever he wanted.

He showed great and honorable love by the way that he handles this interaction.

It's interesting how he made a promise that he knew he could keep.

He said, We'll take care of this.

If someone else doesn't stand in and provide for you and take care of you, I will.

And Jesus also, Jesus Christ also, he does not make promises that he cannot keep.

His promises come is to come and give us rest, to give us life and joy.

He comes to those who are weary, those who are downtrodden, those who are hurt, those in need of a savior.

And he says, I can save you.

I can give you rest.

I can show you mercy and kindness.

He only can make those promises because he's God.

He can only deliver on those things because he's God and He's good and He loves us.

Never to forsake us.

He is so good.

See, even the relief that Boaz offered, Ruth and Naomi, even this relief and help, it was still temporary.

It was still conditional.

It wasn't for, it wasn't going to answer all their problems or solve everything that they had.

It was for a time and for a space.

But what Christ does when he comes for us and says, listen, I am God, the creator God.

I will redeem my people and I will give them a new life.

What he's saying is, yes, you're still gonna have some difficulty and struggle on the earth, but ultimately, eventually, you will spend eternity with me, with the one who created you, the one you're created to be with, and it will be good, and all will be wiped away, and we will feast together.

And for eternity, you'll never be bored, you'll never be discontent, you'll never be sad, you're never going to have a broken heart.

All that is over.

For good.

Because Christ has come and he's made a promise to love his people, and he will not fall short.

He never falls short.

So often at this time, Christmas time, and we hear a similar theme about Christ's coming, the first advent, his first coming, and that he's coming again.

And these are wonderful things, but we just we can become numb to them.

We can become callous.

Not that we want to be callous, we just we hear it year after year all the time.

And so we must pray.

We must remember the magnitude that Christ has come for us.

And there's a small, tiny glimpse that we see in the rest of chapter three of the response for Naomi and Ruth.

Their lives are changed.

All their fears, all their concerns have been answered.

They will be taken care of.

There's someone who's going to take care of them and provide for them and show them love and give them a home.

It's done.

Now imagine if we can just get a glimpse of the condition we're in without Christ, in need of a savior, dead in our sin, homeless, bound for hell, hopeless.

And then Christ comes and He does this thing for us by redeeming us, taking us from death, and giving us life, atoning for our sin, and saying, You're now going to be adopted into my family.

You're not just a servant, you're not just a friend, you're in the family now.

The magnitude, the weight of that.

So I just encourage you, brother, sister, this afternoon, as you're as you're going about whatever you have today, think about that.

Pray that God would press that on your heart, that you would be reminded his goodness, that you would get a glimpse of his mercy.

Because our hearts are often so callous and stale.

So Naomi, Ruth comes back to Naomi in verse 16.

And when she came to her mother-in-law, she said, How did you fare, my daughter?

Then she told her all that the man had done for her, saying, These six measures of barley he gave to me, for he said, You must not go back home, back empty-handed to your mother-in-law.

She replied, Wait, my daughter, until you learn how the matter turns out, for the man will not rest, but will settle the matter today.

Isn't it awesome just that the matter-of-factness of what Naomi's saying?

It's going to be disettled.

We will not spend another night wondering.

This will be taken care of.

We will be redeemed.

So Boaz kind of shows his kindness by providing food and shows his intent by providing an abundance of food.

We're not really sure how much these six measures are, but people estimate it's got to be at least 50 pounds worth of food.

Which in this culture was a wealth of food.

And just giving it away, showing his kindness to them.

Boaz's kindness is shown, and Naomi's confidence is shown.

Naomi was confident that Boaz would deliver, that he would keep his word.

And he had a pattern for doing this.

That he would not rest until the matter is settled.

We're going to read, Lord willing, next week in chapter 4, how everything gets settled.

But as we just close, I want you to just remember the intentionality that's going on for each one of these people.

Naomi's intentionality is show selfless love.

By not counting herself, but putting out Ruth as the one to be redeemed.

Ruth showing her kindness, her taking the initiative and showing love by trusting Naomi.

And by trusting Boaz and trusting God.

And then Boaz showing this honorable love by taking the initiative to protect Ruth and to become her redeemer or provide a redeemer for her.

This honorable love that they show.

So this love and this taking initiative.

Naomi and Ruth and Boaz.

You can't just help but wonder for you, brother or sister, where are you at with this love and this taking the initiative?

Love never just sits.

There's always action.

Always behavior that follows.

If you love someone, there's action that's going to follow that.

If you claim to love Christ, there's action that's going to follow with that.

So in your own life, this action, this love.

Is any of that moving around in you?

Or do you feel like you're just kind of stagnant?

You're stale.

You're kind of circling the wagons, so to speak.

Hoping maybe in the spring my love for the Lord and the Bible will increase.

Maybe next year, the sin that I'm kind of secretly holding on to will kind of be done with that.

I'll move on and then I'll be more serious.

Maybe the things that I'm kind of holding on to, the fears that I have, I'll just, I'll stop clinging to those next summer, or when I get that new job, or when I finally get married, or when things kind of turn out better.

God has shown you great love.

I mean that He has taken the initiative to come for you.

He's died on the cross for you.

He's then lovingly called you into obedience, where he says, I will give you what you need to obey.

The strength, the power to overcome sin.

I'll provide that for you.

Walk, take the initiative.

Are you doing that?

Or are you holding on to other things?

And again, those who aren't Christians, the same question.

What are you clinging to?

What are you holding on to?

What kind of love are you able to show, or are you showing, or do you think you're showing?

See, God has come for us.

He's taken the initiative, he's shown us kindness.

Now we respond by confessing our sin and putting our hope and our trust in Him.

And we then begin to enjoy Him forever.

Church, let's pray.