Ruth 2 "Mercy Given and Mercy Received"

Well, church, before we jump into chapter two, which I think is about mercy and God's providence in the midst of this story, I want to go back and just recap chapter one as we continue through this narrative of the story of Ruth.

If you're not familiar with the story of Ruth, it begins in a very dark time, in a very dark place during the time of the judges, which is a wicked time in Israel's history.

And Ruth is a story of her mother-in-law, Naomi, is from Bethlehem.

She leaves Bethlehem in the midst of a famine, this land of bread, as Bethlehem means, and they go to Moab, a foreign nation, and they live there.

And Naomi's husband dies, and then her sons get married to two Moabite women, and then their husbands die, and uh one of the daughters, daughter-in-laws leaves, and there is Ruth, who is a Moabite, who's now a widow, who clings to Naomi and makes this commitment to Naomi, this vow that wherever she goes, wherever Naomi goes, Ruth will go, and and wherever Naomi dies, that's why Ruth will die, and whoever Naomi serves and worships, that's who Ruth will serve and worship.

She makes this vow to her after all this devastating loss, a devastated family, a devastated land.

And then Naomi begins to hear that the famine that has been going on for years in Bethlehem has ended, and the crops are growing, and so she returns.

And when she returns, they they say, Isn't that Naomi?

Like they don't even recognize her almost, and they're like, Yeah, that's her.

She left many years ago, and her husband is dead, and her her sons are have died, and she has now a foreign Moabite daughter-in-law.

So it's this darkness.

But in the midst of all that darkness, we do see great hope in chapter one.

Hope that God is sovereign over all things, that he is guiding Naomi, providing for Naomi.

One, through her, through Ruth.

A daughter-in-law who is not from that land, but who is kind of vowing to serve her, to follow her, and to serve her God and be with her.

God even brings hope in that.

He brings, he ends the famine and brings food back to Bethlehem so that Naomi can return to Bethlehem.

And when she comes back, she tells people, don't call me Naomi anymore, because that means pleasant, because my life is not pleasant.

Call me Marah, which is bitterness.

And so we have this kind of tension, this opposing picture of God's hope because we know how the story goes, but in the midst of that, Naomi and Ruth don't know how the story goes as of yet, but there is still hope because God is working out the provision for them.

So in chapter two, we see mercy being given generously and received humbly, given generously by Boaz, and we'll get to hear who he is, and received humbly by Ruth.

And in the midst of that, we see God's providence at work.

Now, this chapter two, this passage, I feel like it was a struggle to fit it into just like two or three points.

But the main thing this passage teaches us is about providence and mercy.

God is merciful, he is merciful through people, and he's working his providence for the good of his people.

We'll see how Boaz is merciful.

We'll see again how Ruth receives that mercy.

And God is providentially over these things.

God is active in his care for his people, in his provision for his people.

So when I say God's provision, or when I say his providence, that's what I'm speaking to.

He's active in his care, in his provision for his people.

So this chapter two is kind of a narrative, it's a story.

It's gonna go back and forth between what Boaz's, his interactions, and then what Ruth says, and and uh we're just gonna you're gonna see this thing kind of beginning to develop.

We we've read through the text already, and hopefully you get a good grasp of that.

But as I was reading, um, it was interesting how it began to kind of feel similar to a phenomenon in our culture, like we have these um movies that are really popular around Christmas time, Hallmark movies.

I don't know if you've ever heard of these.

And it not all Hallmark movies are Hallmark movies, but it's kind of a label we give for movies where you know you sit down and like it's a race.

Within the first five minutes, who can just nail the whole plot and everything?

What's gonna happen, right?

And you it's pretty accurate, right?

So, you know, this guy's the good guy, this is the bad guy, this is the woman, you know, all these things.

And then you go watch the movie, which you know we all watch and you see how they fall in love and this stuff.

But you you see this in chapter two, where it just kind of begins, and you're like, ah, I can I can see this, I can see this working out.

I can see what's gonna what's gonna take place here and how this unfolds.

And with that, there's kind of an excitement.

Because here for Ruth, she and for Naomi, they've had so much loss and devastation and disappointment, and they come back to this land to for Ruth, a foreign land, and you're like, you know, this the Lord might just bring hope and joy and provision for them.

God is merciful.

Now, as we work through this, it's good to remember, keep this in mind, that Ruth brought nothing to the situation.

She brings nothing to the table.

She's a foreign woman.

She's a Moabite at that, which is kind of despised among the people of Israel.

She brings nothing to the table.

And Boaz has no requirement to take care of her.

We're gonna kind of learn at the end of this chapter, in the the weeks ahead and the chapters to come, Lord willing, how he does step in and provide, but but he's not under an obligation at this point to provide for her.

She brings nothing, but only a need for mercy, and he offers mercy through through grain, the gleaning of grain, through safety, through water and provision for the days ahead.

So let's get the this is the backstory, this is the setting.

We pick it up in verse one.

And this is kind of a just a character development right here.

Now, Naomi had a relative of her husbands, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz.

I'm gonna stop right there and explain a couple things if you're not familiar with this.

That one, Boaz was a worthy man, a man of honor, one of the men of valor.

Now, that could mean that he was just a warrior, or it could mean he was just really wealthy.

But as we kind of see, it would seem to be that he was probably both.

He seems to be wealthy, landowner.

He's giving direction and orders to people.

He has whatever he's saying to people, they get it done.

So he's a man of great honor and a worthy man.

And remember, this is all happening in the time of Judges, when everyone was doing what's right in their own eyes.

So a worthy man wasn't really popular.

There weren't that many of these guys around.

He's a man, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech.

Now, what's that mean?

Well, it means he's of the same clan as Naomi's husband, who died.

And some some context here, the way that the culture was set for the for um Israel, you had your family, like your like household, the husband, wife, and children, and then you had your clan, right?

Kind of like your clan, and then you had your tribe, right?

So there's the 12 tribes, and then there were clans in the tribes, and then there were families.

But your clan was like your your kind of your safety net.

This was your your people, this is your social security, if you will, this was your protection.

Uh, this is how it worked.

Your clan was going to take care of you.

This was your retirement.

This is how you got through life by the clan band together and serving one another and putting each other's needs first.

So here is a worthy man, same clan as Naomi.

And then verse 2 says, 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 find favor.

And she said to her daughter, Go, my daughter.

Now there's a law that God gave his people back in Leviticus, when he was brought them into the land, he said, This is how you're to live.

And one of those laws provided for the for the sojourner, the foreigner, and the widow to glean the fields.

And there's several passages that teach this, but I'm going to read the one out of Leviticus 19, verse 9 and 10.

Leviticus 19:9

Which says, When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge.

Neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest.

And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard.

You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner.

I am the Lord your God.

So he gives this practical command, instruction to his people, and then he concludes that with, Do this because I am the Lord your God.

Not, it's good to be charitable.

You're gonna feel better when you're kind to people.

He's saying, if I give something to you, it's a gift from me, and make sure that you use that to bless others, especially those who are poor and those who are foreigners, sojourners, traveling through the land.

So here was a command in Leviticus that I'm gonna say most of the people during the season of Judges are not following.

They couldn't care less.

But here, Boaz was observing this.

And other people potentially in that clan were observing this.

So then Naomi goes out to glean.

Verse 3, 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.

Now it's just interesting.

It's just like the language, like it just so happened.

Kind of like, as luck would have it, she ended up in Boaz's field.

Not only does she know who Boaz is, not at this point.

She doesn't.

Verse 1 introduced him to us, but Ruth has no idea who Boaz is.

She's just gleaning in someone's field.

But God, in his providence, in his sovereignty, is taking care of Ruth and Naomi.

He's providing for them.

And so many times in our life, if you look back and you're a Christian, and some people say, well, it's just as luck would have it, I ended up here and I met this person, I married this person, and these things would happen.

The Lord has blessed.

As Christians, we know it doesn't work that way.

There is no, like, as luck would have it.

God is working out his plan for our good.

Proverbs chapter 19, verse 21 says, Many are the plans in the mind of man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.

Proverbs 19:21

Then a very well-known passage out of Romans 8, verse 28.

Romans 8:28

And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good.

For those who are called according to his purpose.

See, God isn't just kind of absent.

And like I hope that that works out for Ruth.

I hope that Naomi they kind of figure things out.

Tough, tough luck.

Darn it.

No, he's active, he's engaged, he's intentional with them.

And so that's kind of the setting, if you will, that the rest of the chapter takes place in.

They're back in the land of Bethlehem.

Ruth is going out to glean because this is the only means that they have for food at this moment, this time.

It's also providential that they came back during the barley harvest, which was around April and May.

They came back at this time where there was a harvest.

God's provision.

So we kind of have a scene, this opening scene in verse 4.

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

And they answered, The Lord bless you.

Then Boaz said to his young men who are in charge of the reapers, Whose young woman is this?

It's amazing.

Boaz, this is how he's greeting his workers.

This is how he's greeting the people under him, those who are just his servants.

He's not saying, get to work, or let me see your timesheet, or how much have you harvested?

He's saying, the Lord be with you.

He's immediately pointing those under his care to the creator God.

He's not saying, we gotta, you know, the sun's shining, we've got to make hay while the sun's shining.

Let's get to work.

Although those are good things, you gotta work.

But he's saying, the Lord be with you.

There is an importance, a primacy, primacy to his interactions with his workers.

The Lord be with you.

And they reply, The Lord bless you.

And it is evident that the Lord has been blessing Boaz.

This is a man of faith, which is again unusual.

He's bold with his faith.

You know, he's not just kind of him hawing around and like, well, I don't want to tell my employees this because they might file a lawsuit or, you know, whatever.

He's just saying, like, the Lord bless you.

The Lord bless you, the Lord be with you.

It's just so refreshing.

And then he takes notice of Ruth.

Now, she seems to be a young woman gleaning in the field.

I don't know if she was an extremely attractive woman or not, but he's noticing her.

And as we'll find out later, he's already heard about her.

And this is what the young worker says to him.

He says, And the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered, She is 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.

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

Now you'll see in this passage that the term Moabite woman is used a lot.

And it's not, I don't think, a derogatory, used in a derogatory way, rather it's just making it very clear who Ruth is.

She's a foreigner, a sojourner.

And this makes Boaz's have mercy on her.

And it makes his mercy all the more significant.

He's showing great mercy to a Moabite woman.

And Ruth is a hard worker, obviously.

She's diligent in her work.

She came to glean a field.

She didn't come here to kind of just hoping to get a handout from someone or to get a husband.

She was just here to put her head down and get to work to survive, to stay alive.

So that's how that kind of opening scene happens.

And then we see Boaz begins to interact in verse 8.

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.

I have I not commanded or charged the young men not to touch you?

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

It's a remarkable Boaz goes and talks to her.

Now we can unpack all these cultural dynamics and constructs and all these things that are going on, but the fact that Boaz notices her and then goes to speak to her is a massive statement.

He's taking time to go address a woman, a foreign woman, and she's not even working for him.

Again, he has no obligation to take care of her, to offer her water or protection or any of these things, but he goes to her and he calls her my daughter.

Now that's a that's a language symbolizing you're a part of this clan of Elimelech.

Now we we from what we gather from the text, there was an age gap between Ruth and Boaz.

But Boaz is speaking in a providential way, in a provisional way, that I'm gonna provide for you.

You're of the clan.

Yes, you might be a Moabite woman, a foreigner, but you have made these vows and these commitments, and we're gonna provide for you.

He's addressing her.

And his instructions are all for her good.

Not to benefit himself.

He's not, this isn't a manipulative gesture.

Well, like I'll treat her really nice, and then maybe she'll fall in love with me, and then we'll like be happily ever after, that kind of thing.

He genuinely, genuinely cares for her well-being.

And he respects and he wants her to be safe and to be taken care of.

He shows her great mercy.

Now we know he was commanded to let people glean the field, but he obviously goes beyond that.

He's being very generous and compassionate toward Ruth.

And how does she respond?

Look at verse 10.

Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, Why have I found mercy in your eyes that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?

She's humble.

She gets what's going on.

She does not deserve this kindness.

She's perplexed by this.

How is it that you have noticed me?

How do you even see me?

I'm just a foreigner working, gleaning the fields.

Look what verse 11 says.

But Boaz Boaz answered her, All that you have done from your mother for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me.

And how you left your father and your mother in your native land and came to a people that you did not know before.

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.

What a shock for Ruth, right?

She arrives in this foreign land.

She has nothing.

They don't have any food, they have no provision.

It's been just tragedy after heartbreak after tragedy.

And she seems to come, she comes to what seems to be a random field, just some field.

She's going through, then she ends up in another field, which happens to be Boaz's field.

She has no idea who he is, and she's just working.

And then the owner of the field, who's a worthy man, a valiant man, a man of valor, comes and starts talking to her.

And he's saying, Listen, you're gonna be taken care of.

You need water, it's over here, stay close to these ladies, they'll protect you, no one's gonna harm you.

And he's just like, she's like, Who?

How do you even know who I am?

And then he proceeds to say, No, I know everything about you.

I know how you serve Naomi faithfully.

After your husband died, how you made a commitment to be with her and to serve and follow the God of Israel.

And I know these things, how you sought refuge under the God of Israel, under his wings.

Just the shock that must be for Ruth to hear these things.

She didn't know this, she didn't know whose field.

She didn't even know when she made all these commitments to nail me how God was going to provide for her.

But yet He provided for her.

God is merciful to His people, He's so kind to Him, to them.

And then Boaz pronounced a blessing on Ruth.

This blessing we see again in verse 12.

The Lord pay 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.

This idea, this picture of seeking refuge under the wings of the Lord, is something that we've seen throughout several passages in the scripture.

Psalm 36, verse 7.

Psalms 36:7

How precious is your steadfast love, O God.

The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

Psalm 57, 1.

Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge.

In the shadow of your wings I will take refuge.

And then Jesus speaking to Israel in Matthew 23, verse 37.

Matthew 23:37

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it.

How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing.

The Lord longs to gather, he delights to gather his people under his providence and his protection.

This is what he does for his people.

And so Boaz acknowledges this and he sees this with, he says, Listen, you have sought refuge in the Lord, the Lord is going to take care of you.

Verse 13, Ruth says, I have found favor, I have found favor in your eyes, my Lord, for you have comforted me and spoke kindly to your servant, though I am not your servant.

And Ruth's response, she's acknowledging, I am not your servant, but you're treating me as a servant, like a servant.

Servants.

I found favor.

You've comforted me.

You've spoken kindly to me.

Even in the interactions in chapter one, where Ruth is clinging to Naomi, there isn't much kindness in Ruth's life.

There isn't much speaking kindly and softly and encouragingly to Ruth.

She loses her husband.

She loses her father-in-law, her brother-in-law, all these things, her sister-in-law, and now she's clinging to her mother-in-law, who's saying, don't call me Naomi, call me bitter, call me Mara.

Life's bitter for me.

And she's going out and working all day in this field to survive.

And Boaz speaks kindly to her, brings comfort to her.

What a blessing when people bring comfort.

When people speak kindly to one another, words of encouragement and affirmation in life.

So Ruth keeps working and then kind of come to a new scene, if you will, in verse 14, at the mealtime.

Boas said to her, Come and here and eat some bread and dip your morsel in the wine.

So she sat beside the reapers and he passed her the roasted grain.

And she ate until she was satisfied and she had some left over.

Just pause there for a moment.

Again, remember the dynamic.

Who is serving whom here?

Here, Boaz is serving Ruth.

He's inviting her to the mealtime.

He's providing for her roasted grain and wine to dip that in and all these things.

He's serving her.

The rich landowner to the foreign widow woman.

And she has so much, she's satisfied.

And she has some left over.

Mercy and abundance.

And when she rose to glean, verse 15, Boaz instructed his young men, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her.

And also pull her out some from the bundles for her and leave it for her to glean, and do not rebuke her.

There's this escalation of mercy.

This escalation of kindness and compassion that we see from Boaz.

First, there's just the command that everyone, that the farmers are let the people glean in the field.

They do that.

He obeys that.

And then he's acknowledging her and saying, Listen, if you need water, here's some water.

Keep close and you'll be safe.

And then after mealtime, he provides the meal.

He serves her at the meal.

And then he says to his workers, Listen, let her glean even among the sheaves, even among the parts that you haven't even harvested yet.

Let her work in there.

And pull some out and leave it for her.

This escalation of mercy.

God is providing for his people.

So she gleaned in the field until evening, then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephod of barley.

This is like five and a half gallons of barley.

This is enough barley for like two or more weeks for Naomi and Ruth.

The Lord is so kind.

So kind.

The Lord has been generous with Boaz.

Obviously, he's doing well for himself.

And here he is not hoarding that for himself, but he's showing kindness to others.

The Lord has provided for them.

And what could happen then is Ruth could have said, okay, I have enough barley for a few weeks.

We'll go, you know, do something else and figure something else out.

But that's not what happens.

So Ruth takes all of this barley and she goes home to nail me.

Nail me in her misery and her brokenness, which is understandable.

She's very broken.

Look what verse 18 says.

And she took it up and went to the city.

And her mother-in-law saw that she had gleaned what she had gleaned.

She also brought out and gave what food she had left after being satisfied, after the lunch that Boaz served.

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

I mean, just pause there.

Like, you know, like imagine this.

They're dead broke.

They have no food.

And she comes back with enough food for like two or three weeks plus.

And she's like, Where did you glean?

Like, where did you find this food?

Like, who gave this to you?

What did you do?

What happened?

Where have you worked?

Blessed be the man who took notice of you.

So she told her mother-in-law whom she had worked with.

And she said, The man's name with whom I worked today was is Boaz.

And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, May he be blessed by the Lord, whose kindness has not forsaken the living and the dead, 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 by my young men until they have finished all my harvest.

And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, It is good, my daughter, that you go out with the young women, lest in another field you be assaulted.

So Ruth kind of tells Naomi this, or Naomi, yeah, Ruth tells Naomi the whole story.

Everything that happened.

You know, she's like, I don't know, I went to this guy's field.

He said, Take more, take more, here's water, here's protection and abundance.

And then Ruth is saying, like, this is all this food, we we it's it's a blessing, and he he served me the meal.

He like served me lunch, he gave me wine to dip these things in, and they started like leaving more in the field for me.

And then Naomi Telzer who this guy is.

He's a relative of theirs, and he is one of their redeemers.

And we'll get in chapter 3 and 4 into like this whole what this means to be a redeemer for in this culture, this Israel culture.

But basically, they're of the same clan, and so there's responsibility that's going to be taken up by someone in that clan.

And there is a succession plan, if you will, for who that responsibility will fall upon.

And for those who are eligible, right, they're called a redeemer.

And so Boaz was one of those redeemers.

We'll get into that next chapter, chapter two, chapter three.

So what happens in chapter, uh, verse 23?

What's Ruth do?

She kept up to the close women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvests, and she lived with her mother-in-law.

The story begins with death and devastation.

They come back to the land because there's supposedly food, but they're not entitled to food in Bethlehem.

And so they go to glean in the fields.

And here the Lord has begun to show his kind providence to them.

Again, we know the story.

They don't.

They're walking daily, trusting the Lord.

So again, we see that Ruth brought nothing.

And Boaz was required to give nothing.

And so that's a running commentary on all these passages, and I want to just begin to seek to apply it to us.

So we see the goodness of Boaz, we see the humility of Ruth, we see mercy, we see grace.

But we begin to understand that similarly we bring nothing to our salvation.

We likewise are foreigners in this land.

God has created these things, He's placed us here.

We're traversing through it, not entitled.

We deserve none of these things.

Any good thing we have is a gift from the Lord.

Breath, it's a gift.

Blood in your veins, it's heart pumping, it's a gift.

Just to be alive.

And then you think about your salvation and what that is, what is entailed in your salvation, what's required for your salvation, and you bring nothing to that.

But in order to save us, in order for you, for your sin to be atoned for, it required everything from Jesus.

That He come, that He live a perfect life, that He live for years on the earth, be tempted in every way we are tempted, face every hardship, and then be crucified.

Nailed to a tree, died, paying the price for our sin, feeling the weight and the wrath of God the Father for our sin on him, then death.

And then resurrection, eternity at the right hand of the Father.

That's what was required for your salvation and for my salvation.

It's because of mercy and grace that Jesus Christ has shown us mercy, because he's shown us these things.

We in turn should show others mercy and grace.

We should be kind, compassionate, and merciful to others.

I want you to take your Bible and turn with me to the New Testament, to Matthew, the first gospel, turn with me to Matthew chapter 5.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

And in Matthew 5, Jesus is giving a sermon about lots of different things.

But he addresses our heart toward others.

Look with me in verse 43.

I'm gonna start reading, and I'm gonna read some into chapter 6.

You have heard that it was said, you shall love your enemies and hate your enemy.

You shall love your neighbor, excuse me, and hate your enemy.

But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.

For he makes his son rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.

For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?

Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

And if you greet your only your brothers, what more are you doing than others?

Do not even the Gentiles do the same.

You therefore must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people, in order to be seen by them, for the uh for then you will have no reward for your f from your Father who is in heaven.

Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others.

Truly I say to you, they have received their reward.

But when you give to the needy, do not let your right hand know what your do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret, and your father who sees in secret will reward you.

So this idea of of mercy and kindness and how that works out.

Jesus is calling the people.

You say that you're people of God, you say that you're righteous.

Are you showing love to your enemies?

Anyone can love those who love them back.

There's no difficulty in that.

There's not heart at all.

Are you loving those who persecute you, who speak evil of you?

Are you showing mercy?

Are you showing mercy to others around you?

To your spouse?

To your children, your neighbors, your co-workers?

People like you?

People not like you?

I know this is a rhetorical question because we're not going to go around and everyone's gonna answer the question, but genuinely, are you showing mercy to these people?

Are you showing them mercy because God has shown you mercy?

Are you being generous?

How are you at being generous with others?

Or toward others?

Are you generous from a prideful heart or a humble heart?

Are you generous with your own money?

What about your time?

Are you generous with your time?

How are you giving your time to the needs around you?

What about your comfort?

Are you generous by giving up your comfort for the needs of others?

And by just asking all these questions, just kind of lay it on you so you feel just a lot of kind of weight and critique.

But we've got to be honest with ourselves.

If we're gonna be serious about God's word and walking with God, we've got to be serious about what he tells us.

And it's so easy.

You do this, I do this, where we just we read it like, yes, amen.

I'm there, that's good.

And then we go out into our own life and we're we don't show compassion, we don't show love, we don't show mercy, we're stingy with our time, we're stingy with our comfort, with our with our money.

And what's that saying about our heart toward God, who has been so kind and generous to us?

See how you show mercy and generosity reveals what you believe about God's providence toward you.

Are you slow to give forgiveness?

That means there's some kind of you, part of you that feels like you don't have to show forgiveness.

Are you slow to show compassion to the brokenness around you?

There's something in you that feels like it's okay for you to withhold compassion.

As if you, as if compassion is in you or somehow from you.

The only way you can do these things is because God has been compassionate and merciful to you.

So you have no right.

Hear me, church, you have no right to withhold compassion and mercy.

To be stingy with what God has given you.

You have no right.

It was never yours to begin with.

It was never yours to start with.

Your time, your resources, your energy, where you live, the relationships around you, they were never yours.

They were given to you by God that you would steward them, that you would honor Him and glorify Him and bless others.

And in that there is life.

So as we think about the story of Ruth and the brokenness that's going on, and how Ruth is seeing God provide through Boaz and Boaz's kindness, Boaz's kindness to her.

It's not because he's this just a phenomenal person, it's because God has given generously to him.

God has been kind to him, so he is kind to others.

See, if you're cold to people who have wronged you, or people who are just not really your cup of tea, who disagree with you, you must be assuming that you're entitled to God's mercy and grace.

You must just be assuming that you're entitled to that.

And if ever there is a time and a season in the year to just kind of be shaken loose with that, it's it is Christmas time where we remember that Christ, who did not have to come, he did not have to come, but he came for us that we may have life, that we may have joy, that in our dying to ourselves, we would enjoy what he's given us.

We would find life.

See, the Lord has been gracious to us.

So kind.

And what a blessing.

Especially when you gather with your family and with your extended family, when you can sit around, and I know not everyone has family that are Christians, but it doesn't mean you can't start to do this with them.

They don't know where they just came from, all the good things in their life.

But scripture says if you have anything good, it's from God.

So they might not believe in God, but there's anything good in their life, and there is, because they're alive, it's from God.

And so what a blessing, church, that we can sit around with family and friends and just reminisce.

I mean, how good is God?

How good is He that we can gather as a church like this?

What a blessing! What a blessing that we have God's word, that we have commentary on God's word, that we have other brothers and sisters to encourage one another with.

What a blessing that we have food, that we are not going hungry, and that we have people who love us and care for us.

What a blessing that we don't we're not walking through life aimlessly.

We have purpose and we have meaning because God has given that to us.

What a blessing God's provision is.

What a blessing his kindness is.

And that's what we should be doing as Christians, one to another, as we see each other.

This is kind of what we see Boaz doing with his workers.

The Lord be with you.

The Lord bless you.

The Lord is at work, the Lord is in our relationships.

And so at Christmas, we celebrate God's providence and his goodness.

We celebrate that he has come for us, he's been compassionate to us.

So let us not be cold or withholding forgiveness or withholding mercy and kindness.

Let us freely give as Christ has freely given to us.

John chapter 3, verses 16 through 18 says, For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

John 3:16–18

For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

If you have been withholding mercy and kindness, church, repent of that.

Turn to Christ and enjoy his mercy and enjoy his kindness toward you.

Let's pray.