Gleaning in the Garden of God's Grace

This morning.

And if you have a Bible, I want you to open it to Ruth chapter 2.

Ruth 2 · chapter mention

Ruth chapter 2 as we continue our series, Redeeming Relationships.

Ruth 2 · chapter mention

And Ruth chapter 2.

Ruth 2 · chapter mention

What a great chapter in this book.

And I want to speak to you a message this morning called Gleaning in the Garden of God's grace.

Gleaning in the garden of God's grace.

If you missed last week, I want to just catch you up to speed.

We saw in Ruth chapter 1, in the first five verses, a 10-year devastation that happens.

Ruth 1 · chapter mention

And Ruth or Naomi and Elimelech were married, and Naomi and Elimelech left the land of Bethlehem where God's promise was because there was a famine in the land.

And Elimelech decided to uproot his family to Moab, a place known for sexual immorality and idolatry.

And we remember that Elimelech was looking to put food on the table.

He was thinking he was a provider, but he was missing on other provisions, emotional provisions, spiritual provisions.

And so he took his family to this land.

And then his sons married Moabite women, and which we saw in the Old Testament was an illegal thing to do this, and God's blessing wasn't on that.

And so his sons married these women, and then it says in one verse, you get this unemotional, uh choppy feeling where it says, and Elimelech died, Malan and Killian died, and so that leaves Naomi and her two widowed daughter-in-laws to make a choice.

And Naomi makes the choice to return back to her homeland in Bethlehem.

But as we see through, we saw the development of this companionship with Ruth.

It says, Orpah her one daughter-in-law, walked away, left, went back to her family.

But Ruth clung to Naomi.

She saw something in Naomi.

She saw Naomi's God.

She says, Wherever you go, I'll go.

Your people will be my people.

Your God's going to be my God.

And where you die, that's where I'm going to die.

And so we see that Ruth clung to her.

But as they get back into town, Naomi's people are all excited.

Naomi's back.

And Naomi says to them, Don't call me Naomi.

Call me Mara, for I'm bitter.

And she says, I left here full.

Now remember, she left a land that was in famine, but she says, I left here full with everything that I loved, and I'm coming back empty.

And Ruth is standing there beside her.

I'm coming back with nothing.

And so we get to that point, and I want you to understand, even though this morning, when you feel like you could be at the end of your road or at the end of your rope and situations and circumstances, God is still at work.

And I want to show you three things from Ruth chapter two that shows God is at work.

His circumspectful work, God's careful work, and we'll close with God's comforting work.

So jump in.

Chapter 2.

Let's dig in verses 1 through 4.

It says, There was a relative of Naomi's husband, a man of great wealth of the family of Elimelech.

His name was Boaz.

So Ruth the Moabitus said to Naomi, Please let me go to the field and glean heads of grain after him in whose sight I may find favor.

And she said to her, Go, my daughter.

Then she left 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 family of Elimelech.

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

And they answered him, The Lord bless you.

So the first thing I want you to see is God's circumspectful work.

And I want you to understand something.

I want to give you a theological concept this morning.

That God is eternal, and God works outside of time constraints.

We work within a earth time-bound constraint.

So God is using people and players within his within earth to get to his expected end.

It's like this God has seen the beginning of the story, and God has seen the end of the story because he's omniscient and all-knowing.

And God is outside of that being eternal.

He's it's like there's a DVD and we're within it.

And we're the players and actors within the DVD, but within it, even though God knows his expected end, we get a choice.

We have free will.

And so it's always going to get to his expected end.

But we get a part in that if we will.

And God can use that provisionally through the way that he works, or we can be a part of the story that really has no part at all.

And so we get a choice to play and a part to God's expected end.

So we're inside that constraint, and God works in that circumspectfully.

He's always at work.

God never rests, God doesn't take a day off, and he wants to use us, and we can be used or we cannot be used.

Remember in the book of Esther, he said, For such a time as this, maybe it's your time.

And he said to her, it may be for such a time as this, but if it's not you, it's gonna be somebody.

Because God's expected end is gonna happen.

We see in the end of the book, there is victory for those in Jesus.

Okay?

And God wants to use you.

But you can use you can choose not to be used.

Well, we pick up here through the story of Ruth, and we're seeing God's circumspectful work in letter A.

God works through people.

God wants to work through people.

Ephesians 2.10 tells us of this.

It says, For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, which God prepared in advance for us to walk in.

Okay?

It says, We're his workmanship.

God created you, and he created me to be his work.

In 2 Timothy 2.21, further, it says, we'll be a vessel for him in honor, sanctified, uh, useful for the master, prepared for every good work.

God wants to use you and me as a vessel.

I was thinking about that, and imagine, if you will, for some of the OCD people that are sitting here already thinking, why is there a pizza box in the background on the stage?

I saw some of you.

Okay.

So imagine a pizza man shows up at your door, and he gets to your door, and what he has in his hand is a big old pepperoni pizza.

But he doesn't bring it in the box.

It's just oozing down his arm, cheese coming down him, and he says, Hello, did you order a pepperoni pizza?

And you look at him, and you know what your first question would be, because you're like, you don't know where that hand's been.

Come on.

Y'all know that's some of y'all, that's the first thing you think.

I don't you say, but I ordered a pizza, but where's the box?

Where's the box for my pizza?

I ordered a product, but I thought that it would come in a package.

I ordered something, but I thought that it would come in a vessel.

And so I but I want you to see something about this box here, okay?

This box by itself, this box is you know worth 35 cents.

There's not a whole lot of value to this box by itself.

But I want you to understand, when you put the product in the package, the box gains a whole lot of value.

Y'all tracking with me?

When you allow Jesus to come into the vessel of you, that product takes on a whole lot of value.

And you don't have to, listen, you don't have to be great.

There's nothing great about this box.

You don't have to be super good looking or super talented or a lot of money or anything.

What you need to bring as a vessel is two things.

You need to be clean and you need to be empty.

If you'll be clean and empty, God will use you as his vessel because God wants to work through people.

Now look at the story here, because enter a hero.

Enter verse one, enter Boaz.

You know what Boaz meant, his name means, man?

Strong man.

Now that's a name right there.

Strong man.

Boaz was a man of wealth.

He was a man given to war.

He was a man of wherewithal.

And that means like he knew how to get things done.

He was a man's man, and when it came to getting something taken care of, Boaz was that guy.

He took care of people.

He obeyed God's law, we'll see.

He was kind of like the company pastor.

He wasn't called to be a preacher, but he was taking care of his people, and he was a shepherd to his people in his fields.

That was the kind of a man he was.

He was a strong man, a handsome man, a rich man, a spiritual man, a dependable man, a loving man.

And all the ladies said, that make a good husband.

Right?

So that was Boaz, and he's from the clan, as it would happen, of Elimelech.

Probably a cousin, possibly a younger uncle, but he is a kinsman to Elimelech.

Now I want to contrast for you.

Remember Elimelech.

Okay, a man who moved his family away from God's blessing because he thought putting food on the table was the most important thing.

Okay, putting bread on the table.

And he was missing.

Okay, there's other things as a provider.

Elimelech was that man who up and moved his family.

I was talking to the teenager this morning.

It's like going from the church's blessing, taking them to the Las Vegas strip.

Okay.

Taking them from God's blessing to a place of sexual immorality to idolatry.

Taking them from the church to the strip club because there's food over there.

He moves his family to that type of environment because there's food and he thinks he can work.

But he misses a whole lot of stuff, and that is not Boaz.

Boaz is taking care of the poor.

Boaz is taking care of his people.

He's strong, he's hardworking.

And so enter into the story a person who God wants to work through, Boaz.

Well, God works through people, but secondly, let her be there.

He also works through particulars.

Okay, I want you to go back with me to Leviticus.

I need you to see something in the law.

Leviticus chapter 19.

Leviticus 19 · chapter mention

I need you to see verses 9 through 10.

Ruth says to Naomi, I need to go out and glean from a field.

May I go out and find favor?

And so Naomi tells her to go.

I want you to see something that was set in place, God's law that was set in place.

It says this, Leviticus 19, 9 and 10.

When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest.

You shall not glean your vineyard, nor gather every grape of your vineyard, you shall leave them, listen, for the poor and the stranger, I am the Lord your God.

So we see here God's plan and law for the poor.

God's plan and law for those who had less, who had come into misfortune, was that if you had a field and you were harvesting, you needed to leave in the corners of your field some grain for those who had less.

That was God's law and plan.

It's like when I was in middle school, uh, my mom usually packed me a lunch or she would give me three dollars so I could get some lunch.

Well, one day, okay, I had this friend, and he was all the time getting food from me.

I mean, just all the time.

You know, if if there was pizza day, you know, pizza day, he had to have pizza.

Let me have a piece of that French bread pizza, you know.

Let me have some of that pretzel, Rick, let me have some of them nachos, Rick.

All the time getting some food from me.

And he always had a packed lunch, so I'd feel bad.

You know, he wasn't getting some of the special snacks, okay?

And so this one day I didn't have any lunch, and I was sitting there thinking, oh man, I didn't have any money.

And I'm like, I'm looking at Ivan, okay, it's my friend.

I'm like, Ivan had, you remember the handy snacks, they had like four or five crackers and a little thing of cheese.

I said, uh, Ivan, you know, man, could you maybe uh give me one of them crackers and some cheese?

And he looked at me from across the table and he said, Rick, this is a one-man snack.

I like, man, I've given to you so many times.

I've given you food.

I'm like, a one-man snack?

We're supposed to be friends.

Listen, this is God's system for those who had come on misfortune.

Listen, it was not a handout, it was a hand up.

There's a difference.

Okay?

They had to work.

Listen, and God's law, those who had would provide a percentage for those who didn't, but they had to come and do the gleaning.

This is a picture of God's grace.

They didn't just show up and do nothing, they had to come and work to get their food.

I was thinking about that and I found a video that shared the heartbeat of God's grace.

And I want you to see this later.

The video has a a little bit of poor quality in it, so you have to listen up to the words on the screen though, so watch this.

Yesterday I cooked dinner, like I don't really get a chance to cook a lot because I'm hard at home, but yesterday I cooked dinner.

I just wanted rolls to the people, whatever.

Everything's the boys, you know, like rolls away first.

And I live on my phone, I really don't know how to cook college.

So whatever I cook is always, you know, a lot.

So today when I really, you know, like I'm hard to do whatever.

I'm just gonna, you know, share with the house being my wife, you know.

I didn't want to, you know, throw it away.

So I begin whatever they want, you know.

I uh started making a place.

And I was able to make you have it.

Get down here, um, and then I walked up and I wanted to play on a step.

I just don't think I had them and I'm gonna share it with you.

And so the guy was like, yes, you know, yes, I would love to have a plate or whatever, so I gave the guy a plate.

Um, so then I continued to walk a little further where I saw the other people like that was sitting up under the little um gazebo, and it was this lady, that she brings children.

And as I approached her, she said that she was just praying.

Because she didn't have any money, or she didn't have anything, or nowhere to go, and she was she was asking God to feed her kids.

She was like, Lord, if I could just feed my children.

When she raised her head up, like I literally walked up on her brain, and the two little girls was tapping on their mom, it was like mama or whatever, and she looked up and I was standing there with place in my hand.

And she said she had just been praying and asking God to feed her kids, if not herself.

And when she raised up, I was standing there.

And to see the tears rolled down her face.

Like to see the tears and how grateful she was.

I was just out done.

And it's just like I was just at home, y'all.

Like, I wasn't, that didn't even cross my mind, you know, really, it was just like God put it on my heart, and he was like, you know, just you know, don't throw this food away.

And just to see this lady, like, and those kids, they were so happy.

Understand that.

Yeah.

This is God's grace, church.

The church can solve, I believe, poverty issues if we would adhere to this Old Testament principle.

You see, out of their profits, they would take a portion for those who are misfortunate, those who were poor, those who are needy.

That is grace.

And you say, Well, Pastor, why would I work hard for my money and then just give it away?

That's grace.

I want you to think about it.

How did you obtain that job?

How did you get that wealth?

Scripture says it is he that provides wealth.

How did we get to that place?

It's God's grace.

And we see that picture.

It is the gospel for us to help poor widows, the orphans.

That is the gospel.

Grace is unmerited favor, it's not something that we deserve.

So that is the picture of grace that we see happening that was set up in the Old Testament law.

It's the gospel.

But verse 4, as you continue in Ruth.

Look at what it says here.

So Ruth has gone out to do what she knew to do.

She knew that this was law, so she went out to glean because she was hungry, and she goes out biblically following God's command.

And look at, okay, remember the authorship here, as we talked last week about the style of writing.

As we come on verse uh three and four, we see another little clue to how the author thinks it says, Then she left and went and gleaned to the field after the reapers, and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz.

And then it says, Now behold Boaz.

So it says, as it happened, and as this word, as you break it down, it says, and she happened to come, or as chance would have it, or as it would so happen, wouldn't you believe it?

That there Ruth went into a field, and as chance would have it, it was Boaz's field.

And lo and behold, the next verse, the author says, and lo and behold, Boaz shows up to the field.

And so, as chance would have it, listen, when I was uh one Christmas break, I had gone to a church service, kind of got my heart right about a situation.

I came back to school, broke up in a relationship that I was in that I didn't need to be in.

And as chance would have it, the next night, I'm sitting across the table from this fine-looking girl at Steak and Shake.

I mean, she was good looking, and I'm like, man, God, you work fast.

Got my heart right, boom, and as chance would have it, I'm living biblically and looking across the table from this fine honey.

And so, as chance would have it, Ruth was following God's word, and I want you to understand, Psalms 37, 23 says this, listen, the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.

So the steps of a good woman are too, and she goes down to God's food bank because she's hungry to go to the biblical place to glean food, and as chance would have it, God starts working.

Church, too often I think that spiritually we're starving.

Spiritually, we're starving, and our steps are not ordered by the Lord.

They're in disorder.

We're impoverished, we're malnourished, but our steps are in disorder.

We say, man, I need fed, but I ain't, I can't wake up early and go to no Sunday school.

Our steps are in disorder.

We say, man, my kids, they need some, they need some godliness.

They need some, but I can't get them down to Iwana.

Oh, no, no.

Our steps are in disorder.

We say, I uh my kids are unruly, but I need, you know, I can't take them to youth group because they got practice and they got and they got schoolwork.

Even as I say that, there's people that would cringe saying, Well, what are you saying?

That uh I should send my kid to church before I should have them do their schoolwork?

Listen to me.

Where are your steps?

Because when I look at scripture, Matthew 6.33, does it say, but seek ye second the kingdom of God and his righteousness?

No, it says, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these other things will be added unto you.

Seek first his righteousness.

Seek first, say seek first.

And what will happen?

All these things will be added, and then as chance would have it, the question you have to ask, do you want your kid good at common core?

Do you want your good kid good at character?

What are your priorities?

Okay?

And then, as chance would have it, if we seek him first, as chance would have him, God will open up the door.

And you say, Well, I don't know how it happened, but God blessed my finances.

As chance would have it, my my car got a flat tire not too long ago.

And as chance would have it, there was a Christian man within a mile with a jack, as chance would have it.

As chance would have it, I needed a plumber, and God sends a plumber.

As chance would have it, you need a roof and you find a roofer.

As chance would have it, you live biblically, and God does a work.

I don't think it was ever not a part of the plan.

We live biblically.

It says the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.

Ruth lived biblically, and as it would happen, God was pulling the strings of the particulars of her life.

The question I need you to answer is do you want God pulling the strings?

Or do you want to be at the strings?

And so we see this picture of God's work in the particulars.

Jamie says this God works.

Good works is giving to the poor and the helpless.

But divine works is showing them their worth to the one who cares most for them.

Which leads us to number two, God's careful work.

I want you to see that God works carefully.

Look at verses 5 through 10.

I'm going to read this.

Then Boaz said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, Whose young man is, or whose young woman is this?

So the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered and said, It is the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab.

And she said, Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.

So she came and has continued from morning until now, though she rested just a little.

Then Boaz said to Ruth, You will listen, my daughter, will you not?

Do not go to glean in any other field, nor go from here, but stay close by my young women.

Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them.

Have I not commanded the young man not to touch you?

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

So she fell on her face, bowed down to the ground, said to him, Why have I found favor in your eyes?

So I want you to see here God's careful work.

God works through people's perception.

And as you look, and that's letter A under that, God works through people's perception.

As you look at this scripture, Boaz, as it should happen, lo and behold, Boaz shows up, and when Boaz shows up, he starts scoping the scene.

Some guys here, some of you younger guys know I'm talking about.

Okay?

He is scoping the scene.

He shows up and he said, Whose young woman is that?

When I was a younger man, it used to be on Friday nights and Saturday nights, me and my friends, I wish you could see the picture.

Me and my friends would go out to Main Street, which was the University of Delaware, and we would go scoping the scene.

We would go out looking for honeys.

We would go out looking for girls.

And we it you gotta see the picture though.

Now, my friend, he was the first one to drive.

His name was Tug, and his first car that we were able to go scoping the scene with was a maroon Dodge caravan.

It looked like a box truck on wheels.

So we were riding down Main Street, looking for honeys, having our music playing, we're looking around.

Ain't no girls paying no attention to us.

So after a little while in the van and nothing was happening, okay, nobody was responding, like, oh, I want to get in that van.

Hmm, that looks, okay.

Never once, never once.

Did anyone enter the van?

Okay.

We would get out, and I got you got a picture, okay?

I'm 5'5, my friend Tug's about six foot three, okay?

And then a lot of times we would carry my cousin Jackie, who's five foot.

So as we're walking down Main Street scoping the theme, picture us.

You know, what kind of group of girls do you gotta have to fit our range?

Okay, like who you gonna take?

I had the best shot because I was medium.

You know, small medium.

But but Boaz shows up, he does a double take.

He said, Whose girl is now I like Boaz because look at what he says.

He doesn't say, Who is that?

Look at the words.

He said, whose is that?

Whose girl is that?

He asked her right question.

He shows up, he sees her, and the foreman then goes on to identify Ruth.

Look at here, by race and reputation.

Okay, don't miss that where she comes from is still being scrutinized.

It's still being looked at.

But the foreman goes on after that and goes on to describe Ruth's reputation.

And maybe the foreman by chance knows that Boaz is single, because I get a picture here that the foreman's over there with an elbow nudge.

Now she's the Moabite woman, but let me tell you about this other stuff.

Look at verse 7.

It says, She came and said, Please let me glean and then gather after the reapers among the seas.

So she came and has continued, listen, from morning until now and rested just a little.

So he goes on to talk about her reputation.

He says, She came and asked nicely.

It was her legal right to come and harvest, to come and glean this, because she was misfortuned.

She could have just come, it was her right, but she came and she asked, listen to me, somebody.

You know, sometimes it's just nice to be asked nicely.

You know what I'm saying?

There was none of this entitlement from Ruth.

She didn't come up and say, you know, the Bible says that I deserve.

No, she comes and asks nicely.

Can I glean?

And so the foreman tells her that.

And then he says, Look, this girl has been a work horse.

She's been working from the beginning of the time she got here till now, and she's just now taking a break.

She worked hard.

That was her reputation all day long.

She'd been at work.

Look, she wasn't looking for a handout, she was looking for a hand up.

And listen, uh, my kids this well, this summer, last summer, you know, they've been coming to camp.

Well, they charge the same fee.

Okay, it doesn't matter.

And so I'm like, You you want to go to camp?

You gotta work.

Look, I ain't I don't have$900 just sitting, okay.

So we had them start working and we we got some candy and took it to Chelsea Park.

And man, the people are very giving there.

But so this year we found out the key, okay?

So we sent them out and uh we borrowed a golf cart.

Man, I made it even easier.

We borrowed the golf cart.

We're gonna made it easier on me.

They still had to do so.

Anyway, we're going from door to door.

Well, Weston got to where he he didn't like just sitting anymore.

And Weston, if y'all don't know, okay, my Weston is my five-year-old.

And you you you you I don't know if you really want to let him loose at people's houses at their door because he's a little crazy.

And he'd get up there and I watch Callie would have him, she'd be moving him around.

Stop that.

He'd be playing in people's plants, plop down on their bench before they get to the door.

And so Callie would get aggravated because she's that tight bag, gotta have it.

And so Callie came back to the thing and she's like, just let Weston.

And so Weston, I started sending him on his own.

And you can imagine this little face coming up to your door with a box.

He could barely carry the box.

He'd get in there, it would drop and stuff.

And so we'd go in and he was making bank.

Everybody was paying that kid.

We'd buy five bars, six bars.

He chased one lady.

She had, you know, she got out the car and she was going in the house, and Callie didn't like to go after somebody who was already outside because she has a system.

They're in the house, then I knock, then I give the speech.

Okay?

But if they're outside, then it throws everything off.

So Weston was chasing them.

They got out their car, they was going around.

He said, No, wait, wait, watch some kin.

And they bought.

Well, the last one was hilarious.

We got to the mayor lives in Chelsea Park.

And it's gotten kind of, it's gotten dark, but it was the last one we're gonna do.

And he wanted to do it, so he goes up there and he's knocking, and nobody's there yet.

So you hear him outside.

He says, Oh mayor! Oh Mary Mayor! He said this.

Don't make me come in there.

Like this kid.

The mayor came out, he had him laughing.

I don't know what he was saying.

He had the mayor laughing, and the mayor bought five candy bars.

Listen, the point was this.

You want to do something, you gotta work.

You gotta work.

We have a work attitude issue in our country.

Listen to this percentage.

43% of American workers, it says, are dissatisfied with their work.

When I was working for the moving company, I found out there's three types of workers by moving pianos.

Okay.

There's one that gets behind the piano, grabs, and follows.

There's one that gets on the front side and guides and pulls.

There's a leader, there's a follower.

You know who the third one is?

The third one comes by ten minutes later and says, I got the piano seat.

Don't you worry about this.

Okay?

Scripture says this that God feeds the birds of the air.

But listen, he doesn't throw the food in their nest.

As a Christian, it's our work, it's our duty and our obligation, it's our testimony to be a good worker.

Hear this nothing will work in your life until you do.

I'm gonna say it again.

Nothing will work in your life until you do.

Somebody say work.

You gotta fight poverty the Bible way.

Get a job.

You gotta work.

Listen, Martin Luther said this.

He said, the way that we serve God in our everyday tasks, the maid who sweeps her kitchen is doing the will of God just as much as the monk who prays.

Not because she may sing a hymn as she sweeps, but because God loves clean floors.

The Christian shoemaker does not do his duty by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship.

Somebody say work.

Paul said in Titus 2.10, we show the beauty of our faith by work.

Say work.

Work is a gift from God.

Ruth knew to work.

Listen, she might have been hungry, but she knew how to hustle.

She might have been destitute, but she had dignity.

She might have been strapped, but she was not second class.

She might have been penniless, but she was persevering.

She knew how to work.

Colossians 3:17 said, Whatever you do in word or deed, do all to the glory of God.

Colossians 3:17

We gotta work.

This was not about a handout.

Ruth was willing to work, and the foreman said, Oh, this girl's a worker.

Let me tell you something.

All day she's been at it.

He's nudging him.

Come on, old single Boaz, there's a worker.

Now God does careful work through people's perception.

Let her be, God works through people's personality.

I want you to see verses eight and nine.

Then Boaz said to Ruth, You will listen, my daughter, will you not?

Do not go glean in another field, nor go from here, but stay close by my women.

Let your eyes be on this field, and don't go after another.

Have I commanded the young men, they won't touch you, and if you're thirsty, you shall have drink.

So what we see here, Boaz, I think gives his best pickup line.

He says, You will listen.

I got a plan for you.

And look at what he offers.

Now don't miss this tender moment.

Okay.

Picture again, Ruth.

We don't know how much time has gone by, but just a few verses back in chapter one, Naomi says, I came to the land of Moab, I had everything.

I'm coming back, I got nothing.

And Ruth is standing there with her head hanging low, just a picture of Naomi's affliction.

I got nothing.

I left here fool.

Now I got nothing.

And Ruth's in the background.

And this man looks at her.

Her husband.

Ruth's husband's died.

We miss some of that because it was so 10 years and five are so choppy.

She's lost her husband.

She has no family.

She's left her own family to follow her mother-in-law.

And this man looks at her and says, Listen, listen, dear, you can come to my field.

Look in her eyes.

You can come to my field.

And there's some women in here, they're good women, they're godly women.

They'll be your companions.

This lady didn't have a companion in the world other than a bitter mother-in-law.

You want friends, you come to my field, and you can have some godly women.

And we need ladies, you need godly women in your life.

He says, not only that, listen, you can have companionship, and don't you worry about my men.

The men of my field, and this was a worry, this was a struggle for women.

If they were to go to a place, they didn't know if they were gonna get harmed, messed with.

He said, the men of my field, they're not like that.

Uh-uh.

I have told them myself.

You talk about a man looking into a woman's eye, they're not gonna touch you, dear.

Uh-uh, that's not happening in my field.

And then he says, and while you're here and you're working, not only that, you need to be refreshed.

You can get anything you want.

You'll be refreshed while you work for me.

Don't go to another field.

He gives her his best pickup line.

You know, the students, I have them on Wednesday nights sometimes.

For fun, just getting started.

I said, man, y'all, y'all give me your best pickup lines.

Give me your cheesiest pickup lines.

You know, just you know, I'll give them candy if they give me a good one, man.

Here's the best one.

Okay, the best one I've heard in months.

Uh Daisy, is Daisy here?

Well, Daisy said this.

She said, she said, Is you Jewish?

Because you Israeli fine.

I said, that's good.

That's good.

I had to give her two pieces of candy.

Look.

But Boaz looks her in the eye and he says these things.

He says, Don't go to another place.

You stay here.

You stay in my field.

Don't miss this tender moment for a woman who's been hurting.

But let her see, we see that God works through people who lack pride.

Micah 6, verse 8 says that all we have to do is to do justly, walk humbly.

Micah 6:8

Walk humbly before our God.

Ruth did not have a pride problem.

Look at how she responds to Boaz in this very tender moment.

So she, verse 10, fell on her face.

She bowed down to the ground and she said to him, Why have I found favor in your eyes that you should take notice of me?

I am a foreigner.

And Boaz answered and said to her, It's been reported to me all that you did for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, how you left your father and your mother in the land of your birth, and how you've come to a people who you didn't even know.

And he says, verse 12, May the Lord repay your work and a full reward be given to you from the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge.

Ruth falls on her face.

Don't miss this.

Never once in any of the scriptures prior or leading to this, do you find where in the situation Ruth is complaining?

I can't find one.

Never questions, God, why all this hard time?

Why did you take my husband?

Why am I in this position to have to go to another place?

Why?

God, never once.

She looks up from the ground and says, Why?

Her why is it?

Why would you be kind to me?

That's great.

Why would you be kind to the picture of affliction?

I'm my mother-in-law's affliction.

She left here, she was full, she came back with me, she's empty.

Why would you find favor in me?

And I gotta ask that question to the Lord myself.

Don't you?

Why, God?

I fail you so much.

Why, God?

Why would you find favor?

She's literally overcome with this man's kindness.

She falls to her face.

And I want to tell you something, church, when you thought nobody noticed, you thought you were just background noise.

Nobody noticed the ride you gave.

Nobody noticed that you gave to the Bible project or that you helped at church or that you moved a chair.

Nobody noticed that you did, even though life had been hard and you gave, even though things had been difficult, that nobody noticed.

I want you to hear something, child.

God noticed.

Child of God, he noticed.

He notices what you do.

He never missed it.

God never fell asleep.

He was always working inside of time through his providence.

Listen, every act of kindness, no matter how small, will ever be forgotten.

The fruit of the Spirit, Scripture says, is gentleness, goodness, and kindness.

Scripture says, be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted.

Proverbs 3:3 says it this way: do not let kindness leave you, but let it be a binding around your neck.

Proverbs 3:3

That's how we're to be kind.

And so when Ruth sees this kindness from Boaz, she is overtaken, overwhelmed.

1 Corinthians 13 says this love is patient, love is kind.

And look at what he says to her.

He doesn't say, Oh, you're right, I am kind.

One of my best traits is my kindness.

People all over know me for being kind.

He says, Girl, the Lord repay you.

I heard about what you've done.

The Lord reward you.

May the Lord be your refuge for the way that you've acted.

The Lord works through those things.

Letter D there, God works through people for peace.

He works through people for peace.

Psalm 61:4 says this, Let me dwell in your tent forever under the shadow of your wings.

Psalms 61:4

He said there in verse 12, May the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you've come for refuge.

Scripture says, Let him cover you with his wings.

Psalms 91:4 says, He shall cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you shall take refuge.

Psalms 91:4

His truth shall be your shield and buckler.

God wants to cover you like an eagle that will be under his wings.

God wants to take care of us so that we can have peace.

He wants to come in and swoop into our life, into these areas, and providentially take care of our needs.

Psalms 119, 165 says, Great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them.

Remember, Ruth was living biblically.

Her steps were ordered by the Lord, and now, as it should happen, God brings her peace through a person.

When you have God's peace, any hell can come at you and you're gonna be alright.

Any life tragedy can come at you and you're gonna be alright.

You see, Boaz is a type, an Old Testament type of Jesus.

Boaz from Bethlehem, Boaz who went after the destitute, Boaz who would help the helpless, Boaz is this picture of another man in Isaiah 9.6.

It says, For unto us a son will be born, the government will be upon his shoulders, his name will be wonderful, counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Boaz moves towards those who have needs in the same manner that Jesus did.

Jesus moved toward tax collectors, a leper, Samaritan woman, a beggar.

He deliberately had a plan to deliver his peace to people.

He had targets for his comfort.

And Boaz, when he shows up, all you see him doing is comforting this destitute woman.

God works through people like you and me for peace.

You are a vessel for peace to be given to people.

You are an opportunity for God to work.

Now, by ourselves in that box, we're not a whole lot.

But if you'll let God invade that heart, God will use you.

He'll take opportunities to use you to be a vessel fit for the master's use, that scripture says.

Corey Tenboom said this.

Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.

That leads us to point number three, God's comforting work.

God's comforting work, and I want you to see verses 13 through 20 as it continues.

Then she said, Let me find favor in your sight, my lord, for you have comforted me and have spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of yours.

Now Boaz said to her, At mealtime, come here and eat of the bread, and dip your piece of the bread in the vinegar.

So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed parched grain to her, and she ate and was satisfied, and kept some more.

And when she rose up to glean, Boaz commended his young man, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her.

Also let grain from the bundles fall purposefully for her, leave it that she may glean, and do not rebuke her.

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

Then she took it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned.

So she brought back out and gave to her what she had kept back, and after she had been satisfied.

So I want you to see here God's comforting work in letter A.

He works through particular pleasures.

God works through pleasures.

And I want you to, if you'll turn with me just for a second to Psalms chapter 37.

Psalms 37 · chapter mention

You need to see this first.

Psalms 37.

God works.

Listen, if the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and as it should happen, God works his providence in our life.

Look at what happens in addition.

Psalms 37, verse 4.

Psalms 37:4

Remember where Ruth was, and remember, picture where she is right now in this moment.

We'll read verse 3 before it says, Trust in the Lord, do good, dwell in the land, and feed on his faithfulness.

Then it says, Delight yourself also in the Lord, and he shall give you the desires of your heart.

Look at verse 26.

Three in the same chapter.

The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.

And it doesn't finish there.

And he delights in his way.

God works through particular pleasures.

We see this in verse 14.

This is where I think this is me.

Okay.

I can't prove this, but in verse 14, I think is the first sign of romantic interest for me.

Now Boaz said to her at meal time, Come here.

Come here.

Come sit with me.

It was time to eat.

Take a break.

He said, Come here, girl.

Come over here.

Come sit right here.

And he said, Dip your piece of bread in the vinegar.

So she sat with him.

It was lunchtime.

It was time to take a break.

And Boaz says, Come sit over here.

So he pulls out the chair.

Now we all know that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach.

But the way to a hungry woman's heart is also through her stomach.

Now listen, I don't know about y'all, but my wife will become a prophet when she's hungry.

She'll say things to me like, if I don't get some food in me in about an hour, I'm going to have a headache.

You know, I get on that.

The worst is when we're traveling down the highway and I can't find the type of food she's gonna eat.

I'm like, oh, there's McDonald's, there's this, I gotta find the right thing.

Look, so he says, Come down here.

She knows she's hungry.

She knows she's been destitute, so he says, Come over here, sit down with me.

Let me allow you to have the pleasure of eating this good food.

So she's hungry.

And it says that she starts going at it.

It's like this.

Have y'all been to Bone Fish Grill?

Let me give you just a little uh a tip for living.

If you got some kids, like we got kids and you want to eat cheaply, okay, go to Bonefish Grill, okay, split a meal with your honey, okay?

Get the kids to split a meal, get waters, okay.

Don't pay no$2.97 for a soda.

Get your waters and then fill them up on the bread.

Just get all the bread, because it's free.

Fill them up on the bread, and they bring out this substance.

I don't even know.

It's this whole goodness, okay?

It's got olive oil and maybe some vinegar, I don't know.

And then in the middle, uh what it's called pesto, right?

It's all kinds of spices and stuff.

You just keep dipping it in and dipping it and eating.

You can get out of there for$25,$30 if you do it the right way.

Okay?

That was free.

But this is the scene here.

He says, sit down and he says, take your bread and dip it in this vinegar.

Dip it in this here, pesto there, this special concoction I got right here.

And it says, and Ruth just eats and eats till she's full.

She's like, mm-hmm.

Bo has his talking telling about the field, telling about mm-hmm, that's good, Bo.

Put the lower, keep going though.

You might be filled with all the fullness of God.

That's the way that God wants you to be filled.

He wants you to be filled with all his fullness.

I want you to understand that and not miss that.

Ruth hoped for a few days when she went to glean.

She hoped for a few days of filling.

And she went there and she got filled up.

She was full and overflowing.

And it says that she's carrying back within her all this grain.

It says the epha, which is an amount of around 30 to 50 pounds that she's gleaned.

And she's put in here and she's carried back.

And it says she had a go blade in her pocket as well.

She came back.

Listen, she was filled and full.

And I want you to understand something, church.

That's how God wants you to be.

He wants you to be filled.

God wants you to be full of him.

Why would Boaz do it this way?

Because he wants her not to go to another field.

Remember what he said?

Don't go to another field.

You stay in my field.

You stay in my place.

And God wants to fill you so much, Christian, that you don't go to another place.

You don't look for filling in another place in life.

There's not fullness.

I remember I said last week, you've got a God-sized hole in your heart that can only be filled with one thing: that retirement, the 401k, the vacation, the relationship, the trophy, the accolade.

None of it does what God will do in your heart.

And He says, I want to give you handfuls and handfuls and handfuls, and so much that you're overflowing that you got to take home.

And as chance would have it, as it so happens, she's working there.

And we see letter C God works in particular praise.

Psalms 22, 3 says that God inhabits the praise of his people.

And I want you to see what happens when Ruth comes back and she encounters Naomi.

Look at verses 18 and 19 again.

Then she took it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned.

So she brought out she pulls out the takeaway.

She said, Here you go, Naomi.

I got some extra for you.

I got this bonefish grill, you can have it.

And she said, So she brought out and gave to her what she had kept back after she'd been satisfied.

And her mother-in-law said to her, Where have you gleaned today?

And where did you work?

Blessed be the one who took notice of you.

So she told her mother-in-law whom she had worked and said, The man's name was Boaz.

Then Naomi, look at this, don't miss this.

Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, Blessed be he of the Lord who has not forsaken you.

Naomi, for the first time, praises and thanks God after all that she's been through.

Remember, she comes back.

And I'm not trying to give Naomi a bad route.

She had a whole lot of reason to be down.

She had a whole lot of reason to be discouraged.

And you remember, and I put a lot of that on a limelech.

Alimelech took his family.

Now she's back and she's upset, and rightfully so.

She's lost her sons.

No mother should go through that.

She's lost her husband, and now she's left with this widowed lady, and she don't know how she's gonna make it all work.

And it says for the first time, a woman she's been through a 10-year nightmare.

She wanted to be bitter, but God wouldn't let her stay that way.

Aren't you glad that when you even want to be bitter, God'll change your heart?

You want to stay better.

God, I got the right to be angry.

No, no, no, no.

No, I don't got to go to that person, God.

You don't understand.

They have wronged me, and God starts getting in your heart.

You're like, no, God, don't you do it.

Don't you, next thing you know, you have the altar snotting and crying.

You're like, how this happened?

That's what happens to Naomi.

Naomi was a good Christian woman.

It was her life that caused Ruth to declare her allegiance to God.

Now she got bitter and she had a reason.

It wasn't without a reason.

Remember, Ruth said, but your God be my God.

Bitter people try to stay bitter.

But Naomi had a relationship with the Lord and it wouldn't let it.

Naomi could have said, You got lucky.

Ruth, you just got lucky.

As chance would have it, you got lucky.

Or she could have accused her of stealing.

Where'd you go and get all that, girl?

I know your history.

You're gonna get me in trouble bringing back all that food.

You don't see that.

She sees the bread.

Listen, don't miss this.

And she remembers the reason her husband chose to take and uproot the family because there was bread on the table at a different place.

She sees the bread and she says, This is the promise of God.

We're in God's place.

And Naomi because of Ruth, because of Boaz, because of people in particulars, has a personal revival right there.

She says, Praise God! She came back.

And maybe today you're here and you say, Pastor, I need him to restore unto me my joy.

I used to be excited for the things of God.

Now I'm missing his daily provisions.

I need a miracle to get excited now.

Oh well, if God will just make a way so that I can take my family on a cruise, then we'll get excited.

But when God just takes care, making sure I have a job, that ain't that excited.

When God's not, you know, when my relationship with my wife is good and we're not fighting, it's not, I'm not that excited.

We're missing out on God's daily provisions.

Remember, He works within the circle, and we can be a part of God's working, or we can not.

She finishes praising God, and look at what she says.

The altar here, I love it.

She says, It hits her.

I can't.

She's looking at the food and talking about the food, praising God.

She says, You won't believe this.

Boaz is a kinsman.

As chance would have it.

Boaz is a part of our people.

Boaz is a Limelex kinsman.

Oh my god, this is a good thing, Ruth, she says.

And so we see as it unfolds throughout chapter three that we're gonna look at next week.

God's story of grace unfolding in her life.

And I want you to see today a little video as we close.

I'm gonna wrap up afterwards in just a second, but you gotta see this little story about amazing grace.

Like me was lost, but now I'm fine was blood, but now I see 'twas grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears really how precious did that grace the people I first are like.

Heads bowed and eyes closed.

John Newton, the author of Amazing Grace, two or three years before his death, he had lost sight, no longer been able to really read, and he would meet with a friend in the ministry and they would have breakfast together.

It was our custom that his friend would read the word of God, then Newton would share some remarks about the passage and have prayer.

One meeting, they were reading the scripture, and it said, By the grace of God, Paul said, I am what I am.

Newton was silent, and he finally uttered out these words.

He said, Brother, I'm not what I ought to be.

How imperfect and deficient I am.

I'm not even what I wish to be.

Although I abhor evil and cleave to that which is good, I'm not even what I hope to be.

He said, But soon I shall be out of this mortal body with all its sin and imperfection.

Though I'm not what I ought to be, or what I wish to be, or yet what I hope to be, I can truly say I'm not what I once was.

I was a trafficker.

I was a slave literally to sin and Satan.

And he said, I can heartily join the apostle by saying, It's by the grace of God that I am what I am.

And this morning in the field of life, church, we're all paupers in need of some gleaning of God's grace.

Scripture says this: By grace are you saved through faith.

It's not of yourselves.

It's a gift of God, it's not of some works that you can do.

You can't heap up enough good works to make yourself saved, but he said, it's not of works lest any man should boast.

It's a free gift.

It's what Jesus did.

Jesus died to pay the price for the destitute.

And without Christ, that's all we are.

He opened up his field of grace.

And he didn't give just a gleaning.

Let me tell you something, church.

He opened up his field and he gave all.

He gave it all.

Do you need his grace today?

With heads bowed and eyes closed, you may be here, and you've never accepted that grace.

You've never received him as Savior and gave your life to him.

Listen, you can do that today.

This is what you need to do.

You can pray a prayer.

And if the Holy Spirit's speaking to you, your heart's beating right now, and you know this is you, you can pray a prayer that sounds like this: saying, Dear Lord, I know that I'm a sinner.

And I'm sorry for my sins.

Jesus, I believe that you died on a cross, that you were buried, and that you rose again from my sins.

I want to receive your grace today.

And I want to give my life to you.

With all heads bowed and eyes closed, be any here that would say, Pastor Rick, I just prayed that prayer and received the grace of God into my life.

I asked him to be my Savior.

I'm not playing games anymore.

I asked him and received his grace.

Would you just raise up your hand to heavens and let God know?

I prayed that prayer and accepted him as Savior.

Anybody at all?

Just raise your hand up right now.

If that was you, raise your hand right up.

Amen.

The second part of the invitation is this church.

Do you identify with anybody in the story today?

Are you like Naomi?

Has life been hard?

It's been one bump after the next bump after the next.

And you're real tempted, you've been tempted to be bitter.

And today you need to say, God, I need to get my praise back.

God, I need to.

God change my heart.

I need to get forgiveness.

I need to ask forgiveness.

I need to fix this situation.

I need to let go.

Or maybe in your story today, as you think about it, your steps are just not in order.

You say, I want to live for God.

There's just other things getting in the way.

There's some things that I've allowed to come before my walk with the Lord.

I know it.

And I want to get it right today.

If you're honest, God's been calling you, but there's just been disorder in the priorities.

God wants to, as it should happen.

He wants to have some as it should happen in your life.

He wants to work providentially.

Maybe you're the Boaz character.

You're looking for the next way to serve the Lord.

I want to tell you today, God wants to use you.

He wants, like that box.

He wants you to be his vessel, fit for his use.

He wants to use you.

But you may need to come down this morning and say, God, I surrender.

I want to be that strong Christian for you.

I surrender.

There's people in my life that need help.

I'll surrender.

I'm going to ask you to stand to your feet.

I'm going to pray.

And as I finish praying, listen, I know this.

An invitation is a call for you to act on how God has spoken to you.

I know this that you don't get a second chance to do right now with the Holy Spirit speaking.

So if God spoke into your heart this morning, church, will you act?

Do you want God pulling the strings in your life, or is it your strengths?

I'm asking you this morning, church, if God's spoken to you.