RUTH: Redeeming Love

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Today's message is from Pastor David Morris.

We're finishing up Ruth.

Redeeming love.

This idea of redeeming love.

And I and I hope we have seen the story of Ruth maybe in a different way, kind of the same, but maybe a little different.

You learn some new things than what you've heard over your lifetime.

That's the beauty of scripture, is that you can read it, and if you really look at it and study it, you will learn other things than what you originally learned.

And that's kind of what I'm hoping.

But here was our kind of our goal, our thought, our theme for these four weeks.

It was this when life gets bitter, God is quietly crafting a story of redemption through unexpected places, unexpected people, and even through our daily obedience when we say yes to him.

Last week we kind of left it with Naomi and Ruth waiting.

If you were here and you're able to be a part of us with worship, where Ruth was on the threshing floor, and basically, without going through the whole story, she basically says, I want you to ask me to marry you.

And what Boaz says is because of their traditions, is there is somebody that is higher up that has, um, if you will, the right to redeem her and her her family line and her property.

And so they had to wait.

He was going to go and talk to this person.

And so we were left in the waiting, the unknown, to see if Boaz could be uh Ruth's guardian redeemer.

Now, if you've ever had a moment of asking of something, something big, something important, the the hardest part is what?

The waiting.

The wondering.

As a kid, that was like Christmas, right?

You ask for something and then you waited to see if you received it or whatever it might be.

Today, in the waiting, we we remember that even in the waiting, we will be reminded that God doesn't just start a redemption.

He doesn't just start it and then go, okay.

He doesn't just start and go, you're on your own.

He doesn't just start redemption stories, he finishes them.

God's redemption is never accidental.

Right?

His redemption is purpose-filled.

It is on purpose.

For God so loved the world, he wants you to be saved.

God's redemption is never accidental.

It is public, it is costly, it is binding, and it always leads somewhere bigger than what we can usually see.

Amen?

If you've seen that, if you've experienced that, you know that.

Let's be honest a moment.

How many of you have cell phones?

I know, dumb question.

I'm going somewhere here.

How many of you, when you got that cell phone, you booted it up and there was a terms and conditions page that was like 45 pages long and three-point font, and you read through it before you said accept?

How many of you read it?

No way.

Did you still accept it?

Oh, okay.

I mean that what we don't, right?

How many of you actually like read your car manual?

Maybe some of you.

Maybe that's good light reading.

I don't know.

But there are so many times where we just what?

We just want ownership.

We're so impatient, we just want ownership.

We don't want to read the fine lines.

It's like those TV commercials where they're going, hey, for this and this, and then the terms and conditions.

And have you noticed they go, that's your terms and conditions.

It's a whole different language.

We want ownership, we want it to work.

We skip the fine print because we assume it won't cost us anything unexpected.

I've purchased things that had an unexpected cost because I didn't read the fine print.

Some agreements, some agreements are very important.

And the fine print cannot be skipped because it could cost you everything.

We see that in the world today of scams, text messages, emails, fishing is what we call it.

We see that it could cost you everything.

In ancient Bethlehem, where we are right now in the story of Ruth, the fine print mattered.

And we're gonna see that in today's story.

Ruth chapter 4, we're gonna read the first six verses here.

Ruth 4 · chapter mention

We're not in Peter yet.

Meanwhile, Boaz, remember, we're left in the waiting.

We're left in the waiting.

Meanwhile, Boaz went to the town gate and sat down there just as the guardian redeemer had mentioned, he had mentioned came along.

Boaz said, Come over here, my friend.

Sit down.

So he went over and sat down.

And Boaz took ten of the elders of the town and said, Sit here.

And they did so.

Then he said to the guardian redeemer, we never get this guy's name.

That's that's what's an interesting piece to me.

I don't know why.

Uh but anyways, he said, Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our rel relative Elimelech.

I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people.

If you will redeem it, do so.

But if you will not, tell me, so I will know, for no one has the right to it except except you, and I am the next in line.

I will redeem it, he said.

Then Boaz, on the day you buy the land from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth, the Moabite, the dead man's widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with its property.

At this the guardian redeemer said, Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate.

You redeem it yourself.

I cannot do it.

What we just read is Boaz doing everything by the book.

He's following the law, if you will.

The law of what it means to be a guardian redeemer, the law or the what they did in order for something to be final.

He goes to the gate.

It's a public place.

Think of it like our city hall, where anybody can be.

It's the place where they conducted legal businesses.

Uh, this is where all disputes and disagreements were handled with witnesses.

So he brings what?

Ten elders in order to witness this.

And so Boaz, what he does is he gives an overview.

Here's why we're here.

Here's why we are here is that what this situation of land and money.

Naomi, Limelech, their family, she's selling the land.

She wants to be redeemed.

The family wants to be redeemed.

And it sounds great.

It's a great investment.

Land's always a great investment, amen.

Always a great investment.

And so it sounds great.

But then Boaz says, okay, now here's the fine print.

Here's what happens.

Here's the terms and conditions, if you will.

This also includes it also includes Ruth, a widow.

She's not even part of our tribe.

She's a Moabite.

And you would have the obligation for what?

To make an heir for a Limelex name for a Limelex family.

Because this is what a guardian redeemer did you want to keep the name and the land and going because without a son, it just doesn't stay in the family anymore.

All of a sudden, the math didn't work.

All of a sudden it didn't seem very appealing.

The cost was too high.

What did he say?

I might endanger my own estate.

I may create some ripples within my family.

I may create some ripples within my own financial situation, whatever it is, but the cost was too high for him personally.

So why did they have to do this publicly?

Couldn't they just go on to like a restaurant over some coffee and talk about this?

Redemption in Israel is costly.

It's important.

It's not a private matter.

When they go to the gate, it's public, it's legally binding, and it's costly.

This is what it's gonna cost.

We want everybody to know what is on the table and what is being agreed to.

There's no backroom deals, there's no settlements.

Oh, well, take the land, but I don't want this.

There's no NDAs.

This is for all witnesses to agree because redemption in Israel is personal.

It's not private, it's public.

It's a public declaration of what's legal and what's agreed on.

But we like to make promises and agreements in private, right?

Easy promises in private mean nothing unless they are tested publicly where the cost is clear.

We see this in today's world.

When you get married, you may have a small wedding, but what do you have?

A public official.

And it goes in on record and it goes in the newspaper, right?

It's all tested publicly.

Adoption and foster care.

It's all public.

You know, things at great nature, especially when it comes to redemption and pledges and contracts, it's done publicly.

Even in the church.

Even in a church, we like to do things publicly, at least we do in our thought process, in our doctrines, in our disciplines, right?

We we do financial pledges.

We we do that not for people to look at us, but for us to go, we're doing this together.

Um we we have church membership.

We have people stand up here in order to declare that this is gonna be their, if you will, to use like uh old language, this is gonna be a family, this is gonna be the tribe.

We're part of the greater church, but this is where we're rooting down in.

We do this with baptism.

We don't practice private baptisms.

We want it to be a declaration, a declaration of who we are and and and God working in in that person or that child.

Professions of faith, we want it public.

We want people to know.

We want it to be bound.

When we declare something publicly, we are binding it with each other.

There are no excuses, there's no questions.

He or she said this.

We see that in the courts, right?

And this is what they're doing.

There are there's no easy promise when it comes to redeeming.

There's no easy promises when it comes to redeeming in the idea of being private.

We want it to be public.

I would guess that many of us chose to follow Jesus under no duress at all.

Is that a good no nobody said you're either gonna confess that you love Jesus or you're gonna die.

Anybody have that?

Or don't confess Jesus or you're gonna die.

Has anybody ever had to say yes to Jesus under duress?

I don't think any of us have.

And so we say yes to Jesus and then we start to talk about things that are hard.

The the pastor starts to talk about loving and forgiving our mortal enemy.

The pastor begins to talk about generosity and stewardship, even when our purses are a little tight.

The pastor starts talking about what it means to stay faithful when other people aren't.

The pastor begins to talk about being a part of ministry that you don't like that makes you feel uncomfortable.

It feels like a bait and switch sometimes, doesn't it?

Oh, I thought I just had to believe in Jesus and everything was gonna be fine.

Now the cost of following Jesus gets real.

The question isn't, do you want to be redeemed?

Because I think everybody wants to redeem when it comes to whether it's our salvation or redemption in a family or a relationship.

I think we all want to be redeemed in one way or another, but I think the question can also be this is are you willing to pay that what redemption requires?

Are you willing to pay what redemption requires?

I don't want us to get confused here because Jesus said this pick up your cross and follow me.

That's a cost.

I don't want us to be confused.

I'm not talking about the cost to be saved, but the cost because you said to yes to be redeemed that Jesus is your guardian redeemer.

And with that yes comes accountability, because he says, pick up your cross and follow me.

Go and sin no more.

Be born again, new life, name of our church, new beginnings, accountability becomes a part of our journey, and for some people that is just too high.

And for this kinsman redeemer, when the cost, when he saw the cost as a whole, he decides to walk away from his, if you will, this is what I think, his duty of redeeming this family.

Because this is what he's called to do and be.

God had placed him in this place to be a guardian redeemer, but he decides to walk away.

And what does that do when he walks away?

It opens the door for someone who is willing to bear the full cost.

But if you will not tell me, so I will know, for no one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in line.

So if you say no, I get to do it.

Verses 7 through 12.

Now, in the earlier times in Israel for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, I really don't like that.

I mean, this is true, but property, they're also talking about people.

Okay?

Let's not sugarcoat it.

Everything belongs will go to the guardian redeemer.

One party would take off his sandal and give it to the other.

This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel.

So the guardian redeemer said to Boaz, Buy it yourself, and he removed his sandal.

Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech and his sons Kilian and Malon.

I have also acquired Ruth, the Moabite, Malon's widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from his hometown.

Today you are my witnesses.

Nothing private about it.

Then the elders and all the people at the gate said, We are witnesses.

Listen to their response.

May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the family of Israel.

May you have standing in Ephratha and be famous in Bethlehem through the offspring the Lord gives you by this young woman.

May your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.

Anybody ever take your sandal off before to make a contract?

Isn't that kind of weird?

The sandal was signing a contract.

And you know why?

Because it was public, it was physical.

Right?

Would you would you forget that someone gave you their sandal and to make a contract?

Could you deny?

I didn't shake his hand.

It wasn't really a shake, it was kind of like a a pinky promise.

Right?

We make up excuses and and declarations to get out of things that that we we thought we wanted, but no, when you gave that sandal, it was declaration.

It was a f physical, public, unmistakable act that declared the transaction was finished.

Life would be so much easier if we could just exchange sandals instead of insults in life.

Man, I have seen a week of that.

Amen.

You watch any of the news?

It's all about insults.

It's all about I'm right, no, I'm right.

And we just exchange sandals and have some real conversations like Boaz and this guardian redeemer.

After exchange, what does Boaz do?

He celebrates, he declares it before all the people, and he reiterates the terms.

He it's like he's saying, Let's not be confused here.

I want to be clear what I'm doing.

I'm redeeming not only the land, but I'm gonna redeem this overlooked foreign woman.

And I I believe with my heart that he's already in love with her.

And so he's redeeming her, Ruth, the family line.

He says, I'm gonna redeem it all.

As formal as this was, this to me is a declaration of not just love, but what we call agape love, complete love, full love.

This is what Jesus means when he says, love God and love people to redeem the best that we can.

And the response of the elder and the people around them was incredible.

It was packed with a blessing.

He was invoking strong, not just names from the Old Testament from the Bible, but women names.

Leah and Rachel.

And then he invokes his son Perez, which Leah and Rachel didn't have like the greatest marriages.

And then they invoke this name Perez, which I'm not gonna get into that story.

If you want like a really weird story that they could do on Lifetime, go read Genesis 38 about this boy Perez, the son of Judah and Tamar.

But what this shows me is that all families are imperfect, but but God has always worked through messy, complicated family stories.

And what these people, these elders, these witnesses are doing, they're asking God to do it again.

Do it again.

The top guardian redeemer didn't redeem her, it's the second one.

But God, you have done so many things in messy families.

Oh, by the way, Boaz, who knows who Rahab is in the Bible?

Prostitute?

Yeah, Boaz is her son.

Messy families.

God can take a mess and make good out of it.

And they're asking him to do it again.

So we don't want our faith to stay private.

Faith that stays private stays fragile.

We want to be strong.

We want to be seen.

We want to be united in our faith and our beliefs and our mission to go and make disciples.

That's why our disciplines, what we call them are our means of grace.

We we have communion, we have baptism, prayer, worship, fellowship.

We we have generosity, we do serving.

Friends, these aren't just ways of worship and discipline.

These are sandal moments.

These are sandal moments between you and God.

This is you renewing your covenant with God.

In a few minutes, when we come forward for communion, it's not just about receiving grace from Jesus, it's about renewing your covenant that I will follow you and you alone, Jesus.

And so in this story, the deal is done, the sandal is passed, the witnesses have spoken.

And if the story stopped there, I think we'd all be happy.

But the author wants to make it even greater because it ends with a new son.

We see the end of bitterness, and it ends with a future that they could not imagine, and one that we cannot ignore.

Let's read verses 13 through 22.

So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife.

And when he made love to her, the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son.

The women said to Naomi, Praise be to the Lord who this day has not left you without a guardian redeemer.

May he become famous throughout Israel.

He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age.

For your daughter in law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.

Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him.

The women living there said, Naomi has a son, and they named him Obed, who is the father of Jesse.

The father of David.

And then it shows the genealogy of David.

This is then, this then is the family line of Perez.

We mentioned him earlier, right?

Perez was the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Aminadab, Aminadab, the father of Nishon, Nishon the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, Boaz the father of Obed, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David.

Four weeks ago we began this in the with a move.

A move because of famine.

And that resulted in major losses.

The loss of a husband, the loss of sons, the loss of a family, the loss of status.

It resulted in bitterness.

It resulted in what may seem like an unwanted journey home.

And it resulted in a chance meeting between Ruth and Boaz in a field.

It resulted in a bold ask by Ruth on the threshing floor.

To a man unfazed by the cost.

And now a son is born.

A line is intact, and that line leads straight to Jesus.

I want you to hear this from the women again.

This is an important piece.

They said, Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a guardian redeemer.

May he become famous throughout Israel, which Boaz has become famous.

He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age.

Listen, for your daughter-in-law, talking about Ruth, who loves you and who is better than your better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.

In the culture where sons were everything, seriously, everything.

We heard and learned that from the first week.

In a culture where the sons were everything, where a woman's identity and future depended on if she had a son or not, the women declare Ruth was more valuable than seven sons.

That's a bold statement, amen.

You know what that tells me?

That's grace rewriting the value system of an entire culture.

And in that for us today, grace rewrites the value system of a fallen world through Jesus.

This is what grace does.

This is the power of Jesus, if you will.

In Matthew's gospel, Matthew chapter 1, he opens up showing the family tree of Jesus, just like we saw here, except it's a whole lot more.

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

It's about 1200 years worth of a family tree, if you want, or if you will.

And in the middle is a Moabite named Ruth.

Usually family trees don't say the woman's name.

But when you read Matthew, there's actually three women's names.

One that's inferred doesn't say Bathsheba's name, but it's in there.

Her presence in that line tells us the Savior of the world came for everyone.

Even the Gentiles, even the outsiders, for anyone willing to be redeemed.

God didn't just redeem Ruth for her story.

He redeemed her for his story.

He redeemed her for your story.

God's timing doesn't work in our timing, his promises never expire.

But what I can tell you too, though, is that they build upon each other.

Naomi thought her story was over, that her life was going to be empty, that it was going to be bitter.

But instead she became a grandmother.

And she was holding in her arms the grandfather of David.

Sin has made us all outsiders to the kingdom of God.

We have not been born into the right family or into the right nation.

We have no legal claims to the promises of God.

No one on earth has the ability to step up to be the guardian redeemer that we need.

And that's why God sent his son Jesus to be our guardian redeemer.

And Jesus never said, I cannot, it will endanger my kingdom.

Instead, he said, I will pay the price.

The cost.

God has been writing the story of your salvation for generations.

And in your story is a story of famine, of a Moabite woman, a threshing floor, a sandal agreement at the gate, all details and the greatest redemption plan ever for everybody, for you.

Don't you dare give up on your story.

I've seen so many people give up on their story and give up on their redemption because they're not good enough.

You're right, we're not good enough.

But Jesus says, I will pay the cost.

I will take you as your own.

Don't give up on your story.

Don't give up on your redemption story.

Jesus redeems the broken, he replenishes the empty, he builds futures out of famine, and he is doing it right now in you.

And the terms and the conditions are simply this.

Believe and follow him.

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We'll see you next week.