Running on Empty, God of Grace - Ruth Ch 1:1-6

To be here, I'm looking forward to it.

I feel a little bit under pressure that it's some people's first time, you know,

and I feel under pressure that, you know, that after today you want to come back to church

and hear the sermon and you're not longing to get back to Sunday school.

I was down in Middleton Baptist on the 11th of August

and my two children were invited to come with us

and they opted to stay with Granny.

They said, I'm not going to travel all of the way just to listen to you speak.

We can hear you speak, you know, every day, you know, preaching at us over the dinner table.

So they declined.

So hopefully I don't disappoint those who are joining us for the first time from Sunday school.

But if you'd like to turn in your Bible to the book of Ruth,

So that will go Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua,

and then you should find Judges, then Ruth.

And so hopefully on the other page or just before in my Bible,

you should see Judges chapter 21 and verse 25.

Judges 21 · chapter mention

And that's where we're going to begin our reading.

In those days Israel had no king and everyone did as they saw fit.

And in those days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land.

And so a man from Bethlehem and Judea, together with his wife and two sons,

went to live for a while in the country of Moab.

The man's name was Elimelech.

His wife's name was Naomi.

And the names of his two sons were Malon and Kilion.

And they were Epaphrites from Bethlehem, Judah.

And they went to Moab and they lived there.

Now Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died.

And she was left with her two sons.

And they married Moabite women, one named Orpha and the other Ruth.

And after they had lived there about ten years, both Malon and Kilion also died.

And Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.

But when Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them,

she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there.

Amen.

So Ruth is a strange little book.

It's a story of romance.

It's a story of loss.

It's a story of redemption.

And it's also the story of the birth of a king or eventually.

It's a book that sort of ties together the book of Judges and the books of 1 and 2 Samuel.

Well, the kids in Sunday school, they were learning about the succession of kings.

But how did we get to kings?

Well, Ruth helps sort of fill in the narrative.

It also provides us a little bit of a window of what it was like to live during the time,

during the period of the judges.

When you read the judges, you're reading about, I suppose, the judges themselves,

the conquests, the sins of Israel.

But here is a little, you could say, period drama, right in the middle of all of that.

And we even have our own Mr. Darcy.

We have a character called Boaz, who we'll read about later in the coming weeks.

He's not here yet, but he's coming.

But here we have the title this morning of Running on Empty.

We need to know about a God of grace.

But first of all, we need to think about the background to the book of Judges.

So we're going to do a little bit of thinking about that.

I don't know, you don't need to put up your hand,

but I'm sure there are some country and western musical fans about here, I'm sure.

Well, a modern sort of, I don't know if people like Katie Musgraves or not,

but she is quite popular, I think.

But she had this hit song, and it goes like this.

If you save yourself for marriage, you're a bore.

And if you don't save yourself for marriage, you're a horrible person.

If you won't have a drink, then you're a prude.

But they'll call you drunk as soon as you down the first one.

And if you can't lose weight, then you're just fat.

But if you lose too much, you're on crack.

You're damned if you do, and you're damned if you don't.

So you might as well just do whatever it is you want.

So make lots of noise and kiss lots of boys or kiss lots of girls,

if that's something you're into.

When the straight and narrow gets a little too straight,

roll up the joint or don't.

And here's the kicker.

Just follow your arrow wherever it points.

Yes, follow your arrow wherever it points.

And that's basically today's culture,

the overriding arch of what our young people

or what our middle-aged people

or what our old people should do with their lives.

They should just follow their own arrow.

Just do as they see fit.

And so we are no different than the people in the book of Ruth.

We are no different from the people in the book of Judges.

We are following our own arrow.

And so we're the same.

We do as we please.

We live like there is no God.

You know, when we sin, we almost become,

you know, for that moment, a momentary atheist.

We think that we're, you know, God can't see us.

If you're not a Christian here this morning,

I'm quite sure that you live

and you do as you see fit.

I thought I was going to lose my sermon, you know,

as we began to share in the worship.

It's true.

Ireland has no king.

That's not a political statement.

It's a fact.

Great Britain has no king.

The USA has no king.

And by that I mean that no one who can stand up and say,

I am the authority.

I am the person that you must obey,

that you must listen to.

With our idea of democracy and politics

and our ideas of freedom of speech,

which are all great.

But they also have bred in a sense of rebellion

and a sense of we can do what we want to do

just because we can.

A society of rights.

I get to choose.

I get to choose who I am.

I get to choose what I do.

I get to choose how I do it.

And there's nothing that you can do

that can dissuade me from that.

And so that's the world we live in

and that is the world, really,

that we look into in the book of Ruth.

What we really need is a psalm too.

We need the Lord's anointed.

We actually need a true king.

Someone who is the king of kings

and the Lord of lords.

We need to bow to the lordship of Christ.

That's the only solution to our situation.

So the drive to change laws and promote lifestyles

is basically a world ignoring God

in large or small ways

and people doing what is right in their own eyes.

And in the book of Ruth,

there's nothing different here.

Elimelech was not different.

He was the head of the family

and he takes his family

from the land that God had promised

and he takes them to Moab.

And he left Bethlehem.

We all know that story from Bethlehem

from the narrative of the birth of Christ.

It's where Christ was born.

It's the city of David.

It's where King David was born.

And so it means house of bread.

So they literally left the house of food

and they went in search of greener grass.

And you might say,

well, what's wrong with that?

Why is that significant?

What's wrong with them leaving one place

and going to another?

People do it all the time.

But what's interesting about the place

that they went to,

first of all,

it's a place that God said,

these are your enemies.

These are the enemies of Israel.

Have nothing to do with them.

They had a history with Israel

which meant that God wasn't pleased

with the Moabites.

And so going to Moab was a bad idea.

Not only was that,

they were also told

to not intermarry with Moabites.

So it wasn't like just going off

and moving house.

It was like going off and moving house

and going to,

I suppose,

live in Syria.

Going to somewhere where

you're not really liked,

you shouldn't really like them,

and living there.

And everybody else going,

what are you doing that for?

So they went and they were living

in a place that wasn't good for them,

biblically speaking.

Elimelech's name,

ironically,

means that God is king.

Yet,

he doesn't acknowledge God as his king

and he decides that he's going to up sticks

and go to Moab.

And the other context we need to think about

as we look through the book of Judges

is how the book of Judges,

how women are characterized

during this period of the Judges

according to the book of Judges.

And then we have Ruth,

which is very, very different.

I don't know what it's like to be a woman

and I never will know

what it's like to be a woman.

But I certainly don't know

what it was like to be a woman living

in the period of the Judges.

I don't know what it's like

to be a woman today,

but

let's have a look at a few things

of how women were portrayed

during the Judges.

They were people of violence.

They were both victims and perpetrators.

We have Jael,

who takes a tent peg

and she sort of,

quite graphically,

puts it through King Scissor's head.

And Deborah,

she's delighted in this killing

of this evil king.

And Abimelech,

who is the would-be king,

he gets crushed

by a woman using a millstone.

It's quite a graphic idea

how women are being portrayed.

We have the story of Samson and Delilah,

the seductress,

who takes Samson

and breaks him

until they get the secret from him

so that Samson can be captured

by the Philistines.

And then we have this horrible story

of a concubine

who has been brutalized

by the people of Israel.

And so the priest then takes her

and cuts her up

and takes her about

and scatters her body parts

to express the horror

of what was being done

in the land of Israel.

And then we have

the forced marriages

from the young virgins.

It paints a picture

of brutality,

of horror,

and also of the lack of,

you could say,

protection that women had

during that period.

And we see that marked

in the Book of Ruth.

And so that's the context

that we have.

We have no king.

Everybody's doing

as they see fit.

And we have

this very unstable,

unsafe place

for women.

But we start off

in the Book of Ruth

with,

if you like,

our first point.

We start off

with a family

that's full.

It's a happy home.

It says,

in the days

when the judges ruled,

there was a famine

in the land.

So we know

that times are tough.

There was an economic crisis.

There weren't the jobs

for everybody

to avail of.

Things were tough.

And so a man

from Bethlehem,

the house of bread

in Judah,

together with his wife

and two sons,

they went to live

for a while

in the country

of Moab.

And so there's

a few things

we can have here.

We have

Emelech.

He's the man.

He's not named yet.

But he takes his wife

and his two sons.

He's a nuclear family.

He has his,

all of his ducks

in a row.

We're not really

quite sure

why he left.

The early rabbinic

sources say

that Emelech left

basically because

he was selfish.

They said

that he didn't want

to share with people

during the famine,

so he took everything

that he had

and he legged it

to Moab,

selfishly,

because he could.

The text is silent

on why he left,

but we know

that he did leave.

And in leaving,

there is a sense

of disobedience.

He's going to the enemies

of God,

leaving the people

of God,

and he's going.

It's not clear

if Naomi was on board

with the plan,

whether she wanted

to stay or not,

but she doesn't get

a say in the matter.

Emelech leaves

and he takes Naomi

with her

and the two sons

and they have

a full family

and they go

and they spend

a period of time there.

And we're not sure

when it happens,

but it does happen

that Emelech dies.

But if we just

want to back up

and we have a look,

they went to live

for a while.

Now the commentators

and everybody

want to sort of

highlight this,

is that it wasn't

a permanent thought.

They weren't going

to live there forever.

They were only going

to go and stay

for a wee while.

They were only going

to go and stay

a short time.

Maybe they wanted

to see out the famine.

But that's not

what happens.

We think,

look in verse 2

and it says,

and they went to Moab

and they lived there.

It became more

of a permanent fixture

than maybe

they had once thought.

So we have

a full family.

We're not sure

why there was a famine,

but we read

in Deuteronomy 28,

3, verse 24,

that if the people

of Israel didn't

follow after God,

that God would send

judgments on the land

and one of those

was a famine.

So the text doesn't say

this is a famine

that's been sent

as judgment,

but we can safely assume

that it has that potential

behind it.

He gathers up his family

and he goes to the

descendants of Moab

who are Lot's descendants.

So if you remember

in Genesis,

you had Abraham

and Lot.

Lot was Abraham's nephew

and his daughters

had children

and they became

the Moabites.

And so we have

the two sons.

So in verse 2,

it says the man's name

is Imelech,

meaning that God is king

and his wife's name

was Naomi,

which meant

was sweet.

So there we have

Imelech

and his sweet Naomi.

And then we have

Malon and Kilion.

And these two names

are sort of

in the text,

they kind of mean

weakling

or sickly.

So Malon

has the idea

of being weak

and Silon sickly.

So maybe

he wasn't being

selfish at all.

Maybe Imelech

was really thinking,

you know,

mighty sons,

they're not going

to survive the famine.

So maybe it was just

a, you know,

let's do the logic.

Let's go somewhere

where there's food.

Let's go and

help our children.

Maybe it was

motivated

by his own care

and his love

to see his two boys

grow up

and have lives.

We're not sure,

but

true to their names,

we find out

that the family

has a setback.

And we have

the setback

one in verse three.

Now,

Elimelech,

Naomi's husband,

well,

he died

and she was

left with her

two sons,

so all is not

lost.

Like every good

drama,

we start off

with tragedy.

And then this one

is no different.

We have tragedy.

They go to Moab

and then

the husbands

died.

Now,

that may

not necessarily

be that significant

to us.

It's also,

you know,

someone's husband's

died,

it's terrible

and now

you grieve

the loss

of someone.

But

in the ancient

world,

when you lost

your husband,

you lost

your livelihood,

you lost

your income,

you lost

your means

of protection,

you lost

your support.

And so

the family

has a setback.

You see,

they had planned

to escape

the famine

by going

to Moab.

But actually,

by going

to Moab,

you can't

really escape

life and

circumstance.

There's a

lesson there.

Running

to Moab

is never

a good idea.

Doing

things in

our own

way

is never

a good

idea.

They should

have stayed

in the

promised land.

It's the land

that God

had said

that he would

bless his

people.

And if

God was

judging them

for the famine,

well,

surely the right

thing would

have been

to be

there to

promote

godliness

and for

them to

repent.

But no,

they decided

not.

But in

verse 4,

we find out

that it's

not complete

disaster.

So the

children,

by this

time,

we assume

that they

have grown

up to

be of

age so

that they

can marry

and work.

So they're

not children

anymore.

And it

says in

verse 4

that they

married

Moabite

women,

which they

were forbidden

under the

law not to

do.

One named

Orpha and

the other

was named

Ruth.

So they

had lots

of things

going on

here.

After they

had lived

there about

10 years,

disaster

strikes again.

So they

go from

the general

scheme of

things in all

families.

they went

from crisis

to some

restoration

to crisis.

Isn't that

how we all

live sometimes?

We're just

waiting for

the next

wrong thing

to happen.

And then

there's good

things.

Life is

full of

struggles.

And so

Elmac's

family is

no different.

The sons

have married

but there's

no children.

It's

interesting.

The names

in the

book of

Ruth are

I think

quite

significant.

And Ruth,

this lady

Ruth who

we're going

to learn

an awful

lot about,

her name

means friend,

companion.

And we're

going to

learn throughout

the coming

weeks how

true that

she lived

up to her

name,

how much

of a

friend and

a companion

that she

becomes

to Naomi.

And so

she's gone

in the

space of

four verses

from a

full life

to one

that is

completely

empty.

That's

harsh.

And what's

really good

is that we

don't really

come out of

that this

morning.

That's

where we

leave Ruth

this morning

and Naomi

and Orpha.

We leave

them in

their

emptiness.

happiness.

It's a

total loss.

It's

disaster.

It is

not a

good picture.

The three

ladies have

been left.

They went

from a

family that

was full

and where

they had,

you know,

it was a,

if you like,

a male-led

family and

now they're

destitute.

so in

the space

of ten

years,

because we're

not quite

sure in

the text,

it doesn't

say that

Emelech

died and

they got

married.

We're not

sure if

that all

happened

around the

same time

or whether

there was

a space

between it

and it's

ten years

later that

the sons

die.

But there's

no heirs,

there's no

children,

there's no

sons,

there's no

daughters.

The men

have gone.

And so the

significance of

this is

that food

is now

their secondary

concern.

They are,

if you like,

all lost at

sea with

no direction,

no seal,

no rudder,

because now

they have no

providers for

food.

And on

top of

that,

poor Naomi

is in a

foreign country.

And if

you're feeling

sorry for

Naomi,

I hope that

you are.

That's the

kind of picture

that the

Bible is

painting.

This is

devastation.

I know you

were wanting

to come and

hear a nice

encouragement

sermon this

morning,

and not a

story about

how bad

life was in

the period of

the judges,

but for

Naomi and

her family,

that is the

reality of

the book of

Ruth.

She is

destitute.

But isn't

that like all

of us?

Without

Christ,

without God,

no matter how

much we have

or how little

we have or

where we live,

really what we

have isn't

really worth

very much.

Nine Inch

Nails,

I'm sure you're

all quite

familiar with

that band.

You might be

more familiar

with Johnny Cash.

He took one

of their songs

and sort of

made it more

popular to

people that

didn't like

Nine Inch

Nails.

And this is how

it goes.

It says,

I hurt myself

today to

see if I

still feel.

I focus on

the pain,

the only

thing that's

real.

The needle

tears a

hole,

the old

familiar

sting.

Try to

kill it

all away,

but I

remember

everything.

What have

I become?

My

sweetest

friend,

everyone I

know,

goes away

in the

end.

And you

can have

it all,

my empire

of dirt.

I will

let you

down,

because I

will make

you hurt.

I wear

this crown

of thorns

upon my

liar's

chair,

full of

broken

thoughts

that I

cannot

repair.

Beneath

the stains

of time,

the feelings

of despair,

you are

someone else.

I am

still right

there.

What have

I become,

my sweetest

friend?

Everyone I

know,

goes away

in the

end.

And you

can have

it all,

my empire

of dirt.

I will

let you

down.

I will

make you

hurt.

If I

could start

again a

million miles

away,

I will

keep myself,

I would

find,

away.

I think

that Naomi

might be

feeling just

a little

like that.

She might

be feeling

that,

what have

I become?

What about

my hopes?

What about

my dreams?

What about

the expectations?

I'm here,

I'm alone.

Even the

people that

I'm with

don't need

to be with

me.

I'm left

with my

daughters-in-law.

And so

where do

we go?

And we

look at

verse

six.

When

Naomi

heard in

Moab,

good news

travels

all the

way to

Moab,

that the

Lord had

come to

the aid

of his

people

by

providing

food for

them.

So she

and her

daughters-in-law

prepared to

return home

from there.

Good news

reached Naomi.

It wasn't

completely

good news.

Nobody

likes to

go back

to where

they left

in failure.

And so

that's where

we're going

to leave

Naomi.

She's going

to go on

that journey.

We're going

to go on

that journey

with her.

But we're

going to

stop and

we're going

to think

about that

the Lord

had come.

When I

was a

young boy

of,

I think I

was about

12 years

old,

and I

went to

a camp

and someone

actually told

me the

word of

the Lord.

I was a

rascal.

I,

yeah,

I was that

kid,

you know,

the one

that,

yes,

their parents

pulled their

hair out

over,

you know.

But I

went away

to a

camp and

someone told

me about

Christ.

Someone said

that you can

live a

different life.

Someone said

to me that

you can

change,

and the

way to

change is

that you

believe the

gospel,

and that you

repent of

your sin,

and that you

follow after

Christ all

of your

days.

And the

reason that

you can do

this is

because Christ

died for

your sins,

and he

died to

make you

a different

person.

He died

to make

you from

a rascal

into a

child of

God.

And I

thought,

that's

awesome.

And so I

believed in

Christ,

and I

followed him

ever since,

and it's

been

an interesting

journey as I

have walked

with God,

but I've

never once

thought that

was a bad

idea.

I heard the

word of the

Lord,

and I heard

that there

was food,

and I

came,

and I

found bread.

And so I

would encourage

you this

morning that

if you don't

know Christ,

and this is

the first time

that you've

been in

church,

Christ is

there for

you,

just like

God was

there for

Naomi.

You see,

we leave this

morning with

a word of

grace.

Yahweh had

provided food.

The news

prompts Naomi

to say,

I know what

rascals they

were back

home.

Maybe,

maybe if I

go home,

at least I

can find

bread.

And then,

whose idea

was it anyway

to come

here?

My husband,

Emilech,

he brought

me here.

I didn't

really want

to come.

My husband's

dead.

My children

are dead.

I have

some friends

back in

Israel.

I have

some friends

in Bethlehem.

I have

some family

there.

Maybe

they'll take

me back.

Maybe

they'll accept

me back

into their

community.

Maybe.

But as

Naomi

would discover

God has

better plans

than just

maybe.

God has

better plans

for you.

God has

better plans

for me

than just

maybe.

See,

it reminds

me a little

of the

story Jesus

told about

the prodigal

son.

It's in

Luke chapter

Luke 15:11–32

15,

verses 11

to 32.

We won't

go there,

but we have

a story of

a son who

says,

do you know

what,

Father,

I wish you

were dead.

I want to

go and live

life on my

terms,

and I

want to

go and

live life

my way.

In fact,

I wish you

were dead,

so let's

imagine that

you are

dead and

give me

all of the

money that

you would

have given

to me

if you

had died.

I want

my

inheritance

now.

And he

goes to

the far

off land,

he goes

to Moab,

you could

say,

and he

squanders

his life.

And he

loses all

of his

money,

he loses

all of his

family's

inheritance,

and he

ends up

feeding

pigs,

and having

nothing.

He is

gone as

low as

he can

go.

But in

the midst

of that,

he remembers.

He remembers

that in his

father's house,

even the

servants have

enough to

eat.

And he

says to

himself,

what am I

doing here?

My father

loves me.

Maybe he'll

accept me

back,

even just

as a

servant.

And at

least I'll

have food,

because here

I have

nothing and

I'm starving.

And he

returns to

his father.

But when

he returns

to his

father,

he finds

out that

his father

has better

plans than

just food

and service.

He finds

that his

father embraces

him back

into his

own heart.

And like

the prodigal,

and like

Naomi,

we need

to hear

the word

of the

Lord.

We need

to know

that

Father God

is waiting

for us.

He's there.

He's wanting

to welcome

us back,

just like

the prodigal.

And he

proved it,

in that he

sent his

son,

the Lord

Jesus Christ,

to die

for us.

God so

loved the

world that

he sent

his one

and only

son.

And that's

the good

news.

That's why

we're all

here this

morning.

If you

know and

love the

Lord Jesus

Christ,

we're going

to celebrate

his sacrifice

through the

breaking of

bread.

We heard

the good

report,

the good

news,

and we

returned home.

And so I

would encourage

you to

return home

this morning.

Sometimes it

takes extreme

circumstances.

Sometimes it's

at our point

of need.

It's like the

prodigal son.

It's when we're

at our lowest.

It's when we're

feeding pigs

and the pigs

die.

Maybe it's

like Naomi.

It's loss.

It's famine.

It's

bereavement.

And it

brings us to

the point

that we

realize,

you know

what?

Life's not

too good

living it

my way.

Doing what's

right in our

own eyes is

not really

where it's

at.

I need

something

else.

Let us

pray.

O Lord,

whose power

is infinite

and wisdom

infallible,

order things

that they

may neither

hinder nor

discourage

me, nor

prove obstacles

to the

progress of

thy cause.

Stand

between me

and all

strife,

that no

evil befall

and no

sin corrupts

my gifts,

zeal, or

attainments.

May I

follow duty

and not

any foolish

device of

my own.

Permit me

not to

labor at

work, which

thou wilt not

bless, that

I may serve

thee without

disgrace or

debt.

Father God,

would you

help us

realize

that you

being king

is the

most important

thing that

we can ever

know.

Lord, that

we would

not want to

live lives

as we see

fit.

Lord, that

we would

seek to

desire to

know you,

to know

your will,

to know

your ways.

And Lord, to

follow you in

love and to

share that

love and

that knowledge

of you with

everyone.

Because

knowing that

there is

bread in the

house of

bread,

knowing that

you are the

bread of

life.

Knowing that

is the

greatest treasure

for anyone.

And Lord,

would you

impact us

again just

with the

glory of

Christ and

what you

have provided

for us in

your sacrifice.

In Jesus'

name,

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Anne.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Maim.

Amen.

Amen.