[00:00:01] Hey, thanks so much for listening to this message. My name is Jason and I'm one of the ministers here at the Madison Church of Christ. It's our hope and prayer that the teaching from God's Word you hear today will bless your life and draw you closer to Him. If you're ever in the Madison, Alabama area, we'd love for you to worship with us on Sundays at 8:30 or 10:30am if you have any other questions about the Bible or want to know more about the Madison Church, find
[email protected] be sure to also check out our Bible study podcast, Madison Church of Christ Bible Studies. Thanks again for stopping by.
[00:00:37] Can you remember a time in your life when you had to make a very difficult choice?
[00:00:44] Some of you guys, when you're thinking about that, you're probably thinking, can. I'm literally at a time right now where we're having to make some very difficult choices.
[00:00:55] And anytime you have to make a difficult choice and it seems like no matter what you pick that there is going to be some kind of challenge.
[00:01:03] A lot of times what stands in the way of making any choice at all might be fear.
[00:01:09] Fear is when you know that there is that inherent risk. It's not maybe it's like, you know, that no matter what I pick, there's going to be a difficult path forward. There's going to be something difficult I'm going to have to walk away from or something I'm going to have to do.
[00:01:23] And so fear at times maybe paralyzes us from making a choice. Maybe just throwing this out there. You've been at the edge of a diving board at Maywood and you shouldn't have been on the edge of the diving board at Maywood anyway. But you find yourself on the edge of it backwards.
[00:01:40] People telling you to go and you can't do a backflip and you know you can't, but you still attempt and you don't. But fear causes us at times to not take those proper steps. And maybe we feel like we're just gonna crash and burn. Maybe for some of us it's anxiety.
[00:01:57] Anxiety is different than fear. Even though it's a very close brother and cousin.
[00:02:03] Anxiety is when you, in your mind, as you're making a difficult choice, play what I like to call the what if game.
[00:02:11] Well, what if this goes wrong?
[00:02:13] And what if this doesn't happen? Or what if this does happen? Or what if they respond this way? Or what if they don't respond like I want them to? And so that those what Ifs play in your mind, maybe for some of you, in order to kind of make this a little more descriptive, maybe what makes your choice such a difficult one is sometimes you're having to choose between something that you know is maybe good for you, but at the same time, it's not near as appealing as the other choice.
[00:02:42] I'll give you an example. Maybe your doctor says, listen, you really need to eat some more yogurt and less ice cream. And so you go to the refrigerator with every intention in the world to grab that yogurt, but right next door is the ice cream.
[00:02:59] And so what you start to do is you reason in your head, well, they're similar in texture. And so you grab the ice cream. And again, you know, this one's better for you. But again, it's not as appealing as maybe this.
[00:03:11] But I would dare to say a lot of us have faced this, and maybe you're facing it right now that, you know, if you choose this one thing, the difficulty is you're also letting go of another thing.
[00:03:23] I have a buddy that loves motorcycles and sports cars, but he also loves to have children.
[00:03:30] And so what happened in his life is he really struggled with buying a car that was bigger, that could hold the whole family.
[00:03:39] And he loves his kids, but he also loves his motorcycle.
[00:03:45] And the challenge for him, because last time I checked, you can't put a car seat on the back of a Harley. The challenge for him is not that he doesn't love his kids. To him, it's an identity thing.
[00:03:56] If I choose this, that also means that I might be walking away from this.
[00:04:01] I experienced this just like two or three weeks ago. We were in the foyer.
[00:04:07] And on Sunday nights, we have connect groups that are age specific.
[00:04:11] And I text Lorianne, I said, sorry, I'm coming up to our connect group.
[00:04:16] And then she responds, back up, question mark. I'm downstairs.
[00:04:22] I was like, why would you be downstairs? She goes, we're in the teen parents connect group now, and nothing wrong with the team parents Connect group, but in my mind, I just wasn't there. Right. And so it's not that there's anything wrong with that or that, but to me, it was an identity thing. Oh, man, I'm getting a little bit older. My life is changing.
[00:04:43] The reason why I bring up all of those different challenges we face when we make choices. As we get into our text this morning in Ruth chapter three, what we're going to see is this. Ruth has a choice to make.
[00:04:55] And just like you and I, when it comes to these very difficult choices. Wouldn't it be great if we could just say, listen, I'm going to make no choice? But you and I understand sometimes to make no choice is still what.
[00:05:06] It's a choice.
[00:05:07] And no matter what path we pick, we know that whatever it is what we choose, our life is never, ever going to be the same. Ruth is at a crossroads.
[00:05:17] She's gotta make a choice. But here's the thing. This choice is heavy because what she's doing is she's making a choice that's gonna help her to eventually have someone that will redeem her, to redeem her situation. Her life has been a mess. Her life has been filled with pain and hurt.
[00:05:35] But I want us to put ourselves in this narrative this morning, because we're all faced with different choices.
[00:05:42] But the one choice that every single one of us in this room are faced with is this.
[00:05:48] We have a redeemer, Jesus Christ, who loves us.
[00:05:53] He purchases us, and he will buy us back as that redeemer.
[00:05:58] It's one thing to know that.
[00:06:01] It's a completely different thing to make the right response to that.
[00:06:07] And making no response is actually a response.
[00:06:11] And so what we're gonna do this morning is we're gonna look at, as we go through this narrative, the very heavy and the very difficult choice Ruth has to make and how it's emblematic of our own choice that we have with Jesus Christ. See, what you're gonna find this morning is something so powerful in how God put together this text, that what you're gonna see is that the steps that Ruth has to take to be redeemed by a man named Boaz are very symbolic of the steps you and I take in order to be redeemed by Jesus Christ.
[00:06:46] But I also want us to understand there's a big difference in knowing about a redeemer and making the right response.
[00:06:56] And so as we approach this text this morning, I want to give you a little bit of context. I know we have some guests here with us this morning, and I want to give you just, like, a snippet of the background so the rest will make sense. There was a lady named Naomi, and Naomi was married, and the two of them were married. And they had two boys and they had a awesome farm. They were enjoying the land and all that came with that. And then their two boys got married to these two women. Well, life seems to be going well. But then a famine strikes the land.
[00:07:27] They lose their farm, they lose their land.
[00:07:31] And y' all know, just like I do, those People like, no matter what they seem to do, it's like they get bad news after bad news after bad news. That's what's happening here.
[00:07:39] What happened was Naomi lost her husband. And soon after that, what happened was the two boys, their sons, they both died.
[00:07:49] So during this day, it's not like today, Naomi was a widow. She had no prospect of a future. It wasn't like there was government assistance that would step in to help her. She was all on her own. And so because of that, she says, you know what? I've got to make a move. And you and I have talked about this. It's one of the most powerful things that we can do. That when we're down and we're out, we're discouraged, we're disappointed, is not just to sit there, but understand, right, we have to make a choice. And so she decides to go to Bethlehem.
[00:08:19] She goes there because she hears that there's a harvest. And so she then tells her two daughters in law, here, here's what I want you to do. Y' all go, you know, find your own husband. You stay here and I'm going to go to Bethlehem. And then one of the daughters in law, where the book is named after Ruth, says, I'm going to go with you.
[00:08:36] In fact, where you go, I'm going to go. Where you stay, I'm going to stay. But then she said this.
[00:08:43] I want your people to be my people and your God that you serve to be the God that I serve.
[00:08:49] And she left everything that was comfortable to follow her mother in law.
[00:08:56] It's incredible.
[00:08:58] And so we met last week a man named Boaz. Because when they get to Bethlehem, there's this harvest. They need jobs. They have to have some kind of income. And what happens to Ruth? She's working in this field and she locks eyes with a man named Boaz. And Boaz notices her.
[00:09:15] And we talked about this last week. I love how Brandon shared that Boaz is the kind of guy that you would want to be your boss.
[00:09:21] Y' all probably worked in places before where people bark out orders, but, like, they don't actually know what's going on. That's not this guy. He's involved in what's happening in the field. But there's this amazing scene that may seem like a little deal, but if you work for somebody, you would understand this is a blessing. He walks out into that field and said, listen, I see what you guys are doing. May the Lord bless you. May the Lord provide for you.
[00:09:45] And so in the middle of that Ruth takes notice of this guy and he takes notice of her.
[00:09:50] And as if it were, as Brandon mentioned last week, they kind of have their first date, things are going well, sparks are flying, and this is conjecture. I just imagine that they're having conversations.
[00:10:03] There's no awkward silences.
[00:10:06] They're finishing each other's sandwiches. Jinx, jinx again. So that was for the kids that watch Frozen. Anyway, it is one of those times that things are going really well, but they also get to a point where they have to take that next step.
[00:10:21] And that's what happens in verse one.
[00:10:23] If you'll notice what Naomi says to Ruth. She says this, my daughter in law, should I not seek rest for you?
[00:10:32] That it can be well with you.
[00:10:34] See, as a widow, what she's seeing is like, listen, you have to find rest. And rest was directly connected to being redeemed, somebody taking you under their wing. So basically what she's saying to Ruth is, I've been seeing the way Boaz looks at you and I've been seeing the way you look at Boaz.
[00:10:52] Now has come the time. You have got to make a choice. You will not rest until somebody has has redeemed you.
[00:11:00] This is code for define the relationship.
[00:11:04] Every single relationship gets to this kind of point where we have to ask this question, what are we?
[00:11:13] You know, if you've dated somebody, you've asked this question before.
[00:11:17] I was kind of thinking about this past week before Facebook.
[00:11:20] How did we know people were in a relationship? Well, it was an awkward but yet difficult conversation. You just walk up, be like, hey, would you like to go out? And then he's like, no, she's with me. Okay. You know, like that's kind of how you knew.
[00:11:33] Well, now you have that.
[00:11:37] And so you think, well, do we do like a soft launch for this relationship? You know, we sit together at school, we sit together at lunch, sit together during worship, or do we do the hard launch where we let everybody know we put we're in a relationship. The challenge of that, subconsciously, even though you don't vocalize it, is if we break up and we have to delete all the pictures from the past of us together. So it's a choice no matter what, right?
[00:12:01] And so that's what's happening here. She says, we've got to define what y' all are. We have to decide what you guys are gonna be. And that is very symbolic of what we understand with Jesus Christ. It's one thing to know that we have a redeemer. It's A whole nother thing to rightly respond to that redeemer.
[00:12:18] Every single instance. When Jesus has a one on one with somebody in scripture, this is what he's doing, defining the relationship. Hey, I want to be in heaven with you. That sounds good. Go sell all you have and give your money to the poor. Hey, Jesus, I want to follow you wherever you go. Oh, you do? Well, foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests. Right? It's a crossroads.
[00:12:39] We have that in our own walk with God.
[00:12:42] Ruth is now presented with that. What is this relationship going to be? So Naomi comes up with this idea, and this idea was very symbolic of something they had in their culture.
[00:12:53] To take that next step in a relationship, she says, is not Boaz, our relative with whose young women you were.
[00:13:01] See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor. I want to stop here for a second. But what would happen is this, that after all the barley or whatever harvest it was was collected, whether that's wheat or barley, the men that owned that field would go to the edge of the city at night.
[00:13:20] And the reason why they would go to the edge of the city is because if you're in the middle of the city, you couldn't feel the wind because of all the buildings.
[00:13:27] But if you went to the edge of the city, you could use the wind to throw that wheat or the barley in the air. And what would happen is the heavy part that made you money would hit the floor.
[00:13:36] And whenever it would hit the floor, you could then collect your money. Well, the other reason you would go to the edge of the city, history says, is because what would happen is robbers or thieves would find it if you were in the city and take it from you. So they were trying to isolate themselves.
[00:13:53] But I'm going to give you this detail that may not seem like it's an important detail, but I'm telling you it impacts later, something we're going to read in the text.
[00:14:02] What would oftentimes happen when these men were by themselves at the edge of a city with all of this monetary value?
[00:14:13] Prostitutes would often go to the edge of the city knowing these men were by themselves and they had money as if it were.
[00:14:21] But what you're going to see in just a second is a situation that could have turned awry is actually going to turn into something absolutely pure and beautiful.
[00:14:34] And so then you'll notice that the next piece of advice she has for her, which, by the way, is one of the greatest pieces of advice if you ever want to date or to find a significant other is take a bath, start there.
[00:14:48] She says, just wash.
[00:14:51] You know, last time he saw you in the field, you had some dirt under your fingernails. You lost your glow, your mascara was, you know, we gotta do something, right. Last time he saw you didn't look the greatest. But the other part of that is not just to wash yourself, but I want you to anoint yourself.
[00:15:08] Now, in this culture, washing and anointing, if you look in the book of Genesis, first and Second Samuel, these were oftentimes a sign that life is now about to change.
[00:15:18] In fact, when it says here to put on your cloak, what that means is, if you were a widow, you would wear a widow's garment.
[00:15:25] And remember earlier in the text, people were like, there's that widow. There's that. They could tell that she was in mourning. And so now what she's doing, she's washing herself, she's anointing herself, and she's putting on something new.
[00:15:39] And whenever you did this in this culture, what's interesting, it was actually showing the fact that you were open and available to date to possibly be proposed to or eventually be married.
[00:15:52] Now, the reason why I also want to point that out is here's what's an interesting connection for us, is that anytime in Scripture, someone washed and was anointed. The instance after that anointing was their assignment.
[00:16:08] A lot of times I've seen, and maybe you've fallen victim into this. Like I have is, you know, you go into the watery grave of baptism and you think, well, when I'm a more mature Christian, when I'm an older Christian, when I know more, when I've seen more and I've grown more, then I can serve.
[00:16:24] That is not the mindset of God. There's a direct connection between your anointing and your assignment that she understands. All right, now that I have anointed myself, now I've got to do something.
[00:16:37] You notice this throughout her life, and Naomi's life, too, that we have to get ourselves up off the ground. We now have to do something.
[00:16:44] And so it says this. When he lies down, talking about Boaz, I want you to observe the place where he is lying, and then uncover his feet and lie down, and he will tell you what to do.
[00:16:58] And she replied, all that you say, I will do. Most translations actually say, I want you to go to his feet and I want you to wait.
[00:17:09] Now, if you're like me and you read this, you're like, what is going on? In fact, I think I told you Guys, Wednesday night, when I read it, I was like, say what? Like, what is happening here?
[00:17:19] What is, you know, Naomi advising and what is Ruth doing?
[00:17:25] And here's the challenge of this text.
[00:17:28] This. The challenge of this text is really true about every single piece of Scripture.
[00:17:33] You have to have two things. You have to have context, and you have to have the text.
[00:17:38] But I want to say this. There are so many moments in Scripture if you just try to interpret something word for word without understanding the whole context, you'll miss what is actually being said. And this is one of those perfect examples.
[00:17:52] In fact, the way that bibleproject put it, when I was listening to their podcast on this, they said that if you look at these words, and this is where people get hung up in this narrative, is that they're thinking, is this something sexual that's happening here? Is that the focus? Is that the emphasis? And I'll go ahead and tell you the answer is no. But they said two things can be true at once. There can be words that do mean sexual things in that culture according to how they would go about taking that next step in a relationship, but nothing like that is actually being done. What's actually happening here? If you notice that she's saying, I want you to go to sit at his feet and wait, and then we're going to see in just a second that Boaz is making a very respectable decision. She's being respectful, he's being respectable. Neither of them are going into this situation trying to find pleasure, but to find a redeemer, not to put themselves first, but to be protected. What you're actually going to see is this man is never driven by lust, but he's also, more than anything, probably driven most of all by loyalty. So as we work through this, I want us to understand that going into it, that all of what's happening here is with the goal of her being redeemed. That's the main goal.
[00:19:12] And so when you hear this phrase redeemer, Brandon touched on it last week, some of your Bibles will say, kinsman, redeemer. Some of your translations will say, guardian, redeemer, same thing. And what would happen is in Levitical law, and you find this in the book of Leviticus, that there would be these guardian or kinsman redeemers. And here's how this worked. Do you all remember in the Old Testament when God gave different groups of people land? He's all right, this is your land, and this is your land and your land. Well, then what would happen is if the husband died and there was no husband, and she had all this land.
[00:19:48] What she could then look to is a guardian or kinsman, redeemer. This sounds odd, but I'm just reporting the news. What would happen was she would find the next to kin that would take her in to marry her in order for her to be able to keep that land. But also, here's what's neat. To honor that man's name that had passed away and keep it in his name.
[00:20:12] So that was the goal of it. You would just look for the next Redeemer. So that's what was going on. So when Boaz had eaten and drunk, it says, his heart was merry. He went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain.
[00:20:24] Then she came softly to him, uncovered his feet and laid down.
[00:20:30] It says this at midnight. The man was startled. Now, that is a very funny word. In the Hebrew, it literally means shaken.
[00:20:38] And the image I kept having in my mind is, I don't know if y' all have ever had this happen to you, where you're asleep at night, you're laying in bed, you don't even hear anything, and you don't see anything. But somehow you feel that somebody has just walked into the room. And you open your eyes and your kid is, like, standing there. Hello, Father. You know, at the end of the bed, you're like, oh, like, that's what's happening here. He is scared to death. You know, you're like, why would you do that? I'm gonna kick you. But he turned over and behold, there was a woman laying at his feet. And he said, who are you?
[00:21:09] And she answered, I'm Ruth, your servant.
[00:21:14] Spread your wings over your servant, for you are a redeemer. I told you. As the text unfolds, it helps explain some of those other difficult to define terms.
[00:21:24] When it says, spread the wings over your garment, of your garment over me. What that is referring to was a tradition in the east, which, by the way, modern Jews, some of them, and Hindus actually still practice this, where the man will have, like, a really long garment. And if he puts the edge or the wing of that garment over her, he is signifying that he's going to marry her, to provide for her, to protect her.
[00:21:53] And so that's kind of what's happening here. Now, here's what's neat.
[00:21:57] We're about to see a messianic connection. But there's also a connection for Ruth. It says in Ruth, chapter two. Remember when he saw them working, he said, listen, I see you ladies that you're in a place that's new for you, but you're still working. He said, may the Lord bless you. And then in Ruth 2:12, it says, this, may you find. He says this to Ruth, may you find refuge under the wings of our Lord.
[00:22:25] So you see what she's doing?
[00:22:27] She's taking his own words. And this one thing in a culture saying, I'm trying to put myself in a place to be redeemed, to be protected, to be taken care of. But here's what's amazing.
[00:22:41] So in Malachi, chapter four, verse two, it says that one day a savior is coming, that there will be healing under his wings.
[00:22:53] Now, that's amazing. But you fast forward. Do you remember in the Gospels when there was Jesus walking on his way to heal Jairus daughter?
[00:23:02] And y' all remember how packed it was? Like, it was shoulder to shoulder. Y' all been to probably like a.
[00:23:07] Like a New Year's Eve celebration or something like that, where you're. You're like, I don't want to be this sandwiched against people, but here I am. Like, that's kind of what it was. And even though all these people are pressing up against him, he feels a woman what touch the wing of his garment.
[00:23:27] She was a woman that had an issue of blood for 30 years. And the moment she touches the wing of his garment, it says what?
[00:23:35] The blood stopped.
[00:23:38] Isn't it powerful to see? Here we're getting a picture of what is to come, that we're going to serve a savior, that we are now under his wings, and we find redemption and we find healing. And I was not going to mention this or nearly in the lesson. I went back and forth, but I did want to mention this because this is not what the lesson's about. But I do think it's important because some of the things that I read and some of the lessons I listened to about this kind of were saying, hey, just throw yourself out there. Put yourself out there. Like, that's the emphasis. That is not the emphasis of the text.
[00:24:11] In fact, and I just want to say this. If you read Song of Solomon, he says, promise me, O woman of Jerusalem, not to awaken love until the time is right. Do not awaken love until the time is right.
[00:24:22] What I'm saying is a wise person in a relationship, if you want to honor God with purity, you're not thinking, how close can I get to that line? If you're thinking from the standpoint of how close to the line I can get or can I get, you've already Lost the battle. Okay? That's not what's happening here. Both of them are going into this situation, one with loyalty, one with respect, one being respectable, one with a mindset to protect.
[00:24:48] And so he said, may the Lord bless you. By the Lord, my daughter, he said, you have made this last kindness. There's that word we keep seeing, that chesed, which is a different kind of kindness, a different kind of love is greater than even the first. He's saying how you're handling this moment is even better than you've handled moments before.
[00:25:08] He says this, that you have not gone after young men, whether poor or rich. He's basically saying you could have been a person that found the easy way to get out of this situation, but that's not how you are.
[00:25:19] He says, my daughter, do not fear. I will do all that you ask.
[00:25:24] And I love this statement, for all my fellow townsmen know that you are a worthy woman.
[00:25:33] Don't tell me reputation doesn't matter.
[00:25:36] But do you see what's happening here?
[00:25:38] They are the kind of people that in private, are handling themselves with purity and loyalty and grace.
[00:25:46] But this is also evident that in public, they're handling themselves with purity, loyalty and grace.
[00:25:54] Brandon talked about this last week. Integrity is us choosing to do what's right when no one's around and no one's looking.
[00:26:03] But I was thinking about it for myself, and I think we could all challenge ourselves to make sure that the person that I am in private is also the same person I am in public and vice versa.
[00:26:15] Because I'll tell you, it's easy, I think, for us as men. I'll just speak to us to give like 100 when it comes to the job.
[00:26:26] And we give so much there and pour so much into there that what ends up happening is job gets the best and our family gets what's left.
[00:26:36] But it can be in anything in life.
[00:26:39] What set her up for the opportunity to take this next step was the person she was in private and in public, and the same for Boaz.
[00:26:47] And notice what it says, that she was a worthy woman.
[00:26:51] That's a word in the Hebrew that really means a lot. If you've ever read Proverbs 31, you've come across this word.
[00:26:57] It means that she was a person of strength, of loyalty, of reputation, and she was a person of virtue.
[00:27:05] And so this is what the text goes on to say. And now it is true that I am your redeemer.
[00:27:11] Yet there is a redeemer nearer than I remember. The law that, yes, you know I could redeem you, but the law says that there has to be somebody that's closer. I want you to stay here tonight in the morning. If he will redeem you, then good, let him do it. But if he is not willing to redeem you, then as the Lord lives, I will redeem you. Lie down here into the morning. Here's what happens. There's an obstacle and what I love so much about this guy because remember when I told you the decisions that we make in private are going to impact the decisions one day we make in public, that this is amazing to me that this guy is handling himself so well in the middle of all of this. He also says, you know what? Technically the law says we got to look around to see who is the right person.
[00:27:58] I want to do this the right way.
[00:28:02] But can we also acknowledge for just a second how incredible it is that this man is even considering redeeming her?
[00:28:11] Let me ask you, is this man by law obligated to redeem her?
[00:28:17] No, he's not.
[00:28:20] But yet he's going through a step and a process to possibly do so.
[00:28:25] Sound familiar?
[00:28:28] To know that we have a savior that died for us and by law we are guilty.
[00:28:37] He has no obligation to save you or me.
[00:28:42] In fact, what's a really good thing is if you think about it, we've talked about this before. Isn't it good news that God doesn't make contracts with us as long as you keep up your end of the deal, Andrew, we got something going on. But yet he makes a covenant that says, listen, even when, as we talked about in Romans, you sin, you fallen short of the grace of God, insert Jesus Christ, that he's somebody that has no legal obligation but yet seeks to redeem her.
[00:29:09] And here's what I love about him is he says this, he says, bring the garment you are wearing and I want you to hold it out.
[00:29:15] So she held it out and he measured out six measures of barley and put it on her. Then she went into the city and when she came to her mother in law, she said, how did you fare, my daughter? So this is one of those terms in the Hebrew that is also impactful. What she's really saying is, hey, has your status changed?
[00:29:35] Are you in a relationship now?
[00:29:38] It's like, what's the latest with you and Boaz?
[00:29:41] And then she says, these six measures of barley he gave to me for he said, you must not go back empty handed to your mother in law. I love the fact that he sees an obstacle, but then he also sees Hey, I can do something for her right now. Here's what's neat.
[00:30:01] When a measure of barley one was two and a half gallons.
[00:30:09] I don't know about y'. All. There's certain moments in scripture I want to see when I get to heaven, I want to see this woman carry in her dress six times two and a half gallons to get to him, okay?
[00:30:22] But here's what's scripturally and spiritually significant about this. If you notice, it's six.
[00:30:29] He says, I'm providing you something, but the provision is not complete.
[00:30:34] You know what the number six means in Scripture? Incomplete.
[00:30:38] Do you remember when that young person was sick and it was the what, the sixth hour?
[00:30:45] Do you remember in the narrative with the woman at the well? She had had five husbands. The guy she was with at the time was not her husband.
[00:30:52] She was incomplete. She's about to meet that seventh relationship, the one that needed healing, is about to meet that Savior. What he's saying is, I'm going to give you something, but I want you to understand what you have is not going to fill you. It's not going to complete you. It's not going to make you whole, which is going to set up her redemption.
[00:31:11] So what are some things we can take from this well, number one, it's wise to put yourself in the right place to increase the odds of being with the right person.
[00:31:21] Place matters, and the person matters.
[00:31:26] And this is true for dating. This is true for any relationship.
[00:31:32] And so if you're like, man, I don't like what I'm getting out of all these relationships, well, stop going the same places.
[00:31:37] If you want to change what you're getting, change where you're going.
[00:31:42] The second thing is this. If you want a relationship that honors God in the future, here's when it starts.
[00:31:47] Now, if you want a relationship that honors God, let me tell you when that starts. Here's where you practice.
[00:31:55] Now, I've heard myself say it, and I heard other couples say it in premarital counseling. And they'll say something like this, well, when we get married, I know I'll do much better at this.
[00:32:09] Like a ring on a finger. And saying I do is going to change everything you've done before.
[00:32:16] Yes, God can redeem.
[00:32:19] But also, here's what I want you to notice. What was it that caused him when his heart was merry and he had all this stuff and there was a girl right there to still make the right choice? Here's what.
[00:32:31] When he made the good choice to be a good leader, at home when he made a good choice to be a good leader in the fields.
[00:32:38] Who we are in private impacts who we are in public and vice versa. This is a guy and a girl that have made very good decisions that set them up in the future.
[00:32:49] We've talked about this before, that if we want to understand what we're gonna look like, what we're gonna be, you are and I am the sum total of our five closest relationships, no question.
[00:33:00] That's why we say a lot that, you know, future you is just an exaggerated version of current you.
[00:33:06] So look at what you're a part of.
[00:33:08] Here's the other thing that I think about with Ruth that I think is also important for us to remember. In order to take that next step, we have to remove whatever's holding us back. We have to.
[00:33:19] We can't be holding on to something while still trying to take a step. You can't be sweeping something under the rug while also trying to take a step that what Ruth did. If you remember, this is a part of what we talked about earlier. In order to be what we need to be in the future is what we choose today. Remember when Naomi's like, listen, I'm going to Bethlehem. And what did she say? I'm going with you.
[00:33:39] I'm going to leave these Moabite gods, I'm going to leave this lifestyle. And that kind of mindset helped her for this moment.
[00:33:48] She's like, listen, I used to walk around in tears. I used to walk around in sadness in these widow garments. Listen, I'm still not excited about my situation. But I know, just like Naomi, my mother in law, said that example, she got herself up and she walked, I gotta change what I'm doing. I'm gonna put on this new outfit. I'm gonna make myself presentable. I'm gonna change something, do something.
[00:34:09] And so I want us to think about, for us, what is it that's holding us back.
[00:34:13] And as you think about that in your own life, it's not just enough to know that there is someone that wants to redeem you.
[00:34:21] We finally get to a point where we have to make a response. And by making no response, we still are making a response. And the final thing is this. Without a redeemer, there is no rest.
[00:34:34] Do you remember in verse one where Naomi came up to her and she said, hey, we've gotten to a point. Now. This relationship has got to be defined.
[00:34:44] If it's not defined, you will have no rest.
[00:34:49] There's a direct connection between our redemption and the Rest, we feel.
[00:34:54] And you think, well, what about my situation right now? Because I'm kind of like Naomi, but in a different way. We've had this go wrong and this go wrong, and this go wrong, and this go wrong. Here's what I want to tell you. In job, chapter 19, there's a man that's been through a lot, too.
[00:35:08] He lost his farm, he lost some of his family, his crops.
[00:35:15] But in Job, chapter 19, he says this word, redeemer. And by the way, the word redeemer, when you hear it, that's like, that's a church word, right? But what it means is it's someone who purchases or buys back. It's the idea I can just purchase you outright. You've never been purchased before, or I've purchased you before, but you ran away and I'm gonna buy you back. It has kind of two different meanings to it.
[00:35:38] And this is what Job said. After losing it all.
[00:35:42] He said, I know which speaks to certainty, that my. Which speaks to personal redeemer lives.
[00:35:55] He said, after my skin has been destroyed, and even after I've given my body to the flames, I know that my Redeemer lives. And at the end, he's going to be standing there at last.
[00:36:12] Maybe it's not the fact that you've lost a lot. You're just weary.
[00:36:16] You're tired.
[00:36:18] In Matthew, chapter 11, the context to this very powerful verse was that Jesus has just told the followers that he has near him. All authority has been given to me by the Father. What I'm sharing with you is directly from God above. And this is what he says.
[00:36:36] He says, come to me, all you who labor.
[00:36:41] And you're weary and you're heavy laden, and I will give you what.
[00:36:48] I will give you what rest.
[00:36:52] Are you weary?
[00:36:54] Are you tired?
[00:36:56] Are you frustrated?
[00:36:59] Do you feel undeserving?
[00:37:02] He says all.
[00:37:04] All kind of sounds like John 3:16, right?
[00:37:10] For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that what whosoever may come to him and have everlasting life, there's a direct connection between your redemption and your rest.
[00:37:28] Maybe you're here today, and as you think about being redeemed, you know it.
[00:37:33] You know there is somebody that died for you, and you didn't deserve it, but he wants to make this covenant with you.
[00:37:41] And so maybe today what you need to do is just to be purchased, to let him purchase you, to buy you, to complete you. Maybe you're like me in this room. And what happened is, oh, you've been purchased but you know how we have those eyes that tend to wonder, to stray, to walk away from the one that we love the most, and maybe that's you. And you need to be bought back.
[00:38:04] When it says that he redeems, he purchases, but he also buys back.
[00:38:09] And so if you're here this morning and you're weary, you're tired, you're frustrated, you have two different options. One of those is this that you can walk to one of the exits.
[00:38:20] Every single Sunday, we have our shepherds that are standing there, and they oftentimes go into rooms with people and pray for them and the different things they're facing. Or you can walk down right here.
[00:38:31] So if you're here this morning and you want to be purchased, if you're here this morning and you want to be brought back, here's what I want to remind you of.
[00:38:40] Come to Jesus, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and he will give you rest. So whatever it is that you have in need of, please come. While we stand, we sing this song.
