08.21.2011 Ruth 3 - When Only God can Solve Your Problem

08.21.2011 Grace Summit Sermon - Ruth p.3 - When Only God Can Solve Your Problem from Grace Summit on Vimeo.

Lord, we are here, not because of church, but because of You. Allow me to speak Your word kindly, accurately, and clearly. May Your Holy Spirit work in our hearts – May Your word be free in us.
Ruth is the story of two women, Naomi and Ruth. There was famine in Bethlehem. Naomi went to Moab. Naomi comes back to Israel – they are back in Bethlehem. They have no way of providing for themselves. They were in a difficult situation – they didn’t have social services and life insurance policies – they were looking at a life of extreme poverty.
Ruth 2:1 Now Naomi had a kinsman of her husband, a man of great wealth, of the family of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz.
If you have never read this story – in v 1 of chapter 2, we are introduced to the knight in shining armor. He comes to wrestle, er, rescue – well, he might wrestle, but he comes to rescue the damsel in distress. Through all the difficulty, we learn that God is good. Naomi and Ruth have a lot of pain – but through this we see that God is still good and will bring about His good purposes in our lives. That is what this story is about.
2 And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, "Please let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after one in whose sight I may find favor." And she said to her, "Go, my daughter."
This is a deeper story. This leads to Jesus – What did Jesus do when He was here – Who did He go to? The outsiders. We tend to think we are the chosen ones – yes, we are chosen by God, but that does not mean that those out there are not worthy of what is in here.
Gary Haugen – International Justice Mission – rescue girls from the sex slave trade. “God is in the business of using the unlikely to perform the holy”
. 2 And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, "Please let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after one in whose sight I may find favor." And she said to her, "Go, my daughter."
Ruth goes out to glean. We will see throughout this story God bringing about His good purpose. But we also see Ruth continually taking action. She initiates – she figures it out – there is a way to get food – there is a law that allows me to do this – this is a significant act of faith. It takes a significant risk, what she is about to do.
Leviticus 19: 9 'Now when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, neither shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest.
You can go by a farm, and they take it all. They weren’t allowed to do that in Israel. They couldn’t pick the corn or fruit or wheat on the outskirts of the land.
10 'Nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger. I am the Lord your God.
Alan and Annette are applying this to the garden at Joe and Gigi’s with their tomatoes!
But this is how they take care of one another. Ruth somehow knows this – and goes to take advantage of this opportunity. Naomi is living in despair (Maura) – But Ruth COULD be in despair, but she is taking action.
3 So she departed and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers; and she happened to come to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.
KJV:
3 And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on a part of the field [belonging] unto Boaz, who [was] of the kindred of Elimelech
Her hap was to light on a part – this was not planned on the part of Ruth – but we see Ruth acting and through those choices, God works to bring about His good purpose. We must make choices and decisions and God will work. There is a coordination of Ruth’s free will and God’s providence and sovereignty.
Alistair Begg said this: “We are not held in the grip of blind deterministic forces, nor are we bobbing around on the ocean of chance. “
Ruth chooses faith in Yahweh. She chooses to believe that God is her God. Each of us must come to that point in our lives.
God is asking, Are you going to trust Me in this?
Daily, we have to decide, will we trust in this circumstance?
4 And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, The LORD [be] with you. And they answered him, The LORD bless thee
And this should be read, BEHOLD! At that moment! Boaz shows up. It is obvious that God is moving to connect Boaz and Ruth together.
5 Then Boaz said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, "Whose young woman is this?" 6 And the servant in charge of the reapers answered and said, "She is the young Moabite woman who returned with Naomi from the land of Moab. 7 "And she said, 'Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.' Thus she came and has remained from the morning until now; she has been sitting in the house for a little while."
8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, "Listen carefully, my daughter. Do not go to glean in another field; furthermore, do not go on from this one, but stay here with my maids. 9 "Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them. Indeed, I have commanded the servants not to touch you. When you are thirsty, go to the water jars and drink from what the servants draw." 10 Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground and said to him, "Why have I found favor in your sight that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?"
The word, favor – is similar to the word grace. Boaz comes and offers grace in providing for Ruth’s needs. She recognizes her helpless state as a foreigner – and recognizes this grace/favor being offered to her – and through her faith in that, she is connected to Boaz. This is a picture of how a person comes to Jesus, isn’t it? A person must recognize that they are helpless, have no provision for themselves, and recognize that God is offering a gift to us. Boaz is the kinsman redeemer – we’ll look at that next week – but he is a picture of Jesus. God uses Ruth’s understanding and faith to reveal and give her His mercy.
11 And Boaz answered and said to her, "All that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband has been fully reported to me, and how you left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and came to a people that you did not previously know. 12 "May the Lord reward your work, and your wages be full from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge."
Ruth knew it was not just about her mother-in-law, but about God. She understood that God was the answer to her problems. It was not about gleaning or social services, but about God. This is often how God works – He gets us to the point where only He can solve our problem. He gets us to the point where He is the only answer. You’ve been there, haven’t you? When we turn to Him for mercy, He is able to show mercy.
We see the hand of God, and Ruth’s free choices – and it is easy to come up with a question – what if? What if Ruth didn’t go out to glean? What if she didn’t ‘happen’ to end up at Boaz’s field? The simple answer is, There are no what ifs! We could spend our whole lives asking what if. Ruth made decisions – God directed her to the field of Boaz. God’s direction is not easy – it is difficult for Ruth – it was painful. But the other thing we see – God’s hand working does not eliminate our responsibility to make good choices. Whatever will be will be? No! That might make a good song.
But we want to abdicate to God our responsibility – and that is not good – it does not relieve us of the responsibility to work hard or invalidate our efforts.
Phil. 1: 6 [For I am] confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. 7 For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all, because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of grace with me. 8 For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; 11 having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which [comes] through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. 12 Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, 13 so that my imprisonment in [the cause of] Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else,
It is faith and works – we have faith – then we have works that demonstrate our faith.
God doesn’t intend for us to be passive. You do not see passive people in the Bible – you see people aggressively going after what God has called them to. We don’t leave it to ‘fate’ – yes, God is sovereign, but we need to have a proper understanding of this.

13 Then she said, "I have found favor in your sight, my lord, for you have comforted me and indeed have spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your maidservants."
14 And at mealtime Boaz said to her, "Come here, that you may eat of the bread and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar." So she sat beside the reapers; and he served her roasted grain, and she ate and was satisfied and had some left. 15 When she rose to glean, Boaz commanded his servants, saying, "Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not insult her. 16 "And also you shall purposely pull out for her [some grain] from the bundles and leave [it] that she may glean, and do not rebuke her."
His favor was so much greater than she expected.