08.28.2011 Ruth - Decisive Actions in Faith Provide Positive Outcomes

Ruth 3:1 Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, "My daughter, shall I not seek security for you, that it may be well with you? 2 "And now is not Boaz our kinsman, with whose maids you were? Behold, he winnows barley at the threshing floor tonight. 3 "Wash yourself therefore, and anoint yourself and put on your [best] clothes, and go down to the threshing floor; [but] do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. 4 "And it shall be when he lies down, that you shall notice the place where he lies, and you shall go and uncover his feet and lie down; then he will tell you what you shall do." 5 And she said to her, "All that you say I will do." 6 So she went down to the threshing floor and did according to all that her mother-in-law had commanded her. 7 When Boaz had eaten and drunk and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain; and she came secretly, and uncovered his feet and lay down. 8 And it happened in the middle of the night that the man was startled and bent forward; and behold, a woman was lying at his feet. 9 And he said, "Who are you?" And she answered, "I am Ruth your maid. So spread your covering over your maid, for you are a close relative." 10 Then he said, "May you be blessed of the Lord, my daughter. You have shown your last kindness to be better than the first by not going after young men, whether poor or rich. 11 "And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you whatever you ask, for all my people in the city know that you are a woman of excellence. 12 "And now it is true I am a close relative; however, there is a relative closer than I. 13 "Remain this night, and when morning comes, if he will redeem you, good; let him redeem you. But if he does not wish to redeem you, then I will redeem you, as the Lord lives. Lie down until morning." 14 So she lay at his feet until morning and rose before one could recognize another; and he said, "Let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor." 15 Again he said, "Give me the cloak that is on you and hold it." So she held it, and he measured six [measures] of barley and laid [it] on her. Then she went into the city. 16 And when she came to her mother-in-law, she said, "How did it go, my daughter?" And she told her all that the man had done for her. 17 And she said, "These six [measures] of barley he gave to me, for he said, 'Do not go to your mother-in-law empty-handed.'" 18 Then she said, "Wait, my daughter, until you know how the matter turns out; for the man will not rest until he has settled it today."

Lord, thank You for Your word and the truth that reveals what You have done for us. YOU have redeemed us – you have bought us out of our sinand forgiven us. You are working on our behalf. You can be trusted when it appears our circumstances are falling apart. Help us to learn to cast all our anxieties on You for You care for us. Encourage us, speak to us, challenge us in our faith. Helps us to be people of faith.

As we read this, we probably ask, what is all that about?! There is a lot of debate about what all of this means. There are different perspectives and we will never answer that question. There are things taking place, though, that are clear and relate to faith.
Naomi is a type of Jacob – someone who schemes to get things to work her way. She appears to be trying to force Boaz’s hand. They had no way to support themselves, so she is basically trying to get Ruth married – if Ruth is married, she will also be taken care of. She may be willing to compromise some things to make this happen – but we don’t really know that. With Ruth, we see something different – she is really about FAITH IN ACTION. She is a person who, by faith, takes decisive action and it changes her future. The thing I want to ask you to think about – When is the last time you took a step of faith? Decisive action? And now what? Where does God want me to step out in faith that will change my future? God wants us to be thinking that way and acting that way all the time. He wants us to be living a life of faith – it may not be secure – it may put us in dangerous circumstances. We’ll look at wisdom as well – but as you read this, think about your own life.
This is going to be a bit more of a topical sermon, now that we’ve read the whole chapter.
The first thing we see about Ruth – she knows her need. She knows she is in a desperate situation – and often, for us, it takes that – a desperate situation. When things tend to be okay, we tend to not take risks or big steps of faith. But when things get desperate, there is this deep need for God.
Dave Brunelle told me a story about two good ole boys sitting on a porch on rocking chairs with a hound dog near them. Every once in a while, the hound dog would howl. The one guy says – Why is he howling? He is lying on a nail. Why doesn’t he get off the nail? I guess it’s not painful enough yet!
We need to be desperate for God, to trust Him fully – to do whatever it takes in order to experience God working in our lives. If we to honestly ask ourselves, do we REALLY want God to work in our lives? Yes, but not if it involves some pain!
We see with Ruth a tremendous faith in Naomi’s God. The writer is, in some ways, saying – when the Jews waver in faith, God pulls in a foreigner to show them His way. You see this with Jesus and many Gentiles…
The second thing we see – she is in a subordinate role – a daughter-in-law, a foreigner, and she doesn’t have a lot of say in things. Oftentimes, there are things in our own lives that we can’t control. If you are a student, you are in a subordinate role to the school – we are in a subordinate role to the government – and we should all be in a subordinate role to God - and when you are in a subordinate role, your faith grows.
For us – even when we are not in subordinate roles in life, we need to have the same attitude, that only God and God alone can provide. This doesn’t relieve us of our responsibilities. There is that old hymn – when we reach the end of our hoarded resources, our Father’s full giving has only begun. I think that is a reality – God b rings us to the end when we just can’t do it anymore. We want it to happen without getting to the end. But say you have a problem area – you have to recognize that you can’t do it on your own – I have no resources inside of me to change. And at that point we open ourselves to the resources of God, who has all the resources we need to change.
The next thing we see with Ruth – it is not a blind leap of faith. Remember the Indiana Jones movies – He gets to a point where he has to make a blind leap – and that is not really faith. But Ruth goes down to the threshing floor – and Boaz later says, let it not be said that a woman was at the threshing floor – So it is what it is – but she went down purposefully in faith.
Deut 25:5 "When brothers live together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be [married] outside [the family] to a strange man. Her husband's brother shall go in to her and take her to himself as wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. 6 "And it shall be that the first-born whom she bears shall assume the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out from Israel. 7 "But if the man does not desire to take his brother's wife, then his brother's wife shall go up to the gate to the elders and say, 'My husband's brother refuses to establish a name for his brother in Israel; he is not willing to perform the duty of a husband's brother to me.'
It was the responsibility of the family – when there was a widow, for the next member of the family to provide. They were acting on God’s word. When it comes to stepping out in faith, it is not about just doing it for the thrill, but stepping out on God’s commands and instructions in His word.
In one sense – what Ruth is doing – she is challenging the system – the community – challenging them to do what they are supposed to do. Someone is supposed to take her as his wife – but no one was doing it – so she steps up to make it happen. With faith sometimes – it takes decisive action to make happen what God calls to happen.
In doing this, Ruth is risking. When you get into a circumstance like this, it can either inspire and ignite faith, or it can cause despair and paralysis. We see each in the Bible. To go into action is a decision – faith is really a decision – what will I do, how will I respond.
The story here is to help us respond like Ruth. There is tremendous risk here – both in her reputation and her safety. She is going against the cultural norm – to go down where women are no supposed to be. Now she had a word from God. We too often seek security first. The life of faith is a life of risk. We hav eto do it with a purpose. But God is showing the need to step out into the unknown – the dangerous, in a sense – for Him and His behalf.
This has to be balanced with trusting God and going after what you need. Let go and Let God is not really a verse – but there is scriptural truth in that. Ruth’s faith made her charge ahead. She went full-go into it with courage and risky action. To uncover his feet and lie down ther e- that is very forward.
When Moses gets to the Red Sea, he doesn’t know what to do – and God says – stand and see My Salavation! That sounds great! But BEFORE that Moses had to go back and back and back to Pharaoh. You may get to rest and watch after you’ve done all the obeying and obeying and obeying!
There are still obstacles to overcome – We’ll talk about the kinsman redeemer next week. If the oldest son dies, the next oldest must marry the woman. And in this situation – there was one closer. Naomi and Ruth looked at Boaz – he was a great catch (You can imagine Naomi like the Jewish mother… Have you noticed Boaz? He’s a handsome guy… You should go down there!)
Finally – when we think about Ruth – when she comes home at the end – Boaz gave her those measures of grain to ‘not go back to her mother-in-law empty-handed.’ I think Ruth recognized that her decisive actions in faith would provide a positive outcome for Naomi as well. Our faith needs to be for the benefit of others as well. People will benefit from your decisive action in faith.
Let’s pray
Lord, help us, as Ruth, to take steps of faith – to not fear, to know when we are to take decisive action and then to do it in ways that please You.
There is no 9:30 service next week – just a breakfast.
Kent is looking for people to help Thursday night from 9-11 – there is a sign-up sheet for that.