Audio Transcript:
Good morning. Welcome to Mosaic church Brookline. My name is Jan. I'm one of the pastors here at Mosaic. Hopefully you've got a nice mask like I do. I got this from my dad. My only problem with this thing is, fogs up my glasses so can't see a thing. Happy Mother's Day, everyone. Here in the beginning, just a quick announcement. Could you do me a favor? If you're watching on Facebook right now, could you please hit the share button? I hate to ask. Feels like self-promotion, but it's basically the easiest way to share the gospel ever. Just press that button. Or if you're watching on YouTube, hit the subscribe button, and like, and comments and all that. It helps us get the word out. Also, if you are visiting, welcome. If you're not part of the Mosaic Brookline community, we'd love to connect with you and we do that through the connection guide. The link will be down in the comments on the Facebook Live premiere. And then also, we have another connection card either on our website or in our app, which you can get in the app store or Google Play. Just search for Mosaic Boston.
We're so glad you here. Happy Mother's Day. We're so thankful for our moms. We love our moms and we're praying for them. We're thinking and honoring all the mothers in our community. And this day and age, mothers are clearly, clearly essential workers. More work than ever. Salary has not increased. I see this with my own wife, Tanya. She's an incredible mother to our four daughters, working harder than ever. So we're praying for you. I'm praying for the fruit of the spirit in your life, in particular, patience. As we pray for our mothers, we also pray and honor those who are pregnant today in this crazy season to be pregnant. You are already mothers and we're praying for you, for the Lord to strengthen you and comfort you and sustain you and bless you and the child.
We're also thinking of those who would like to be mothers and are not. Jesus didn't have children. St. Paul didn't have children. There's many great, godly people in scripture who didn't have children. And from God's perspective, spiritual children are as important, if not more important, than physical children. I know many strong, powerful young women in our church who have seen people come to faith through their ministry. Those are your children, and we are to be fathers and mothers to them. Also for anyone who's lost a child, we pray for you, and God the Father knows what you're going through, what you've gone through. He too has lost a child. So here in beginning, I would just like to pray for all the moms and bless them in the name of Jesus Christ, by the power of the spirit. Would you pray with me?
Heavenly father, we're so thankful for the gift of life and we're so thankful for the gift of new life. Lord, we're so thankful for our parents, our fathers and mothers, they're alive. Lord, we pray for them. We pray that you bless them today, in particular the mothers. You told us to honor our fathers and mothers, so we honor our moms today and the moms in the community, moms of physical and spiritual children. I pray that you give them wisdom and knowledge and discernment to raise up these children in the knowledge of the Lord, love for the Lord. Holy Spirit, I pray, fill them with your power, with your fullness, with your love and comfort and wisdom. And I pray that through their ministry at home, what an important ministry that is, what a calling that is. Lord, I pray that you through the spirit bear much spiritual fruit in their lives. Lord, and help us be great children to our parents, to our moms, to honor them well as you've commanded us. And Lord, bless our time in this tremendous book, brilliant book of Ruth. We thank you for the time that you've given us in it, and I pray that you bless the preaching of holy scripture and we pray all this in Christ's holy name. Amen.
If you are tuning in today, if you're new, we've been going through the book of Ruth, all three sermons. The previous ones are online, and we'd love for you to listen to those. They've been a blessing to our community. Next week we are starting a new series through the book of Philippians, so definitely come back. Philippians is a timely book. The title of the series is inner peace in utter chaos, and St. Paul is writing this book about joy and peace that transcends all understanding and he's writing it from prison, from quarantine. Today we're finishing Ruth. We're in Ruth chapter four. The title of the sermon is The Heart of the Deal, not the art of the deal, but The Heart of the Deal, and at the center of the chapter is a transaction between Boaz and another gentlemen and Boaz is motivated by his heart. He's motivated by love.
The story of Ruth, it is a love story, but more importantly it's a story of redemption. Redemption and love are inextricably intertwined because at the heart of redemption is sacrifice. At the heart of love is sacrifice as well, and that's where they meet together. It's not just a love story of hormonal surging love like rom-coms. It's a love story of sacrifice and of redemption. It's a story of costly sacrificial love. And the story of Boaz and Ruth and the whole book of Ruth, it's a prequel to Jesus. Both Ruth and Boaz, they point to Jesus Christ and his redemptive love and that's what we'll talk about today. One of the reasons why we love the story of Ruth, it's such a great story because it points to a greater story. Jesus Christ takes the stories of our lives and when we give him our lives, he takes the tragedies and triumphs and he weaves it into the ultimate tragedy; the death of Jesus Christ, and then the ultimate triumph, which is his resurrection.
Every true story, every powerful story has the same arc; creation, fall and redemption. Think of the greatest stories that you've ever heard, the greatest books you've ever read, the greatest movies that have a lasting impact on your life. If there's no redemption, if the story just ends with loss, fall. If the story is just a descent into lossness, like Camus' The Stranger, Beckett's waiting for Godot, you're left with emptiness. You're left with a pit in your stomach, a bitter taste that you can't get out of your mouth. We long for an ending that's happy, that's full of joy and enduring Christianity is the universal explanation of reality, therefore if we take this our creation fall, redemption and we through it look at the stories that have had a lasting impact, shown endurance and popularity, they all use the same pattern and this can be statistically proven. Of all the books that have ever written, the most popular books of all time, number one is The Bible. Over five billion copies published and so many more now with apps, et cetera. Number two is the writings of Mao Tse-Tung, more than five billion copies as well.
The Bible has been valued for its blessing to the largest religious group on earth and the history of the earth, and Chairman Mao's book has been popular because it's been printed as governmental propagation within the largest nation. Then come the Quran, the Book of Mormon, the Chinese Dictionary, Boy Scout Handbook, all around a hundred million, but if you look at pure literary works of fiction, Charles Dickens' Tale of Two Cities, 200 million. The Little Prince, 200 million. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, 150 million. The Alchemist, 150 million. Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, a hundred million. Tolkien's The Hobbit, 100 million. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, 80 million. All of them creation, fall, redemption, and they try to give a glimmer of restoration. Uncle Tom's Cabin, Gone With the Wind, Ben-Hur, all the stories that have endured and were massively popular, same exact arc.
And that's why we love the book of Ruth. Same exact arc. The heart of the book is a story of redemption. What is redemption? Just to define our terms, redemption is a pattern of debt and repayment. A debt was owed and it was repaid by someone who paid it at a personal cost to themselves. It's loss and reclamation, it's deliverance upon payment. It's rescue from bondage or enslavement or destitution. And most popular enduring works, more or less, they have a Christ-like Redeemer at the heart of it. Dostoevsky and Brothers Karamazov through Father Zosima, this is what he say;, men are always saved after the death of the deliverer. This is the heart of Christianity; that we are lost, that we are spiritually destitute, in poverty, ostracized from the presence of God. And a Redeemer comes in, a kinsman Redeemer, someone just like us to represent us and pay a debt that we owed.
The context of Ruth chapter four where we find ourselves is chapter three. Interesting chapter. As we learned last week, Ruth proposes that Boaz propose. Boaz goes asleep, he wakes up and the first thing that he does is he wants to handle the situation so that he can marry Ruth, but there's an obstacle. He's not the first person legally in line to marry her. We'll talk about that. There's another guy who's got the right to marry her. So, the text is actually a legal transaction before court, so to speak, and Boaz has to handle some business before going on the honeymoon. So would you look at Ruth chapter four with me? I'll read verses one through 12 now and the rest later. Now Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there. And behold, the redeemer, of whom Boaz had spoken, came by. So Boaz said, "Turn aside, friend; sit down here." And he turned aside and sat down. And he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, "Sit down here." And they sat down.
And he said to the redeemer, "Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech. So I thought I would tell you of it and say, 'Buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people.' If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not, tell me, that I may know, for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I come after you." And he said, "I will redeem it." Then Boaz said, "The day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance." Then the redeemer said, "I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it."
Now, this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging. To confirm a transaction, the one drew off his sandal and gave it to the other, and this was the manner of attesting in Israel. So when the redeemer said to Boaz, "Buy it for yourself," he drew off his sandal. Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, "You are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and to Mahlon. Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon, I have bought to be my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native place. You are witnesses this day." Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, "We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem, and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the Lord will give you by this young woman."
This is the reading of God's Holy and infallible authoritative word. May he write these eternal truths upon our hearts. Three points. To frame up our time, first Boaz the Redeemer. Then we'll look at Ruth the Redeemer, and both point to Jesus Christ; Jesus the Redeemer. First, Boaz the Redeemer. In verse one, Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there. Boaz wants to marry Ruth, but he wants to do it in the right way. He wants to do it honorably. He wants to do it righteously. He wants to do it biblically. And there's an obstacle in the way, but he's motivated by love. And when you love, obstacles are turned into opportunities and whatever the cost, whatever the sacrifice, whatever needs to get done, you will do everything you can. You have to biblically, morally, righteously, legally to be with the beloved.
One of the things that we're dealing with at the church is lot of young couples had wedding plans for this season and things have had to change. Wrenches have been thrown into plans. My brother, Vlad the drummer, who's usually behind me during worship band, shout out, Vladdy, and Sarah were supposed to get married at the end of May. The banquet hall that they had scheduled they said, "We can't do any meetings." So they've had to adapt. They've had to overcome and they're having a ceremony. It's going to be smaller ceremony. I can't wait to preach at it, do the homily. And I'm also the best man. Can't wait to do the best man speech. I know so many stories, oh so many. But this is one of the things that we see is that love is willing to sacrifice. Love is willing to adapt and overcome. The other thing that we see here is in this relationship, as Boaz wants to marry Ruth, who sacrifices more? Is it Boaz or is it Ruth? It's Boaz. Boaz has to make the greater sacrifice financially and personally and emotionally and socially.
And actually, we see this pattern throughout scripture. And no matter how much our culture fights this, it's still true that the man leads with sacrifice. Who pays for the engagement ring? The man does. That's always been true, no matter what our culture says, because it's written on our hearts. So but Boaz goes to the gate. Towns were on hilltop, so he went up to the gate. The gate was a combined town hall and a courthouse and archeological studies show us that along the walls next to the gate were benches and whenever anyone came to the gate and sat down, that meant this person had to do, wanted to do some official business. Boaz spent the previous night at the threshing floor and the text insinuates that he didn't even go home. First thing that he does as he wakes up, as he goes and handles some legal business.
So he sees the gentlemen, this Redeemer friend gentlemen. He says, "Turn aside, friend. Sit down here." Great move. Good start. Disarm the guy. Proverbs says, "A soft tongue will break a bone." He says, "Friend, sit down. Let's chat." Verse two and he took 10 men of the elders of the city and said, "Sit down here." So they sat down. He gets a quorum of witnesses in order to officiate or in order to confirm the decision, the contract that will be made. It says, "And behold the Redeemer," or friend, and he calls him the Redeemer. This gentlemen, according to Leviticus 25, it was his obligation to redeem Naomi, to redeem Ruth, to redeem the land. He was spiritually obligated as the closest living male relative to Naomi and Ruth to take care of them. Did he know that Naomi and Ruth were there? Of course he knew. We see this in chapter one that as soon as Naomi comes back to Bethlehem, the whole town knew. In a small town, everyone knows your business as well, maybe even better than you do. He had known that they were there.
Why didn't he do anything? Well, that's really the problem here. He didn't do anything. Scripture gives us different categories of sin. There are sins of commission where we do the wrong thing, and then there are sins of omission where we don't do the right thing. Scripture says, "He who knows what is good to do and doesn't do it is in sin." This man knew his obligation according to the law was to take care of Naomi and take care of Ruth, but he doesn't. And we see that he commits the same sin that Adam committed in chapter three of Genesis; the sin of cowardice or the sin of not doing his duty, not fulfilling the job that God had for him. There's weakness and there's cowardice and there's a lack of leading, a lack of intention.
Ruth chapter four verse three and then Boaz said to the Redeemer, "Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech." The backstory is Joshua, when he comes into the promised land, one of the things that he did was divide the promised land amongst all the families. And God knew that there would be ups and downs in life. And because of the vicissitudes in life and because of the variations in ability and variations in diligence of work ethics, some families would lose their land and enter into poverty and end up selling their land or leasing it out. So God made two, and these are very interesting laws, to offer these families a second chance. The first was the year of Jubilee. God said every 50th year, whoever has bought the land, whoever has leased the land, has to give it back to its original owners. It was after the seventh segment of seven years. After 49 years, the 50th year, that's the year of Sabbath. That's when land goes back. But before the 50 years were up, land could be bought back, but only by a kinsmen or someone related to the family.
The reason why God gave these laws, and I love the theology here and how practical it is, because in God's vision, he didn't want society to be characterized by incredible divergences of the richest and the poorest. He didn't want the top, top, top, top 1% and the bottom, bottom, bottom 1%. He wanted people to give, if you're wealthy, to give generously, to provide meaningful work for those at the bottom to help them rise up. These laws are meant to keep families together so the land stays in the family. Now, scripture says that Naomi was selling her parcel of land. She was selling that little piece of portion of the promised land. And by the way, this piece of land was never meant to permanently leave the family.
So, something happened. When Elimelech and Naomi, when they left the promised land, most likely that they leased the land out to someone else. They gave someone else the ability to use the land while they were gone, probably for some on the front end and made some kind of deal that when we come back we would like to purchase the land back from it. Now, this whole leasing, there's a word for it. It's usufruct. I'm sure you know this word. It's an SAT word, if you studied it. Here is the challenge of the day. Chicken wing, usufruct. Who can spell it quickly right now? You get a chicken wing, and I am good on my promises. So usufruct is from the Latin, you get to use the fruit of the land. So, what Naomi is doing now is she isn't giving the land away to someone forever. She wants someone to buy back the land that she had leased before she left, and she wants that person to be a kinsmen Redeemer, whoever buys this land. So, this kinsmen Redeemer gentlemen would take a lump sum of money, pay the current users of the land, and this gentleman would come in and use the land in order to sustain himself, but also Naomi and Ruth, and raise an heir so that by the time the heir gets to legal age, that land goes to the heir.
So that's what's going on. Ruth 4:4, Boaz says, "So I thought I would tell you of it and say, 'Buy it in the presence of those sitting here and the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not, tell me that I may know, for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I come after you.' And he said, 'I will redeem it.'" Now, this is fascinating. It's fascinating because Boaz is so committed to God's law. Despite the fact that he loves Ruth, he is willing to give her, he's willing to sacrifice his own desires so that she is cared for. He loves her enough to sacrifice the possibility of marrying her. And what's fascinating is this gentlemen, he's thinking about making a great deal. He's thinking with a deal. Boaz is thinking heart of the deal. For him, this gentleman thinks, "Oh my, I buy this land and I can use it. This is a tremendous investment. I'm so glad. I'm redeeming. I'm buying it." And Boaz is so shrewd that he didn't lead with what he says in verse five. He led with, "You get the land," and then brings in a stipulation. This is verse five.
"Then Boaz said, 'The day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.' Then the Redeemer said, 'I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.'" So you can imagine the scene. You can imagine Boaz handing a contract to this gentleman, this Redeemer friend, and he says, "Great, let's make a deal. Sign here. Sign here. Initial here." Pages flipping, pages flipping, pages flipping. "Oh yeah. By the way, last page. Along with the land, you have to marry Ruth and you have to start a family with her. And if a son is born to you, that son will not carry your last name. He will carry the last name of Ruth's previous husband." So with the land, you have to care for Naomi, Ruth's mother-in-law. What's her name? Mara. Bitter. She used to be sweetheart, turn a little sour, so you get her thrown in with Ruth. You have to have a child. Three mouths to feed and when the child gets to legal age, you have to give everything up to him, and that child also gets to split the inheritance of your other children and everything there.
As soon as this guy hears all this, he says, "Oh, no. No thank you. I don't need to do this." When he thought the deal would benefit him, he was all for it. As soon as he counted the cost and realized what kind of loss it would bring him, he backs out of the deal. Boaz here is incredibly shrewd and one of the things that we see with Boaz, scripture says he's a worthy man. He knows God, he knows the law, but he also knows people. There's a godly wisdom that he's developed by applying God's word in his life over the long haul, over decades. He's built himself up spiritually, emotionally, theologically, financially. He was ready when God presents him with the situation. He strategically invested his time in the previous seasons so when the new season of opportunity presents itself, he is more than ready.
When you're a single man or a single woman, it's not an opportunity to extend adolescence until marriage. And too many men, especially young men, they think, "Okay, marriage is going to turn me into a man." No, no. What turns you into a man is submission to God, to his word. What turns you into a man is fighting the good fight of faith on a daily basis, fighting your sinful desires, fighting sins of omission and commission. What makes you a man of God is time with God. It's walking with God. Boaz was ready when God said, "I'm giving you my daughter." I did this little thing last week where I said, "Here's all of my standards. Here's all of my tests that I'm going to make any potential suitors for my daughters to go through. Here are my standards." Some of them are superficial for comedic effect. Homiletical effect, you know that. Okay, you get that, but the most important ones? They're true. Are you a Christian? Do you love God? Do you fight your sin? Have you led yourself well? Have you protected yourself from sin? Have you provided for yourself? Have you pastored yourself? Well, if not, how are you going to do those things with my daughter?
God does the same thing with his daughters. If you want to marry one of God's daughters, you need to meet the standards that God has for a man of God, and Boaz was working on that. He was working on that for decades. He was becoming the man that God wanted him to be, so that when God brought him into the situation and when he introduced him to Ruth, he was ready. He was ready to pastor her, to provide and to protect because he's done that with himself. That's my just pastoral and brotherly encouragement to the brothers in the church, to the sisters in the church. Don't waste the season. Use the season to build yourself up in the Lord, build yourself up for whatever the next season is, marriage or not. And God definitely does bless that.
Ruth 4, 7 through 10. Now, this was the custom of the former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging. To confirm a transaction, one drew off his sandal and gave it to the other, and this was the manner of attesting in Israel. So when the redeemer said to Boaz, "Buy it for yourself," he drew off his sandal. Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, "You are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and to Mahlon. Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon, I have bought to be my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native place. You are witnesses this day." He signs a contract with the gentleman. That's what's going on with the sandals. Kind of weird, but what he's doing, signing a contract. He's signing a contract with another believer.
Now, this is just biblical wisdom in terms of doing business with people. If you're doing business with an unbeliever, you sign a contract. If you're doing business with the believer, you've got to sign at least two. It's important. Why? Because the world is fallen. Things take longer than anticipated, cost more. Things tend to go bad. I've seen this practically that when deals go bad or business goes bad, in the church community, the right hand of fellowship quickly devolves into the left fist of disfellowship. So don't do that, sign contracts if you're doing business with one another. Ruth 4, 11 through 12. Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, "We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem, and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the Lord will give you by this young woman."
What's fascinating here is they welcome Ruth into the community. They welcome her into the house of God, into the people of Israel. She was an immigrant. Wrong race, wrong faith, wrong language, wrong everything, and she trusts in the Lord and they welcome her into the community. So to speak, they're naturalizing her. If you're an immigrant and you've gone through naturalization process of becoming a U.S. citizen, you know how meaningful that is. I know how meaningful it is. I've gone through it. My wife has gone through it. Basically saying, "You're one of us. You were an outsider. Now you're one of us." And they bless her and they invoke the names of Rachel and Leah. This is important because Rachel and Leah were barren just as Ruth was up to this point, and Leah was the mother of Judah, the ancestor of the tribe of Boaz and Naomi.
Why is Perez mentioned here? First of all, Perez is the ancestor of Boaz, but he's also a product of one of these Leviticus 25 Levirate marriages between Tamar and Judah. The problem was, Judah did not fulfill his obligation. He backed out of his obligation. He was passive and not fulfilling the obligation in the same way that this Redeemer friend was passive. And Tamar pretends to be a prostitute, seduces her father-in-law, kind of a story, and Perez is an ancestor of Boaz, and Boaz did not. He did not follow in his ancestor's sinful patterns, sinful decisions. He broke the generational sin by following God. This is important, because if you did not come from a family of believers, if you were not raised in the faith, if you have seen pattern of generational sin in your own life, if there is a legacy of sin, you don't have to follow in those footsteps. By grace through faith, God can redeem you from that. That's what we see here. So Boaz, he makes the decision to marry Ruth. All of her liabilities, all of her debts now belonged to Boaz, and all of Boaz' money, all of his finance, all of his wealth now belong to Ruth. All she has is his. All he has is hers. There's a transfer of debt and a transfer of inheritance. Praise God.
Boaz is a Redeemer, but we also see that Ruth as a Redeemer. Look at verses 13 through 17. So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in to her, and the Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son. Then the women said to Naomi, "Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel. He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him." Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse. And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, "A son has been born to Naomi." They named him Obed and he was the father of Jesse, the father of David. Ruth does for Naomi what she could not do for herself. That's what a Redeemer does. Boaz does for Ruth and Naomi what they could not do for themselves. That's what a Redeemer does.
Naomi had nothing. She couldn't work the fields, was too elderly, can't have kids, so no family. Economically, spiritually, emotionally without hope. No family, no land, no name. And Ruth says, "I will do everything I possibly can. I will sacrifice everything I need to sacrifice to redeem you from this situation." She practices chesed, which is kindness. It's sacrificial love and she also redeems Naomi and everyone in the community realizes this and they said, "Naomi, do you not see what a treasure your daughter-in-law is? She is better than seven sons." Why is this important? Because in ancient Jewish customs, ancient Israelites, for them, seven sons constituted an ideal family. This is one of the most shocking texts in this ancient scripture, where they're saying, "Your daughter-in-law is better than ideal family." The original audience would have had goosebumps at this point.
Orpah left Naomi. She was left destitute. Ruth stayed and what Ruth said was, "Your people will be my people and your God will be my God. Wherever you go, I am going to go. I'm going to immigrate with you." Here's the thing about immigrants. I come from a family of immigrants. You immigrate from one place to another. My family went from the former Soviet Union to the United States. You go from one place to another in the hope of a better life, in the hope of more freedom, in the hope of more prosperity. And Ruth is saying, "I know I'm going to a land where I will always be looked at as an outsider. I will be ostracized. I don't look the same as everyone. I'll always have an accent. No one will welcome me into the community." She was willing to immigrate for a worse life and she expected that eyes wide open. She said, "I'm becoming a follower of God because God is true. She's basically becoming a Christian because she believes in this as true, not because there's a promise of better life here on earth. She would rather live worse materially, socially, economically. She would rather live worse than live better in a lie. She says, "I'd rather go where I have access to God's people."
Ruth knows that if she leaves Naomi by herself, Naomi was likely to perish. So if Naomi is going to have a life, Ruth has to lose her own. If Naomi's going to have a name, Ruth has to lose her own name. If Naomi's going to have to get land and we'll have a family, Ruth has to give up everything; her family wealth, everything. She impoverishes herself so Naomi can eventually prosper. She suffers outside the gate. She becomes an alien and a stranger. She leaves the familiar to go into unchartered territory. As a result, Naomi is redeemed. Ruth also along with redeeming Naomi, redeems Boaz, and Boaz says as such. Ruth 3:10. And he said, "May you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter. You have made this last kindness greater than the first in that you have not gone after young men, whether poor or rich."
The key, the secret to a loving marriage, an enduring marriage, a marriage that gets better with time like fine wine, the secret is recognizing the other person's sacrifice for you. Recognize it, name it, call it out. Talk about it. Thank you. I'm so thankful. As soon as you start feeling entitled, that is the first step to being pulled apart from one another. Sacrifice and recognize the sacrifice of the other. Ruth sacrifices to redeem. Boaz sacrifices to redeem. The Lord blesses them, gives them a baby son. In the previous marriage, Ruth didn't have children, and God here in their honeymoon gives them a baby.
Point three, Jesus the Redeemer. Both of them point to Jesus Christ. Where do I get that? Verse 14, "Then the women said to Naomi, 'Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a Redeemer.'" Who are they talking about? Are they talking about Boaz? That's what it sounds like. Let's keep reading. Without a Redeemer. "May his name be renowned in Israel." Whose name? Boaz' name is already renowned in Israel. 15, "He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age." Is that Boaz? Boaz has already done the restoring. He's already done the nourishing with the grain and with his love. Let's keep going. Restorer of life and nourisher of your old age. "For your daughter in law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him." Who are we talking about? You see what's going on in the text? Who's the him? You were just talking about a Redeemer. You were talking about restore, a nourisher. We thought it was Boaz and then it says, "You have given birth." She, Ruth, has given birth to him. What is going on?
What's going on is this baby is pointing to the ultimate Redeemer. This baby is a child born in Bethlehem, pointing to another child born in Bethlehem. Ruth 4:17, "The women in that neighborhood gave him a name, saying, 'A son has been born to Naomi,' and they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David." Obed means servant of the Lord. There's another one who's called servant of the Lord. This is talking about Jesus Christ. It's a prophetic passage. Naomi is redeemed by Ruth. Ruth is redeemed by Boaz. Boaz and Ruth have a child who is the ancestor of a king who will redeem all of Israel. That's King David, and King David, he was promised by God, on your throne, King David will sit my son for all of eternity. Who is that talking about? It's talking about Jesus Christ and that's why we have a genealogy at the end of the book. That's why the happy ending of this book points to not just redemption. It points to restoration.
Verse 18, "Now these are the generations of Perez. Perez fathered Hezron. Hezron fathered Ram. Ram fathered Amminadab. Amminadab fathered Nahshon. Nahshon fathered Salmon. Salmon fathered Boaz. Boaz fathered Obed. Obed, fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David." The book isn't about Ruth primarily. It's not about Boaz primarily. It's not about Obed primary. It's not even about David primarily. It's about Jesus Christ and it's about us. Ruth and Boaz lived their lives in view of eternity. They lived for the long term. They lived to leave a legacy, not have a good time. The choices that we make by the prompting of the Holy Spirit have ramifications far beyond our greatest, wildest dreams. God graciously provides Boaz to redeem Ruth. God graciously provides David to set Israel free, and God graciously provides Jesus Christ to set the world free, set us free.
The way that you become a Christian isn't to say, "I want to be more like Boaz," or, "I want to be more like Ruth." Those are all great aspirations, but that's not where it starts. Where it starts is we say, "You know what? I can't be like them by myself because they weren't themselves. They weren't what they turn out to be by themselves. All by the power of the Holy Spirit, and was all by grace through faith." The way you become a Christian is to truly believe in the one who went outside the gate, as Hebrew says. To the one who was truly ostracized, to the one who truly suffered, to the greatest alien and the poorest person spiritually speaking; Jesus Christ on the cross. He was cosmically homeless, cosmically alone, cosmically spiritually destitute. As he cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Jesus Christ was forsaken by God the Father so that we would never have to be.
The gospel we see from Ruth is that Boaz sacrificed everything to get Ruth, just like Jesus sacrificed everything to get us. And Jesus doesn't just redeem us from physical debt or from the debt of sin. He doesn't just save us from the captivity to Satan. He saves us from death. One way or another, everyone searches for a way to make themselves right, to justify themselves. And even in a sense, pay a ransom for what they've done, and to pay a ransom to find a rescue from death. In some societies, that payment comes through ancestor worship. That's how you try to overcome death or pay that ransom. Other societies like ancient Egypt, immortality came through elaborate burials or mummification. We live in a culture where we try to pretend death isn't a thing. We try to extend life as long as possible, remain as youthfully looking as possible, but death is coming and we need to think about it.
Deep down in our souls, we understand there's got to be some kind of payment for our sins, some kind of payment to overcome death. Be it through works, and it's always ... This is what it boils down to in any other religions. Always works. Hinduism is devotion to the gods and living according to one's dharma. Buddhism, control of passions to attain nirvana. Either Jewish theology, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Shintoist, Taoist, Confucians, atheist. It's all work-based righteousness. Here's how I justify that I am a good person, that I am worthy, that if there is a God, he definitely needs to let me in to heaven. He needs to give me eternal life. That's what he owes me.
And someone could push back and say, "Isn't Christianity about works?" Not in its foundation, not in its essence. The rules that God gives us about how we are to live, one of the primary goals of those laws is to expose our sin, expose our brokenness, expose our need for redemption. Galatians says, "The law was our tutor bring us to Christ." The way that we are redeemed by Jesus Christ is by grace through faith, believing and repenting, and Christ's sacrifice is accounted to us. Our debt is paid, and not only does he pay our debt, he offers us his inheritance. I love the word inheritance. I love the idea of inheritance; that you just get this surplus of cash, of whatever, this windfall financially. That's what inheritance is. But there's also a tinge of sadness to inheritance, because for you to get an inheritance, someone else had to pay for it and someone else had to die. And Jesus Christ to cover our debt and offer us an eternal inheritance, he had to die as a sinless substitute.
As sinners, there's nothing we can do to redeem ourselves, and for someone to cover our sins, they had to be sinless, a sinless substitute. Not only that, to cover the sins of all of humanity who would turn from their sins and believe in Christ, that Redeemer had to be divine. So Jesus, the sinless human being, our kinsmen Redeemer, was also divine and he alone can save us. As C.S. Lewis said, "The central Christian belief is that Christ's death has somehow put us right with God and given us a fresh start." Everything we read in the old Testament, it all points to Jesus Christ. The greatest redeemer doesn't save himself. He save others. The greatest redeemer doesn't just pay money to save. He gives the greatest thing he has himself, which is his life. Jesus is greater than Boaz. Jesus Christ is our kinsmen redeemer through the incarnation because he became one of us. Jesus paid with a sinless life to redeem our sinful life. Jesus isn't forced or obligated to do it. He willingly laid down his life out of love just like Boaz out of love redeems Ruth.
Ruth says and does nothing in this redemption process. Redemption to her was a gift and she lovingly, willingly accepted it. Would you today accept the gift of grace, the gift of redemption? You do that with a quick prayer or a long prayer. Just pray. Just talk to God. God, I am a sinner. I've fallen short of your standards. I've committed sins of omission and commission. God, I haven't loved you with my whole heart, soul, strength and mind. I haven't loved neighbor as my self. Lord, forgive me. Lord, redeem me, and Lord, I want to be in a loving relationship with you. Romans 3:24. "And are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Redemption is only in him. It's a gift. Receive that gift today. And if you do, would you let us know? Would you follow up via the connection card? We'd love to connect with you. We'd love to help you take the next steps of following Christ as Lord and savior.
Last, Bible trivia. Question for the chicken wing. We see Boaz, we see Ruth, we see the elders. What was the first ... the guy who was first in line to redeem Ruth and Naomi. What was his name? Type in the comments section. He doesn't have a name. He's called friend and he's called redeemer. His only lines are verse four, "I will redeem it." Verse six, "I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance." And verse eight, "Buy it for yourself." The guy who is so focused on himself, the guy who was so focused on his life now, the guy who was so focused on the short-term loses eternal impact, misses out on the blessing of becoming an ancestor of Jesus Christ. He wanted to keep his name, keep his line, keep his legacy, and his name isn't even mentioned in the book.
But you know whose name is mentioned? Ruth, because Ruth was willing to give up her name, give up her legacy, give everything up, deny herself and follow Christ, follow God, and she becomes an ancestor to the one who has a name above all names; Jesus Christ. Do you want your name to be remembered? Connect your name to his. Become a Christian and live for him. Weave your story in with his and he'll make your story as good, if not better, as the story of Ruth. What a story this was. We're so thankful for it. I can't wait to be in heaven. I can't wait to meet Ruth. I can't wait to meet Boaz. What a couple. What a story, pointing to the greatest story. Ruth in this story celebrates Mother's Day with the birth of a baby. Naomi celebrates Mother's Day by becoming a grandmother, so happy Mother's Day, everyone. God bless you, praying for you, love you. Let's pray.
Heavenly father, we're so thankful for this book. What a rich book it is. What a blessing it's been to our souls, to our community. I pray, Lord, help us follow Christ our redeemer with more vigor, with more passion, with more zeal, knowing that the decisions we make to follow Christ have an impact not just in our lives, not just in the lives of our families, not just in the lives of our community, but they have an eternal impact. Make us godly people who follow Christ who are saved by grace through faith, make us men like Boaz and women like Ruth. Make us more like Christ, the ultimate Redeemer, in whose name we pray. Amen.
