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Well, we've made it to the final chapter
in the Book of Ruth, a beautiful story.
Last week we kind of left things
like a cliffhanger. In case you don't know the story,
we left things on the edge. The story is simply this:
there's a gal named Ruth. She's a widow and she travels back home,
actually she travels back to Israel with her mother-in-law, Naomi, because in Israel
God has provision for people. Widows can
make a living by gleaning in the fields, and more than that, God has a provision
called
kinsman redeemer, where families were supposed to take care of family and even redeem
the
wife of somebody's brother who died - a relative.
So Ruth goes back with her mother-in-law
to glean in the fields. Across the fields comes Boaz and things begin to take shape.
At the end of chapter 3, Boaz has promised
that he's going to take matters into his hands. Ruth has asked for Boaz's covering.
Boaz has said, "I'd love to do this but I'm not the closest kinsman redeemer.
I'll go check things out." And so true to his word,
Boas, as we get to chapter 4, is going to go and try to find out if the other
kinsman redeemer would like to redeem Naomi and Ruth. That's where we find
ourselves in the story.
Boaz goes immediately to make some negotiations and see if he can redeem
Naomi's field along with both women.
So, if you have your Bible,
notice as Boaz confronts the nearer
kinsman redeemer, chapter 4, verse 1. Boaz goes to the town gate and
sits there.
When the kinsman redeemer he had mentioned came along, Boaz said, "Come over
here, my friend, and sit down."
So he went over and sat down and Boaz called out to some of the elders of the town and said, "Sit here."
And they did so.
He said to the kinsman redeemer, "Naomi who has come back from Moab, is
selling a piece of land the belongs to our brother Elimeleck. I thought I
should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it
in the presence
of the elders of my people seated here."
If you'll redeem it, do so, but
if you'll not, tell me, so I'll know. For no one has a right to do so except you.
I'm the next in line. I will redeem it."
The kinsman redeemer stated that he would like to redeem the land.
"On the day you buy the land from Naomi and from Ruth, the Moabitess," said Boaz, " you acquire the
dead man's widow in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property."
At this the kinsman redeemer said,
"Then I cannot
redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it."
Now in earlier times in Israel for the redemption and transfer of property to become
final, one party took off his sandal
and gave it the other. This was a method of legalizing transactions in Israel.
So the kinsman redeemer said to Boaz, "Buy it
yourself,"
and he removed
his sandal.
And so, we see here, Boaz
confronting this closer of kin, this kinsman
redeemer. What's interesting is Boaz doesn't go to his relative's house,
he actually goes to the city gate.
We have got to remember we've talked about this before. The city gate was
the lifeblood
of every town.
Everybody came and went through this one city gate. People would pass through
to work their fields.
People would actually take their cattle with them and lead them out to
graze. They would also go out a couple times a day to
draw water. So, everyone passed by the city gates. Merchants would set up
shop there,
messengers would
deliver messages there, and even judges
would hold court
at the city gates. This was where the townspeople
and the town officials, also, would gather to conduct their business.
It's kind of an interesting study if you ever want try it -
go through the Old Testament and
look at all the stories, the Biblical stories, that actually take place
at the city gate.
For example,
Abraham is going to negotiate a price for a burial plot for his
wife, Sarah. And where does that happen? It happens at the city gate.
Or a bad story, Absalom is trying to get the people to revolt against his father.
So he goes to the city gate and attempts to agitate the people. We can go through
the Old Testament especially and see all kinds of trials were conducted and kings
held court at the city gate.
Actually, this is the right place to go.
Boaz knows this is where everybody passes and where transactions
are done.
So he goes to the city gate and there he gathers together ten
of the elders of the city. And I have to stop and say
that is also important. You may not realize this but ten was the minimum
number required by law to
officiate a city, ten was the legal number of men it took to start a
synagog.
Actually, even at a wedding ceremony
it took the blessing of ten
men
to make a wedding final.
And so ten is this minimum
number that's needed and
to pass a legal judgment it took ten men.
No legal judgment has to be passed here
but there is a legal transaction that's supposed to
transpire.
So Boaz goes to the city gate and gathers the ten necessary leaders to sit
down there.
Curiously,
just at that moment
the kinsman who they're talking about comes by.
Now the NIV actually leaves a word untranslated. If you're reading the ESV,
it's going to say, "And behold the kinsman redeemer came."
It's actually the same word we came across in chapter 2.
It's literally the words, 'by chance'.
It just so happens as Boaz comes to the city gate; just so happens as Boaz
gathers the ten leaders together; it just so happens that the kinsman
redeemer comes by. This reminds us back in chapter 2 that
it just so happens that Ruth chanced upon Boaz's field.
And as she gleaned in Boaz's field just by chance
Boaz happens to come and see her there. Really
the point is, this is not chance at all.
It is God orchestrating His plan. God has a a plan to work out. So as Boaz
makes his arrangement, it just so happens
that the kinsman
redeemer comes by.
And as the kinsman
redeemer
comes by
Boaz calls out to him.
It's really interesting in Hebrew what he says. He actually says, "Palloni amona," which is a play on words.
It's really fun to translate
because the NIV translates it this way: my friend, that's not at all what's going on.
It sees rhyming words that really are saying,
"Hey you!"
Or even a better translation is,
"Hey, Mister So-and-So."
That's what is going on. Here's what is curious about all these "happenings". This is Boaz's relative.
It's also in Bethlehem, a town of about three hundred people. It's not like
Boaz doesn't know the other kinsman redeemer.
They're relatives. He's already said there's somebody closer that I have to
talk to first. He knows who this man is,
but for whatever reason,
the author Samuel, as he records the story,
leaves the name off. That's going to become important later.
As Samuel records the story for us, he has Boaz calling out to this close
relative saying, "Hey, dude, Mr. So and So,
Come over here and sit down."
Again that's going to become
important for us.
As he talks to this Mister So-and-So,
Boaz
brings up the matter of the land. "You know there's some land from our
relative here and you're first in line to redeem it.
"Will you do it? I need to know. If you're going to redeem it, it's your
right. But if you're not going to, I am."
At which point
the man says, "Of course I'll do it."
Here's the reason for his prompt answer. You need to understand and remember that one of the duties of a
kinsman redeemer was,
if there was a relative and he was having difficult financial times, you would redeem
the land. You'd give him money,
and it would be your land until the day of jubilee, which would come later. At that time the land would
revert back to the rightful owner.
Here's the issue:
Naomi's childless. She has no heir.
She's also past
child-bearing age. So this land, if he buys it, will always be his even on
the day of redemption, on the day of jubilee.
It won't revert back because there's no one to revert back to; there's no male heir. He's thinking,
of course I'll buy it!
At which point I can imagine Boaz kind of
groans, "Oh man." If Ruth was
nearby, and there's no indication she was, we can imagine how disheartened she would
have been if
this man says, "Well, I'll redeem that."
What it terrible thing. Boaz wants to redeem not only the property
but also Ruth, as well. I want to tell you,
if Boaz
had not been able to redeem Ruth, you know what Boaz would be? Ruthless!
Anyway, Boaz
stops the kinsman redeemer and says, "Now you
understand if you purchase the land, there is the widow, Naomi,
and you've got to take care of her.
By the way, there's also
the dead son's widow, Ruth, the Moabitess."
Now, I've got to tell you that actually
no stretch of the law would require this kinsman redeemer to redeem a foreign widow.
Legally, he is not obligated to do it.
Boaz reminds him that a couple of widows need to be cared for if he purchases the land.
At the mention of Ruth, the Moabitess, a foreigner, the guy says, "Hey, I can't do it,
it would endanger my estate."
Now, we really don't know what that means. Does he feel like all of sudden he
doesn't have enough money to take care of two widows?
Maybe he's married and is saying my wife wouldn't agree if I did this.
Or maybe, he feels he can't support the fact that she is a foreigner.
Whatever the reason he's no longer
interested.
He actually gives Boaz the
right to redeem
the property and Ruth.
It's interesting because our text, I don't know if you noticed it, said,
at that time
the process of business transaction was to take off the sandal.
Which means that between the time of the
events of the story of
Ruth, Naomi and Boaz and when Samuel had actually written this down, practices had
changed. So, yes, he has to stop and say now understand this was commonplace in those days to
exchange a sandal. This really was a kind of an interesting way to transact
business- to take off a sandal
and he hand it to him.
There's a reason for that actually.
Back in those days when they'd measure land, we might measure it in
feet or yards, while they measured it in
sandal lengths.
With the average sandal, they would walk and pace off
a piece of property.
They would actually triangulate - they would measure one way
and then another way in a triangle. They would then put field stones out to
mark the meeting points.
This measurement was done in sandal lengths.
So if you are going to conduct business, especially when you are going to sell land, you would take
off your sandal to indicate the land has been measured.
More than that,
it really meant
this land now becomes yours and I will not step my foot on it any more.
It's really your property, so it's actually not clear that
the other kinsman takes off his sandal and says to Boaz,
"You can have that field. I no longer have right to it," or if Boaz takes
off his sandal and says, "I will redeem it."
But whatever happens we realize this transaction occurs and that
Boaz becomes eligible to redeem the property and to redeem Ruth.
The sandal - aren't you glad that that tradition
has passed away and that we don't do that anymore?
I wonder why.
Anyway,
that's negotiation and
as soon as that happens
we see Boaz making a statement. Not only making a statement, we also see
the elders giving a blessing. That's where we find ourselves as we
get down to verse 9. If you have your Bibles,
notice what happens.
Boaz addresses the elders and all the people,
"Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech, Kilion, and Mahlon.
I have also acquired Ruth, the Moabitess, Mahlon's widow, as my wife
in order to maintain the name of the dead with this property so that his name
will not disappear from among his family or from the town records. Today you are withesses."
Then the elders of all
those at the gates said, "We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming
into your home like Rachel and Leah who together built up the house of Israel.
May you have standing
in Ephrathra and be famous in Bethlehem
through the offspring the Lord gives you by this young woman. May your family be like
that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah."
We do get this announcement of Boaz. We see his intentions not
just to redeem the land, but
he wants to marry Ruth.
And again he says
he wants the extend the name of Elemilach. This announcement
clarifies
Boaz's intents
to marry Ruth and to keep Elemilech's
line
alive.
We really need to stop and understand that
in those times
a man's name was his legacy,
and the greatest curse you could give to a person was, may your seed parish and
your
name not last; may your name die out.
Really, he's trying to stand up and say
we're not going to let Elemilech's name, part of our family, die out. We're not going to lose his family line.
So Boaz is stepping up to the plate in not only redeeming the property but he wants to
redeem Ruth and marry her and have
children.
He is promising to maintain the name of the deceased,
make sure that his line is not cut off from
his brothers, and that his name be remembered by the city.
I must stop and push pause for second.
Remember this,
we're talking about the line of Judah.
Does that ring any bells? "The line of Judah."
This is the line from which King David is going to come.
This is the line from which Jesus Christ himself is go in to come. What would happen if Boaz had
not stepped forward and said
let's make sure this line continues.
The line of Judah would have
ceased, it would have parished.
And so Boaz becomes an incredible
person in the story of Christ.
So he makes his announcement and clarifies his intentions.
Upon doing so the elders give a blessing. That's not unusual, it normally happened.
But it is interesting who they bless.
You see, their blessing actually first goes on Ruth.
Now remember who Ruth is - she's a woman. The blessing usually isn't on the woman.
More than that, she's a foreign woman
and yet they bless her.
She's made
quite a name for herself. She's a woman of reputation, and the elders
are already loving
Ruth and saying,
we want to bless her!
So they pronounce a blessing. What's interesting is, it's usually not
on the
women
it's actually even seldom on the men; it's usually on the children.
But they bless Ruth, and they say this,
"May you become like
Leah and Rachel."
I must tell you who Leah and Rachel are.
They're actually the mothers of the twelve tribes
of Israel.
It's from these two ladies
that all the tribes of Israel come! Here's the blessing on Ruth; we want you
to become that important.
We want you to become like them. We also remember the story that God actually opened up
Leah's womb so she could have children.
We realize that Ruth has been married for ten years and had no children before she became
a widow.
They are saying we want you to become like them when God opened up Leah's womb.
We want you to become that important.
It's interesting that she gets a blessing at all, but when it comes to a blessing,
this is an important one.
Another part of the blessing that's interesting is,
the elders mention the name of
Tamar.
Maybe that doesn't mean anything to you but
Tamar has a similar story.
The most similar thing might be that Tamar is in the same situation as Ruth. She
found herself
childless and husbandless.
Her husband died, but not only did he die, but
she had a kinsman redeemer and
that kinsman redeemer also died. The next in line would not fulfill his
obligation,
so Tamar had to trick Judah into becoming the kinsman redeemer.
A terrible story is created
byTamar's deception with Judah, and because of that years of sin
and grief fell on the family.
I just want you to remember: we get
Mister So-and-So, who doesn't redeem.
We also get a very little mention just in passing here of Judah.
He redeems but only because he's tricked into redeeming.
And then we get the name of the Boaz.
But the elders here simply bless
Ruth
and say we want you to become like Rachel and Leah, and we want you to follow on
the line of Tamar.
This mention of Tamar and Judah is brought up in our story. Then the elders continue their blessing
by blessing Boaz himself. Again, usually the elders blessing would be, "May your
children prosper."
But we have Ruth being blessed; then we have Boaz being blessed, and the blessing of Boaz
is, "May your name be remembered forever, may your name become great."
I would say that's exactly what happens.
We know Boaz's name because it is recorded for us in the Book of Ruth.
If you go to Bethlehem today you can actually go to Boaz's fields. We know
where they are because his name is remembered. You can go and see buildings
that are called Boaz's buildings. He is
mentioned again and again in the Book of Ruth.
We can go throughout the Old Testament and find Boaz is named. He is mentioned even in the New Testament.
Of course, most importantly, Boaz's name is in the
genealogy of
Jesus.
This blessing
becomes true. His name certainly does become great and I just want you to stop
and think for a second here.
We have Boaz's name and his name becomes great.
We get Judah's name just mentioned in passing, in fact not even very
significantly, he's a kinsman redeemer by default
Then we get one guy -
he's Mister So-and-So.
It's rather interesting.
And then we come down to the end of the chapter and don't skip this over because we actually
get one of the reasons why the Book of Ruth is written for us. Probably to help
describe who David was and what his family was like. We get what we might call
the epilog here at the end of the book. I want to read as we get down to verse 13,
and
again, don't do it too quickly. "So Boaz took Ruth and
she became his wife. Then he went to her, and
the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son.
The women said to Naomi, "Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you
without a kinsman redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew
your life and sustain you in your old age.
For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him
birth."
Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him, and the women
living there said, "Naomi has a son," and they named him Obed.
He was a father Jesse, the father of David. This then
is the family line of
Perez.
Interesting that it doesn't start with Judah:
Perez was the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram a father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nashon, Nashon the father of Salmon, Salmon the father
of Boaz, Boaz the father of Obed, Obed
the father Jesse, and Jesse"
the father of David."
We actually see the family line is
restored. This obviously takes place at least nine months later. We see
that child born here to Ruth and Boaz.
There are several interesting things that you dare not skip over to quickly. Just
a
couple of things that are curious: first of all, the women of the city
are actually the ones that name Obed. This is the
only place in scripture where we see women,
besides the mom,
involved in naming the child.
Now, it's really
pretty common to find men of the city gathering together and saying, "Hey, let his
name be this," along with a mom there. But here it's not the
men, it's actually the women of the city
gathering together and saying,
"His name should be Obed."
We see Naomi taking the boy and putting him in her lap. That's not unusual. This
is proud grandma treasuring the child.
But why do the women name him Obed? The word Obed actually means servant.
By the way, we get names later like Obediah which means servant of the Most
High God,
but we find the name servant to God here is just the name servant.
Really here's their thinking.
Naomi,
you've got somebody who's really going to serve your name,
somebody who is going to bless you and because of that, your name will not a drop from
from the records. He has become your servant and your life is going to be full
because now you realize you will have
grandchildren and great grandchildren.
We actually find out that
he's helping provide and maintain the family line. So
his name is Obed. I've got to stop again and just remind you of what I've already said,
Judah, Tamar,
Perez,
if there's not a Boaz and Ruth we don't get Obed. You probably realize that
already,
but we lose the line of Judah.
So you understand what's going on here;
Naomi now has a relative and we have this line continued. It would have
ceased if it were not for that.
So we see proud grandma, and we see part of the reason why they named him
Obed. Because of him
you're going to be blessed serve you and serve your name.
We get the lineage traced through
Perez, which is interesting.
Again, we call it the line of Judah. Why not start the genealogy here, Judah, Perez?
I must stop and remind you
that actually
Judah
is tricked
into becoming a family redeemer.
And so when we get the blessing with Ruth, 'may you become like Tamar,' we
actually are going back to the kinsman redeemer idea and I want to remind you
three things. First of all, we get Mister So-and-So,
who does not do what he is supposed to do.
And his name is - well,
we don't know!
And we get Judah kind of mentioned only in passing. He is one of the
great men of the Old Testament, and yet, he's barely mentioned.
The reason is because he doesn't stand up and do his duty. He's tricked into
doing his duty. And then we have Boaz, whose name becomes great. We get
a
parallel here, don't we, between
people.
We find out that
the lineages is going to be traced through Perez.
Judah's only mentioned in passing because he was a
reluctant
kinsman redeemer.
His name is not prominent.
But I need to tell you what I think is the most interesting thing about this chapter.
I hope you found something informative and maybe learned something.
This is a story that starts with death and sorrow an emptiness.
I want to take you clear back to chapter one if I can. I'd like to go
through the first few chapters.
Chapter one
through six, here's what we find: Naomi's husband dying,
and her two sons dying. She's left with two widowed daughters-in- law.
That's the first six verses.
Then we find Naomi and her life is bitter and miserable.
In fact, later she's going to say, "Don't even call me
Naomi any more. That means pleasant. Call me bitter, call me Mara."
We find out that she's really empty and
desolate.
Then as we get toward the end of the chapter we find out that Ruth is actually homeless.
She has no place to go. Her mom says, "You go back to your family." She says, "No, I'm going with you.
Wherever you go, I go.
Where you stay, I stay. Your people will be my people, your God, my God. Where you're
buried, I'm buried." We actually find Ruth,
along with Naomi, homeless.
Now, I want to fast forward to chapter 4.
Notice,
each of those problems with
death and sorrow an emptiness are all replaced in
chapter 4.
We actually get
Boaz providing a home for Ruth. We get
Naomi renewed and her life is sustained in her old age and we get
Obed fulfilling his
family line that was
ended
for all practical purposes. And we see how each of those problems
are resolved in chapter 4. But I want you notice HOW they are resolved.
I've got to point out again what we've been talking about through the Book of Ruth.
We find again a ciactic structure.
You see how it works - we have no heir. Naomi's husband and sons die.
Naomi is bitter an empty. Ruth has no home and is told to go back to her people.
Also, we find in chapter 4 that Ruth has a home and then Naomi is
restored, renewed
and sustained.
Then we have the family line reestablished.
The whole book is a ciastic structure.
Isn't that incredible? Not only the greatest short story ever recorded for us, but so
remarkably written. Again, I've got to stop and say ciastic structure is to help
us remember how to tell the story and also that the most important part falls in
the middle.
The middle between chapter one chapter 4, we actually find
chapters 2 and 3.
And in chapters 2 and 3, we find in chapter 2,
Boaz
saying to Ruth "May God bless you and may He take you under His wing."
Then in chapter 3, we see Ruth coming to Boaz and saying,
"You know what? I want you to be the one that takes me under your wing." And Boaz thinks,
I kind of like that!
Then in chapter 4 we find the fulfillment, see this whole story weave together.
Not only that, we know chapter 2 has a
ciactic structure within a ciactic structure, chapter 3 ciastic structure
within a ciastic structure; so what we really get is a kind of ciastic structure within
a ciastic structure and so on.
It's remarkable!
We realize and should take this book for what it is,
it's a book from God
telling us the story of the kinsman redeemer.
It is a most intriguing, remarkable story that's extremely well-written. It's an
incredible book.
This incredible book does several things for us that you dare not miss.
The first one I've mentioned already but let me mention it again.
You see with Ruth and Boaz we get the re-establishment of the royal line.
We get the re-establishment of the line of Judah, the line of Perez, the line of Boaz,
the line of Obed,
the line of Jesse, the line of David.
We get
the royal line of the greatest
king
on earth, David.
But I've got to stop and say it goes much deeper than that.
This story of the kinsman redeemer is a story of the kinsman redeemer re-establishing
the royal line but also establishing the line of Jesus Christ!
Jesus becomes the ultimate kinsman redeemer. So without Boaz, we get
no Obed, we get no David, we get no Jesus.
We understand the importance of this book not only for the coronation of
David saying let me tell you who David is and let me tell you a story about his past and his family,
but it's the story of the Messiah, the greatest
kinsman redeemer. So we get the establishment of the the royal line of
the heavenly King.
But even greater than that, I've got to stop and say that
we also get a picture of redemption here.
Now, by the way, did you notice how Scot picked songs today?
And if you noticed, every song was talking about my Redeemer, my Redeemer
lives.
He did that on purpose to
prepare us for this moment.
The Book of Ruth is the story of a kinsman redeemer, it's the story of redemption.
But I must tell you, it's not just the story of Ruth,
it's our story!
You see, the story of Ruth gets us to Jesus Christ
who becomes our
kinsman redeemer.
The truth of the matter is
Boaz becomes a type of Christ just like we have throughout the Old Testament.
We get stories of Abraham and Isaac, a picture of what Christ can do for us. We
get stories of Joseph, a picture of what Christ will do for us. We got another
picture here of Ruth and Boaz, and Boaz becomes a type of Christ.
These things are true of Boaz, but
let me tell you, they are
specifically true of Jesus, himself.
Jesus is the one that comes and shows usHhis devoted love, His hissed, His
kindness for us. It's Jesus who comes and blesses us even when we're not deserving.
When we are foreigners and aliens, it's Jesus who says,
"Come and feast on my bounty," and provides us more than we ever can imagine, more
than we deserve. He's the one who purposely provides for us. Jesus is the one whio
redeems us
for himself. He buys us back and redeems us
to become his bride. Right?
The church is the Bride of Christ
which Jesus Christ bought with his own blood,
to present himself a bride
beautifully adorned without spot or blemish.
So the story of Ruth and Boaz is actually a picture
of what we have in Jesus Christ.
We have got to stop and say, "What a
remarkable book,"
the establishment of the royal line and
a picture of
redemption.
And I also have to suggest to you that the Book of Ruth
hits us right where we live, because it tells us the kind of people God chooses
to use.
We find out what kind of person God uses, and I have challenged you all along
to find yourself in Ruth.
So with every chapter I've stopped and said maybe you can relate to Elimelech who made
some bad decisions and found himself in a place he shouldn't have been.
Maybe you can relate to Naomi
because she's gone through
a period of of emptiness and disaster, loses her husband and loses her
sons. Or maybe you can find
yourself in Ruth, wandering in a land not known to her. Maybe you can even find
yourself in Boaz.
But I want to stop and bring this home again with our story here today
because
we've got an interesting
scenario.
I want to ask you a question.
You notice the title of my sermon, Mister So-and-So.
Let me ask you this question, however. Why
do we remember Boaz
and we don't know John Doe..
We don't know Mister So-and-So. Why?
Let me stop and even
put it in these terms:
Actually Mister So-and-So does nothing legally wrong.
Legally when he had the chance, the option to redeem the land, he
said, "Okay, I'll do it."
And then when we looked at it,
he really didn't do anything wrong by saying, "well, I'm not really obligated to
marry this foreigner."
He's willing
to do what was necessary to a point. He was concerned about his own welfare.
He's ultimately concerned only about his own interest.
He doesn't risk anything. He doesn't do anything that's too difficult, and
actually in our story
he simply becomes anonymous.
Nothing wrong,
just a nobody.
We don't remember him, we don't know who he is.
Again, Boaz knew who he was so why did Samuel not record him for us?
For this very purpose, here's a man who did nothing significant, didn't do anything wrong
he simply leaves no legacy.
Well, let me ask the question - "Why do we remember Boaz?"
Because throughout the story Boaz actually goes above and beyond.
Boaz looked out for the needs of other people. He went beyond doing the bare
minimum. He's willing to take a risk and do the right thing no matter what.
What we find in Boaz is a man who is of lasting value.
In fact we find the kind of person God likes to use.
See God uses ordinary people like Ruth who are willing to demonstrate extreme
faithfulness.
God uses people who say, "Look, I want to look out for the interest of other people."
We find Ruth attaching herself to Naomi, "where you go I'll go and you're stuck
with me."
We find Naomi looking out for the best interest of Ruth.
"Look here's a plan where you can go and meet Boaz."
We find Boaz looking out for those people, and we find the kind of people God uses. God
uses people who are saying, "God, you take me and let me be a blessing to the life
of other people." Those are the kind of people God not only uses and blesses
but uses to bring in
the ultimate
redeemer
Jesus Christ.
i'm just wondering,
Which one are you?
What are you doing
to leave
it lasting legacy?
I tell you things of this world all pass away.
You can't take them with you.
But what you do for the name of Christ
will last for an eternity.
I'm just asking,
which of these people
really describes you?
Would you pray with me?
Father, we come before you.
Father, we have to stop and say what an incredible story, what an incredible book,
but most of all what an incredible picture of what we have in Jesus Christ,
One who redeems us,
Who amply supplies,
and invites us to be His bride, the Church.
Father, we've got to stop and say,
help us realize who You are and what You've done for us, and help us not be a
bunch of John Does or Jane Does.
Help us leave
a lasting legacy.
That's our prayer,
and we pray this in the blessed name of our kinsman redeemer, Jesus Christ. Amen.