Sermons on Ruth

Service: Serving One Another

In the Spiritual Disciplines Handbook, the author writes, “When we are preoccupied with our own concerns, much of the world is simply invisible to us. Service is rooted in seeing—in seeing others as God does. God cares about productive and nonproductive people, poor people and rich people, educated and non-educated people. God cares about everybody.” God wants us to see people as He sees them. He wants us to have the same mindset as Christ—in humility He put the needs of others before His own. As Foster explained, “More than any other single way, the grace of humility is worked into our lives through the Discipline of service. Humility, as we all know, is one of those virtues that is never gained by seeking it. The more we pursue it the more distant it becomes. To think we have it is evidence that we don’t… Of all the classical Spiritual Disciplines, service is the most conducive to the growth of humility… a deep change occurs in our spirits” as a result of true service.

RUTH-Testimony of Future Generations

We have come to the end of our study through the Book of Ruth. This story is part of a much larger story of how God brings redemption to the whole world. Just as Ruth and Boaz’s obedience and faithfulness to the Lord impacted future generations in their family, our choice to obey God today will also impact generations to come. Are we leaving a legacy of faith in our homes and communities?

RUTH-Dignity in a delicate Arbitration

When we left off last week, Ruth had just gone home to Naomi with the six measures of barley in tow. When Ruth conveyed everything that happened at the threshing floor, Naomi said, “Just wait, child. He will not rest until this matter is settled. You can be assured that he’ll do it today!” This is where our story picks up—the morning after their encounter at the threshing floor. Boaz knew what he had to do—he had to give the other man (the closer relative to Elimelech) the opportunity to redeem Elimelech’s widow and widow daughter-in-law. The issue would need to be settled once and for all. As he made his way back into Bethlehem that morning, I’m sure that his mind was racing trying to consider every possible outcome of this delicate arbitration that was about to take place.

RUTH-Generosity in a Devoted Kinsman

In our message last week, we considered all the tragedy that Naomi and Ruth experienced in the land of Moab. We talked about Naomi’s desperate condition—questioning God and struggling to see the purpose of her pain. It seemed to her that her life had no purpose—only pain. We need to discover the purpose in our pain, because nothing in our lives is wasted. God uses both good and bad to bring about His purposes in our lives. We must look for and trust in His providence at work in us. There is no such thing as coincidence. Look for God’s purposes in every situation. He was certainly working in Ruth’s life!

RUTH-Tragedy in a Distant Country

As we approach a study of this short book, we note that this book contains two types of stories—a story of tragedy and a story of rebirth. The tragedy is found nestled into the first few verses of this book and makes up less than 6% of the overall book. Even though this tragedy is just a token of the overall narrative, it is vitally important to understand its characters, setting and plot to be able to properly understand the rest of the story. This story begins—as the text reveals—“in the days when the judges ruled.” This is the reason why the Book of Ruth follows the Book of Judges in the Old Testament canon.