Ruth 2 Piper

Well in chapter 1 of Ruth God's hand fell hard on Naomi and her family, right a famine in Judah a move to a pagan land the death of her husband marriage of her two sons to foreign wives

Ten years of marriage each without children the death of each of the boys and then one of her

Daughters -in -law turning away as she was heading home so she says in verse 13 of Chapter 1 the hand of the

Lord has gone forth against me and in verse 20 the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me

So the situation at the end of the chapter 1 is that a

Crack a ray of hope is shining because it says they arrived in In Bethlehem her home at the beginning of the barley harvest and and if you've read ahead

Then you know what's going to happen in the barley fields is where the love story is going to start

Boaz it's going to appear and a relationship is going to happen and everything is going to change and it's just a beautiful little touch at the end of chapter 1 that Dawn is just over the horizon, but Naomi simply did not have the wherewithal to see any signs of hope she was

Very depressed because of all the blows that God had brought Against her and she thought her days were were over as far as any significant life or influence in the world

So now we turn to chapter 2 There are in verses 1 to 7

Three things that we need to see One is who is Boaz?

when we find out about this man number two the character of Ruth and Number three a very merciful providence behind the scene.

So let's take those one at a time in verses 1 to 7 Boaz right off the bat verse 1 chapter 2 is said to be of the clan of Elimelech which means now we're introduced to the fact that Naomi had committed a

Colossal blunder in chapter 1 by saying to Ruth. There's nobody for you

If she was so discouraged and so oppressed that her mind was not clear Just like your mind will not be clear when you're depressed about your future you'll see it way bleaker than it really will be and Hers was too bleak because she didn't think of Boaz and so we're introduced to the fact that there is a relative

There is one who can do this strange custom of marrying the widow and raising up seed to the line of Malon by the way,

I made a mistake this morning. My assistant David pointed out. I said, I don't know which one of these

Sons Ruth had married and it says in chapter 4 verse 10 very clearly that she had married

Malon. So Sorry about the mistake. No, we got that clear. So That's the first thing we find out about Boaz.

He was a part of a limelight family He can do this if if God would put it together for them hasn't happened yet it also says that he was a man of of worth or We were talking earlier about what does that really mean?

Is it worth or is it wealth and in the context here? He's clearly a worthy man and he's clearly a wealthy man.

He owns all these fields where people even the poor are Gleaning freely around the edges

So you've got a wealthy man and worthy man and you've got a man who is in the family of a limelight

He could in fact if God were put together marry this woman and complete the plan that God seemed to be up to in Moab and the last thing we find out about him and this is in verse 4 is

That he is a man of God When you're reading something like this, you look at the little details you should and ask why are they there and listen to this?

Boaz greets his servants like this behold Boaz came from Bethlehem and he said to the

Reapers the Lord be with you and they answered The Lord bless you

What's that little little? Conversation therefore is to show this man in the details of his life as a

God saturated man and so he's been introduced as a Relative of a limelight he could do this.

He is wealthy which Makes it all the better because he's got the resources to carry this woman and her mother -in -law into the future and he is a

Godly man and Ruth wouldn't even look at anybody Who wasn't a godly man and you women shouldn't even look at a man?

Who's not a godly man and I mean that with all my heart you can evangelize But none of this dating none of this courting stuff with unbelievers.

I just came to my mind Second they we learn about the character of Ruth.

We've met Boaz and now we learn more about the character of Ruth which is going to be very important in this chapter three things about her number one

Notice Ruth's Initiative in love or in care for her mother -in -law in verse 2

Ruth says let me go to the field and glean a long

Along the ears among the ears of grain in other words Ruth Naomi the mother -in -law didn't have to say to the

Foreign daughter -in -law, would you please get out and do something? We're poor. We need food.

She didn't have to do that Rather Ruth says to her may

I go? Will I go I will go and do this gleaning for us

So that's the initiative then secondly notice her humility and the way she did she does this the way she puts herself forward out there is very beautiful verse 7

The servants report to Boaz how she had approached them and and they say this she said please

Let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the

Reapers Just presumed she could do it. She asked if she could do it

Even though it was a statute in the law that the poor could gleam on the edges of the rich people's

Leavings when they were done with their harvesting so she Asked and she reminds me in asking in this humble way of another woman in the

New Testament And the parallel here is is really remarkable Jesus said

I've come only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel when the Syrophoenician another foreign woman

Coming to Jesus and she said yes, Lord But even the dogs eat from the crumbs under the master's table and Jesus was rocked by that answer

And he said I have never seen such faith. That is great faith. So you've got

Ruth Humbly asking if she could just take the edges and take some grain back to her mother -in -law.

She's a humble woman, very strong very courageous Very initiative taking but very meek and the third thing notice her industry verse 7 continues

She has continued from early morning. They're reporting this she has continued from early morning until now

Except for a short rest She so she worked all day long and clearly this is being reported for us to admire this

Woman, so that's the second thing. We see in these seven verses is her her character Here's the third thing a merciful providence is about it's in the offing verse 3 verse 3

So she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the

Reapers and she happened to come to a part of the field

Belonging to Boaz who was of the family of a limeleck now

You don't have to write your whole theology into every verse But there is a massive theology here in those little words

She happened to come to the field of Boaz. You know, this is no accident here

This book is written to describe God's providence in the life of this family to prepare them to give birth to David down the line and Jesus beyond that and so the coming together of Ruth and Boaz just Happened according to this verse and we know that that's a covering for a grand act of Providence and the point there is that a man of mine a

Man's mind plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. So Ruth goes out with a plan

I'm just going to go get some food for my mother -in -law and me so that we can eat and she hasn't a clue

What God is doing that day I wish I had a half an hour just to talk to you about my life and and the way

God Has worked me just let me sketch just take a few minutes and sketch because I want to encourage you

Not to have too much of a plan for your life Because God's got a big one and you might really mess it up sitting in a worship service at age 18 in Greenville, South Carolina Not knowing whether to go to to school at Emory in Atlanta or Johns Hopkins in Baltimore or Wheaton College, Illinois the three schools to which

I had applied I Was sitting there with my mother in our usual pew about four pews back and there came over me

I wish I could remember the song that we were singing an absolute unmistakable

Sense and peace go to Wheaton It's one of those inexplicable kinds of peace arbiters in your life and I praise

God that I Did that because there are a thousand reasons why that seems to me now to have been a very good thing

I was a lit major no big plan there a literature major to this day I'm thankful that I was a lit major in a philosophy minor.

I only got into Bible later I didn't know how to date girls. I didn't know what to do.

I wanted to be married someday I was freaked out by the thought of even calling a girl up on the telephone and The Lord one afternoon in the fine arts room because it had a stereo set in it

I was sitting on the couch with my roommate Bareford and and a girl came in by the name of Noelle and She was on another couch and she overheard us talking and a conversation happened

And I've been married to her for 40 years That wasn't that was no plan. That was zero plan that that was a gift straight from heaven to this chicken -livered male

I got mono in the summer of 1966 and was three weeks in the hospital three of the best weeks of my life because I had to stop being pre -med because I had to drop organic chemistry and God spoke to me through the radio message of John Harold Ockengay that the

Word of God is precious beyond measure and I was Converted kind of a second time to the

Word of God and I said all I want to do is understand the Bible I don't know what to do with it with my life I'm 20 years old and I just want to know the

Bible So I shifted took all the Bible courses instead of chemistry and science courses and I said, what do

I do next? I just want to know the Bible somebody said go to seminary. So I went to seminary I chose fuller because it had palm trees in the pictures

And I was sick and tired of the weather in Wheaton and they said it was good for the next century because they were kind Of cutting -edge evangelicals and so I went there and I fell massively in love with the exegesis of scriptures

I'm done with seminary now at three. I'm 25 years old. I'm married and What do

I do now, I don't know what to do I just love the Bible didn't feel any call one way or the other except to the

Bible and At that point a wise person said well if you still got a lot of energy in you to study

Why don't you get one more degree then you can do anything you could teach or you could preach to be a missionary You could write or whatever.

So I went to I said, where should I go? And and one professor dr Ladd George Ladd said well, why don't you go study with with?

my friend over in Munich, Germany and I Wrote him and he said only by the study of dr.

Ladd can come over here. He didn't know me from Adam I was so frightened when I went to Munich and I went there and three years later

I had a degree and I didn't know what to do now. I'm 28 years old. What do I do now? I've studied the Bible all my life.

You know, it seems like and have never had a real job and and One door open one single door.

I wrote about 30 letters to churches to seminaries to mission agency. I'll do anything Lord I just love the

Bible. I want to teach the Bible or preach it or do something with the Bible I love the Bible one door opened a college in st.

Paul, Minnesota named Bethel College. I've never been there I've never been to Minnesota didn't know anything about it

And I walked through that door and was there for six years and one night in October 1979

God came down. It's just kind of like a Who am

I thinking about Pascal? Remember that midnight scene of Pascal and he said midnight fire

He sewed it into his coat. They found it when he died We'll story about that night when he met

God and God came down at 1 a .m One morning and said you will preach young man.

You will stop analyzing Romans 9 and you will proclaim to God of Romans 9 That's literally where it where it happened and I got up the next morning.

I said Lord if my wife has to go with me, you know And he knew that So I just rolled over at 6 in the morning as soon as I saw her eyes open

I said, what would you think if I resigned at Bethel and took a church and she said I could see it coming and So in 1980, that's what we did and that's where I've been ever since my life has simply not been planned by me

I just I look at it and I say don't get too hung up on this plan thing do the next

Demand I taught seventh graders when I didn't know what else to do as a first -year seminary student

Well, I just want to do something Seventh graders and then I taught ninth graders and then they gave me a young marriage class and I just did the next thing with All my might it seems to me that Ruth is just going out being obedient daughter -in -law here

She's gonna make a living for her mother -in -law and God Takes her right there in that obedient day and make something spectacular

Happen for her So that's that's just a little testimony to my belief in the fact that don't worry too much about having your life planned out

God's got it planned out and he wants a holy obedient Person so follow him in that now verses 8 and 9

Boaz Approaches Ruth and shows her great

Great kindness. He provides her food They work in the field. They stay close

He says stay close together to the women. I'll give you protection from my men drink all you want

I'll take care of you and then comes verses 10 to 13 and This is the most important section in the chapter

I Think it's very profound. She asks a Question she says in verse 10

Why she bows down notice she bows face to the ground and Very humbly she says why have alpha

I found favor in your eyes That you should take notice of me when

I am a foreigner. It's a very humble woman She was stunned at the way.

She was being treated by Boaz She was just amazed she wasn't an arrogant person

Last Sunday when I was preaching I defined humility by saying it's the opposite of a sense of entitlement

Many Americans and we're known for this I think have a swaggering sense of entitlement you owe me

Ruth had nothing of that. She was amazed that he would treat her so Kindly and she asked the question

Why have I found grace or why have I found favor in your eyes?

And I think that's Answering that question for yourself is Absolutely essential the answer that you give to that question will make all the difference in your life

You can give a legalistic proud answer a works answer or you can give a humble answer a grace

Exalting answer as to why you have found favor Because this is favor that's coming through Boaz from God That's plain when you read

Boaz's answer, let's read it verses 11 and 12 Boaz answered her All that you have done for your mother -in -law

Since the death of your husband has been fully told me how so he has the inside scoop here in the kind of woman this is that's why he's moving on her and how you left your father and mother and your native land and Call and came to a people that you did not know before The Lord now notice she said why did you show favor to me and he's giving an answer that the

Lord is Repaying her the Lord repay you for what you have done

And a full reward be given you by the Lord the God of Israel under whose

Under whose wings you have come to take That's the most important section in the chapter

When it's just going to take some a few minutes to unpack that with you. I might have to say some things for more morning

That could either mean the ways divide theologically here you take this that could either mean

The answer to your question Ruth. Why have I found favor from God through you is Because you behave properly in relationship to your grandmother and God pays

Proper behavior. Well, that's one way to take the text. That's what

I call legalism justification by works Or you could take it another way

You could say Well, let me not give you the answer because because I'd rather just draw it right out

Where I'm getting my clue from this text as to how I should take it. It's from the last phrase

I read there Verse 12 Under whose wings you have come to take refuge the

Lord repay you for you for what you've done and a full reward

Given you be given you by the Lord the God of Israel under whose wings You have come to take

Refuge now the imagery that's created there that Boaz is interpreting her behavior a certain way is not the image of Ruth the employee

Working for God or Boaz the employer Performing well in her labors and getting an appropriate due wage

That's not the picture when you say God is responding to a little eaglet

That has flown for refuge under his wings That phrase is massively important Jesus stood before Jerusalem Jerusalem Jerusalem, how oft would

I have gathered you as a hen gathers her chicks and you would not Why wouldn't they?

Because he said these Pharisees justify themselves They are so arrogant they don't bow down They have a sense of entitlement

And here is here is Ruth and Boaz is spotting her behavior and he's interpreting it

I'm gonna argue he's interpreting it in terms of the fruit of faith or the fruit of grace

So somehow back in Moab in those ten years Ruth had fallen in love with the

God of grace and the God of glory and the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and she had flown out of all the refuge of Moab and her

Parentage and the false gods and she'd flown under the wings of the caring

Merciful God Yahweh and there she just wanted to be safe and she wanted to be fruitful and she wanted to enjoy

Him wherever he went and evidently now, this is this is the way

I try to live my life. I commend it to you Once you've flown there once you've gone there and you're hiding under the wings of Jesus or the wings of Yahweh Depending on which

Testament you're in we're in the news So we're under the wings of Jesus and he's he's got us protected against the fires and against our enemies

Even though there's much suffering in the Christian life We cannot be destroyed if we go there and find satisfaction

In him what's gonna flow over from us is a great sense of freedom

To take risks and love other people and so the way life is lived. It's like this She's in Moab Naomi says

Your husband's dead. My husband's dead. God's hand is against me. I'm going back to my people you girls go home this has been a terrible experience and I'm leaving and and Orpah finally does that and Ruth says no

Your God is my God not going anywhere. I'm going with you and She clearly goes as a servant.

I'm gonna care for you You're the mother of my husband and your

God is my God. I love you because I love him And that's what

Boaz sees you flew under the wings of God and under the wings of God Movement began to happen

Naomi with that God covering her starts to go somewhere Have you ever experienced this you wonder do

I go to this school or this school? Do I take this course or this course do I talk to this person or this person? Do I do this mission trip with that mission trip?

Do what do I do Lord? There's so many good things to do in the world. How do you do that?

One way to think about it? Is you stay under the wings? You stay in the place where the blessing is falling and it may be the riskiest hardest place in the world to leave her own homeland with all the familiar food and all the familiar customs and all the

Familiar gods and all the familiar language was not easy and she said I'm going because I'm staying under the wings of God I'm gonna follow this woman and serve her.

So the way I understand the answer to Ruth's question Why have

I found? favor with God through Boaz That he would show me any attention and open up a future to me that I never dreamed the answer that Boaz gives her is when you fly under the wings of God when you hide in him like a

Humble little chick or a humble little eaglet not a hero

Not somebody who can boast about their great achievements, but you just go under there and you draw down grace and draw down mercy

God's worth not your worth is put on display God's value and God's strength and God's wisdom and God's evil

God's God's Power is put on display there

God's wisdom is put on display so that you are calling attention to him and not yourself there's the difference between a works religion and a grace religion a works religion figures out ways to call attention to my

Achievements and my performances so God appropriately responds and rewards a grace religion says

I don't have any claim I'm just gonna call attention to grace by Hiding according to the second

Chronicle 16 9 the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself

Mighty like a great eagle on behalf of those whose heart is whole toward him

The Answer to the question. Why have you found favor is not that you've performed and God is impressed but rather your acts of love have flown out from Childlike hiding in the grace of God Galatians 5 6 neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any avail but Love or faith

Working through love that's what was going on here her love for Naomi Was the out growth of her faith in this eagle under whose wings she had flown for refuge

Naomi Said to her daughter when she comes back with this report about how good

Boaz was to her May he be blessed by the

Lord Whose now that who's there refers to the Lord whose kindness has not

Forsaken the living or the dead and I just want you to see that the sky has opened for Naomi She has moved from the

Lord has dealt very bitterly with me to saying

The Lord's kindness has not forsaken the living or The dead we sing a lot of British hymns

Because the Westley's wrote a lot of great hymns and because William Cooper Wrote great hymns now, you know, you know, you're you're great him writer

William Cooper Never Got out of chapter one he was suicidal all his life

Tried to kill himself what three times John Newton loved him so dearly Never forsook him.

I Love that relationship and he wrote a song that when we preached

The gospel of Ruth back in 1984. We sang it every Sunday for four weeks

God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform he plants his footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm

Ye fearful Saints fresh courage take the clouds that you so much dread are

Big with mercy and will break in blessings on your head

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense But trust him for his grace behind a frowning

Providence. He hides a smiling face deep in unfathomable minds of never failing skill

He treasures up his bright designs and works his sovereign will blind

Unbelief is sure to err and scan his work in vain

God is his own interpreter and he will make it plain

You can write things like that and never Seem to rise above it

Isn't it amazing that God will take you in? Ruth one if you have to live there all your life and use you for John Piper 200 years later.