A Light in the Midst of Chaos, Part 4 Happily Ever After Ruth 4 (pg. 224)

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1 Happily Ever After Ruth 4 (pg. 224) There is a great deal more in this deceptively simple tale [of Ruth]. The story is marvelously complex, full of subtle interrelationships and carefully articulated emphases. In addition to the aggressively complaining Naomi, meekly valorous Ruth, and trustworthy, responsible Boaz, there are the anonymous chorus of village women, the unnamed young man who was overseer of the harvesters, Orpah in chapter 1, and the nearer kinsman in chapter 4, who lived up to their obligations but no more. They also get into the story. For anyone can in fact get into it just as they are and just where they are, to tell stories that turn out every bit as good as Ruth. Eugene Peterson

2 Happily Ever After Ruth 4 (pg. 224) Ruth 4 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. 2 And he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, Sit down here. So they sat down. 3 Then 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. 4 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.

3 Happily Ever After Ruth 4 (pg. 224) 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. 5 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. 6 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. 7 Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging:

4 Happily Ever After Ruth 4 (pg. 224)... 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. 8 So when the redeemer said to Boaz, Buy it for yourself, he drew off his sandal. 9 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. 10 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.

5 Happily Ever After Ruth 4 (pg. 224) You are witnesses this day. 11 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, 12 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. 13 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.

6 Happily Ever After Ruth 4 (pg. 224) 14 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! 15 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. 16 Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse. 17 And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, A son has been born to Naomi. They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

7 Happily Ever After Ruth 4 (pg. 224) 18 Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez fathered Hezron, 19 Hezron fathered Ram, Ram fathered Amminadab, 20 Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon, 21 Salmon fathered Boaz, Boaz fathered Obed, 22 Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David. PASTOR: This is the Word of God. PEOPLE: Thanks be to God.

8 This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. And our charity must be a real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner. C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

9 The larger story eternity past eternity future Creation Fall Redemption Glorification Ruth The miniature story

10 In Ruth we see the larger purposes of God manifested in the miniature lives of His children. The larger story eternity eternity past future Creation Fall Redemption Glorification our story The miniature story

11 Deuteronomy 25:5-6 If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband s brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband s brother to her. And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel.

12 Matthew 1:4-5...and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse...

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14 ch. 1: famine ch. 1: death (3 husbands) ch. 1: bitterness (Mara) ch 3: abundance (grain) ch. 4: new life (Obed) ch. 4: praise

15 The larger story eternity eternity past future Creation Fall Redemption Glorification your story

16 The larger story eternity eternity past future Creation Fall Redemption Glorification your story

17 The larger story eternity eternity past future Creation Fall Redemption Glorification Where have you fallen? Where has sin and death impacted your life? What has made you bitter? your story

18 The larger story eternity eternity past future Creation Fall Redemption Glorification How has God redeemed you? or How is God redeeming you? your story

19 Ruth 2:10 Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?

20 3. God wants you to want to continue the story CS Lewis, The Four Loves There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness.

21 3. God wants you to want to continue the story But in that casket safe, dark, motionless, airless it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell... We shall draw nearer to God, not by trying to avoid the sufferings inherent in all loves, but by accepting them and offering them to Him; throwing away all defensive armor.

22 3. God wants you to want to continue the story The Father sent his son, Jesus Christ, to recapture a runaway world. We either get involved or we watch from the sidelines.

23 3. God wants you to want to continue the story People need the Lord by Steve Green Everyday they pass me by, I can see it in their eyes. Empty people filled with care, Headed who knows where? On they go through private pain, living fear to fear. Laughter hides their silent cries only Jesus hears.

24 3. God wants you to want to continue the story People need the Lord by Steve Green People need the Lord, people need the Lord. At the end of broken dreams, He s the open door. People need the Lord, people need the Lord. When will we realize people need the Lord?

25 3. God wants you to want to continue the story People need the Lord by Steve Green We are called to take His light To a world where wrong seems right. What would be too great a cost For sharing life with one who s lost? Through His love our hearts can feel all the grief they bear. They must hear the words of life only we can share.

26 3. God wants you to want to continue the story People need the Lord by Steve Green People need the Lord, people need the Lord. At the end of broken dreams, He s the open door. People need the Lord, people need the Lord. When will we realize people need the Lord?

27 3. God wants you to want to continue the story The Father sent his son, Jesus Christ, to recapture a runaway world. We either get involved or we watch from the sidelines.

28 3. God wants you to want to continue the story C. H. Spurgeon A church which does not exist to do good in the slums and dens and kennels of the city is a church that has no reason to justify its longer existence A church that does not exist to reclaim heathenism, to fight with evil to take the side of the poor, to denounce injustice and to hold up righteousness, is a church that has no right to be.

29 3. God wants you to want to continue the story Not for yourself, O church, do you exist, any more than Christ existed for Himself. His glory was that He laid aside His glory, and the glory of the church is when she lays aside her respectability and her dignity, and counts it to be her glory to gather together the outcasts, and highest honor to seek amid the foulest mire the priceless jewels for which Jesus shed His blood. To rescue souls from hell and to lead to God, to hope, to heaven this is her heavenly occupation.

30 our story 3. God wants you to want to continue the story The larger story eternity eternity past future Creation Fall Redemption Glorification

31 to us has been committed the most meaningful and worthwhile task of any human institution. This gives to my life an eternal significance, for I am sharing in God s plan for the ages. The meaning and destiny of history rests in my hands. G. E. Ladd, The Gospel of the Kingdom