Sermon on June 21 by Pastor Roland Eskinazi

Scripture: Ruth 2

 

Most of life is not played out in big places. God can do an amazing work in a simple barley field!
When your Bethlehem baffles you, there’s always:

1. A SUBTLE PROVIDENCE THAT YOU CAN’T SEE! (v1-4)
Ruth just happens to go to a field owned by a man prepared by the Lord to be her ‘savior’.
The ‘it just happened…’ incidents in your life do not just happen!

2. A SURPRISING KINDNESS THAT YOU DON’T EXPECT! (v5-11)
Boaz has been prepared for this moment – he has an eye for the outcast everyone else would overlook.

Don’t get stressed-out when you make a decision, and then wonder if you were right.

‘Do you think God cannot hold a billion and one possibilities in His mind at once and take into account every contingency – and still achieve his purposes for you and through you?’ (Melvin Tinker)

The ultimate expression of kindness is Jesus who came to live and die to make outcasts into family.

3. A SURE SECURITY TO HOLD YOU FAST! (v12 – 16)
Ruth needs a tangible sense that she is under the wings of the God of Israel.

Boaz is God’s security in the flesh, committed to reflecting Yahweh accurately.

‘Be imitators of God as dearly loved children, and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God’ (Eph. 5:1)

As we live for God in a shattered world, are we sample sketches of Jesus, pointing to Him more than a church building?

4. A STUNNING HOPE TO KEEP YOU GOING! (V17-23)
When Ruth goes into a field, she has no idea that she will leave the field with far more than expected.

‘Sometimes a light surprises The Christian while he sings; It is the Lord who rises with healing in his wings; When comforts are declining, He grants the soul again; A season of clear shining, to cheer it after rain’ (William Cowper)

If Ruth’s God is your God, He not only knows where He is taking you – He also knows what you need to get you there.

Two thousand years ago, someone far greater than Boaz left heaven to come to a world steeped in sin. Jesus is the ultimate faithfulness of God, our great kinsman-redeemer. We are His forever. And His love will not let us go.

THOUGHTS FOR REFLECTION AND PRAYER

1. Is it possible for a Christian to believe in random chance? Why not? Answer from this chapter.
2. What makes Boaz’s kindness to Ruth so remarkable? In what ways is his kindness a reflection of the kindness we see in the gospel?
3. Boaz puts Ruth ‘at ease’ through his kindness. In what tangible ways does the Lord put us at ease in our walk with him? Ruth goes home with far more than expected. What are some tangible ways in which the Lord encourages you in your Christian walk?