If I were
to ask you to think about some events that were world-changing, you would
probably think first about events—like Pearl Harbor—that started wars, or
moments—like the Moon landing—that changed what we thought we could accomplish.
Those were
certainly world-changing events, but more often than not, in God’s plan,
world-changing moments or happenings are not splashed across TV screens for
everyone everywhere to see. Rather, they often start as small seeds of
faithfulness that are quietly planted by people who are trying to do nothing
more than just obey God on a Monday morning.
So it was,
more than a thousand years before Christ, as the world began to change when a
woman simply decided to make sure her widowed mother-in-law was taken care of,
and a man then decided to let that woman pick up fallen grain out of his
harvest fields.
The story
of Ruth and Boaz in the Old Testament is meant not only to inspire us, but also
to serve as an introduction to the life of King David. Ruth and Boaz were the
great-grandparents of King David, so the Book of Ruth tells us about David’s
physical and spiritual heritage. It’s only fitting, then, that we would begin a
series on the life of King David by looking at the great-grandparents who began
to shape his godly character.
Today,
we’ll take a quick look at their story, and along the way, I’ll highlight a few
of the ways in which this couple exhibited behavior that mirrored God’s own
values.
You know
the story—in order to escape a famine in the land of Israel, a man named
Elimelech takes his wife Naomi and his two sons and travels East to the land of
Moab. The two sons marry Moabite women, but by the time ten years have rolled
by, all of the men in the family have died—Elimelech and both of his sons.
Being
rather vulnerable now in a foreign land, Naomi decides to return home to her
people in Israel, who have seen the famine come and go. At first, both of her
daughters-in-law hit the trail with her, but Naomi tells them bluntly that
their prospects for re-marriage would be better if they stayed in Moab. One
daughter-in-law agrees and turns back, but the other, Ruth, sets aside any
thoughts about herself and commits to taking care of her mother-in-law for the
long haul. Notice their conversation in Ruth 1:15-18 [READ 1:15-18].
1. Ruth showed great kindness to her widowed mother-in-law
(1:15-18)
Ruth’s
determination was so unselfish, because if she really followed through with it,
then in her old age, she would be in an even tighter spot than Naomi was now.
Naomi was at least going to have a daughter-in-law looking out for her, but
when Ruth grew old there would be no one, as far as she knew now—no husband, no
children, no sons or daughters-in-law. But Ruth put the uncertainties of her
own future on the back burner in order to care for the clear and significant
needs that her mother-in-law had in the present.
This kind
of compassion toward a widow resonates in beautiful harmony with the heart of
God. Psalm 68:5 says, “Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God
in his holy habitation.” Deuteronomy 10:17-18 declares, “For the Lord your God
is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God,
who is not partial and takes no bribe.” And what kind of people is this great
God concerned about? Who is near and dear to his heart? “He executes justice
for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and
clothing.”
Ruth may
not have known all the details of how the people of Israel worshipped God, but
she was practicing the purest form of religion there is. James 1:27 states,
“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit
orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the
world.”
2. Boaz went the “extra mile” in following God’s commands
(2:14-16)
When Naomi
and Ruth arrived back in Israel it was harvest time, so Ruth went to work in
the harvest fields, picking up grain that had fallen on the ground after the
harvesters had gone by. The Lord had commanded the children of Israel to let
the poor among them do this—to let them have the grain on the edges on their
fields, and to let them go through their fields to pick up any grain that was
on the ground.
When Boaz
found out who Ruth was, he went above and beyond the minimum requirements of
that command. Notice his actions in 2:14-16 [READ 2:14-16]. Boaz didn’t have to
make those arrangements for Ruth, of course. He could have done the bare
minimum of what God’s law required and told himself that was good enough. But
instead of settling for the letter of the law, he embraced the spirit of the
law—showing kindness to the poor—and he took it the extra mile.
When the
prophet Micah sought to give the people the essence of what God required of
them, he wrote this in Micah 6:8—“He has told you, O man, what is good; and
what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and
to walk humbly with your God?” Notice that striking phrase in the middle—to
love kindness. Not just to do kindness, but to love it.
That was
Boaz, wasn’t it? It was kind enough to allow Ruth to join the other people who
were already gleaning from his fields, but then, like a kind, old grandfather
at an Easter Egg hunt, he made sure Ruth was surrounded by goodies so she would
go home with an abundance.
3. Ruth maintained pure behavior and won a good reputation
for it (3:10-11)
The story then
takes a turn toward the romantic as Naomi puts on her matchmaking hat and seeks
to unite Boaz and Ruth through the custom in the Law of Moses known as the
kinsman-redeemer. Let me explain that to you briefly.
Under this
custom, if a man married but then died before having any children, his next
closest relative was supposed to marry his widow. The first son born to the new
couple was then named the heir of the deceased man, and this son would receive
the man’s inheritance.
This
practice does seem strange to our sense of romance, because it certainly did
emphasize practicality over fits of passion and romance. But remember—this was
a time with no such thing as life insurance or Social Security or retirement
plans or Medicare. Your security for old age was your children, so this custom
made a way for a widow to have a husband for today and children for tomorrow.
So Naomi
hatched a plan that would leverage this custom but also keep pressure off of
Boaz—she sent Ruth to speak with Boaz privately. That way, there was no
pressure on Boaz—no one else would know that this conversation took place, so
if he said no, it would never be known.
Instead,
Boaz had a favorable response to Ruth’s proposal because she had proven herself
to be a virtuous woman [READ 3:10-11]. That phrase “a worthy woman” is the same
phrase in Hebrew that is used to introduce the “excellent wife” in Proverbs 31.
Ruth is thus the clearest biblical example of what an excellent wife is like.
So Boaz desired for Ruth to be his wife, but there was only
one problem—according to the custom of the kinsman-redeemer, Boaz was not the
first in line for Ruth’s hand in marriage [READ 3:12-13]. His refusal to
undermine the appropriate process shows another part of his godly character.
4. Boaz would not deal deceitfully even when pursuing
something he wanted (3:12-13)
There’s an
old cliché that says, “All is fair in love and war.” Supposedly if you’re in
love, it’s okay for you to break the rules of fair treatment if you have to
fight off others who might be pursuing your crush. Well, Boaz didn’t live by
that standard—he lived by a higher standard, and he would not compromise his
character even for the interests of love.
But as the
Lord would have it, Boaz was indeed the man for Ruth. They married, had a son,
and just a few generations later, their family produced the man whom God would
later call a man after His own heart—King David, the king whose reign would
change the world and whose impact will be felt again when the Lord Jesus comes
to revive the kingdom of David in this world.
David’s
story starts with his great-grandparents, Boaz and Ruth, two ordinary people
whose simple, everyday acts of obedience set in motion a course of events that
would change the world. The eventual impact of their everyday faithfulness is
the lesson that I want to challenge you with today.
I believe
each one of us would like our lives to make a profound difference for the Lord.
We would like to change the world for the glory of Christ, but too often, we
get our sights set on the wrong things. We think we need a big, public platform
to change the world and we’re tempted to cut corners to get it, because after
all, it’s for a good cause, right? Wouldn’t the end justify the means that we
might have to use to become well-known and famous?
In reality,
all we need to do to have a great impact for God is to simply do the next right
thing—to take the very next step of obedience that He puts in front of us,
however small and ordinary it may seem. Just do the next right thing—prepare a
meal for your family today, work with integrity on the job tomorrow, love your
neighbor. To us, it might seem as insignificant as tossing a pebble in the
ocean, but in God’s plan that pebble might create precisely the ripple that He
will use to change the world.
I want to
leave you today with one more story about a man whose simple step of obedience
changed the world. This man was a Sunday School teacher in Boston—Mr. Kimball.
His heart was greatly burdened for one of his students who worked in a shoe
store, so he decided one day to pay that young man a visit. Here’s how Mr.
Kimball tells the story, in his own words:
“I was determined to speak to him about Christ and about his
soul, and started down to Holton's boot store. When I was nearly there I began
to wonder whether I ought to go in just then during business hours. I thought
my visit might embarrass the boy, and that when I went away the other clerks
would ask who I was, and taunt him with my efforts in trying to make him a good
boy. In the meantime I had passed the store, and, discovering this, I
determined to make a dash for it, and have it over at once. I found him in the
back part of the building wrapping up shoes. I went up to him at once, and
putting my hand on his shoulder, I made what I felt afterwards was a very weak
plea for Christ. I don't know just what words I used. I simply told him of
Christ's love for him, and the love Christ wanted in return. That was all there
was. It seemed the young man was just ready for the light that then broke upon
him, and there in the back of that store in Boston, D. L. Moody gave himself
and his life to Christ.”
The
ministry of Dwight Moody would change the world. Many of you have books in your
home today that bear the name of the publishing company that he founded. Many
of you have been influenced by pastors and teachers who were touched by the
Bible Institute that he founded. It’s all because his Sunday School teacher
just did the next right thing that God put in front of him. Never discount the
impact of ordinary, everyday obedience, because it just might change the world!
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