Service;
A New Beginning – Faith
Ruth 2:1-3
Oct 23, 2011
Set Backs
How many of you have ever gotten upset when things did not go as you had planned them, I’m not talking about just a small twist or turn in the events but a major upsetting the cart kind of change? You were going to become the next great whatever and an event comes along that prevents your plans from ever having a chance to materialize. You sit and wonder why? What did I ever do to deserve this kind of set back?
A young man by the name of Thomas Bramwell, received his early education in the public schools of Watertown, NY. Following his public school education he pursued a course at the Gouverneur Wesleyan Seminary, where he was graduated; and at the age of nineteen he entered into the work of the gospel ministry in connection with the Wesleyan Methodist Church, until his voice failed him.
Because of this event he had to direct his attention elsewhere, so he attended New York Central Medical College (Syracuse campus), becoming a physician in Penn Yan, New York. In 1856, at the age of 21, young Thomas moved his family to Winona, MN. where he changed his profession to dentistry and practiced until 1865 when he moved back to Vineland, New Jersey.
What kept Thomas going when things did not seem to be going his way? The same thing that enabled Abel to able to offer up a better sacrifice, Noah to preach for 120 years of a coming flood, Abraham to wandered the wilderness for decades searching for a permanent dwelling place and even offer his only son up as a sacrifice; Faith.
Romans 8:28 – 29
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
These men lived in a real world, but they did not live in the idea that their present circumstance was the finality of their condition.
Hebrews 11:1 - 2
1 Faith assures us of things we expect and convinces us of the existence of things we cannot see. 2 God accepted our ancestors because of their faith.
3 Faith convinces us that God created the world through his word. This means what can be seen was made by something that could not be seen.
Before God changes our circumstances, He wants to change our hearts. If our circumstances change for the better, but we remain the same, then we will become worse. God’s purpose is not to make us comfortable, but to make us conformable. God’s ultimate purpose is to have each of his children get a Christ like character.
Perceived setbacks is God’s opportunity to shine
In the first chapter of Ruth a period of ten years is covered, a transition that takes her from Bethlehem with her husband and two sons to a marriage of those sons to two Moabite women and eventually the death of her husband and sons. Over this period of time Naomi becomes bitter and upset towards God.
Despite these adverse actions in Naomi’s life, we will see God still willing to work with her in a most unusual way, a foreigner, a Moabite named Ruth. It is through Ruth that God begins His gracious work on a hardened heart and because of it would eventually bring His Son into this world.
Little did they know that they were part of an eternal plan that was first spoken of in Genesis 3:15
15 I will make you and the woman hostile toward each other.
I will make your descendants
and her descendant hostile toward each other.
He will crush your head,
and you will bruise his heel.
And repeated again in Genesis 12:3
3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you, I will curse.
Through you every family on earth will be blessed.”
Little did Naomi know how close she was to seeing the fulfillment of prophecy come true and what it takes for things to materialize.
Setbacks provide three things to grow.
In this chapter of Ruth we will cover three changes or experiences for Naomi and it will all be expressed in and through Ruth, a foreigner, a Moabite; faith, Love and hope.
Ruth, was at a stage in her life that was very bleak from the worlds point of view, not only was she a widow, she was a widow in a foreign land. In many ways she was more than just a foreigner, she was a foreigner from a land that God despised.
Deuteronomy 23:3
3 b“An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the Lord; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the Lord forever,
So whatever she was going to receive in the future was going to be based on how much faith she was going to put into the God of Israel.
Ruth seems to be the kind of woman that is not one to sit on here hands and bemoan the situation she finds herself in. She is not easily discouraged by the apparent setbacks in her life, in essence she is one who is willing to get up and take the bull by the horns so to say.
A Latin proverb says, “Providence assists not the idle.”
Naomi and Ruth have just recently moved back to Bethlehem. Scripture does not give us any indication as to where they spent the night, but as dawn breaks this morning Ruth knows one thing, if they are going to live, someone needs to go and find some food.
Ruth 2:2a
2 One day Ruth, the Moabite, said to Naomi, “I am going to the fields. Maybe someone will be kind enough to let me gather the grain he leaves behind.”
One of the provisions that God established with the nation of Israel was the need to look out for the less fortunate among them.
Leviticus 19:9 – 10
9 “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. 10 And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.
God’s concern for the poor and the less fortunate is evident though out scripture. In
Exodus 23:3, God tells us; You shall not show partiality to a poor man.
Exodus 22:22 “You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child.
Deuteronomy 10:18. “He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing”
Years after Noah and Abraham we see a new face of faith in the person of Ruth.
To live by faith means to take God at His word and then act upon it.
James 2:20 - 23
20 You foolish person! Must you be shown that faith that does nothing is worth nothing? 21 Abraham, our ancestor, was made right with God by what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar. 22 So you see that Abraham’s faith and the things he did worked together. His faith was made perfect by what he did. 23 This shows the full meaning of the Scripture that says: “Abraham believed God, and God accepted Abraham’s faith, and that faith made him right with God.” n And Abraham was called God’s friend. n 24 So you see that people are made right with God by what they do, not by faith only.
Ruth 2:3
3 So Ruth went to the fields and gathered the grain that the workers cutting the grain had left behind. It just so happened that the field belonged to Boaz, from Elimelech’s family.
Since Ruth believed that God loved her and would provide for her, she set out to find a field in which she could glean. This was completely an act of faith because, being a stranger, she didn’t know who owned the various parcels of ground that made up the fields. There were boundary markers for each parcel, but no fences or family name signs as seen on our farms today. Furthermore, as a woman and an outsider, she was especially vulnerable; and she had to be careful where she went.
Everything about Ruth’s activities is based on Faith, just like Abraham when he left Ur or when Noah stepped onto the ark, where their life would end up was based on what they first did, GO.
The record says Ruth “happened” to come to this portion of the field, but it was no accident. Her steps were guided by the Lord, just like the servant of Abraham said as he met Rachel for the first time in Genesis 24:27b As for me, being on the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master’s brethren.”
Her disappointments and setbacks did not prevent her from moving forward in her belief and faith in God to provide for her. In fact you could probably say that her disappointments in the world drove her to a deeper belief and trust in God, much like Thomas Bramwell.
In 1869, Thomas went on to invent a method of preserving wine in an unfermented state, especially for church communion services. This was an entirely new idea, and it involved a departure from an old custom and the initiation of a new practice. Much time, patience, and money were required to introduce it into the churches until it had finally become the established wine of communion.
Before leaving his practice in dentistry, he had prepared this wine and had introduced it on a small scale into the neighboring churches. The unfermented wine was originally prepared and intended simply for local use; but gradually the demands for it became more than local, and the preparation of it necessarily assumed the form of a business.
Since Thomas started this business, his family has literally given hundreds of thousands of dollars to missionaries around the world. You may know Thomas and his family better not as the purveyors of some of world’s best unfermented wine, but for what we call grape juice. You see Thomas’ last name is not Bramwell but Welch. Yes, THE WELCH”S GRAPE JUICE.
God’s working in our lives is both a delight and a mystery. God is constantly working with us (Mark 16:20), in us (Philippians 2:12–13), for us (Romans 8:28) and through us (2 Corinthians 2:14) accomplishing His gracious purposes. We pray, we seek His will, and we make decisions (and sometimes make mistakes); but it is God who orders events and guides His willing children. In a spectacular vision, the Prophet Ezekiel saw the providential workings of God depicted by a throne set on a “firmament” that was moved here and there by “wheels within wheels” (Ezek. 1). You can’t explain it, but thank God you can believe it and rely on it!
Today you are left with two choices;
Or