Service; A New friend - Love
Ruth 2:4 – 16
November 6, 2011
2. We must live by the grace of God (Ruth 2:4–16)
As we open this section of the book of Ruth we see Ruth working in the field. From society’s point of view, Ruth was a poor widowed woman and a foreigner; in essence she was on the lowest rung of the social ladder in life. Ruth in essence had no rights to claim anyone to assist her. Whatever she was going to receive was simply going to be because of someone’s generosity. If she was to receive anything it was going to be because someone was going to give her access to something she did not deserve, in other words, Grace.
In Ruth’s case this channel of grace was to come through the hands of Boaz. In many ways, Boaz represents the simple fact that God has allowed good people to live in bad times. Remember that this book is written during the times of the Judges and the final words in that book are;
Judges 21:25 In those days Israel did not have a king. All the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.
So it is no like everybody was out looking after each other. In many ways the days of Ruth or the times of the Judges is a lot like the times in which we find ourselves living today and it is god to know that there are people who know the Lord and strive to obey His will. In the case of Boaz, we can see that he not just cares about his workers but wants those associated with him to be able to enjoy the blessings the come from God.
Boaz like most true Christians do not see the “Commandments” and the other “Regulations” that God set out as a negative or a have to of life but a want to.
Remember in my last message we read in;
Exodus 22:22 “You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child.
Exodus 23:3, God tells us; 3neither shalt thou favor a poor man in his cause.
Deuteronomy 10:18. He helps orphans and widows, and he loves foreigners and gives them food and clothes.
These words were not restrictors to Boaz, but words saying to him, this is how I can show God and His love to the world around me.
As we open verse 4 of this chapter, we see Boaz coming into the filed. By all appearances it is somewhere around midmorning at the earliest. He meets with the foreman of the workers and as he is getting the report you can imagine Boaz surveying the field. As his eyes scan the field they fall upon a very beautiful stranger following the workers. As you read the next few verses, you get the impression that this first glance was love at first sight.
In verse 5, Boaz asks the foreman just who the stranger is and he is given the answer in verses 6 and 7 is given what appears to be a very favorable report of a hard working person.
Let’s take a look at what God’s providence is trying to do in our lives and how His workings can completely change our circumstances.
Remember up to now, His love has brought a Moabite widow out of her country, into the land of Israel and now to a field where He further refines and defines His Loving Grace.
Now let’s notice the evidences of God’s grace in the way Boaz related to Ruth:
Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter. Don’t go to gather grain for yourself in another field. Don’t even leave this field at all, but continue following closely behind my women workers.
Grace means that God makes the first move to come to our aid, not because we deserve anything, but because He loves us and wants us for Himself. “We love, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19, NKJV).
God took the initiative in salvation when we were spiritually dead (Eph. 2:1–10), without strength (Rom. 5:6) sinners (5:8), and His enemies (5:10). Salvation was not an afterthought of God but that which He planned from eternity.
Ephesians 1:3
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ, God has given us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly world. 4 That is, in Christ, he chose us before the world was made so that we would be his holy people
We have every reason to believe Boaz loved Ruth and therefore took the first steps to meet her needs.
It was he who first spoke to her, for she would not have dared to speak to a man, especially one who was a stranger and “the lord of the harvest.” What right did a widow and an alien have to address a great man like Boaz? Yet he interrupted his conversation with his foreman to speak to a poor stranger gleaning in his field.
In spite of all that we as sinners have done to Him, He still chooses to speak to us in His grace. He not only speaks the word of salvation, but He also gives us the guidance we need for everyday life. Just like Boaz instructed Ruth on where to go and what to do, the Lord also shares His Word of wisdom to direct our daily lives. He is the “Lord of the harvest” and assigns to us our place in His field.
Boaz called Ruth “my daughter” because she was younger than he (see 3:10), but it was also a term of endearment. He would treat her like a member of his family.
8 ….continue following closely behind my women workers.
9 …. I have warned the young men not to bother you.
Don’t go to gather grain for yourself in another field. Don’t even leave this field at all, but continue following closely behind my women workers.
Verse 16 Boaz even instructed his workers to allow her to glean among the sheaves and told them to deliberately drop some of the harvest so she could pick it up.
In fact, drop some full heads of grain for her from what you have in your hands, and let her gather them. Don’t tell her to stop.”
When you’re thirsty, go to the jars and drink some of the water that the young men have drawn.”
Not only did she eat from the table of Boaz, she was able to take directly from his hand
When it was time to eat, Boaz told her, “Come here. Have some bread, and dip it into the sour wine.” So she sat beside the reapers, and he handed her some roasted grain.
In essence what we are seeing here is; whatever Ruth needed, Grace was provided. What a picture of the grace of God! The master became like the servants that he might show his love to a foreigner. Ruth had no idea that
Just like Ruth, an undeserving foreigner was finding that all of her needs were being met, not out of the things that she was doing but from believing in the words that Boaz had spoken, we as Christians, we will not be saved by the things that we do, but by the words that Jesus spoke.
The things that Boaz has told Ruth have become overwhelming. She struggles to wrap her head around all of these blessings. In verse 10 you see this struggle to understand all of this.
Then Ruth bowed low with her face to the ground and said to him, “I am not an Israelite. Why have you been so kind to notice me?”
Everyone is faced with this very situation when it comes to God and his bestowing His grace on us, and how we respond to it determines what our future will be like. Too many people will never come to accept this grace as they feel that they do not deserve it or do not need it. Others will accept it but will struggle with the why of it all their life and then there are others who will accept it and never question why.
Ruth had three options laying before here at this time.
1. She could reject this offering from Boaz, and go back to her people and her gods in Moab. In the process she would lose out on a bright future she would most likely be sending Naomi to an early grave.
2. Ruth could also accept these offering with skepticism, never fully trusting Boaz, but simply trudging forward hoping that he would continue to provide
3. She could forget about her past and not feel sorry for her life’s journey and be totally thankful for what was being offered to her right now. She looked away from her poverty and focused on his riches. She forgot her fears and rested on his promises.
If more people would take their eyes off of their current short term situation and do as is the writer of Hebrews tells us to face life in Hebrews 12:1-2 We should remove from our lives anything that would get in the way and the sin that so easily holds us back. 2 Let us look only to Jesus, the One who began our faith and who makes it perfect.
If we would heed the counsel of this little poem oh how much better all of our lives would be:
Look at self and be distressed,
Look at others and be depressed,
Look at Jesus and you’ll be blessed!
Why was all this happening to Ruth?
Little did anyone know, even Boaz that this was the result of a blessing that Naomi had placed on Ruth
as she was trying to send Ruth back to her people and her gods.
Ruth 1:8 - 9
8 But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back home, each of you to your own mother’s house. May the Lord be as kind to you as you have been to me and my sons who are now dead. 9 May the Lord give you another happy home and a new husband.”
All of this happened to Ruth because of her faith in the God of Israel. Boaz fully knew Ruth’s story, for it didn’t take long for news to travel in a little town like Bethlehem. He knew that Ruth had abandoned her home and her gods and had put her faith in Jehovah.
The word translated “answered” in Ruth 2:11 is literally “raised his voice.” Boaz was getting excited! He wanted everybody to hear what he thought about Ruth, and he wasn’t ashamed to be identified with her. She had trusted Jehovah, and she had proved her faith by cleaving to her mother-in-law and becoming a part of the people of Israel in Bethlehem.
The phrase “spoken friendly” in verse 13 means “spoken to the heart.” The Word of God comes from the heart of God (Ps. 33:11) to the hearts of His people (Matt. 23:18–23) and gives encouragement and hope (Rom. 15:4). If you listen to the voices of the world, you will be discouraged; but if you listen to the voice of God from His Word, your heart will be encouraged.
The Word of God and the Son of God can fully satisfy the heart of the believer. When we seek for satisfaction anywhere else, we will find ourselves disobedient and dissatisfied. The lost world labors for that which doesn’t satisfy (Isa. 55:2), but the believer has full satisfaction because of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ (Pss. 36:7–9; 63:5; 65:4; 103:5; 107:9). As the hymn writer Clara T. Williams put it in her song Satisfied:
Well of water ever springing,
Bread of life so rich and free,
Untold wealth that never faileth,
My Redeemer is to me.
Hallelujah! I have found Him
Whom my soul so long has craved!
Jesus satisfies my longings,
Through His blood I now am saved.
We must live by faith, and we must depend on God’s grace.