if you want to know what we got you for Christmas, it's a decent family photo. And what we mean by that is we noticed at the end of last Christmas season, a bunch of families were coming up onto the stage and like taking pictures with the Christmasy kind of stuff that we had. And so we thought, you know what, we can do a little better for our families in the church. So our gift to you, kind of, if you could say it that way, is this photo spot modeled by one Mr. Phil Rangich. Wave your hand, Vanna White, back there.
There you go. You can take your picture with Phil if you want. He will be there. No, but, or you can replace him with your family, which we would probably encourage. And basically, that's our photo spot.
So if you wanna come one of these Sundays, grab a picture with your family, grab somebody to take that photo. We hope that's a blessing to you. Also, back in the little corner over here, you might think, what's all that light and stuff? That stuff is to attract you to go back to the giving corner, especially to— that's where we're going to be collecting books and things and supplies, but especially where we're going to be highlighting the sponsorship programs for Rancho 3M and Covenant Mercies. And so we're going to be talking more about that next week, but if you want to make your way over there, check that out, you can do that.
Well, let's open God's word to the Book of Ruth chapter 2. Book of Ruth chapter 2. And as we said last week, we're, we're doing the Book of Ruth in the Christmas season for a number of reasons, but one of those is that the book of Ruth is the Bible's original Hallmark movie. This is what we're gonna do every week. We're gonna poll everybody.
Who has seen a Hallmark movie so far in the Christmas season? Man, you guys are so much better than the first service. The first service, I don't know what the deal is with them. There were like 5 of them and I began to be concerned. And so I preached even harder.
So this, you guys don't even need this message. I'm just kidding. Yeah, you do. We all do. We talked about the book of Ruth as the Bible's Hallmark movie, you know, and you're gonna see some of those things reflected.
But the thing that we saw last week shining out of the book of Ruth is this theme, this thread of the kindness of God. And we talked about how last week Naomi could not see the kindness of God. She thought the kindness of God had left her, but in fact, God's kindness was right next to her. To her in the person of her daughter-in-law Ruth, committed to her, helping her, never leaving her. So today what we're gonna do is we're gonna continue on that theme of kindness, and we're gonna look at 3 characters in the book of Ruth and what they teach us about the kindness of God.
Last week we saw the kindness of God is there, but we're gonna look at 3 characters and how they interact with the kindness of God. And hopefully learn what the Lord has for us.
So let's pray briefly and then we'll jump right in. Lord, we do pray that you would open our eyes and open our ears to hear what you have for us today. God, help us to see this theme of the kindness of God.
We pray that, that each person leaving today would leave changed by their encounter with your kindness. In Jesus' name, amen.
Well, first, let's look at the character of Ruth. Ruth chapter 2. What do we learn about Ruth?
We learn that Ruth shows us someone relying on the kindness of God. Now Naomi had a relative of her husband's, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, "Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor." And she said to her, "Go, my daughter." Now, here it's important to note that the narrator is inserting verse 1. In verse 2, Ruth has no plan to go to Boaz's field. She's just basically saying, "Hey, let me go out and let me just see where I can find us some food," essentially.
Last week, we focused on Naomi, but we're gonna push the camera in toward Ruth. This is Ruth's close-up of the week. Think about what Ruth would have been experiencing at this time. She had grown up not in Bethlehem, but in Moab. She grew up with Moabite customs, Moabite dress, Moabite religion.
And yet, as she's growing up, this Hebrew family enters her world. They come speaking of their God, Yahweh, and she ends up marrying one of the sons and begins to be tightly joined into this family. And everything seems good, only for her husband to die. And not only him, but his brother. Not only them, but their father.
And it seems as though that another tragedy is that none of— Ruth had not even had any children. Her sister-in-law had not had any children. And so last week we saw she makes this incredibly costly, incredibly risky decision to go back to her family in— with Naomi's family to Bethlehem. And she goes with Naomi, who, if you picked this up last week, was not a rainbow and a piece of sunshine. Naomi is returning to Bethlehem, and people are saying, "Hey, Naomi," and her name means sweet, and she's telling them, "Oh, call me bitter now.
My new name is bitter. Put me in your phone as bitter." And you're like, "Ew," you know? So this is who Ruth has attached herself to, and she comes to Bethlehem as one of the historic enemies of God's people. You know, Israel and Moab didn't have the coziest relationship.
Deuteronomy, says this about the Moabites: "No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the Lord, even to the 10th generation. None of them may enter the assembly of the Lord, because they did not meet you with bread and with water on the way when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired Balaam to prophesy against you. You shall not seek their peace or their prosperity all your days forever." The Lord essentially said, "Don't go to Moab," of course, something that Elimelech and Naomi did not listen to. And notice that The prohibition is not against Moabites necessarily coming into the people of God. The prohibition was God's people going out and being friendly with them, which unfortunately is what had happened. God is saying, "These people historically wronged you, so stay back away from them.
They will hurt you again." And yet Ruth, this Moabitess, is walking into Bethlehem. Why? Why does Ruth do this?
6 · Answers the question of why Ruth comes to Bethlehem: not merely family loyalty to Naomi, but covenant commitment to Yahweh—she is staking everything on the character and kindness of Israel's God
Well, we see something last week that's so important. Doesn't just pledge herself to Naomi, but pledges herself to Naomi's God, pledges herself to Yahweh.
What Ruth does here is essentially throwing herself on the kindness of God.
7 · Distinguishes between intellectual assent to God's kindness (confessional belief) and existential reliance on God's kindness in actual life circumstances—the latter being the mark of genuine faith
Now, this is such an important lesson, guys. It's one thing for us to confessionally believe in the kindness of God on a head level. It's a totally different thing for us to then rely on the kindness of God in the realities of life.
8 · Personal story about crossing a river in Ruidoso with his sons
Like, think about it this way. My boys have this one spot in the river in Ruidoso that they love to go to. And if you haven't— if you're from out of town, when I say river in Ruidoso, it's a generous term. And so there's, you know, you can— it's not as though you're like, where's the other bank of the river? It's like, oh, there it is right there. So it's like, you know, 8 feet or something.
And it's fun. The kids can get in there and play. We have this one spot they love to play in. But one of the things that always happens is, as a parent, you kind of look at this bank and this bank, and there's rocks in the river, and you think, oh yeah, I could get across the river pretty easily. Pretty spry, I'm a spry 35-year-old, and you could, you know, I'd go there, and then there, and then pop, hop, you know, and jump over, and you're like, yeah, yeah, we're good.
But eventually, one of your kids will take your hand, one of my boys at least, take my hand and say, I wanna go to the other side. And all of a sudden, the head knowledge I have about those rocks is tested, right? All of a sudden, I have to actually go out and put my weight on the rocks, And there's that moment of truth with every rock, right, where you transfer your weight to that foot on the rock and you feel it go like, you know, and you think, is that going to be like, or is that going to be, whoop, you know, down the river, which has happened before.
9 · Applies the river-crossing analogy to Ruth's situation and the congregation's faith
And so in a similar way, Ruth and us are always in the same place. You can believe God is kind. I don't know how many people here may Probably most people here would come in, and if I asked you, hey, do you believe God is kind? You would say, yeah, sure, confessionally, that's true. It's in our statement of faith. I believe God is kind. But it is another thing entirely to live your life relying on the kindness of God, which is what Ruth is doing.
She is walking to a place she's never been, to be among a people she's never met, relying not on Naomi, but on the kindness of Naomi's God.
10 · Unpacks the layers of Ruth's vulnerability in the time of the Judges: no male relatives for protection in a kinship-based justice system, ethnic outsider status, no economic or social standing, and operating in a period of total moral chaos where 'everyone did what was right in their own eyes
And Ruth, remember, she is vulnerable. She, this is a great risk for her. She has no male relatives to be her advocate. One of the ways the Hebrew justice system works wasn't that they had, like, Hebrew cops that would drive around in Hebrew squad cars in the ancient world. A lot of law enforcement was done by your male relatives, right? What kept everybody in line was like, hey, if you kill somebody or you wrong somebody, me and my cousins and uncles, we're gonna come get you and avenge you, right? But Ruth has none of that. Naomi has none of that. And anything Naomi had, she's left that people, remember?
And not only that, but Ruth is an outsider. Again, she's a Moabitess. And she has no economic standing, no social standing, right? This is somebody who's uniquely vulnerable and is in the time of the judges. This is a period of chaos where everybody is doing what is right in their own eyes, where— where I still— okay, the first service we had too many kids for me to say this, but second service you guys are more okay.
Man, read the end of the book of Judges. It is utter chaos, right? A person's concubine is killed and divided up and sent to the corners of Israel, and you just think, this is a lawless mess. That's what Ruth is walking into. Ruth is walking in alone.
The only thing she has to rely on is the kindness of God.
11 · Explains the Old Testament gleaning laws as the structural expression of God's kindness, then corrects a potential misunderstanding: relying on God's kindness does not mean passivity—Ruth actively works, going to the fields and laboring hard within the provision God has made
And yet there is a step for her to take. In the Old Testament, God's kindness is embedded into the Old Testament law. There's, there's provisions in the Old Testament law that those who are poor or fatherless or widows or sojourners, that there is provision for them in the law of God. They are essentially left free scraps in the field. Not all of it is to be consumed. Some is to be left over for those in need. And so Ruth heads out into the field to rely on the kindness of God. And notice something else, that reliance on the kindness of God is not opposite resourcefulness, meaning that relying on the kindness of God doesn't just mean sitting there and just waiting. Okay, Lord, I'm waiting, waiting for your kindness.
No, no, Ruth is not waiting. Right? She's putting on her work clothes, she's heading out into the fields. She is, in this chapter, working hard, working up a sweat, doing difficult tasks because that is the next step that God's provided for her in his kindness.
12 · Direct application asking listeners to identify where they need to take a step of faith
So let me ask yourself, let me encourage you to ask yourself today, where do you need to step out in faith and rely on the kindness of God?
Let me encourage you, in our Christian walk, there should be a regular, This should be a regular part of our Christian life. It shouldn't be like a big thing every once in a while where we have to step out or take a step of faith, like everything in life is normal, good, and then, oh man, 10 years ago I had to take a big step of faith and rely on God. This is the pattern of the Christian life.
13 · Personal testimony of leaving law school preparation to pursue vocational ministry—a moment when head knowledge about God's provision became existentially real as he stepped away from financial security toward an uncertain calling
I remember the first time this happened to me, the first kind of step in the river I made was in— when I was going to UTEP, I was going to the Law School Preparation Institute with my undergrad, and so I had the kind of a career path sort of laid out in terms of my mind and life. And I was going to pursue law. I was taking LSATs. I was getting ready to take the real LSAT. I was getting ready to look at law schools. I knew that there was a vocational path kind of laid out. There's some stability in terms of income.
Not everybody likes lawyers, but a lot of people have to hire them. And so, like, it's relatively safe because there's always somebody who wants to sue somebody else. And so it's a good— it's a good field in that way. And yet, in the middle of college, I feel like God subjectively and through his word and through the confirmation of the people around me, kind of set— all three of them said the same thing, which was I was supposed to leave the profession of law, trying to pursue that, and pursue vocational ministry. And that was a major— I remember that was the first time I had to, like, step into the river where all the things I knew about God— yeah, God takes care of people, rely on God's kindness, etc.— all of a sudden became real, where I was like, okay, I have a girlfriend, I want to marry her, I need a career, I need money, and I'm going to go from law to a part-time job taking care of the church property and, like, fixing sprinklers in the back.
Not, you know, like, that's a step right there. And it's not— and here's the thing, I thought, okay, once I take that step, it's all downhill from there. No, you continue to have to step on rocks through the Christian life.
14 · Direct pastoral encouragement to those feeling desperate or out of options—reframes their situation not as something gone wrong but as the normative pattern of Christian faith, where reliance on God is the designed posture
And let me encourage you, brother and sister, Maybe you're there today. Maybe you think, "Something's gone wrong in my life. I have no choice in my life but to rely on the kindness of God. I don't know how, I don't see how God's gonna provide for me." No, something hasn't gone wrong. That's the pattern of the Christian life.
15 · Signals the shift from the first character study (Ruth) to the second (Boaz), maintaining the sermon's three-character structure
And Ruth shows us that. Now, so we learned from Ruth, but what do we learn then from Boaz?
16 · Introduces Boaz's role in the sermon's argument: if Ruth models reliance on God's kindness, Boaz models the display of God's kindness
Boaz, what we see in Ruth is a reliance on the kindness of God, but we see in Boaz is a corresponding display of the kindness of God. The two halves of the Christian life, life, as it were, to rely on the kindness of God, but then to, in reliance on him, display the kindness of God to others.
17 · Playful Hallmark movie analogy painting Boaz as the archetypal romantic lead—the handsome, hard-working farmhand who turns out to own the farm
Now, Boaz is a dude that I just love. If this was a Hallmark movie, we would meet Boaz at the farm, right? He would have inexplicably tight Wranglers like around his calves, and you're like, man, look at the calves on that guy, right? He's got his sleeves rolled up with big, veiny forearms, and he's baling hay, and his hair is tousled by sweat somehow. And then you meet the character, and you're like, oh, he's probably just a farmhand. And then at the end of the interaction, the meet cute with the girl, all of a sudden, you realize, oh, he owns the farm. Oh, he's rich. You know, like, not only does he have incredible Wrangler calves, he's rich, right?
And you begin to think, oh, I know what's going to happen next, right? The girl from outside, you know, the big city, down on her luck is going to— oh, I know what's going to happen, right? But you still watch the movie anyway. That's what— that same thing with the Book of Ruth.
18 · Reframes Boaz's character against the moral chaos of the Judges period, where even Israel's leaders displayed mixed or corrupt character (e
But I want you to— before you paint that picture of Boaz, even though it is true, he is rich and he seems like a guy with a good reputation in town. He's a man about town. The thing to remember about Boaz is that this is the time of the judges. Nobody is showing kindness to anybody. Even Israel's rulers, even Israel's rescuers are showing poor character, right? These are the— this is the time of guys like Samson.
You're like, on the one hand, super strong. On the other hand, horrific womanizer, right? And you're like, it's a mixed bag. Like, what? A mixed bag like this, right?
This, this is the time of the judges. And Boaz could just be like, you know what? I'm just trying to hold it down. I'm just trying to survive here. Don't talk to me.
Don't ask me to show kindness. We're trying to get through life. And yet Boaz, in the middle of this dark time of the Judges, displays the kindness of God. Why does he do this?
19 · Reads Ruth 2:4 and interprets Boaz's greeting—'The Lord be with you'—as evidence that his kindness flows from his relationship with God, not mere personality
Well, look at his introduction in verse 4. And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and he said to the reapers, the Lord be with you. And they answered, the Lord bless you. First thing we learn about Boaz is Boaz displays a God-informed kindness. The kindness that Boaz displays flows from his relationship with the Lord. It's not as though Boaz just happens to be a nice guy.
Boaz displays the kindness of God because he knows the kindness of God. Can you imagine, you know, you're walking, you know, first thing in the morning, it's early, not everybody's had their coffee, and the first thing you're like, "Yeah, Frank, what's going on?" You know, Boaz is like, "Good morning! The Lord be with you!" And then the whole field yells back, "The Lord bless you!" Right? This is, you're like, "Okay, this guy's a different field. Something's going on different." What's different about Boaz?
He loves the Lord. It just flows out of him. That's his introduction.
20 · Direct diagnostic application: inability to show kindness may indicate a lack of experiential knowledge of God's kindness
And let me just say this. If you struggle to show the kindness of God to others, maybe start further back and ask, do you know the kindness of God yourself?
Is your relationship with the Lord one in which you experience the kindness of God? 'Cause if you do, it'll overflow into life.
21 · Reads Ruth 2:5-9, showing Boaz's inquiry about Ruth, his servant's report of her diligence, and Boaz's protective instructions to Ruth to stay in his field, work alongside his female workers, and drink freely from the water drawn by his men
All right, let's keep going with Boaz. Verse 5, then Boaz sent to his young man who was in charge of the reapers, whose young woman is this? And the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered, she is the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. She said, please let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers. So she came and she has continued from early morning until now except for a short rest. Rest. Then Boaz said to Ruth, now listen, my daughter, do not go glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. Let your eyes be on the field that they are reaping and go after them.
Have I not charged the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn.
22 · Argues against a romantic reading of Boaz's inquiry—he's not attracted to Ruth's appearance (she's been working all morning in the sun)
Second thing we see about Boaz is he displays a caring for the vulnerable kindness. A type of kindness that cares for the vulnerable. Now, some people, I think, on a superficial reading, knowing where the story is going, says, "Oh, he sees Ruth, she's a cutie, and so he's like, 'Hey, who's this? Who's in the field over here?'" You know, that is not what's going on, okay? Remember, Ruth is dressed for work, has been working for a number of hours in the sun and field, and let me just say, ladies, Who of you, after wearing work clothes, your worst, dirtiest work clothes, and working in the sun for 5 to 6 hours, would like to meet a handsome young bachelor? No, not your best look, right? This is not an Instagram moment, right? Boaz is not like, "Look at that cutie," and be like— he's just like, "Who's— I don't know this worker.
Who is this worker?" But what he finds out about her is that she is the young Moabite woman. Now, the thing that Boaz does in his oversight of his fields is he doesn't look for who's the biggest producer, who's making me the most money, who am I gonna give a raise to? He sees the vulnerable. He sees a woman without a man. In other words, somebody who's taking advantage of that Old Testament provision and saying, who is this?
What's their story? His eyes go to the vulnerable, not the most powerful, not the most impressive, not the prettiest, but the most vulnerable. And in this, he displays displays something of the kindness and character of God. God, over and over in the Old Testament, his eyes are not just, okay, who's the most impressive? Remember how he picks David and Samuel has to go through that long line of brothers?
He's super tall, he's super handsome, he's super good, and then all the way down, the young brother. That's the way the Lord works. His eyes are on the young, the vulnerable, the weak, right? This is a theme continually, and it should be a theme in our lives as well.
23 · Personal testimony of being athletically incompetent and socially overlooked as a kid, yet having an older, cooler church member repeatedly invite him to play basketball
I grew up here in the church, and everybody from that era will testify and say amen to the fact that I was truly horrific at sports. You know how, like, you grow up in the church, you kind of play basketball or football or whatever with people? It was bad. And yet there was a guy in the church who was a few years older than me, and he was a cool guy. He was a good athlete. He was likable.
People like to hang out with him. Girls seem to like him. And for whatever reason, he just started inviting me to stuff. He'd be like, hey, we're gonna go play basketball, you wanna go? Like, I'm the last person you call if you wanna go play basketball.
And yet this guy's like, he sees two things about me. He's terrible and has no friends, I'll invite him, right? And it meant the world to me. And actually, I saw him a couple weeks ago. And you know, we're grown and adults, and I'm still terrible at sports, sports, but I saw him, and I was just like, bro, I don't think you'll ever understand what that meant to me.
Like, overlooked by everybody else, not invited, but you invited me. Man, that really meant a lot.
24 · Direct application flowing from the illustration: Christians should make it a regular practice to identify and show kindness to the vulnerable and overlooked in their circles
And the feeling that that creates, the kindness that it displays, that should be a perennial thread in the Christian's life. Who's the vulnerable? Who's the overlooked?
Let me look and show kindness to them.
25 · Reads Ruth 2:10-12, highlighting the text's repeated identification of Ruth as 'the Moabite' (emphasizing her outsider status) and Boaz's response, which acknowledges her sacrificial loyalty to Naomi and invokes the Lord's blessing on her for taking refuge under Israel's God
Verse 10 says this, then she, Ruth, 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? And notice, I'm gonna pause there, notice this, every time Ruth is introduced, without fail, it says Ruth the Moabite. Even in verse 6, it says Ruth the Moabite from the country of Moab. It's trying to be like, listen, she ain't like the other people. You have no obligation to help her. Verse 11, but Boaz answered her, all that you've done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me. You've left your father and mother and your native land and have came to a people that you did not know before. The Lord repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.
26 · Interprets Boaz's actions—inviting Ruth to stay in his field, protecting her from assault, providing water, integrating her with his household workers—as bringing the outsider into the family of God
Boaz displays an outsider-welcoming kindness. It would be an easy excuse for Boaz to show no kindness to Ruth because she was not actually one of the people of God. You could take all the provisions in the Old Testament law and say, listen, I don't have to frankly do any of those because she's a Moabite. Doesn't qualify, doesn't have to qualify, and yet Boaz says, "No, she does qualify." Everything that Boaz does, you could see, he brings her into his people. First, he says, "No, no, don't go to the other fields.
It is dangerous out there." In fact, Naomi references at the end of the chapter, "Don't go to other fields lest you be assaulted." So I don't know what the security situation is in Bethlehem, but it is bad, right? And Boaz is like, "Okay, first of all, don't go out there." Stay here. Second, I've charged all my young men, don't even think about it. Be like, you know what, if she cleaned up, she might be cute. Nope, nope, right?
And in fact, he's telling them, okay, draw water for her, protect her. You stay with my own household, my young women that are working for me, right? He brings her into the family of God. And this is what God does over and over. In the Old Testament.
Remember, Abraham didn't start out as an Israelite. Abraham started out as a pagan, and God brought him, in a sense, into his family. And through the Old Testament, there's these glimpses of God bringing other people into the family of God.
27 · Personal illustration about his wife Jen's experience as a teenager being welcomed as an outsider by a church in Juárez, and how that kindness shaped her into someone who now regularly invites lonely people into their home
So should it be with the Christian, to show kindness to the outsider. One of the most powerful moments for my wife as a teen— I was talking to her this, this week, and she was sharing how When she was a teenager, you know, her family was going through a lot of difficult things, and one of the refuges that she found was going on mission trips down with our sister church in Juárez. And so she would come and do kind of mission evangelism work with them. And they could, I think the church there, the youth there, the parents there could just sense like, man, she needs family right now. And so they just brought her in. And even after she grew out, like, of the age where you can go do mission trips, she just would come down and visit them. Because she found in them a family.
And you know what that did for her? That means that now in our family, she regularly just invites people over that need family. Even just this week, there was somebody we were talking about, and she just, she paused and she just said, "You know what? I don't think they have a lot of friends. Let's be their friend." Right?
And I'm like, "Mm, or we could just be home alone by ourselves with a book." And she's like, "Or we could invite them over for dinner." Okay, we'll go with that. So that's my wife, right? She displays the kindness of God welcoming the outsider.
28 · Reads Ruth 2:13-16 and highlights Boaz's escalating generosity: inviting Ruth to eat with his workers, personally serving her roasted grain until satisfied with leftovers, then instructing his men to intentionally leave extra grain for her
And last, one more thing, verse 13. Then she said, I've found favor in your eyes, my lord, for you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not one of your servants. And at mealtime, Boaz said to her, come here, eat some bread and dip your morsel in the wine. So she sat beside the reapers and he passed to her roasted grain, and she ate until she was satisfied, and she had some left over. When she rose to glean, Boaz instructed his young men, saying, 'Let her glean even among the sheaves. Do not reproach her, and also pull out some from the bundles for her. Leave it for her to glean, and do not rebuke her.' Look, here's where it becomes really clear that Boaz is a God-fearer.
He cares about the Old Testament law, but he's going so far beyond what's required of him in the Old Testament. Right? If you think of the Old Testament law as like, okay, you gotta be, you know, you can't be exploitative to the sojourner or to the widow. You gotta do certain things for them. So here's the line.
You gotta stay back on this, you know, you gotta go up to this line in terms of helping people. Boaz goes far beyond the line in showing kindness and far beyond the line again in showing kindness and far beyond the line again in showing kindness. The things just keep piling up.
29 · Two illustrations: (1) Boaz as servant-leader personally distributing food to workers, and (2) the pastor's sons splitting lemonade—contrasting the legalistic 'equal portions' approach with the generous 'fill my brother's cup first' approach
I love Boaz because apparently he's like the guy working the grill and is feeding all of his employees and the people working for him because he's the one passing out lunch. Which, side note, great example of servant leadership, guys. Heads up on that, right? He is the guy handing out the grain and handing and giving it to Ruth and, and basically saying, look, you have enough, do you want some more? Take some I'm gonna give you some more home. You got somebody you're caring for?
I'm gonna give you more. And eventually Ruth just comes back with like a giant overflowing bags of food to sustain her and Naomi. That, that is an overflowing kindness that displays the overflowing kindness of God. Look, I've got two boys that are similar in age, and so we'll do— we'll say things like this, okay, why don't you split the lemonade?
There's two ways to split the lemonade, right? One of them is to have the cup. This is their cup and this is their brother's cup. And they're like, is that enough?
Is that enough? And I'm like, no, it's not. No. Is that enough? You know, and you're just watching, you're waiting for the lemonades to equal.
And then they're like, as soon as they're equal, the person's like, okay, we're done. Okay, that's enough. That's yours. This one's mine. Right.
But, but one of the things I love about my boys is sometimes They— that's totally not what they do at all. Sometimes they'll take the lemonade to just fill up their brother's cup and then worry about how much they have later. That's what Boaz is doing. He's not like, okay, we got scarce resources, don't give Ruth too much, give her as much as she's allotted, give her as much as we're supposed to. Look, this is the time of the judges.
Listen, there had just been a decade-long famine. If there's ever an excuse to be like, you know what, let's save some extra grain, It would be in this time. And yet Boaz is like, give her more, give her more than that, give her, you know, send her home with an extra bag, give her whatever she needs, and then we'll worry about ourselves. Like, this is Boaz's overflowing kindness.
30 · Direct application synthesizing Boaz's four-fold kindness pattern: (1) informed by relationship with God, (2) focused on the vulnerable, (3) welcoming the outsider, and (4) overflowing beyond obligation
So let me just challenge and encourage you, brothers and sisters, this is to stir us up. Let's— if we have experienced the kindness of God in these ways, we're to display this kindness of God to the people around us. That's informed by our relationship with God, that is focused on the weak and the vulnerable, that is going to the outsider and bringing them in, and that is overflowing, not just doing our part, but doing far more, doing whatever we can in overflowing kindness.
Does that define your life? This is what we're going to be talking about much more next week. We're going to have Doug Hayes, the executive director of Covenant Mercy, talking to us about showing kindness to the fatherless and the orphan and why that's a theme of Scripture. So I hope you can join us for that. But even this week, how can you begin to do it?
31 · Explicitly signals a major structural shift—the pastor is pausing the main sermon to insert an extended application on dating and relationships drawn from Ruth and Boaz's interaction
Now, I'm going to take a 4-minute excursus from this message. I don't ever do this, but we're going to do it this week because we're going to— like, if you— if the sermon is like a, you know, movie you're watching, we're going to like pause it and do another movie. Okay.
32 · Extended excursus on dating, arguing that Ruth and Boaz demonstrate 'character recognizes character'—mutual respect for each other's godliness was the foundation of their attraction
So Here's the excursus, the Ruth and Boaz guide to modern dating. Now, the— I just gotta take 4 minutes to do this, because the book of Ruth is not a book of dating advice per se. It's not written to guide people in their dating relationships, but it's one of the only books of the Bible in which we see an unmarried man and an unmarried young woman, they both happen to be godly, and then they end up deciding to get married. So it has some good, helpful principles for dating and relationships. Now, I wanted to call this section, "I Kissed Moab Goodbye," but I thought, "Too much, too much.
Move on." Okay, so here's what we see in this text. Boaz is displaying the kindness of God in his character. Ruth is displaying a reliance on the kindness of God God that's full of character. And both of them in this interaction kind of, like, recognize each other and are like, "Hey, you really helped your mother-in-law. That was super kind." And Ruth is like, "Well, you're really helping me.
That's super kind. You know who that reminds me of?" And they together say, "The Lord," right? And you're like, "There's something happening here. Something's going on." Well, listen, sometimes people say in our culture today, "Game recognize game." Well, the Bible version of that is super lame, and it is, "Character recognizes character," right? Your character, if you're a person of character, you look at somebody else and you go, "Hey, I think there's, wait a minute, I see something happening here." So the missing ingredient, this is what I wanna encourage you singles with today, the missing ingredient, I think, in so much of modern dating is a focus on respecting the character of the person you're in a relationship with, that one of the things most attractive about them to you should be their character.
The push of our culture is that relationships are all about a physical and/or emotional spark. Is there a spark, right? When you went on the date, what did it feel like, right? I felt like butterflies were in my tummy. You know, like this is, like this is, okay, I'm being facetious, but that is kind of what we do, right?
Even more so in the world of online dating. right? Where you don't even see them in their environment. You don't even know if they're good at their job or if their family likes them. You just see like a little emoji bloop and it has like messages from them.
That's a really tough environment. And I feel it. And one of the things that can happen in that kind of environment is even as Christians, people can look for a certain hair color, a certain body type, a certain set of interests, a certain ability to be funny. And none of those things are necessary. Necessarily bad.
But here's the reality: you can have an emotional, relational, physical spark with somebody of terrible character. I don't know if anyone's told you this, but their character does not necessarily— like, if they're a bad person, like, you can still feel things for them, right? Or, or, and they can still hit everything on your list: perfect hair type, perfect, uh, you know, body type, perfect hobby, enthusiasts that match up with my hobbies. You can have all those things and still not have character. So this is what I think Ruth and Boaz encouraged us with.
Make character one of the most attractive qualities to you. And if you're not single, maybe you're part of the church family, we need to help make sure that we're not like falling back into the world where we're encouraging them with like, oh, his hair color is so cute. Okay, maybe it might be. All right. His Wranglers and his calves, look at that.
Like, I know some of y'all are probably on Only Farmers, Only Christian Farmers, or whatever.
But are they a person of character?
33 · Personal testimony of meeting his wife Jen on a long bus ride
Listen, I remember the switch kind of flipping for me when I was— when I met my wife, Jen. I knew she was cute, and I kind of lucked out and found myself sitting next to her on a super long bus ride. And we were just kind of stuck together. And so we ended up talking for hours. And one of the things that happened in that conversation, though, is I learned about her background. I learned that she'd lost two younger sisters. I learned that her parents divorced. I learned that life had been difficult. I learned that post-high school, she had to get out and start paying bills right away.
Right? And as she's describing this— and it's like a hard life, and things have happened that are difficult for her. But she pressed into the Lord, and she pressed into her church family. And something happened to my attraction. Where it went from, this girl is cute, to, I respect this girl.
I respect her. It went from like flirtation to like, who is this? There's something about her.
34 · Acknowledges the difficulty of finding a character-driven match in modern dating culture
Now, I understand that the difficulty, if you're single, you're like, okay, I wish it were that easy. You know, you just find somebody with character. It's not exactly listed on eHarmony. That's why we are starting a new dating site called charactercounts.com. It's gonna be great. Where we don't show you their picture until you message several times and respect each other. Okay, sorry, that's not in my notes.
Um, we're not doing that. So the elders are waving me off from that. Here's the question Ruth and Boaz would ask all of us: do you respect them? Do you respect them? Do they display something of the kindness of God?
Do they walk out a reliance on the kindness of God in their life. And listen, some of you might be tempted to say like, okay, listen, I wish it were that simple, but I can barely get a date, much date, get a date with somebody of character. And Ruth, listen, I think is a— her example is like, if you think things are impossible for you, imagine being a Moabite who nobody likes with a dead husband and a bitter old mother-in-law as your best friend, trying to get out and date in a new city. Not gonna go well. But here's the thing, Ruth is not, this is, we're gonna get to this in chapter 3 and 4, Ruth is not out hunting for a husband in chapter 2.
Ruth is out relying on the kindness of God. And so Ruth's example also is not just, okay, be good and God will give you a spouse. No, the larger message of the book of Ruth is follow the Lord and you can count on his kindness. Kindness. That may come through many different ways.
It may come through a Boaz, but it will certainly come from the Lord.
35 · Signals the end of the dating excursus and return to the main sermon structure
All right, end the excursus, back to the message. If you're interested in my website, see me later and you can sign up.
36 · Introduces the third character study (Naomi) by reading Ruth 2:17-19 and contrasting Naomi's bitterness in chapter 1 with her transformation in chapter 2—she is now the first to discern that Boaz's kindness has a divine source
Third thing, third character, and we'll close this out with Naomi. Naomi. We see that Ruth displays reliance on the character of God. Boaz shows us what it looks like to display the the kindness and character of God. But Naomi does something beautiful. Naomi discerns the source of kindness is in God. Verse 17, so Ruth gleaned in the field until evening.
Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was an ephah of barley, sorry, and she took it up and went to the city. Her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She also brought out and gave her what food she had left over after being satisfied. And her mother-in-law said to her, 'Where did you glean today? Where have you worked?
Blessed be the man who took notice of you.' So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, 'The man's name with whom I worked today is Boaz.'" Now, remember Naomi's character from chapter 1. She comes back to Bethlehem saying, 'Everybody call me bitter. Put me down in your phone. My contact name has changed to Bitter Naomi.' Naomi, or just bitter, even better. She says, "The hand of the Almighty is against me." She does not see anywhere in life, even with Ruth right next to her, the kindness of God.
But the beautiful change in Naomi's character is that in this situation, she's the first to recognize where the kindness of Boaz is truly coming from.
37 · Reads Ruth 2:20 and interprets Naomi's blessing—'the Lord whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead'—as a recognition that the series of 'coincidences' (Ruth 'happening' on Boaz's field, Boaz noticing her, Boaz being single and godly) are actually the sovereign kindness of God orchestrating the story
Verse 20 says this, Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, "May he be blessed," 'By the Lord whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead.' And Naomi also said to her, 'The man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers.'" Imagine that the person in chapter 1 complaining about God's treatment of her is now the person proclaiming that the kindness of God has not forsaken her or for her family. Why does Naomi do that? Because in Boaz, she doesn't just see a nice guy being nice. Imagine kind of the chances, the insane chances.
The Hebrew uses the word that Ruth happened on the field of Boaz, and the writer is using that ironically. It just so happened The first day Ruth is out to try to get, you know, some provision for her and her mother-in-law, she happened on the field of the man with the best character in all of Bethlehem, a man who was a good employer, who cared for his people, who took notice. It just so happened that Boaz took notice of her. It just so happened that they connected. It just so happened that this dude was single, right?
And Naomi is adding all this up and saying, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. This is not chance. This is not chance. This is the kindness of God. God is writing this story.
God's kindness is shining through this man.
38 · Cultural illustration of 'Random Acts of Kindness Day' as an example of the secular worldview that kindness is a purposeless phenomenon emerging from a purposeless universe—a worldview Naomi's discernment corrects
And in a similar way, Naomi helps us see that the kindnesses in our lives around us aren't just random. I remember I was seeing somebody recently having. It was like, Random Acts of Kindness Day. And I was like, what an interesting phrase, random acts of kindness. So I guess the idea is it's divorced from like faith and religion. And the idea is on that day, just get out and do something random to be kind to somebody else. As if it's just like the universe, it just created itself somehow.
And then now kindness just kind of, that just flies out into the universe and people are nice to each other one day a year.
39 · Theological synthesis: Naomi's discernment reveals that all kindness has a source—the God of heaven
And see, here's the thing Naomi discerns: the kindnesses of our world have a source. The kindnesses of earth have their source in the kindness of heaven. Look, the book of Judges is a living illustration of what happens when God is kind to his people and they repeatedly turn away in rebellion and ungratefulness to God. It's a metaphor for the predicament of humanity, that God showers humanity with good things and humanity says, "Great, we'll take the gifts, we don't want the giver. We'll take the gifts and we want your job." And what we see in Israel is everybody's doing what's right in their own eyes.
I'm in charge, I'm gonna get what I want, and the result is utter It's utter brokenness, and that, that should be all we expect out of life. That should be all that exists in life. That if humanity and each human person in different ways turns away from the kindness of God and chooses to pursue their own selfish ends, what hope would we ever have for any kindness? And yet Naomi, in the darkness of the time of Judges, sees a bright kindness shining out in the fields outside of Bethlehem. She sees this as a miracle.
Every kindness in this life is a miracle from the good and heavenly God who gives it.
40 · Cites Romans 1:21 (humanity's refusal to honor God or give thanks) and James 1:17 (every good gift from the Father of lights) to establish the theological framework, then applies it concretely: the stranger who helps with a flat tire, the doctor who is available when needed, the relative who comforts at a family gathering—all are kindnesses from God's hand
Listen, the predicament of humanity is Romans 1:21 is true of all of us. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him. Each of us deep down know God exists and we're like, no, I'm not gonna acknowledge or give thanks. And then the world is torn into chaos. But James 1:17 corrects our perspective and says this, every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights. Meaning this, that this week the stranger that stopped and helped you change a tire in the parking lot or on the road, is a kindness from the hand of God. That a doctor who was there to help you when you needed it most, that he was there is a kindness of God. That this week in— at your family gathering, some hardship that you'd endured, you had a relative put their arm around you and tell you they loved you, that is a kindness from the hand of God.
That is what Naomi gets. That is what changes her perspective, that every kindness that exists is a kindness from the hand of God.
41 · Personal illustration of a family thankfulness tree activity, where each leaf represents something they're grateful for
We had this little thankfulness tree that Jen had our kids do. It's like a little kind of cardboard tree, and then we put little sticky note leaves on it, and we're supposed to write one thing we're grateful for. So every day we wrote a thing like, grateful for my brother, or grateful for Legos, or grateful for the internet. I don't know, like, I'm putting all this stuff. And what I realized is I can see all the leaves and think, oh, I feel better after thinking about the kindness kindnesses of God. And that's something our world does. Our world's like, hey, you know, like, remember the things you have to be grateful for. And we're like, yeah, we're thankful. We experience the kindnesses of God.
Isn't that great? But the Bible does something utterly countercultural. It says everything that grows on that tree has a source. It's not just life is random kindness and doesn't that make you feel better. It's that every pinprick of light, in a dark sky points to the kindness of a God shining out in the night.
42 · Pastoral application to those struggling to perceive God's kindness: even small kindnesses ('pinpricks in the black') point to their divine source
Brother, sister, perhaps today it's hard for you to see the kindness of God, but there are kindnesses in your life that begin, even if they're pinpricks in the black, to shine out the kindness of God. And see them and see further that they have a source, that they are God's kindness to you.
43 · Introduces the Old Testament redeemer concept (kinsman who buys back family members from poverty or slavery) and identifies Boaz as a redeemer figure who foreshadows Jesus, the greater Redeemer who also came to Bethlehem
This text helps us see most fully the kindness of God has a shape to it, and the shape it has is the shape of a redeemer. The man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers. And we'll talk more about this next week, but a redeemer was somebody who in a person's family had the opportunity to help family members who could not help themselves. The redeemer is the one that if somebody had slipped into poverty, could free them from poverty. If someone had slipped into slavery, could free them from slavery. That they could give of themselves to redeem and buy back and restore their family. We see the kindness of God begins to take the shape of a redeemer, and Boaz foreshadows a truer and greater redeemer yet to come, who would also arrive on the streets of Bethlehem. His name was Jesus.
44 · Climactic theological claim: Jesus is Boaz 'cranked up to 11'—He perfectly embodies all four marks of Boaz's kindness (God-informed, vulnerable-focused, outsider-welcoming, overflowing) and takes them to the ultimate expression by laying down His own life to redeem sinners
And in Jesus the Redeemer, we see everything we see in Boaz cranked up to 11, as it were. He's— Jesus is a man who fears the Lord, and from his relationship with the Lord flows out, because he is the Lord himself, because he perfectly embodies the character of God, out of him flows kindness, a kindness of caring for the vulnerable. He came to seek and save the lost. He cares about the outsider. He gathers people in.
He goes to those who are sinners, those who are rebels, those who are zealots, those who are tax collectors, and he restores and redeems them and brings them to himself. And his kindness overflows to the point where he gives and he gives and he gives even of his own life, laying his life down, dying in the place of sinners that they might be restored to new life, that they might be redeemed to God. This Redeemer Jesus is who the book of Ruth is really about. That as great as Boaz is, and I love Boaz, he's a great dude, but Jesus is the true and greater Boaz. And he is the one we're meant to see ultimately as we read the pages of Scripture.
45 · Synthesis and application summarizing the three characters: (1) Naomi—see that all kindnesses point to God as their source; (2) Boaz—display kindness to the vulnerable and outsider as a reflection of God's kindness to you; (3) Ruth—step out in faith, relying on God's kindness in the dangerous work of the Christian life
So in conclusion, what do we leave with today? Well, I want you to leave with these 3 characters. First, let's leave with what Naomi teaches us. Naomi teaches us that in our lives, even when we can't see it, the Lord is always kind, and his kindness ultimately points us back to the source of kindness in God. Listen, there are no random acts of kindness in your life, friend.
There are kindnesses meant to draw your attention to the God of kindness above. So see them this week. This week, do the thing, you know, do the thankful tree. Oh, I guess it's past Thanksgiving. Whatever, get a thankful tree, do it anyway, make it a Christmas tree.
Count out the kindnesses and the things you have to be grateful for in life, but then turn and look up to the giver of the gift. What do you learn then from Boaz? What you learn from Boaz is if that's true, if that's operating in your life, you will then display kindness to others. There's no way around this. If we're truly Christians, if we've truly been changed by the kindness of God to us, it should overflow in kindness to others.
Maybe one of those is where the Lord's putting his finger on, that there's somebody around you in your family, in your workplace, that's alone, that's vulnerable, that's far off, that nobody wants to be friends with. You go be friends with them as a reflection of the kindness of God. And last, what does Ruth teach us? Well, Ruth teaches us this, that following the Lord is an act of reliance on the kindness of God every day. Look, she followed Naomi back from Moab.
Walked out into the fields. And Naomi, I love that she mentions this at the end. She says, "Good, good that you go out with his young woman, lest in another field you be assaulted." And Ruth is like, "Well, that's scary, and you didn't mention that when I first went out." But Naomi's like, "I'm mentioning it now." Okay? You just think, like, going out into the fields is a dangerous business. Walking out The Christian life is a dangerous business, but one done in reliance on God.
And maybe today, I really do feel like that may be the application for some here today. If today you feel like, man, I'm on this side of the river, God's calling me to that side of the river, but I don't know if I can trust the rocks along the way. If those rocks are true and solid and rooted in the character of God, you can trust them. Take the step that Ruth took. Walk out into the fields and expect the Lord to provide in kindness.
It doesn't mean that you don't have to sweat or do the work, but it does mean that you can trust that the Lord will be good and will redeem.
46 · Closing prayer interceding for two groups: (1) those who don't know God's kindness—that they would see God as the Giver behind all gifts and trust Him today; (2) believers in difficult circumstances—that they would fully transfer their weight onto God's kindness, trusting His character and promises
Would you stand? Let's pray.
Lord, I pray that as we end today, Lord, I pray if there's anyone here that does not know the kindness of God, Lord, that they would look up from the good parts of their life and see a generous God behind the gifts of their life. Lord, I pray that they would see the giver today. Lord, I pray that they would be drawn, their eyes would be drawn in seeing the kindness of others as coming from you as the source of all kindness. I pray that they haven't trusted you or turned to follow you, that today would be the day that they would do that. I also pray for our brothers and sisters, God, that are walking through difficult or uncertain circumstances, that like Ruth, they're in a— they feel like they're in a foreign land, they feel like they're heading out into a dangerous field.
Lord, I pray that as we close with this song in particular, that you would allow us to put our weight on trusting the kindness of God. If we're hesitant, if we're kind of half holding on to the bank on one side of the river, I pray that you'd allow us to just, as we sing, you'd work on our hearts and allow us to fully transfer our weight onto you, trusting that you are who you say you are. You're the God of Ruth. You're the God of Bethlehem. You're God of the cross.
You're the God of the empty tomb. You're the God who's promised to bring us home. I pray that we would trust you and love you and that that would display your kindness to those around us. Amen.