The Posture of Kindness

6 · The pastor reads Ruth 3:1-5, presenting Naomi's plan for Ruth to approach Boaz at the threshing floor and Ruth's agreement to follow the plan

Now, Ruth 3, chapter 1. This is God's word. Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, my daughter, should I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you? Is not Boaz our relative, with whose young woman you were? See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor.

Wash therefore and anoint yourself and put on your cloak and go down to the threshing floor, but do not make yourself do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. But when he lies down, observe the place where he lies, and then go and uncover his feet and lie down, and he will tell you what to do. Verse 5, and she replied, all that you say I will do.

7 · The pastor humorously clarifies that Naomi's plan for Ruth is not a model for contemporary engagement practices, shepherding the congregation away from misapplication while acknowledging the plan's unusual nature

Now, I wanna make a huge disclaimer before we continue on in chapter 3. I was talking to a couple from the church this morning, And they were letting me know they're talking about getting engaged, you know, and they're waiting for some things to happen, but they're kind of moving in that direction.

And I told them, well, I want you to make sure you read Ruth chapter 3. This is our recommended practice for engagement. I want you to wait for your boyfriend to fall asleep, break into his home, throw the blankets off of him, and lie down at the foot of the bed, and then jump up and surprise him. And see how that goes, right? And then kind of half proposed to him.

And they were just like, "You're kidding, right?" Yes, I'm kidding. This is not— I want to be clear— this is not our recommended Cross of Grace practice for engagement, ladies. If your boyfriend has been delaying getting engaged and you want to talk about that, Pastor Vince and the counseling ministry are here to serve you. But we do not recommend this practice necessarily.

8 · The pastor extracts the central interpretive point from Naomi's questionable plan—not the plan's wisdom but Naomi's radical faith in God expressed through her trust in Boaz as a vessel of divine kindness

The author of Ruth does not specifically recommend the practice. It doesn't say that, hey, this is the wisest course of action. This is the best way to do this. In many ways, the plan is relatively questionable, but we're meant to see something in the plan that I think is notable. There is out of like, maybe I don't know about this, I don't know about that. Out of all of that, there's one thing in the plan that is notable and commendable, and that is that Naomi is willing to put her faith in God by putting her faith in Boaz.

Now, why does she do that? Well, because Naomi clearly sees the kindness of God shining through Boaz in chapter 2, right? She sees this as a man of the Lord. This is a generous man. This is a man helping the outsider and the poor and the outcast.

And so Naomi, seeing the kindness of God, as it were, in Boaz, says, I'm gonna lean on, lean fully on the kindness of God.

9 · The pastor unpacks the strategic and risky elements of Naomi's plan—seeking privacy, timing, and favorable conditions—while acknowledging the genuine danger and social cost if the plan fails

Now, this is a risky plan to kind of go all in on Boaz. What it appears is that Naomi, what she's trying to do here is a couple things. First, she's trying to get a one-on-one conversation undistracted between Ruth and Boaz, okay? Preferably after Ruth is not sweaty and muddy from being in the field all day, right?

To have this conversation, best shot, you know, just saying. He probably wants to wash for once, and then get him alone somewhere where you can have this conversation rather than just amidst all the fields and all the workers there. And approach him when he's in a good mood, right? So he's just had the harvest, he's celebrating, he's had a big meal. He's like, "Yes, the Lord is good." And when his heart is full of the kindness of God is when you want to approach him.

The other details of the plan: approach him in the middle of the night. Okay. Lay down next to his feet. Okay. No one else is around.

Okay. This does seem questionable. This is definitely an atmosphere of risk, of physical romantic charge, even danger if Boaz was not a godly man. And if this plan fails, this is a big This is a big swing because if this fails, if Boaz rejects her, if he makes a spectacle of this, if he's offended by this, the whole town will hear about it. This is a small town, word will get around.

Anyone there is not gonna wanna marry Ruth anymore if Boaz rejects her publicly.

10 · The pastor uses the Jeopardy Final Jeopardy wagering analogy to illustrate his own risk-averse personality and contrast it with Naomi's all-in faith, making the concept of radical trust vivid through a familiar cultural reference

So why does she do this? Why does Naomi do this? Well, again, she sees the kindness of God shining through Boaz. And essentially what she says is, I see this kindness of God shining through Boaz. We're going to lean fully on this kindness of God in Boaz. It's like this. I do have any Jeopardy fans? Do you guys like Jeopardy? Anybody Jeopardy fans?

Yes. Don't be ashamed, nerds. We love you. I'm just kidding. I like Jeopardy, but one part of Jeopardy gives me anxiety.

Have you guys picked up a lot of things give me anxiety? One part of Jeopardy! gives me anxiety, which is the end where everybody has like an amount of money and then they get one final question and then they have to wager the money they've earned in the game on their answer to the question, right? And so here's what I found. When I watch Jeopardy!, it doesn't matter how much like money I've got or what the question is, the idea of wagering the money just bothers me.

You know, just like, you know, say you've got $10,000 and you're pretty sure, you're 85% sure you know the answer. Most people are like, done, you know, $5,000, you know, that way in case somebody busts, you know, and they've got this plan. I would bet every time $1, right? Then at the end I'll have $10,002, right, if I get it right. And you think, well, that's no way to win Jeopardy, but that's what I like because I don't like going all in, like on anything.

Just like, okay, I'm even bad at card games. Do we have to bet or do you have to guess? Like, you know, I'm gonna bluff. I don't like bluffing. I'm just conservative and I just slowly bleed out in any recreational poker games.

I'm not gonna win. I just survive as long as possible. That's the way I am. Naomi is the opposite here, okay? Imagine this.

At the end of Jeopardy, the answer is who is Boaz, and Naomi goes all the money, $10,000, whatever I've got. We're all in on Boaz.

11 · The pastor notes the mutual respect between Ruth and Boaz that creates relational stalemate, uses it to recommend godly older mentors for singles, then pivots back to the main exposition

Now, Ruth then follows the advice of her mother-in-law. Now, one of the things that I do love about this that I can't say a ton about, but one of the things I do love about this that I wish I could say more is that Ruth and Boaz seem to have mutual respect for each other, but they're stuck, right? And so Naomi sees this and tries to say, Ruth, you know, let's push this forward.

And perhaps Naomi is sensing, hey, there's something there. They both really, at bare minimum, they really respect each other. So let's push this forward, which, singles, is an argument for a godly older friend who loves the Lord and loves you to give you advice about your relationships. This is for free, this is a side note, not related to the point. Find a godly older friend.

Now, hopefully one that does not advocate plans exactly like this, But somebody who loves you and loves the Lord. Not just, and I know everybody always talks to their peers about their relationships, that's fine. Talk to somebody who's been through it and is like 2 decades older than you, all right? That's just my advice. All right, that's for free, let's move on.

12 · The pastor reads and explains Ruth 3:6-7, providing cultural background on threshing floor practices while highlighting Boaz's servant leadership as further evidence of his godly character

Now, Ruth follows the advice of her mother-in-law. Doesn't say whether she likes this plan or not, but she's like, okay, well, I'll go with it. And I think Ruth too, we're meant to see, pursues this course of action essentially because of the same reason Naomi does. She has faith in God. She sees the kindness of God in Boaz.

She sees he's a godly man. She sees this must be the avenue that the Lord is showing us for his preservation of us. So let's go all in here. So verse 6, how does this go? Now, this is a— just so you know, this is supposed to be suspenseful.

We're supposed to think, I'm not sure this is a great plan. What is going to happen? Verse 6, so she, Ruth, went down to the threshing floor and did just as her mother-in-law had commanded her. And when Boaz had eaten and drunk and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. Okay, pause there.

You may be wondering what's going on here. Okay, so what would happen is there would be a flat place kind of out by the fields that they would harvest the barley. And they would throw it in the air and when there was evening winds and the chaff part of the barley would blow away and the grain would fall to the ground. So they were kind of tossing it in the air and basically developing this huge pile of barley grain. And somebody would have to stay and guard it overnight because they'd be doing this in the evening and then the next day they'd kind of bag it up and store it and all that stuff.

But for that evening, they were just trying to get it separated. Typically, you would leave a servant or somebody like that to guard, and Boaz seems to have no shortage of servants, right, of people with him. But this is why I love this dude, okay? Chapter 2, when the meal's coming out, he's on the grill. He's serving people.

He's serving his servants. And then here, he is the guy that says, "I will stay overnight and guard the grain. You guys go home. You worked hard today. I've got this." Don't you just love this dude?

I love this dude. Good example for leadership. That's a whole other message.

13 · The pastor reads Ruth 3:7-9a, emphasizing the suspenseful moment of Boaz's awakening and his initial failure to recognize Ruth, adding human detail about her transformed appearance

But Boaz is there, and Ruth is probably thinking, "Man, he really is a man of character. He's willing to stay out, you know, all night doing this." So she came softly, uncovered his feet, and lay down.

And at midnight, which means just the middle of the night, the man was startled, probably because his feet were really cold, and turned over, and behold, a woman lay at his feet, and he said, 'Who are you?' And she answered, 'I am Ruth.' Now, here's the other thing about this I love. You know, it's probably dark. He probably can't see her perfectly. The other reason he doesn't know who she is is he's only ever seen her in the context, remember, of sweat and mud and field work and cuts. And so he's A little like, "Wait, who are you?" And so she has to say, "I am Ruth." And of course he's thinking, "Oh, oh, like, you know, okay, okay, wow, she cleans up pretty well."

14 · The pastor expounds Ruth's request for Boaz to spread his wings over her, explaining both the maidservant terminology and the marriage imagery embedded in the ancient Near Eastern context

"I am Ruth, your servant.

Spread your wings over your servant, for you are a redeemer." Now, This is amazing. So, remember Naomi only told Ruth to go there and then basically present herself to Boaz in this symbol of kind of asking for his help, being under his feet, asking for his assistance, and kind of letting him decide how he's gonna help. Ruth, if Naomi goes all in, Ruth, like, ups the ante and goes all in. And basically says two important things. First, she calls herself a servant, a maidservant.

So, this is a servant, that was not a slave servant, it was a servant that could have children, that in the ancient world, I'm not saying we should do this, but in the ancient world, it was essentially a concubine. It could be a concubine. You could have children that would receive your inheritance through a servant like that. But Ruth does not leave herself there. She says, "Spread your wings over your servant." So this, in her saying that, She's getting right up to the line.

I mean, if like, if this is proposing marriage, like Ruth gets like right up to the line short of proposing marriage. And here's why. In Israel, and in many parts of the ancient world, that image was an image of marriage in some sense.

15 · The pastor recounts a past sermon illustration from Billy Reys using Dick and Liz Snow to demonstrate the Middle Eastern shawl tradition, making the covering imagery of Ruth's request tangible and memorable

Do you guys remember, some of you were here years ago, when our friend Billy Reys, who's a pastor out in Midland, and his family is Middle Eastern, and so he's talking about marriage, he uses this example, this Middle Eastern tradition that would have been present in the times of the Bible, where the husband would have this kind of shawl around over him and would then, when he's married, then bring his wife under the protection of the shawl. So if you guys were here, you remember Dick and Liz Snow, and Dick is a tall guy, and Billy— don't make eye contact with Billy while he's preaching because he'll pull you onto the stage.

And so Dick and Liz get pulled on the stage, and Dick is there, and he looked really good in a shawl. He could pull off a Middle Eastern shawl, which I was surprised by. And so he's there, he's got this shawl, he's a tall man, and then he brings Liz, his wife. They're sitting right there. Could you guys wave just so everybody could see you?

I'm making you embarrassed again. Billy wasn't enough. And so Liz— and they've been married for years and years, decades, so that's why this is so sweet— and Liz comes, and basically Dick takes the shawl, She's under the protection of the shawl, under his protection. Basically saying, all I have, I'm going to use to cover you. That's what Ruth is saying.

She's saying, bring me under the shawl. Marry me. Let me take refuge in you, in a sense.

16 · The pastor synthesizes Ruth's bold, irreversible request as demonstrating full reliance on God's kindness through Boaz, noting her use of Boaz's own words and her moral restraint in a vulnerable situation

Now, this is beautiful. This is bold. This is risky. But Ruth leans fully on the kindness of God. Like, there is no going back from this. There isn't, like, either he's gonna say yes or he's gonna say, please never come to my field again, right? There's no like, hey, let's stay friends.

It's either marriage or nothing, or like, go away. And look at what Ruth does. She uses Boaz's words here. Remember in chapter 2 where Boaz basically says, may the Lord May the Lord help you. And she takes that image of the Lord covering and helping, and Ruth says, you ask that the Lord cover and help me.

I'm asking you to be the means the Lord uses to cover and help me, right? She goes fully in on Boaz. And Boaz, in a second, will point out that she could have gone after younger men or other men in the town, right? Either through marriage or just being a mistress, In other words, if she just wanted a house, if she wanted a stable living situation, there are other people she could have approached. And yet she rejects that.

She risks her reputation, goes all in on Boaz. And the other thing that commentators point out is Ruth could have, if she had less character, used this in kind of a seduction mode. And being, taking, you know, having Boaz in a vulnerable moment, vulnerable place, she could have sought to seduce him or misuse what the Lord's given her, and yet she refrains. She respectfully asks for his help.

17 · The pastor applies Ruth's all-in faith to Christian discipleship, particularly addressing singles and calling the congregation to examine whether their trust in God feels genuinely risky or remains hedged by compromise in relationships or other areas

And so here's, I think, the challenge for us then. So what does this mean for us? The challenge is this. Do we, as Christians, fully lean on God's kindness this way? Fully leaning on God's kindness should feel risky. If you're not leaning on God's kindness in a way that feels risky, I'm not sure you're fully leaning on God's kindness.

Kindness. It should feel like, okay, if I do this, there's no going back. That is the Christian life. And the thing that I think is highlighted here, even against chapter 2, is this isn't a— this is all in. This is everything.

This is all the money in Jeopardy. This is all the chips in poker. This is everything, all in on the kindness of God shining through this man. And this is the path of the Christian life. For example, I know a number of singles are, we have a number of singles in our church, and you may have questions like, you know, will God be enough for me while I'm single?

Will God give me the relationships I need to find, you know, a family and friends and, you know, even romance if God has that for me? Will God sustain me without that daily companionship at this part of my life? And let me just say this, the interesting thing about the book of Ruth is, It highlights the fact that all of us start out single and many of us will be single again. Almost all of us will then be single again, even if we're married at some point in our lives. Like, singleness is not like, like everybody's married and sometimes married, especially in the church, singles can feel like we're the aberration, everybody else seems married.

The reality is, if you look at the scope of life, many of us spend more time as singles than married, even if we do marry. So for those seasons, is God enough? Do you fully lean on the kindness of God? And fully leaning means saying, look, partially leaning could look like this. Okay, let me say it this way.

Partially leaning could be like, well, I trust God, I'm going to church, I'm trying to do the thing, but there's this person and they're willing to be in a relationship with me and I know that they're not godly and I know it's not right. I know they want to do things that, you know, don't glorify God, but I'm gonna, I need that because I don't want to go all in on this. Or maybe for some, it's the quiet, kind of sour comfort of pornography, right? I don't have a companionship, I don't have that right now, so I need this. I know I'm coming to church, but I need this to be able to survive.

And here's what Ruth is doing. Ruth is going all in, trusting the kindness of God. Not just with proposing, but even going all in in her coming to Bethlehem, leaving her people, leaving her family behind, going all in. This is her pattern. She is willing to bet it all on God.

Call on the kindness of God again and again and again. That's the path of the Christian life. That's what it should feel like.

18 · The pastor expands the application beyond relationships to finances, career, and friendship, arguing that half-measures in trusting God pervade all areas of life and that the Christian default must be full dependence

Now, here's the other thing that I think we see in this story. It is broader than just the world of relationships. This leaning on the kindness of God, for example, could be in the area of finances, right? For all of us, as we're making decisions about what to spend money on, and even trying to be generous and serve others, with the finances God has given us, one of the things that we can do is we can say, well, I know God promises that whatever I invest, he's going to, you know, return in eternity. And I know God has promised that he's going to be my provider. And I know God has promised that in eternity, all of this, you know, won't even matter. I'll have a future with him.

But it feels really good to spend money on these things, right? Or your career. You know, maybe the Lord— you're feeling like the Lord leading you into a career that that, you know, he allows you to serve people in a particular way or something. I'm thinking we have some social workers in our church that they don't get paid as much as they should, or teachers or people like that. And you're like, man, I don't know, I could go over here and make more money, but I feel like the Lord's maybe leading me in this way.

But I don't know, I'm gonna do this instead, right? That feels too risky, that feels like going all in too much. We face these in all the areas of our life. You know, maybe even in friendship, like, "Okay, I'm going to risk being a friend again. I got burned on that last one.

I'm going to risk being a friend again." Christian life, the default— listen, this is what I want to say. The default posture of the Christian life for the disciple is leaning fully on the kindness of God. And I don't think— I think most of us don't like that. I don't like that. I like a half lean, you know, where I'm still stable, you know.

I don't like leaning fully because I don't know if this pulpit is going to hold me, right? And if I keep doing this, I don't know if it's gonna hold me, I don't know if my arms, you know, and it starts to wobble. And you're like, I don't like the full lean, I like the half lean. We'll do half, we'll go half. Ruth goes all the way.

Naomi goes all the way, leaning fully on the kindness of God.

19 · The pastor draws a theological principle from Ruth's use of Boaz's words—that God delights when his people plead his promises back to him in prayer, citing Psalm 23 as an example

And the last note I will say here, the other thing she does that I think is a beautiful model for us, as one commentator I read pointed out, is Ruth pleads the words of Boaz back to him. And in the same way, God invites and loves when his people plead his promises and his words back to him. To him. It's not as though God is like, "Oh, don't bring that up again.

You said, Lord, you'd be my shepherd. You said you'd lead me to still waters. You said you'd restore me. You said you'd prepare a table even in the presence of my enemies and the difficulties in my life." And the Lord's like, "Oh, don't bring that up. That was for another—" You know, the Lord is like, "No, yes, yes, tell me, son.

Tell me, daughter. Ask me to be your shepherd. Ask me to restore your soul. Ask me to prepare a table in the presence of your enemies. We're to fully lean.

20 · The pastor transitions from discussing the believer's posture toward God to examining God's posture toward the believer, maintaining narrative suspense about Boaz's response as a window into God's character

But second, second section, God's posture toward us. Our posture is fully leaning on him. God's posture toward us, leaning toward us fully with kindness. We're meant to be in suspense here. How will Boaz react?

And in many ways, we're meant to be in suspense, how will the Lord react when God's people come to him and fully lean on his kindness?

21 · The pastor reads Boaz's wholehearted acceptance of Ruth's request (Ruth 3:10-13), emphasizing the phrase 'I will do for you all that you ask' and Boaz's eagerness to redeem despite a legal complication

Verse 10 says, And Boaz said, "May you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter! You have made this last kindness greater than the first, in that you have not gone after young men, whether poor or rich. And now, my daughter, do not fear." Hear this. "I will do for you all that you ask." Right?

Ruth goes all in, Naomi goes all in, and then Ruth ups the ante and he says, "I will do it all, all that you ask." 'For all my fellow townsmen know that you are a worthy woman. And now it is true that I am a redeemer, yet there is a redeemer nearer than I. Remain tonight, and in the morning, if he will redeem you, good, let him do it. But if he is not willing to redeem you,' and that phrase actually is stronger than what comes across in English. It's not just if he is not willing, if he's not delighted, if he does not consider it an honor to redeem you, 'then as the Lord lives, I will redeem you.' 'Lie down until the morning.'

22 · The pastor articulates the book's literary-theological method—God's absence as direct character is intentional because his kindness is revealed through human characters, particularly Boaz, who functions as a portrait of divine kindness

Now, the book of Ruth is an interesting book because it's all about the kindness of God, and yet God never appears as a character in the book. It's not like in Exodus or Genesis where God appears and talks to Abraham, God appears and talks to Moses. People talk about God, but God doesn't seem like God talks to people. But that is exactly the point. In the book of Ruth, God speaks to his people through the brushstrokes of the character in the book, characters in the book that display his kindness. In a sense, Boaz is one brushstroke, Ruth is one brushstroke, Naomi is one brushstroke.

In other words, he's painting a picture of his kindness using the kindness of people that we're meant to see and say, that is so like the Lord. How like the Lord is that? And in particular, we're meant to see that Boaz as a redeemer, as a provider, as a protector, as a helper, Boaz is a vivid picture of the kindness of God. We're meant to see Boaz as a godly man, but more than that, we're meant to see Boaz as a picture of God and his kindness.

23 · The pastor unpacks Boaz's immediate, unconditional acceptance of Ruth despite her vulnerability and the disorienting circumstances of his awakening, arguing that his response reveals a posture of leaning fully toward her that predates this moment

Now, in this most vulnerable moment for Ruth, notice how he acts toward her. Not in manipulation, not in taking advantage of her, nor does he mock her and reject her. This vulnerable moment for Ruth, Imagine this moment as Ruth speaks this. You know, she's going further than her mother-in-law told her to go. She's saying, please cover me with your wings. Be my redeemer.

Be our family's redeemer. And imagine the moment, I'm sure, hung in the air for a second, because remember, Boaz just woke up, right? So he wakes up, he gets— this is the sequence for Boaz, okay? First of all, his feet are cold. He turns over, there's a strange figure in the dark.

The strange figure pops up, it's a lady. The lady seems familiar, but he's like, and then she announces it's Ruth. Like, oh, it's Ruth, I love Ruth. And then Ruth proposes. This is the sequence of events for Boaz, right?

He could be forgiven for saying, you know, give me a minute. Let me get back to you tomorrow. I need to wake up, get some coffee, and think about this.

But Boaz's response— look at that phrase— "I will do for you all that you ask. Do not fear. I will do for you all that you ask." That is his response. Ruth is fully leaning on him, as it were, and Ruth is wondering what his posture is going to be back And Boaz's response is that he fully leans toward Ruth. In fact, it reveals in many ways that he has always been fully leaning towards Ruth.

He does not care in this moment that she is a Moabite. He does not care that she is an outsider, that she is a widow, that she's already had a previous husband, that she is poor, that she has no station in life. He fully embraces her and says, all that you ask, I will do. I will do.

24 · The pastor draws the typological connection between Boaz's full embrace of Ruth and God's posture toward his people, emphasizing Boaz's refusal to negotiate down from full covering and his commitment of all his resources to Ruth's protection

And in that phrase, I think, church, we are meant to see a glimmer, a picture, a foreshadowing of this kindness of God toward his people.

And the image, oh, the image that Ruth uses, and the fact that Boaz embraces it says so much. He doesn't talk her down. He doesn't bargain her down. He doesn't say, okay, listen, you're asking for marriage, you're asking for me to cover you, you're asking for me to redeem you, as we'll talk much more about next week, I mean, for all these things, I can do a little bit. What if I give you and Naomi some grain for a while?

Or what if you come into my household as a maidservant? I don't know about marriage. I want to keep my options open. No, he fully embraces her, and he embraces this image of spreading his wings over someone. And that's what's going on with the blanket, by the way.

Okay? In case anybody's wondering, what is the deal with the blanket? You know, what's— uncover his feet with the blanket? What's going on? Essentially, what Ruth is saying is this blanket is a picture of Boaz's protection, and she's asking that it be extended over her, right?

This is remarkable that Boaz's response is yes. All that you ask, I will do. You, yes, I will cover under my protection. Remember, he is a man of considerable resources, has a lot of servants, has a lot of wealth, apparently, as we'll see next week, has a high reputation in the community, has a standing in the area and the land, and he says, all that I am, all that I have, I will use toward you. I will use to cover you.

25 · The pastor uses the personal story of comforting his son Ford in the hospital during a frightening kidney biopsy to illustrate God's posture of leaning in to cover and protect his children when they turn to him in fear and need

Look, the best way I can describe this you guys stick with me here— is, is last year, and I've talked to— talked about this, uh, some, but last year when my son Ford had, uh, significant kidney issues for a number of months and had continued to have concerning lab results right at the beginning of COVID uh, his nephrologist recommended that we biopsy his kidney because he was concerned that he had a very rare condition that would lead to kidney failure in a number of years if he had this particular condition. And so There's an atmosphere of fear. We show up at the hospital, and you know, normally El Paso Children's Hospital is fun, and there's like a play area. I remember showing up to it that morning. There are like guards with guns and a tent, and it looks like— I mean, it looked like a movie.

And it was dead silent in the hallways. And so we're marching up with him, and he's being brave. And so they do the kidney biopsy. But the anesthesia that they— he has to stay overnight. And the anesthesia that they gave him has a particular effect that makes him sleepless and agitated.

So he's restless and he's sleepless. And even as we go into the night, he's unable to sleep. And you could just tell, and I could tell some of it was the anesthesia and some of it was just the fear that everybody that walks into his room was wearing a mask. You know, for the first time in his life, he can't see anybody's face and all of this. And so finally, you know, I'm trying to get him to sleep.

I'm trying to do this. We're reading the Bible. We're listening to his bedtime playlist, doing all this stuff. And finally, he just looks up at me and says, Dad, "Can you sleep with me?" Meaning, "Can you get into the hospital bed with me?" And I'm looking at the hospital bed, and I'm like, "I don't—" And I just said, "Okay." And so we had to— he had an IV, and he's got, you know, monitors connected to him, so I'm trying to push him over to the side. I'm trying to crawl in next to him, and I remember that there was like a physical change that came over him when I got into the bed with him and put my arm around him.

Because he felt— and he did— listen, what he thought was not true, but what he thought was that my dad is here, and even in a scary, uncertain world, he will not let anything bad happen to me. And he fell asleep.

In church, I think that's the best image I can come up with of to describe what God does for his children. That when God sees his children leaning fully on him, saying, "I have nowhere else to go. I have nowhere else to turn. I am all in with you, Lord. If you don't help me, I have no other hope." And God's response is to lean in.

In toward them and cover them in the shadow of his wings.

26 · The pastor cites Psalm 36:7 to demonstrate the scriptural foundation for the wing-covering imagery, connecting the Hebrew word hesed (steadfast love/kindness) used in Ruth to God's protective covering described in the Psalms

Boaz demonstrates this beautiful scriptural reality that is true of the Lord. And I'm not making this up. I want you to see this in scripture. What he does is the Lord illustrated. Psalm 36:7 says this, "How precious is your steadfast love." And if you're wondering, wait, steadfast love? I thought that's what Ricky said. Kesed can also mean, when it's translated in Ruth, kindness. It's the same word. How precious is your kindness, O God!

The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

27 · The pastor cites Psalm 91:4 and expands the wing imagery with the masculine military imagery of shield and buckler, illustrating God's protective embrace as both comforting and powerfully effective against danger

Psalm 91:4 says, He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge. His faithfulness is a shield, and buckler. Look, I wanna bring the guys back into the message, 'cause when I started talking about wings and like a bird covering a baby bird with her wings, a bunch of the guys were like, I'm out, I don't know about that. I don't know if I wanna be like a baby bird and God's like the mama bird and he's covering me.

Okay, come back in. Another image is a shield and buckler, right? You can use it, the mama bird says something about the comfort and warmth of God's embrace. It's not just a cold embrace, but the shield and buckler says something about the strength and efficacy of his embrace. I mean, imagine that you're in the ancient world and you lose your shield and you are suddenly vulnerable and there are spears coming against you, where all of a sudden from behind you, your commanding officer comes in with his shield and plants it down in front of you and all the spears and arrows go thump, and you know you're safe.

And he throws his body over you to protect you. That is the image here.

28 · The pastor cites Psalm 57:1 in its historical context (David fleeing Saul) to show that taking refuge in God's wings means finding the one safe place amid life's destructive storms

Psalm 57:1, which by the way, Psalm 57:1 is written when Saul is hunting David down to kill him. This is what David says as he takes refuge in a cave. Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge.

In the shadow of your wings I will take refuge till the storms of destruction pass by. Right? This image that there are storms everywhere. We've seen even this week the horrific devastation that storms can bring to our world. And so the picture is the world out there is full of storms and violence and tornadoes.

And David finds, he happens to find one cave, one place to take refuge while the storms rage outside where he will be safe. That is the image.

29 · The pastor articulates the redemptive-historical fulfillment of Boaz's covering in Christ, who covers both sins (internal stains) and external threats through his death and resurrection, fully fulfilling God's consistent response to his people throughout history

And this is what God has done for his people from the beginning, from the history of his people to the end, from Abraham to Moses to Ruth to David to the exiles to the New Testament church, God has responded responded to every son or daughter who asks, "Will you cover me?" with a resounding, "I will do all that you ask." He covers— and this is the remarkable nature of this— he covers our sins.

That the picture of Boaz will be fully fulfilled in the Redeemer, Jesus Christ. We'll talk much more about this next week. But the picture of Jesus Christ as the Redeemer is he comes and pays our debts. The other image is that he covers our sins, that we, like Ruth, stand in our best clothes, but they're field clothes. They're torn.

They're dirty. They have stains all over them—our sin, our shame—and the Lord just covers it.

And the other side of the image is against the death and the evil and the outside things coming in toward—so the stuff coming out of us, the Lord covers; the stuff coming from the outside toward us, the Lord covers that as well. He does this by dying in our place on the cross, covering us fully, raising to new life, rising to new life. This is what it means to be a redeemer. The work of Jesus covering his people, covering their sins, covering their injustice, covering their shame, and covering them to welcome them back the embrace of the Father.

30 · The pastor uses the COVID-awkward-greeting illustration to set up the central application question about how believers perceive God's posture toward them, showing how we constantly assess others' attitudes in social encounters

And so here's where I'm going with this, church. I wanna ask you right here at this point of the message, what do you believe the posture of God is toward you today?

I think in the COVID times, it's made greetings way weirder than they have ever been, right? I was just, I was greeting Aaron over here between services and I like put my hand out and then he did a fist and so then I did a fist and then he did a hand And then we were like, and our greeting would look like this. Hey, like that, right? You're always judging like, okay, what are people up for in this time? You're wondering like, you see somebody you haven't seen for a long time.

You don't kind of know where they're at with this stuff. You know, at the supermarket and you see them and you're like, hey, and you're each, you know what I'm talking about, right? You're each like, kind of like, I don't wanna go for the hug if they're not gonna go for the hug 'cause that's gonna be weird if I go for the hug and then they handshake or they, Or if they're backing off, are we waving? Hey, you know. And then we end up doing finger guns or something like that.

You're like, hey, buckaroo, you know, good to see you. Hang 10, you know, like, I don't know. Picks up miners' gold, like, I don't know.

And we're constantly in a split second judging what's their posture toward us.

31 · The pastor applies God's posture of full embrace to believers burdened by guilt and shame, contrasting the false image of God's folded-arms disappointment with the biblical reality of God's open-armed acceptance answering every request with 'I will do all that you ask

And I think for so many of us, as we come to the Lord in prayer, as we come to him in his word, Even as we walk in the doors of a church and start singing, we wonder what God's posture is toward us.

And for some of you, maybe you've even repented of sin, but your guilt continues to dog you, or you feel a deep shame for something that you have done.

And your feeling is that the Lord stands there with his arms folded, shaking his head. Yeah.

I think the Lord just gave me this image this morning of someone coming to the Lord and their picture of God is him with arms folded shaking his head at them. And you feel a perennial disappointment to God.

And I think today, son or daughter of Jesus, if you have trusted in Christ for your sins, if you have believed on him as faith, if you have leaned fully on him, for salvation. His posture toward you is not folded arms and a shaking head. It is an open embrace. It is him answering you, "All that you ask, I will do." If you come to him and you say, "Father, Lord, would you cover my sins?" "All of it, I will do." "Would you cover my shame? I feel I can't get beyond this." "All that you ask, I will do." Will you protect me from the raging storms of my life?

All that you ask, I will do.

32 · The pastor expands the application using 2 Corinthians 1:20 to show that all God's promises find their yes in Christ, who as the true and greater Boaz embraces believers and answers every request for salvation, restoration, and future hope with wholehearted affirmation

As Scripture says, every promise in Scripture has its yes and amen in Jesus. And so through Christ, we see even more clearly than Ruth and Naomi did in Boaz, we see the Redeemer, the true and greater Boaz, answering every one of our requests. Would you be my shepherd? Would you save me?

Would you save me? Would you restore me? Would you give me new life? Would you give me a future and a hope? And we're asking for far beyond what we should ask.

And his answer to it all is, "I will do it all. I will do it all." Oh, brother, sister, I just have a burden for you. See the Lord's posture toward you today. It is not perennial frustration and disappointment. It is embrace.

It is you— it is him bringing you under the shield, under his wings, into the refuge.

33 · The pastor acknowledges he is condensing his planned outline from three points to two, maintaining transparency with the congregation and the production team about the structural adjustment

Now, some of you, though, may be struggling because— I had 3 points. I'm not going to get to them all. I'm just doing 2. I'm just telling the sound people back there. The 3rd point, you can come get me after the service and I'll tell you it.

34 · The pastor addresses the pastoral tension between theological truth about God's posture and lived experience of unresolved struggles, naming the gap believers feel between God's promises and their present circumstances

The 2nd point I want to continue with is I think for some folks, the difficulty is trying to match, okay, if that's true, it doesn't feel true in my life right now. Meaning, like, God's— you say, you're telling me God's posture is leaning toward me, but doesn't feel like that right now. It feels like there's a lot left. You know, I'm asking God for peace.

And I have a little bit of peace, but my life is a wreck. It doesn't feel like the peace of the shalom of God is everywhere in my life. I'm asking for healing. I'm still hurt. I'm still dealing with this.

I'm not healed yet.

I mean, you got an area in your life you are struggling because you feel like, look, I do see something of the kindness of God. I see it on the cross. I see it in Jesus dying for me. But the circumstances of my life still feel unfinished.

35 · The pastor reads Ruth 3:14-15, explaining Boaz's protective motive and the significance of the enormous grain gift as a down payment demonstrating Boaz's commitment to fulfill his full promise to Ruth

And that's why I think this story is so beautiful. Verse 14 says this, "So she lay at his feet until the morning, but arose before one could recognize another. And he said, 'Let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.'" Now, side note, Boaz is not trying to cover up something that happened here. He's essentially trying to protect Ruth. He says, "I don't want you to walk midnight, you know, down the Bethlehem streets at midnight in the time of the judges. And when you leave, though, I don't want people to get the wrong impression, so this is the way that I'm gonna do this.

And verse 15, and he said, bring the garment you're wearing and hold it out. So she held it, and he measured out 6 measures of barley and put it on her. Now you're probably wondering, what is 6 measures of barley? It's not like 6 pounds, okay? 6 measures of barley, the estimate is 60 to 80 pounds.

Of grain, right? His precious grain that he's just harvested. And two things we learned from this. One is that Ruth is pretty buff. I mean, she's working all day in the fields, and then this dude hands her an 80-pound sack of grain.

Ruth's CrossFit classes have been paying off if she throws that on her back and walks home. So is this a biblical argument for Girls doing CrossFit, I don't know, you make the judgment, but this is what she does. Second thing you learn is this, that Boaz gives her a down payment on the fulfillment of his promise. This is enough food for a year.

Is this everything he promised, Ruth? No, it's not everything. Is it a lot? Yeah, it is. Is it enough for her to feel that— imagine her walking through the doors, we'll see in a minute, to Naomi, and she's been carrying this thing, and she drops it on the floor, and the grain spills out all over the hovel, the small home that they're probably in.

And Naomi knows this is a down payment. He will not rest until the promise is fulfilled.

36 · The pastor cites Longman and Garland to articulate the already-not-yet tension of Advent, connecting Boaz's barley down payment to Christ's gift of the Holy Spirit as God's pledge of full redemption to come

And church, that is the Advent season for us. Advent means arrival, and in the Advent season we remember the first coming of Jesus Christ. And in his first coming, oh church, did he leave a down payment.

But we also look forward to the second arrival of Christ. Longman and Garland, two commentators, say this: Believers presently enjoy salvation's first fruits but must await salvation's full outworking. We live in the already and not yet and look to the Lord's second coming when God will resolve all remaining tension and consummate his every promise. In the meantime, our Redeemer encourages us by giving us a pledge. Boaz graciously guarantees his oath with 6 measures of barley, but the Lord Jesus guarantees his oath by giving us the Holy Spirit.

God's gift of the Spirit demonstrates his trustworthiness and serves as the down payment of our inheritance until we obtain full possession of it. Moreover, Jesus grants his church the sacraments as tangible seals of his grace, and these demonstrable confirmations of Christ's loving kindness or Christ's mercy, Christ's, yeah, loving kindness, Christ's mercy strengthen us amid life's murky ambiguities to keep entrusting ourselves to God's sovereign care and choose to lead lives of love. We can, I love this line, we can take him at his word and wait for the morning when he will resolve all complications.

37 · The pastor applies the down-payment theology to Christian experience, celebrating the Holy Spirit's present indwelling as unprecedented access to God's presence while maintaining hope for the full consummation when Christ returns to complete what Advent initiated

Church, see this. See all of this. See the lights. Every light is a promise that the light of the world has come and the light will one day fully dawn. See the promise of God sending his Son to us and the fulfillment, the fullness of it in God's Son returning for us.

When Jesus says, "I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you." And so right now, here's the good news. Here's the good news. We have right now, if you are in Christ, the presence of God through the Holy Spirit in your heart, that God has come not just to a manger, but to your heart. That is insane.

In the Old Testament realities, that would be unheard of, that you would go not just to the outer court, not just the inner court, not just inside the temple, but to the Holy of Holies and bring the Holy of Holies around with you. That is what Christ has done, sending the Spirit into our hearts. But that is just a down payment. So right now, the Spirit brings peace and brings hope and it brings fullness and it brings fulfillment. But one day it will bring— Jesus will bring it fully.

When all that there is will be peace. All that there is will be new life. All that there is will be restoration. So Christian, if you struggle to feel, "Well, I feel God leaning toward me, but does he lean fully?" Yes, he does. And every Advent is a down payment, is him saying, "Yes, do you see the Son?

Do you see me come? I will come again."

38 · The pastor concludes with a Corrie ten Boom quotation and a return to the Hallmark movie analogy, framing Ruth 3's unresolved tension as representing the Christian's present experience while assuring the congregation that every believer's story ends in Ruth 4's full resolution

Let me end by sharing a quote from Corrie ten Boom, or attributed to her. Nobody knows if she actually said this, but it's so good that I would own it if I was Corrie ten Boom. She says this: "Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God." In this moment, this is the end of chapter 3, and it ends with this twist, right? It ends, it's that part of the Hallmark movie where for some reason, The two people that you know should be together, that have already baked cookies and gone look at the lights in New York together.

They're supposed to be together, but there's some complication. There's some, oh no, but you have a secret fiancée, or some weird thing happens. And you're like, oh no. And so one of them leaves, and they're going to the airport, and you're like, no, you've gotta get to the airport. And then the person decides, no, I'm gonna go after her.

And they're running into the airport, they're going through security, and you're like, come on, you gotta be. Right, that's chapter 3. That's the end of chapter 3 where Boaz says, "I'm coming, I'm coming, but there is a problem I got to resolve," right? That's the moment we live in.

But the good news is we already know the end of the story. Ruth chapter 3 and the tension there speaks to the fact that in the Christian life there will be these moments where you're like, "I see the Lord. I see he's right there. He's promised to do these things, but what about this complication?" Every Christian story ends in Ruth chapter 4, not Ruth chapter 3. Every Christian story ends with the full expression, not just the down payment, but the full expression of the kindness of God.

39 · The pastor transitions to closing prayer and worship, setting up the corporate response to the sermon's message about God's love

So let's do this, let's stand and pray, and we're going to sing. We're going to end by singing about the love of God for a particular reason, but let's pray. Father, Lord, I pray that as we go today,