Latest / HBCWestminster / 12.25.22 Ruth 4 Pastor Danny Gardner

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12.25.22 Ruth 4 Pastor Danny Gardner · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  Well, church, let me ask, and with this we'll start, does God truly have our good in mind? We will often quote this verse, Romans 8 and 28, we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. But do you ever wonder what that verse actually promises? Can it be genuinely said that God really is working all things for our good, even in the midst of sorrow, even in the midst of pain, even in the midst of...
• 0:28
  depression, is God really working all things for our good? Hallie and I had lunch last week with a couple from our church, and as we talked, we began to share testimonies, which we often do. And last Sunday, I called testimonies our proposal stories. Do you remember that? How did the Lord propose to you? And testimonies, proposal stories, are such a great way to give glory to God by sharing his transforming power in our lives.
• 0:56
  It's funny how many of our testimonies deal with dark times personally. Those often come up during, as we're sharing that story, times of struggle, personal strife, moments when it was difficult maybe to see God's hand or to sense His presence. And then we'll say something like this. We'll talk about the hard times that we endured, the dark times when it was difficult to know what God was doing in the moment. But then it will often, and we word it the same way, most of us say, and yet looking back,
• 1:26
  It's so easy now to see the hand of God then appointing, directing, guiding, providing, protecting. It turns out I couldn't see it in the moment, but now looking back, God was always there. I have since the first week of our study, the beginning of December, been preparing us for this finale, that concept of a go-el, that as Boaz became Ruth's kinsman redeemer, so also Christ.
• 1:56
  is our kinsman redeemer we have all foreseen the ending of this true fairy tale story we all knew that god was going to work it out for boaz to marry ruth we all knew that boaz would become her kinsman redeemer and i have warned us since the beginning of the month that this would reflect christ toward us his bride in a similar way christ is our kinsman redeemer and so let me begin
• 2:23
  By telling you what I mean when I say that Christ is our kinsman, Redeemer. You notice that it's a compound word, right? Two words jammed together, kinsman and Redeemer. Kinsman, when we say that Christ was our kinsman, that must mean that Christ must have in some way been related to us. That he must have been like a brother to us. John chapter 1 explains how this happened. It says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
• 2:53
  The word became flesh and dwelt among us. That is the incarnation, God becoming flesh. That is what we celebrate on Christmas Day. The birth of Jesus, God becoming flesh. And we have seen his glory. Glory is of the only son from the father, full of grace and truth. In Job chapter nine, in the midst of his suffering and loss, and you guys all know the story of Job who lost everything in a matter of moments, lost everything as a test of his faith and faithfulness.
• 3:24
  In the midst of that sorrow and loss in Job chapter 9, Job asked this question, and it is a question that every human has to grapple with at some point. He says in Job chapter 9 and verse 1, how can a man be in the right before God? How? In this sinful and debauched and wretched planet, on this wretched planet, how can I be right before the Lord? How can? And the question that he was battling with, how can I be both sinful
• 3:50
  and righteous before my creator is there a way he was asking to be forgiven he elaborated just a few verses later in the same chapter by stating the real crux of the problem and he said this and he figured it out he says the problem is this there is no arbiter the the hebrew word there it's like the word for umpire
• 4:11
  Okay, it's umpire. There's no umpire. Umpires are the ones who understand the rules, who interpret the rules, and who execute the rules. There's no umpire between us, that is between God and man, who might lay his hand on us both. What a great...
• 4:30
  word picture that is. Imagine, Job is saying, there isn't anybody who can lay his hand on my shoulder and lay his hand on God's shoulder and bridge that gap. Is there anyone? Is there an arbiter, a negotiator, an advocate, an umpire? Job said accurately that there was no one who could stand in the gap between God, holy,
• 4:54
  righteous sinless god and sinful man there was no one who could bridge that veritable gulf between the two until christmas day christmas day was the day that everything changed god became a man a god man can put his hand on our shoulder and on god's shoulder and bridge the gap until the word became flesh until christ
• 5:27
  became our kinsmen, our brother. John 1, verse 14, we've just quoted it, that says that the Son of God actually became flesh, which means that he took upon himself the entirety of our human nature. He didn't just become like us. Jesus became just like us, with one very key exception, which we're going to talk about in a few moments.
• 5:55
  One of the common misconceptions, I think, surrounding the incarnation is whether Christ actually became a man. You know, most Christians have no trouble believing the deity of Christ. But when it comes to his full humanity, our brains get a little bit stuck. And so we'll try to explain his humanity away with phrases like, Christ was God in a bod. Have you ever heard that phrase?
• 6:22
  Christ was God in a bod, but friends, that falls so short because he was so much more than that. Christ's humanity was not just a costume that God wore for a little while. I've often heard it said that Christ was like Adam before the fall, and that's true spiritually, but not physically. Adam had no experience with sickness or weakness or toil or fatigue.
• 6:47
  But Christ had every one of those, just like we have. He struggled against sin, just like we do. He was tempted, just like we are. It was no easier for Christ to resist the devil than it is for us. It was no easier for him to spend all night in prayer than it is for us. You ever read Luke 6, verse 12, where it says Jesus spent all night in prayer? And you're like, well, yeah, but he was God.
• 7:12
  Of course he could do that. He was God, right? It wasn't any easier for him to keep his eyes open. After the Christmas Eve services last night, our family went home. We got home at maybe 7.15. Our Christmas tradition is we go and pick up Chinese food.
• 7:26
  Right? We do it every time. We order it from the same place. We even order one of those ducks, a roasted duck, the whole thing. We go home. We eat together. We watch that movie, The Christmas Story. And I, every year, fall asleep maybe 15 minutes in. And I have seen the beginning of The Christmas Story I don't know how many times. But the end, I haven't seen very many times all the way to the end. And so it's the same thing. And I think, how can I spend all night in prayer? I can't even spend all movie awake.
• 7:56
  It wasn't any easier for Jesus either to keep his eyelids open. It was no easier for him to be obedient to his Father than it is for us. Hebrews 2 and verse 17 says, Therefore Jesus had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make propitiation for the sins of the people. Notice that phrase, in every respect. He was made like us.
• 8:26
  In every way. J.C. Ryle words it well. He says, like ourselves, he hungered and thirsted and ate and drank and slept and was wearied and felt pain and wept. He rejoiced. He marveled. He was moved to anger and compassion. Having become flesh and taken a body, he prayed, read the scriptures, suffered being tempted, submitted his human will to the will of God the Father, and finally, in the same body,
• 8:55
  He really suffered and really shed his blood. And that is why, church, we cannot diminish his humanity. Because to diminish his humanity is also to diminish the crucifixion. We can't do that. He really did die. He really was buried. And he really did rise from the dead. He really did ascend up into heaven. He was just like us in every...
• 9:26
  way barring one i told you there was one key exception to his being like us and that exception is what allowed him also to be our redeemer he was like us in every way and so he could be our kinsman but the one exception made him eligible also to be our redeemer and notice hebrews chapter 4 and verse 15 he says for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses
• 9:52
  but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. The one thing Jesus never did that we do every day was fail. That was the one exception, like us in every way, minus one. Christ could redeem his people from their sin because he himself was sinless. He needed no redemption. And because he needed no redemption, he is able to offer,
• 10:24
  redemption to his people and so let's talk about that word for a moment what is redemption what is a redeemer the dictionary of new testament theology which i have on my bookshelves if you ever need to borrow it three volumes on just about every new testament phrase or word and the dictionary of new testament theology provides a definition of the word redemption that is 50 pages long
• 10:53
  Their definition of that one word was 50 pages. I didn't have time to read the entirety of the definition this week. It is so long, so in-depth. If you want to know what it means that Christ redeemed us, there is a 50-page description of that forgiveness fallout. For the sake of time, let me sum it up by stating that to redeem means to loosen knots.
• 11:23
  I like that. To release, to untie, to untether, to break bonds, to set free, and to pay a ransom. Sin captured humanity. It captured us. It held us captive. It held us as prisoners. We were prisoners.
• 11:47
  to sin the bible says we were born in sin and with sin and sin held its powerful sway over us it was not just something that we do sin is like a force dominating us but christ being like us in every way and yet sinless paid our ransom by offering himself in our stead that baby boy which we celebrated last night and lit the little candle and did all of that that baby boy
• 12:17
  born in a manger, heralded by angels, worshipped by shepherds, grew to become a man. He lived in perfect obedience to his heavenly Father, but was nevertheless condemned to a cross, where he died, paying the penalty for our sin, and rose from the dead, proving he was indeed the Son of God. He redeemed us. Now that we truly understand what a kinsman redeemer is,
• 12:49
  And how Christ fulfilled that role for us, let's turn our attention one more time to the book of Ruth and to chapter 4. Imagine for a moment that you were just an ordinary field worker during the time of the judges. You had witnessed the events of the book of Ruth firsthand. What would you have seen? You'd have seen two women walk past your field, one old and bitter, one young and foreign.
• 13:10
  You'd have been impressed by the hard work and upright character of that young foreign woman. You'd have wondered why she was given so much special attention by Boaz, the most eligible bachelor in town. For two months, you'd have seen her speaking with Boaz almost every lunch break. You'd have definitely noticed the day she showed up to work wearing different clothes. Her finest clothes, rather than those dark and drab clothes she had worn previously, which were an outward expression of her sorrow.
• 13:40
  Now, if you'd like to take notes this morning, the text divides easily into three sections. I'm going to call verses 1 to 4 litigation. When Mr. Wrinkle, everybody remember him from last week? Mr. Wrinkle says yes. Okay, litigation. Verses 5 to 12 we'll call negotiation, where Mr. Wrinkle says, wait, what? And then verses 13 to 22 we'll call generation, where Boaz and Ruth marry. And Naomi goes from being a bitter old woman.
• 14:09
  to the rejoicing grandmother of a bouncing baby boy. So let's turn our attention to verses 1 and 2. Notice it says, Now Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there. Remember from last week, we had left them, Ruth and Naomi, sitting in their living room the longest day. Do you remember that? They're just waiting for the kettle to boil. And so Boaz goes up to the gate and sat down. And behold, the Redeemer, of whom Boaz had spoken, came by. And so Boaz said, Turn aside, friends. Sit down here.
• 14:37
  And he turned aside and sat down. And he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, Sit down here. So they sat down. You notice he calls him friend. The English translation friend probably loses something. Boaz certainly would have known the man's name. The author of the book intentionally uses a Hebrew idiom. Rather than calling him by his name, he intentionally, purposefully wants to reflect poorly on the man's character.
• 15:05
  And so the English translators have used the word friend, but the Hebrew phrase, and I'm going to butcher this a little bit, I've told you I'm no Hebrew scholar, but I do want you to hear that it rhymes, okay? Paloni, almoni, is what he uses. Meaning, and really, honestly, the closest English translation would be something like, we would use the phrase, Mr. So-and-so, okay?
• 15:28
  a player to be named later mr such and such perhaps the closest english equivalent would be something like calling him joe schmo joe schmo that is mr wrinkle he was intentionally cast in a negative light by the author we are not supposed to like him and you'll notice a few verses later why that is okay so just whenever you see this guy just know i don't like him
• 15:54
  Imagine again that you're that ordinary field worker. One day as you were heading home, you notice a big crowd gathering at the city gate, the place where all the most important events in the city happened. You notice it wasn't just a crowd. Now it was the most important men in town. The elders of the city are there. Something big was about to go down. And the next several verses act kind of like a court transcript, chronicling a legal conversation between Boaz and Mr. Wrinkle.
• 16:24
  So this litigation, I've called it, begins with a confrontation. Look at verse 3. Boaz said to the redeemer, to Joshmo, Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech. So I thought I would tell you of it and say, buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not, tell me.
• 16:52
  that I may know, for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I come after you. And he said, I'll redeem it. I'll take it. Wedding hopes have been crushed. I'll take it, absolutely. Sit down here and let's talk, he says. He actually words it well. He literally uses the word brother.
• 17:18
  brother is in need of help. In the sense of a close clan relative, Boaz lets Joe Schmo know that their brother, Elimelech, and his family are in need. His brother's land is in danger of being lost, and it's likely that the property itself still belonged to the clan of Elimelech, possibly even to Naomi herself. She was no doubt the beneficiary of her husband's estate, but the property rights
• 17:44
  That is, the usage of that land, the cattle grazing, the agriculture, the water rights had been sold prior to his family's move. Did you guys catch that? So Elimelech still owned the property, but before he moved, likely what happened is that he sold the rights to somebody else. So Naomi had this property that she couldn't use. And if she couldn't use it, eventually it would fall into the hands of whoever was using the property rights.
• 18:15
  And likely, according to kind of the context here and how it's worded, likely the property rights had been sold to an outsider, somebody outside of the clan of Elimelech. And so the property really was under threat of being lost by the clan. Thus, what Boaz was compelling Mr. Wrinkle to purchase were the property rights back from this outsider. Now consider this for a moment. Mr. Wrinkle must have already known about Naomi and Ruth.
• 18:45
  He feigns ignorance, but I think that's impossible. We said last night, Bethlehem was not a large city. It remains small even today. If you're able to go to Israel and ever stop in at Bethlehem, you'll remark at how small it is. It is a tiny little town even today. Ruth chapter 1 and verse 19 said that when the two widows showed back up in Bethlehem, it said the whole town was stirred because of them. You remember that?
• 19:12
  There is no way this guy doesn't know about Naomi and Ruth. Since that time, months before, Mr. Wrinkle has done nothing to help them, despite, we find, being the closest kinsman redeemer. All of those things Boaz had been doing, the kindness, the generosity he has shown to Ruth, Mr. Wrinkle was supposed to be doing. It was his job. It wasn't Boaz's job.
• 19:38
  Mr. Wrinkle was the closest living male inheritor of Elimelech's estate. And perhaps, he thought, if he just kept his mouth shut for long enough, if I don't say anything and Naomi dies, there's a possibility that I will inherit. I am on paper the next in line. I will inherit Elimelech's property without purchasing the rights and without what? Getting stuck with Ruth.
• 20:09
  Maybe I don't have to do all of that. Maybe I can save my money. If owning the land was his motivation, then his response makes perfect sense in verse 4 when he says, I will redeem it. He says nothing about Ruth, nothing about Naomi. I will take the property. And thus ended the litigation. And the reader is left in suspense. Will Boaz lose Ruth to this self-serving kinsman redeemer?
• 20:37
  You guys ever been out in a crowded place and you see those little kid backpacks that have a leash attached to them? You guys ever seen those? I love those things. They didn't have them when my boys were young, so we never got to use them. I think they're pretty smart, right? And you can say, oh, that's awful, and you know, whatever, until you have kids, and you're like, no, we need six. Just, we need them strapped to everything. You know, we were raising little boys. Man, our boys, I don't know how they did it. I swear their efforts were coordinated.
• 21:06
  They never ran in the same direction. As soon as the minivan door slid open, they scattered like roaches. I mean, they just went every direction. It was impossible to keep them wrangled. And so you see these little kids, right? And the kid oftentimes has no idea. He's just thinking he's wearing his cool little backpack that looks like a monkey. I don't know why they always look like a monkey or like a little Yoda or whatever. And then as soon as he gets too far away from his mommy, mommy just gives it a little tug, right? And he yanks him back. He's like, oh yeah, that was apparently too far, you know? And I wonder sometimes what he thinks, like if his mom has some.
• 21:35
  The superpower that she can pull him back. Like, okay, went one step too far and pulls him back. Imagine for just a moment that Mr. Wrinkle is wearing the little monkey backpack, all right? And he's saying, oh yeah, I'll take it. I'll take the land, I'll take the land. But Boaz has the other end of the leash. And so as soon as he says, I'll redeem it, right? He takes that step. Boaz tugs on that thing and pulls him back, all right? Notice the negotiation beginning in verse five. He says, okay, that's great, right?
• 22:05
  Boaz said, the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance. Boaz was a keen negotiator. Not so fast, he said. And we immediately read of Joe Schmoe's predictable response. If you take the land, you get the wife and the mother-in-law as well. The Redeemer said, never mind.
• 22:33
  I can't redeem it myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself. I can't redeem it. I like how Stephen Davey words this argument. He says it this way, by the way, imagine Boaz saying it this way, by the way, if you redeem the land, you'll have to care for a widow named Naomi as well as her widowed Moabitess daughter-in-law and give her an heir that you name after her first husband.
• 23:03
  So you have to have a son with her that you don't name after yourself or your grandfather or whoever. You have to name him after her dead Moabite husband. That's who you have to name him after. And when the boy reaches manhood, you will, according to the Mosaic law, give him that piece of property as his inheritance. Whatever you buy today, you're going to have to give away later.
• 23:27
  You don't get to keep. As quickly as he agreed to buy the property, he just as quickly passed on it. There was no way he wanted to spend his own money to buy something that wouldn't stay his in the end. I don't want to impair my own inheritance, he says. Only one person, I think, would spend his own money, would invest, knowing that he would take a financial loss. And that is a person who is genuinely in love.
• 23:56
  With the widow Phyllis tribal has said this Said since we call him. Mr. Wrinkle since mr. Wrinkle refused to restore the name of the dead to his inheritance He himself remains nameless Remember that he was looking after his own name. I told you guys last Sunday. He's the only character in the book who is not named Anonymity she says implies judgment
• 24:24
  Again, Stephen Davey, the man who didn't want to endanger his name through marriage to Ruth, guess what? Your name isn't endangered. The man who wanted to protect his name from Gentile blood, the man who avoided God's intention within his law of redemption has been forgotten. The remainder of that court scene is nonverbal.
• 24:43
  An explanation is given of what was customary practice during the period of the judges. In order to confirm this transaction, the forfeiting party would remove his sandal and offer it to the receiving party in order to seal the deal. Okay, look at verse 7. This was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging. To confirm a transaction, the one drew off his sandal and gave it to the other.
• 25:12
  and this was the manner of attesting in israel so when the redeemer said to boaz buy it for yourself he drew off his sandal and he gave it to boaz he said well why in the world would they do that now explanations vary but the most likely is this in the old testament feet and sandals represented ownership the israelites were told in deuteronomy 11
• 25:40
  every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours one pastor surmises that the reverse was possibly also true in exodus chapter 3 in verse 5 you remember moses standing before the burning bush and the very first thing god told moses to do was what take off your shoes you're standing on holy ground take off
• 26:15
  Do you see what he's saying? When this relative removed his sandal and gave it to Boaz, he was symbolically transferring ownership of the land and the family to Boaz. His feet, he was saying, wouldn't walk on that land. The transfer of the sandal.
• 26:34
  was a transfer of power. He was literally saying, Boaz, you can walk in my shoes. You can walk the path in my place. It no longer belongs to me. It belongs to you. Tread where you would like. Like I said, explanations vary. And I think that is probably the most likely in terms of regarding ownership. But the one I like the most was this. That very act makes it impossible to forget.
• 27:06
  Imagine again, you're one of those ten elders standing around that day. After all was agreed upon, one of the parties removed his shoe and gave it to the other. Would you ever forget that that happened? Days will pass, weeks will pass, months will pass. I no longer live under that gloomy illusion that people will actually remember anything I say.
• 27:34
  I, in fact, one time years ago when I was teaching at a youth group, taught the exact same word-for-word sermon two Wednesdays in a row just to see if anyone would notice. A few did. Most were just said, well, that's a good sermon, Pastor Danny. Exactly the same as last week. People don't remember things. We don't tend to remember details. You know, what's funny, though, is if you see something you didn't see before, you remember that.
• 28:00
  If I, in the middle of this sermon, I've preached hundreds and literally thousands of sermons, if at some point during a sermon I sat down and took my shoe off and I gave it to somebody, you'd probably remember that detail even days, weeks, and months from now. I don't remember what the sermon was about, but I remember the day that he took off his shoe in case one of them tried to back out of the sandal deal. The transaction is sealed here by the drawing off of his sandal and the handing it.
• 28:31
  to the other. You pick up in verse 9. Boaz said to the elders of all the people, you are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech, all that belonged to Kilion and Malon. Remember, whiny and puny. Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Malon, I have bought to be my wife to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers from the gate of his native place. You are witnesses this day. And they all say, yes, we are.
• 29:00
  witnesses boaz agrees to everything mr wrinkle refused boaz risked his own money his own reputation by agreeing to marry ruth and why because as we said ruth reminded him of someone else you guys remember who'd he who'd she remind him of his mom a sinful a sinful gentile woman who had been disowned by her own people
• 29:30
  He also knew that his own father, a Jewish priest, was willing to risk his own reputation by marrying his mother. And now Boaz was willing to do the same thing his own father had done many years before, like father, like son. You know what I love about that truth, church, is that Jesus does the same thing. His bride, the church, we are sinful. We are a sinful, mixed-blood woman with a past. We are Rahabs.
• 29:55
  We are Ruth's. And yet Jesus Christ, the righteous, was willing to die for us, to purchase us, to redeem us, to even share his inheritance with us. That's exactly what he did. And so when you read this benediction from the people of Bethlehem over this newlywed couple, read it with a generational mindset. Notice verse 11. All the people who were at the gate, the elders said, we are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your house like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah.
• 30:25
  Be renowned in Bethlehem. May your house be like that of Perez whom Tamar bore to Judah because of the offspring that the Lord will give you by this woman. They offered a tremendous blessing over them. And then notice finally the wedding. So Boaz took Ruth. She became his wife. He went into her. The Lord gave her conception and she bore.
• 30:45
  And now notice here that mom and dad almost become a side note. Naomi and the women of the village become the main players for the rest. The women said to Naomi, Blessed be the Lord who has not left you this day without a redeemer. If you wanted to underline a verse from Ruth, if you wanted to know what the best verse in Ruth is, it's that one. Blessed be the Lord who has not left you this day without a redeemer. May his name be renowned in Israel.
• 31:12
  He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age. For your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him. And Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse. And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name. Now, I don't know how literal that is. I don't know if the parents gave him the name or if the women just take over. It seems like the women of the village just kind of take over and say, you call him what you want. We're going to name him.
• 31:41
  And they named him, a son has been born to Naomi. They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, who was the father of David. And these are the generations of Perez. Perez fathered Hetzron, Hetzron Ram, Ram Aminadab, Aminadab Nashon, Nashon Salmon, Salmon Boaz, Boaz Obed, Obed Jesse, and Jesse David. Ruth bore a son who turned out to be...
• 32:13
  The great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather of Jesus our Lord. At church, the word became flesh all of those years ago, actual flesh. Jesus became like us, and not like us, but just like us, which makes him eligible. In every single way, he became like us, but without sin, and he has not left us without a redeemer. He really does work all things out for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose.
• 32:45
  And Lord, we rejoice today. Today really is a day of rejoicing that you have not left us without a Redeemer, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who took on flesh and dwelt among us, who became like us in every way, and so he is our kinsman in every way but one, and so he is our Redeemer. And God, thank you for this true fairy tale. God, thank you that you do work all things out for the good of those who love you and are called according to your purpose. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.