Where You Go, I Will Go!
Scripture Reading: Ruth 1
1 Now it came to pass, in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the
land. And a certain man of Bethlehem, Judah, went to dwell in the country of Moab, he and
his wife and his two sons. 2 The name of the man was Elimelech, the name of his wife was
Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion—Ephrathites of
Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to the country of Moab and remained there. 3 Then
Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left, and her two sons. 4 Now they took
wives of the women of Moab: the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other
Ruth. And they dwelt there about ten years. 5 Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died; so
the woman survived her two sons and her husband.
6 Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of
Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the LORD had visited His people by
giving them bread. 7 Therefore she went out from the place where she was, and her two
daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. 8 And
Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each to her mother’s house. The
LORD deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. 9 The LORD grant
that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband.”
So she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. 10 And they said to her,
“Surely we will return with you to your people.”
11 But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Are there still
sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? 12 Turn back, my daughters, go—for I
am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, if I should have a husband tonight
and should also bear sons, 13 would you wait for them till they were grown? Would you
restrain yourselves from having husbands? No, my daughters; for it grieves me very
much for your sakes that the hand of the LORD has gone out against me!”
14 Then they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law,
but Ruth clung to her.
15 And she said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods;
return after your sister-in-law.”
16 But Ruth said:
“ Entreat me not to leave you,
Or to turn back from following after you;
For wherever you go, I will go;
And wherever you lodge, I will lodge;
Your people shall be my people,
And your God, my God.
17 Where you die, I will die,
And there will I be buried.
The LORD do so to me, and more also,
If anything but death parts you and me.”
18 When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she stopped speaking to her.
19 Now the two of them went until they came to Bethlehem. And it happened, when they
had come to Bethlehem, that all the city was excited because of them; and the women
said, “Is this Naomi?”
20 But she said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt
very bitterly with me. 21 I went out full, and the LORD has brought me home again empty.
Why do you call me Naomi, since the LORD has testified against me, and the Almighty has
afflicted me?”
22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess her daughter-in-law with her, who returned
from the country of Moab. Now they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.
Last week we looked at the fact that the enemy can not curse what God has
blessed. We saw the king of Moab, Balak, use everything in his power to get the
children of Israel to be cursed. He couldn't. But he learned that he could get
Israel to bring a curse on themselves. This is how Moab treated Israel when they
were coming into the Promised Land. They put temptation before them to cause
them to stumble. It's like seeing someone on the way up the aisle to receive
some great honor and sticking your foot out to trip them.
This week we'll be looking at another Moabite but this time it's not a king, it's a
peasant girl, and this time there's no desire to curse Israel, the desire is to bless
Israel.
Our scripture begins during the time of the judges in Israel and there is a family
that decides that the Promised Land is not too promising for them. They decide
to go into the land of Moab to get relief from the famine in the land of Moab.
Now, as simple and as rational as this action is, it says a lot about this family.
Because things have gotten hard in the place where God wants them, they
decide to leave to go to where things seem more comfortable. That's something
most of us can relate to. Sometimes doing things God's way seems too difficult.
We see other people doing it their own way and it seems so much easier which
makes it a real temptation to not trust that God's way is the right way. So, verse
two says that they went to the country of Moab and remained there. That tells
me they stayed longer than they had to. Remember, they had originally gone to
Moab just because of the famine, but what about after the famine. It is so easy to
get off track with what God has for you, and once you get off track it can be so
hard to get back on.
So, Ehimilech, the husband dies. Naomi, his wife, was probably heart broken. In
that time a widow could really find herself in a bad way. But she still had her
boys. Two sons were quite a commodity, especially for a widow. The boys end
up getting married, they spend ten more years in Moab and then the worst
happens. Naomi's two sons die. This is devastating for her. Now she's a widow
with no sons and in her own words, she's too old to get another husband. Naomi
didn't have many options. She would go back to her homeland and beg. She
tells her daughters-in-law to go back to the fathers homes. They were still young;
their fathers were still alive. They had a good chance of getting remarried, but
Naomi had none of this. Orpah makes a show of saying she'll go with Naomi to
help her but it doesn't take much coaxing to get her heading home to her gods.
But, Ruth is different. She doesn't just make a show, she makes a stand. Who
knows why this Moabitess was so vigilant to stay with Naomi? Maybe she had
already recognized that her Moabite gods were no gods at all. Maybe she had
found something special in the house of these strangers from Bethlehem, Judah
that made her believe that their God was God. Maybe Naomi had been a
wonderful mother-in-law to her, better than he own family. Only God knows why
she would not leave her; we only know that she would not leave and she vowed
that Naomi's God would be her God.
It's very possible that like Balak had years before, she had heard that the Jews
were blessed. But look at all the misfortune that had befallen Naomi. I can
imagine this family coming into Moab but choosing not to worship their gods.
Their neighbors would go out to celebrate the winter festival but these peculiar
Jews would not. They'd probably ask them, maybe the children, why won't your
celebrate and they told them they only worshipped Yahweh, their God. When
Naomi's husband died they probably looked and snickered behind their back, but
when her sons died, more than one person likely said, "Where's your God now?"
You can see that when Naomi sends away Orpah she makes a point of saying go
back to your gods. They thought that serving the One true God would mean
nothing bad would ever happen to you. But Jesus told us this:
Matthew 7:24-27
24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a
wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came,
and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the
rock.
26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a
foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came,
and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
Jesus made it clear that the storms of life would come on those who followed the
One true God and those who did not. What would be different was how they
handle it. Ruth evidently saw that in how Naomi had come through this great
tragedy. Sure she had cried but there was something else there that made Ruth
want to cling to it; to her. She had seen her go though a horrible time and still
recognized that her God was God which made her choose to want to follow Him.
In contrast to last week's scripture where Balak saw the children of Israel in a very
good time where they were conquering all they came against, he knew they were
blessed by Yahweh and still chose not to serve Him.
Naomi herself likely thought she was being punished. See how she responds to
the people when they get back to Bethlehem. First she ask why they call her
Naomi, they should call her Mara. Naomi means pleasant and mara means
bitter. Can you tell how she's feeling? She says she went away full and is
coming back empty. Now they obvious meaning of this seems clear. She left with
a husband, two sons, and their possessions and has come back without them but
there could be a deeper meaning here. Maybe she had left full of herself and
now had come back humble. Maybe those who stayed in Bethlehem had told
them to stay, that Yahweh would get them through the famine but they had gone
off to Moab thinking they knew best. Who knows, it's all speculation. What we do
know is that she believes God is testifying against her because that's what she
says. Naomi was empty and bitter.
But that's not where the account ends. Just as Joseph went through some
horrible times yet ended up in the right place at the right time to save his family
from the famine. So Naomi wen through some difficult times but was able to end
up at the right place at the right time.
Ruth 4:13-17
13 So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife; and when he went in to her, the LORD
gave her conception, and she bore a son. 14 Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be
the LORD, who has not left you this day without a close relative; and may his name be
famous in Israel! 15 And may he be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old
age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has
borne him.” 16 Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her bosom, and became a nurse
to him. 17 Also the neighbor women gave him a name, saying, “There is a son born to
Naomi.” And they called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.
This book is named after Ruth, and rightly so since it tells of how this daughter of
Moab went through great adversity, chose to follow the One true God even when
times were bleak, and how she was blessed immensely because of it, even
becoming grandmother to future kings of Israel and of course the One true King
Yeshua. Yes, that is all awesome but I believe this book could just as easily been
named Naomi. Look at the grace that was shown to her through all this.
According to Hebrew tradition, when a kinsmen redeemer takes the wife of his
deceased kin, if they had had no sons, the first son would be for the dead family
member. This is why the people declared that Naomi was given a son. Many
people think grace is something that came after Yeshua was born but I'll tell you
that God's grace has been around all along. You can see it here in the life of
Naomi. I believe these two women show a foreshadow of two groups of people.
The nation of Israel and the Gentiles. The gentiles recognized the Jews were
blessed by the One true God even when things seemed to be bleak. Whereas
the nation of Israel has seemingly left due to the famine. Some feel Yahweh has
dealt with them bitterly. The large majority of the children of Israel today are
either agnostic, atheists, humanists, or simply culturally religious; celebrating the
holidays only as some sort of cultural statement. Because of this some gentile
believers think God has cast her away but that is not how I see it. I had someone
tell me just this week that because the physical nation of Israel has so much
unbelief and because it was the first nation to formerly recognize gay unions, that
proves God has divorced them. But look at Naomi. Though they went away full,
they will come back empty and God will accept them with open arms and bless
them greatly. Let us remember that it is through grace that we are saved.
Ephesians 2:1-10
1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once
walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the
air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once
conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the
mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even
when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have
been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places
in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His
grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone
should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Let us always be aware that the same grace that saved us is available to
everyone. So, let our actions toward them reflect that fact. Let us treat every
single person we meet, whether Jew or Gentile as if they may one day be a child
of God because they may.
Sermon by: Denise Baxley
Date: February 18, 2007
Scripture Reading: Ruth 1
1 Now it came to pass, in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the
land. And a certain man of Bethlehem, Judah, went to dwell in the country of Moab, he and
his wife and his two sons. 2 The name of the man was Elimelech, the name of his wife was
Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion—Ephrathites of
Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to the country of Moab and remained there. 3 Then
Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left, and her two sons. 4 Now they took
wives of the women of Moab: the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other
Ruth. And they dwelt there about ten years. 5 Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died; so
the woman survived her two sons and her husband.
6 Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of
Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the LORD had visited His people by
giving them bread. 7 Therefore she went out from the place where she was, and her two
daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. 8 And
Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each to her mother’s house. The
LORD deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. 9 The LORD grant
that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband.”
So she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. 10 And they said to her,
“Surely we will return with you to your people.”
11 But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Are there still
sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? 12 Turn back, my daughters, go—for I
am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, if I should have a husband tonight
and should also bear sons, 13 would you wait for them till they were grown? Would you
restrain yourselves from having husbands? No, my daughters; for it grieves me very
much for your sakes that the hand of the LORD has gone out against me!”
14 Then they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law,
but Ruth clung to her.
15 And she said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods;
return after your sister-in-law.”
16 But Ruth said:
“ Entreat me not to leave you,
Or to turn back from following after you;
For wherever you go, I will go;
And wherever you lodge, I will lodge;
Your people shall be my people,
And your God, my God.
17 Where you die, I will die,
And there will I be buried.
The LORD do so to me, and more also,
If anything but death parts you and me.”
18 When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she stopped speaking to her.
19 Now the two of them went until they came to Bethlehem. And it happened, when they
had come to Bethlehem, that all the city was excited because of them; and the women
said, “Is this Naomi?”
20 But she said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt
very bitterly with me. 21 I went out full, and the LORD has brought me home again empty.
Why do you call me Naomi, since the LORD has testified against me, and the Almighty has
afflicted me?”
22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess her daughter-in-law with her, who returned
from the country of Moab. Now they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.
Last week we looked at the fact that the enemy can not curse what God has
blessed. We saw the king of Moab, Balak, use everything in his power to get the
children of Israel to be cursed. He couldn't. But he learned that he could get
Israel to bring a curse on themselves. This is how Moab treated Israel when they
were coming into the Promised Land. They put temptation before them to cause
them to stumble. It's like seeing someone on the way up the aisle to receive
some great honor and sticking your foot out to trip them.
This week we'll be looking at another Moabite but this time it's not a king, it's a
peasant girl, and this time there's no desire to curse Israel, the desire is to bless
Israel.
Our scripture begins during the time of the judges in Israel and there is a family
that decides that the Promised Land is not too promising for them. They decide
to go into the land of Moab to get relief from the famine in the land of Moab.
Now, as simple and as rational as this action is, it says a lot about this family.
Because things have gotten hard in the place where God wants them, they
decide to leave to go to where things seem more comfortable. That's something
most of us can relate to. Sometimes doing things God's way seems too difficult.
We see other people doing it their own way and it seems so much easier which
makes it a real temptation to not trust that God's way is the right way. So, verse
two says that they went to the country of Moab and remained there. That tells
me they stayed longer than they had to. Remember, they had originally gone to
Moab just because of the famine, but what about after the famine. It is so easy to
get off track with what God has for you, and once you get off track it can be so
hard to get back on.
So, Ehimilech, the husband dies. Naomi, his wife, was probably heart broken. In
that time a widow could really find herself in a bad way. But she still had her
boys. Two sons were quite a commodity, especially for a widow. The boys end
up getting married, they spend ten more years in Moab and then the worst
happens. Naomi's two sons die. This is devastating for her. Now she's a widow
with no sons and in her own words, she's too old to get another husband. Naomi
didn't have many options. She would go back to her homeland and beg. She
tells her daughters-in-law to go back to the fathers homes. They were still young;
their fathers were still alive. They had a good chance of getting remarried, but
Naomi had none of this. Orpah makes a show of saying she'll go with Naomi to
help her but it doesn't take much coaxing to get her heading home to her gods.
But, Ruth is different. She doesn't just make a show, she makes a stand. Who
knows why this Moabitess was so vigilant to stay with Naomi? Maybe she had
already recognized that her Moabite gods were no gods at all. Maybe she had
found something special in the house of these strangers from Bethlehem, Judah
that made her believe that their God was God. Maybe Naomi had been a
wonderful mother-in-law to her, better than he own family. Only God knows why
she would not leave her; we only know that she would not leave and she vowed
that Naomi's God would be her God.
It's very possible that like Balak had years before, she had heard that the Jews
were blessed. But look at all the misfortune that had befallen Naomi. I can
imagine this family coming into Moab but choosing not to worship their gods.
Their neighbors would go out to celebrate the winter festival but these peculiar
Jews would not. They'd probably ask them, maybe the children, why won't your
celebrate and they told them they only worshipped Yahweh, their God. When
Naomi's husband died they probably looked and snickered behind their back, but
when her sons died, more than one person likely said, "Where's your God now?"
You can see that when Naomi sends away Orpah she makes a point of saying go
back to your gods. They thought that serving the One true God would mean
nothing bad would ever happen to you. But Jesus told us this:
Matthew 7:24-27
24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a
wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came,
and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the
rock.
26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a
foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came,
and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
Jesus made it clear that the storms of life would come on those who followed the
One true God and those who did not. What would be different was how they
handle it. Ruth evidently saw that in how Naomi had come through this great
tragedy. Sure she had cried but there was something else there that made Ruth
want to cling to it; to her. She had seen her go though a horrible time and still
recognized that her God was God which made her choose to want to follow Him.
In contrast to last week's scripture where Balak saw the children of Israel in a very
good time where they were conquering all they came against, he knew they were
blessed by Yahweh and still chose not to serve Him.
Naomi herself likely thought she was being punished. See how she responds to
the people when they get back to Bethlehem. First she ask why they call her
Naomi, they should call her Mara. Naomi means pleasant and mara means
bitter. Can you tell how she's feeling? She says she went away full and is
coming back empty. Now they obvious meaning of this seems clear. She left with
a husband, two sons, and their possessions and has come back without them but
there could be a deeper meaning here. Maybe she had left full of herself and
now had come back humble. Maybe those who stayed in Bethlehem had told
them to stay, that Yahweh would get them through the famine but they had gone
off to Moab thinking they knew best. Who knows, it's all speculation. What we do
know is that she believes God is testifying against her because that's what she
says. Naomi was empty and bitter.
But that's not where the account ends. Just as Joseph went through some
horrible times yet ended up in the right place at the right time to save his family
from the famine. So Naomi wen through some difficult times but was able to end
up at the right place at the right time.
Ruth 4:13-17
13 So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife; and when he went in to her, the LORD
gave her conception, and she bore a son. 14 Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be
the LORD, who has not left you this day without a close relative; and may his name be
famous in Israel! 15 And may he be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old
age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has
borne him.” 16 Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her bosom, and became a nurse
to him. 17 Also the neighbor women gave him a name, saying, “There is a son born to
Naomi.” And they called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.
This book is named after Ruth, and rightly so since it tells of how this daughter of
Moab went through great adversity, chose to follow the One true God even when
times were bleak, and how she was blessed immensely because of it, even
becoming grandmother to future kings of Israel and of course the One true King
Yeshua. Yes, that is all awesome but I believe this book could just as easily been
named Naomi. Look at the grace that was shown to her through all this.
According to Hebrew tradition, when a kinsmen redeemer takes the wife of his
deceased kin, if they had had no sons, the first son would be for the dead family
member. This is why the people declared that Naomi was given a son. Many
people think grace is something that came after Yeshua was born but I'll tell you
that God's grace has been around all along. You can see it here in the life of
Naomi. I believe these two women show a foreshadow of two groups of people.
The nation of Israel and the Gentiles. The gentiles recognized the Jews were
blessed by the One true God even when things seemed to be bleak. Whereas
the nation of Israel has seemingly left due to the famine. Some feel Yahweh has
dealt with them bitterly. The large majority of the children of Israel today are
either agnostic, atheists, humanists, or simply culturally religious; celebrating the
holidays only as some sort of cultural statement. Because of this some gentile
believers think God has cast her away but that is not how I see it. I had someone
tell me just this week that because the physical nation of Israel has so much
unbelief and because it was the first nation to formerly recognize gay unions, that
proves God has divorced them. But look at Naomi. Though they went away full,
they will come back empty and God will accept them with open arms and bless
them greatly. Let us remember that it is through grace that we are saved.
Ephesians 2:1-10
1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once
walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the
air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once
conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the
mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even
when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have
been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places
in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His
grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone
should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Let us always be aware that the same grace that saved us is available to
everyone. So, let our actions toward them reflect that fact. Let us treat every
single person we meet, whether Jew or Gentile as if they may one day be a child
of God because they may.
Sermon by: Denise Baxley
Date: February 18, 2007
