Episode 5 of Rescue & Rest

--- Welcome to Episode 6 of our Women's Bible Study on the book of Ruth that we call Rescue and Rest. In our previous week, Naomi sent Ruth on a mission. Find a person, a place, get in a position. And Naomi, or excuse me, Ruth accomplished that mission. She found Boaz at the threshing floor and she lay down at his feet and asked him the question, would you cover me with your garment because you are a redeemer? And he responded to her and said, I will do all that you ask. And it was beautiful and it was wonderful, but we got to the end of that conversation and Boaz said something to her that we just weren't sure should be even be in scripture. And so let's start at that point. We're going to start in Ruth chapter three, verse 12, where Boaz said,

And when we got to that point last week, we were a little agitated, a little frustrated because we wanted our romance to just move along the way we wanted it to. But we understand enough about good stories, epic tales to know that conflict and resolution makes for interest. And so we are willing to go a little bit farther with this current conflict and find out how it will be resolved, which is today's lesson. So let's start in verse 14.

And we want to stop there and talk a little bit about those six measures of barley and also about her garment. Now, the barley that he gave her represented in that moment, both a promise and a practical usefulness. The promise was, the grain was a promise in that it was something that Ruth could hold on to as a guarantee that Boaz was going to continue to work on this until the matter was completely settled. And of course, as we are processing this and seeing the parallels to our lives when we come to Jesus and ask him, would you cover my sins? Would you cover over me? Would you include me in your inheritance? He gives to us a gift as well. He gives us the promise of the Holy Spirit, which is a guarantee that this deal will be finished. Let's look at a New Testament scripture. Ephesians 1 verse 13 tells us,

The reason we get a guarantee is because just like Ruth and Boaz's relationship was not consummated right there that night, neither is our relationship with Jesus. We are living out this life still separated from him until the wedding feast when we are with him. And so until that day, he has given us the gift of the Holy Spirit as a guarantee that that will happen. We will be united with him in eternity. Jesus told his disciples, he said, I go and prepare a place for you, but I'm going to come back and get you and take you to be with me where I am. So just a little side note here about this grain that she has this time. Now last time she took grain back to Naomi, she worked for it. She labored for it. But this grain that Boaz gave to her, it was no labor, no cost. It was a free gift. And of course, we can see for ourselves too that when we come to Jesus, the Holy Spirit is given to us at no labor, no cost. It is a gift that is given to us. So the grain that Ruth was given was also practical. It was intended, Boaz intended for her to make use of it. And when we come to Jesus and receive the Holy Spirit, we also are given the practical aspect of the Holy Spirit, which is the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And what is the purpose of the gifts of the Holy Spirit? For us to make use of them while we wait for the glorious appearing of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. Okay, while we are finishing out our days, we can make use of this. So I want to show you some New Testament phrases that speak to that. First from Ephesians 4, 7.

Grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. From Romans 12,

And then Paul said to Timothy, do not neglect the gift that you had. So if you are born again, if you are covered by the garment of Jesus, then an important question to ask is, do you have barley in your garment? What a weird phrase, right? But I like to process things based on where we're at in the scripture. Do you have barley in your garment and are you making use of it? Now there's two garments talked about that night at the threshing floor. Boaz had a garment, Ruth had a garment. Only one person that night on the threshing floor had a garment with the usefulness of covering over another person and drawing them into their inheritance, bringing them in. The other person had a garment which opened up and contained, held the grain. Isn't that interesting? And so God has for us given us this treasure of the Holy Spirit that we contain. It is both a promise and it's for a practical use. And so before we leave this, we should ask ourselves a few questions. Number one, am I mindful of the gift of the Holy Spirit in my life? Am I mindful of that? Do I think of that? Is it something that I process? Am I using the gifts that he has given me? Now think about Naomi. Think about Ruth, excuse me. She hasn't gotten back to Naomi's house yet. But think about her coming in the door, taking these six measures of barley and sort of just setting them aside, not talking about it, not using them for fuel. Just, I just set it over there. That would be like wrong. But yet we should ask ourselves the question, have I done that in some way? Have I taken what the Lord has given me and just set it aside, not being mindful of it? I think Boaz would have been somewhat disappointed had Ruth walked in, just set it aside, not mentioned, not used it at all. So let's get her back into Naomi's house. Verse 16,

And we'll stop there again. I always ask that question. Anybody comes into my house. It's just my way of saying hi. Paul comes back from the office. Well, how did it go? You know, somebody comes in. I have a little helper yesterday in weeding. Well, how did it go? How did it fare, my daughter? But in your study guide, and here I want to draw our attention to the fact that I think, although that wording makes sense, I think that there is an intention here for this to be a twin question. And so we need to reach back to the King James Version for this. Now, I'm not a big proponent of the King James Bible. For one thing, it's written at a college level. I don't like reading a Bible that I have to have a dictionary open at the same time to do everything. I like reading a modern translation, you know, like when we used to teach from the NIV. It's a sixth grade level. It's written on. To me, that just makes sense. But in this case, the new King James, or excuse me, the King James got it right. Because in verse 9, when Boaz saw Ruth there at his feet on the threshing floor, he said, Who art thou? And she had the opportunity to say, I'll tell you who I am. I am restless. I am a girl that wants rest. I am in need of covering. I need something. And then in this verse 16, when Naomi looks at Ruth and says, Who art thou? It's like, who are you now? She sent Ruth to the threshing floor. So I think the question should almost be like that. Like, who are you now? How did it fare, my daughter? What's happening? What has transpired? So I love that. Not everything is finalized here, but Ruth could rest at this point, knowing that Boaz was going to finish the deal. So verse 16, we're still in the middle of 16.

And Naomi replied,

Because Ruth needed rest, Boaz was not going to rest until the matter was settled. And isn't that the same in our relationship with Jesus? Because we need rest, he was not going to rest until he made the final path to the cross, until he took care of it for us, so that he could draw us in. All right, we're going to move to chapter 4. Verse 1 says,

And we all gasp, no. How can this be? The story has gone from weird to weirder. We didn't want this other guy to say, yes. But did you notice that Boaz never yet mentioned anything about Ruth? He was very selective in how he presented this deal. All he talked about was the land. So now look, then Boaz said, oh, by the way, the day that 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. And then the Redeemer said,

What changed his mind so abruptly? Three words, Ruth, the Moabite. Remember our laws of compassion that we talked about. In the law of redemption, which is multifaceted, redeeming the property of the person. But also in this case, the Redeemer was expected to also redeem the name of this dead relative, to have children in the name of this person in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his own inheritance. Not everyone was willing to do that. Not everyone was able to do that part. And when we see what's going on in the threshing floor, we're kind of a little bit confused in this story because we kept seeing a picture. We kept seeing Boaz as a symbol of Jesus. And then when Boaz gives it away, could you imagine Jesus saying, well, actually there's somebody else in line before me. We're like, no, the picture's all messed up. Everything is disorganized now. But that's not the truth. Let's look here at the spiritual parallels that hold true. Because there's a near kinsman in the story, in this Bethlehem story, and it is this unnamed Redeemer. And there is a near kinsman in our greater story of redemption. And we'll put a name to it. We'll give a title to it. We'll call it the law of God. So what do we learn from New Testament scripture about the law of God? Let me take you to Galatians 3. I'm going to quote this out of the NLT. And what we learn is that the nearer Redeemer, the law, came first. It was first in line. Look at how this is worded. Before the way of faith in Christ was available to us, we were placed under guard by the law until the way of faith was revealed. And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian. And so we learn that the law, through Moses, came first as an expression of God's character to his people. And we learn that Jesus, the Messiah, came next as an expression of God's character to his people. Now also from Romans, we learn that this nearer Redeemer, the law in our case, doesn't have the power. Look at Romans 8 3.

So as a symbol of God's law in the Bethlehem story, the nearer Redeemer, that doesn't have a name, would not and could not redeem Ruth because of her Moabite nature, which would mess up his estate. He was first in line for redemption. He had the right to redeem. But he was powerless to redeem anyone with imperfections, like someone who was a Moabite. He couldn't lower his standards. He couldn't bend. He couldn't show mercy. He couldn't extend his boundaries over another. But as a symbol of Jesus, our Redeemer, in the Bethlehem story, we see Boaz, who showed respect for this first in line Redeemer. But Boaz was the one that had personally connected with Ruth, who had reached out to her in the field. This other guy didn't even know she existed until this moment. Boaz was the one that listened to her request for help. He wasn't fazed a bit by her Moabite nature. And he was willing to take her into his inheritance to draw her close. And we realize that every one of us is in Ruth's same situation. The law of God will not accept us, will not cover us. Even if I were to follow every single aspect of the illustration of God's perfect character in the law, when the law asked me, who art thou? I would have to answer, I'm Sue, the Moabite. I am a daughter of Eve. I have a sinful nature. And at that point, the law would say, ah, I'd love to, but I can't. Can't change who I am. I can't accommodate that. Sometimes, the reason that we need to look at this is that sometimes people in our life want to point us to the law as a Redeemer, point us to rules, point us to commandments, point us to things as a way of finding rest. Sometimes, we tempt ourselves to go to the law in order to find rest. And in the words of a romance story like this, maybe we might say, sometimes we're tempted to flirt with that near Redeemer. Like, I can do better. I can clean myself up. Would you please accept me if I do everything that I see in you? And we need to be really careful with that. So we ask ourselves the question, do we have any people in our life that push us that direction, that would push us the direction of the nearer Redeemer rather than push us the direction of Boaz? Are you entangled in a religious system that focuses on the nearer Redeemer? Because that's a thing that exists. Are we chasing after rules that tell us, this is how you draw close to God? And let's be clear. The law of God, the commandments of God are an accurate reflection of who God is. That is obedience in our Christian life. That is giving our all to the Lord. But that is not how we are saved. And that is not how we are covered. That is not how we find rest. So there is a respectfulness and an awareness of the law that is appropriate for a Christian. Don't get me wrong. We should not just cast it aside completely. But we need to understand where our rest comes from. You know, Christianity is the only religion that provides for a rescuer, that brings a rescuer onto the scene and says, you need. be saved, here is the person who can do that. Every other religion says do better, follow this, here's the steps in order to achieve. Christianity is the only one that points us to Boaz, that points us to Jesus the Redeemer and says there's your rescue that is going to give you rest. So in this story, Boaz took care of this transaction of redemption effortlessly and publicly. Do you remember Ruth came to him at midnight under cover of darkness presenting her request? She came to him privately and then Boaz is taking care of this publicly, out in the open, gathering the witnesses. I love that. Look at verse 7.

Boaz said to the elders and all the people,

It was a public transaction for all to see and all to hear. And our response is, yay! He got the land! He got the girl! The story ended just the way we wanted it to. And it creates for us a beautiful scene, a beautiful scene, another way to look at our own relationship with Jesus. So I'm going to wrap up today's lesson with a picture of covering, taking a New Testament verse. I'm going to put Galatians 2.16 on the screen and read it just the way it stands first, which says,

Okay, that's great. We've studied Galatians. That's a great verse. It makes sense to us. We agree with that. Everything is great. What I want to do is take the same verse and I would like to take out the word justified and put in the word covered because that's how we're processing our salvation in the text of Ruth. So let's read it again, which says, we know that a person is not covered by works of law but through faith in Jesus Christ. So we also have believed in Jesus Christ in order to be covered by faith in Christ and not by works of the law because by works of the law no one will be covered. Isn't that fun to do that with a New Testament verse and make it just a little deeper for us to connect the Old Testament to the New Testament? Now when Paul and I were gone last week, we were in the Tri-Cities and on the way from our hotel to the church, it was just a short little drive, but it was straight through downtown, I noticed there was this really large billboard and it caught my attention. There was a picture of a man with his arm in a sling, presumably he had a broken arm, and it was a billboard about medical insurance and it said, the headline was, are you covered? It's important to know before you need it. And I looked at that because of where we're at in scripture and I said, well now isn't that the truth? I loved it because there's only two kinds of people in the world. You're either covered or you're not covered. It's important to know before you need it. Father, I just thank you for this short passage today that gives us such a great understanding of your desire for us. Lord, I want to pray just for anyone that might be listening that isn't sure if they're covered and I ask Lord God that you would just stir up their heart the beauty of this and the simplicity knowing that it's a matter of humbling themselves at your feet and just saying, would you cover me? Would you cover my sins? Would you forgive my sins? Would you draw me into your inheritance? And having the assurance that that transaction is complete with a humble heart that just requests receiving the Holy Spirit, having that barley in our garment, the gifts of the Holy Spirit that remind us that we belong to you. Lord, we lose sight of that in our busy world as we're coming and going. Sometimes we forget to even be mindful of the presence of the Holy Spirit that we possess. So Lord, I pray for that one that might receive Christ in this message and I pray for all of us, Lord God, that you would stir up in us an awareness of the presence of the Holy Spirit, the usefulness of the gifts of the Spirit. Lord, for each one would you help us to stir up the gift that we have been given to use it to to bless us and to bless you and to bless the kingdom. Lord, that is what you have for us to do while we live out our days on this earth until you come get us or until we come to meet you. And so Lord, thank you for this reminder about the barley that we have in our garment and help us to use it. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. ---