Loyalty
9-8-24
This morning, in our continuing look at outstanding women of the Bible, we are going to look at what many consider to be the perfect love story. It is a short story, only 85 verses long. Even though it isn't very long, it runs the full range of human emotions. As we read it, we experience everything from gut-wrenching grief to the very height of triumph. The woman we're looking at today is the main character in this story and her name is Ruth.
Ruth's story begins near the end of the era of the Judges in the OT. It was about a century or so before the time of King David. At the beginning of her story we meet a man named Elimelech. Elimelech was a godly man who was well known with a good reputation. His wife's name was Naomi and they had two sons named Mahlon and Chilion. They were from the town of Bethlehem. Of course, Bethlehem is a town of great significance. Good Israelites of the time would have known that Bethlehem is where Jacob's wife Rachel was buried. Later on in OT times, it became famous for being the hometown of King David. For us today, we are familiar with Bethlehem as the birthplace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
When Elimelech and his family enter the scene, there was a severe famine in the land of Israel. In fact the famine was so bad the Elimelech and his family were forced to seek refuge in the nearby nation of Moab. That's somewhat ironic because Moab itself was a desolate region. It was fertile but also dry and good mostly for grazing flocks and herds. It's also somewhat ironic because generally speaking the Moabites and Israelites really didn't like each other very much.
Therefore, it is shocking that Elimelech would go there as a place of refuge. That highlights for us just how severe the famine was in Israel. But Israel's problems went deeper than that. Not only was the land physically parched from the drought, but more importantly it was also spiritually parched and desolate. The people continually rejected God's Word and His leading for their lives. Because of that Israel suffered from anarchy, confusion and unfaithfulness to the law of God. That all added up to making that era in Israelite history a very desperate time.
Once the family moved to Moab, it didn't take long for things to get even worse for these godly people. Tragedy quickly hit them when Elimelech died. That left Naomi a widow with the responsibility of taking care of two sons. Normally, that would have resulted in a very dire situation for them. But their plight was eased somewhat by the fact that the boys were approaching adulthood and they soon married.
Mahlon married Ruth and Chilion married a woman named Orpah. Marriage is normally a happy joyous occasion for everyone involved. But these marriages weren't as pleasant and acceptable as they could have been. Normally, Israelites wouldn't marry Moabite women. They were considered foreigners and worshiped pagan idols, both of which violated God's law for His people. But they were living in desperate times. Because of all that had happened to them and because there wasn't much other choice, Naomi graciously blessed the marriages and accepted her foreign daughter's-in-law.
The five of them lived in Moab for about ten years when tragedy struck once again. Both Mahlon and Chilion died of unknown causes. That made an already desperate situation even worse. There would have been very little if any hope for three widows with no children, and no responsible relatives to have survived for very long.
With the three women on the brink of ruin, Naomi received word that the drought and subsequent famine had ended in Israel. She quickly made up her mind to return. She was now childless, widowed, impoverished and aging. She was destitute of all land and possessions and had no relations she could count on to care for her. But she longed for her homeland and her own people and decided to go back to Bethlehem.
Both daughters-in-law began to go with her. But with basically nothing waiting for them in Israel, Naomi did all that she could to release them and give them the freedom to return to their own land and their own families. Their best prospect for surviving what they had endured was probably leaving Naomi and returning so that's what she tried to get them to do. One of them was persuaded by her and did return to Moab. However, the other young woman did not. Ruth 1:6-14.
Orpah did turn back and returned to her home and her family. But Ruth did not. She was determined to stay with Naomi regardless of what the personal cost might have been. The still-young Moabite girl probably felt that she quite literally had nothing left to lose anyway. It also seems that she had developed a close bond of friendship and attachment to Naomi.
Even though it appeared that Ruth was determined to stay, Naomi still tried to talk her into going back to Moab. On the one hand, she may have thought that it was not in Ruth's best interest to be shackled to an aged woman. On the other hand, it's also possible that Naomi didn't really believe that it would be good for Ruth to go back to her people and their pagan idolatry. Maybe she was making sure that Ruth had actually made a genuine commitment to Israel's God. Apparently she did, as evidenced by her response. Ruth 1:16-17.
Ruth was committed to stay with Naomi. Her devotion to her mother-in-law was sincere; she still wanted to remain part of her family. More importantly, her devotion to the God of Israel was real. That was an amazingly mature testimony of personal faith, especially coming from a young woman raised in a pagan culture.
As we begin chapter 2 of Ruth, we are introduced to another key character in this story. His name is Boaz. Ruth 2:1. He was a wealthy relative of Elimelech. He had prospered in Israel despite the years of famine. He was a landowner of vast holdings and considerable influence. We're not given the specifics of how he was related to Elimelech. It's likely that he was a cousin or maybe a nephew.
In agreeing to return to Bethlehem with Naomi, Ruth was agreeing to help support her. As far as we can tell, Ruth was still quite young and physically strong. That meant she would have been able to do quite a bit in order to provide for the two of them. But her options were limited. What she could do and really the only option available to her was to work in the barley fields gleaning what the harvesters left behind. Ruth 2:2. That was in accordance with OT law. Lev. 19:9-10.
According to the way this is worded in Scripture, it would seem that all of this happened purely by happenstance. (v. 3). Ruth just happened to end up in one of Boaz's fields. But we know that is not the case. God Himself providentially orchestrated those events. Nothing happens by chance; God is always behind the scenes working all things together for the good of His people. Rom. 8:28. There is no such thing as luck, or fate or karma. That doesn't mean that everything we experience in life is good. There are plenty of bad things that happen to true believers. What it does mean is that God can take even the so-called bad things and work them out for our spiritual good.
When Boaz saw Ruth, he took an immediate interest in her. His foreman gave him the details as to who this young woman was. Ruth 2:6-7. Boaz realized that this woman was his relative by marriage, so he began to show her special favor. He encouraged her to glean only in his fields and to stay close to his harvesters. He also instructed his young men not to touch her.
Not only that, but he also invited her to eat with his workers at meal time and personally saw that she had enough food to be satisfied. He not only encouraged her to glean only in his fields, but he also told his workers to let grain fall purposely for her sake. She worked hard in the fields all day and ended up bringing enough food home to Naomi to feed the two of them for five days or more.
Boaz is what is called a kinsman redeemer. That role was usually filled by a prominent male in one's extended family. He was the official guardian of the family's honor. He would be the one to avenge the blood of a murdered relative; he could buy back family lands and could pay the redemption price for family members sold into slavery. He could also revive the family lineage when someone died without an heir. He did that by marrying the widow and fathering offspring who would inherit the name and property of the one who died. Boaz would become Ruth's kinsman redeemer. He would redeem her life from poverty and widowhood. He would be her deliverer.
Naomi grasped the significance of that the moment she learned it was Boaz who had taken an interest in Ruth. In that culture, arranged marriages were the norm and that was exactly what Naomi intended to do. But because she was a woman, she could not approach Boaz herself to arrange a marriage between him and Ruth. There's not even any indication that Naomi and Boaz had ever spoken to each other. But that wasn't going to stop her. He apparently needed some prodding and that was what Naomi planned to do.
Basically, what she did was set things up so that Ruth proposed marriage to Boaz. Ruth 3:3-4. Ruth did just as she was told. Boaz woke up in the middle of the night and was startled to find a woman lying at his feet. But he was pleased to find out it was Ruth. Ruth 3:10-13.
He wasted no time doing what he needed to do. As early as he could, he went to the city gate and found Naomi's true next of kin. After some negotiating, the two of them sat down in the presence of ten city elders and set things up for Boaz to redeem Ruth. Ruth 4:8-10. They got married and had a son, named Obed. He is the father of Jesse who was the father of David. Ruth was David's great-grandmother.
One of the lessons that we can learn from the example of Ruth is the need for loyalty. She showed great loyalty to her mother in law. She had grown to love Naomi and even if it might have been better at the time for her to return to her family and homeland, she remained loyal not only to Naomi, but also to God.
Loyalty is a great character quality for believers to exhibit in their lives. Proverbs 3:3. The Christian Standard Bible says, "Never let loyalty and faithfulness leave you." Of course, first and foremost, we need to be loyal to God. He redeemed us and saved us from the fiery pits of hell. Jesus took our sin upon Himself and paid the price for our forgiveness that we could never pay ourselves. We not only need to be grateful for what He's done for us, we need to show loyalty to Him by doing our part in remaining as close to Him as we can. We should never give up on God because He will never give up on us.
I'm reading a book called the "Insanity of God." In it, the author chronicles some time he spent in former communist countries trying to figure out how believers there survived the extreme persecution they faced just for loving Jesus. One reason that persecuted Christians survived was because of loyalty. They were zealously loyal to God and they were loyal to His Word at all costs, even to the point of death sometimes.
But that begs the question, how would we respond in the face of extreme persecution? What would be your reaction if soldiers stormed in here right now and demanded that we deny Jesus or die? Sure, we know it's not going to happen so that certainly detracts from the impact of talking about it. But how do you think you would react? Are you willing to die for Jesus, or are you just simply living for Him as long as too much isn't expected of you? Are you a Christian or more like a church-goer just because it's easy and the thing to do? Are you in it for the blessings, but want nothing to do with the persecution? If you're just in it for the blessings or to make points with the community and are avoiding at all costs any sort of persecution, then you're not saved to begin with. Loyalty to God should be the most important aspect of our lives.
We also need to be loyal to His Word. Too many so called Christians today aren't even loyal enough to God's Word to read it very often. If we're not loyal to read it we're certainly not loyal enough to obey it. We're not loyal to His command to take the gospel to the world because we're afraid of offending someone. They say millennial Christians feel that witnessing to their friends is wrong because it might offend them and that is one of the worst things they could do. They would rather offend and sin against God than offend friends who don't know the Lord. We deny Jesus by refusing to witness; we deny Jesus by refusing to take a stand for truth.
I know that not everyone likes or appreciates my stand on what the Bible says about homosexuality. It's a sin and we shouldn't be coddling people into thinking that it's OK to blatantly flaunt that sin in God's face. Do you think that I'm just an old guy who doesn't know better and doesn't understand the current cultural climate? Do you think I'm too stupid to know that all behaviors need to be accepted and tolerated? Do you think I keep this doctrine in some sort of a vacuum not being keyed into the reality of life? Do you not know that my son lives that kind of lifestyle? Do you know that we love our son with all of our heart? But we also don't and won't tolerate or accept his sinful lifestyle. Tolerance isn't the greatest virtue we can hold to in life. Being loyal to God and His Word is. Do we need to talk about abortion or have you had enough of that today?
We need to be loyal to the church. Disunity is one of the biggest sins that we can commit and yet most of us pretty much ignore or actively engage in being a source of disunity within the church. In other words, we put on a pious, self-righteous, holier than thou face and completely disregard what God has to say, all the while being agents of disunity that not only disrupts but that quenches and grieves the Holy Spirit.
It's easy to sit around and point fingers and blame others for whatever problems or issues we think we're having here at church. There are folks who don't like me and that's fine I don't always like myself. But instead of infighting and gossiping and complaining and sitting in judgment, let's unite together and work to make a difference in Baxter. That's why we're here; that's why God has brought us all to be a part of this congregation.
Let's live with total loyalty to God; total loyalty to His Word and total loyalty to the church. That is the absolute least that we need to do in order to make a difference in this community for Christ. So let's band together here or somewhere else if this isn't the place for you and start to do what we can to turn Baxter right side up for the Lord. What's it going to be in your life? Who are you loyal to? Jesus or self?
As our singer and musician come now, we invite you to exhibit total loyalty to God in your life. If that involves any sort of decision or profession this morning, we invite you now to come and talk to me about that or come and share that with the church as we stand and as we sing.
Prayer.