Choose Generosity

Sermon Notes - January 30, 2022
Choose: Ruth - Chapter 2 - Brian Becker

Setting: Time of the Judges
"Everyone was doing what was right in their own eyes."

"The Choices we make, make us."
-Cassandra Clare

"Prisoners who appeared early in the morning received parole about 70 percent of the time, while those who appeared late in the day were paroled less than 10 percent of the time." -NYT (Aug 17, 2011)

Decision Fatigue
Compassion Fatigue

How to read Ruth:

1. It is God’s story.
2. The smaller story tells the larger story.
3. It is not an American story.

Choices that honor God:
Week 1: Choose Bravery
Week 2: Choose Generosity
Week 3: Choose Integrity
Week 4: Choose Purity
Week 5: Choose Legacy

Choose Generosity

Hesed חֶסֶד (Hebrew):
A costly brand of love that involves going above and beyond what anyone has a right to ask or expect.

Ruth 2:1-7 (ESV)
Now Naomi had a relative of her husband’s, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, "Let me go to the field and glean among theirs of the grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor." And she said to her, "Go, my daughter." So she set out and went and gleaned in Sheffield after the reapers, and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech. And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. And he said to the reapers, "The Lord be with you!" And they answered, "The Lord bless you!" Then Boaz said to his young man who was in charge of the reapers, "Whose young woman is this?" And the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered, "She is the young Moabite woman, who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. She said, 'Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers.' So she came, and she has continued from early morning until now, except for a short rest."

Ruth 2:8-13 (ESV)
Then Boaz said to Ruth, "Now listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. Let your eyes be on the field that they are reaping, and go after them. Have I not charged the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the well and drink what the young men have drawn." Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, "Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?" But Boaz answered her, "All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before. The Lord repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge." Then she said, "I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, for you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not one of your servants."

Ruth 2:14-17 (ESV)
And at mealtime Boaz said to her, "Come here and eat some bread and dip your morsel in the wine." So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed to her roasted grain. And she ate until she was satisfied, and she had some left over. When she rose to glean, Boaz instructed his young men, saying, "Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her. And also pull out some from the bundles for her and leave it for her to glean, and do not rebuke her. So she gleaned in the field until evening.

Ruth 2:3b (ESV)
… she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech.

Ruth 2:1-17 Breakdown:
Boaz comes to his field…
Declares a pastoral blessing…
Fulfills the law…
Shows lovingkindness to - the enemy…
Becomes a person of refuge & safety…
Provides a way where there is no way…
Forgives a debt that cannot be repaid…

Ruth 2:1,4a (ESV)
Now Naomi had a relative of her husband’s, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem…

Boaz declares a pastoral blessing…

Ruth 2:4b (ESV)
And he said to the reapers, "The Lord be with you!" And they answered, "The Lord bless you."

Boaz fulfills the law…

Leviticus 19:9-10 (ESV)
When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.

Boaz shows loving kindness to-the enemy…

Numbers 24:17 (NIV)
I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel. He will crush the foreheads of Moab…"

Ruth 2:8,10 (ESV)
Then Boaz said to Ruth, "Now, listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. Then she fell on her face… and said to him, "Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?"

Boaz becomes a person of refuge & safety

Ruth 2:8-9 (ESV)
Then Boaz said to Ruth, "Now listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. Let your eyes be on the field that they are reaping, and go after them. Have I not charged the young men not to touch you?

Ruth 2:12 (ESV)
The Lord repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!"

Psalm 91:1-2,4 (NIV)
Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust." He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge;

Boaz provides a way where there is no way…

Ruth 2:14 (ESV)
And at mealtime Boaz said to her, "Come ere and eat some bread and did your morsel in the wine." So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed to her roasted grain. And she ate until she was satisfied, and she had some left over.

Boaz forgives a debt that cannot be repaid…

Ruth 2:15 (ESV)
When she rose to glean, Boaz instructed his young men, saying, "Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her. And also pull out some from the bundles for her and leave it for her to glean, and do not rebuke her.

Hesed חֶסֶד (Hebrew):
A costly brand of love that involves going above and beyond what anyone has a right to ask or expect.

Be like Boaz…
But realize that we are Ruth…

Realize that we are Ruth:
-She descended from Moab.
-She came spiritually confused.
-She came empty handed.
-She gleaned from another’s field.

Boaz points to Jesus… 1000 years later:
Jesus comes to his field…
Jesus pronounces a blessing…
Jesus invites those who are not his people…
Jesus becomes a refuge and safe place…
Jesus provides an impossible way forward…
Jesus pays the debt we could never repay…

Let’s continue to choose generosity and Jesus.