The Book of Ruth - Part 4

We're going to be continuing tonight on the book of Ruth. And so, pastor is out of town and he left me to finish it up with our last chapter in Ruth. And you know, sometimes when uh you get an assignment like this to teach on a specific book of the Bible, um I've read them before and I thought, man, 45 minutes to an hour, I got to squeeze a lot out of this. But I don't think I'm going to do this chapter of Ruth justice.

There is so much in here. So, I encourage you on your own if you haven't been keeping up with what pastor has been walking through in Ruth. It's four chapters. Go, you can read those four chapters pretty quickly. But I will tell you to really get in the layers. You're going to have to dig a little deeper. So, uh, dig in there because there's a lot that you can dig out of these books of Ruth. I like pastor. I have my beautiful wife reading for me tonight.

So, I I didn't realize until the last minute she told me that she now has the microphone and so uh she can correct anything I say wrong. So, I don't know what we're going to hear tonight. Uh she has the power of the mic. But anyway, just to recap for those of you that might be joining us for the first time, uh in the first week, several weeks ago, pastor touched on Ruth 1. And in that we read about the famine that sends IMC and Naomi and their two sons uh to from Bethlehem to Moab.

And then we learn that IMC dies. Uh the sons marry Moabitete women named Orpa and Ruth. A little known fact, Oprah was actually named Orpa, but nobody pronounced it correctly and so it became Oprah. I didn't know that until digging in. But 10 years later, they both uh both sons are dead and uh two. So now it just leaves Naomi and she decides to go home. Orpa turns back, but Ruth refuses. Uh Naomi renames herself to Mara, which means bitter. And we learn that the takeaway from Ruth 1 is really Ruth didn't just commit to be uh a woman that stays with Naomi.

She committed to a God and a people that she had never met. She says, "Your people will be my people. Your God will be my God." She didn't just commit to Naomi. Then in Ruth 2, we we learn that Ruth gleans the leftover field from a provision law that was made for the poor and the foreigners because they went back to Bethlehem, but they were both widows who had nothing. Uh Ruth 2 and3 says her hap was to light on Boaz's field. So she just happened to come to Boaz and that was not an accident.

That was providence in disguise. Boaz already knows about her reputation and he blesses her and then uh Naomi identifies Boaz as one of their kinsmen and pastor has been talking a lot about that term of kinsmen. Uh it's this is the first time we hear of this term in Hebrew. It's called goel, which is called a kinsman redeemer. And our big takeaway here is uh Ruth's faithfulness in an empty field put Ruth in the path of redemption. So she had faithfulness to Naomi and that ultimately put her in this path of redemption to her kinsman redeemer.

And then in Ruth 3, which we studied last week, we see that no Naomi sends Ruth to the threshing floor. And there was a bold act on her part to go into the middle of the night to meet Boaz. It was bold, but as pastor said, culturally proper, an appeal to a kinsman redeemer. There was a marriage proposal wrapped in a redemption request. And Boaz affirms uh her character. And we see that we left off there with him saying that there is a nearer kinsman redeemer.

There is somebody nearer, but he's going to take care of it. And so here the relationship was ready. It just had to go through the proper channels or the right door first. And that's what brings us today to Ruth 4. So if you have your Bibles and you want to turn, that's where we're going to dig in. And we're going to go scripture by scripture to Ruth 4. Now, a takeaway here is uh a lot of the main characters that we have seen so far in Ruth 1 through3 are uh Naomi and Ruth.

And Boaz is kind of a background character. We we hear a lot of his actions. We hear a lot about him and what he did for Ruth, but we haven't heard a lot specifically from Boaz. And that's where we see this shift where Ruth and Naomi kind of become background characters in Ruth 4. And we're going to hear specifically from Boaz. So uh Chrissy, if you would start for for me and read uh Bo I mean Ruth 41 and two. >> Then went Boaz up to the gate and sat him down there.

And behold, the kinsmen of whom Boaz spake came by, unto whom he said, "Ho, such a one, turn aside, sit down here." And he turned aside and sat down. Then he took 10 men of the elders of the city and said, "Sit ye down here." And they sat down. >> You did a great job. She She practiced how how do you annunciate that? Oh, such a one. Uh so going back here I want to ann uh go back to this term of the goel.

A man nearest to the relative that had both the right and not only the right but the duty to step in when the family couldn't carry its own inheritance. The kinsman redeemer. And that's what we see Boaz doing here. Boaz doesn't take this action privately. We see that he goes to the gate. He goes to what would have been the courthouse, the main area. This isn't happening as a side deal. It's happening for everyone. Um, and he gathers. We see 10 elders at that time.

That's what needed to happen for a transaction, um, an action to be seen as formal. In that day, they didn't have written contracts, something that you could sign. So, you needed witnesses and you needed more than one witness. So, we see Boaz wants to be upstanding, uh, forthright. He wants to do this the right way as a kinsman redeemer. Um, I think they're going to put up there Leviticus 25 and 25 is the root of where this concept of a kinsman redeemer comes in.

And it says, "If thy brother be waxing poor, and hath sold away some of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother has sold." So this is where we see that concept of redeeming something that has been sold. This concept of a kinsman redeemer. Now, another interesting concept here that we'll dig into a little bit more. The Bible names this person. It says, um, "And behold, the kinsmen of whom Boab spake came by."

If you actually look into, um, the translation, the name they use for him is just soandso. They don't tell us his name, this closer kinsman to redeemer to Ruth. They just call him and so and so came by. this so and so kinsman redeemer and that's going to be important a little later so hold on to that one. So next uh Boaz is going to raise the first big point. Uh so let's look at Ruth 43 and4. >> And he said unto the kinsmen, Naomi that is come out of the country of Moab sellth a parcel of land which was our brother Alimc.

And I thought to advertise thee, saying, "Buy it before the inhabitants and before the elders of my people. If thou wil redeem it, redeem it. But if thou will not redeem it, then tell me that I may know there, for there is none to redeem it besides thee, and I am after thee." And he said, "I will redeem it." So Boaz makes this proposition and he says, "Uh, Naomi is selling this piece of land and someone needs to redeem it." Now, what was interesting to me when I think about redemption, um, I was like, well, why does he need to redeem it if Naomi is the one selling it?

Right? There's an important thing for us to understand about land there. Uh, land here in Murphy'sboro is hard to come by. um we're looking for land, but it wasn't the same as land in Israel. See, um what we need to understand culturally about land at that time is land held first a covenant identity. It was your stake in the story of Israel and God's promises. See, when uh Joshua settled the promised land, each family was given a piece of land. We'll dig into that a little bit more, but it was more than just land.

It was an identity for who they were. It was family continuity, uh, a name and an inheritance that couldn't disappear from Israel. It's how the tribes were accounted for. Also, it was economic survival. They lived off of the land. It wasn't just a place where they stayed. It wasn't just an address they called home or a place that they had to mow every couple of weeks. It was where they actually made their what we would know as a job. What sustained their families, what sustained their homes, the things that they made.

So when you think about not having that piece of land, it was their primary means of proi provision in that agregarian society. It also carried that communal obligation when you had these kinsman networks that existed partly to protect against permanent land loss. When um the land was divided up, there wasn't intended to be this one large land owner like a king that owned all the land and everyone else that worked it. It was to be held in trust from God. Leviticus 25:23 says this, "The land shall not be sold forever, for the land is mine, for ye are strangers and sjourers with me."

And then we also find this concept of the year of Jubilee. So every 50th year sold land reverted to its original family. Land was never supposed to leave a family for good. Jubilee guaranteed a reset um in if the kinsman redeemer was a kinsman redeemer would step in to redeem land before that 50 years. And we see this in Leviticus 25 and 28. It says, "But if you not be not able to restore it, then that which is sold shall remain in the hand of him that bought it until the year of Jubilee.

and in the Jubilee it shall go out and he shall return unto his possession. Meaning that land that belonged to the family. If they sold it, they only sold it for whatever was remaining until the year of Jubilee. They couldn't sell their piece of God's promise to them. They couldn't sell that for forever. It stayed within the family. The only way they could lose it was if the family line died out. They didn't have someone to inherit the promise that was given to them.

In studying this, we have a lot of concepts now that we know of because of the New Testament and we think about uh what eternity will be like. But back then there even concepts of eternity was that uh in death there was this waiting place. But they didn't have this concept of a promise that was in the future. It was this land that God had promised them that they knew about. And so for their family line to live on in this promise, they needed they needed their family line to be redeemed.

So we see that that nearer kinsman redeemer, he immediately says, "Yes, this is a clean win for him. More land, no complications yet. In Israel, land wasn't what you owned. It was who you were. And so buying this land was an easy yes for the kinsman redeemer because it grew who he was. It added to his inheritance, his plot of land because he knew there was no one to redeem it. But now there's a condition. And Boaz is so smart here as a negotiator.

He leads with the good stuff first. And now we're going to see what he says in Ruth 4 and5. >> Then Boaz said, "What day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitis, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance." So what this says in plain language is well when you buy this land you also get with it Naomi and you have to marry Ruth. So this was a a leverite custom.

If a man died without a son a a a person that could inherit the nearest relative married the widow so the firstborn could carry on the dead man's name. So they would have a person to inherit an inheritance. This comes from Deuteronomy 255-6. It says, "If brethren dwell together and one of them die and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger. her husband's brother shall go unto her and take her to him to wife and p perform the duty of an husband's brother unto her.

And it shall be that the firstborn which she bears shall succeed in the name of his brother which was dead that his name be not put out of Israel. Now we read that and I think that's very weird. >> Anybody else think that? >> Yes. That's very weird. I I would not want that to happen, you know. And I'm thinking in today in our cultural I can't get my mind around that. I can't get my mind around it. Why? I mean, it's just weird.

But this was the custom of that day so that they could keep the family name of their brother going. They could redeem him. That he could be a part of the promise of God. It was that child wouldn't have the name of the inherited father, his actual genealogy. He would inherit from the father that had passed away so that as it says his name be not put out of Israel so he could have a part of the promise. When I read this, it's like, so his name and what we would think of today would be written in the lamb's book of life in the covenant promise that we're talking about, right?

That the name would stay in Israel. So, I know it seems really weird and really strange. I get it. But we have to think of this concept of redeemer. No heir to inherit the uh family's inherits inheritance passed out of their hands for good. their place in in Israel's story went with it. It just vanished. There was no one to take care of that name. There's an even weirder story, and we're going to hear it come up, of Judah and Tamar in Genesis 38.

And that was the first time that Israel saw this obligation to play out. And it produced a son whose name is Perez. Remember that. We're going to see that in a minute. But the important part here to understand is a name in Israel wasn't sentimental. I feel like in today's culture, we hear even less about how important a family name is. That for some reason um when I was a kid, my dad would always remind me that my actions, they represent your name, right?

You want to have a good name. I don't think we hear that as much in culture as we used to. Our western culture is very much focused on personal identity. Who I am as an individual, not the collection of my family. But that wasn't true in this culture. Their culture very very much focused on family and less about who I am and how I'm perpetuating my family name. So now we're going to go to uh Ruth 4 and6 and understand why the nearer kinsman redeemer walks.

Ruth 4 and6 if you would. >> And the kinsman said I cannot redeem it for myself lest I mar my own inheritance. Redeem it thou my right to thyself for I cannot redeem it. >> So he says on this uh at first remember Boaz says hey Naomi has this land to purchase. would you like to buy it? And he immediately says, "Yep, I want to buy that land." Boaz introduces this complication and says, "Okay, well, with that land, you're going to get Naomi and you're going to get Ruth and you're going to be the nearer kinsman redeemer."

And he says, "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I don't want to mar my own inheritance. Redeem thou my right to thyself, for I cannot redeem it." So, understanding this, what this really means is there's a price. There's a price that has to be paid to redeem this land. And it's going to come from this man's uh whatever he has, whatever he possesses. He might have to sell some of his livestock. He might have to do something to purchase this land from Naomi.

So he's taking from his family inheritance to buy this land. Then he becomes responsible for Naomi and Ruth. And then if an offspring is born, it all goes to the other family. And so what he's saying here is I can't mar my own name to redeem thou redeem this. Redeem it yourself. See any son born to Ruth would legally count as Melon's heir, not his. He'd spend his own estate to redeem land that would ultimately carry someone else's identity, someone else's name. Boaz's strategy here to lead with the land the pure upside or looking at the positive.

It's only after the closer kinsman redeemer or the so and so is revealed what comes bundled with it that the man's own self-interest disqualifies him publicly. In his own words, Boaz never ha Boaz never has to look at maneuvering to get Ruth. So some redeemers look at what will it cost them? That's how you know they never really were redeemers. See a redeemer doesn't ask what's it going to cost me? Because in this the closer kinsman redeemer is interested when it's a benefit for him.

But it when he really realizes the cost of what is going to be he fails to to live up to that place of kinsman redeemer. So, we then go on to Ruth 4 6-10. And I really want to slow down here, but if you could read uh 6-10 for me. >> It's not on here. >> I have seven through eight. >> You need me to read it? >> Means seven through eight. >> No, six. Six through 10. >> I just read six. Here, I'll pull it up.

>> I have it here. It's just six is repeating. And the kisman said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar my own inheritance. Redeemth thou my right to thyself. I cannot redeem it. >> Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing. For to confirm all things, a man plucked off his shoe and gave it to his neighbor. And that was the testimony in Israel. Therefore the kinsman said unto Boaz, "Buy it for thee." So he drew off his shoe.

And Boaz said unto the elders, unto all the people, "Ye are witnesses this day, that I have bought all of all that was Immcileians, and Malians, and the hand of Naomi. Moreover, Ruth of Moabitis, and the wife of Malian, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place. Ye are witnesses this day. >> So, pastor, as he's been talking about um this story, we have the advantage of perspective.

We know the end of this story, but we have to put oursel a little bit in Boaz's shoes here to understand what did he really know when he says this. He knew that he was taking ongoing care of two widows that would bring nothing to him that he knew about two widows. Um, and we'll talk a little bit more about that. He knew he was paying real money for land by the deal he had just made that wouldn't build his own inheritance, his own family holdings.

He was making a sacrifice. He knew there might be a possibility of a child, but not a guarantee. We see here that Ruth had been married for 10 years. We we know that um they had been in Moab for 10 years. So she might not have been married exactly 10 years, but she had not produced an offspring there. He knew he was marrying a Moabitete woman, which in itself carried real weight in their society. Boaz took on social and religious risk in front of the whole town.

With his eyes open, he knew exactly what he was getting into. What he did not know is that there would be a son at all. That that son would be Jesse's grandfather. that the line would run to David or that it would run to Christ even which we'll see a little bit later that belongs to us in reading which we'll see in a minute but he didn't know that here and we have to remember the sacrifice that he's making as a redeemer without a guarantee of anything on the other sides Boaz never got a preview he just did the right thing in front of him and let God write the rest a redeemer makes the sacrifice ice before he knows what the benefit's going to be.

A redeemer lays down first. He makes the sacrifice first. You know, when you think about this as I was going through it from his perspective, what he was getting was a bitter mother-in-law. So much so that she changed her name to bitter. How bitter of a mother-in-law is that? She was like, "I'm so bitter. Call me bitter." You know, we have jokes today about living with your mother-in-law, but Lord, if she's going to name herself bitter, I don't know what kind of conversations he was expecting to live with this woman every day.

That's what he was taking on. Seriously, he was taking on a bitter mother-in-law. He was taking on the barren. From every visible measure, Ruth had shown no fruit for in 10 years of marriage. In 10 years of marriage, she hadn't produced an offspring. And so, what was to say that she wasn't barren already, and he was going to take on the bereaveved? Both women had buried husbands. Naomi had buried sons, too. They had lost a lot. Bitter, barren, and bererieved. Boaz, though, he didn't see them that way.

We see in the earlier verses of scripture that he had already called Ruth a virtuous woman. Before any of this business started, he looked past what the situation was and what the rest of the world saw and he saw her virtue. 1st Samuel 16 and seven says this, "But the Lord said unto Samuel, look not on his countenance or the height of his stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord seeth not as a man seeth. For man lookth on the outward appearance, but the Lord lookth at the heart.

Tonight, this redeemer concept is is giving us shadows of a future redeemer that was going to come. And you may be in this place. And I know I've been situations in my life where I've been bitter. Life has not been fair. and I carry around bitterness. A and I've been without fruit. I've been barren. I've gone through seasons where it felt like I was doing all the right things. I was making all the right actions, but there wasn't fruit inside of my life. And I was like, God, where are you at?

And I have definitely felt bererieved. The loss of life. Life sometimes just seems to take it away. One action after another that's stealing things from you. But I want you to know tonight that your redeemer, the example for which this story is sh showing, doesn't see you as bitter, as barren or as bererieved. But what he sees you as virtuous, right? A promise here. Bitter and barren and bereieved may be labels this world has put on you. But Boaz looked past that and he saw worth that was there.

Not because of land they could bring to his inheritance, not because of a future offspring. He looked past the situation of what the world saw and he saw the value that was in Ruth, the value in who she was, who she was. You know, I had to ask myself, where did that come from in Boaz? What made Boaz that way? Matthew 1:5 says this, "And Sammon begat Boaz of Rakob, and Boaz begat Abbad of Ruth, and Oed begat Jesse." The same Rahab of Jericho, a Canaanite.

What we see here is that this line of Boaz is chain is tied back directly to Rahab. Rahab the prostitute was Boaz's mother. that same Rahab of Jericho, a Canaanite prostitute who believed in Israel's God and was grafted into Israel for it while the rest of her city fell. I had to I think that had to have some kind of impact on Boaz. I don't know the history of the other soandso redeemer. The Bible doesn't tell us anything about him. It just calls him a so and so.

But what we know about Boaz is as a kid, those family with the right heritage, those families with the right lineage probably said some things to him about his mother. They probably said some things to him about his lineage. They probably said some things to him about, well, you know what your mother did, right? We know those things that happen. And in those time where your uh place in life meant something, I'm sure he went through some of those same situations. And life, life can be rough sometimes.

But what I have experienced is that when we can feel that compassion that God brings into our life, it allows us to extend those same things to other people. The reason he could feel compassion on Ruth while she was out in the field is because he remembered what his mother went through. I I know as I sing that song sometimes, amazing grace, how sweet the sound, right? And I remember back to all of the things that God has brought me from in my life.

I love all of the blessings that God has been has had in my life, but the trials and tribulations and the things that I have struggled through, that's when I can look for other people and have compassion on what they're going through. For some reason, in the middle of adversity, that brings compassion inside of us. And I I think for Boaz it must have been the same that Rahab that history that was inside of him brought out compassion for what he saw in Ruth.

Grace tends to run in families not by blood but by the memory of what it felt like to be redeemed, to be brought in. See, we extend grace because grace has been extended to us. We extend grace because there's so much that grace has covered up in my life and I can extend that forward. So this concept of the sandal there was a it says in Ruth 7:8 uh Chrissy already read it. It says now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing for to conform all things.

A man plucked off his shoe and gave it to his neighbor. And this was a testimony in Israel. Therefore, the kinsman redeemer said unto Boaz, "Buy it for thee." So he drew off his shoe. Very weird custom. My mom even asked, "What do you do then? You don't have a shoe." Walking around like a weirdo without a shoe. And that's the point in in that day. Being able to walk on the land was to be able to possess the land. And this goes back to Deuteronomy 25 with a story of tomorrow.

And you guys can dig into that on your own, but it's kind of a public shaming. And there the uh widow that the kinsmen refused to redeem, she would remove his shoe and then spit in his face. And that was a symbol for him. And his family from then on would be uh called the person whose sandal was removed. But this symbol was the opposite. It was a dignified transfer. No shame was attached. It was the same custom but a completely different heart behind it because that kinsman redeemer was taking a step back.

So let's go again um and read Ruth 4:9 and 10. And Boaz said unto the elders, and unto all the people, year witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Immilec, and all that was Chileians and Malians, and the of the hand of Naomi. Moreover, Ruth and Moabitis, the wife of Malion, I have purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place.

your witnesses this day. >> So there had to be three qualifications for the goel or the k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k kinsman redeemer. He had to be near of kin, he had to be willing, and he had to be able. So the other man, he was near of kin. The Bible tells us that. And he was able, but he wasn't willing because the cost outweighed the return. Boaz is all three.

And he says it publicly. See, the nearer kinsman asks what it would cost him. Boaz. But Boaz moved toward Ruth anyway at real cost to himself and entirely to for her benefit. See, if Boaz is a shadow of Christ, this is really the whole shadow because we see that Christ became near to us, right? He took on flesh so he could be a part of this family. And he became near of kin to us. And then he became willing and he became able to be a kinsman redeemer for us.

So that we wouldn't lose our place in the promised land that our name would not be blotted out but it be could be written in the lamb's book of life. That's why he like Boaz is this is a type and shadow of our kinsman redeemer. So then if we remember Perez, Ruth 4:11-12, if you read that, >> and all the people that were at the gate and the elders said, we are witnesses. And the Lord make the women that is come into the house like Rachel and like Leah, which too did build the house of Israel.

and do thou worthily in Epherta, and be famous in Bethlehem, and let thy house be like the house of FZ, who Tamar bear unto Judah, of the seed which the Lord shall give thee of this young woman. >> So, this is tying it back to that first concept of the kinsman redeemer that we heard about in Deuteronomy, uh, of Judah and Tamar. And if you think the whole, uh, marry your brother story is a weird one, that one is a very weird one. But it is that concept of kinsman redeemer that's the very first place that we hear about it and it's celebrated here as keeping that family history alive keeping it within making whatever sacrifice is necessary to redeem to bring back in to pull someone into the family.

You know, I I think going back to our western culture and I think about all the faces that I've seen in this uh auditorium over the years and some that I know that aren't here that should be. And I think the question that comes to me from this story as I read it is am I the soands so redeemer that if it has a benefit to me okay I'm in maybe if it increases my stature if it increases uh how people see me if it increases what's a benefit to me am I willing to step in that place of redeemer but man sometimes the redeeming process is really ugly.

Sometimes it means dealing with the bitter. Sometimes it means dealing with the people that have lost. Sometimes it means stepping into places to bring people back into the family. It costs us something. It costs us time. It costs us attention. It costs us money. And man, does this flesh really fight it to really want to step into that role of kinsman redeemer when I know it's going to cost me something. when it's convenient, when it fits into my lifestyle, okay, but when it costs me something, can I really fulfill that?

What's interesting here is that those that are redeemed in Ruth 13-17 then take the next step. If you would read Ruth 13-1 17 for me. So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife. And he went into her, and the Lord gave her conception, and she bare a son. And the woman said unto Naomi, "Blessed be the Lord, which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel, and that he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old old age.

For thy daughter-in-law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath borne him. And Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became to nurse it. And the women and the women her neighbors gave it a name, saying, "There is a son born to Naomi, and they call his name Oed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David." What's interesting here is that Ruth and Naomi, their redeemer was Boaz. But in this scripture, it points to Oed, the baby, now being a redeemer.

He's a redeemer. And then it points to a further redeemer. the redeemer that we see that's leading to this trail because we see the father of Jesse, the father of David, which we know ultimately leads to Jesus which is the great redeemer. See those who are redeemed when we have that call back to Naomi when she was in Ruth 1 and 21 she says Naomi went out full and came back empty. That emptiness has been redeemed in Oed. He became a redeemer himself. It described Boaz as the redeemer acting on behalf of Ruth and do Naomi.

Now, it describes the baby Oed, the one who exists because of Boaz's costly choice, himself being named a redeemer. The redeemed becomes the redeemer. That's not just a churn of phrase. That's the whole rest of the story because it becomes my and your story. The redeemed becoming the redeemer. 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 says this, "And all things of God are of God." This is Paul writing. Who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation to wit that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you in Christstead be ye reconciled to God. It It's showing us an example of how God paid a price for us. He became our redeemer. He paid the price we could not pay to get us back into the promise and covenant relationship with him. And because that automatically our responsibility is to become a redeemer. We have a ministry of reconciliation. That doesn't mean just the pastor has the ministry of reconciliation.

If you are here tonight and you are redeemed, you have a responsibility for the ministry of reconciliation. It doesn't become an act. It becomes who you are. And the question is, are you willing to pay the price? Because reconciliation doesn't come without a cost. It costs our redeemer and it will cost us. I don't want a culture that we can live in in the west here that becomes as long as I take care of me and my house, that's all that matters. If it benefits me, that's okay.

But when am I willing to pay the price to go the extra mile, to spend the extra hours, to get up in the middle of the night and carry a burden for somebody else? When am I willing to travail as if it was my own family or my own kids that were lost? When am I willing to feel that pain and to go and accept someone else's bitterness, to accept someone else's barrenness, to ex accept someone else's beriement and pay the price? To be a Boaz, and not just to be a soando, not just to be an unnamed soando in the Bible.

We don't get to see the payoff. I like to pick and choose. I like to see the people and I'm thinking, "Yeah, that one's going to pay out." Or, "I can invest some time there. I can spend some time there because I know that one's going to pay out." Or or that one doesn't look too messy. You guys know exactly what I'm talking about because there are people that walk through these doors and I have been that that are dealing with bitterness and barrenness and bereiement and loss and we see them and like that is too much for me to handle right now.

I've got my own stuff. I've got my own inheritance to deal with. And I step away and I become the so and so kinsman redeemer that's willing if it has a benefit, but not willing if it has a cost. Not willing if it cost me something. You know, earlier tonight as we were getting ready to come here, uh Chris, um I was talking to Anna and she was like, "Boaz, he's the stud of the Bible, right? He's the stud." I was like, "I don't know where she got stud of the Bible in here."

But she was going through the price that he was willing to pay for Ruth, the sacrifice that he was willing to do to go the extra mile. And it was interesting that she was able to pay attention to when somebody just shows that they care. Isn't it amazing in the world that we live in when somebody just shows some good customer service? Has anybody been surprised by that lately? If you go to a place and you get good customer service or somebody that actually shows that they care.

If we want to be an apostolic church that's building apostolic families, or I should say the apostolic family, because the goal then was to say, "I'm going to be a kinsman redeemer because I'm not willing to let your name be written out of Israel. I'm not willing to let that happen. So, I'm willing to step in and pay whatever price is necessary because it was paid for me." The redeemed becomes the redeemer. Ruth 4:18 then extends and tell us tells us the rest of the story.

So if you would read Ruth 4:18 through 20 22 for me. >> Now these are the generations of Ferez. Forz begat Hezron and Hezron begot Ram. And Ram begott a >> am a aminadab. And Aminadabadab begot nation. And nation begot Solomon, and Solomon begot Boaz. And Boaz begot Oed. And Oed begot Jesse. And Jesse begot David. And David begot. She did a great job, didn't she? Give her a hand. Boaz was raised by a redeemed outsider, Rahab. Boaz became a redeemer. Obed. Oed was born of that redemption.

He is called a redeemer of Naomi. The line just keeps running. It just keeps running. It keeps running until we get to the great redeemer. The near kinsman who protected his own name is never named again in scripture. Boaz who spent his is written into the genealogy of the Messiah. We see if you follow that line of David, you're going to get to Jesus. He never saw then where it led. He didn't know then where it was going to lead to. He just showed up faithful at the gate.

And heaven kept the receipts. Heaven kept the receipts. I want to challenge us tonight in this book of Ruth because you can see yourself as maybe the Naomi. You can see yourself as potentially the Ruth. And I do think that Ruth is painting a picture where the kinsman redeemer is showing us an example of Christ. But then how do we become those hands and feet to the world around us? Christ is the redeemer. He's the entire line that this is pointing to. He took on flesh.

He became near enough. He became willing. He laid down his own life on his own accord. He became able. He was sufficient without the disqualifying interest. He had no interest of his own. But scripture doesn't just let the story stop with us just being redeemed. that moment when I come here and I'm filled with the Holy Ghost. I'm not I I know we like to use it, pastor says I'm saved, right? But that's not the end of the story because my responsibility is then to be a part of that redeeming process.

The redeemer hands the ministry to the redeemed and we take on the ministry of reconciliation. We were the ones brought in from the outside. We were once the bitter, the barren, or bererieving the lost. Now we're the ones positioned at the gate for somebody else. I don't know who that is for you tonight, but I bet if if you thought about it, a name would come to mind. Who is God positioned in your life? Who is God put in your field? Who has God shown you maybe in the place that you work or the place that you go to every day that you've seen be faithful that you've seen show up?

He's spoken their name to you in prayer and now he's asking you to step in to pay the price to make the sacrifice to be a part of the redemption process to be a part of that ministry of reconciliation. Somebody in this room is the next OED. Redeemed by a cost you didn't pay. Now positioned to be a redeemer for somebody who can't pay you back either. That's not extra credit. It's just the family business. That's part of being the family of God, a family of redeemers.

Boaz didn't wait for a guarantee before he moved. He didn't wait for God to show him the end picture or that it was going to be successful. And I'm sure some days when it came, the scripture does tell us that when uh Ruth talked to him, he said, "You could could have picked one of these younger men." I don't know how old Boaz was, but there's some late nights when Oed was crying and he's like, "Why did I get myself into this?" because I'm sure Mara the bitter didn't change overnight and she was a little bitter still and he had to deal with all of that.

Marrying a Moabitete woman, he didn't see the end picture. But Boaz didn't wait for that guarantee of what it was going to look like in the end. He just stepped in when it was right and did what was right. And I truly believe because he had seen how his mother was redeemed. Look back. see what God has done in your life. It's so easy in the culture that we live in to become ungrateful because we see what others have, right? But when I just take a moment and I think about all that God has blessed me with, all that God has given in my life and that he's brought me through, the grace that he has extended to me, how can I not help but be a part of that ministry of reconciliation?

That is our charge. That is our challenge. And I think ultimately that's what the book of Ruth is leading up to to for us to accept that challenge of being the apostolic church growing I would say not apostolic families but the apostolic family where we reconcile people. We redeem people back into the family of God. He's already paid the price. He doesn't need them to be um all cleaned up and ready to go. They can come bitter. They can come barren. They can come berving loss.

God still redeems them anyway. Let's stand and pray tonight. Lord, I thank you so much for your blessings in our life. I thank you for being our redeemer. And God, I ask that you challenge us tonight. that you open our hearts to see the people that are around us in our life. The people that you have put in our path, those roots that are going through some things, those Naomies, God, God, I ask that you speak a name to each and every person here.

I challenge us to become a house of redeemers to that you give to us that me ministry of reconciliation that can change this city that can change this world. Be with us. Bless us tonight in Jesus name we