Let the Shepherd Lead

Originally Proclaimed 11/11/18

Intro:

• This week I ran across the story of a veteran named Charles (Charlie) Heinl.
  • At 17 he left his hometown in Ohio to fight in WWII’s Pacific theatre on January 4, 1944.
  • Joining the navy he was assigned to the USS Gambier Bay a small escort carrier.
  • Ten months after his enlistment the Gambier Bay was attacked by the Japanese battleship Yamato and sunk.
• Into the waters of the Pacific Heinl and 800 of his fellow sailors were cast.
  • 120 of his fellow servicemen were not so lucky.
  • Clinging to whatever they could, the sailors began to experience six to eight foot swells.
  • Not too long after sharks began to circle and slowly attack one by one.
  • Six hours after the ship went down orders were issued to conduct search and rescue.
  • On 10/27/44 the sailors were pulled out of the water.
• But the part of this story that caught my eye was the final portion.
  • Heinl and the other sailors all went separate ways after being rescued.
  • On different assignments and then at home with their families few could understand the emotions and experiences of these sailors – other than their shipmates.
  • Heinl wanted to reconnect with his shipmates more and more as time progressed.
  • He spent two years trying to contact survivors. His family said, “He would find phone books and get phone books of various cities across the country from friends and search through them for names of survivors.”
  • On 10/25/69 the men of the Gambier Bay had their first of many reunion.
  • Seeing their fellow shipmates, according to Heinl’s wife, “I have never seen so many men cry at one time. Charlie had never talked of the sinking of the ship much until then. I think it helped them all to openly talk about what they all went through.”

Hook:

• I am sure those of you who served our nation can understand with the story of Charlie Heinl.
  • A new kinship forms due to common experiences among those who have served, especially after the most severe of combat situations.
  • While you might be able to tell others about your experiences, you can only discuss, ask questions, and commiserate with those who were.
  • Unless you are as diligent as Charlie was to track down those you served with, life interrupts and as the years go by, you lose track of those who might understand you best.
  • And without those fellow veterans you might look for hope in all the wrong places.
• But all of us who believe in Jesus Christ ought to identify with Charlie’s story.
  • We have a new kinship based upon our common experience of Jesus Christ.
  • Only here among God’s people can we really talk about trials and triumphs in our Christian walk and have people who understand.
  • And we must be diligent to keep our family of faith together lest we lose track of those in our family of faith when life interrupts
  • Without fellow believers it becomes very easy to look for hope in the wrong places.
  • And as a lone ranger Christian we can look for hope in wrong places.
• You see our faith is one that is built on the transforming power of God that brings people together in order that they might have an eternal common experience of Him.
• What I hope to do today is to show you two places where we should not look for hope and two places that offer immense hop.

Message Points:

• These last verse of chapter one offer us a contrast between Naomi’s bitter response to the way life has interrupted her plan and Ruth’s very different response.
• In verse fifteen Naomi offers another encouragement for Ruth to return to Moab.
  • But this encouragement is different.
  • Notice that Naomi again tries to encourage Ruth to head back to her people, by pointing out that Orpha had done that. We have already discussed the type of shame that would be associated with returning home.
  • But also notice that Naomi tags onto the end that Orpah has returned to her gods.
    • Even in the OT this is a stunning statement.
    • It is in essence saying that we can go back and forth serving whatever god that is convenient for us to serve. Friends this is pragmatism, or doing whatever works.
• That is our 1st point today – Pragmatism is hopeless. Now we will finish that statement in just a moment, but let’s consider pragmatism.
  • Certainly Naomi is embittered and her judgement is clouded.
    • Under ordinary circumstances, I am sure she would not have leaned into such pragmatic thinking.
    • But now, I am sure she was just trying to go on, day by day.
    • Whatever felt right and helpful in that day, Naomi would do that.
  • But consider friends the ultimate end of such thinking. A person only do those things that serve self. Pragmatism is ultimately selfish.
    • That is what leads to many conflicts in families, like this one with Naomi and Ruth. Naomi wants the solitude she thinks is best and does not care about Ruth’s need for a family of faith.
    • This happens in churches when it comes to hymns, screens, service times, and any number of other potential changes. We want the church works for us, never caring about how such changes might help others come to know Christ.
    • Right after this political season in the life of our country, candidates of all stripes said that they wanted to make decisions that benefit that majority of people, but ultimately those statements appeal to our selfish nature because we want to benefit too. In WWII who would have voted for the rationing candidate? Or in the Vietnam era who wanted to vote for the candidate that advocated the draft?
  • Pragmatism as a selfish system is ultimately hopeless, because we cannot save ourselves.
• Now take a moment and look over Ruth’s reply (1:16-17).
  • Ruth asks Naomi to stop asking her to leave (1:16).
  • Ruth makes it plain that she has made a life-changing decision. She has chosen to serve Naomi and more importantly the Lord God. (1:16)
  • Ruth also makes it plain that this is a life-long decision. (1:17)
• Ruth’s response is one of hope because it is one of conviction.
  • A person who has convictions serves a higher purpose than self.
  • That offers great hope even though it asks for great sacrifices.
• That is the other half of our 1st Point: Pragmatism is hopeless, but conviction produces hope.
  • Veterans who are here today served our nation because you had a conviction. You may have served our country because you convictions about duty and doing something that really mattered. Those convictions produce hope because they give life direction, not only in you but in those who look to you on days like today.
  • That sort of conviction is what we point to when in Christianity when we talk about conversion. Genuine conversion to the worship of the Living God produces hope because we no longer pragmatically wander between opinions. We have a direction!
    • Think back to Joshua, that pillar of faith and veteran in the conquest of the Promised Land.
    • Listen to his words to God’s people in Joshua 24:14-15, “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
    • Genuine conversion involves two distinct but connected activities that you can see in Joshua’s words.
      • First it involves a turning away or repentance from all that might lead us towards sin.
        • Sin is anything we think, say, or do that displeases God.
        • In Joshua it is the idol worship, and the peoples own selfishness that might lead them to sin.
        • Notice Joshua says to throw away the idols, and make a decision.
      • Second it is a turning towards or belief that only the Lord is worth following and serving.
        • This belief is based upon God’s promises in his Word as well has his past activity to save his people.
        • For Joshua, he continues to point out the deficiencies of the gods beyond the Euphrates, in Egypt, or even in the Amorite lands they now possessed.
        • God’s saved Joshua and those like him out of all those lands.
    • And friends, genuine conversion is a lifestyle that results from a one-time decision, not a one and done decision.
      • Notice again the last part of Joshua’s words. He said that his house would serve the Lord.
      • This is a continuing action – meaning that there is a constant turning away from sin and a constant turning towards the Lord.
    • Have you experience that sort of life long change?
      • Today, even now you can begin to turn away from every temptation and turn to the Lord who is worth following.
      • It begins with a simple prayer that reflects your inward convictions (share Sinner’s Prayer).
  • And friends when you have convictions, even when life interrupts you have hope.
    • Look again at Ruth.
      • Because Ruth did not give up on Naomi and lovingly explained her convictions Naomi in verse 1:18 stop urging her to turn back.
      • How many of you would like to see a family member stop pulling away from you?
      • Don’t give up and find ways to lovingly explain your convictions
    • Back to my comments about music, screens, service times, and all sorts of changes in church – convictions give us hope because we have direction.
      • Because we serve a Living God, there is no music, screen, service time, or change that can hamper his desire to bring people to a saving knowledge of Him.
      • But because we have a God worth serving, there is no change that we should dismiss before asking if the change might help more people serve and worship our God.
    • Convictions give us enough hope in the Lord to do the hard, thankless things to help others, rather than chasing what may make us feel good or be popular with others.
• That leads us to consider Ruth and Naomi’s return to Bethlehem.
  • Look over the events of verses 1:19-22.
    • The women return and the “whole town” is stirred because of them. The arrival of these women is a public event.
    • IN many ways they are the most popular people in the town as we read that the women ask “Can this be Naomi?”
    • That said, Naomi makes it clear that she wants nothing to do with the gossip of the town.
      • She criticizes the question by renaming herself Mara which literally means bitter.
      • She then criticizes the Lord.
        • First Naomi says she has come back empty, when she has clearly brought back a daughter in law.
        • Then she criticizes the Lord for allowing affliction and misfortune to her.
• Thus we have the first part of our 2nd point, criticism is also hopeless.
  • Criticism stems from an attitude that we deserve better.
    • Look again at Naomi.
      • She is from Bethlehem – she deserves better than to have wander in a foreign land and come back home with nothing.
      • She is an Israelite – she deserves Jewish grandchildren, not a Moabitess as a companion.
      • She worships the Living God – she deserves His blessing.
    • Naomi believed she deserved better than what she had received from the Lord.
  • But now consider Ruth.
    • She is from Moab, a more arid and less favorable part of the world, but now she has come to the Promised Land at the beginning of the barley harvest.
    • She has left – her family either in graves or back in Moab, but now she is a part of God’s forever family.
    • She has left the carved gods of her youth, now following the one true Living God.
    • Ruth does not complain that they have come to a town where they are a curiosity, or that her mother in law is so difficult, or that she even seems to be forgotten or ignored.
• That is the second part of our 2nd point. Criticism is hopeless, but gratitude builds hope.
  • There is a response I sometimes hear from people who have been asked how they are doing. The person will say with a smile that they are “better than I deserve”.
  • Here is the truth friends,
    • God did not have to create us, but he did.
    • God did not have to sustains us after the first sin, but he did.
    • God did not have to provide a Savior for us, but he did.
    • God does not have to provide anything to convince us to follow him through his written and proclaimed Word, but he does.
    • God does not have to comfort us, but he does through his Holy Spirit.
    • God does not have to deliver us into Heaven and His forever family, but he does because of the work of Jesus Christ.
  • No matter what bitter events interrupt our lives, we should all look at the situation like Ruth did – one who was outside God’s family who was brought inside. We have received from God better than we ever deserved!
  • And friends that builds hope, because it reminds us every day that we have a God who is for us, not against us. If he provided for us once, we can be sure he can do it again!

Conclusion:

• So friends can I challenge you today to be a people who build hope by having convictions and a grateful heart?