Let the Shepherd Lead

Originally Proclaimed 12/30/18

Intro:

• A recent blog (https://www.goskills.com/Soft-Skills/Articles/Top-10-new-years-resolutions) on the website GoSkills.com recently said that the ten most common resolutions that people make at this time of the year are:
  • Exercise More
  • Lose Weight
  • Get Organized
  • Learn a new skill or hobby
  • Live life to the fullest
  • Save money/spend less
  • Quit smoking (or other bad habit)
  • Spend more time with family and friends
  • Travel more
  • Read more
• This blog cited a study from the Journal of Clinical Psychology that said that of those who make resolutions only 46% or them reported success. Of those who do not make resolutions but have goals they want to achieve only 4% of them report success.
• The blog then offers its own checklist of how to make sure that you make your change happen. They say
  • Mentally prepare for the change
  • Set a goal/resolution that motivates you
  • Limits goals/resolutions to a manageable number
  • Be specific by using SMART Goals. Smart means Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-sensitive
  • Break up goals/resolutions into smaller steps
  • Write goals/resolutions down
  • Share goals with others
  • Automate wherever possible
  • Review resolutions regularly
  • If you fall off track, get back on quick.

Hook:

• The 10 steps in that checklist make a good bit of sense, and no doubt if someone were to resolve to use that checklist they would likely be more successful.
• But, does the difference between setting resolutions and goals and achieving success as a Christian depend only upon following those ten steps?
• If we set a goal to lose weight, and throughout the year that becomes such a focus that we harm your relationship with family, friends, and the Lord is that success?
• Similarly let’s say that we set a goal to save more and spend less, and decide to cease giving regularly to the Lord and His work? Do we really think that pleases Him, even if we get out of debt?
• As Christians, even when we set resolutions, we must realize that all of us have already made a life-altering resolution, the moment that we received Christ into our lives as Savior and Lord.
  • Repenting of our sin and turning to Christ means that by His grace and mercy we have a new life that is ours.
  • New life in Christ means that we will forever will seek to avoid what harms our relationship with Him and seek to please Him.
  • This does not mean that we will be perfect or that we will are working our way to heaven. This means that we have a personal relationship with Christ that is as real to us as our relationship with our families and friends.
• Today my hope is to show you from Ruth’s gospel that pleasing Christ in 2019 is the first resolution we all should make.

Message Points:

• Let’s jump back into our story.
  • Remember that Naomi and Ruth had lost their husbands, felt as if they had nowhere to turn, but there was just enough hope for them to set out for Bethlehem.
  • Naomi, though her bitterness was overwhelming, and she had often lost sight of God’s mercy and grace, did eventually permit Ruth to accompany her to Bethlehem.
  • Ruth chose to risk it all and go glean in the fields of Bethlehem to provide for them. It was at that point that she met Boaz, a kinsman redeemer of her family, who intruded into her life to show her great kindness.
• Now we have come to the end of the harvest season for both barley and wheat. Once these harvest happened the grains had to be winnowed and prepared for storage.
• If Naomi had hoped that Boaz would initiate a relationship with Ruth, time was fast running out, since there would be no more opportunities for gleaning in Boaz’s fields.
  • Boaz, may not have proceeded because as a righteous man, he respected Ruth’s right to mourn for her husband.
  • Had she been wearing her mourning garments, that may have motivated Boaz’s kindness, but kept him from any further activity.
• Recognizing this, Naomi speaks to Ruth, setting out a resolution that she would “find a home for [her], where [she] would be well provided for.”
  • In typical yenta fashion, Naomi sets out a plan in verses 3:1-6 to make a match between Boaz and Ruth, and she has set a SMART goal.
    • Her goal is specific. Showing as much tenderness as she has ever shown, Naomi addressed Ruth as her daughter and declares she wants to provide Ruth a future home. This word for home is connected to Ruth 1:9 which says, “the Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband.” While Naomi was trying to get the daughters-in-law to stay in Moab, it is the word for rest that has the same root as the word for home used here.
    • Her goal is measurable. If Ruth gets married to Boaz, she has succeeded.
    • Her goal is achievable considering several factors.
      • First Boaz was a relative, and thus a kinsman redeemer of their family who had a biblical responsibility towards them.
        • The kinsman redeemer had the biblical responsibility according to Leviticus 25:25-55 to redeem the land of a poor of deceased kinsman.
        • If that kinsman had a widow with no children, the redeemer apparently also had the biblical responsibility according to Deut. 25:5-10 to marry the widow and provide an heir..
      • Further Boaz would be present again that night in the area.
        • He had to winnow the barley during this dry time in May-June, after both harvests.
        • This normally occurred out night because the night breezes allowed the barley to more easily be separated from the chaff.
    • Her goal was relevant, considering the age and the status of Ruth.
      • Ruth was the widow of an Israelite, and thus the laws applied to her.
      • Further as indicated by Naomi’s list of preparations in verse three, Ruth could very easily present herself to Boaz as a woman to be desired.
        • She first was to take a bath. Since bathing was not an everyday part of life, to bathe ordinarily signaled a special event, like marriage, or some sort of purification.
        • Second she anointed herself with perfume, the mere cost of perfume alone made its use rare. Thus this occasion was one that Naomi expected to succeed.
        • Third she was to put on her best clothes.
        • Then she was to wait until he was through eating and drinking. And when he was lying down, she was to go uncover his feet and lie down with him. When he spoke she was to do whatever he said.
        • All of these steps Ezekiel describes in Ezekiel 16:8-12 when God covenanted with Israel.
          • Ezekiel seeks connect God’s activity with Israel to the activity of a husband who courts and marries a wife.
          • There it says, “when I passed by you again and saw you, behold you were at the age for love, and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness. I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God and you became mine. Then I bathed you with water and washed off you blood from you and anointed you with oil. I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk.”
      • In essence, by preparing herself in the fashion of one getting married, Ruth ended her period of mourning and was now available.
  • But do not mistake Naomi’s plan’s questionable aspects.
    • While we may have sympathy for her, and believe she desires and prays for God’s best for Ruth Naomi’s plan has a striking resemblance to another in Genesis 19:30-38.
      • There Lot’s daughters conspire to get him drunk and have incestuous relations with him.
      • From those encounters Lot’s eldest daughter has a son, Named Moab.
    • Further Naomi’s command to uncover Boaz’s feet and do as he says, sounds like some sort of seductive and risqué behavior.
      • In this context, all of the language in verse four can just as easily point to the activities of a couple engaging in sexual activity as they do an innocent encounter.
      • There are clear indications from other ancient texts that at harvest time, when men would be away from their homes that prostitutes would frequent the threshing floors.
      • It seems likely that Naomi’s intentions were pure, since she did not tell Ruth to further entice Boaz but rather asked her to lie and wait for his instructions. In any case the position she put Ruth in was delicate and potentially disastrous.
• So with that tension in mind, let’s recognize our 1st Point, It is never SMART to have a goal that does not please God.
  • Naomi’s goal had clear aspects that would please God.
    • She would provide for her daughter-in-law, which is God reveals is his will for the older generation to provide for the younger.
    • God’s laws relating to the kinsman redeemer and levirate marriage would be upheld.
    • And her method for preparing Ruth resembled the customs of a bride preparing for marriage God’s way.
  • But to connect Ruth to the sins of her Moabite heritage and put her in the horrible position of a prostitute would never have pleased God.
  • Again, it is never SMART to have a goal that does not please God.
    • For instance, let’s examine Ruth in this story. Verses 5-6 tell her part of the story.
    • Ruth tells her mother-in-law that she will obey her, which is good, considering that the Bible says to honor your father and mother.
    • Ruth did not know all of God’s law, but surely before she did all that her mother-in-law said, you would think that she would have paused and asked God for guidance.
      • Paul when talking to the Romans about their convictions concerning eating food sacrificed to idols said, “but whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat because their eating is not from faith, and everything that does not come from faith is sin.”
      • Biblical counselors point to this verse and share with counselees that if they have doubts about a particular decision or course of action they should pause, pray, and study God’s Word asking for His guidance.
      • Once a person has found out what God says about their problems, the pause principle is lifted since James 4:17 which says “if anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.
    • While God is certainly merciful, when we hear a SMART goal and have doubts, we should certainly pause to seek God’s will.
      • After all it was Jesus in Matthew 6:33 who said, “but seek first His kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
      • Seeking Christ’s will is never the wrong thing to do, and following God’s Word will always please Him and bless us.
• But before you think I am advising you not to make any resolutions or goals, hear me clearly, I am asking you to seek first to please God.
  • Notice if you will that as our story progresses in verses 7-13 that Boaz adjust Naomi’s SMART goal so that it more closely pleases God.
  • Verse eight tells us that in the middle of the night Boaz awakens startled to find a woman at his feet.
    • Rather than taking advantage of this situation, Boaz asks who has joined him.
    • Verse nine tells us that Ruth announces her presence as Boaz’s servant. She further asks for him to “spread the corner of your garment over me since you are a kinsman redeemer.”
      • The phrase literally translates as “spread your wing over me”
      • Boaz’s own words in prayer to God in verse 2:12, asking that God bless Ruth who has taken refuge under His wings are now mirrored back to Him.
      • Throughout the Old Testament this language is used for covenants, especially the covenant of marriage (Deut 22:30, 27:20; Mal. 2:16; Ez. 16:8).
    • As a righteous man, no matter what sexual overtones were present, Boaz saw her request as a marriage proposal.
    • What should strike us more, Boaz does not reject this request.
      • It would have been reasonable for Boaz to distance himself from this Moabite who had the audacity as a servant to demand marriage of him, a master and a Israelite.
      • But instead Boaz, as a righteous man, sees God’s will at work.
        • Notice he blesses Ruth again in verse 10, commending her for pursuing God’s law rather than chasing after suitors.
        • He then comforts her and commends her character – with the clear implication that he desires to uphold her character.
        • But extremely important he modifies their SMART goal so that enables them to better please God.
          • He knows there is a closer kinsman redeemer who should give up his right before Boaz can claim it.
          • And Boaz makes it plain that he will please God by offering to let the closer kinsman the chance and by marrying Ruth if the kinsman rejects the offer.
• This leads us to our 2nd point, The SMARTest Goals can always be modified to better please God.
  • Think about this friends, the resolutions and goals we set as believers are not all bad.
    • Boaz was a single person, and as a single person it was not a bad thing for him to resolve to find a companion and get married.
    • Boaz did set his goal as consummating a relationship Ruth, which was a good thing.
    • Similarly Boaz was an older person and he wanted a future. As a church it is a good goal to resolve to better reach the community around us, and ensure that we have a future.
  • That said, if we allow these good goals to demand more of us than Christ we have allowed these goals to be idols.
    • IN this sense, an idol is any goal that demands things from us that we will sin to get or sin if we do not get.
    • Thus for a goal to truly be SMART, it must be a goal that we monitor, watching to see if it demands things from us that Christ does not.
    • When a goal or resolution begins to make such demands, we must quickly and effectively repent, and adjust the goal to better please God according to His Word.
      • We should adjust our goals like Boaz did, leaving the outcome in God’s hands not ours.
      • We should adjust our goals like Boaz did, making sure we have things in the right order.
      • We should adjust our goals to trust God’s timing not our own.
    • Just think friends about our situation as a church. It is SMART for us to have the goal of reaching our community. But we must modify and adjust our goal to better please God
      • We should share Christ’s love not by enticing people towards emotional decisions, by inviting people to hear and believe the gospel. God’s will make his love shine forth in the gospel we live and share.
      • We should seek to involve people in church, but we do people no favors when we allow people to serve in the church before they commit to Christ. No matter how much one serves in the church, good works do not earn salvation. Only by following God’s process of salvation will we be saved.
      • We should have an urgent desire to see people delivered from the pathway to hell into the kingdom of God, but we cannot run roughshod over people. We must respect them enough to allow them time to consider and either accept or reject that Savior we serve and love in His time.
• Finally, these two points lead to a 3rd Point: No matter what our goals, pleasing God means living humbly for His glory.
  • Notice in verse 14-15 Boaz seeks to protect Ruth. As a master, a suitor, and a godly man, Boaz does not shirk his responsibility to protect Ruth.
    • He does not send her home immediately for fear that some animal or marauder might attack on the road.
    • Even so, he seeks to protect her character by sending her home early, so that none would know she had been there.
    • He also sends her home with barley.
      • The measure is probably an omer which would have only been between eighteen and thirty pounds.
      • This smaller amount would have made it seem that she had gone out early to make sure they had bread for the day.
    • Finally, verse 15 says as she leaves Boaz sets off to work himself, heading into town to make good on his promises.
  • Further as Naomi hears from Ruth how things went in verses 16-18, she recognizes that God is now at work through Boaz to accomplish His will, in His order, at His time. This means that they must wait and trust God to work through Boaz.
  • Friends, when we seek to please God first we must always remember what Matthew 6:34 says, “sufficient for the day are its troubles.” We glorify God by humbly doing what will please him every day, not by worrying about how we will serve Him tomorrow.

Conclusion:

• So, if you are making resolutions this year, I pray that the first one you will make, and the primary one over all others will be to please God.
• Offer Plan of Salvation.