Reference Passage:
Ruth chapter 2 - Read it here
Do pray for grace and understanding before you proceed.
Our curtains rise this week, to reveal a certain barley field. If you look carefully enough, you will notice a young lady working hard, among a group of harvesters – as you would remember, it was the time of the barley harvest. She doesn't seem to be the kind who takes her work lightly and she has not taken the frequent coffee break, or the tea break, or the many other 'breaks' we use as an excuse for laziness. She's new to the field and stands out from the routine crowd – she is Ruth, the Moabitess who's in search of a fresh beginning in life.
Last week, we began a short search into the identity and nature of God's field, that is His Church. In his writings on the Christian family, Paul explains thus in his letter to the Ephesians - “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” (Ephesians 5:25-27) Several truths come to light in these words. God's Church is not a building or a place – rather, everybody who accepts the love of God in a covenant relationship and the subsequent process of change in their insides, are the members of the true Church. Most importantly, we deduce the aim of the Church - “to present her to Himself” - and here lies the core of the message. God's Church is NOT about man deciding for himself, the meaning and purpose for life itself. It's about seeing the blueprint that God has revealed through Jesus and accommodating oneself there. Ultimately, this turns the whole focus around – we've always heard of 'God for man' but here in the Church, we truly implement the reality of 'man for God'. Again, this 'man' is not one who decides the time and the place for God's Will, but rather gives himself completely to fulfill God's definitions for everything in life which is why the New Testament talks about the importance of 'the now' (2 Corinthians 6:2).
When such people gather together, they gain for themselves a very different identity – the privilege of becoming God's family. We refer once again the letter to the Ephesians and see Paul's beautiful description in chapter 2 verse 19 - “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household.”
Now that I have painted a clearer portrait of what the field symbolises, I think you must be already figuring out Ruth's parallel identity. Ruth represents each of us, who, in the light of the Truth, now find ourselves foreigners and aliens to God's system. It may have become clear as we waded through the former thoughts that we're so far away from the ideal. Once more, I must remind you how important it is to react the right way to uncomfortable questions – do not attempt to hide from them.
Hence, we stand as a stranger in God's field, eagerly trying to somehow pick up some grains of truth. Picture Ruth approaching the supervisor and asking humbly for permission to glean and gather in the field. Having obtained his agreement, she sets to work knowing full well that her opportunity is precious; in fact, she impresses him with her ceaseless effort except for a small break. Can you and I now put ourselves in Ruth's place and figure out how we would behave? We come to a Church meeting as if we're there to do our weekly shopping – get all that you want for the week ahead and put in a few cents into the offering box. After all, for the rest of the week, we want nothing to do with the Lord; don't we say all along that we just don't have the time? Even when we are there, we act as if the Church is our property – we always want to sing the songs that we like, hear the preaching that we like, pray the prayers that we know, shake hands with the people that we're comfortable with – it appears as if the Church exists to fulfill the Christian's agenda.
To keep a long story short, Ruth's presence and demeanor in the 'strange' field caught the attention of the owner. What more to say, at the end of the day, Ruth was invited to stay on and having grasped the immenseness of the offer, she wholeheartedly agreed. I see at least 3 factors that sets this field apart from any other and these have served to influence Ruth's decision.
Primarily, the owner of the field, Boaz, was a good man. Seeing the plight of the broken family, he extends a hand of mercy to the young Moabitess. Hereby, I must introduce the owner of the field that we have been analogously pondering over. Our earlier references to 1 Corinthians and Ephesians reveal that God Himself is the owner of this field; besides, the Lord Jesus has paid a price to acquire it. His goodness is captured well in several portions of Scripture. Lets look at just one of them in Romans 5:8 - “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Can you imagine that? It was the Lord who said thus in John 15:13 - “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” Indeed, to consider us His friends when we were not so – with a long history of disobedience and rebellion that's behind us, we come to a realisation that there's nothing in ourselves that could have secured His friendship. This is why Charles Gabriel penned the words:
Ruth chapter 2 - Read it here
Do pray for grace and understanding before you proceed.
Our curtains rise this week, to reveal a certain barley field. If you look carefully enough, you will notice a young lady working hard, among a group of harvesters – as you would remember, it was the time of the barley harvest. She doesn't seem to be the kind who takes her work lightly and she has not taken the frequent coffee break, or the tea break, or the many other 'breaks' we use as an excuse for laziness. She's new to the field and stands out from the routine crowd – she is Ruth, the Moabitess who's in search of a fresh beginning in life.
Last week, we began a short search into the identity and nature of God's field, that is His Church. In his writings on the Christian family, Paul explains thus in his letter to the Ephesians - “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” (Ephesians 5:25-27) Several truths come to light in these words. God's Church is not a building or a place – rather, everybody who accepts the love of God in a covenant relationship and the subsequent process of change in their insides, are the members of the true Church. Most importantly, we deduce the aim of the Church - “to present her to Himself” - and here lies the core of the message. God's Church is NOT about man deciding for himself, the meaning and purpose for life itself. It's about seeing the blueprint that God has revealed through Jesus and accommodating oneself there. Ultimately, this turns the whole focus around – we've always heard of 'God for man' but here in the Church, we truly implement the reality of 'man for God'. Again, this 'man' is not one who decides the time and the place for God's Will, but rather gives himself completely to fulfill God's definitions for everything in life which is why the New Testament talks about the importance of 'the now' (2 Corinthians 6:2).
When such people gather together, they gain for themselves a very different identity – the privilege of becoming God's family. We refer once again the letter to the Ephesians and see Paul's beautiful description in chapter 2 verse 19 - “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household.”
Now that I have painted a clearer portrait of what the field symbolises, I think you must be already figuring out Ruth's parallel identity. Ruth represents each of us, who, in the light of the Truth, now find ourselves foreigners and aliens to God's system. It may have become clear as we waded through the former thoughts that we're so far away from the ideal. Once more, I must remind you how important it is to react the right way to uncomfortable questions – do not attempt to hide from them.
Hence, we stand as a stranger in God's field, eagerly trying to somehow pick up some grains of truth. Picture Ruth approaching the supervisor and asking humbly for permission to glean and gather in the field. Having obtained his agreement, she sets to work knowing full well that her opportunity is precious; in fact, she impresses him with her ceaseless effort except for a small break. Can you and I now put ourselves in Ruth's place and figure out how we would behave? We come to a Church meeting as if we're there to do our weekly shopping – get all that you want for the week ahead and put in a few cents into the offering box. After all, for the rest of the week, we want nothing to do with the Lord; don't we say all along that we just don't have the time? Even when we are there, we act as if the Church is our property – we always want to sing the songs that we like, hear the preaching that we like, pray the prayers that we know, shake hands with the people that we're comfortable with – it appears as if the Church exists to fulfill the Christian's agenda.
To keep a long story short, Ruth's presence and demeanor in the 'strange' field caught the attention of the owner. What more to say, at the end of the day, Ruth was invited to stay on and having grasped the immenseness of the offer, she wholeheartedly agreed. I see at least 3 factors that sets this field apart from any other and these have served to influence Ruth's decision.
Primarily, the owner of the field, Boaz, was a good man. Seeing the plight of the broken family, he extends a hand of mercy to the young Moabitess. Hereby, I must introduce the owner of the field that we have been analogously pondering over. Our earlier references to 1 Corinthians and Ephesians reveal that God Himself is the owner of this field; besides, the Lord Jesus has paid a price to acquire it. His goodness is captured well in several portions of Scripture. Lets look at just one of them in Romans 5:8 - “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Can you imagine that? It was the Lord who said thus in John 15:13 - “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” Indeed, to consider us His friends when we were not so – with a long history of disobedience and rebellion that's behind us, we come to a realisation that there's nothing in ourselves that could have secured His friendship. This is why Charles Gabriel penned the words:
I stand amazed in the presence
Of Jesus the Nazarene,
And wonder how He could love me,
A sinner, condemned, unclean.
O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
And my song shall ever be:
O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
Is my Savior’s love for me!
For me it was in the garden
He prayed: “Not My will, but Thine.”
He had no tears for His own griefs,
But sweat drops of blood for mine.
Of Jesus the Nazarene,
And wonder how He could love me,
A sinner, condemned, unclean.
O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
And my song shall ever be:
O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
Is my Savior’s love for me!
For me it was in the garden
He prayed: “Not My will, but Thine.”
He had no tears for His own griefs,
But sweat drops of blood for mine.
Naomi puts it beautifully when she remarks in verse 19, “Blessed be the one who took notice of you.” May these very words season our worship of the Saviour.
Boaz was a man of great wealth and our Good Boaz is no different. I'm sure that those of us who walk with the Lord, have often availed of the plenteous reserves of Grace that help us meet our intrinsic insufficiency to meet God's righteous demands. For instance, there was a time when I struggled to obey my parents. Whatever they said seemed to make no sense and violated my own understanding of things. On top of this, their frustrations at my behaviour often culminated in verbal outbursts which was 2-way, of course. I found it hard to bear the fact that they didn't seem to understand me. This conflict went on and on until at last, the Lord through His Word opened my eyes to see the importance of honouring my parents. Trusting in Him, I began to totally humble myself and obey everything that they said. This humbling was so unnatural to me and only His help took me through. I'd do this even when it appeared contrary to my perspective. Praise God! The results were amazing and today, apart from the relationship I have with my Lord, one of my greatest treasures in life is the relationship with my parents. This by no means imply that their judgement is infallible; rather, I'm able to handle conflict of interest with great calm and always in the light of God's Word. Hear what the Lord had to tell Apostle Paul in the face of weakness: “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Corinthians 12:9)
Thirdly, Boaz was a kinsman of Elimelech and a close one, at that. This became a deciding factor in the light of a more important issue that surfaced after a while: the redemption of Elimelech's property. I'll discuss this in greater detail later.
For the moment, we must give our attention to the words of advice Boaz has for Ruth: “My daughter, listen to me. Don't go and glean in another field and don't go away from here. Stay here with my servant girls. Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the girls. I have told the men not to touch you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.” (verses 8 to 9)
How do these words bear upon our spiritual lives? Is there anything that we may glean from these lines? Think upon them and may the Good Lord send His wisdom to enlighten you and dispel the darkness of your minds and souls.
Boaz was a man of great wealth and our Good Boaz is no different. I'm sure that those of us who walk with the Lord, have often availed of the plenteous reserves of Grace that help us meet our intrinsic insufficiency to meet God's righteous demands. For instance, there was a time when I struggled to obey my parents. Whatever they said seemed to make no sense and violated my own understanding of things. On top of this, their frustrations at my behaviour often culminated in verbal outbursts which was 2-way, of course. I found it hard to bear the fact that they didn't seem to understand me. This conflict went on and on until at last, the Lord through His Word opened my eyes to see the importance of honouring my parents. Trusting in Him, I began to totally humble myself and obey everything that they said. This humbling was so unnatural to me and only His help took me through. I'd do this even when it appeared contrary to my perspective. Praise God! The results were amazing and today, apart from the relationship I have with my Lord, one of my greatest treasures in life is the relationship with my parents. This by no means imply that their judgement is infallible; rather, I'm able to handle conflict of interest with great calm and always in the light of God's Word. Hear what the Lord had to tell Apostle Paul in the face of weakness: “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Corinthians 12:9)
Thirdly, Boaz was a kinsman of Elimelech and a close one, at that. This became a deciding factor in the light of a more important issue that surfaced after a while: the redemption of Elimelech's property. I'll discuss this in greater detail later.
For the moment, we must give our attention to the words of advice Boaz has for Ruth: “My daughter, listen to me. Don't go and glean in another field and don't go away from here. Stay here with my servant girls. Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the girls. I have told the men not to touch you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.” (verses 8 to 9)
How do these words bear upon our spiritual lives? Is there anything that we may glean from these lines? Think upon them and may the Good Lord send His wisdom to enlighten you and dispel the darkness of your minds and souls.
To be continued...
