The Thread - Ruth - Committed Servant

Ruth stands as an example of someone who wasn’t afraid to serve those who were in positions of authority in her life. She knew what it meant to commit to a cause and follow through on that commitment.
Outline: Commitment has no limits: Nothing gets in the way of commitment in a relationship. Ruth’s determination to stay with Naomi has no limits. Commitment takes investment: Naomi is overcome with grief, and yet Ruth stays at her side. Ruth supports Naomi as she is overcome with grief. She provides the income for both of them. Commitment involves risk: Ruth asks Boaz to risk his life and reputation to support Naomi and Ruth. She trusts him to care for them. Commitment brings joy: Both Ruth and Boaz are faithful to their commitments. Ruth gives birth to a son and Naomi adopts him as her own. This son named Obed carries on the family line and becomes the grandfather of King David. Reflection: What are the levels of your commitments? Commitment to the LORD? To family? To the church? To your spiritual, emotional and physical health?

http://hospchap.sermon.net/main/main/20719041

25Apr 2011 Ruth 4:16

¹⁶Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him.

These words might not seem that important, but they are. By this simple act the newborn baby was adopted and considered a natural born son. And this son’s son’s son was King David. The bloodline for this great king included the blood of an enemy of Israel, the Moabites. Sometimes we don’t come from the best family. We don’t have the greatest heritage. Maybe our family has lots of embarrassing events connected with them. Perhaps prison and murder. Or maybe the silent sins of rape and incest. The Lord is able to use anyone who is yielded like Ruth was yielded. He can take our messes and create something new and beautiful. So how does He do that? He does it when we are willing to let Him change us as we yield to His will. As we read the Word and allow it to sink in deeply and change the way we think about the Lord, ourselves and the world around us. When our thoughts get patterned after His thoughts, then we begin to think as He thinks. As we gather for fellowship and collective worship He uses others to refine us in the process. Are you willing to let Him work in you? Or do you really like the mess you have become?

24Apr 2011 Ruth 3:11

¹¹And now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All my fellow townsmen know that you are a woman of noble character.

What is your reputation? If we gathered together a group of the people who know you, what would they say about you? If we could listen in on your “private” life, what would we hear that would be different? Ruth has a reputation that speaks to her high moral character. She has acted in the most noble way in regards to Boaz, her future husband. No one would know if the two of them had “slept together” that evening. But both of them chose the highest moral path. Boaz chooses to do what is best not only for himself, but for Ruth and her mother-in-law. His eventual marriage costs him a tremendous amount of his own net worth. Under their laws, Ruth’s descendents will share equally with his own children, those of his previous marriage. What are you willing to pay to keep a good reputation? Are you willing to forestall personal pleasure and chose the high moral ground which often has a much higher short term cost?

23Apr 2011 Ruth 1:16-17

¹⁶ But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. ¹⁷ Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.”

These words echo through the ages as some of the most beautiful words of devotion ever spoken. I think they should become part of every wedding ceremony. Look at the things that might separate family. Some families break up because they move away from other family. Some because of different economic considerations. Some because of in-law problems or differences in religious practices. Ruth will have none of that. She is committed to Naomi and to the Lord. She has seen something in Naomi, even in the deep depression that has followed the death of her husband and her two sons. Something was seen that showed the Lord’s faithfulness. Ruth is committing the rest of her life to the Lord. This is an oath taken with full knowledge of the Lord. She means it. Are there commitments that you have made in your life that you are backing out on? Maybe you should reconsider that choice. Ruth was making the choice to be a widow, without income or support, forced to be a beggar for the rest of her life. She was willing to give everything up in order to have the Lord. Are you selling yourself too cheap?