Sermon:
“Restoration: When does it begin?”
By
Picky Airi
Bible
Reading:
·
OT Ruth 1:1-22
·
NT Titus 3:4-7
What
is restoration?
(Merriam-Webster dictionary): an act
of restoring or the condition of being restored: such as: a bringing back to a former position or
condition.
Restoration is
required only when something has left its former position/condition and has
gone into a state where it was not supposed to be (and this could be due to
several factors).
Let us look at the story of Ruth in Ruth
1:1-22
Setting
of story
(Ruth 1:1) It is
interesting to note that the story about Ruth happened at a time when the
Judges ruled. There was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his
own eyes. (Jud 21:25) It could be interpreted from this verse in the light of
the Book of Judges which describes a morally corrupt period, that the writer of
Ruth is painting a dark backdrop against which Ruth’s model character and
actions will shine even more brightly. Or that the grace of God still abounds
his people despite all their wicked actions and that he is calling for us to
re-assess our own lives.
To really
understand the importance of the book of Ruth, you need to look back at the
book of Judges. Every book of the Bible makes a unique contribution to the
Scriptures; the story would not be complete without any one of the books of the
Bible. The unique contribution of the book of Judges is that it describes that
period in Israel’s history when it had no strong central leader (like Moses or
Joshua), before it came to be led by kings. It was only led by Judges who were
more like military leaders (than legal judges as we may interpret from the term
itself). The nation of Israel was more corrupt than ever before and people did
what was right in their own eyes.
Although the
hero in this book is Ruth, I would like us to look at Naomi her mother in-law instead this morning. Ruth would not have come
to know Boaz had Naomi decided to live on in Moab. There are some lessons we
can learn from Naomi.
Elimelech, Ruth and family go to Moab
There was a
famine (food shortage) in the land. Elimelech of Bethlehem, Judah, went to
dwell in the country of Moab with
his wife Naomi and two sons, Mahlon and Chilion. (v1-2).
Who were the Moabites?
In the Bible, the Moabites are said to have descended from Moab, the son of Lot
and his oldest daughter (Genesis 19:37). The Moabites worshiped the god Chemosh
(Jer 48:13). At several times in the bible they went to war with Israelites
because of land. Jeremiah 48 describes clearly the type of people the Moabites
are and how God placed a curse upon them for their actions. They even laughed
at the people of Israel, God’s chosen nation.
Some references. (Num. 22:3-14; Judg. 3:30; 2 Sam.
8:2; Jer. 48:11, 13).
So Elimelech and
his family went to live in a foreign land who worshipped other gods. Their
intention was because of shortage of food in their own land so they departed.
Notice how sometimes we have this hunger and emptiness in our lives and looking
for fulfillment we turn to other things or other places to fill that emptiness.
They had lived in
Moab for some time now that even their two sons have got married to Moabite
women; Ruth and Orpah. In Judges 3:5-6
you will find that the Israelites found it hard to take full possession of the
land so what they did was to live among them.
5 And the sons of Israel lived among
the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and
the Jebusites; 6and they took their daughters for themselves as
wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods. 7
And the sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and
forgot the Lord their God, and served the Baals and the Asheroth.
Surely, Naomi
and her family have forgotten about the Lord. They have started serving the god
of the Moabites.
Principle: If you hang around with
bad people, you will pick up their bad habits.
Naomi loses her husband and sons
In verse 3 and 5
we learn that Naomi lost her husband and two sons through death. She is the
only one left with her two daughter in-law.
Naomi decides to return
When Naomi
learns while in Moab that God has visited [or shown compassion, concern] his
people by giving them bread [or food, crops] she decides to return back. The
New English Translation says
6 So she decided to return home from
the region of Moab, accompanied by her daughters-in-law, because while she was
living in Moab she had heard that the LORD had shown concern for his people,
reversing the famine by providing abundant crops.
We now find here
that Naomi had come to a cross road in her life where she has to make a very
important decision. A decision that will determine not only her future but that
of her daughter’s in-law since they were still with her. Remember that they
first went to Moab because of the famine in their land. She has now heard about
God’s blessing to her people so she is determined to go back.
The blessing of food
back in their land was not the main reason why she was going back. There are
several things that we need to take note of here:
·
Firstly, she is in a foreign land, she
does not have a husband or children to look after her, she is already old even
to remarry (v12).
·
Secondly, and more importantly is
the fact that she has land through her husband’s inheritance back at Bethlehem
Judah. In (Num 27:8) where women are the heads of households (for example, if
their fathers die before receiving their allotment), the women are allowed to
own land and pass it on to their descendants. They also inherit land through
marriage if they are from the same tribe as the husband.
Several things
happened here;
·
She had heard about what the Lord
had done.
·
She made a decision to return
(v7) Therefore
she went out from the place where she was, and her two daughters’ in-law with
her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.
We first hear
about the message of Christ, it is the Word, and the conviction of the Holy
Spirit in us that compels us to change. But we MUST make the DECISION
ourselves. You have to CHOOSE whom you
will serve (Joshua 24:15)
Naomi asks her daughters’ in-law to go back to their
home
Naomi persuades
her daughters’ in-law to turn back. At first they resisted. After much
persuasion (v11-14) Orpah decides to leave but Ruth hung on to her.
Ruth shows loyalty and commitment to Naomi
In verse 16-18
we find that Ruth had made a statement of loyalty and commitment to stay with
Naomi even unto death. Remember that Ruth is a Moabite; they serve their own
gods. But here we see that she is also taking a turn in her life to serve the
God of Naomi.
Principle: When we make a decision
to turn back to God, to serve Him, our decision will have an impact on the
people closest to us. They too will change when you change first.
Ruth found favor
in the eyes of God because she vowed to take the God of Israel as her God. (v16)
Ruth’s
commitment and self-sacrifice teaches us a powerful lesson in a daily Christian
life. She was determined to make a change.
We even see her taking the initiative to be noticed by Boaz a relative of
Elimelech (Ruth 2:2-5)
They are received and Naomi confesses
19 So they two went until they came to
Bethlehem. And it came to pass, when they were come to Bethlehem, that all the
city was moved about them, and they said, Is this
Naomi? 20 And she said unto
them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very
bitterly with me. 21 I went out full, and the LORD hath brought me home
again empty: why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the LORD hath
testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me?
There are
moments in our life where God will allow us to go through difficult times in
order for us to come close to him. One of the most difficult parts of the
Christian life is the fact that becoming a disciple of Christ does not make us
immune to life’s trials and tribulations.
Why would a good
and loving God allow us to go through such things as the death of a child,
disease and injury to ourselves and our loved ones, financial hardships, worry
and fear? Surely, if He loved us, He would take all these things away from us.
After all, doesn’t loving us mean He wants our lives to be easy and
comfortable? Well, no, it doesn’t.
The Bible
clearly teaches that God loves those who are His children, and He “works all
things together for good” for us (Romans 8:28).
Even Ruth
confessed in verse 20-21 that God had dealt with her very bitterly. God did not
say anything to Ruth, but she was deeply convicted in her heart that her
situation was a result of her walking away from God. She somewhat showed sorrow
over her situation. She cried over her situation because I believe through her
conscience she realized that she had sinned.
She even wanted
people not to call her Naomi (pleasant) but Mara (bitter). Many places in the
Bible, when God changed the name of someone it meant a new identity. Naomi herself
was confessing bitterness over her life because of her present situation.
She said “I went
out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty…”
But God was not
done yet, in fact God had just begun to work something good out of her
bitterness.
You will later
find in Ruth 3:13-17
13 So Boaz married Ruth and had sexual
relations with her. The LORD enabled her to conceive and she gave birth to a
son. 14 The village women
said to Naomi, “May the LORD be praised because he has not left you without a
guardian today! May he become famous in Israel! 15
He will encourage you and provide for
you when you are old, for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, has given him
birth. She is better to you than seven sons!” 16
Naomi took the child and placed him on her
lap; she became his caregiver. 17 The neighbor women named him, saying,
“A son has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed. Now he became the father
of Jesse – David’s father!
God had restored
her family through Ruth and Boaz.
All these had
happened so Naomi will seek God and come back to him and so Ruth will meet Boaz
and become the father and mother of Obed who is the father of Jesse, and Jesse
father of David.
So what lessons
can we draw from this message?
For restoration
to take place:
1. We
have to rise up out from the place where we are (the ruins, the emptiness, the
place where we have no inheritance, our sinful way of life) and return to
Bethlehem, Judah; where God is. We must first make a decision to return to Him.
You have to CHOOSE whom you will serve (Joshua 24:15)
2. We have to make sacrifices & be committed.
(v16-18). If we are determined to make a change, we must commit to it and
sacrifice for it.
3. Finally,
when God restores lives, it all begins
within the family. That is where restoration takes place. God restored the
children of Israel through Naomi and Ruth. If you look at the geneology, Jesus
came from the family line of Boaz (Ruth’s husband), Obed, Jesse and David.
Amen
Let
us pray!
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