In your Bible, Ruth chapter 2, we're studying for this Advent season, Ruth, the Christmas story. We began last week and we saw that in last week's, that there was no coincidence. For the child of God, there is no such thing as chance or coincidence or fate. We don't believe in a God that's handicapped and can't figure things out. The God who's sovereign is the God who's in charge. The events that happen in Christmas and the events that happen in Ruth both take place in Bethlehem. In fact, we shared this with you. The one reason, if nothing else, that Jesus is born in Bethlehem is because of what happens here in Ruth. So we begin to tie in the parallels between what happens in the book of Ruth in the Old Testament and what you and I read in the New Testament in the Gospel according to Matthew and the Gospel according to Luke. Last week we began to look at those parallels between the book of Ruth and the Christmas story. And we stated last week the following on the screen there. Christmas is the story of a young woman who made a radical commitment of faith to God and then journeyed to Bethlehem where she gave birth to a child who would change the world. Likewise, the book of Ruth is a story of a young woman who made a radical commitment of faith to God, and then journeyed to Bethlehem where she gave birth to a child whose descendant would be the child that changed the world. So hopefully we began to connect some of those Old Testament dots to what's happening in our day today. Last week we focused On the women. This week we're going to focus on the men. Why? Well, you'll see there on the screen the book of Ruth and the Christmas story, and not only the story of a young woman who made a radical commitment of faith, it also includes a righteous man who offered kindness, protection, and provision to a young woman in her time of need. You can see that in Ruth chapter 2. Last week we started exploring the story of Ruth. Tell me, make my morning, alright? What setting, during what time in the life of the nation of Israel is the book of Ruth set? When does it happen? Yes, during the time of Judges. And as you well know, the time of Judges was not a good time. It was one of the worst times for the nation of Israel. There wasn't really just tribes out there fending for themselves. It wasn't a good time for them. Naomi travels with her husband, they go to Moab. There is no divine directive to go to Moab, but they do. Moab was not a friend of Israel, had never been a friend of Israel. But you know what? When you're hungry, you'll travel to wherever the food is, right? When you need employment, you travel to where the employment is. At least with the intention of, hey, let me get back on my feet and then return. We don't know what drove them, but we do know is that there was a famine in the land, that we read. And we also stated that normally in the Old Testament, when there's a famine in the land of Israel, it's a sign of divine what? Judgment, displeasure. When you read your Old Testament and you see that there's a famine that comes and affects the land of Israel, it's because God's not happy with His people. So they travel there. She spends about 10 years there. Her life begins to fall apart. What happens first? Husband dies. She goes from married to widow. Next, the boys, they marry more by women, going against the very law of God. The law of God in the Torah had said, do not marry Moabites. But they did. Why? Because they're there. And that's what happens. You're there and it happens. But what happens after that? They die. So now Naomi is left in a foreign land with only two widowed daughters-in-law. And widows back then had no rights. She returns to Bethlehem and she returns utterly hopeless. She is not happy. She's in a dark place spiritually. She says toward the end of Ruth chapter 1, don't call me pleasant. Don't call me Naomi. Call me Mara. Call me bitter. Because the Lord has come against me. I left displaced 10 years ago, I return empty-handed, not only empty-handed, but without any hope. I'm too old, nothing looks really, really good here. Naomi has faced famine, displacement, the loss of loved ones. And by the end of chapter 1, you and I are asking ourselves, is there any hope for someone like Naomi? After all, everything's against her. Let me just remind you of some of the things that they're facing. On the screen there, number one, there were widows. They were widows in a patriarchal society where women relied on male relatives for provision and protection. Losing their husbands left them vulnerable. There's no male. Number two, they were poor. They had no home or means of income had to rely on the charity of others. Number three, Naomi was an older woman with no hope of remarrying or having more children to support her in the old age. Hey, listen, that's big for me. My kids, I tell them, one of you guys are going to be changing my diapers. I mean, figure it out. That's why I made sure that one of them is a nurse. Okay? The boys are like sweet, but now the boys are becoming paramedics. Not so sweet. You can change diapers too, big boys. Okay? So listen, there's no... In the old age, she felt the tragedy of losing her husband and two sons very deeply. 4. Ruth was a foreigner from Moab, a nation with which Israel had a history of conflict. She faced potential prejudice and exclusion as an outsider trying to integrate into Judean society. 5. As women journeying alone, they were vulnerable to abuse, exploitation, or attack. And lastly, Naomi was also dependent on Ruth's efforts to gather grain for their daily need. As widows, poor women, and foreigners, in Ruth's case, listen, they were unprotected females in a day and age when that was extremely dangerous. And that's what we're seeing there. The odds are stacked against them. Is there any reason for any hope? Yeah, enter Boaz. Enter Boaz. Okay? Because the book of Ruth is not only the Christmas story, it's a love story. It's not just a story of Ruth, it's a story of Boaz and Ruth. A beautiful story of faith and love and commitment resulting in the birth of a child that would change their world and whose descendant would change ours. That's the beauty of Ruth. So before we dig in to Ruth chapter 2, here's my sermon summary for this morning on the screen there. Ruth chapter 2 tells the story of a righteous man who offered kindness, protection, and provision to a young woman in her time of need. When facing difficulties, we too can trust the Lord's providence and count on the help of His people. Let's dig in. Let's dig in. First thing I want you to see in the first three verses, I put it so it says, it just so happened. Enter Boaz. It just so happened, as we open chapter 2, the narrator sets the stage. He sets the stage by introducing a new character. Until now, it's been Ruth and Naomi and their families. Now we bring in Boaz. He sets the story in motion in chapter 2. Now Naomi had a relative of her husband's, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him, in whose sight I shall find favor. And she said to her, Go, my daughter. So she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech. Stop there. It's strange, right? I mean we're talking about Ruth and Naomi Ruth and Naomi and she had a relative called Boaz What does that serve what serves as the shift as the shift to let me introduce you to someone that's gonna make a difference The author introduces Boaz and then shifts our attention right back to Naomi. We're told that Boaz was a worthy man. Different translations will say a worthy man, a man of this or a man of that. The inference is that he's influential, he's wealthy, and really important because we'll talk about that in chapters 3 and 4, he's a relative of Elimelech. That's the big deal there, all right? And we'll talk more about that tradition and that custom when we get there of the kinsmen redeemer. The writer's setting the stage for what will come after that. So after introducing Boaz, the author tells us that Ruth goes back to ask Naomi if she can go out into the harvest fields and glean what was left behind. This is a picture of the poor, a day in the life of the poor in ancient Israel. She's going to harvest but not harvest. She's going to pick up leftovers leftovers Listen, remember Ruth is a Moabite people know You may know we all know when we have someone from South they all say y'all So when you talk to him, you say y'all you want some sweet tea sweet tea. Are you kidding me? Right and we have our idiosyncrasies. We have our southern drawl. We have the Irish brogue Okay, we know when we don't even the Hispanics they go at the deep in the corner What translated from those of you who are not from Hialeah that dude is not from Cuba all I have to do is he used sometimes speak and I go not one of my people and Yes, my people are Latino, yes, Hispanic, okay, but not Cubano, the crown of Hispanics. Boy, am I getting myself in trouble today, all right? She's a Moabite. Her presence in the fields may not have been welcome, okay? We may have just say, we don't know, we're arguing from silence, and that's always dangerous, but from common sense, you have someone, from Moab, an ancient foe, someone, a nation that has not been kind to Israel. And then all of a sudden you're working and you see her in the fringe out there somewhere. May not have been welcome, we don't know. See, modern farming practices... Focus a great deal in efficiency. You don't waste there's no waste in Martin farm Practice, I don't know that I had to read that and just sharing that with you. I wasn't raised on a farm I was raised in a concrete jungle of Little Havana. All right, so but in ancient Israel, it was different in Ruth's day It was different harvesting was done by hand and as you're harvesting by hand things fall off and you leave behind the stock and you miss this and you miss that and you just keep on going and You keep on going and Ruth was asking to go out and let me pick up the the leftovers That was hard work that didn't guarantee a lot of grain or yield So imagine you and I who say oh, you know too much work and too little money. Can you imagine that day? You as a woman working a foreign land among foreigners Maybe feeling some racial tension. We don't know But you're picking up, and it's hard work, and at the end of the day, the return on investment may not have been what you thought. Yet, you see the grace of God there, because the Lord had made provision for this very case in the Torah. In the book of Leviticus, there on your screen, He says in chapter 23, verse 22, And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after you harvest. You shall leave them for the poor, for the sojourner. I am the Lord your God." When God signs, I am the Lord your God, He's not kidding. He's not kidding. He's giving divine authority. You don't just do it, everything is me, me, me, me, me, me. No, no, no. You take it to a certain end, you leave some of the outside for the poor, for the sojourner. And that's exactly who Ruth was. Now, we don't know whether Ruth is aware of this provision in the law, but we do know that God is the God who controls it all. And God has made provision. Back then, instituting the Mosaic Covenant, He already knew. He saw what was coming. So He makes provision for that. Notice on the screen there that instead of simply wallowing in self-pity, lamenting that God had abandoned them, Ruth took it upon herself to do what she could to provide for her and her mother-in-law. Child of God, when God doesn't seem present, He's not absent. So you have a choice to make. You can lament your circumstances or you can trust in God's character. See, Ruth as the outsider, remember, she does make a profession, a radical commitment of faith to Yahweh, right? In Ruth chapter 1, verses 16 and 17, we saw that. Your people will be my people, your God will be my God, where you die, I will die, where you're buried, I will be buried. I am forsaking whatever Moab and gods and family, whatever that means, I'm leaving that behind, I'm making it. But listen, she could have, she could have gotten there and said, okay, Naomi, let's go. You talk about Yahweh all the time. Even say Yahweh, Jireh, the God the Lord provides. Let's go. Where is it? I'm just gonna Sit down and just wait See you and I have that that decision you can grow you can grow bitter or you can rise above it and be better Because of God and who He is. And I draw your attention because she decides not to stay bitter. Because she decides to do better. To say, listen, I'm not just going to sit on my hands. I'm not just going to give up. No, no, no. I'm going to do what I can. And trust God to do what He can do. And only He can do. Well, look at verse 3. So she set out and went and gleaned the field after the reapers. Okay, whose field is it? Talk to me. Boaz, yeah. And I have it here. I highlighted it and put it in parentheses. And she happened to come. She happened to come. That's like the writer's tongue-in-cheek, like with a little twinkle in his eye. And she happened to come. Okay? She happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of, again, the repetition. She's just so, that's why I titled this, It Just So Happened. Nothing just so happens. Nothing just so happens. His point is that Ruth was simply trying to take care of herself and her mother-in-law. But the Lord was setting her up for something much greater, a greater joy, a greater destiny, a greater future. A future that impacts you and me today if we are in Christ. That's what was going on that day. So enter Boaz. It just so happened. The Hebrew reads the inferences as chance, chanced. And again, it's the tongue-in-cheek of the author of Ruth going, And it just so happened that she went into the place where Boaz was, okay? See, and that moves us right into the big part of the chapter. Boaz encounters Ruth, verse 4 through 13, and let's read it. And behold, if you have the NIV, I think it says, and it just so happened. If you do, that's God at work there. And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and he said to the reapers, The Lord be with you. And they answered, The Lord bless you. Then Boaz said to his young man who was in charge of the reapers, Whose young woman is this? And the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered, She is a young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. She said, Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers. So she came, and she has continued from early morning until now, except for a short rest. Then Boaz said to Ruth, Now, listen, my daughter, do not glean into another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young woman. Let your eyes be on the field that they are reaping and go after them. Have I not charged the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn. Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, Why have I found favor in your eyes that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner? But Boaz answered her, all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me. And how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before. The Lord repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose hands you have come to take refuge. Then she said, I have found favor in your eyes, my Lord, for you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not one of your servants." Again, the writer intends for you and me to see what's going on. And behold, it just so happened that Boaz... We don't know if Boaz has just this one field or he has a bunch of fields. But the reality is that it just so happens that he shows up at that time when Ruth is there. There's no coincidence. It is the hand of God at work. And again, the author is drawing that reality, drawing our attention to that. What was planned by Ruth and Naomi, and when Boaz shows up, this is just God at work. It just so happened. We're told in the opening words in verse 4 from from Boaz. And he said, the Lord be with you. And they answered, the Lord bless you. And listen, this may be a common way of greeting. Like today, if you met a Jewish, you would say, Shalom Aleichem. And they would return to you and say, Aleichem Shalom. And there may have been something like that. But what we do know is that why is it included? Because the author, again, under the inspiration of the Spirit, wants to underline Boaz's character. He doesn't show up and go, hey, George, sit rep. How my people doing? What's the bottom line? What's the return on investment? What's the percentage? What are we doing here? Hey, why is it three people over here not working? It's not bottom line Says hey, he takes care of his people Says the Lord be with you the Lord bless you So it's underlining underlined in the reality the reality of he's he's a that's the kind of man That God is introducing into this story Now remember they have many harvesters, but who does he notice? Yeah, yeah. This is almost like a Hallmark TV, a Hallmark movie. It's kind of predictable. Like I said, my wife is here, and I call Hallmark, you know, predictable TV. You know, they start off wrong, and then they have a crisis, and then there's a turning point, and they both look like this, and then it starts snowing, and, you know. Predictable TV. That's why I tell my wife, I need a lifetime movie channel. You know, a little bit like hateful and grateful type stuff. Okay, somebody has to die. Somebody has to do something. I need betrayal. Okay, it's just the dark soul here. Now on the screen there, despite the army of harvesters in this field, Boaz noticed Ruth, this rich and powerful man noticed the poor woman gleaning his fields and took time to ask about her. But he goes beyond that. He shows some interest and almost you can start hearing the romantic music in the background. I mean, this is like when Isaac met Cynthia and it was like... Okay, and it was like, hmm, I have this uncomfortable feeling when I'm around her. What's going on? Who's that? Is that Cynthia? Who's Cynthia? You know? He's like, yo, what's up here? Can you imagine? But look at the report because he asked and what's the report she's been here first in working hard She hasn't rested She doesn't subscribe to the American work ethic of how to do the most the least amount of work in the most amount of time She's not a union worker She's working hard hard picking up the scraps and she hasn't stopped except for a little bit for a brief rest Rather than being angry that someone's cutting in on his profits, like, who's this foreigner? Really? Listen, I take care of the Jews. I'm Boaz. What's this foreigner doing? No, no, no, no, no. No, no, no. He hears it? There's something at work here. He goes and imagine, we go from verse 5, okay? They go in verse 6, they tell him, you know, this is who was in charge. She's a young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. And she said, hey, please let me do this. Then Boaz, verse 8, said to Ruth, can you imagine she's doing her thing and she sees Boaz walking out to her. She's like, oh man, it was good while it lasted. Let me just go like this. It's like when it's time to face the boss, and you're like, oh man, let me just whatever, let me just do whatever I gotta do. And look how he looks at her and he says, now listen, my daughter, I guarantee you that's not the introduction that she was expecting. I mean, if you expected that, that's good. Maybe you wrote the story. I don't know. Alright? I'm not expecting this. Here's Boaz, wealthy, influential Jew, coming to a Moabite, foreigner, widow, poor, and saying, listen, my daughter, not, hey, get up and get out. No, listen, my daughter. Listen, my daughter. That's not the, she would have expected that address. He tells her to stay in his fields. So that way she can be safe. You know what? He's not seeing her as a foreigner. He's seeing her as an equal. This is bringing up her self-esteem. This is bringing up who she is. She's not safe. Stay here where you could be saved. You don't understand or you don't think that Baaz understood the spirit of the age? What was going on there and how women could be vulnerable and afflicted and taken advantage? He understood that. He said, stay here, stay here, okay? Let your eyes be on the field, verse 9, that they're reaping, go after them. Have I not charged the young men not to touch you? So if he has to charge the men not to touch them, what happens sometimes? They touch them. Okay, that's the catch. And when you're thirsty, go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn. Look at verse 10, Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner? Verse 11, Boaz answered her, all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me. And how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before. Listen, why are you kind to me, Boaz? You know what Boaz says? He goes, he says, I know your testimony. I know your testimony. It was told to me, child of God, you're telling a story, how you live of your relationship with the Lord, your testimony. Your testimony matters. Ruth's testimony mattered. When it was time to talk about Ruth to Boaz, it was right up here, top tier. And because of that, he says, that's the character. Child of God, your testimony matters to others. Your testimony matters to God. And that's when he says, look at verse 12, the Lord repay you for what you have done and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel under whose wings you have come to take refuge. Beautiful poetry. Beautiful poetry. You're not alone. We would say it today, we would hashtag it. I see you. I see you. Not so much even I see you. The Lord sees you. The Lord sees you. See, that's the beauty of it all. Boaz doesn't see Ruth as a foreigner any longer. She's on equal ground. What an astounding promise. The Lord repay you for what you have done. Beautiful, beautiful thing going on there. And then she said in verse 13, I have found favor in your eyes, my Lord, and thank you for your comfort. You have spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not one of your servants. And we see this beautiful interaction between Boaz and Ruth. And again, you have that little soft music. It's beginning to almost like to snow in the Hallmark movie. It's almost there. Verses 14 to 23, the last thing I want you to look at. Okay? It's a turning point. A turning point. The hand of God at work. The hand of God at work. In two ways. In two ways. Number one, through the kindness of Boaz. Through the kindness of Boaz. Verse 14, And at mealtime, Boaz said to her, Come here and eat some bread and dip your morsel in the wine. Stop! If you think, coming to her and saying, Hey, listen, what are you doing? Can you imagine it's mealtime? The harvesters are there, the reapers are there. Hey, Ruth, why don't you come and join us? Talk about raised eyebrows. It's like, yo, what's this guy up to? What is this guy up to? All right. Verse 14, and so she sat beside the reapers and he passed to her roasted grain. You know that everybody's going like, let's say Jose is Boaz and Maria is Ruth, like right next to him. And he's like, everybody's like, And they look over here and they go, Ehefei, what's going on there? Right? And she ate until she was satisfied and she had some left over. When she rose to glean, Boaz instructed his young men saying, let her glean even among the sheaves and do not reproach her. And also pull out some of the bundles for her and leave it for her to glean and do not rebuke her. So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned and it was about an ephah of barley. And she took it up and went into the city. Her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She also brought out and gave her what food she had left over after being satisfied. Can you see it there? She sits down, she eats to her belly's content. I'm talking, this is like, let's go, bring it, bring it, bring it. Then she gets up to because lunch breaks do come to an end. I know some of us don't think so, but they do Okay, they come to an end. It's time to to get back to work. All right, and and then he says hey, hey, hey, listen Let her if she encroaches on on whatever's going on Don't start taking out the measuring. Hey, you know, this is the border for for foreigners No, no, no, and in fact take out some stuff and just like sort of like oh So he's like, hey, she has found favor in the eyes of Boaz. He says, let her do it, to the point that there's an ifa of barley. After scholars, I looked it up back and forth. I went online, and an ifa of barley in today's, they go back and forth. It can range from 10, as low as 10 pounds, to 50 pounds. That's a lot. She has to walk all that back to home. OK, so this is not like, hey, let me call an Uber. OK, and here comes the Uber. You know a horse and cart you Guys are missing the point She picks it up and she takes it. This is a hard-working woman Okay, she takes it and she shows up and she shows up because what she is hoping for is that when I show back up the bitter Will become pleasant again Because all I've known for now is my mother-in-law bitter I've lost sight of what it means for her to be pleasant. Life has been tough. Hopefully this will help her out, and it sure does. Look at the words. You see the hand of God, not only in the kindness of Boaz, making it easy and fruitful, but you see it through the words spoken by Naomi. Shows up at 19 and says, and her mother-in-law said to her, where did you glean today? And where have you worked? Blessed be the man who took notice of you. So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said the man's name with whom I work today is Boaz. So all of a sudden now it's life is making a little sense. Now look at Naomi look at bitter bitter. Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, may he be blessed by the Lord, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead. Naomi also said to her, the man is a close relative of ours, one of our Redeemers. Oh, Naomi's attitude changed. Why? Because she starts beginning to see that God has not forsaken. God has not left her abandoned. Someone has come. And in verse 20, she says, the Lord bless, the Lord bless this man whose kindness has not been forsaken. She understands that God is now at work and she's beginning to catch that. It wasn't chance. It wasn't like she got up and Ruthen said and landed there. There's no coincidence in this story. God orchestrating it all. And it says at the end in verse 21, and Ruth and the Moabites said, Besides, he said to me, you shall keep close to my young women until they have finished all my harvest. And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, it is good, my daughter, that you go out with this young woman. Less than another field, you'd be assaulted. And the last verse, you see, if we're writing the story, if Netflix is writing the story, the two start shacking up. Because that's how you do it today in 21st century America. But Netflix wasn't writing it. God Almighty was writing it. And look how He preserves the sanctity of both Boaz and Ruth. Because holiness does matter. So she kept close to the young women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvest. And she lived with her mother-in-law. Different from any TV show you and I will watch. the sanctity, the holiness of someone, personal holiness and the holiness of a relationship. You and I, we read and we go, oh man, I can see it, I can see it blossoming, I can see it. They're living in real time, they don't know what's going on. All she knows is that she's found a place and the barley season probably lasts about three months. And imagine if after just one day she brought back, let's just say 10 pounds. Can you imagine every day when she gets back, it's 10 pounds and 10 pounds. The Lord was providing through Boaz a year's worth of resources. Just like that. And that's what you see. And God provides and they're grateful. And they're grateful for God's hand upon them. And that's where we leave Ruth chapter two. Ruth, the glimmer of hope. It's there, getting brighter. What can we take with us this morning? Like many of our lives, this story is an emotional roller coaster. Starts off this way, and now it's coming back up, and you see a little bit better. They left empty, Naomi responds with bitterness, but now she is seeing that maybe God is, yes, I can't see him, life has fallen apart, but maybe he's still at work. Having studied Ruth chapter 2 what what lessons are there for you and me number one on the screen there appreciate the impact generosity has on others Appreciate the the impact that generosity has others Boaz likely didn't know what God was doing in his life and through his life, but one thing he knew hey listen I see a person in need I can help them. I'm gonna do what I can I Child of God, this is a time of the year where you get unexpected resources coming into your life. Maybe it's time to instead of looking in the mirror or looking at oneself, is looking to the left and to the right and seeing what needs can I meet with these resources that I wasn't expecting. See, you and I need to create an attitude and a buffer of generosity in our lives. So God can just tap that and go, you don't need to go to the church. You are the church. Why do you have to bring it to the church? You are the church. You're the front door of this church. At work, at home, in your relationships, in your neighborhood. You don't have to bring it here. You are the church. Now, if you need greater assistance, of course you bring it. But please don't think that, oh, listen, if God reveals a need to you, that's His invitation to do something about it. Or else He doesn't open your eyes to set you up to fail. And yes, your eyes may say, hey listen, this is a bigger deal, I need the help of my faith family. But child of God, don't wait for your faith family, be the faith family. Appreciate the impact, generosity. Do you understand that it was His generosity that rekindled faith in Naomi? It was God using His generosity to get someone out of a dark place spiritually. Child of God, this can be you today. When God enables you and me to meet the needs of others, listen, we sometimes just overlook what's around us. And we still have to stop because the world is not about us. Stop thinking that everything has to be about you and what you get out of it. Are you kidding me? Stop. God doesn't owe you anything. You don't gain access to him better. You're obedient. That's just part of the deal. You know, my wife is here. I don't stay faithful to her because she gives me points, because she'll stay with me. No, I'm faithful to her because I love her. And this relationship is worth it. So I don't expect... Love that expects results is not love. My love for God is because I love Him, because He first loved me. And out of that, I then look around, and listen, if it cost me something, it cost me something. And you know what's the worst that can cost you? Time. That which you will never get back. Money? You can play lotto. I'm not telling you to play lotto. But time? You look at Ronnie, you find out he's fixing a house and he needs help to move in. You say, hey, listen, I saw that in a text message thread that I was part of. Another guy in the church said, hey, if you need me, I'm there. That's what I'm talking about. What's it gonna cost? Time. Time that this other person will never get back. Because the time that you and I spend here, we will never get back. The time you spend helping others, you'll never get back. But we're so selfish with our time. The time that you, Pines Baptist Church elves, spent here yesterday, you'll never get back. But great is your reward. You were here. You served. You saw the need. You know that I'm not a genie. You don't need a genie looking like this. You'll keep me in the bottle. Recognize that even the little things you and I do can be used by God to make a big impact. You can be the answer someone else has been praying for. You can be that answer. There's answered prayer in the chairs this morning. Number two, faith is not an excuse for laziness. Faith is not an excuse. It would have been tempting for Ruth to say, hey, listen, let's see how real it gets. Let's see. You say God provides. No, no, no, no, no. See, that's a foolish approach to life, and it's a behavior that God typically doesn't reward. It's not honoring. Instead, Ruth said, you know, I'm going to do what I can. and trust God for the rest. So, I love God, that's what you and I do. We do. We don't use faith as an excuse for laziness. Oh, I need a job. Well, get up and apply. Well, what do you think? That God's going to do that thing and send a divine fact somewhere? It's going to do you in deed? Job application? No. You struggle, you work. It depends on you knowing and trusting that ultimately it depends on God. It's a both and! Faith is never an excuse for laziness. See, on the screen there, trusting God doesn't mean doing nothing. It means trusting that He can use our meager efforts to accomplish His purposes. The small stuff. Hey, hey, hey, Ruth, Ruth, listen, stay with me. Stay in my field. Then He turns around and He sets her up to succeed. Let us learn from that. You want to be a blessing to others? Set them up to succeed. Don't throw a person that doesn't know how to swim in the water. Well, you need to learn. Yeah, okay. That's one way of doing something. Another way is to throw them in the water, throw them a lifesaver with them so they know and they get, or teach them how to swim. Faith is not an excuse for laziness and lastly and this is the big one God is working even when we can't see him see from human perspective Ruth simply picked a field at random and It just so happened But you and I know that that's not it Okay Listen, that's a reminder that you and I don't see never see the whole picture God is up to Piper says up to a million things at one time You and I just see a handful of them and That's it, but he's up to. Can you imagine sustaining this world? This just doesn't happen. This world just keep rotating everything. Your body alone is designed to do certain things. God is at work sustaining his creation. He just didn't wind the clock as a deist would say it and put it there and walk away and figure it out. God is... Listen, we know that God cares for his world because Christmas is a reality. Because if He didn't care, He wouldn't have sent His very best. He would have just let us suffer and die, bear eternal punishment, which is fair. But He was unfair and sent the Savior. See, God is always at work. Beside all these seeming coincidences is God's active care for Ruth, just as He cares for you and me. And when Ruth says, blessed be this man of the Lord whose kindness we have enjoyed, you know, Boaz's kindness, Naomi saw as the Lord's kindness. Child of God, you are a vessel. You are a means of grace. God, you're the hands and the feet. We make it so cliché-ish, but it's true. You are the ones that God, we are the ones that God uses to be a blessing to others. See, the kindness of Boaz was actually the Lord's kindness. Our ultimate hope isn't in people's kindness, it's in God's sovereignty. Providing what we need, when we need it most. God is not just in charge of our lives, but all of history. He's guiding it all to his purposes. It really is his story. And it's through what we call in theology providence. The Lord's providence. John Piper offers this definition on the screen there. It's his purposeful sovereignty by which he will be completely successful in the achievement of his ultimate goal for the universe. God's providence carries his plans into action, guides all things toward his ultimate goal, and leads to the final consummation. He's right. We can be sure that even in the darkest times, God is still at work. You know why? Because the best part is the story of Ruth doesn't end with her. It leads to Jesus' birth. Ruth is part of God's plan to bring a Savior into this world. Ruth is part of the Christmas story. And when our story doesn't make sense, hey, be of good cheer. It's not over. It's not over. God is still at work. See, when Jesus was born, it just so happened, He was born to the parents of the right lineage in fulfillment of prophecy. He just happened to be descended of David's line with full legal and blood rights to the throne. It's census just... God moved the entire world to get Jesus to get born where He needed Him to be born. Can you imagine when you open up in Luke chapter 1, and Quirinius being the governor, and he says, I want to know how many people are here, and a census was taken. God moved the entire world to get His people where they needed to be. It just so happened to take Mary to Bethlehem as Micah prophesied. Herod just happened to try to kill him as he prophesied in the Old Testament. It just happened, you know, he just happened to arrive during the time of Pax Romana, the peace of Rome, where Greek was a common language. The roads were excellent facilitating the spread of the gospel. That's why Galatians 4.4 says, when the fullness of time had come, Jesus did not come a day early or a day late. On time. When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son. God just happened to work out all those details. He can just happen to work out details in your own life. See, we're reminded. on the screen there. God works through ordinary people like Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz during tough times and continues to work today when things seem the darkest. Our hope is in God's active care and providence, knowing he provides exactly what we need and guides history to its ultimate end, and we get to be part of it. Lest I forget, back to the Christmas story. What does this have to do with the prices of potato in Idaho? Really nothing. But what does it have to do with the Christmas story? Everything. Because the Christmas story includes a righteous man who intervened and provided a young woman who had made a radical commitment of faith to God what she needed when she needed it. I know you don't think so. So in your Bibles, Matthew chapter 1. This land is playing rather quickly here. Matthew chapter 1. I don't want you to miss the parallel. Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way, Matthew 1.18, when his mother, Mary, had been betrothed to Joseph. Before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband, Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quickly. Quietly, I'm sorry, but as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and he shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord has spoken by the prophet. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son. And they shall call his name Immanuel, which means God with us. When Joseph woke from the sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded. He took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son, and he called his name Jesus. How do we know that Joseph believed God? Because he obeyed God. How do people know that you and I believe God? Because we obey God. You see it there. There it is. Joseph, a righteous man, tries to say, hey, listen, I don't know what you're telling me about this pregnancy, but I'm not going to put you publicly to shame. God provides a revelation that's needed. And he says, OK, God said it. I'm going to believe it. I'm going to do something with it. See? On the screen there, the book of Ruth is the story of a righteous man who offered kindness, protection, and provision to a young woman in her time of need. And the Christmas story is also the story of a righteous man who offered kindness, protection, and provision to a young woman in her time of need. And child of God, you and I can be a blessing. If we place ourselves in the hands of an almighty God, he does the extraordinary with the ordinary. Now you may be thinking today, well, how can I become a righteous person? I mean, both Boaz and they're described as righteous. Well, listen, it's only through the grace of our Lord. This is not saying that they were righteous because they earned it. No. Listen, only through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ can any one of us become righteous. We must echo the words of Paul when he writes to the church at Philippi, Philippians chapter three, there on the screen, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. So my friend, if you're here this morning, the best thing you can do is to trust in Christ. is to realize that you can't make it on your own, that you can't set the record straight, you can't pay God off, you can't impress Him with your credentials. You must come and look at your life and turn away, repent, turn away from this life of self-worship, and leave it behind, and by faith in the person and the work of Christ, embrace Him as your Lord and as your Savior. And then God grants you righteousness, a forgiveness of sin, and a true Merry Christmas. Amen? Let's pray. Bow your heads for just a moment. Close your eyes. Soon we will sing a song. But for right now, how would the Lord want you to respond? Right there where you're at. I challenge you. to take a look and to respond to the Lord. Maybe a walk with Christ has not been what it needs to be lately. Taking a lot of things for granted. Maybe even through what we say and do, thinking that God owes us. He doesn't. Child of God, repent. My friend, you're here and you haven't trusted in Christ. Your soul is in peril. Lord, you may get through the Merry Christmas, but deep down inside, you know that you need redemption. You need your soul to be set right before a holy God. Would you turn to Christ today? So Lord, we sing soon, O God, crown him. Would you speak to us in a special way as we sing? For those of us who know him, may we sing strong. You've been faithful. For those of us who do not know Him, would you grant salvation? We ask that you would not shorten your hand of salvation upon them. You continue to grant them opportunities to repent and believe. Receive this time of worship. We love you. We trust you. In Jesus' name, and God's people said,