Ruthless Christianity
A Sermon by Pastor R. D. Johnson
Preached at the Ann Arbor, MI Free Methodist Church
Scripture Text: Ruth 2:4-17 May 17, 2009 Sermon #0157 (based on #0051)
This morning we sang out to Jesus ‘Because of your love’ you are ‘Mighty to save’, ‘You are
my king’, my ‘All in All’. If you believe that today, say Amen!
You all know that I love John and that the stories say he would come to church and simply
say „Little children, love one another.‟ Can you imagine that God ever intended Christianity
to be ruthless? But some might say He did.
As Charles Dickens said, “Marley was dead… Dead as a doornail…” If this is not clearly
understood, then none of what follows will make any sense. In the same way, I must set
something up for you or nothing that follows will mean much to you.
Jeremiah 48:25-29 says, “Moab's horn is cut off; her arm is broken," declares the LORD.
"Make her drunk, for she has defied the LORD. Let Moab wallow in her vomit; let her be
an object of ridicule. Was not Israel the object of your ridicule? Was she caught among
thieves, that you shake your head in scorn whenever you speak of her? Abandon your
towns and dwell among the rocks, you who live in Moab. Be like a dove that makes its nest
at the mouth of a cave. "We have heard of Moab's pride-- her overweening pride and
conceit, her pride and arrogance and the haughtiness of her heart.”
Isaiah adds that, “The hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain; but Moab will be
trampled under him as straw is trampled down in the manure. … God will bring down
their pride despite the cleverness of their hands.” (Isaiah 25:10-11)
These two passages were written after the time of king David, but something was written
long before. Numbers 24:17 “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will
come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel. He will crush the foreheads of Moab,
the skulls of all the sons of Sheth.”
The Evil of Moab
There was something rotten and evil about this nation of Moab. Something that would make
God pronounce such a judgment against it. Let me give you a bit of their history.
The Moabites descended from Lot‟s oldest daughter
o Moab was born from Lot‟s daughter getting him drunk and sleeping with him
The Moabite king, Balak, wanted Balaam to curse the Hebrews as they came to the
Jordon from Egypt
o This showed a fear and hatred of the people of God
Later some Israelite men began to indulge in sexual immorality with the Moabite
women and worshiping their god. God cursed Israel until those who worshipped the
false god were killed
o The Moabites were so wrong, so evil that those Israelites that were polluted by
them could not simply be forgiven, but had to be wiped from the earth so the sin
would not infect the rest of the people
The Moabites, under King Eglon, attacked and subjugated the Israelites for 18 years
David eventually defeated the Moabites and had 2/3‟s of them killed and the rest
became servants
Later Solomon built a high place for the Moabite god
God finally destroyed the Moabites and allowed the Israelites to take their land.
Nothing is spoken of the Moabites after about 600B.C.
A people so corrupt and so sinful that God eventually wiped them from the face of the earth,
like Sodom and Gamorah. These people were the scum of the earth. And given all of that, it
is hard to believe that God would not allow His people to be ruthless.
Not only would Jesus never have been born of Mary if the Jews were ruthless, but even 1 of
the 66 books of the Bible is about her, named for her. The only time she is mentioned in the
New Testament is in reference to being someone‟s mother, but the Old Testament had a book
with her name on it.
In the Gospel of Luke‟s, Christ‟s Lineage mentions no women, only fathers, but Matthew
includes 4 women in his lineage of Christ. Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Solomon‟s mother, who
had been Uriah‟s wife.
It turns out that the Moabite woman called Ruth was King David‟s great-grandmother, Jesus‟
43-great-grandmother from Mary nearly 1100 years before Jesus was born. Christianity can
not be Ruth-less.
The Moabite Woman Called Ruth
During the time of the Judges, there was a famine, so a man from Bethlehem with his
wife and 2 sons went to stay in the country of Moab for a while.
o Imagine a famine so bad that the only place you could think of to go to survive
was to live among the worst people in the world. God hated the practices of the
Moabites, the Israelites hated them. Yet this family was so bad off they were
forced to survive among their worst enemies.
Naomi‟s husband dies, but her 2 sons found wives so they stayed in Moab.
o What could possibly cause Naomi and her husband to approve of their sons both
marrying women from this vile place? The Law forbade Jews from marrying
non-Jews and no only that but these were from the worst people
After 10 years, both sons died and the famine was over in Bethlehem.
Naomi planned to return to Judah with her 2 daughter‟s-in-law
Naomi decided to release them from following her since she could never provide them
with other husbands to take care of them
This is the place most sermons from the book of Ruth are given. Chapter 1 verses 14-17. We
considered this last week: Naomi‟s faith in God convinced Ruth to stick with her and God.
Ruth had faith. She found in her husband‟s God a real and powerful God. She hated the
practices of her people and was willing to go live among a people who would likely hate her
in order to keep her new God. She left her family and friends, and everything she knew to
live among strangers in order to follow God.
They arrived in Bethlehem at barley harvest time.
Ruth asked if she could go into a field and pick up barley left behind the harvesters.
Naomi said ok
Did you notice that? Ruth asked if she could do this. The Jewish Law said she could, but she
didn‟t know their Law. She was faithfully following God, but did not grow up in His
people‟s culture, she was dedicated but did not know the rules.
Many new Christians today a brought out of the worst of families and situations. They want
to follow God but they don‟t act, speak and dress like believers. They are sometimes willing
to put up with the judgmental attitudes of other „lifetime‟ Christians, but they have not yet
been taught by God how they should behave.
So I wonder how was Ruth accepted in that new land filled with her mortal enemies?
The Love of a Jew Called Boaz
Chapter 2 of Ruth begins saying that Boaz, one of Naomi‟s near relatives, was a respected
and wealthy man in his community. And Ruth happened to find her way to his field. And this
is where our passage comes from this morning, Ruth 2:4-17, if you want to read along.
Boaz was a highly faithful man. Verse 4 says, “Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and
greeted the harvesters, "The LORD be with you!" "The LORD bless you!" they called
back.”
So I wonder what this fine, upstanding man would think when he saw that vile Moabite
taking the leftover barley from his field. What would other people think if they saw that
rotten woman walking on his property?
Boaz saw her and “asked the foreman of his harvesters, "Whose young woman is that?"
The foreman replied, "She is the Moabitess who came back from Moab with Naomi. She
said, `Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.' She went
into the field and has worked steadily from morning till now, except for a short rest in the
shelter." So Boaz said to 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." At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She exclaimed, "Why have I
found such favor in your eyes that you notice me--a foreigner?"” (Ruth 2:5-10)
Do you believe this? Why does Boaz have such compassion for a Moabite? It is clear that his
workers didn‟t care for her since he had to tell them not to touch her. They were forced by the
Law to let her pick up what was left after they harvested, that was God‟s provision for the
homeless. But didn‟t Boaz know who the Moabites were? How God despised them?
Boaz replied, "I've been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since
the death of your husband--how you left your father and mother and your homeland and
came to live with a people you did not know before. May the LORD repay you for what you
have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose
wings you have come to take refuge." (Ruth 2:11-12)
This still doesn‟t explain why Boaz would care about someone that came from so disgusting
a place, why he would be willing to be looked down upon by the other in the city for helping
her.
What explains it, is where Boaz came from. Who knows who his mother was? She was the
foreigner prostitute Rahab. Imagine how the son of a former prostitute could rise to such a
respected position in his community. What Jew would have married a foreigner prostitute?
The Jew that saw her faith in protecting the Spies Moses sent into the land, the faith that
prompter her to turn on her own people because they were evil and God was great.
How hard must it have been for Rahab to raise her son being look at funny, despite her
genuine faith, because of where she came from.
Boaz saw faith in Ruth and was willing to help her because His own father have helped and
loved Rahab. He learned his faith and compassing from his parents.
Then Ruth answers. “"May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord," she said. "You
have given me comfort and have spoken kindly to your servant--though I do not have the
standing of one of your servant girls." At mealtime Boaz said to her, "Come over here.
Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar." When she sat down with the harvesters,
he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over. As she
got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, "Even if she gathers among the sheaves,
don't embarrass her.” (Ruth 2:13-15)
Notice he didn‟t say, „don‟t punish her for her sin against the Law‟, he said don‟t embarrass
her. Boaz saw that she was faithfully following God, even though she was ignorant of the
Jewish Laws. She should not be set back in her walk and faith because of her ignorance.
"See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels
in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. (Matthew 18:10)
Rather, pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up,
and don't rebuke her." o Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the
barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah. (Ruth 2:13-15)
1 Corinthians 10:32-33 says, “Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the
church of God-- even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my
own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.”
He is not talking about fellow Christians here, he says don‟t cause ANYONE to stumble! We
need to seek the good of other so that they will be saved. Praying for them, not rebuking
them.
“Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who
loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take
his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” (Matthew 10:37-38)
Conclusion
I want to close with this from Romans 12:9-18:
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in
brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep
your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in
prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who
persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those
who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to
associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for
evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it
depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
That is our calling.