Ruth Chapter 3:1-7

She doesn't say, well, you know, Naomi, I don't want to do this. It sounds like a silly plan. See, because even as this is foreign to us, let's remember it was also somewhat foreign to Ruth, because Ruth was not from Israel. She was from Moab. So all this sounded kind of strange to her ears, but she said, you know what?

If this is what you think I should do, then this is what I'll do. It shows one more really beautiful attribute of Ruth, and that is that she was teachable. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. David is the senior pastor of the Bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina. In the Bible, we often see people being asked to do things that don't make sense. Today, Pastor David shares how they were blessed for their obedience, as he continues in the book of Ruth chapter three. But before we begin today's teaching, many people think Christianity is a list of do's and don'ts, an impossible standard that beats you down and robs you of joy. But the truth is, God's Word is a lifeline of hope in troubled times. We want to help you rise above the difficulties of life by sending you a copy of Pastor David McGee's four-part teaching series, Living Life by the Book. This empowering resource shows you how to walk with God through everyday life and learn to experience joy, even in hard times. Living Life by the Book is our thanks for your generous gift today to help more people hear God's truth on this station and beyond so they can cross the bridge from death to life.

Please visit crossthebridge.com today to give and get your copy of Living Life by the Book. Now, here's David McGee with his teaching, The Redeemer. Turn with me to Ruth chapter three, and we've talked about the Goel and Kinsman Redeemer. We'll kind of refresh ourselves if tonight's your first night in the study of Ruth. But we need to open up this chapter by going back one verse to the last verse in chapter two because it kind of will help us to set our context of what's going on.

The chapter divisions came much later, and then the verse divisions came even later than that. And so for context and continued thought, let's go to verse 23. It says, So she stayed close by the young women of Boaz to glean until the end of barley harvest and wheat harvest, and she dwelt with her mother-in-law.

So we're talking probably about six to eight weeks. She continued to do that, okay? Now we pick up with verse one of chapter three, and it says, Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, My daughter, shall I not seek security for you, that it may be well with you? Now Boaz, whose young women you were with, is he not our relative? In fact, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor. Therefore wash yourself and anoint yourself, and put on your best garment, and go down to the threshing floor.

But do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. Point of review. Naomi, in a time of famine, went with her husband and two sons, and they went to the land of Moab. God didn't tell them to go to Moab. They went to Moab, and I guess under the leadership of Naomi's husband. There the young boys found wives, Orpah and Ruth, and Naomi's husband ended up dying. Orpah's husband died, and Ruth's husband died. This is interesting because the leader of the house, Naomi's husband, made this decision, and he was not content to weather the storm there in Israel. Made the decision to go to Moab, bailed out if you will, and in trying to do his own thing, or build his own house, he ended up digging a hole in the build his own house. He ended up digging his own grave.

Boy, there's a lesson in that, and we talked about that before, and that trying to do our own thing and build our own house, sometimes we do kind of dig our own grave. Verse four, then it shall be when he lies down that you shall notice the place where he lies, and you shall go in, uncover his feet, and lie down, and he will tell you what you should do. Now, this verse sounds really weird to us because we really don't understand what's going on, or really the Jewishness of the statement, or why Naomi is encouraging Ruth in what would seem to be first glance into something that's inappropriate. Well, first of all, let me assure you, Naomi's not encouraging her to do anything inappropriate. There's a lot of wisdom in what she's saying.

Now, again, six to eight weeks have passed. Ruth has had the opportunity to go to Boaz and ask him to be their kinsman redeemer. Now, what had happened is they had met with poverty, and I guess Naomi's husband had sold the land away, and this kinsman redeemer could buy back the land for them. And all during the harvest, Ruth had not gone to Boaz and said, Boaz, I'd like for you to be the kinsman redeemer. Now, understand, in a marriage, it was up to the male to propose to the female at this time. But when it came to the concept of the levirate marriage, then it was actually up to the woman.

Now, let me explain what that concept is. We've talked about it before, but just to make sure we're clear. I've got two older brothers. Now, according to what the Bible says, when my brothers married, if they were to die and leave their wife as a widow, I would be committed to then marrying that woman to provide for the widow to keep the name alive, to keep the inheritance of the land provided for, to keep those lines, the boundaries of the different tribal properties intact. So you can imagine that if you had brothers and they took a fancy to a neighbor girl or something, all of a sudden you were very interested in who that neighbor girl was, you know. Who are you courting?

I need to know. I don't think you should court her, you know, because you knew that if something happened, you were responsible. You were going to need to marry the woman. So there was a commitment there and it extended beyond just brothers in the society, extended to relatives. So then the other concept of the Kinsman Redeemer, and we're going to talk about that even more tonight, is that he could redeem somebody out of poverty.

He could buy back the land and give it back to him if they had met with poverty and sold off the land. There's beautiful systems here in the Hebrew Scriptures. Just, it was wisdom beyond what we practice today, be honest. And then what happened every 50th year was the year of Jubilee. That if you had sold the land, that in that 50th year, that all land reverted back to who it was originally owned by.

It's a beautiful system. Naomi is encouraging Ruth to take action to ask Boaz to be that Kinsman Redeemer. Now, to set our context, Deuteronomy 25, 5 through 10 says, if brothers dwell together and one of them dies and has no son, the widow of the dead man shall not be married to a stranger outside the family. Her husband's brother shall go in to her, take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. And it shall be that the firstborn son, which she bears, will succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel. But if the man does not want to take his brother's wife, then let his brother's wife go up to the gate to the elders and say, my husband's brother refuses to raise up a name to his brother in Israel. He will not perform the duty of my husband's brother.

Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him. But if he stands firm and says, I do not want to take her, then his brother's wife shall come to him in the presence of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, spit in his face and answer and say, so shall it be done to the man who will not build up his brother's house and his name shall be called in Israel, the house of him who had his sandal removed. So it was an option, you know, not to marry your brother's wife, but obviously from this passage, it was viewed with a certain amount of disdain. It felt like you were kind of shirking your responsibility. And so there was this process of taking the shoe off, spitting in his face and that whole thing. Now, and actually to this day in the Middle East, you always, if you're ever over there, you want to make sure that your feet always stay on the floor because if you flash the bottom of your sandal to somebody, that is one of the most offensive things that you can do.

And it's pretty much fighting words, as we would say here in the South. So you want to be careful not to do that. So that's, notice in this passage that it becomes in the absence of a brother stepping into this position, it becomes the woman's role. She's supposed to go to the gate of the elders and say, hey, my brother-in-law is not going to fulfill his duties, so I need to do something different. So that's the context of what Naomi is saying to Ruth.

Ruth, it's time to do something. And here we have this man that is of resources and God's granted you favor with him. And, you know, you need to ask him if he'll be your kinsman and redeemer.

Now there's so many beautiful pictures in here. One of the pictures is that Boaz is a type of Jesus Christ and we are a type of Ruth. And I want you to look in verse three, it says, therefore wash yourself and anoint yourself, put on your best garment and go down to the dressing floor, but do not make yourself known to the man until he's finished eating and drinking. Then it shall be when he lies down that you shall notice the place where he lies and you shall go in, uncover his feet and lie down and he will tell you what you should do.

It's very interesting because there's four things that Naomi tells Ruth to do. Number one says to wash. Number two says anoint. Number three says put on the robe or this different garment. Number four says go where he is and do what he says.

Now the odds that all four of these would have some type of application to us are remote, but they speak to us exactly. To wash, well we're reminded in 1 John 1-9 that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to cleanse us from our sins, to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So getting cleansed to come to Jesus is something that we're supposed to do.

Now as we come to Jesus, he again cleanses us. The anointing is a picture of the Holy Spirit. We are to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. We are to be anointed by the Holy Spirit, put on the robe or change clothes. We're told over and over in the New Testament that we are to put on the robe of righteousness or the robe of right doing. We're told to take off the old garments and put on the new, so that is directly in line with what we're supposed to do. And we are to follow him and to do what he instructs us to do, which is exactly what Naomi tells Ruth to do.

Go to him and listen and do what he says. That's her first life lesson. Listen to Jesus and do what he says. Listen to Jesus and do what he says.

That seems real basic, doesn't it? Seems real simple, but hey, we could avoid so many problems and so much heartache and heartbreak in our lives if we do that. So much of what we do here is simply remind people of what Jesus has said and help them to do those things. Go in through the Bible and say, okay, what does the Lord have to say?

What does the Bible have to say about your situation or your relationship or whatever? So many things the Lord speaks to. You're listening to Pastor David McGee on Cross the Bridge.

He'll be back with more in just a moment. But first, there's so much waiting for you at crossthebridge.com. If you haven't visited crossthebridge.com yet, come by today and check it out. While you're there, you can sign up for Pastor David's free daily devotional. Listen to more teachings from Pastor David and read about what God's doing through your support to proclaim his word through radio, internet and mobile technologies. Also, you can give online to help encourage more people in their faith on this radio station and beyond. And when you do, please request your copy of Pastor David's four-part teaching series, Living Life by the Book, as our thanks for your generosity.

Visit crossthebridge.com today. Now back to today's teaching. Now verse five, and she said to her, all that you say to me I will do. So again, we see the beauty and the grace of Ruth. She doesn't say, well, you know, Naomi, I don't want to do this.

I don't feel like doing it. Or, you know, it sounds like a silly plan. See, because even as this is foreign to us, let's remember it was also somewhat foreign to Ruth, because Ruth was not from Israel. She was from Moab. So all this sounded kind of strange to her ears, but she said, you know what? If this is what you think I should do, then this is what I'll do.

And you know what? I think this is, it shows one more really beautiful attribute of Ruth, and that is that she was teachable. She was teachable.

She didn't turn to Naomi and go, you know, Naomi, I don't want to do this, sounds like a silly plan. But she was willing to be taught. Boy, that is such a valuable trait in a believer.

Because see, here's the thing. We need to be taught by the Word and by God about who God is and what we need to be doing, every single one of us. If you're here tonight and you grew up in church and you've been in church 50 years, you know what? God still wants to teach you about following Him.

And, you know, there's also a flip side to that. Jesus, and it's interesting, you look at His time with the disciples and He was an incredible teacher, incredible teacher, as He took them step by step and led them to truth and realization and, you know, and led them to the cross. And He was teaching them.

But I also don't miss this. He was also unteaching them. Because so many things that they came to Him with had nothing to do with His character, had nothing to do with who He really was or what His mission was, and they had to be untaught things that they were carrying around. I think the same is true with us, isn't it? We approach God with these misconceptions. We approach God with who we think He is, and some of us have kind of rendered God to our own making. Well, no, God's like this.

Well, what does the Word say He's like? See, God is both teaching and unteaching us, and we need to remain teachable. And if you're not teachable, man, at some point you are headed towards trouble.

Why? Because, well, as it's been said, if you know everything, then there's nothing else to learn. A lot of us, during our teenage years, we felt like we knew everything. And then somebody would try to tell us to them, ah, no, no, we know that. Oh, you already know that.

We know that better than you. It's kind of like that Mark Twain thing. He said at 16, his father was the most ignorant man in the world, and at 21, he was amazed at how much Dad had learned in five years.

We need to be teachable. And Ruth was teachable, another admirable quality. Verse six, so she went down to the threshing floor and did according to all that her mother-in-law instructed her. Now, the threshing floor was a very public place.

This is not like off somewhere where they were alone. This was a very public place, especially during the times of the harvest. The wine presses were in the valleys, simply because it was easier to get the grapes and carry them down to the wine presses that were in the valleys. The threshing floors were up on the hill.

Why? Because they used wind when they would thresh the crop. They could break it up, or they could get plates at the mule, or a horse, or somebody would pull around and cut it up in little pieces, and then they would by hand throw it up into the air. Now, as they did that, the wind would blow the chaff, or the unusable parts of the barley, or unusable parts of the wheat, it would blow it away. And then the grain would fall back down, and that was the usable part that they used. Now, remember when we met Gideon and Judges, he was threshing in the wine press, which was in the valley where there's no wind.

And so he must have been very frustrated as he just kept throwing everything up, and it just fell right back down. And he's sitting there, he's probably majorly bummed out, and then the angel shows up and says, oh, you valiant man, and Gideon probably went, where? So that's the deal with the threshing floors.

It's a very public place, very large place, and usually a clay floor, sometimes covered, sometimes not. And that's where our story unfolds. Now, verse seven. After Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was cheerful, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain, and she came softly, uncovered his feet, and laid down. Now, the harvest time was a huge time of celebration. And I don't believe, Boaz seems like a godly man, so please don't assume that when it says he had drank that he was toasted or drunk or whatever word you want to use. There just had been a celebration.

Why? Because the harvest time was to be a time of celebration, to recognize the blessings of the Lord on their lives. And there was a celebration, not just of increase, but that the Lord was the focus of. And we have at least two of the Jewish feasts, the Feast of the First Fruits and the Feast of Pentecost that were tied to the harvest. And so when the harvest came in, there was a big celebration. And the Feast of First Fruits, they would take a tenth of the harvest, and they would take it to the temple or take it to the local synagogue, depending on the era, and they would give it as unto the Lord before they ever harvested anything.

It was part of what they did. So, you know, they were enjoying the Lord. Now, verse 1031 says, therefore, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Chances are it's probably been a while since you celebrated or you took part of a barley harvest or a wheat harvest. Some I've never done either, to be honest, but we can still be thankful. We can still celebrate and take joy in the Lord. You know, and a lot of times it's some of the simple pleasures that God gives us. You know, giving thanks for a meal and being joyful at what the Lord has provided. Do you realize that God in His wisdom could have designed our bodies to simply receive nutrients from just breathing? I mean, that wouldn't have been beyond His design capability where we would not have to eat.

Now, think about that. But would you have the joy of breaking bread with somebody or the joy of good food? I love good food. I love to cook. I just, I love eating. Food is a gift from God. And so, you know, when you sit down to eat, thank the Lord for it. You know, some Jewish people actually thank the Lord after the meal because, you know, you tend, sometimes when you're full, you kind of tend to forget, you know, and be thankful. It's real, it's easier to be thankful when you're hungry. I thank you for this food, you know.

And I encourage you to do that. Wherever you are, thank the Lord for the food. I struggle with some people because they don't, they don't thank the Lord if they're out in a public place. They don't take the time to bow their head and thank the Lord for the food, please. You know, and then we have all these ways where we try to be, you know, coy about it. And so, nobody really notices that we're doing it, that we're praying, you know, kind of dropping our napkin or something going, oh, thank you Lord for this food.

Amen. All right, let's eat, guys. You know, I mean, I can't tell you the number of times that I thank the Lord publicly in a restaurant and then had somebody comment on it. Come up and say, hey man, that's awesome that you're doing that publicly.

It's no big deal. It's what we do at home. It's what we do out in a restaurant. And some of you have gone out in public and eaten with me. And so, every now, I don't do this every time, okay? But every now and again, I'll thank the Lord in a more verbal fashion.

I'll stand up. I mean, a restaurant's a public place. I've never, okay, I've never been kicked out for praying out loud out of a public place.

I was going to say, I've never been kicked out. That's a bunch of other stories anyway. So, I didn't want to lie to you.

Okay. But, you know, in a restaurant and I'll stand up and I'll say, Lord, we want to thank you for this food. We want to thank you that you died for our sins. And Lord, we want to thank you that you've provided for us to have eternal life through your death upon the cross. In Jesus' name, amen.

I've just stood up and proclaimed the gospel to people. Again, you don't need to do that every time, but I'll encourage you to try that sometime, to give thanks to the Lord. Romans 14, 17 says, for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Joy in the Holy Spirit. Joy is part of what we're supposed to be experiencing as believers. If there's not joy in your life, we need to examine our life and say, okay, what's going on? The Lord said I would have joy. I don't have joy.

Lord, what's going on? Romans 15, 13 says, now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace and believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. We're supposed to be filled with all joy. That's the next life lesson. The Christian life should be filled with great joy, should be filled with great joy. There's trials. Yes, there's tribulations and we speak of those things often, but how often do we speak of the joy of the Lord?

I don't think we speak of it often enough. And the reality is, guys, if somebody is, in the analogy I use often, if somebody is an Eeyore, if you've seen the Pooh movies, Eeyore was the donkey. He's just really, oh, that'll never work.

He's just always bummed out and he's trying to bum everybody else around him out. We have too many Eeyores in Christianity. Because think of it, if you go to somebody and go, well, I go to church, but not everybody's real and there's some hypocrites and the pastor talks too long and the music's too loud, do you want to go to church with me? Don't be surprised if they're like, oh, no thanks.

Why? Because you're just like an Eeyore to them and they're like, you know, they don't want to join you in your little Eeyore trip. But if you're a ticker, you know, if you're bouncing around and you're going, oh, man, I go to church and the music's great and the teaching always, there's something that I can apply to my life and it's just really exciting. You want to go with me? And they're like, yeah.

You know, they're caught up in that joy and that excitement. And that's what we're supposed to have. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking Him to help you to live for Him. Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me, that I could be forgiven. And I believe you were raised from the dead, that I could have a new life. And I've done wrong things. I have sinned.

And I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things. Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus' name.

Amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer, according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again. Jesus said He would not turn anybody away who comes to Him. And He came for those people who knew they needed forgiveness, those who were sick, not the righteous. So congratulations, friend.

You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we'd love to hear from you. You can call us toll free at 877-458-5508 to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ. Do you ever feel beaten down or even crushed by the difficulties of life? We all do sometimes, but Jesus offers a life of hope, and we want to help you embrace it. Discover how Christ empowers you to rise above life circumstances with Pastor David's four-part teaching series, Living Life by the Book. This uplifting resource takes you through the Book of Ruth to reveal how the simplicity of living for Jesus can bring you joy, even in the darkest times. Living Life by the Book is our thanks for your generous gift today to help more people hear God's truth on this station and beyond so they can cross the bridge from death to life. Please visit crossthebridge.com today to give and get your copy of Living Life by the Book. You know each day comes with its share of stresses, so what better way to wake up than with an encouraging word from the Lord? Visit crossthebridge.com and sign up now for David McKee's email devotionals. Each devotion includes a scripture and a message from the heart of David McKee. It's easy and it's free. Sign up today at crossthebridge.com. Thanks again for listening. Join us next time as we continue in the Book of Ruth.