Today on The Verdict with Pastor John Monroe. We're sometimes kind to someone. We give them a little bit out of our resources and feel we're pretty good. God never deals with us like that. His grace is lavish.
He heaps grace upon grace, kindness upon kindness on us. Welcome to The Verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe. Have you noticed that kindness seems to be in short supply these days? Hostility and confrontation seem to take center stage, and even the church gets caught up in all attention. But today on The Verdict, we're refocusing our attention on the kindness of God and the opportunities we have to show that kindness to others.
Now, here's Pastor John Monroe. We're studying the small but fascinating Old Testament book of Ruth, which presents a wonderful story that is so relevant for us today. Ruth was an alien, a foreigner, an immigrant. But isn't it wonderful to know that God's grace knows no racial or social boundaries. Prejudice and discrimination and bigotry and racism have no place in the lives of followers of Jesus.
All of us have sinned, and all who trust in the saving grace of Jesus Christ are our brothers and sisters in the family of God. Yesterday we learned of the kindness and grace of God which He lavished on Ruth and lavishes on us in extraordinary ways. May this grace transform your life as you display and proclaim our Savior. Let's take another look at Ruth chapter 2.
Now let's continue our study of Ruth. We're going to read from verse 14 to the end of the chapter of chapter 2.
So if you have your Bible there, as I hope you have, take it out and read with me, so that you and I will be transformed by the grace of God and the kindness of God. Ruth 2 then, verse 14. Ruth 2, 14. At mealtime, Boaz said to her, Ruth, come here, that you may eat of the bread and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar.
So she sat beside the reapers, and he served her roasted grain. And she ate and was satisfied and had some left. When she rose to glean, Boaz commanded his servant, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not insult her. And also you shall purposely pull out some grain from the bundles and leave it that she may 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. Verse 18, she took it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She also took it out and gave Naomi what she had left after she was satisfied. Her mother-in-law then said to her, where did you glean today, and where did you work?
May he who took notice of you be blessed.
So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, the name of the man with whom I work today is Boaz. And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, May he be blessed of the Lord, who has not withdrawn his kindness to the living and the dead. Again Naomi said to her, This man is our relative. He's one of our closest relatives. Then Ruth the Moabite said, Furthermore, he said to me, You should stay close to my servants 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 his maids, lest others fall upon you in another field.
So she stayed close by the maids of Boaz in order to glean until the end of the barley harvest and the wheat harvest. And she lived with her mother-in-law. Amen. Here we learn of the kindness and the grace of Boaz. But of course, a picture to us, an illustration to us of the kindness of God and the grace of God.
You see, the kindness of God and the grace of God to us is extraordinary lavish, just as the kindness of Boaz to Ruth is lavish. Last Sunday we learned of the gracious provision under the Mosaic law to the poor and to the alien. And Ruth is taking advantage of that Old Testament provision. She works not as a reaper to be paid, but she works as a gleaner trying to pick up a little bit of grain here and there in order to survive, to get a bit of food. But when Boaz discovers that she is a Moabitess, he makes sure she's cared for.
Boaz ensures that Ruth receives provision and protection, and to Ruth's utter astonishment, she is invited by Boaz, the owner. She's invited to his table.
So the kindness of Boaz is extraordinary. He's the boss, he's the owner, and he's serving Ruth. verse 14. The CEO, as it were, is serving the migrant worker. Can you picture it?
The highest is serving the lowest. And Ruth is invited to his table. And at the end of the evening, verse 17, she leaves with an ephah of barley. That's about 30 pounds. You wonder if she was able to carry it.
That's a lot of food. And Ruth then returns to Naomi with an abundance of food. the first doggy bag we have in the Bible, as it were. The leftovers from the meal is given to Naomi. And Naomi, verse 20, rejoices in this kindness.
Verse 20, Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, may he be blessed of the Lord who has not withdrawn his kindness to the living and the dead. You see, Naomi and Ruth are sheltering under the wings of the Lord. And what is the Lord doing? he is lavishing his grace and his kindness on them. And Naomi here also recognizes that Boaz, verse 20 is one of our closest relatives And his kindness then is a reflection and display of the Lord kindness that the kindness of God and the grace of God are lavished on us Now, just as Ruth had no claim on the kindness and generosity of Boaz, so we have no claim on the grace of God and the kindness of God.
Grace, by definition, is undeserved. It is unmerited. It's the very opposite of what we deserve. if we received what we would deserve, we would be rejected by God. Our life is so messed up, we have made so many wrong turns, that God, a holy God, would certainly be just in saying, you are forever, forever excluded from my presence, and you will suffer my eternal punishment.
but the message of Scripture is this, Psalm 103, that God has not dealt with us according to our sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His lovingkindness towards those who fear Him. And Ruth 2 is a superlative illustration of the lavish, superabounding grace of God to us who are what? Undeserving sinners.
Now, as I was studying this passage, there's another principle here which follows from the first. It's this. The kindness of God, that is his grace, transcends racial barriers. Did you notice that? The kindness of God, the grace of God, transcends racial barriers.
The kindness of Boaz transcended racial barriers. Boaz was an Israelite. throughout the book of Ruth, the writer repeatedly reminds us that Ruth is a Moabitess. He wants us to remember that. You see, the Moabites were not allowed into the sanctuary of the Lord.
They were Israel's enemy. They were idol worshipers. You see, if Ruth is going to be welcomed to the family in Bethlehem, to the people of God, it is going to be on the principle of sheer grace.
Now many of you know what it is to go to a new situation, a new school, a new place of employment, a new neighborhood. You don't quite fit in. Perhaps your accent or your appearance or the color of your skin is different. You don't know everyone, anyone at all. Everyone knows exactly what to do, but it's very difficult for you.
You don't know what to do.
Sometimes it's very embarrassing.
Sometimes it's very humiliating as you try to fit in to a new situation. Think of the generosity and the kindness of Boaz. He makes sure that Ruth is not going to be insulted by his rough servants, that she's not going to be embarrassed at the meal, that she doesn't go home empty-handed, but she goes home with a huge bag of barley, and she is a foreigner, and she's a woman. Boaz treats Ruth as if she were a member of his own family. A despised Moabite is being welcomed into the commonwealth of Israel.
What grace, what kindness. There's no discrimination here. Ruth is from a different race. She looks different. She talks strangely.
I think she has a kind of Scottish accent myself. But at any rate, she's got an accent that makes absolutely no difference to Boaz. His kindness transcends racial barriers and social boundaries. You see, Boaz as being generous to Ruth, not in order to merit God's grace, but rather as a response to the grace of God which he has experienced in his own heart. He's personally received the grace of God, and now he is displaying the grace of God to others.
Isn't that the Christian faith? We receive everything we have from the kindness of God. We understand, at least to some extent, the grace of God and the kindness of God. And now our Lord commands us to go out into this crazy world and to do what? To display that grace and to display that kindness to others.
In our church in Aberdeen, Scotland, where Gunny and I were members of before we came to the U.S., there was a well-known doctor, Dr. Short, who had an even more famous uncle, Dr. Randall Short, internationally known, brilliant doctor, but also a very, very strong and active and dynamic Christian. And the story is told of Dr. Rendell's short, that one day into the hospital comes this old woman.
She's poorly dressed, she's dirty, she's smelly, she's from the streets, but she needs medical attention. And somehow or other, this brilliant doctor learns of this poor woman, and he goes to her, and he treats her. And you know what his unbelieving colleagues said of him? They said of him, Short treated her as if she were a princess. That's the grace of God in operation, isn't it?
For a man who understands the grace of God in his own life is now, in a very practical way, is displaying the grace and the kindness of God to others. You see, God's grace and God's kindness, no boundaries or barriers. On March 6, 1857, Roger Taney, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court here in the United States, wrote in the majority opinion in the case of Dred Scott v. Sanford, that because Scott was black, he was not a citizen and therefore had no right to sue. The framers of the Constitution, he wrote, believed that blacks, quote, had no rights which the white man was bound to respect, and that the Negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit.
He was bought and sold and treated as an ordinary article of merchandise and traffic whenever profit could be made by it. Referring to the language in the Declaration of Independence that includes the phrase all men are created equal Tani remember he the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court here in the United States He reasoned that quote it is too clear for dispute that the enslaved African race were not intended to be included and formed no part of the people who framed and adopted this declaration.
Now, can you believe that? An outrageous opinion delivered only 150 years ago. Here is Boaz over 3,000 years ago welcoming a foreign woman of a different race, the enemy of Israel, and he's treating her as one of the family. Do we understand that the gospel of Jesus Christ transcends all racial and social barriers? In Jesus Christ, all racial and social barriers are broken down.
One of the most magnificent titles given to our Lord as he comes into this world in his incarnation is the Savior of the world, says the Samaritan. He is the Savior of the world. And so in that wonderful verse, John 3, 16, we read that God so loved, what? the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. No race is superior to another race, and racism is a denial that each one of us is made in the image of God, that God so loves the whole world, and that our Lord Jesus Christ died for the sins of the whole world, and not one of us, not one person here, Not one person in the world deserves the grace of God and the kindness of God and the forgiveness of God.
And if God so loves the world as he does, irrespective of race and economic circumstance or color of skin or ethnicity, so we must, as followers of Christ who claim to have received his grace, display that grace to everyone. Did you sing in Sunday school as I used to sing? Jesus loves the little children. I thought I might sing it, but I'm not so sure. Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world, red and yellow, black and white, all are precious in His sight.
A little chorus with a profound truth that I fear some of us have not yet learned. We are people of the grace of God, that grace which transcends all racial and social barriers.
Now, do you believe that? Do you act on it? Do you make mean jokes, derogatory remarks about people of different races, different ethnicities, different colors of skin? That would have been the very opposite of what Boaz is doing. He is protecting this woman.
He understands her vulnerability, and he does all that he can to protect her and provide for her and to demonstrate the kindness and the grace of God to her. And Paul, in that powerful argument in Ephesians 2, argues that our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our peace, has brought Jew and Gentile into one new man, into one body, into the new community, the church of Jesus Christ. In the first century, that was a mind-blowing truth that many Christians had the trouble with. In the 21st century, it's still a mind-blowing truth. Without Christ, Paul reminds us.
Ephesians 2 verse 12. We were excluded from the commonwealth of Israel. We were strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But in Colossians 3, Paul describes the church as the place where there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, scythian, slave and free man. But Christ is all, that is, He is over all, He is Lord of all, He is Lord of lords and King of kings, He is Lord of all and in all.
That is, the same Christ who indwells me is the same Christ who indwells you, if you're a follower of Jesus Christ. There's only one Christ, there's only one way of salvation for all of us, and this is the church of Jesus Christ. In Christ there is no black or white, male or female, Jew or Gentile, American or African or Chinese or Hispanic or Korean or Kazakhs. We are all one in Christ. Isn't that marvelous?
It's only in the church of Jesus Christ where that is a reality. Remember John says in Revelation 5 verse 9, as he pictures that heavenly scene of our precious Savior has purchased for God with his blood men and women and boys and girls from every, every tribe and tongue and people and nation. How wonderful.
Now you say, what implication does that have for me at church?
Well, let me ask you a couple of questions. How do you respond to strangers? How do you respond to people who are different from you? Do you realize that people are different from you? They're different from me?
Whoever you are, whatever your background, do you welcome them, ignore them, patronize them, insult them, cold shoulder them? In the church of Jesus Christ, there is to be zero, zero prejudice, discrimination, or bigotry. How can we who have received the grace of God so lavishly, we should be the most welcoming, the most loving, the most accepting, the least bigoted, the least discriminatory of any person on the face of the earth. In Acts 17, Paul reminds us that from one man, God made every nation of men. That's it.
So we must love people from our heart as a reflection of the grace of God in us rather than based on their social standing or race or culture or ethnicity. And for me, one of the exciting things of being part of church, that we have so many who are born outside the U But think of those sitting here who are born not in these shores but overseas You see those who receive God grace we should be lavish in their kindness and compassion to everyone. When were you last kind to a stranger? When did you last help a poor person? When did you last reach out to someone struggling to fit in?
When did you last show compassion to a recent immigrant to the U.S.? When did you last invite into your home, someone not within your little inner circle? Students, are you the first in your class to reach out to a new student when he or she comes to that class? I went to three elementary schools. I went to three high schools.
I remember the first day in each of these three high schools, particularly the last two, as I came a stranger, one being overseas. I know what it is to go into a new situation, and you're the odd person out. How wonderful for one individual, just one student, to smile at you, to say, can you join us for lunch? Can I introduce you to my friends? Displaying in this practical way the grace and the kindness of God, demonstrating His indescribable grace.
You can imagine Naomi's excitement as she impatiently waits for Ruth to come home from her first day of gleaning. Naomi is delighted with the doggy bag. She's delighted with the 30 pounds of barley. And she's delighted when she learns that the man who helped Ruth is none other than Boaz, a close relative. She's overjoyed.
They're realizing that the Lord is watching over them as they have found their shelter under His wings and is showering His grace and His kindness on them. You see, God watches over all those who find their refuge under His wings. Have you received His grace? Is there someone here this morning and you've never yet trusted Christ for salvation? Will you do that?
I plead with you to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Your sins will be forgiven and you'll be transformed. And in an instant, all of your sin, all of your failures will be wiped out.
Furthermore, the living Christ will come to indwell you. Today, receive His grace. For those of us who have received that grace today, today, this week, display that grace and that kindness to others. And be ready as you shelter under His wings to have open hands, empty hands, asking God once again to bless you in His grace and with His incredible kindness. Display that grace and that compassion to a stranger, to a poor person, to someone of a different race or color or background.
Will you do that? display the grace of God and the kindness of God to those in need. And may the Lord bless you under whose wings you've come to seek your refuge. We thank you, Father, for your indescribable grace. It's too much for us.
We're overwhelmed by it because you lavish us with it. And the more we understand ourselves and our pride and our selfishness and our self-indulgence, the more we praise your great name, the more we exalt you. I pray, Father, for those who while they talk and may sing about your grace, have never experienced it in their soul, draw them to Christ, open their eyes. And may those who know this grace, may we display it today, this week, this month, to those in need. And so display and proclaim the grace of God and the truth of God to others.
We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. This is The Verdict with Pastor John Monroe and the end of a lesson titled The Kindness of God. Right now, we're in a study in the book of Ruth. And in case you've missed any of these messages so far, be sure to catch up online by going to theverdict.org.
There you'll also see that we're offering a custom listening guide specifically written to complement each of these daily lessons with details on key points, questions for review, and practical ideas for daily application. And we'd like to offer this helpful printable workbook to you right away. It's a great tool for your own personal study or for hosting a group discussion with family and friends.
So download your free copy of the Ruth Listening Guide today by visiting us online at theverdict.org. Before we close today's program, we invite you to join in what God is doing through these daily biblical messages by supporting us with a financial gift of any amount. Your generous contributions help bring these gospel messages to your local community and send them to new listeners all around the world.
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Now, here's Pastor John Monroe. Well, what's your verdict? What is your reaction when you consider the kindness of God, the grace of God, the amazing grace which saves wretches like us. Those who receive this grace are transformed and display this indescribable grace to others. Today, receive a fresh outpouring of the grace of God and extend that grace to someone who may be very different from you.
Don't forget to tune in next time as we continue the story of grace and learn of a marriage proposal. Thanks for joining us today on The Verdict. I'm Michelle Davies. Today's program with Pastor John Monroe was produced and sponsored by Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
