Sermons

FILTER BY:

← back to list

    Dec 09, 2018

    Take shelter

    Take shelter

    Passage: Ruth 2:1-23

    Speaker: Patrick Lafferty

    Series: 2018 Advent: "Strong Female Lead—Led by God: An Advent Series in the Book of Ruth"

    Category: Advent

    Everyone seeks some kind of shelter when the storm comes. Everyone looks for some kind of safe place when troubled. The book of Ruth shifts its focus from Naomi to Ruth in this passage to introduce to us where, why, and how we’re to look--and find--our shelter, our rest, our fullness.

    Snowday Worship Livestream!

    Send your snowday pictures, videos or follow-up comments to

    Advent Project

    If you’re looking for a special Advent devotional, we suggest jumping in on the Advent Project by Dr. Barry Corey. Click the link below to join in on this daily series that includes music, poetry, art and devotional. It’s one of Patrick’s recommendations for the season!

    http://ccca.biola.edu/advent/2018/

    Readings & Scripture

    Pre-Service Text: Psalm 8
    3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
    the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
    4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
    and the son of man that you care for him?

    Call To Worship: Advent reading:

    Reader #1 - “Advent is a time of waiting. During this season, we remember and celebrate Israel’s waiting for the birth of the Messiah, who is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And in this season, we also remember that we, the Church, are in another, larger season of waiting: waiting for Christ to return, as he said that he would. In this sense, we are in-between advents. And last week, the first candle was lit, the Hope Candle, which invites us into a hopeful anticipation of the Coming King. And now, this second candle is the Peace Candle, reminds us that Jesus is the Prince of Peace, restoring our relationship with God.”

    Reader #2 -
    Our Old Testament reading comes from the prophet Isaiah, chapter 9:

    2c The people who walked in darkness
    have seen a great light;
    those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
    on them has light shone.

    6 For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given;
    and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
    and his name shall be called
    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
    7 Of the increase of his government and of peace
    there will be no end,
    on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
    to establish it and to uphold it
    with justice and with righteousness
    from this time forth and forevermore.
    The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

    Reader #3
    And let us continue with our New Testament reading, as we listen to Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus. This is from Luke 1:46-55

    And Mary said,
    “My soul magnifies the Lord,
    47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
    48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
    For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
    49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
    and holy is his name.
    50 And his mercy is for those who fear him
    from generation to generation.
    51 He has shown strength with his arm;
    he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
    52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
    and exalted those of humble estate;
    53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
    and the rich he has sent away empty.
    54 He has helped his servant Israel,
    in remembrance of his mercy,
    55 as he spoke to our fathers,
    to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”

    Prayer: Lord God. Thank you for sending your son, the Prince of Peace, to repair our relationship with you. Draw us to confess to you how we have broken our relationship with you and one another, and help us use this time to reflect on the peace that you brought to us in your Son Jesus. And it is in his name, and for his glory, that we pray. Amen.”

    Central Text: Ruth 2:1-23
    Ruth 2:1 Now Naomi had a relative of her husband’s, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. 2 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.” 3 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. 4 And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. And he said to the reapers, “The LORD be with you!” And they answered, “The LORD bless you.” 5 Then Boaz said to his young man who was in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?” 6 And the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered, “She is the young Moabite woman, who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. 7 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.”

    Ruth 2:8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Now, listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. 9 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.” 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?” 11 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. 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!” 13 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.”

    Ruth 2:14 And at mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here and eat some bread and dip your morsel in the wine.” So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed to her roasted grain. And she ate until she was satisfied, and she had some left over. 15 When she rose to glean, Boaz instructed his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her. 16 And also pull out some from the bundles for her and leave it for her to glean, and do not rebuke her.”

    Ruth 2:17 So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. 18 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. 19 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 worked today is Boaz.” 20 And 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.” 21 And Ruth the Moabite said, “Besides, he said to me, ‘You shall keep close by my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’” 22 And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, lest in another field you be assaulted.” 23 So she kept close to the young women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvests. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

    Response: Of the Father’s Love Begotten
    Of the Father’s love begotten,
    E’er worlds began to be.
    He is alpha and omega,
    He the source, the ending he.
    Of the things that are, that have been,
    And that future years shall see.
    Evermore and evermore.

    Benediction: Hebrews 13:20-21
    20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

    Post-Service Text: Psalm 23:5
    You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies;
    you anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows...

    Related Scriptures:

    • Leviticus 23:22
    • Psalm 8
    • Psalm 23:5
    • Isaiah 55:1-3
    • Isaiah 58:9-11
    • Matthew 5:6
    • Luke 1:30
    • Luke 9:10-17
    • Hosea 2:23 / Romans 9:25-26
    • Ephesians 2:17-19

    Discussion Questions & Applications:

    1. Don’t think--just answer: what do you do when you feel uneasy--when you need to feel safe or secure? Why that? What’s it like when you do? Has it helped? If not, why do you keep in that way?
    2. Why do you think the narrator repeatedly mentions Ruth’s homeland of Moab?
    3. Why does Ruth marvel at Boaz’s response(s)?
    4. Why does Boaz profoundly affirm Ruth, and then bless her with his generosity?
    5. If you had to gue ss who the first Israelite listeners of this story were supposed to identify with--whether Naomi’s need or Ruth’s virtue--which would you pick? Why?
    6. What comparisons can you draw between Ruth and Jesus? Between Boaz and Jesus?
      1. How is Jesus an even more dramatic picture of what you see of Him in either character?
      2. What relevance might that greater picture in Jesus have for us? In how we think of what He has done for us? In how we think about what it means to follow Him?

    Quotes

    • Nothing can save us that is possible. - Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men
    • The real evidence of character and the ultimate test of spiritual maturity is not how someone reacts to the great, the famous, the rich, and the noble, but how that person has responded to the marginalized, the unnoticed, the poor, the struggler, and the needy. - Sinclair Ferguson
    • [Kindness is when] you’ve treated people with extraordinary decency and love, and pure uninterested concern, just because they were valuable as human beings. . . the way we would treat a really good, precious friend. Or a tiny child of ours that we absolutely loved more than life itself. . . .The ability to do that with ourselves. . . I think part of the job we’re here for is to learn how to do it. - David Foster Wallace
    • My idea of God is not a divine idea. It has to be shattered time after time. He shatters it Himself. He is the great iconoclast. Could we not almost say that this shattering is one of the marks of His presence? The Incarnation is the supreme example; it leaves all previous ideas of the Messiah in ruins. And most are ‘offended’ by the iconoclasm; and blessed are those who are not. - C.S. Lewis

    Sermons/resources:

    Related Media:

    Joseph Anton Koch (Austrian, 1768–1839). Landscape with Ruth and Boaz, 1823/25.