To Live is Christ, To Die is Gain (Philippians 1:18b-26)

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To Live is Christ, To Die is Gain (Philippians 1:18b-26)

Spencer Cary

Transcript

Good morning my name is Spencer I am one of the pastors here we are continuing to walk through the book of Philippians we're in chapter 1 still uh we're going to be in the second half of Verse 18 all the way through verse 26 so you can follow along with us on the screen you also can follow along in a blue Bible it's on page 570 you can track along with us so the other day it dawned upon me that my oldest uh is going to turn nine this year which means that we're kind of at the halfway point of her being in the house.

God willing uh and that there's not a lot of years left to really you know influence to be able to show her what it means to love Christ what it means to display that love to others what it means to uh have a Gospel centered life like we don't have as much time it's and I'm also you know I'm not naive I understand that when she gets more into uh you know the teenage years that my influence is going to WAN a little bit and her wife as she starts to become her own adult uh person.

But it's just I mean it's kind of hit me honestly oh man um you know we you know we read the Bible at night we do some worship songs at night we we try to have some time where we talk about applying God's word to um their lives and to our lives and it's like I want to I want to maximize this time as much as possible because I'm losing it the time is is is running away and that's going to happen with each of my children as they get older old and as I get closer and closer to 40 which is typically the time where a lot of men start to ask Big Life.

Questions because you're at the halfway point of life and you're like I I mean this is like I'm I'm I'm nearing I'm nearing the end the halfway point is just going to keep going like and that's when you know midlife crises come into play and people make sometimes really bad decisions uh you know some of those are less bad than others uh you know some might say I'm going to get a car I I got to get I got to get the car.

Because if I don't get the car like what am I doing if I'm I got to travel I got to get to Europe I got to do this I got to do that there's all types of things some things I think are good people might say I got to go back to school I got to refocus I got to you know join a gym do CrossFit whatever it is like I but there's just this evaluation when you understand that time is a finite resource and you don't have much of it left.

But what are you actually going to do that reality check Dawns upon us and it does leave you asking questions like I'm just like am I am I always going to drive a Prius is that how this is like I mean I'm just kind of Peace meing this car together as it goes like am I am I going to like keep wearing flannels and rocking beards I started that Trend like in my early 20s and it's I mean it just kind of continued like those can like fall upon you and you start to re-evaluate and I think to have the really the the finite nature of time and really the reality that death will one.

Day come to us all I think that's actually a good thing to do I don't think you should do that at 40 years old I think you should regularly as a Christian think about that reality and to make the best use of our time and to live the best life that you could possibly live that we should ask the question what is the what is the ultimate life worth living now I have good news for us today the book of Philippians and where we're at in this part of the book speaks directly to that it gives us.

If you're asking questions about how should I live my life but is the best possible life I could live we're at the place that absolutely addresses that God has a good word for us today so I want to pray for us as we really lean into that question and then we'll walk through the text together heavenly father I pray that you would help us be open to receiving your word and that we would not just be hearers of the word but we would be doers and that comes through.

First acknowledging the Gospel and trusting in you and out of that Faith Comes repentance that changes the way we live so that we can worship and honor and Delight in you God I pray that you would do that work within us this morning so that we might be a people that take this life life seriously in Jesus name amen all right so we've been in Philippians in chapter 1 for a bit one of the things we've seen the last few weeks is that Paul in his imprisonment as he's in Rome he's in prison and house arrest the Philippians they're they're exchanging letters in this letter he is talking about how his imprisonment is being used.

To advance the Gospel it's encouraging Believers Christians on the ground in Rome and he was excited about that even as we saw last week that there are some people who were preaching from Bad motives from selfish ambition a rivalry with Paul but there are others who are preaching with good motivations and he goes regardless of the motivations I'm just jacked I'm rejoicing because the Gospel is being preached because Christ is being proclaimed so he's at this moment where he's just rejoicing that Christ is being preached and he has something else to Rejoice about in the back end of.

Verse 18 where we pick up when he says yes and I will rejoice for I know that through your prayers and the help of the spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my Deliverance that's his rescue he's going to be rescued as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body whether by life or by by death so he's not just rejoicing that the Gospel is being repe is being preached and being proclaimed he's also rejoicing.

Because he's going to be delivered and this is I I don't want us to miss this isn't the main point of this but he says due to your prayers through the prayers of the Philippian Christians and the work of the spirit that he's going to be delivered which just should really Center us on like prayer is unbelievably important God accomplishes his will through his people through the prayers of his people from Old Testament into the New Testament so we should be a people that are praying.

For God to work we have a prayer list that goes out to members in our Church who've opted to receive that text that goes out on Monday we have a prayer list that you can if you want things prayed for you can go on our website to uh I think it's one of the times if I had it off top of my head I'd tell you but I don't but it's somewhere in there you scan all the tabs you'll see pray and you can put in a prayer request it goes to that list we should do that.

Because prayer matters God accomplishes his will through the prayers of his people over and over and over again and don't I want us to miss that as we launch into the rest of this that they've been praying for his Deliverance they've been praying for Paul and he says I'm going to be delivered now that word delivered comes from the same Greek word uh for saved sotia so this is saved this is delivered and the question is okay from what from what are you going to be delivered is it what you were just talking about is it your imprisonment that you're going to be delivered from prison is he going to have his Tim Robbins moment.

Where he goes through the tunnel or the the what do you call those pipes that Shaw Shank and gets out into the water and looks up in the sky and he is free which if you don't know what I'm talking about I'm so sorry for you if you've never seen Shaw Shank Redemption first off how dare you like just you've missed out on something this is one of the top five movies if you have this Tim Robbins moment where he's just he's.

So excited to be is's going to be delivered is that's what's happening here so some will argue that's happening others will say no he's actually he's moved on that was so verse 17 we're on to new and better things in these next few verses what he says is is that they will turn out from my this will turn up for my Deliverance verse 20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed but that with full courage.

Now as always Christ will be honored in my body whether by life or by by death others will say no no he's moved on from imprisonment he's talking about eternal Deliverance he's talking about death he's talking about the fact that because he believes that Christ was crucified for his sin and he put his faith in Christ and because he put his faith in Christ God the Father looks at Paul and says that he stands righteous because of the righteousness of Christ and not his own.

Because Jesus died for him he stands confidently waiting to go into the next life waiting to be delivered into the next life where he will be with Christ for eternity so some will say no it's it's more that's what's happening here I think the language here between two ideas I think he's being a little bit vague and koi for a reason I think he's kind of going with both and when you read the rest of the passage I think you'll see that he actually means both very practically as he works through this that he does expect to at some point be released from this Roman imprisonment and also he is eager.

For what is next after this life which he picks up in verse 21 for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain if I'm to live in the flesh that means fruitful labor for me yet which I shall choose I cannot tell I'm hardpressed between the two my desire is to depart and be with Christ for that is far better we'll pause there verse 21 is one of my favorite passages in the Bible like it is Shaw Shank Redemption top five level at of all the passages in the Bible this this right here is it you can come back to it over and over again and the deeper you weit into it.

The more satisfying it actually is to live as Christ to die as gain now his basic argument is pretty easy to follow if you're going to live it is for Christ if I'm going going to live a life it is going to be for Christ if I'm going to get out of this R imprisonment and continue my Ministry it's going to be for Christ it's going to be fruitful labor is the language he uses In this passage which will further unpack in the verses that follow that means more churches planted that means more Sinners saved that means more Christians discipled.

If I'm going to live huge win if I'm going to die huge win because if I die I gain I gain eternity I gain an eternal life with Christ I depart this painful broken marred sinful world and I get to be with Christ and that is far better so here is why I think this is one of the most important passages in the Bible it's hard to find a more succinct summary of what the Christian life looks like like this is the headline.

For the Christian Life and when I say headline I mean like how headlines used to be it used to be that you got a paper and that paper was like a physical paper and it smelted really good and you would look and you'd see headlines and the headline was a few words that summarized the whole article you could read the headline you get a general gist of where it was going nowadays headlines are not that they're clickbait sometimes have nothing to do with what's in the article.

Because journalism's lost complete ethic bearings and just but it's just the actual headline like what what actually like this is it like the old school headline you see this to live as Christ to die as gain that's the Christian Life and there's a whole lot more that can be said about that when you read the rest of the Scriptures but you have that right there and you understand what it means to be a Christian that when you actually trust in the finished work of.

Jesus when when you trust in his perfect life and the righteousness that comes through that that gets accredited to our account when you trust in his death that I a sinner and I need a savior and his blood covers me you trust in his resurrection that I actually get to have a new life in Christ because death no longer has a grip on me and that he ascended to the right hand of God the Father where he rules and Reigns from and I get to serve him out of that hope.

When you understand that the rest of the Christian Life is this you put all your chips on that hope on that reality you don't H your bets it's all in on Christ and now what to live as Christ to die is gain so I want to spend some time digging into this phrase because I think this phrase is unbelievably important if you understand what the best life is to live so let take a look at the first part to live is Christ he goes on to say.

If I'm to live in the flesh that means fruitful labor for me now he's going to go on to unpack this in the next few verses and just say that this is serving your brothers and sisters in Christ this is in service of the Church but that's what it means to live as Christ means to serve Christ to live is to serve that's the Christian Life to Live is to serve I went to a college called Presbyterian College and they had a a motto in Latin was called Dum vivamus servamus which was.

While we live we serve and at one point I'm sure in the history of our college that was attached to Christian values this is no longer a Christian College not remotely close but just like Harvard back in the day was founded as a seminary this was founded as a Christian College back in the day and at some point someone made the connection that the life that you live in Christ is one of service to live is Christ if you're going to be a Christian you're going to serve that is what it means to be a Christian and not only that that is the Pinnacle of human existence you understand what the what the what the.

Most maximized human life is do you understand what the good life is the good life is one that is found in serving Christ but in a lot of different ways I think our actions and our desires reveal that we don't really celebrate that Anthem that we don't really wholly Embrace that idea and then if you're in a bit of a midlife or quarter life crisis or you're just evaluating your time and you're trying to think through what do I do with the life that I have left like Paul is.

If I get out of prison this is what I'm going to do to live is this that if we're pose the same question that says if you had more time if you had more time in this life what are you going to do what is your gut instinct say what do your actions reveal I think if we're honest might reveal a lot of things that if I get more time what I'm going to do is I'm going to maximize my time to make money that I'm going to do what I can to make money.

Because money means freedom to choose freedom to do what I want freedom for me freedom for my family it means a lot of things that I can gain in this life this life is very temporary and I need to maximize my life and the aim of my life in a way that maximizes how much money I can have in my bank account I think for others that if you had more time that you'd be really focused on I want to be able to find someone to do this life with that I want to be able to find someone that I can journey through life that I love that I want I want that person.

For others who even might be married now might be just in a marriage that you're not happy with and it's like I if I I want someone I can actually love and journey through life with to live is if I had more time I could just have this if I had more time I could have the perfect family the right amount of kids who behave the just right amount of like all the things I want them to do that they would be involved in these Sports and would be uh uh good at this aspect of school and be able to have these type of careers.

If I could just uh have more time I'll be able to establish that type of family if I had more time I would be able to establish the kind of the kind of career I want but as you're thinking ahead primary focus is what kind of career I can have and the time I can put into that and the Legacy that I can leave through that and the work that I do if I had more time I would just grow to be a person that is admired by others that people would like me and I could leave that type of Legacy.

If I had more time I could live the kind of comfortable lifestyle that I want I could ditch the car that I don't like it improved the truck that I do like I could live uh I could level up in the house that I have I could have Comforts I could have the big screen TV if I had more time I could get happy if I had more time I could get healthy I think the Instinct within us and I think the actions that we display would reveal a lot of different things that.

If we had more time it would be a focus on this but to live would be this and listen I don't I don't think that I think having a good job and a and a spouse and a sweet family and a career that you like and being liked by others and being able to afford Stakes on the weekend like I'm I think those are good things and guess what Christianity is not opposed to those things this just not a a faith that's built on aestheticism this super righteous over-the toop lifestyle that's not what this is at all.

But here's the thing those things are not the Pinnacle of what it means to be a human those AR the the that's not what it means to live the good life not for the Christian at all that's not what it means that's not that should not be the central aim of Our Lives all of those things in our lives should be in joyful submission to the central aim of our life and that life is one of serving Christ which means that the money that we make is in service to Christ that.

If you get a pay raise it's like I God has blessed me with more so that I might not use it all on myself that I might bless others I might see other people in our Church family that are in difficult situations and be able to bless them that I might be able to reformulate my budget so I can send more missionaries because ultimately my money is a means by which I get to serve Christ that if God blesses me with a spouse that means I get to be in a one flesh Union that is in service to Christ that.

If I'm currently in one I get to rethink how our marriage is centered on the Gospel so that our marriage can ultimately not serve my needs or even my spouse's needs but ultimately in service of Christ that if you choose a career or you decide to switch jobs that every one of those decisions is like how do I submit this in the service of Christ how would I be a missionary in this workplace how will choosing this uh job help me serve the kingdom better you can go on and on down the list.

If I'm going to raise a family it's going to be one that is centered on the idea and the truth that is beautiful to live is Christ which means that I'm going to spend time with my children to help them understand that is the most important thing they could possibly ever understand and believe which means that I'm going to have make decisions as a father that says maybe we don't do the travel ball team this year and maybe I'm not impressing upon them that straight AIDS is the most important thing you can do to have the career that you want that I might even stretch them past bedtime on a night at community group knowing.

Good and well when I get home at 8:30 they're going to be really tired and awful at 6:00 in the morning when I'm getting them ready and the whole next day they might be a little tyrants but it's for a purpose because ultimately I want them to understand that to live as Christ and that this is more important we make decisions all the time that should be in service to Christ and should guide ourselves our families towards the ultimate good life that whatever Comforts that whatever whatever things.

God gives us in this life is in service to the ultimate aim that is to serve Christ that we would Le we would leverage every aspect of Our Lives towards making disciples and loving Brothers and Sisters in Christ and doing just to be blunt whatever God wants you to do now sometimes when you put a big emphasis on that there's a part of us especially in our Church where it's we we preach over and over again that you're not saved by works we beat that drum all the time that you're not saved by your Works you're not saved by your Works you're not saved by your works from Grace you've been saved through faith we.

Hit that drum over and over again for a reason because we need to understand that we trust in the perfect works of Christ on our behalf and that record stands for us you don't get into the kingdom of God by doing a bunch of good so we'll hit that over and over again but not at the expense of go 2 verse uh Ephesians 2: 89 and verse 10 which says that we are his workmanship that once you're in the kingdom of.

God you're created for good works which is not for you to get into heaven it's for your neighbors and it's for the advancement of his kingdom I love how Paul puts some very similar ideas in this passage into 2 Corinthians chapter 5 when he says in verse 8 and9 yes we are of good courage and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord see that similar language there i' ra I'd rather be at home with the.

Lord because that's my heavenly home it's not here it's there i' rather be at home with the Lord verse 9 so whether we are at home or away we make it our aim to please him and I want us to miss that we don't please him to get into heaven but we should make it our chief aim as Christians to say how can I please him how can I serve him how can I do this and I think the problem for us as a as Americans I think as American Christians I think we're.

So drunk off of Earthly blessings and Earthly riches and Earthly things that when the Bible confronts us on this when it comes to us and says You must live for Christ you must please him you must obey him a part of it just goes yeah I know but if I do that I'm going to miss out on some things and I just I want to just brutally murder that idea from us ever believing that is true because it's the idea that enjoying the things of this world is somehow better than what Christ has to offer us I I just want to kill that idea.

If I took my child if I took my son and I said we're going to get ice cream and not just any ice cream like we're going to the Baked Bear in Five Points which I've been on keto for a month and today is my first day off and sometime this week I'm going there because you can get ice cream and they take gooey butter cookies and they press it together into just I mean it's amazing and yeah I'm like that's where we're going we're getting that it's like that as that's the that's the best we got in Columbia we're going there and we're walking through five points and all of a sudden he sees.

A red shiny thing in the gutter and it's a one of those strawberry candies like the outside looks like a strawberry wrapper it's bright and shiny inside tastes like lip gloss you know what I'm talking about and he darts to it and he picks it up and he's like no no no dad I found it we're good I'm going to camp out here you go do whatever you want I don't have to walk that much further because I found what is going to satisfy me I would smack it out of his hand I would say you're not enjoying this no no no I don't you don't understand I want this i' smack it out of.

His hand again and have to look around and make sure that nobody's going to call the police you leave that for the kids in Five Points coming off of USC campus that's not what we're going to enjoy we're going to the Baked Bear I know we got to walk a little further son but that's where we're going because once we get there it's going to be good and it's going to be better than that filth that I'm going to stomp into the ground no that's what I do with my son and that's what God's trying to help us.

See yeah it's a little more effort to serve Christ takes a little farther to get there but it's good it's actually where goodness is found it's unbelievably good when you read Psalm 37 in Psalm 37:3 he says trust in the Lord and do good dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness he's saying trust in God and in trusting him serve him do good but faithfulness and then you get to verse four when it says delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart which people have Twisted out of context.

For their own purpose purposes and said you had Del lighten yourself in the Lord he's going to give you whatever you want it's like no no don't miss what it's sandwiched between verse three do good verse 5 commit your way to the Lord trust in him and he will act that ultimately goodness is found in Walking With Our God and doing what he commands and trusting in our savior and then obeying him that's where goodness is found not just goodness you get to delight in.

God through that and delighting in God who is the Perfection of beauty who is wonderful is good serving Christ is not drudgery it's not it's not a boring life no matter how much it gets depicted in movies or in TV the Christians live a boring life it's not service of Christ is not drudgery that is a lie you ask anyone who has followed Christ for decades they've pursued him in word and prayer regularly they have been obedient to make disciples they have entered into the baptism Waters and they have seen people testify that Christ has change them.

Because they got to be vessels of that being used to declare the Gospel to them you listen to their stories of how they helped other Christians get out of debt of how they helped walk with other brothers and sisters in discipling them you ask them if they would wish they had spent the last few decades doing something different that they would have would you would you have rather spent your time on endless amount of hobbies pursuing meaningless sex would you rather have watched a bunch more shows and bed a bunch more series would you have rather gone to a bunch of really fancy parties and gotten sosed is that what you have rather have done.

With your time if you ask them that question they're going to look at you sideways they're going to look at you like have you have you lost your mind absolutely not not because they've experienced what it means to Delight in Christ through service they know what it means to walk with their God and out of walking with their God serving others they have experienced that and that's better as we say every Sunday morning better than everything else and they believe that yet.

When I talk to people who have spent their years spent the last decade pursuing empty Pursuits chasing after worldly things I hear I'm s I'm tired I'm depressed I'm anxious I'm burned out because those things don't actually ever satisfy because that's not where true Joy is found to live as Christ is where true Joy is found service of Christ is not drudgery it is joy and when we realize that and believe that we become the Living Sacrifice that God has called us to be.

Then we tap into a greater form of joy that is better than anything this world has to offer so when he says to live as Christ of course I'm going to keep doing this what else would I rather be doing this is it and that's why he can so freely say in the next breath to die is gain death is gain because he knows if I die it's promotion to the big leagues I'm going to Eternity and that is far better and I think the problem.

For us is that so many of us are tempted to squeeze every ounce out of this life to squeeze every ounce of Earthly pleasure out of this life that we can't even see that that's better that I think that if many of us were told that you were going to die younger than you thought it would be scary and it would be sad and Paul just doesn't have that mindset he's so freed up in believing in Christ and understanding eternity and that this life is a drop in the bucket compared to the ocean of time that spent in eternity and how much better that is he's.

So grounded in that idea he says if you kill me good I'm I'm I'm going to get where I want to go faster where I'll behold the face of God where I won't have the stain of this body and its Brokenness and its pain and its suffering or I won't be in I won't be I won't struggle with sin anymore yeah I I'll take that all day long he says yet which I shall yet which I shall choose I cannot tell I'm hardpressed between the two to Live to Die My Desire is to depart and be with Christ.

For that is far better he's not suicidal y'all that's not what's happening here he just understands Eternity for what it is and he's just being honest he's like I'm heart pressed I know that I should I got more to I got more to do but man I want that CU that's better and if you've ever heard stories you've been around Christians who've walked with the Lord for years and they have a terminal illness there's a part of them that's sad because they're going to leave a wife or a husband behind and they're going to leave kids behind and that's painful.

Because death thingss and that's painful but if you press in and you ask but but are you are you excited about being with Christ and that face just turns and it's like yeah I am I'm really looking forward to that I believe our calculations are off if we think there's less reward in serving Christ and I think our calculations are off if we fear death we should live every day to serve Christ in any way that he desires and we should.

See the joy in doing that because it is wonderful and then when God calls us to be home with him we're ready for the gain that awaits us that's what Paul's articulating here now it's when you see how he's talking around this you see he's somewhat convinced I would argue he's somewhat convinced that he's still got more work to do and the history behind this is is that there's a few historical resources outside the Bible that say that he got out of this imprisonment and he ended up in Spain which is.

When you read the book of Romans where he wanted to go and take the Gospel now we don't know that for a complete fact whether he did that or whether this really was the last imprisonment I lean towards looking at this text and realizing that I think he expects to get out and then he expects he has more work to do and you get a glimpse of that mindset when you go through verse 24 and 26 which was what we close out with.

Today he says 24 but to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account convinced of this I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus because of my coming to you again so I think from this that he he thinks he's getting out regardless of where you where you land on that his mindset is if I get out.

When I get out it is for your progress and joy in the faith that's what he says the way I get to live as Christ the way I get to serve Christ is for your progress and joy in the faith later in Chapter 2 he's going to talk about himself as a being poured out like a drink offering which is sacrificial language from the Old Testament that he's gets to be a sacrifice for their benefit he gets to be a sacrifice.

For their joy and progress in the faith that's what it means to serve Christ brothers and sisters that you leverage your life in service of Christ for the good of one another for the joy and progress of the people in this room to know and love and enjoy Christ we do that first by remembering Jesus in a sacrifice for us what he did on our behalf what he went to the cross for us we look at that sacrifice and out of that and realizing the mountain of debt that he paid.

For that our sin that put him there out of that we overflow into worship and we say and try to leverage Our Lives to say how can I serve others that I might help them have joy in Christ progress in their faith in Christ that's what it means to live as Christ and that that looks like the group leaders we have in our Church family that are laying on the line for their groups and when group gets hard and it gets messy and it gets tiresome you.

Look to Christ and you say thank you Jesus you serve me I'm going to serve others too and I'm going to I'm going to persevere in this and the joy that's found in the hardship of doing that is watching people taste and see that the Lord is good and watching Sinners be saved and watching marriages be restored and watching people understand what it means to truly serve Christ and to give themselves away this happens when a brother or sister sits down with someone who is hurting another brother and sister maybe.

For hours maybe for days maybe for weeks and just sits with them serving them because it's for not my own good it's for the good of others and it's for their joy and for their progress in the faith so yeah this is a a negative situation and it's got negativity within it but I press into that reality because it's worth them knowing and enjoying loving Christ this means leveraging your hospitality for others which is hard cuz I don't know if you bought groceries lately.

But like two bags is a 100 bucks and I we feel it and it's like man I I mean I we can we do hot dogs like I just you can by the way um it's like you're leveraging this I'm I'm going to I'm going to put this in my budget I'm put this in my mindset that I'm going to give up time and money for others to invite unbelievers into my house to invite their Christians into my house because it's good.

Because it's ultimately for their joy and progress and the faith Faith this means hear this this means sticking it out with people that are described as messy or even toxic man there's there's so much of an ideology going around right now that says if you got messy people in your life you got toxic people in your life you draw all this boundary and that's your circle and they can't get in the circle because if they get inside the circle that's a problem.

Because self care is Pinnacle at this moment you got to care for yourself so they can't be let in and what I'm not saying is is that you don't keep in mind that you don't give all of your energy and all of your time to messy people but you go the gospels and you show me a time when Jesus drew a boundary around himself and said these messy people can't get in and you ain't going to find it you know what he did do with messy people with hurting people he spent time with his heavenly.

Father and he got away from the crowds and he was filled up so that he could serve others well and I just want to again murder the mindset a lot of murder language sorry I want to destroy the mindset that says I can't serve others because I have to only care for myself it's the opposite of the Gospel to live is Christ whatever that is fill in the blank to live is serving Christ and leveraging our lives for others joy.

For others progress in the faith and we do it over and over again because we ultimately believe that Jesus is better over and over again and that in and through those labors and those efforts we get to see other people as he says In this passage have ample opportunities to glorify Christ ample cost to glorify Christ so brothers and sisters we leverage our lives for Mission we leverage Our Lives to loving one another well for the good of one anothers and we do it over and over and over again and we give ourselves away.

Because ultimately we get to help others experience joy and progress and in that labor even when it is hard we experience joy that is found in him because that level of joy is only found in the service of others so that means we need to be honest about how we'd answer that question to live is what that we should be honest about what we are basing Our Hope in this life on but what we think the good life is to live is what.

And if that answer isn't Christ then we say I submit this to you Jesus and I put it at your feet and you Chang my heart and you help me repent and you help me to live is for you for the good of others and for the progress in the faith until Christ calls us home again I'm at the halfway point with my oldest and I've only got a few years of really PR primary influence in her life before she leaves the home and I.

So want the next n plus years just to say an embody in her to live is Christ baby girl to live is Christ and to die is gain that's the Christian life because I want her to be able to go into the world and see money not as a God but as a tool and she's like I'm just so that one day she'll say this is just a tool and I won't be anxious about this I'm not going to be needing to.

For all this but I will live for the good of others and I will leverage my finances for the sake of others that if God does call her into a marriage one day and she has a husband that they will enter into a Godly marriage that is in service of others that she chooses a job that it's ultimately going to be how can I serve Christ in this job if she chooses to spend her time she says I'm going to serve Christ as.

God blesses her with children that one day she's going to raise them in service of Christ and enjoying him and God willing is going to live a long life and I'm going to beat her to Eternity and then one day at the end of her life a legacy of serving others she's just ready and she's ready to go home and she's ready to depart this world because what awaits her is eternal gain and I will get to be there and welcome her there and invite her and we celebrate.

And then for the years that follow I get to see person after person after person after person who enter into the kingdom of God because she leveraged her life to live is Christ and saw death as only gain that is the life I want for her that's the life I want for all my kids that's the life I want for myself and that's the life that I want for every person in this Church to live a life that is for Christ and doesn't cling to this world.

Because ultimately death is better because we gain him me pray heavenly father I pray that you might break within us a love for this world that we might not cling to anything that it has to offer but we might truly submit Our Lives to you to be in service to you because that is eternally better that's where Joy is found and my heart doesn't want to believe that it wants to cling to the things of this world may you break that within me.

So that I might embody what it means to live as Christ that our Church family that is struggling with loving the things of this world whatever that might be that you might break within them a heart for others that comes out of loving you and serving others may you help us be able to answer this question Faithfully that to live as Christ and to die as again and if there's anyone here that has not trusted in you that this is not the central aim of their life at all I pray that you'd help them.

See that this world is not worth it and they pursuing the things of this world is not worth it but they would go all in on you and they would live for you so that ultimately one day death may be gain in Jesus name amen the band's going to come up we're going to take prepare to take the Lord's Supper on the night that Jesus was betrayed he took bread and he broke it he said this is my body that was broken.

For you he took the cup of the New Covenant he said this is my blood that was shed for you that as often as you eat and drink this you Proclaim my death until I return and we are people that regularly come to the table of a meal that signifies death it signifies the death of Christ but also through faith in Christ death to ourselves which means that in the moments as you prepare to take the Lord's Supper as a Christian you get to.

Look at the things that we might say to live is what and we might fill that in and bring that before Christ and that we might repent joyfully H prly joyfully that we'd come to the table joyfully say thank you Jesus that you died for my own selfish ambition for my own selfish desires thank you Jesus that you died for this so that I might joyfully be able to spend what the this meal also points to Eternity the final meal that we enjoy with Christ forever that as a people between those two realities we get to live a a life that is.

For Christ expecting that one day death enters into game now if you're not a Christian if you never trusted completely in the finished work of Christ please don't come to the table this is not a meal for you what I want for you right now is to contemplate and to think that if you've banked your hope if you banked your life on anything outside of Christ if you're honest with yourself you're like I don't no I've never done that I've actually never believed My Hope Is that you would surrender to.

Jesus now because he's good and living a life for Christ is good and it's Joy filled and it's wonderful and ultimately it ends an eternal game but that can't happen unless you surrender in faith and I pray that you would now now so when you are ready come to the table with gluten free in that back corner over there if you want to know more about this if you want to know what it means to trust in Christ and surrender your life to him grab me grab another pastor we would happily walk you through the Gospel and what it means to believe and trust in him.

See that he is better heavenly father I pray that you would.

Ruth 2: Behold a Redeemer

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.

Behold a Redeemer

Chet Phillips

Transcript

Well, good morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. We are in the book of Ruth. We're going to be in the second chapter today. If you have one of the blue Bibles in the row in front of you, it's on page 127.

If you have one of the black Bibles, I don't know what page it's on, but your words are big enough to read, so you get that. But if you don't own a Bible, take one of these blue ones home with you. That's our gift to you. We'd love for you to have a Bible. We'd love for you to be able to read it. We're in the book of Ruth, and we're going to walk through chapter 2 this morning, but I want to catch us up a little bit on what happened in Ruth chapter 1, so previously in the book of Ruth.

We're going to catch up on what we talked about last week. So Ruth is in the Old Testament. It is written during, it's set during the time of Judges, and so that's after the Exodus out of Egypt. It's after Moses, after the law, but before Saul, King David, Solomon, and the kings. So they've taken over some of the promised land, but the time of the Judges is a time of rebellion, then repentance, and then restoration, and then rebellion, and then repentance, and then restoration.

And it's kind of like the Wild West in Israel. It's sometimes good, sometimes bad. Depends on what's going on. Depends on what area you're in. And it's a little bit chaotic. So that's where this story is set.

And we were told last week that there was a man named Elimelech. He had a wife named Naomi. And they had two sons, Malon and Chilion. And they were in Israel, in Bethlehem, during a famine, which means complete economic collapse and starvation. Everything has fallen apart when people are no longer able to eat. And in an agrarian society, this shuts things down.

And so they pick up and move to Moab. And Moab is an area that's enemies of the people of Israel. And at times during Judges, they would rule over Israel. They would fight back and forth. And they go to Moab just because they got to get some food. And we're told that while in Moab, both the sons, Malon and Chilion, take Moabite wives, which they weren't supposed to do given the Old Testament law, but they do.

And so they marry Moabite women. And then Elimelech dies. Malon dies. Chilion dies. And so there are three widows, Orpah, Ruth, and Naomi. And in this time period, single women do not have much agency.

They don't have the ability to own property. They don't have the ability. You were in your father's household or you were in your husband's household. And a widow was in a very vulnerable position. We're told in chapter 1 that they hear while they're in Moab that the Lord has visited Israel and there's food. That God has blessed.

God has shown back up. And there's food in Israel again. And so Naomi says, I'm going back. And she tells Orpah and Ruth, y'all need to stay here. You need to go back to your father's household. And you need to find husbands.

And she said, I can't help you with any of that. So I'm going to go back home because at least there's food and y'all need to find husbands. And Orpah is sad, but she goes. And Ruth says, no. I'm going with you. Regardless of what happens, I'm going with you.

Your people will be my people. Your home will be my home. Your God will be my God. I'm going to stay with you until you die. And I'm going to be buried in the same spot. And may God curse me if I don't do that.

So it's an aggressive way to say, I really care about you and I'm going to stick with you. And so she does. She and Naomi head back, hopefully just trying to find a place to land, hopefully trying to find some food. When they show up, people in town say, hey, Naomi's back. And Naomi says, no, she's not neither. Naomi died in Moab.

Y'all can call me Mara because Naomi means pleasant and Mara means bitter. She said, Naomi's not here anymore. Pleasant's gone. Bitter's back. And she, in chapter one, refers to herself as hopeless, empty, and bitter. That's a bad spot to be in.

If you can take a second to just appreciate where they are. Everything that she thought was going to work out when she married Elimelech. Everything that she thought was going to work out when she had her first son and her second son. Everything that she thought would happen when they began their lives, none of it panned out the way she wanted it to. Just to survive, they had to leave their homeland. And then everything falls apart in Moab.

And she comes back and she says, I'm hopeless. I'm empty. And I'm bitter. And that's where we left them last week. So let's pray.

And we're going to go into chapter two and see if this gets any better. God, we ask for your help. We ask for your grace as we study your word. We're thankful for stories like this. We pray that you would help us through the work of your spirit and the power of your word to see you in the middle of this. So that we might learn to see you in the middle of our circumstances as well.

We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. So we're going to pick up in the last verse of chapter one because it sets the tone. That kind of gives us the setting. It says, so Naomi returned and Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.

A couple of things we need to note from this one verse. First of all, this is right after Naomi gives her whole speech about Naomi's not here anymore. I'm Mara, which had to be really awkward for the people who are like, hey, Naomi. And she's like, no. But what I love about this is the absolute next verse when she's done talking goes, so Naomi shows back up.

I just appreciate that she does not get to take her circumstances and redefine her identity. That's so good. She says, everything's falling apart from me. Pleasantness is gone. Bitterness is here. That's who I am now.

And the Bible says, no. God's just like, no, that's not how that works. And that's really good news for some of us because we get in these situations where we think everything's falling apart. I'm just worthless. I'm just unlovable. I'm just hopeless.

And isn't it good that we have a God who just goes, no, you don't get to use bad circumstances to rewrite your identity. That's a whole sermon right there. It's not today's sermon, so we're going to have to keep moving on. But that's a good thing. Then it says, and Ruth the Moabite.

Now, you know what Ruth was called in Moab? Ruth. Just like Swedish Fish and Sweden are just called Fish. She just is Ruth. But when she comes to Israel, they're going to call her Ruth the Moabite over and over and over again because her Moabiteness stands out now.

She feels it. They feel it. They see it. If you've ever been in a place where you were the only person who spoke your language, everybody else spoke a different language, or you're the only person who looked like you or dressed like you or had the same skin tone as you, if you ever dated somebody of a different race and then went to their family reunion, you know kind of how she feels. She notices herself in a distinct way than she usually does. And that's part of what the text is showing us is that she's now Ruth the Moabite as she has followed her mother-in-law.

And then it says it's at the beginning of the barley harvest, which for a place that's had a famine, this is really good news. There's actually a barley harvest now. This is what they had been told. It's rained. Barley's growing. There's food again.

Come back. Like she gets to go, there's going to be the barley harvest. And right after the barley harvest is the wheat harvest. And both of those are staple crops. Barley is used to make alcohol, but when you've been starving, that's not the first thing they do with it. It's a staple crop.

They use it to make bread. They use it to make soups and stews. It was something that they were immediately coming back into. We're going to get to eat again. And so they show back up at the beginning of the barley harvest. Now, this is chapter 2, verse 1.

Now, Naomi had a relative of her husband's, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. All right, a couple of things we need to note from here. First, they're just introducing him, but he doesn't show up until later. So they cut over here and say, y'all need to know about Boaz. And then they turn back, and that was it. They just kind of give him a little introduction.

A couple of things that are helpful for us to capture. First is, Boaz is a really cool name. Name your kids that, and then you can call him Bo. That's for sure. It's awesome. Although, never mind.

Anyway, all right. And we're told that he's a worthy man. That word is used to mean wealthy at times, to mean prominent, to mean a war hero. He's well-respected, but it also means he's well-respected in a way he's helpful to the people around him. He's a blessing. He's a solid, worthy man.

He's a godly man. That's what that's saying. And then it says a worthy man. It says he's a relative of her husband's, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech. Now, for us, that's just background information. But for Jewish readers, their ears just perked up a little bit.

Oh, he's a relative. Oh. Because they would marry inside of their clans. And if you had a problem, the people inside of your clan were the people who would help you out of the problem. They were the people who could help buy back property. They were the people who could help you get your family line back in order.

They were the people who were to be helpful. So when they say, I just wanted to introduce you all to a man named Boaz. He's great and he's related. Jewish people went, oh. And so that's what we need to capture from that. Verse 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. So barley harvest. But she doesn't have – they don't own property. So she just says, I'm going to go follow behind the people who are reaping and I'm going to glean.

Reaping is where you get to take all the stuff that you can carry. Gleaning is where you get to pick through what they accidentally dropped. And so she says, I'm going to go see if someone will show me some favor. Be kind to me and let me glean. And they're leaning into, in Israel, a part of the Old Testament law. This is in Leviticus chapter 23.

It says, 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 your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner. I am the Lord your God. Same laws are in Deuteronomy. It says you're going to leave them for the widow, the poor, the sojourner. So sojourners are people that have come and trusted in living in this area.

So the rule was, there was some social security that when you had a harvest, you weren't allowed to get everything you could get. You had to leave the edges for people to come by and pick from there. And you had to, once you went through once, you weren't allowed to go back and get everything you dropped. You were supposed to leave it so that there were people who could do exactly what she's doing. But we're in the time of the Judges, which means sometimes people were following the law, sometimes they weren't.

And we're not quite sure if this is going to work out. But she says, we got to get some food some way. I'm going to go do this. It'd be similar to if you were in a real bad spot and you said, look, it's Saturday morning. I'm just going to drive over to Lowe's and I'm going to sit outside. And I'm going to wait and see if I see somebody who looks like they're in a big project.

And I'm going to go over and ask, can I help you for the day? Pay me whatever you can. That's the spot they're in. And so Naomi says, go. So she set out, it's verse three, 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. And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. Okay. The way this is written is a little bit tongue in cheek, a little bit. It's got a little bit of irony, irony. And it's, it's, he's saying like this.

So she shut out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And she just so happened to come to the field belonging to Boaz. And then when it says, and behold, that's look. Oh, looky here. Boaz showed up. Oh, would you notice that?

That's the way this is written. It's got a little bit of, we're supposed to catch the fact that this wasn't just, well, what a coincidence. She's in the right field. And look at that strapping lad, Boaz, just happened to show up. It's written in a way that's trying to help you see that there's more at work here than just coincidence. And it's going to be written that way through the rest of chapter two and three.

There's going to be all these times where you're going, ah. And they're intending to make you go, ah, wait a second. Something else is going on here. And that's one of the things that we need to wrap our mind around is that God often works with his visible hand. That there are times where there are miracles. There are times where he parts the Red Sea.

There are times where there are plagues. There are times where an angel shows up and talks to somebody. But all the time, God is working through his invisible hand. That he's blessing and orchestrating and helping things work out according to his will. That he's moving in ways we don't see. That he's moving in ways that are helpful and grace-filled and loving towards us that just seem like, oh, what are the odds of that?

Exactly. What are the odds of that? God's really good. And they're going to see that as they go through. They're going to respond in the same way, understanding that God has blessed here. So would you look at that?

She shows up on his property. And he shows up. Well, I'll be. And he said to the reapers, the Lord be with you. And they answered, the Lord bless you. So he comes up and says, may the Lord, that Lord capital L-O-R-D, when you see it in your scripture like that, means they use the proper name, Yahweh of the Lord.

It's the I am that I am that he tells Moses in the book of Exodus. And so they're saying, may Yahweh bless you. May the Lord bless you. And they respond, may the Lord bless you. And this is a bit of an uncommon greeting. It seems like it's a very genuine.

He's devout. And he seems to have a good relationship with his workers, that there's mutual blessing and care. Then Boaz said to his young man who was in charge of the reapers, whose young woman is this? Now, what happened is he shows up. He sees his reapers reaping. And he's got young men and young ladies that are working, reaping his field.

And then there's another young lady following behind gleaning. And you'll notice the question is different than the way we would ask the question. We would say, who is this? But if you remember, females didn't have a lot of agency. He says, whose young woman is this? Whose household does she belong to?

Who is she under? And the answer, the sting that we're supposed to feel in this text is no one. Like when you're talking to someone and they go, how's work going? But you got laid off last week? That little, oh. How's your girlfriend?

She broke up with me. Oh, I'm glad I brought it up. That kind of thing. So he asked, whose young woman is this? And we know the answer. Nobody's.

She's got nobody. She's no father. She has no household. She has nobody. She's doing her best just to eat today. And the way the text is written is there's this little, but is there going to be an answer to that later?

Is she going to be with somebody? That's the way it's written. So whose young woman is this? And he answers. 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. And 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. The Hebrew phrase there is she's lived in the field. She's nonstop. She's been working. And she came and said, can I glean? And that's what she's been doing since forever.

She's working. And then Boaz said to Ruth. So he goes over to her. He didn't talk to her at first. He just asked about her. He goes over to her.

And now you can feel a little bit of tension because she's been working all morning. Head guy shows up. Has a little conversation. If you've been in these situations, you're usually paying attention to these sort of things. Boss man starts heading over to you. This may not go well.

If you've ever been in a situation where someone who is in charge of things suddenly knew your name. You're like, oh, is this good or bad? You know my name. What's happening here? So he comes over to her and there's this moment of what's going to happen.

And Boaz said to Ruth, now listen, my daughter. Do not go to glean in any other field or leave this one. But keep close to my young women. 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.

Y'all, he could have walked over and said, get out of here. He could have walked over and said, hey, it's okay if you do this today, but keep back from everybody. And find somewhere else tomorrow. He comes over and says, you find my young women and you stick close to them. And if you get thirsty, they've already drawn water for you. Which is above and beyond.

He says, you're welcome. He could have treated her like a Moabite. But he comes over and he says, you're welcome. You belong. You get to participate in the same level as everybody else. 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?

So she feels this. This, how much of a blessing it is and how odd it seems. 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 your 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 to be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge. First of all, her character has preceded her.

Her grace and kindness has preceded her. We find out now she's also a hard worker. She's out trying to labor for her mother-in-law. It seems like her mother-in-law probably isn't capable. Is older and not able to go work in the sun all day. But Naomi says, I'm going to, Ruth says she's going to go help take care of this.

And he says, may you be blessed. I want to point out a few things. Oh, verse 11. Can you go back to verse 11? I want to point out something in that. Yep.

You left your father and mother and your native land and you came to a people that you had not known before. He acknowledges how difficult that is. And I think you ought to have that in your mind when you're dealing with anybody who has done that. That's difficult. It's difficult to be in a place where you don't understand all of the cultural things that you would have been trained in your entire life. It's difficult when you're speaking a language that's not your native language.

And so I would just say, as an aside, be extra gracious to people who are in those situations. And be like Boaz and go out of your way to be kind and helpful. Because we're supposed to. And that's actually what he says. He goes in chapter verse 12. He says, not only have you come here, but you have taken refuge under the Lord, the God of Israel.

And that's what he's understanding. He's saying, you're not just a foreigner. You're a sojourner. And that's what the law tells us in Exodus 22. You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him. For you are sojourners in the land of Egypt.

Meaning someone who's officially come. They're not just for him, but they've come and said, I'm going to live here. And that specifically was people who came to Israel and said, I'm going to worship your God. I'm going to follow your God. He says, no, you belong. You're welcome here.

And he treats her with great generosity and kindness. And I want you to wrap your head around something. He says, may the Lord bless you, even as he is blessing her. And he understands that part of the way the Lord blesses is that he uses us. And that it's the Lord's blessing that we get to participate. So I would ask you, where are you in a position of authority?

Where do you have something that's been given to you? Do you eat every day? Have food on your table? Do you have a vehicle that works? Do you set the schedule at work? Do you oversee people?

Are you the type of person who you don't set the schedule, you don't oversee people, but you can help control how the day goes? Are you one of the cool people in class? Are you guys that can raise and lower people? And are you using those things that God has given you to be gracious and generous to those around you? Do you have your eyes open for the person who's following after, just trying to glean and trying to figure out how can I be a blessing? How can God work through what I have?

In a lot of ways, God blesses people so that we can bless. In a lot of ways, you're the FedEx driver. You've got a lot of stuff he's given you, but it's not all meant to terminate on you. The FedEx driver shouldn't show up wearing the shirt you ordered. And so there's a lot of things that God has given us that we're meant to just let pass through our hands to be a blessing to those around us. And don't get confused.

Let's be like Boaz because God has been like that to us. So that's what he does. And then she says, verse 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. So he just says, keep at it. You're blessed. Be welcome here.

And he goes. Then it says, at mealtime, Boaz said to her, come here and eat some bread and dip your morsel in the wine. So they all take a break to go eat. She would have just taken a break or kept gleaning. Maybe she would have taken some of what she'd gotten and chewed on a little bit of it. You can do that.

It's not great, but you can do it. And he says, no, no, no, no. Come over here. You don't have anything. No, no, no. Come eat with us.

You sit right down. You're welcome here. Which again, he's jumping past cultural things to do this, to be gracious, to be kind, to look a lot like the God he worships. So he says, you come eat. 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.

Now for a lot of us, that's a daily thing. She hasn't done this in a long time. She hasn't gotten to eat and eat and eat until she thought, should I eat this? I'm going to and we'll find out. And then she ate it and then she thought, I really can't eat anymore. Probably shouldn't eat in the last bite, but it was so good.

She ate so much and she had some left over. Do y'all see the blessing in that? For someone who's been hungry for such a long time, for someone who's just been probably every day having to try to find something to eat was actually really good. Times would have to sit and think, do I eat all this now and spend the rest of the day being hungry? But I probably won't get any more food.

Or do I wait and try to parse it out? And either way, I'm just going to be hungry and then I hope for, have some food tomorrow. She gets to sit and eat. She's welcomed at the table. All right.

So she sat. She ate until she was satisfied. She had some left over. When she rose to glean, meaning she's going to get back behind and keep doing the stuff, Boaz instructed his young men saying, let her glean even among the sheaves and do not reproach her. And also pull out some from the bundles for her and leave it for her to glean and do not rebuke her. He says, if she breaks proper protocol and she just starts going in the standing grain rather than the stuff that's already been knocked over, y'all don't say a word to her.

And if she's not doing that and you feel like she's not getting enough, you start just dropping handfuls. She goes home full. That's what he said. And I better not hear y'all say a word to her. And he does this. He doesn't tell her this.

He goes and blesses her without her knowing. Church family. Do that. Jesus says to be generous and not let your left hand know what your right hand's doing. Go out of your way to bless people that they don't even know. But he says she's going to be taken care of.

She is. Okay. Do not rebuke her. Verse 17. So she gleaned in the field until evening.

Remember, she's hard working. Then she beat out what she had gleaned and it was about an ephah of barley. And I know all of y'all were like, a whole ephah? Yeah, an ephah, you guys. My mind was blown too. Yeah, so it's a bushel and it's like 30-ish pounds.

And there are writings from the Babylonian empire that if you had worked all day, they would pay day laborers a pound or two of barley. She goes home with 30 pounds. This is enough for her and Naomi to eat for like three weeks. If she's able to do this every day for the whole barley and wheat harvest, which is about eight weeks, they're going to have enough food for a year. Which is such a blessing to Israel that they're doing this well, that God has blessed them in this manner. But it's such a blessing to Ruth and Naomi.

This is a crazy amount of food. Naomi's thinking, hey, she's sitting at home hungry, hoping it's going well. She's probably been praying for Ruth. Probably been hoping that she found a good place to be. Probably hoping she hadn't been run off. A little bit worried about her.

A little bit scared for her. She's a Moabite with nobody. So she gets all this and she says that she took it up, verse 18, 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. Isn't that kind?

She ate all that food, had some left over. She said, I'm going to go home. This is about to be Naomi's. I'm going to show up not just with food we can cook. I'm going to show up with some cooked food. She also brought out and gave her what food she had left over from being satisfied.

I love verse 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. Y'all, that's incoherent, excited, sputtering. She asked the same question twice, doesn't wait for an answer and starts praising the Lord.

She shows up with weeks of groceries, puts this out, and Naomi says, where were you? Who was, where did this, thank you Jesus! Praise the Lord, bless the man who, like she starts praying over this stuff. May he always have barley. May he have so much he doesn't even know where it is and be able to take it. May Ruth always be there.

May Ruth always be there. She's so excited. So blessed to see how this has been provided and taken care of. And then, so Ruth responds. She says, where do you go? Blessed be the man who took notice of you.

And 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. The way that sentence is structured is that it just drags on until you finally hear Boaz. 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. Now, a couple things to see here. when you're blessed by somebody, when they care for you and they go out of their way, do you bless them in return? And even just this, she's just speaking and bless them. She said, Lord, may you bless them.

May you care for them. May you notice. But the other thing that happens here is it's unclear in English and in Hebrew, which I don't read, but other people who read it wrote some stuff down and they told me it's unclear in Hebrew. Whose kindness? Whose? The Lord's?

Or he, Boaz. He whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead or the Lord whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead? And the answer is yes. Because that's how God works so often. You go to the grocery store and you get a gallon of milk. How'd that get there?

The truck driver? The person who milked it? The person who put the milk jug on the counter? The cow? God? Yes.

This means that there's a lot of joy in normal work because you get to participate in all the ways that God is blessing. And it also means that there are times where we pray for the visible hand of God and he blesses us with the invisible hand of God and we're supposed to recognize it and celebrate it. There are times where we pray and the tumor is removed and you show back up and it's gone. They scan, they say, I don't know where it went. And you say, I don't care where it went. It's gone.

High five. I'm out of here. There are other times where you pray and they show back up, they scan it again, they say, it's continued to grow. We need to do surgery now. And God, in his grace, has placed you here where there's a hospital, where there's a doctor, where there's a skilled medical team and they remove a tumor. Praise the Lord and praise the medical team.

Thank you, Jesus. That's how this works. So often, he provides food but sometimes he provides it through you got a job. Sometimes he provides it through church family brought some things over. But we get to recognize and appreciate how he blesses and cares all the time.

Now, a little bit of foreshadowing for next week. Chapter 3. Naomi said to her, this man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers. Now, if this was a 90s sitcom, the crowd would have just gone, ooh. Because there's a lot of hope packed into that, he's a close relative, he's one of our redeemers. This means a couple of things.

One is, he's a close enough relative to fit into the role of a kinsman redeemer and a kinsman redeemer is someone who can help get you out of bad situations and they're supposed to. They're supposed to help buy back land. They're supposed to help when a family line seems like it's going to end, which this seems like it's going to end, that there will be no heir for Elimelech because of no heir from Malon or Chilion. These kinsman redeemer can come back in and get property back. They can come back in and sort things out. And so it either just means he's close enough to do that, but it also seems that at times they actually had someone who was prominent, worthy enough, wise enough that they were almost assigned the role.

Like a mafia don, but in a really good way. He's a relative who's taken on this role and he can do special things. He can get some stuff accomplished. And so she says he's a redeemer, which means there's some hope that we can actually get reestablished. And for a Jewish reader, you go, wait, wait, wait. How reestablished?

He can help you get your house back and get your land back or is he going to help get your bloodline back? And for who? Is he potentially going to marry Naomi or is he going to potentially marry Ruth? And I don't want to give you away, give it away, but the title of the book's a hint. And so you start thinking is Naomi thinking what I think she's thinking? And chapter three is going to say, yes, she's thinking what you think she's thinking.

Naomi has noticed something, whether Ruth has noticed it or not, is that Naomi is suddenly very excited about Boaz's potential as a suitor, as a husband. And I'll tell you, she noticed some things that are worth noticing. So ladies who are looking for a husband, here are a couple things to look for. He loves the Lord, but he doesn't just talk about Him, he obeys Him. That's good. He showed up and said, may the Lord bless you.

And you go, that's a good sign. And then he was generous and kind and he knew the law and he applied it over and above. It's like, oh, that's a real good sign. So I'm excited. Can they come in here and sing and raise their hand? Yeah, that's good.

What do they do when they leave? They still follow the Lord? They know their Bible? Well, he has a job. Yeah. That's good.

Young men, you can only help what your face looks like so much. You can only help how tall you are so much. But you can go to work and you can work hard and let me tell you something. A nice Job smells good on a man. She poured out all that barley and she said, mm, this guy seems handsome. Third, he cared about Ruth's well-being, not his own.

He gave, he didn't take. Oh. If you're in a relationship, he doesn't care about you. He cares about what he gets from you, don't be in a relationship anymore. If you're married, that doesn't apply. And I'm sorry I said it that way, but I didn't need to clarify that.

And we can work on that and we'd love to help walk you through that because that's a very tough situation to be in. But if you're dating, that absolutely applies. One of the ministries I hope to take up in this church is to help young ladies break up with young men who don't have jobs, don't love Jesus, and don't care about him. And you can send them to come talk to me. You can say, oh, I broke up with you because my pastor said it. You don't have to blame it on Jesus, blame it on me.

And then I'll talk to him. I'll say, yeah, you have a job, you love Jesus, get in a group, we'll help you out. We'll make you handsomer by the day. Fourth, he's a close relative. I mean, he's checking all the boxes, you guys. That one's a joke.

I know we got some people from Kentucky in here, that's just a joke. Just list verse three. Okay. And so you're going, is Naomi thinking what I'm thinking? She's thinking, and she is. And watch this.

He's a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers. 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. He told me to come back. He told me this isn't just today, this is the whole time. That's such a blessing. And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, it is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, less than another field you'd be assaulted.

Now, I just want to point something out because Naomi is thinking what you're thinking she's thinking. Ruth said, he said, you shall keep close to my young men until I'm done. And Naomi responds, that's good, you should keep close to his young women. She swaps that word out. But she also says this, less than another field you'd be assaulted.

That's a reality. It's a reality then for her to be no father, no husband in a situation where she has no real agency and they didn't really care the same way and protect the same way. But it's a reality now. I read a study one time where they asked college young men and college-aged young ladies and they said, if you were going to go running at night, what would you do to prepare? And the college men thought it was a trick question. They're like, shoes.

A lot of them put nothing. The young ladies, a lot of them said, I would not do this. Or they said, I wouldn't wear headphones because I've got to be able to hear what's going on around me. I'd tell a friend so they knew when I was going, what route I was running when I was coming back. And so I would just say to the men in the room, be like Boaz so that people are more protected around you, not less. And be mindful of the young women and the single women and just the women that are by themselves around you that you don't make them feel uncomfortable because you're not thinking about being assaulted, but they might be.

So be mindful of how close you stand to people, how you look at them. And in general, you can make people safer without being weird about it. So be aware. But she says, it's good. This will keep you safe. 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. So this continued. It was a blessing. They got tons and tons of food over the next eight weeks. That's what we're told. I want to point something out as we finish this up because I want to help you see a theological, logical point, a piece of theology that there's a logical point made from from the New Testament.

Naomi says, I'm hopeless, I'm empty, I'm bitter. But they find out that the Lord has visited Israel and there's food. And then we see this moment where the Lord visits Naomi. Where she had said, he's come out to harm me, but she sees how blessed and she immediately just pours forth with praise. Praise the Lord that he hasn't forgotten us. The Lord has visited us.

He cares for us. This is beyond anything I could have hoped for. And we need to be mindful to see where the Lord's at work and where he blesses. But I want to show you something that the New Testament tells us that helps us even more than the help Naomi. He gets. You see, this picture, this story of Ruth is a picture, ultimately, of God's story.

That we're bitter, we're empty, we're hopeless, we're foreigners, we're unwelcome, and that God visits his people in the form of Christ who takes on flesh to redeem us, to fill us, to make life good and sweet and pleasant, to give us hope. because he dies because he dies for our sins that we can trust in him that he'll work on our behalf. And so what I want to show you is this. In Romans chapter 5, it says, God shows his love for us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. We actually didn't have a good report like Ruth had that goes before us. All we had was our sin. And then he says, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son.

That's the hope of the gospel, that we're sinners, we're enemies, we're not welcome, we're worse than a Moabite. We don't even have a good report and that Jesus Christ came to redeem us, to give us hope, to rescue us out of our sin, to pay our debt. And then, chapter 8, it says this, He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? So this is a theological point, but there's a logical point made from it. If you right now have trusted in Christ, but you feel empty, hopeless, bitter, life circumstances have not worked out the way you wanted to.

You painted a baby room, but the baby didn't come. You got married, but it didn't work out the way you thought it would work out. You are in a situation where you thought you were going to get the job, you didn't get the job. You thought you were going to graduate, you didn't graduate. You thought things were going to work. You don't know why your mind is working the way it's working right now.

You don't know why your health is working the way it's working right now. And you just, you just don't know. We can trust and look for and celebrate everywhere we see his invisible hand, but we have something so much better that we can look and say, if he would die for me, if he would give his son for me, I can trust him with everything else. And I don't know why this has worked out the way it's worked out, and I don't know why it's been as hard as it's been, and I don't know why it worked out for them, but not for me, but I can trust that I'm not lost, that he doesn't, it's not that he doesn't know about me, it's not that he doesn't care about me, it's not that I'm on my own, it's not that he's turned his back, because he promises if he'll give me his son, he'll take care of everything else, and I can trust him in it, and not just trust him to work it out the way I want it to work out, but I can trust him in it, to work it out how he wants to work it out.

And that's good news, and that's an anchor for us when we have no other anchor, and that's why we have a hope that is not tied to circumstance. Matt's going to come back up, we're going to take communion, where as a church we remind ourselves of that tangible, real sacrifice of Christ on our behalf, where we remind ourselves of what he has done for us, and that we anchor our hope in the fact that he gave his life for us, that he died for us while we were still his enemies. If you are not a Christian, communion is not for you. It's where we celebrate and we take that his body was broken for us, that his blood was shed for us, that he says, my body is real food, and my blood is real drink, meaning that it actually satisfies forever, that it fixes forever, that it cures forever.

But if you have not placed your faith in Christ, I would encourage you to come to Christ, to trust that God is good in general while you're still an enemy, while you're still a sinner, now come to him and know that he is good specifically on your behalf to repent of your sin and to be redeemed and brought back into the family. That the promise of he has given up his son for us, how will he not give us all things, is for those who have believed. But it's open to all who would believe, and I would encourage you to place your faith in it. But church family, take a moment, consider your circumstances, look for the way that God has blessed, and then, as an anchor for our soul, remember that he died to redeem and to care, and that we have hope.

Let's pray. God, we thank you for how good you are. We thank you for how you care and provide and watch over and work and all these seemingly normal and mundane ways, and we thank you, Lord, that we can look to the cross to know that you have us and that you love us and that you are capable. And we don't know what happens next and we don't know how it all plays out, but we know that you are not withholding good from us, but that you know what you're doing and that you love us. And for those who have not trusted in you to rescue their souls, who have not seen their sin and known they need a Savior, we pray, Lord, that your Holy Spirit would work and that they would come to you empty, hopeless, bitter, to be restored by your word.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

Ruth 1: Loyalty and Loss

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.

Ruth 1: Loyalty and Loss

Scott Hill

Transcript

Thank you. Spencer didn't mention that I also teach Sunday school at 9.30. So if you like getting up early on Sunday, you should be here for some excellent Bible teaching. And it's been a privilege to share in the ministry of this church. We're going to be looking at the book of Ruth. And if you don't have a Bible under your seat, there are some little blue Bibles.

And Ruth is found on page 127. And if you don't have, you can just take that Bible home with you if you would like to have it. We'd love to share that with you. To kind of introduce it a little bit, I'm going to tell a story that was interesting. Benjamin Franklin, by the way, was our ambassador to France during the Revolutionary period in the United States. And when he was in France for about three years as our ambassador, he would occasionally attend the Infidels Club.

You know what the Infidels Club is? It's kind of like the atheist club. And they love to talk about scientific things and search for literature and beautiful stories. And one time, Benjamin Franklin, it's reported that he chose to translate the book of Ruth out of the Hebrew context into the contemporary French way of thinking. And he changed the names to protect the innocent or the guilty, whichever one. He changed the names so that nobody would know.

And after reading the story, these Infidel Club members said, Wow, that is one of the most beautiful stories we've ever heard in our life. Where did you get that story? And he said, from the Bible. And of course, that was a bit of a shock to him. Ruth starts with, in the days when the Judges ruled. And of course, Ruth follows the book of Judges.

And the book of Judges is all about rebellion. It's just constantly turning away from God. God bringing oppression on them by capturing them by enemies and making them slaves. And then they cry out to God. And God sends a deliverer they call Judges. And the deliverer would deliver them, such as Samson or Deborah, Gideon, those Judges.

But they were all a part of this period of time when there was so much rebellion going on. J. Vernon McGee says that the book of Ruth is like a precious pearl in the swine pit of Judges. Because that was the period when the book of Ruth was written. And the book of Judges, by the way, has rebellion written all over it, just back and forth. And the book of Ruth has, well, Redeemer written all over it.

Matter of fact, the word Redeemer or redemption appears over 20 times in the book of Ruth. It's a powerful story. And Larry Crabb was teaching a Sunday school class on the book of Ruth. He ended up writing a book. He's a fairly famous Christian psychologist. Wrote a book called Shattered Dreams.

And the basic idea of the book was that God uses the pain of loss and shattered dreams to help us discover what's really important. And that's our desire to know God as he is in an intimate way. We're going to consider the effects of loss in the life of Naomi. And we're going to consider the effects of loyalty in the life of Ruth. Naomi experienced such extreme loss that she went into deep depression and bitterness. Because she said, God has dealt bitterly with me.

And, of course, Ruth is going to demonstrate one of the most amazing demonstrations of loyalty that you can imagine. So let's dig in. We're going to turn to Ruth, chapter 1. And I'll read verses 1 through 5 to get it before us. But before we do that, let's pray.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your amazing word that gives light in our darkness, that gives understanding in our confusion, and enables us to know the true living word, Jesus Christ. I pray that the Holy Spirit would come and be our teacher this morning, that we would indeed be able to understand your word. And we pray that in Jesus' name. Amen. Ruth, chapter 1, verses 1 through 5.

In the days when the Judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem and Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Malon and Chilion. And they were Ephrathites from Bethlehem and Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there, but Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. And these took Moabite wives. The name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other was Ruth.

And they lived there about ten years, and both Malon and Chilion died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband. Famine in Bethlehem. That's kind of an oxymoron, interesting way of putting it. Bethlehem means house of bread. And there's no bread. No bread in Bethlehem.

There's a famine, and it's a painful famine. And they're doing without, you know, Bethlehem. You remember Bethlehem. Oh, little town of Bethlehem, how still we see the light. The hopes and fears of all the years are not met in thee tonight. It was a very different picture than when Jesus Christ came.

When Elimelech was there facing the reality, my family is going to die of starvation if we don't get out of here. And so they decide to move on to Moab. And, of course, Jesus made an amazing promise, because he is the bread of life. He said, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall not thirst. First, he is the real house of bread.

Not Bethlehem. But, of course, he was born into Bethlehem. And so it's a beautiful picture of what God is doing. But Elimelech takes his family into Moab, hoping to find bread, since the house of bread didn't have any bread. What's your life missing that you think would make you happy and satisfied? I got a call from a friend a couple of years ago, and he was calling on his cell phone from Russia.

I said, what are you doing in Russia? He said, I'm here to get a wife. A wife? I'd been in counseling with him before, and I knew that he had had a couple of American wives, and they didn't work out too good, so maybe he thought this Russian wife, they might be a little more submissive or cooperative or whatever. I don't know what the deal was. But anyway, what are you looking at that might make you happy and satisfied?

But Elimelech ends up dying, of course, and now poor Naomi is a widow in a foreign land, but at least she's got her two sons. Her two sons can go out and do spare jobs and make a little bit and be able to get along. And then Naomi's sons decide to marry some Moabite women, but ten years later, the sons die. Well, now we've got trouble. These Moabite girls are widows. Now, depending on Naomi that's a widow, and in this male society that they were living, it was not an easy thing to make it.

Matter of fact, your basic Social Security plan was children. That's why they wanted to have lots of kids, so that at least one or two of them would take care of them in their old days because there was no government providing some kind of Social Security. So Naomi is stuck with a couple of girls that are despised by Israelites, so if she takes them back to Israel, it's not going to go well. And of course, racism was pretty standard back in those days, and so for Naomi to stay in Moab, she's of course facing all the rejection that goes along with that. So this book of Ruth is a fascinating book because when you consider everything that's happening here, in the Bible you hope God's going to come through with some kind of miraculous something or other, but this book has no miracles, it has no revelations, it has no appearances of angels, it doesn't have anything supernatural in it.

It's just showing how God is the King and He's going to be in charge and He's going to make things work out, but right now they're not working out too well. Matter of fact, some commentators suggest that the name of the head of the family, Elimelech, means God is King, and maybe this was a subtle way of saying God is King, but He's in the background right now and things are not working out according to His way. I believe that God works in a supernatural way even though there are no miracles or major revelations. God works in our lives in a natural setting a lot of times just to accomplish His supernatural purposes and I believe He's done that in my life.

Well, let's move on and check out Naomi now who's going to try to think maybe if I return to Bethlehem it'll be better. So, beginning at verse 6, we're going to read to verse 8. It says, Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab for she had heard in the fields of Moab that the Lord had visited His people and given them food. So she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, Go, return each of you to her mother's house that the Lord may deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me.

So here, both of Naomi's sons are now dead. She's left a helpless widow. She's in a foreign land. No hope. And all of a sudden this glimmer of hope. I hear there's food back in Bethlehem.

So let's head back to... So she decides to go back. She's going to go back and stay with her relatives wherever she can. Robert Frost said that home is where when you go there they have to take you in. And so she's hoping that when she gets back somebody, you know, kind of like Mary and Joseph had to stay in a stable or something anyway. She's going to go back with her two daughters-in-law.

And on the way back, Naomi says a very strange thing in verse 8. But Naomi said to her two daughters, Go, return each of you to her mother's house. May the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt kindly with the dead and me. That is your husbands and with my husband. You've dealt kindly. The word kindly is the word hesed.

It's a very fascinating word. Hesed. The kindness of God. The word is also translated steadfast love in Psalm 136. Matter of fact, in Psalm 136 it repeats 26 times. The steadfast love of the Lord endures forever.

The steadfast love of the Lord endures forever. Orpah probably had a skeptic's attitude to this God is good all the time. You ever hear that? You know, someone says God is good and somebody else says all the time and then somebody says all the time God is good. I think Orpah probably had a little skeptic's to that. But Ruth may have seen something different in Naomi and God had worked in her heart in a way that she saw Naomi maybe trusting God the way Job did.

When Job's friends were criticizing him he finally said though he slay me yet will I trust him. Wow. Evidently Naomi is doing that. she continues to refer to God as Yahweh Y-H-W-H Yahweh from the Latin it can be translated Jehovah but it's the personal name of God. Yahweh has been okay he's dealt bitterly with me but I still trust him. Naomi has not been afraid to face her pain and loss but she still acknowledges God and even looks for that bright moment when oh yeah back in Bethlehem I understand there's food now. So the story comes in a time of Judges remember when God would be punishing his people for the sins not of Naomi's but she's going to be living with the consequences.

With the consequences. So let's look at as Naomi tries to convince the girls to go back beginning in verse 9 down to verse 14 the Lord grant that you may find rest each of you in the house of her husband then she kissed them and lifted up their voices and wept and they said

To her no we'll return with you to your people but Naomi said turn back my daughters why will you go with me have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands turn back my daughters go your way for I am too old to have a husband if I should say I could have hope even if I should

Have a husband this night and should bear sons would you therefore wait till they were grown would you therefore refrain from marrying no my daughters for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me then they lifted up their voices and wept

Again and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law but Ruth clung to her so Ruth has this amazing kind of loyalty after Naomi has prayed for him may the Lord deal kindly with you may he show his chesed to you as you've shown chesed

To me and to my passed away husband and sons but they promised to go with her but you have no prospects she said what are you doing normal Israelites they won't marry you and I can't produce any more boys that could

Marry you and do you understand that God has attacked me did you see that phrase the hand of the Lord has gone out against me not the hand of the Lord is against me not the hand

Of the Lord has been with me the hand of the Lord has gone out again it's attacked me God is attacking me you don't want to go with me this time they weep again

And Orpah kisses her and says goodbye and off goes Orpah back she's smart she's doing the sensible things she's reasonable she realizes I'm going to be a foreigner in Israel and they're not allowed to marry Moabites I'll never be able to do anything and so she

Does what Naomi suggests and she goes home but Ruth on the other hand she has a different plan but before we move to Ruth how about if we look a little bit more at Naomi's misery and loss in verses 19 through 22 so we're going to go to the

End of the chapter and then go back and pick up the part with Ruth so the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem and when they came to Bethlehem the whole town was stirred because of them and the women said is this

Naomi and she said to them do not call me Naomi call me Mara for the almighty has dealt very bitterly with me I went away full and the Lord has brought me back empty why call me Naomi

When the Lord has testified against me and the almighty has brought calamity upon me the whole town was stirred and they're looking at Naomi and they're thinking wait a minute this lady maybe she's a little past mid life

But good night she looks like an old woman and they asked the question is this this is Naomi her name means pleasant or lovely and she says don't call me Naomi anymore call me tomorrow that means bitter

Because God has dealt bitterly with me I left full and now I'm back empty I have nothing now when she left full she didn't mean you know full of bread because they didn't have any bread what she meant is I had a husband

I had two boys I had a family I was in good condition and now what have I got nothing empty my life matter of fact she says Yahweh has testified against me that's actually a legal term

That's talking about one giving testimony in a court case and she has been found guilty and punished and then she refers to God as the almighty that's El Shaddai and El Shaddai is the one who is great

That can do anything he can accomplish amazing things but all he's done is heaped all this trouble on me how do we handle pain when we're dealing with situations like this when one loss after another again

And again and again we might turn to self-pity and try to get others to join our pity party some folks say hey I can make it determination I'm going to make it through any of you that have

Seen Gone with the Wind you remember Scarlett O'Hara up there in that it was a potato patch and she was looking for a little lost potato that might have been left

And this is what Scarlett O'Hara says as she's standing out there in that barren land as God is my witness I will never be hungry again that's the way some

People face the struggles and difficulties some of us might hide our struggles with a big smile fine I'm fine fine I'm good how about you

Good good fine yeah I'm good some people to avoid pain go to the extreme of suicide that's a permanent solution and if it's not the right

One don't try it it's pretty stupid some just get busy get busy with dinners and activities and do this and do that and a little bit of social

Gatherings but let's consider what a difference it made when Ruth decided to be loyal in this situation with her mother-in-law amazing loyalty of Ruth I'm going to read you that passage from 15 to 18 we'll back back up to get the

Rest of chapter 1 so she said see she's talking now to Ruth of course because Orpah has gone back see your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to

Her gods return after your sister-in-law but Ruth said do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you for where you go I will go

Where you lodge I will lodge your people shall be my people and your God my God where you die I will be buried

May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you and when Naomi saw that she

Was determined to go with her she said no more so Naomi tries to turn Ruth back by using a little peer pressure come

On your sister in law she's doing the right thing why don't you go back to Naomi attitude is basically this I'm not anybody

That can do anything for you now we're going to discover in the rest of the book that God is somebody that can do something for both

Naomi and Ruth here's another part of her attitude Ruth I can't do anything for you but as we work our way through this book

We're going to discover that God can because he's going to be with Naomi and Ruth now here's even more interesting about her attitude

It seems like it's this way to me she says not only that I don't want to do anything for you go back but

The story is going to reveal the reality that God can do with impossible situations things we never could have imagined so when we

Get to the end of the book we're going to know that God was ordaining the circumstances in such a way to give Naomi

The continuation of her family and Ruth a place in the royal genealogy of King David and on into the royal genealogy of Jesus

Christ the ultimate redeemer it's going to be a beautiful picture as we work our way through the book of Ruth then the speech that Ruth gives

Here one commentator said it's more famous than the Gettysburg address really I mean I grew up in a traditional church where we were

Biblically illiterate you know I didn't know much except to repeat the liturgy and the stuff that you went through so I didn't really know about

Ruth's little thing but later on when Kit and I got married my sister actually sang the song this whole passage she sang it entreat

Me not to leave thee that's a sweet way to say it from the old King James Bible but here she's saying do not urge

Me to leave you or return from following you for where you go I will go and where you lodge I will lodge and

Your people shall be my people your God my God where you die I will die so her attitude Ruth's attitude is don't even

Talk to me about not going with you because I'm going with you you see some relationships are more important than other issues that

You know like standing in society or being successful and Kit and I were missionaries for 18 years in Spain and we were in our about

The eighth or ninth year we were beginning to be a little effective we got a church planted it was really going great and then I

Was trying to start a church in a town near there and over in this other town over there and then helping out our

Other missionaries doing things and I was traveling going constantly and finally Kit came to me I mean we're missionaries alright she came to me and

She said why don't we separate I want a divorce I can't live like this anymore she said she described this word picture a

Counselor said help him understand with a word picture she said I feel like I'm a donkey pulling a cart and the family is

The cart back there and I'm pulling with all of my might and there's a stick held out there with a carrot dangling in

Front of me and I keep trying to get a bite of the carrot and I could never get the carrot and I could

Never get the carrot and she said you're the carrot I was trying to win the world for Jesus and losing my wife well through

The effective counseling we managed to get things straightened out and we stayed together and oh wow what if I had missed these last 30

Something years with kids it would have been a horrible thing Ruth told Naomi I don't care where you go I will go with

You it doesn't matter Jeral and Elisa it was interesting Elisa had graduated from college and Jeral had graduated from high school a year or two

Late because we bounced him back and forth from Spanish to English to English to Spanish and so he graduated a little bit older but

He was just a high school kid and he was working digging holes to put in posts for real estate signs and that was

His Job at the moment and they were talking marriage and my wife is concerned for Elisa and so she takes Elisa aside and

Says Elisa listen if you were to marry Jeral it's like getting on a train without knowing where it's going and Elisa said to

My wife I don't care where the train is going I just want to go with him that's truth truth that's commitment that's loyalty

That's amazing and then she says I'll lodge where you lodge it's not like you know a vacation lodge on the lake any house can be

A home if I can just be with you we had an interesting experience of having met some friends that were from the upper

Society of Columbia when I was at Columbia Bible College our first year we lived in a trailer in the woods and I met this fellow I

Think I bought some insurance from him or something and I went to his office and he had this high up office with big

Windows overlooking the high rises of Columbia South Carolina and I'm looking at this office and wow this guy he is important and we

Went for dinner to his house and oh my goodness I've never been in a house so nice and what furniture they had it

Was just phenomenal and he drove us around in his Mercedes and everything was fine but then one day it all crashed and bankruptcy

Hit and he lost his office downtown he lost his house he even lost his furniture you believe that I didn't know people rented

Or mortgaged their furniture so when he lost everything so he comes driving up he rents the trailer in the woods next to us

And he drives up in his Mercedes with his two kids and they get out and we're helping them get set up and I

Said where's your wife and he said she left me she said she's not going to live in a trailer in the woods well

Ruth is not like that true loyalty is till death do us part that that expression of Lord of course is what we say

In a wedding ceremony but it does come from the Bible it it says that Ruth clung to her in verse 14 which is

The same Hebrew expression that we see in Genesis 2 24 that a man shall leave his father and mother and cling to his wife

They're clinging together it's a beautiful picture of the importance of commitment to people you know this kind of commitment to friendship Mark Zuckerberg has made billions of dollars on that

Kind of friendship that people are trying to preserve these friends throughout their life that they no longer live close to because of the

Importance of being committed to one another it's similar to the call that Jesus gave Jesus said God in in in in Matthew 10 37

Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me and in verse 18 it says that Naomi saw her determination Naomi

Naomi recognized has said in Ruth and Orpah and that Orpah had before Orpah decided to go back and she said as you've been kind to me may God be kind to you this word

Has said it embodies love and generosity and kindness enduring commitment has said that's an interesting word and it's a Hebrew word say it with me has said has said let's try it has said has said is in Psalm 136

Translated steadfast love you know when you're doing Bible study a dictionary can be a great thing you know what the dictionary says about steadfast the steadfast love the first definition is firmly fixed in place

Immoval that's steadfast second definition not subject to change that's steadfast love God steadfast firm in belief and determination or adherence to something loyal God's loyal love or has

Said endures forever surely Ruth is banking on knowing God by sticking with Naomi Kit and I did not have has said within ourselves to have this kind of loyalty to one another we had

To turn to God to restore what we had lost in those first 18 years of marriage Jesus compared the disciples to a woman giving birth before his crucifixion and in John 16 22 he says you have sorrow now

But I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice and no one will take your joy away wouldn't you like to have unshakable joy that is there permanent

Even though the situation might be sad like losing Jesus of course in this situation wouldn't you like to have that unshakable joy it's by knowing Jesus in his resurrection power he says I'm going

To come back and you're going to see me and you are going to experience newness of life that's what it says in Romans 6 it says we're buried in baptism but raised to

Walk in newness of life wouldn't you like to have a new life that kind of loyalty can come by knowing Jesus Christ this is the way Paul describes it in the loss that can

Accompany the commitment of loyalty to Jesus Christ Paul says in Philippians chapter 3 verse 8 I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord he lost all the benefits of being

A zealous Jew by becoming a follower of Jesus Christ and in order to do that there's got to be faith in verse 9 he said believers really want to be right with God I count everything a loss let's move to verse 9

Not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law but that which comes through faith in Christ the righteousness that comes from God that depends on faith in other words I'm not confident of my chesed to be loyal to him I'm confident

In his chesed to be loyal to me and that's where I place my faith in him it doesn't depend on my chesed like Ruth Paul was ready to lose his people and his religion and put all his hope

In Christ the deepest desire of our life is found in verse 10 that says that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share in his sufferings becoming like him in his death

As the band comes up would you like to know Jesus the way Paul did who could count every benefit in life that he had as rubbish in order to know Christ and be found in his

Chesed his steadfast love that endures forever your part is to have faith in God's loyalty in God's chesed his steadfast love that never ceases your chesed may fail but you're putting your faith in his

Chesed you're trusting him to keep you faithful to be a real believer we must trust him completely that he really is better than everything else in life and in him we can joyfully

Face the loss of anything in life accept the presence of him in our life let's pray father I pray that you would help us to be genuine in our desire to express to you you can take the

World you can have it all forgive me Jesus I need him I can do it without anything else but I've gotta have Jesus working in my heart because I'm crucified with christ nevertheless I live yet not I

It's christ who lives in me and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me oh my friends please trust Jesus and him alone I pray in his name amen

Service, Slavery, Death

Service, Slavery, Death

Matt Freeman

Transcript

It's good to see you all this morning. My name is Matt. I'm one of the pastors here with Mill City. And I'm excited to get to celebrate Christmas with you guys. As you can't tell, we kind of like Christmas around here. And I'm a Christmas person.

So don't get me wrong, I like the other holidays. Like I like Thanksgiving, the 3F celebration of family and football and food. But like I'm a Christmas person. Give me Christmas. The lights and the trees and the Christmas carols and everything like that. I just love it.

And the truth is I grew up in a family that was like that too. So it's kind of ingrained in me from the very beginning. We were the family that as soon as Thanksgiving was over and as soon as like the last leftover was tucked into the fridge, like the attic door just swung open on its own and all the Christmas decorations just came pouring out. And the rest of Thanksgiving Day was spent putting up Christmas decorations and they stayed up until after the new year, depending on when we wanted to take them down. But I love Christmas.

I mean, take a look at this little guy right here. I mean, that's jubilation. There's like sleigh bells going in the background. It's funny, people tell me, Oh, Emmy looks just like you. I'm like, only mostly. Only mostly she looks just like me.

But I'm a Christmas person. Our family kind of went crazy for Christmas. And the church that I grew up in was pretty crazy about Christmas too. In fact, the Sunday after Thanksgiving, our church would have this like very formal ceremonial service called the Hanging of the Greens, which literally meant we're going to decorate the church. I mean, it was like this big service where families would walk up together and they would hang wreaths and people would hold candles and we would sing songs by a candlelight. And if it sounds crazy, that's kind of because it was.

But really, that was just the tip of the iceberg to my church's crazy experiment with Christmas. We had children's plays. I don't know if you're familiar with children's plays, but you had to have a children's play and you had to have the costumes. You had to memorize your lines and you had to learn the songs and all this kind of stuff. You had to dress up. You always had to look really good.

And of course, I'm going to try to set the standard for when you're looking good. So obviously, a hand-me-down sweater because you can't even see my hands, rocking khakis, and a tie that's for some reason missing, like missing part of it. I don't, like they're supposed to go to a point. I don't know. But I tried to look good.

And every once in a while, we do like, we do Christmas plays that had a theme. It's like metaphorically to talk about Christmas. I mean, because you could do cowboy Christmas. And of course, you wanted to look the part if you were doing that. Even if you didn't have two front teeth. Like you just whistled the music out.

But you couldn't just do a children's Christmas thing. You had to have like an adult choir cantata. And if you don't know what a cantata is, you're one of the lucky ones. We're going to spare you. We're not even going to tell you what that is. But there was just all this stuff going on.

There were practices and dress rehearsals. And it was Sunday morning and Sunday night and Wednesday night. And then extra practices during the week. And you also had the Christmas card swap. And you had the candy cane tree. You had children's storybook Christmas.

And then you had the church Christmas party. And a lot of times you got to January and you were just kind of exhausted. And the truth is, I look back on all of those things that we did and I really enjoy them. Like some of my fondest memories are from some of those times. But I have to ask myself the question, like was all the time and energy we put into that stuff worth it?

Like were we actually celebrating Christmas as we were putting on those plays? Because the point of all the stuff we were doing was for our friends to like invite people to come. Like the people that were part of our church family to invite their friends to come and to maybe get plugged in with our church. And as I think back on that, I'm like, I don't know. I don't know if the energy and time we put into it allowed people to actually hop in with us. See, the church that I grew up in kind of had a come to us mentality at Christmas.

We'll put on these great plays or we'll have these parties if you'll just come. And as I think about Christmas, as I think about the fact that God came to us at Christmas, is the correct response to then get people to come to us? Or is Jesus came on a mission for us? Are we then to turn out and go on mission for others? Should we be going to them? And really all of this and more is why we as a church from the very beginning have done our give series at Christmas.

All we're doing is we're looking at our culture and say, no, no, let's flip what our culture values at Christmas and focus on what's really important. At a time of year where it's all about me and what I can get and that kind of stuff, we just want to remember what Christmas actually is all about. It's that Jesus came for us. And the way that we do that is that we're generous to people who are in need as we do our gift project. So when our culture says, you know, get all you can, get the new Samsung virtual reality goggles or maybe some new jewelry or the new PlayStation 8, we say as a church, no, no, no, give more away.

Be generous because he who is rich became poor so that we by his poverty might be rich. That at a time of year where it's all about what you can get and all about the memories and stuff you can make, we say let's make it about others. Let's put others' interests in front of our own. Let's sacrifice so that we can do that. And so today as we kind of tie a bow, so to speak, on our Give series, I just want to continue to echo that as we follow Jesus, what we're called to is sacrificing. What we're called to is to be generous.

And my hope is that by the end of this morning, we have a clearer picture of not only what that looks like at Christmastime, but hopefully what that looks like for all of our lives. So let me pray for us and we'll jump into the Bible. God, I'm so thankful that this time of the year we get the opportunity to just stop and press pause and remember what Christmas actually is all about. To not buy into what our culture says and to remember, to reflect, and then to actually get the opportunity to see change in our lives. So God, I pray that you would just encourage us this morning.

I pray that you would help us see the joy that it is to follow Jesus. God, that we would respond by being radically generous and sacrificial with our lives. I pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. Grab a Bible. Go ahead and turn to Matthew chapter 20.

If you're grabbing one of the Bibles that we have on the seats, it's going to be on page 482. If you don't have a Bible, Merry Christmas. Take that one with you today. We want you to have it. If you're looking at it going, ooh, sweet, new white Bible to go with my collection of three blue and white Bibles at home, that one can just be your Glen Forest Bible. Just leave that one here.

But the passage that we're looking at today is not your stereotypical Christmas passage. There's no baby, no shepherds, no angels bursting into robust chorus. In fact, this passage is recorded in all the Gospels the week before Jesus would go to the cross and rise from the grave. And so this is really kind of at the end of everything. And here's what we're looking for. This is what I want us to see today.

What does it look like to follow Jesus in his kingdom? So if we're going to be kingdom people, if we've decided to follow Jesus, what does it look like for us to follow him with our lives? And how does his example motivate our actions? And ultimately, how does that even like change our entire approach to life? So what does it look like to follow Jesus in his kingdom?

So Matthew chapter 20, and we'll be starting in verse 20. It says this, Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons. And kneeling before him, she asked him for something. And he said to her, What do you want? She said to him, Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom. So just to kind of set the scene, James and John come with their mom and they bow before Jesus.

And apparently their mother basically says, Can I ask you a question? Can I make a request of you? And Jesus allows her to. And she says, Grant that these sons of mine can sit in the positions of power and authority in your coming kingdom. Let them sit at your right hand and at your left hand. And it's kind of funny because the Gospels are filled with stories about James and John.

I mean, they even have nicknames. Their nicknames in the Gospels are the sons of thunder. And so we kind of see it throughout. But this one's particularly funny to me because they got their mama to go ask Jesus if they could be at his right hand and left hand. I mean, sons of thunder, more like mama's boys. Like, this is, I mean, you've got to imagine how this played out, right?

Hey, James, you know, you know who Jesus really, Jesus says a lot of hard stuff, but you know who he doesn't say hard stuff to all the time? Older women. Like, what if we got our mom to go and talk to Jesus? I mean, for real, that's how that played, that's how it played out. And what we know from the other Gospels is this question didn't originate from James and John. They put their mom up to this.

But regardless, they come before Jesus and say, the mom says, grant that my sons can sit at your right hand and at your left hand in your coming kingdom because these were positions of power. Let them have power and authority and influence in the coming kingdom. Seeing an opportunity to rise up in the ranks and have some power, they jumped on it. An opportunity to kind of get to the top. And the truth is, regardless of motivation, we're all kind of doing this in our lives if you think about it. Whether it's the opportunity to get like a promotion at work or to get a raise or maybe to get a better car or to get a better house or live in a different neighborhood.

And again, those things aren't bad in and of themselves, but I think intrinsically all of us kind of want to keep moving forward, keep achieving, keep having success is one of the things that Chet mentioned earlier in the announcements. Like, I think that's intrinsic to us because we live in a society that highly values those things. That's kind of what capitalism actually is. It's all about. It's getting to the top. It's climb the ladder of success, make the most money you can, get into the best school and get the most sought after degrees.

And in a lot of cases, regardless of what you have to do to get there. And I think that's part of the mystique behind Donald Trump being elected president. I think there were a lot of people that looked at Donald Trump and said, if he can grow this huge company and have business ventures across the world and have a last name that's synonymous with wealth and status, then of course, he can run the greatest nation in the free world. Because they look at that and they see that as kind of the pinnacle of human existence. Like, he's made it to the top. And the truth is when it comes to looking at power and authority, another term that you can throw up there that goes right along with it is wealth.

A lot of times, power and authority just kind of follow the money. And you can see that on a big scale. You can see it in the macro. So if you look at this last political cycle, you've had lots of conversations about how Wall Street and politics kind of played out. Like, what were the relationships between CEOs and the people who were running for president? Any business, the waitstaff makes less money, has less authority than the shift manager, than the manager, than the owner, than the regional vice president, than someone who's on the board, than the CEO.

It just kind of, it's a, you follow the money and you kind of find where the power and authority are. And even, and even that can be true in our lives. Like, even on the small scale. So if you've, if you've got maybe a little bit more money and a little bit more standing, maybe you can live in a different neighborhood. Maybe you can get a better Job and have more authority. And so even, even on the small scale, you can see how that affords you a little bit more opportunity.

And while James and John live in a completely different culture than ours, their, their question is still at the, at the heart of what we're going after too. James and John seeing an opportunity to kind of rise up in the ranks, to, to move their way to the top, to have more authority, more influence, seeing that opportunity, they jumped on it. So let's, let's see how Jesus responds. Verse 22. Jesus answered, you do not know what you are asking. Which is, which is actually a very gracious response from Jesus because he, he does know what they're asking.

And he's simply just pointing out that they don't, they don't know. They don't know what he knows. That there's obviously a disconnect between what power and authority look like in Jesus's kingdom and what his disciples actually expect it to be. He continues on. He says, you don't know what you're asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?

And they said to him, we are able. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink? Now that's not like a, a turn of phrase that we would use nowadays. So we have to unpack that just a little bit. All throughout the Bible, the cup is basically used to represent someone's like God-ordained destiny. What God had for their lives.

And so if you look in the Psalms, you'll see the cup representative of like blessing or salvation. And then other times you'll see it has more of a negative connotation where it's like God's wrath or disaster. And more often than not, the cup is going to have some connotation along with it that deals with like suffering and trial and hardship. And Jesus, Jesus asked him, he says, are you able to drink from the cup? And they said, they said we are. So regardless of what James and John know at this point, so regardless of, of, of what they understand the cup to be, they respond that they're able to.

That whatever it takes to get to the top, whatever it takes to be Jesus's right-hand men, James and John are saying, we're in, we'll do this. Whatever path we have to walk, whatever we have to do, we are in. Jesus responds to him, verse 23. He said to them, you will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father. He says to them, you will drink my cup. Whatever that cup means, you're going to drink that cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left hand is not mine to decide.

My Father is going to decide that. And so, hang on to that little bit about James and John drinking the cup, but you've got to imagine at this point, they're disappointed. So they come with this expectation of, of maybe getting elevated to this position and it just doesn't work out for them. Jesus says that it's, it's not, it's not for them. It's not going to work out. It's not as they plan.

And then verse 24 adds to it, it says this, and when the 10 heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers. The 10 being the other disciples. Okay, James and John were two of the 12 disciples and when the 10 heard it, it says they were indignant. These guys were ticked. And rightly so, I mean, think about this. Think about all that James and John and the rest of the disciples have gone through.

A lot of these guys even knew James and John before they became disciples. And so, I mean, they've walked with Jesus. They've, they've heard him teach. They've, they've gotten to be a part of these miracles and experiencing all this together. And now they're trying to jump ahead of them, trying to get to a place where even maybe they're ruling over the other 10 disciples. And they're ticked.

I mean, I would be, and I think there's a little bit of us when we read that, it's kind of like, for real? That's what you guys are doing? And the passage doesn't tell us like that they became friends immediately after that, like it wasn't all okay when Jesus stepped in. I mean, there's probably some time. But honestly, I hope, they made up.

But honestly, I hope that the disciples, the rest of the disciples never let them live that down. Like, never. James looks at Peter and says, where's Jesus off to? I don't know. Why don't you ask your mama? I mean, like, the appropriate amount of forgiveness and the appropriate level of mockery.

I feel like that probably embodies Mill City. Pretty good bit there. But regardless, Jesus saw an opportunity to teach. He saw an opportunity to correct an understanding of what it meant to be a disciple in his kingdom, what it meant to be a follower in his kingdom. And even more than that, what does it mean to be a leader and have power and authority in his kingdom? He says this in verse 25.

But Jesus called them to him and said, you know that the rulers of the Gentiles Lord it over them and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. Jesus says, you know, I.e. I don't really have to explain this to you. You know how the rulers treat the people who are underneath them. See, Israel was occupied by Rome at the time.

So whether it's governors or administrators or maybe it was people that were in charge of the Roman military, they constantly had their authority lorded over them. It was forced on them. Like it was for shameful gain. It was oppressive misuse. Most of the leaders were just trying to, again, climb the ladder of success or just make the person who's above them happy. And he said, it shall not be so among you.

And the truth is, in a lot of ways, our culture is like this too. That's why most of us are kind of wary of politicians or people who are in like places of authority and leadership and really don't want to do it. They say, because we've seen this all too regularly. We've seen deceit and manipulation and lies and corruption, which is why we're kind of wary of people who are in leadership. And what's interesting is, even though we know that's true, what we just admitted earlier is that all of us are trying to claw our way to the top to get there. To get to that place where we know that there's abuse and misuse of authority.

But Jesus says, no, no, no, no, no. It shall not be so among you. Jesus isn't against all types of authority and influence. He's just exposing what oppressive misuse looks like. And he says, no, no, there's another way. There's another way that my disciples are to act.

He's got a different definition of what it looks like. Pick it back up, beginning of verse 26. He says, but whoever would be great among you must be your servant. And whoever would be first among you must be your slave. Here's what Jesus says. He says, greatness in his kingdom isn't measured by dollar bills or the number of people who call you boss.

He begins by saying it's about being a servant. servant. Not like a server at a restaurant. He says, servant of the servant class where your life is leveraged for whoever is above you. And to clarify, he takes it a step further. He says, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave. I mean, that's picturesque.

That's service and slavery. And if you're putting it in terms of their day, he's saying that authority and power in his kingdom look way more like working long hours in the field or washing a visitor's feet when they come in from a long journey. It's way more like taking garbage out to the dung heap or cleaning a cattle stall. And you've got to imagine at this point, James and John are listening to Jesus talk. They come to Jesus with this expectation of we want to be in power and authority. And they're kind of like raising their hands at this point going, um, excuse me, I, when, when we came to you and we're talking about this, we, we, we just thought that you would be on a really big cushy seat and we, we would, we would also get cushy seats, not as big as your cushy seat because you'd be in the middle, but we'd be on the right and left and maybe, maybe the things you're saying would be what people do for us.

And Jesus says, no, you've, you've got it backwards. It's as if he's looking at them and saying, hey guys, remember, remember when you were a fisherman? Before I called you, remember when you were a fisherman? Greatness in my kingdom doesn't look like the person who owns the boat, looks way more like the peon who carries the nets off the boat and then goes back and scrubs fish guts off the deck. See, here's the problem. It's the, it's the same problem for them as it is for us.

While we read this passage and see exactly what Jesus is talking about, while we understand that a life of serving others and putting others first is, is noble and it's good and it's what Jesus did for us, we're bombarded on a regular basis with thousands of other messages that say the complete opposite. Our, our culture says, you do you, do whatever makes you happy. Whoever you've got to push down to get to the top, do that. It's all about you. It's all about autonomy. That's what Chet was talking about just a little bit ago.

It's about self. We, we use this metaphor a lot and I think it's helpful here that if our culture and what our culture values is like a driving, pouring rain and you as a Christian have an umbrella, you can't help but get wet. There are going to be times when we're so overwhelmed by what our, our culture teaches that even though we understand what Jesus is saying that it's about others, it's about serving them and putting their interests first and sacrificing for them, we can't help but let this little bit just kind of trickle into our lives while we're all going, no, no, no, serve and give our lives for others. It can trickle in.

Let me give you an example of how it does this. If you're a part of a community group, I want you to think about your group for a second. Has the thought ever popped in your mind, I wish I was in another group or maybe this, I wish I was a part of my old group maybe something like this. I would go hang out with my group but they're just not really meeting my needs. I would be open and honest but that person monopolizes all the time with all the problems they have going on. It's subtle but deadly.

At the time that we're looking at what Jesus says about serving and putting others first and that's what Raz and Josh have articulated so well the last two weeks about putting others first. It can creep in. Even though we understand what Jesus is calling us to, it can creep in. So the question becomes, how do we do that? What's our motivation? How do we begin to approach life in the same way that Jesus does and what he's calling us to?

Verse 28. In fact, we'll back it all the way up to 26 and just read the whole chunk. He said, It shall not be so among you but whoever would be great among you must be your servant and whoever would be first among you you must be your, you must, sorry, you must be your slave even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Jesus said, Even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Jesus, the one who the disciples realized was worthy of all honor and all praise and all glory who would one day sit on a throne said he came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom.

Like he sets the example. He puts others first. He is the one who is generous and he would do so by giving his life as a ransom for many. And in that statement, Jesus sets out and shows us what his mission has been from the very beginning. He didn't come to set up an earthly throne. He's going to have a throne but it's by way of a cross and it's an eternal throne.

It wasn't to be set up here. The reason that Jesus had to go to a cross is because we had a debt that we could not pay. That we could not overcome outside of his sacrifice for us. that when Jesus is talking about that cup in a couple of verses up, he's talking about the cup of God's wrath. When Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, he said, God, he said, Father, if this cup can be taken from me, let it be. But if not, your will be done and not mine.

Jesus went to the cross because he had put, he put us first. It was about sacrificing himself for us. And so when he says he came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom, we're beginning to understand that Jesus is the king of an upside down kingdom where our culture says that moving up is where greatness is. Jesus says, no, no, no. Greatness is by moving down from service to slavery and even to death. Greatness, success, and wealth, and prominence isn't measured the same way.

It's not about sitting beside him but following behind him. And the essence of what Jesus is saying this morning, this is what I want us to walk away with and realize. We could not get to God. We couldn't. We could not get to God not by our morals, not by behaving, not by anything. We could not get to God so God came to us.

It was a rescue mission. That's what we're celebrating at Christmas is that God came to us. He came as a missionary. Think about that for a minute that Jesus who spoke everything that is into existence is now in the form of a baby staring at sheep and cows in a manger in the backwoods middle of nowhere. The king of the universe humbled himself and came but he didn't stay a baby forever. He would go to a cross where he would die.

He would die for us. He would die for our sins so that we could follow after him. So the question becomes how do you respond to that? Like how do you respond to what Jesus says in these verses? We follow after him. We respond by following after Jesus in the same way that he did for us because Jesus came on a mission for us we go on a mission for others.

That rather than buying into the it's all about me nonsense that we get from our culture especially at Christmas we get to make it about others. Jesus looked at James and John and he told them you are you're going to drink the cup that I'm going to and what we know that after Jesus ascends into heaven that James and John are some of the leaders of the early church and they went out they went out from Jerusalem pursuing people spreading the gospel and for the people that were followers of Jesus it didn't always go well there were persecutions and beatings and there was jail time and some of them ended up murdered. James would be murdered for his faith and John they tried to kill John church history tells us and it didn't work and so they exiled him to an island where he would die. Service slavery and death but what James and John realized is all that Jesus had done for them and so the rest of their lives got to be this humble grateful response to what Jesus had done.

Here's the deal I want you to think about this for a second. The reason that you're sitting here this morning is because Jesus came on a mission for us and then somebody responded to Jesus' call to be on mission for others. Think about the person who told you about Jesus. If you're not a Christian think about who has invited you to hang out with our church because Jesus came on a mission and others have responded to that mission since. That's why you're sitting in this room. That's what Christmas is all about is that God came for us because we could not get to him.

So our response is not to make it all about us but to turn our eyes outward and to go and to pursue others. Our response is to have the same posture as our king. And this is so freeing. This is so freeing when we don't have to buy into everything that our culture tells us. That rising to the top that having the most money or being successful that everything else that our culture tells us to chase after isn't going to isn't going to fill us up. Isn't going to bring us joy.

And if it brings us happiness it's only temporary. But Jesus calls you into a relationship with him where he served and sacrificed and died for you. And so our response gets to be that we approach life in the same way. We're all mission to see more and more people become Christians and we go to them. Which means that your entire approach to life changes. It means you're a missionary at work.

It means when your boss asks you to do something that's degrading or menial or below your pay grade you do it. Because you're just there to serve. That when you notice someone skipping work for the second day in a row you go to them and say hey can I treat you to lunch? And instead of going to McDonald's to the value menu like you take them to Moe's. Or if you're really rolling you take them to Chipotle where they can pay more and get worse food. But you treat them.

When you realize that a co-worker's been sick all week you leave work and you go get some soup and you drive it to their house. That's going to people. It means you're a missionary in your neighborhood. If you've got a crabby neighbor that always is yelling at you about your dog using the bathroom on their lawn even though your dog's in a fence and never comes out of the fence. Can't be your dog. If you look out the window on a Saturday and see them working on their shed it means that maybe you sacrifice some of your time and you go help them.

Maybe you realize that there's a lady that's in her late 80s who can't drive that's down the street but just needs someone to come sit and to talk with her. It means we give up some of our time and we go to them. It means we're missionaries in our city especially to those that are less fortunate than us because that's who Jesus went to. Jesus went to the people who needed help that were kind of outcasts from the society. That's why we spend time trying to help people that are often just kind of neglected and forgotten. That's why we spend time at Gentle Pines because it's a part of our city that has kind of just been forgotten and overlooked and we want to go in there and tell them that we love them and that Jesus loves them and that we want them to be a part of our family.

It's why we've partnered with Samaritans well this year. We want the women and the children there to know that we love them and care about them and Jesus loves them and we're willing to leverage time and resources so that they know that. I've been so encouraged. I've had two separate group leaders in the last couple of weeks tell me that they kind of want to be in line to partner with Samaritans well long term. That's so encouraging. Man, that is so encouraging to see our church family turning our eyes outward and looking at the people that God has placed us around.

But it's all of life, guys. It's every second of every day realizing that you exist for the benefit of others. That you don't have to find your worth and your joy and your value in meeting all of your needs and making it all about you because it's ultimately bankrupt and you have everything you will ever need in Jesus which means that we get to turn our eyes out and like everything we do as a church family we get to do it together. We get to do it with our community groups that our friends and our neighbors and our coworkers we're trying to reach them for Jesus and build relationships but we get to invite our community groups into that.

And so here's I've got two ways I want us to respond this morning. Two ways that we can respond to Jesus' call to go out and to see more people become Christians and as we do it to meet people's needs. Two ways we can do that. The first one is that we do. We actually meet people's physical needs. Jesus went and he healed the sick and he spent time with those who were in poverty like Jesus met real needs and so his church meets real needs.

You can meet real needs today by giving to Samaritan's Well. I've been so proud of our church family so far and I know that we can continue to give. We've got the envelope set up over there. You can write a check. You can put cash. You can drop it in the gift box.