Following
After God and Embracing a Life of Faith
Ruth 1:1-18
If
Abigail Van Buren had lived 1,200 years before Christ and written a daily
column in the Moab Daily News, Ruth would most likely have been inclined
to seek advice. She had reason to be confused. For her, there was a lot at
stake to leave the comforts of the familiar and head west into unknown
territory. But the remarkable story of Ruth is that when push came to shove,
she was willing to risk it all and step out in the direction of faith. And
because she followed after God and embraced a life of faith, she basically
wrote herself into the Bible.
Ruth left her comfort zone and
embraced a life of faith – and because she did her name is included in the
physical lineage of Jesus Christ.
(READ
Ruth 1:1-18)
This morning
from the most famous passage in Ruth we discover seven faith lessons of
following after God and embracing a life of faith.
Sometimes the KJV says it best:
“Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for
whither thou goest, I will go: and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people
shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there
I will be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee
and me” (Ruth 1:16-17)
I.
FOLLOWING AFTER GOD MEANS EMBRACING A NEW DETERMINATION
In the words of Ruth:
“Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn
from you.”
Try as she might Naomi couldn’t
convince Ruth to return to her own place, or to her own people. Even though
Orpah had already gone back, Ruth clung to Naomi and pleads with her to stay.
But Naomi wanted to make sure that Ruth
understood just how hard following Naomi would be. Tried several times to
persuade Ruth to return to her own people (vv. 8-13).
Jesus is a lot like Naomi in this way. Jesus Himself always wanted a person to know the cost of following him. Jesus never called anyone to follow Him under false pretenses. Listen to His challenges.
“If any man come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke (9:23). On another occasion he said,
“Whosoever taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me” And another time reminding his disciples of the life they had been called to said, “I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves.”
Jesus never called any of us to follow him under false pretenses. He never promised it would be easy, that the road would be straight or gentle slopped, that his way would be less difficult. Like Naomi, Jesus always wanted a person to know the cost of following.
Ship Wrecked at the Bottom of the World
tells
the extraordinary true story of polar explorer Sir Earnest Shackleton’s now
legendary 1914-1916 British emperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. While never
accomplishing its goal of the first crossing of the Antarctic continent, the
expedition has become a larger than life testament to heroism and human
endurance. Because of Shakleton’s leadership all 28 men survived nearly two
years in the barren, frigid Antarctic when their ship Endurance was caught in
pack ice and eventually crushed.
Shackleton’s call for volunteers echoes
that of Jesus as his recruitment notice read:
“Men wanted for hazardous journey.
Small wages. Bitter cold. Long months of complete darkness. Constant danger.
Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success.”
Following after God means embracing a
fresh determination – to walk by faith whatever the cost.
II.
FOLLOWING AFTER GOD MEANS EMBRACING A NEW DIRECTION
In the words of Ruth:
“Where you go I will go.”
Ruth had never been this way before,
but faith had brought with it a new direction.
A reliable sign of genuine faith is
when one really begins to follow the Lord Jesus Christ by becoming interested
in what interests him. Jesus said, “I came to seek and to save the lost.” “I
did not come to be served, but to serve.”
Leaving our comfort zones and embracing
a new direction means if we are true followers of Jesus we will be making His
way our life’s direction – and we will be seeking the salvation of the lost;
looking for ways to serve the less fortunate.
O.S Hawkins, former pastor of FBC
Dallas once said, “To go where Jesus goes will carry many of us who find our
retreat within stained glass windows to places where we seldom go. When Jesus
went to Jerusalem he didn’t go to be seen with the religious leaders. He went
to the Pool of Bethesda where lame and impotent people had spent a lifetime.
When he went through Jericho he didn’t go to meet the mayor; he went to a blind
beggar, who was rattling a tin cup on the side of the road. When he went
through Samaria he wasn’t interested in meeting the governor; his interest was
for a prostitute at a well outside the city of Sychar. Jesus loves the
outcasts. They accused Him of being “a friend of sinners.” Too few of us have
ever been accused of such.”
Following after God means embracing a
new direction – saying to Christ – wherever you go I will go.
III.
FOLLOWING AFTER GOD MEANS EMBRACING A NEW DEPENDENCE
In the words of Ruth:
“Where you stay I will stay.”
In other words Ruth was saying, I’m
going to trust you, Naomi. Ruth willingly became totally dependent on another
to supply her basic needs. Ruth would later instill that dependence in her
children, for she would marry Boaz, and they would have a son, Obed, who would
have a son, Jesse, who would have a son, David, who would one day write in
Psalm 37: 25, “I have been young, and now I am old; yet I have never seen the
righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” King David learned that dependence
from his great-grandmother Ruth.
Following after God means embracing a
fresh, new dependence upon the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Prone to trust so many
things – faith brings us to a new dependence and new confidence in the Living
Lord.
Christ was precise and He was clear:
Follow me (in total dependence).
IV.
FOLLOWING AFTER GOD MEANS EMBRACING A NEW DESIRE
In the words of Ruth:
“Your people will be my people.”
Ruth is saying simply that she desires
to be a part of a new community. There will be nothing between us. We will live
in fellowship with each other. Your people will be my people.
Ruth knows that if she takes the God of
the Bible for her God she will have to separate herself from the godlessness of
Moab. She knew that it was impossible to fellowship with God and refuse to
fellowship with God’s people.
It is an amazing thing – so many people
call themselves Christians today who are called by His name and have more to do
with the world around them, than with the fellowship of believers.
Faith in Christ brings new desires and
one of these is to fellowship with the people of God. After all – to love God
is to love His people.
Again O.S. Hawkins challenges our
thinking as he points out, “Some people who call themselves Christians may just
be singing hymns, saying words, meeting with committees. Some people live like
the world, talk like the world, look like the world, and then go to church and
count the time on their watches until the service is over. The same people can
go to sporting events, ball games, movies, or the theater and say, ‘My how time
flies.” These are the very people who tell me they are going to heaven and
spend eternity praising the Lord with the people of God…when they never do it
here? Who are they kidding? Themselves?”
V.
FOLLOWING AFTER GOD MEANS EMBRACING A NEW DEVOTION
“Your God will be my God.”
If you are looking for an Old Testament
conversion – look no further. Your God
will be my God. I’m taking your God as my own. Faith is about personal
devotion. What a huge decision this is for anyone – but especially for people
like Ruth.
Ruth’s past was full of baggage. She
was raised in a godless home and worshiped immoral gods. Her present
circumstance wasn’t all that great. And her future would include life as a
refugee in a strange new culture, living in the strange city of Bethlehem among
Hebrew believers who looked upon the Moabite race with scorn and prejudice.
Ruth was giving up all she knew to follow the God of Naomi, and all she knew of Naomi’s God up to this point was a God of suffering and sorrow! Ruth had no idea who this new God was or what following him was all about.
But she knew Naomi! She watched a
growing faith develop in Naomi’s life and through her saw hope, faith and love.
Might I content this morning that the
way to lead people to our God is to let them see Him in us. When the lost world
sees us heading for home, repenting, getting right with the Lord, they will
follow. This is revival – our new devotion. “If my people who are called by my
name will humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their
wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal
their land.”
If we ever expect our God to become a lost person’s God than they need to see in our repentance, in our brokenness before Him that God is not the good person’s God – He is the sinner’s God – and so He could be their God too!
Ruth was able to say, “Your God will be
my God” not because she saw a God of pleasure or a God of prosperity or a God
of health and wealth or because Naomi preached to her. Ruth came to this new
devotion because she saw Naomi set her face like flint toward renewed faith in
the Living Lord God!
VI.
FOLLOWING AFTER GOD MEANS EMBRACING A NEW DEDICATION
“Where you die I will die.”
Basically Ruth was saying, “This is for
life.” This thing of faith is a life decision. No turning back. As she left her
old places of security and comfort – she moved forward to embrace a new
dedication – for the rest of her life.
It is the same in following our Lord.
We say to Him, “this is for life.”
What does it cost to follow Jesus – not
much – just everything.
B.B. McKinney expressed it well:
Take up thy cross and follow me
I heard my Master say
I gave my life to ransom thee
Surrender your all today
My heart, my life, my all I bring
To Christ who loves me so
He is my Master, Lord and King
Wherever he leads I’ll go.
VII.
FOLLOWING AFTER GOD MEANS EMBRACING A NEW DESTINY
“And there I will be buried.”
Do you see the whole picture? Ruth is
saying, “Not even death can separate us. Where you die I will die and there I
will be buried.”
Faith is embracing a new destiny. No
longer is this world all there is, no longer do we worry about tomorrow, no
longer are we bound to safe mediocrity. No longer must we be afraid of giving
our lives to God, because for us to live is Christ and to die gain. No longer
are we limited to what we can see – faith has allowed us to see what cannot be
seen and to embrace a new destiny!
CONCLUSION
It
doesn’t take a letter to Dear Abby to figure out that the Lord wants us to rely
on him more this New Year than we have in the past. That’s a given.
After all, doesn’t our own experience
with Christ validate that reality?
Every time we dared to put our faith into
practice and God proved himself faithful.
Every time we followed hard after God
even when it meant leaving comfort zones to do so.
Every time we trusted God’s direction
over our own sense of right and wrong.
Every time we ventured into the
unknown territory of new ministry.
Every time we followed after God and
embraced a life of faith.
As you leave an old year and enter
this new one, may I encourage you to embrace it with a new:
Determination,
direction, dependence, desire, devotion, dedication and ultimately with a new
destiny.
Happy
New Year!