← ArchiveRuthRuth: The Way Home (Ruth 1:6-7)DateMay 1, 2022SpeakerDr Josh BurnhamTextRuth 1:6–7Passages in this sermonRuth 1:64:56Psalms 2222:56Deuteronomy 3124:59TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00. . . Okay, welcome to the church that gathers at Bethel.0:30For you who are sitting on the ground floor, welcome. For you in the sky, welcome. And you who are in the cloud watching online, welcome to everyone that gathers here in this location. This building, this is not the church. This location is not the church. You are the church if you've given your life to Jesus Christ. And the church gathers because of the gospel. And we say it like this, that way our children can understand0:59and our adults can understand. The gospel is simply Jesus in our place. It's not fair, but that's what's called grace. Jesus in our place. If you're new here, and I've met a new guest again this morning, every week I meet someone new, thank you. After the service, there's a table out in the foyer. We have a gift for you. So feel free to take that gift. There's no strings attached. We just want to bless you and say thank you for worshiping with us1:29because we believe Jesus can change your life because he's changed our lives. So today we continue a series in the book of Ruth. And I know you're waiting on pins and needles. The title of the sermon series is called Ruth. That's what happens post-eacher. There's no creativity left. So it's called Ruth. And we're going to look at verse 6 and following today. If you weren't here last week, let me catch you up in Ruth.1:57Elimelech and his family, and these were Jewish people. They were covenant members of faith in Yahweh. They lived in a land that had nothing. They lived in the land of promise and plenty, but there was a famine and they were in need. So they left the land of promise and the land of plenty, and they went to the land of Moab. During this time, they left, and it was during the period of the judges.2:27There was a physical famine in Bethlehem, and there was a moral famine in the land. Judges is described this way, that there was no king and everyone did what was right in their own eyes. Sound familiar? It's the land we live in. And to make matters worse, they leave Bethlehem and they go to the land where there is food. In the land of Moab, Elimelech dies and his two sons die.2:52So now this family is living in the land where there is food, and they are completely empty. And as we read today, we find Naomi and Orpah, not to be confused with Oprah, and Ruth all alone in a foreign land. Can you imagine the bitter disappointments of Naomi?3:21They leave the promised land. And let me remind you, it's the promised land because God promised them the land. They're living in the promised land and they still have need. They're not, their needs are not met and they leave and she's lost everything. Have you ever felt disappointed at God? Now, I know some of you are Baptists. You say, well, no, we're not allowed to be disappointed.3:50There are going to be times in your life where your expectations and your plan, what you think should be happening in your life are not met. And that's where disappointment comes. We're going to unpack that today. So if you are disappointed today at God for maybe unright expectations, maybe you have gone through difficult moments, what does the Bible say about our disappointments in our Savior and in our Creator?4:18Augustine once said this. He said, God had one son on earth without sin, but he never had one son without suffering. There's not a single person in this room that has not or will not suffer at some point in your life. So cheer up. We're on the same bus. But what do we do when that moment comes into our lives?4:45That's when the Holy Spirit meets us in our need. Ruth chapter 1, verse 6 and 7 will jump us off today. She, that's Naomi, and her daughters-in-law set out to return from the territory of Moab because she heard in Moab that the Lord had paid attention to His people's need by providing them food.5:15She left the place where she had been living, accompanied by her two daughters-in-law, and they traveled along the road back to the land of Judah. So with that, let's pause and pray, and we will ask God to grant mercy to our lives. Father, we thank You that the examples which are set before us in Your holy and living Word meet us where we are. Lord, there are some of us in this room,5:45there are some of us listening to this message, whether today or later, that have faced bitter disappointments because our lives are bitter. And Lord, we suffered and we've been in want. Father, thank You that even in our darkest day, You have not left us without light. Lord, thank You that You always provide a road back home. So Lord, may we return, or may some who do not know You, may they turn to You for the first time.6:14Lord, bless the reading of Your Word, and bless Your people who are gathered in Your name. We ask this in Christ alone. Amen. Today's message is simply entitled, The Way Home. The Way Home. So in verse 6, and we've already read, that Naomi hears about the end of the famine from this foreign land, Moab.6:37Now, for you astute Bible scholars in our midst, how does she hear that the famine has ended? If you say tick-tock, that's the wrong answer. We don't know. One of the Targums, which is a Babylonian, it's an Aramaic commentary on the Scriptures,7:02one of the rabbis said, we don't know, but obviously an angel delivered the news. So even in the 300 B.C. time, they are wrestling with, how did Naomi... Here, we don't know. But all we do know is that she recognized and heard again the blessing of the Lord. I can imagine that Naomi is having this similar experience from the prodigal son.7:30You remember the parable Jesus tells about the two sons? One is rigid and uptight. He's the rule follower. One has lost his mind, and he is chaotic. The chaotic son leaves, and he squanders his money, his dad's money, and he's eating pods. He's eating pig food. Really, he wants to eat pig food. He doesn't even have that. And there's a moment in his life where he says, it's better to go back home and even eat from the servant's table in dad's house than eat this trash.8:00I can imagine Naomi has the same experience when she says, there's food back home. Let's go back to Bethlehem. And it's a reminder in our lives, there is never a wrong time to return home to the father's house. So if you've been away from Christ for years,8:30maybe today you're hearing for the first time, come back. There's food. There's provision. If you have never given your life to Christ, maybe today is the first time you will hear the good news with spiritual ears, and you can say, God is welcoming me into relationship through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Church, there's never a wrong time to return home to King Jesus.8:56And so now the journey begins. Verse 6, She and her daughters-in-law set out to return home. Now, technically, three people are not returning home. Now, I know you're seeing that three people travel home, but Naomi is returning home. Ruth and Orpah, that's not their home.9:25Because they're not from Bethlehem. Remember? That they are from Moab. And so for them, this would be a new journey. The word return is a covenantal word in the Old Testament. It's used over a thousand times. If you really want to count, it's over a thousand and fifty times. Go home and count and give me the exact number this afternoon. But the prophets use this over and over again to describe a rebellious person coming back to covenant relationship.9:49It's Amos and Jeremiah pleading with Israel, return to God. So when the Bible says that they're returning, they are physically returning. But there is something deeper spiritually happening here. Does that make sense? This is not just, there's food back at the table. Let's go. There is a deep spiritual renewal happening.10:16So let me ask you, what is keeping you from returning back to God today? Is it repenting of that sin that you know that's been lingering or causing confusion? Is it unforgiveness? Is it bitterness? Is it maybe thinking that you're not worthy? Maybe you say, well, I can never come to Christ or I can never come back to Christ because I am not worthy of going home.10:42And to you, God says, you're not worthy. But Jesus makes you holy. He makes you worthy. Church, what is keeping you from returning? Because if we are honest, there is something in each and every one of us that instead of running to God quickly, we pause and we say, is this the right time? There is never a wrong time to return to God.11:11David Smith says this about repentance. Repentance is what makes religion more than ritual. It's easy to stay busy in religion. It is difficult to say, God, I repent. I need to return spiritually. And then they begin the journey. Ten years. Ten years they wait. We don't know why they return and we don't know how long they spent there and for what reason they spend there.11:41We just know that this journey for Naomi is symbolizing emptiness and the return back to abundant life. Now hold that thought because when we go back to Bethlehem, she's going to say, don't call me Naomi. I'm no longer pleasant. I'm bitter. That's a great Baptist name, by the way. That's a great Baptist name, by the way. Call me bitter. That's who I am.12:11But there is something deeper in her soul that God is restoring the emptiness and the brokenness and they are coming back to abundant life. So now we see the road home. We see the return home and now the road home. Verse 7, it says, they traveled along the road leading back to Bethlehem and the land of Judah. We don't have the itinerary. We know that this road would have taken them from Moab near the Dead Sea, probably north of the Dead Sea.12:38They would have crossed the Jordan River and that lower basin, which is below sea level. And they would have returned up to Jericho and to Bethlehem, which is about five miles southeast of Jerusalem. But we don't we don't actually have the itinerary here. Look how the Bible describes the road home in verse 7. They traveled along the road leading back to the land of Judah.13:04So the road home is described simply as the road. Simply as the road. What is going on here? This would have been a 50 mile journey. We don't know the road. I guess God doesn't want us to know. But what we do know is this. That Naomi is not returning by herself.13:31There's two daughters-in-law there. So let's read. Naomi in verse 8 said to them. So we don't know how long on this journey that finally Naomi says to them something. I mean, why wouldn't she say this on the front ends? We don't know. She says, each of you, you go back to your mom's home.13:57May the Lord show kindness to you as he has shown kindness to me. May the Lord grant you rest in the house of a new husband. She kissed them and they wept loudly. So Naomi's encouragement along the road is, you guys go back. Thank you for being on the trip. I'm hoping they can't see Bethlehem when she says this.14:25You guys go 49 miles back. We don't know, but what we do know is that there's a crossroads in the journey. And I can imagine if we were drawing the crossroads, it would be like the cartoon, right? Where there's that picket sign and there's an actual cross that would say Bethlehem to the left and Moab to the right. Because in their lives, Naomi is saying, your life's about to change.14:55It's going to change if you go to Bethlehem. It's going to change if you go back. But Naomi says, go back. It's better for you to go. Don't stay with me. And if you've ever read Pilgrim's Progress, if you've never read the book, it's the most read Christian book outside the Bible. It is number two on the Christian bestseller list. You should read it.15:25But there's a portion of Pilgrim's Progress where Christian, the main character, is at a crossroads and he's followed by this character called Ignorance. Because the entire book is a parable of the Christian life. And as they're journeying, it says, John Bunyan says, they went until they came to a place where they saw a way put itself into their way. And the new way seemed as straight as the old way. And they knew not which of the two ways to take, for both seemed straight before them.15:58Have you ever felt like that in your life? Where you're going and, you know, we think of crossroads that, okay, I can either go left or right. But what if it's looking that you could go straight or straight? How do we have the discernment to say, God, I want to take the road that you desire, but which way is it? That's the dilemma that Christian had. And that's the dilemma that Naomi and Orpah and Ruth have in this moment.16:28So let me just paint the picture for you. People come to Christian faith via many different highways, don't they? Maybe for you it was at vacation Bible school or at a revival. We had someone give their life to Christ in this church at the Dollar General parking lot a couple months ago. Maybe for you that was at home. Maybe it was sitting in a house of worship. No matter what highway you were on, there is a crossroads of faith in every life.16:59And in that moment, you have the choice to make. Am I going to choose the straight path that God has for me? Or am I going to choose another path? What will you choose today? And in that moment, Orpah takes Naomi at her word and she goes back to Moab. That's what the word says.17:28But Ruth is not so sure. And so let's read. Verse 10. They said to her, we insist on returning with you to your people. Naomi replied, return home? My daughters, why? Why would you go with me? Am I able to have more sons who could become your husbands? Return home, my daughters.17:57Go on, for I am too old to have another husband. And even if I thought there was hope for me to have a husband tonight and bear sons, would you be willing to wait for them and to grow up? Would you restrain yourselves from remarrying? No, my daughters. My life is much too bitter for you to share because the Lord's hand has turned against me. And they again wept loudly. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. So with that crossroads, Orpah goes back home.18:26The text is silent on what the right decision was for Orpah. But at this point, Orpah becomes silent in the text. You no longer hear from her. And we see now not only three on the road, we see two on the road. So Naomi says, look, Ruth, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. Follow your sister-in-law.18:54Just follow her. So we have the return home. We have the road home. And now we have the relocation home. Ruth remains. And if you are a Hebrew scholar, which I know all of you are, the syntax is disjunctive there. Which means it is a, it contrasts what happened previously. So Orpah is taking Naomi at her word and she goes.19:24But then we have this major change. And it says, Ruth is different, but Ruth. So look again in verse 16. But Ruth replied. This is the turning point. Ruth begins to cling to her mother-in-law. Now, most of us have heard the words of Ruth,19:48not in the context of a sermon on a Sunday gathering on the Lord's Day. Most of you have heard these words that are about to be read from Ruth at a wedding ceremony. This context is not, and there's irony here, right? This is not a bride to a groom or a groom to a bride.20:15This is a daughter-in-law speaking these words. Can you imagine the level of love and devotion as she speaks these words? Now, let me remind you what Ruth does for us. She clings to Naomi, which means there is never a wrong time to hold on to the people that you love the most. So if you're asking yourself, I have people in my life that love me.20:43What should I do? Cling to them. Hold them. Care for them. Because God has put people in your life that love you for a reason. And by the way, there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. His name is Jesus. Cling to him because he clings to you. This is what Ruth says. This is the relocation home. Ruth replied,21:14Ruth replied, Don't plead for me to abandon you or return and not follow you. For wherever you go, I will go. Wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people. Your God will be my God. Where you die, I will die. And there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me and do so severely. If anything but death separates you and me. So if you were ever to write a love letter to your mother-in-law,21:41this, the bar is set. So maybe some of you need to call your mother-in-law today. Say, Mom, I just need you to know. Where you die, I will die. Where you will be buried, I will be buried. The deep love and pathos in this language.22:04Can you imagine the words? Has Ruth, I mean, has Naomi ever been abandoned before? I can imagine she feels abandoned in a land without her husband. She's lost her two sons. And I can only imagine the trauma of starvation and death and homelessness and insecurity.22:31I can imagine, and I can't prove this, but I can imagine that there have been nights in Naomi's life where she's been up after she thought everyone else was asleep. And maybe she was uttering the words of Psalm 22. My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?23:00And I can imagine Ruth had heard those words. And now Ruth is looking at her and saying, Naomi, don't plead for me to abandon you because I won't. And I can imagine that Naomi's hearing those words and for the first time also hearing, God, you're not abandoning me. I'm not alone. I'm not by myself. What has happened in Naomi's life, though, the trauma, little t trauma of life is causing her to push everyone away.23:30She's saying, don't stay with me. It's better for me to be bitter alone than to be bitter with y'all. Like, get away from me. I'm miserable. And don't we also do that? Often when we are hurt or when we've gone through dark nights of the soul, maybe we've been in famines and maybe we've experienced death.23:56The first thing we want to do is push everyone else away and say, just leave me alone. Let me die in peace. God's abandoned in me. You have to let me go. And Naomi is reminded that God will not abandon and Ruth is there to care.24:23I can imagine how these words have hit home with Naomi. Maybe you feel that way. Maybe you are here today and it's easier for you to sit by yourself and keep everyone at arm's distance and not deal with the spiritual struggles in your life that have other people come alongside24:46and find healing and restoration on the road home. Deuteronomy 31 says this, I can imagine how the words of Ruth are sitting on the hearts of Naomi to be reminded that God will not abandon.25:02And then she says this, Do not plead with me to abandon you, in verse 18, or to return and not follow you.25:27For you go, I will go. Where you live, I will live. Your people will be my people and your God will be my God. Not only does Ruth have a deep commitment to Naomi, but she declares to Naomi that, Naomi, your God will be my God and your people will be my people. And she actually doesn't use just the word Elohim, generic gods,25:54because she could be talking about the God Mosh, C-H-E-M-O-S-H, the God of, the chief God of the pantheon of Moab. But look what she uses in verse 17. She doesn't say, May Mosh deal with me severely. She says, May the Lord punish me. May the covenant name, the God who made covenant with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob,26:22May the God that you've told us about in Moab, you know, the God that you said would never abandon us, Naomi? You remember the God that you said would one day restore his promises? You know, the God that you said one day will bring us back into covenant relationship? May that God deal with me ever severely. In this moment, Ruth is putting her faith into action.26:48And that is true faith. One scholar says it this way, that works and faith should travel side by side. Ruth didn't need a Bible lesson in this moment. She needed to exercise her faith. Naomi did not need to be sat by the terebinth tree and for Ruth to wax eloquently on the Ten Commandments27:17and the covenant God of Deuteronomy. She needed faith in action. One scholar says it this way, works and faith should travel side by side, step answering to step, like the legs of men walking. First faith, then works, then works, then faith, until they are scarcely indistinguishable from one another. faith and works go hand in hand.27:47It is understanding of God that says, your God will be my God. It is faith that says, go. I will go. And I believe some of us are struggling here today. We're not struggling with faith of right belief. We're struggling with right obedience. Go. Exercise your faith. So that gets us now to faith.28:17We have action and now we have faith. She says, your God will be my God. Ruth is not adding Yahweh to her pantheon. This is not syncretism. She is not saying, I have these gods and your God will be part of my gods. Ruth is saying deliberately, I will abandon my life. I will abandon my little G gods for the one true God.28:47That's faith. Faith in Jesus is not live your life like you've been living. Add Jesus and you'll have a happy life. There'll be lots of rainbows and marshmallows and Skittles and fluffy things. That's not faith, church. Jesus says, if you're going to follow me, deny yourself. And if we're honest,29:17the hardest person in the world to deny is the one who looks in the mirror, isn't it? Jesus says, deny yourself. Take up your cross, which is a Roman instrument of execution. Jesus says to us, Josh, you crucify yourself daily and follow me. And Ruth is saying, Naomi, I will turn my back on my life. You are worth it and your God is worth it. Church, that's faith. That's true faith. Do you have the faith29:47that says, Jesus, I will turn to you and I will turn away from everything else? Verse 18. That's the relocation home and now we have, lastly, the result of being home. Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her and she stopped talking to her. So here's what we don't know. We don't know how long they walked30:17the rest of the journey in silence. We don't know if they walk with their hands in their pockets just observing. I imagine that Naomi is like this. Walking in disgust because she knows there's nothing that she can say to deter the love of her daughter-in-law. And so they're walking back in silence30:46in silence and they're met near Bethlehem. Verse 19. The two of them traveled until they come to Bethlehem. When they entered Bethlehem, the whole town was excited about their arrival. And the local woman exclaimed, Can this be Naomi? Like, what? Who is this? Naomi said, Don't call me that. Call me Marah. For the Almighty has made me very bitter. Yes, you are. I went away full,31:17but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi? Since the Lord has opposed me and the Almighty has afflicted me. Welcome home. There is a deep, deep hurt that cannot be healed by anyone else in Naomi's life. We don't know why the people are astonished. Are they excited that Naomi... Is it, Guys, Naomi's home.31:47Naomi's home. Let's go meet her. Or is it, they see Naomi and they're like, Is this? Is that Naomi? Because she looks rough. Because there are 10 years of famine. She's had 10 years of heartache. She's lost her husband and her sons and there's a 50-mile journey in silence with a daughter-in-law that loves her enough not to leave. And so she says,32:18Don't call me pleasant. Because I am not. Yeah, okay, we get it. And did you hear the words of Naomi, the words of hurt and trauma and difficulty and suffering? She says, verse 21, I went away full. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You went away empty because there was famine32:46in Bethlehem. But the Lord has brought me back empty. That's not true. That's not true, church. Because by her side is who? Ruth. Naomi, you are not empty. But the bitterness and the heartache and the trauma33:15have so distorted her perspective that she feels empty and she can see nothing else. She can only see God as judge and not provider. Is your spiritual perception distorted today? Are you marah? Because you've had so much hurt in your life. You only see God33:46as judge and you say, I have come here empty and you are unable to see the things that God is still doing around your life. Can I prove to you that Naomi has not come back empty? Okay, one, Ruth is there and Ruth loves her enough to say, I will not leave. You can die and I'll die with you. But this church, this is the gospel. Look at verse 22. So Naomi comes back from the territory of Moab34:16of Moab with her daughter-in-law Ruth, the Moabite. Right? Ruth is there. She's not empty. They arrive in Bethlehem at the beginning of what? The harvest. While Naomi has been away, God has been planting. While Naomi has been away,← Previous in RuthRuth: The House Without Bread (Ruth 1:1-5)Next in Ruth →A Chance Encounter with the Redeemer (Ruth 2)More sermons on Ruth →
