Colossians 1:3-14 (NIV)  

³ We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, ⁴ because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints— ⁵ the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel ⁶ that has come to you.  All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth.  ⁷ You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, ⁸ and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

⁹ For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.  ¹⁰ And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, ¹¹ being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully ¹² giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.  ¹³ For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Ruth 4:13-17 (NIV)

¹³ So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife.  Then he went to her, and the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son.  ¹⁴ The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer.  May he become famous throughout Israel!  ¹⁵ He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age.  For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.”

¹⁶ Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him.  ¹⁷ The women living there said, “Naomi has a son.”  And they named him Obed.  He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

Ruth and Naomi are both immigrants, and there is an inter-racial marriage joining them together.  Sometime in the 1100 BC time frame, Naomi is married to Elimelech and moves them to Moab because there was a famine in Israel.

The 2 sons Mahlon and Kilion marry Moabite women, pagans named Ruth and Orpah.  It seems Elimelech led his family away from God and Israel in order to find a better life without poverty, strife and problems.  Elimelech, Mahlon, and Kilion all died in Moab.

Naomi is left in Moab with daughters-in-law Orpah and Ruth.  The future looks bleak for Naomi, no job, no income, their land in Israel was sold, no children to support them.  The three women head back to Israel.

The subject today is finding the redeemer in this story and how this story points to a redeemer in the future (Jesus).  We will identify the formal redeemer, supreme (secret) redeemer, and the real redeemer.

The formal redeemer is Boaz; he is a relative of Naomi.  Ruth is not welcome in Israel because she is a Moabitess.  Ruth seeks to glean grain from the fields because they needed to eat.

Ruth catches the eye of Boaz and he protects the women; they are to stay with his employees and can keep the grain they harvested.  Naomi tells Ruth that Boaz is the kinsmen-(formal) redeemer.

Leviticus 25:47-49  ⁴⁷“‘If a foreigner residing among you becomes rich and any of your fellow Israelites become poor and sell themselves to the foreigner or to a member of the foreigner’s clan, ⁴⁸ they retain the right of redemption after they have sold themselves. One of their relatives may redeem them: ⁴⁹ An uncle or a cousin or any blood relative in their clan may redeem them. Or if they prosper, they may redeem themselves.

Naomi realizes that Boaz is a good man and both Naomi and Ruth ask Boaz to marry Ruth.  Boaz realizes that his marriage will redeem the family, giving back their name and their inheritance.  Boaz is renewing the life of Naomi and Ruth.

Naomi had told her 2 daughters-in-law (Ruth and Orpah) to go back to their families; she had nothing for them.  Ruth will cling to Naomi.  Ruth in a lovely language says… Ruth 1:16-17 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go, I will go, and where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.  Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried.  May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.”

Ruth leaves her people to follow Naomi with faith in Yahweh, the God of Israel.  Ruth knows she has to be with Yahweh’s people.

Ruth will give up her home, her name, her family in order for Naomi to have a new life.  Ruth becomes poor so Naomi might become wealthy.  Ruth became the secret redeemer.  Ruth is putting Naomi in a position to be redeemed.

Boaz is the kinsmen redeemer and Ruth is the background redeemer.

It was unlikely that a Moabite would become a follower of Yahweh – hearing a sermon, reading a book, but instead being around folks, friends, who are walking with Jesus, will make a difference.

The people we travel through life (alongside) with have a special impact on our lives. 

The Church runs on friendships.  We all need friends.

The Gospel breaks down all barriers; we are all created in His image.  Ruth forsakes the natural loyalty to family and follows Naomi because Ruth was following Yahweh.

The Gospel, through God’s grace, set’s us free.  God becomes the center of our lives.  The Gospel is who we are, the Gospel frees us from the needs and nonsense of the world.  The Book of Ruth demonstrates the power of grace in action.

Key elements to think about as we interact with people in our daily lives:

·       Use your friendships to be a blessing and to accomplish what God has for you to accomplish.

·       Don’t get hung up on a culture, or a perfect family, or perfect home, or a perfect body.

·       Move freely through lots of social circles because there are no barriers on us.

·       Know that discipleship is important.  Ruth is our example; she knows following Naomi and Yahweh will be hard, and she presses on.  Doing the right thing is often the hardest thing.

Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.  ~Abraham Lincoln

Ruth 4:14-15  The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer.  May he become famous throughout Israel!  ¹⁵ He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age.  For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.”

The real redeemer is Jesus.  He is the One who came from eternity, came down the farthest and took on our penalty.

Naomi and Ruth gave up a good life and gave their lives to God no matter what.  They said to God, do with me as you will.  God gave them back their lives, in a changed form with the influence of the Gospel breathing new life in them.

God made a way for Naomi and Ruth and will make a way forward in your life.  God bless you this week.  Jesus is our Kinsman Redeemer.