Choice and Consequence
“You have a choice…”
Think about a choice you have made in your life that you continue to experience the consequences of today (good or bad)…
Anyone want to share???
We’ve been talking about how to press our faith into our children and the next generation – legacy
How do you create a legacy?
Every legacy begins with the choices you make today!
We can make an informed CHOICE to TRUST and OBEY whatever God calls us to do
because He is the Great
I AM
LAST WEEK
Today: Your Family – Choice &
Consequence
Background &
Overview
The faithless choice of
Elimelech
The faithful choice of
Ruth
The redeeming
faithfulness of God
Today: Ruth’s Choice, Your Choice
Background &
Overview
The faithless choice of
Elimelech
The faithful choice of
Ruth
The redeeming
faithfulness of God
Background
The historical context is during the time of the Judges (~1200-1020 BC)
This runs from the death of Joshua to coronation of Saul as King
This is the darkest, most wicked, rebellious, unfortunate period of time in the history of God’s people
The people continue to fall to wicked temptation and this is being passed on generation to generation
In this broader context of the period of the Judges, we zoom in on one particular family (mom, dad, and two sons)
This family lives in Bethlehem where there is a famine
Irony…anyone know what Bethlehem means?
Overview of Ruth
Ruth is one of the greatest short
stories of all time
It’s a story of love, devotion and
redemption
As we will see, Ruth (a Moabite)
forsakes her pagan land and clings
to God and the people of Israel (Ch
1-2)
Because of her faithfulness in a time
of faithlessness, God honors her,
giving her the desires of her heart
For Today…
Although this is a very short book (only 4 chapters),
we will zero in on chapters 1 and 2
Ruth 1 & 2
Ruth’s love is demonstrated
Ruth 3 & 4
Ruth’s love is rewarded
Specifically, we will take a look at the faithless
choice (and consequences) of Elimelech and the
faithful choice (and consequences) of Ruth
Today: Ruth’s Choice, Your Choice
Background &
Overview
The faithless choice of
Elimelech
The faithful choice of
Ruth
The redeeming
faithfulness of God
The Faithless Choice of Elimelech
Let’s first look at the faithless CHOICE of Elimelech in Ruth 1:1-2
Ok…dad has made a decision for the family
Did he have a good reason to relocate the family?
Was he trying to do the right thing to lead and provide for his family?
So what was the problem with his decision?
Does mom have a role in this process?
Before Looking at Consequences…
What do you do when you have BIG decisions to make?
Dad – what is your responsibility?
Mom – what is your responsibility?
Church – what is your responsibility?
How many of you, today, have an important family decision to make?
How much time have you spent with the Lord around that decision, with your spouse, with your faithful community within the church?
Now…Let’s look at Consequences
Read Ruth 1:3-5
In the first two verses, we looked at a choice that Elimelech made to preserve his family
In the next 3 verses, we see the consequence of that choice
The consequences continue…Read vv 6-7
What do we see here?
In short, dad made a decision to move the family to a godless land (Moab – descendent of Lott from incestuous relations with daughter in Genesis 19) to preserve his family (they die and then they marry a people God told them not to)
Then Naomi hears God’s favor is on Bethlehem and wants to return
Bad Choices
Ok…we’ve all made really bad choices
The question is - what do you do once you realize you have blown it?
Repent = to turn around in the other direction
Notice what Naomi decides to do – she literally turns around in the other direction and heads back to the land God had given her
Perhaps you have gone to a land that God does not inhabit – repent – turn back and go to where He is
Today: Ruth’s Choice, Your Choice
Background &
Overview
The faithless choice of
Elimelech
The faithful choice of
Ruth
The redeeming
faithfulness of God
The Faithful Choice of Ruth
Let’s read Ruth 1:6-18
So Naomi is on the way back to Bethlehem and she stops and has a very important discussion with her daughters-in-law to return to Moab (vv.8-15)
Orpah headed back (not genuine faith) while Ruth clung to her (v.14) and then makes one of the greatest statements of faith in the OT in vv.16-17
“…I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me.”
Ruth’s Choice
Ruth’s choice was more than a change of address
She was forsaking all that she grew up with, all she had embraced in Moab, her family, her traditions, her god – and Ruth CHOOSES to follow the Lord
Jumping forward to 2:10, Ruth asks Boaz why she has found favor with him and he says (2:11) that her reputation proceeds her
In other words, her CHOICE to follow the Lord was blatantly obvious to others around her & defined how others saw her
Does your reputation of choosing Christ proceed you?
When others meet you do they say, “Yes, I’ve heard of you…I hear you love the Lord and are committed to his work…”?
Nomi’s Choice
We don’t have time to dive into it, but let me summarize the rest of chapter 1 (vv.19-22)
The two women are well received in Bethlehem (v.19)
How was Nomi (v.20-21)?
Ok…are there any wives in the room who might be bitter with their husband (husbands with wives) and God about the consequences of their choices?
What should you do when you are bitter to someone or to God?
Let’s Step Back…
The big theme here we being to see in the book of Ruth is God’s providence
The name of God is mentioned 23 times in this book (twice by the author <ch1 & ch4> and the other 21 times by the characters in the story)
Yes, Ruth is an amazing dynamic figure – yes, Boaz is the kinsman redeemer like Jesus, BUT GOD IS THE HERO
There is a very important doctrine we must trust in when we truly can’t understand something that has happened and we have become bitter
God is sovereign & He is good
The Character & Nature of God
There are times God is visible and we see His hand at
work (miracles), but when His work is invisible to our
eyes, His sovereign hand is still at work!
He is sovereign
There is nothing over Him
He is in everything
He is good
He is loving, patient, merciful & kind
These two doctrines MUST be held together
The Good & Sovereign Hand of God
Gen. 50:20 – “And as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.”
Rom 8:28 – “And we know God causes all things to work together for good to those who are called according to His purpose.”
Hear this clearly – God is good – He CAN NOT cause evil to happen – He did not cause Joseph's brother’s to sin – He did not cause your husband/wife to make that bad decision or that horrific event to happen
AND God is sovereign – no matter the sinful choices people make, the consequences of those choices can not escape the sovereign boundaries of our God – because He holds all things, He will still direct the outcome of all things to His good
Let me illustrate…
Today: Ruth’s Choice, Your Choice
Background &
Overview
The faithless choice of
Elimelech
The faithful choice of
Ruth
The redeeming
faithfulness of God
The Redeeming Faithfulness of God
Let’s read Chapter 2:1-16 (time permitting)
There is a clear parallel with Boaz as Ruth’s kinsman redeemer and Christ as ours
Ruth did nothing to “earn” the favor of Boaz – it was pure grace
God gives us more than we can eat (left over) and then sends us out to share that with others (more left over) – that’s the grace of God and the overflow of His love
Chapter 3 – Nami gets Ruth to go to the threshing floor to say she wants him to claim her as kinsman-redeemer and Boaz plans to do that
Chapter 4 – Boaz goes to the closest relative with witnesses – this relative declines, he accepts – they marry and have a son
Picture of Christ in Ruth
Boaz as the kinsmen-redeemer (goel) (“close relative” 3:9) reflects Christ as ours
The goel must be
Related by blood to those he redeems (Duet 25:5; 7-10; John 1:14; Rom 1:3; Phil 2:5-8; Heb 2:14-15)
Be able to pay the price of redemption (Ruth 2:1; 1 Pet 1:18-19)
Be willing to redeem (Ruth 3:11, Matt 20:28; John 10:15, 18; Heb 10:7)
Be free himself (Christ was free from the curse of sin)
The word goel is used 13 times in this short book – a clear picture of the mediating work of Christ!
Working All Things to His Good…
So…we started off with a dad making a bad decision to move his family to preserve them
We quickly see that was a bad decision – he dies, his sons marry foreign women, & the sons die
Mom decides to come back home and tells daughter-in-laws to stay home in their land
Ruth says, no – I will go where you go…your God will be my God
They return to Bethlehem – Naomi is bitter – Ruth engages in their cultural equivalent of welfare
She happens to be working in a field of someone who happens to be a relative who happens to stop by that day…
Boaz displays the grace of God (protects, provides, and redeems her)
They marry – and then – listen to this Ruth 4:18-22
You Have a Choice
Here’s the thing…God’s sovereign plan will be done
The choices we make have very real consequences (good and bad)
Changing the legacy of our family boils down to the choices we make right now!
If you have made bad choices – God can take that paint and make it a beautiful tree in the landscape
Teach your children about the bad choices you have made – teach them that despite those choices, God has been faithful – teach them what it looks like to run back to God and trust Him because He alone is trustworthy
We re-enter that plan (all of us called according to His purpose) by repenting and submitting to His plan