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Sunday Sermon Notes

Ruth, Part 2: It Just So Happened

Pastor Eric Burton

Sunday, Aug. 16

Scripture: Ruth 2:1–3, 11, 20

This week, we’re going to look at what kind of woman Ruth was. We’ll discuss work ethic and dignity.

1. A Certain Kind of Woman

Ruth means friendship.

We saw last week—and continue to see this week—that Ruth’s friendship fostered loyalty. Loyalty is staying true to vows that aren’t convenient. Loyalty is staying the course when you have the chance to leave.

She didn’t know it yet, but she was living by faith. She was believing in a God she did not know. Even when things didn’t go her way and she had justification to leave, she chose to stay.

Vows are personal promises we make that don’t include others doing anything. Covenants, however, involve two parties and often last beyond convenience. We are going to see that the vows Ruth made ultimately became a covenant: another party became involved, and God reciprocated what Ruth was promising.

This is the kind of decision we need to make with God: a vow that includes faith, a faith that moves God, and a God who moves on our behalf.

Ruth is willing to work despite being a widow without the promise of an inheritance or livelihood. The apostle Paul speaks of widows in 1 Timothy 5:9–15.

2. The Low-Hanging Fruit

Ruth decides to find work to support herself and her mother-in-law. She tells Naomi that she is going into the fields to gather what has been left behind.

This customary work principle allowed the poor and the foreigner to keep their dignity. They weren’t looking for a handout, but a hand up.

Ruth wants to know why Boaz is being so kind to her because, as she says of herself, “I am only a foreigner.”

Leviticus 19:9–10: “When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop. It is the same with your grape crop—do not strip every last bunch of grapes from the vines, and do not pick up the grapes that fall to the ground. Leave them for the poor and the foreigners living among you. I am the Lord your God.”

This law reinforced tzedakah—justice, not merely charity—by making support for the poor a structural, rather than only voluntary, part of agricultural life.

Charity can sometimes feel easy because it releases us from a sense of obligation; we give a dollar and feel excused. Justice requires active involvement. Charity can divide the haves from the have-nots, but justice is for all.

3. And As It Happened

As Ruth is working, a rich man named Boaz asks who she is, and the foreman tells him. The foreman knows her reputation. Boaz knows her reputation. But Ruth does not know Boaz.

Ruth 2:8–11: Boaz tells Ruth to stay in their field and remain with the young women. He shows her how to find the best place in the field, instructs his workers to be kind to her, and invites her to have water.

Ruth is overwhelmed by his kindness and falls at his feet to thank him. She is trying to reconcile the favor she has been given, but she does not know that Boaz already knows her.

Verse 1: There was a rich man in Bethlehem who was a relative of Elimelech, Ruth’s late father-in-law.

Verse 3: It just so happens.

Her values and principles have brought her to the right place. When you have a right heart, your feet will follow.

Psalm 37:23: “The Lord directs the steps of the godly; He delights in every detail of their lives.”

Get on the right path, and God will direct your steps.

You may have thought your life choices were random. Ruth went to work in the field hoping to find favor. What she didn’t know—mikreh, an unforeseen event—was that the field belonged to her next of kin.

The steps of a good person are ordered by the Lord.