Damon Life Group – 01.20.13

YOUR FAMILY: CHOICE &

CONSEQUENCE

FAITH AT HOME: WEEK 3 OF 5

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

Today!

Make an informed CHOICE to be obedient

Trust the Great I am

He is both good & sovereign for ever and ever

Prov. 3:5-6