Sermon for HCBC (21 June 2020). To listen use the audio player below or click here. Also available on your favorite podcast app (“Hunting Creek Baptist Church”).
Introduction
Some Christians have a tendency to act as if the world is going to hell in a handbasket. Such thinking contradicts the incarnation—that God became man. One of the most fundamental claims of Christianity is that in Christ God is redeeming his creation. When we look at the world or our lives, we must remember that God is a redeeming God. The word redeem literally means “to buy back.” Put another way, God is buying back his creation. In Ruth 3 and 4, we learn about the God who redeems.
Looking for Redemption
Remember Ruth’s situation. She’s a widow in a foreign land. She’s vulnerable, and she’s in a culture that shames her lack of children. Her situation needs to change. She needs healing. She needs protection. Notice how 3:1 puts this: “Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, ‘My daughter, should I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you?’” Rest is an interesting word because it’s all over the early chapters of Genesis. For example, in Gen 2:15, God takes man and literally causes him to rest in the garden.
But we know the story doesn’t continue with this rest. Sin disrupts the narrative in chapter three, and then in chapter four Cain kills his brother, and at the end of the chapter one of Cain’s descendants perpetuates and celebrates the murder cycle. But in chapter five, we get relief as we are introduced to Noah, whose name means rest, because he will bring relief to the cycle of sin.
In Genesis God brings relief. Now in Ruth, Ruth needs relief. So Naomi, her mother-in-law, gives her some advice. Go find Boaz. God will provide rest through him. And Ruth does what Naomi says.
After Boaz works and eats, he lies down in front of his grain. This was a standard way to protect the harvest through the night. Ruth quietly lies down at his feet. A few hours later, Boaz wakes up to find Ruth lying there. Of course, he doesn’t recognize her in the dark, so he says, “Who are you?” Her response is in v. 9: “I am Ruth, your servant. Spread your wings over your servant, for you are a redeemer.”
This request is essentially a marriage proposal. Boaz is an eligible redeemer. In the OT law, there was a provision to protect vulnerable people. This provision is the redeemer. The role of the redeemer falls to the closest of kin. For example, if a man dies, his wife and children should be redeemed by his brother. If that’s not possible, an uncle should do it, then a cousin, then a relative within the clan. The redeemer takes responsibility for the property and people.
Ruth needs a redeemer. It’s the world she lives in. Her husband is dead. Her husband’s brother is dead. She has no protection. Her life is destined for disaster. So she asks Boaz to do this. That’s a bold move by the way.And it highlights the way women play an essential role in God’s plan of redemption. Notice also the language. She asks him to spread his wings over her. Remember the blessing Boaz prayed in 2:12 where he mentioned that Ruth has taken refuge under the wings of the LORD.
We are like Ruth. We need a redeemer. We need healing and rest. From what? Biblical redemption has several aspects. First, we need redemption from our sins. We have broken God’s law, so we bear that guilt. That guilt results in alienation from God. As human beings our sin drives us away from relationship with God, from the life we were made for. This gives us a constant sense of angst and restlessness, trying to make sense out of life. But there’s also the punishment that results from our sins. It wrecks who we are as humans. Sin is dehumanizing, making us less human. Our sin fractures our relationships, our families, our communities, our churches, our world.
Second, we need redemption from Sin, Satan, and death. Here, I’m not talking about individual sins, but Sin as a problem and a state of being. Sin in the NT is an enslaving force that dictates what we do. And there’s a really spiritual conflict. Satan wields the power of Sin to destroy God’s creation. And the ultimate result of Sin is death. We don’t just need forgiveness. We need freedom from Sin, Satan, and death.
Third, we need redemption to live new lives. Wholeness is not just a matter of wiping the slate clean. Just like Ruth needs a new sort of life, the redemption we need must produce something new in us. It must make us different sorts of people, bringing us nearer to God and to each other—restoring God’s image in us.
Fourth, the world we live in needs redemption. By world, I mean both natural creation and our community structures. I’ve already said that we as humans need redemption, but Romans 8 tells us that even creation needs redemption. That’s why our weather patterns are chaotic. They don’t have perfect rest. And then there’s our community structures. No organization, government, or nation is perfect. They are all in need of redemption.
What Does Redemption Mean?
For Ruth, redemption means being brought into a family and given a family. It turns out that there is a redeemer before Boaz, so that one has first claim. Boaz, being a righteous man, informs this other redeemer of the situation. Look at 4:3–4:
Then he said to the redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech. So I thought I would you of it and say, ‘Buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people.’ If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not, tell me, that I may know, for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I come after you.” And he said, “I will redeem it.”
This man plans to take ownership of the property. But there’s another aspect to this redemption. Verse 5: “Then Boaz said, ‘The day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.” In other words, she must be given children. At these words, the man turns down his right to redeem Ruth. So Boaz becomes the redeemer. Ruth is given a home, a husband, and the hope of children. That’s redemption.
For us, redemption means wholeness, healing, and transformation. Wholeness because we are fractured, full of desires and inclinations that are destructive. There’s a phrase in Christian thinking that probably goes back to Augustine to describe this: “Curved in on ourselves.” Imagine taking a spoon and bending it into a horseshoe shape. That’s what’s going on inside of us. Martin Luther expounded on this idea. He said, “Scripture describes man as so curved in upon himself that he uses not only physical but even spiritual goods for his own purposes and in all things seeks only himself.” Our fractured nature causes us to be self-willed and self-interested. We are turned away from God’s image. It is distorted. Even our best efforts are often self-serving. Consider your religious life. We may convince ourselves that we are humbly serving God, but often we are attempting to prove to God or to others that we are good people. That is entirely self-interested.
And this self-interest creates havoc in our lives and in our world. We need healing. In fact, we need surgery. We have a disease of scoliosis and only reconstructive surgery can bend us back. And then we need transformation to live in such a way that we don’t bend back in on ourselves, but are progressively restored.
Who Can Redeem Us?
The God of the Bible is a redeeming God. In Ruth, Boaz’s character represents the God who redeems. Notice that Boaz does everything righteously. He makes the offer to the other redeemer first. He provides food for Ruth and Naomi. Boaz’s righteousness is only a picture of God’s righteousness. Boaz’s righteousness is only a shadow of the righteousness of Christ. When John talks about the advocate we have in the heavenly courtrooms, he refers to Jesus as the righteous one (1 John 2:1). Jesus is an able redeemer because he is not like us. He is not curved in on himself. He is not fractured. He is righteous.
Boaz is also relentless. Look what Naomi says about him in 3:18: “Wait, my daughter, until you learn how the matter turns out, for the man will not rest but will settle the matter today.” Boaz pursues Ruth’s redemption with absolute commitment. So it is with God. Long before we had any thoughts about God, he is orchestrating our redemption. And here we find the first glimpse of the Trinity. Before creation, before the foundation of the world, Father, Son, and Spirit are planning the redemption of a world that will go off the rails. That’s why Ephesians talks about being chosen before the foundation of the world (1:4) or why 1 Peter talks about the lamb being known before the foundation of the world (1:20) or why Revelation talks about the lamb being slain before the foundation of the world (13:8). Isn’t it breathtaking? God isn’t surprised by the world or our sin. Before he created, he had already determined to redeem his creation. And then within history, he acts decisively, settling the matter once for all.
And this works itself out in the story of Scripture as God makes unbreakable covenants, and he redeems Israel from Egypt, and through Christ he is redeeming creation and the church. The redemption of Naomi and Ruth is only a shadow of what happens in Christ.
Conclusion
What should our response be? Let’s go back to the story. Ruth has a son. This is God’s redemption. Notice that 4:13 says, “The LORD gave her conception.” He is the God who redeems. He brings life where there was death. And here is the appropriate response in 4:14: “Then the women said to Naomi, ‘Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel!’” Look what God does!
What might all this mean for us today? We talk a lot about the forgiving nature of grace. But we don’t talk enough about the transformative nature of grace. Redemption means we are set free and empowered to be changed. In Christ, you can be changed; you can be something new. Are you angry or resentful? God offers you more than forgiveness. He offers you healing and transformation, so that you don’t have to keep living in those patterns. Are you enslaved by an addiction? Christ died not just to forgive you but to break the chains. Do you feel corrupted and broken? If you are in Christ, the Holy Spirit of God lives inside you. There is new creation regardless of where you’ve been, what you’ve done, or what’s been done to you.
This means you may be holding grudges, but Christ has empowered you to forgive. You may feel powerless to change, but Christ has empowered you to change. You may feel worthless and insignificant, but Christ values you and has empowered you to serve him. This is what it means to be redeemed.
Christianity has nothing to do with trying harder or being a good person. It all comes down to dependence. I can’t. But God can. When we admit our need, redemption can begin. And the key is that we never get past admitting our need. I am powerless, vulnerable to sin, Satan, and death. I am curved in on myself. But Christ is an able redeemer. He neither slumbers nor sleeps. What he begins, he finishes. And on the cross, he has acted.