THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOLY (WRATH AND LOVE)

THINKING RIGHT THOUGHTS ABOUT GOD (PART VI)

And so now we come back to the beginning of our passage. What does it say God is revealing from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth? “His wrath”. That is, His just anger is being stored up more and more, and one day it will explode. The world (as we know it) will be over and all those who have suppressed the truth about Him, who then are thankless, who then exchange Him, who then live debauched lives will face an eternal hell in torment.  

Who can escape His judgment? Who has possibly always thought rightly about God or who hasn’t been given over to sinful practices, thoughts and attitudes. There isn’t anyone reading this today that has thought entirely right about God. There isn’t anyone reading this today that has given Him the honor He’s due! There isn’t anyone reading this today who hasn’t exchanged His glory for something far less! All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

That is, except One, the One, Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Son of Man! Never once did He suppress the truth in unrighteousness, but as the very incarnation of the Word of God, He exposed the truth of God fully for everyone to “behold the glory of the One and only.” In everything, He gave perfect honor and glory to His Father. Therefore, right before the cross, He could triumphantly say,

“I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.”

Never sinning, when tempted by Satan to exchange the glory of the immortal God for bread, or for power, or for His own glory, He refused saying, “It is written, ““Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’” In fact, though we have each one of us exchanged the glory of the immortal God for false gods, Jesus Christ makes an exchange of an entirely different sort. He will go to the cross and there on that cross, the Bible says He will exchange with us His righteousness for our sin. As it says in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “God made him who knew no sin, to be sin for us that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” On that cross, Jesus Christ takes “the wrath being revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men”.

Luther stated it as vividly as possible: 

 “All the prophets did foresee in Spirit that Christ should become the greatest transgressor, murderer, adulterer, thief, rebel, blasphemer, etc., that ever was or could be in all the world. For he, being made a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world and is not now an innocent person and without sins…but a sinner.”

You think he’s exaggerating? What does 2 Corinthians 5:21 say? Luther goes on:

“Our most merciful Father…sent his only Son into the world and laid upon him…the sins of all men saying: You be Peter that denier; Paul that persecutor, blasphemer and cruel oppressor; David that adulterer; that sinner which did eat the apple in Paradise; that thief which hanged upon the cross; and briefly you be the person which has committed the sins of all men; see therefore that you pay and satisfy for them. Here now comes the law and says: I find him a sinner…therefore let him die upon the cross. And so he sets upon him and kills him. By this means the whole world is purged and cleansed from all sins.”

Through faith in Christ, we are made to look as though all our thinking, all our words, all our deeds are right in line with a perfect conception of God. Through Christ, it is as if we have worshiped Him from the beginning in spirit and truth. 

The answer then to the question, How do we who have failed so miserably in our thinking about God avoid His wrath? Flee to Jesus, the One who’s already taken Hell in our place. 

Soli Deo Gloria, 

Pastor Erick 

KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOLY (DEBASING AND APPROVING)

Thinking Right Thoughts About God (Part V)


Based on A.W. Tozer’s axiom that “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us,” we have been discussing the downward spiral of wrong thinking about God. It begins with suppression of what we know is true of Him, which breeds ingratitude. We then exchange God for something lesser and “more manageable”, i.e. Idols. As we participate in this idolatry (please remember, an idol is anything physical or mental that we look up to, or place our trust in more than the true God) God is said to “give us up to dishonorable passions.” In other words, the worst sort of judgment God can bring down upon us is merely to allow us to do all that we naturally want. If He doesn’t restrain us, even somewhat (through His Law; 1st use [discussion for another time]) the downward spiral becomes even worse.  

For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

Romans 1:24-31

The picture is utterly awful. Where does sexual deviancy come from? Ultimately it’s rooted in wrong thinking about God. Where does murder come from? Wrong thinking about God. Paul lists just about every sinful activity or thought that can be mentioned! 

Now it’s important to note here who this “they” is that Paul mentions in this passage. It’s very easy to read this “they” and assume that Paul is talking about those heathen outside the Church walls. But before you do that, ask yourself “Are any of the things Paul lists here true of me?” Have I had sexual relations with anyone outside of the covenant of marriage (whether in thought or deed)?” If so, “you” are the “they”. Have I coveted? Do I envy? Do I lie? Do I gossip? Am I proud? Do I boast of my own accomplishments? Have I ever been disobedient to my parents?

Folks, we are the “they!” And the reason we are the they according to our text is because something in our thinking isn’t right about God. We have suppressed the truth about Him, we have not thanked Him, and we have exchanged Him for a god made in our own image. That leads to the last step in the process before the results of our action come in…

We not only practice such things, we become inventors of evil, approving of those who do such things. Romans 1:32

In other words we become so darkened in our thinking that everything becomes flipped upside down! We call evil good, and good evil!

Do you ever look around at the world and sometimes think that’s what’s going on? I mean really isn’t that what happens all the time? For example, not to get too political here, but it was announced awhile back that North Korea would be the leader of a conference the U.N.’s putting on. What’s the conference you ask? I promise you, this is real, this is not an article out of the Onion: “The U.N. Conference on Disarmament.” The only appropriate thing to do in response to such a proposition? Throw your hands up and LOL.

A country that has starved millions of their own people is asked to lead this? A country that repeatedly violated arms agreements is picked (of all countries!) to head this thing up!? Ah, but you see we can so easily start calling evil, good, and good, evil. 

On a more local level, one does not have to look far: A man has a sex change and the cultural elites laud her/his bravery. A woman decides to leave her husband to “find herself”, writes a book about it, and the world stands in admiration. 

We are in desperate need of help. In it of ourselves we are blind, powerless and impotent. For this reason, Paul goes on to say in the rest of his epistle that’s why Jesus had to die. This is why we so desperately need the grace of God given in Christ Jesus.  This is why we need the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. Because left up to our own devices, we’d never “figure it out.” It is as Martin Luther wrote a few years back: 

“I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Ghost has called me through the Gospel, enlightened me by his gifts, and sanctified and preserved me in the true faith; in like manner as He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth, and preserves it in union with Jesus Christ in the true faith; in which Christian Church He daily forgives abundantly all my sins, and the sins of all believers, and will raise up me and all the dead at the last day, and will grant everlasting life to me and to all who believe in Christ.  This is most certainly true.” 

THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOLY (EXCHANGING)

Thinking Right Thoughts About God (Part IV)


Today we continue on with our series of devotions on the importance of thinking rightly about God. We’ve looked at the steps in the process of false thinking- it starts with suppression of what we know to be true of God, it moves to ingratitude towards God and then it eventually moves to “exchanging God.”

[22] Claiming to be wise, they became fools, [23] and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

Now in that day it was entirely possible to know someone who worshiped statues of various animals. It was entirely possible in Greek culture to see people offering up incense and worship to the ideal male, i.e. Zeus or one of the other pantheons of gods.

We see the Jews fall into this trap too: Even within days of the true God rescuing them from slavery under Egypt, they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for a golden calf. We see Paul confront it in Athens (the great philosophical and intellectual center of the day!) where myriad statues to supposed gods are on display: 

16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. 

“Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him.

In our day we don’t think of ourselves as worshiping animals (but have you ever heard of PETA?) or bowing down to statues. And though we call our favorite celebrities “Idols” we don’t always see that this can be a form of worship (but have you seen what happens when Ryan Gosling shows up anywhere?).

The reality is though from this passage (and many others), that as John Calvin said, “The human heart is an idol factory.” Whether someone be an Atheist, Agnostic, Jew, Muslim, Christian whatever they may claim to be, it is impossible for man to live without some form of a god. We always create one for ourselves. Luther in his Large Catechism stated it this way:

“A “god” is the term for that to which we are to look for all good and in which we are to find refuge in all need. Therefore, to have a god is nothing else than to trust and believe in that one with your whole heart. As I have often said, it is the trust and faith of the heart alone that make both God and an idol.”

So for the militant atheist, the “god” they hope in might be natural science (aka, natural-ism). For the agnostic, the god they trust in could be their family (that’s not exclusive to Agnostics, I’m just giving an example that might be the case.) Every person, no matter what their claims are about religious belief is naturally religious and places their ultimate hope and trust in something.

What this text is saying is not just that though. This text is saying we naturally know who the true God is, and we willfully exchange him for a false god.

How do we Christians do this? Maybe we pick and choose from His word. “I like this part about not judging, but I don’t like this part about calling sin, sin.” Maybe we see God as loving us when we follow rules, and hating us when we don’t. Maybe God is just seen as “irrelevant” to most thoughts and actions of our daily life. We do this all the time, whether we’re conscious of it or not. And we do it, because God doesn’t fit into our box that we’ve made for Him.

But He will not be tamed or controlled. So we exchange Him like a common mutt at the pound. “He’s not obeying, I want a new one.” You see, the true God makes us in His image, false gods are made in our image. The true God is Holy and will judge, our gods only judge as much as we allow them to. The true God hates sin and requires perfection, where our gods constantly say to us as an excuse, “you’re only human.” The true God graciously forgives through Christ alone, but we say “No, it must be by my obedience too!”

So we have exchanged the glory of the immortal god. And when that happens, at some point we’re told that God eventually hands us over to do what we want. That’s the next step in the process: The person thinking wrongly about God becomes debasing. That’s tomorrow…

THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOLY (INGRATITUDE)

Thinking right Thoughts About God (Part III) 

This week we’re talking about the importance of thinking rightly about God. A.W. Tozer in his book The Knowledge of the Holy” begins by telling us why:

“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us,” 

A right conception of God is basic not only to systematic theology but to practical Christian living as well. It is to worship what the foundation is to the temple; where it is inadequate or out of plumb the whole structure must sooner or later collapse.  I believe there is scarcely an error in doctrine or a failure in applying Christian ethics that cannot be traced finally to imperfect and ignoble thoughts about God.”

I think he’s right, and the Bible backs him up in every way. One passage that shows this is Romans 1. There Paul sort of traces the downward spiral of wrong thinking about God. First it begins with suppression of the truth they already know of Him (yesterday’s post) and from there it moves to ingratitude. Listen to Romans 1:21

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Romans 1:21

Well obviously, if people are suppressing the truth about God, than they certainly don’t see fit to thank Him for anything He’s done for them. Here’s the flow of Paul’s argument: You know God’s there and is Creator over all and your response has been? Meh….The greatest evidence of sin in the human person isn’t so much that they’re doing everything to the extreme amount of evil. It is more that they see a majestic sunset or a beautiful snow capped mountain and say “meh…” or even worse, give credit to someone or something else for the grace God gives (I.e. Golden Calf, etc.)

A while back my son threw his brand new Frisbee that he loved with great adoration, onto the roof of the Church. He was crying because he thought it was gone forever. But me, his Daddy got my hero hat on. Instantly I went into the gym storage room, pulled out a ladder, set it up next to the roof, asked a friend to steady it and climbed up on the roof. Within 30 seconds I had the Frisbee. I got down and handed it to my sons. A couple minutes later I was putting away the ladder and all the sudden both my boys came running up to me, full force with big smiles on their faces and hugged me. It felt really good to see their gratitude! But for the sake of an illustration let’s just imagine that after I had done this for my boy, he ran up to me and asked me to bend down to his level. Being His Dad I assume he wants to give me a kiss. So I bend down and he spits in my face!

As Cicero said, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.” Yet, This is what we all naturally do with God’s good gifts: Rather than thank Him for what we do have, we find ourselves demanding “Why not MORE!?” We take for granted food, clothing, cars, family, friends, and especially His grace. This is why we all need His mercy- Christian and Non-Christian: We are all ungrateful children. 

Thankfully, through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, that mercy is extended. Through that tremendous act of grace, we His ungrateful children are covered by His love and long suffering faithfulness. Our relationship ends up then not being determined by our gratitude, but by His forgiveness for our lack of it. 

Now in light of that (that His grace and mercy is not based on my attitude), I find myself not being able to help being grateful for such a gift.  

So anyhow, when we don’t think rightly about God, we suppress Him and as a result we don’t thank Him, which if not checked eventually leads to exchanging Him. That’s tomorrow…

THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOLY (SUPPRESSION)

Thinking Right Thoughts About God (Part II) 

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For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

Romans 1:18-20

Now listen closely to what this passage is claiming about the world:

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1.That everyone inherently knows there’s a God (there’s no such thing as “Atheists”)

2. That everyone knows at least some true things about God. Paul writes, “his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world.” 

Now going along with what we learn in this first chapter, Paul adds in chapter 2 vs.14-15 that everyone also knows what God expects of them morally because “His law is written on their hearts”. Here’s how he states it: 

For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them….

Ok, so that’s the Bible’s teaching: Everyone knows there’s a God. Everyone knows some true things about God. And everyone also knows that this God has expectations of them. But, we’re told they suppress these things, or in other words they seek to hold this knowledge down, restraining it from coming out.

 So now the question is, “Do we see people acting like that? Do we see evidence of a world that suppresses the truth about God? You bet we do. If you ever want to see evidence of this sometime, try discussing your faith with an Atheist. The Atheist makes a specific truth claim: There is no God. And with religious zeal, they will defend that claim with old broken down arguments, and they will do it until they’re blue in the face. Awhile back I got into what started out as a friendly debate with a couple of Atheists, but as the discussion went on and they saw that I was actually presenting evidence (not feelings or my emotions) for God’s existence, the fangs came out. The name-calling started, they would just ignore my statements and mock. Now why does that happen? If they’re so certain of their view that God doesn’t exist, why do they get so angry and defensive when presented with evidence of His existence? Well, it’s Romans 1 folks. We (all of humanity) know He exists, we know He’s powerful, we know He’s perfectly good and we know what His expectations are of us, we just don’t like any of it. That is, we push it down, trying to ignore what we know to be true. So when someone reminds us of this Fact we’ve been trying to suppress for so long, what we’ve been suppressing, like a pushed down spring, comes exploding out at us.  

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As Douglas Wilson has said, “Atheists have 2 fundamental principles: 1. There is no God 2. I hate Him.”

Always the first step in the downward spiral of wrong thinking about God is the suppression of the truth.

As an aside, we can suppress anything (whether good or bad) and in some way or another it’s going to come out. So it’s not just Atheists or other religions that suffer from suppression of the truth about God. We Christians can and do suppress the truth in unrighteousness all the time too. When we refuse to confess our sin, or admit a mistake to someone; when we choose bitterness over forgiveness, or refuse to heed a friend’s wise advice, all this is some form of suppression. To walk with the true God calls for the exact opposite: Not a pretentious claim to sinlessness, but a constantly honest and forthright acknowledgment of sinfulness, dependence, and pleas for help. That’s the unsuppressed, freeing lifestyle of the Christian. 

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But when suppression of the truth happens, that leads to the next step in wrong thinking about God and that is, Ingratitude. More on that tomorrow….

THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOLY (INTRODUCTION)

Thinking Right Thoughts About God

If you noticed, yesterday we finished our devotions through the book of Ruth! As a result, we’re going to start a new series of writings, but with a bit of a different twist.  Instead of going verse by verse through a book of the Bible, we’re going to spend some time thinking through a very large topic; that topic being God’s attributes. The series will be based on a favorite book of mine entitled “The Knowledge of the Holy.” It’s a book that was written some 50 years ago by a Pastor named A.W. Tozer. I was personally introduced to it around 17 years ago in a class I was taking through Bible college. And to put it mildly, the book ended up rocking me. What Tozer sets out to do in this book is layout what it means to think rightly about God and especially why that’s so important. To quote Tozer for an extended bit, here’s how this book begins:

“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. 

The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man’s spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God.  Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God.

He continues on:

A right conception of God is basic not only to systematic theology but to practical Christian living as well. It is to worship what the foundation is to the temple; where it is inadequate or out of plumb the whole structure must sooner or later collapse.  I believe there is scarcely an error in doctrine or a failure in applying Christian ethics that cannot be traced finally to imperfect and ignoble thoughts about God.”

We may think of God as Just at the expense of His Love. We may think of God as Loving at the expense of His justice. God may be high and lifted up in your mind, nearly unapproachable. But for some, God might be so close that He seems more like a buddy than a God to be praised. Therefore our thinking about God, as much as it’s possible, must seek to be true and accurate; we must survey what the Bible tells us of God (and for that matter, what it doesn’t).

Recently my boys were walking into Church with Melissa and I must have been speaking up front or something, because out of nowhere one of my sons says, “Mom, is Daddy Jesus?” His thinking about God was definitely wrong! Here’s the reality: Thinking wrongly about God leads to a continually downward spiral of decay and destruction. The text we’ll be focusing on next week describes the way that spiral looks. 

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.19For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature,have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools,23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,25 because they exchanged the truth about God fora lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator,who is blessed forever! Amen.

26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature;27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another,men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God,God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

(Romans 1:18-32) 

Not a pretty picture. But notice humanity’s problem starts with something we “know” to be true (namely God’s existence and at least some of His attributes) that we “suppress” (something we seek to pretend not to know). So my hope over the next few months is that those attributes of God that all have a tendency to suppress would come exploding out in power so that we would worship Him more and more in Spirit and Truth! 

Soli Deo Gloria, 

Pastor Erick 

IT IS WRITTEN (RUTH)

The Results of Redemption

We’ve been talking all week about Boaz’ redemption of Ruth being like a picture of Christ’s redemption of us. In today’s passage, we see the results of this redemption: 

So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in to her,and the Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son. 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! 15 He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.” 16 Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse. 17 And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

(Ruth 4:13-17)

Naomi’s Restoration 

Through this redemption, the barren widow Ruth will now carry on the line, and life is restored to her and Naomi. God has made something out of nothing. At the beginning of our story we must remember that Naomi said bitterly that she was empty, but now the LORD has filled her cup to overflowing. God has given her new life and restored her. Through Jesus we too are given new life as 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” Jesus said, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

Do any of you need restoration this morning? I don’t care if you’re a confessing Christian or an antagonistic atheist every one of us needs to be restored by the hand of the LORD. As a result of being enslaved to our sinful nature, we like Naomi have been left empty and without hope in the world. We have disobeyed our maker and have fled from Him, but the Bible says that God has paid the purchase price for each one of our lives. He is our owner. For those like Ruth and Naomi that know they can’t take care of themselves without a redeemer this is a comforting thought. Jesus promises to take care of those who call on him giving them life, giving them hope and restoring them to a right relationship with God. But to those who refuse there need for help, refuse to see their need for a redeemer this thought of God actually owning you is pretty scary or maybe even a little angering; as a matter of fact you don’t like it at all because it means that you just might be held accountable to your Maker, your Owner, someday for not receiving the redemption that He has offered you. So how does one receive the redemption, the restoration that has been bought for them? They receive pretty much the same way Ruth did in this chapter.

It appears that at least at the ceremony where Boaz actually paid the price for Ruth to be her redeemer that she wasn’t anywhere around. As a matter of fact she seems to not have anything to do with this redemption. All she does is receive the redemption Boaz provides and nothing else. Through just receiving this gift she is actually allowed to be one of the very few people in history that is part of the genealogy of Jesus Christ. As Matthew reports in his gospel: 

Boaz (fathered) Obed by Ruth, and Obed (fathered) Jesse, 6 and Jesse (fathered) David the king.

So too this morning it is the same with all of us. Jesus has redeemed everyone with his life, death and resurrection. Through this we have been made right with God in relationship to Him, to be adopted into His family and to be restored. All we are asked to do is receive what He has done. We are asked to turn away from our past lives in Moab and turn toward Jesus for our new life. We are told to trust Him for everything we need and to let Him take care of our lives now. Because He truly has redeemed us. 

Soli Deo Gloria, 

Pastor Erick 

IT IS WRITTEN (RUTH)

“Jesus Paid It All, All To Him I Owe. Sin Had Left A Crimson Stain, He Washed It White As Snow”

This week we’re looking at how we see Christ in the story of Ruth (specifically in chapter 4 of the book). Yesterday we saw a picture of Christ through Boaz submitting himself to the Redeemer law (obligating him to find the person with the legal right to Naomi’s land and Ruth’s hand). As we saw, in fulfilling the law, it could have come at great personal cost (losing the woman he loved!), but like Christ, He walked with integrity and trusted God. 

Anyhow, Boaz is given the right to purchase the land and to take over as Ruth’s redeemer and provider. Beginning in verse 7 we’re told,

“Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging; to confirm a transaction, the one drew off his sandal and gave it to the other, and this was the manner of attesting in Israel. So when the redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself, he drew off his sandal.  Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and to Mahlon. Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon, I have bought to be my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native place.”

We don’t know much about the reason for the handing over of one’s sandal in that day except that it was obviously some kind of legal, binding symbol. Similar to what we might think of as a handshake back in the old days. Whatever it’s roots, it is official now. Boaz has completed the redemption process. He has bought the property from Naomi, and has paid everything necessary to obtain Ruth as his wife legally.

There are three highlights of this transaction, this purchase that must be noted before we go any further, in which once again through Boaz we see Christ.

1. Redemption is Costly- We don’t know exactly how much Boaz had to pay in order to redeem Ruth and the land from Naomi, we just know he had to pay. However, we do know how much our redemption cost. Jesus gave up his life as a ransom in order to buy us back from eternal death, from sin’s power and from Satan’s domain. Jesus said, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” And John 3:16 that wonderful slice of gospel truth says simply “For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”

Often times it will be said that salvation is totally free and for us that is true. But always remember for God it was not. Martin Luther said,

“Although out of pure grace God does not impute our sins to us, He nonetheless did not want to do this until complete and ample satisfaction of His law and His righteousness had been made. Since this was impossible for us, God ordained for us, in our place, One who took upon Himself all the punishment we deserve. He fulfilled the law for us. He averted the judgment of God from us and appeased God’s wrath. Grace, therefore, costs us nothing, but it cost Another much to get it for us. Grace was purchased with an incalculable, infinite treasure, the Son of God Himself.”

Your sin incurred such a heavy debt that the precious blood of His very own Son had to be shed in order to pay it off. As Romans 5:6 says,

“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person- though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die- but, God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Redemption is costly.

2. Redemption makes us a bride- As a result of the price that Boaz paid for Ruth, she is now his bride. The Bible teaches in many different places that because Jesus has bought you, you the Church are actually His bride too (Rev. 19:7, 21:7). As a man this picture was a little strange to me when I first became acquainted with it. But over the years, (especially since I’ve been involved in weddings) I have grown to love the imagery. The way the Bible paints the picture for us as the church is that we are currently engaged to be married to the Lord. Think of how engaged people act before they are to get married. They are almost silly with anticipation and there is constant planning going on. That is the way we are to view our redeemed relationship with the Lord. The book of Revelation tells us that when He returns for His second coming then He will take His bride and there will be a marriage feast in celebration over the wedding that has taken place between us and Him. Spotless and pure, He has bought you and made you suitable for His kingdom through faith in Him.

3. Redemption makes you part of the family- Once Ruth was bought by Boaz she was brought into the family. She is no longer referred to as Ruth the Moabite, but just “Ruth”. One of the things that is rejoiced over constantly in the New Testament is the fact that Gentiles (!), those outside of God’s covenant people Israel (like Ruth and like most of the church today) were made eligible for God’s kingdom through Christ. In one particular passage found in Ephesians 2 Paul excitedly writes,

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.  For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to god in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.”

Do you think a message like this about a God who makes it possible for those outsiders, those people without a strong family to be a part of His family may have some relevance today? We live in a world in which the family has been fractured and people are longing for something like a real family. I saw this all my life, as I was one of the few kids around my area that came from a strong family unit. My friends would sometimes come just to hang out with my family (even if I wasn’t around!). In the inner city, Gangs of mostly teenage boys thrive. Why? No Dad, no family; the Gang becomes the closest thing to family. 

God through His redemption of you has made you a part of the family. You are no longer primarily “the Moabite”, “the Norwegian”, “the Italian”, “the Mexican”, or even “the American.” Nor are you “the widow”, “the drug addict”, “the alcoholic”, “the gossip”, “the abused”, “the homosexual”, “the poor” or any other label the world wants to slap on you. You are the Bride of Christ, covered in the pure white righteousness of His wedding gown, made part of His family forever.

You have simply taken His name now: “The Christian”. 

Soli Deo Gloria, 

Pastor Erick 

IT IS WRITTEN (RUTH)

The “True and Better” Boaz

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Now Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there. And behold, the redeemer, of whom Boaz had spoken, came by. So Boaz said, “Turn aside, friend; sit down here.” And he turned aside and sat down. 2 And he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down. 3 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. 4 So I thought I would tell 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.” 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.”6 Then the redeemer said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.”

(Ruth 4:1-6 ESV) 

Yesterday I made the case that all of the Scriptures (both O.T. and N.T)  we’re ultimately meant to show us Jesus. Specifically, I said that the story of Ruth is a great example. But how? Well, I’ll show you in just a bit, but let’s catch up with the story.

First thing we see today is just how right Naomi was at the end of last chapter. Remember (after a potential snag came into her wedding plans for her daughter in law) she had said to Ruth with a hopeful tone,

“Wait, my daughter, until you learn how the matter turns out, for the man will not rest but will settle the matter today.”

So in the very next verse we see Boaz go up to the city gate in order that he “just might” come across this other potential redeemer (the person with the legal right and responsibility to take care of a deceased relative’s property, widow and children). Now this would have made plenty of sense for Boaz to go up to the city gate at that time because that really was the meeting place for people back then. That was the Starbucks if you will of the day where people from the town would gather to meet and talk about the days events.

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Sure enough this other redeemer just happens to walk by! Boaz wastes no time getting to the point.

He gathers a number of people and witnesses from the town to see and hear what he is going to ask him and immediately starts in:

“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 tell 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.”

There is something new added into the mix that is not tremendously significant, but gives a little deeper understanding of what is going on here. Notice that Boaz mentions that Naomi is selling the plot of land that was owned by her husband before they left for Moab. It seems that the land was still technically his, but because she was a woman she could not redeem the property herself.

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Unfortunately, the rule was back then in many places that a woman could not own property and the only way she could take it back- if she was widowed- was for someone to redeem it from her. So Boaz is not just being asked to redeem Ruth as his wife, but to redeem the land of Naomi’s husband. So he offers the rightful redeemer this land and at first he gives us the response that must have made Boaz’ heart jump into his throat. With seemingly no thought he said, “I will redeem it.” Now what if the story had ended there. That would be a bummer wouldn’t it?

“Alright everybody have a good day and may all your dreams fail miserably as they did for Boaz, Naomi and Ruth.”

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Thankfully that is not how the story ends! Boaz quickly tells the man that along with the land comes Ruth the Moabite (notice Boaz includes her nationality, stressing that she is a foreigner). All of the sudden this doesn’t seem nearly as appealing to the near redeemer. And quickly he hands over his right of redemption to Boaz.

So alright then: Where is Jesus in this passage?

Just as Boaz had to go through the challenge of submitting to the law (that is what he was doing when he checked with the other potential redeemer) in order to redeem Ruth, so too Jesus had to submit to the law in order to redeem us. Did you know that? Often times we focus on Jesus’ death, and sometimes we focus on His resurrection, but rarely do we focus on His perfect life that had to be lived in order to redeem us. Jesus said in Matthew 5:17-18,

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”

And Galatians 4:4 says,

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive the adoption as sons.”

Jesus didn’t just die for us; he didn’t just rise from the dead for us, but every breath of his life was also for us. Even before his official ministry started, all of his life was for us. Sufjan Stevens has a song entitled “To be alone with you.” It is a praise song of sorts and one of the things that he mentions is the fact that “Jesus gave up a wife and children for us.” Everything He did was for you.  

Theologians refer to this as Jesus’ active obedience. R.C. Sproul says it this way,

“In his active obedience, Christ fulfilled the positive commandments of God on behalf of His people, serving God and doing good. This positive righteousness is granted as a gift through faith to believers, securing for them a righteous standing before God.” 

So yes, we can say of Jesus, He is the true and better Boaz. He is the Redeemer of the foreigner through the fulfillment of the law and the payment of our debt. 

Soli Deo Gloria, 

Pastor Erick 

IT IS WRITTEN (RUTH)

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“….For the man will not rest but will settle the matter today……” Ruth 3:18

Today we come to the last chapter in the story of Ruth. When we last left off with this story we ended at a time of uncertainty. Ruth had snuck up to Boaz while he was sleeping, laid at his feet, and waited for him to wake up. When he awoke, she basically asked him to marry her and be her and Naomi’s “redeemer” (more on that term later). He is elated! Everything seems to be heading in the right direction, when Boaz’ integrity gets in the way. He says, “I’d love to marry you and take you as my own, but there is one small problem. There is actually someone that has the legal right to be your redeemer before me and we need to check with him first to see if he would like to be your redeemer before we do anything else.” Ruth goes home and tells Naomi what happened and Naomi is pretty confident that Boaz will make things work out but we the readers are not sure. And that is pretty much where the story ended last time; with a note of uncertainty about it. What is going to happen to Ruth and Naomi? 

But first, let’s introduce the theme for the week…

Introduction to Ruth 4:

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The Church Father Augustine said,

“In the Old Testament, the New Testament is concealed, and in the New Testament the Old Testament is revealed.”

What he meant by that was the fact that throughout the Bible there is a common thread that weaves it all together and without both Testaments the story just isn’t complete. That thread of course is Jesus Christ. Once when Jesus was confronting some Jewish religious leaders he made a rather startling statement about Himself. He said to them,

“You search the scriptures (meaning at that time the Old Testament), because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.”

John 5:39

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Again after Jesus had risen from the dead he caught up with a couple of his disciples and after some conversation with them started telling them about what the Old Testament said about Him.

“And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”

Luke 24:37 

Every page of the Bible testifies about the person and work of Christ, whether it be through stories, psalms, history, prophecies, whatever it is Jesus is there. He is there in the beginning when sin first enters the world through Adam and Eve, as God promised a savior from the woman’s offspring saying,

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

Genesis 3:15

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He was there in Genesis 12 when God called Abram saying,

“And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall blessed.”

Genesis 12:3

And again in Genesis 22 when Abraham nearly offered up his son on the altar of sacrifice but was somehow aware of the fact that “God would provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering”, Jesus was there. And it keeps going- all throughout the Old Testament, these pictures and promises of the One who was coming….

Therefore, it is imperative for us as Bible believing Christians when we read the Scriptures to be on the look out for Jesus when we are reading.  There are times where it may seem hard to find Him, but there are also times when you read something from the Old Testament where He jumps right out at you from the page.

When reading the book of Ruth we have many of those times. There are pictures of Jesus all over this book through the various acts that we read about. Whether it be Ruth’s faithfulness to her mother in law, or Boaz’s deep integrity, we see Him.

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Where He is most specifically seen in this book is through the beautiful picture of redemption painted for us. Naomi is a heartbroken, lonely widow who had moved away from her homeland only to lose her husband and her two sons. She now returns home “empty”. Ruth was a foreigner, unfamiliar with the things of God and with the people of God and yet she came back with her mother in law. They are now people with seemingly no hope for a future and doomed to a life of hardship. But God is not done with them. He is a God of compassion and He is full of grace. Surprisingly, out of nowhere He raises up a potential redeemer for them. Someone, who would pay for them to be his, so he could provide for them and take care of them and bring new life to them. Through this redeemer we will see what it takes to redeem someone; we will see what the results are of this redemption, and ultimately through this conclusion this week we will see Jesus.

Soli Deo Gloria, 

Pastor Erick