097: Christian Russell - Exhortation: Ruth And Grace

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:00

   Welcome to the Good Christadelphian Talks podcast. I'm Levi. And I'm Chris. Thank you so much for joining us this week. On this podcast, we select one talk a week to help each one of us get the Bible in our daily news feed. And we post at the start of each week for you to listen with a short intro beforehand to kind of set the stage for the talk you're about to hear.

2. 0:33

   And now let's hear more about this week's talk. Hello and welcome back for another talk. This week we're listening to an exhortation that was given two weeks ago as part of the Simi Hills livestream that was given by Brother Christian Russell from the Verdugo Hills Ecclesia. And Brother Christian is giving his exhortation on Ruth chapter 2.

3. 0:57

   So if you wanted to read through that chapter prior to the exhortation, that would be useful. But he also references it several times during the exhort. And in addition to looking at just the story of Ruth, he is looking at the concept of grace. And Brother Christian has been doing a Bible class for the Verdugo Hills Zoom Bible class during the week, looking at the concept of grace in both the Old and the New Testament.

4. 1:20

   And I found it to be a really interesting study in general. And this exhortation kind of serves as a kind of cliff notes version of that study. I think it's in the fourth or fifth week at this point. And what he's looking at is just how embedded the concept of grace is. And he makes some kind of interesting points about how the concept of grace is a subject that, as Christadelphians, we may not always dive into as deeply as we do other biblical topics.

5. 1:46

   It's not something that we always focus on, but instead it's something that is sort of in the background. And in the Bible class that he's been giving, Brother Christian makes the analogy that grace is in many ways the key that drives the engine that is the salvation that we've been given through God.

6. 2:02

   And so if we don't understand it, it's sort of like having a Lamborghini sitting in the driveway that you don't ever turn on. So I thought this exhortation in particular was a really encouraging one. It was an interesting look at one of the subjects that maybe we haven't always dove in on. I know when I was listening to it, there was a lot of it where there were little bits and pieces of things that I felt like I knew, but just having them kind of stated and spelled out made it have that much more power and significance to me than it might otherwise have.

7. 2:34

   So I really enjoyed this exhortation. It was a really encouraging one. Sorry that this is getting out a little bit later than usual. Had some issues the night before and wasn't able to get it posted, but I wanted to get this one out to everybody because I really enjoyed it. As always, thank you for the suggestions and the comments that are coming in.

8. 2:53

   And this one was a suggestion. Somebody that was listening to the live stream suggested that we get this one posted. So we wanted to get this one up. If you have any other suggestions, comments, feedback, please send them in. Reach out to us on social media or send it in through email. We will be coming up on episode 100 here pretty soon.

9. 3:13

   And then as a reminder, also during the month of July, Brian and Rachel Adams will be guest hosting for the classes during that month. Really excited to have them share some classes and thank you then for helping out. So with that, we will turn it over to Brother Christian Russell for his exhortation on Ruth and Grace.

10. 3:36

    Good morning, dear loved ones in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have the great blessing that our Bible reading planner brings us to the book of Ruth this weekend. For this short book has it all. It really does. These four chapters from back at the time of the judges contains lessons and truths which are still applicable and exhortational today.

11. 4:02

    I, for one, have always felt a personal connection to Ruth ever since I was baptized. I don't need to go into the details of what brought me to that point, but I do want to share with you what it meant to me personally to have my mistakes washed, to have my conscience cleansed, to turn from hopelessness to hope, to drift, go from drifting without focus, to having direction and purpose.

12. 4:32

    My baptism was wonderful to witness the baptism the other week, and it just reminded me of that. And I've always felt this personal connection to the book of Ruth with my baptism because of something that's unique that happened on my journey of faith. We all have something in our journey of faith which is unique.

13. 4:53

    One of the unique aspects of my journey was this book, The Man David by Harry Tennant. And as Brother Tennant quotes the words of Ruth herself from Ruth chapter 1, it was the first time in my life that I heard the word of God speaking to me. Entreat me not to leave you or to turn back from following after you.

14. 5:18

    For wherever you go, I will go. Wherever you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die. And there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me and more also. If anything but death parts you and me. Brothers and sisters, it was this life commitment which Ruth was prepared to make which grasped a hold of me.

15. 5:47

    Literally grasped me and changed the direction of my life too. As I read her words, I knew it was the same commitment that I wanted to make. That Ruth's people could be my people. That Ruth's God could be my God. And so my connection with Ruth is that in some way Ruth herself was part of the reason why I wanted to be be baptized.

16. 6:14

    Ruth herself contributed to my decision. Now fast forward at least 30 years and I felt my life change again as a result of a recent study. And the topic of that recent study has been about the grace of God. And in my study, I was reintroduced to my sister, Ruth. So, grace is a fundamental and a foundational subject.

17. 6:39

    Paul tells the believers in Ephesus in Ephesians chapter 2, he says, we are saved by grace through faith yet not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. And so, as a fundamental and a foundational issue, you'd think that it would be throughout all of our books and our literature, perhaps our teaching, and yet we seem to be notably silent.

18. 7:03

    I understand our brother Jason has recently penned a book and I'm looking forward to reading it about grace, but it is missing from our statement of faith. It is missing from our first principles. We even have a book called Our Sure Foundation, but it doesn't mention this foundational topic once. The purpose of my comment is not to criticize, it's just merely to observe and to suggest instead that there is perhaps a great opportunity for each of us to explore the topic of grace further, each for ourselves.

19. 7:33

    The short version of why, I think, is that we like to sink our teeth into things that are tangible, don't we? Things that we can count, things that we can measure. So we like to gravitate to what is academic, to the matters of the head, to the detriment, perhaps, of the matters of the heart.

20. 7:51

    And grace is not an easy thing to get your hands around and define. The moment that you think you can is the moment it eludes you. But this itself is perhaps appropriate because in trying to define God's grace is actually like trying to define God, and I haven't heard anybody successfully do that yet.

21. 8:09

    We seem to have a hard enough time in trying to understand human nature, never mind divine nature. But as a result, as a consequence of this, I think God's grace is something we struggle to define and we struggle to understand or sometimes we miss altogether. And this is why I've missed this valuable lesson from the story of Ruth for 30 years.

22. 8:32

    And there is a simple and a beautiful lesson which we find in Ruth chapter 2, which is yesterday's Old Testament reading. This simple and beautiful lesson about grace. So turn with me if you've got your Bible still open to Ruth chapter 2.

23. 8:50

    Now, I mentioned early that the book of Ruth contains it all. It includes many things that are applicable and exhortational. Principally, the book of Ruth is about faith and it's about relationships. Principally, the faith of Ruth and principally, the relationship between Boaz and Ruth. But it's also about the friendship between Naomi and Ruth.

24. 9:16

    Ultimately, it's about the family relationship of Ruth to her great-grandson, David, and to the Messiah, the greater son of David. And it's also about the divine relationship between the God of Israel and anyone who would choose to live by faith in him. Before, though, I get into the lessons about grace, I'd just like to make a quick diversion about something which caught my eye in verse 3.

25. 9:44

    Let me read it from the New King James. Then she left and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was the family of Elimelech. At first, verse 3 doesn't seem like much more than a connecting verse, as if to describe the scene change in the story from to get Ruth from act 2, scene 1, where she's at home, to act 2, scene 2, where she's in the field.

26. 10:13

    To tell us that Ruth put on her shoes, waved goodbye to Naomi at the window, and walked down the road to Boaz's barley field because he was a relative. Except that's not quite what happened. And the proof is in the third word of the second sentence of verse 3, a word which lets us know that that day's meeting between Boaz and Ruth was not arranged in any way because the word happened means by accident.

27. 10:45

    According to the lexicon, it means an unforeseen meeting, a chance event. The New English translation says, she just happened to end up in the portion of the field belonging to Boaz. And it stands out in the King James, this is where it catches your eye, because it actually uses an unusual word. It says, because it, by hap, by hap, a shortened form of the English word happenstance.

28. 11:13

    In other words, as it turned out. And it's important we realize this because too many people claim these sorts of things are divinely arranged, and so they spend their time looking for them, praying for them, waiting for them, and there's nothing wrong with that. But they spend all of that time without actually stepping forwards in faith, without stepping out in faith, as Ruth does here in chapter 2.

29. 11:39

    You see, for Ruth, to live in faith didn't mean waiting to see a giant hand in the distance pointing, saying, this is the way to go, or waiting for instructions that appeared in a letterbox saying, turn left at the light, then right on Boaz Road until you come to the arch with the sign, Boaz, you can't miss it.

30. 11:59

    And nor did Naomi say, well, now, if you can find the field of Boaz, your cousin, he's bound to take care of you, you know.

31. 12:08

    There would have been no easy way, especially for an outsider, no easy way to identify where you were. Every village would be surrounded by a patchwork of fields. Ruth would have simply said to herself, this looks like a nice field. And yet, as it turned out, it's as if the author of the book of Ruth wants us to know that up until this point, the two main characters of our love story are completely unconnected.

32. 12:40

    And I want to mention this because so many circumstances in our lives, the joys and surprises, the accidents and the sorrows actually come from or are directly related to what seem to be happenstance. We would probably never say at the time that we made our decision on the basis of divine intervention. I'll give you an example.

33. 13:00

    After graduating university in England and spending a year working for an accounting firm, I said, I need a break and I think I'll go to California and the Idlewild Bible School. I could so easily have gone somewhere else or done something different. After all, being honest, the last place I ever wanted to live or visit at that point was Southern California.

34. 13:22

    And yet, as it turned out, as it turned out, I met the beautiful girl who would become my wife and the mother of my children and this would become my home. How did Ruth end up where she was? It was her choice. She woke up and she said, I think I'll go and glean in the fields this morning.

35. 13:41

    Why did she go? Because it was the barley harvest. How could Ruth know which field? She didn't. Who determined the day and the time that Boaz would go to his field? Boaz did. How could Ruth know that Boaz would be there? She didn't. And yet, as it turned out. And so what we see in the story of Ruth is that what appeared as an unplanned coincidence turns out later was an indication of God's gracious care.

36. 14:13

    So for us too, that we often see only in the hindsight of faith as unplanned coincidences turn out later to be an indication of God's gracious care. God's favor. That God can make it work out. And so by Hap, we are introduced to a paradox of our faith. This juxtaposition between human free choice and divine favor that we won't fully understand until we are granted divine understanding.

37. 14:46

    I think Paul touches on it in Romans chapter 11. He touches on it in his letter to the believers in Rome when he says this. And just listen to the words that he uses. Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. The depth and the riches of the wisdom and the knowledge of God.

38. 15:06

    How unsearchable are his judgments And his ways past finding out! For who has known the mind of the Lord or become his counselor? Or who has first given to him and shall be repaid to him? For of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever. Let that sink in.

39. 15:33

    And the more it does, the more it blows your mind. For of him and through him and to him are all things. God gives us real choice. We're not puppets on a string being moved around by some giant puppeteer. Yet for the man or the woman who turns to God we can have faith that it is always under his providential care.

40. 15:55

    God does not override your decisions. God does not override your choices. God does not override your actions. God simply uses instruments to move his plan and purpose forwards and God finds a different way to work it out. With Boaz and Ruth the plan and the purpose was significant. Because their story is not just a story about love.

41. 16:18

    But about redemption. And their union is a branch on the family tree that leads to the redemption of all mankind. So just an observation there about the word happenstance. Okay, let's move into some of the lessons about grace which are in Ruth chapter 2. Now, you don't see the word grace. You probably didn't come across it as you were reading it.

42. 16:42

    But it is actually the word favor. The Hebrew word for grace occurs in Ruth as the word favor. And so we see it three times in Ruth in chapter 2, in verse 2, in verse 10, and in verse 13. Verse 2. So Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, please, let me go to the field and glean heads of grain after him in whose sight I may find favor.

43. 17:07

    I may find grace. Verse 10. So she fell on her face, bowed to the ground and said to him, why have I found favor? Why have I found grace in your eyes that you should take notice of me since I am a foreigner? Verse 13. Let me, and I think the inference here is to continue to, let me continue to find favor, to find grace in your sight, my Lord, for you have comforted me and have spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your maidservants.

44. 17:44

    What is revealed in this chapter, in these three verses, in this progression, if you like, is a lesson in grace through the eyes of a faithful woman as we see her go from poverty to wealth, from sadness to joy, from widowhood to motherhood, from emptiness to fullness. Now, standing back, we might observe how the tense changes.

45. 18:13

    We start in verse 2. Ruth has woken up and is confronted by her present state. What does she say? She makes a comment in the present tense. Let me go out that I may find favor. In verse 10, her eyes have been opened. She realizes she has found favor, and now she asks, why?

46. 18:29

    Why have I found favor in your eyes that you should notice me a foreigner? And then in verse 13, we see it, we find Ruth with an eye of faith now considering the future. Let me continue to find favor in your sight. Now, from the perspective of our own personal journeys of faith, we often find ourselves in a present condition or a present circumstance or a present predicament as a result of past choices or past circumstances and which forces us to consider our future course or to consider what lies ahead if we don't change direction.

47. 19:11

    We frequently find ourselves in this situation, and what we see here in Ruth is in each of these scenarios, past, present, and future, what we see is a woman who is in faith, a woman who is completely of singular focus, someone completely dependent upon one thing, and what is that one thing? Grace.

48. 19:35

    May I find grace? She's looking for it. Why have I found grace? She's interested in trying to understand the reasons why. May I continue to find grace? She's hopeful to continue in it. So the first lesson isn't about grace itself, but more about the attitude, we need to have in order to see his grace, to find his grace, to recognize where his grace is and in whom it is manifested and consider how it might be working in our lives.

49. 20:06

    And so, this is the first lesson for us, that we cannot come to God full of self-confidence and self-assured certainty, full of ourselves, with it all figured out, with firm plans of our own. Instead, God asks that we come to him, as Ruth did, in all of her uncertainty, despite our inadequacy, to declare our dependence upon him, upon his grace, and upon his mercy.

50. 20:41

    And if we retain this correct mindset and we walk faithfully and prayerfully, we will see his grace revealed. We will understand how in our emptiness, God's grace makes us full. How we will realize how God's grace can grow and become abundant. And so, Ruth's faithful attitude here is exemplified. Ruth's faithful attitude is also emphasized when you consider her circumstances.

51. 21:13

    She's lost everything. She's a widow. She's turned her back on her natural family. She's living in a foreign country. And now, she's jobless. She's penniless. And yet, as it turns out, as it turns out, the story will go on to tell us how rich her life is, how important her genealogy will be, how connected she is to God's promises and to the redemption of all mankind.

52. 21:42

    Now, if that's not an exhitation about God's grace, I don't know what else is. The second lesson about grace here in this chapter is that grace provides. Grace provides. In verse 2, Ruth doesn't wake up and say to Naomi, okay, so what you got planned for today? She sees that it's harvest time and she gets out there.

53. 22:08

    She's prepared to endure not just the back-breaking work, not just the heat of the day, but also, it seems, the potential indignity and abuse of being a foreigner. And it's a rubbish job. She's literally gathering leftovers. It's the equivalent of looking for aluminum cans or the trucks that you see driving around looking for scrap metal.

54. 22:32

    It is subsistence living. Ruth is completely dependent upon the Lord God of Israel at this point. And it's amazing when we stand back and we read the law, Moses, we can see the Lord God of Israel in his loving kindness and in his compassion and in his foresight has made provision ahead of time within the law to provide for the likes of Ruth and Naomi, preventing landowners from gleaning into the corners of their field and going over the field a second time.

55. 23:01

    I am 100% certain that God, when he inspired that law, knew ahead of time exactly when and exactly how and exactly who would use that. Again, if this is not an hesitation about the grace of God, I don't know what is.

56. 23:24

    The third lesson in grace in this chapter is that grace includes. Grace includes. In verse 10, Boaz tells Ruth not to glean in anyone else's field, but to be as is one of his young women. Ruth doesn't respond with the kind of over self-confidence which you might hear today. While I'm certainly glad you recognize my hard work today, I certainly feel that I deserve this full-time position and the benefits which come with the job.

57. 23:51

    Thank you very much. I think you'll soon realize that you've made a great decision and will promote me to be the manager. Instead, Ruth is humble. Ruth asks a heartfelt question. Why? Why have I found favor that you would take notice of me, a foreigner? She's amazed that Boaz, a man of position, a man of substance, a man of reputation, would notice her, a foreigner, and an alien.

58. 24:24

    And the message that comes out about grace here is a valuable perspective that I think is missing from the dialogue in society today about immigration, about inequality, about injustice. since the beginning of time, there's always been an intolerance of locals towards outsiders. It's a very superficial and human thing that we do to look at things which are only skin deep and presume to know anything about somebody, to form any kind of opinion about them.

59. 24:56

    And outsiders experience this feeling of displacement from their family, disconnection from the society, from things that they didn't grow up with, and also devaluation. What I mean by that is where you have been educated and trained and qualified back home for a profession, but in your new country, it counts as nothing. It's almost as if it's practically worthless.

60. 25:19

    Every single one of us will struggle if you take us out of our little goldfish bowls and plop us into a big pond somewhere else. Those who never go anywhere may never experience this, but those who do, I will tell you, it takes some bravery every day to step out. As an immigrant myself, I share this aspect of my life with Ruth.

61. 25:43

    And for me, in the early years, perhaps this was the biggest test I faced, leaving England, leaving my family, leaving my friends, moving to L.A. As an outsider, I experienced feelings of displacement, of disconnection, and even devaluation. Had it not been for the inclusion by my wife's family, and by many in the Southern California Christadelphian community, my life here would have turned out very differently.

62. 26:13

    But what happens here in Ruth, chapter 2? Boaz sees past the superficial, he sees past the superficial things, and sees that she is an outsider, a foreigner, an alien, and he sees Ruth for who she is, of who she demonstrates herself to be, a virtuous woman. He sees how she lives, and how she works, because it is evidence that she is a woman of faith and a woman of conviction.

63. 26:40

    So yes, grace includes. And the God of grace extends grace to anyone who wants to be his children, foreigners and outsiders, aliens included. The fourth lesson about grace is that grace is compassionate. Grace is compassionate. The lexicon tells us that grace literally means to bend down in kindness to an inferior person or someone in need.

64. 27:13

    That's the picture. That's the picture we're given in the lexicon. Again, to bend down in kindness to an inferior person or someone in need. In verse 13, Ruth not only asks that she may continue in his favor, but Ruth actually reveals how gracious Boaz is by describing what grace feels like to her.

65. 27:34

    Ruth says, let me continue to find favor in your sight because you have comforted me and you have spoken kindly to your maidservant. You have comforted me. The word comfort means to be sorry for, compassion for, to have compassion for. Sorry, for what? Compassion for what? Well, because she was a widow, because she was an alien, because she was poor.

66. 28:03

    Pick a reason. Any one of those demanded special treatment on part of society, but Boaz spoke to her with compassion. You have comforted me. You have spoken kindly, she says. Literally, Boaz had answered from the heart or spoken to her heart. How? Look, everyone wants to be seen and heard and understood. You look at what Boaz says and you realize that what he acknowledges is her sorrow.

67. 28:36

    He acknowledges her loss. He speaks about the people she's left behind, the country, her family, to live in a land of strange people. He acknowledges all of that. Yes, if grace means to bend down in kindness to an inferior person, then Boaz nails it. So the fourth lesson then is grace is compassionate.

68. 28:59

    The final lesson about grace this morning is that grace is abundant. Grace is abundant. Before Ruth's request to continue in his grace in verse 13, Boaz tells her something in verse 12, something which is the cause of her request to continue in his grace. What did Boaz actually say? He said, the Lord repay you and give you full reward.

69. 29:25

    The Lord repay you and give you full reward for what she had done. The Lord repay you. The word repay is a root word, salam, which should be familiar to some of us. It means to be friendly. It means to reciprocate. But more than that, it means to make good, to fill. In the lexicon, it's something which is perfect.

70. 29:47

    It's the root from which we get shalom, to make complete, to be at peace. So it's an important word. The Lord repay you. The Lord salam. The Lord will give you full reward, he also says. Now the word reward means wages. That's actually not the word I want you to look at. The word I want you to look at is the word full.

71. 30:10

    That's the word I want to draw your attention to because the Hebrew word for full is salam. Again, from the same root word, salam. Again, it means full. It means complete. It means perfect. It means replete. To see something used twice in the same sentence usually means something, doesn't it? The Lord repay you, salam.

72. 30:34

    The Lord give you full reward, salam. Salam. Translated, we might say, the Lord make you whole, the Lord make you full. The Lord make you whole, the Lord make you full. To me, brothers and sisters, this emphasizes a valuable lesson about God's grace. That God's grace is full. That God's grace is abundant.

73. 31:00

    Yes, that God's grace is more than sufficient. How can we, how can I, have missed these lessons in grace for 30 years? There's so many occasions for grace here in this chapter. Grace provides, grace includes, grace is compassionate, and grace is abundant.

74. 31:22

    Ultimately, in Ruth, we are supposed to see a faithful bride. And in Boaz, we're supposed to see a faithful bridegroom as they come together. But I'd also like to suggest that this is a story which reflects, if you like, the progression of our relationship with God. As our eyes are opened to his grace.

75. 31:40

    Again, the progression of our relationship with God as our eyes are opened to his grace. Through the choices and the decisions that we make, sometimes by half, as if it, and as by chance. That God can work everything out. That God's providential care is expressed through the outworking of our free choice and our decisions.

76. 32:01

    Especially when it appears to be sometimes one huge jumbled mess of unconnected things. So, brothers and sisters, let this be our exhortation from Ruth this morning. May we find favor today to help us on our walk of faith, to face what is unknown, the situations we're dealing with, the difficulties we're in, the trials and the circumstances.

77. 32:27

    May we be thankful that we have found favor, seeing that we are aliens. We were all aliens from the covenant. May we be thankful that we have found favor, thankful for the redemption, which we didn't deserve. And may we continue to find favor, brothers and sisters. May we continue to find favor, living in a hopeful anticipation of the eternal kingdom, which the man from the line of Boaz will establish in the future.

78. 32:57

    So, as we come to the emblems, as we come to the bread and the wine, let us think upon the words of the Apostle Paul in the church to Ephesus in Ephesians 1 when he says this, In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, according to the riches of his grace which he has made to abound towards us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth in him.

79. 33:47

    In him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things, and according to the counsel of his will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of his glory. In him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also having believed you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of his glory.

80. 34:25

    Amen. Thank you for listening to the Good Christodalphian Talks podcast. Please subscribe for new episodes and leave a review on Apple Podcasts or whichever service you are listening from to help people find the show when they search for it. If you enjoyed this talk, share it on social media so other people can find it too.

81. 34:49

    For show notes and links to the talk that you just listened to, visit our show page at anchor.fm slash gct. We want to encourage everyone to share their thoughts from the talk this week on Facebook or Instagram, where we are at Good Christodalphian Talks, or on Twitter, where we are at gct underscore podcast.

82. 35:08

    If you know of a great talk, we want to know about it too. Send a suggestion to goodchristodalphian talks at gmail.com or message us on any of our social media platforms. Thank you for listening. God bless and talk to you next week. Thank you. you