200878 Studies in the affection of the Kinsman - Ruth v1-10

Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz. And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him, in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said unto her, Go, my daughter.

And she went and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And her hap was, the chance was, that she alighted on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech. And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, The Lord be with you.

They answered him, The Lord bless thee. Then said Boaz unto his servants that were set over the reapers, Whose damsel is this? And the servant that was set over the reapers answered and said, It is the Moabitess damsel that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab. And she said, I pray you, let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.

So she came, and hath continued even from the morning until now, that she tarried a little in the house. Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest thou not my daughter? Go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens. Let thine eyes be on the field that they do reap, and go thou after them.

Have I not charged the young men that they should not touch thee? And when thou art athirst, go unto the vessels, and drink of that which the young men have drawn. Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger? A preacher by the name of Chris Austin, one of the early church fathers, and he referring to Boaz and this particular incident says, Observe that what has happened to Ruth is analogous to what happened to us. For she was a stranger, and had fallen into extremist distress.

But Boaz, when he saw her, neither despised her poverty, nor condemned the lowliness of her family. So the Lord Jesus took up the church, and chose the stranger who lacked possessions for His bride. Well let me sketch in the scene, in case you're not familiar with the Old Testament, in case you're a stranger within the gospel field this morning, you've come casually into this tabernacle and at this moment you're not too sure as to what it is that I am making reference about.

Well, Ruth and Naomi have returned to Bethlehem from the land of Moab. Ruth is not a Jew. She was originally a Moabites.

They have come back having lost everything, Naomi, her husband and her two sons. Ruth, well, she has rejected her home and rejected her country, and she has accompanied Naomi to this city, which in history has such a great place. So here are these two poverty stricken women.

And one morning Ruth determines that because she will not beg for her bread, that she will go out into the harvest fields for its harvest time. And there she will follow the reapers, and she will claim what is the right or was the right in those days of the poor, of going along by the borders of the field and taking what particular grain she could find as it was missed by the reapers or as it fell from their hands. So here we have one of the most graphic pictures in the Old Testament of a rural harvest scene.

You can almost hear the swish of the blade as the reapers go into the fields around Bethlehem and as they cut down the crop. And here, as John Keats tells us in one of his lovely poems, we view the sad heart of Ruth when sick from home, she stood in tears and in the alien corn. Well watch Boaz as he first of all comes into this tract of land.

He is the owner of this portion of the field, and his servants greet him. And he in turn lovingly greets them, the Lord bless you. And Boaz in the fifth verse we discover makes some inquiries to who the foreign lady is with his reapers, where does she come from? The information is supplied.

And then Boaz makes his first encounter with Ruth. And here I say is typified, is foreshadowed for you and for me the way that a greater redeemer than Boaz shall make encounter with those who he has come to help. Boaz, we're told in the first verse, was a mighty man of wealth.

So was our Lord Jesus. Boaz was attracted to a woman who was desperately in need. So was our Lord Jesus.

Boaz would transfer some of his wealth in the favor of Ruth and Naomi. We read in the Gospels, or rather in the New Testament, that we know, reminds the Apostle Paul, we know the grace of our Lord Jesus. How that though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor.

That through his poverty he might make others rich. Here then I say is typified the ministry of the kinsman redeemer, even our Lord Jesus. And so we watch this scene as the mighty, rich, and tender-hearted Boaz goes towards this insignificant Moabites.

And we marvel as we see not only literally this historic picture, but we find it to be typifying our own experience of the Lord Jesus Christ and his love towards us. So if you'd like a title for my address this morning, how about study, or studies, in the affection of the kinsman. Now notice first of all then his winsomeness as he makes an approach to Ruth.

I read to you the words of the eighth verse again. Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Heareth thou not my daughter? Go not to glean in another field? Neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens. Is it not singular, is it not gripping that he refers to this unknown foreign woman as daughter? He puts her at her ease immediately.

And we read that it was the custom of the Lord Jesus Christ when he approached people to refer to them by their name, Zacchaeus, Mary. The gospel says that the Lord Jesus knows his sheep. And that means that if you have found yourself this morning, by chance so to speak, in this tabernacle listening to my voice, you may be unknown to me, but you're not unknown to the God of Boaz, to the one who became the God of Ruth.

He calls his people by name. And what is more, Boaz in no way despises what Ruth is doing. He realizes that she's a gleaner.

He knows her penury, her poverty-stricken condition. And you might think that a mighty man like Boaz with wealth and authority invested in him, one of the elders of the city of Bethlehem, would have nothing to do with this woman. So poor, she has to follow his reapers.

But in no way does he despise her. Rather, he has a concern to make her work more productive. Don't lean in any other field.

Stay here. And he has a word on the side to his servants to ensure that more grain falls within the reach of Ruth than would naturally be the case. And that's a point that's worth picking up and amplifying, is it not? That Jesus is always concerned to make our work more productive.

That's one of the reasons why he encounters us. Here are a group of men fishing. They're frustrated.

The hours have gone by. They've invested all the night in their task, endeavoring to catch fish. But they have been eminently unsuccessful.

And Jesus comes around and he says, You know, fellas, if you just go back, I know it's the early hours of the morning. It's not the right time to engage in fishing. But just go back into your boat and cast your net on the side that I command.

And I tell you, your work will be more productive. The Lord Jesus does not despise these men because they were fishermen and unsuccessful that night. He involves himself with their toil, and his concern is to make them more productive.

And that's precisely his relationship to you and to me, involved in the rough and tumble of our lives, concerned to make us effective and productive in service for our fellow men and, more importantly, in our service for God. And notice also, regarding Boaz and Ruth, that the former will supply the latter's need without taking away her independence. He appreciates the initiative.

That is Ruth's. He knows of her kindliness towards Naomi. He wants to secure that independence and to add to it.

And this, to me, suggests a picture that unravels one of the theological knots within the Bible. I speak of the sovereignty of God. The absolute sovereignty of God.

And the lack of ability of men and women to save themselves. Salvation is within the hands of God to dispense. And yet the Bible does not blush to say, work out your salvation with fear and trembling.

Here is Boaz. He is the owner of the field. And he is complimenting Ruth on her initiative.

And in a sense, he is endeavoring to get her to retain her independence. But if she will cooperate with him, then the result of her labor will be that much more beneficial to her and to Naomi. And the Bible declares this, that if we seek God, if we use an initiative which perhaps unknown to us is promoted by the Holy Spirit, he will bless that initiative.

He will marry it to his grace, to his benevolence, so that your work in the gospel field shall bring many rich rewards, a veritable harvest of blessing for you and for those to whom you minister. The winsomeness of the kinsman redeemer. His manner of approach is delightful, a study in human relationships.

He does not despise her standard in life. And he will in no way take away her independence. His winsomeness.

But stay a while in these two verses and let's dig further, for there's much more to be discovered. A spiritual harvest is latent here. Not only the winsomeness of the kinsman redeemer, but also the genuineness that his words have within them.

Go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence. You see the repetition there. It smacks of sincerity.

Here's a woman, I repeat, she's a foreigner. It's obvious that she's not a Jewess. What's she doing on Boaz's tract of land? Why not send her off somewhere else? There are no markers to determine which land belongs to Boaz and which belongs to his neighbours.

Why should his land be impoverished by this woman? Send her away. But no, he's genuine in his concern for her. As genuine as the Lord Jesus Christ is toward us, Boaz receives a stranger into his land.

And shall I tell you something, friend? No man comes, no woman comes into the family of God without first having been a stranger. We all come as Moabiteses to the gospel field and perhaps we fear within our hearts that the owner will dispatch us, will send us about our business, will say we have no rights there. For sure enough, we have no right.

We don't own the field. We don't qualify to benefit from the harvest. But the glorious thing about our kinsman-redeemer is that he says, You who've got no rights, you who've got no money, you who've got no qualifications at all, you come.

My field's a big field. The harvest is a bumper crop. There's room for the roots of the 20th century.

There's room for all to come in here, gone up to glean in another field. Don't go from hence. The words have a human touch within them.

I read once of a Roman general who had this to say, and his remark is significant. He was speaking about some of the need in the Roman Empire. I am a man.

Nothing that concerns men can be of indifference to me. So Jesus Christ was and is a man, albeit the God-man. And nothing that involves humanity leaves him indifferent and cold.

He came to mount a rescue work so that sinners might be helped by his ministry. He came to bring the bread of life so that those who were starving may receive food and enter into the experience of salvation. I'm a man, and there's nothing that affects humanity to which I can be indifferent.

Go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast. As though he were saying, Ruth, it wouldn't be to your benefit to be found in any other field. Though you didn't know it, you were divinely led here.

There's no particular tract of land that can meet your requirements as my tract, for my servants are at my disposal. They will do what I tell them to do, and I will work in your interest. I don't know what brought you into our church this morning, though we praise God for every person who comes, and the warmth of welcome of our brotherly inland was very genuine and spoke for us all.

And let us say this, and you'll appreciate the way that I'm expressing it, we're glad that you've come into this particular land, into this particular area, because here is something that can do you good. Here are gospel blessings that we can share with you. Here is the Spirit of God who is involved not only with my life, the elders' lives, the deacons' lives, but every ordinary person in this congregation.

Don't go elsewhere. Don't make your involvement be away from the gospel field, for if that's the case, then what you're really seeking you can never find, and that which your heart craves after will never be delivered to you. Stay in this field.

Stay within the orbit of a gospel ministry. Come within the province of this book and its promises. Come within the shadow of this table and all that it represents.

Don't go elsewhere. Ruth can find no satisfaction in any other field than that one which is by Bethlehem, under the jurisdiction of the Redeemer, Boaz. It wouldn't be good for you to be found in another field, Ruth.

Stay here. Let us remember the affections of the kinsman Redeemer, his winsomeness, his genuineness, and his comprehensiveness in his love towards this young woman. Sometimes we sing a hymn, and perhaps I should have selected it this morning, full salvation, full salvation, and this is what we believe the Lord Jesus dispenses.

He doesn't just save us. He keeps us. He fills us with his Spirit.

He gives us gospel blessing upon gospel blessing. And here you see in the ministry of Boaz towards Ruth, the whole idea typified. Here is comprehensive affection.

What does a woman on her own in a foreign town require? In land where there are ordinary people working, she needs fellowship. She needs companionship in a word. So what does Boaz say to Ruth? Abide here fast by my maidens.

And when you come within the gospel family, there are brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers that God gives you without number here on this earth. This was the reply of the Lord Jesus to Simon on one occasion when he said, Lord, we've given up everything and followed you. And Jesus, in his reply, said, Simon, that may be the case.

And I know what you're saying, but listen, you never give up anything in following me without receiving a hundredfold. Abide here fast by my maidens. What else does a woman require when she's in such a circumstance as was Ruth? Protection.

Stay with verse 9. Have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee? And when I place my life within the disposal of the Lord Jesus, when I cling to him for salvation, he not only saves me, he protects me. Says the apostle Paul, what shall separate me from the love of God? And he goes on and he gives a whole catalog of things that possibly might. And then he says, no.

I'm in the protection of my kinsman redeemer, and there is no power on earth, under the earth, or in heaven that can put a wedge between me and that. And refreshment. If you're working in the fields, don't you require this? Must not this be part of the blessing that your kinsman redeemer will give you? The latter part of verse 9. When thou art a thirst, go unto the vessels and drink of that which the young men have drawn.

Here is water for Ruth. Water that is almost akin to the water of salvation of which the gospel makes reference. Notice that this water was already provided.

It was already waiting for Ruth before she ever entered into that tract of land, as indeed the salvation that Jesus offers you was ready before you entered into this, the precincts of this church. And notice that it is available to Ruth. It's freely offered to her.

And she can take it whenever she is thirsty. And I point you to our kinsman redeemer, even Jesus, as he dies on the cross. And I tell you that he sunk a well there.

And there's liquid salvation that's available for you and for me to drink of. It's free. It's manufactured just for you, just for your requirements, just for my requirements.

The comprehensiveness of the love of the redeemer. Have you noticed, and I say this in closing, that in the third verse we come across this peculiar expression in Scripture describing Ruth entering into Boaz's territory. Her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz.

And that word hap is an old-fashioned word. It's a Jacobean word, in vogue when this book was translated into English, but it needs updating. And so you could use the word chance.

Does that surprise you that you can find the word chance in the Bible? If it does, then let me disarm you of any prejudices because Jesus told the parable of the good Samaritan and he says, by chance, Luke, what is it? 12, Luke chapter 12, I believe so. By chance a priest went down, by chance a Levite went down, by chance a Samaritan went down. But it's just chance on the human level.

The lot is cast, says Solomon, into the lap, but the disposing of it is the Lord. Shakespeare, there's a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will. By chance on the human level, Ruth enters into that field.

And Boaz will be there, Boaz who can minister to her, Boaz who will ultimately take the part of the kinsmen and redeem her and Nehemiah and rescue them from their abysmal circumstances. Is it by chance that you came into the tabernacle this morning? By chance that I felt so impelled to give you this word that I came into this pulpit? Not by chance at all. There's a Redeemer, you see, who's winsome, who's genuine, who's comprehensive in his affections towards you and towards me.

Will you not recognize him as Ruth recognized Boaz? Will you not say, Lord Jesus, I've come into your gospel field. Let me feast from the corn that is there, satisfy my heart with good things, forgive me my sin, and because you bled and died to save me, I ask that you will enable me to enter into a relationship with you that will last in time and throughout eternity. We continue next week to discover what Ruth's reaction was to Boaz's invitation.

Amen. Father, we bless you, the majority of us in this sanctuary, for the day when by chance, as it were, we strayed into the gospel field and your son, our spiritual Boaz, drew alongside and bid us welcome and said that there was food and there was drink and there was protection and fellowship and so many heaped up blessings. We praise you that his words were not empty.

He fulfilled all that he promised. We thank you, Lord, that we're still gleaning in that tract of land, and we praise you for all that our relationship with you increasingly means. Now, Lord, continue with us as we remember the death of our kinsman and his mighty resurrection.

Amen.