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Dec 23, 2018

Our rest comes at His cost

Our rest comes at His cost

Passage: Ruth 4:1-12

Speaker: Patrick Lafferty

Series: 2018 Advent: "Strong Female Lead—Led by God: An Advent Series in the Book of Ruth"

Category: Advent

This season makes us tired. That’s a slice of--a metaphor for--a larger weariness we feel, and a rest we all long for. In what does the deepest rest consist? By what means does it come? We reach the culmination of what Naomi prayed for and sought for on behalf of her most unlikely daughter-in-law. Let’s see how the rest that may come to this one who has both shown and received kindness points us to where and how that deep rest comes.

Order of Worship

Pre-Service Text: Psalm 31:5
Call To Worship: Fourth Sunday of Advent: Love (See below)
Statement of Faith: Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 8, section 2
Sermon Title: Our rest comes at His cost
Central Text: Ruth 4:1-12
Response: Of the Father’s Love Begotten
Benediction: 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
Post-Service Text: Matthew 28:18-20

Illustration

Charlie Brown

Readings

Pre-Service Text: Psalm 31:5
5 Into your hand I commit my spirit;
you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.

Call To Worship: Fourth Sunday of Advent: Love
Reading #1 Introduction - “As we get closer and closer to celebrating the birth of Jesus, we take special time called Advent to purposefully prepare our hearts and minds for the birth of Jesus. The first candle was the Hope Candle, inviting us to a hopeful anticipation of the Coming King. The second candle was the Peace Candle, reminding us that Jesus is the Prince of Peace, restoring our relationship with God. The third candle was the Joy Candle, reflecting the Good News of Great Joy that the angels proclaimed. And this fourth candle is called the Love Candle because Jesus is God’s Love made manifest. By sending his Son, God has come to sacrificially love us and empower us to love him and to love one another.”
Lighter - Lights the fourth candle

Reading #2 -  Isaiah 11:1-10
1There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
2And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
4but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
and faithfulness the belt of his loins.
6The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
and a little child shall lead them.
7The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.
9They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
10In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.

Reading #3 - Luke 2:8-14
8And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
14“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
Prayer - “Let’s pray together. Father in heaven, we thank you for what this season means. That we, like the shepherds, would hear this good news of great joy: that in love, you sent your Son to pay the penalty for our sins, and that through his death, we may have new life. A new life that loves you, and loves our neighbors. Thank you for sending your Son, and move in our hearts so that we continue to long for the day when he will come again. This we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Statement of Faith: WCF Chapter 8, section 2
2. “The Son of God, the second person in the Trinity, being very and eternal God, of one substance and equal with the Father, did, when the fullness of time was come, take upon him man’s nature,with all the essential properties, and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin; being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the virgin Mary, of her substance. So that two whole, perfect, and distinct natures, the Godhead and the manhood, were inseparably joined together in one person, without conversion, composition, or confusion. Which person is very God, and very man, yet one Christ, the only Mediator between God and man.”

Central Text: Ruth 4:1-12

Ruth 4:1 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 4:7 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. 8 So when the redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself,” he drew off his sandal. 9 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. 10 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. You are witnesses this day.” 11 Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, “We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem, 12 and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the LORD will give you by this young woman.”

Response: Of the Father’s Love Begotten
Of the Father’s love begotten,
E’er worlds began to be.
He is alpha and omega,
He the source, the ending he.
Of the things that are, that have been,
And that future years shall see.
Evermore and evermore.

Benediction: 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

Post-Service Text: Matthew 28:18-20
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Related Scripture

  • Exodus 6:6-8; 13:2
  • Leviticus 25:23-30
  • Numbers 3:46-48; 18:25-26
  • *Deuteronomy 25:5-10
  • Job 19:25
  • Psalm 31:5
  • Psalm 130:8
  • Luke 1:68; 24:21
  • John 10:7-18
  • Romans 6:4-6
  • Galatians 3:13-14
  • Hebrews 2:11
  • Hebrews 9:15

Discussion Questions & Applications:

  1. What does rest look like for you? How do you find it? What does it cost--you or others--to have it?
  2. As you’ve read through this short book, what would you say is that “rest” (manoach) Naomi has prayed and sought for Ruth, and which in this passage comes through Boaz? Was that rest reserved for Ruth, or did Naomi receive it in any way, too?
  3. What do we typically mean by “redeeming” something, or that someone has undergone a redemption?
    1. What might redeeming something according to this passage mean?
    2. How does that idea of redemption play out in other places in the Old Testament
    3. How do our modern conceptions of redeeming/redemption still fit with this more ancient meaning?
  4. Why does the nameless next of kin pass on the opportunity and responsibility to “redeem” the land belonging to Naomi’s dead husband Elimelech, and with it Ruth the widow of Elimelech’s son, Mahlon?
  5. What was required of Boaz for that rest to be found for Ruth (and Naomi)? Why was that significant? What would it cost him?
  6. What is that rest Jesus purchases--redeems--for us? Why is that excellent news in both the present and future?
  7. Why was Jesus alone able to “afford” what it cost to redeem us? How does that shape the way we think of Him, the way we respond to Him?
  8. What all keeps you from being inwardly at rest, and how would life would be different for you to really believe you have the deepest rest at the cost of Jesus’s love?

Quotes:

  • Nothing can save us that is possible. - W.H. Auden, “Christmas Oratorio”
  • And no list could hold what I wanted, for what I wanted was every last thing, every layer of speech and thought, stroke of light on bark or walls, every smell, pothole, pain, crack, delusion, held still and held together—radiant, everlasting. - Alice Munro, Lives of Girls and Women
  • When I was a kid, my brother and I used to pretend we were heroes with swords. We were the only ones who could save the day. But perhaps we set the bar a little bit high. Maybe we were just regular people, the ones who get saved. - Zach Braff
  • [Shame declares] some version of “I am not enough; There is something wrong with me; I am bad; or I don’t matter.” - Curt Thompson, MD, The Soul of Shame: Retelling the Stories We Believe About Ourselves
  • But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are the wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi. - O’Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi”

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