1st Feb 26 PM ~ A Lasting Rescue

``Let's recognize that God is gracious. Whatever our situation, if you throw yourself at the feet of Jesus, he will not take advantage of you. He did not come into this world to take advantage of you. In fact, he came into this world to lay down his life for you. That is the love of Christ. There is no one safer. There is no one comparable to Jesus Christ. He is the one and the only one in whom you have utter safety, throwing yourself at his feet. He's the only one that's fully trustworthy of being the guide of what does it mean to do and the way we do it. Do it like Christ. [00:39:31] (43 seconds)  #GraceNotAdvantage

In the midst of all of it, there's a question to us. In these situations, what would it look like to glorify God, not just in what we do, but in the way that we do it together? God is worthy of being honored. He's worthy of being glorified, and he's called us to reflect him in the situations into which we find ourselves. So let's not think to ourselves that the outcome, the ends, will just justify whoever we got there. Let's not think to ourselves that it might just be easier to do whatever we want to do and sort out the end. But instead, whatever we're doing, let's recognize a question, what does it look like to glorify God in in doing this, but also in the way that we do it, so that right along the way, he is glorified. [00:37:56] (53 seconds)  #DoItLikeChrist

Even if you've a sense that you're planning to get married, you need to wait until you've made that covenant, because that is where God has gifted sex. And actually, the beautiful thing about this is that that union is actually a shadow of the commitment between Christ and the church. And so there's a sense of covenant going on between Christ and his bride, which is the church, where Christ says, I love you. I'm committed to you. And no matter what, I'm not going anywhere. [00:22:03] (29 seconds)  #GlorifyInTheWayWeAct

And marriage is like a shadow, a smaller picture of that reality that's given to us. Now I know in real life, in the reality of a broken world, there are other situations out there like divorce, etcetera, and I absolutely understand that. And I wanna be really clear tonight that God is an incredibly gracious God, and that if you're in a position at the minute where that doesn't reflect your life, may that draw you nearer to God, not further from him? Because he hasn't said this to condemn us, he said this to bring us life in its abundance, and to show us the way he longs for us to live, the way he longs that we would enjoy everything that he's gifted to us, but gifted it to us to be enjoyed in the ways that he's explained to us. [00:22:32] (44 seconds)  #WaitForTheCovenant

But here's why we see it's premature that Naomi hasn't come at this quite as right as she could have. Look at verse 12. Boaz explains, it's true that I am a redeemer, yet there's a redeemer nearer than I. So he tells her, remain tonight and in the morning, if he will redeem you, good, but let him do it. But if he's not willing to redeem you, then as the Lord lives, I will redeem you. Lie down until the morning. [00:26:12] (24 seconds)  #MarriageShadowOfChrist

that she, Ruth, lay at his feet until the morning, but arose before one could recognize another. And he said, let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor. Questioning why the secrecy? Because what Naomi asked Ruth to do was really not acceptable. If Ruth had been seen, people would have concluded wrongly, in fairness, but they would have concluded that Boaz and Ruth had been sleeping together. And in reality, if Boaz had not been a righteous man, he may well have taken advantage of Ruth's vulnerability and this instruction to do whatever Boaz tells her. It's descriptive because that's what really happened, but it's not prescriptive of how we should interact. [00:20:24] (42 seconds)  #GraceDrawsYouNear

What Ruth is actually doing here is making a proposal to Boaz. She's basically saying, would you marry me? But it's a premature request. In verse 10, we get a sense of Boaz's pleasure at this request, when he responds, may you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter. You've made this kindness greater than the first, and that you've not gone after young men, were the rich or poorer. It's here that I think we see Boaz is genuinely attracted to, in love with, He constantly speaks about in the field in chapter one, he's heard and marveled at the kindness that Ruth has shown to Naomi and the character that she shows, and he clearly takes a shining tour, not just maybe for her looks, but certainly for her character especially. [00:24:14] (53 seconds)  #RedeemerNearerFirst

and Isaac, they had multiple wives, how it did not go well for them. Well, the narrative is teaching us what Genesis has already shown us about the point of marriage between one man and one woman. So the the description's there, the the the explanation's there, but it's not entirely clear. We have to do a little bit more work to find out. And so today, we're coming to a description of what took place under Naomi's advice, but it is certainly not prescriptive of what we should do ourselves, and we'll look into that more deeply shortly. [00:13:31] (32 seconds)  #LieAtHisFeetSecrecy