Finding Hope in Hardship: Lessons from the Lineage of Christ

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
I will praise your name.
[00:00:05] I will praise your name.
[00:00:06] Great is your faithfulness to me.

[00:00:13] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]:
Your faithfulness, it never runs out.

[00:00:25] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
It never runs out.

[00:00:33] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]:
Your faithfulness, oh, it never runs out, it never runs out, it never runs out I put my faith in Jesus, my anchor to the light
[00:00:57] I put my faith in Jesus My anchor to the ground He's my hope and firm foundation

[00:01:37] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
God bless you!
[00:01:53] Let me down, let me down, let me down.
[00:02:08] Great is your faithfulness to me.

[00:02:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]:
From the rising sun to the setting sun I will praise your name In every season great is your faithfulness to me I put my faith in Jesus My anchor to the ground He's my hope and friend

[00:02:44] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
You'll never let me down I put my faith in Jesus My anchor to the ground He's my hope in purgation You'll never let me down I put my faith in Jesus My anchor to the ground
[00:03:28] My anchor to the ground My hope ever found You'll never let me down
[00:03:47] and the Holy Spirit.
[00:04:02] Let us pray.
[00:04:22] Let it go down and I'll still bless you I'll still praise you Let it go up and let it go down And I'll still bless you I'll still bless you Let it go up and let it come down

[00:04:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]:
I'll still bless you.
[00:04:51] I'll still bless you.
[00:04:51] I'll still bless you.
[00:04:52] Great is, great is your faithfulness to me.

[00:05:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]:
I'll still bless you.

[00:05:06] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]:
I'll still bless you.

[00:05:10] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
I'll still bless you.

[00:05:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]:
I'll still bless you Yes, I'll still bless you In the middle of the storm In the middle of my trial I'll still bless you In the middle of the road

[00:08:56] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Good morning.
[00:08:59] Welcome to Center Presbyterian Church.
[00:09:01] It's very good to see you.
[00:09:02] It's good to be in God's house in His church to worship Him together as we approach this Christmas season.
[00:09:08] We're in this Advent season.
[00:09:10] Center is a place where we make room for everyone to experience joyful, life-transforming connection to Jesus, but also to each other.
[00:09:19] If you do have to go to the restroom during the service to my right to your left in this building next door there are restrooms over there there's a mom's cry room if for any reason you need to be there in front of you in the in the bulletin you would have received a connection card looks like this here we'd love for you at some point to to fill that out it's for prayer requests you can definitely put prayer on there but also if we would like you to put your name that way we know who's here and you will be prayed for on tuesday when the group meets to prayer
[00:09:48] To pray, but again drop that in the offering plate as it goes by.
[00:09:52] But welcome to our service today.
[00:09:53] We have a couple of announcements.
[00:09:56] Next Sunday during, this is for the kids, so it's not for everyone, and you'll get why.
[00:10:01] We're going to have a pajama party.
[00:10:03] Okay, not for adults, but for kids.
[00:10:07] I know, you're sad.
[00:10:08] But kids, during the service, the kids' Christmas party is going to be during the kids' time, during the worship service.
[00:10:15] I invite all the kids to that.
[00:10:16] And again, you can wear your pajamas.
[00:10:17] I know Audrey will be excited about that, I think.
[00:10:21] Yes.
[00:10:22] Also, next Sunday at 5 p.m., the Lessons and Carols.
[00:10:26] Definitely come out for that.
[00:10:28] It's, again, in the evening, 5 p.m. next Sunday.
[00:10:30] Bring cookies or a snack to share with everyone.
[00:10:34] And then on December 24th, the Christmas Eve service is going to be at 6 p.m.
[00:10:38] So I invite you to that and also to bring friends, bring neighbors, 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve.
[00:10:45] I invite Mike and Carol Allison up at this point to light our Advent candle.

[00:11:25] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
is a reminder that Christ brings joy in the midst of sorrow.

[00:11:32] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
The prophet Isaiah writes, In that day you will say, I will praise you, Lord.
[00:11:37] Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me.
[00:11:42] Surely God is my salvation.
[00:11:44] I will trust and not be afraid.
[00:11:46] The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense.
[00:11:50] He has become my salvation.
[00:11:52] With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

[00:11:58] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
This world desperately needs renewal, but in the midst of our longing, we have joy knowing salvation is at hand.

[00:12:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
As we come to worship, this is a sacred time where we worship God, and we ask that you'd be aware of how you come into this place.
[00:12:39] We have anxieties, we have our worries, we have fears, we have things we're excited about, and we bring those unto the Lord.
[00:12:47] He sees us, He knows our heart, and however we come into this space, He wants us to encounter Him today.
[00:12:53] He is calling us to worship Him.
[00:12:56] Please stand as we recite together our call to worship.
[00:13:00] I will read the leader portion or read together where it says people says I wait for the Lord my soul waits and in his hope word I hope my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning there is no darkness with you O Lord let us hope in the Lord for the Lord there is steadfast love and with him is plenty plenteous redemption
[00:13:29] There is no darkness with you, O Lord.
[00:13:33] Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
[00:13:37] There is no darkness with you, O Lord.

[00:13:40] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
Earlier this week, I was struggling to really sit in the season of Advent.
[00:13:51] I don't know if any of you find that to be a struggle, where the days are busy.
[00:13:56] For me, it's a working mom.
[00:13:58] And three kids at home since Ambrose isn't there.
[00:14:02] The Lord led me to read Galatians 4 earlier in the week.
[00:14:08] It was not in my devotional.
[00:14:09] He just led me there.
[00:14:09] In Galatians 4, Paul writes, In the fullness of time, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who are under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
[00:14:27] We get to hear about the incarnation, Jesus being born and coming to earth.
[00:14:32] We get to hear about redemption, his death on the cross that frees us from our sins.
[00:14:38] And because of that, we get to become children of God.
[00:14:41] So everything is summed up in those couple of verses.
[00:14:45] And as we're thinking about joy, if any of you are struggling, whether it's physical illness, depression,
[00:14:57] Family Struggle.
[00:14:59] It's a really good reminder that God's timing is perfect, right?
[00:15:05] Like it can seem like, God, are you hearing me?
[00:15:08] But His timing really is perfect.
[00:15:10] And that is why we can actually be joyful even when the times might be hard.
[00:15:17] So as we sing the familiar Christmas songs,
[00:15:21] Think about those deeper theological things that Jesus actually left glory, left heaven so that we could find him, so we could have life.
[00:15:32] Don't just be in the rote.
[00:15:33] Oh, I'm just singing a Christmas carol.
[00:15:35] It's deep theology we're singing.
[00:15:38] Amen.
[00:15:39] So Father, we invite you into this space.
[00:15:42] Holy Spirit, we invite you to come and have your way.
[00:15:46] We thank you for your perfect timing.
[00:15:48] We thank you for your joy.
[00:15:51] Father, I pray that each one of us, however we're coming, Lord, you would fix our eyes on you.
[00:15:59] You would strip away everything that hinders us from seeing you, from encountering you.
[00:16:07] and that you would be praised and glorified this morning.
[00:16:10] We ask in the mighty name of Jesus.
[00:16:13] Amen.

[00:16:40] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
We sing in o'er the plains And the mountains in reply Echo back their joyous strains
[00:17:08] And that shall stay on And that shall stay on
[00:17:33] Shepherds, why this jubilee?
[00:17:52] Why your joyous strains go down?
[00:17:53] Say what made the tidings ring?

[00:17:53] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Which inspired your heavenly song?

[00:18:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
In excelsis Deo Unto death the heavens sing Christ whose birth the angels sing
[00:18:41] Christ the Lord, the newborn King.
[00:19:23] Sin the men of nature lay, Whom the choirs of angels praise, There we just celebrate, With our hearts in loving praise,
[00:19:52] In excelsis Deo In excelsis Deo
[00:20:17] In excelsis Deo.
[00:20:52] Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation.
[00:21:10] All my soul praise Him, for He is my health and salvation.
[00:21:12] Come, all who live, bow to His temple, draw near.
[00:21:27] Praise to the Lord above all names who wondrously reign, Sheltering who under His wings grace and joy sustain.
[00:21:52] Thou didst not see all that is faithful as Him, Sent by His gracious ordain.
[00:22:01] Praise to the Lord who will prosper the work and defend you Surely His goodness and mercy have daily attended you Ponder anew what the Almighty can do With His love He befriends you
[00:22:38] Joyful, joyful, we adore thee, God of glory, Lord of love.
[00:22:55] Hearts unfold like flowers before thee, opening to the sun above.
[00:23:17] To the Lord all that is in me adore Him All that hath life and breath doth now be praises before Him Let me now hear the sound from His people again Proudly forever adore Him

[00:23:58] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
You may be seated.
[00:24:03] As we move now to a time of confession with prayer, the prayer of confession invites us to speak words that are remarkably honest about our own sin, words that do not come naturally in our relationship with God or with fellow human beings.
[00:24:19] Such honesty, perhaps more than we could ever generate in our own strength, becomes remarkably liberating when we sense the immensity of God's grace
[00:24:28] In this way we can think of the prayer of confession and the assurance of pardon that follows not as an obligation but as a gift of grace.
[00:24:38] Please take a moment at this time to take your sins before the Lord quietly and we will recite together a prayer afterward.
[00:25:02] Let us recite together.
[00:25:18] It'll be on the screen.
[00:25:20] Together we read, Almighty God, you who shaped out of nothing all that is, forgive us for returning empty-handed.
[00:25:32] You who called forth light, forgive our preference for the dark.
[00:25:38] You who sent John to be a voice crying, forgive our unwillingness to say anything at all.
[00:25:47] Create in us clean hearts, O God, and renew a right spirit within us.
[00:25:54] Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
[00:25:56] Amen.
[00:25:58] We read now from the Gospel
[00:26:01] The prophet Zephaniah proclaims to all God's people, Sing, daughter Zion, shout aloud Israel.
[00:26:09] Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, daughter Jerusalem.
[00:26:13] The Lord has taken away your punishment.
[00:26:15] He has turned back your enemy.
[00:26:17] The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you.
[00:26:20] Never again will you fear any harm.
[00:26:24] On that day they will say to Jerusalem, Do not fear Zion.
[00:26:28] Do not let your hands hang limp.
[00:26:31] The Lord your God is with you, the mighty warrior who saves.
[00:26:35] He will take great delight in you.
[00:26:37] In his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.
[00:26:43] I will remove from you all who mourn over the loss of your appointed festivals.
[00:26:47] which is a burden and reproach for you.
[00:26:50] Thanks be to God for the reading of his word.
[00:26:54] At this time, I'd ask our ushers to come forward for this morning's offering.
[00:26:58] There is a QR code in your bulletin.
[00:26:59] If you would like to give that way, you can give online as well.
[00:27:02] If you're new to the church, consider this service a gift to you.
[00:27:06] Feel no obligation to give.
[00:27:08] But again, our ushers to come forward for this morning's offering.

[00:27:23] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
Please join me in singing while the offering is collected.

[00:27:33] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]:
Holy night The stars are brightly shining It is the night
[00:27:50] of our dear Savior's birth.

[00:28:06] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Long lay the world in sin and error pining, till He appeared and the soul fell

[00:28:21] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]:
The weary world rejoices for yonder is a new and glorious morn Fall on your knees for here

[00:28:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
The age of voices O night divine O night when Christ was born O night
[00:29:14] Holy night, O night divine Truly you taught us to love one another as God is God

[00:29:40] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
and His dustfall is peace.

[00:30:05] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother, and in his name all oppression shall cease.
[00:30:10] In grateful chorus praises we Let all with praise Praise His holy name
[00:30:35] Forever His power and glory evermore proclaim His power and glory evermore proclaim

[00:31:06] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Amen.

[00:31:30] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
At this time, we ask that you would stand and greet one another and pass the peace of Christ.
[00:31:35] If you're a child, we will meet over here to my left at the door, and we will go back for Children's Church.

[00:31:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]:
I'm glad you weren't in this room.

[00:32:07] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
I'm glad you weren't in this room.
[00:32:08] .
[00:32:18] .
[00:32:18] .
[00:32:21] ... ... ... ...

[00:32:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]:
So we both went to bed in our rooms at like 7 in the morning.

[00:32:59] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
But I slept like 11 hours.
[00:33:00] So it was amazing.
[00:33:00] But we had already been tired.
[00:33:01] So that was so nice.
[00:33:01] But we got it.
[00:33:01] You know, it was fun.

[00:33:02] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]:
... ... ... ... ...

[00:33:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Now join me as we sing the Doxology.
[00:33:50] Praise God from whom all blessings flow,

[00:33:57] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]:
Praise Him, all creatures dear below.

[00:34:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Praise Him, above ye earthly foes.
[00:34:23] Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
[00:34:25] Amen.
[00:34:25] For the reading of God's word.
[00:34:27] Our scripture passage comes from Matthew chapter 1 verses 1 through 6 and Ruth chapter 1 verses 3 through 18.
[00:34:37] This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
[00:34:43] Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amenadab, Amenadab the father of Nashon, Nashon the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother
[00:35:11] was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David.
[00:35:17] And then we flip to the book of Ruth, chapter one.
[00:35:22] When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there.
[00:35:33] With her two daughters-in-law, she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.
[00:35:41] Then Naomi said to her daughters-in-law, Go back, each of you, to your mother's home.
[00:35:47] May the Lord show you kindness as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me.
[00:35:54] May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.
[00:36:00] Then she kissed them goodbye, and they wept aloud.
[00:36:05] And they said to her, We will go back with you to your people.
[00:36:09] But Naomi said, Return home, my daughters.
[00:36:11] Why would you come with me?
[00:36:12] Am I going to have any more sons who could become your husbands?
[00:36:18] Return home, my daughters.
[00:36:19] I am too old to have another husband, even if I thought there was still hope for me.
[00:36:26] Even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons, would you wait until they grew up?
[00:36:32] Would you remain unmarried for them?
[00:36:33] No, my daughters.
[00:36:35] It is more bitter for me than for you.
[00:36:38] Because the Lord's hand has turned against me.
[00:36:41] At this they wept aloud again, and then Orpha kissed her mother-in-law goodbye.
[00:36:48] But Ruth clung to her.
[00:36:50] Look, said Naomi, your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods.
[00:36:55] Go back with her.
[00:36:57] But Ruth replied, Don't urge me to leave you or turn back from you.
[00:37:01] Where you go, I will go, and where you stay, I will stay.
[00:37:05] Your people will be my people, and your God my God.
[00:37:09] Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried.
[00:37:13] May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.
[00:37:19] When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.
[00:37:24] This is the word of the Lord.
[00:37:27] You can be seated.
[00:37:28] Pray with me.
[00:37:36] Lord as we open our open up your word this morning again during this season of Advent during this busy time of the year as our schedules are full with celebrations and events Lord we we just want to take a moment here to to fix our eyes on you we pray Lord that you would help us all to to lay aside the distractions lay aside the stresses lay whatever we bring into this place down at your feet
[00:38:10] We pray, Lord, that you'd provide for our needs, that you'd heal the sick, that you would comfort those who mourn.
[00:38:20] We pray, Lord, that this would be a moment where we could see you clearly and encounter the power of your Spirit, Lord.
[00:38:28] We pray, God, that you might surprise us today, that you would show up in our midst and teach us who you are.
[00:38:37] We ask this in Christ's name.
[00:38:39] Amen.
[00:38:41] Well, if you've been with us this Advent, we are looking at Matthew, and specifically we've been looking at the women that show up in this genealogy at the very beginning of the book of Matthew.
[00:38:53] Now, if you don't know, genealogies, they were actually very important in the ancient world.
[00:39:00] They kind of served like a resume for the great leaders of the day.
[00:39:07] The genealogies of ancient kings, if you ever study them, they are filled with these lists of reputable men and their names on that list would have helped to prove the good stock that the leader came from.
[00:39:24] And those genealogies, they typically also would omit the names of any less desirable ancestors, the people who wouldn't help their case or their cause.
[00:39:36] And so when an ancient person would have opened up Matthew and began reading this genealogy that starts off this way, that this is the genealogy of Jesus, the Messiah, the son of David,
[00:39:53] I don't know if I'm gonna be able to do this.
[00:39:56] All right, let's see.
[00:39:57] Will this work?
[00:39:58] Okay, here we go.
[00:39:59] Sorry, guys.
[00:40:01] My little thing's not working.
[00:40:03] All right, so when they opened this up and they read this verse that said, this is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, right?
[00:40:09] The anointed king, the one that was long foretold by God.
[00:40:13] And he's the son of David, the most beloved king.
[00:40:16] And then he is also the son of Abraham, Israel's great patriarch.
[00:40:20] The reader would have had an extremely high set of expectations about what they would find next.
[00:40:27] but of course we've been reading this now for a few weeks and you realize there's actually a lot of unexpected people here on this list there are not just men but there's also women on the list they're not just Jewish people but there are also Gentiles on the list and as we're going to see today there's not just Gentiles but there are even some people from the most hated enemy nations
[00:40:54] And you start to realize that this is not a mistake, these names.
[00:40:57] Matthew has chosen these people very intentionally because he's trying to tell us something about who this Messiah is.
[00:41:07] He's trying to tell us something about what the kingdom of God is like.
[00:41:12] And so as we look at Ruth today, as we study this passage, we are going to see how understanding this kingdom of God and what it's all about actually is going to enable us
[00:41:24] to live with joy even in the midst of a world that's full of sorrows and it is going to enable us to be the kind of people who bring hope and life into the most hopeless places in this world.
[00:41:41] And so that's what we're gonna look at this morning and we're gonna break it up under three headings.
[00:41:44] We're gonna look first at the typical response to hardship in this world and then we're gonna look at an unlikely source of inspiration
[00:41:54] and then finally we have a call to action here at the end okay so let's talk about this typical response to hardship all right so you probably noticed when we started reading here Ruth is pretty bleak when it starts out right maybe like one of the bleakest situations you can imagine it starts out with three childless widows
[00:42:19] And they are impoverished, they are searching for food, and they're all weeping as they are about to part ways.
[00:42:29] Now, that scene, if you look at it, it's pretty devastating.
[00:42:36] But you also remember that even though that took place thousands of years ago, there's still situations like that that are playing out around us every day.
[00:42:46] in this broken world that we live in.
[00:42:50] Poverty is still a major problem in this world.
[00:42:53] According to the UN, 1.1 billion people are facing what they categorize as acute multidimensional poverty.
[00:43:03] That means 1.1 billion people are facing things like living with no electricity, with dirt floors, with no clean water, malnutrition, a lack of education.
[00:43:15] And you hear a statistic like that, and it seems like such a big problem, you want to try to do something about it, but as soon as you try to act, you start to realize how truly overwhelming these problems really are.
[00:43:32] Just think about it with one person, you know, paying a bill for them one month won't cover it the next month.
[00:43:42] Helping somebody to find a job that could actually provide adequate long-term pay to help their situation, it's extremely difficult.
[00:43:51] And then if that person has kids they need to take care of, if they have health issues that limit their ability to work, well, it gets even harder.
[00:43:59] And then you look out to, well, what social programs are there that might be available?
[00:44:05] And if there is any,
[00:44:06] Oftentimes it's all wrapped up in bureaucracy and red tape that makes it actually pretty hard to get it.
[00:44:14] And sometimes on top of that you end up with corrupt and greedy people who are funneling off the resources and taking them away from the people who really need it.
[00:44:25] And the more you start to look into these difficult situations, they don't become more manageable, they become more overwhelming.
[00:44:32] You see all the layers and all the complexities
[00:44:36] It becomes difficult to respond.
[00:44:40] In fact, when we look at these things, there's really usually two typical ways people respond when they start to engage with this kind of hardship, and both of them are represented in this passage.
[00:44:51] The first one is with Orpah, that it's often our response to overwhelming need to turn our back on it, right?
[00:45:01] In verse 14, we saw that Orpah,
[00:45:05] She kisses her mother-in-law goodbye and she goes back to her home.
[00:45:10] And it's hard to blame her.
[00:45:15] She's not presented as the bad guy in this story.
[00:45:18] The problems were enormous.
[00:45:20] Some problems are too big to even know what to do.
[00:45:25] And of course we feel that too.
[00:45:27] I think we feel that weight every single day, right?
[00:45:29] Our phones are constantly telling us of every terrible thing that is happening around the globe all the time.
[00:45:37] And it can be hard to process that information.
[00:45:40] I think last night there was another school shooting that happened.
[00:45:45] The more we learn about these tragedies, the more we hear about them, the less we know what to do.
[00:45:50] I mean, what are we supposed to do?
[00:45:53] We can't donate.
[00:45:54] to every hurricane and flood relief effort there is.
[00:45:58] We can't serve in every soup kitchen that needs us.
[00:46:02] We can't give a dollar to every single person who asks us on the street.
[00:46:07] And so as the immensity of these problems grow and as they pile up around us, really it's the size of the problems that we let justify doing nothing at all.
[00:46:22] And in the evangelical church, in our tradition, we like to think of ourselves as pretty generous people.
[00:46:30] People who take Jesus' words seriously when he says that we're supposed to love the poor.
[00:46:37] But sometimes I wonder about that.
[00:46:40] I wonder if we really are doing that.
[00:46:42] Is that actually the truth for most of us?
[00:46:47] I mean, the year is wrapping up.
[00:46:48] As you look back on 2025,
[00:46:53] How much time did we really spend caring for the needs of others?
[00:47:01] What percentage of the resources that we have did we actually use to lift somebody else's burden?
[00:47:10] And if we were generous with our time, if we were generous with our money, how many of us actually gave sacrificially?
[00:47:20] And not just
[00:47:21] out of the little bit of extra that we had left over.
[00:47:26] See, it's a typical response when we see the world's problems to get overwhelmed by it and to just turn the other way.
[00:47:35] And then the second response that we see in this passage that is also very common is to go the other way and to become despairing, to let these issues drive us into a place of despair and doubt.
[00:47:50] And that's where we find
[00:47:52] Naomi in this passage the verse right after this it says that when they arrived in Bethlehem when she and Ruth arrived in Bethlehem the whole town was stirred because of them and the women exclaimed can this be Naomi but she said don't call me Naomi call me Mara because the Almighty has made my life very bitter I went away full
[00:48:19] But the Lord has brought me back empty.
[00:48:23] Why call me Naomi?
[00:48:24] The Lord has afflicted me.
[00:48:26] The Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.
[00:48:31] See, the only thing that Naomi can see is her pain.
[00:48:36] And honestly, in ministry, I encounter people in a place like this fairly often.
[00:48:45] There's a lot of times when I'll be talking to people who have faced maybe a long series of setbacks and disappointments.
[00:48:54] People who are going through some major challenges in their life.
[00:48:57] Maybe it's financial challenges or challenges in their marriage or their relationships or difficulties with their health.
[00:49:07] But that's all they can see.
[00:49:09] That's all that they can think about.
[00:49:11] And as a result, they've become angry with God.
[00:49:16] They've let their present pain or the pain of the world around them outweigh a whole lifetime of God's faithfulness.
[00:49:26] So they hardly even consider it anymore.
[00:49:30] They've become so focused on all the hardships in this world that it's hard for them to believe that God is present.
[00:49:39] It's hard for them to see that God really still could be working in what is happening to them.
[00:49:47] And maybe you've been there before.
[00:49:48] Maybe you've been in a situation like that.
[00:49:53] Hey, maybe you're in a place like that right now.
[00:49:59] But one of the things you need to notice as you read through this story is Naomi wasn't seen clearly.
[00:50:09] Remember, in the verse right before this one, what happened?
[00:50:13] Ruth had just vowed her life to Naomi.
[00:50:20] Here we have Naomi and she's on the verge of giving up.
[00:50:23] She's on the verge of despair.
[00:50:26] But right there standing next to her was this gift of God.
[00:50:31] A faithful friend who had already proclaimed that she was ready to die with her.
[00:50:39] But Naomi was so sucked into her despair that she couldn't see it.
[00:50:45] In Advent, it's a strange season, right?
[00:50:47] Because we take time while the whole world is celebrating to consider the reason we need Jesus to come back.
[00:50:54] We think about the hard things in life.
[00:50:57] But it's also a time when we remember that even in the darkest moments of our life, even amidst the hardest realities in this world, even in the most trying times, God is still on the move.
[00:51:13] God is still at work.
[00:51:18] But that can be hard to see, especially with all the kinds of things that we face today.
[00:51:28] When we really encounter pain, the question becomes, how can I actually believe that, though?
[00:51:33] I get the theology, but how can I really believe it?
[00:51:37] How do we live in a world that's got this much mess in it,
[00:51:40] without either falling into doubt and despair or turning away from it completely.
[00:51:46] And that brings us to the next thing that we see here in this passage.
[00:51:51] That's the unlikely source of our inspiration.
[00:51:56] Okay, so if you haven't read the story before, here's a brief summary of what happens.
[00:52:01] Naomi and Ruth they get to Bethlehem and Naomi sends Ruth to go into the field of one of her relatives named Boaz to gather up some of the leftover grain so that they'll have something to eat so that they can survive and when she does Boaz shows great kindness to Ruth and he shows compassion to her and Naomi and then eventually he agrees
[00:52:29] To redeem their household and to marry Ruth.
[00:52:32] And then the book ends with Naomi who started out in this place of despair holding her grandson and the women around her declaring this beautiful message.
[00:52:46] Praise be to the Lord who this day has not left you without a guardian redeemer.
[00:52:53] May he become famous throughout Israel.
[00:52:56] He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age.
[00:53:00] For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better than seven sons, has given him birth.
[00:53:09] Now, I've read this story a lot.
[00:53:11] Maybe you have as well.
[00:53:12] But this week, as I was reading through it, I just started to realize how really, truly powerful
[00:53:22] Subversive this story is now Boaz right he is admired and he is exalted he's praised he's often lifted up and he's talked about as a Christ figure and he definitely should be he's someone to admire but Ruth is the true hero of this story
[00:53:44] She is the one who is exalted.
[00:53:47] She is the one who is praised.
[00:53:49] She is the one that the original Israelite audience, they were told, that's the person you're supposed to admire.
[00:53:56] And the reason I said it's a subversive story is because this Ruth, the person who is the example to all of Israel, the one who is better than seven sons, the one
[00:54:10] who we read in Matthew is going to become the great grandmother to King David and all the lines of kings.
[00:54:18] Well, she's an immigrant from this hated enemy nation called Moab.
[00:54:26] And for some context here, if you don't know a whole lot about Moab, let me just kind of breeze through a few other Bible verses about Moab.
[00:54:36] Jeremiah, Moab will be destroyed as a nation because she defied the Lord.
[00:54:43] Isaiah, we have heard of Moab's pride.
[00:54:47] How great is her arrogance.
[00:54:49] We've heard of her conceit, her insolence, her boasts are empty.
[00:54:56] Or the Psalms, God says, Moab is my wash bin.
[00:55:01] Okay, so Ruth, she is not an Israelite.
[00:55:03] She is a Moabite woman.
[00:55:06] But she is the one in this story that looks at the bleakest situation that the world has to offer, and she responds with hope, and she acts with faith.
[00:55:21] This Moabite is the woman who trusts in the God of Israel.
[00:55:28] When Naomi gave Ruth the chance to turn around in the beginning of the story, without judgment, just like Orpha did, Ruth is the one who chose to stay.
[00:55:41] But if you go and you look at those verses, you realize what Ruth says to Naomi, it's not just that she chooses to be with Naomi.
[00:55:51] What she is choosing in that moment is she is choosing to follow the Lord.
[00:55:56] She says,
[00:55:57] Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you.
[00:56:00] Where you go, I will go.
[00:56:02] Where you stay, I will stay.
[00:56:04] And here's the key thing.
[00:56:05] She says, your people will be my people, and your God, my God.
[00:56:11] Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried.
[00:56:15] May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates me from you.
[00:56:22] She says, your God will be my God.
[00:56:27] And then she goes on and declares the covenant name of the God, right?
[00:56:31] That's where there's the Lord in caps right there.
[00:56:34] She says, May Yahweh deal with me, be it ever so severely, if I don't follow through on this promise.
[00:56:44] Now the story begins where the story begins.
[00:56:46] So we can only speculate on what their life was like before this.
[00:56:51] But it's obvious in this moment that Ruth loves Naomi.
[00:56:56] Ruth admires Naomi.
[00:56:59] And of course, Naomi would have likely been the person in her life who taught her about the Lord.
[00:57:07] She would have been the person who showed her what God's love was like as they lived out their lives together.
[00:57:18] It was from Naomi that Ruth would have heard
[00:57:21] about these covenant promises of God and his faithfulness to the people of Israel throughout all these generations.
[00:57:31] And so it's amazing now in this moment of need when Naomi's faith is weak, when it's about to falter, it's actually Ruth, the Moabite, whose faith is so mighty that it holds them together.
[00:57:52] I want to just make two quick points about this situation.
[00:57:57] And the first is this.
[00:57:59] It's a pretty simple one, but we can't overlook it.
[00:58:03] All throughout Scripture, we see that God intends for all the nations to come to him and find salvation.
[00:58:13] We read about it in Isaiah, where he says,
[00:58:20] In the last days the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established as the highest of the mountains and it will be exalted above the hills and all the nations will stream to it.
[00:58:32] We read about it at the end of the Bible in the New Testament in Revelation where John sees, after this I look and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count from every nation and tribe and people and language standing before the throne of God and before the Lamb.
[00:58:50] And we have it explicitly stated to us in Galatians by Paul.
[00:58:54] He says there is neither Jew nor Gentile.
[00:58:58] There's neither slave nor free.
[00:59:00] There's neither male nor female for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
[00:59:07] And in case you're confused as you're reading this story inside of the church, we the church are the ones like Ruth.
[00:59:18] We are the Gentile masses who had no business being brought in to the household of God.
[00:59:27] But God made a way for us.
[00:59:30] Through Christ, He has broken down the barriers that separated us from Him and that separated us from one another.
[00:59:39] In Ephesians, He says, We are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God.
[00:59:48] and members of his household.
[00:59:52] That's really important.
[00:59:54] We can't overlook that.
[00:59:55] We have to remember that as we read this story.
[00:59:58] One, because just right now, in our time, in our day, we are living in a moment where we are increasingly being polarized and divided as a society.
[01:00:13] There's a lot of messaging out there in the world that is teaching us that we need to build these barriers back up.
[01:00:21] That we need to draw lines between us and the other.
[01:00:28] That we need to see ourselves as the good guys.
[01:00:31] And anybody who might look or act or think differently from us, well, those are the enemies.
[01:00:39] But as Christians, we are called by God to remember that just like Ruth, we were once the other.
[01:00:48] We were the foreigners.
[01:00:51] We were the strangers.
[01:00:53] We were the unwanted immigrants.
[01:00:57] But Paul said, through Christ, we who were once foreigners and strangers are now citizens with God's people.
[01:01:08] and members of his household.
[01:01:09] That means it's not an exaggeration to say that in Christ, we are all illegal immigrants made citizens.
[01:01:20] And look, I wanna be careful.
[01:01:22] This is not meant to be a political message, right?
[01:01:24] I know the issue of like immigration policy and all that stuff is complex and there's not an easy answer to it.
[01:01:31] And I'm not telling you what those policies should be.
[01:01:34] But what I am saying is practically
[01:01:37] At the very least, when we're talking about human beings, when we read this account and we consider why did Matthew put Ruth in Jesus's family line when no women were usually included in these lists?
[01:01:52] Why did he put her here?
[01:01:56] We've got to recognize that regardless of whatever kind of legislation we might support, it's a biblical truth.
[01:02:05] That the God we serve tells us that in His very essence, He is a God of mercy, He is a God of compassion.
[01:02:14] He's a God who shows love and care for the weak, who protects the vulnerable, and He welcomes the stranger and the foreigner.
[01:02:24] And He calls us to be like Him.
[01:02:28] So that's a very practical thing that we see here from Ruth being in this story.
[01:02:33] And then here's the second thing.
[01:02:34] The second thing we see from Ruth is that God's people are a people of action.
[01:02:42] Rather than ignoring Naomi's pain and turning her back on the problem because it was too complicated, too big to solve,
[01:02:53] Or rather than getting consumed by it herself and getting overwhelmed with despair about all the things they were facing and letting that hopelessness paralyze her, we see that Ruth actually gave everything she had.
[01:03:09] Ruth wasn't much better off than Naomi.
[01:03:12] She was a widowed, foreign woman.
[01:03:16] She had no idea where the next meal for her was going to come from.
[01:03:21] And yet,
[01:03:22] She clings in faith to the promises of God.
[01:03:28] And she not only believes them in her heart, but she acts.
[01:03:32] Her life is a life of faithful action.
[01:03:35] She voluntarily stays with Naomi.
[01:03:41] She voluntarily gives up whatever little ounce of security she might have had left if she went back to her people because she knew
[01:03:51] That the Lord could give her a security that even death can't take away.
[01:03:59] It's an incredible picture here, actually.
[01:04:02] Again, it's the third week of Advent.
[01:04:04] It's the time when we look at the problems of the world and we acknowledge that they're real and that they're weighty and that we need a Savior.
[01:04:14] But the only thing that can actually enable us to do something about it
[01:04:19] To actually walk into those hard places, to risk our own well-being and our own comfort, to be sacrificial with the little bit that we have, is to see God and to realize that He is infinitely worth more than all we have.
[01:04:40] And so in that sense, this passage is also a call to action for us.
[01:04:49] It has a truly happy ending.
[01:04:53] It would fit with any of the Christmas stories, right?
[01:04:58] But Ruth is not a work of fiction.
[01:05:01] It's not Tiny Tim saying, God bless us, everyone.
[01:05:07] This is a moment that took place in history and has been handed down to us throughout the ages because
[01:05:19] It is a foretaste of the redemption that's coming for the whole world.
[01:05:26] You know, when Naomi is cradling that little baby, that child that symbolized the salvation and the future that was now possible for her whole family, a salvation that came about because Ruth had committed to her and sacrificed
[01:05:49] For her, out of love.
[01:05:52] You know, that moment as she holds that child, it's pointing us to that great day that is coming when Jesus returns.
[01:06:01] That moment when our Heavenly Father is going to gather all of His children into His arms and look at us with joy and delight, and we're going to experience things as they were meant to be.
[01:06:14] Restoration.
[01:06:16] Healing.
[01:06:17] Perfection.
[01:06:17] When the pain and the hardship and all those overwhelming things that we've been talking about, they're going to be gone forever.
[01:06:26] And the grief of our sin and the brutality of this life, it's going to seem one day like a distant memory.
[01:06:38] This moment points us to that day.
[01:06:41] And it actually also points us back to the cross.
[01:06:48] Ruth's love for Naomi it points us to that sacrificial love of Jesus that made that day that's coming possible it points us to the time Jesus first came when like his ancestor Ruth he didn't turn away from our need he didn't seek his own
[01:07:17] Security and his own comfort, but instead he chose to give up his home and to enter into our suffering and to become one of us.
[01:07:30] Ruth vowed to Naomi in this passage, where you die, I will die.
[01:07:34] But through the cross, Jesus says to us, I have died so that you can live.
[01:07:44] That's the gospel.
[01:07:46] And that's the only place where any of us are going to be able to find the strength to act.
[01:07:53] That's the only place where we're ever going to be able to live out these kingdom values he calls us to.
[01:08:02] It's only when you personally have received that kind of sacrifice, only when
[01:08:12] When you've seen what he's given for you, will you have the strength to then go out and give for others?
[01:08:20] And when you start to experience his spirit living in you and walking with you daily, entering into your pain and your suffering, only then are you going to be able to find the courage to face hard things with others instead of turning away from them.
[01:08:41] Before the sermon, we sang that song, O Holy Night.
[01:08:48] And I don't know if you know a whole lot about that song, but you should look into the history of it.
[01:08:53] It is a testament to another great moment in the history of God's church.
[01:09:00] We sang those words, Chains shall ye break, for the slave is our brother, the law is love, and his gospel is peace.
[01:09:09] Back in its day, that song was considered pretty radical.
[01:09:13] It wasn't a tame Christmas carol.
[01:09:17] But today, as we joyfully get together each year and we sing those words, it's actually a reminder of a time when the church actually did something.
[01:09:28] When we got together and we acted on the promises of God.
[01:09:35] We sacrificed our security for the sake of others.
[01:09:40] And so today, as we look at Ruth, as we look ahead to Christ's coming, as we look back to His redemption, I think it's worth us just taking a moment to pause and to reflect for ourselves.
[01:09:54] I want to invite Esther to come up and maybe just play in the background for a second.
[01:10:01] And I want to let us search our hearts.
[01:10:07] I want us to look to Christ and ask that question, Lord, where might you be calling me?
[01:10:23] How might you be inviting me to enter into the pain of someone else?
[01:10:43] But maybe that's too much for you.
[01:10:44] Maybe you are in a place like Naomi right now where it's hard to think about anyone else because your pain is so great.
[01:11:00] And if you're in that place today, I want to invite you to look up and see Jesus.
[01:11:11] To see the
[01:11:14] Great descendant of Ruth who has vowed that he will never leave you or forsake you.
[01:11:27] To believe his promises and find hope where you are.

[01:11:37] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Father, as we come before you together,

[01:11:43] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Lord, we ask that you would make us a people who live for the values of your kingdom.
[01:11:51] We pray, God, that we would turn our faith into action and that you might allow us in our day to see the light of your kingdom breaking into the darkness of this world.
[01:12:05] We pray this in the powerful name of Jesus.
[01:12:08] Amen.

[01:12:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
Would you please rise and let's sing loudly.
[01:12:18] It's just me up here.
[01:12:22] And this was a good word that we heard.
[01:12:25] Amen?
[01:12:26] So as we stand and close out this service, let's actually praise the name of the Lord our God.
[01:12:34] Psalm 84.4, I read this week, says, Blessed are those who dwell in the house of the Lord, ever singing His praise.
[01:12:43] Let's sing His praise.
[01:12:45] Amen.
[01:12:46] I don't want to hear my voice.
[01:12:48] I want to hear your voices.

[01:12:54] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]:
Cast my mind to Calvary
[01:13:02] Where Jesus bled and died for me I'll see His wounds, His hands, His feet My Savior on that cursed tree His body bound

[01:13:30] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Oh praise the name.
[01:13:59] God bless the name of the Lord our God O praise His name forevermore For endless days we will sing Your praise O Lord, O Lord our God
[01:14:27] And on the third at the rain of dawn The Son of Man arose again O trampled death, where is your sting?
[01:14:52] The angels roar
[01:14:53] O praise the name O praise the name of the Lord our God O praise His name forevermore For endless days we will sing Your praise O Lord, O Lord our God
[01:15:23] He shall return.
[01:15:48] He shall return in love so wise The Amazing Son shall reach the high And I will rise among the saints

[01:15:51] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]:
My face transfixed on Jesus' face Oh praise the name Oh praise the name of the Lord our God

[01:16:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Let's sing that one more time.

[01:16:27] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
O praise the name of the Lord our God O praise His name

[01:16:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Forevermore, for endless days, we will sing your praise, O Lord, O Lord our God.
[01:17:03] O Lord, O Lord our God.

[01:17:08] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Well I just want to remind you one last time next Sunday at 5 we're having our Lessons and Carols service and I'd love for you to join us for that time as we go through the story of redemption and we sing all the Christmas carols.
[01:17:21] I hope you'll join us bring some cookies and some snacks to share with others and as you go out from this place I want to invite you to hear this benediction from the Lord.
[01:17:33] May the God of hope
[01:17:35] Fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
[01:17:46] Go out of this place in the blessing of Christ in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
[01:17:51] Amen.

[01:18:04] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
and more.