Bending Out the Kindness of God

This morning we are going to be finishing up chapter 2 of Ruth as we look at both the conclusion of Ruth’s first meeting with Boaz and then her “debrief” with Naomi later that evening. If you’d like a physical Bible to follow along, you can lift up a hand and someone from our Connect Team will bring you one. You’re also welcome to keep that copy as a gift.

If I asked you to think of a time when someone was kind to you, either in something they said or something they did, I’m guessing most of us would have a particular person or memory come to mind.

Macie and I have moved 4 times in 4 years of marriage, and I’m looking at many of you who have helped me bring 1000 plus books in my library from one place to the next multiple times now. Thank you for your kindness, which was even kinder after the first time when you offered to help again and knew what you were getting yourselves into.

We’re going to dive back into Ruth’s story in a couple minutes, and a theme we’ll notice this morning is the kindness of each of these various people. Kindness tends to stick with us, and I don’t think it’s just because it makes us feel good. I think it’s because it makes the world feel right. When so much of what we experience in the world seems to be focused on self, it stands out when someone is focused on another person besides themselves.

The contrast of kindness in a broken world is something that catches our attention—and not because it’s different from how we normally are; it’s because that’s the way we were created to be. The God of the Bible is consistently described as a God of kindness. Psalm 63:3 summarizes it well: “Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips will praise You.”

A kind God made a good world that would display his kindness in it. That’s the account we get with the creation story in Genesis 1-2 along with the cultural mandate we see God give Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it in Genesis 1:28. God created human beings in his image and then tasked them to display his good and kind image in the way they populated, produced, and stewarded his good creation.

Of course, the original sin of selfishness—putting ourselves before God and attempting to make his creation and his commands all about us—the selfishness of Adam and Eve’s sin in Genesis 3 brought death, disease, and decay into both our individual lives as well as all of creation. Our world is literally “disordered” from the way it was created to be.

If you’re not a Christian here this morning, or maybe you’re generally just more skeptical: this is the Christian narrative for “What’s wrong with the world?” And if it’s true, if we were created in the image of a kind God only to break and disorder his design with pursuing our selfish interests rather than resting in his kindness—if that’s true, then wouldn’t it make sense that any example we see of kindness would catch our attention? Wouldn’t it make us feel like something is actually right, not just that something is different? Wouldn’t it give us hope? Wouldn’t it make us wonder, “Why can’t the whole world be more like this?”

We remember the kindness of others because we were created to enjoy the kindness of God. In the same way, as we rest in the kindness of God, we’ll increasingly display his kindness to others. Here at the end of chapter 2, we see our three main characters—Boaz, Ruth, and Naomi—each display kindness toward the people in their life as they trust in God that has a sort of ripple effect outward.

What does that look like? What does kindness look like in the life of someone who is trusting in God? Let’s start with Boaz. Read with me verse 14.

Ruth 2:14

ESV

14 And at mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here and eat some bread and dip your morsel in the wine.” So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed to her roasted grain. And she ate until she was satisfied, and she had some left over.

Most of us have worked for a boss at some point. I’m sure many of you have had both good bosses and bad bosses. Here we get an example from Boaz about how his faith in God is shaping the way he leads in his work. Remember, back in the first verse of chapter 2, Boaz is described as a “worthy” man. We see him throughout this story talk about the LORD, and in verse 12, he comments on Ruth’s faith, acknowledging that she’s come to take refuge under the wings of the God of Israel.

Clearly, Boaz was a man of faith. But that internal faith in God led to an external expression of demonstrating the kindness of God. And, in verses 14-16, we see that play out in the way he treats the people working for him. First off, his faith in God has made him humble. Boaz is the wealthy owner of the field, but here we see him still sitting down and eating alongside his employees during their lunch break.

He’s not so important that he’s removed from them. Actually, given how he greets them in verse 4 saying, “The LORD be with you!” it seems like he sees one of his responsibilities as their boss is to be part of the way God blesses them. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a boss like that? Wouldn’t it be nice to be that kind of boss? Not someone that simply pays his workers, but someone whose workers God blesses through the way they are led, known, and cared for. Someone who sees his role in his company as an opportunity for blessing and not just an opportunity for revenue.

The Apostle Paul tells us as much in Romans 12:16, “Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.” And Boaz’s humble spirit flowed outward into the actions of a servant. It’s one thing to sit in a meal with your employees, so people see that you’re there. Maybe you’ve experienced that kind of meeting where someone from upper management shows up, and you wonder, “Why are they here?” And the whole meeting shifts in tone. All the sudden, everyone is “doing great” and things are “going great.”

But here we don’t see Boaz just checking off an item on his list and getting some face time with his employees. He’s actually the one hosting the meal. He tells Ruth where she can sit. He explains the food that’s been provided from the bread to what would have been a type of vinegar made from wine, and how she can eat it. Boaz was a boss who didn’t just get involved with the people who worked for him. He served them.

And he did that both physically and emotionally. Physically, you see that Boaz was generous with Ruth after she worked in his field. The end of verse 14 said, “she ate until she was satisfied, and she had some left over.” That phrase reminds me of Jesus feeding the 5,000 in Matthew 14—using only five loaves and two fish. In Matthew 14:20, Matthew concludes the story saying,

Matthew 14:20

ESV

20 And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over.

But Boaz cared for the people in his field emotionally as well. Here we see him treat Ruth with dignity and respect. She isn’t seen as “just a foreigner” who was picking up scraps in his field. No, she gets to sit beside the reapers as part of the group. In verses 15-16, he tells his other workers to let her pick from the already gathered harvest, so that she’ll be able to have more and higher quality food to bring home. Look with me at verses 15-16:

Ruth 2:15–16

ESV

15 When she rose to glean, Boaz instructed his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her. 16 And also pull out some from the bundles for her and leave it for her to glean, and do not rebuke her.”

Boaz was a kind employer. The lie we buy in the world is that when we humble ourselves in the workplace, when we look to generously serve others and honor them over ourselves, then others will use that to lord over us. We won’t be given any respect; we’ll be taken advantage of. And in many ways, that’s often true.

But Jesus shows us a better way. Jesus is the greatest example of a humble boss. If you’ve had bosses that think highly of themselves, Jesus is the only one whose high self-opinion would actually be entirely justified—you know, being the all powerful God of the universe and all. And yet, the Son of God took on flesh and was born as the baby Jesus to live, die for our sin, and defeat death in his resurrection. We read this in Philippians 2:5-8.

Philippians 2:5–8

ESV

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Now, there’s a way that you can read those verses and say, “See, when you humble yourself to people beneath you in your organization, they’ll take advantage of you. They ended up killing Jesus!” And you’re not wrong. As long as there’s sin in our hearts that’s opposed to God, there will be sin in our hearts that’s opposed to and twists and distorts things reflecting the character of God. But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth it. Because Jesus’ death on the cross when he humbled himself is only half the story. Look with me now in verses 9-11.

Philippians 2:9–11

ESV

9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The Son of God could humble himself to the point of death on a cross because God the Father worked from his position of power to care and provide for him. Jesus, the Son of God, chose to humble himself to serve us, and the Father responded by elevating him to the highest position possible.

That applies both in our spiritual lives and in our work lives. If you’re not a Christian here this morning, following Jesus means you’ve likewise humbled yourself. However, in our case, it’s not an emptying of what we deserve; it’s an acknowledgement of what we deserve. We don’t live up to the righteous standard of a perfect, holy God. We look to rule our own lives rather than following the creator of our lives. That’s what we mean when we say we’ve sinned against God.

Becoming a Christian requires us to own the fact that we’ve sinned against him, to repent and turn from that, and to trust what Jesus has done for us that we couldn’t. When Christ humbled himself, God the Father raised him up. Now, when we humble ourselves and acknowledge our need, Christ raises us up to the Father as a new creation and co-heir with Christ. The humbled are exalted, not because of what we’ve done to deserve it but because of what Jesus has done and who he is for us.

That’s mercy. That’s grace, and that should be a foundation for humility in every part of your life—because your status before God wasn’t earned by you (and it still isn’t earned by you). We need the grace of Jesus in our lives just as much today as the first day we repented of our sin and believed in him. So, this naturally should flow into our jobs.

You can feel free to demonstrate humility, servanthood, generosity, and honor to others in your workplace if you feel secure in your position with the highest boss of your organization. If the CEO of your company likes you, then you’ve probably got some more wiggle room to try some different things. He or she is going to look out for you

So what if the boss of all bosses, the God of all gods is for you? And what if his purpose for your work isn’t just to be successful for your company’s goals but for his goals? That we were created to be his image bearers reflecting his image to all of creation in the things we think, feel, say, do, and make?

If that’s the case—and that’s what scripture tells us with God’s cultural mandate in Genesis 1:28—then reflecting his character in your workplace might create challenges in the short term, but God’s going to provide for you, and he’s going to bless you and use you to bless others around you just like Boaz.

The greatest blessing we can experience is a fulfilled life. No one says they’re blessed when they have a bunch of money but no friends, no hobbies, no family, and poor health. We never feel “partially blessed.” That’s not a thing. Blessing only comes in fulfillment, and when we’re bending out the character of God, resting by faith in the grace of God to our coworkers around us, then we are experiencing the most fulfilling version of our work possible.

As a church, we want to help one another be shaped by the good news of Jesus in every aspect of our lives as we grow to be more like him. Even if you come to church every Sunday this year, you’ll have spent under 60 hours here with us in this theatre. But for those of you working full time, you’ll spend over 2,000 hours in your job. We cannot be discipled to live well as Christians without our work being one of the primary contexts for us understanding how Jesus has redeemed us and what it means to live out our faith.

Whether your job is as a doctor or a stay-at-home parent or a student, learning what it means to integrate our faith and work is going to be a big focus for us as a church family, and we’ll be sharing more on that in the weeks ahead. Our work is one of the main opportunities we have every week to demonstrate the kindness of God. But the end of Ruth chapter 2 offers us two more examples. Let’s keep reading to focus on Ruth’s toward Naomi in verses 17-18.

Ruth 2:17–18

ESV

17 So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. 18 And she took it up and went into the city. Her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She also brought out and gave her what food she had left over after being satisfied.

Ruth finishes the day gleaning in Boaz’s field, and she ends up with an ephah of barley, which is about 30 lbs. Like, she did well. That was a good day. But where does she go as soon as she’s done? Right back to see Naomi. We’ll get into their conversation here in a minute, but right now I want to point out that last sentence of verse 18: “She also brought out and gave [Naomi] what food she had left over after being satisfied.”

Maybe I’m biased and this just tells you about me, but if you give someone your leftovers, you must really care about them. With Boaz, we saw his kindness in the workplace. Now, here with Ruth, we see her kindness in her relationship with Naomi. Back in verse 2, Ruth asked Naomi for permission to go look for food for them. Now, she doesn’t just bring back groceries; she brings back a meal that was originally hers.

Ruth’s kindness was defined by her loyalty and thoughtfulness. Even though she was a foreigner—a Moabite woman, who only came to Bethlehem because that was the hometown of her mother-in-law—even though her husband had died and Naomi had given her blessing to go back to her own family, Ruth vows back in chapter 1: “Where you go I will go… Where you die I will die.”

And now, even in a place far from home and still grieving the loss of her husband, she’s thoughtful of Naomi. “Should I go to this field to glean? What do you think, Naomi?” “I brought you back some food. It was more than I could eat!” Why? Why would she be so kind to Naomi? I mean, I love Macie, but I don’t share my leftovers.

When we go back to chapter 1 from two weeks ago, we’re reminded of her “why”. Sitting in the middle of Ruth’s speech about sticking with Naomi and traveling to Israel, she shares the foundation for her decisions in verse 16: “Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.” Ruth might have grown up in Moab worshipping other gods, but through her time with Naomi’s family she’s come to trust in Yahweh, the God of Israel. His people are her people now, and so in many ways, she’s coming home to family.

Ruth’s faith in God overflowed in kindness through her loyalty and thoughtfulness toward Naomi. We’re drawn to people like that. We want to be people like that. Someone who sticks by their friends in good times and bad. Someone who thinks of others over themselves and is always looking for how they can support and love the people in their lives well.

But Ruth wouldn’t be able to show that kindness toward Naomi without her “why” and neither will you and me. If your “why” is shallow, your capacity for loyalty and thoughtfulness will be shallow. Even if your “why” is just that you love the other person, that loves has limits because we have limits: we get selfish, our feelings ebb and flow, we get tired.

The difference with having the God of the Bible as the foundation for why and how you treat others the way you do is that, even though you have limits, he doesn’t. When God is your “why”, he doesn’t just provide you with direction; he supplies you with his strength. Yeah, we have limits to our kindness, but as Christians we have a place to look in every circumstance where we can be reminded of our God who is faithful to love us even though we don’t deserve it.

So faithful he sent his Son to atone for the ways we fall short in order that we could be treated the way he deserves rather than based on our own performance. So faithful that he gives us his Holy Spirit to keep us and guide us as he makes us more like Christ. So faithful that he’s promised to complete the work he’s started in each one of his people.

We can show the kindness of Ruth to others because that kindness doesn’t have to originate from us. As followers of Jesus, we have the joyful responsibility of bending out the kindness Jesus has shown us to the world around us. One more way we see that kindness, now in the life of Naomi. Look with me at verses 19-23.

Ruth 2:19–23

ESV

19 And her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you glean today? And where have you worked? Blessed be the man who took notice of you.” So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, “The man’s name with whom I worked today is Boaz.” 20 And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by the Lord, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!” Naomi also said to her, “The man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers.” 21 And Ruth the Moabite said, “Besides, he said to me, ‘You shall keep close by my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’ ” 22 And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, lest in another field you be assaulted.” 23 So she kept close to the young women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvests. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

The first thing I notice in Ruth and Naomi’s conversation is Naomi’s change in attitude. At the end of chapter 1, she was telling people not to call her Naomi anymore. She’s “Mara”, which means bitter, because she believed God was against her. But verse 18 says she “saw” what Ruth had gleaned, and that sets her up for this encouraging conversation. Remember, when Naomi lost her husband and two sons back in chapter 1, she didn’t stop believing in God; she just believed God had chosen to deal bitterly with her.

She didn’t trust in God’s kindness in the big picture because of how she translated what she saw in her day-to-day. And yet, her faithful God’s kindness comes through. In the same way that what she saw in her life led her to doubt God’s favor toward her, now God uses what she sees from Ruth to remind her of God’s blessing.

Pastor and author, John Piper, once wrote that “The fight of the Christian life is a fight to see.” And he’s right. We live based off of what we know (or what we think we know). But we don’t always know things clearly, and we never know things fully. So, as a follower of Jesus you must continually fight to see God more for who he truly is, see yourself more the way God sees you, and understand the world more in light of him.

Naomi gives us a beautiful picture of one of the most powerful ways we can grow in our ability to “see” as followers of Jesus. In these verses, she’s mentoring Ruth. The author tries to draw out this kind of dynamic by intentionally having them call one another mother-in-law four times and daughter-in-law twice in these short verses. We see the relationship of the older, more experienced lady walking alongside someone who is younger and teachable.

Naomi’s able to see more of what God’s doing with Ruth’s interaction with Boaz, and so she kindly listens, asks questions, offers direction, and connects Ruth’s experience to the blessing of God. There’s some things Ruth just doesn’t know—like the fact that Boaz is one of their kinsman redeemers in verse 20. Both Deuteronomy 25 and Leviticus 25 offer laws where the close relative of a deceased spouse should marry the widow to care for her and provide children that would legally extend the lineage of the spouse who died.

Ruth had no idea Boaz was a potential redeemer for them. Coming from Moab, she probably had no idea that was even in the Mosaic Law. But Naomi brought Scripture to bear on the life of the woman she was mentoring.

Have you ever had that experience? Have you ever been mentored or been discipled by someone? I’m so excited that we’ll be launching what we’re calling Discipleship Groups the week before Easter this year. These are small, gender-based groups of 3-4 people that will be intentional in knowing you, asking questions, praying for one another, and helping one another “see” more clearly as you apply the good news of Jesus Christ in every area of your life. We’ll be sharing more specifics about how these groups will run and how you can join one over the next few weeks.

But as we close out our time this morning and prepare to transition into a time of response, I want to invite you to reflect on the kindness of God. A kindness that’s for every part of who we are, and so we have the incredible responsibility to bend out that kindness in all that we do: from our work to our relationships, to our discipleship.

A kindness that doesn’t just leave us as we are, but a kindness from God that in Romans 2:4 says is meant to lead us to repentance. If the God of the Bible is as wonderful and as loving and as holy and as generous and as powerful as the Bible says he is, then it is a kind thing that God would spotlight every way our thoughts, feelings, and actions are not in submission to him and command us to turn from our sin and trust in his grace as the Lord of our lives.

That’s the invitation of our sermon this morning. Not “go and be kind”, but rest in the kindness of God through Jesus and ask how he might use you to display his kindness to others. Let’s pray.