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You Are Naomi

You Are Naomi

The Book of Ruth

Ruth 1:1-18

January 22, 2006

Rev. Dave R. Garwick

One of the perks of my job is that I am routinely asked by women to marry them: “Pastor, can you marry me in the Fall?” I really get a kick out of being able to say, “Well, I’m already spoken for, but thank you very much.” One of the things that most concerns me these days is when a devout Christian marries someone who is not. Quite frankly, this can be one of the greatest threats to a person’s salvation. Typically, the devout Christian will fall away from the church and his or her faith will often dry up over the years. This is why God had forbidden His people from marrying outside the faith: when they did so, the entire nation would fall away from Him and this happened again and again throughout the Old Testament.

Now, this does not always happen. Sometimes the devout Christian will continue in the faith … all alone. And for someone whose relationship with Jesus is such an important part of his life, this can be a very lonely walk that, in my opinion, is a very, very courageous one. And sometimes it goes a third way: sometimes, albeit rarely, the devout person will actually bring the other one into the faith.

That is one of the things that the Book of Ruth is all about. This morning we finally get a break from all the ugliness that we have been reading about in Joshua and Judges. The Book of Ruth is kind of like an oasis of grace: it’s not very long to read, there is no bloodshed, no conspiracies, no betrayals, no angry God. It’s kind of nice for a change.

Ruth was a foreign woman who worshipped the enemy god called Baal. She lived in the country called Moab which was right across the Jordan from Israel. Imagine Wisconsin being Iraq. The Israelites and the Moabites hated each other: first one would conquer the other and then vice versa back and forth, and this went on forever. Right before the story of Ruth happened, Israel conquered Moab and had just slaughtered 10,000 of its soldiers till not one of them was alive. Typically, this kind of thing would cause a shortage of Moabite men for their women. Ruth was one of those Moabite women.

Meanwhile, a famine back in Bethlehem caused a man, his wife and two sons to move to Israeli controlled Moab where things were more plentiful at the moment. While there, one of the sons marries this Moabite woman Ruth and his brother also marries a Moabite woman. Before long, both of these sons die and so does their father, widowing the mother and her two new daughters-in-law. So the mother, Naomi, returns to Bethlehem and one of her daughters-in-law, Ruth, insists on coming back with her.

Ruth declares, “Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.” Again, “your God [will be] my God.” THAT is the part I want you pay attention to: “your God [will be] my God.” This from a woman who had worshipped the god Baal, a young woman who had just lost her new husband before they had had a chance to have children, a young woman who also was about to lose her home, her homeland, her parents, her family and who was about to live in an unwelcoming world that had recently slaughtered her entire nation. “Your God [will be] my God” ?!

Where did THIS come from? Had she just been convinced by some door-to-door Jewish evangelist? Many times before in the Old Testament, foreign people had gone over to God’s side because they testified how they had seen God’s mighty works in saving the Israelites and defeating much more powerful foes. Ruth says nothing of the sort. No testimonies at all. No dawning revelations.

Plain and simple: Ruth was accepting God because this was Naomi’s God. If it was good enough for Naomi, it was good enough for Ruth. She wanted to be with Naomi and with Naomi came God. Simple as that: no theology, no arguments – just Naomi and what came with her.

I am convinced that this is how most unbelievers will come to Christ – not by my sermons, but by you. Long before they will ever know what they think about the Bible or about this belief or that teaching, people will know what they think about you. Most people will come to Jesus through personal relationships with you the same way that Ruth came to God through Naomi. This must have been good enough since it was through Ruth that God one day would raise up Joseph to bring Jesus safely into the world.

But for this to happen, people need to know two things about you, just two things. They need to know that you are a devout follower of Jesus Christ who is the most important thing in your life. Then they must see Jesus in you. Only then will they associate Jesus with you and think to themselves, “If this Jesus thing is good enough for Sue, maybe I should give this some thought myself.”

In this life, you may never ever know who came to Jesus through you. He may well introduce the two of you to one another before His throne one day. Of course, it is not you who converts hearts – that is solely the work of the Holy Spirit. But every single unbeliever whom God places in your path is yet one more soul He has entrusted to you. And what they think of you is what they will associate with Jesus Christ. Every single one of you has been honored by God for this sacred privilege at least that many times.

Think about it. You are Naomi.