January 6, 2025 • 26 mins
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Welcome to the Westside church’s special Monday Morning Coffee podcast with Mark Roberts. Mark is a disciple, a husband, father and grand dad, as well as a certified coffee geek, fan of CS Lewis’ writings and he loves his big red Jeep. He’s also the preacher for Westside church.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hello, and welcome to the Westside churches
special Monday Morning Coffeepodcast on this podcast, our
preacher Mark Roberts will helpyou get your week started
right. With look back atyesterday's sermon so that we
can think through it furtherand better work the
applications into our dailylives . Mark will then look
(00:28):
forward into this week's Biblereading so that we can know
what to expect and watch for.
And, he may have some extrabonus thoughts from time to
time. So grab a cup of coffeeas we start the week together
on Monday Morning Coffee withMark.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to the Monday
Morning Coffee podcast forMonday, January the sixth ,
2025. I'm Mark. I'm holding acup of coffee. I've got my
Bible reading schedule and I'mready to talk with you. Well, I
really need to talk with youabout the podcast because this
is a little weird and you'regonna notice some strange
(01:13):
things this week in thepodcast. And I don't just mean
when I'm talking aboutweirdness that the Dallas
Cowboys aren't in the playoffsbecause that really isn't that
weird. They played terrible allyear long. What I do want to
talk about is that I didn'tunderstand that we had a gap
week between last year'sreading schedule, the
eyewitnesses to Jesus and thestart of this year's reading
(01:36):
schedule seeking God's heart.
And so last week I record apodcast and I talk about the
reading and all the stuffthat's going on in the book of
Ruth. And all through thatpodcast I'm saying things like
Happy New Year and it's NewYear's Eve and happy
anniversary to my wife, and allthe stuff that goes with last
week. And so if we dump thatpodcast out, you will feel like
(01:57):
you have fallen into a timewarp and regressed seven days
back into 2024. And that'lljust weird everybody out. So
I've recorded rerecorded someparts of the podcast and our
technical folks are taken outall of the out of timed, all of
(02:18):
the out of chronology comments,at least I hope we can get all
of those out. And so you'regonna notice some cuts and
you're gonna notice some placeswhere there's been some editing
and that is completely on me. Ijust just didn't get it. And so
I was all gung-ho for a newreading. And here we went and
just started up with a wholenew reading schedule one week
(02:40):
early. How about that? Thereyou go. We should be eager for
daily Bible reading, but I'mnot sure we should be that
eager for daily Bible reading.
So if you, you get a littlestrangeness in this podcast and
it , it's jumping around alittle bit volume and, and ,
and I , I'm still kind ofcongested from having the flu
last week. And so my voicechanges a little bit. Don't,
(03:00):
don't panic, it's not you, it'sme, it's me. But I sure do
appreciate our technical folksand Issa and John, they, they
are able to fix all this stuffand, and make it all work
right? And I really doappreciate them. Lemme say a
quick word about theconversation yesterday with
Rusty and then we'll get todaily Bible reading.
Yesterday's sermon wasn'treally a sermon, rusty and I
(03:23):
just talked about daily Biblereading and the preaching theme
for the year. And I could say alot about that. I was really
disappointed not to be able tobe part of that last Sunday
because of the flu. And reallyglad that we were able to roll
that off a week. Thoseconversation sermons are just a
very nice way to spice thingsup. A little bit different
approach, a little bitdifferent way of doing things.
(03:43):
I'm super excited about thepreaching theme and I know that
you are super excited about itas well. 'cause you are making
the preaching theme what it isthis year. And I'm really
excited about our Fridays thisyear because I love the Psalms
I have preached through thePsalms. Psalms are just so
important. And I know thatthere are people who don't
really get the Psalms and whostruggle with that a little
(04:05):
bit. And so you hang in therebecause as we work with those
on Fridays on the podcast, Ithink it will help all of us to
be closer to the Lord. Ifyou're gonna seek God's heart,
you need, you need to knowabout the Psalms because that
is the place where David isreally seeking the heart of
God. I'm excited about readingthe Psalms with you this year.
(04:27):
So there we go. I grab that cupof coffee, get ready, get set.
Let's go. Let's talk aboutdaily Bible reading as we seek
God's heart in the Book ofRuth. Open your Bible to Ruth
(04:57):
chapter one. We'll be readingRuth one chapter a day as we
begin this series with KingDavid and learning about him
and his character. And this isthe place to begin with King
David, because this is whereKing David comes from in the
Book of Ruth. That bookconcludes with genealogy
pointing to David. However,that's not the only reason to
(05:18):
read the book of Ruth, and weneed to talk about that now.
Everybody loves this book. It'sa wonderful book about love and
faith and especially about theprovidence of God who oversees
his promises and his purposes.
But we really want to lookbeyond the surface story. It's
not just, this is not aHallmark movie. This is about
God and about what God isdoing. Now, it's not a hard
(05:41):
book to understand. I'll try tokeep these podcast chapters
short, maybe today gonna go alittle bit longer as we have
some introductory ideas to thebook of Ruth to work on. But
really this book is prettystraightforward. As long as
we're making certain we watchfor what God is doing, God is
at work here. So notice thetiming of the book. We don't
(06:01):
know the author of the book,but in the days verse one, when
the judges ruled, that's soimportant. This is the time of
the judges, which is a verydark time in Israelite history.
Lots of bad things going on.
Most people not doing what'sright. Judges is , oh, it's
such a difficult book. One timeI was sat down trying to decide
what I wanted to preach throughnext, what I'm gonna recommend
(06:22):
to the elders. Hey, let's gohere. And I read through the
book of judges and I thought,this is it. This is it. I'm
gonna , I'm gonna preachthrough the book of judges and
it's just such a dark book. AndI got done with , I thought I ,
I don't think I wanna preachthrough this book. And that's
the time of the Book of Ruth.
It's during a time when not alot of people are doing what's
right, which maybe helps us seewhy this book is here. There
(06:44):
are some people who are doingwhat's right. The main
characters here , Naomi RuthBoaz Boaz is a tremendous
character. But really the majorcharacter in the book of Ruth
is God. He's the one who mostoften gets overlooked when we
talk about the Book of Ruth.
But he is controllingeverything that happens here.
Maybe underlining your Bible,may the Lord or the Lord Grant
(07:05):
or all the things where God isat work that'll help you see
that. 'cause I think the Bookof Ruth is developing the
doctrine of God's providence.
And I think it is anencouragement to gentile
people, people who are, peoplewho are not Israelites, a
nonis, Israelite figuresdominantly in this book. And
yes, I do think this bookteaches character. I don't
(07:27):
think it's wrong to go to theOld Testament and say, here's
who God commended. Here's thekind of person God uses. Here's
the kind of person God willbless. We wanna be those kinds
of people. So here we are inRuth chapter one, famine in the
land. Guess what? That's amarker that things aren't going
right because when people aredoing what's right, what does
God do to the land? Blesses itwith rain and abundance. So
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things aren't right here .
Family Lac verse two, family ofNaomi, they up and move to Moab
that I don't like it. I don'tlike it. That doesn't seem like
the right thing to do. You needto live in the promised land.
They go to Moab and terriblethings happen. Everybody dies.
That's a disaster for a woman.
(08:10):
She has no standing, she has nosocial safety net. What am I
doing now? So Naomi says, Ineed to go home. I need to go
home. So to do that, verseeight would be for these
daughter-in-laws to leave theirfamily, to leave their idols,
to leave their relatives. Andfriends, they're they're not
doing that. They're not doingthat. And Naomi says, I know
(08:32):
you're not doing that. I wantGod to grant that you may find
rest. Verse nine, rest. There'snot retirement. What she means
is you need to get married.
Security comes in marriage. Yougo home, go back to your
people, you get married. That'swhat a woman has to do. She
makes a play here off love ,right ? Marriage laws. I can't
(08:53):
bear more sons for you to getmarried to go home. And Ora
says verse 14, I'm doing that.
I go, I , I'm out. I'm goingback. But Ruth says, I'm
staying with you. And herpledge verses 16, 17 18 is so
important because she says, I'mgoing to serve your God. I'm
(09:17):
giving up on Moabite Gods. I'mgoing to become a person who
serves God. And the Hebrew inverse 16 is very, very Tse,
your people, my people, yourGod, my God. And it's not just
about loyalty and love forNaomi, it's about her. It's
about Ruth's willingness totake Naomi's God as her God.
And there's a contrast herebetween Ruth and Naomi. Naomi
(09:38):
seems to have had her faceshaken. She doesn't seem like
she cares if Ruth goes back toidols. But Ruth says, I care
about you, Naomi, and I careabout the true God, Jehovah,
the God of the Israelites. Andso they come back to Bethlehem.
There's a , some excitementabout that. Naomi decides to
change her name. Verse 20.
Watch that. That's gonna becomea theme. This would be then
(10:00):
verse 22 in March or April. Andthey come home. What's gonna
happen now? What's gonnahappen? This bitter woman, this
Moabite woman living inBethlehem, what is about to
happen really on the edge ofour seats here as we come to
the end of Ruth chapter one.
See you tomorrow. Our readingfor Monday is Ruth chapter one.
(10:24):
It is Tuesday. And our readingtoday for Tuesday is Ruth
chapter two. And here we meetfor the first time. Boaz Boaz
is a wonderful, wonderfulcharacter. Just watch the way
he talks. What he does, he's atremendous example to young men
who need to know how to grow agodly character and the kind of
(10:45):
godly character that willattract a godly woman. I think
there's some wonderful lessonsabout that in this romantic
story. Nothing wrong withreading a romantic story in the
Bible. The Holy Spirit placedit here. We can learn some
things about that. We're notthe, we're not the first to
have men interested in women,boys interested in girls. God
made us that way. And that'sgoing on in the Book of Ruth.
(11:06):
We learned from that. So herewe meet Boaz verse one. Naomi
had a relative of her husbandsa worthy man of the clan of a
Eck whose name was Boaz. Sometranslations have a man of
great wealth. ESV has a worthyman. It's used of a wealthy man
over in two kings, chapterfive. He is very wealthy 'cause
(11:27):
he owns this giant field thatthey're gleaning in, but he
also is a worthy man. We'll seethat as we read along. And of
course, gleaning here isspecifically provided for in
the law. We talked about that awhile back in the my Leviticus
class, Leviticus 19, nine to 10other pastors , Deuteronomy 24,
19 to 21 mentions cleaning .
You were not allowed to just gothrough your field and just
(11:49):
strip it, get everything allthe way to the edges and the
corners. No, you had to leavesome when you missed something,
you couldn't go back. Oh, oh,I'm gonna go back and, and get
that last little bit of wheatover there. Or , oh, I missed
an ear of corn there . Nope,you had to leave it. And poor
folks could come to your fieldand get those leftovers. And so
here is Ruth. She's workinghard. Look at Boaz. He comes,
(12:13):
he says, the Lord be with you.
Look , talks about God talk I Imentioned maybe underline in
your Bible, the mentions ofGod. And when God is at work, I
think his greeting here says alot about his character. And so
here's this young Moabitewoman, and she's gleaning,
she's willing to work hard.
Little difficulty at the end ofverse seven, if you're reading
a different translations ofgreat practice here, read the
(12:36):
reading in the new, in , uh, inthe ESV , the New American
standard, then maybe readingthe new Living translation. See
what, how that's gonna berendered. The end of verse
seven, except for a short restis how the ESV has the new
revised VA standard has withoutresting even for a moment. The
Hebrew there is difficult. ButBoaz says, now listen, my
(12:57):
daughter verse eight, that mydaughter may just be the way
they talk at that time. Thatmay say Boaz is a much older
man than Ruth. Not sure aboutthat. But of course he knows
about her. In verse 11, hesays, I know all about you at
little town like Bethlehem.
Everybody's talking abouteverybody. Everybody knows
everybody's business. Everybodyknows what's going on. And once
(13:18):
again, he's talking about God.
The Lord repay. You notice thatthat's in small camps . So he's
talking about Jehovah and shesays, I, I , I have found
favor. Favor is a emphasis herein this chapter, verse two
verse 10, I have found favorand I just appreciate that so
much. And so verse 14, comehere and eat some bread and dip
(13:39):
your morsel in the wine. Hey,the gleaners aren't supposed to
be over there eating witheverybody, but here she's
gleaned this tremendous amountabout an efa . Verse 17, that
could be as much as 30, 40,maybe 50 pounds. That's enough
for, for two women to eat offseveral for several weeks.
She's had a banner day here inthis gleaning business. Her
(14:03):
excited about that and she sayshe's a redeemer. Verse 20. Now
the kinsman , the redeemer hasseveral responsibilities under
Old Testament law, he avengesthe death of a murdered
relative. Numbers 35 talksabout that somebody murders
your brother, somebody murdersyour father. The near kinsman
(14:25):
is responsible for seeingjustices done and even doing
that justice. But of coursepart of that is he buys back
family land that has been sold.
We've got to keep the familyland in the clan in our family,
buying back, family membersthat get sold into slavery,
caring for needy familymembers. We see a bunch of
that. Leviticus 25, and thenthat lever , right ? Marriage,
(14:49):
law, business, you marry, ifyou're the near kinsman, you
marry the childless widow of abrother. Deuteronomy chapter
25, beginning in verse five,describes that Jesus gets asked
about that. You may rememberthe question that they try to
entrap Jesus with about thiswoman. And she has all these
husbands, well, where do thesehusbands come from? They're the
brothers of the man that passedaway under the Old Testament
(15:10):
law. You had obligation, you'rethe New York kinsman to raise
up an heir so the family canstay on the land and so forth.
All that goes with all of that.
She says, this man, he's theNew York kinsman. Wow, how's
that gonna work out? Is hegonna be a redeemer? Is he
gonna help? Ruth, where isBoaz? He seems like such a good
(15:30):
man. How's all of this going towork out? Well, I know you're
sitting on the edge of yourseats. Stay tuned. We'll have
more of this great storytomorrow. And that's the
podcast for Tuesday. If you'repart of the West Side Church
family tonight, we do have thezoom call. If you haven't done
that before, give us a try. Theinformation for the Zoom call
is in the West Side FamilyFacebook page, and I think
(15:52):
you'll enjoy that tremendously.
It's a great way to share withothers what you saw in the
Bible reading and be encouragedby others. For everyone else, I
will see you on the podcasttomorrow. The reading for
Tuesday is Ruth chapter two .
Welcome to Wednesday and let'sstart the new year right by
reading our Bible together.
This is Ruth chapter three.
That's our reading today, Ruthchapter three. And this is a
(16:14):
little unusual. They getengaged here or about to get
engaged and sometimes peoplelook at this business of Ruth
going to the threshing floor atnight and uncovering his feet
and he gets cold feet but notcold feet towards Ruth. And we
scratch our head and say, thatlooks a little weird. Oh, come
on. Some of the engagementrituals that people go through
today that someday people maylook at that and think it's
(16:36):
pretty strange. You getengaged, you've got to have a
videographer there and camerasthere and notes and oh on and
on and on. It's become a hugedeal. Well, it's a pretty big
deal in Ru's day as well. Let'stalk about it a little bit. Now
notice there's no time elementgiven to us here in the text.
We don't know how long untilNaomi said this is it. It's
time for you to seek rest. Andwhat she means is security, the
(16:58):
benefits of marriage. And I, Ithink there's a little risk
going on, there's a littletension here. Maybe, maybe Boaz
will say, I'm not interested inyou. And I think Naomi is
really counting here on Boazbeing an honorable, an
honorable man. And I thinkshe's counting on what she's
maybe heard from people in thevillage talking about how Boas
treats Ruth and all the thingsthat go on with some of that. I
(17:21):
think she can see where thiscould go, but you don't ever
know until you ask. And so Boazis at the threshing floor. The
threshing floor would be acircular area about 25 or 40
feet in diameter. It needs tobe up a little bit level in
hard and you throw the wheatinto the air and the wind would
(17:42):
drive away on the breeze. Theevening breeze especially would
drive away the chaff and thewheat. Carnals would fall back.
And there's kind of a pitchforklike device used to turn the
wheat. And I think it'simportant to remember here that
divine providence and the factthat God has a plan and is
working things out that doesnot eliminate human activity.
Don't sit on your hands andexpect God to do everything.
(18:05):
Rus gotta get up and go and seeif Boaz is willing to redeem
her. But he is verse 10, veryimpressed with her and he
assures her. There's notanything that you've done
that's wrong here, but he isdetermined to protect her
reputation. She labors 14 athis feet until the morning but
arose before one couldrecognize another. And he said,
(18:27):
let it not be known. A womancame to the threshing floor.
There could be some hand ofimpropriety here. There's some
discussion that maybe becausemen would be at the threshing
floor and kind of an all manthing, maybe some drinking
going on, maybe prostituteswould would visit the threshing
floor to see if they could getsome business there. Boaz is
concerned that no one thinkwrongly of what Ruth has done.
(18:50):
And sometimes I wish, I wishthat modern scholars would
protect Ruth's reputation theway Boaz is in is so concerned
to do because there are somemodern commentators who have
tried to say that this is somesort of sexual encounter
between Boaz and Ruth. But ofcourse such would be a
violation of Mo , of Moses'law. Such would certainly be
(19:12):
culturally taboo in this time.
Such would violate Ruth's trustin Boaz and such is not in
keeping with either either Ruthor Boaz's character at all, or
the purposes of this book thatRuth is a godly woman. If she
acts in an ungodly way, thewhole book is ruined. Let's try
(19:32):
to read the book and see whatthe book is saying rather than
engaging in some sort of vainspeculation. I guess the other
thing that ought to be saidhere is the Bible is
tremendously honest. Whenpeople do bad things in the
Bible, the Bible doesn't try toprotect them or cover up their
reputation. We are readingabout King David this year.
(19:52):
Yeah, what's the first thingyou think about when we start
talking about King David? So ifRuth does bad things here, the
Bible would certainly tell usshe does not do anything that's
wrong. Boaz is concerned tomake certain nobody thinks she
did anything that's wrong. Andyet still, somehow some people
try to decide she's doingsomething wrong. That's just
(20:13):
foolishness. But what we mustdo, verse 18 is wait and see
what Boaz will do. And that'sthe reading for Wednesday.
Wednesday's reading is Ruthchapter three. It is Thursday.
It is Thursday. And today weread and finish the book of
Ruth because we're reading Ruthchapter four. All the drama,
(20:34):
all the tension is resolvedbecause we find out there is a
near nearer, nearer redeemer,nearer kinsman than just Boaz.
And we have to see if he wantsto marry Ruth. And at first it
seems like he does because inverse four he says, I'm gonna
redeem the land. That's theland that's in Naomi's family.
(20:54):
And of course he wants to buythe land. Everybody wants land.
Land is a good thing to havemore land. Oh boy, it says
that's great, you just buy thatfield verse five from the hand
of Naomi. But when you do that,you also get Ruth the Moabite ,
this the widow of the dead,you'll need to raise up
children to with her in thatfamily's name. And that of
(21:16):
course that is the monkeywrench in the works because it
would cost to buy that land andthen that land would not be his
and it would not stay in hisfamily. No, it would go to the
children that he then isobligated to raise up with
Ruth. Maybe he's got familyalready and further additions
would only strain his income.
He's not interested in doingthat at all. Boaz says, I'm
(21:39):
very interested in doing that.
I would love to do that. And hedoes that and we get the
emphasis again on the Lord.
Verse 11, may the Lord make thewoman who's coming to your
house like Rachel and Leah andmay the Lord because of the
offspring that the Lord willgive you notice verse 12, Tamar
is mentioned here. She's awoman who exercised or at least
tried to exercise the law oflove , right marriage as well.
(22:01):
So she fits here very well.
Then verses 18, 19, 20, 21, 22,take us to King David. We get
the genealogy of David. The keylink to David here is
established. I think in manyways this certainly
authenticates the book of Ruth.
Why would anyone link thatgreat king to a Moabite woman
if it was not the truth? Just agreat ending to this story and
(22:24):
it sets us up to study more andto read more about King David.
Let me conclude all that withthree quick applications that I
think are helpful to us. Firstand foremost, this is God
watching over common people.
You don't have to be a king ora prophet or a big name Bible
character for God to be awareof you and to care for you to
know where you are, to blessyou and to use you. I would say
(22:46):
secondly, especially tofamilies reading this to young
people, reading this characterdraws the right kind of mate.
Boaz is interested in Ruthbecause she does not seek her
own benefit . She serves. Sheconstantly. Ma models a fine
character. She works hard.
There's not a single word inthis book says anything about
Ruth's appearance. Not wrong tobe interested in somebody
(23:07):
because they're beautiful.
There are lots of Biblecharacters who are mentioned as
being beautiful, but there'ssomething more important than
physical beauty. But the mostimportant thing outta the book
of Ruth is that God is at workand God is at work bringing a
great king to his people. He'sworking in surprising ways
through surprising peoplethrough a Moabite named Ruth.
(23:33):
Our reading for Thursday isRuth chapter four. It is
Friday. It is Friday. And todaywe read the eighth Psalm. Now
we ended the year last week byreading the eighth Psalm and
we're starting the year withreading the eighth Psalm, so
don't have a ton of extra notesto give. You talked about that
last week and go back andlisten to that chapter, to that
part of the podcast last week.
(23:55):
I just would emphasize thatthis Psalm is really not about
man. This Psalm is really aboutGod. Oh Lord our Lord. How
majestic is your name in allthe earth? The Psalm begins
with that and it ends withthat. And notice in verse one,
oh Lord, the first Lord is insmall caps. That's Jehovah. The
second Lord is king, sovereignruler. So Jehovah is the
(24:20):
sovereign ruler. And then thisPsalm develops the idea of God,
the creator in his incrediblepower and might and wisdom
shown in creation.
Understanding God's majesty increation helps us understand
God's majesty as he works inour lives. This is a marvelous
(24:43):
Psalm because it helps us seeDavid as he saw himself. God is
the one that matters, not me.
The Psalm, the Psalm reallymakes us small. You have made
him a little lower than theheavenly beings, makes us small
verses three and four beforeexalting us verse five, as the
one that rules over God'screation. This Psalm really
(25:07):
helps us find our place beforethe Lord. And I would add this,
it seems to me that Davidunderstands that a huge part of
our self image is properlydeveloped through worshiping
God. That's what matters. Ifwe're gonna see ourselves
correctly, we have to see Godcorrectly. David does that in
(25:28):
the eighth Psalm and we need todo that in our lives today.
Wanna be a person after God'sown heart? You gotta go to
church. You need to worshipGod. It'll help you see
yourself as you are 'causeit'll help you see who God is.
Well, there you go. That's ourreading for Friday, Psalm
eight, And that is the podcastfor the week. I appreciate you
(25:52):
listening so much. Hope it'shelping you as you start the
new year by reading the Bibleon a regular daily basis. If
the podcast helps you tellsomebody else about it. And
until next week when we'll openour Bibles together again, I'm
Mark Roberts and I do. I wantto go to heaven and I want you
to come to see you Monday witha cup of coffee.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Thanks for listening to the Westside Church of
Christ Podcast. Monday morningCoffee with Mark. For more
information about Westside, youcan connect with us through our
website, just christians.comand our Facebook page, our
music is from upbeat.io. That'supbeat with two P'S
U-P-P-B-E-A-T, where creatorscan get free music. Please
(26:46):
share our podcast with othersand we look forward to seeing
you again with a cup of coffee.
Of course, on next Monday.
Hello, and welcome to the Westside churches
special Monday Morning Coffeepodcast on this podcast, our
preacher Mark Roberts will helpyou get your week started
right. With look back atyesterday's sermon so that we
can think through it furtherand better work the
applications into our dailylives . Mark will then look
(00:28):
forward into this week's Biblereading so that we can know
what to expect and watch for.
And, he may have some extrabonus thoughts from time to
time. So grab a cup of coffeeas we start the week together
on Monday Morning Coffee withMark.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to the Monday
Morning Coffee podcast forMonday, January the sixth ,
2025. I'm Mark. I'm holding acup of coffee. I've got my
Bible reading schedule and I'mready to talk with you. Well, I
really need to talk with youabout the podcast because this
is a little weird and you'regonna notice some strange
(01:13):
things this week in thepodcast. And I don't just mean
when I'm talking aboutweirdness that the Dallas
Cowboys aren't in the playoffsbecause that really isn't that
weird. They played terrible allyear long. What I do want to
talk about is that I didn'tunderstand that we had a gap
week between last year'sreading schedule, the
eyewitnesses to Jesus and thestart of this year's reading
(01:36):
schedule seeking God's heart.
And so last week I record apodcast and I talk about the
reading and all the stuffthat's going on in the book of
Ruth. And all through thatpodcast I'm saying things like
Happy New Year and it's NewYear's Eve and happy
anniversary to my wife, and allthe stuff that goes with last
week. And so if we dump thatpodcast out, you will feel like
(01:57):
you have fallen into a timewarp and regressed seven days
back into 2024. And that'lljust weird everybody out. So
I've recorded rerecorded someparts of the podcast and our
technical folks are taken outall of the out of timed, all of
(02:18):
the out of chronology comments,at least I hope we can get all
of those out. And so you'regonna notice some cuts and
you're gonna notice some placeswhere there's been some editing
and that is completely on me. Ijust just didn't get it. And so
I was all gung-ho for a newreading. And here we went and
just started up with a wholenew reading schedule one week
(02:40):
early. How about that? Thereyou go. We should be eager for
daily Bible reading, but I'mnot sure we should be that
eager for daily Bible reading.
So if you, you get a littlestrangeness in this podcast and
it , it's jumping around alittle bit volume and, and ,
and I , I'm still kind ofcongested from having the flu
last week. And so my voicechanges a little bit. Don't,
(03:00):
don't panic, it's not you, it'sme, it's me. But I sure do
appreciate our technical folksand Issa and John, they, they
are able to fix all this stuffand, and make it all work
right? And I really doappreciate them. Lemme say a
quick word about theconversation yesterday with
Rusty and then we'll get todaily Bible reading.
Yesterday's sermon wasn'treally a sermon, rusty and I
(03:23):
just talked about daily Biblereading and the preaching theme
for the year. And I could say alot about that. I was really
disappointed not to be able tobe part of that last Sunday
because of the flu. And reallyglad that we were able to roll
that off a week. Thoseconversation sermons are just a
very nice way to spice thingsup. A little bit different
approach, a little bitdifferent way of doing things.
(03:43):
I'm super excited about thepreaching theme and I know that
you are super excited about itas well. 'cause you are making
the preaching theme what it isthis year. And I'm really
excited about our Fridays thisyear because I love the Psalms
I have preached through thePsalms. Psalms are just so
important. And I know thatthere are people who don't
really get the Psalms and whostruggle with that a little
(04:05):
bit. And so you hang in therebecause as we work with those
on Fridays on the podcast, Ithink it will help all of us to
be closer to the Lord. Ifyou're gonna seek God's heart,
you need, you need to knowabout the Psalms because that
is the place where David isreally seeking the heart of
God. I'm excited about readingthe Psalms with you this year.
(04:27):
So there we go. I grab that cupof coffee, get ready, get set.
Let's go. Let's talk aboutdaily Bible reading as we seek
God's heart in the Book ofRuth. Open your Bible to Ruth
(04:57):
chapter one. We'll be readingRuth one chapter a day as we
begin this series with KingDavid and learning about him
and his character. And this isthe place to begin with King
David, because this is whereKing David comes from in the
Book of Ruth. That bookconcludes with genealogy
pointing to David. However,that's not the only reason to
(05:18):
read the book of Ruth, and weneed to talk about that now.
Everybody loves this book. It'sa wonderful book about love and
faith and especially about theprovidence of God who oversees
his promises and his purposes.
But we really want to lookbeyond the surface story. It's
not just, this is not aHallmark movie. This is about
God and about what God isdoing. Now, it's not a hard
(05:41):
book to understand. I'll try tokeep these podcast chapters
short, maybe today gonna go alittle bit longer as we have
some introductory ideas to thebook of Ruth to work on. But
really this book is prettystraightforward. As long as
we're making certain we watchfor what God is doing, God is
at work here. So notice thetiming of the book. We don't
(06:01):
know the author of the book,but in the days verse one, when
the judges ruled, that's soimportant. This is the time of
the judges, which is a verydark time in Israelite history.
Lots of bad things going on.
Most people not doing what'sright. Judges is , oh, it's
such a difficult book. One timeI was sat down trying to decide
what I wanted to preach throughnext, what I'm gonna recommend
(06:22):
to the elders. Hey, let's gohere. And I read through the
book of judges and I thought,this is it. This is it. I'm
gonna , I'm gonna preachthrough the book of judges and
it's just such a dark book. AndI got done with , I thought I ,
I don't think I wanna preachthrough this book. And that's
the time of the Book of Ruth.
It's during a time when not alot of people are doing what's
right, which maybe helps us seewhy this book is here. There
(06:44):
are some people who are doingwhat's right. The main
characters here , Naomi RuthBoaz Boaz is a tremendous
character. But really the majorcharacter in the book of Ruth
is God. He's the one who mostoften gets overlooked when we
talk about the Book of Ruth.
But he is controllingeverything that happens here.
Maybe underlining your Bible,may the Lord or the Lord Grant
(07:05):
or all the things where God isat work that'll help you see
that. 'cause I think the Bookof Ruth is developing the
doctrine of God's providence.
And I think it is anencouragement to gentile
people, people who are, peoplewho are not Israelites, a
nonis, Israelite figuresdominantly in this book. And
yes, I do think this bookteaches character. I don't
(07:27):
think it's wrong to go to theOld Testament and say, here's
who God commended. Here's thekind of person God uses. Here's
the kind of person God willbless. We wanna be those kinds
of people. So here we are inRuth chapter one, famine in the
land. Guess what? That's amarker that things aren't going
right because when people aredoing what's right, what does
God do to the land? Blesses itwith rain and abundance. So
(07:49):
things aren't right here .
Family Lac verse two, family ofNaomi, they up and move to Moab
that I don't like it. I don'tlike it. That doesn't seem like
the right thing to do. You needto live in the promised land.
They go to Moab and terriblethings happen. Everybody dies.
That's a disaster for a woman.
(08:10):
She has no standing, she has nosocial safety net. What am I
doing now? So Naomi says, Ineed to go home. I need to go
home. So to do that, verseeight would be for these
daughter-in-laws to leave theirfamily, to leave their idols,
to leave their relatives. Andfriends, they're they're not
doing that. They're not doingthat. And Naomi says, I know
(08:32):
you're not doing that. I wantGod to grant that you may find
rest. Verse nine, rest. There'snot retirement. What she means
is you need to get married.
Security comes in marriage. Yougo home, go back to your
people, you get married. That'swhat a woman has to do. She
makes a play here off love ,right ? Marriage laws. I can't
(08:53):
bear more sons for you to getmarried to go home. And Ora
says verse 14, I'm doing that.
I go, I , I'm out. I'm goingback. But Ruth says, I'm
staying with you. And herpledge verses 16, 17 18 is so
important because she says, I'mgoing to serve your God. I'm
(09:17):
giving up on Moabite Gods. I'mgoing to become a person who
serves God. And the Hebrew inverse 16 is very, very Tse,
your people, my people, yourGod, my God. And it's not just
about loyalty and love forNaomi, it's about her. It's
about Ruth's willingness totake Naomi's God as her God.
And there's a contrast herebetween Ruth and Naomi. Naomi
(09:38):
seems to have had her faceshaken. She doesn't seem like
she cares if Ruth goes back toidols. But Ruth says, I care
about you, Naomi, and I careabout the true God, Jehovah,
the God of the Israelites. Andso they come back to Bethlehem.
There's a , some excitementabout that. Naomi decides to
change her name. Verse 20.
Watch that. That's gonna becomea theme. This would be then
(10:00):
verse 22 in March or April. Andthey come home. What's gonna
happen now? What's gonnahappen? This bitter woman, this
Moabite woman living inBethlehem, what is about to
happen really on the edge ofour seats here as we come to
the end of Ruth chapter one.
See you tomorrow. Our readingfor Monday is Ruth chapter one.
(10:24):
It is Tuesday. And our readingtoday for Tuesday is Ruth
chapter two. And here we meetfor the first time. Boaz Boaz
is a wonderful, wonderfulcharacter. Just watch the way
he talks. What he does, he's atremendous example to young men
who need to know how to grow agodly character and the kind of
(10:45):
godly character that willattract a godly woman. I think
there's some wonderful lessonsabout that in this romantic
story. Nothing wrong withreading a romantic story in the
Bible. The Holy Spirit placedit here. We can learn some
things about that. We're notthe, we're not the first to
have men interested in women,boys interested in girls. God
made us that way. And that'sgoing on in the Book of Ruth.
(11:06):
We learned from that. So herewe meet Boaz verse one. Naomi
had a relative of her husbandsa worthy man of the clan of a
Eck whose name was Boaz. Sometranslations have a man of
great wealth. ESV has a worthyman. It's used of a wealthy man
over in two kings, chapterfive. He is very wealthy 'cause
(11:27):
he owns this giant field thatthey're gleaning in, but he
also is a worthy man. We'll seethat as we read along. And of
course, gleaning here isspecifically provided for in
the law. We talked about that awhile back in the my Leviticus
class, Leviticus 19, nine to 10other pastors , Deuteronomy 24,
19 to 21 mentions cleaning .
You were not allowed to just gothrough your field and just
(11:49):
strip it, get everything allthe way to the edges and the
corners. No, you had to leavesome when you missed something,
you couldn't go back. Oh, oh,I'm gonna go back and, and get
that last little bit of wheatover there. Or , oh, I missed
an ear of corn there . Nope,you had to leave it. And poor
folks could come to your fieldand get those leftovers. And so
here is Ruth. She's workinghard. Look at Boaz. He comes,
(12:13):
he says, the Lord be with you.
Look , talks about God talk I Imentioned maybe underline in
your Bible, the mentions ofGod. And when God is at work, I
think his greeting here says alot about his character. And so
here's this young Moabitewoman, and she's gleaning,
she's willing to work hard.
Little difficulty at the end ofverse seven, if you're reading
a different translations ofgreat practice here, read the
(12:36):
reading in the new, in , uh, inthe ESV , the New American
standard, then maybe readingthe new Living translation. See
what, how that's gonna berendered. The end of verse
seven, except for a short restis how the ESV has the new
revised VA standard has withoutresting even for a moment. The
Hebrew there is difficult. ButBoaz says, now listen, my
(12:57):
daughter verse eight, that mydaughter may just be the way
they talk at that time. Thatmay say Boaz is a much older
man than Ruth. Not sure aboutthat. But of course he knows
about her. In verse 11, hesays, I know all about you at
little town like Bethlehem.
Everybody's talking abouteverybody. Everybody knows
everybody's business. Everybodyknows what's going on. And once
(13:18):
again, he's talking about God.
The Lord repay. You notice thatthat's in small camps . So he's
talking about Jehovah and shesays, I, I , I have found
favor. Favor is a emphasis herein this chapter, verse two
verse 10, I have found favorand I just appreciate that so
much. And so verse 14, comehere and eat some bread and dip
(13:39):
your morsel in the wine. Hey,the gleaners aren't supposed to
be over there eating witheverybody, but here she's
gleaned this tremendous amountabout an efa . Verse 17, that
could be as much as 30, 40,maybe 50 pounds. That's enough
for, for two women to eat offseveral for several weeks.
She's had a banner day here inthis gleaning business. Her
(14:03):
excited about that and she sayshe's a redeemer. Verse 20. Now
the kinsman , the redeemer hasseveral responsibilities under
Old Testament law, he avengesthe death of a murdered
relative. Numbers 35 talksabout that somebody murders
your brother, somebody murdersyour father. The near kinsman
(14:25):
is responsible for seeingjustices done and even doing
that justice. But of coursepart of that is he buys back
family land that has been sold.
We've got to keep the familyland in the clan in our family,
buying back, family membersthat get sold into slavery,
caring for needy familymembers. We see a bunch of
that. Leviticus 25, and thenthat lever , right ? Marriage,
(14:49):
law, business, you marry, ifyou're the near kinsman, you
marry the childless widow of abrother. Deuteronomy chapter
25, beginning in verse five,describes that Jesus gets asked
about that. You may rememberthe question that they try to
entrap Jesus with about thiswoman. And she has all these
husbands, well, where do thesehusbands come from? They're the
brothers of the man that passedaway under the Old Testament
(15:10):
law. You had obligation, you'rethe New York kinsman to raise
up an heir so the family canstay on the land and so forth.
All that goes with all of that.
She says, this man, he's theNew York kinsman. Wow, how's
that gonna work out? Is hegonna be a redeemer? Is he
gonna help? Ruth, where isBoaz? He seems like such a good
(15:30):
man. How's all of this going towork out? Well, I know you're
sitting on the edge of yourseats. Stay tuned. We'll have
more of this great storytomorrow. And that's the
podcast for Tuesday. If you'repart of the West Side Church
family tonight, we do have thezoom call. If you haven't done
that before, give us a try. Theinformation for the Zoom call
is in the West Side FamilyFacebook page, and I think
(15:52):
you'll enjoy that tremendously.
It's a great way to share withothers what you saw in the
Bible reading and be encouragedby others. For everyone else, I
will see you on the podcasttomorrow. The reading for
Tuesday is Ruth chapter two .
Welcome to Wednesday and let'sstart the new year right by
reading our Bible together.
This is Ruth chapter three.
That's our reading today, Ruthchapter three. And this is a
(16:14):
little unusual. They getengaged here or about to get
engaged and sometimes peoplelook at this business of Ruth
going to the threshing floor atnight and uncovering his feet
and he gets cold feet but notcold feet towards Ruth. And we
scratch our head and say, thatlooks a little weird. Oh, come
on. Some of the engagementrituals that people go through
today that someday people maylook at that and think it's
(16:36):
pretty strange. You getengaged, you've got to have a
videographer there and camerasthere and notes and oh on and
on and on. It's become a hugedeal. Well, it's a pretty big
deal in Ru's day as well. Let'stalk about it a little bit. Now
notice there's no time elementgiven to us here in the text.
We don't know how long untilNaomi said this is it. It's
time for you to seek rest. Andwhat she means is security, the
(16:58):
benefits of marriage. And I, Ithink there's a little risk
going on, there's a littletension here. Maybe, maybe Boaz
will say, I'm not interested inyou. And I think Naomi is
really counting here on Boazbeing an honorable, an
honorable man. And I thinkshe's counting on what she's
maybe heard from people in thevillage talking about how Boas
treats Ruth and all the thingsthat go on with some of that. I
(17:21):
think she can see where thiscould go, but you don't ever
know until you ask. And so Boazis at the threshing floor. The
threshing floor would be acircular area about 25 or 40
feet in diameter. It needs tobe up a little bit level in
hard and you throw the wheatinto the air and the wind would
(17:42):
drive away on the breeze. Theevening breeze especially would
drive away the chaff and thewheat. Carnals would fall back.
And there's kind of a pitchforklike device used to turn the
wheat. And I think it'simportant to remember here that
divine providence and the factthat God has a plan and is
working things out that doesnot eliminate human activity.
Don't sit on your hands andexpect God to do everything.
(18:05):
Rus gotta get up and go and seeif Boaz is willing to redeem
her. But he is verse 10, veryimpressed with her and he
assures her. There's notanything that you've done
that's wrong here, but he isdetermined to protect her
reputation. She labors 14 athis feet until the morning but
arose before one couldrecognize another. And he said,
(18:27):
let it not be known. A womancame to the threshing floor.
There could be some hand ofimpropriety here. There's some
discussion that maybe becausemen would be at the threshing
floor and kind of an all manthing, maybe some drinking
going on, maybe prostituteswould would visit the threshing
floor to see if they could getsome business there. Boaz is
concerned that no one thinkwrongly of what Ruth has done.
(18:50):
And sometimes I wish, I wishthat modern scholars would
protect Ruth's reputation theway Boaz is in is so concerned
to do because there are somemodern commentators who have
tried to say that this is somesort of sexual encounter
between Boaz and Ruth. But ofcourse such would be a
violation of Mo , of Moses'law. Such would certainly be
(19:12):
culturally taboo in this time.
Such would violate Ruth's trustin Boaz and such is not in
keeping with either either Ruthor Boaz's character at all, or
the purposes of this book thatRuth is a godly woman. If she
acts in an ungodly way, thewhole book is ruined. Let's try
(19:32):
to read the book and see whatthe book is saying rather than
engaging in some sort of vainspeculation. I guess the other
thing that ought to be saidhere is the Bible is
tremendously honest. Whenpeople do bad things in the
Bible, the Bible doesn't try toprotect them or cover up their
reputation. We are readingabout King David this year.
(19:52):
Yeah, what's the first thingyou think about when we start
talking about King David? So ifRuth does bad things here, the
Bible would certainly tell usshe does not do anything that's
wrong. Boaz is concerned tomake certain nobody thinks she
did anything that's wrong. Andyet still, somehow some people
try to decide she's doingsomething wrong. That's just
(20:13):
foolishness. But what we mustdo, verse 18 is wait and see
what Boaz will do. And that'sthe reading for Wednesday.
Wednesday's reading is Ruthchapter three. It is Thursday.
It is Thursday. And today weread and finish the book of
Ruth because we're reading Ruthchapter four. All the drama,
(20:34):
all the tension is resolvedbecause we find out there is a
near nearer, nearer redeemer,nearer kinsman than just Boaz.
And we have to see if he wantsto marry Ruth. And at first it
seems like he does because inverse four he says, I'm gonna
redeem the land. That's theland that's in Naomi's family.
(20:54):
And of course he wants to buythe land. Everybody wants land.
Land is a good thing to havemore land. Oh boy, it says
that's great, you just buy thatfield verse five from the hand
of Naomi. But when you do that,you also get Ruth the Moabite ,
this the widow of the dead,you'll need to raise up
children to with her in thatfamily's name. And that of
(21:16):
course that is the monkeywrench in the works because it
would cost to buy that land andthen that land would not be his
and it would not stay in hisfamily. No, it would go to the
children that he then isobligated to raise up with
Ruth. Maybe he's got familyalready and further additions
would only strain his income.
He's not interested in doingthat at all. Boaz says, I'm
(21:39):
very interested in doing that.
I would love to do that. And hedoes that and we get the
emphasis again on the Lord.
Verse 11, may the Lord make thewoman who's coming to your
house like Rachel and Leah andmay the Lord because of the
offspring that the Lord willgive you notice verse 12, Tamar
is mentioned here. She's awoman who exercised or at least
tried to exercise the law oflove , right marriage as well.
(22:01):
So she fits here very well.
Then verses 18, 19, 20, 21, 22,take us to King David. We get
the genealogy of David. The keylink to David here is
established. I think in manyways this certainly
authenticates the book of Ruth.
Why would anyone link thatgreat king to a Moabite woman
if it was not the truth? Just agreat ending to this story and
(22:24):
it sets us up to study more andto read more about King David.
Let me conclude all that withthree quick applications that I
think are helpful to us. Firstand foremost, this is God
watching over common people.
You don't have to be a king ora prophet or a big name Bible
character for God to be awareof you and to care for you to
know where you are, to blessyou and to use you. I would say
(22:46):
secondly, especially tofamilies reading this to young
people, reading this characterdraws the right kind of mate.
Boaz is interested in Ruthbecause she does not seek her
own benefit . She serves. Sheconstantly. Ma models a fine
character. She works hard.
There's not a single word inthis book says anything about
Ruth's appearance. Not wrong tobe interested in somebody
(23:07):
because they're beautiful.
There are lots of Biblecharacters who are mentioned as
being beautiful, but there'ssomething more important than
physical beauty. But the mostimportant thing outta the book
of Ruth is that God is at workand God is at work bringing a
great king to his people. He'sworking in surprising ways
through surprising peoplethrough a Moabite named Ruth.
(23:33):
Our reading for Thursday isRuth chapter four. It is
Friday. It is Friday. And todaywe read the eighth Psalm. Now
we ended the year last week byreading the eighth Psalm and
we're starting the year withreading the eighth Psalm, so
don't have a ton of extra notesto give. You talked about that
last week and go back andlisten to that chapter, to that
part of the podcast last week.
(23:55):
I just would emphasize thatthis Psalm is really not about
man. This Psalm is really aboutGod. Oh Lord our Lord. How
majestic is your name in allthe earth? The Psalm begins
with that and it ends withthat. And notice in verse one,
oh Lord, the first Lord is insmall caps. That's Jehovah. The
second Lord is king, sovereignruler. So Jehovah is the
(24:20):
sovereign ruler. And then thisPsalm develops the idea of God,
the creator in his incrediblepower and might and wisdom
shown in creation.
Understanding God's majesty increation helps us understand
God's majesty as he works inour lives. This is a marvelous
(24:43):
Psalm because it helps us seeDavid as he saw himself. God is
the one that matters, not me.
The Psalm, the Psalm reallymakes us small. You have made
him a little lower than theheavenly beings, makes us small
verses three and four beforeexalting us verse five, as the
one that rules over God'screation. This Psalm really
(25:07):
helps us find our place beforethe Lord. And I would add this,
it seems to me that Davidunderstands that a huge part of
our self image is properlydeveloped through worshiping
God. That's what matters. Ifwe're gonna see ourselves
correctly, we have to see Godcorrectly. David does that in
(25:28):
the eighth Psalm and we need todo that in our lives today.
Wanna be a person after God'sown heart? You gotta go to
church. You need to worshipGod. It'll help you see
yourself as you are 'causeit'll help you see who God is.
Well, there you go. That's ourreading for Friday, Psalm
eight, And that is the podcastfor the week. I appreciate you
(25:52):
listening so much. Hope it'shelping you as you start the
new year by reading the Bibleon a regular daily basis. If
the podcast helps you tellsomebody else about it. And
until next week when we'll openour Bibles together again, I'm
Mark Roberts and I do. I wantto go to heaven and I want you
to come to see you Monday witha cup of coffee.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Thanks for listening to the Westside Church of
Christ Podcast. Monday morningCoffee with Mark. For more
information about Westside, youcan connect with us through our
website, just christians.comand our Facebook page, our
music is from upbeat.io. That'supbeat with two P'S
U-P-P-B-E-A-T, where creatorscan get free music. Please
(26:46):
share our podcast with othersand we look forward to seeing
you again with a cup of coffee.
Of course, on next Monday.
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