August 10, 2008

What’s Love Got to Do with It? (Part 2)

Ruth 3:10-18

Opening Words: It has become my custom to preach on an Old Testament character during the summer months. Over the past few years we have examined the lives of Nehemiah, Esther, Elijah and Joseph. This summer we are looking at the life of Ruth. By now the story should sound familiar.

Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth are facing the world alone. They are widowed and living in Bethlehem. It is Naomi’s hometown but Ruth is a stranger. She is from Moab and came to Bethlehem to stay near her beloved mother-in-law. Their lives are not easy. They are living in poverty, gleaning the fields of the rich. However, it is in the fields of the rich that God begins to move. There are many fields in that area in which to glean but Ruth ends up in Boaz’s field. WOW! What a Coincidence! He is a rich relative of her deceased husband. Boaz is kind to Ruth, offering both food and protection. Ruth and Naomi exist on his kindness for months but things are about to change. The harvest had been completed. There would be no more gleaning. It was time, however, for Naomi to demonstrate her understanding of faith and time for Ruth to demonstrate her great trust in Naomi. Do you remember? Last week we left Ruth and Boaz on the threshing room floor. This week we discover Naomi’s plan worked better than they could have possibly imagined. This weekend we are once again in the third chapter of Ruth, verses ten through eighteen. Let me call this message What’s Love Got to Do with It? (Part 2)

Ruth 3:10-18 ¹⁰ "The LORD bless you, my daughter," he replied. "This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. ¹¹ And now, my daughter, don't be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All my fellow townsmen know that you are a woman of noble character. ¹² Although it is true that I am near of kin, there is a kinsman-redeemer nearer than I. ¹³ Stay here for the night, and in the morning if he wants to redeem, good; let him redeem. But if he is not willing, as surely as the LORD lives I will do it. Lie here until morning."

¹⁴ So she lay at his feet until morning, but got up before anyone could be recognized; and he said, "Don't let it be known that a woman came to the threshing floor."

¹⁵ He also said, "Bring me the shawl you are wearing and hold it out." When she did so, he poured into it six measures of barley and put it on her. Then he ^[a] went back to town.

¹⁶ When Ruth came to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, "How did it go, my daughter?"
Then she told her everything Boaz had done for her ¹⁷ and added, "He gave me these six measures of barley, saying, 'Don't go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.' "

¹⁸ Then Naomi said, "Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today."

Never underestimate the power of love. That is what Rene’ Spitz discovered in a South American orphanage. She studied 97 orphans between the ages of 3 months and 3 years. Those children received a minimal amount of love. The reason was money. There was a lack of funding, which caused a shortage of staffing in the orphanage. The staff did their best. They covered the basics. They changed the children’s dirty diapers. They bathed them and fed them. They covered the basics but there was little time to hold, cuddle, and talk to them as a mother would. The 97 children were deprived of emotional and physical contact with others. After 3 months many of them showed signs of abnormality.

Besides a loss of appetite and being unable to sleep well, many of the children lay with a vacant expression in their eyes. After five months, serious deterioration set in. They lay whimpering, with troubled and twisted faces. Often, when a doctor or nurse would pick up an infant, it would scream in terror. Twenty seven, almost one third, of the children died the first year, but not from lack of food or health care. They died of a lack of touch and emotional nurture. They died because of a lack of love. Seven more died during the second year. Only twenty one of the 97 survived, most suffering serious psychological damage. Never underestimate the power of love. Thomas a’ Kempis said, “Whoever loves much, does much.”

In C.S. Lewis’ The Fours Loves, he writes, “To love at all is to be venerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin or your selfishness. But in that casket--safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable...The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers...of love is Hell.”

Our sermon series on Ruth has stalled in the third chapter, verses ten through eighteen. The reason is love. At the very heart of this passage is love. Ruth has been a little forward. My grandfather would have said she was all gussied up. My college roommate Ron would have said she was looking good! What the scripture says is that she took a bath, put on her best perfume and wore her best garment. (I said it was the one that made her look thin.) She is lying on the threshing room floor at Boaz’s exposed feet. She is making him an attractive offer.

This is the issue. Will he live up to the Old Testament law called “kindred-redeemer?” Don’t think of this scene in sexual terms. Think of it in legal terms. Does Boaz want another mouth to feed? Does Boaz need more responsibility? Does anyone here feel like they need more responsibility? Boaz not only accepts the responsibility of marrying Ruth but he loves her. He wants their marriage not to be based just on cold Old Testament law. He wants their marriage to be based on love. Listen to what I am saying. Love is a powerful thing.

Last week I began a mini two part sermon series on love. It is like a sermon series wrapped inside a sermon series. We are looking at six divine truths about love. I examined the first three divine truths last weeks. Do you remember them? First, love shows itself in accepting others. Second, love seeks true beauty. Third, love shows itself in encouraging others. I called that message What’s Love Got to Do with It? This week I am going to look at divine truths four, five and six. I have used my powerful mind to come up a creative sermon title for this week. I have called it What’s Love Got to Do with It? (Part 2) Just like last week these divine truths are illustrated for us in the life of Boaz and the life of Jesus. So if you big lovable people are ready to continue to look at love say, “Amen!”

Love reaches beyond our comfort zones.

Divine truth number four is love reaches beyond our comfort zones. Several years ago I received a call that a toddler from my congregation had been rushed to the emergency room. When I arrived I discovered the little girl named Angelica was fine. She had been playing at home and fell. She hit her head on a coffee table. In the emergency room the doctor dressed the wound and gave the little girl a couple of stitches. The parents were told she would be fine but the doctor wanted to admit her into the hospital for precautionary reasons. It was a head trauma. He just wanted to keep an eye on her. Now how many of you believe Angelica spent the night in the hospital alone? Maybe you have spent one of those nights in the hospital? The loved one is soundly sleeping in the nice warm bed but you are trying to get comfortable on that plastic chair that turns into the world’s most uncomfortable bed. When I arrived the next morning Angelica looked great! Angelica’s mom looked like death warmed over. I looked at mom and said, “Angelica looks great! How are you doing?” She said, “I’ll be fine, once I get some sleep! I just couldn’t leave her here alone. Has anyone here ever done something you didn’t want to do because of love? Has anyone here ever done something that isn’t even logical because of love? Love reaches beyond our comfort zones.

Ruth is not offering Boaz just a night of passion on the threshing room. She is offering him some more responsibility. Would anyone here like a little more responsibility? She isn’t just a good looking woman. Marrying Ruth means another mouth to feed. Marrying Ruth means Boaz is going to complicate his life. It makes no logical sense. There are men closer to her age but he marries her. Why? Love reaches beyond our comfort zones.

At Christmas we celebrate the incarnation of God. It makes no sense. It is not logical. Why would God leave the perfection of heaven to experience the imperfections of this world? Why would God want to become human? Why would God want to become one of us? There is only one reason. Love! Love reaches beyond our comfort zones. And all of God’s lovable people said, “Amen!”

Love shows itself in the worst of times.

Divine truth number five is love shows itself in the worst of times. To illustrate this point let me tell you two stories. My first story involves a young couple Jimmy and Marie. They are in love! They know their love will last forever. They know they can’t live without one another so they get engaged. The problem is during their engagement problems seem to grow between Marie and Jimmy. The problems grow to the point that Marie decides to break off the engagement. They go their own separate ways. The couple is devastated but life goes on. One day Marie receives some news that made her realize she made a horrible mistake, breaking up with Jimmy. She wants him back so she writes him this note.

Dearest Jimmy,

No words could ever express the great unhappiness I've felt since breaking our engagement. Please say you'll take me back. No one could ever take your place in my heart, so please forgive me. I love you, I love you, I love you!

Yours forever,

Marie.

P.S., And congratulations on winning the state lottery.

How many of you believe Jimmy took her back? How many of you believe she really loved him?

This is story number two. It is not my story. It is really David’s story. He told us this story several weeks ago on a Wednesday night. It captured my imagination and I have had a hard time putting it down. There is an elderly couple living at Copeland Oaks. I have never met them. I don’t even know their names. Let us call them Bob and Catherine. They have been married for ten years. It is a second marriage for both. Bob’s mind began to slip several years ago. He doesn’t recognize anyone. He doesn't recognize Catherine. However, everyday Catherine goes to visit Bob. She wants to be with him but she also wants to make sure he is getting the best possible care. One day, Catherine went to her doctor because she wasn’t feeling well. After all the tests were completed she was told she had cancer. It was inoperable. It is terminal. She is going to die and she knows it. However, her greatest concern today is not her condition. Her greatest concern is for Bob, a man who doesn’t recognize her. Catherine worries, will Bob get good care once I am gone. How can you question Catherine’s love? Love shows itself in the worst of times.

It was the worst of times for Ruth. The harvest was over. There would be no more gleaning. There would be no more food. You can say she throws herself at Boaz. Yet, in those horrible days love appeared, Boaz treats her with dignity and respect. Their marriage is not going to be grounded in cold law. Their marriage is going to be based in love. How can you question Boaz’s love? Love shows itself in the worst of times.

How can you question Jesus’ love? It is the most disturbing scene in the Bible. The scene is Golgotha. The son of God, Jesus is hanging on the cross. You can use your sanctified imagination and transport yourself there. But let me warn you, it is not a scene for the weak. Jesus is struggling, drowning in his own body fluid. What makes it worse is that it is a slow death. It is a painful death. However, through the eyes of a theologian it is a beautiful death. It is in that horrible scene that Jesus reveals the depth of his love for us. How can you look at Jesus hanging on the cross and question his love for you? Love shows itself in the worst of times. And all of God’s lovable people said, “Amen!”

Love lasts forever.

Divine truth number six is love lasts forever. There are three huge gates that lead into the Cathedral of Milan. Over one gate there is an inscription in marble under a beautiful flower bouquet that says, "The things that please are temporary." Over the second gate, there is a cross with this inscription: "The things that disturb us are temporary." However, over the central gate, there is a big inscription saying, "Eternal are the important ones."

Ruth story is a wonderful story when you examine the details. However, if you look at it from an eternal prospective, it has even more magnificence. The love between Ruth and Boaz does not end with their deaths. It lives on into the future, loves lasts forever. Do you need proof?

Look at the very first chapter of Matthew with me. You will find Jesus’ genealogy. That list of names means very little to us but that list of names was very important to Jesus’ generation. Matthew has been called the Hebrew or Jewish Gospel. It proved he was a pure Hebrew. Within that list of Jewish names there is only one Gentile name, Ruth. If you study that genealogy you discover she was the great-grandmother of King David, which makes her a descendent of Jesus. Think about this with me. You can make the case that if Boaz and Ruth had not fallen in love the great King David would have never been born. You can make the case that if King David had never been born Jesus would have never been born. What does that mean? Complete the circle with me. If Ruth and Boaz had not fallen in love, Jesus would never have been born. And if Jesus would never have been born, we would have no hope of salvation. If Jesus would have never been born, then you have no hope of eternity. The love between Boaz and Ruth did not end with their lives. Their love lives through you and me. Divine point number six says love lasts forever. And all of God’s lovable people said, “Amen!”

I end with the words I used last week. Never underestimate the power of love. If your understanding of love is a box of candies, a handful of flowers, a trip to the bed and breakfast and boxer shorts with hearts on them, then you couldn’t be more wrong. Love is much more complex. Love is tough. Love is the most powerful thing in the world. Love reaches beyond our comfort zones. Love shows itself at the worst of times. Love lasts forever.

A few years ago, the Harry S. Truman Library in Independence, MO made public 1,300 recently discovered letters that the late President wrote to his wife, Bess, over the course of a half-century. Mr. Truman had a lifelong rule of writing to his wife every day they were apart. He followed this rule whenever he was away on official business or whenever Bess left Washington to visit her beloved Independence. Scholars are examining the letters for any new light they may throw on political and diplomatic history. For my part, the most impressive fact is this. Every day Harry S. Truman was away, the President of the United States took time out from his dealings with the world's most powerful leaders to sit down and write a letter to his wife. He simply wanted to tell her, “I love you!”

Here is the good news for you today. You don’t have to write your loved ones 1,300 letters. But wouldn’t it be nice if you told them? Does anyone here ever get tired of hearing, “I love you?” But what would be better than telling them, I love you, is showing them. And all of God’s lovable people said, “Amen!”