Gleaning in the Field

Sunday Sermon
May 31st 2009
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Pericope: ESV Ruth 2:8-23 Then Boaz said to Ruth, "Now, listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. 9 Let your eyes be on the field that they are reaping, and go after them. Have I not charged the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn." 10 Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, "Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?" 11 But Boaz answered her, "All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before. 12 The LORD repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!" 13 Then she said, "I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, for you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not one of your servants." 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. 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." 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. 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.

Sermonic Title: “Gleaning in the Field”

Sermonic Theme: The Providence of God (God will provide)

Sermonic Subject: Relationship (Your most valuable possession in life is your personal relationships.) God uses people to bless people. Whom are you blessing today?
Bless someone today! Instead of looking for a blessing, become a blessing.

Sermonic Sentence: This lesson is tailored to teach us how to live on leftovers. (The provisions of God cannot be stopped by the famine past, present or future.) You can make it on a little.

Sermonic Tension: If you are in a famine right now, keep the faith our God will provide. NLT Psalm 37:25 Once I was young, and now I am old. Yet I have never seen the godly forsaken, nor seen their children begging for bread.

Sermonic Structure:

I. Ruth finds a fruitful field in the famine (Vrs 8-9)
A. Boaz tells Ruth to stay in the field
B. Boaz tells Ruth to stay close to his female field hands

II. Ruth finds favor in the famine (Vrs 10-13)

III. Ruth finds fulfillment in the famine (Vrs 14)

IV. Ruth finds a friend with a fortune in the famine (Vrs 15-23)
A. Boaz insures that no one reproaches Ruth (Vrs 15) Boaz insures that Ruth is physically protected.
B. Boaz insures that no one rebukes Ruth (Vrs 16) Boaz insures that Ruth is verbally protected.

Now the question arises who found whom? Did Ruth find the fruitful field or did the fruitful field find Ruth? Did Ruth find favor or did favor find Ruth? Did Ruth find fulfillment or did fulfillment find Ruth? Did Ruth find a friend with a fortune or did the friend with the fortune find Ruth?