EquipHer 2019 | Shane Willard | Session 5

it's so good to be here with you that is so nice of you I feel the same way about you guys I love you guys I love your church I love your movement I've had the privilege of speaking all over this nation largely in your movement and and I just find it a pleasure every time and so just know you do so good I can't wait to be with you guys tomorrow as well and yours in your normal weekend services and we'll journey a bit that way as well so let's let's do a quick review any time I speak I want a couple things to happen I want Jesus to get bigger the cross to work better the resurrection to be central in scriptures to get bigger not smaller I love what pastor Kathy said that that you know in listening and processing and wrestling if your concept of God just gets 1% bigger one degree difference in five years it's huge it's a totally different thing and that's what we want to do we want to eternally we never want to get to the end of our journey with God we want to embrace an eternal exploration of something that is eternally explorable and so and that's what that's what I wanted to facilitate in the last day and so I'm so glad that we did that so let's quickly review where we've come look Saguna mikvah ketubah and wherever you are on that journey make maybe maybe you made a decision to say yes to be mine and maybe maybe you came into realization of how much God treasures you maybe you brought some leaven and you broke it open so you just wash this while celebrating the fact that you're willing to infill me leaven and all flaws and all issues and all that God is in the process of journeying with flawed people and that is beautiful and that is us and we want to be so profoundly connected with that that as the Bride of Christ that we can't help but but communicate that not with words but with actions and deeds and truth to the people around us just to echo that song let me learn to love with open arms like you do that's the idea but it's not just that I and no one can disagree with that song no one can go No we need less love no one can do that right the issue isn't believing it to believe in the cross and resurrection to believe in love to believe in compassion to believe in loving people right where they are with no shame that's not something anyone can disagree with the issue isn't believing it the issue is allowing that belief to fundamentally shift the way we see our whole world that's the idea so and so we talked about that and in this morning we talked about Ruth and I want to continue talking about Rick tonight if your type likes following an actual Bible Ruth chapter 4 which is the end of the book but because we're gonna start at the end of let's let's bring us all and remind us all of where we came if you could bring that first light up for me we've got the basic story up till now family of four doesn't have enough food to eat they have to take refuge in Moab these Israelite guys marry Moabite women and then die and in this moment woman wants to come back with the Israelite woman and become an Israelite the problem is she's a Moabite and in Deuteronomy 23 it says no Moabite will ever be welcomed by God so she chooses to do something profound which is to put her faith in the character of a loving God instead of the list of rules and what we learned from this initial journey this morning is that as a Christian who loves scripture we should commit our lives to fulfilling Scripture instead of simply being right about one verse of it that we need to commit all right how do we do that we do unto others as they as we would have them do unto us and we talked about how to unstick our life and we cannot win three thoughts that we can unstick our life with a conviction that God loves people more than the rules God loves people more than the rules God loves people more than the rules to that we commit our lives to fulfilling Scripture instead of simply being write about it and we wake up every day saying yes to the infinite possibilities God has for our life and we take our one next step to Bethlehem so root does that and they choose to let her thank God they do that because David comes out of that and then ultimately Jesus comes out of it what ends up happening is she ends up working in the fields of a guy named Boaz and she gains a great reputation she's a hard worker she doesn't take advantage of generosity she's not dishonest in any way and they start taking notes of her reputation which leads me to this observation next slide that your behavior determines your reputation but not your redemption what you find in this story is that Ruth's redemption is based entirely on the kindness of another man but her reputation is determined by her behavior and you never want to be someone who confuses reputation and redemption or will run the risk of being a person who's completely forgiven but our name means nothing our word means nothing that our reputation is determined by our behavior does God forgive you no matter what you do yes but you can still ruin your reputation by horrendous behavior and so what we find in this story is that Ruth gains a good reputation by behavior while putting her full trust in the kindness of someone for redemption now what we're gonna read here in just a second I have to set this up because it's gonna make no sense otherwise is ruse working in the field and Naomi refocuses Ruth in the story because remember the whole story is Ruth we got to get you a man because without a man you're sort of nothing so we need to get you a man and essentially if you'll let me paraphrase it she says Ruth hey don't take your eye off the prize here come on hey we got to get you a man hey I've got a good suggestion here see that guy over there yep his name's Boaz let me tell you about Boaz one he's single check - he's rich check check right three he's kind check check check single rich kind what more could you want heck two out of three of those aren't that see Nathan and Kanan they're single and kind I don't know about rich single kind no they've been my drivers they're awesome and they're single check and they're kind chick and they're rich to somebody in the world right so they say hey Bruce says hey hey single rich kind amen Ruth says hey I'm a Moabite what is it that Israelite women do to attract men I'm not familiar with your traction customs you know turns out the language of Attraction is universal right now this is a direct quote from the Bible it's very important that we remember sometimes when we read the Bible we're reading what God is saying sometimes we're just reading an accurate story of something that happened okay this is a direct quote word-for-word that Naomi says to Ruth she goes here's what you do wait until the middle of the night when his heart is Mary from too much drinking that's called drunk and I quote wait until the middle of the night when his heart is Mary from too much drinking crawl under the covers with him lift the corner of his garment and uncover his feet he will know what to do yep and that is what you're thinking yeah see in Hebrew culture they didn't speak of sexuality in straight literal terms and neither do you everybody speaks of sexuality and metaphor at least I hope you do unless you're Sheldon Cooper we have metaphors for these things and actually actually both metaphors are used in this passage so you see when she says to lift the corner of the garment the corner of a garment was called a Knopf a can I he say that with some all blacks gust everybody try that kenapa like thank canopy okay can FA it's the corner of a garment kenapa and in most a time in the Bible or in Jewish culture it when it's spoken of literally it just means hey nice shirt like nice canopy but in Jewish culture if you say lift the canopy that was a very clean way of asking for to make love that was a very clean way so sometimes cannot Bey is hey nice can uh pay sometimes it's her cut off it right it's that and actually if there's anybody in here who's Afrikaans the Afrikaners pick this up because a very clean way to ask your spouse to make love and in Afrikaans is hekia canopy right yes thank you thank you it's absolutely true right which is it that's very clean it'd be like hey yeah right it's that kind of thing they'd be so the Afrikaners somehow pick this up cannot bacon if it's that kind of thing right now the other metaphor is feet now most most of the time a foot is a foot but when the Jewish people used the word feet metaphorically it was a metaphor for sexuality and now in the context will be obvious I'll give you a couple examples from the scriptures it says that soul went into the cave to use the toilet in Hebrew it says he went into cave to uncover his feet all right or in Song of Solomon the husband comes back from a long journey and he says hey hey you want to make love and she says make love oh my feet are clean must I dirty them again right which is like what are you getting up to right it's weird right so both of these things are used here now obviously the context will make it very clear if it's not if it's not clearly that just leave a foot a foot okay or leave the garment a garment don't read too much into it but in this case wait until the middle of the night when his heart is Mary from too much drinking crawl under the covers lift the canopy of his garment and uncover his feet he will know what to do this is obvious okay now let me be clear Ruth is not asking him to marry her he's telling him she's telling him he has to marry her see she knows the law because Naomi told her in Deuteronomy 25 it says whoever the next in line of Kenna's they have to marry the widows of Jewish husbands she knows that she heard that he has been next in line she's not telling him she's not asking him please marry me she's saying according to your law you have to here's the problem in Deuteronomy 25 it says three conditions have to be met for this to happen one it has to be done in the middle of the day - it has to be witnessed at the town gate in front of ten witnesses right and so and three the closest Redeemer has to be there right now turns out there's a few problems with this one Boaz turns out is not the closest Redeemer she didn't know that but he wasn't second she's trying to pull this off in the middle of the night in private something that's only legal if it's done in the middle of the day in front of ten witnesses now Boaz knows the whole rule Ruth only knows the rule no at Naomi told her right Boaz knows the whole rule so Boaz says hold on whoa whoa whoa whoa I really love you and I want this to be legal because I really love you if you get caught doing this you could be put to death don't do that sneak out of here tomorrow we will meet at the town gate in the middle of the day in front of ten witnesses and make this legal I don't want to do this in an illegal fashion because it puts us both in jeopardy I really love you and I want this to matter so please let's do this tomorrow so one day when you get to heaven and you see a lot of people that you don't recognize the guy walking around with the biggest self-control medal ever that's Boaz okay so Boaz is now wanting to make this legal you're caught up this is Ruth chapter four next slide now Boaz had gone up to the gate and set down there and behold the redeemer of whom Boaz had spoken of had come by this is the guy that was actually next in line so so Boaz said turn aside friend you sit down here and he turned her aside and sat down and he took ten min of elders and said to the city and said and he said you guys sit down here so they did so you have everything now according to Deuteronomy 25 you need middle of the day town gate ten elders ten witnesses and you've got the real Redeemer there okay now watch this then he said to the redeemer notice it never names the guy then is then he says to the Redeemer Naomi who has come back from the country of Moab is selling a parcel of land that belonged to our relative ulema lek so I thought I would tell you of it and say bye in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people keep going if you will redeem it then redeem it and if you will not then tell me that I may know for there's no one besides you to redeem it and I come after you and he said okay I'll redeem it now watch this he said so so Bowa says there's a piece of land that's rightfully yours do you want it the guy's like late and I love land sure I'll take land and as soon as he says that Boaz drops the bomb and tells them the rest of the story watch this bimbo I said well the day you buy the field from the hand in Naomi oh you also acquire ruth the moabite you know those cursed ones you also acquire ruth the moabite the widow of the dead in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance in other words oh you want the land great let me tell you what's attached to it's attached to a woman named Ruth oh by the way she's a Moabite oh by the way they're cursed in Deuteronomy 23 oh by the way she hasn't had children yet oh by the way according to Deuteronomy 25 that means you have to have children with her oh by the way you can't treat those children as half-breed you have to give them the full inheritance that you give the rest of your children right right now watch how fast he backs off then the Redeemer said I cannot redeem it no I will pass land yes Ruth and a bunch of children no thank you she's a Moabite no way no way then I cannot redeem it now watch what he says then I cannot redeem it for myself lest I impair my own inheritance the actual Hebrew of that sentence is she's a bad investment she's not worth the risk I'll take the land but the woman attached to this thing is a bad investment she is not worth it now watch what happens here now this was the custom in the former times that neutral concerning redeeming exchanging to confirm a transaction the one drew off his sandal and gave it to the other by the way this is how you know the Book of Ruth was written way way way way way later but the writers happen to tell the current audience about something that used to happen that doesn't happen anymore and at the end of The Book of Ruth it gives you her whole lineage through David how they know that right so he's sort of looking back here so when the Redeemer said to Boaz buy it for yourself he drew up his sandal in other words so you don't want it no immediately drawing off his sandal right like you don't understand how much this woman loves can it be right he's like this is gonna be great now watch watch what happens oh no back up back up now I say so then he goes on he goes on and he makes he makes a promise in front of all 10 witnesses that not only will he take her into his house he will marry her he makes a promise to have children with her and he makes a promise to include her children in an equal portion with his other children in the inheritance so he does everything according to Deuteronomy 25 to make this thing legal now I want it I want to examine the elements of this story not so that we get the deepness of it I don't want to be known as the deep guy what difference does it make if we understand all the deep truths if it doesn't affect how we're living our lives so I want to ask what's happening but also one ask what's happening in me right now what are we gonna do about this how's this gonna change the way we treat our world and love with open arms like he does like the little girl nicely saying that was really good next like so this is an ancient story that's behaving like one a woman's being discussed as property okay now if that turns your stomach a little bit it should it means your heart is beating okay all right ten men are deciding who this woman belongs to right that should make us sick but in that day that was the most gracious law in the history of the world to protect widows up to the time it was written the Jews were the first people to have a national law to protect women in case their husbands died tragically this was barbaric to us but it was good to them okay the Redeemer in this story is happy to take the land but not Ruth he calls her a bad investment now this is where I got interested I wondered why five times they just call him the Redeemer the Redeemer their Redeemer their Redeemer but Boaz is called Boaz so I went and looked this up this sounds like I'm making a joke I promise you I'm not if you go look that name up in Hebrew his name is paolo nee al Maloney true true who would do that to somebody right oh he's beautiful we'll call him baloney Al Maloney who does that to somebody so I got interested in this and I called my history researcher and I said I want to know who baloney Elle Maloney is five times in the Book of Ruth who is this polonio Maloney and you know what nowhere else in the Bible nowhere in Jewish history nowhere in rabbinical literature is he ever mentioned Polonia l Maloney you can't find one historical reference to this guy not one you can find one vague reference to his uncle his uncle's name is next slide patio Maloney who of course next slide is a drunk Irishman who abuses people at parties I made that up next slide Polonia L Maloney means so-and-so such and so think of mob upset that bloke over there to this day in 2019 in Israel Apollonia al Maloney is an unidentified body a John Doe so if you went to the morgue or whatever it'd be like who's that person unidentified he's Apple Oni al Maloney a nameless person a so-and-so so in this story polonium Maloney says that Ruth is a bad investment has that ever happened to you has somebody not even worth naming ever made you feel worse about yourself there's so much going on here let's talk about this specifically next slide have we ever been told by someone not important enough to name that you're not worth it or maybe have we ever been guilty of gauging relationships based solely on economics alone that's what's happening in this story the polonium aloni is saying Ruth isn't worth it because she's not enough money to the table she's not bringing enough capital so she's not worth the risk have we ever done that have we ever decided who belongs to our world and who doesn't based solely on economics because if we do that we are the polonium Loney or have we ever shunned someone because of the social stigma around them like in this story Ruth is being shunned by the polonium Aloni because of her race but but but do we ever do that to people do we ever not include them in our world because of something about them but let's maybe let's maybe say it anyway because this will have an individual application as well as a systemic one for what kind of church we're trying to build net-net next slide so the bank tells you that you're too big of a risk you don't qualify so you take you take your entire financial life to a bank and you present it to them and you need this thing you need it and someone sits across from you and you wouldn't even know their name had they not had a nametag on and they're going I'm sorry you're not worth the risk a and Zed will not give you the loan that is Palani Elle Maloney or maybe you're the pastor of a church and you desperately want to get your building going and you take this whole thing and your people put in and put in and put in and you bring it to the bank or the City Council and someone who doesn't you wouldn't even know their name had they not identified themselves they tell you you're not worth the risk that's pallone e al Maloney or you go to a networking event and you're embarrassed by your name tag or title so you're at this thing you're at this party and it's like dr. John law all your jain businesswoman Julie and you look at your nametag and you're like oh no and a group of people who you wouldn't even know their name had they not had name tags on or suddenly making you feel worse than you should that's baloney al Maloney or when asked what you do you recoil because you know they'll look at you different or maybe next slide let's say it this way you're targeted the office by bullies who are simply envious of your promotion oh you got promoted we know how you got pro yeah I showed up early I left late I worked hard that's what I did and a group of people you don't even know who they are or making you feel worse about yourself that is polonium Maloney a lot of years some of your husband's and yourselves your pastors and nine hundred people might love you but the one who doesn't is the loudest one and they send you that email right right this is what preaching is preaching is spending twelve hours with for researchers putting together a talk that's going to take 40 minutes to deliver only to be potentially eviscerated on the internet by a nameless faceless coward sitting behind a keyboard and this person that don't even they don't even bother signing their name at the bottom of it and you go to bed thinking about their dissatisfaction with you that is baloney al Maloney or we behave in some destructive way because of some deep bizarre to please our Father yet no one around even knows his name which makes me wonder what we can learn from this what can we what does this passage teach us about ourselves and what it means to be leaders in a church what what is it what is this about let's talk about it this way next slide I think this passage is about shame that shame shame one of those things that we all know is bad but we lack language for it so we might say things like there's no shame here you might go home to your churches and go hey this is a place where there is no shame or don't be ashamed right or shame off you right like this bet is not something anybody could disagree with no one can go no we need more shaming no one can no one can do that but the problem is is that when we don't have language and now now recently a great researcher named Bernie Brown she gave us some language around this that I that allows us I think to talk about it she says that shame is the manifestation of the fear of not belonging that's what Seamus Seamus felt when clothes belonging is threatened but this is why this is why when you're gonna be a part of a group of people and you don't care if that you belong to their world that's when you let it all hang out you just let it all hang out because you'll care but when you're introduced to a new group of people and you care whether you're accepted in their world you don't let it all hang out unless you're an idiot right you sort of take the temperature of the room you play by their rules why shame you're afraid of not belonging to their world so when we say there's no shame in equip there's no room for shame in equip here's what we're not talking about we're not talking about affirming everything someone does what we are talking about is we're talking about there is not one person in Auckland who should be afraid of not belonging because of something about them right with very rare exceptions that have criminal implications there there should that very rare right we there should be not a person in Auckland or Nelson or Blenheim or Christchurch or Hamilton or Rotorua the whole map of New Zealand there there should not be any person in Auckland who is afraid of not belonging to your world because of something about them and that doesn't mean you affirm everything they do heck if I knew everything about you there'd be something I wouldn't affirm but I accept you I accept you as a person without affirming all year but all of our behavior right so this is here's the thing right for true life transformation to happen we have to have openness authenticity right my issues have to come out into the light how could that ever be if we're all protecting ourselves because of a fear of not belonging one of the ways to be the transformational agent in our world is to remove shame remove the fear of not belonging so that everything comes out into the light and the Holy Spirit might have a chance to get involved and actually change people's lives this is what that is but let's be specific in case you're going shame that's a bit abstract okay let's be specific next light so what if they found out blank about me would they still let me belong not not would they affirm everything I do that's not the question the question is would they let me belong if they knew that I was a homosexual would I be allowed to belong in their world or would I be shunned because of the stigma around it or what if they found out I was divorced what if they knew my story now I know it was 13 years ago or something and so do I tell them it's that fear you know if you've been through a divorce or something and you meet a new group of people and you're like wondering do I tell them my whole story and if I tell them will they let me belong right or if I don't tell them and they find out later they might think I was a liar but I wasn't lying it's just none of their business but it was 13 years old I didn't really want to bring it up I didn't think they'd be interested in something like that it's a weird so we have a fear of not belonging because when it what if they found out I was divorced right well what if they found out I was from a broken home what do they truly knew where I came from or what have they found out my last name was different than my mom's the research shows that this is a source of shame in eight-year-olds and under when they're in primary school and they have a different last name than their mom they wonder if that makes them not fit now that makes no sense but to an eight-year-old it does or what if they found out I was a convicted criminal what did they found out I did armed robbery and I did 15 years for it but then but now I'm out I'm a fully devoted follower of Jesus I came to Jesus I could I belong without them feeling like they affirmed my whole story would I belong to this world or what if they found out I was a former prostitute what if they found out that I that for necessity or whatever I used to have to sell my body for money or if they found out I was a current prostitute what if they found if they knew that part of my story would I be allowed to belong because the fear of not belonging shame that doesn't mean we affirm at all it just means there's a fear of not belonging right but what if they found out I was an addict what did they found out I had a sex change 10 years ago one of the most one of most inspiring things I ever saw in my life in a church in terms of in terms of loving people with open arms like this song was saying I was preaching at a church it's a while back now and there were these two women there that used to be men and it was obvious okay like really obvious and yet they were both leading ministry departments one was the head of the host and hostess team the other was the head of the Deaf ministry so the one was down there going you know right and the other so when I went to lunch with the pastor I said what's the story there and he said man you wouldn't believe it he said these two women used to be men I said I picked that up I said there's gonna be a story he said yeah he said so when they started coming you know church people are they can be right what are we gonna do when he said so I just went and made lunch with them and I said tell me your story here was their story they both had a sex-change 12 years ago and they didn't know each other then they moved to our town and people who go through that they tend to hang together because where else do they belong right and he said then four years ago they had a radical encounter with the risen Christ and they both gave their heart to Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior right he said and then then two years ago they had another radical encounter they both got baptized in the Holy Spirit and they both prayed in tongues and they both they both manifested you know this infilling of the Holy Spirit and I said right and he said so then they started coming to church and that was their story and check out human humble they were they said pastor if our presence in your church causes you stress we will gladly bow out but we love your church and we'd love to belong there but we in no way want to cause too many ripples and he said I just thought if God saw fit to fill you in the Holy Spirit who am I to say you can't greet on a door right right cuz what are they meant to do go back and reverse the whole thing you can't right this is that is radical open-armed love and no shame and it's not like okay we affirm this kind of thing no it's but we accept those people who that's a part of their story right well what are they what they actually found out what I ate and drink see this is true on microcosmic levels as well this is true about money like if you've ever been invited to a new group of people only to work out six months in they're all rich and then you work out they think you're rich and then you wonder and then you wonder I wonder if they actually found out that I'm broke they wonder if I'd still belong to this world this is true of Fitness right hey this will come as no surprise to any person in this room right but here's what the research shows that women do not like to be gawked at at the gym by men but worse they don't like to be compared to the really fit girl on the treadmill next to them right true true say here's what they did somebody came up with an idea for all-female gems and it took off all male gems not a great idea right this is true this is true maybe we can explain this way this is true of attraction let me tell you our traction works attraction works when an enzyme is released in your brain that makes you addicted to their presence the the the the psychological word for it is limerence it's it's it's that feeling where you can't you just you don't understand why you just can't get enough of the presence to that person this is this is that phase in the relationship where a four hour conversation sounds fun right you just love it so here's what happens right let me tell you about attraction from a guy's perspective and you applied her viewed like here's how it works right let's say for example that there's a girl and let's say for sake of example that she's ten times prettier than I am good-looking right now if if a girl walks in like that you just take notice and you're like shoot boy is she out of my league but then one thing leads to another and there's a certain amount of chemistry with me and her like she laughs at my jokes she thinks I'm funny I find her easy to talk to she finds me easy to talk to and we've got this sort of playful thing going on then one thing leads to another after that you might start texting and then one thing leads to another you start hanging out in a group and she chooses to sit by me and I'm thinking shoot was this on purpose or an accident what's going on and then one time at group dinner she's sitting next to me and her leg brush is mine and it's not like this it's like this and you're thinking shoot was that on purpose and then one thing leads to another you and a bit of conversation and I'm like hey what you get up to today and she's like well I got up at 4:15 and make it to my 4:30 CrossFit class so I could be done by 5:30 to make it to the 5:45 hot yoga class I teach you know and you're like shoot and then one thing leads to another and you end up on a first date right that first date you thinking hey you you ladies every woman in this room that's married you can remember the first date with your husband you can every single one of you every single M you can remember that first date now your husband's we don't remember that okay and it's and it's not because we don't love you it's because we don't remember all that crap okay that's your job right now think about it think about think about what you know about your husband today what you know about your husband today now think back to that first day did he dress like he actually wanted to know why shame he was afraid of not belonging to your world did he does he smell now like he smelled that night know why shei think about that night did knowing what you know now did he order what he actually wanted to eat no way why did he do the things in the car after the meal that night that he does in the car now after the meal know why so I ended up on a date with this girl that's ten times better look into me think about it am I going to order what I actually want to order no why because walking into the restaurant you're thinking oh no she's made of pure muscle and readiness and I'm made of pudding and pork so the waiter comes around he's like kind of take your order I'm like you know what I'll have I'll have a half a grilled chicken breast with a half a rice pilaf and order of broccoli and it's coming out your mouth and you're thinking what am i doing why would you order that why shame I'm afraid of not belonging to her world so one thing leads to another and I end up marrying this girl in five years into our marriage she's like let's go back to that place that we had our first date and I'm like where's that so we go back to that place we on our first date am I gonna order the same thing I did that first night no way I'll be like I'll order 20 fried chicken wings and order a french fries and a beer right and she's like god you're disgusting have you no shame and I'm like nope you married me you're stuck with all this now for life you have removed all fear of not belonging to your world I have no shame that's what we're talking about removing it's the fear of not belonging let's say it this way next life research shows that there's only one variable that separates people who report having a profound sense of love and belonging with people who say that it's absent and the varible is not money it's not education it's not social economic status it's not background it's one variable and that is the people report that they belong report also that they feel like they're worth belonging and the people who say it's absent report that they believe they're not worth it and that's the whole story of Ruth the whole story of Ruth is a competing narrative between a nameless person Apollonia Maloney and the one who was willing to be named and we're still talking about him today the nameless one says you're not worth the risk but the named one says you're worth the risk issues and all Moabite and all race and all flaws and all background and all you are worth loving watch what happens next life so Boaz walks up to the city gate and tells people what to do and they do it he's obviously a man of high influence he's Torah observant even to the greater generosity right I mean he is like over the top with self control he is following the rules to make it legal next slide Boaz not only lets her into his household and takes care of her he marries her he marries this woman and goes so far for the rules and showing generosity why because God loves people more than the rules he does more than that which leads to this question why did someone write this down someone years after it happened said we got to write that story down why and there's a few reasons one is that it tells this amazing reconciliation story Abraham and lot split one becomes the father of the Israelites one becomes the father in the Moabites and then hundreds of years later Ruth and Boaz bring that that um that broken family back together that's beautiful it also helps us understand where David comes from which helps us understand where Jesus comes from but I love the way the rabbi's teach this if you ask a rabbi why is the Book of Ruth in the Bible they'll tell you those things but they'll say they'll say the main thing is what is this teaching us about God and I can't teach it any better than this I'll just say it how they say it let me show you the word next slide the word is cassette cassette si hese d cassette now realize in English CH is a chest that says cheesed okay it's not in Hebrew CH s right circus ed right cassette is loving kindness unmerited kindness Boas gain nothing by accepting Ruthie but he called her worth loving he did not treat her as she deserved he treated her how she was worth that's exactly what Jesus said God's like he's if you want got what you're not--' God's like here's what God's like look at flowers and birds they do nothing to deserve it but God feeds them and closed them because they're worth it go be like that like like Christianity in a nutshell is we don't treat people how they deserve we treat people how they're worth and that's what love is Cosette is generosity unmerited kindness but there's a picture word angka said and it's a swan plucking feathers off of itself to great pain to make a bed for its young in other words Cosette is when we're willing to undergo a little bit of pain ourselves so someone else can feel comfortable belonging it's us humbling ourselves just a little bit so someone else can know they belong it's that that God here's the thing that this book reveals God to be a God of cassette Boaz to be a man of cassette and if we're going to be a Church of God then we have to be a people of because said a people of unmerited kindness unmerited favor a people who treat people as they are worth and never as they deserve we're to be a people of Cosette let's say it this way a couple of questions about this because sermons are meant to be wrestled with not agreed with that helps us form our world let's ask a few questions about this because God says you're worth it can you believe that you're worthy of love and belonging science says if you can believe that you'll find profound connections everywhere just by that one belief to develop the belief I am worth loving is the key to you feeling connected to your fellow friends it's the key to profound connections everywhere you see it but the whole Gospel story is you bring nothing to the table but God doesn't even consider that He loves you that much to call you worth it not because of anything we deserve but because simply because he says we are worth the risk in this story the nameless the nameless one says you aren't worth the risk but the named one says you bring a lot of baggage here but you are worth it leaven and all issues and all we're like that broken leavened bread that God is longing to fill and we are worth the risk let's say it this way who is Polonia el meloni to you whose net what nameless thing is making you feel worse about yourself and maybe we say this way whose voice needs to get quieter in your life this story is about competing narratives one voice says you're not worth the risk but he's nameless but the named one is saying you are worth the risk issues in all leaven and all flaws and all past and all background and all which voice are we gonna believe maybe we can wrestle with it this way who are we being Polonia Alma Loney - is that is there any group of people or individual person that we are the nameless people shaming them that never be the case may we repent of that if that is the case because equip our place with no shame what do we mean by that that no one should be afraid of belonging here regardless of where they are in their journey what other hope of changing their life is there than to expose them to the presence of God in an authentic way without them being afraid and having to protect themself all the time maybe we can say it one last way next slide Jesus did not die simply to forgive us but to challenge the so-and-so's the polonium Maloney's along the way to scream you're worth loving how can we reflect that this week to someone on the outside someone here's the thing right I've preached all around this country in your movement so here's what I know okay I know that none of you would shame somebody because of something about them I know that that's not my question I know that to be the case I know your leaders okay I know that to be the case that's not my question my question is do they know that because the onus is on us to take the step to make sure they know that because there is reasonable evidence for them to think that you might be like somebody else who did shame them and it's on us to make sure that we go over the top with loving-kindness cos said to make sure that they know you are worth loving issues at all levan and all flaws at all you are worth the risk so I bless you my sisters of equip [Applause] may you not just be a group of people on your way to heaven when you die may you be people saying yes to the infinite possibilities to bring heaven to every place we see Hill here may we embrace again the beauty of the Bride of Christ may we embrace the beauty of Pentecost may we embrace the beauty of broken leavened loaves simply filled with oil may we embrace the beauty of knowing God loves people more than the rules may we be committed to fulfilling Scripture instead of simply being right about it may we wake up every day taking our one next step to Bethlehem and may we eradicate shame from our world by being a people and a culture of cosette a culture that the named Redeemer says you are worth it until I see you again next time grace and peace everybody god bless

Channel: Equippers Church

Views: 1,334

Rating: 4.7333331 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: uNOPNURGkBc

Length: 47min 14sec (2834 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 19 2019