Is There A Boaz In The House?

and so father God would you be our cornerstone at all times not just father when we're walking through the valleys of life but even when we're on the mountain peaks of life would you be our cornerstone god we don't want you to be our Divine oxygen mask that we just turn to in case of emergency God we want you to be the very air that we breathe so Lord God we recommit we re up ourselves and our commitment to you being the cornerstone receive our worship now speak to us work out from your word so that in that I'm available to you use me father I pray and move among the people Lord God in Jesus name we pray amen and amen you may be seated in the presence of the Lord I want you to take out your devices click on your Bible apps and meet me in the Book of Ruth the Book of Ruth as you're turning there again let me just remind you we're on we're doing exploring membership today at abundant life if you're here and you're going then I'd love to hear more about the vision and the values and the story of this church that is a great opportunity exploring membership for you to come and to connect and to hang out with us it's just for an hour lunch will be provided a light lunch and I would love to meet you and to hang out with you also you have noticed our new contributors tents that comes from one of our values we want to take people from consuming to contributing so when we call them our contributor stations it is it is an opportunity for you to explore how you can connect and so I want to encourage all of us who call abundant life home that you would just jump in there and serve in fact I was just even them looking at Alissa early this morning she is helping out with communion and what a wonderful example of someone who's all-in and who's saying how can I contribute and not just consume finally one encourage you all I need all of you there who can possibly make it to our discipleship summit we are a church that is absolutely committed to reaching the bay for Christ and for this whole thing called discipleship producing reproducing followers of Jesus Christ latest assist excite only about one to two percent of all Christians have actually done that and I don't say that to berate anybody I think the reason why so many Christians haven't actually made a disciple is because many of us have not been taught how to do that and so this discipleship summit we're bringing in what I regard to be one of the world's foremost experts dr. Kenan Vaughn if you can just give me a half day on that Saturday May 20th he's going to show you here's what the Cypress ship is and here's exactly the steps you need to take to make disciples he's gonna bring some wonderful resources in and it's going to be a wonderful opportunity so please please please go online as soon as possible and register to be a part of that well we've been in a series on on dating and we have just been exploring this whole idea of what it looks like to actually date in a way that glorifies God we we spent three weeks in the book of Genesis Genesis chapter 24 looking at the courtship between Isaac and Rebecca this past Sunday we were in first Corinthians chapter 6 just walking through a deeply profound theological philosophical look at sex we just simply called it the talk would encourage you if you haven't watched that to actually go online and watch that today I want to give a direct word to men next week thank you one man next week I'm going to give a direct word to women and on Mother's Day when it be in proverbs 31 next week if you have not read proverbs 31 especially the last half of that passage when it talks about the excellent wife the proverbs 31 woman that's what we're going to be so want to encourage you you can actually spend some time this week getting a head start on that now I know I shouldn't say this in in the tech capital of the world but I hate math I hate everything about math in fact I went to Bible College to get out of math don't like math absolutely positively and I'm feeling a lot of judgment here in Silicon Valley y'all looking at me like I'm short or something but I I don't like math in fact well my kids came to me around 2nd third grade and want me to help them with fractions I said I tap out but there's an app for that I'll download the app on your iPad and we can we can get it rolling I I I just don't like math was never really good at it and fractions just messed me up but but one thing that did stick with me from fractions was the reality that that when you have an equation that deals with fractions or a problem that deals with fractions one of the most helpful things you can do is to figure out the common denominator and if you can figure out what the common denominator is that will help you to navigate the challenge in the problems that that equation proposes now it's true of fractions is actually true of our world there's so many things in our world that I just feel I get frustrated with because because it's as if we deal with the surface issues and we don't get to the common denominator so for example I can just give you the issue of race and racism and I'm as what who grew up in the south I grew up in Atlanta I am so grateful to dr. King because of his work I can I can sit on any seat of the bus that I want I could drink out of any water fountain that I want to I can and grateful for the civil rights movement but but here's the frustrating thing about the civil rights movement racism still exists and the reason why it still exists is because the civil rights movement they could deal with laws but you couldn't deal with heart which by the way is why you have to have church because church is one of God's primary vehicles and vessels for getting to the heart that's why your hope shouldn't ultimately be in the white house it should be in God's house so I'm just I'm just going to go ahead and go there I have I've got a real problem with people who will join a political party but won't join a church yeah I got about seven golf claps on that any person who will join a political party but won't join a church what you're saying is my hope is in government it's quiet in here whose email address can I give this week and so so one of the things they have to get to is we understand that racism is not just a matter of writing new laws it's a matter of the heart and the common denominator there is sin let me inch closer to our neighborhood sociologist will tell us they may tell us even even secular sociologists they say one of the common denominators that runs antithetical to a to having a flourishing society is the problem of men sociologists tell us that there is a direct correlation between the health of a society in the men in that society that that one of the common denominators if you want to build a healthy society you've got to be a part of building healthy men [Music] [Applause] statistics are clear and I'm just going to give it to you again you know these already here's what happens to a society that has been overrun with the pandemic of broken men who are now abandoning their responsibilities to the home and are leaving generations of fatherless kids look at the screen with me 63 percent of youth suicides come from fatherless homes eighty-five percent of all children with behavioral disorders come from fatherless homes 71 percent of high school dropouts come from fatherless homes 70 percent of juveniles in state operated institutions come from fatherless homes children simply do better educationally when there's a man in the home I love this in fact children from low-income two-parent homes academically outperform middle class kids from fatherless homes youth from fatherless homes are twice as likely to engage in criminal activity as those who have fathers in the home and if that same youth lives in a neighborhood that is populated mostly by fatherless homes his likelihood of engaging in criminal activity triples now look look I know I've come by so many addresses today and this is not a death wish on anybody it may not have worked out between you and the mother but but but you can still be engaged with the kids I love Michelle Alexander maybe you've read her award-winning book the the the new Jim Crow if you haven't read it I committed to you she's tackling this issue of mass incarceration and there's a lot of finger-pointing and what's happening here in the state of California nationally with the three strikes rule and how unfair that was and how it kind of targeted people of color I get that I understand that then ain't dealing with the common denominator actually what these statistics say is if you want to tackle mass incarceration you need to be like Michael Jackson and take a look at the man in the mirror and start with yourself not with a government program so what these statistics say is if you want to set your child on a trajectory towards suicide behavioral problems poor academic performance mass incarceration criminal activity wallow in your brokenness as a man and abdicate your responsibility to live into what God has called you to live into and that is to man up live love and lead like Jesus so one of my commitments when I came to abundant life is on my short list one of things I want to do is I just I just want to build a culture that builds men that's why we do the men's huddle that's we're going to offer a lot of other events in programs we want to build men build men build men build men build men and yes we're doing stuff towards women but I am intentionally going to be a little bit biased towards that because I believe that if at the end of my tenure we can give back a culture of Jesus loving Jesus living Jesus leading men then the bay will be exponentially made better because the men are better [Applause] so I want us to look at this ladies I want you to take notes if you're single what I'm going to give you today we look at the life of a godly man this is a little bit of a different message than what I typically do we're going to do a biography on a man by the name of Boaz in the scriptures I'm calling this is there a Boaz in the in the house if you are a single lady I'm going to give you exactly what you need to look for when contemplating who you need to spend the rest of your life with and don't settle for anything less than what I'm going to give you today all right now men men I need you to furiously take notes especially if you sit next to the significant woman in your life because ain't nothing sexier to that woman than to see her man furiously taking notes trying to get better all right so I need you to take good notes and I'm going to give you exactly what you need to be to be the kind of man that God has called you to be now are you ready here we go so we come to the story of Ruth we don't meet Boaz so chapter 2 chapter 1 is all about roof and the Cliff Notes version is I believe any psychologist who was forced to render a diagnosis on Ruth just from what she read about Ruth and Ruth chapter one would probably diagnose her as being mildly too severely depressed she's going through a lot Ruth is a Moabite Asst she has gotten married and her husband has tragically died she's now a widow not only is she a widow but she does not have any children which in that society was a huge social stigma women who were widowed or left by their husbands and especially they didn't have any kids as well a lot of times the only recourse in antiquity for those kind of women as it relates to how to put food on the table is most of them turn to prostitution whenever you see a prostitute in the Bible it is beyond fair for you to guess that this person was probably married at one time the husband left died and now this this woman has been placed in an extreme position of vulnerability not only that she attaches herself to Naomi decides that she's going to follow Naomi from Moab and into Bethlehem which means she's an immigrant not only that she's poor she doesn't know how she's going to put food on her table in fact when we meet her in chapter 2 we know she's poor because she's doing the the work of poor people back then which is gleaning in another man's field she's a widow she's barren she's grieving she's weeping the text says she's an immigrant she's she's poor and yet she will end up encountering a man by the name of bull as she will end up married to Boaz and when beau has enters into covenant with her here's what's happening he is inheriting a woman who's been nicked up and scuffed by life there's many things that are wonderful about Ruth as I will see it in just a few moments in chapter 3 verse 11 she's called a worthy woman but even though she's a worthy woman she's bid through a lot and Boaz inherits all of that the good parts and the not-so-good parts the triumphs and the tragedies see when you enter into relationship with someone you you inherit someone's story maybe there's pages and chapters that are great that are riveting that you love about that person and then there's some pages and chapters that you don't like there's brokenness that's all of us it always kills me when I sit down and talk to young men young Millennials especially they'll sit in my office and or we'll be hanging out and eat lunch somewhere and they you know they'll start talking about the woman they want to marry and and I'm always like brother you've got some aspiration there's a little bit of embellishment but the way they come across they come across like yeah I'm gonna marry this woman and she's going to be this big-time professional out in the marketplace making all this money and she'll rush home every day right before me get home about 5:30 6 o'clock have my dinner ready for me every single day and we'll have this wonderful meal that is cooked and then you know we'll sit down together and we'll watch ESPN SportsCenter after that while she's doing our best more Bible study at two o'clock in the morning her breath smells like roses she gets up at 4:45 to make it to the gym at 5:00 works out an hour rushes home to make sure I've got my scrambled eggs just the way I like it then she rushes off to work only to come back home later on that day I do it all over again now I'm not saying that woman ain't out there well good luck with that any ladies got my back on that one there was a song some of us can remember it some of us chocolate people can remember it back in the 80s Karen white saying I'm not your superwoman truth of the matter is men you need to stop looking for your woman in the fiction section of the bookstore the reality is she's gone come from the nonfiction section she ain't a fairy tale she's got a real story this pages and chapters of it that you like in fact you love the cover but now there's gonna be some pages and chapters you don't like because she's not a fairy tale she's got a real story this is what happens to Boaz these are real people real stories real problems I want to fast forward with me to the end of the story because it's important that you get this as we launch out into this message here's Boaz he's married Ruth they've stepped into covenant with one another and now they have a child a son by the name of Obed Naomi's is holding Obed Naomi is is Ruth's mother-in-law and these ladies say to her in Ruth chapter 4 verses 14 to 15 don't miss it they say to her blessed be the Lord who has not left you this day without a redeemer speaking of Boaz and may his name be renowned in Israel now this phrase and he speaking of Boaz shall be to you underline it a restorer of life that's what the Boaz man looks like no the Boaz man ain't God there's one God and he's alive and well the Boaz man is is not the woman Savior but here is Ruth when we meet her she's depressed and depleted when we meet her she's she's on the precipice of despondency she's broken she's grieving she's weeping but at the end of the story her life's been restored that's what the boy has man does he's a restorer of life ladies don't you ever forget one of the fundamental differences between a boy and a man is boys take men give boys takes men give here here here's the deal Ruth is able to say that my life is infinitely times better than what it was pre Balazs so my life was horrible before I met him but now my life is infinitely times better since meeting him he he has taken my life to another level I'm a better woman not just because I follow God but because I follow God's gift to me seen in my husband Boaz when the most tragic things my wife could ever say is if we were out to eat with you you were to say has your old life gotten better since being married some 18 years to Pastor Brian if she were to even stop and be like let me think about that men don't ever forget we men tend to be thermostats but our wives tend to be thermometers we set the environment our wives reflect the environment we set oftentimes a wife's countenance is a good reflection on her husband's leadership or lack thereof and what a Boaz does is he restores life he gives life he restore his life he gives life the Boaz men when you meet him when that when that meeting is over that conversation is over and he's getting back into his car to leave you've always got this feeling I wish I'd had more time with him I wish I could hang out more with him because he gives life he gives life he gives life that's what a Boaz man does and I just got to beg the question is there a Boaz in the house now what is it about Boaz that makes him a restorer of life look at chapter 2 verse 1 the first time we meet this brother the first thing that is said about him look at it with me now they only had a relative of her husband's underline it a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech whose name was Boaz here's everything you need to know about Boaz he's a worthy man our text is originally written in language called Hebrew and the Hebrew word for worthy don't miss it if you missed this you missed the whole message it means full of substance full of substance mountain on one hand we can say a Boaz for sure that this idea of substance is comprehensive there is a dimension with Boaz that is financial what we're saying just few moments Boaz is extremely wealthy but that is to miss the point when it when it essentially calls Boaz a worthy man it is not so much financial as much as it is his character so that when we say that beau is is full of substance we are saying that this man is a man chock full of character now if you get nothing else I say get this I've had this message on repeat with my boys and I'm praying that gets through your reputation is who people think you are your character is who you actually are take care of character and your reputation will fall in place but be consumed with reputation in the glade character you'll be found out as a hypocrite I'm going to fast your reputation is who people think you are your character is who you actually are your character is who you are when no one's watching take care of character and your reputation will fall in place but be consumed with your reputation and neglect your character and you'll be found out as a hypocrite Boaz is a worthy man what does that mean he's chock-full of character ladies I don't care how fine he is he may be tall tan and terrific but for God's sake make sure there's some character make sure he has the character infrastructure to lead you well you can only fake the funk so long and that's why I want to give it to you again I'm always asked how long should I date date long enough to catch a whiff of the character he's a worthy man now watch this chapter 2 verse 1 says Boaz is a worthy man now look with me at chapter 3 verse 11 Boaz is talking to Ruth look at what he says about Ruth in chapter 3 verse 11 and now my daughter do not fear I will do for you all that you ask for all my fellow townsman now watch it now that you are a worthy woman so here we as a worthy man who ends up marrying a worthy woman don't miss it you tend to attract who you are you tend to attract who you are righteousness attracts righteousness and as a young folks a wretchedness attracts wretchedness now if you sitting up here crying I don't know why I always get these you know no good man and blah blah blah well at some point it's been like separate them I got to find somebody to email to run y'all to at what point do you go oh baby it's me you can't dress like a Jezebel and expect to get a bow as I need somebody's email address if you ain't selling nothing don't advertise bow ass worthy man man of substance Ruth worthy woman a woman of character in substance in next week we're going to unpack that in proverbs 31 what exactly does that look like to be a worthy woman now what does this exactly look like I want to I want to just I'm giving a 35,000 foot perspective of Boaz I want to give you six quick things today because I want to unpack everything else that flows from this message is what is a worthy man look like what is a worthy man look like because that's what I want to be I want to be a bow as a man I'll be aware of the man is there a bow as in house I want to be a Boaz man what exactly does that look like six things first number one Boaz has what we call a transcendent purpose a transcendent purpose a transcendent purpose now I want to give you two books to read there QuickBooks you can work through them in add a little small books their companions books written by Jeff and Shanti Feld Feldman and what I was called what women want and another one's called what men want and and I want to encourage it get into these books Shanti Feldon is a graduate of Harvard she is a gender and relationship expert and one of the things that she just nails in this incredible book called what actually called what what men need what women need in this incredible book that gets into the mind of a man one of the things that she just talks about is all of us men struggle with what she calls the impostor voice I don't care how successful a man is many of us men battle with issues of confidence ladies you know you need to understand men don't have huge egos we just have soft sensitive ones I'm even going to amend me on that one I brought my preach pastor preach thanks music stand we men don't have big egos we just have soft sensitive ones and there's a voice often times in most men that is just talking in the back of our minds saying stuff like your fraud you're gonna get found out you can't do this job you're not competent enough we wrestle with issues of confidence now what does it have to do with the price of tea in China one of the things that we understand about Boaz is it seems like whenever he opens his mouth he's always talking about the Lord I just talked about the guy talking about God in fact just a few moments we want to see that he even organizes his business around God what you understand about Boaz it's - Boaz God is the Alpha and the Omega the beginning and the end God is everything which means the biggest thing - Boaz ain't the paycheck the biggest thing to Boaz is it the amount of fields he has the biggest thing to Boaz isn't the approval of other people but the biggest thing to Boaz is God and the weight weight Boaz solves his confidence issues is he lets God take care of that see men here's what you got to understand this really is a word for all of us many of us got to stop listening to ourselves and start talking to ourselves and we've got to learn to be our own preacher and to preach the gospel to ourselves every day and when you preach the gospel to yourself here's what you understand that I am saved by grace through faith which means I didn't work my way into the kingdom I didn't earn my way into the kingdom I didn't perform my way into the kingdom I'm not saying by my concept by my own confidence God sees me as is accepts me as is loves me as he saves me as is yet by His grace never leaves me as is which means this if God and I are okay now I'm freed up to lead like he wants me to leave see here's the deal you can't lead and be insecure at the same time so so men if our confidence stuff ain't fixed we're either going to be passive and not lead at all we're going to lead out of a place of dictatorship and even abuse but when we're settled in who God created us to be we can be like David one of the greatest leaders ever in the Bible who said when mother and father forsake me the Lord will take me up or yeah the walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with me your rod and your staff they come in other words David said I'm secure in God and and what was the residual effect of that now he's freed up to lead so men if you want to be a Boaz man you have to have a transcendent purpose something that's bigger than paychecks bigger than what your boss thinks bigger than your employment status bigger than the car that you drive being in the house or the apartment that you live in you you've got to be rest assured that as long as God and I are okay now I'm free you've got a transcendent purpose secondly Boaz has what's called a North Star a North Star here's Ruth Ruth stumbles into his field she starts gleaning from his field very fact that she's bleeding from his field tells us something about Boaz in fact we know that Boaz is a man of the scriptures because he organizes his business around the Vinick is 19 verses 9 through 10 look at it with me this is a scripture that Boaz read many times God says when you reap the harvest of your land you shall not reap your field right up to its edge neither show you gather the gleanings after your harvest and you shall not strip your vineyard bare neither shall you gather the Fallen grapes of your vineyard you shall leave them for the poor and for the Sojourner which is what Ruth is I am the Lord your God so here's what God saying boys I know this sounds crazy and I know we in an agricultural community but here's what I'm ask you to do you got your field don't glean to the edges leave margin which means this boys crazy business principle I actually want you to leave some money on the table I'm going to take care of you boys but I want you by the way this is God's will fare policy leave margin why so that where people don't get a handout give them the dignity of work let them come and work God's welfare system is not a system of enablement it is a system of empowerment so have them glean supposes okay it's crazy but you know what I'm going to adjust my life and my business practices to the Word of God that's what a boys man does he had just his life he is finances everything in his life to the word of god I love Scrabble absolutely love love love Scrabble I've been on a 40 day fast from from television and it's amazing when you don't watch TV how much time for family you have and we've been playing a lot of Scrabble lately I grew up playing Scrabble I grew up in a pre app age which meant when we played Scrabble you know how this works in Scrabble Scrabble doesn't let you make up words and when you come across a suspicious word it doesn't let you just debate what do you think and take a vote no no no no what we would do growing up in a pre app world mama would set a big book down on the kitchen table called dictionary and whenever we had a question mama said now what does the book say and we would go to the book and we would let the book determine how we navigated the game that's what a bo ass man does a boys man at the end of the day doesn't make up on his own what manhood mean the boys man says what does the book say and I'm going to let the book define what masculinity in my life looks like I'm going to be careful that analogy because we can make God out to be something you just consult in case of emergency I think really a better analogy is the North Star in antiquity whenever you went on a journey now you didn't consult Siri from your chariot but in antiquity what you did was the first thing you did was you said where's the North Star it's a fixed point in the sky and you allowed the North Star to determine the steps in the direction that you took you navigated every single step according to the North Star that's the Word of God that's what the Boaz man does he gets in the word and he drinks from it on his own the Boaz man is not some parent who merely parrots what his pastor says but he gets into the word for himself the boys man is like Joshua who says as for me in my house we going to serve the Lord the boy has van says we will sit down and have family devotions I ain't got a degree in Greek or Hebrew but I love the Lord and I'm going to open up a passage and pull out some principles and leave my family why because the Boaz man sets the agenda in his house and that agenda is the Word of God being the North Star and again I've got to ask you is there a Boaz in the house third I don't know of a better way to say this but the boys man handles his business he handles his business here's boy as we meet him his brother's an entrepreneur he he owns his own business has field has people working for him again the point is that you going to own your own business it's not the fact that you've but here's the Sitz when beau ad steps into Ruth story he's already checked off the major boxes in his life he needs to check off see see you can't be trying to find yourself and leading a woman at the same time you can't be trying to find yourself and leading a woman at the same time this is real basic stuff go to Genesis chapters 2 and 3 sometime and read it before God gives Adam a wife he gives them a mission just clear on that so to you 20-somethings there's no one's gonna tell you your season of reaping is in direct relationship to how you navigate your season of sowing so I say to you right now get all the education you can go to school get the bachelor's degree the master's degree the the doctorate degree if you can pay off debt move out your mama's house instead put down the video game get rid of the video game you're 28 years old be constructive in your life join a church go on a missions trip in fact in your 20s get life insurance you as thin as you ever going to be your metabolism is racing as fast as it will be your insurance premiums will be cheap cheap cheap cheap cheap handle your business now I want to say this and it's a multi-ethnic audience I know but I'm going to tell you one of the saddest things that I see and I see it primarily as a pastor when I do people of colors funerals it is the saddest thing that I see how many people of color I've buried over the years and that husband died and had no life insurance when you need to look at your duty of handling your business to not just happen in this life but it needs to you need to look at providing for your family beyond this life handle your business pay off debt handle your business again I got to ask you is there Boaz in the house fourth boys is a provider he sees Ruth asked a few questions about who she is sees Ruth sits down with her over lunch and he says these words to her and Ruth chapter 2 verse 14 look at it with me and that 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 I love it underline this and she ate until she was satisfied and she had some left over it's called being a provider now when I talk about a man being a provider this is not me saying that women can't work outside the home actually in antiquity here's what you understand in a lot of cases it was the women who worked harder even more harder than the the man did in fact next week we're going to be with looking at the proverbs 31 woman and we're going to see in the promise everyone she works she works questions reality as we live in the bay and you understand that a whole lot better than I do all right this ain't Memphis this ain't you know Alabama this is the bay lord have mercy so when I talk about when I talk about the husband being provider this is not saying woman shouldn't work what would I am what I'm getting in here is one of the harshest things Paul ever says is he says if a man doesn't provide for his family he's worse than an unbeliever and I think what Paul is getting at here it's it's not just I'm not talking to the guy who's unemployed but looking I'm talking to the guy who has no Drive who has no passion who has no motivation who's who's who's adding to his wife's burden and not trying to take from it who's not shoulder to shoulder with his wife and trying to go somewhere and build something that's the kind of person I'm talking about men we've been called to provide it's the background elevator music of our of our minds and that's why the bow has man one of the worst days of the month for him is maybe when he's balancing the checkbook and realize it's not a whole lot left over that's that's tough for us why because we've been wired to provide when the most joyous thing a man can ever do is just sit at the dinner table and realize there's enough food there my kids got on that the new shoes in the outside I've been able to contribute towards that it's how we're wired v the Boaz Man is not just a provider he's a protector he's a protector here's what Boaz says he says who's the new girl oh that's Ruth you know Naomi and they just came out real okay so here the boy says don't none of y'all touch her don't nothing I'll touch her leave her alone we're gonna protect her that's what the boy has man does hears riffs she's vulnerable he could have exploited her vulnerabilities what does he do he steps in he initiates and he protects my mentors God by the name of Dennis and if you walk into Dennis's house the first thing you see is a big bat mounted on the wall that has carved into the bat two words respect her and then there's all these signatures around those words respect her I said did this what's up with the bat he says hey man I got four daughters they're all grown now all wrong but in high school you wouldn't take one of my daughters out you didn't just roll up and just take her out no no you had the interview get interviewed by me first I says really did something out the interview oh he said hey I love to tell you about it he says what I do is I bring up my files of all my bank statements and I give it to this guy want to take out my daughter said I when you looked at my bank statements look what I got my checking account my savings account and the guys like serious because this is valuable information is very valuable they got why are you doing that well because actually you're asking for something a lot more valuable to me than my money and you need to know I'm gonna put it out there Dennis said right now you're the enemy so so you want to take out someone that I've been investing all my life in and you want me to just let you get in your car a stranger so says here's the rules you keep your lips to yourself except my daughters would always be in the corner just cowering and keep your lips to yourself keep your hands to yourself look him all these rules and if they agree to it he brought out the bat and they would sign it now that may be extreme but hear me that's what a man does it may not be that that's just what a man does I don't never forget picking up his wonder when I was in high school figure out and her dad was downstairs cleaning the shotgun and I was like Farrah and he's like come here yes sir if you got a shotgun you cleaning it you saying come here i'ma come here he said as far as I know my daughter's a virgin please return her the way you found her that's what a man does look I want this to be a place at which people come and there and we all struggle with stuff but let me just tell you one thing we don't have zero tolerance for it it is a man who puts his hands on a woman we're just not gonna play with that we don't we don't pray about that in fact if I ever hear about that I'm gonna start a ministry with a bunch of 6 foot 9 280 pound guys and I'm going to say go over to so-and-so's house and lean hands and not for prayer and I don't want to hear it I want to hear what you did because I only want to be want to be held responsible for we don't play that around here that's not what we do the Boaz man does not exploit he protects and again I got to ask you is there a Boaz in the house finally root comes home from work and Naomi's like girl how'd it go and one good where'd you go girl uh some dude named Boaz Boaz he's actually close to us he could he could redeem us now Ruth chapter three is the most problematic passage in all the Bible's most problematic chapter in all the Bible why because it's filled with what's called sexual tension the commentators you can just see them turning red trying to explain Ruth chapter three in essence what Naomi boys are going to drink some wine but we got to talk this guy into redeeming us so here's what I want you to do put that outfit on over there girls pray some of that Fendi on all that's not in the text but you just roll with me I want you looking good and at night I want you to crawl into bed with them yeah ladies not a handbook for what you should do to get a man roof does it and notice Boaz's reaction chapter three he says in verse twelve and now it is true that I am a redeeming it there's redeemer near that I remain tonight and in the morning if he will redeem you good had let him do it but he is he is not willing to redeem me then as the Lord lives I will redeem you lie down until morning so she laid his feet into the morning but arose before one could recognize another and he said let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor and he said bring the garment you were wearing and hold it out so she held it out he measured out six measures of barley and put it on her then she went into the city I love verse eighteen this is Naomi talking wait my daughter until you learned how the matter turns out where the man will not rest but will settle the matter today here's what's happening she's in this vulnerable position and bulletins could have been like I got all the power here you want me to do a favor for you well I'm going to need a favor in return it's not what he does he exercises self-control he actually protects her dignity says I want you to go out before it's light only by seeing ya so what he does now let me just say this and it's just the ugly reality we men know the average man will go as far as a woman lets him it's just real talk the average man will go as far as a woman lets him that's not boo as behavior that's a little boy behavior here's what a boy has man does boy as man does not wait for the woman to set the boundaries but a bow as men says look I'm attracted to you and it's obvious you're attracted to me so here's the deal I want to protect your purity as well as mine so here's the parameters that's what a Boaz man does that's called being a leader and not being passive it's called initiating and acting and not reacting so what we need is a generation of Boaz men who are just going to say look I noticed the first day or maybe the second day or the third day or whatever and I just want to deal with the elephant in the room I want some boy as men to actually stand up and say I'm committed to Jesus I love him and I've got to struggle in my life and I'm going to do everything I can to not just protect my purity but to protect yours if she ain't with it she ain't the one so stop waiting for the girl to slap your hand Boaz men lead who take initiative as the band comes and we get ready to go to communion chapter four he redeems her most scholars say that boys is a type of Christ he he does for this poor immigrant woman who brings nothing to the table which she could never do for herself he gives her a hope in a future that's what Christ did for us later on we see Boaz and Ruth have a child Obed Obed will then have a son Jesse Jesse will then have a son named David the second king of Israel and in the lineage of David now comes Jesus Christ Boaz is a type of Christ man I want to shoot you straight if you're here today and you don't know Christ as Lord and Savior what I've just done is I've been talking crazy to you there's no way why you would do any of this unless you take the first step every Boaz man has to take in order for this to be real and that is the step towards Christ and inviting him in your life why because Jesus Christ all these six things Jesus Christ did in spades when he was on earth gave a transcendent purpose he said in John chapter 17 father everything you gave me to do I did he he had the scriptures as his Northstar when Satan tempted him he kept saying it is written it is written it is written he quoted scriptures he handled his business by dying on a cross for us he provided for people by healing them by giving sight to the blind he protected the marginalized and downtrodden and the exercise self-control the writer of Hebrews says he was tempted in all things as we are yet without sin Jesus Christ was the ultimate Boaz man so I want to give an invitation this morning I want to give an invitation for those of you who are here today and you don't know Christ as Lord and Savior I'm not talking about religion I'm not talking about what church you grew up in I'm not talking about the fact that you were baptized when you were 2 years old what I'm offering is a relationship there are a lot of religious people who will end up in hell anybody can be religious I'm talking something real I'm talking something that travels the 18 inches from your head to your heart I'm talking Christ being Lord of your life I'm talking Christ being the center of everything so we want to offer Christ to you I also talked to that man and you're sitting here you're going man I just I would call myself a follower of Christ but I'm just I'm just not Manning up and I want prayer as a man I'm not we're anywhere near Boaz I take refuge in the thought there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus but as long as you're breathing it is God's Way of saying I'm not done with you there's another chance in another chance and another chance you can write a new chapter today you can write a new chapter today so we want to offer that to you if you don't know Christ or maybe you do know Christ and you're just saying as a man would you just pray for me I just don't feel like I'm stepping up and walking in what God is calling me to walk in I want to pray for you then I want to invite you to come meet me here at the altar father God in the name of Jesus we just bless you in this place today we honor you thank you God that Boaz is a type of Christ in fact I'm encouraged Lord God when when men lean in to biblical masculinity we become a picture of Christ to our culture God we need more event God helped the church to rise up not in the sexist misogynistic way Lord God but in an authentically humble way God I just I just pray that there would come out of abundant life just all kinds of men and what we're known as being are restores of life we're giving life not taking life so I just prayed it over us God would you save some Souls today Lord God would you add to your church today and would you would you repair broken men in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Abundant Life Christian Fellowship

Views: 16,641

Rating: 4.8405795 out of 5

Keywords: sermons

Id: 2FnKrDbH1Y4

Length: 55min 41sec (3341 seconds)

Published: Sun May 07 2017