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Dec 23, 2018

Redeemed to Rest

Passage: Ruth 4:1-12

Speaker: Brian Land

Series: Advent 2018 - Ruth

Category: Grace Brevard

Keywords: christmas, identity, love, redemption

Sacrificial Redeeming Love. At great personal expense and vulnerability, Boaz legally, lovingly and sacrificially “redeems” Ruth from isolation and desperation, giving her and all of her future family an inheritance. What he didn’t realize was that, in so doing, he was also purchasing OUR inheritance because Jesus would be a branch on his family tree 1000 years later and would, in even greater love and sacrifice, would purchase US from isolation and desperation, giving US a future and infinite inheritance of Love himself.

Order of worship

Prelude: Music Special - Mary Did You Know

  • Guitar & Vocals - Bill Huffman, Piano - Don Briola

CALL TO WORSHIP: 4th Advent Reading

  • Isaiah 11:1-11 & Luke 2:8-14

MUSIC:

  • Hark the Herald Angels Sing
  • O Little Town of Bethlehem
  • Do You Hear What I Hear?
  • Go Tell It on the Mountain
  • Band: Guitar & Lead Vocals - Stu Nelsen, Vocals - Annette Lotz, Guitar & Vocals - Bill Huffman, Piano - Don Briola

READING: Matthew 1:21 & 11:28-30

PRAYER: The Gift of Gifts (adapted from The Valley of Vision)

LEADER: O great God. Source of all that’s good and true

What shall we render Thee for the gift of gifts?

ALL: Your own dear Son. Begotten not created.

Our Surety, Substitute, Savior, Redeemer.

LEADER: Herein is wonder of wonders.

ALL: He came below to raise us above.

LEADER: Herein is wisdom. We were undone with no will to return

ALL: Yet you came, to save us and work in us a perfect righteousness.

LEADER: Herein is love

ALL: When we could not draw near, He raised us up

LEADER: O Lord, let our hearts hear good tidings of great joy.

Believing, rejoicing, praising Christ.

ALL: Incarnate. Eternal. A gift from heaven.

MESSAGE: Redeemed to Rest

CENTRAL: Ruth 4:1-12

1 Now Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there. And behold, the redeemer, of whom Boaz had spoken, came by. So Boaz said, “Turn aside, friend; sit down here.” And he turned aside and sat down. 2 And he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down. 3 Then he said to the redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech. 4 So I thought I would tell you of it and say, ‘Buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people.’ If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not, tell me, that I may know, for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I come after you.” And he said, “I will redeem it.” 5 Then Boaz said, “The day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.” 6 Then the redeemer said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.” 7 Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging: to confirm a transaction, the one drew off his sandal and gave it to the other, and this was the manner of attesting in Israel. 8 So when the redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself,” he drew off his sandal. 9 Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and to Mahlon. 10 Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon, I have bought to be my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native place. You are witnesses this day.” 11 Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, “We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem, 12 and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the LORD will give you by this young woman.”

Illustration: Poldark - Redeemed Me

BENEDICTION: John 1:14 ESV

LEADER: 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

MEDIA:

12.23.18 Album

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

  1. On a scale from 1-10, how stressful is Christmas season?
  2. Why is it that Christmas Eve has been proven to be one of the most stressful days of the year (37% more heart attacks than the average day)?
  3. What does rest look like to you?
  4. How “rested” are you normally?
  5. When have you needed rescuing?
    1. financially, physically, relationally, morally, legally?
    2. How hard was it to accept a rescue?
  6. How is it that both Boaz and Ruth are each “Christ Figures” (they point to the greater...Jesus himself)
  7. In these same ways, how is Jesus even better?
  8. Like Boaz using a shoe (that’s really weird), how do we guarantee our promises?
  9. What happens if/when we break our promises?
  10. What are some of Jesus’ promise to us?
  11. What “security” did Jesus use to guarantee his promise (and yes, it’s a lot better than a shoe)?
  12. What did it cost him to secure us to be his?
    1. Why did he do it?

QUOTES:

  • “It is good to be children sometimes, and never better than Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child Himself.” - Charles Dickens
  • “Advent creates people, new people.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
  • “The central miracle asserted by Christians is the Incarnation. They say that God became Man. Every other miracle prepares for this, or exhibits this, or results from this. ” - C.S. Lewis
  • “Who among us will celebrate Christmas correctly? Whoever finally lays down all power, all honor, all reputation, all vanity, all arrogance, all individualism beside the manger; whoever remains lowly and lets God alone be high; whoever looks at the child in the manger and sees the glory of God precisely in his lowliness.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
  • “After creation God said, 'It is finished'-and he rested. After redemption Jesus said, 'It is finished'-and we can rest.” - Timothy J. Keller

BOOKS / ARTICLES:

Come Let Us Adore Him: A Daily Advent Devotional by Paul David Tripp

Hidden Christmas: The Surprising Truth Behind the Birth of Christ by Timothy J. Keller

SERMONS / TALKS:

May the Redeemer’s Name by Renowned by John Piper

Ruth 4

Redemption by Jeff White

Ruth 4:1-22

The Great Promise: Rest for Your Soul by Timothy J. Keller

Matthew 11:28-30