Grit & Grace: A Blueprint for Redemption

GRIT & GRACE

A Blueprint for Redemption
Pastor Aaron Sutherland  

SERIES SCRIPTURE:
The book of Ruth

I. GOD’S REDEMPTION IS COMPELLED
Ruth 3:12-18 "'Now although it’s certainly true that I’m a redeemer, there’s a redeemer who is a closer relative than I am.  Stay the night. And in the morning, if he’ll redeem you—good, let him redeem. But if he doesn’t want to redeem you, then—as the Lord lives—I myself will redeem you. Lie down until the morning.' So she lay at his feet until morning. Then she got up before one person could recognize another, for he had said, 'No one should know that the woman came to the threshing floor.'  He said, 'Bring the cloak that you have on and hold it out.' She held it out, and he measured out six measures of barley and placed it upon her. Then she went into town. She came to her mother-in-law, who said, 'How are you, my daughter?' So Ruth told her everything the man had done for her. She said, 'He gave me these six measures of barley, for he said to me, ‘Don’t go away empty-handed to your mother-in-law.’' 'Sit tight, my daughter,' Naomi replied, 'until you know how it turns out. The man won’t rest until he resolves the matter today.''

II. GOD’S REDEMPTION IS COSTLY
Ruth 4:1-6 "Meanwhile, Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there. Just then, the redeemer about whom Boaz had spoken was passing by. He said, 'Sir, come over here and sit down.' So he turned aside and sat down. Then he took ten men from the town’s elders and said, 'Sit down here.' And they sat down. Boaz said to the redeemer, 'Naomi, who has returned from the field of Moab, is selling the portion of the field that belonged to our brother Elimelech.  I thought that I should let you know 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 won’t redeem it, tell me so that I may know. There isn’t anyone to redeem it except you, and I’m next in line after you.' He replied, 'I will redeem it.' Then Boaz said, 'On the day when you buy the field from Naomi, you also buy Ruth the Moabite, the wife of the dead man, in order to preserve the dead man’s name for his inheritance.' But the redeemer replied, 'Then I can’t redeem it for myself, without risking damage to my own inheritance. Redeem it for yourself. You can have my right of redemption, because I’m unable to act as redeemer.'"
 

III. GOD’S REDEMPTION IS COMPLETE
Ruth 4: 7-10 CEB "In Israel, in former times, this was the practice regarding redemption and exchange to confirm any such matter: a man would take off his sandal and give it to the other person. This was the process of making a transaction binding in Israel. Then the redeemer said to Boaz, 'Buy it for yourself,' and he took off his sandal. Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, 'Today you are witnesses that I’ve bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and Mahlon.  And also Ruth the Moabite, the wife of Mahlon, I’ve bought to be my wife, to preserve the dead man’s name for his inheritance so that the name of the dead man might not be cut off from his brothers or from the gate of his hometown—today you are witnesses.'"

 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. How have you experienced the love of God in pursuing you? How did that compulsion from God make you feel?
2. When have you participated in something very costly that you found to be worthwhile in the long run?  How does that speak to the cost of our redemption in Christ?
3. Have you ever tried to add to Christ’s redemption by making sure you do all the right things?  How does the fact of Christ’s redemption being complete in itself speak to that dynamic?