“Tell me about that?”  That is what we learned to say when our little ones came proudly to show us what they had created.  Melanie and I secretly called them ‘baloogs.’  A shape like a balloon with four trailing strings, a sprig on top and maybe something like eyes and a mouth. “It’s a picture of you, Daddy!” they would exclaim.  Of course, there is no denying some elements of resemblance.  The sparse coif and the generalized roundness.  But the wise parent learns never to make assessments until we invite our child to “tell me about that.”

Our children’s artistic skills have advanced.  Now cards for special occasions are crafted with remarkable flair and ingenuity, beautifully illustrated to express some aspect of the relational narrative of our family.   My office is filled with them.  My bookshelf corners are adorned with the geologic column of these illustrated cards.

Visual arts are one thing, but illustration is another.  Painting, drawing, and sculpture all capture a visual story unfolded in the mind’s eye of the artist, but the illustrator’s craft is to breathe the life of a written story into the eyes and mind of the beholder.  Illustrations must not only visually express the details of written or spoken words, but must communicate abstractions like love, anger, and joy in tangible ways.  They tell us what, who, why and what is to come, all beautifully and insightfully expressed in caricature.

The media in the illustrator’s toolkit are vast.  Painting, drawing, animation as well as literary pictures through verse and devices such as alliteration, assonance, parallelism, rhyme, repetition, and every dad’s favorite, wordplays and puns.  All these work together to illustrate complexities and deeper meaning in a story. 

The Book of Ruth is powerful story of steadfast love and redemption.  But it is about much more than that.  Its final genealogy gives us a clue that the tension, emotion, and suspense of Naomi’s faith journey and Ruth and Boaz’ unfolding romance is a story about another story.  A beautiful literary illustration of a much greater love story and faith journey. 

The inspired author uses wordplay, repetition, suspense, and even carefully crafted ambiguity to draw us in to the lives, crises and loves of Naomi, Ruth and their kinsman-redeemer, Boaz. And to anticipate the true kinsman-redeemer that our lives, crises, and loves all long to know.

At a potentially scandalous meeting between Ruth and Boaz on the threshing floor, Ruth makes faith’s bold demand of Boaz, “spread your wings over your servant, for you a redeemer.”  Boaz declares, “I will do for you all that you ask.”  But there is a problem.  A redeemer nearer than Boaz.  A wrinkle in the plan that seemed within their grasp.  As Ruth returns to Naomi to report, Naomi comforts her.  “Wait, my daughter, until you learn how the matter turns out, for the man will not rest but will settle the matter today.”

And in chapter 4 of Ruth, Boaz meets with an anonymous kinsman-redeemer and settles the matter.  The story of Boaz at the city gates negotiating with “Mr. So and So” to seek and accept the right to be the kinsman-redeemer is a beautiful illustration of another story.  The story of the coming, greater kinsman redeemer.  One who in eternity past accepted the role of kinsman-redeemer for those the Father gives him.  Sons of Adam oppressed by sin, spiritual poverty and death, who are aliens and foreigners to the covenants of promise.

Join us as we examine Ruth 4:1-12 and consider its beautiful illustration and anticipation of our kinsman-redeemer, Jesus Christ.  We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join our livestream on YouTube. 

Birthdays are a big deal in a large family.  One of the few things that is yours alone.  It is not hand-me-down.  It does not have to be shared.  In our family the birthday-boy chooses the breakfast and dinner menu.  He remains in bed until the assembled family serenades with strains of “Happy Birthday!”  If a student, he decides whether or not the day is a school holiday.  And at meals, the birthday boy eats from the “blue plate” emblazoned with “This Is Your Day, CELEBRATE!”

As our fledglings began to fledge and our nest emptied, my wife realized there were new nests needing a “blue plate.”  After all no birthday liturgy is complete without it.  So, she scoured the internet and found a few identical plates.  No mean feat since ours was close to 30 years old. As the first arrived we opened the box only to find a plate with a sizeable crack.  Quite disappointing! While suitable for display, it was not a gift that could be used.

Gifts that arrive broken or don’t work as promised or break quickly and easily because of poor quality, design, or construction are always a disappointment.  We hoped to find usefulness, reliability and enjoyment.  We thought our lives would be better, but instead we have accumulated one more broken thing.  Unusable and unused gifts are useless to us.  Amassing hordes of unused or unusable gifts is the province of dragons.

But all the gifts God gives arrive in working order. They are never broken.  Never fail to work as promised. Never disappoint. They are not gifts for display but for use.  Paul makes this clear in 1 Corinthians 12 as he reminds the Corinthian believers that gifts are given to edify the body, to serve others, and to glorify God not the believer. 

James, the brother of Jesus and leader in the Jerusalem church also writes about the way God’s gifts work in us.  Noting that saving faith is indeed the gift of God, he goes on to show that God’s gift of faith produces good works in us. 

“But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.“ James 2:18

And in Ephesians 2:1-10, Paul beautifully describes the transformative work of grace and faith, given sovereignly and graciously by God to sinners hopelessly “dead in sins and transgressions.”  But the apostle concludes by describing the outcome of the gift of faith.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. -Ephesians 2:8-10

Matthew Henry poignantly noted, that while “works are not the root of grace, they are the fruit of grace.”   Faith works!  It is not merely a gift from God that we display in a spiritual shadow box, compartmentalize with our Sunday best, or put in storage with our “spiritual special things.”  James goes on to say, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?” -James 2:14

Faith works!  In chapters 1 and 2 of Ruth, God revealed his loving-kindness, grace, covenant love, hesed to Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz.  The Lord brought Ruth to faith at the crossroads between Bethlehem and Moab.  The Lord patiently comforts and provides for an embittered Naomi to bolster her flagging faith.  And the Lord’s loving-kindness shown by Ruth to Naomi provokes loving-kindness in godly Boaz.  When God’s grace transforms a life, it creates a gracious chain reaction.  And as faith is strengthened by God’s faithfulness it becomes bold, expectant, and active.

Chapter 3 of Ruth is an intense climax.  Naomi and Ruth act boldly and expectantly to claim the promise of redemption through a kinsman-redeemer.  And Boaz acts decisively with tenderness and integrity to fulfill his role as a redeemer.  From a human point of view, Naomi and Ruth take huge risks.  The narrative of Ruth and Boaz at midnight on the threshing floor is filled with danger.  Danger to reputation and relationships.  And the danger that misunderstanding might destroy all hopes for future happiness.  Despite the dangers, God’s people act, but God directs.  Faith in the faithful one made Naomi, Ruth and Boaz act boldly, expectantly and decisively.

Faith works!  Does your faith work?  Does your faith in The Faithful One animate your life?  Cause you to live boldly, expectantly, decisively, faithfully? Join us as we examine Ruth 3:1-18 and consider how faith works.  We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join our livestream on YouTube.