Ruth 3 - Prepare Yourself

By Odon Bulamba

It’s a joy for me to be here this morning.  We are going to share Word of God from Ruth 3:1-5.  The last song we sang, “We fall down, holy, holy, holy is the Lamb”.  What does that mean to you?  Does it make sense for you?  Have you thought about falling down and you start to cry about it?  Maybe you can tell me the meaning of it to you next time we meet.

Naomi told Ruth, before you go somewhere, you need to be prepared and ready.  I am sharing this to you because we will talk about Mathew 24:29 next time and we need to be ready.  That message was given to us from Jesus to let us be prepared.  If the sun will change right now to be dark, what will you think?  Some might scream from fear and others go into panic mode.  Some won’t believe it and look for torches so they can see the light again.

Naomi told Ruth to prepare herself to meet with Boaz.  This step in the Bible is very important to know what you are going to do next.  You must first of all know what you need, where to find it and the person you need and to get what you need from that person.

Naomi was like the guider (HOLY SPIRIT) of Ruth.  She told Ruth, “My daughter I know you need food, you need someone who will be your provider, your redeemer, who will be there for you to assist you.  Naomi first chose the person for Ruth.  Do you know the choice of Holy Spirit for you?  Do you know what God has chosen for you to become or the path God has chosen for you?  Our thoughts are very often not God’s thoughts.

What we want to get is very often different to God’s plan.  We can only see what we need for our body but God looks at what we need spiritually because life on this earth is short and we are only here to prepare ourselves for eternity.  I’ll give you an example, one time I was supposed to sit an exam but I didn’t study.  Two days before the exam, I woke up and there was 300 pages of notes to read and my first idea was to write something on a piece of paper to cheat.

While we were walking into the exam room, this man took the sheet of paper from my pocket.  He took what I was supposed to use to cheat.  All my colleagues could finish the exam in 20 minutes but the only thing I wrote was my name.  Finally, the examiner told me time is over.  Instead of accepting my mistakes, I judged the teacher who didn’t know how to teach and gave a tough exam while the exam was easy for everyone else.

Salvation is the same, God has given us the Bible, learn and meditate on the Word of God and follow the instructions.  Follow it and you will please God but we prefer to believe that when Jesus comes back, we will hold someone else so they can take us with them.  Jesus is clear with us, we need to be prepared.

Naomi told Ruth, first of all, to wash herself.  Why do we wash ourselves?  Why do you have your shower two times per day?  You think it’s normal so you don’t smell.  Your body will not only smell because you did sport but because you didn’t shower.  You can be young or old, your body will smell so you need to wash it.

Many people wake up in the morning, they wash their face and you can see the difference.  By looking at you, you look refreshed.  Once you wash your face and you walk into your office, people will see life but if you don’t wash yourself, people will wonder what is wrong with you. 

Are you clean in front of God?  Don’t you smell in front of the Word of God?  You must wash yourself.  Wherever you go, your testimony will say, yes this person is refreshed, clean and the glory of God can be seen.

Yesterday I went to Pak n Save supermarket and the carpark was full.  I walked into the supermarket and there were hundreds of people.  This is not normal.  Then Sylvie was on the phone to me and explained corona virus.  What is the connection?  Everybody is preparing themselves to have enough food at home because the virus is in New Zealand now.

We can fear the virus and be prepared to protect ourselves from it but we are not prepared to run away from sin or protect ourselves from sin.  We fear to die but not eternal death.  We fear corona virus and don’t fear God.  At the supermarkets, the shelves were almost empty.  The area of toilet paper was zero, nothing there.  I asked a worker, “Can I get some?”  “Oh the stock will be there soon. Let me check”.  Luckily I got two packets.  Nadege went to buy hand sanitiser but there is none left all over New Zealand to buy.

Toilet paper keeps us clean, we need it.  What do you need to keep yourself clean?  Many use water.  In France where water is expensive, some will only have shower once per week and there is a que for 1 shower for the whole apartment block.  You have only 1 minute in the shower so the next person can have their turn.  They use perfume instead to block the smell.

All of Paris smells like perfume to cover their smell.  Do you do that, instead of repenting, do you prefer to cover the odour of your spirit and soul with perfume?  When you apply perfume to a dirty body you smell worse.  It’s better to have your shower.  The water we have is the Word of God.  How often do you read Word of God?  If you don’t read it, now do it, at least once per day.  Take a few minutes to read one verse.  Then you need to repent to the person, say sorry and refresh your relationship.

Ruth was told by Naomi to apply perfume after washing.  Do you smell good at work, to your friends, in your neighbourhood?  Here it is, the matter of your behaviour.  How do you behave in front of God, and those around you?  Are you angry, do you disturb the peace of others?  Even if someone pushes you to the limit, don’t become angry.  You can control it and tell yourself, “No, I’m not going to sin”.

Sometimes you feel something is in your chest and you want to bring it out, you can say, “No because it will destroy me, my soul, my God, and my testimony”.  Self-control is one of the ingredients in your perfume.  If you want to smell good, have self-control.  If not, you may become crazy and you will hurt others, yourself, God and you will judge others.  Whoever will see you must see God through you.  If someone looks at you, will that person see God through you?  We can see the sun outside.  All benefit from the sun, evil, good, short, tall.  Does every person in your presence, enjoy your presence?  Once you understand your behaviour, repair your behaviour.

Then Ruth was told to choose your best clothes.  Do you have the right clothes when you go to church?  Do you remember that you are meeting with God or do you think what you wear is fine?  Recently I was in Dubai and I went to the beach in jeans and t-shirt while others were wearing togs.  I looked strange to the point that I started to laugh because everyone was staring and talking.  What I was wearing was not the right clothes at the right place.  What you wear, does it reflect God’s presence in your life?

In the Bible it says how men must wear in front of God and what women can and cannot wear.  You may think this is fashion e.g. pants with holes, this is cool.  It is cool to you but not to God.  Are you here to please God or others?  Because I have my choice, I must choose the best of what I wear, I have to consider what I will wear will make me respected or disrespected.  By your appearance people will accept you or not.

One time in a church the pastor wore shorts and singlet.  The expressions on the church face was, “Is our pastor mad?”  I stood up and they didn’t know me, “Pastor, can I have word?”.  I took the microphone and I told the church today we must learn what we have to wear.  Our pastor, he is our leader in this church with jandles, short and t-shirt.  The place where you are going to meet your God.  He was ashamed but tried to justify himself.  The wife said, “I told him”.  She advised the husband but he didn’t want to listen.

Sometimes we think of God as our grandfather and we want him to fit in our lifestyle while it should be the opposite.  We must look at our clothes.  The first clothes was the skin of an animal.  You must cover your nakedness in front of God.  When you sin, you look naked to God and so you have to repent.  Your appearance at church is important.  I will never go to the supermarket without remembering that people may judge me by what I wear.  Make sure your actions and appearance are a testimony to others.

Ruth was told to go quietly to Boaz and lie next to him. It wasn’t a matter of showing off because now I am clean, I have perfume and nice clothes I have to show off.  Although you know the Bible, you are blessed by God and you have gifts, continue to be humble.  Be quiet most of the time.  Don’t make everybody to notice you.

In my country they say, if you want to be tall you must accept to sit on the floor.  Bring yourself down a little bit and let God raise you up.  I have seen people going through Bible discussions with each of them wanting to prove what they know.  We can fight instead of coming together and learning from each other in the right way.

By going next to Boaz, Ruth didn’t look at his face or judge him first but by faith and obedience she followed the instructions that Naomi gave to her.  Do you obey the instructions of the Holy Spirit?  Do you walk by those steps?  Or not?  Most of the time we know the steps but we don’t follow them.  We sometimes find the Bible and the church activities are boring and we think it is a waste of our time.  I wish we could cancel this meeting.  Sometimes people even lie so they don’t have to come and just stay home to watch tv.

Imagine someone like David who had everything would say, “Better to be in the house of the Lord than 1000 years somewhere else”.  But for us, today, we prefer to be somewhere else for 1000 years than to be with God for just one day.  I prefer to go to rugby game, gossiping with friends, night club, instead of being one day next to the Lord. 

If you tell your bones, “I don’t need you”, what could happen?.  Imagine if you had no bones, you will look a mess.  Your bones give you a shape and removing them is a disaster.  Your beautiful face will be gone.  That is exactly like someone who doesn’t want to be with God. 

You want to give God a holiday, “God rest, I have to do my own things here”.  Parents sometimes tell their kids to go and play so they can have spare time and they are happy but they always come back, “Daddy I need water”.  How often do you come back to your Lord?

In the middle of the night Boaz discovered someone was next to him.  How often when God moves around your house, He feels your presence?  We want to feel God’s presence in us but He also needs to feel our presence.

After obeying you must live next to God.  As the song said, we fall down and leave our crowns at the feet of Jesus.  You can’t lay your crown down next to Him if you are far away from Him.  Come near to Him and He will also come near to you.

The prodigal son, after being blessed with his father and getting all the money, he decided to go away.  Luke 15, the father didn’t say don’t go after him, he just watched him leave and he stayed there until the son decided to come back.  The son found his father waiting for him.  When you sin, Jesus doesn’t run after you, He waits for you to come back.

Many Christians lie to themselves hoping Jesus will come to find me.  If you don’t want to come back and turn to Him, God doesn’t come looking for you, He doesn’t work like that.  In the Bible you see examples such as Saul, God talked to him but he didn’t run after him.  How often you act worse than Saul and God is saying, “You are persecuting me”?  Saul became blind, darkness as in Mathew 24:29, the sun was dark.

When your conscience speaks to you, treat it with respect.  Very often we tell our conscience to be quiet but this was the time for Saul to lie down (he fell from the donkey) and to lay down his crown at the feet of God.  Work on your salvation.  If you have salvation, walk on it like carpet.  Don’t step on mud but follow your salvation like a carpet.

Ruth is a good example of the church but we need to be prepared because Jesus is coming back soon.  You may die before then.  I don’t have to say, I have time.  Get ready, wash yourself, put on nice clothes, perfume and prepare yourself.