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.

God's Favor is Always Unfair

By Odon Bulamba

Ruth 2:10, “At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?”

For those who want to know the story of Ruth:

Naomi and her husband and her two sons were living in Bethlehem and from nowhere; hunger struck – no food, they tried to survive but it was impossible and so they decided to leave their nation to find food.  They went to Moab where they found food.  Their sons reached the stage where they should marry and they married women from Moab.  One married Orpah and one married Ruth.  Naomi’s husband died; God is good, sometimes he takes people while we need them.  Maybe Naomi thought, I still have my two sons and I can manage. So maybe God said, “oh, you put your hope in your two sons” and maybe because of that, he removed them too.

Without a husband and children, Naomi wondered how she will survive without men to work for her and feed her so she decided to go back home to Bethlehem.  Ruth and Orpah decided to go with her but Naomi advised them to go back to their families and remarry.  The two ladies decided to go with her anyway.  What a courage, to leave your country and follow an old lady and go to a country you don’t know.  To follow a lady who doesn’t have a husband and to go to a country that the old lady left for a reason.  We as human beings would think twice.

Naomi tried to encourage the two girls to return home but Ruth said that she had to come, “please let me”.  The more that Naomi insisted for the girls not to go with her, the more that Orpah started to take think about going back...maybe she was afraid of the future wondering how she will take care of this old lady; better to find a husband to take care of her.  So Orpah cried, hugged Naomi and said good bye.  Was that cry a sincere cry or was it a cry of freedom?  Many people today in the church are trying to follow Jesus just because others are doing it, maybe to give the impression to other they are a part of Jesus but in their heart they want to drink, party, just like those in the world but they don’t have the opportunity because maybe a Christian might see them and maybe someone in church will talk and judge so better not to.  They fear human beings and they try to impress people more than the Lord.

Ruth said, “wherever you go, I’ll go, your people will be my people, where you die, I die”.  When Jesus says, follow me, do you really follow him or will you be like Peter in the gospels and deny Jesus?

Naomi walked with Ruth back to Bethlehem which means house of the bread of God.  In that Bethlehem which is the house of the bread; there is no food.  It sounds strange.  Food was there but the people didn’t open their eyes or didn’t try to push their hands deeper to find food.  God gave to Israelites everything they wanted, heat, water, food and clothing in the desert.  Here, now because of famine, Naomi could not feed herself or her daughter in law.  Naomi advised Ruth, “there is no men here, you have to find food”.  If someone tells you to find food and you have no money, where would you go?  Police, neighbors, family?  For Ruth, she thought, harvest is taking place, let me go there and she walked onto someone’s farm. 

If you see a stranger on your farm, what will you do?  You will ask yourself who is the person and why are they there.  We have to present ourselves somewhere in order to be identified.  People will only identify us when we walk near the farm (God’s work).  God says there is a harvest but there are no workers.

Ruth went onto the farm and started to collect what remained behind from the wheat.  How much do you think was left behind?  To leave behind means you will lose so unlikely you will leave too much.  Boaz walked in and he was told her identity is Ruth and he allowed her to work and told his workers to leave a handful of food behind...put it on the ground and go.  When it was time for lunch, Ruth came and ate with the workers and she put aside a small portion of food to feed Naomi.

God’s favor is unfair:  Ruth is coming from nowhere, she is a foreigner, they don’t know her and she met with harvesters who are not allowed to take without permission and suddenly Boaz lets her; give her the chance to collect food.  How many times has God done such a thing in your life where you don’t have right to do something and God does something for you.  E.g. you wake up and you are alive, you are thirsty and there is water, you go outside and the sun is shining.  In other parts of the world, people are crying because their brothers are dead, they don’t have sun and they don’t have all the blessings and privileges that we have here in New Zealand…God is not fair.  But, the more you are blessed, the more you need to bless others.

The church is like Ruth, God asks us to pick up what others have left behind and you will have enough provision for you and your family.  You read the Bible, what did you get from it?  Most will say, “nothing really”.  We are encouraged to make notes when the preacher brings a message but what do we do with those notes?  Ruth was in a position to collect.  To collect is not easy, to pick up from the ground you have to bend down and put the grain in the bag.  Collecting can give pain to your back but God will ask you regardless of your pain; blessings are here, it’s up to you to collect them.

In your life, when you are blessed like Boaz, how often do you purposefully give others blessings?  It is a shame for the church to day, when it’s time for offering…I’ve seen people, open their wallet and find the smallest bank note and if they don’t have a small one, they won’t give it to the church.  Others believe they have their own needs and forget that the church building has to be paid for and the church has many needs.  When you don’t give, how do you expect God to give to you?  The measure you give, that is the measure you will get from God.  If you choose a big bowl, great but if you choose a small bowl…shame on you.

In the book of James we are told that we don’t have to only be talkative, we also have to be doers; your actions are important for Jesus.  Ruth collected what others had left behind and suddenly, life started to change; she had much food and could enjoy the meal.  When God blesses you, do you really know that others deserve it but they don’t get it.  Others have been working so hard to achieve what you are getting but they don’t get it.  For example, there will be people who grumble, “Colleen gets it all and she doesn’t deserve it, how come she can have it?” and we start to judge her but God says, “I know what I am doing, my favors are always unfair”.

Tyrone is there asking God for a handful of blessing and God gives it to Tyrone and Tyrone is able to pick it up and his bag fills up and I say jealously, after praying for years and  working hard, “why do You give to Tyrone?”  How many favors have you received this morning? Your stomach works, your heart is beating, everything about you is a favor and all those favors that you get, how many people are jealous about them and how many people are crying, Lord our God.

Ruth was collecting the food and later she becomes the owner of the land; God made her someone special. She moved from a to z without having to go through b, c, d, e and f.  I was asking myself the other day, “for how long will I continue to live this life, God I don’t want to be stressed” and suddenly a thought came into my mind and so I started to google mansions and I could see all those beautiful houses and I asked God, is this what I will have and the more I looked, the more I found the best ones and then I looked at the prices and the cheapest was around $40M and I asked God is this is a joke.  While I was looking, someone past by and said, “If you can’t pay the power bill, how will you afford such a thing?”  “If you can’t even pay your power bill how will you pay for such a house?” but I felt joy in my heart and I know that for God it is possible

Tell God, I need to get what you have for me.  God leads us to the levels.  When Naomi went to Moab and lost her husband, she learnt not to put her trust in her husband anymore.  Sometimes we put our trust in something and God shuts that door.  I was saving for a house but God shuts that door.  I was studying so I could become something, and God shuts that door and when that door is shut…God opens a door in your heart.  You find things hard with your job and then suddenly there is no job and you wonder how you will live but God finds a better way.

God gives us stairs and we go up them.  The first stair for Ruth was the loss of her husband, the next step was collecting food, the next step was to lie next to Boaz, the next step was to marry Boaz and then finally Ruth is the owner of land.  Who doesn’t know the name of Ruth from the Bible?  God has given her favor to be known.  You and me have a favor, our names are in the book of life and therefore we should move with God.  If Ruth couldn’t accept to go up and up, the stairs, Naomi could not benefit, the church could not benefit (we learn from Ruth’s experience and also, Jesus comes from the line of Ruth). 

Do you leave a handful of food behind for others?  If your offering is an issue, how will you give to others or give to God as a favor?  Many families and marriages have been broken because of tithing.  The husband says, “I can’t give this month” while the wife says, “God says we must and we have to because it is God’s money, it’s no ours, it belongs to God”.  The husband justifies, “We can pay God back later”.  We can even give from the little blessings we have; we need to teach others the Word of God; how to play the guitar if you know how; share your knowledge…rather than criticize others, teach them.

There is an African song that says, “my God is goodo”.  These people are not aware that the word “goodo” is not english and no one tells them.  We have to teach our children, our nieghbours and community and by giving we also will receive.

Ruth became the wife of Boaz and gave birth and at the time she gave birth, Naomi was old and her job was to nurse the baby.  Miraculously God provided milk for Naomi to be able to breastfeed.  You should never say, “I am too old to look after the drunkards or spiritual babies”.  They need you to feed them.  When God blessed Ruth, others started to complain that God was blessing her while she is a foreigner.  People can take distance from you and talk against you but God will never leave you. Count your favors and from them, how many do you leave behind?

I have a friend who loves burger and once was asked for his expensive shoes in exchange for a burger.  He ate the burger and then his boss came and he had to represent the company at a meeting.  My friend now had no shoes and when he walked in front of people with his tie and jacket but no shoes; imagine what impression people had.  He started to apologize and tell lies but couldn’t admit the truth about the burger.

There are other things that attract us and lead us to shame and we don’t have to exchange our knowledge and faith with those things.  Naomi could easily could get the chance to ask Boaz to help since he was a family member of her husband but she didn’t because she wanted God to do what He wanted in his own time.  Naomi is like us, we are called to show people the right way, “Ruth go to Boaz and do this and that”. 

At the gym there are trainers to motivate you. I once went to Te Rapa gym to do the cycle fit and the majority of people were women and I am a man so I believed that I could defeat them.  On the bike, my heart was pumping and 15 minutes felt like 15 hours and when we finished, I couldn’t walk.  After a few hours, pain was everywhere.  What type of women is this, she can make us suffer while she didn’t even look strong?

When God gives us preachers and brothers and sisters...their job is to motivate us, push us to another level.  Most Christians want to stay at the same level but your potential can make you go higher if you are supported.  How much do you want to read the Bible by yourself and interpret it?  When we read it by ourselves there is the temptation to pull what we want from it and leave the rest.  If you go to church, if you try to share your message with others…you will become stronger.

If Ruth could not accept the advice of Naomi, you could never hear about Ruth in the Bible.  Imagine being told to wake up in the night and sleep next to another person.  Are you crazy? In our head, we have a preconceived idea but for God it is different.  Sometimes God will tell you to stand up and talk to those people.  We need to be open. 

You go to restaurants and you make your order of food.  Some choose based on the price and make an order for the most expensive but the next day there is no money for offering.  If you want to become dark skinned, there is only one solution…jump in fire and get burned.  If you want to become extremely white/red, jump in fire.  If you want to know what hell is, jump in fire.  If you are in fire, people will rush and save you but you can die.  Fire has a lot of meaning.

Naomi pulled Ruth and told her what to do while Naomi didn’t do any work.  Who shows you the way, your husband, daughter, yourself, who do you talk to?  Be careful, because you might be misled. 

I went to Animates, I see a lady in her early 40s and she looked at me and said, “oh” and I wondered why she did that.  I thought I might sin so I said, “hello”.  I asked her why she said, “oh”.  She answered, “oh, no I was thinking about your car…” the girl next to her said, “just tell him”.  The friend said, “no she loves your car but she doesn’t love black people”.

Why do people love you, why does God love you?  He loves you because he loves you with a pure heart. Sometimes people love you because of the interest they have in you.  Find someone in your life that you have to pray for and ask God to make that person to love you like Naomi.  Ruth followed Naomi because she was living a Christian life.

We will praise God for the favors and tell God we want to be changed to see how great God is in my life and I want also to feel strong when I am weak, see when I am blind, rich when I am poor.  Lord this is the time to increase.  Don’t limit yourself, tell God what you need.