Are There Any Good Men in the World?

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Psalm 105:1-4
• Hymn — O Praise the Lord, His Deeds Make Known (#105C)
• Prayer of Invocation
• Shorter Catechism — Question and Answer 21
• Hymn — Come, My Soul, and Bless the Lord (#103C)
• Pastoral Prayer
• Scripture Reading — Ruth 2:1-13
• Sermon
• Hymn — Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee (#491)
• Benediction

Sermon Title: Are There Any Good Men in the World?

Scripture: Ruth 2:1-13

I. Introduction: The Character of Boaz

• A. The setting — barley harvest begins in late April, a time of abundance and celebration for Israel, and Ruth and Naomi arrive at its beginning, not its end, revealing God's sweet providence.

• B. Boaz is a relative of Elimelech — this family connection will play a significant role in the kinsman-redeemer theme developed later, rooted in Deuteronomy 25.

• C. Boaz's name means "in him is strength" — in the era of the judges, when men are depicted as weak and cowardly (cf. Judges 4, where Barak refuses to fight Sisera without Deborah, and Jael — a woman — kills Sisera), Boaz stands as a man of genuine strength.

• D. Boaz is described in Ruth 2:1 as a "worthy man" — the Hebrew combines gibbor (great man) and hayil (worthy, excellent), conveying power, dignity, and honor, in stark contrast to the rape, theft, murder, and manipulation filling the book of Judges.

• E. Boaz is a godly man — his first words in verse 4, "The Lord be with you," and his workers' response, "The Lord bless you," show that in a time when Israel followed the fertility god Baal (Judges), Boaz credits Yahweh as the provider of the harvest.

• F. Illustration — Gerta and Kurt Klein: Gerta, a Polish Jewish teenager who survived three years in Nazi labor camps, described the first American soldier she saw (Kurt Klein, who would become her husband) as sounding like "the voice of God" because he spoke to her with kindness and dignity after years of brutal treatment. Boaz must have had a similar effect on Ruth and Naomi amid the wickedness of the judges' era.

II. The Character of Ruth

• A. Ruth is Naomi's strength — where Naomi is consumed by bitterness and grief (having renamed herself Mara, meaning "bitter"), Ruth provides the active, forward-moving strength that Naomi cannot muster, much as Martin Luther called on his congregation to pray on his behalf when he and his wife lacked the strength to pray after burying their daughter.

• B. Ruth is humble — the word "glean" occurs twelve times in this chapter. Rather than succumbing to bitterness and inaction as Naomi has, Ruth takes humble advantage of Israel's lawful provision for the poor, widows, sojourners, and orphans (grain left in field corners and dropped stalks), refusing to let sorrow blind her to the provisions God has placed before her.

• C. Ruth is persistent — verse 7 notes she worked "from early morning until now, except for a short rest," embodying the Reformation principle that any vocation, however menial, can be done zealously to the glory of God.

  1. Her suffering produces endurance, not self-pity or excuse-making.
  2. Romans 5:3-5 — "suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope."
  3. Suffering is not primarily a cause of depression and blame-shifting (as the world claims), but an opportunity to put faith into action.

III. Boaz Notices Ruth: The Redemptive Power of Seeing

• A. The theme of "seeing" and "finding favor" recurs in verses 10 and 13 — Ruth asks why Boaz would "take notice" of a foreigner; the eyes are a gateway to the heart, for good or ill.

  1. Sinful seeing leads to sinful action — Eve in Genesis 3, David and Bathsheba in 2 Samuel 11.
  2. James 1:14 — "each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire" — the luring is connected to what the eyes see.
  3. Jesus' warning in Matthew 5:29 — "If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out" — calls us to guard not just our sight but the heart from which all things flow.

• B. Redeemed seeing leads to loving action — God sees Israel's affliction in Exodus 3; Jesus sees the crowd and has compassion in Mark 6:34; Boaz sees Ruth and acts in steadfast lovingkindness.

• C. The book of Ruth was read aloud in Israel's liturgical calendar at the Feast of Weeks (commemorating the giving of the law, seven weeks after the Exodus) — reminding Israel that lovingkindness is the fulfillment of the law, not cold obedience.

• D. Boaz as type points to the greater need — the era of judges cries out for a king; 1 Samuel 16 gives David, but David's eyes lust after Bathsheba and Nathan declares in 2 Samuel 12, "You are the man."

• E. Pontius Pilate's unwitting proclamation in John 19 — "Behold the man" — points to Christ as the truly good man: humbled through suffering, identifying with the lowly, with eyes unstained by sin that see and redeem the afflicted.

  1. Christ is the fulfillment of the law not merely by keeping every point of it, but because his pure eyes proceed from a heart untainted by sin.
  2. By the Spirit, Christ restores our eyes to see the afflicted — prostitutes, tax collectors, Samaritans at a well (John 4) — and act in mercy and steadfast love toward them.

IV. Application: Being Good Men and Women in a Fallen World

• A. The world is constantly searching for a good man — may it find him in believers who live out Christlike love.

• B. True goodness does not originate in us but flows from the righteousness of Christ poured into our hearts by the Spirit, renewing our wills, affections, and eyes.

• C. Practically, redeemed eyes trained by grace will notice the "Ruths" of the world whom others pass by, and draw near to them with dignity, kindness, and steadfast love.