A few years ago, I got to attend a conference uh in Dresdston in what is formerly East Germany. Now, Dresden is one of the most uh if not the most severely bombed city during World War II that almost flattened the entire city. And in the aftermath of uh 1945 Dresden bombings as they were called, the city was in utter ruins. And among the charred stone and mangled se steel, there was this eerie silence of death everywhere. But amidst the devastation, there was a journalist who was recording the events that happened there. He saw something very haunting. Amidst the rubble of a collapsed building, a piano sat, its wood was scorched, one leg was broken, yet incredibly its strings were intact. And a local man, fresh off the bombings, covered in suit and bandages, sat down, and with trembling hands, he began to play. The music that he played and that emerged was box Jesu joy of man's desiring. It was soft, cracked and broken, but it was real. It was beautiful. And for those who heard it, it was a song of hope in a landscape of despair to remind them even when your whole world comes crumbling down, Jesus is our song of hope. The book of Ruth is a book like that. It opens in a spiritual and emotional wasteland. talks about famine, loss, and baroness and bitterness. Naomi's life is in rubble. Ruth is a foreigner with nothing. But then something startling starts to happen. And that is what we're going to look at today. We're jouring through the Bible in our series walk through the Bible. Uh last week we touched upon Judges. And if we read the book of Ruth as a standalone book, we are going to miss some of the great amazing truths that are embedded in it. And if you have your Bibles, turn with me to the very last verse in the book of Judges to see how the book of Ruth can bring hope. Judges 21:2 ends like this. It says, "In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. That is how the book ends. And now until now all of these books were revealing God in dramatic ways. But the book of Ruth does not have flamboyant leaders, does not have mind-boggling wars or great things. But you can see it is in the mundane pain, suffering, baroness, death, destruction that God's grace actually shines through. Even in silence or in the mundane, God's grace is present and he continues to do extraordinary things that we may sometimes miss. So I want to talk about three things this morning. The title of my sermon is when grace finds you. Covenantal commitment, compassion, and call. We're going to look at how grace found certain people and how grace can find you and me right now in whatever life situation we may be. And I want to flesh out for us these three things from this text. The covenantal commitment of God, the covenantal compassion of God, and the covenantal call of God. And how you and I ought to respond to that. the covenantal commitment of God. We all know we have we've been following the redemptive history where God makes this covenant with Abraham and he continues that through his descendants as God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph and and from Egypt. He's faithful to his covenant. Brings the people, the covenant people out of Egypt. helps them to enter the promised land despite them showing covenantal unfaithfulness all the time. And God has raised leaders who can be their mediators after their patriarchs. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, there was Moses, there was Joshua, and then there was a bunch of other judges. And now it looks like there is no one to lead the nation of Israel as they have continued to progress in moral and covenantal decline. You know the book of judges is a very dark period in redemptive history. It happened around 1,00 to,200 years before Christ. And right after that when it looks like the old medieval dark times a a light begins to shine. And this light is not coming out of the nation of Israel. This light is not coming out in the form of another great mighty warrior, king, prophet, priest or leader. This slide is emerging from an unknown woman in a pagan land who do not even know the covenantal God Yahweh. And that's the beauty of the book of Ruth. You miss that, you miss everything. It looked like for a moment, if you're tracking this, and those of you who did the reading the Bible in 60 days would have felt it very intensely. Suddenly, it looks like God has disappeared. Suddenly, it looks like God has forgotten his covenantal people. It's like he's done. No matter how much grace I show my children, it appears that they want to continue to be unfaithful. I give them leaders. I give them prophets. I give them judges. They still don't want me. So, I'm done. And it looks like he's stopped acting. And he's going to now withdraw his grace. Just at that time, just when we begin to think God does something unbelievably extraordinary, something he has not done in such a significant way in redemptive history till now. And this covenantal commitment from God begins with a place and a person. It says in verse one, "In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to Sjourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons." Talks about the man of Bethlehem, the city of Bethlehem. The name Bethlehem in Hebrew, Beth means house, means a house of bread. It's a very fertile place where they had wheat and other uh things that grew very well. It's ironic that the city of bread had no bread and that triggers a movement. And it's also important to try to understand when this book was written and for whom it was written. And commentators suggest it was likely written after the time of David because it talks about David at the very end. And it creates a spark for the readers to remind them when they hear Bethlehem at the very first verse of the book of Ruth and when they read David in the very last verse in the book of Ruth. Those who are reading it later were supposed to be reminded that God never forgets his covenant because they all know what will happen what has happened in Bethlehem if they were reading it around the time of David and we will all know what happened in Bethlehem if we are reading this right now to say that God never forgets his covenant. God never forgets his covenant people. Even when they walk away and rebel and live in darkness, his grace always finds them. His grace will always find you and me and draw us back. Verse two onwards, verse 2 to 5 describe a tragic spiral of despair and darkness and sadness. It begins with the name of a man. The name of the man was Elimc. And the name of his wife Naomi and the names of his two sons were Mahalon and Killion. They were Ephites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there. You know of all these names we have insight only into one of them which is the husband of Naomi. His name is Elimc. You know the word Elimc like all Hebrew names have significant meanings. Eli means my God and Eli in Hebrew means God is my king. Just that name is loaded with meaning in a time just the last words had said that there were no kings in Israel. Imagine the faith of the parents who named Elimc to be as God is my king. to name a son in a time when there were no kings talks of an incredible faith. But it also foreshadows what's coming next or what's God trying to do in this book. We are going to see how God's covenantal commitment flows through the lens of three women and their three responses that we read in the rest of these verses. And these three women who stand out, you know, Ruth is a book about women, Naomi, Orpa, and Ruth. For Naomi, it's a tragic downward spiral of calamities, one thing after the other. It says that she belongs or they all belong to they were ephites. And a little bit of background of Ephroites just enough for us to know is these were people is who were from the wife of Caleb's clan. So in one sense as we all know only Joshua and Caleb were sort of the first families of Canaan when they were inhabited. They commanded tremendous respect. So this is a classic and a sad story of a first family with all the blessings and all the respect and everything that goes with it in that culture comes from ra riches to rags. There's economic poverty. They have nothing. They have to immigrate to another country. Secondly, not just losing financial uh well-being, her husband dies and left she's left with two sons and they married two women orpa and Ruth and they live for 10 years and what's silent here whenever it uses 10 years that's about a period of time that people in old testament waited to have children when you don't have some child by 10 years that's a problem. So she loses her husband, she gets her two children married and they have no children and the hair is a very significant theme in the whole book of Ruth and then both her sons die. Wow. So she has no husband and no sons and has two daughter-in-laws to care for in a foreign land that is hostile been traditionally hostile to the nation of Israel. You know, when you lose your husband, life is hard. It's hard enough. Everyone tries to take advantage of you. I have my mother here. She's been a widow now for close to 40 years. And I've seen what she went through in her life firsthand, unscrupulous men trying to treat her with gross contempt and malice. Starting from the pastor of our church to police and cops and relatives, everyone abandoning, leaving you to take care of yourself and raise your family alone. It's hard as a widow. For Naomi, it was worse. At least for my mom. There were two of us as a children. Naomi, she lost her husband and her children. Wow. It's one thing to bury your husband, but it's a terrible thing as a mother to bury your children, too. That can there can be nothing more devastating a woman can go through in her life than to lose the ones she relies on closely for love and support and strength. It's in this situation as we read and you wonder where is God in the life of Naomi? Why does God torture this woman like this? God's grace breaks through. God's grace always breaks through when we break down. God's grace always breaks through in our breaking points. And we read, "Despite all this, she wants to bless and send her daughter-in-laws." And she does what anyone would do. She gives them three options. When you're a widow, you basically have three options. Let me read the text first. Says verse 7, "So she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. But Naomi said to her daughters-in-law, "Go return each of you to her mother's house. May the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The Lord grant that you may find rest each of you in the house of her husband." Then she kissed them and they lifted up their voices and wept. So if you were a widow in those times and even these days, you basically have three options. The option number one is you go back to your parents if they are alive. And in Naomi's case, from the text and from what she says of her age and later on from what we read, it appears she doesn't have her parents either. Imagine that. No parents, no husband, no sons. So that option is ruled out for her. The second option that scriptures talk about for widows is actually encourages them to remarry. You know, Deuteronomy 25 talks about how widows ought to be first cared for in a community by helping them to get married again. 1 Timothy 5 talks about how especially for younger widows, it is good for them to remarry for their own good. And I think it's a wonderful thing though in our culture sometimes it's not a very great option. Um I even recently recommended to my mother. She looks incredibly beautiful now. I said I'll find a handsome old man for you. Would you like to? And she turned me down. That's offer still there by the way. The third thing third option is take care of yourself if it's financially possible which also was not there. So all options were off the plate for Naomi has no parents and she can get remarried but she says hey I'm well past childbearing age I don't want to do that and thirdly she's not even able to take care of herself financially but God has scripture has these three because God is a God whom he says is a defender of widows and this is how he defends them through their parents if they are there by encouraging them to remarry or if they have nothing he still provides and he's going to show that how he does in the life of Naomi because whichever path one takes God's grace comes through that so verses 10 onwards it says and they said to her no we will return with you to your people but Naomi said turn back my daughters why will you go with me have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands Turn back, my daughters, go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons, would you therefore wait till they were grown? Because Deuteronomy says that you, your brothers, if they are alive and not married, are supposed to marry and take care? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me. And here she's just lashing out, not holding anything back, brutally honest. Where Naomi ended up through all of life's situation, and we can completely understand, is abject bitterness. She doesn't even use the word Lord, the covenantal name. When she goes back um to Israel later on, she calls him as El Shadai, the almighty one has made my life bitter. What she's basically saying is this powerful God has completely messed up my life. What are you talking about? He is a gracious God. Where is grace in all of this? Come on, God. and not just bitterness. So she thinks now she has to fend for herself. She hears the news that there's food back in Israel and goes to pursue financial security. But God's grace still found her in her bitterness. God didn't punish her because she's now bitter and is complaining and she's like, "How dare you?" You know, Tim Keller has this beautiful statement. He says, "The book of Ruth is not about how God helps those who help themselves. It's about how God helps those who cannot help themselves." And that's the message that comes shining bright and clear in this book. But despite that, in her goodness, she doesn't want her daughter-in-laws to go through what she did. So four times she tells them, "Turn back and go. Turn back and go." And we look at now what were the responses of the other two. Naomi's response through life's crisis took her to a place of bitterness and seeking financial stability. Or she says as soon as though she resists at first, she then tells Naomi the second time when she say she goes back. Verse 14, then they lifted up their voices and wept again, and Orpa kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. In verse 15, and she said, "See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. return after your sister-in-law. So Arpa at this point as they are on their journey towards Israel, she decides to go back. You know, the author of the book doesn't say anything negative or critical about her and her decisions. She chooses relational security perhaps and it says he goes back to her people and to her gods and that's the path Orpa chooses. And you then begin to wonder by this time they were married for a while 10 years or so. We wonder what that marriage did. What the husband did in that marriage in revealing anything about this Yahweh to her that marriage did not seem to have done much in her own faith journey. You know in marriage it doesn't matter how spiritual one person is but unless you strive to reach that spiritual alignment and unity when crisis hits you're going to face the heat and see the challenge. After 10 years she still wanted her God and her people and the author just leaves it at that and she goes and she disappears and fades away. We don't read anything about her after this in the rest of the Bible. And now comes the third response, the third woman, Ruth. And wow, what a startling, mind-boggling, poetic, rich response she has. Verse 16 is one of the pivotal key verses in the entire book of Ruth. It's so beautiful, so elegant, theologically deep, poetically fabulous. Its construction is absolutely marvelous. Read with me. And here here this as I read for you verse 16 and 17. But Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people and your God my God. Where you die, I will die and there I will be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you. Wow, that's even greater than the wedding vows. People tell each other. Recently in our 25th anniversary, we wrote our wedding wows and it really moved us. But this one is a class apart. Way more than that. More than what a girl would tell her husband. Here is a daughter-in-law saying that to a mother-in-law. Now, just a side note, you know, mother-in-law, daughter-in-law relationships are one of the most interesting ones. How many of you have at least told your mother-in-law, "I love you." I'm not suggesting you should. I mean, the way you guys are looking at me looks like I'm in trouble after this today. I'm not even telling you to tell the like till death do a spot. I will stick with you no matter what. Or at least not say I want to go see my mom every two years or year or 6 months. I don't know how the frequency is. That's a side note, guys. It's not tied to this sermon, okay? Just leave it. Anyways, but you know there is something strange about the language Ruth uses the language Ruth uses is very similar to the language God used to tell of his covenantal love. When God tells Israel from the beginning till now, what does God tell him? You will be my people and I will be your God. Your Ruth is speaking covenantal language. She says, "Your people shall be my people and your God my God." Wow. She's not even an Israelite. She's not even a Jew. She's not even wellversed in the scriptures. But she caught something magnificient of this Yahweh. In that very limited time, she was married to her husband who passed away. That guy must have done something awesome. Despite being a non-Jew and a Moabitete, Ruth not only responds to God's covenantal commitment with a similar commitment. Look at what she says. She says she will leave her father and mother. She says she will leave other gods. She says she will believe in Yahweh. She addresses God as Yahweh, the covenantal name of God in the Old Testament. You know that's the response God expects to you and me for his covenantal commitment towards us. He expects us to respond with the similar covenantal commitment. And there is a word for that in the New Testament and that word is disciplehip. That's what a disciple's life ought to be like because that's exactly what Jesus said in Luke 14:26. He says, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple." It's not a radical new idea. Disciplehip by its very nature is radical. There is no mediocrity disciplehip in Christendom. And when you are touched by the grace of God, that is just a natural overflow of what will happen even with a very limited theological knowledge and understanding, Ruth shows radical covenantal commitment through disciplehip. And she actually did it. I want to read an excerpt from a commentary that just so beautifully describes this. This is what the commentator writes. He says, "Ruth decisively casts her lot with Naomi. Her words encompassed both the vertical and horizontal dimensions of life. In geography, they covered all future locations. In chronology, they extended from the present into eternity. In theology, they exclusively embraced Yahweh. In genealogy, they merged the young Moabitis with Naomi's family, securely sealing all exits with an oath. Ruth soberly gambled the security of the familiar for the uncertaintity of the foreign. She recalls an earlier immigrant Abraham, who also cast his lot with Yahweh in Genesis 12 1-5. Ruth's leap of faith, he says, may even have outdone Abraham's. She acted with no promise in hand, with no divine blessing pronounced, without spouse possessions or supporting rich. She gave up marriage to a man to devote herself to an old woman and in a world dominated by men at that. Thematically this illusion to Abraham sets the story in continuity in that one. Even says perhaps roots roots may be called as the women of faith like Abraham. Isn't it so profound? Those were the responses. Three women, three radically different responses. Naomi is one of bitterness and goes for financial security to a land that has food. She forgot who gives food. Orpa goes back to family for relational security. And there is Ruth who leaves everything in response to God's covenant and love. Sees God providing food back in Israel as an act of his covenant that he cares for his people. that she can trust him. She goes back, gets married, births children, and the rest, as they say, was history. It was not Naomi who was drawn to this covenantal God, but this Moabitete Ruth. Dark times look dark, but God is always silently at work doing incredible things. You step back for a moment and zoom out at 40,000 ft to see what's going on through all these minute details and pains and tragedies and trials in the redemptive history of nation. God is as much keenly involved in our details of our life as much as he's involved in his grand plan for the world and nations. And here is Israel, his covenant people at his time where God is looking at them. So what's happening for them? Perhaps God was saying this, no Moses, no problem. No Joshua, no problem. No judges, no problem. Not even an Israelite leader to lead the nation of Israel towards his redemptive purposes. No problem. I will raise up someone from Moab, a non-Israelite enemy clan because I will remember my covenant that I said I will bless all nations through you to Abraham. So, I'm going to pick one from another nation to continue my redemptive progressive action in human history because I am still not done yet. And that's what God telling you and me. I'm not done with you. I'm not done with my purposes for your life. I'm not done with my kingdom. And he continues, "No one saw that, not even Naomi, that wonderful, kind-hearted mother-in-law. God's commitment to his covenant can never be thwarted." Naomi doubted, she was disturbed, angry, even complained to God, "That's okay. God continues to quietly move on to do what he has to do." So his covenant to show his commitment to his covenant. It is surprising how she responds to God's covenantal commitment with equal commitment. Ruth, isn't it? Was not Naomi, the wife of a man whose name meant God is my king. Couldn't see that. But the grace found Naomi. The grace found Ruth in their pain and suffering and Ruth responded to it. You know my dear friends, you and I cannot avoid going through pain, loss and suffering in this life. But we need to always trust that in these series of ordinary, seemingly ordinary events, God is doing extraordinary things to accomplish his purposes. His grace always finds you. You're here today because his grace found you. When you go through trials for Naomi, you know what she missed? When she's so bitter and complaining and upset, she is missed that God gave her a Ruth. A Ruth is right next to her. It says she clung to her. A word that is used to describe the relationship between a husband and a wife. Naomi missed that. Hey Naomi, I haven't left you. I've given you Ruth. It's not that you are not going to have an heir. It's just different. It's not going to work out the way you planned how your life is going to be. I have a different plan. You can never even have imagined. No one in Israel would have imagined that God is going to pick someone from Moab to do his purpose. She missed that. That God's grace found her. God's grace gave her a Ruth. So when we go through trials, if you're going to stay in your bitterness, you're going to miss seeing the roots in your life. When God sends his children to show you love, whether through giving you food or calling you or praying for you, it's his way of saying, "I see you. My grace has found you, and I'm not going to leave you like that." So believe him in your pain and draw near to him, my friends. Grace found Ruth a Moabitete woman who would go on to become someone who shows up later on in the genealogy of Jesus. Let's move on to covenantal compassion. I just want to uh survey through this the rest of the book of Ruth by zooming in on a couple of verses. The next person who emerges in the book of Ruth in chapter 2 is Boaz the kinsman. And you all know the story. I'm not going to go into it. But what Boaz does is he visibly models God's compassion to someone like Ruth. He demonstrates tremendous compassion in tangible terms. Let me just read for us a few verses and and I'll conclude on that. Ruth chapter 2 verse 8 onwards. Then Boaz said to Ruth, "Now listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field, or leave this one, but keep close to my young women, let your eyes be on the field that they are reaping, and go after them. Have I not charged the young men not to touch you?" And when you're thirsty, go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn?" Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, "Why have I found favor in your eyes that you should take notice of me since I am a foreigner?" But Boaz answered her, "All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before." And at meal time, Boaz said to her, "Come here and eat some bread and dip your morsel in the wine." So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed to her roasted grain, and she ate until she was satisfied, and she had some leftover. When she rose to glean, Boaz instructed his young men, saying, "Let her glean even among the sheavs, and do not reproach her, and also pull out some from the bundles for her, and leave it for her to glean, and do not rebuke her." God's covenantal compassion runs to Ruth through Boaz when he says leave more for them to be gleaned. Boaz is also a morally upright person who could have taken unfair advantage of her but he chooses not to. You know he moves the heart of Boaz. Now, Ruth did not know before moving if God would send a Boaz. And even when she saw him or till the end when there was another twist in the story where another suitor came up, she did not know what was going to happen. Boaz literally fleshed out the compassion of God to Ruth and Naomi. My dear friends, this is not an isolated event in scripture. Our God is a compassionate God. He is the father of the fatherless and defender of widows. We read about the Shinomite women in the time of Elisha where God provided for her through him. And now we read God's compassion flowing through Boaz to take care of Naomi and Ruth. He gives them food here. But we will see that later on he's going to give them something far more than that which not only they need but you and I need but what is significant comes out in a call a covenantal call. You know, if you have received and experienced the covenantal commitment of God, then if you have tasted his compassion, then there is a call for that commitment. God's act to Ruth reveals his heart for the fatherless and widows. You know when Boaz tells his men, leave more than what she has, let her glean more wheat so that she can provide not just for her and her mother-in-law and others. He understood there is a call for someone who has been blessed incredibly by God to care for those like them. Caring for the orphans and widows is a responsibility of you and me if we are to call ourselves the children of God who have tasted the covenantal love of God and grace of God in our lives. And Boaz models this beautifully for us and how he goes out in so many vivid ways to demonstrate that in the life of how he takes care of Naomi and Ruth at significant costs to himself. And that is the call you and I have my dear friends. Where do we find these people? Isn't it? Well, it is very very common in suburbs especially of any large city in Silicon Valley including where the there is a growing number of single parents. Fatherlessness is a major crisis. Now you just have to show up on any of the weekend games. when I go to help out in my son's uh baseball games and I look at the stands of who is there to cheer in a team of 12 10 to 12 players or 24 players on both sides you can count with one hand the number of dads who actually show ups to them in places like Oakland and Richmond we know fatherlessness is the major cause of gangs where children are drawn to others and into other things. Now, our one of our missionaries, Pastor Danny Sanchez, his story is powerful, was a vivid illustration of his own life and how he continues to work in the mayor's gang prevention task force. And as a church, we are supporting him in that. But our responsibility is not to shrug off saying, "Oh, I'm giving money to that missionary. let him go take care of the fatherless and widows in this place I live. Let me just live my life because God's been gracious to me and I'm so thankful to God. Hallelujah. I'll come to church and sing songs and worship him. Let me just get on with my life. But you know, if we have to demonstrate the covenantal call of God, it starts with us being involved in the life and flow in the es and flow of the city where we live. You need to get involved in your city. You don't have to even go out of your way to get involved in your city. If your children are part of sports teams, please volunteer in those sports teams. Now, I' I just learned it. I'm still learning right now, and it's incredibly awesome. It's not just about your child winning championships or getting medals that will hopefully help them in their college admissions. And that's your sole purpose of putting them there. But you can see I I think I shared this before last year. There was this one kid who broke all of our heart as coaches when our manager told the team, "Hey, I want you guys to practice this particular skill with your dads." He immediately spoke, "But I have no dad." And it was a silence. And it was heart-wrenching, a 10-year-old saying that. And he responds to even the slightest show of love or care from anyone. When I offer him or anyone offers him a ride or to buy a meal, oh, he is hot. He'll just melt. He's a big guy who's a big hitter and a great pitcher, but has a soft heart. He's longing for the love of a father. And I was so proud of my team manager. He said, you know, we all are like your dad, son. You can talk to us anytime. That's showing God's covenantal care. You can do that. I'm pretty sure your children are in different sports teams. Go and volunteer. Be that to someone. Or if your children are in public schools, you know, be involved in your schools. You need to be in the PTAs. You need to be trying to serve on the boards. You need to volunteer in whatever the schools are doing. A couple of weeks ago, as I was helping out in our baseball team, um I'm not very good with my hands as you all know, but there was no one to draw the lines on the field using chalk lines and so I had to learn and I was very stressed. Those things stress me out because I don't want to mess the line. That's very critical in a game. people fight if the lines are off by a millimeter. And so I was very stressed and I was trying to go over it twice and thrice and make sure it's perfect. And then suddenly someone called me from outside. He says, "Hey, that looks awesome, man. Thank you for drawing those lines so well. It made my day. It was like I got the Nobel Prize or something given my skills in drawing lines, straight lines. I can't people see that it was just nothing you know but it's more than that but there you know there's a problem what is the problem with our suburban culture in America today suburban culture in America inside the church and outside the church is plagued by what I call as crass consumerism we have a crass consumerristic mindset especially if you're immigrants and you have moved to this country because you want to send your children to the best schools. So, you pick the best school districts and that's fine. There's nothing wrong about that. But the mindset is I will send my kids to the best schools, but I'm not going to do anything for that school. The school has to take care of my kids so that they can get into some good schools or whatever it may be. It's just consumerism. I will consume what the school gives me. I won't give anything back. And if I put my children in these different sports teams, I want my kids to do well and win. And even if the games are on Sunday, I don't care leaving church because that's important. That's the future for my children. But I won't do anything there. Same thing with the church. I want to come and just consume what the church has to offer and not give anything back. Even in money, you know, I don't know anything about money in our church, but Silicon Valley um mostly and even other places, people don't even want to tithe. Let people give less than 2% or 1% to God, but they will receive all the blessings that the church has to offer. And they will not give to others even the so-called philanthropic efforts. or I'm going to help this person is to win their loyalty to them, not out of a compassion mindset. Let's not do that. God wants you and I to be a boas in our city where we live, in our workplaces, our schools, you know. So, be be a Boaz in your regular life. You don't have to go to do something out of the ordinary. You know, if you are a student at school, join your clubs or start your own club, start a nonprofit. Not with the intention that it'll look good on your resume for college apps, but genuinely, if you see a need, fill it. We spoke about creating culture last week, isn't it? Here's your shot. If you're at work, you can do some something like that. Even the apostle Paul, even when he was planting churches, he always carried funds for the poor in Jerusalem. So if grace found you, then find those who need grace and be a boass to them. Don't just live in your crass consumeristic world inside the church and outside. But it's beautiful how the book of Ruth ends in chapter 4. Israel needed a king. The name Alimc foreshadowed it. Not just some king. It ends with a genealogy that traces Ruth's son to be the grandfather of King David. And then the narrative will shine back at Bethlehem, Bethlehem where there will be another king in the line of King David, Jesus Christ, the ultimate king. And this Jesus Christ did the same thing. There was not a Ruth, but there was a Samaritan woman who he found who was a Samaritan. He offered her the same grace. He found her when the whole world rejected her. He found her. He found a cheating tax collector hiding on a Zyiko tree and went and dined in his house to show covenantal love and compassion, inviting him to himself. He went and found 12 ordinary men who had no impressive resume, but who all needed grace again and again and again. Grace found another man by the name Apostle Paul who actually went killing and persecuting Christians. Grace found him on the road to Damascus and changed his life. And all of them had that transformation when they found grace. John 1 talks about grace upon grace when he describes who Jesus was. And that's what Jesus Christ as the king came to reveal. He is not like the other kings of the world who will use the subjects for their glory. He is the king who came to show grace upon grace to make something beautiful upon from ordinary, broken, rejected, rebellious, sinful people. And that grace awaits you and me this day. My dear friend, Christ is our king who found us. Christ is our king who died for us and calls us to show that grace to the world around us. You know, Brian Chapel has this beautiful quote. He says, "The kindness of Ruth and Boaz is a mere flicker of the blazing covenantal love of Jesus Christ for his church." So, may I remind us as I close with three applications. If you if grace has found you in whatever situation you may be, whether you are in a bitter, complaining, angry mode, seeking to plan your own life like Naomi, respond in faith. Will you respond to grace like Ruth? Let's Ruth, let Ruth's commitment be your declaration. Show compassion like Boaz. Be a visible channel of God's compassion to the widow, the foreigner, the single parent, or that struggling teen. Compassion isn't random kindness. Compassion is covenantal love in action. And if you have tasted this covenantal love, will you live out your covenantal call? God didn't save you to sit. He saved you to serve. Whether it's through volunteering or mentoring or giving, your ordinary obedience is part of God's extraordinary plan. You know, the book of Ruth begins with a famine and ends in a family. It opens with a funeral and closes with a genealogy that leads to Jesus Christ. Grace found Ruth. Grace found Naomi. Grace found Boaz. And today, grace can find you whether you're bitter, broken, or far from home. Will you respond like Ruth with covenantal commitment? Will you serve like Boas with covenantal compassion? Will you live like one called under the wings of a covenant-keeping God through the work of his son, Jesus Christ? Let's pray.