Happy Mother’s Day!
Ruth-Redeeming Love
Sunday, May 11, 2025
Welcome! Happy Mother’s Day to all our moms here today! God bless you always. You are a precious gift to this world.
Call to Worship: We’ve come to worship God, who loved us before we were yet born,
who knows us even better than we know ourselves, whose presence never leaves us,
and whose love for us never ceases. This is our God.
Let’s worship together!
Praise Songs
Mother’s Day is such a special day, for without our moms, none of us would be here. And yet it comes with mixed emotions for many- it might be missing our beloved moms who have gone home to be with the Lord, and there is that hole now left that is never filled again while we remain in this earthly life-until we are united once more-the hole only a mother’s presence can fill. For others, life with mom was far too short, or wasn’t easy, or always joyful due to sickness, addictions, mental health, or even selfishness, and maybe you feel robbed of a life enjoyed knowing and loving your mom. For some moms, this day is beautiful and yet painful, as you are remembering and holding grief in your heart over the loss of a child, for some moms, you are grieving and hopeful
for the restoration of a strained relationship with your adult children, wondering what went wrong and how things could change so dramatically from what they once were.
Motherhood is complicated, beautiful, messy, and heart-wrenching at times. So it comes with many emotions on this day, and depending on our situations, we might be experiencing a wave of emotions, and that’s OK. God is with us through it all, and His love is big enough to hold us or even carry us through when we cannot.
For some here today, you are in the throes of enjoying the wonderous and exhausting madness of raising up little ones-and it feels like you are barely keeping your head above water some days, and yet your heart overflows as you listen to them laugh and see them discovering this growing world around them. Then there are some bravely facing those teenage years when you aren’t sure who you will be interacting with on any given day, and wonder where your adoring child went who thought you hung the moon, and now has turned to their friends to share their secrets too and spend their time with. It’s awesome to watch them grow, becoming more independent, and a bit
of your heart breaks the more they let go. Then they leave and you’re so proud of them and the adventures and risks they take, the lessons they are learning, the life they are experiencing-it’s such a joy to see them finding their path in life, and you grieve a bit as you know those younger years are just a memory you will hold in your heart forever.
And so is the evolution of being a mother, a roller coaster ride of raising them up to let them fly and fulfill their calling in life. But then, some of you have reached the great reward, grandparenting! The joys of experiencing it all again, with the freedom to send them back home when you are tuckered out. Sometimes life can be hard, and we find ourselves in these valleys, and maybe we wonder, where are You, God, in all of this? I want to assure you today, especially our moms on this Mother’s Day, God is right by your side. He has never left you, and even though it may seem dark or you may wonder when am I going to make it to the mountain top, He is working good in your life, for this is who our God is. He restores, He makes new, and He is faithful to His Word.
I had recently read the book of Ruth, and this truth really landed on my heart for all of us, and especially for our moms today. So I invite you to hear this story with fresh ears, see how God works as only He can, see how He turns darkness into light, and never abandons us. See how He is present and at work, even when they couldn’t see Him.
He was always there, working things for good. In Ruth, we find a family from the tribe of Judah with a wife and mom named Naomi. She was married to Elimelek, and they had two sons. There was a famine in their homeland, so they decided to leave and go to a foreign land called Moab. They left to escape the harsh conditions of the famine, unfortunately, in this new land, Elimelek dies. Naomi is widowed in a foreign land. Her two sons decide to marry Moabite women-which by the way, is strictly forbidden by God to intermarry with people from pagan nations. He wanted to keep His people pure and set apart from other nations, so their hearts would remain devoted to Him. The sons lived with their wives for about ten years, and then, for reasons we don’t know, they also died in Moab. So Naomi is grieving the tremendous loss of her husband and both her sons. She has her daughters-in-law who loved her and were faithful to her, but the reality was being a widow was hard enough financially, and it would be nearly impossible in a foreign land. Naomi heard there was food again in Judah, and her only option was to return home to her people. She urged her daughters-in-law to stay back in Moab and prayed God would show grace to them and lead them to new husbands there. She said I have nothing to offer you if you come with me. I’m too old to remarry, and I don’t have any more sons for you. One stayed back, but here is where we see an interesting turn of events that God is about to do something amazing with- Ruth, a Moabite woman, decides in her heart she will remain linked to Naomi and go to Judah with her, and become one of her people, and most importantly, follow her God-making God her own personal God.
There was danger in this-she was a foreigner and unmarried-this could go really poorly for her. But she loved
Naomi and put her faith in God to help them both. Now this is something God can and does work with. They make
their way back and the whole town is excited to see Naomi’s return. Naomi after such great loss, is feeling like
God’s hand has been upon her. Her life has become bitter-so she said don’t call me Naomi- call me Mara- which
means bitter. She was in a dark place, understandably. She knew the culture and she knew how hard life was likely
going to be for her and now Ruth she had to be concerned about. BUT GOD was already in the works.
In their culture, when a husband would die and there were no children to inherit his land and carry on his name, it
was custom that the closest relative would take the widowed wife and the first child they had would be given the
name of the husband who passed so that family lineage would carry on. The widow would also be provided for.
There was such a person that God would arrange Ruth to meet. His name was Boaz. He owned farmland and had
many workers in his field. He was well off and well respected. It was also a law that those working the fields should
leave grain along the edges for the poor and foreigners to come through and glean as they needed. So this is what
Ruth did to get some grain for her and Naomi. And whose field did she happen upon? Boaz. She worked all day
gleaning from the edges. Boaz came by and took notice of her and asked who she was. When told, he called her
over and this is where we’ll pick up today as we look at God’s redeeming love that encompasses Naomi and Ruth
all leading to the fulfillment of God’s greater purposes.
Ruth 2: 5-12 NIV
5 Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, “Who does that young woman belong to?” 6 The overseer replied, “She
is the Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi. 7 She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the
sheaves behind the harvesters.’ She came into the field and has remained here from morning till now, except for a
short rest in the shelter.”
8 So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from
here. Stay here with the women who work for me. 9 Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along
after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink
from the water jars the men have filled.”
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?” 11 Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-
law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live
with a people you did not know before. 12 May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly
rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”
1. Our Suffering is Not Unseen.
Ruth 1: 3-5 3 Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 They married Moabite
women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, 5 both Mahlon and
Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.
Ruth 1: 12-13 12 Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still
hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— 13 would you wait until they grew
up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because
the LORD’s hand has turned against me!”
After such loss, Naomi felt God had turned His hand against her and wasn’t seeing her pain. This was far from the
truth. God saw her pain and suffering. What we don’t know for sure is what God allowed to bring about His divine
purposes-such as famine in a land possibly- or if it choices made by this family that brought about their own
consequences. Regardless of how or why things occurred, what is true is God loves through it all. He saw Naomi
and He cared for her. He saw Ruth-a Moabite woman- and He cared for her. He used these times of hardship to
show the riches of His grace and redeeming love.
For all of us, no matter what season you are in, what hardship you are facing, or loss you are grieving- you are not
unseen. In fact, you are ever before Your Father’s eyes for He cares deeply for you. There is no where you are He
does not see you and care for you.
Isaiah 49:16 See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.
2. God Responds to a Surrendered Heart.
All seemed a loss for Naomi and the future looked pretty bleak, but do you know all God is looking for is a heart
surrendered to Him? That is all He needs-one heart to respond in faith and surrender and He will begin to redeem,
restore, and make new. Ruth’s heart was stirred and she responded in faith and surrendered to all she knew and said
I will follow You. This is a sacrifice our God delights in!
Ruth 1:16-17 16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will
go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will
die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and
me.”
We see this all throughout Scripture-what God desires is our hearts surrendered to Him. It’s in our weakness; His
strength is made perfect. Moms are you hearing this today-it’s OK to be weak in some ways-God made us this way
so that we’ll rely on Him and draw from His strength. We cannot do it all in our limited abilities and power. We
were not designed to do this on our own. This applies to all of us today so please heed this message.
Ruth humbled herself; she became meek and put her hope in the Lord to make a way in what would seem an
impossible future for her. And this posture of her heart is something our God cannot resist.
Psalm 51:17 NLT The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O
God.
God takes notice of a humbled and surrendered heart and so do others. And God begins to do what only He can do
when we fall on our knees before Him and say I can’t do this on my own, I need You. I want to follow You. I want
what You want for my life and I am choosing to trust You. A prideful heart will only bring you more hardship and
resentment-because you will hit a wall. That is a guarantee. A surrendered heart makes way for God’s grace to
move and smash down those walls-to do what we never could on our own. Why? So God gets the glory, not us. So
His grace is on display for us to acknowledge and others to see.
So what is the posture of your heart this morning? Check it. Is it filled with pride and self-ambition and glory? Is it
one foot in with God and one foot trying to still lead the way-because that will never work? Or are you fully
surrendered like Ruth-where you go, I will go, where you stay I will stay, you will be my God and I will follow you.
Because of her humbled and surrendered heart, God caused Boaz to take notice of Ruth working in his fields. It
wasn’t her pride he was impressed with. It was her humility, her faithfulness to her mother-in-law and the honor of
her family, and her choice to follow Yahweh-the Living God.
Ruth 2:11 11 Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of
your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not
know before.
So, God began a story of redeeming and restoring through this encounter.
3. God Redeems and Restores.
Boaz through the leading of the Spirit of God no doubt, speaks a blessing and prophecy over Ruth solely because of
the character he witnessed within her. He didn’t know in that moment he would be part of that prophecy.
Ruth 2:12 12 May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of
Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”
Isn’t that wonderful how God works beyond what we hope or imagine?
Naomi sees Boaz’s kindness to Ruth and knows he is a redeemer of their people. So she orchestrates a plan for Ruth
to make it known to Boaz she would be willing to marry him if he would uphold their custom. Boaz is honored that
Ruth would choose to be with him and he makes his intentions known to the wider community-so there were
witnesses in the transaction of redeeming the land belong to Naomi’s husband Elimelek and taking care of the
widow, Ruth.
Ruth 4:9-10 9 Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, “Today you are witnesses that I have bought
from Naomi all the property of Elimelek, Kilion and Mahlon. 10 I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon’s
widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear
from among his family or from his hometown. Today you are witnesses!”
When Ruth agreed to follow Naomi back to Judah and leave her homeland, she was solely clinging to her and
wanted to help her. Because of her heart and faithfulness, God blessed her with so much more. She was not going to
be a beggar on the edges of the field; she was a wife again, she would have a family, and she would be taken care
of; she would be part of a community.
And the beautiful thing is, remember in the beginning of this great loss, Naomi was bitter in heart and felt God’s
hand had turned against her. Through this, she too was taken care of, redeemed through the buying back of land,
and through the family that would come in honor of her late son. She was restored because of Ruth’s heart posture.
God had not forsaken Naomi in her great sorrow. He was working things for good, to restore her.
Ruth 4: 14-15 14 The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a
guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! 15 He will renew your life and sustain you in your old
age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.”
This is who our God is. He is working to redeem and restore each of us. Sometimes in this world we suffer great
loss and endure great hardship for it is a broken world, but let us never believe for one moment our God has
forsaken us in those hard seasons, for He has not. Let us remember this story and know our God is always working
to redeem and restore us and let us give thanks in our waiting, trusting He is faithful to His Word.
4. God Uses Our Faithfulness in His Greater Plans.
But this is what is most incredible about this story-God’s redeeming plan was far greater than just restoring Naomi
and redeeming Ruth. That was important and significant yes-as each of our lives are to God-BUT through this
family and story of redemption is the greatest story of redemption for all of us!
For God brought forth the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ through this lineage. Look-
Ruth 4:21-22 21 Salmon the father of Boaz, Boaz the father of Obed, 22 Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the
father of David. And Jesus’ lineage shows he came from the line of David.
And do you know what? Boaz’s mother was Rahab the prostitute who hid the Israelite spies and didn’t
turn them into her people when they were scoping out what they would be up against in taking that
land. They spared her life and she turned her heart over to God as well. So in this story of our
Messiah’s birth we see a prostitute redeemed and restored, and a widowed Moabite woman redeemed
and restored. God uses our broken life choices and circumstances to turn them for good and make
something really beautiful out of them.
Isaiah 55:9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Revelation 21:4-5 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or
pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” 5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything
new!”
Romans 8:28 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been
called according to his purpose.
Conclusion: In this world, we will suffer but we have an assurance that our God sees, and He works amid our
suffering to bring about His redemptive purposes. There is a far grander story we are being woven into, and our
chapter must be written to tell it. No matter the path we travel, our stories begin and end in redemptive love.
Mothers of all seasons-you are seen, you are loved, your roles are so significant. And you are honored today by all
of us, and every day by your Father who assigned you this role.
Let’s pray.
Offering:
Prayers: Deb- Terri has dementia lives alone and had a serious car accident, Deb- a neighbor Nancy having a heart
related procedure this week..
Praise from Jessica for the love of church family and generosity-feeling very blessed.
Bday’s: Bob Lentz May 12, Carson Richardson May 12, Sophia Brandner May 13
Special prayer of blessing for our moms: "Lord, we thank you for the gift of mothers, for their unwavering
love, their selfless acts, and their enduring spirit. We celebrate them today, not just for the special day, but
for the profound impact they have on our lives. For those who are struggling, we ask for your strength and
guidance, your peace and your comfort. For those who are grieving or facing challenges, we ask for your
supernatural peace and a light at the end of the tunnel. For those in times of joy and peace we ask You to
keep them near You and remember to still draw from Your daily grace and wisdom. For all mothers, we thank you for their nurturing hearts, their wisdom, and their ability to shape us into who we are today.
May they know our gratitude, may they feel your love, and may their lives be filled with joy, hope, and beauty. In Jesus ' name, Amen
Final song blessing for moms-stay seated and give thanks for your mom. Kids will hand out gifts.
Final Blessing: 2 Thessalonians 2: 16-17 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.
