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1 Year Lectionary – 4th Wednesday in Advent – December 20, 2023 | Pr. Chris Rosebrough

Welcome to the Teaching Ministry of Kongsvinger Lutheran Church. Kongsvinger is a beacon for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of Northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone, and now, here’s a message from Pastor Chris Rosebrough:

Time Stamp	Transcript
0:22	A reading from
0:29	Ruth chapter 4 now Boaz had gone up to the gate and
0:34	sat down there and behold the Redeemer of whom Boaz had spoken came by so Boaz
0:40	said turn aside friend and sit down here and he turned aside and sat down and he
0:46	took 10 men of the Elders of the city and said sit down here so they sat down
0:52	and then he said to the Redeemer Naomi who has come back from the country of
0:57	Moab is selling the parcel of land land that belonged to our relative IMC so I
1:03	thought I would tell you of it and say buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the Elders
1:10	of my people if you will redeem it redeem it but if you will not tell me
1:15	that I may know for there is no one besides you to redeem it and I come after you and he said I will redeem it
1:24	then Boaz said the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi you also acquire
1:29	Ruth the moabit the Widow of the Dead in order to perpetuate the name of the dead
1:35	in his inheritance then the Redeemer said I cannot redeem it from myself lest I
1:41	impair my own inheritance take my right of redemption yourself for I cannot
1:47	redeem it now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning the redeeming and exchanging to confirm a
1:54	transaction the one Drew off his sandal and gave it to the other and this was the manner of a test in Israel so when
2:01	the Redeemer said to Boaz buy it for yourself he drew off his sandal then Boaz said to the elders and all the
2:08	people you are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all
2:13	that belong to IMC and all that belong to Kon and to mahlon also Ruth the
2:20	moabit the Widow of mahlon I have bought to be my wife to perpetuate the name of
2:26	the dead in his inheritance that the name of the Dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the Gate of
2:33	his native place you are witnesses this day then all the people who were at the
2:40	gate and the elders said we Are Witnesses May Yahweh make the woman who
2:45	is coming into your house like Rachel and Leah who together built up the house of Israel may you act worthily in EPA
2:53	and be renowned in Bethlehem and may your house be like the house of Perez whom Tamar bore to Judah because of the
3:00	offspring that Yahweh will give you by this young woman so Boaz took Ruth and
3:05	she became his wife and he went into her and Yahweh gave her conception and she
3:11	bore a son then the women said to Naomi Blessed Be Yahweh who has not left you
3:17	this day without a redeemer and may his name be renowned in Israel he shall be
3:23	to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age for your
3:28	daughter-in-law who loves you who is more to you than seven sons has given birth to him then Naomi took the child
3:36	and laid him on her lap and became his nurse and the women of the neighborhood gave him a name saying a son has been
3:43	born to Naomi they named him OED he was the father of Jesse the father of David
3:51	now these are the generations of Perez Perez fathered hezron hezron fathered
3:57	ram ram fathered aminadab AB aminadab fathered nashan nashan fed Salon Salon
4:05	fathered Boaz Boaz fathered OED OED fathered Jesse and Jesse fathered David
4:13	oh Lord have mercy on us in the name of Jesus amen amen what a great story like
4:21	I said this is the best chick flick in all of the world and it’s here in the Scriptures it has wonderful twists and
4:28	turns and trth love and I mean true love you think of that movie The Princess
4:33	Bride and this idea the concept of true love being like the ultimate thing in
4:39	all of the world and that’s exactly what we see here the true love of a
4:44	sacrificial Redeemer for one who is not capable of
4:51	freeing herself from poverty that’s a picture of us the body of Christ the
4:56	bride of Christ we because of our rebellion and participation in the Sin
5:02	of Satan and our first parents eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge
5:07	of Good and Evil contrary to God’s command have plunged us into ruin misery and the poverty and
5:15	suffering of sin and we are absolutely powerless to free oursel from the
5:21	situation that’s the picture that we find ourselves in and last week we heard
5:27	the amazing proposal a woman proposing to a man uh when Ruth
5:33	said to Boaz in the middle of the night having removed his blanket from his feet
5:39	so that he would be shivering and have to figure out what why he’s cold and then him seeing the shock of of of a
5:44	woman there at his feet and he says who are you and she says I am Ruth your
5:50	servant spread your wings over your servant for you are a redeemer beautiful
5:55	picture and we again we are reminded of the fact that Christ indeed deed spread his Wings Over Us by being nailed to the
6:02	cross so that you and I can be forgiven and pardon of our sin and iniquity and after that whole Affair there at the
6:09	threshing floor well Naomi was right that she was right she said wait my
6:15	daughter until you learn how the matter turns out for Boaz will not rest but he
6:20	will settle the matter today and now the focus is completely off of Ruth the
6:26	focus is on Boaz everything is on him all eyes to see what he will do next and
6:33	how he will sort all this out and so just like Naomi said he will not rest
6:38	until he gets the sorted out so our text begins with Boaz going up to the gate
6:43	and he sat down there now in the ancient world okay The City Gate was the place where the men hung out and talked and
6:52	gossiped and conducted business in fact in many of the ancient city Gates of Israel that was the place where In the
6:59	Heat of the the day you could still remain cool big big Stone you know
7:05	Stones build up these columns here that then worked themselves into an arch and inside the arch there were two benches
7:12	one on each side each facing each other kind of like Parliament if you think about it and this is where they would
7:17	discuss the news of the day talk about how big the fish they caught was it was really actually this small but you know
7:23	how the story goes right they would chew the yarn and do all kinds of business
7:28	and stuff like that and so Boaz an upstanding man is going to make sure that this is done correctly that this is
7:37	done with the proper amount of witnesses and that no one can accuse him of doing
7:42	an underhanded Shady deal for his benefit and here’s the thing I need to
7:48	remind you that this is not some kind of a of a speculation a land speculation
7:55	where he’s doing so well with his farm that of of course it makes sense for him
8:00	to take some of his money parlay it into another parcel of property extend his
8:06	farm out and he would be doing a lot better if that were the case then you’ll
8:11	know then the first Redeemer would have easily taken that property because he
8:16	was in a well enough position to do so but that’s not what’s happening here
8:22	this is about Redemption being purchased out of poverty being purchased out of
8:28	complete Financial bankruptcy Naomi and Ruth have no leverage whatsoever to
8:35	actually run the farmer even control the property itself although Boaz is going
8:41	to purchase it from Naomi she herself has no ability to run the property or to
8:46	even exercise the rights of somebody who owns it they need a redeemer to help
8:52	them and so I will remind you again that this is going to take a lot of sacrifice
8:58	because in the end the purchase of this property is not for his own benefit it’s
9:05	for the benefit of the dead man mlon and the son that will be born to
9:13	Boaz and Ruth by the Mosaic Covenant will not be considered his own and when
9:22	that boy gets to the point where he is able to run the inheritance then the
9:28	entire inheritance goes to him and I would note in our days have
9:35	you noticed how selfish the younger generation is marriage is not a thing
9:41	among many of the youth nowadays Millennials or even the Gen Z and I
9:47	would note there’s enough selfishness to go around between the men and the women of those Generations that explains
9:53	what’s going on here but over and again you will hear stories of men who would rather
9:59	well spend their time playing video games increasing their
10:07	401K traveling working on their pet Hobbies purchasing expensive cars and a
10:14	pastor that uh that I happened to read his sermon on this text tells a story
10:21	where he was on a flight he was on one of those cross- Country flights from Los Angeles to New York and when he got on
10:28	the plane in front of him well there was a younger couple but they were not married they weren’t even a thing they just randomly
10:35	got chosen to sit next to each other and they were both kind of in their mid-30s and they were both Beautiful People
10:42	handsome man ravishingly great woman and uh and they struck up a conversation he
10:49	started talking her up and she started talking him up and next thing you know
10:54	partway through the flight she kind of Springs this question on him have you ever been married because he didn’t have
11:00	a wedding ring on he says no I’ve never been married and I have no intention of ever getting married the man announced
11:07	he said in fact I loathe the idea of getting married and then having somebody
11:12	else tell me what to do with my own house with my own cars and my own time
11:18	so and then he kind of ended that little diet tribe with just being
11:23	honest well as the flight started winding down and getting ready to land at
11:29	AFK uh the guy decided that you know it’s getting to be about dinner time out here on the east coast and so he asked
11:35	the woman would you like to go out to dinner with me and she says I’m not interested in going to dinner with you or doing anything with you at all just
11:43	being honest right I think that kind of captures the
11:50	the State of Affairs here among many and so what we’re looking at here is a man
11:56	who must be willing to look look out for everybody except himself he must be
12:03	willing to risk everything that he has his entire inheritance for the purpose
12:09	of redeeming Ruth redeeming Naomi rede redeeming their property raising up
12:16	children that will not be considered his legally and then this investment when it’s all over every penny that he’s put
12:24	into it is gone because when the boy comes of age
12:31	it’ll all be his that is a
12:36	tall ask it’s a big big thing to ask
12:42	anybody to do this and I would note and here Boaz really begins to reflect
12:49	Christ may I remind you that Jesus Christ to redeem his bride to purchase
12:55	his bride he not not only risk everything he lost his entire
13:04	life and so you’ll knowe that here in the types and shadows Boaz is pointing
13:10	us straight to Jesus in his redeeming work for his bride so while he’s there
13:16	at The City Gate he sees the Redeemer the Redeemer who’s first in line Boaz is
13:22	in second and so he says to him turn aside my friend sit down here and so he turned aside and he sat down and he took
13:28	10 men of the Elders of the city and said sit down here so they all sat
13:34	down then he said to the Redeemer the Redeemer is never mentioned his name is
13:39	not named here Naomi who has come back from the country of Moab is selling the
13:44	parcel of land that belonged to our relative IMC so I thought I would tell you of it and say buy it in the presence
13:52	of those sitting here and in the presence of the Elders of my people if you will redeem it redeem it but if if
13:58	you will not then tell me that I may know for there is no one besides you to redeem it and I come after you well
14:06	you’ll knowe Boaz hasn’t put all the cards on the table and so this redeemer
14:13	is thinking well this is some good land speculation I can increase my farming
14:19	land oh boy this is going to have a big big Financial benefit at the end of the year the Boon in in what we’re going to
14:26	be taking in will be just huge he thinks it’s that kind of thing so he says sure
14:32	I’m in I’ll buy
14:38	it so then Boaz said now listen the day
14:43	you buy the field from the hand of Naomi you also acquire Ruth the moabit the
14:49	Widow of the Dead in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his
14:55	inheritance that’s a horse of a different color you said you would redeem it so let me
15:01	tell you the rest of the fine print here written in Sixpoint helvetica hard to read without bifocals for me but you get
15:08	the idea but he reads out the fine print and this changes everything in fact if
15:14	it weren’t for the fact that this fellow now boxs at what’s going on I don’t think we would understand the legitimate
15:20	severity of what it is that’s being asked of this fellow so the Redeemer
15:26	said I cannot I cannot it for myself lest I impair my own inheritance and
15:32	notice here he doesn’t say listen if I bring Ruth home my wife’s going to kill
15:38	me he doesn’t say that instead he says I can’t redeem it lest I impair my own
15:44	inheritance if I do this you’re asking me to sink my money my inheritance my
15:52	blood my sweat my tears my treasure into a property that will not even be mine
16:01	the risk is too great the chances of both Farms going Belly Up is
16:09	huge that’s what he’s saying here so he says to Boaz you take my
16:15	right of redemption yourself for I cannot redeem it now here’s a fun bit if you go back
16:24	into the book of Exodus there’s an interesting little side note in the book of Exodus where God tells the children
16:31	of Israel who are now in their Wilderness wanderings they have crossed the Red Sea they are now wandering in
16:36	the wilderness and before they set out God tells them wherever your sandals
16:41	touch the ground with ses of your feet and the sandals touch the ground that will be your inheritance everything will
16:48	belong to you it’s kind of fascinating in that part of the world because this
16:53	takes place in Saudi Arabia they find these Petroglyph of sandals okay it’s a
16:59	fascinating thing in that part of of Saudi Arabia that’s the way of the Israelites saying this also belongs to
17:05	us because our feet have touched this have touched this property so it’s ours too and boy let that come in let that
17:13	sneak into Middle East negotiations regarding the land of Israel and see things explode but all that being said
17:19	because of that little detail that little thing whever the soles of your feet wherever your sandals touch that
17:26	will be your land your inheritance and you’ll note it was a huge area that
17:32	their sandals touched their feet and that has yet to be fulfilled because that little promise was pointing to none
17:38	other than the new Earth itself where the souls of the feet of only the elect
17:43	in Christ those who are grafted into Israel will inherit the whole earth and
17:48	so Saudi Arabia will belong to the Christians Saudi Arabia and the whole
17:54	Middle East all the way up to China and the back across Russia over into you get
18:01	the whole thing we’re going to own the whole thing that’s kind of the idea but that little detail is important here it
18:08	says now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and
18:13	exchanging to confirm a transaction the one Drew off his sandal and gave it to
18:19	the other he had to because the sandals had touched the you kind of get the idea it’s really cool if you think about it
18:25	so it gave it to the other and this was the manner of aest in in Israel so when the Redeemer said to Boaz will you buy
18:32	it for yourself he drew off his sandal then Boaz said to the elders and all the people you are witnesses this day that I
18:39	have bought from the land of Naomi all that belong to IMC and all that belong
18:44	to helon and to mlon and also Ruth the moabit the Widow of mlon I have bought
18:53	to be my wife to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance that the
19:00	name of the Dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the Gate of his native place you are witnesses this
19:08	day and that’s right he purchases Ruth as his wife he Bears the
19:18	full cost there’s no dowy she has nothing to offer him she is in complete
19:24	abject poverty herself and so you’ll note then there’s some wonderful things
19:30	that we can kind of pull out from other portions of the scripture for instance in Galatians 4 it says this wonderful
19:36	text that we read at Christmas time but when the fullness of time came God sent forth his son born of a woman born under
19:44	the law so that he might redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive the adoption as sons and so here
19:53	we see in this text the Fulfillment of what we see happening in the types and shadows with Boaz he then redeems and
20:01	purchases his bride to redeem her so that he can raise up
20:08	Sons for the dead it’s a beautiful picture and so we see that Christ
20:14	fulfills this for us another wonderful way of looking at this is in fact back
20:20	in Ephesians chapter 5 husbands love your wives as Christ has loved the
20:26	church and he gave him self up for her and that’s what Boaz is doing he’s
20:31	risking everything that he has giving himself up for Ruth and for Naomi so
20:37	that he might sanctify her having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word so that he might present
20:44	the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such
20:50	thing so that she might be holy and without blemish and that’s what Boaz is
20:56	doing by redeeming her he is removing from her the blemish of poverty the
21:01	blemish of being a foreigner the blemish of being a widow and he is presenting
21:08	her to himself in splendor and he’s bearing the entire cost is it any Wonder
21:15	then that this text in Ephesians makes mention of Genesis chapter 2 where it
21:20	says that that this idea that we are members of Christ’s body was pointed out
21:27	all the way back in Genesis 2 where it says therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his
21:33	wife and the two shall become one flesh listen to this text then verse 32 this
21:39	mystery is profound the mystery that we just read therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to
21:45	his wife and the two shall become one flesh that’s the mystery and so Paul then says by the inspiration of the holy
21:52	spirit that this mystery is profound and I’m saying that this text in Genesis 2
21:58	refers to Christ and to the church think it through if you would a man will leave
22:04	his father and mother and hold fast to his wife didn’t Christ leave Heaven
22:10	leave his father and was incarnate of the Virgin Mary and was made man didn’t
22:16	he leave his father and do you think it’s a throwaway detail that while Christ is bleeding dying languishing on
22:23	the cross there is his mother and there is the Apostle John and Christ said says
22:28	to John behold your mother he says to his mother behold your son and at this
22:33	point Christ has left both father and mother so that he can then be joined to
22:40	his bride the church it’s beautiful these Bridal
22:46	images this laying down of your life for for your bride it’s it’s just a
22:54	beautiful picture and this is exactly what Christ does for us but then again I think of Isaiah chapter 53 a text that
23:03	we are all familiar with one that I go to with some regularity in fact I like
23:08	beginning in chapter 52 at verse 13 behold my servant Jesus he will act
23:15	wisely he shall be high and lifted up and he shall be exalted as many were as
23:22	astonished at you his appearance was so marred beyond human semblance and his form beyond that of the children of
23:29	mankind so shall his sh so shall he sprinkle many nations Kings shall
23:34	shutter shall shut their mouths because of him for that which has not been told them they see and that which they have
23:41	not heard they understand so who has believed what he has heard from us and to whom has the arm of Yahweh been
23:49	revealed for he grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground he had no form or Majesty that we
23:56	should look at him and no no beauty that we should desire him he was despised and
24:01	he was rejected by Men A Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief and as for and
24:08	as one from whom men hid their faces he was despised and we esteemed him not
24:14	surely he has borne our griefs he’s carried our sorrows yet we esteemed him
24:20	stricken and smitten by God and Afflicted but he was pierced for our transgressions he was crushed
24:28	for our iniquities and upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and
24:34	with his wounds we are healed all we like sheep we have gone astray we have
24:39	turned everyone to his own way and the lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all he was oppressed he was afflicted
24:47	yet he opened not his mouth and like a lamb that is led to the slaughter and like a sheep that before it shears as
24:52	silent so he opened not his mouth by oppression and judgment he was taken away way and as for his generation who
25:01	considered that he was cut off from the land of the living stricken for the transgression of my people they made his
25:07	grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death although he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his
25:13	mouth yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him and he has put him to grief
25:19	and when his soul makes an offering for Guilt he shall see his offspring he shall prolong his days and
25:28	the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand what a beautiful turn the one the suffering servant who lays down his
25:35	life who’s bruised and pierced for our transgressions even though he dies in
25:40	make his grave is with the wicked and with the rich in his death yet he will
25:45	see his offspring that’s you and I and we are his bride it was the will of the
25:52	Lord to crush him and when his soul makes an offering for Guilt he shall see his offspring he shall prong his days
25:59	and the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and he shall be
26:05	satisfied by his knowledge shall the righteous one my servant make many to be
26:11	accounted righteous and he shall bear their iniquities and indeed that is what Christ has done and Boaz in similar
26:18	fashion by redeeming Ruth he has borne her iniquities he has borne her
26:25	punishment he has borne her poverty and paid for it all himself and now has
26:31	purchased her out of that slavery and has exalted her to his right hand as his
26:40	bride what comes next is rather
26:49	fascinating we Are Witnesses all the elders said and may the Lord make the woman who is coming into your house may
26:56	the Lord make her like Rachel and Leah who together built up the house of Israel and may you act worthily in EPA
27:03	and be renowned in Bethlehem and may your house be like the house of Perez whom Tamar bore to Judah because of the
27:10	offspring that Yahweh will give you by this young woman I find it fascinating
27:15	that Rachel and Leah and Tamar are mentioned so
27:21	positively by these Elders it makes you wonder have you read Genesis okay have
27:28	you read J did you do you all remember the story of Rachel and Leah there was
27:33	there was Jacob he was he was back in padana Ram with his uncle and he had the
27:40	hots for Rachel as soon as he laid eyes on her at that well he knew she was the
27:46	one and he was so L struck he was willing to work for seven years for her
27:52	and then when the seven years were over what happened his uncle laan did the old
27:58	Switcheroo and because brides wear veils and it’s tough to see through those things he put Leah in the bridal veil
28:08	and wouldn’t you know it it was dark and Jacob consummated that marriage not
28:13	realizing who he was consummating it with and when he woke up behold It was Leah right and then from that moment on
28:21	you had these Sister Wives having this rivalry between the two of them one
28:27	being loved and the other one not being loved and their Intrigue and their infighting is
28:34	legendary but isn’t it interesting that here in this text none of that is
28:41	remembered and then you have the story of Tamar who gave birth to Perez need I
28:48	remind you that he was conceived in an act of prostitution with her
28:54	father-in-law okay not exactly an upstanding woman that we should point to and say we want to be just like her we
29:00	want our daughters to be just like her that doesn’t make any sense and so when
29:06	I see something like this later in the Bible these women being mentioned and
29:11	being mentioned so positively it reminds me of this fact that it is true that
29:17	Christ has born our iniquity and as a result of it the record of debt that
29:22	stood against us that stood against Rachel that stood against Leah that stood against Tamar the whole thing has
29:27	been gone is gone because of Christ the only thing left are their good works and
29:33	the things that they done in Pious faith that are an example to us isn’t that
29:40	fascinating and so I would note here it’s just one of the most amazing bits
29:45	in here that the these women are mentioned so positively by the people of Israel when they could have easily said
29:52	I think their stories are a little too seedy we we may not want to make mention of of them at all but yet they did
30:00	because they like you and I are forgiven of all of our debts and we have been
30:06	rescued from poverty to sin death and the devil and because Christ he has
30:12	taken all of our iniquity upon himself our sin is not remembered anymore and so
30:18	you’ll note that’s kind of the example here the story then continues so Boaz
30:25	took Ruth she became his wife no details of the wedding we don’t know what she wore we don’t know what the
30:31	color scheme was or anything like that we don’t know what the dance mix was at the reception none of that is told to us
30:37	right just the detail that she became his wife and it sounds like it was
30:44	glorious and he went into her and Yahweh gave her conception I would remind us all that it is the Lord who gives
30:50	conception to women not us and even though we think we know what we’re doing I don’t think we know what we’re doing
30:55	God does and so then she bore a son exactly as she was supposed to do then
31:02	the women said to Naomi Blessed Be yahe who has not left you this day without a
31:09	redeemer and that sentence tells us who the real redeemer is the real Redeemer
31:17	wasn’t Boaz the real Redeemer was Yahweh the real redeemer is our God blessed be
31:24	Yahweh and so they glorify God for redeeming Naomi and Ruth and doing so
31:31	through Boaz but it’s the Lord who gets the glory the lord who gets the praise
31:36	and may his name be renowned in Israel they said he shall be to you a restorer
31:43	of life and a nourisher of your old age and indeed that is exactly what Christ
31:49	has done for us not only has He restored our life he has already rais raised us
31:55	from the dead we being united toist Christ and his death burial and Resurrection in the waters of baptism
32:02	and he nourishes us and cares for us now even in our olding a old age for your
32:08	daughter-in-law who loves you is more to you than seven sons she has given birth
32:13	to him so Naomi took the child laid him on her lap and became his nurse and the
32:19	women of the neighborhood gave him a name saying a son has been born to Naomi
32:24	and they called him OED he was the father of Jesse the father of David what
32:30	a great story and so you’ll note that last part kind of invokes the texts that
32:36	are coming up at the beginning of next week those texts that tell us that Mary
32:42	gave birth to her firstborn son in of all places Bethlehem Jesus who is the
32:49	son of David and the rightful heir to David’s Throne is about to be ah his
32:54	birth is coming and it all takes place in Bethlehem we should pay attention to what is happening here and so a good way
33:01	to put it is that because of the Redemptive work of God through Boaz we
33:08	can say that this story has now come to its end and they all lived happily ever
33:14	after in the name of Jesus
33:21	Amen

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