A FULL REWARD
Andrew Burr
I wanted to say a word about a full reward. There is increase for everyone in this book but Boaz says to Ruth "let thy reward be full". I have a desire for all my brethren that they might really experience this full reward from God.
The setting of this book compares with that of the day in which we are. It shows that even in such a day God is ready to take account of those who are ready for the way, and who are diligent in His things. The book begins rather sadly in the time when the judges ruled. The judges did not rule all the time, nor did they rule over the whole country, but the time when the judges ruled showed that God was committed to revival in the nation. Now, in such a time there was a famine in the land, and this family, the family of Elimelech, went down to Moab. What a sad thing! The family was privileged, they lived in a special place, in Bethlehem, and they had a mighty relative. But when the famine came they turned, not to their privilege, nor to their relative, but to the land of Moab. The result was a catastrophe in which most of the family died. I do not want to be negative, but there is an echo of some of that in our own day. We live in a revival, and we occupy a place of privilege in the profession. We have known very spiritual ministry which we greatly value; but when that spiritual ministry was concluded in our times, there was departure which has resulted in a catastrophe. Now is not the time to dwell on the reasons for that - Naomi does not dwell upon them at all. We are glad now to live in a day of recovery, when there is a return to the inheritance; but why was it that we did not turn to the mighty Man of wealth? Why were we led away?
Some, like Naomi, have come through this trial. There are some who were in the departure who are not in the recovery, but there are others who were not in the departure and who are in the recovery. My desire, beloved, is that all of us who now go on together might receive this full reward. I never like to discount what the brethren have: perhaps some of us already have the reward. I am sure there are many here who know about it who could tell you more about it than I can. Others may still be on the road; somebody here may be just at this stopping-place on the road from the country of Moab where Naomi calls her daughters-in-law together and reckons with them. The reckoning is an important first step.
Naomi points out to Orpah and Ruth that the full reward will not be found on natural lines. This is truer now than ever. There was a time when the fellowship was much larger and offered certain attractions that it does not offer now. Fellowship was easy; brethren were all about us. Now it is not so, as a direct result of our departure, Naomi makes this plain as she reckons with her daughters-inlaw. She is braver than I would be, because she urges them to return. She says, I do not want to lead you on under false pretences. We must reckon honestly. I say very simply to my younger brethren that there are some things for which you may look in the fellowship which you will not find there. I do not only mean things that are rightly excluded from the fellowship; some other things might fall short of your legitimate expectations. That is Naomi's point here. She does not say to them, you will have to give up your gods, or anything of that sort: that was no doubt taken as read. But she dwells on things that they might legitimately have expected. She says, You will have to sacrifice if you come with me. Younger people would be helped to commit themselves if that was freely acknowledged. Some of them may miss out on things that we perhaps have taken for granted. Naomi mentions marriage, as an example. Those of us who have been married relatively recently should thank the Lord for His favour: the fellowship is now so small that some will quite possibly not find anyone compatible in the fellowship to marry. That is a result of the reduction that has come in and Naomi brings that out very fully here.
My younger brethren, if you think you are having to give up a lot, spare a thought for the older brethren and what they have given up. There are many who have parted from families and much else by which they set great store to have part in the recovery. God honours that. If you think that the older brethren do not like things you do that seem to you harmless, ask a little about what they have given up, because their sacrifice has given you a part in the recovery.
The scripture shows that both the girls wanted to come. "They lifted up their voice and wept". It was only when the matter was pressed that one of them turned back. A number of young people we know have turned back. I have never heard of any weeping: mostly they have been attracted by other things. It is not very common for someone to leave with great regret. Ruth is ready to go on before she knows anything about Boaz. She has not had any personal contact with Boaz, but she commits herself to Naomi - apparently because of her afflict on. I am reminded of John's epistle: "We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren", 1 John 3: 14. I appeal to every one of us to love the brethren - to love them in their affliction, to love them in their fewness, to love those who are old and infirm - love the brethren. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. That is how the full reward will come. Boaz says "It has fully been shewn me, all that thou hast done to thy mother-in law since the death of thy husband". Be sure that the Lord is observant. If He sees that you are drawn to the people of God. He will remark it; and in His time H will reward it. I say that with confidence, He will reward it. So Ruth makes this wonderful committal without knowing Boaz. We may wonder whether she knew God, but she commits herself to the people of God. What a wonderful thing that is! It is very simply the way of blessing - to commit yourself to the people of God.
Do you wonder why so much is said for the benefit of the young? It used to vex me when brethren spoke like that, but I would draw the attention of anyone who feels like that to this verse: "When she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, she left off speaking to her". The answer is that we must be steadfastly minded: I urge our young brethren to be steadfast.
Naomi says nothing to Ruth about Boaz. When her family went down to Moab they had forgotten that they had this relative, and she was recovered, not by remembering Boaz but because there was food in Israel. It could be that some are attracted by the renewed supply of spiritual food amongst us - for which we should be very thankful - but still not really be recovered to the Lord Jesus as He desires. It is possible to be so occupied with what is ministered that we miss the Person who ministers it. After all, the wealth proceeds from Boaz. But Naomi had a good reason too for not telling Ruth about Boaz. Ruth had taken the ground here of sharing everything. She says, I will have this with you and that with you, and I will die with you and be buried with you, and Naomi saw the importance of Ruth having something that she could call her own. If she was a spiritual person she would have said, That is all very well, but you must have something for yourself; do not rely on what others have; do not let yourself be carried along; get something for yourself!
The next thing that marks Ruth after that committal is diligence - to nourish her soul, and to nourish the soul of Naomi as well. If we are committed to the people of God, let us also be committed to the word of God. Let us seek it out; let us be at the meetings. Let us be concerned about what we read and what we think about. Let us be gleaning in the fields of Boaz. Maybe you do not understand very much, but the Lord will begin to observe you, and He will reward you. Application is required, but there is a clear reward. Mr Coates says that the idea of a reward is not unworthy, but we must do something to get one. Rewards are not in return for nothing. We have had a lot for nothing, but rewards are a recompense for devotion. So Ruth comes into the country of Boaz and she begins to learn about him for herself.
I just wanted to dwell on the various things she finds about Boaz. First, he is the great in-gatherer. Beloved, the Lord Jesus wants to gather you. He is presiding over a harvest and He wants you to be part of it. Boaz wanted Naomi to be part of it, and he wanted Ruth to be part of it, young and old alike. The Lord is gathering in, He is the great Gatherer. He uses that word in Isaiah 55: 8: "The Lord Jehovah, who gathereth the outcasts of Israel". What a wonderful suggestion that is of God's grace! I think it is a very blessed thing to see where, like Boaz, God makes Himself a name. He says, for example, in Romans 8: "the Spirit of him that has raised up Jesus from among the dead" (v 11). He takes that title in Isaiah: "the Lord Jehovah, who gathereth the outcasts of Israel, saith: Yet will I gather others to him, with those of his that are gathered". He longs for young and old that they might be in His harvest, and that everyone gathered might know Him for themselves.
The next thing it says about Boaz is that he is a winnower, he is winnowing barley. We have to accept that, that, if we come as we are, there are things that the Lord does not want to gather in. The Lord Jesus has a winnowing fan in his hand. If we are not winnowed He cannot use what He wants to retain. He is winnowing barley. We know that barley is the first of the harvest and it speaks of what has come out of the death of Christ in all its fulness. How wonderful that is! He is winnowing it; He is separating that which is truly the fruit of His death from that which will perish and pass away. May we let Him separate us from things that will have no lasting value and are unprofitable.
There is another title, beloved, that I wanted to refer to, because this is one that relates most preciously to the Lord. Boaz is the redeemer. If you look over our heritage, how wonderful it seems! Then think of the departure! The inheritance has become encumbered through the departure that has come in to which I referred. It has been said that we should be the humblest people in the profession, and rightly so: the inheritance has become encumbered. But beloved, we have a Redeemer. He has not only redeemed us from all lawlessness, but He is going to redeem the inheritance so that we may enjoy it without encumbrance. I love that word in Isiah 53: "Jehovah hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all" (v 6). How wonderful that the Lord Jesus has dealt not only with all our sins, but He has dealt with our iniquities. He has dealt with the wrong things we have done, and He has dealt with all the wrong motives that we have. The whole is met in that wonderful transaction - the death of Christ - and all the penalty that belongs to it has been borne. Think, beloved, of the resources that He has. He is not impoverished by what He did, but who can say what He paid? The price is not mentioned in this book. Who can tell the price? "The redemption of their soul is costly, and must be given up for ever", Ps 49: 8. O beloved, to think of it: think of the finality of the death of Christ! Think of what He offered without recall. The blood was poured out! How wonderful is the death of Christ! "I know" says Job "that my Redeemer liveth", chap 19: 25. I know that my Redeemer liveth. How wonderful it is, beloved, to remember that: He lives for every one of us. Think of how He committed Himself to the will of God. We often speak of how Jesus submitted Himself to it, and how He calls upon us to submit ourselves to it. It is our intelligent service. I read once about a lady who was training in an abbey, and someone asked her what was the deepest lesson she had learnt.
- To discover what is the will of God for me, and to do it.
- And what if it is not pleasant, or very hard?
- To do it then, and whole-heartedly too.
Are we whole-hearted about the will of God, even when it is not pleasant, or very hard? Think of how the Lord Jesus devoted Himself to the will of God. "Not my will," He says, "but thine be done", Luke 22: 42 . The abbey I mention had a motto: The will of God has no 'why?'. I cannot see that that is true. Think of the question the Lord Jesus asked upon the cross, "Why hast thou forsaken me?". Is there no answer to that question? Does the fact that no answer was given mean that there is no answer? Could not every one of the redeemed answer that question? There is surely a reason that lies behind the will of God. When Paul speaks of the will of God and of our offering ourselves, He refers to "our intelligent service", Rom 12: 1. God would have us take up His will as our intelligent service. Boaz says to Ruth "all the gate of my people knows that thou art a woman of worth" (chap 3: 13); worth is found there.
At the end of chapter 3 Boaz lets Ruth go in the morning with six measures of barley. That is not the full reward. One day you may come to a meeting and go home really elated with perhaps the first glimpse of the immensity of what lies within your grasp as you put your trust in the Lord Jesus. You may feel that there is nothing beyond it, but there is - there is something that you can have for yourself. It is for you alone and it will not run out. You get it in association with the Man Himself. How wonderful that is, beloved. The Lord Jesus will commit Himself to you. Boaz says to the man nearer than he "on the day thou buyest the field ... thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess", chap 4: 5. What Orpah missed! She went back, she counted the cost and she went back, and when the inheritance was redeemed she missed her share. Beloved, let none of us miss our share. We are in a day in which the inheritance is being redeemed, and it is being made freely available to those who are worthy.
Boaz invites this man to claim the inheritance. He says "Buy it in the presence of the inhabitants". At first he says "I will redeem it", and then he says "I cannot redeem it for myself". It is as if he says, I would like to have the privilege, I would like to have what the brethren enjoy, I would like to share in what they have been given in the way of ministry but I cannot face the reproach, the smallness; I cannot accept the encumbrances. But Boaz says "I will redeem it". Think of his desire - awakened not just out of sympathy for Naomi but out of love for Ruth. How wonderful to think that we might come under the attention of someone like the Lord Jesus. What did the other man see in the generation coming on: what about them? They are just what the mighty man of wealth wanted to take on. Ruth was, as far as he was concerned, the prize of that inheritance, and he claims Ruth as his own.
I just wanted to touch on the result of that. Ruth has a son - something that she would really call her own. He corresponds to something derived from Christ Himself, something substantial. The son is not exactly Christ personally, but it is your appreciation of Him. This is the full reward. It is not something indefinite, not something vague, but something with real form and substance, the appreciation of Christ. You can have it just for yourself and you can share it with others. You can share it with the older brethren or with others without it becoming any less your own. You can build them up. It refers to building here: "which two did build the house of Israel" (v 11). "And he shall be to thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age; for thy daughter-in-law who loves thee, who is better to thee than seven sons, has born him".
I make a further appeal to my younger brethren: would you not love to be a comfort to the older brethren? Would you not like to be able to share with them something that you did not get from them but from Christ Himself? What a blessed thing that would be! How rich they are who have this full reward - to have Christ for myself, to have something from Christ that I can share with others.
Well, David is in prospect; the Lord Jesus is in view. The Lord is coming. He may tarry. The responsibility may fall on the generation that is coming on. I trust they are ready for that. I trust, too, while the older brethren remain with us, the next generation will restore them, and will be a nourishment in their old age. I like just to remind myself sometimes that I have a lot of friends in the fellowship and, but for the fellowship, I would not have a single one of them. Let us remember that we have the older brethren to thank for such things. It is these who have kept things for our day. Some of our older ones look back on brighter days, but beloved, let those of us who are younger nourish their old age.
The reward is a wonderful thing. Naomi shares it: she had it too. The redemption of the inheritance secured her blessing as well. How good for young and old together to take up what we have in Christ. What a portion it is, beloved brethren, nothing less than that. Many things are associated with the full reward, but let us not settle for them on their own. Let us not stop short of association with the Man who has done so much for us. He has not only met the whole question of our sins, but has redeemed us from all that has come in in the history. He wants us to know association with Himself. He waits to restore us and to nourish us. May God bless the word.
LONDON
18 February 1989
CHILDREN UNNAMED
It is easy to understand why there are many people, some quite young, who have a place in Scripture but whose names are not recorded for us. In some cases it may make us wonder whether we could put our own name into the circumstances either to encourage and guide us, or perhaps to give a warning. At the time when Jesus would feed more than five thousand persons who had followed Him into the hilly country, He used just what "a little boy" had with him. The lad was evidently keeping very close to Jesus and to the apostles in fact, as we should in figure and affection. The boy was ready to give up his five barley loaves and two small fishes which Jesus made sufficient for everyone to be filled. This was by a miracle - a sign of the divinity of His person. A little book I have describes the boy very aptly as 'Used of the Lord'.
You will know well the story of the "little maid'! who waited on the wife of Naaman the leper. The girl was a captive far from her own country and her kith and kin. The language of Scripture suggests that she was not in hardship but had various simple, personal duties to her mistress such as fanning her and otherwise caring for her welfare. Conquerors often brought such young maidens as 'presents' for their womenfolk. One great point of the incident is that, though herself poor, she was able to make others rich as to the knowledge of God. Her simple, selfless desire for her master to be cured of an otherwise incurable disease led to blessing - for how many we do not know. She may or may not have been returned to her native land, but her master brought back with him two mules' burden of that same soil to where she was.!
A little earlier in Israel's history there was a widow-woman with two growing-up boys whose names we are not told. Unhappily the mother had a debt which she could not pay and it was feared that the boys would have to become slaves. The only possession in the house was a pot of oil. Salvation, however, came to the household from God through His prophet Elisha, just as salvation comes to us through His Holy Spirit. It was strange in one way that the woman had to borrow still more but this time it was to borrow as many jars, pots and bottles as possible. The reason for this was that, by a miracle, the oil in her pot would be poured out into all those vessels and then sold from them so as to pay her debt and give to her and to her sons the promise of life. What a story they would all have to tell when they returned the empty vessels to the neighbours! The oil speaks to us of the Holy Spirit, known inwardly by the Christian believer. He foresees our needs in the pathway before us. Do you realise His presence?
J.C.Evershed