“Making A Good Home”Ruth 1:16-17

Ruth 1:16-17  “Making A Good Home”

 

Beloved saints!  Today is parents’ day.  I pray God will bless your home with a beautiful and meaningful day.  A while ago, Harris, an American, made a questionnaire saying, “What’s the best thing you wish for.”  Among 85 percent of the participants answered that they would like to have a good home.  Fifteen percent answered that they want to make lots of money.  We can see even this answer’s ultimate goal is a means to pursue a good home.  In fact, we human beings can’t live outside of the boundary called “home.”  Naturally we all have wishes to have a good home and happy family, where we dwell together.  In the beginning, God, Who made the home, made us to live happily.  However, man committed sin and began to destroy the original good home by the fall.  In other words, the things God wants from us is to make a good home and live happily in it.  Then, how do we make a good home?  Therefore, today we receive grace through a sermon titled “Making A Good Home.”  I pray the grace of God fill your hearts.

 

First, to make a good home it must be a home which stands and rises up from the problems.  As long as the sea exists there will always be waves.  It is the same in our lives, as long as man has existed in life, problems have also existed.  Therefore there is no one without problems, in these problems, if a person does not learn the way to stand and rise up from the problems his home will be shipwrecked in the problems.  He never can make a good home.  Naomi from today’s text is a good example of a family who stood and rose up from problems.  Originally Naomi was from Bethlehem in Judea, where a famine came in that land.  Naomi went with Elimelech, her husband, and Mahlon and Chilion, her two sons, to the country of Moab and remained there (Ruth 1:1-2).  The first few years they were OK.  Their two sons grew up and they married, giving them daughters-in-law, even though they were Gentiles.  They were a happy family; however Naomi’s husband became sick and died.  How sad it must have been. 

Her husband left her in a foreign land, yet Naomi had two beloved sons.  However ten years passed and her two sons suddenly died also.  Now the three widows were left in the same house.  It was consecutive misfortunes, one after the other.  It was such a serious problem; if it happened to us like that we perhaps would give up hope to live on.  However, Naomi was not discouraged and rose up again.  She made the decision to go back to her homeland, Judea, where the temple of God was.  Naomi returned to the land of Judea with Ruth, her daughter-in-law.  Ruth married Boaz by the grace of God and Naomi became an ancestor of David and was blessed by being in the genealogy of Jesus Christ.  This is because Naomi’s daughter-in-law, Ruth bore a son from Boaz, who is a close relative of the house of Naomi (Ruth 4:13-17).  As the word says, it became a good home that stood and rose up to problems.  I believe this gives good teaching to us who are living now in modern days.  A good home does not come naturally, but we have to put effort in to make it.  When we learn the way to stand and rise up to problems, I believe we can make a good home.

 

Secondly, to make a good home we must love one another.  Naomi and Ruth in today’s text loved each other.  In 1 Corinthians 13:5B it says that love does not seek its own.  We can see that Naomi and Ruth had this kind of love.  Mother-in-law loved daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law loved mother-in-law so much.  As we see verse 12 in today’s text, “Turn back, my daughters,” Naomi loved her daughters-in-law as they were her own daughters.  She wished they would find new husbands and live happily.  Ruth 1:9A says, “The LORD grant that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband.”  What does this mean?  It means to remarry and live in peace with new husbands.  These kinds of words are the words from their own mothers, not the words from their mother-in-law.  Isn’t that right?  However Naomi, their mother-in-law, in the text encourages her daughters-in-law with such words. 

As a matter of fact, Naomi was a poor old woman with no one to rely on.  It was not like it is today when one gets welfare.  If she was with two young daughters-in-law, they would be of great help to her.  If they do that, the future of the two daughters-in-law would be hopeless.  Naomi gave up on her selfishness and greed and she made up her mind to return them to their own homes.  As they hear this, the Scripture says that they lifted their voice and cried with a warm heart.  I believe those who are mother-in-laws in our church are all mother-in-laws like Naomi.  I believe when we give up on our selfishness and wish for a better life for a daughter-in-law, this kind of love would make a good home.  At this time, think about the love the daughter-in-law, Ruth has.  What did Ruth say to an old mother-in-law?  Verse 17 says, “Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.”  Ruth made up her mind to die next to her old mother-in-law and gave up her future.  The love of Naomi is beautiful, further more, the love of Ruth, a young daughters-in-law is amazingly beautiful.  I believe the daughters-in-law in our church are daughters-in-law like Ruth.  When we do that we can make a good home.

 

Thirdly, to make a good home it must be a home which strongly believes in God.  Naomi and Ruth made a home, united by believing in God.  Of course Ruth was a very faithful daughter-in-law.  But we see that she was not humanly-minded faithful to serve her old mother-in-law.  If that were so, her faithfulness would not have lasted long.  The mind of human beings is cunning and easily changed by circumstances; in good times it is good and in bad times it can change.  We see in today’s text that Ruth served her mother-in-law with faith in God.  Verse 16B says, “And your God, my God” and verse 17B says, “May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.”  We see the determination of belief living before God.  At this point, one thing we need to consider is that God, Who Naomi believes in is considered by her daughter-in-law, Ruth as her God.  “Your God, my God,” how wonderful it is. 

Ruth is a Gentile from the country of Moab where people believe in idols.  However, Ruth must have been inspired by her mother-in-law’s faith while she was with her.  What kind of God is He Who the mother believed in and made her beautiful character by faith in Him.  I too want to believe Him and become like this mother.  It is like a hidden confession isn’t it?  Even though it was a short time that Naomi showed and planted in her daughter-in-law what faith is.  Today we ushered in the family Sunday of the year of 2009.  St. Paul counsels us with the word of God in Ephesians 6:1-4, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.  "Honor your father and mother," which is the first commandment with promise: "that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth."  And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.” 

Beloved saints!  I finish preaching.  As we see outwardly, Naomi and Ruth had a misfortunate family and were poor and lonely.  However, they overcame tribulation and had strength to overcome the loneliness.  They had fervent faith by being united, loving and caring for each other.  Then they received a great blessing through overcoming all the trials and difficulties.  Ruth met Boaz, Naomi received a son (Obed), who was born between Ruth and Boaz, who carried his name, and Ruth became the grandmother of King David (Obed begot Jesse and Jesse begot David, Ruth 4:22).  Matthew 1:1 says, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.”  Ruth lived in such faith and became the grandmother of David, who was a man of God and can not be omitted from the Bible.  Through his blood the Savior came to this world.  As we ushered in family Sunday today, may our homes be made into good homes which God gave to us and be filled with blessings.


By: Rev. Samuel Choi