Series:
Marriage
Title: Where
to Live
Text:
Ruth 1: 1-7
Date:
March 22, 2018
Place:
SGBC, New Jersey
Before
Rob and Kristyn married, when she rented an apartment near her work, far away from
where the gospel is preached, far away from her brethren, it made me think of
what needed to be the last message in the marriage series. But by the time, I
finished the series, I forgot. Recently,
I was relieved to see John and Kelsie buy a home nearby. So they reminded me of this message, so I
want to include it now.
Subject:
Where to Live
Proposition: The best thing for newly married believers, like all
believers, is to live near where the gospel is preached and near their
brethren.
Ruth 1: 1: Now it came to pass in the days
when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man
of Bethlehemjudah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and
his two sons. 2: And the name of
the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of
his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehemjudah. And they came
into the country of Moab, and continued there. 3: And Elimelech Naomi’s husband died; and she was left, and her
two sons. 4: And they took them
wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name
of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years. 5: And Mahlon and Chilion died also
both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband. 6: Then she arose with her daughters
in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in
the country of Moab how that the LORD had visited his people in giving them
bread. 7: Wherefore she went
forth out of the place where she was, and her two daughters in law with her;
and they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah.
Bethlehem-Judah means house of bread. It was in Canaan where God delivered
his people and told them to dwell together.
It was where God raised up his house where he promised to meet with his
people.
Moab, on the
other hand, was under God’s curse. God
told his people not to live in Moab
nor have anything to do with the Moabites.
There was no place to worship God in Moab, no brethren, only idolaters
who hated God.
God gave
Elimelech a trial, a test, by sending famine to Bethlehem-Judah while making Moab fruitful. If he stays in Bethlehem it will be
difficult. He will have to deny himself. But he will be obeying the will of
God. If he moves to Moab it looks easier;
it looks like he will have a good livelihood; it looks like he will not suffer.
Yet, he will be disobeying the will of God.
Elimelech
knew God’s will. But he reasoned by sight rather than faith. Carnal reasoning
goes like this, “I know Bethlehem is God’s house of bread but I can make a good
living in Moab; I know it is God’s will for his people to worship in his house
of bread, to fellowship together throughout the week and to help one another when
need arises but we can always visit to worship, we just won’t be around to
fellowship or to help when they need us or have them near to help us when we
are in need; I know it is God’s will for us to stay in Bethlehem but…it just
makes more sense to go to Moab.” So Elimelech moved his wife and sons to Moab.
Therefore,
to bring his elect, Naomi and Ruth, back to Bethlehem, God removed every
obstacle. He killed Elimelech, her two
sons and let the other daughter-in-law go to her Moabite family. Then God sent the gospel to Naomi that God
had visited his people, giving bread in Bethlehem-Judah and God brought her
back home.
Now, what
do we learn from this?
THE OFFENSE
Elimelech
offended God by moving away from the house of bread and away from his brethren because
everything God did to bring his people together in Bethlehem-Judah pictures
Christ’s work of making his people one. Our
gospel is the message of how Christ unites his people, making us one in him.
Sin
separates. When Adam sinned in the garden, and all men sinned in him, sin separated
us from God and from God’s people.
Isaiah 59:2:…your iniquities have separated between you
and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
Christ
our Righteousness unites. In the very end, when time is no more, God’s will
shall be fulfilled by Christ and all God’s elect shall be one in Christ.
Ephesians 1: 10:
That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in
one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even
in him:
So to
bring us from the separation of sin to the unity of righteousness, before the
world was made, God the Father trusted Christ to justify his elect to make us
one body with Christ our Head.
Ephesians 2: 12:…ye
were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers
from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: 13: But now in Christ Jesus ye who
sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. 14: For he is our peace, who hath made
both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; 15: Having abolished in his flesh the
enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for
to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; 16: And that he might reconcile both
unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
When he
bore our sin, Christ was separated from God in judgment that he might fulfill
the law for us and make his people one in him in righteousness. But there is more that must be done. Being born in sin like all men, God’s elect
must be given a new heart. So Christ
sent us the good news, making us one in heart by one Spirit.
Ephesians 2: 17:
And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh
18: For through him we both have
access by one Spirit unto the Father.
So brethren,
in our day, God’s house of Bread is wherever Christ has established the preaching
of his gospel in spirit and in truth and fitly united his people in his body in
faith:
Ephesians 4: 16: From whom the whole body fitly joined
together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the
effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body
unto the edifying of itself in love.
We see
the unity of believers after Christ called so many on the day of Pentecost. Scripture
says,
Acts 2: 44:
And all that believed were together, and had all things common; 45: And sold their possessions and
goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. 46: And they, continuing daily with
one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their
meat with gladness and singleness of heart, 47 Praising God,…
Now, together,
our commission is to preach this gospel here and send it into all the world.
The gospel will be preached until Christ has brought all his redeemed people
into the unity of the faith.
Therefore, after the Lord has united us, the Lord teaches us—not to separate—but
he says—
Psalm 133: 1: Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in
unity!
Ephesians 4: 3: Endeavouring to keep the unity of the
Spirit in the bond of peace. 4: There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye
are called in one hope of your calling; 5: One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6:
One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
Since
Christ gathers his redeemed and makes us one in righteousness and holiness, God’s
saints dwell together in unity in the worship of God in the Lord’s house under
the preaching of the gospel and in our daily lives. Throughout the week we fellowship
together in each other’s homes as often as we can. We dwell near to each other so we can serve
each other in love and bear one another's burdens when needed. Brethren laugh
with one another, cry with one another, pray with one another, build up each
other in our holy faith. We stir up one another to love and to good works to
not forsake assembling together under the preaching of the gospel.
So when
Elimelech moved away from Bethlehem-Judah he counted Christ and his unifying
work worthless. He exalted his carnal reason over God’s word. He put more value on earthly bread than Christ
the Bread. And by choosing to live
together with Christ-hating rebels rather than God’s people, he exalted the
world over his brethren
Brethren,
let’s not make the same grave mistake that Elimelech made. I realize some
believers put down roots far from the gospel and from God’s people before God
saved them. I have many brethren who have
moved to be under the gospel and near brethren.
Others are working toward it. Still, others desperately want too but it
seems impossible. But what is impossible
with men is possible with God. If we seek to obey God, he honors those who
honor him. But for the rest of us, who
know this is God’s will, we ought never decide to live far from the gospel and far
from our brethren. It goes against the very work of Christ who gathers us
together in one body under his rule as our Head.
THE DANGERS
We see in
Elimelech some of the dangers of deciding to live far away from the gospel and
from our brethren.
One
danger is often what we think will be temporary ends up being permanent. Verse
1 says he went to “sojourn.” It means he went to Moab with the intent
of it being temporary. Verse 2 says, “And they came into the country of Moab, and
continued there.” Verse 4 says “and
they dwelled there about ten years.”
When I
was thinking of moving here to be your pastor there were only a few
families. So I asked myself, “Can I
pastor this small number from now until the end, if God does not add to the
work?” I asked myself this question because I knew it may be permanent. If we ever think of temporarily moving far
away from the gospel and our brethren, we should ask ourselves the same
question, “Am I prepared to live that far away from the gospel and my brethren
from now until the end?” We should ask this because it may be permanent. God
alone is sovereign. His will shall be done, not mine. So what I intend to be temporary
may end up being permanent. (Jam 4:13-17)
Another danger
we face if we decide to live far away from the gospel is that we put our
spiritual life, and that of our family, in jeopardy—“And Elimelech Naomi’s husband died.” (v3) By moving away, Elimelech proved his
profession to be false.
Many who decide
to move far from the gospel soon begin to absent themselves from the preaching
of the gospel. That is the first step to apostasy. Before long, they totally forsake the gospel altogether. They do
not have brethren near to do provoke them and exhort them to continue
assembling, as brethren dwelling together do. Scripture tells us this is what
we need and what we should do for one another,
Hebrews 10: 24: And let us consider one another to provoke unto love
and to good works: 25: Not
forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is;
but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day
approaching. 26: For if we sin
wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there
remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 27:
But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which
shall devour the adversaries.
But even if
we do not apostatize, when brethren absent themselves from the gospel and from
fellowshipping with brethren it is so easy to become weak in faith. Naomi was
so very weak by the time she returned to the house of Bread.
I have
experienced this. In Arkansas, I grew up
living forty-five minutes from the church building and further from my
brethren. A long drive makes it more difficult to attend services. And you will
not gather with God’s people during the week because brethren do not want to
drive to your house and you will not want to drive to theirs. And both are
essential! Hearing the gospel
consistently and having brethren to fellowship with us are absolutely necessary
for the believer. Brethren build up one
another in the faith as we speak to one another about what we heard preached.
Faithful believers provoke one another merely by their faithfulness in attending
the preaching of the gospel. But without hearing the gospel consistently and without
having the fellowship of brethren it is so easy to grow weak in the faith and
not even know it.
Once
Spurgeon visited a brother who had been absent from the gospel. As Spurgeon sat by the fire, he used the
poker to pull out and separate a single, red hot coal from the rest of the
coals. They went on talking. Soon Spurgeon pointed to that once red, hot coal that
was now sitting alone. It had gone out.
The man got the point. Brethren need brethren, sheep need sheep. We must not attempt to abide alone.
Three, before
deciding to live far away, a husband should consider what will it mean for his
wife and children if anything happens to him—“And Elimelech Naomi’s husband died; and she was left, and her two sons….And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of
them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband.” (vv3, 5) Elimelech left his wife with no husband to
provide, no brethren to provide or even comfort her and worst of all, with no
gospel.
But if we
dwell together with brethren we do not have to worry about being provided
for. God’s people are family—“the whole family in heaven and in earth.”
(Eph 3: 15) God is our Father. Christ is our Elder Brother. We are brothers and
sisters. Christ made this promise,
Mark 10: 29: And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say
unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or
father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the
gospel’s, 30: But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and
brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions;
and in the world to come, eternal life.
Christ
works effectually in the hearts of his people through the Holy Spirit so that
we are guaranteed that brethren shall provide for us in time of need. Believers
are constrained by the love of Christ in our hearts, seeing how Christ provided
for us by laying down his life on our behalf. Therefore, brethren love brethren
and are willing to lay down our lives to provide for one another. (1 Jn 3:
16-18) Besides that, a brother in Christ
is the closest thing on earth a believer has to Christ himself. Christ says, “Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the
least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” (Mt 25: 40) So by the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, brethren provide for each other.
A fourth
danger we should consider is that when we disobey God by separating from his
gospel and our brethren, we are teaching our children to disobey God—And they [his sons] took them wives of the
women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth.
(v4) God commanded Israel that their
children were not to marry any unbeliever in the heathen nations around
them. But by disobeying God by moving
away from the house of bread, Elimelech taught his sons it was alright to
disobey God. If I do as Elimelech, I will teach my
children the same.
And if we
don’t have children now, we should consider that where we decide to live today,
will affect our children and their children.
If we decide to purchase a home and live far from the gospel and our
brethren it will mean our children will grow up amongst God-hating friends who
do not know Christ, who will try their best to keep them from believing the
gospel.
My
grandfather was preaching works when God saved him. When he began preaching
God’s sovereign grace, the community in which he lived put in the town paper
that he was a heretic preaching a false gospel.
For the sake of his children who were in school, he was forced to
move. But instead of staying near the
church and moving his children to another school, he moved to family land
forty-five minutes away. And it became
permanent. That move affected me, his grandson. Due to that one decision made
years before, I grew up forty-five minutes from where the gospel is preached
and too far away to have any real fellowship with brethren during the week, especially
young believers. I had no friends who
believed the gospel where I lived.
Someone
might say, “Well, God saved you even though you lived so far away.” Yes, God saved Naomi and Ruth, too. Christ shall
save his elect and none shall be lost.
But do you know how God saved Naomi?—“she
had heard in the country of Moab how that the LORD had visited his people in
giving them bread. Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was, and
her two daughters in law with her; and they went on the way to return unto the
land of Judah.” (vv6-7) God sent the
gospel to her and she heard. Then she left that place and returned to the land
of Judah. But it was through much
suffering and bitterness that she otherwise would not have suffered if she had
stayed in the house of bread to begin with.
And I can
say the same. By God’s grace, he made me hear the gospel of how God visited his
people giving us Christ the Bread of Life. Then about ten years later, Melinda
and I were married and living in Nashville about forty-five minutes for our
brethren where the gospel was preached and we both were weak in the faith and
did not know it. But like Naomi, God made us hear a word similar to what I am
preaching to you now. So Melinda and I
left Nashville and moved closer to our brethren in Franklin. And God blessed us
with the fellowship of faithful brethren. But like Naomi, it was through much
painful suffering.
THE COUNSEL
Let me
end by giving you two words of very practical counsel.
One, walk
by faith, not by sight. Judge what you should do by the word of God, by God’s
revealed will. If Elimelech had obeyed God’s will and stayed
in Bethlehem it would have been difficult. He would have had to do without things
he was accustomed to. Yet, he would be obeying the will of God and God would
have provided. We read of no one in Judah dying from the famine.
Believer,
deny yourself—you may have to cut out expenses and pleasures. But walk in God’s
light and he shall provide in ways you never imagined. Not long after I moved from
Nashville to Franklin, my job moved to north Nashville, even further away. But God edified me so much as I lived among
faithful brethren that it did not matter. It was well-worth it to make that
drive to work every day to get to fellowship with brethren during the week and
to go to God’s house with them multiple times during the week. And the Lord also provided a gas card through
my job so it did not even affect us financially at all. God will provide. In
cast you need another illustration, when I moved to New Jersey to be the pastor
here, our mortgage tripled, our taxes increased ten times and our income was
cut more than half. But we have never wanted for anything. The
Lord will provide.
Two, obey
God by dwelling together with your brethren under the sound of the gospel and by
living near where your brethren live. We need to experience a brother forgiving
us to appreciate God forgiving us for the sake of Christ. We need to experience
what it is to bear with a brother’s sin to appreciate Christ bearing our
sin. God commands us to love as Christ loved
us and gave himself for us. But how can we if we do not live near our brethren?
How can we bear their burden if we are not near to be there when they need us?
We need to suffer together, to rejoice together, and to cry together. Christ supplies
what each member needs by working effectually in each member in his body. So we
need brethren.
And do
not wait for others to invite you to their table, you invite them to yours.
Young believers, invite these younger than you to go bowling or skating. They
will open up to you and ask questions about the scriptures if they know you
care
Proverbs 27:9: Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so
doth the sweetness of a man’s friend by hearty counsel.
There is
so many benefits from living near the Lord’s people and fellowshipping weekly.
But it is like trying to explain to a man what he is missing by not being under
the sound of the gospel. He has to experience it to understand.
Proverbs 27:17: Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth
the countenance of his friend.
Ecclesiastes 4:9: Two are better than one; because they
have a good reward for their labour. 10: For if they fall, the one will lift up
his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not
another to help him up….12: And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand
him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
May God
be pleased to bless this word to our hearts and increase our love for one
another that we might see how we need brethren just as we need to be under the
preaching of the gospel of our Redeemer.
Amen!