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Unusual Suspects: Ruth - From Brokenness to Blessing
July 9, 2025 · 39 min
Pastor John Mark Caton dives into the remarkable story of Ruth to illustrate that even in the depths of grief, there is a path to redemption and new beginnings.
Series "Men's Breakfast" with John Mark Caton July 9, 2025 · 39 min · "Men's Breakfast" with John Mark Caton
Pastor John Mark Caton dives into the remarkable story of Ruth to illustrate that even in the depths of grief, there is a path to redemption and new beginnings. ...more Show the full description Show less Pastor John Mark Caton dives into the remarkable story of Ruth to illustrate that even in the depths of grief, there is a path to redemption and new beginnings.
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John Mark is the Senior Pastor of the thriving Cottonwood Creek Church in Allen, Texas, where he has served since 1995.
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The Unlikely Heroes of Faith 0:00 Glad you're in God's house today? Oh man, it sounds like. What a great day we've already had. Welcome to those of you who are joining us online. We've been in the middle of a series, if you happen to be new, in person or0:11 online, a new series, started throughout the summer, entitled Unusual Suspects, where we've been looking at the people that God chose to use that most people would have overlooked. But we also wanna be0:23 reminded that, you know, when God puts together a team that he wants to do something with, he's not looking at your resume, he just simply wants your heart. Remember the first week we looked at a guy named Moses and0:34 Moses had been in the wilderness for 40 years. God shows up, says Moses, I want you to go speak to Pharaoh. I want you to go to Pharaoh's court. I want you to tell him we're gonna remove the children out of slavery. Take0:44 them into the promised land. You remember what Moses did? Spent the entire chapter and a half saying I'm not qualified. God finally says perfect, you're hired. And then we looked at Esther0:56 who was an orphan, who became queen, that God placed her in the right time for such a time as that to save his people. Then we looked at David, that overlooked little1:07 brother, that shepherd boy that looked like anything but a king. And sure enough God makes him a king and he becomes an heir of Jesus. Today, we want to look at Ruth. You're probably familiar with1:19 some, at some point, with the story of Ruth. We're gonna journey through the entire book, all 4 chapters, and we're gonna look at this Moabite widow who follows her widowed1:31 mother-in-law back to God's place, and she comes and goes from being a Moabite widow to an heir to David and ultimately to Jesus. You know, when you look in1:43 God's word, just like we're gonna see today with with Ruth, there's a lot of loss in the Bible. There's a lot of grieving in the Bible. There's a lot of weeping in the Bible. Why? Because that's real life.1:55 My guess is just in this room, in the earlier service, in the next 1, those people joining us online, there's a lot of loss. You go back, remember a guy named Joseph? He lost his family. He was betrayed by his2:07 brothers. He was sold into slavery, ultimately rose to the top of Potiphar's house, was lied about, lost his freedom, was imprisoned. Ultimately God blessed him in the end. Remember Hannah?2:19 That childless want to be mother, just weeping and crying in God's house, the loss of what she thought was the opportunity to have a child. She prayed, she cried, she was mocked by2:31 others. Seemed like everybody else was blessed more than she was and God ultimately blessed her with a child. Remember the story of the prodigal son. That father, he lost his son.2:43 That son lost his purity. Then the father receives 1 son back and remember then immediately there's family disharmony, the son that stayed there is jealous of the 1 that left and took everything.2:55 There's a lot of loss in the Bible. Why? Because there's a lot of loss in this room. Remember Mary and Martha lost Lazarus? And even3:07 Jesus it says, he wept bitterly. So as we talk about today the idea of loss, here's what I understand, this isn't an abstract idea for some people. It's a3:19 reality for all people at some point. Probably the 2 most, well known verses, in the book of Ruth, notice this. It's when Naomi says, listen, Ruth and Orpah,3:31 the other daughter-in-law, not Oprah, Orpah, Go back, stay in Moab, don't go to Bethlehem. And here was Ruth's reply and this is what most people hear if they know a couple of verses, they know these 2 verses.3:43 But Ruth replied to Naomi, do not urge me to leave you or turn back from you. Where you go, I will go. Where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God will be my God.3:56 Where you die, I will die. There I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me. Be it ever so severely, even if death separates you and me. You know, as, I was just doing a lot of4:08 research this weekend and reading about grieving, I just want to focus on 3 of them today because these are the ones that are most common. There could have been many other losses we talk about. But there are some inNavigating Loss and Grief 4:18 here, probably in here and perhaps online, that that you've lost a spouse. And I was just doing a lot of study on the on the grieving process and how long it takes and how many in here you've lost a4:30 spouse? You've lost a spouse. Look at the hands go up. The peak intensity of the grieving season the first 6 months, just a train wreck. Right? And then typical recovery4:42 time is still another 1 to 2 plus years, and then notice what I put in there in parenthesis, waves of grief that continue to come. I've always said that, grief is like going to the4:54 beach, going about waist deep out into the water, into the ocean or into the gulf or in somewhere, and then turning your back on the water and looking back toward land. You don't know when the5:06 waves are gonna hit you, but you know they are. And sometimes they just show up and they overwhelm you and they'll knock you off your feet. And that's kinda what happens with grief the rest of your life. If you've lost a5:16 spouse, there might be just a smell, a song, a color that you look at and all of a sudden, something that seems innocuous to everyone else just causes you to be overwhelmed by grief.5:29 Loss of a child. How many of you in this room or even online you've lost a child? Look at the hands going up. And sometimes this is miscarriage as well. Boy, and look at the length of time for a year you're a5:41 wreck. Then over the next couple of 1 to 2 years, you begin to rally back a bit. Notice it says those who lose a child,5:53 some 20 percent have symptoms the rest of their life. Just those moments and seasons of grief. The other 1, most common 1 probably in the room is divorce. That all of a6:05 sudden you're you're in this happily what do you thought was a happy marriage or at least knew it was a marriage, a committed 1, and all of a sudden your husband or your wife walks in and says I'm done. And you have this6:16 loss, this grieving moment and it takes 6 months of just just brokenness and being beaten down and struggling. It takes 1 to 2 or 3 years longer just for you to recover6:28 and get back on your feet. Grief is a real thing. As we look at the story of Ruth today, we're gonna kind of see a process that she goes through. You might want to just write these down, but I'm gonna give you 4 ideas6:39 here in a minute. But there are kind of 5 R's to her redemption. Boy, starts with run. No 1 likes to be there. She lost her husband. Naomi started with run. She lost her husband and6:50 both of her sons. They had some resolve. We just read it there where where Ruth says, you know what? I'm gonna make a commitment to you. I'm gonna make a commitment to Naomi. I'm gonna make a commitment to go to your7:01 place. Your people will be my people. Then then as we see in chapter 2 today here in a second is that is that Ruth begins to develop her reputation. In a new place, in a new land without a husband and a7:13 reputation as 1 of someone that's hardworking and cares about someone else and takes note and Boaz sees it. And then they find out Boaz is actually 1 of their kinsmen redeemers. And Naomi, and Ruth, kind7:25 of behind the scenes, they developed this plan. We're gonna read it here in a second that she's gonna, take a bath and put on her best dress and put the makeup on. And so you got Ruth and Naomi. They've devised this7:36 scheme and poor Boaz, just like today, he's got no no clue what hit him. How many of you know what I'm talking about? Ladies, this is the stuff you do. You got Boaz over there just thinking, hey, I'm rolling through7:47 life. He had no idea 2 women are conspiring against him, right? And they put together this plan and they have this bold request. And then you have7:59 redemption, where Boaz takes Ruth as his wife and they have a child, but it's not just any child. It's a child that ultimately ends up in the line and the lineage of Jesus. You know,8:11 losses all through the bible, you remember the story, probably the greatest 1 that most people know of. If you said a story of loss, pastor, you'd go to Job. Remember Job lost everything? He lost his children, lost8:23 his family, lost his business, lost his health, even lost his reputation, lost everything, and you go through the first 41 chapters and you're like, Is this ever gonna get better? And then his friends show up and say,8:35 hey, Job, listen, I got an idea, you've lost everything, why don't you just repent? Sometimes God's people will say some mean things to people in broken situations. And they go to8:47 Job and they say, Why don't you just repent? He goes, Repent of what? And they just simply say, Well listen, God has taken all of this away from you, he must be mad at you, you must have some hidden secret sin in your8:57 life, and he didn't. So for 41 chapters, it looks difficult, it looks hard. You get to chapter 42 and I love these words. Look at it, chapter 42 of Job verse 10.9:09 After Job had prayed for his friends, now if you go read the story of Job, that's a big step right there. Just to just to stop and pray for the guys that have been saying, listen,9:21 we know this. You don't lose all this without being a sinner. You don't lose all this without having some hidden sin. And he gets to a point where he steps back, he's no longer mad at them and it9:33 says, he prayed for his friends. His sorry friends. And then it says, and the Lord restored his fortune and gave him twice as much9:45 as he had before. So here's the point, if you're in 1 of these seasons of loss, if if you're like Ruth or if you're that, father or mom with a with a prodigal son or if you're a childless Hannah in9:57 this room or you're Ruth and Naomi, man, stay in there. And so let's, let me give you 4 thoughts, 1 from each chapter today, on how to recover from a broken10:09 heart. How to journey through your season of loss. Starts number 1, don't ever forget this, lessons from Ruth. Number 1, a broken start doesn't mean a bitter end. A10:21 broken start never means a bitter end. God always wants to show up in your life and in my life with power and grace and blessings, not just to10:32 bless us, but so that we can turn around and bless other people. So the story of Ruth, if you look at Joshua, Judges, Ruth, the last verse of the book of Judges says there was no king in the10:44 land and everyone did what was right in their own eyes. Now, 1 of the things that happened is there was a place called Moab that's just kind of northeast of the Dead Sea. Though the Moabites, Moabites were10:56 the offspring of Lot's ancestral relationship, sexual relationship with his daughter. Okay? So God said the Moabites are never to come into the tabernacle, never to come into the tent11:08 and you don't want to spend time in the Moabite nation. But here's what happened. There was a famine in the land of Bethlehem, which means the house of bread, the place of bread. There was a famine in Israel. So11:19 Elimelech, instead of honoring God and figuring out a different way, he chooses to go to this place that God said don't go to in Moab. So look at Deuteronomy chapter 23 verse 3.11:31 Notice what God says, no Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, not even to the tenth generation. So God said, there's some bad people. And God's11:43 people should not go dwell with them, but that's exactly what Limelech does. He takes him, his wife, Naomi, and his 2 sons, goes off to Moab. And so now let's jump into the11:54 story, Ruth chapter 1 verse 3. Now, Limelech, Naomi's husband died and she was left then with her 2 sons and 2 daughter in laws. They married Moabite12:06 women, 1 named Orpah, again not Oprah, and the other named, other married Ruth. After they had lived there for about 10 years, both Mahlon and Kilion also died. So here12:19 Naomi is in a distant land and a distant place because her husband had led her there. She faithfully followed. He dies, then her 2 sons die. You talk about loss, You talk about bitterness.12:31 You talk about grief. And Naomi was left without. Everybody say without. Without. That's the idea of loss. When there's something we cherish, something we lose, and then all of a sudden we wake up 1 day and find ourself12:43 without that. Says without her 2 sons and her husband. So she does what she should have done. She says, listen, I am in a distant plan, a distant12:55 place. I've lost everything. I am without. The only thing I can do is turn and go back to Bethlehem. So she starts making her journey back to Bethlehem, and her daughter in laws13:07 follow her for a season. They're like, you're our you're our mother-in-law. We're gonna go with you. There comes a time and a moment where all of a sudden Naomi says, this isn't right. You don't13:19 need to follow me. I've got nothing for you. Those are your people. So so Naomi turns and looks at them and says, you need to stay. You need to go back to your people, stay in your13:31 land, I've got nothing for you. And then these amazing words that we hear from Ruth, and if you want a simple plan to bounce back, here it is just found in these words. Here, let me give you a couple of steps and you see13:42 them just in the words. If you're in the middle of loss, if you're struggling, if you're grieving, if you're hurting, here it is. And so she says go back. But Ruth replied, here's her plan. God's best for you, listen to13:54 this, you might wanna write this down. God's best for you after loss requires you. That you have to step up and participate in his plan, it requires me. And so here it is, but14:05 Ruth replied, don't urge me to leave you or turn back away from you. So thought number 1, if you're gonna recover from loss, you gotta reject some bad advice.14:17 Naomi is giving bad advice, but she's doing it for a good reason. The good reason is you're a Moabite. I'm an Israelite. This is your land, that's my14:29 land. I've got nothing for you, you need someone to provide for you. So here's what happens, she gives bad advice, don't come to the place of God. And child of God, sometimes we need to understand14:40 hurting people will give you bad advice. And we've gotta have wisdom and discernment to understand where does God want me to go. See, God didn't want Ruth back in Moab. God wanted Ruth in14:52 Bethlehem. God allowed some things to happen so the circumstances would put her in that place so he could show his grace and his love even to a Moabite who was not allowed to enter15:04 the assembly of the Lord. So thought number 1, if you're gonna make a journey back to a place of blessing, it starts with, man, understand a lot of people are gonna give you advice but you've gotta reject the bad15:16 advice. Now jump forward, don't urge me to leave you or turn back. Where you go, I will go. And where you stay, I will stay. Here's the second thing. After you reject bad advice, choose the right path.15:29 Choose the right direction. See, if you've gone through a loss, if you've lost a spouse or you've lost a marriage or you've lost a child, you need to understand, alright, what is the path I'm gonna choose? Where am I15:39 gonna head? Where am I gonna go? And ultimately, I'm telling you, it's gonna lead you to a place where after you've walked through your peak grief process and the intensity begins to wane a little bit, Part of it is15:51 you're gonna then turn around and help someone else navigate through that same loss down the road. So she picks a path. She says, where you go, I will go. Where you stay, I will stay. Now notice this, your16:03 people will be my people and your God will be my God. She chooses the right people to be around. Not only did she rejected bad advice, then she chose the right direction, then she surrounds16:15 herself with the right people. Child of God, if you are going through a loss or if you're in a loss, don't go through it alone. That is why we have lots of care ministries here at the church. We have16:27 divorce care. Because we don't want you to go through it alone. We have divorce care for kids because we don't want them to go through it alone. We have grief share. Why? Because we don't want people to grieve alone.16:39 We want people to be with God's people and to be with the right people heading in the right path and rejecting bad advice. That's why we have our care ministry. That's why we have our counselors because we don't want16:50 anyone to journey through their loss alone. Jump back in and notice, she says, she says, your people will be my people and your God will be my God. Look at verse 17. Where you die, I will die. Now that's commitment.17:03 Says where you die, I will die and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me. And here's the sacrificial part. May the Lord deal with me. Here's my oath to you, be it ever so severely, even if death17:14 separates you and me. And the final step, they took action. See, had they just stood there somewhere between Moab and Bethlehem and had this17:26 incredible conversation and stayed there, they would've never seen redemption. They would've never seen God's grace. So instead, what they had to do is when they chose the right direction, chose the rightFaithfulness in the Ordinary 17:38 people, rejected Bad Habas, the next verse says they went to Bethlehem. So child of God, once you've gone through this grief season, this grief process, you've gotten17:50 good advice, you've surrounded yourself by good people, you've made a commitment, then you need to take action. It says they went to Bethlehem. Now listen, just because this conversation happened, Naomi's not over it,18:02 folks. She is still in that peak grieving season and grieving time. Look down to verse 20. This is how we know she's not through it. As she gets back in, the ladies begin to say, look,18:14 Naomi has made it home. Notice Naomi's response. She says, don't call me Naomi, she told them, call me Mara because the almighty has done what?18:26 Made my life very bitter. She's kind of pointing to God. By the way, that's very natural. When you lose something, whether it's a marriage or a child or, you18:37 know, or a spouse, a lot of times people will point and say, God did this, or why did you allow this to happen? That is a very natural thing. Naomi's showing it to us right here. She says don't call me Naomi.18:49 She told them call me Mara. Why? Because the almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full. I had my husband and sons. But the Lord, notice again, pointing at God,19:01 the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? Why, because the Lord has afflicted me, the almighty has brought misfortune on me. She is absolutely19:14 pointing the finger at God. Naomi is bitter, she is grieving, she is hurting, she feels like she has no place, so I'm just gonna go back to Bethlehem. When I go back to Bethlehem, no19:26 one's gonna want me, I'm a failure. I need forgiveness. I need love. I've been forgotten about. Don't even call me neighbor. Just call me bitter because God has done it. She's hopeless.19:38 Maybe there's someone in this room and someone online perhaps that you're in that same space. You're bitter and you're broken, you feel lost, you feel unwanted, you feel alone. Can I19:50 just remind you in this story that God always has a plan? God always has a plan. If you're just sitting there and you're swirling in your own grief, can I tell you if you'll make some of those commitments,20:02 take the right advice, surround yourself with the right people, you'll be shocked at how good God will be to you in the future? So chapter 1, it's a bitter beginning. Here's chapter 2. When you20:14 begin to make your journey, be faithful in the fields of the ordinary. See, a lot of times we want God to show up in powerful and amazing and crazy ways. We want it to be glitz and glamor and this and that. Listen, God's20:26 greatest blessings sometimes come in the field of the ordinary. Just as you are out there working in the field where no 1 notices and you don't think anybody's seen, look at Ruth chapter 2 verse20:37 3. So Naomi, they get back to Bethlehem. Ruth looks up and says, you know what? We're gonna starve to death. I gotta do something. Naomi says, well listen, you know God's will and God's way is that that20:49 you could go out and glean the margins of the fields. So here it is, verse 3. So she, Ruth, went out, entered a field. She didn't know God was at work. Boaz didn't know God was at work. Naomi21:01 didn't know God was at work. Entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. Kind of a nobody. She's just out there working. As it turned out, this is a God thing. God works21:13 in coincidences oftentimes. As it turns out, what? She was working in the field that belonged to Boaz, who was a successful and generous man, who was from the child, or from the clan of21:25 Elimelech. So here it is. Naomi just says, listen, go out and glean in the field. Ruth has no idea whose field she's gleaning in. She just knows she's supposed to go out. See, if you look at Leviticus chapter 15,21:37 chapter 15 and chapter 23, before the children of Israel entered into the promised land, God says, listen, some of you are gonna be wealthy, some of you are not. Some of you are gonna have a lot, some21:49 of you are gonna have very little. But to the wealthy person who has lots of fields to harvest, he he he he he he doesn't he doesn't downgrade them, but he says, here's what you're gonna do. You're not gonna consume22:00 everything you have for yourself. You're gonna leave margins for other people. And those margins you're not supposed to harvest all the way to the end of the field. In other words, they were leaving money on the table.22:12 Literally, by leaving grain out in the field they were leaving money on the table. But God said this is the way it's gonna be because the orphans and the widow and the poor are gonna come along and they're gonna work for22:22 it. You don't have to take it to them. You don't have to give it to them. You don't have to mail it to them. They have to come work for it. They have to have some sweat equity in the deal. But God says, here's what22:30 you're gonna do. You're gonna care for other people. Look at it in Leviticus chapter 23. Here it is. Here's the biblical recipe for caring for people. When you reap the harvest of your22:42 land, do not reap to the very edges of the field or gather gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor. And notice what it says, and the foreigner.22:54 That's exactly who Naomi was, Ruth was. She was a foreigner. And it says, residing among you, I am the Lord your God. So she's just out there gleaning in the field. God's orchestrating a blessing she23:06 doesn't see. Had she stayed in Moab, she would have never seen this blessing. Had she come to Bethlehem and not gone out and worked and gleaned in the field, she would have never seen what God was about to do.23:18 So jump forward, look at the next verse, so right back to Ruth chapter 2 verse 12. Said what happens, Boaz, someone comes up to Boaz and says, Hey Boaz, do you know who that lady is out there? And23:30 Boaz says, I don't know, but I've been watching her. And she's working on He said, but that is Naomi's daughter-in-law. And she has been gleaning the field every day, taking care of her mother-in-law when she could have23:41 stayed back in Moab and noticed what happens. Boaz says that's pretty awesome. Here it is, verse 12. And so Boaz said to her, may the Lord repay you for what you have done. Talking about what you've done for Naomi. May23:53 you rich be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge. So listen, Boaz has no idea what God's plan is. But24:05 Boaz says, May God bless you. And so here's Boaz, he just lived a generous life. Instead of harvesting everything, he left the margins. And and we're here today on Make Room Sunday. If you have not,24:17 this is the great this is the grand opening of our, brand new student building. I want to encourage you when you leave today, just go walk through it. We got cookies and video and stuff playing in there, balloons. But,24:28 here's what I want you to do. I want you to go in there and walk around and just say a prayer. Say, God, do something powerful and real in students' lives, in college students' lives, because we24:40 simply made room in the margins to build them a place and to build them a space. And so child of God, what you're doing through Maker Room is exactly what it said. You don't harvest it all, you don't eat it all, you24:52 don't care for it all, you leave some for others. You make sure that you can have an impact. So, look at verse 14. Here it is. At mealtime, Boaz said to her, come over here, have some bread and dip it25:04 in the wine and the vinegar. And when she sat down, when she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. In other words, now he started cooking for her. See, before25:15 that, she had to take it back, she had to thresh it, she had to make it, she had to bake it. Now all of a sudden he's gone to his chef, said hey, let's give her some of what we have. Jump down to verse 20.25:27 Says the Lord bless him, Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. He has stopped showing, he has not stopped showing his kindness to you living and the dead. Now notice, here Naomi is changing.25:40 She's no longer angry at God. She's beginning to move out of the grief process. She's got, God cares for us. That man, she says, is our close relative and our guardian redeemer. So here's what happened. So Ruth comes25:52 home, says, you're never gonna guess what happened. Boaz thanked me for taking care of you, then he invited me to eat with his men. And not only did he invite me to eat with his men, they prepared some for me.26:04 And then Naomi goes, well, I've got good news. He's a kinsman redeemer. You can go look in God's word at what that what the requirements are, but let's just simply, if you want to26:16 write them down, here's the note. They had to be a close relative of some kind. They had to have a willingness if someone's husband died, they had to have a willingness. It wasn't forced, It was a26:27 choice that you got a chance to say, yes, I will take this widow in. I will take this daughter-in-law in to care for her. I it was a choice. Next, you had to be willing to pay pay the26:39 way and pay the price for them the rest of their life. So this was not a cheap endeavor for anyone to do. Here you are gonna take a widow in or or or take a a widow daughter-in-law, and you're gonna take somebody in, and26:51 your commitment is a willing choice that I'm gonna provide for them the rest of their lives. You know, spiritually speaking,27:03 Jesus is our guardian redeemer. Says he's closer than a friend. He willingly chose to come over 2000 years ago to a27:15 place called Bethlehem, which is where this story takes place. And he chooses not only to be born in Bethlehem to live a great life, to heal and to feed and do all of those things,27:27 but instead he offered himself up willingly to pay the price for your sins and mine so he could redeem us. And so as we talk about loss today, understand27:38 there there is a mega theme above it, That ultimately Jesus is our redeemer. He willingly said, I will take on the cross, I will die on the cross. His first words from the27:50 cross, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. A little later he says, it is finished. That means the price has been paid. So here in chapter 2, what do we see?28:02 We just see Ruth out gleaning in the field. And God's working behind the scenes to be a provider, not only for her and Naomi, but ultimately for you and me as28:14 ultimately their offspring. It's part of the line and the lineage of Jesus. So let's jump into chapter 3. Notice here's the third thought. Bold risk, unlock divine rewards. Man, onceShow more In this video 0:00 The Unlikely Heroes of Faith4:16 Navigating Loss and Grief17:29 Faithfulness in the Ordinary28:19 Bold Risks and Divine Rewards
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