Ruth 2:1-16
Grace Is Good
Grace - What a wonderful word. The Bible tells us that we are saved
by grace, kept by grace, called by grace, changed by grace empowered
by grace, and that we continue by grace. Grace is good. However, all
of that is God’s grace. I want to preach on a different kind of
grace this evening. It is an inferior grace but it is still a good
grace. I want to preach on man’s grace. Grace is good.
I. Man’s grace is inferior to God’s grace.
A. That should not be earth-shattering news, but I think we do
need to understand why.
B. God’s grace as I define it: Grace is God working in and
through your life to accomplish His will.
1. What is God’s will that He wants to accomplish?
2. Many things:
a. Salvation
b. Change
c. Growth
d. Impart wisdom and understanding
e. Ability to help others to find this same grace
f. And many others.
3. Let’s summarize God’s will for your life into two goals.
a. God wants to make you better.
b. God wants to make you happier (joyful).
4. So let’s revise the definition: Grace is God working in
and through you to make you better and to make you
happier.
C. Man’s grace cannot do that.
1. Man’s grace cannot work in you at all.
a. We do not have the ability to change other people.
b. We can read thoughts, see the heart, see the real
needs, and so forth.
2. Man’s grace cannot work through you to reach others.
a. We cannot be certain that we are doing is even helping
you let alone reaching through you to another.
b. Man’s grace is just not capable of God’s far-reaching
goals.
3. Man’s grace is inferior.
D. However, man’s grace can work FOR you to make you better and
more joyful.
1. I may not be able to get inside of you or to reach through
you, but I can do some things for you that might still
make you a better person or at least have a better time
of things and make your life a little easier to happier.
2. Man’s grace is inferior but it is still good.
II. Look at the grace Boaz showed Ruth.
A. \\#2\\ We need to understand what it mean to be a Moabite in
Israel.
1. Moabites were cousins to the Jews.
a. They were conceived through Lot, Abraham’s nephew.
b. Because they were related to Lot, God gave them land
next to the Jews and forbade the Jews from taking it.
\\#Deut 2:9, 18-19\\
2. \\#Num 22:3\\ The Moabites were afraid that the Jews would
take their land so they first tried to curse the Jews and
then began to attack them. \\#Jos 24:9\\
3. So God cursed them.
De 2:3 An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter
into the congregation of the LORD; even to their
tenth generation shall they not enter into the
congregation of the LORD for ever:
4. Ruth was one of these Moabites, cursed by God.
B. But Boaz showed mercy and grace.
Ruth 2:8 …Go not to glean in another field…
1. Harvest from my field only - providing food and thus life.
Ruth 2:8 …abide here fast by my maidens…
2. Abide with my people - providing fellowship and family.
Ruth 2:9 ….have I not charged the young men
that they shall not touch thee?
3. Enjoy my protection - providing safety.
Ruth 2:9 …and when thou art athirst, go unto
the vessels, and drink of that which the young
men have drawn.
4. Drink from my well.
a. But more.
(1) I am sure that everyone working in the field was
allowed to drink from the well.
(2) But Boaz told the young men to draw for Ruth!
b. That is grace personalized.
c. Boaz provided life-sustaining water but he did it in a
personal, kind, thoughtful way.
d. These first four graces were all good and needed.
(1) They were above and beyond the call of duty.
(2) The law promised the poor the right to harvest
the corners and the last gleaning of every
field.
(3) But Ruth was getting a person invitation to come
and personal care from the owner and master of
the field.
(4) That is grace and grace is good!
(5) What a blessing and comfort it must have been to
this outcast that some man would show her grace!
Ruth 2:14 And Boaz said unto her, At mealtime
come thou hither, and eat of the bread, and dip
thy morsel in the vinegar.
5. Eat at my table.
a. This is NOT commanded in the law.
(1) Boaz had HIS reapers in the field reaping HIS
harvest and so he provided them a meal.
(2) The poor were not typically invited to it. They
got the edges and the left overs but they did
that on their own time and went home.
b. This is not law. This is pure GRACE,
(1) Some of the other things that Boaz did were good,
but this is getting better.
(2) Boaz was going way beyond the normal bounds of
even grace to another level of grace all
together.
Ruth 2:14 … And she sat beside the reapers: and
he reached her parched corn,
6. Eat at my hand.
a. He reached and got food for Ruth and brought it to
her.
b. I don’t know what all was involved in that but I’ll
bet you Boaz did not do that for any of the other
workers.
c. To eat at his table was a grace afforded to other
workers to have the corn reached for was a grace
beyond what was shown the others.
Ruth 2:16 And let fall also some of the handfuls
of purpose for her, and leave them, that she may
glean them, and rebuke her not.
7. Share my bounty.
a. The reapers of Boaz were to drop harvested corn on
purpose for her to pick up!
b. How unique was this? Naomi immediately recognized
that Ruth found grace in someone’s sight that day!
Ruth 2:19 And her mother in law said unto her,
Where hast thou gleaned to day? and where
wroughtest thou? blessed be he that did take
knowledge of thee. And she shewed her mother in
law with whom she had wrought, and said, The
man’s name with whom I wrought to day is Boaz.
c. This is too good to be true!
III. Some facts about man’s grace.
A. Grace is good. Whether it comes from God or man, whether it
is the superior or inferior sort, it is still good. We need
to show grace to others. It is God’s way. I believe it
ought to be ours.
B. To be grace, it must be freely given.
1. Paul taught is that something can either be a debt paid or
a grace given, but it cannot be both.
Ro 11:6 And if by grace, then is it no more of
works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if
it be of works, then is it no more grace:
otherwise work is no more work.
2. What that means is if you want to give someone a grace you
cannot turn around a charge for it.
a. It’s like a gift and a debt.
b. There are more ways to charge than with dollars.
(1) Reminders takes a grace and makes it a debt.
(2) Guilt takes a grace and makes it a debt.
(3) Even a demand for gratitude takes a grace and
makes it debt.
c. Notice that God does none of these things with His
gifts of grace.
d. He does teach us that we need to do some times because
we are so ignorant that we don’t know we should do
them, but He does not demand things of us.
(1) He teaches us that we should remember what grace
has done for us but He does not demand we
remember.
(2) He teaches us that we should praise and be
thankful for His grace but He does not demand
them.
(3) He teaches us that we should serve and honor Him
because of His grace but He does not demand
them.
e. How do I know that God does not demand these things
of me for His grace? Because whether I do them or
not, His grace keeps coming!
C. Grace can be requested.
James 4:2 …ye have not because ye ask not.
D. A requested grace can be denied.
1. God has denied some of my requests for His grace.
a. I have asked for things I did not receive, things that
I thought were important, needful, just, deserved.
b. And God has denied me some of those things.
c. That alone should have taught me this important
lesson; but to be honest, I had to learn it another
way.
2. I began to learn the lesson when people would ask of me
things that I did not feel I should do, then they would
get mad at me for not doing what they requested.
a. I first began to learn it when people would ask me to
do a thing and then get mad if I turned them down.
(1) I have turned down doing many more weddings than
I have done.
(2) To be honest, I am changing some of that today,
wanting to try to help some people if I can.
(3) Doriety wedding
b. I came to a conclusion - If you have to ask for it, it
is because it was not yours and if it was not yours,
you have no reason to be angry if it is not given to
you.
3. However, I don’t always live what I know and understand.
a. In time, I found myself getting angry when I had to
ask for things and was turned down.
b. So here again, the preacher has to put into practice
that which he had learned and preached.
4. Requested grace, both God’s and man’s can be denied. If
it, remember it was an underserved request for grace and
move on.
E. Grace can lead to love.
1. I think that is what happened to Boaz and Ruth.
a. \\#10\\ Boaz greatly admired Ruth from the time he
heard about her.
b. That was the reason he initially showed her grace.
c. Perhaps the first four acts of grace that Boaz
demonstrated were nothing more than admiration and
respect for how she had treated Naomi.
d. But along about the "reaching her parched corn," I
think something else began to happen.
(1) A new emotion was developing and a special kind
of grace was beginning to form.
(2) It is called love.
(3) What is love if it is not grace?
(a) Working for a person to make them better and
happier.
(b) Committing to spend the rest of your life
doing those two things.
(c) Forsaking the opportunity to do that for any
one else to that same degree.
2. Grace is garden that cultivates true love.
3. Love might can be grown in a selfish plot but it will
not produce the same sweet fruit and love grown in
in grace.
I’ve said all of this to say, grace is good. What a wonderful place
this world would be if we could all work for the betterment and the
happiness of others.
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