Five Rivers Church
Empty or Full?
Empire makes great promises of fulfillment, and in many ways, it seems to deliver. But what happens when empire fails to come through? This week, we see Naomi coming to terms with her decision to lean away from kingdom and into empire as she and Ruth make their way back to Judah.
Locations & Times
Five Rivers Church
1450 E Dorothy Ln, Dayton, OH 45429, USA
Sunday 11:00 AM
Trust the Story - Week 1: Choosing Empire over Kingdom
<b>Week 1 of our Trust the Story series</b>. If you missed this opening sermon in the series, be sure to check it out. It will bring a great deal of context and background to today's sermon and future sermons in the series.
https://fiveriverschurch.churchcenter.com/episodes/130233EMPIRE: the natural result of humanity left to its own devices. Left to our own devices, empire is the best that humanity can come up with.
Keywords: wealth, power, security, protection, self-preservation, control
Keywords: wealth, power, security, protection, self-preservation, control
KINGDOM: the result of trusting God and the story he is telling.
Keywords: peace, sacrifice, service, hospitality, partnership, trust
Keywords: peace, sacrifice, service, hospitality, partnership, trust
In The Names ...
Elimelek: My God is King
Namoi: Pleasant or pleasing
Mahlon: Sickness
Chilion (Kilion): Wasting
Ruth: Friend, Compassion
Mara: Bitter
Elimelek: My God is King
Namoi: Pleasant or pleasing
Mahlon: Sickness
Chilion (Kilion): Wasting
Ruth: Friend, Compassion
Mara: Bitter
Point to Consider:
Better late than never
While Naomi and Elimelek initially failed to trust God's story, Naomi eventually returns home.
When we fail to trust God's story, he waits for us to trust him and lean into kingdom.
Better late than never
While Naomi and Elimelek initially failed to trust God's story, Naomi eventually returns home.
When we fail to trust God's story, he waits for us to trust him and lean into kingdom.
Point to Consider:
What was it about Naomi?
Something about Naomi made quite an impact on her daughters-in-law. We don't now exactly what it was, but it was impactful. So much so that they were willing to travel with her to Judah, a place where they would likely be outcasts and unwelcome.
Is there something in your life and the way you treat others that might cause them to react similarly? We know from this story that God does not expect perfection, and he is able to work in us even when we fail to trust the story.
What was it about Naomi?
Something about Naomi made quite an impact on her daughters-in-law. We don't now exactly what it was, but it was impactful. So much so that they were willing to travel with her to Judah, a place where they would likely be outcasts and unwelcome.
Is there something in your life and the way you treat others that might cause them to react similarly? We know from this story that God does not expect perfection, and he is able to work in us even when we fail to trust the story.
Point to Consider:
Naomi knows what her future likely holds, and she doesn't want her daughters-in-law to face this prospect for their future. So, she encourages them to return to Moab.
Naomi also seems to call out God here. Perhaps she knows that it was not right to flee Judah for Moab, and because of this misstep, she feels that God has "turned his hand against her".
Naomi knows what her future likely holds, and she doesn't want her daughters-in-law to face this prospect for their future. So, she encourages them to return to Moab.
Naomi also seems to call out God here. Perhaps she knows that it was not right to flee Judah for Moab, and because of this misstep, she feels that God has "turned his hand against her".
Point to Consider:
Ruth makes such an incredibly bold statement in these verses. She acknowledges the God of Israel here (verse 17), but her acknowledgment is rooted in her experience with Naomi. She likely had no experience with the Jewish people or their God apart from Naomi, Mahlon and Kilion, yet something in that experience is enough to move her to adopt Naomi's people and God as her own.
This decision poses a great deal of risk for her, but for some reason, that risk is worth it for her and she will accept nothing else.
Ruth makes such an incredibly bold statement in these verses. She acknowledges the God of Israel here (verse 17), but her acknowledgment is rooted in her experience with Naomi. She likely had no experience with the Jewish people or their God apart from Naomi, Mahlon and Kilion, yet something in that experience is enough to move her to adopt Naomi's people and God as her own.
This decision poses a great deal of risk for her, but for some reason, that risk is worth it for her and she will accept nothing else.
Points to Consider:
Naomi takes her bitterness to a whole new level here as she asks to be called Mara, which means "bitter". (Perhaps you will remember another Old Testament story in which the people of Israel named a place Marah because the water there was so bitter that they could not drink it.)
She makes an incredible statement in verse 21 that warrants consideration. "I went away full ..."
Consider the reasons that Naomi and Elimelek left Judah in the beginning of this story. There was no food because of famine. Famine is the absence of fullness, yet Naomi says she went away full.
This statement seems to indicate Naomi's acknowledgment that her life was full in kingdom terms as she had the things most important in her life (her husband and sons). Yet, she and her husband leaned away from the peace of kingdom and into the security of empire, and that decision seems to have left her empty.
Naomi takes her bitterness to a whole new level here as she asks to be called Mara, which means "bitter". (Perhaps you will remember another Old Testament story in which the people of Israel named a place Marah because the water there was so bitter that they could not drink it.)
She makes an incredible statement in verse 21 that warrants consideration. "I went away full ..."
Consider the reasons that Naomi and Elimelek left Judah in the beginning of this story. There was no food because of famine. Famine is the absence of fullness, yet Naomi says she went away full.
This statement seems to indicate Naomi's acknowledgment that her life was full in kingdom terms as she had the things most important in her life (her husband and sons). Yet, she and her husband leaned away from the peace of kingdom and into the security of empire, and that decision seems to have left her empty.
Ruth 1:21a
I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty.
מְלֵאָ֣ה (mah’le’ah): full; full of
רֵיקָם (re-qam) - empty handed; emptiness
I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty.
מְלֵאָ֣ה (mah’le’ah): full; full of
רֵיקָם (re-qam) - empty handed; emptiness
Application:
Empire will make great promises, and in some ways it will seem to deliver. However, in the end, empire can never deliver the peace and fulfillment that kingdom can, and in some way, it will always leave you empty.
Empire will make great promises, and in some ways it will seem to deliver. However, in the end, empire can never deliver the peace and fulfillment that kingdom can, and in some way, it will always leave you empty.