Wednesday, June 23, 2010
God Is At Work - The Story of Ruth Part I - The Worst of Times, Part 18 of 32
TEXT: "Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following after you; for wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me" (Ruth 1:16-17).
IDEA: Conversion touches the core of our lives.
PURPOSE: To help listeners understand that conversion to Christ is radical.
Do you believe that people must be converted?
What do we mean by "conversion"?
What does it involve?
I. Conversion involves a radical change of commitment in our lives.
When we "convert" currency, what do we mean?
When we change a dollar bill into quarters, is that conversion?
If we change United States currency into Korean currency, is that conversion? What's the difference?
Do you think there is a difference between regeneration and conversion?
Do children who grow up in Christian homes need regeneration?
Do you think adults who become Christians need regeneration? How about conversion?
II. An example of a "convert" in the Old Testament is Ruth.
She makes a profession of faith in her mother-in-law, Naomi, in Ruth 1:16, 17: "Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following after you; for wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me."
This is one of the most beautiful declarations of commitment in all literature. What prompted it?
Is it what you would normally consider to be a "profession of faith"?
Her profession involved sacrifice and pain.
She willingly abandoned her family.
This was particularly difficult in Ruth's culture. "Modern westerners, who live in a mobile society where bonds of family and family residence are broken so easily, need to recall that such mobility was almost impossible for ancient people, firmly rooted in patriarchal and patrilocal culture" (LaSor, et al, OT Survey, p. 114).
One secular text (at Nuzi) tells of a man who totally disinherits his two sons because they moved to a different town.
Does anyone who is converted to Christ have to do anything like that today?
She abandoned the security of her familiar surroundings in Moab.
She took on an uncertain future as a widow in a country where she knew no one but Naomi. She had few legal rights and faced possible ethnic prejudice.
She changed gods. Judah and Jehovah would not only be Naomi's home and god, but Ruth's as well.
Conclusion:
Conversion is radical and painful, depending on what we turn from and who we turn to.
