Our New Testament reading this morning comes from Matthew, Matthew chapter six, Matthew chapter six, reading verses 24 to 34. Matthew six, starting verse 24. Again, please give your full attention to the word of the Lord. No one can serve two masters. really either he will take the one in love the other or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other you cannot serve god and money therefore i tell you not be anxious about your life which you will be in which will drink or about your body which will put on is not life more than food in the body more than clothing look at the birds of the air in either so no reap gather into barns and yet your heavenly father feeds them are you not of more value than they And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his lifespan? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you, even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O of little faith? Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated.

Before we hear the sermon text read, let’s ask the Lord’s blessing upon it once more. Pray with me. Our God and our Father, we come to you now again and we pray that your steadfast love would comfort us as we cling to your promises and your word. We trust what you tell us and we look to Jesus Christ, your son, for salvation and renewal in the refreshing waters of the forgiveness that you bring. And we ask, Lord, that he would be made known to us more and more, and that our faith in him would be ever stronger as you conform us to his image. For we ask this all as your people we all pray, amen.

We continue in Ruth this morning, Ruth chapter four. Only got a couple left. Ruth chapter four, we’ll be reading verses of one to twelve one to twelve uh… rich after four verses one to twelve here now the word of our god now below us had gone up to the gate and sat down there and behold the redeemer of whom boas had spoken came by so well i said turn aside friend sit down here nature inside sat down and he took ten men of the elders of the city and said sit down here so they sat down Then he said to the Redeemer, Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belonged to her relative Elimelech. So I thought I would tell you of it and say, buy it. Buy it in the presence of these sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not, tell me that I may know, for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I come after you. And he said, I will redeem it. Then Boaz said, the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance. Then the Redeemer said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it. Now, this was the custom. in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging. To confirm a transaction, the one drew off his sandal and gave it to the other. And this was the manner of attesting in Israel. So when the redeemer said to Boaz, buy it for yourself, he drew off his sandal. And Boaz said to the elders and all the people, you are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chileon and Maelon. Also Ruth, the Moabite, the widow of Malon, I have bought to be my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native place. You are witnesses this day.” And then all the people who were at the gate, and the elder said, we are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who was coming into your house like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah, and be renowned in Bethlehem, and may your house be like the house of Perez, who Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the Lord will give you by this young woman. So for the reading of God’s word, and indeed, may he add his blessing upon it.

Well, as we grow, an age in this world as I do. I’m reminded of the theologian who said, I concur with him, who said, every time I look in the mirror, I’m reminded, I’m convinced more and more of the truth of the fall. And that happens as we get older. Most come to a place, as we do grow, where we think things like, what have I been committed to? What have I been living for? What is my legacy? But it’s not only as we get older that we think these kinds of things. We think them throughout our lives, right? Even into old age. These questions of, for me, what does it mean to make my mark in the world? What does it mean to make a name for myself? What legacy will I leave? And you know, this question goes all the way back to the start, right? It’s as old as mankind. This is something what Adam confronted in the garden. Who would he be? What name would he have? What legacy would he leave? Would he submit in faith to the God that made him, or would he seek his own way and say, I can be wise like God myself, and so take and eat? Or remember the Tower of Babel, right? We read it just a moment ago. And at the heart of that story really is this same thing. As the people are building the tower, they’re saying what? They’re saying, let us make a name for ourselves. That’s what we’ll do. Let us undertake this huge building project, and we’ll be known, we’ll be famous. make a name for ourselves. But as we read, right, the end of that project was interrupted by the Lord. He confused their language, He scattered them, and they left that project. But contrast that with the very next chapter. What happens in chapter 12 of Genesis? God calls on one who was not looking for Him, and this one willingly submits to the call of the Father, giving up home and land and all that was comfortable. God says to him, I promise you, I will make your name great. I will make your name great. This, of course, is patriarch Abraham. In this contrast between these two scenarios of how one is to get a name or make a name or what kind of legacy one will leave is a question that the Bible does come to answer. quite definitively. And so the question for us is, what will we like the answer that it gives, right? Will we accept what the Bible tells us? Will we seek a name in a way that God has called, that he has called us to do, or do we do it in the way that we ourselves have created? We see this very thing in our text this morning. It’s quite evident, it’s quite prevalent, I’ll point out as we go. If you look at the first eight verses with me, we see they’re in encounter with this name-seeking man, right, this name-seeking man. Of course, Boaz is the central focus, the central character in chapter four. He is the one who’s acting, he’s the one who’s pursuing ends. We saw in the last chapter that he has promised Ruth, right, he says, I will do whatever I can, I will do whatever it takes, to get for you a redeemer. Either this closer relative of mine, who if he marries you, he will be your redeemer. Or if he doesn’t, I will do it myself. And Boaz is good on his word. As soon as this day starts, he goes to the city gate. And you may know that in that day, the city gate was a place where all of business transactions were carried out, all legal transactions were carried out. And he sits himself there and he waits. And this man approaches. He comes by and Boaz calls the man to come take a seat. There’s business that needs to be discussed with him. And so verse two says, and he took 10 men of the elders of the city and said, sit down here. So they sat down, right? He gathers 10 elders, 10 witnesses from the city to come and witness this transaction. So that would be legally binding. It’s a legal matter being transacted concerning the land and concerning Ruth. This has to take place so that it can go forward. Whatever’s going to happen, that has to take place here. And so Boaz, according to the custom of the day, he gets a quorum, 10 men, 10 witnesses, elders, and he begins the proceedings. And surely you can feel the tension and the emotion in the text here. And the tension builds at this moment. We’re asking, well, what’s going to happen? This is the other Redeemer. And we as readers are left wondering, will Ruth end up with this man? After all the glorious buildup from Boaz in his faithfulness to this woman, in his kindness to her family, and his willingness ultimately to wed her, bind himself to her, he is rejoicing at the blessing of even having the opportunity, and we’re wondering at this point in verse two, will this other man take the opportunity from Boaz and become the husband and redeemer of Ruth? And we see in this section here, basically there are three interactions, right? Two of these are verbal, and the last one is nonverbal, right? The exchanging of the shoe, a nonverbal interaction. But the first speech that we see, Boaz approaches this other redeemer, and he says, you know Naomi, she’s a relative of ours. She’s come back from Moab, and she has this parcel of land that she wants to sell. So my question to you is, do you want to buy it? Most commentators, if you study this passage, agree that when we read the word sell there, it’s not the best word that we could be interpreting from the Hebrew, right? And in one sense, this makes sense, right? We know that it’s impossible to sell land in Israel, right? God has given to every Israelite, according to their tribe and their name and their people, a certain parcel and portion of the land. And it was never to be sold in perpetuity like we think when we sell a house. You see that even in the laws of jubilee, right? Remember the laws of jubilee and the redemption? If you get yourself in such bad debt and the people are coming for you to collect, you would lose the land. But only until the year of jubilee, right? And ultimately the land would be released from its bondage and given back to the family name. So it stays in the name, right? The name stays in that with that land. So you can never lose a piece of land forever in this way. It was to be kept in a family according to your name and your tribe. And so what seems to be happening here is that Naomi has come back. She has no man in her life, no husband, no sons to work the land. And so the land is sitting idle and unproductive. Fallow, I think they call it. And she has to lease this land, as it were, and have a redeemer, possibly this family member. And then in his working of the land and his gaining produce for himself, what happens? He will supply enough food for Naomi even into old age. And so this is the kind of lease agreement that’s going on. And this man is thinking as he hears this, right, he’s business savvy. He gets it. He considers the deal. And he says, what is the benefit of this? What’s the upside of this arrangement? Consider a land, right, which you can never purchase, a piece of property to pass down to your family beyond the one that you’ve been given. And a man comes to you and says, you know our relative Naomi, no husband, no sons, no inheritors. She has a parcel of land that she basically wants you to work and provide for her. Well, the question comes, when she dies and there’s no one to inherit the land, who does it go to? This man realizes, right, savvy, he realizes as he’s doing the math, so to speak, in his head, I can actually gain a permanent piece of property, which he dies off for an inheritance for myself and for my children and their children into perpetuity, right? He sees us as kind of a loophole. It’ll be ours forever and we gain genuine piece of property and a fortune in Israel. And so as our nameless relative, considers this proposition, he does the calculations in his mind, and it’s not hard to figure out at this point. When he says in verse four, I’ll redeem it, good to go, right? It’s a good idea, there’s only an upside for us, for me. That is, unless you consider God’s plan in the Exodus, right, which you released the people from slavery, and to bring them into a land of rest, and to give each one of them a portion of the promised land, Right? Unless you consider that with this proposition and the laws that God put in place in order to protect family property and to give them an inheritance forever. Right? If you disregard that, sure, it seems like a great deal. Right? Unless you’re concerned about those kind of kingdom things. And you see there is this reality that every time God talks about the Jubilee, As you read your Old Testament, you’ll see this. He says, you’re going to give back the land. Why? Because I am Yahweh who redeemed you from Egypt. And that was shorthand of saying what? You were slaves, and I freed you unto the land of rest. Don’t take that rest from other people permanently. Be like the God who redeemed you, people of Israel. Give them back their stuff that they might find rest. But this man is oblivious. He has no concern for this at all. There’s no value to him. And he realizes at this point, there’s no inheritor. And he says, I’ll take it. This is a great deal. I’ll do it. And at this moment, our hearts kind of sink, right? If we don’t know the rest of the story, if we’re not read on. Hearts sink, right? We, in a sense, know what it means that he is willing to redeem the land. What’s it mean? We think, what about Ruth? Won’t she go with the land? Isn’t this no name going to become the one who in the last chapter said will ultimately redeem Ruth as well? There’s tension, there’s tension here in the story. And then Boaz fairly shrewdly goes on. And he says, oh, and there’s just one more thing that I forgot to mention, I haven’t mentioned yet. There’s the land and there’s Naomi with no husband, no sons. She’s pretty easy to take care of, but there’s also this widow. Also a widow. And so now the man, he thinks he has two people that he’ll be feeding off the land until they go. But notice how Moabites puts it in verse five. He says, the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth. You also acquire Ruth the Moabite. All right, it says she’s a Moabite. And when you redeem the land, you do so in order to maintain the name of the dead. So what’s this mean for this man? All right, it says you get Naomi and Ruth. It’s still good at this point. Okay, there’s two, but I still get the piece of land forever, right? In his mind. He’s holding this business, he’s doing this business math in his head, and he says, it’s still all benefit, it’s good for me in the long run. But then Boaz says, it’s not just these two that you’re gonna have to provide for. You’re redeeming the land in order to what? To give a son to Ruth, so that the name of Elimelech and his children will go on in Israel like the law desires, like God wanted to happen. you’ll raise up a child for the name so that the land can stay with them in their name will not become extinct in israel and we see this is behind what’s going on and as we mentioned before the other uh… laws uh… that that factor in here being brought into play particularly the the leverite marriage law and you notice that the man All of a sudden, it’s very quick in our text, it’s the very next verse, but he asks people to redo the math that he did, because once it was all good before, all upside, and now he’s realizing, wait a second. Now I’m going to have to take two people take care of all the time. I get to maintain the land, this property, and then I’m supposed to provide a child for Ruth, who will become a certain inheritor of this piece of land, and not me. And so now I’m providing for people, and at the end, I’ll have nothing to show for it. And if I have more children than one with Ruth, not only will I give this piece of land, but I’ll have to try to figure out how to distribute the rest of my properties to these children. And it doesn’t look so good to him now. In verse six, he says, I can’t do it because it will put my inheritance, my legacy into jeopardy. Therefore, I cannot redeem it. You redeem it, Boaz. He’s more than willing to give it away, to give it away. Not just to give away the land, but to give away the opportunity to bless these people as the Lord required, what was behind the law in the first place. And now he sees here, as the full information is given, this is not a good deal. It’s not the deal that I thought it was. And so he refuses, right? And he refuses because to him, the ultimate purpose of God’s law and the redemption laws are of no value. They’re no consideration for him. He was there considering just the property and the inheritance that he would gain, the name that he would leave for himself, the worth that he would get for his family. the inheritance that he could pass on. So, of course, these things aren’t in and of themselves bad things, but notice he’s willing to do them at the expense of obeying the heart of God’s law, right? He has an out. He’s not legally bound to do this, and he takes it, right? He’s not a woman like his brother. But the heart of the law is to provide for this woman, to provide for their name, and to give them a land, give that land back to them just as God wants. But that’s not on his mind at all, not even on his radar. His mind is set on not God’s kingdom and what would be glorifying to the Lord as the God of Israel. Instead, he sets his mind wholly on what would benefit him. How can I benefit from this particular bargain? And even we, brothers and sisters, are tempted in this way, are we not? We are tempted to live just like this. How do my interactions in the world, how do the things that I do personally benefit me? Of what interest is this particular problem that I find? Do I have to get involved? Do I have to be of any help? Will it benefit me or my family in any way? Is it gonna give me comfort, me peace or prosperity? And if not, I want nothing to do with it. Let me go the other way. In fact, our hearts can be so dark that even in the times when we serve God on the surface, we serve Him because behind it all, there are things that we think we will gain or achieve, our name and our reputation and status. And the real reason we’re doing these things, even though they look pious and Christianly, behind it all, there’s the false intention that I want to make a name for myself. I want to benefit myself. And God and His kingdom and His ways are the furthest thing from our minds. But God tells us, that we are to seek first what? His kingdom, His righteousness. And we see this man in the story, much like ourselves at times, doing the math without bringing God’s kingdom or will into the equation at all. Because heavenly considerations of these things are surely different than our earthly calculations. And for this deal would not work well for him, for what he is seeking. He’s seeking something here and now and immediate. and it won’t bode well for him. And so they continue on, right, and we have this third interaction, this nonverbal act in verse seven. It says, this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning the redeeming and exchanging. To confirm a transaction, the one drew off his sandal and gave it to the other, and this was the manner of attesting in Israel. It’s a witness. It’s a witness to everyone that went on, right? Something has taken place, transaction. The deal is done. And it means for that no-name redeemer, a potential redeemer, I transfer, I abdicate my rights and I give them to you, Boaz. And all the people are witnesses to that. And the witnesses sealed the deal and they served also to protect the deal. So sometime later, if this man had a change of heart, he must go back on the deal. He can’t. The witnesses were there and saw it. It’s contractual. It’s a done deal. And we have to see that the author here has made the point from chapter one of Ruth of the importance of names, the importance of names. begins a story telling us about what? A man named Elimelech, right? Which means God is my king. And yet ultimately this man lives in his own strength, his own sovereignty, his own, he is his own king. And the author tells us then about poor Naomi, who was supposed to be, supposed to mean pleasantness, right? Pleasant, Naomi means. And yet in her own self pity, she says, that’s not my name anymore. Call me Mara. Bitter, she renames herself. And we learn about the time of famine in a land called, a land named Bethlehem, house of bread. And we see the grand irony that there is no bread in the house of bread. There’s no blessing in God’s house and in his land. And even in the midst of this story in chapter four, notice what’s at the heart of this particular story in chapter four, right? It’s a transaction that’s supposed to what? To take place in order to perpetuate the name of the dead. The author cares about names and naming, and he knows it’s important as he communicates these things. But what does the author do with this man, this other Redeemer? The only time that he’s addressed personally is by Boaz in the narrative. And a lot of your English Bibles here say that Boaz said to him, as does mine in the ESV, turn aside, friend, and sit down here. But that’s not what the word means. He doesn’t call him friend. There’s a word for friend in Hebrew. That’s not the word. The word actually is two words. It means something specific. What does it mean? As I tried to find in English a Bible that translated it more clearly, I only found one. It was the New English Translation, which is a great translation. And they translate it right. They say, come here and sit down, John Doe. John Doe, and he came and sat down. And that really gets at the meaning. Someone without a name. Boaz is calling this man, he says, hey you, Mr. So-and-so, come take a seat. Or sometimes when I was younger, you’d hear, hey, what’s your face? Come here and sit down. But notice the author does this very deliberately. Very deliberately, he’s very focused, he’s very intentional about names. It’s not like Boaz doesn’t know the man’s name, they’re related. It’s not like the author couldn’t have included it in the story had he wanted to, and he intentionally leaves out the name. He’s only called by this, hey, what’s your face, right? So-and-so. This generic no-name name. And so what he’s trying to say about the man who will say, yeah, I’ll take the land from this poor widow and her daughter when it works for me, but I’m not gonna give the land to a son in order that they might inherit it. Who cares about God’s plan? Who cares about God’s law for his people? My legacy, my inheritance, my name is more important than what happens in God’s kingdom. And notice how, in the biblical record, this man who was concerned so much with his name and his inheritance, this name-seeking man, goes completely nameless, right? And he’s left with no legacy and no name in the history of redemption. This is the Bible’s way of clearly telling us that those who seek a name here, by building a kingdom apart from the goals of God, will ultimately go down in history and their names will be remembered no more. You see that over and over, for instance, in the Psalms. That the wicked fall and their names are remembered no more. The wicked deny God and their names are blotted out. And that’s exactly what’s happening in the story in Ruth chapter four. This man refuses to align himself with the Lord, the God of the covenants, and therefore the God of the covenant refuses to acknowledge him in any way. And his name is remembered no more. The one who seeks to be first, the one who seeks to have permanence to exalt himself, he will be last and he will be humble. And he will be the one over whom God exalts himself. So where are we in this particular story? The Lord gave this to us for a purpose. Where are we? What do you seek and how do you seek it? What matters to you? What are you seeking, husbands and wives, for one another? What are you seeking as you discipline your children, parents? Are you really seeking God’s will? Or are you seeking to die to self in self-sacrificial service to them? Are you worried primarily about your child’s heart, that it be turned to Christ? Or are you concerned that they’ll embarrass your name or bring shame upon your reputation? You see, we all need to be thinking and making decisions with the right questions in mind. It’s easy for us not to think of these things, for them to fade away and drown out, but we must keep them primary in our lives, for all of our lives. What is God’s will? How can I exalt Him? What would bring the Lord glory? Rather than asking, how can this benefit me? What will make me more comfortable? What I want or what I desire. And this text tells us clearly that if you’re seeking to build a name for yourself and if you’re seeking to build your own kingdom, the text says ultimately that God’s kingdom will always be exalted and you will leave nothing behind. Your name will be blotted out and it will return to the dust with you. And of course, there’s good news here too. There’s good news as well. This man, this one man goes and he passes from the scene, he’s remembered no more, but there’s another who’s brought again to the forefront and is exalted right so this text moves from this name seeking man to this kingdom seeking man right in verses nine and ten kingdom seeking man says then below i said to the old wall people you are witnesses this day that part of the land naomi all that belong to a little like it all belong to chilly on demand may long also ruth the mobile the widow may long i have brought i have bought to be my wife patch with the name of the dead in his inheritance the name of the dead may not be cut off from knowing his brothers from the gate of his birthplace you are my witnesses today you see how the text moves from this possible redeemer to the one who actually was the redeem boss explains motivation very clearly he doesn’t do this this than this earthly calculation in chicer in his head races you’re my witnesses here’s what i’ve done this day at botany in his land i’ve bought roots to be my wife and i did it for this reason in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in the land and to do what god wanted for us for his people in the midst of this land so that this abortion plot of land that god promised abraham would not be snuffed out and notice below as this will be costly for him but he absorbs this loss gladly gladly he’s eager to His reasoning has everything to do with God’s plan for the nation and God’s revelation of what is good for the kingdom of Israel. Above his own name, above his own inheritance, and above his own benefit, Boaz is concerned with what? With what the heart of God would desire for these women, and this land, and for the name of these men, the name of these men who are deceased. Is it just that? Does Boaz love Ruth? Of course he does. and he will gain Ruth. But he loves the name and exaltation of God preeminently more. He desires the will of God more. In his desire to obey the will of God, unceasingly, he gains for himself a bride, a redeemer, right? Bent on doing the will of the Lord, wins a bride in the process for himself. And I hope you can feel uh… the sense of that this of course uh… parallels and it’s a pointer to the final redeemer jesus christ but see here is the author focuses on these witnesses to this transaction rate they’re gonna speak where you have this offer to no name and and then at the offer of boaz for him that he’s going to take and then you see this oracle of these witnesses they’re gonna speak of the uh… for the author right about how we should view boaz right this is what the author wants us to feel about see about boaz what should we think of boaz right we first see uh… these two interactions uh… and then with the shu but then the people it says in verse eleven and twelve then all the people who were at the gate of the elders but the gate and the older said we are witnesses and the lord make this woman who is coming in your house like rachel and uh… laya and may who together built up the house of israel may you act worthily in a frat dot and be renowned in bethlehem it goes on you see the status witnesses here that what’s going on but they also stand as prophets stands profits here and they say grant this foreign woman a place among the matriarchs of Israel, right? These two women, Rachel and Leah, who give birth to those who would be the 12 tribes, the nation of Israel. Think her like them. May she ultimately give birth to a seed that would bless this nation. And surely she does so, as we’ll see in the remainder of the book. David comes from this line. David. she does build up the house of israel she does use uh… god does use this gentile this pagan woman to be part of his kingdom building but notice also the blessing they give about boaz basically what it says is when it says you act worthily uh… basically means may you prosper in israel that’s what it’s saying where they’re worthy so it’s it’s weight it’s wealth prosperity may you be prosperous in israel So they’re not concerned that he’s just made a potentially hard business decision, earthly speaking. They say, you’re honored. You’re honored because you honored the God of the covenant. May you prosper in Israel. May you gain great riches and a name. You see that? May you be renowned. May you be famous. And you’ve got to feel the punch of what’s happening in this text. May your name last forever and ever. May you be passed on again and again amongst the people who have gone through a seed. in may mail what’s his face may he get out of here be remembered no more never again and that’s all from the world reading and that’s what he’s gonna mention uh… why he’s going to mention david at the end of this uh… chapter and as he does so it points us to what for today was greater son and the fact is that uh… the fact that we sit here this morning speaking of boaz But ultimately, Aboaz’s greater son, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. And we see the way that comes with humility in this text, prefiguring, pointing, foreshadowing the Lord, right? The way that comes with humility and giving and self-sacrifice of one that ultimately leads to exaltation and a true name and a true legacy. And notice the one who gave away gains more. and consider the outcome, consider his offspring. We’ll look more about this next week, but we see all these great children promised, and we get into it, and we’ll unfold some of that, but ultimately, all these children, what? They give way to one son, Jesus, born in Bethlehem, to Mary, one who is a descendant of Ruth. We have there a king who was rich, but for his people’s sake became poor. A king who, though being God, didn’t forsake the humiliation of taking to himself a human nature. A king who spent all the capital that he had, even to the point of giving his life unto death, even death on a cross. Redeemer, who would spare no expense at all to establish his kingdom and the will of God. And in doing so, he gained a bride in the process. the church, and in all his self-giving, and all his humiliation, and the fact that he gave it all away, the Bible tells us what? He didn’t lose his reputation. He didn’t lose his name. But instead, he has, this day, gained the name that is above every name, right, and the seat of power that is above all power. Though he become human, became human and subjected himself to the humiliation of man, He exalted, right? He is exalted as a man above all men in all nations and ultimately they will come answering to Him. He is the God-man. Brothers and sisters, such is the way of the cross. Such is the way of humiliation and ultimately gives way to exaltation, right? Suffering and glory in the Lord. If our humility is focused, this will happen on God and His kingdom and His doing and doing His will. And then one last thing I want you to notice this morning before we close. We have this name-seeking man who dies nameless. And we have this kingdom-seeking man who will die ultimately as a blessing, with blessing and a name that is to be carried on in Israel forever. But then we have these other men in the text that we kind of brushed by who are given a name again. I don’t know if you caught it, back in verse 10. He says, right and so we see here also in the the in the self the one self-sacrifice one act a self-sacrifice of boas as the redeemer what happens a little x family is figured in speaking raised from the dead brought back again given a name in a in a heritage A name that was all but dead because they had passed away or resurrected because of this one act of Boaz. Now they live, now they have a name because the Redeemer acted in humiliation. Those who come from that Redeemer have a name as well. And surely as we look at this, we see our own life story here in the midst of the text. That we who are without a name and without a claim on God have been called sons of God. sons of god because of that one son what he did for us because the king came in humility we will be called kings and priests of the most high that we have gained a name though we were dead in our trespasses and sins though we were as rebellious as a law like himself seeking our name and fame outside the land outside the promises of god much like our first father we have been brought near because a Redeemer has acted for us. And in His gaining a name, He has given us the name as well. And therefore, Christian, people of God, those who have received this lesson, you are called to what? To a manner of life that flows out of the very life of your Savior. You are called to live a life that is not consumed with the bottom line here on earth, the bottom line for you personally, first and foremost, but it is to be consumed with seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness first. And he promises, what? That all these things, all these other things will be added to you. But my kingdom, my way, these are to be your focus, even though it costs you, even if it means loss of time and finances and reputation. People of God, may we indeed leave a legacy that ultimately sees that there is no hope save in the One who humbled Himself and was ushered into glory. May we leave an example of life in union with this Savior. May we leave an example of sacrifice of time and energy for the Lord and for His kingdom. And may we take his humiliation upon ourselves as we look to him no longer as the one hanging on the cross, but as the one who is highly exalted and has received a name that is above every name and has gifted it and graced it to you in order that you might live his life here in this place to the service of others and to the glory of his father’s name. Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you again for your word, for this wonderful book that speaks of and aids our understanding of our Redeemer, Jesus. We thank you for the King of glory and look forward to the day when he will return to bring us to the new heavens and the new earth. Father, we thank you for his clean hands, his pure heart and faithfulness and obedience. We put our trust in him. We have nowhere else to turn, Lord. We bring before you, Lord, this congregation now, and we pray especially for those who are undergoing physical trials and ailments. Lord, we pray for all those that suffer. Lord, we pray console our hearts. Give us courage and faith to believe that you are the God of the resurrection of the dead, and that we don’t suffer what we do in vain, and that you’ll one day make us whole in glory. Even for all of us, Father, help us to have hearts filled with your love, caring and loving one another in a way that will be indeed a witness to the dead and dying outside world. Because in such need of the gospel, use us, we pray, in our lives to witness to your love. We thank you for the promise to have fed us afresh this day by your word, and that you will feed us in the supper with Christ, the bread of heaven, May we see that this is our life and our sustenance through all of our lives. Lord, we ask all these things now, praying even as our Lord has taught us. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.