What Makes a Good Mother?

Ruth chapter one. Ruth chapter one. We're gonna start reading here in verse eight. Ruth chapter one verse eight. What makes a godly mother?

Ruth chapter one. We're gonna read verses eight through 17 out of Ruth chapter one to begin this morning, and we'll read a little more from Ruth here in just a few minutes. Ruth chapter one verse eight. Naomi said unto her two daughters in law, go return each to her mother's house. The Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me.

Just a little context in case you don't know the story. Naomi's husband had passed away, and both of her sons who had married Moabite women, they were Hebrews, they were Jews, but they had moved to Moab, had married Moabite women, and both of her sons had passed away. So now, it was just Naomi and her two daughters in law and Naomi was headed back to Israel. So, verse nine, Naomi continues speaking to her daughters in law. The Lord grant you that ye may find rest each of you in the house of her husband.

Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voice and wept. And they said unto her, surely we will return with thee unto thy people. And Naomi said, turn again, my daughters. Why will you go with me? Are there yet any more sons in my womb that you may marry, that they may be your husbands?

Turn again my daughters, go your way, for I am too old to have an husband. If I should say I have hope, if I should have a husband also tonight, and should also bear sons, would you tarry for them till they were grown? Would you stay for them? From having husbands? Nay, my daughters, for it grieveth me for your sakes that the hand of Lord has gone out against me.

And they lifted up their voice and wept again, and Orpah kissed her mother mother-in-law, but Ruth clave unto her. And she said, Behold thy sister-in-law is gone back under her people and under her gods. Return thou after thy sister-in-law. And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee or to return from following after thee. For whether thou goest, I will go.

Where thou lodgest, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people and thy God, my God. Where thou diest will I die and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me and more also if ought but death part thee from me. Let's pray.

Dear heavenly father, we thank you Lord for your word today, the example that is set forth in it. We pray Lord that we all might learn something from Ruth's example. We pray Lord that our our heart might be open to receive your message for us today. We pray Lord that the holy spirit may use it in our lives to make us more like our savior, Jesus Christ, and better representatives of him on this earth. Better mothers and fathers and sons and daughters.

Lord, I pray, that you would do a mighty work and that you might be glorified. In Jesus name we do pray, amen. So, we are going to look at Ruth this morning. And if you know the story of Ruth, you might argue that she was not a mother until the end of the book. So, when we're reading her in chapter one, two, three, actually she doesn't become a mom until chapter four.

But I would argue that she was likely a very good mother because of who she was as a woman and as a person before she ever became a mother. Mothers and fathers aren't good because of who they are. Mothers and fathers are good because of who they are before and after the birth of their children. Parents do not become good parents because they go to classes and workshops and read a lot of books. They become good parents due to their character, formed usually before they ever become parents.

So, I dare say Ruth was probably a good mom because of who Ruth was. And so we're going to look at who Ruth is, not what the Bible has to say about after she became a mom because actually the Bible doesn't have much to say about that. But we learn a lot about this lady and who she is that will translate into her parenting. She did become the great grandparent of king David, by the way. And so we're gonna look at her character today, and maybe all of us can learn a little something from it that will be useful in our service for the Lord and our being parents or grandparents or whatever the case may be this morning.

The first thing I want us to see, and, we read it in verses sixteen and seventeen there, is Ruth is loyal. Ruth is loyal, faithful. She is not a fair weather friend to her mom or to her God. In verses sixteen and seventeen, she declares that loyalty emphatically. Some of my favorite verses in the Bible are verses sixteen and seventeen of Ruth.

And Ruth said, entreat me not to leave thee. Don't don't try to persuade me to go back or to leave you. For whether thou goest, I will go. Whether thou lodgest, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people, and thy God, my God.

Where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried. Ruth is making a very emphatic statement there. I'm not leaving. I'm not leaving. I am loyal to you.

And come what may, I will not abandon you. I will not abandon your people that will become my people. I will not abandon your God who has become my God. Ruth was loyal, faithful, and her actions as we continue through the book of Ruth bear that out. She wasn't just making empty promises.

She was true to those promises. She was loyal. In first Corinthians four two, Paul says this, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. That word faithful means something similar to loyal. Loyal to our master, to our Lord, to Jesus Christ.

What does God ask? Just be faithful, be loyal to me. Good parents and servants of the Lords of of the Lord indeed are loyal. What did God say to Israel? Hear, oh, Israel, the Lord thy God is one Lord and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

What is God asking Israel for? Their what? Their allegiance, their loyalty. That is God what God is asking for, and that indeed is what he does deserve. Ruth willingly pledges her allegiance to the God of Israel and to the mother-in-law that she loved.

She was loyal. She was unselfish. Naomi paints a desperate picture here in this chapter, testing Ruth's motivation. If Ruth was in it for herself, she would have gone back like her sister-in-law Orpah. But she stayed because she was truly an unselfish person who saw a bigger picture than just herself.

Who saw that she was needed to make a difference and help her mother-in-law. And so she put the needs of others before whose Or own. What did Naomi say? She said, hey, I'm not gonna have any more kids. Why?

No. You're I'm not gonna have any more sons for you to marry. I I'm poor. I don't have anything. Go back.

Go back. And Ruth said no. Naomi did, but not Ruth because she was an unselfish person at heart. Jesus said something similar to a group of people that approached him during his earthly ministry and said, we want to follow you. We're going to follow.

We're going to go wherever you go and Jesus said, that's okay. But the birds of the birds of the air have nests, the foxes have holes or dens, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. In other words, Jesus didn't paint a pretty picture. He didn't say, oh yeah, come follow me. It's going to be wonderful.

No, he said it's going to you're going to have to sacrifice if you follow me. You have to decide, is it worth it? Is this what you really want? And many of them did not follow him because they were mainly concerned only of themselves. That sadly is the case with a lot of people today.

But the Bible's Jesus said, I put you here to be salt and light on the earth. I'm not here for just me to to satisfy my desires and longings, but to make a difference on this earth in the lives of others. And that's why you're here too. Ruth understood that. She was willing to set aside some things that weren't gonna be maybe as she had imagined they would be because Naomi and Naomi's God was worth it.

She was indeed unselfish. She was courageous, loyal, unselfish, courageous. Not knowing what was coming, she went forward in faith. She didn't know what was going to happen. She didn't know if they were going to have food to eat.

In those days, if you were a widow, you were in bad straits. They had nothing. They had lost everything. They had no land to go back to, which again was vital. She didn't know what was going to happen, but she was a woman of courage.

Her faith gave her loyalty. And in faith, she stepped out in courage. God told Joshua the encouraged Joshua to have the same kind of courage as he led Israel into the land. He said to Joshua, have not I commanded thee, be strong and of a good courage. Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

So God said to Joshua, I know the task is that big and I know it's daunting and wow, look at those walled cities and all those chariots and yeah, it's not going to be easy, but don't be what? Afraid. Don't let fear win. Be courageous. Lead my people because I'm gonna go with you.

Now, two or three times, God had to encourage Joshua. Be courageous. Be courageous. Ruth seems to come by it all on her own. She is a woman of courage.

Like some other women in scripture. Sarah, who left with her husband Abraham to go to a land that they didn't know to have a child when she was past childbearing years. Rebecca who left her homeland, her home to go to be with Isaac who she had never seen to a place that she had never seen. Deborah, only woman judge specifically mentioned in the book of Judges. There was a guy named Barak or Barak.

I'm not sure which way you pronounce it. I prefer Barak, but he was supposed to lead the army in the battle, but he was scared. So he said to God, I'll go, but Deborah's gotta go with me. Deborah was a woman of courage. Somebody we don't know her name that I I was thinking of while I was going through this is Peter's wife.

Peter's wife. Peter, when he came to service and the Lord was already married, Jesus actually healed his mother-in-law at their house in Capernaum early in the gospels. And Paul gives us a little insight that Peter's wife traveled with him in his ministry. History tells us that Peter's wife was actually martyred beside her husband in Rome. She must have been one courageous lady.

And one day, maybe you'll know her name. So was Ruth. So should we be people of courage because as God told to Joshua, I will never leave you nor forsake you. I will be with you whithersoever thou goest, and we can be people of courage too. She was hardworking.

Ruth was not one to shun away from hard work. Look if you would in chapter two. Chapter two and verse one. Chapter two verse one. Naomi had a kinsman of her husbands, mighty man of wealth of the family of Elimelech, his name was Boaz.

And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, let me now go to the field and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said unto her, go my daughter. And she went and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging on Boaz who was of the kindred of Elimelech. In other words, she didn't go there on purpose, the Lord directed her there. Verse four, and behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and he said unto the reapers, the Lord be with you.

And they answered him, the Lord bless you. Then Boaz said unto his servant that was set over the reapers, whose damsel is this? The servant that was set over the reapers answered and said, it is the Moabitish damsel that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab. And she said, I pray you let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sea, among the sheaves. So, she came and hath continued even from morning until now that she tarried a little in the house then said Boaz under Ruth, hearest thou not my daughter, go not to glean in another field, neither go from thence, but abide here fast by my maidens.

Let thine eyes be on the field that they do reap and go thou after them. Have I not charged the young man that they should not touch thee? And when thou art a thirst, go into the vessels and drink of that which the young man have drawn. Then she fell on her face and bowed herself to the ground and said unto him, why have I found grace in thine eyes that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger? Meaning, she's she's not just not known to him, but she is a Moabite, not an Israelite.

Verse 11, Boaz answered and said unto her, it hath fully been showed me all that thou hast done unto thy mother-in-law since the death of thine husband and how thou hast left thine father and thy mother in the land of thy nativity and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore. The Lord recompensed thy work and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel under whose wings thou art come to trust. Then she said, let me find favor in thy sight, my Lord, that thou has comforted me, and for that thou has spoken friendly under thine handmaid, though I be not like unto one of thine handmaidens. And Boaz said unto her, at mealtime, come thou hither and eat of the bread and dip thy morsel in the vinegar, and she sat beside the reapers, and he reached her parched corn, and she did eat, and was sufficed and left. And when she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men saying, let her glean even among the sheaves and reproach her not and let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her and leave them that she may glean them and rebuke her not And so she gleaned in the field until even and beat out that which she had gleaned and it was about an ephah of barley.

And if you go down to verse 23, so she kept fast by the maidens of Boaz to clean until the end of the barley harvest and of the wheat harvest and dwelt with her mother-in-law. So, Naomi didn't have a husband which means she didn't have a land which means she didn't have any way to make food or provision for herself and so, under the old covenant, under the old the law of Moses, when they reaped the harvest of the fields, they were supposed to leave the corners unharvested, and the poor were allowed to reap the corners. They would come and pick them one by one by hand and and pick up the things that, you know, got left behind as the reapers went. And that's one of the ways they help to provide for the poor. And so, when Naomi and Ruth got there, the next morning Ruth got up and she went and that's what she did.

And she did it from morning till noon till what? Till night. And then she did it the next day and the next day until the barley harvest was done. And then when the wheat harvest came, then she came day after day after day. She diligently worked hard to provide for herself and for her her mother-in-law.

She wasn't bagging handouts. She was working hard to provide. She was a diligent person. God isn't looking for lazy people. He's looking for people of diligence, who are willing to work, not only to provide for themselves, but also to provide for others.

In Ephesians, Paul said, don't steal anymore, but work with your hands that you may have to give to those that are in need. As those in Ephesus had come to Christ, they had learned a different way. And that way was to use the talents and energy and time that God gave them to work hard to provide for themselves and then to have to be able to help those who could not. Now that was Boaz. He left a little extra on purpose.

Ruth was loyal and unselfish, courageous, and hardworking. Reminds me again of Rebecca. When when Abraham sent his servant to find a wife for Isaac, the servant was overwhelmed with, wow, what a responsibility. How am I gonna know which woman to bring back? And so he prayed to the Lord and he said, the woman that that shows up at the well when I stop at the well and offers to give us water and then offers to water my camels, let that be the woman.

Now, was that just a shot in the dark prayer? Was that just, well, Lord, if if you want this, let the light turn red in ten seconds. No. No. Or whatever the case may no.

That wasn't that kind of prayer because he knew what kind of wife likely his master wanted for Isaac. And that was a wife who wasn't afraid of hard work, you know, because watering 10 camels out of a well with a bucket is hard work, seeing they both seeing each camel drinks many gallons of water. Well, that's exactly what Rebecca did. That's exactly what she did when she showed up. Just happened to show up.

Or maybe it was the providence of who? The providence of God. Did Ruth just happen to end up in Boaz's field or was that the providence of God? I think clearly it is the providence of God. Next, she is wise.

When we get to chapter three, she comes back and tells Naomi what's going on. Naomi says, this is a Elimelech's kinsman. You might find a husband yet. This is what you do. And she instructed Ruth to do some things that may have seemed a little bit odd.

But you know what Ruth did? She took the wise counsel of her mother-in-law and despite the fact they may have seemed a little bit odd, she did them. She was a woman of wisdom willing to receive wise advice and instruction from others. What is one of the evidences of a wise person? They're willing to take advice.

They learn from their mistakes. Good mother is loyal, unselfish, courageous, hardworking, and wise. In Proverbs thirty one twenty six, it says she openeth her mouth with wisdom, and in her tongue is the law of kindness. That's not only Ruth, but I think also that was Naomi. I don't know how much of Ruth's character was shaped by the time she spent with her mother-in-law.

She was wise. She was humble. Her interaction with Boaz and the reapers exudes all kinds of humility. We read from chapter two how she responded. She responded humbly and meekly.

She didn't take anything for granted. She had a lot of gratitude. So many times today, we just think the old the world and everybody else owes us. But Ruth didn't see it that way. She appreciated the compassion that she got from Boaz and others, and she humbled herself.

She was not proud. She reminds me of another woman in Matthew 15. I'll take just a moment to look at her. Matthew 15. You wanna turn there.

Matthew fifteen twenty one to 28. On just a few occasions, Jesus left or went up right around the borders of Israel and ministered to people that were not Israelites. And this was one of those cases in Matthew 15 and verse 21. It says, then Jesus went thence and departed into the coast of Tyre and Sidon. That's a little bit north of Israel where Lebanon is today.

And behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coast and cried unto him saying, have mercy on me, oh Lord, thou son of David, thy daughter, my daughter is grievously vexed with the devil. But he answered her not a word and his disciples came and besought him saying, send her away for she crieth after us. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshiped him saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, it is not meat to take the children's bread and cast it to dogs.

And she said, truth, Lord, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from the master's table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, oh woman, great is thy faith, for be it unto thee even as thou wilt, and her daughter was made whole from that very hour. Now, why did Jesus say that to her? Well, first of all, she probably sort of expected that because that's the way sometimes the Israelites treated others outside of their their land, the Gentiles. So it didn't catch her that much off guard.

But was that really the way Jesus felt? And the answer is no. Then why did he say it? Because he was what? He was testing her.

He was testing her. Testing her faith, testing her humility. And what was her response to the basically being called a dog? Or said, but, yes, Lord, even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table. She could have got offended, and and we would have understood that.

But you know something? She had a daughter that was without hope. She had a daughter whose life was being destroyed and her last hope was who? Her daughter's deliverance to her was worth taking the insult. She could have got offended in pride and stomped away, and her daughter would not have been one.

But she was a good mother. She was a humble mother who cared more for her daughter than how others treated her. And because of that, she got a healed daughter. Ruth was humble, so was this lady. Maybe someday in heaven we'll know her name too.

And finally, Ruth was filled with faith. She was full of faith, faith in God. Not just faith in general. You know, you hear that a lot today. Oh, you gotta have faith.

What does that mean? Most of the time, when you hear that on TV, that means you gotta have faith in who? Yourself. Or you gotta have faith in in the circumstances. And it's all just gonna what?

It's all just gonna work out. That's not the faith we're talking about. We're talking about confident trust and faith in who? In God and Ruth had that. The object of your faith matters and she made the object of her faith clear.

Thy God shall be my God. She grew up in a land with other gods, but she came to know the God of Naomi and the God of Israel through her mother-in-law and her husband who had passed away. And she had chose to put her faith in the God of Israel as we have Jesus Christ. And she was filled with faith so much that that all of these other trials and tests and and and mountains that were set before her, they didn't deter her as they did her sister-in-law, Orpah. She said, no.

I trust in God, my God. And that made her a godly mother. Listen to the words of Boaz concerning Ruth in chapter three. And he said, blessed be thou of the Lord, my daughter, for thou hast showed me more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning. And as much as thou followest not young men, whether poor or rich, and now my daughter fear not, I will do to thee all that thou requires.

For all the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman. In a short time, Ruth had proven herself in the eyes of many that her faith was real, that she was a woman of loyalty and unselfishness, of courage and diligence, of wisdom, and humility. And so she did get a husband. Boaz became her husband. And she did become a mother to Obed, the father of Jesse, the father of King David.

You see, moms and dads can only pass on to their children, can only teach their children the things that they know and possess. If your character is lacking, your relationship with God is lacking, your knowledge of scripture is lacking, then so will your ability to be the most godly parent that your child needs. You want to be a godly parent, grandparent, friend, teacher, son, daughter, preacher, you can only pass along that which you know and who you are. Your kids to some degree will follow in your footsteps. What footsteps will they trace?

Will God have to deliver them from your footsteps? Or will God be able to help them to walk in your footsteps? Paul said three times in the scriptures, to those he wrote, to follow him. One of those first Corinthians eleven one, Paul wrote, be ye followers of me even as I also am of Christ. Can we see the say the same as Paul?

We should be able to, not just in what we know, but in what we do and in who we are. Even if you aren't a parent or even if your children are grown, others are watching. They're watching you. What do they see? What will they learn?

What are you molding for Christ? With what influence you possess today? Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, thank you, for your love for us, for the example that you set, for the example that you recorded us here in the scriptures in the person of Ruth. I pray Lord that we would learn from those examples, that we would humble ourselves before you, that we would be people of faith and courage, diligence, and bravery, and wisdom from above that we might be good parents, grandparents, teachers, neighbors, and friends that others might see Jesus in us, that we might be salt and light on this earth, that we might help you to mold others as you are molding us to be like Jesus Christ.

We pray Lord if there's one here today that is yet to receive Jesus Christ who gave his life for them on the cross. That they would make that decision this morning, that they would come as we sing this hymn of invitation. For he wants to mold them and change them. And save them. Lord, I pray they would come.

And I pray for the rest of us, Lord, that we might not tuck away the things that we have heard and forget them. But Lord, that we might talk to you and respond in faith and humility today, that we might be better parents and grandparents and representatives of Jesus Christ in this world. That we might be able to say other to others, follow me as I follow Christ. In Jesus name, do pray. Amen.