Love is probably the most popular theme in books, movies, and songs. When you turn on the radio, you hear countless songs about love, usually between a guy and a girl. Movies oftentimes portray love stories about how two people meet, fall in love, and then after overcoming numerous obstacles, end up getting married or living a life together happily ever after. That is, of course, if it's not a European movie or especially a Russian movie. Disney frequently makes similar love stories, oftentimes about a prince and a common girl from the village. Last year, our family went to see the movie Frozen. Kids, I know that many of you have seen the movie, probably with your parents as well. I know that many young girls love to sing the songs from this movie, as my daughter has at various times. We watched the movie in Ukrainian. It was beautifully dubbed into Ukrainian, including the songs. I like the movie Frozen because it is a story that is not so run-off-the-mill as it may seem at first glance. It's not a story about love between a guy and a girl, but it's a love between two sisters. It's not a sappy romantic story, but a love, a story of a love between siblings. Their love doesn't grow weak in spite of various obstacles and offenses. It is a persevering kind of love, a love that sacrifices even to the point of death. Today we're looking at Ruth chapter 1. It's a text that's not usually seen as a great missions text, but I do think it has a lot to teach us about what it is like to do missions, what is important as we do missions, and how God is a God of missions. Ruth chapter 1 is a love story. but it's not a story about simple Hollywood love. It's a special kind of love and devotion that is tenacious, persevering, sacrificial. It's the kind of love that is born through suffering. The author of Ruth shows different kinds of love between people that reflect the love of our creator. God is not often mentioned in Ruth, but we clearly see his hand behind the events and actions that we read about in the book. The main point of what we will look at this morning in chapter one is that God is always faithful to his people and always acts in love, and we should therefore also love one another. God is always faithful to his people and always acts in love, and we should therefore also love one another. So let's talk this morning a little bit about what true love is as we see it here in Ruth chapter 1. In the first place, love each other by dying to yourself. Love each other by dying to yourself. Ruth begins with the words, in the days when the judges ruled, you remember those great paragons of virtue from the book of Judges, right? Gideon, Jephthah, Samson. Yeah, not quite the virtuous ones. These men were often unfaithful to the great calling that God had for them to drive off the enemies and to rule his nation. They were not good examples of loving God and others. In the book of Ruth, however, the author gives us examples of ordinary people who get it right. Ordinary people who love their God and love other people. You know, mission work is oftentimes not about the great crusades. It's not always about the great sermons. But it's about ordinary people loving others. In Lviv a couple of weeks ago, Franklin Graham was there with the great crusade. About 40,000 people attended. They say 2,000 people came forward and prayed to receive Christ. And I certainly hope the Lord blesses those 2,000 people. But that's not always the way people's lives get changed. Very often, and presumably in the lives of these 2,000 people as well, the Lord works through relationships, through people who are simple believers, who are caring for them, who show them an example of what it means to follow Christ. I can think back in the church in Nikolayev, where I used to work as a pastor in the south of Ukraine, we had a young lady in the church who was dating an unbelieving man. And she was a strong believer, she was growing in her faith, but she still did not see the need to end the relationship with him as he clearly was not growing closer to a point where he would come to faith in Christ. One day she and another member of our team were visiting some missionaries, the quartermans, whom some of you know, in Odessa. spending some time with their family in their home in the afternoon, and they saw Clay Quarterman, the husband, being there with his wife, interacting with her, being there with his sons. I think he had a spank one of the sons at some point in the afternoon. But this young lady just had an opportunity to see this family function, and when she left there with her friend, she said to her, Now I understand why I need a Christian husband. Just being in their home, seeing that simple example. Another lady on our team in Nikolaev never taught any classes. She was home most of the time with her two children, but she had a very open home, and many people would come visit them, and the ladies, young women in the church, could see her, interact with her family, with her husband, and for many of them, Her example was more powerful than many sermons I preached because they could see the things I talked about in my messages now evidenced in her life. So many times through these simple relationships, through simple faithfulness in daily life, God changes other people's lives and he uses us. We do not know which judge was ruling during the events that we read about in the Book of Ruth. We do know, though, that it was a time when there was still no king in Israel, like King David, and that everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Whatever their hearts led them to do. In the Book of Judges, we repeatedly read that Israel suffers from its own sins. God disciplines his people so that they will stop worshiping false God leave them and once again come to him and love him. And so the story of Ruth begins at such a time when the country suffers from drought and famine. The people are unfaithful to their God and so the Almighty uses a famine to show people the foolishness of their disobedience. This might be similar to what's been going on in Ukraine in the last year and a half, as people have suffered from the ravages of war, at least a limited war, in the east of Ukraine. And many people have asked themselves what is wrong with their country, why they are suffering, and people have become more open to faith. Our story in Ruth starts in a little town called Bethlehem, which some of you might have heard of. In Hebrew, it means house of bread or house of food. But because of the disobedience of the people, there is no food in the house of bread. Instead of confessing their sins so that God would once again send rain and provide a harvest, Ilimelech leaves home with his family in order to find bread. And so they begin to live in the country of Moab. I don't know how much you remember about the Moabites. The Israelites and the Moabites had common forefathers. Abraham's nephew, Lot, who had lived in Sodom and Gomorrah, then left there with his wife and two girls. He was the forefather of the Moabites. After his wife had turned to a pillar of stone, when she looked back at the destruction, he was left with his two daughters. And as you know that unpleasant story, he became the father of their sons, one of whom was named Moab, which means from father or who is your father. The relationship between the Israelites and the Moabites since then wasn't the best. When the Israelites were in the desert traveling from Egypt, the Moabites first of all paid the wizard Balaam to curse them, if you remember. When that didn't work, the Moabite young woman led the Israelites into sin. During the time of Ehud, the left-handed judge, Israel was ruled by Eglon, the fat Moabite king, if you remember that story. But nonetheless, Elimelech, whose name means, my god is king, leaves Israel to go to Moab. It's difficult for us today to get a sense of how the Israelites would have read the first five verses of Ruth chapter 1 in Hebrew. But let's try and hear it a little bit the way they might have heard it, because every name that's mentioned here has its own meaning. So in the days when the judges ruled, There was a famine in the land, and a man of the house of bread in Judah went to sojourn in the country of, who's your father? He and his wife and his two sons. The name of the man was My God is King, and the name of his wife Pleasant, and the names of his two sons were Sickly and Weakling. They were Ephrathites from the house of bread in Judah. They went into the country of Huzir father and remained there. But my goddess king, the husband of Pleasant, died and she was left with her two sons. These took wives from the nation of Huzir daddy. The name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about 10 years, and both Sickly and Weakling died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband. You see the irony in these verses. My god is king leaves the house of bread in order to look for bread in the country of who's your daddy. He dies there, and with him, his two sons, whose untimely deaths accurately reflect their names, Sickly and Weakling. His wife, Pleasant, remains alone with her two daughters, Ruth and Orpah, the meaning of whose names, unfortunately, we do not know. Elimelech was searching for a better life for his family. He tried to run away from God's punishment instead of confessing his sins. But in the land of Moab, things only worsen for him and his family. He dies, and in time, so do his sons. And so the story further develops around Naomi, whose name means pleasant. Naomi had dreamt of a happy life. A husband, children, grandchildren. In her culture, daughters left their parents, while sons brought their wives into their parents' home, where their families would then grow, and after the father's death, the son would divide his land between them. In his book, A Loving Life in a World of Broken Relationships, Paul Muller tells of the research of a certain management consultant. This consultant asked a group of American men the following question. You can ask yourself this question as well. Your mother, your wife, and your daughter are in a sinking boat, let's say, and you can save only one of them. Who would you save? 60% of American men said they would save their daughter. 40% said they would save their wife. The same consultant asked this question of men from Saudi Arabia. What do you think their answer was? 100% of them said they would save their mother. Naomi had hoped to live a long and happy life with her sons and their children. The answer of these Saudi Arabian men reflect the culture that she was living in. Her daughter-in-laws, though, did not give birth to any children. After ten years' time, both her sons die as well. This dream that she had of having a home full of people around her had been shattered. Naomi's dream was crushed. And in verse 6 we read that Naomi had received news of the end of the famine in Israel, and so she and her daughters, her daughters-in-law, leave for Bethlehem. In Ruth chapter 1, the author uses the word return 12 times as he talks about their returning to Israel. So it's an important theme in the beginning of the book. It's also interesting to note that the Hebrew word return can also mean repent. So it's possible that the author is indicating that she is repenting of what had happened before, but we can't be sure about that. Either way, she is now returning to Bethlehem, to Israel. We often joke about the relationship between a man and his mother-in-law. In Ukraine, there are many jokes about mother-in-laws. I don't know about you men, but I have a very good relationship with my mother-in-law. It used to be when Anya went home from, in Kiev, where she used to live, that her mom would ask her, so what do you want to eat this weekend when you're at home? Well, now when we're on our way over there, Anya's mom calls Anya and she says, what does Hiro want to eat this weekend when you are home with us? But in many cultures, the relationship between a woman and her mother-in-law is much more strained, because a mother wants her daughter-in-law to care for her son exactly the way that she would, the way that she thinks is best. In the ancient Middle Eastern culture, daughters-in-law were expected to completely submit to their husband's mother. They worked like slaves for their mother-in-law. And so Naomi had every reason to demand that Orpah and Ruth return with her to Bethlehem, in spite of the fact that they were both from Moab. Naomi had lost her husband and her two sons. There was no chance for her to get remarried. In their culture, it was very difficult for a woman to survive without a husband, but at least she had Ruth and Orpah who could help her survive back home. On the road to Bethlehem, however, Naomi does an amazing thing. Verses 8 and 9. But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, go return each of you to her mother's house. May the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them and they lifted up their voices and wept, as Middle Eastern women can do very well. Naomi prays that Yahweh, the God of Israel, would bless her Moabite daughters-in-law. She uses the Hebrew word chesed. which God uses to describe His faithful, unconditional love for Israel, the nation with which He has made a covenant. She wants God to bless her daughters-in-law with His chesed love, with His mercy, faithfulness, grace, loyalty, goodness, His chesed. In Old Testament times, this kind of love was from God for His people, but Naomi asks it for Orpah and Ruth. And in her blessing her daughters-in-law, she also acknowledges that she has received this kind of chesed love from them. But Orpah and Ruth are not ready to leave their mother-in-law. They know that she needs their help very much. Naomi is ready to sacrifice herself for the sake of Orpah and Ruth. They are very important for our survival, but the older woman knows that for them, it is much better to return home and find themselves some good Moabite husbands. These women were only about 25 to 30 years old, so they still had a chance to get married and to have their own families. Even when her life is in ruins, Naomi thinks of her daughter-in-laws, of Orpah and Ruth. Through suffering, God makes it possible for us to die to ourselves a little bit, to forget about our dreams, and to notice the suffering of other people around us, to sympathize with them. Tough times do not automatically help us to love others more, but when suffering breaks our egoism, then we become more ready to love other people. Love is a verb. To love someone means to care about that person, to help, to listen, sympathize, forgive, to be patient, to support. It's this kind of love that demands that we die to ourselves by sacrificing our time, our health, our pride, our agenda. True love costs us a lot. Just think of the love between a mother and her children. Many women lose their health or have many problems when they give birth to their children and that's only the beginning of their caring for them and making many sacrifices as they stay up late, give of themselves to raise their sons and daughters. A mother partially dies to herself as she cares for her children. Naomi loves Orpah and Ruth with this kind of love. She wants the very best for them and she's willing to sacrifice her own good for theirs, for their future. As some of you may know, when I first moved to Ukraine as a missionary back in 1997, I had a very hard time adjusting to the new culture, to my new responsibilities. I was pastoring a church back then as a 26-year-old man. And as I was struggling with adjusting, I was in many ways all into myself, trying to figure this out. How do I live over here? And I was finally able to adjust to life there. Things got a little better after a couple of years. And one day, one of the ladies in the church pulled me aside and said to me, you know, hero, You don't really love us." And it was like a punch in my stomach and I knew there was a lot of truth to what she was saying because I was doing a lot of things as the pastor of the church, doing things I should be. But it was hard for me to love these people from this other culture whom I was pastoring. And the people in the church could tell the difference. They could tell the difference between somebody who is doing a lot of things or somebody who really loves them and cares for them. Jesus Christ said that he is the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep, his followers, because he loves them. The cross of Christ is the best symbol of true love. Listen to these famous words from Philippians chapter 2. The Apostle Paul says that Christ, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Do you want to know what true love is? Don't turn to Hollywood. Open your Bibles. That's where we see what true love is. Brothers and sisters in Christ, it's easy for us to talk about love. It's not hard to tell other people that we love them. But true love is a verb. It calls for real sacrifice. In order to love someone else, a husband, a wife, a child, a brother, a sister, a parent, a friend, or a neighbor, you have to die to yourself. You have to make a sacrifice. As Jesus said, greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. The Apostle Paul writes, husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. God calls us to love with a sacrificial love. That is true love. And so in the first place, love each other by dying to yourself. And then second place, real briefly, love each other by committing yourself. Love each other by committing or obligating yourself. We're often very afraid of commitment. We see that in the United States, oftentimes in men. We see that in Ukraine. There's one man in our church who I think would make a great elder, but it's very hard to pin him down and have him commit to something. He's 34 years old, not married yet. He talks about marriage sometimes in the future. I asked him if he will pray, do the congregational prayer on a Sunday morning, and it's very hard for him to give me a black and white answer. He doesn't like to commit himself. I'm hoping he'll lead a Bible study this summer. I'm not sure if he's done that yet. Ruth did not fear commitment, or if she did, and we don't see it in chapter one. Orpah listens to her mother-in-law's sincere request. She kisses her and returns to her parents' home. But Ruth doesn't move an inch. Naomi tells her, see, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. Return after your sister-in-law. Ruth, however, answers with these words, which have become some of the most famous words in all of Scripture, saying, Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go, I will go, and where 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. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you." We don't know why Ruth answered like that, but we do know that this young woman had made a decision. She will never, ever leave Naomi. Ruth commits herself to stay with Naomi until she dies. And even after Naomi dies, Ruth will not leave Bethlehem. She even wants to be buried next to Naomi. Ruth truly accepts Naomi's people and her God as her own. The closing words of Ruth's beautiful poetic speech are a common oath of that time. What she is saying is, may Yahweh punish me severely if I do not keep my promise. Ruth shows true love to Naomi, as the Hebrews say, chesed love. For Ruth, love is first of all not a feeling, not an emotion. It's not something that's here today and gone tomorrow. To her, love is a decision, a commitment. It's a new style of life. I don't mean to say that Ruth had no feelings towards Naomi. It seems like she did become very close with her mother-in-law over the course of 10 years, but Ruth's love is much deeper than emotions. As you know very well, our emotions come and go like the wind. When my stomach is full and it's nice weather, then I have a lot of positive emotions. When I'm hungry and tired, I can be very grumpy. Just ask my wife and my kids. Our emotions are important, but they're not constant. You can't base your love on emotions. To truly love someone else requires a decision to love. And such a commitment then gives birth to the right emotions. True love is not dependent on emotions, but rather causes the right feelings. When a guy and a girl are getting married, they are committing themselves, obligating themselves to love each other for the rest of their lives. Of course, they are in love and they're happily dreaming about a love together. They are just spilling over, brimming over with warm emotions. But marriage doesn't run on those feelings. Marriage is built on a firm foundation of true love, a commitment, a promise to love the other person sacrificially for the rest of your life. And it's that kind of marriage that can withstand any storm. We hear a lot today in popular culture in the States and in Ukraine about being true to yourself, being true to your feelings, following your heart. Brothers and sisters, your heart will lead you to hell. The inclinations of your heart will lead you to destruction. Our emotions are inconsistent. You can't always trust them. The burning feelings of love, infatuation, come to an end sooner or later. And then what happens to your marriage? I'm not saying that you can't or shouldn't have very deep feelings for your spouse after many years of marriage. I certainly hope that you do. But a large part of our daily emotions depends on what we had for breakfast, what aches and pains we happen to have on that day, the pressures of work, weather, traffic, Going to work on transportation in Lviv is enough to ruin the rest of your day quite often. A good marriage, however, depends on faithfulness, commitment, perseverance, on chesed, unconditional love. It's that love with which God has loved us. Jesus didn't die for us because we were so good, so moral, so attractive. He died for us in spite of the fact that we had rebelled against Him and become His enemies. He died for people who had spat in His face. He gave His life willingly so that we would become His brothers and sisters, so that we would become children of God. He took His enemies and He made us children of God. We see God doing that in chapter one of Ruth, how he has a plan for this Moabite woman. He uses Elimelech and Naomi and their family as they go to Moab to touch Ruth's life because he has a plan for her, because he has decided to love this young Moabite woman. He is a missionary God. He goes and finds her through this Israelite family because he has a plan for her life. He wants to bring her into his kingdom and he makes Ruth an ancestor of the Messiah. Brothers and sisters, God has a plan for you. He has taken hold of your life through His grace. He has committed Himself to you, and He will not let you go. He has obligated Himself to love you for all of eternity. As the Apostle Paul says, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. God's love makes it possible for us to also love one another. And so I want to ask you this morning, brothers and sisters, do you know what true love is? Is your love all emotions or is it also actions? Are you willing to die to yourself in order to truly love your wife, your husband, your children, grandchildren, your mother-in-law, others in your church? Does God's love, His faithfulness to you transform your life, your attitude towards other people? Naomi believed that God is punishing her, that he is ruining her life. The woman in Bethlehem hardly recognized miserable, desolate Naomi. She says to them, do not call me Naomi, call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi when the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me? Do not call me pleasant, says Naomi. Call me bitter. Call me sad. Naomi says that she left Bethlehem full and she's coming back empty. Naomi sincerely voices her deep sorrow, her misery. but she doesn't recognize God's love. She's not coming back empty, is she? Next to her is Ruth, quiet, faithful, a symbol of God's love, his presence with Naomi. She's not alone. God is with her. And so this is in reality only the beginning of her story. The best is yet to come, because as you know, the barley harvest is just beginning. Maybe there's somebody here today who is coping with a real challenge in your life, perhaps with a real disaster. Maybe you feel that God has left you, that your life is no longer pleasant but bitter. That's what Naomi thought. She was blinded by her sadness. She couldn't see God's goodness to her. How do you respond to disaster? Becoming despondent like Naomi or by committing yourself to love like Ruth no matter what? Brothers and sisters in Christ, if you sincerely trust Jesus Christ for your forgiveness, your salvation, your life, then you may be assured that the Almighty has committed himself to you. He has given his precious son to die in your place. And how will he not also give you everything else that you need? Has he not proven to you that he loves you? God is always faithful to his people and he always acts in love. We can therefore also love one another. Love each other by dying to yourself. Love each other by committing, by obligating yourself. God has committed himself to you forever. You can trust in his unfailing love. And it's that true love that also frees us up to love one another, not just for a moment or a month, but for a lifetime. Amen. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, may our love come from hearts that have been touched by you and changed by you. May we think again about the great love that you've shown to us, your enemies, and how you've committed yourself to us for eternity. Father, may that enable us, may you enable us, to truly love one another, not just with words, not only with feelings, but with actions, with sacrifice, with commitment, day in and day out. May it be a joy for us, Heavenly Father, to show love even when We don't feel that happy or that pleasant, even though we don't like what is happening in our lives. May we be faithful in loving. May we be true as you are true and faithful to us. We trust in you and in your Holy Spirit to do this for us and in our lives. We pray these things in the name of our great Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.