PARCHED CORN
Ruth 2:1-14 (KJV)
And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and 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 unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech.
And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, The LORD be with you. And they answered him, The LORD bless thee.
Then said Boaz unto his servant that was set over the reapers, Whose damsel is this?
And 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 sheaves: so she came, and hath continued even from the morning until now, that she tarried a little in the house.
Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence, 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 men that they shall not touch thee? and when thou art athirst, go unto the vessels, and drink of that which the young men 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?
And Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath fully been shewed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother in law since the death of thine husband: and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore.
The LORD recompense 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 favour in thy sight, my lord; for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken friendly unto 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.
It is a simple story
A family from Bethlehem left their Promised Land during a time of famine to enter into a worldly place, hoping to find there a means to survive.
While they were there, their children, both boys, met and married women that were not Jewish.
In the process of time – and it doesn’t look like it was that long of time –
The father and both of his boys died leaving his wife and her two gentile daughters in law alone.
Naomi, the mother, realizes her need to return to the Lord and encourages her two daughters in law to stay there in Moab, find themselves another husband and get on with life.
One does that.
The other, Ruth, refuses to leave Naomi and follows her into the Promised Land.
While there,
· Ruth meets Boaz.
· They fall in love.
· Marry And
· Have a child
who becomes the grandfather of King David.
It is a sweet story
And one that is not difficult to comprehend.
There are probably thousands of stories equally as sweet. And equally as true.
But God did not preserve them in the Word of God.
Now we know that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable.
And the Bible tells us that the Old Testament is given to us for our learning and for our example.
So we know that the story in the book of Ruth is there for more than mere entertainment.
Most Bible scholars believe God placed the story in the inspired Word of God as a beautiful picture of Jesus’ love for His church.
Boaz, the man from Bethlehem who loves and marries Ruth is a picture of Jesus Christ.
Ruth, the woman with a past, but who is elevated to the position of Boaz’ bride, is a picture of you and me.
We start out from a place foreign to God
We start out with a worldly and sinful past
· But Jesus loves us
· Jesus died to save us and
· Once we are saved He lifts us up to be more than we could have ever dreamed – priests and kings with Him.
It is a symbolic story
The story of Ruth is filled with symbolism concerning the relationship of Jesus Christ –
· First to the lost soul He is wooing to salvation
· Then to the one He has saved and is conforming into His image.
I have time to speak of only one of those simple symbols in the story.
In chapter two, Ruth has made it to the Promised Land, and has found if you will “gainful employment” in the fields of a man named Boaz.
She does not work for Boaz in the same sense we think of it today.
God had instructed the Old Testament Jews that, when they harvested their crops, they were to leave the corners unharvested.
The poor were welcome to harvest the corners to meet their needs as best they could. If a person were hard-working, he might be able to work his way out of poverty.
· Ruth had gone to glean the corners of the field and
· God had led her to the fields of Boaz.
Boaz becomes immediately struck with her
· He encourages her not to seek any other fields to work in – that he will make sure she gets enough
· He instructs his men to take care of her and provide her with water.
· And when it comes to mealtime, Boaz invited her to eat beside his crew.
I worked in the wheat harvests in Eastern Washington as a teenager.
The work was hot and the days were long. But one of the things that made it especially enjoyable was that Mrs. Ely, my boss’ wife fixed us the biggest and best lunches every day.
Come lunchtime Turk Ely would gather us all together on some flat spot in the field.
He would open up the coolers of food and we would feast – every day.
· Fried chicken
· Pork chops
· Apple pies
It was a thanksgiving feast every day of the harvest.
I can imagine Boaz had hired people just to fix the noontime meal for his hired hands.
It might not have been as big a spread as Mrs. Ely fixed, but it would be enough.
Boaz had all of his men together eating.
And Ruth sat, not with them, but beside them.
Perhaps what she had prepared for the day is not so bountiful as Boaz’ has prepared for his crew and the Bible says,
“….He (Boaz) reached her parched corn…..”
He went out of his way to give her what she did not deserve, but certainly needed.
I want to preach on the subject
“He reached her parched corn.”
The corn of the Bible is a grain – more like our wheat and barley than our corn.
Our kind of corn does not grow in Israel.
It wasn’t even discovered by white people until they came to this country and the Indians taught the settlers at Plymouth Rock how to raise it.
This was a basic staple of their diet.
And it reminds us of two things:
Of Jesus Christ who said of Himself,
John 6:35 (KJV)
…. I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
Of the Word of God, because the Bible says,
Matthew 4:4
“…. Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”
Parched corn was this grain roasted over an open fire.
I understand it was and still is a favorite way to prepare this meal.
And it symbolizes the fact that God gives us what we need, and well prepared.
He reached her parched corn,
· He stretched out his hand
· He went the extra mile
· He gave it to her, she did not reach out for it, he reached out to her
I. GOD REACHED OUT AND GAVE US JESUS
John 3:16 (KJV)
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
There is no way we could have ever deserved such a wonderful thing as God becoming a man and dwelling among us.
A. Yet God reached out.
God went “out of His way”
God saw something in us that He loved even though we did not deserve it.
And He gave us Emmanuel, God with us.
B. We did not reach out to God
The Bible is very clear
Romans 3:10-12 (KJV)
As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
· We were happy in our life of sin
· We were ignorant of our eventual judgment
· We were heading to the devil’s hell
But God reached us Jesus Christ.
· Not just some good man
· Not just a great prophet
But God in flesh – 100% God and 100% man.
“He reached her parched corn”
Secondly
II. JESUS REACHED US ETERNAL SALVATION
Romans 5:8-9 (KJV)
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
I suppose the case could be made that since God the Father sent Him to this earth, Jesus had no choice but to die for us.
But I think that takes a little lower view of Jesus than we should take.
Jesus is as much God as God the Father is God.
The two have different offices but the two are equally God.
When Jesus died for our sins to save us from hell,
He did so of His own power and accord.
He came to this earth as a part of the plan of God the Father.
But He did it willingly, not begrudgingly.
Jesus said He had power to lay down His life and to take it back up again.
John 10:17-18 (KJV)
Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
Jesus reached us eternal salvation.
He came to this earth to seek and to save that which was lost.
It was not that we sought Him; He sought us.
We were:
· Going about our own mind
· Tossed each day back and forth with the waves of every worldly change
· Living with no thought of eternity
Having no idea how horrible the hell we would face one day is.
And Jesus came down from eternal glory
· He became a man in the form a servant
· He lived a perfectly sinless life
· And died not for His sins[1] but for ours
He reached us parched corn.
· He gave us that which we gave did not deserve
· Even that which we did not seek
When He died on the cross and rose again.
I can see, in my mind’s eye, the Lord Jesus Christ reaching out to pass us:
· That salvation
· That forgiveness of sins
· That escape from judgment and
· That home in heaven
The Bible is very clear that there is no one He will withhold salvation from.
Anyone,
· No matter what age
· No matter what race
· No matter what background
can be saved.
But only those that accept it benefit from it.
Can you see the spiritual banquet going on right now?
Around the table
· There is God the Father, who sent Jesus Christ,
· There is Jesus Christ who died to save lost sinners
· There are those who have already gotten saved and are now working in His fields
And there are some beside them – maybe not at the table yet because they are just “checking out” Christianity.
I can see Jesus reaching out to those who are not saved and offering them this salvation – free simply for the taking.
· Some accept it while
· Others reject it
May I ask you; which of those are you?
He reached her parched corn
· God the Father reached us Jesus Christ
· Jesus Christ reached us eternal salvation
III. CHRISTIAN, WILL YOU REACH THE WORLD THE GOSPEL?
Romans 10:13-15 (KJV)
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
The longer I am a Christian the more important it becomes to me that we Christians reach out to this world with the truth of the Bible.
· It is true that there are those who are enemies of the Gospel and
· It is true that there are those who are belligerent toward Christianity.
But there are so many right next to the truth who would gladly accept it if only we would go a little out of our way to reach them.
And there are three ways we can go out of our way to reach them the Gospel:
A. We can serve
· It might be in a full time ministry:
· It might to become a missionary to another land or
· It might be to become a bus worker or Sunday School teacher right here
There is some way all of us can serve within the church to reach souls with the Gospel.
B. We can soul win
I put this aside as different than the service because I believe witnessing is on top of whatever ministry we have.
There are people we come into contact with every day that might respond to the Gospel message then, that would never respond to it in a church service setting.
And all it would take is for us to go a little out of our way and
· Carry some gospel tracts or
· Give them a special invitation
C. We can send
I know it is a little inconvenient and it stretches the budget some.
But when we give to support the missionaries of our church, we are reaching out across the world with the Gospel message.
· God reached us Jesus Christ
· Jesus reached us eternal salvation
· Will you reach others the Gospel?
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