“1 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham: 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, 4 Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of King David.”
How do you a change a culture in which everyone does what is right in his own eyes? In other words, how do you change a culture like ours?
If you are a Christian, I imagine that you have considered that question. You care about people. You’ve seen how absentee fathers have affected children and their mothers. You’ve seen how abuse of prescription drugs has impacted families and the workforce. You’ve seen the discourse in our culture getting coarser and coarser. You see how many people seem to live only for themselves and you know that this is a dead end. You want better for our culture. You want better for the people in our culture. You’ve found yourself asking how you can change a culture in which everyone does what is right in his own eyes.
Christians in this nation answer that question in different ways. Some prioritize politics. They believe that you influence American culture through the White House or Supreme Court appointments. Others prioritize the academy. They believe that you influence culture by influencing college students. Others prioritize the arts. These Christians recognize the massive impact that arts and entertainment have on our culture and they believe that godly movies, books, and other arts could have a godly influence. You probably have your own thoughts about how to change the culture.
This morning we will see how God changed a culture in which everyone did what was right in his own eyes. He did it in an unexpected way. He changed it using a widow named Ruth who needed food for herself and her mother-in-law. Ruth wandered on to the field of a bachelor and, without her knowledge, God’s plan to change a corrupt culture was set in motion. That’s unexpected.
So is Christmas. Christmas is the launching of God’s plan to change people who do what is right in their own eyes. It has not only changed people; it has changed cultures. The Christ of Christmas has changed more cultures than we have time to talk about this morning. It has turned Germanic barbarians into saints. It has transformed the world. It is unexpected. God changed the world using a baby born to an unmarried mother.
We are going to study the story of Christmas and the story of Ruth together this morning because they belong together. When Matthew began his account of Jesus’ life, he began with a genealogy. He wanted to tell his readers about Jesus’ roots. Ruth was one of Jesus’ ancestors. Matthew singled her out because he wanted his readers to remember the story of Ruth when they thought about the story of Christmas.
Both stories are as unexpected as they are wonderful. God’s plan is as unexpected as it is wonderful. That is the claim of this sermon. God’s plan is as unexpected as it is wonderful.
We will see this in two points. First: the story of Ruth. Second: the story of Christmas.
First: the story of Ruth. The story of Ruth was recorded for a reason. There were thousands of fascinating stories about faithful women which could have been recorded in Scripture. Why focus on Ruth? Why is there a book of Ruth?
I urge you to consider such questions when you read your Bible. Books of the Bible were written for a reason. The author of Ruth didn’t just fall into a trance only to wake up with a pen in his hand and the completed book of the Bible in front of him. He wrote this book for a reason.
Look at the beginning of the book. Look at Ruth 1:1, “In the days when the judges ruled…” The days of the Judges were horrible. The continual refrain of the book of Judges is, “in those days there was no king and everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” What was right in their eyes was terrible—sending body parts as a message, idol worship and all the sordidness that went along with it, national heroes you would never want your children to look up to. “In those days there was no king and everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
That is the beginning of the book of Ruth. Now look at the ending of the book of Ruth. Look at Ruth 4:17. Ruth and Boaz had a baby; “they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.” The book ends with the genealogy of David.
David was the great king of Israel’s history. He put an end to the chaos of the time of the judges. “In those days there was no king and everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” “In those days there was no David and everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
You couldn’t run a business with any confidence for the future during the time of the judges. You could during the days of David. You worried about the world your children would inherit during the days of the judges. You didn’t have those worries during the days of David.
How did this change happen? How did we go from the days of the judges to the days of David? How did this culture change? The book of Ruth tells us how. The best laid plans of the godly didn’t make it happen. God made it happen in the most unexpected way.
Imagine that God presented this plan to you for opinion. ‘Alright, it’s clear that the culture is out of control. It is no longer safe for women and children. You heard the news of the gruesome crime in Gibeah. The people do whatever they want and its terrible. Here’s my plan. There is a widow. Now, she’s pretty young for a widow. She’s what you might call unchurched. She is, however, really devoted to her mother-in-law. There is also a godly man in the area. Put them together and watch the culture change. Imagine that God proposed that plan to you as His way of changing America in 2018. What would you say?
God loves to use means that we find foolish to achieve glorious ends. The apostle Paul explained it to the Corinthians. “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before Him.”
How would you change the culture? Could you decisively change this culture if you had the power to set the agenda for all three branches of government? God did it through a dirt-poor immigrant who could probably hardly speak the language. Could you decisively change the culture if you set the agenda for every television show and movie? God did it through a woman whose primary qualification was that she was really devoted to her mother-in-law.
God uses weak and foolish things to do what He wants so that none of us could ever say, ‘I did it. I changed this city. I changed this culture. I changed this church. I changed this family.’ Listen to Hudson Taylor, “I often think that God must have been looking for someone small enough and weak enough for Him to use, and that He found me.”
God changed that culture by bringing a baby into the world. Ruth and Boaz had a baby named Obed and Obed grew up to have a son named Jesse and Jesse grew up to have a father named David.
Matthew begins his story of Jesus by reminding us of that fact. He then continues the genealogy to Jesus. Jesus has changed things far more than David or Ruth ever did. Think of what God did with Ruth as a foreshock to the seismic change that came through Jesus. That’s our second point: the story of Christmas.
How do you change a people who do what is right in their own eyes? How do you change the human heart? Philosophers and psychologists have their theories, but here is how God did it. He found a young woman, perhaps a teenager, and he gave her and her fiancé a baby to raise. Mary, “Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new? This child that you’ve delivered, will soon deliver you.” Mary did know. The angel told her.
God’s plan to change us was launched in the form of a little baby. “Once in royal David’s city, once in Ruth’s great-grandson’s city, stood a lowly cattle shed, where a mother laid her baby, in a manger for his bed: Mary was that mother mild, Jesus Christ, her little child. He came down to earth from heaven, who is God and Lord of all, and His shelter was a stable, and his cradle was a stall: with the poor, and mean, and lowly, lived on earth our Savior holy. For He is our childhood's pattern; day by day, like us, he grew; he was little, weak, and helpless, tears and smiles, like us He knew; and He cares for all our sadness, and he shares in all our gladness.” That’s God’s plan to change the human heart. That’s how God changes people who do what is right in their own eyes.
That baby born in Bethlehem has done more to change the course of history than anyone else you can name. Name someone: Thomas Edison, Jonas Salk, Napoleon, Confucius. Those men have changed life as we know it yet none of them is in the same league as Jesus of Nazareth when it comes to changing the world. Even atheists can see that. We don’t base our calendar off the birth of Julius Caesar or Caesar Augustus. We base it off the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. That’s why we call this 2018.
God changes things in unexpected ways. We will see these unexpected ways in the Christmas program.
Has God changed you? Is He changing you? Changing you is no small accomplishment as I’m sure you know. The older I get and the better I know myself the more amazed I am that God can change me at all. Does that amaze you? That is the real wonder of Christmas. “A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices.” Amen.