More | Week 6 · Rewind

More | Week 6 · Rewind

Pastor Bill Bush · May 15, 2018

Big Idea

The secret to a life of more is to make it less about you — seek God's kingdom first, and He will provide in ways you never expected.

Real joy, satisfaction, and significance come not from chasing more money, pleasure, or control, but from putting God's kingdom first and making life about loving Him and others. The road of kingdom-first living can look like a road of less, even scary and costly, but it is the only road that actually leads to more.

Key points

1
1Solomon's search in Ecclesiastes shows that chasing more of anything in this world leaves you with less.
Pastor Bill explains that Solomon, the richest and wisest man who ever lived, ran after wealth, pleasure, work, and political activism looking for meaning, and found none of it satisfied. He points out that God built us with a longing for eternity and relationship with Him, which nothing else can fill.
2
2Solomon's final conclusion is to fear God and follow His commands as the only true wisdom.
Pastor Bill walks through the end of Ecclesiastes chapter 12, where Solomon admits he should have listened to his father's advice to seek God first while young. He tells the congregation, especially the young, that this is the smartest thing they'll ever hear.
3
3Jesus teaches that seeking His kingdom first, not our own needs, is how we receive everything we need.
Pastor Bill reads Matthew 6:33 and explains it in context of Jesus' teaching on worry over food, clothing, and provision, applying it to modern worries like jobs, houses, and vacations. He describes the kingdom-first road as looking dark and scary next to a wide, well-lit road that seems safer but isn't where God is.
4
4Ruth's choice to give up security and cling to Naomi is a picture of putting the kingdom before self.
Pastor Bill retells the story of Ruth choosing to leave her homeland and follow Naomi into poverty rather than stay in Moab for a safer, more comfortable life, quoting her vow, wherever you go, I will go. He shows how this looked like the road of less but set up everything that followed.
5
5Boaz's care for Ruth as kinsman redeemer, rooted in his own mother Rahab's story, shows God providing in unexpected ways.
Pastor Bill unpacks how Boaz went beyond duty to provide for Ruth, and reveals that Boaz's mother was Rahab, a foreign prostitute who had put her faith in Israel's God. He argues Boaz extended grace to Ruth because he had seen it lived out in his own mother's story.
6
6The unnamed relative who refused to redeem the land shows the cost of choosing self over the kingdom.
Pastor Bill explains the kinsman redeemer custom and how the closer relative backed out once he realized marrying Ruth would cost him his own inheritance, while Boaz took the risk anyway. He notes the man isn't even named in the story, unlike Boaz and Ruth who chose the harder, less path.
7
7Ruth and Boaz's son Obed, whose name means servant, points forward through David and Solomon to Jesus, the ultimate servant and redeemer.
Pastor Bill traces the genealogy from Obed through David and Solomon to Jesus in Matthew 1, showing that the whole story of Ruth was never really about Ruth but about a bigger story of redemption. He connects this to Jesus, who said He came not to be served but to serve, as the ultimate kinsman redeemer.

Application

Pastor Bill frames the choice as picking the kingdom-first road even when it looks like the road of less, because that is the only road that leads to more.

Identify where you've made life about you
Reflect honestly on where you've been chasing more money, comfort, or control instead of seeking God's kingdom first, and ask the Holy Spirit to show you what needs to shift.
Choose the kingdom-first road even when it looks like less
Trust God with the area that feels scary to give up, whether it's money, time, a relationship, or a habit, believing His way leads to more even when it looks like less.
Remember God's love before you take communion
As you take the bread and cup, reflect on Christ's sacrifice as proof of His love, and let that love be the reason you find courage to trust and follow Him.
Put your faith in Jesus if you never have
If you have never trusted Christ, Pastor Bill asks you to pray now, believing Jesus died for you and rose again, and turn from trying to earn your own way to God.

Take it into your week

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Scripture in this message

From the transcript
“In chapter 12 of Ecclesiastes, he starts off saying this, don't let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your creator. Honor him in your youth before you grow old”
From the transcript
“And then he ends the book with how do you do that? He basically says in verse 13, that's the whole story. Here is now my final conclusion. Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone's duty”
From the transcript
“But it's it's it's Matthew six thirty three. And in Matthew six thirty three, it it says this. Seek the kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need”
From the transcript
“That's where we pick up the story in verse 14 of chapter one. It says, and again they wept together because they're saying goodbye. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye. But Ruth clung tightly to Naomi”
From the transcript
“So Boaz went over in chapter two verse eight, and said to Ruth, listen my daughter, stay right here with us when you gather grain. Don't go to any other field”
From the transcript
“and and and so he says, yes. But he says, there's another relative that's higher up on the list. He's a closer one. He has the choice, the first rights. And and so he goes, I'll go take care of it. And in chapter four, you actually see God all over this”
From the transcript
“If you look down in verse 17, it says, the neighbor women said, now at last Naomi has a son in it. Meaning she has an heir, her grandson. And they named him Obed”
From the transcript
“And if you look into Matthew chapter one, starting from Abraham, which was before them, read the genealogy. And that genealogy in Matthew chapter one runs right through Ruth and Boaz, right through Obed, through David, through Solomon”

7-day devotional

A personal reading plan from this message — scripture, reflection, and prayer for each day.

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Day 1

Solomon had everything the world says should make a person happy — wealth beyond measure, achievements that would outlast him, pleasures of every kind. And at the end of it all, he sat down and wrote one of the most honest books in all of Scripture. Ecclesiastes isn't a pessimist's complaint; it's a wise man's hard-won testimony. He chased more, and more, and more — and found that the finish line kept moving. Sound familiar? There's something quietly exhausting about the way life can feel like a treadmill. You get the promotion, the house, the relationship, the milestone — and within weeks, the hunger is back. Solomon didn't write Ecclesiastes to depress us. He wrote it to spare us the long way around. His conclusion, reached after a lifetime of accumulating and striving, is remarkably simple: fear God and keep His commandments. Not as a list of rules to follow, but as an orientation of the whole life — a decision to live with God at the center rather than yourself. That reorientation isn't a one-time event. It starts early, it starts honestly, and it starts with admitting that the 'more' you've been chasing might not be the more you actually need.

For reflection

Where in your life right now does the hunger for 'more' feel the loudest — and what would it mean to bring that specific longing to God instead of chasing it on your own terms?

Pray

Pray for the honesty to name where you have been chasing more for yourself, and for a willing heart to let God reorient that longing.

Small-group discussion guide

For leading a group conversation about this message.

Open

This message asks a question most of us feel but rarely name: why does 'more' never feel like enough? Take a moment and think about a time when getting something you really wanted still left you wanting something else.

Discussion questions

1
Solomon spent his life chasing wealth, achievement, and pleasure — and landed on a conclusion that sounds almost too simple: fear God and obey His commands. What do you think he means by that, and why do you think it took him so long to get there?
2
In Matthew 6:33, Jesus says to seek God's kingdom first and everything else will follow. What do you think it actually looks like — practically, day to day — to seek a kingdom that isn't your own first?
3
Ruth walks away from her homeland, her people, and any obvious future to follow Naomi and Naomi's God. What does her choice in Ruth 1:14–18 tell us about what she believed — and what she was willing to risk?
4
The unnamed relative in Ruth 4 walks away from the role of kinsman redeemer because it would cost him too much. The sermon held him up as a warning. What do you think people tend to miss when they choose the safer, self-protective road?
5
Obed — whose name means 'servant' — turns out to be the grandfather of David and an ancestor of Jesus. Neither Ruth nor Boaz could have seen that coming. What does that suggest about the stories we find ourselves inside when we choose others over ourselves?
6
The sermon pointed to the Holy Spirit revealing one area of life where we need to let go and trust God — not to earn His love, but because He has already proved it. How might a community like this one help people actually take that step?

Pray together

Courage to seek God's kingdom first — in the places where that road looks like less

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Topics

Contentment Over Consumerism Redemption Seeking God's Kingdom First Selflessness Trust and Obedience

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