FLAWED HEROES | Week 4 | Full Service · Rewind

Pastor Bill Bush · Apr 3, 2023 · 72 min watch · 3 min read

FLAWED HEROES | Week 4 | Full Service

Big Idea

Quoting the message: Don't look for what's best in your eyes — look for what's blessed in God's eyes, end quote..

Set against the dark backdrop of the book of Judges, where everyone 'did whatever seemed right in their own eyes,' the book of Ruth tells a beautiful redemptive love story in which Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz each choose the harder, less obvious path — and end up woven into the very lineage of Jesus. Their story foreshadows the gospel: Jesus is the ultimate family Redeemer, willing and able to pay the full price for our sin, and just as Ruth had to ask Boaz to redeem her, we must ask Jesus to be our Redeemer. The greatest blessings in life are often the ones we cannot see from where we are standing.

Key points

1
1The pattern of Judges — everyone doing what seems right in their own eyes — summarizes a self-directed life that always ends in death, not blessing.
2
2Ruth's choice to stay with Naomi and follow her God, rather than return to safety in Moab, was the harder road but the blessed one.
3
3God's providence — 'as it just happened' — guided Ruth to the field of Boaz, a family redeemer, revealing that God quietly moves His plan forward even in the darkest times.
4
4A family redeemer had to be able (a free relative with the resources to pay the price) and willing (ready to pay the cost and marry the widow) — and the one to be redeemed had to ask.
5
5The unnamed redeemer who declined because it would 'endanger his own estate' missed being in Jesus' genealogy — a sobering picture of the blessings forfeited when we choose only what benefits us most.
6
6Ruth and Boaz's greatest blessing was unknown to them: their family line ran through David all the way to Jesus, the ultimate family Redeemer born in the same town of Bethlehem.
7
7Just as Ruth had to formally ask Boaz to be her redeemer, we must confess our need and ask Jesus — willing and able, having paid the full price — to be our Redeemer.

Application

Pastor Bill calls everyone to examine honestly whether they are living by what seems right in their own eyes or by what is blessed in God's eyes. The trap, he warns, is subtle — most of us are not shaking our fists at God; we simply trust our own judgment a little more than His, choosing the path that costs us least. The story of Ruth invites us to take the harder, less obvious road of surrender. For those who know Jesus, this means returning from bitterness or self-directed wandering and confessing whatever you have been withholding from God. For those who have never made the step, it means doing what Ruth did — asking Jesus, the willing and able Redeemer, to cover you. You cannot stop the car of sin on your own, but He already has. Confess your need, profess His lordship, and walk daily looking for what is blessed in His eyes rather than what seems best in yours.

Take it into your week

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Scripture in this message

From the transcript
“before we jump into Ruth, I wanna read the very last verse of the book of Judges. And that's right here. Judges twenty one twenty five says, in those days, Israel had no king. All the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes”
Read the whole chapter →
From the transcript
“So starting in chapter one verse eight, it says, but on the way, Naomi said to her two daughter in laws, go back to your mother's homes and may the Lord reward you for your kindness to your husbands and to me”
From the transcript
“So Naomi replied in verse 11, why should you go on with me? Can I still give birth to other sons who could grow up to be your husbands”
From the transcript
“We're gonna be in a jump here to chapter two verses two and three. It says, one day Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, let me go out in the harvest fields to pick up the stocks of grain left behind by anyone who was kind enough to let me do it”
From the transcript
“And if you look in verse nineteen twenty, she tells her, she goes, where'd you go? And so Ruth told her mother-in-law about the man in whose field she had worked. She said, the man I worked with today is named Boaz”
From the transcript
“so then if we jump into chapter three starting in verse eight, it says, around midnight, Boaz suddenly woke up and turned over. He was surprised to find a woman lying at his feet”
From the transcript
“I'm into chapter four verse three. It says, and Boaz said to the family redeemer. So he found him and he talks to him. He goes, you know Naomi who came back from Moab. She's selling the land that belonged to our relative Elimelech”
From the transcript
“And if you look down at verse sixteen and seventeen right near the end of this book, it says, they had this baby and says, Naomi took the baby and cuddled him. Cuddled him to her breast”
From the transcript
“In one Samuel 16, God tells And that's actually our next series, by the way, after Easter, we're gonna compare the first two Kings of I almost said England, like why would we do that? The first two of Israel”

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7-day devotional

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The book of Judges ends on one of the saddest lines in all of Scripture: 'In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.' Pastor Bill opened the story of Ruth against this dark backdrop, and it's worth sitting with that darkness for a moment before moving into the light. When everyone becomes their own final authority, the result isn't freedom — it's chaos, harm, and a slow drift away from everything good. The haunting thing is how rarely any of those people in Judges thought they were doing something wrong. They were simply following their own best judgment. That's the subtle trap. Most of us are not shaking a fist at God. We're just quietly trusting our own read on a situation a little more than His — choosing the path that costs us least, the one that makes the most sense from where we're standing. Before Ruth's story can mean anything to us, we have to be honest about our own. Is there an area of your life right now where you are living by what seems right in your own eyes rather than what might be blessed in God's? That question isn't meant to produce guilt. It's an invitation — the same one the whole book of Ruth is about to extend.

For reflection

Where in your life right now are you most tempted to trust your own judgment over what God might be saying?

Pray

Pray for honest self-awareness about the areas where you've quietly replaced God's direction with your own.

Related passageRuth 1:1-4:22

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Small-group discussion guide

For leading a group conversation about this message.

Open

The book of Ruth sits right in the middle of one of the darkest stretches in Israel's history — and yet it turns out to be one of the most quietly hopeful stories in the whole Bible. As we dig into what Pastor Bill shared, let's look together at why that is.

Discussion questions

1
Judges 21:25 ends with the phrase 'everyone did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.' Pastor Bill said the trap is subtle — most people are not shaking their fists at God, they simply trust their own judgment a little more than His. What do you think that subtle drift looks like in everyday life?
2
In Ruth 1:16-17, Ruth chooses to leave her homeland and follow Naomi and Naomi's God rather than return to the relative safety of Moab. What do you think made that the harder road, and what might it have cost her to take it?
3
Ruth 2:3 says she 'just happened' to end up in the field of Boaz. Pastor Bill pointed to that phrase as a window into how God's providence quietly moves His plan forward even in the darkest times. What does that suggest about how we might look at circumstances that seem ordinary or even accidental?
4
The unnamed redeemer in Ruth 4:3-6 walked away because paying the price would 'endanger his own estate.' Pastor Bill held that up as a sobering picture of blessings forfeited when we choose only what costs us least. What do you think we miss — individually or as a community — when we consistently take the path that benefits us most?
5
Ruth and Boaz had no idea their family line would run through David all the way to Jesus, born in that same town of Bethlehem. Pastor Bill said the greatest blessings are often the ones we cannot see from where we are standing. How might that change the way we evaluate whether a choice is 'working' or not?
6
Pastor Bill drew a direct line between Ruth formally asking Boaz to be her redeemer and the invitation to ask Jesus to be ours. What does Ruth's posture in that moment — coming with need rather than self-sufficiency — tell us about what it looks like to receive redemption?

Pray together

Ask God to give us the courage to take the harder, less obvious road — and the trust to believe His eyes can see the blessings ours cannot yet

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Go deeper

Continue the series

FLAWED HEROES

Week 4 · 4 messages

Where these passages are preached

Judges 21 Ruth 1 Ruth 2 Ruth 3

Explore related topics

God's Providence Jesus as Redeemer Redemption in Christ Surrender Over Self-Direction The Harder Path

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