“Keys to Character: Building Boundaries"
(Judges 21:25, Ruth 2:1-13)
Today we return to the series I have called “Keys to Character” and talk about Christians building boundaries to experience the freedom God desires. The idea of building a boundary sounds like isolation and exclusion, two things that limit our effectiveness in our culture. A boundary though is not a wall or barrier instead it’s a limit. We have new neighbors and in order to purchase their house it was necessary to determine the boundaries of their property and ours. Either of us can cross the boundary anytime but it is a simple respect of the limits of what belongs to the other.
We live in a culture where boundaries of ethics, morals and character are few. The church’s reaction to this is to build a wall to protect us from those we are to influence with the Gospel. We become focused on who to keep out rather than risk connecting with those who need the love and grace of Jesus. Jesus prayed to his Father for us, “I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one…Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. (John 17:15, 18) Paul told the Philippians, “Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people.”(Phil.2:15) Believers are sent INTO the world and are IN the world yet are clearly distinct from the world.
How to be “in but not of” the world as a believer is not always clear. The result is we are so afraid of building a wall; we never build a boundary. Without a boundary our character is lost and the message of the Gospel is silenced. Surrender of our character isn’t the answer simply because the solutions aren’t always clear. In our text today Israel’s failure to build moral boundaries resulted in a culture without limits. Yet, as we will see, all it took was one person of character, one person who dared to set limits, to make a difference.
Judges 21:25 says, "In those days Israel had no king, so the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes." The next book, named Ruth, begins, "In the days when the judges ruled in Israel…" What were those "days" like? The books of Judges and the Ruth occur in the darkest days of the history of Israel. They are the record of a time when people were their own authority and faithfulness to God forgotten. The writer of Judges attributes this unfaithfulness to the fact Israel had "no king." Instead God provided a “judge”, a leader, to give spiritual, moral, military, civil or economic leadership. Some were better than others yet still "…the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes."
The book of Ruth begins, "In the days when the judges ruled in Israel…" (Ruth 1:1). The book is the story of a non-Israelite widow named Ruth and her widowed mother-in-law named Naomi who returned to Israel from another country when their husbands died. They are poor and without family until by God’s providence they encounter a relative by the name of Boaz, who by law was to protect them. Boaz is described as a man of wealth and influence. The very first words of Boaz are said to those who worked for him. He said, "The Lord be with you," and his workers said, "The Lord bless you." Here is what caught my attention: How did Boaz maintain his connection to God when everyone else had forgotten God? How could he claim devotion to God and influence others for God? I believe it was because Boaz chose to build boundaries in a time without rules, limits or restrictions!
1 First, Boaz built a boundary of truth to define his faith (Ruth 2:4, 12). As I said, Boaz determined to be a man of faith in spite of the faithlessness of everyone else. In Ruth 2, Ruth goes to gather grain where the grain is being harvested. Boaz sees her, is attracted to her, provides for her, finds out about her and blesses her in the Lord. He has no hesitancy in proclaiming his identity with the God of Israel and knows while Ruth has come to his field it is really God who is the one providing for her. Boaz made the choice that the boundary of truth found in the faith of Israel would define his life.
Recently I became aware of a book called In the Ruins of the Church: Sustaining Faith in an Age of Diminished Christianity by R. R. Reno. The words "diminished Christianity" have turned over and over in my mind. If something is diminished it means over time it has become less and less. Reno’s main idea is that Christianity has diminished not because powerful sinful forces of evil are attacking us, but individual believers are too lazy and cowardly to defend our convictions. We know if we really become vibrant in our faith then we might have to change and who wants to mess with that?
Has your Christianity “diminished” because your faith is not defined by a boundary of truth? Where do we find truth? Truth is found in the person of Jesus Christ who was “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). The truth about Jesus is revealed in God’s Word, the Bible and I make no apology for the Bible defining my faith. But does it define yours? You can’t draw the boundary of truth to define your faith if you don’t know the truth itself! Where are you as a person of faith failing to draw the boundary of truth?
Another place Boaz built a boundary was a boundary of purity to define his morality (Ruth 2:9,22; 3:10-11). Boaz tells Ruth she can stay and gather as much grain as she wants and instructs his workers not to harm her (Ruth 2:9). When Ruth goes back to tell Naomi about Boaz, Naomi says, "Do as he said. Stay with his workers right through the whole harvest. You will be safe there, unlike in other fields." (Ruth 2:22) It was obviously common for workers to sexually abuse unprotected women in other work environments. Because Boaz set a boundary of purity for himself he also set a boundary of behavior for his workers. This allowed Ruth to not feel threatened by the other workers.
The hardest boundary to build in our culture is a boundary of moral purity. Without a boundary of moral purity our cultures constant attack of unlimited sexual freedom wears down our faith. Yet because our culture has no limits does not mean we should live without boundaries. We respond, "What am I supposed to do? I can’t stop the world’s influence!" So we give up resistance and give up the boundary. The choices to build a boundary of moral purity may seem to others radical and extreme. One of Jesus’ most radical statements to keep moral purity was, "So if your eye—even if it is your good eye—causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell." (Matt. 5:29) I challenge all of us to build a boundary of moral purity.
Lastly Boaz built a boundary of protection that defined his compassion (Ruth 2:15-16, 20). Boaz instructs his workers to allow Ruth to glean as much grain as she could carry. He is also in a position to provide and protect Naomi and Ruth because he is a close relative. Without his protection and provision for Ruth and Naomi they would live begging for food and shelter. Boaz’s desire to protect Ruth and Naomi defined his compassion.
2 What defines your compassion and protection? Boaz was willing to risk his own resources to protect someone who was defenseless. That willingness to protect the defenseless defined his compassion. Who is the defenseless needing our protection? The Proverbs say "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those who are perishing. Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice." (Prov. 31:8-9) Build a boundary of protection that defines your compassion.
Boaz built boundaries of truth, purity and compassion. Boundaries don’t restrict freedom; they allow the ability to experience freedom. Today, take a look around you at a culture without limits and ask where you will build not a wall but a boundary? It takes courage to build boundaries. If you build boundaries you will be rejected as narrow minded, prudish and naive. But think of the alternatives and ask if you are willing to live with lies instead of truth, decadence instead of purity and injustice instead of compassion? It takes heroic courage to build boundaries.
J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit is a story of a hobbit named Bilbo who joins Gandalf, the wizard and a band of dwarves, on an adventure to free the land controlled by an evil dragon. The group questions why they would be chosen to do something so dangerous. When a human is suggested as a better choice, Gandalf says, “That would be no good…not without a mighty Warrior, even a Hero. I tried to find one; but warriors are busy fighting one another in distant lands, and in this neighborhood heroes are scarce, or simply not to be found. Swords in these parts are mostly blunt, and axes are used for trees, and shields as cradles or dish-covers; and dragons are comfortably far-off (and therefore legendary)”. (J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, p. 27)
Sadly believers with heroic courage are hard to find because we are too busy fighting each other, the weapons found in God’s word are ignored and we have convinced ourselves our enemies don’t exist. Will you decide to have heroic courage and build boundaries? Building boundaries begins with the limits you chose not the words you say. Will you build a boundary of truth, purity and compassion? If you do then you will shine, “like bright lights” in a culture made dark because there are no boundaries.
Sunday, August 5, 2012 a.m. Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor First Baptist Church Jonesboro, Arkansas
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