Welcome to the Daily Disciple Podcast, where we seek daily to be with and to become like Jesus, our teacher. Welcome to the Daily Disciple Podcast. This is Travis, and we are going to talk about a man named Boaz and a man that doesn't have a name. Both of them are kinsman redeemers, and we'll talk about what kinsman redeemer means in just a moment.
Both of them are kinsman redeemers, like they are able to redeem the land of the Israelite man that they are related to that has died. One has a name, Boaz, and one is nameless. And in the Old Testament, if you are nameless, that is not a good thing. If you're a nameless anything, but a nameless kinsman redeemer, it's not a good thing if you don't have a name that means you don't have character.
So the Old Testament author didn't even give this nameless kinsman redeemer a name because this nameless kinsman redeemer was not willing to count the cost and say yes. But Boaz indeed was. And so I think I'm going to call this podcast Count the Cost, or maybe It's Gonna Cost. And the truth is, anything that is worth anything is going to cost something.
And actually, anything that's worth anything is going to cost perhaps a lot. And if something doesn't cost, if a relationship doesn't cost, if an item doesn't cost, if an adventure doesn't cost, if a venture doesn't cost, it's probably not worth much. If something doesn't involve sacrifice and challenge and risk and unclarity, potential difficulty, it's probably not worth anything. And it certainly doesn't produce character.
In fact, Jesus, when he was teaching about the kingdom of God, he would teach about the amazing gift of the kingdom of God and that is going to cost you everything that you have and it's worth it. But count the cost before you say yes, because anyone that puts their hand on the plow and looks back is not fit for the kingdom of God. So Jesus was into this idea of cost counting and how anything that has any worth or value at all is going to cost. It's going to involve sacrifice.
It's going to involve challenge. And so the question that I've been thinking about this morning for me, and I'd love to invite you into it, is what is costing you right now? Like what's really, really costing you? What relationship?
What adventure is costing you? Or to ask it a different way, what are we maybe avoiding because of the cost? What are we putting off or not facing or not doing or not pursuing or whatever because it is costly? What are we maybe neglecting because of the cost?
And the cost could be money and reputation, like we're going to find in Ruth chapter four in just a moment. It could be risk or uncertainty or difficulty. It could involve facing pain, but but anything that's worth anything, any mission, any call, any relationship is going to cost. But that's how you get a good name.
That's how you get a name. And that's how you get a good name by counting the cost and stepping into it. And so in Ruth chapter four, we find Boaz and he's a kinsman redeemer. And right before we get to chapter four, Naomi says to her daughter-in-law, Ruth, hey, don't worry, Ruth, you can rest because Boaz.
He's got a name, right? He's got a good name. You can rest because Boaz will not rest until this matter is settled until you're redeemed. Boaz will not rest.
I love that. That's what you say about someone who is willing to count the cost and say yes. That's what you say about someone who has a name and has a good name. And so what Boaz does the very next day in Ruth chapter four is he goes out to the elders that sit by the town's gate and he explains to them the story.
And he actually gets this nameless kinsman redeemer that is nearest to kin. And Boaz says, here's the situation. And then at the end of verse four, the nameless kinsman redeemer says, I will redeem it. I will redeem the land.
And of course, this nameless kinsman redeemer is thinking about himself. He wants the land. And then in verse five, here comes the cost. Boaz says on the day you buy the land from Naomi, you will acquire Ruth, the Moabitess.
You will require Malon or Killian. I can't remember. I have to look at the first chapter, his widow. And she will become your wife.
And what that means, as we'll see in a moment, is that this nameless kinsman redeemer will now have to share with his already however many kids a division of the estate and it will get a little bit costly. And so the nameless kinsman redeemer is like, yeah, I'll buy the land. I'll do what's good for me. But then Boaz says, but then you acquire the widow as your wife as well.
And then verse six, the guardian redeemer, no name. He's got no name. He says, oh, then I can't redeem it. I can't because it might endanger my own estate.
It might cost me too much. It might be a problem in my own family. I can't do my duty. I can't keep the law.
I can't obey God. I can't be generous and sacrificial. I've counted the cost. It's too much cost.
I won't do it. So he looks at Boaz and he says, you redeem it yourself. I cannot do it. And then Boaz, who has a great name, verse nine, Boaz then runs out and announces to the elders and all the people today, you're my witnesses that I bought the land and I've acquired Ruth, the widow as my wife.
Today you are my witnesses. And he marries Ruth. And it's a beautiful, beautiful story. And it's this contrast of Boaz, who counts the cost and says yes.
And this nameless kinsman redeemer who finds out that there's a cost and says no. Now, we don't need a great name. I mean, we really don't need a great name, but we want a good name, right? We want a solid name.
We want a name that can be counted on. And that only comes as a result of counting the cost, saying yes to what matters and sacrificing whatever it looks like to sacrifice for that thing, that person, that mission, that call that is worth the cost or worth the sacrifice. Because anything that is worth anything will require a great deal of sacrifice. What is costing you right now?
What's costing me right now? It's probably because it is worth something. And if I can just take us back, you know, before we end this podcast, if I can just take us back to what Naomi said to Ruth about Boaz. He will not rest until you're protected.
He will not rest until this matter is seen as complete. He will not rest so you can rest, is the message. And don't we want to be the kind of people that are willing to sacrifice whatever it looks like so that those around us, right? Our parents, our spouses, our children, our friends, those in need, they can actually rest because we are becoming the kind of people that are willing to sacrifice and count the cost and say yes.
It costs to have a good name. We don't need a great name, but we really want a good name. And the way to get a good name is to, when something matters, whether it's a person, whether it's a mission, whether it's a group of people that we're standing up for, whether it's a conversation that needs to be had, whatever it is, when there's something of value, we count the cost and we say yes. That's exactly what Boaz did.
And that is what the nameless kinsman redeemer chose not to do. So let's rejoice in what is costing us because whatever that is, it or they are the things in our life that have immeasurable worth and value and therefore are worth the cost. We'll talk soon. Thanks for listening to the Daily Disciple Podcast.
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