Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost
Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost
Light of Christ Anglican Church
The Rev. Mike Moffitt October 12th, 2025
Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost
What’s Your Motivation?
Text: 2 Timothy 2:1–15
Sometimes I wonder about the reasons that some people have for getting into extreme sports where injury or death are a constant possibility. Also jobs like a Navy Seal, Army Ranger or Marine Recon. I’ve met a few of these men and have heard the stories of what it was like to go through the training. They are
definitely a different breed, and we should be grateful for their courage and strength.
At the same time I can understand why people choose football, basketball, baseball, or soccer. First of all the best of those can earn an insane amount of money. I recently read where Cristiano Ronaldo, a soccer player for the Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr has earned $275 million.
Just out of interest I took a look at the NFL and NBA salaries for many of their top players. It’s crazy but even though the money is outrageous I suspect that the praise and adulation that are poured out on athletes is at least equal to the money.
Many who play contact sports insist making big money up front because their bodies take a beating every week. I’ve read quite a few examples where players who retire in their 30s deal with medical issues for life.
But what about those in special forces? They might be adrenaline junkies, too, because on every mission there’s the chance they won’t come back alive. I assume that in each and every situation those involved in whatever they have chosen can explain to you why they do it. I suspect that it’s likely that many if not most of us still would not understand.
Sometimes I think that many feel the same way about those who actually surrender their lives to Jesus Christ and pay a heavy price.
This week as I considered our scripture readings I tried to imagine why the people in the story made the decisions that they did. Certainly it wasn’t because of the money or the praise and adulation. So what was the motivation and why was it worth it?
We’ll be considering our passage from Ruth 1:1–19 and then our passage from 2 Timothy 2:1–15. Both are excellent examples of ordinary people doing extraordinary things for the glory of God.
Ruth chapter one begins with telling us the period of time that was the setting for the story. It was during the time when judges ruled in the 400-year period of general anarchy and oppression, when the Israelites were not ruled by kings but by periodic deliverers whom God raised up when the nation cried out to Him again.
It’s a time of great stories, the most notable among the Judges were Gideon, Samson, and Deborah. Each of these were raised up by God, not to rule as kings, but to lead Israel during a specific challenge, and then to go back to obscurity.
The days when the Judges ruled were actually very dark days for Israel. It was the period that was characterized by the phrase, “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6).
The story of Ruth begins with a man named Elimelech who took his wife Naomi and two sons from their home in Bethlehem. They left the land of Israel to sojourn in the country of Moab because of famine. Bethlehem was a rich agricultural area (the name means “House of Bread”) but times were tough, so he went to the pagan land of Moab.
This is really interesting because Israel and Moab had a history of conflicts. During Israel’s wandering in the desert Moab refused them passage and supplies and even tried to curse Israel through the prophet Balaam (Numbers 22–24). The fact that Elimelech chose to take his family to Moab indicates that God’s judgment was severe, but I suspect that he had no intention of staying any longer than necessary.
I looked at the map of this journey that Elimelech and his family would have traveled. It would have taken 7–10 days on foot (approximately 50 miles). The terrain was dry, dusty, and very difficult and dangerous. They had to hike through the desolate Jericho pass, through the Judean wilderness near the Dead Sea, going across the Jordan River, into the land of Moab. This time God would not hold back the waters of the Jordan River so they could travel across on dry land. This was a definite departure from the Promised Land of Israel, and a return towards the wilderness from which God had delivered Israel hundreds of years before.
These were clearly steps in the wrong direction. But there is no indication that they were even aware that God had brought judgment on Israel for their unfaithfulness.
The fact that there was a famine in the land tells us a lot about Israels relationship with God. He specifically promised there would always be plenty in the land if Israel was obedient. Therefore, a famine in the land meant that Israel, as a nation, was not obedient unto the Lord. Listen to Deuteronomy 11:13–17,
And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I command you today, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil. And he will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be full. Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them; then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and you will perish quickly off the good land that the Lord is giving you.
Verse 1 gives us an example of that because of a great famine a man and his family went to sojourn in the land of Moab. Sojourn means to leave with the intention to return. The next verse tells us the name of the man, and his intention of a short visit turned into ten, tragedy-filled years, plus Elimelech and his sons never returned to Israel. The name Elimelech means “God is king” — but he didn’t seem to really live as if God was his king.
This past week Teresa and I were discussing a person that we know who was leaving the area to go somewhere else to live. We were reminded of the saying, “wherever you go, there you are.” I don’t know the origin of this pearl of wisdom, but it simply reminds us that changing geographical locations won’t solve the problems that come from our sins or bad habits.
In verse 3 we read that Elimelech died leaving Naomi with her two sons, Mahlon and Chilion. They each took wives among the Moabite women, named Orpah and Ruth. Again, this was not in obedience to God; God commanded the Israelites to not marry among the pagan nations surrounding them. They lived in Moab approximately 10 years and then the two sons died, leaving Naomi with no husband and no sons.
To be a childless widow was to be among the lowest, most disadvantaged classes in the ancient world. There was no one to support you, and you had to live on the generosity of strangers. Naomi had no family in Moab and no one else to help her. It was a desperate situation. The daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth, were childless.
As we read Naomi heard that God had once again visited his people and there was food to eat in Israel. She decides to return to Bethlehem to her people and releases Orpah and Ruth saying,
“Go, return each of you to her mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband.”
There is much hugging and weeping between them and Orpah decides to follow Naomi’s wisdom, but Ruth will have no part of that. Listen again to Ruth 1:16–18,
But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.” And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more.
I can’t help but believe that Naomi was relieved. It would be a long walk back to Bethlehem, especially alone. For Ruth this was more than change of address. Ruth was leaving behind all that she had known, including her Moabite family. She was willing to forsake the Moabite gods she grew up with and embrace the God of Israel. She was deciding to follow the Lord. This Gentile woman, once far from God, had drawn near to Him.
What strikes me the most is that she had no idea what would happen to her or if the people in Bethlehem would accept her.
David Guzik in his commentary on the Book of Ruth suggests,
“And your God, [will be] my God” meant that Naomi’s relationship with God made an impact on Ruth. This is striking, because Naomi did not have an easy life. She had been widowed, had lost both her sons, and believed that she had caused each calamity by her disobedience. Yet she still honored and loved the Lord.
People should be able to look at your life, just as Ruth looked at Naomi’s, and say “I want your God to be my God.” Your trust in God, and turning towards Him in tough times, will often be the thing that draws others to the Lord.1
Of course we are left without the ten years before the Book of Ruth begins and even then we have a very short narrative on the lives of Naomi and her family– mostly at the end of their lives. So we don’t know anything about Elimelech and his family as faithful followers of God.
Again we have nothing to go on concerning what Ruth had learned about the God of Israel, but this occurs to me. The promise of God to Abraham is that through his seed the nations of the earth would be blessed. Israel had continually failed to be the messenger’s of God to other nations. But God would continue to move them in ways that don’t really reveal their intentional obedience.
Could it be that one of the reasons for the famine is that it caused Elimelech and his family to travel to Moab. I suggest that it was God’s sovereign will that Ruth, a Moabitess come to Bethlehem. It was there that she met Boaz who took her as wife, and she gave birth to Obed.
Listen to Matthew 1:5–6, “…and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king.”
Did you catch it? Ruth, the Moabitess, was the grandmother of King David. Just as amazing is that Rahab, the harlot from Jericho, ended up being the great grandmother of David. More important is that from the line of David came Jesus Christ the Son of God.
God himself was working to accomplish what Israel had failed to do. The nations of the earth would be reached with or without Israel. God invites us to be a part of His plans, but either way He will get it done.
1 David Guzik, Study Guide for Ruth 1 by David Guzik
Throughout this whole story no one was playing a role that they were ever aware of—they just were brought into God’s story and His sovereign plans.
Last week we looked at Paul’s letter to his spiritual son in 2 Timothy 1:8–11. I mentioned that there was, for Paul, a sense of urgency. He knew he would soon be executed and therefore needed to make one last effort to encourage his protégé who was leading the church in Ephesus. Paul was the one who planted the church there and well knew the spiritual warfare that Timothy faced. There were many who would resist the teaching that Jesus Christ was the only way to God, the only way to salvation.
Ephesus was the home of the Temple of Artemis goddess of fertility. Paul had suffered greatly throughout his ministry, and he knew that Timothy would too. Most of us have experienced this feeling for our children and grandchildren. We just want to say one more thing, give one more unsolicited piece of advice, have one more teachable moment with them. We know that only God is their hope for salvation, their provider, their creator and sustainer.
Ultimately Paul knew that this was likely his last opportunity to teach Timothy; to let him know how much he loved him and how proud he was of him as a man of God.
In chapter 1:8–9 Paul wrote,
Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.
This was not the milk given to infants but was real meat that would prepare Timothy for the battles that would most assuredly come. Timothy was no longer a child, but a man of God given much responsibility in the kingdom of God on earth. Paul knew that Timothy could be timid but Paul charges Timothy to take what he had taught him and teach it to other men so they could teach others. To drive home that point Paul returns to the theme of warfare in chapter 2:3–4,
Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.
Once again Paul wants Timothy to focus on who he is in Christ. He’s a soldier of the kingdom of God who is battling the enemy of God, and he must fight with the weapons given by God, and the power of the Holy Spirit. Timothy should not see suffering for preaching and teaching about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as unusual.
Paul then switches the example to be of an athlete, “An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.”
Paul’s point is that you don’t get the reward, the crown, unless you finish the race. Unlike many in our culture who believe that everybody gets the prize just for running. To clear that up a bit Paul writes in verses 11–13,
The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.
In the early church the Gospel flourished and spread all over the known world, but it was and is always a battle, but a battle worth fighting. There were those who wanted the blessings of the kingdom of God but on their terms.
I love the story of Ruth from beginning to the end. Her humility and willingness to follow the God of Israel without realizing the outcome of her life is compelling.
The story of Timothy is equally compelling because based on the many times that the Apostle Paul encouraged him to be bold in proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I suspect that he was often operating way out of his comfort zone and yet he pursued the calling that God had on his life. He was the first Bishop in Ephesus and was martyred there in 97 AD. He was stoned to death by an angry mob because he was speaking out against their pagan worship of the goddess Artemis and proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He was 79 years old.
Both the examples of Ruth and Timothy should be a motivation and an encouragement. Neither of them were people of notoriety or known for their extensive gifts and talents. They were simply ordinary people chosen by the extraordinary Lord of Heaven and Earth. Because they faithfully followed the path laid out for them by circumstances set up by God we are talking about them thousands of years later.
What is God calling you to do? When He lets you know, what will be your motivation to follow? Let’s Pray.
