2025 Advent Part 2

At Keys Vineyard Church, we are presenting a series called ‘Advent 2025’ which we post here on Online Bible Institute.

Advent is a season that invites us to slow down, reflect, and prepare our hearts to celebrate the coming of Jesus. Traditionally, the themes of Advent are hope, joy, peace, and love. Last week, in part one of our series, we focused on hope. We saw how the story of Ruth beautifully prepares us for Christmas by pointing our eyes toward the God who works through ordinary people in ordinary places, like Bethlehem, to bring extraordinary hope into the world. Ruth and Mary both made life changing commitments of faith. They journeyed to Bethlehem. They trusted God with their futures. And both gave birth to children whose lives would shape the story of salvation.

This week, we turn our attention to joy, and we introduce another key figure in the book of Ruth: Boaz. His arrival in the story shines a bright light on the kind of joy God loves to give His people, especially through the actions of someone who is living rightly before Him.

Ruth 2:10-12 (NIV)
10 At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She exclaimed, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me–a foreigner?” 11 Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband–how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. 12 May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”

When Ruth meets Boaz, she is overwhelmed by his kindness. She asks, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me?” She is a foreigner, a widow, a woman with no social standing and no resources. And yet Boaz sees her. He protects her. He provides for her. He recognizes the faith she has shown and the sacrifice she has made. He prays that the Lord will reward her, and then he becomes the very vessel through which God answers that prayer.

Ruth stays in Boaz’s fields through both the barley and wheat harvests, a period of about seven weeks. In that time, she gathers enough grain to sustain herself and Naomi for an entire year. This is no small detail. It is a reminder that God often blesses people through the righteous choices of others. Boaz does not act out of obligation. He acts out of a heart that desires to do the next right thing.

And that is the heart of righteousness.

Righteousness is not perfection. It is not living flawlessly or never making mistakes. It is a posture of the heart that says, “With God’s help, I will try to do the next right thing.” We see this beautifully expressed in the beatitudes.

Matthew 5:6-10 (NIV)
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus says that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled. Those who show mercy, those who keep their hearts pure, and those who work for peace are demonstrating what righteousness looks like in daily life. These qualities are the building blocks of a life lived for God.

So what does this have to do with the Christmas story?

This weekend at Keys Vineyard Church, we will discuss all this and more, so be sure to join us in person or online.

Steve Lawes is a pastor at Keys Vineyard Church and also the founder of the Online Bible Institute Network.