Exodus 18 - I AM Your Leader

[Music] well good morning everybody and uh it's a special morning you know to me it's special anytime i get to stand in front of you and share from god's word but it's also a morning where we're taking a look at a holiday and this is the very day veterans day and so i just like to recognize all the veterans who are present here at congregation if you've served in our armed services either in the service or the reserves please stand up we'd like to thank you [Music] [Applause] yes [Applause] well on behalf of a grateful nation we're a grateful congregation and we want to thank you we we understand it very plainly that there's all kinds of liberties and freedoms that we enjoy that we've never paid the price that you have paid on our behalf and we're super super grateful and so we just say thank you and i'd like to pray a prayer of thanksgiving and uh and just gratitude to god for our veterans and for their work father in heaven thank you lord i i feel safer already lord nor there's all these veterans here in our congregation and lord we we do thank you for the work that they do and have done for the way that they have honored you lord and honored our nation our community because it's true lord there's freedoms that we enjoy that father they have worked hard to provide for us and so lord we pray that you'd put a blessing upon our veterans we pray that you'd put a blessing on families that are connected right now to the military by a brother or a sister or a mother or a father or a daughter or a son lord we pray for all of your goodness to be upon them we pray that you would give our veterans lord the totally appropriate satisfaction for the service that they have performed unto their nation unto their community and unto you bless them lord and bless us this morning as we give attention to your word and its power in our lives we pray this in jesus name amen amen yeah go ahead [Applause] well with that i'd like you to open up your bibles to the book of exodus chapter 18. i hope that you bring a bible with you it's very helpful because um what i want you to see is that would i speak to you on a sunday morning it's really only important and relevant as much as it just brings to you what the scriptures themselves are saying and so i think that the best way to hear what i or someone else would have to say in in this situation is with an open bible with an open heart and to see what god would speak to you this morning we're following the people of israel as they make their way out of egypt towards the promised land i don't mean to disappoint anybody but by the time we get to the end of the book of exodus they're still going to be in the wilderness they're not going to be the promised land yet but it's on the horizon and they're in the right direction so far along the journey of course they came out in a very dramatic way from egypt god had to send forth supernatural power supernatural deliverance to bring them out of the slaver they were in and to set them on the course of freedom and in the direction of their permanent possession in the promised land but along the way god had an important place for them to stop and we're going to talk a lot more about this next week because next week we're really going to focus on their coming to mount sinai they've already arrived to mount sinai here in chapter 18 but that's not the focus of the chapter the focus on the chapter has to do well let's put it this way has to do with a visit from the in-laws that's what happened with moses his father-in-law came for a visit and gave him some advice that had a huge impact on moses personally and upon israel as a whole and we'll look at that together starting now at verse 1. and jethro the priest of midian moses father-in-law heard of all that god had done for moses and for israel his people that the lord had brought israel out of egypt then jethro moses's father-in-law took zipporah moses's wife after he had sent her back with her two sons of whom the name of one was gershom for he said i have been a stranger in a foreign land and the name of the other was eleazar for he said the god of my father was my help and delivered me from the sword of pharaoh and jethro moses's father-in-law came with his sons and his wife to moses in the wilderness where he was encamped at the mountain of god now he had said to moses i your father-in-law jethro am coming to you with your wife and with her two sons with her well we see it right here just at the very beginning verse one opens up sort of the direction the theme it has to do with this man named jethro who was the father of moses's wife therefore of course moses is father-in-law and he was as verse one says the priest of midian you say well what does that even mean the priest dominion it means this that jethro who we've already been introduced to in the book of exodus way back in chapter three jethro shows us that there were worshipers of the true god who were not properly part of israel and it makes sense that jethro would be just one of these people because if you follow the family line of jethro back up through the generations you'll eventually get to abraham abraham after the death of sarah his wife married another woman many people neglect this they don't really remember this but abraham married another woman her name was katura and one of the sons that katura had was named midian and from him came the midianites of whom jethro was one and so this family heritage of the worship of the true god the god of abraham isaac and jacob was passed down through the generations to a man like jethro so he wasn't of israel yet he still was a man who recognized and was indeed a priest of the true god the most high god so he came and had this visit with moses he comes and he brings moses his wife the two sons of moses who apparently had been sent back for safe keeping to their father-in-law and the time when all this stuff was happening with the plagues and all the the calamity coming upon egypt and so he says here i am i'm coming to you let's have a visit well verse 7. so moses went out to meet his father-in-law bowed down and kissed him and when they asked each other about their well-being and they went into the tent and moses told his father-in-law all that the lord had done to pharaoh and to the egyptians for israel's sake all the hardship that had come upon them on the way and how the lord had delivered them then jethro rejoiced for all the good which the lord had done from israel whom he had delivered out of the hand of the egyptians so what happens while they get together the in-laws come over and i'm sure you greet your in-laws the same way when they come for a present verse seven moses went out to meet his father-in-law bowed down and kissed him isn't that the way you greet your in-laws when they come over for a visit come on now thanksgiving's coming up this gives you a few ideas well look not everybody has the same happy relationship with their in-laws that moses had with his own or that i would say i'm fortunate to have with the parents of my wife and her family but moses had this and one thing i just want you to see you know look i i i don't claim this for a moment to be able to speak into or understand all the family dynamics that you have and enter into or perhaps have endured or do endure in your life but i will say this perhaps it's a good thing to honor your in-laws family just the way that moses did i mean moses was a big important man well sure jethro his father-in-law was the priest of midian and had his own thing going on but look he was simply a large successful farmer a herdsman what was moses moses was the leader of a nation of two million people yet moses goes on he greets him and he honors him by bowing down to him he honors him by showing him hospitality when moses in sort of one way of thinking had every reason to say listen you should be bound down to me i'm like the leader of a whole nation you're just the the leader of a family but yet moses said no i'm gonna go and i'm gonna honor that man i'm gonna show him that he deserves honor not so much for his status or his position but but he deserves honor because he's the mother of my my wife he's the father of my wife he deserves honor because he's the grandfather of my children and so he honored him but also like what it says there in verse 8 it says there that he told him all the hardship and how the lord had delivered him i love i just was honest with him hey jethro let me tell you how it's been really difficult on the way out of egypt but then let me tell you how god has done marvelous things and this is exactly what he told him so much so that in verse 11 jethro's response is to say now i know that the lord is greater than all the gods i think it's wonderful to see that jethro even though he was a worshiper of the true god he was a priest of the true god he lived all around people who worshiped different gods pagan gods all around there was the god of this and the god of that and jethro had the common sense to say no there's one god and i'm going to worship him but when he saw god exalt himself it just encouraged him all the more to say yes now i know that the lord he is the true god well now starting at verse 13 jethro's going to give some advice to moses look at how it unfolds it says and so it was on the next day that moses sat to judge the people and the people stood before moses from morning until evening so when moses father-in-law saw all that he did for the people he said what is this thing that you're doing for the people why do you alone sit and all the people stand before you from morning until evening and moses said to his father-in-law because the people come to me to inquire of god when they have a difficulty they come to me and i judge between one and another and i make known the statutes of god and his laws so you get the picture jethro comes and they have a nice visit and they enjoy a meal and then moses gets up from work in the morning and just because well i got nothing to do i'm just visiting my son-in-law i'll go with him to work and see what happens moses sits down early in the morning he sits down at some appointed place there at the camp of israel and there begins a line people start taking numbers number one number two it gets up to about a number of thousand in the day and what is it when each person has a number they come before moses and two people come up with some dispute today you would say it's a lawsuit it's a small claims court it's a it's a trial on for some crime that's been committed whatever it is some dispute that would normally be settled in some kind of law court or mediation board or something like that comes before moses uh this man stole my sheep no i didn't steal his sheep well it was mine to begin with well no it wasn't you gave it to me on and on and on it was moses's job to discern between the two and make a judgment why was it moses's job well number one he was the leader of israel he couldn't just say i don't care about your problems he had a heart for the people he wanted to help them but number two it was moses's job because he knew the word of god and he had the wisdom of god he was able to say i understand these principles from god's law god's word i can apply them to your specific situation and so that will help me in this job of judging so moses had the heart to do it moses had the ability to do it and so naturally people came to him here was the great problem moses did this in this very official way by the way if you take those phrases moses sat to judge and the people stood before moses those are technical terms of ancient law it's sort of like the all rise when the job comes in the room it's kind of like be seated and give your testimony in the court of law these are technical terms and when moses did all this the problem was that he was doing it alone and jethro's watching all this and jethro goes most of you don't even lunch break you know we get a coffee break what's going on you're being worked to death and when the day's done there's still hundreds of people waiting to see you there's people been backed up in line for days for weeks for months waiting to see you the people aren't being served well and moses you're exhausted at the end of the day and let me tell you something sometimes there can be nothing more exhausting than trying to mediate in a dispute between two people well so this was moses's job but it was very difficult upon him so now verse 17 so moses father-in-law said to him the thing that you do he said the thing that you do is not good both you and the people who are with you will surely wear yourselves out for this thing is too much for you you are not able to perform it by yourself you get the point here not good the thing which you do is not good now it wasn't that moses was unfit to hear these disputes no that's not the idea at all he was perfectly fit to hear the disputes it wasn't that he didn't care he did care it wasn't that the job was beneath him oh no it wasn't like well you know your problems are too small for an important man like moses no that wasn't the idea at all moses loved to serve the people no the difficulty was that the job was simply too big for moses to do the job was so big that moses couldn't do it effectively and the people couldn't be served well as it says there in verse 18 the thing is too much for you you are not able to perform it by yourself i think this is wonderful because when moses's own father-in-law came to him and said these words to i know if you've ever had an in-law say these words to you the thing which you do is not good many people might reject that out of hand well who are you mr father-in-law or mother-in-law to tell me what to do this is my family and i certainly won't be taking advice from outsiders especially people who aren't part of the nation of israel i'm not going to take your advice no so much to his credit moses could hear those words and receive something from them now right there there's something i want to apply to your life into my life is there somebody in your life who can look you in the eye and say the thing that you do is not good and you'll listen to them really or is there nobody in your life that you'll hear that from are you really at a place where nobody can tell you what's good or bad for your life except yourself now everybody else know nobody can tell you you're wrong except you listen you and i know when i put it in those terms that's not a good place to be in there must be people in my life and in your life who can look us in the eye and in love tell us i love you but you're wrong and you need to reconsider moses had that you need to have it i need to have it we need to be sensitive to that because we get ourselves especially in our highly individualistic culture when we believe that nobody can tell me what's right or wrong i can only figure it out on myself moses was wise enough to say yes i hear it from you my father-in-law jethro and he took it to heart carefully so the thing that you do is too much for you you're not able to perform it by yourself you need to get some godly help what are you going to do with this and now starting at verse 19 jethro's going to give moses advice and i love how he gives the advice starting here at verse 19. listen now to my voice i will give you counsel and god will be with you stand before god for the people so that you may bring the difficulties to god and you shall teach them the statutes and the law and show them the way in which they must walk and the work they must do now notice what he says here in verses 19 and 20 because it's very critical i think that some of you possibly you're not listening carefully to me right now because yeah i know how the rest of the chapter ends i've heard this message before i've read this chapter myself moses delegates responsibility to a bunch of leaders they do the job of judging great i got it no you don't get it now i don't know if you've carefully read this i don't know if you've really got the keys in verses 19 and 20. in verses 19 and 20 he gives moses two important things that had to happen before he ever delegated what did he have to do before he ever delegated notice first of all he had to pray verse 19 stand before god for the people that means moses you need to pray for the entire congregation of israel even if you can't personally be the one who serves them and every need that they have and that's so important for anybody who leads a group of god's people i read this and i say it's important for me that even if i'm not going to be the one to counsel everybody even if i'm not going to be the one to personally disciple everybody even if that work is going to be delegated through people both staff and both people who are lay people throughout the congregation i need to be the one who will come before the lord in prayer and say lord would you please move in our congregation would you bless and teach and do it both in generally and then specific people that come to my mind and heart to pray for moses just because you delegate the responsibility it doesn't mean that you stop praying for the nation number one you stand before god for the people but then there's another aspect did you see it there in verse 20 teach them the statutes and the laws you see for moses to effectively lead for this whole delegation thing to work he had to teach the word of god not only to those people who would hear the disputes but also to those who might dispute moses you've got to teach the word of god to the people before you delegate before you give away have that foundation where you moses are a teacher of the nation and they learn the principles of the word of god you better pray and you better teach and you better give it concrete examples you see what it says at the end of verse 20 show them the way in which they must walk and the work they must do i think that that show them means two things number one he had to give them practical examples how to do it but number you had to be a practical example live it out moses so moses you got to pray and you gotta teach do that before anything else you see if the people knew god's word for themselves many of those disputes could just be settled immediately you know that whole dispute between whose sheep belongs to who and on and on and all that kind of fighting if the people knew the principles of the word of god they could say okay let's not say you're right let's not say i'm right let's say the word of god is right and apply it to our lives do you imagine how many things would get cleared up and would never need to be brought to a judge at all because the people knew the word of god and they could apply it to their own situations also they would not be discouraged by the delays that happen they believe yes we can get these things settled among ourselves you know in all this there's a very clear analogy between the leadership of moses for israel and the leadership of a pastor among god's people now please listen to me that analogy does not fit at every point but it does fit in many aspects do you recognize this that this whole thing in the book of exodus chapter 18 could only work if god was recognized as the true leader of israel that's why they gave such an exalted place to the word because it had to be established that when moses gave a judgment it wasn't his own authority it wasn't because moses said it it was because the lord said it and then those delegated judges it wasn't because they said it it was because the lord said it all of this was a way of recognizing back and again that it is the lord who's the true leader and ladies and gentlemen that's what has to be recognized in this congregation and in every church that names the name of jesus christ it has to be acknowledged jesus christ is the leader he is the head of the church he is the master of his own body so that's one principle but here's another principle is that the leader cannot do the work of leadership alone and should not do the work of leadership alone think about how it was in israel before moses delegated things there was a vast untapped potential of people who needed to be activated for what they could do there were skilled and wise and discerning men who could be put into action and their work could be recognized and appreciated among israel those men weren't being used until moses said i can delegate this and so moses just couldn't or shouldn't be doing the work of leadership alone i would say that there's probably rare rare instances where god calls a man to do leadership alone but almost always it's in the context of a team recognizing that jesus christ is the leader of all thirdly it's as true back then as it is now that a leader has a special responsibility for prayer and teaching of god's people that that's absolutely essential he can't meet every need some of that has to be delegated but he has to give a primacy to those ministries of prayer and teaching uh god's word but then also that the people excuse me that the leader must train and select and give authority to people who help him in the work and that's exactly what's going to happen in the following verses on that point i like what uh charles spurgeon said on this he said quote the christian pastor is in some respects comparable to moses for he is set apart as a leader in the band of brethren and as such his business is not only to teach the people but to plead for them with god if there's any point where we would make this analogy between a pastor and moses it better be this pastor you better be praying for your people and you better be teaching them god's word even as moses was commissioned to do but that's not all look at it here verse 21. moreover you shall select from all the people able men such as fear god men of truth hating covetousness and place such over them to be rulers of thousands rulers of hundreds rulers of fifties and rulers of tens and let them judge the people at all times then it will be that every great matter they shall bring to you but every small matter they themselves shall judge so it will be easier for you and they will bear the burden with you isn't that beautiful moses what are you doing thinking that it should be one sort of one-man show don't do that look around in israel the people will help you they will bring to you able men such as fear god and who are men of truth find these men pour into them delegate unto them the work and i like how these men are described in verse 21 they're described as able men that means they're men of ability they're also described as such as fear god that means they're men of godliness they're also described as being men of truth i think that means that they speak the truth but it also means that they love god's word and fourthly they're men who hate covetousness they are men of honor find those men give them responsibility entrust to them real work of the ministry and you'll see what happens now at the last part of jethro's advice to moses i want you to look carefully what he says in verse 23 he says if you do this thing and god so commands you then you will be able to endure and all these people will go to their place in peace i see that first thing he says to moses and he goes moses i've given you this advice pray about it see if god commands you to do this i find this fascinating because let's face it jethro was an outsider jethro wasn't part of israel jethro wasn't a tribal leader one of the chieftains or anything like that among the community of israel this was an advice that came from joshua this was an advice that came from aaron this was an advice that came from somebody else in the camp of israel he was an outsider jethro recognized that he also recognized that and i don't know if these are the right words if it's not the right words just forgive me and hear my heart on this this is somewhat of a business model isn't it you know just sort of this structure and do it and administrate it this way and that's why he says listen moses take this if you want but please don't take it because it's my plan don't take it just because it seems smart you take it to god in prayer and see that he wants it for israel at this time and i think that's absolutely critical because moses couldn't call back and just say well jethro told me to do it no no moses you've got to be confident this is what the lord wants you to do so that was very important you know sometimes we'll god will guide us from unusual and outside sources but friends confirm it by prayer to the very best of your ability moses did that and the benefit was going to be this first of all you will be able to endure that's what it says in verse 23 and then in verse 23 it also says that all the people will go their place in peace the people would be more effectively served people wouldn't have to wait months and and weeks and weeks to get their disputes settled they could get their disputes settled much more quickly because we know it's often true that just as delayed is just as denied instead they could get things addressed much more quickly so it's a win-win moses endures the people are served much better great let's go forward with this verse 24. so moses heeded the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he said and moses chose able men out of all israel and made them heads over the people rulers of thousands rulers of hundreds rulers of fifties and rulers of tens so they judged the people at all times the hard cases they brought to moses but they judged every small case themselves then moses let his father-in-law depart and he went his way to his own land well verse 24 tells us moses heeded the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said why well because he sought the lord about it and he says that this is what the lord wants it's not just because it's my father-in-law's advice but it's because what the lord really wants and he wisely followed jethro's counsel and this extended his ministry and his life do you recognize at this point moses has about 40 years of good ministry left in him i don't know if he would have had five more years of good ministry left in him if he would have continued at the pace he was going and so this saved moses his life it extended his ministry it gave him so much more fruitful work to do but that's not the only place that it was a blessing it's true that it was good for moses moses could focus on the most important things and not be overwhelmed or over stressed by many smaller tasks that's a good thing but i'll tell you another place that it was very good it was good for the leaders that they chose did you see that in verse 25 they chose rulers of thousands rulers of hundreds rulers of 50s and rulers of tens think about all those men throughout all the congregation of israel who now had important work to do for god's community that was an untapped resource before but no longer is it untapped now those men have ministry pushed down to them it's not like all the ministry was running back up to moses but moses was pushing it down to people who could receive it people could do it people could run with it and it was good for those people who were now giving meaningful work to the kingdom of god and ladies and that's such a true principle you know sometimes i fear i i fear that that in a congregation such as ours that the message is communicated it would never be openly said never but sometimes unconsciously it's communicated that i'm the one doing the important work you know this is what's really important what other people do or what you might do serving well that's not so important this is the important work ladies and gentlemen i'm here to tell you i believe with all my heart that what i do is important and i like it sometimes i just get i just get so deeply touched i go thank you lord that i get to teach people who actually want to hear god's word it's such a blessing i love it week after week but not for a moment do i think or should you think or should anybody think that there's some hierarchy of importance and somehow what i do is important but what other people do as well that's just sort of peripheral ladies and gentlemen we're our body and each part has an important role to play and what moses was doing is saying i'm going to focus on the things that i do most focused and most importantly and i'm going to give that other work for them to exercise their important functions and now there were hundreds if not thousands of men throughout all of israel now raised up to do important work for the furtherance of god's community it was good for those leaders so it's good for moses it was good for the leaders he raised up but mayor raised the third point it was also good for the congregation there's the congregation of israel moses is praying for them moses is teaching for them but now with all these delegated leaders they are more able to settle disputes than ever before they receive quicker attention and better attention from the delegated leaders than from moses which would you rather have to hear your case a judge who hears three cases a day or judge who hears 40 cases a day good luck if you're number 40 on that list the judge would sort of just say well whatever you guys figured out and walk away none of the people received much better attention and that was a good thing i love what dl moody said on this point d.l moody said it is better to set a hundred men to work than to do the work of a hundred men and that's a beautiful principle and that's how it should be in the body of christ well i'll draw to a close here but i just can't resist before i end to say what does this tell us about god's work today and where do we see jesus in any of this you you hear me say that don't you that when we make our way through exodus we should all be looking for jesus in the book of exodus and you might be thinking oh now now you're stumped david where do you find jesus in exodus chapter 18 please do you doubt me that i cannot find jesus in exodus 18 no no no ladies and gentlemen was there ever a greater delegator than jesus himself there's jesus speaking with his apostles on the mount of olives before he ascends to heaven he's already done his great sacrificial work on the cross where he died a bloody death on the cross to pay for our sins and he's already given them the the power from his resurrected life they are touched they're filled with the spirit they're awaiting that greater filling on the day of pentecost but the disciples are already deeply ch touched by the work of the crucified and resurrected jesus but before he ascends to heaven he has a little meeting with them on the mount of olives and what does he tell them he told them you guys are going to be my witnesses in jerusalem in judea and samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth i am passing this work on to you i'm going to ascend to heaven and just like moses was to pray for the people and teach the people does not our lord and savior jesus christ pray for us from heaven does he not teach us through the holy spirit even now and so jesus is there praying for his people teaching his people but he delegates the work unto us do you see how important it is for us to say thank you jesus you have given me some place in advancing your kingdom now i can't speak to you for exactly what your place is but i if you don't know if you have no clue of what god has given you to do in advancing his kingdom would you just ask him about that because i believe that every christian should have some intentional way that they are advancing the work of god's kingdom maybe that intentional way is going to be by serving at something in the congregation you're going to serve in children's ministry you're going to be a part of the missions ministry you're going to be a part of this or that or something else sometimes the way we advance god's kingdom is by serving him some way outside of the church's walls or ministries but listen what's most important is that every christian say jesus has delegated this to me and i'm going to carry on that work jesus is the great delegator but but every great delegator knows that there's some things that you can't delegate when it came time for somebody to go up on mount sinai and receive the commandments of god did moses delegate that not on your life he said this is my calling my job and if we look at jesus christ to be the great delegator ladies and gentlemen there's at least one work i'm not saying it's the only one but there's at least one notable work that he could not delegate it's that great work that he did of dying on the cross and paying the penalty for our sins he alone could do that that's not something that you could do for yourself nor could you do it for somebody else oh i know your heart may be filled with love for your children with love for your neighbors with love for people in your family and if you could die to pay the penalty for your sins you would do it but i tell you can't that's a work that cannot be delegated only the sinless son of god could do that for us he did that work that could not be delegated so stop trying to do it for yourself or for anybody else receive it only from him and that leads us to now we're in the remainder of our time this morning we're going to focus on two things we're going to focus on worshiping the god who loves us so much and secondly on remembering this work that jesus did for us at the lord's table it's my great pleasure because we're going to worship god in just a moment in song but we're also going to invite up our good friend jay cardy to come and lead us in remembering jesus and his great work for us at the lord's table let's pray together father jesus we thank you that that you have delegated this great work to us you have lord there's so much you've given us to do to be your witnesses to preach your gospel to live lives of service and love and good deeds for this community lord we know it we believe it we receive it we don't want to shirk from the responsibility that you've delegated to us but jesus we are we're so aware that there's some things that can't be delegated and cleansing our sin can't be delegated you alone could do it purchasing our lives filling us with the holy spirit adopting us into your family these are things that we could never do but you you as our great savior have done them for us so draw a focus unto you prepare us to receive from your table and pour out your grace upon us in jesus name [Music] amen

Channel: David Guzik

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Keywords: david guzik, guzik, enduring word, Jethro, moses, exodus 18, i am your leader, lord, god, counsel, advise, midian, glory, children of israel, disputes, pray, teach

Id: 1rXKazWAOzI

Length: 38min 1sec (2281 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 14 2020