INTRODUCTION
• As a leader one of the most difficult things to do is delegate to others.
• Some will accuse you of control issues.
• Others will complain about who you delegate to and how they perform.
• But at the end of the day sharing ministry is crucial for all of us to fulfill our destiny.
• Unless we share ministry things that are meant to give life will kill us.
• Some of you know what I mean…as business owners and leaders.
• Delegation is much more difficult than it appears.
• And as great a leader as Moses was he had a tough time with it.
• Moses had a large heart and often people who want you to delegate to them don’t have the same heart.
John Maxwell: “They either hold onto as much as they can and only give away what they absolutely cannot do themselves, or they try to dump everything on unprepared and unsuspecting followers. The result? Burnout…or a train wreck.”
• Nicest thing about this chapter is people are settling into life together.
Exodus 18:13-24, It came about the next day that Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood about Moses from the morning until the evening. 14Now when Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this thing that you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge and all the people stand about you from morning until evening?”…17Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “The thing that you are doing is not good. 18“You will surely wear out, both yourself and these people who are with you, for the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone…Select out of all the people able men who fear God, men of truth, those who hate dishonest gain; and you shall place these over them as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens.
I. THE FAMILY REUNION
• Some of you may remember Jethro from Chapter 2:11-22
• And you may remember Moses sending his family home before entering Egypt.
• Verse 7-8 - Moses sees his family again.
• Verse 9-12 - He shares the stories of all God did…wow how many times would that happen after this…
• When we share our stories about God working, others are encouraged and empowered…
• Verse 12 - to worship…
• Jethro was a gentile priest (Exodus 2:16) whose testimony indicates that he knew the true and living God.
• He also knew the importance of Israel in the plan of God, because he said that the Lord had punished the Egyptians because they had “treated Israel arrogantly” (Exodus 18:11 NIV).
II. SHARING THE LOAD
• If something is going to grow it must be shared…
• That can be tough…especially if it was born in your heart…WOL story
• I drive people crazy sometimes detailing how I arrived at a decision.
• But if you are to delegate well, people need to know how you think.
• My assistant Susan DePaola has worked for me now for almost eight years.
• She often makes a decision and then asks “did I get it right” if not why not?
• She is so teachable which makes her excellent!
John Maxwell: With everyone who works closely with me, my goal is to teach them to think like I do. So at the beginning, I pour a lot of myself into them.
I don’t just make decisions and ask them to implement them. I share my thought processes and encourage them to tell me what they think I would do.
• Generally, the more important a task is to the leader, the more tightly they hold onto it. Even if it’s not a good use of their gifts or it keeps them from doing other things.
So regardless of the task’s importance…
1. If someone else can do a task better than I can, I give it away.
• And I’ve discovered that I do only four things really well: lead, communicate, create, and impart vision.
• I routinely give everything else, such as administrative and financial tasks, to the experts.
2. If someone else can do a task at least 80% as well as I can, I give it to them.
3. If someone else has the potential to do a task at least 80% as well as I can, I train them.
• Take a look at your delegating style. What are you dumping without development? What are you holding onto that’s stealing time from your priorities?
• If you take time to train your people, you can trust their thinking enough to let them do even the most important tasks well. Then you can use your best energies to do the things you do best.
Moses had a large heart and a great deal of faithfulness to God at this point in his life,
Which made him a bad candidate for delegating.
He was overwhelmed and overworked…but he was faithful.
• Verses 13- 17 - Jethro sees Moses lifestyle and tells him this is not good!
• Verses 18 - “You shall surely wear out, both yourself and the people” (those who had to wait in line forever to see the guy)!
• Verse 19 - You cannot do it alone!
• Now listen to me!
• Two key phrases…you’re in trouble but will you listen?
III. A PLAN AND A STRATEGY AND THE DANGER
• Verse 4:29 tells us the nation had elders but they weren’t leading.
• Inherent in Moses’ lifestyle was danger…and God sent him someone wiser than he in these matters to teach him.
• But he had to be teachable.
• Moses’ leadership was crucial for the future success of Israel.
• Jethro got that.
• Any activity that drained his energy or wasted his time was bound to hurt the nation.
• No one man could minister personally to two million people and last very long.
• Even after the new arrangement had been established, Moses had to confess that the work was too much for him (Numbers 11:14),
• The plan…the big picture verses 19-20 impartation/teaching.
• Seek God on it…obviously Moses did as he didn’t do anything at this point without God’s direction.
• Verse 21-22 - The strategy (the detail), break down the people into groups because anyone can eat an elephant one bite at a time.
• The Hebrew word translated “easier” in Exodus 18:22 means “to take cargo from a ship.” (“that will make your load lighter,” NIV.)
• Notice at the end of the day Jethro doesn’t command Moses, he encourages him…
• You have to treat adults like adults…give them advice and then send them to the Lord.
• This is where Moses went and he heeded the advice as from God.
• Verse 24 - “Moses listened!”
• Unfortunately many of us don’t.
CLOSE
Who did Moses delegate to? Those who were prepared to receive…those who did the little things right…just like in Acts 6.
Verse 21 - Those who fear God, live in integrity, truthful, don’t fudge it, out to make their plan work…their yes is yes and their no is no…
Acts 6 those who had good reputations and were full of the Spirit and wisdom.
The emphasis in the Bible isn’t on organization but on the kind of organization that involves qualified people who get the job done.
Self-defeating organizations embalm their structure and refuse to change.
The ministries God blesses are open to change, as long the principles of the Word are obeyed.
