Dave Stone in His book, “Keeping Your Head Above Water” provides the following insight into leadership overload. “It is possible to spread yourself so thin that within the church you are mediocre in four or five areas instead of excellent in one or two.” This is a common plight for the Christian leader, we are called to accomplish a task that is never done and we are in constant danger of allowing ourselves to become overloaded if we are not careful. The two greatest pitfalls for leaders are the failure to delegate and the failure to prioritize. These pitfalls can cause us to become so distracted that we will not be able to keep focused on our main tasks. If we allow ourselves to fall into these pitfalls we will find ourselves quickly becoming overloaded, frustrated and discouraged. However, this problem is not a new one, in our text we discover that it was something that Moses struggled with. Moses found himself beginning to bend under the weight of all the demands of leading God’s people. In fact he was going from sun up to sun down seven days a week. This grueling pace was destroying him but God provided a solution to his problem through some helpful advice from his father-in-law Jethro. Today, we are going to dive into this text and discover God’s solution for an age old leadership problem.
I. An unexpected but timely visit from the in-laws.
A. The unexpected family reunion undoubtedly was refreshing for Moses.
1. Everything begins to come full circle as the Hebrew people arrive at Sinai. This was the sign that the Lord had promised to Moses in the very beginning.
2. Some time shortly after the circumcision fiasco in Exodus 4, Moses had sent Zipporah and his two sons back to live with Jethro.
3. The reports of all that God had done for his people had reached Jethro and this sets the stage for a family reunion as he leaves Midian to meet Moses with Zipporah and his two grandsons.
4. Moses seems to be pleased by the news that Jethro and his family is coming and so he goes out to meet them.
B. Moses and Jethro rejoice over the greatness and goodness of God.
1. Moses sits down with Jethro and begins to tell the story of everything that God had done for the Hebrew people up to this point.
2. Jethro was so excited over everything that God had done for His people that he literally burst out in praise of Yahweh.
3. Many casual readers miss the fact that Moses filling Jethro in on all that God had done leads him to complete faith in God as is evident by the statement of faith that Jethro makes.
4. This was a big deal because in confessing complete faith in Yahweh, Jethro abandons the religion that he grew up with and had led for many years.
5. The reunion concludes with Jethro inviting Aaron, Moses and the other leaders of the people to sit down to share in a sacrificial meal together before God.
II. Some very insightful observations in regard to Moses.
A. Evaluating Moses’ daily routine.
1. Moses would spend his time from sun up to sun down hearing the disputes of the people and seeking God’s will for their settlement.
2. The people would simply wait in line until their turn and Moses would hear case after case.
3. Jethro immediately made two observations: the people are going to wear themselves out and Moses was not capable of shouldering such a large task on his own.
4. Jethro questions Moses about what he does because he is trying to see the logic in it.
a. Jethro questions Moses about priorities. “Why are you doing what you are doing?”
b. Jethro questions Moses about the other leaders. “Why are you the only one doing this?”
5. As Jethro begins to get a good handle on the situation, he is able to present Moses with some logical alternatives to make things run much more smoothly.
B. Jethro’s wise counsel to his son in-law.
1. Continue to represent the people before God but also work to teach them God’s ways and laws which would enable him to lead the people better as a group.
2. Delegate some of the workload to other competent individuals. These individuals should be able to deal with the smaller issues allowing Moses to focus on the priorities.
3. The individuals that Moses would choose to delegate part of the workload to would be thoroughly trained to handle the many different situations.
4. Moses takes the advice of his father-in-law to heart and better yet the Lord approved of the wisdom that Jethro had imparted to Moses.
5. This brings Jethro’s visit to an end and he decides to return to Midian. However, the text leaves the impression that Moses’ wife and sons stay with Moses.
III. Heeding some advice that made all the difference.
A. Effective leadership often requires a change in methodology.
1. The church changes as does the culture that we live in, it makes sense that our leadership methodology change in order to continue to minister effectively.
2. Leaders can easily become weighed down with things that are minor. Becoming preoccupied with the minor distracts us from what God has called us to.
3. As growth happens the demands on leadership changes which requires us to make adjustments in order to continue to be effective.
4. Leaders need to lead from their God-given strengths. Good leaders know when to bring others on the team that has strength in the areas that they are weak.
5. Every leader must ask themselves two questions, “What area am I strong in? Where do I need to concentrate my time and energy?”
B. By heeding Jethro’s advice Moses would find some much needed relief.
1. Moses could not have kept up the pace that he was running at. Eventually, Moses would have achieved burnout and his effectiveness as a leader would have diminished.
2. Jethro simply put a well thought out strategy on the table for Moses that would enable him to continue to lead with a high degree of effectiveness.
3. Jethro taught Moses the importance of delegating and helped him realize that there are times that you have to say no.
4. Leadership is not about keeping everyone happy and harmonious. It is about leading people to a higher level where they can be all they can be for God.
IV. Four valuable principles for us today.
A. Leaders must learn to focus on the things that are priorities and not the things that are not.
1. Priorities are the essential things that are necessary to accomplish our God given vision and the obligations that go along with our leadership role.
2. Things that are not priorities are those things that while they may be good things or things that we enjoy distract us from the priorities.
3. Many churches have had their growth stifled because they chose to focus on the minors rather than the majors.
4. The non-essentials are the things that we should learn to delegate to others who are capable accomplishing them.
B. As the work load grows leaders must restrain their involvement and begin to involve others more.
1. As growth begins to take place the requirements on leaders increase and often the workload becomes almost unbearable.
2. The question is how can a leader maintain their effectiveness when everything begins to change?
3. Remaining effective requires us to learn to release the reigns and to involve others in the task of leadership. Good leaders work to raise up future leaders.
4. Good leaders constantly are on the lookout for potential future leaders and they work to train them so that they can come on board and share the workload.
C. God’s people are subject to the penalties of ignoring God’s natural laws.
1. Failure to delegate and adapt will lead to burnout. This is simply the way God has wired us and there is no exception to the rule.
2. We cannot continue to function under extreme pressure without beginning to break in some area or another.
3. God did not design us to accomplish more tasks than one individual can tackle.
4. If we live a life that violates God’s natural laws for our lives we will pay the price as will the people we lead.
D. Effectiveness is increased not just by what is accomplished but also by what is delegated.
1. Whenever we begin to believe that we can or should do it all, we need to remember our text and Moses’ experience.
2. Moses only succeeded in wearing himself out and letting the people down because he was not capable of meeting all their needs.
3. God used Jethro to help Moses get his life back into balance.
4. We must come to the place that we focus on the essentials and learn to delegate the things that aren’t.
Closing:
Back in the 90’s there was a president of Harvard University named Neil Rudenstine. Now, one of the major roles of college president is to raise money for the institution so they can pay the salaries and other financial responsibilities of the organization. And Neil Rudenstine was very good at meeting that need. For three years - since he became the school’s president - he methodically raised a $1 million a day for Harvard.
The reason he was so successful was that he was passionate about every facet of his job. He focused on both the big and small things in the college. Besides spending twelve hours a day on a demanding job, he fretted about banquet menus, argued about his $10-15 medical co-pay and, wrote notes to the football coach, the editors of the school newspaper, the various staff as well as the dorm house masters. But one morning in November, he overslept and just couldn’t manage to make himself go to work. When he went to the doctor, he was diagnosed with “severe fatigue and exhaustion.” The directors insisted he took an indefinite leave of absence to recover.
So he did. And he didn’t return for the next seven days. In fact, he didn’t return for the next seven weeks. In fact, he spent the next seven months recovering from his fatigue.
