EXODUS 18
Scripture Text:
Exodus 18:17-23 (NIV) "17 Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good. 18 You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. 19 Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him. 20 Teach them his decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave. 21 But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officialsover thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. 22 Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. 23 If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.”
WHEN THE LOAD BECOMES HEAVY
INTRODUCTION;
We are now in the 18th chapter of the Book of Exodus.
This is about the time when Moses was overwhelmed by the many responsibilities of Leadership.
It says that Moses served as judge of the people from morning to evening.
Whenever they have a dispute, they brought it before him and he decides between the parties and inform them God's decrees and instructions.
And so, he became so exhausted and overwhelmed by the work of the ministry.
There was no one who was helping him in the ministry.
It was then that his father in law, Jethro visited him and observed all that was happening.
He looked closely at the situation and gave Moses some wise counsel on how to handle ministry properly.
He told Moses that he was wearing himself out with so much responsibility and doing all the work all by himself.
It was too heavy for him and he cannot handle it alone.
Jethro's advice was for Moses to focus on the one task he is called for.
His main responsibility is to be God's representative before men.
To do this, he must spend a lot of time teaching his people God's decrees and instructions.
Then, while teaching, he must be an example to them by showing them how to live and how to behave accordingly.
His life is a living testimony of godly conduct that people must follow.
After some time, he must select capable men from among the people that he had taught.
Not all people who have received the training can be chosen.
Only people who have great fear or reverence for God should be chosen.
They should also prove themselves trustworthy of the job and hate any dishonest gain.
Then, they must be given their assignments over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens.
They had to be constantly tried and tested.
They are to serve as judges for the people at all times especially those simple cases.
But the most difficult cases must be brought before Moses.
Once Moses implement this plan, his load will become lighter because it will be shared among the people.
At the same time, the people will be happy and go home satisfied.
At the end of the chapter, we read that Moses listened to the advice of his father-in-law and implemented the plan accordingly.
We can learn a lot of important lessons from this chapter about ministry.
Many times, we are overwhelmed by too much responsibilities at home, at work and in church.
We have the tendency to single handily do everything we could to finish the work.
We thought that we are the only ones who could do it.
We neglect to train others and assign them the work so that our load will become lighter.
And then, we get angry because no one is helping us.
Finally, we go home exhausted and tired.
If only we could escape to the Bahamas and enjoy the beach.
But then we remember, a Christian must persevere and pay the price.
This may sound familiar to many of us.
This is what we call spiritual burnout.
Burnout can affect your emotional state, you physical aspect, your social mechanism and your spiritual relationship with God.
It is the result of carrying too much burden that we cannot handle by ourselves.
Burnout can happen to anyone, anywhere and anytime.
Here are some symptoms of spiritual burnout.
*Loss of joy in serving Christ.
*Physical fatigue
*Feeling of always giving and not receiving.
*Diminishing effectiveness in your service.
*Other people expressing concern for you.
What are the causes of burnout?
Burnout is often the result of self-reliance.
When you take upon yourself the role of the savior rather than trusting God to accomplish His will, you will experience burnout.
When you see every need as your call rather than asking for God's wisdom and direction, burnout can occur.
For instance, when a father or a mother takes responsibility for the success and happiness of a child, he or she gets frustrated along the way and conflicts can arise in the family.
We must therefore avoid this.
Another cause of burnout is a lack of self-care.
Those who do not take care of themselves fail to understand how much God values them.
They fail to accept His rest and His love for them.
Because of that, they try to become martyrs on the altar in order to please others.
They sacrifice their sleep, they nourish their bodies poorly and over-extend their daily schedules.
They need therefore a proper understanding of the character of God and His expectations for our lives in order to overcome burnout.
That is why today, we are going to talk about when the load becomes heavy.
What do you do when you are in the midst of experiencing burn-out in the ministry?
If you are the one I am talking about, this is for you.
Listen carefully and learn.
If you feel that you are not experiencing this and are not involved in the ministry, you need to hear this so that you could learn some important aspects of ministry development.
The goal is to develop godly character and to delegate responsibilities to qualified men and women so that you could enjoy your rest in God.
So, please focus and let us learn together from God's Word.
What are we going to do when the load becomes heavy?
1. TEACH THEM GOD'S WORD
Exodus 18:20 (NIV) "20 Teach them his decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave."
The first thing we need to remember is that we must be focused in teaching God's Word to people.
The verse says: "teach them his decrees and instructions."
Jethro advised Moses that if he wants his load to be lighter, he had to start with the very basic foundation of Christian discipleship.
Moses had to learn from God's Word and whatever he had learned must be taught to the people.
Moses had to teach the Israelites with what God requires of them,
He had to teach them with what God promised them and he had to communicate to them with what God plans for them.
We get everything from God's Word.
Here is the truth: we cannot assign responsibilities to people in the ministry unless we taught them God's Word.
Because immature believers in the Lord who are involved in the ministry will always create problems in the church.
Immature believers are always noisy, messy and self-centered.
They cry a lot when they don't think their needs are being met.
If the church service is inferior, they withhold their money or even leave.
They cannot cooperate, they cannot submit to others and cannot understand deep things of God.
They are unable to apologize and resist godly advice.
They cannot see far away.
Spiritual immature or infants are explosive and can go off at anything whether small or big.
They were in the hospital and the pastor did not visit them, and so, they drop out of church and they make this a big deal.
They worked hard on that project and got no recognition from the pulpit and so they are ready to quit and they stir others to do the same.
They are great at expecting a lot from others and nothing from themselves.
They always know who is to blame for all that's wrong in the church.
It's the nature of the immature believer to be childish or act like babies.
But of course, we love babies, but we love babies who will grow, not remain babies forever.
That is why God's Word is essential to be taught among the believers so that we could leave behind immaturity.
Before a person can serve the Lord, he must be taught of God's Word.
That word "teach" means to educate them, to instill them knowledge, to advise them and to instruct them God's Word.
This is the very reason why we spend a long time in our discipleship program.
Not only that, we have weekly exposition during our Wednesday nights.
We cannot get enough from God's Word.
We always want for more insights and spiritual truths.
Our primary goal in this church is to teach people from God's Word whenever there is an opportunity for them to listen.
Teaching the people from God's Word will always produce godly character.
Teaching therefore requires time.
It requires consistency.
It requires skill and effectivity.
It requires patience.
It requires much effort and diligent study.
Sometimes, the people would not want to listen but we must keep on teaching them God's Word.
2 Timothy 4:2 (NIV) "2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction."
Look at the words: "in season and out of season."
The text says that we are to be prepared to teach God's Word in season or out of season.
That means whether they like it or not, we must teach them God's Word.
Whether they would listen or not, we must share God's Word.
We are to correct, rebuke and encourage using the truth from God's Word.
What we need is great patience and careful instructions.
Great patience means the willingness to endure and persevere even if they have hardened their hearts and minds on God's Word.
I have learned over the years that many times, the person who is eager to listen and learn from God's Word are those who have great potential for the ministry.
They survive the demands and responsibilities of the ministry because they know God's Word.
But many times, the people who proceed right away to ministry without proper discipleship training are the usual casualty who have been burnout because they could not handle heavy load.
They do not know how to respond when difficult situations arise.
They fall away and stumble and have a hard time to recover in the process.
That is why I encourage every one of you to please go through the discipleship training before you even serve the Lord in any ministry work in the church.
You must learn to worship the Lord before you can lead us into worship.
You must learn to listen from God before you decide to serve God.
2. SHOW THEM GOD'S WAYS
Exodus 18:20 (NIV) "20 Teach them his decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave."
The next thing that Moses should do is to "show them the way to behave."
Jethro told Moses is to be a good example to the Israelites the he is leading.
He seems to be telling Moses that our life testimony has great power among those who are close to us.
To others, this is the only way they could see the character of God being lived on this earth.
Our words and actions are being observed by others.
We must therefore live lives for God.
In the same manner, character development is more important than harnessing our skills.
We must concentrate in advancing our godly attitudes rather than taking pride in our talents.
Because there are many people who have the skills for the ministry but they don't have the godly character needed to become Christ's servants.
And so, they create conflicts with other Christians in the process of ministry.
And they turn away from the ministry when the going gets rough.
Brothers and sisters, Christ-like character should be the ultimate goal of every Christian.
We should not settle for anything less.
We are to become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Eph. 4:13 (NIV) "13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ."
Our eternal rewards in heaven will be based on the character we develop and demonstrate here on Earth.
That means our teaching must be to change lives, not merely to provide information.
Paul told Timothy that the purpose of his teaching was to develop character in those he taught:
1 Timothy 1:5 (NIV) "5 The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith."
We are the develop the love for God, the love for the people of God and a clear conscience at all times.
Paul told Titus to do the same thing:
Titus 2:1 (NIV) " You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine."
Sound doctrine will always provide godly living.
When we live right, we act right and we are joyful in the ministry.
Therefore, we must focus on developing Christ-like character in every person.
But character development is never built in a classroom setting.
Character is established little by little through the the daily circumstances of life.
God uses various circumstances that we encounter whether good or bad in our lives to gain understanding of the way we respond to them.
Character development always involves a choice.
When we make the right choice, our character grows like Christ.
And when we always make the right choice, the fruit of the Spirit is developed in our lives.
And so, let us aim for godly character.
3. SELECT CAPABLE MEN
Exodus 18:21 (NIV) "21 But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens.
The next thing that Jethro advised Moses is to select capable men.
The word "select" means to pick out or to choose capable men who are able and competent to do the job well.
Their characteristics include to fear God, to become trustworthy men and to hate dishonest gain.
Notice that they are to be selected not on the basis of their skills but on the basis of their character.
They have not been assigned any work at all.
They have not yet been given any responsibilities at all.
They have gone through the training.
But their training are no guarantee for their selection.
We want to see the result of their godly character.
We want to see they way they worship God.
We want to see the way they honor God with their finances.
We want to see how they do business with other people.
We want to see how they react to difficult situations.
We want to hear the blessed words that come out from their mouths.
Brothers and sisters, there are a lot of things that we need to observe upon a person before we can set him apart for the ministry.
Foremost of this is the way he manifests his reverence and love for God.
That is all that matters.
When a person expresses his worship and devotion for God more than anything else, he is a capable person.
He can withstand when the load becomes heavy and hard.
During the time when the number of believers of increasing in Jerusalem, the twelve disciples advised the people:
Acts 6:3-4 (NIV) "3 Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”
Again, the emphasis is being filled by the Spirit and wisdom.
When you are filled by the Holy Spirit, you will not be overwhelmed by bitterness, unforgiveness and negative attitude.
When you are filled by the Spirit, you are not easy overtaken by anger, depression and hurtful attitude.
When you are filled by the Holy Spirit, you have godly wisdom and you know how to react accordingly.
4. ALLOW THEM TO SERVE
Exodus 18:22 (NIV) "22 Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves."
The last thing that Jethro advised Moses is to finally allow them to serve.
It says, "have them serve."
Brothers and sisters, the heart of ministry is service to others.
It is the way we love them and assist them that we can do ministry.
Our work must always be for the benefit of someone else.
Because when you do this to others, you are doing this to Christ.
According to Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church, Real servants serve God with a mindset of five great attitudes:
1. Real Servants are Self-forgetful.
That means they focus on others not on themselves.
When we stop focusing on our needs, we become more aware of the needs around us.
2. Real Servants Think Like Stewards Not Owners.
That means they always remember that God owns it all.
They are therefore more concerned about ministry than money.
3. Real Servants Think About Their Own Responsibilities Not What Others Servants Are Doing.
That means they don't compete, criticize or compare with other servants or ministries.
They have no time for that because they are too busy doing the work that God has given to them.
4. Real Servants Base Their Identity In Christ.
That means they always remember that they are unconditionally loved and accepted by grace.
And so, they are not insecure in their work and they don't have to prove their worth when they are threatened by lowly jobs
5. Real Servants Think of Ministry as an Opportunity Not An Obligation.
They enjoy helping people, meeting needs and doing ministry.
They serve the Lord with Gladness.
And so, these are the things that w need to develop in our church.
These are the things we need to learn as we serve people.
When you discover true service to God, you will be the happiest person on earth.
Albert Schweitzer said, "The only really happy people are those who have learned how to serve."
That is true.
That is why Jesus told told his disciples:
Mark 10:42-25 (NIV) "42 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
If you want to be first, you must learn to serve.
Christ Himself did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life for us.
May we learn to teach our members well, be a good example to them, select the most capable men and assign them responsibilities.
Then will our load becomes lighter because we have developed partners in the ministry.
God bless you all.
