A Problem Shared

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"My mother-in-law has come round to our house at Christmas seven years running. This year we're having a change. We're going to let her in."

That's one of the tamer in law jokes I've across. In laws are universally it seems a popular subject for jokes and complaints. I suppose that reflects the truth that it is often the people we are closest too that we find it hardest to talk to whether that be in-laws, parents or even close friends.

However, in Exodus 18, our passage for tonight, we see a very different portrayal of an in-law. This chapter gives us an intimate insight into the relationship between Moses and his father-in-law; Jethro. In this chapter we see Moses do two things which many of us find incredibly difficult to do:

First, Moses speaks boldly to his gentile father-in-law of the wonderful things God has done for him.

Second, Moses humbly listens to his father-in-laws advice in order to serve God's people better.

1. Talk about what God has done, v1-12

Moses' family is reunited as they recognise the wonderful things God has done for his people.

The first half of Exodus 18 is a family reunion. The last time we saw Moses' family was in Exodus 4 as Moses returned with them toIsrael. We don't know what happened but for some reason Moses sent them back to his Father-in-Law; Jethro in Midian and now hasn't seen them for perhaps a year. Now, asIsraelreaches the foot of Mount Sinai Jethro has heard about what God has done forIsraeland sets out with the rest of Moses' family to meet him.

Now imagine you hadn't seen your family for a year, imagine the excitement and of course you'd have plenty of catching up to do wouldn't you? But look what happens when Moses hears his family is coming back in v6ff:

6 Jethro had sent word to him, I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons.

   7 So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him. They greeted each other and then went into the tent.

Moses goes out and greets his father-in-law, great but what about his wife and children? No mention is made of Moses greeting them, or of him taking some time off to celebrate their return. No, instead Moses takes his father-in-law aside eager to talk to him. What is so important that it takes precedence here over Moses catching up with his family who he hasn't seen for a year? Verse 8:

8 Moses told his father-in-law about everything the LORD had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel's sake and about all the hardships they had met along the way and how the LORD had saved them.

Moses wants to tell Jethro about God, he wants to tell him about how YAHWEH rescuedIsraelfromEgyptand how he provided for them in the desert. Moses is desperate to talk about the things God has done for him. There are two applications that I want us to pull out from this slightly unusual family reunion:

a) We should naturally speak about what God has done in our families

First, speaking about God should be a natural part of family conversation. Moses' lack of greeting for his wife and children seems strange to us, but his desire to talk about what God has done shouldn't strike us as being that unusual. Speaking about God should be natural to those who have experienced his great love for us and his work in our lives.

God has done remarkable things for Moses, its natural that he should want to remember and celebrate those things with members of his family. Yet how often do we speak like this within our families, or within our church family here? Perhaps we're worried about turning into some kind of Ned Flanders Christian stereotype? But wouldn't that be better than not talking about, not remembering together the wonderful things our God has done for us?

It should be natural to talk of God often but sometimes its not and we need to work at it. Husbands, fathers lead your families in this; talk about God together, remember his goodness together. In v12 Jethro and Moses worship God over a meal, so why not start with mealtimes perhaps by extending grace to cover more than the food your about to eat.

All of us can help build a culture of remembering God's work here by the way that we speak to each other after a service here; how about exchanging 'How was your week?' for 'What has God been teaching you recently' or simply 'What are some things I could pray for you?'.

b) We should boldly speak about what God has done to anyone who will listen

Second, we should speak boldly about what God has done with anyone who will listen. The most remarkable thing about Moses speaking to Jethro about God is not that it comes before celebrating with his newly reunited family but that Jethro is listening to Moses at all.

Jethro was a Midianite; he was a Gentile not a Jew. In fact the Midianites were one ofIsrael's fiercest enemies and Jethro was their high priest, essentially the leader of a rival religion and yet Moses has no hesitation in talking boldly of all that YAHWEH has done.

Imagine talking about Jesus with a Muslim cleric and you get the picture. Jethro is not what we might think of as a natural audience for a celebration of God's goodness to Moses. But Jethro has heard v1 tells us:

'of everything God had done for Moses and for his people Israel, and how the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt.

Jethro has seen God's work particularly in the life of his son-in-law and so is drawn now to find out more about this God of Moses'. Moses is simply willing to talk about God with him, he doesn't write him off because he's the Midianite chief priest. Moses speaks naturally about God even with someone like Jethro who isn't a believer in YAHWEH. That's a challenge to us, in the way that we talk to our non-Christian family or our neighbours or our work colleagues, isn't it?

I can remember talking to one of my housemates at uni about what we were studying at Christian Union. I had absolutely no idea that he was in the least bit interested until that day and I regret not having been more open about what  I was learning earlier.

Do you speak plainly about what God has done for you? We should; firstly because God tells us to (as we saw in Matthew 28) and secondly because of passages like Exodus 18.9-12:

9 Jethro was delighted to hear about all the good things the LORD had done for Israel in rescuing them from the hand of the Egyptians.

   10 He said, Praise be to the LORD, who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh, and who rescued the people from the hand of the Egyptians.

   11 Now I know that the LORD is greater than all other gods, for he did this to those who had treated Israel arrogantly.

   12 Then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and other sacrifices to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law in the presence of God.

Jethro, chief priest of Midian, is delighted to hear about what God has done, praises him for rescuingIsraeland acknowledges that the LORD is greater than all other gods. Jethro enters the tent as chief priest of Midian and leaves a worshipper of God. What an encouragement to speak about our God; who has rescued us, not from Egypt but from death, who has led us not by a fiery pillar but who has dwelt within us by his Holy Spirit and who has sent us his Son not to go pass through the Red Sea but to pass through death itself.

Moses has spoken boldly about the wonderful things God has done and Jethro has responded in faith. Now Moses will listen humbly to his father-in-laws advice so that he can perform more effectively the task that God has given him. That's our second point; 'Show others how to live, v13-27'.

2. Show others the way to live, v13-27

Jethro is about to tell his son-in-law 'how to do his job' but what is Moses job? Moses here is described as 'judge' but as in the book of judges the role is not simply to judge the people in legal matters. Rather it is, as Jethro correctly understands in v19, to teach the Israelites God's laws and to show the Israelites how they should live in the light of them.

That's not such a surprise when you understand the spiritual geography of Exodus. God has rescuedIsraelout ofEgyptand now they stand at the base ofMount Sinaiready to receive the Ten Commandments. In between these two great events God has been teaching his people, through various testings in the desert, what it means to be, more than just ceremonial, worshippers of God. Moses role is not just to teach the people about God but to show them how to live for him. In fact Moses commission is not so different from our commission which we read earlier in Matthew 28.19:

19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

   20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

So as we look at the advice given to Moses we'll think how it can apply to us as we seek to fulfill the commission God has given us. There are two things that I want us to see:

a) Moses' commitment is unquestionable but he can't do everything

13 The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood round him from morning till evening.

   14 When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand round you from morning till evening?

No one can question Moses' dedication to his task. Just 24 hours after his family returns Moses is back judging between the people from 'morning till evening' and there's nothing to suggest this wasn't a normal pattern of work for him. Yet the queues are still long, Moses simply can't do all the work no matter how long his business hours are. Jethro observes this and concludes in v17 that it is 'not good' and will lead only to burnout.

There's a very simple message for us here; we can't do everything. God doesn't expect us to either; even Jesus, whilst here on earth, didn't heal every sick person inIsrael. Sometimes he needed to withdraw and rest by being with the Father. In this way he models ministry for us; commitment, hard work - yes, guilty work to burn out and exhaustion - no.

 HTG cannot do all the ministry that Gateshead requires. Rod cannot preach every sermon, visit every member and lead all the kids groups. We know this but sometimes we don't live like we do. So we worry, or we exhaust ourselves or we have unreasonable expectations on others. Our responsibility is not to do everything but rather to manage the resources which we do have effectively and that's exactly what Jethro helps Moses to do and what I want us to focus in on next.

b) Multiplication is better than addition

Multiplication is better than addition. That's not representative of a sectarian divide within the Mathematics community rather it is illustrative of the simple, but powerful, principle which Jethro teaches Moses. Look at the advice he gives in v21ff:

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.

   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.

 Simply put Jethro teaches Moses to delegate but not just to anyone, look at the requirements in v21;

'...men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain'

These under-judges are to be men who follow God and who demonstrate that by living honest lives. Moses should train these types of people to take on some of his work so that he will not become exhausted and so the total amount of ministry being done will increase; '...all these people will go home satisfied', in other words the queues will go down. This is sound advice from Jethro and it's not just business acumen either look at the way Jethro frames his advice in v19:

19 Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you.

And also in v23:

23 If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to...

In fact Paul provides similar advice to his protégé; Timothy in 2 Timothy 2.2:

2 And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.

Training others to teach and to lead is a Gospel imperative. That has some implications for us and the way we do church. We should aim not for addition but for multiplication. In other words we shouldn't get a small number of people to do more and more but rather we should invest in training others so that more than can be done.

The often quoted statistic being that if you were able to reach 1000 people/day with the Gospel it would take just over 15,000 years to reach the whole world. However if you were to train 1 person/year who was then able to share the Gospel with another person and then train them to do the same and you kept going it would take just 37 years to reach the world for Christ. Now of course kingdom growth is not a function of mathematics but having a plan to train others in Gospel work is vital.

So if you're a leader here - who are you training? You can't do it all. It's also vital that we have people who are willing to be trained. People who are prepared to take on responsibilities and work hard, people who are humble like Moses who listened to his father-in-laws advice and then v24 'did everything he said'. Is that you? Are you willing to be trained; are you willing to invest in training others for the sake of more people hearing about, and following obediently, Jesus?

Can I suggest if you're looking for somewhere to serve and to be trained to think about helping out in one of our children's groups? God has blessed us with many children but looking after them well is a big job especially as we don't have so many more adults than children. There are some Moses in our congregation who would sit from morning till evening, as it were, serving faithfully but for all of our good we need to share the load.

Summary

Let's wrap up. We've seen in Moses tonight a man who speaks naturally about the wonderful things God has done for him. We've seen the high priest of another religion praise God and we've seen a Gentile tell a Jew how to more effectively train God's people in obedience. As we go from this place to make disciples of all nations and teach them to obey God's commands. Let's pray that we would speak about God boldly and naturally and that we humbly steward the resources that we have for God's glory.

Let's pray.

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