Get off the sidelines

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSsYuIdhNp0

If that doesn’t pump you up and motivate you to get off the sidelines and give it your best then I don’t know what will. Church was never meant to be a one man show or a one woman show.  Rather as we have mentioned before church comes from the Greek word

Ekklesia- a company of Christian, or of those who, hoping for eternal salvation through Jesus Christ, observe their own religious rites, hold their own religious meetings, and manage their own affairs, according to regulations prescribed for the body for order's sake

The whole idea about the church is that it is a group effort.  It is a movement, or an advancement of the kingdom of God and everyone has a part to play in this movement.

Today we want to look at a story which one manwas doing all the work while most of the people were on the sidelines.  The man we would like to highlight this morning is Moses.

Just to give a brief backgroundof where we are this morning:

God had rescued His people from the hand of the Egyptians by demonstrating His power through a series of plagues. These plagues eventually humbled Pharaoh to the point in which he had no choice but to let God’s people go as Moses had demanded.

After this God split the sea so that the Israelites could cross on dry ground over to the other side. If that wasn’t enough God had also given them bread from heaven and He made water flowfrom a rock all to show them that He was their provider and that they should give their complete trust to Him. He then led them on to a great victory against the Amalekites. 

So, Jethro who is Moses’ father-in-law hears of all that God had done for Israel through the hands of Moses. Jethro, accompanied with Zipporah, Moses’ wife, and her two kids, decides to visit Moses to get a firsthand account of all that God had done.  This is where we will pick up the story today.

Exodus 18:13-27

¹³ The next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening. 

Moses is found to be working hardfrom sunup to sundown.  In doing so he shows a genuine concern for the people of Israel.   From a ministry perspective it was admirable of Moses to be devoted to the things of God to the level in which he was.  But from a family man’s perspective it was a shame that someone else, his father-in-law was raising his kids and taking care of his wife.

His time was consumed minding the things of God that he had neglected his first responsibility as a man which is to take care of his family. But it seemed like he had no choice as he oversaw roughly 2.4 million people.  In order to meet all the needs, he must pull some late hours just to make some headway.

I can relate to Moses in so many ways. I know what it is like to have a tremendous work load that you feel like you must work from sunup to sundown just to stay ahead.

While Moses is working, the people are said to be standing around. What were they doing? Watching, waiting for their turn to speak to Moses, when they had the opportunity to speak to Moses, they were asking questions, seekin council, pleading their case if there was a quarrel, it was all about what Moses could dofor them.  They were in “give me mode.”

While I understand that the Israelites needed spiritual guidance from someone, I also understand how taxingit is on a minister when people are so needy and demanding.  The people had become dependent upon Moses for their spiritual wellbeing, but Moses had found himself in a dilemma in which he could not possibly sustain this ministry for a long period of time. 

Thankfully, He had a godly father-in-lawwho was able to speak some wisdom in his life.

¹⁴ When Moses' father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning till evening?” 

Apparently, father-in-law was with Moses all day and watched as Moses dealt with the people from sunup to sundown.  He did not say anything until a full day had passed and had observed all that had taken place up to that point.

Moses thought to be doing a good thing by caring for the needs of the people, yet he is confronted by the man of God for his actions.  

Two things he rebukes Moses with:

• Why do you sit alone?(He is not talking about sitting around like we sit around, kicking back on the sofa and enjoying a cold beverage with a bag of potato chips) No Moses was sitting at the judgment seat, working, hearingthe people’s stories, giving godly insight, teaching the laws of God.  He asks why Moses is doing it all by himself implying there were people qualified to help and there was no need to do it all by himself.
• Why do the people stand around? There are qualified people who should be helping you out Moses, yet they are standing around. They are not using their talents and/or abilities for the kingdom of God.

Jethro rebukes Moses as though it was his fault.  Here is Moses trying his best, laboring night and dayfor God, only to be rebuked by a man of God.  Why is that? 

Because God had never intended for Moses to carry the burden of the people by himself. Just as God had never intended for Tara and Ito carry the burden of pastoring this church by ourselves.  He has sent qualified people who are just standing around not doing anything with their God given abilities.  Waiting on the next handout, looking to see what the church could dofor me rather than what I could dofor the church.

As Moses would have felt the sting of that rebuke, I too feel that very same sting and I hear those very same questions resonating in my mind,

• Why do you sit alone? And why are the people standing around?

I know it starts with the leadership.  One of my struggles is trusting people to do a good job, or just trusting people to do anything.  My motto has always been if I want something done right or done at all then I must do it myself.

But here is the thing, I cannot do it all by myself.  Our leadership team cannot do it all by themselves. For those who have faithfully labored, and who have faithfully served in the church at some level or another, I just want to thank you and let you know how grateful we are for you and that your service means a lot to us.

But for those who are just standing around, waiting for others to pick up the slack, hear the word of the Lord today.

¹⁵ And Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God; ¹⁶ when they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I make them know the statutes of God and his laws.” 

Moses was a busyman:

• He would answer any questions that the people had regarding the faith
• He would explain the laws of God to those who were enquiring
• He would inform them of the will of God for their lives
• He would make sound judgements when controversies arose.

Moses tries to justify his actions to his father-in-law, but in doing so he reveals his real reason why he is doing everything by himself.  The people come to me to inquire, they come to me with a dispute, I decide, I make them know. Moses liked being needed.  He felt important and in control when the people depended upon him.  He had a hard time relinquishing control.

¹⁷ Moses' father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good. ¹⁸ You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone. 

So, if what Jethro was speaking to Moses was not clear enough, Jethro says very plainly, “What you are doing is not good.”  He warns that Moses would wear himself out as well as the people if he continued to bear the burden alone.

Because it was not only about where they were at this present time, but where they were going.  They were on their way to the promised land, and they would need Moses to be in good health to lead them there.  Had Moses continued to do as he did, the people would have either loss hope or been highly frustrated in the justice system which places the emphasis on one man.

Jethro has further instructions for Moses.

¹⁹ Now obey my voice; I will give you advice, and God be with you! You shall represent the people before God and bring their cases to God, ²⁰ and you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do.

Basically, Jethro tells Moses that he can still do the things that he was doing:

• He could still answer any questions that the people had regarding the faith
• He could still explain the laws of God to those who were enquiring but as a warning
• He could still inform them of the will of God for their lives
• He could still make sound judgements when controversies arose but he must bring the cases before God instead of deciding the case on his own.

with one major exception.

 ²¹ Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. ²² And let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. ²³ If you do this, God will direct you, you will be able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace.”

Jethro encourages Moses to look for trustworthy, able men to help bear the burden of the people.  These would be the very ones he had just accused of standing around.  There were able men around Moses who were standing around, you can say they were on the sidelines.

It was Moses’ responsibility to be useful himself, but also to make those around him useful as well. Jethro tells Moses to have these chiefs divided into different rankings. 

Some were to be entrusted with ten, others fifty, others a hundred, and even others a thousand.  But this way more needs would be met,which meant less people being frustrated.  This also relieved Moses of the burden of all the people, it also gave opportunity for those on the sidelines to get into the game.

Just to do some quick math which may not be totally accurate but gives us an idea of how many people we are talking about.

In Numbers 11 Moses is said to be numbered among 600,000 men who were traveling on foot from Egypt.  These were able bodied men who were military age.  According to bible scholars there were approx.2.4 million people including women and children.

But just as an example lets use the number of men that is given to us in the book of numbers 600,000.

600,000 ÷ 1000 =               600 chiefs of thousands

600,000 ÷ 100=                   6000 chiefs of hundreds

600,000 ÷ 50=                      12000 chiefs of fifties

600,000 ÷ 10=                      60,000 chiefs of tens

Total of 78,600 which is still only three percent of the entire population.  But there was at least 78,600 able men who were standing around on the sidelines when they could have been helping the man of God carry the burden of the people. 

They all loved God, they were trustworthy, hated bribes had the ability to be used, but they were sitting on the sidelines.

I preach this message because many of you love the Lord, you have God given abilities, your able to help bear the burden but instead choose to stand around on the sidelines while others do the work.

We are having the most difficult time finding other van drivers and nursery and children’s church workers.  We are thankful for the faithful few who volunteer, but it has been the faithful few carrying the burden of the whole team. We are not looking to burn anyone out.  If you have a baby in nursery then you should consider serving one Sunday or a Wednesday out of every month in the Nursery.

If you like getting to know people and are over the age of 25 you should consider driving a vanfor us One Sunday or even one Wednesday out of the month.  There is no reason why my wife or I should be driving vans on a Wednesday night.  But we have to because no else has stepped up.

The truth is, we have many dreams that we want to accomplish here on the east side.  Acquiring the rest of the complex, Starting a school, a restaurant, homeless ministry, medical center, so forth and so on.  But we are maxed outas far as what we can do.  Like Moses if we continue to do everything ourselves, we will burn out.

We need you to play your partand get off the sidelines.

²⁴ So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said. ²⁵ Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. ²⁶ And they judged the people at all times. Any hard case they brought to Moses, but any small matter they decided themselves. ²⁷ Then Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went away to his own country.

As Moses listened and heeded to the voice of his father-in-law my prayer is that you too will listen and heed the voice of your pastor and help bear the burden of the people.

One way that we have lightened our responsibilities is by turning over Amplify which is our college ministry over to Noris and Joliet.  They chose to get off the sidelines and do something with the abilities that God has given them. 

They want to make a difference in the lives of the young adults here at Hope Community and we are honored to have them on our team.

Some of you serve faithfully and we appreciate all that you do. However, many are standing around the sidelines when you were called to do something for the advancement of the kingdom of God.

This is your church to. Let’s pray!