Jump Start # 1810

Exodus 18:17 “Moses’ father-in-law said to him, ‘The thing that you are doing is not good.’”

Poor Moses. What a job he had. From morning until evening there was a line of people needing to see him. They had disputes and they wanted Moses to inquire of God about them. All day long. Day after day. Problems. Problems. Problems. Moses was sitting in the world’s first complaint department and there was a lot to complain about.

Our verse today, are the words of Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law. He saw what was going on and it wasn’t working. He knew both Moses and the people would become weary. He came up with a plan. Teach the people the laws. Then, delegate. From thousands, to hundreds, to fifty, various levels of judicial leaders who can do what Moses was doing. The big stuff, the tough ones, would still go to Moses. Great plan. Great lessons for us.

First, Moses listened to his father-in-law. That stops many of us. We wouldn’t do that. There was a relationship of concern, compassion and friendship. Jethro cared about Moses. Jethro wasn’t trying to undermine Moses, take over Moses’ spot or shine the light on himself.

Second, Jethro, not only saw that the current system wasn’t efficient, he had thought of a plan to make it better. It’s easy to complain. It’s easy to point out problems. Jethro had a solution. He thought it out, presented it well and Moses bought into it.

Third, Moses was trying to do too much. There are many modern Moses’ today, especially in the church. I’ve been one myself. Delegating is hard. It’s easier, faster just to do things myself. Elders can be burdened with too many trivial tasks that someone else can do. Preachers can fill the day with office work that really isn’t necessary for them to do. From morning until evening, people stood in line. Moses wasn’t getting anything else done. His time was tied up listening to the problems of the people and trying to guide them in the right way. That, too often, sums up the work of shepherds. All day long, listening to disputes and trying to put out the fires caused by them. No time for planning. Little time for shepherding. Disputes. Disputes. Disputes. The work is weary and taxing. Also, by what Moses was doing, it wasn’t equipping others to do what they could. Let go of the reins, and allow others to help out. It will make them feel needed, and it will allow you to do what you ought to. I’ve finally listened to my own sermons on this one. I found a great helper in our congregation who takes care of our Jump Start books. She puts them together. She fills our Jump Start station. She mails them out. I was doing all of that. It’s hard to let go, but one needs to.

Sometimes in the church we feel as if the only folks that can do anything are those with a title. One must be an elder, deacon or preacher to be allowed to touch anything and do anything. The apostles told the church in Jerusalem to find seven trusted men to take care of the widows who were being neglected. They put these seven in charge of that task and the apostles went on to do what they were supposed to do. Here, often lies the problem. We have trouble putting others in charge of a task and walking away from it. We have to oversee them. We have to micro-manage them. We have to keep our fingers involved somehow. When we do this, we have not lessened the work load. We have actually added to it. Now, we find ourselves managing people who were doing what we once did. Get out of their way. Let them do things as they see. Moses didn’t reject Jethro’s idea. It is healthy to create an atmosphere where others can make suggestions and bring in ideas. They see things that we may not. We may be so busy dealing with disputes that there was not time to think about a better system.

Fourth, our ideas are not the only ideas that work. That’s a hard lesson for many of us. How easily it would have been for Moses to say, “What I’m doing is working. We’ll just keep things the way they are.” It wasn’t the best way. It was killing Moses.

Fifth, we need those who recognize when a task is too heavy for one person. Many churches are seeing that now and are using two and three preachers. Decades ago, that was unheard of. Now, people see that the quality of work and the amount to get done is much better with two working side by side rather than just one.

There are some serious considerations that must be looked at before a church brings on a second preacher. Disasters have taken place because little thought was given to this. Hiring a another preacher should be done with the full cooperation of the current preacher. If the two preachers do not gel the work will blow up and both preachers may leave. The current preacher needs to be involved in the selection process. Many meetings and phone calls are necessary to see if the relationship between the two will work. How they feel about one another can prove to be a success or a disaster. Egos, work habits and what is expected needs to be worked through. How well they can work together is important. Are the two gong to be equals or is there a ranking order? What’s the purpose of the second preacher? Is he the future? Are the two preachers similar in age? Lots of things to be ironed out and talked through. When it works, it is beautiful. When it doesn’t, it’s ugly. Hiring another preacher shouldn’t be seen as allowing the other preacher to take off more and relax more. It ought to be seen as the church doing more than what it was before. New ideas. New hands on deck. More help. More people visited. More people classes taught. It’s about doing more.

When we fail to recognize that a task is too great, a person will either get discouraged and quit or break down from burnout. Too great. Too much. Too heavy. Those are the words of distress and the call for help. It shows in people’s eyes. Some will never say anything about it. Moses didn’t. Had it not been for Jethro, Moses may have just broken down. Jethro saved him. We need to see that in others.

The Jethro approach also works well at home. Poor mom feels like Moses. All day long she is loaded with housework, disputes with the kids, often, juggling doctor appointments, kid’s practice schedules and even working outside the home. She cooks. Then she must clean. The kids are off playing. Dad is buried in ESPN. Have the kids help around the house. Little ones can’t do much. But bigger ones can. It’s good for them to learn how to do things. Dad can help too. It’s good for him to do things. Teaching the kids at home, prevents laundry disasters when they go off to college. It helps them when they have their own apartment someday. It also helps mom out. It gives her time to focus upon things only mom can do.

The Jethro approach is something that really works. It all started when Jethro saw something, thought it out and made a suggestion. Be thankful for the Jethros’ in your life. Listen to them. They may be on to something.

Roger