SAGE ADVICE

[Exodus 17:8 - 18:27]

          Introduction to the Scriptures: As you see what’s happening here, the relevance is going to leap out at you. You will recall on Easter Sunday we walked with the children of Israel through the Red Sea, really a deliverance from death itself. We found them there, and we walked with them out of that place of slavery, but conditions are tough. God was providing for them, but, like us, they had that default mode of complaining that nothing was ever quite measuring up, and we looked at the art of complaining last week. Well God has provided for them in spectacular ways, and now He comes to their protection in chapter 17 as they are attacked. This is the first time they have had to face battle. Remember this is not a trained military group. These are a bunch of slaves that have just barely gotten together now and are finding their way through difficult times. They are trying to get organized, and we are going to learn something about that. Listen to God’s Word, beginning at Exodus 17:8. “The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. Moses said, to Joshua. ‘Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites.’” By the way, this is the first time Joshua comes up in the story, and he’s obviously been appointed as something of a military leader or a general.

[Continue reading Exodus 17:9b - 14]

          Footnote regarding, “Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered . . .” (Vs. 14) We know that among ancient peoples oral tradition was very significant. They memorized their history. They passed it along from generation to generation. A lot of what we know came from oral tradition. But particularly significant things happened that God wanted us to be sure to remember. So He says here, Look I want you to write this down. It is important to know that there were written documents as well and we draw on all of that for the accuracy of our text.

[Read Exodus 17:15 - 18:27]

          That’s a very practical chapter, isn’t it?

Prayer for Illumination – Father, as we look at your word now, I just pray that its application to our lives would be clear and we would truly hear your voice in all this and be receptive to it. Free us from distractions. I pray that our minds would be focused, we would be willing to hear, willing to assimilate your truth, willing to let it make a difference in our lives. We pray it in Jesus’ name, AMEN.

Message

          I know I shouldn’t be, but I am constantly amazed by the timely relevance of God’s Word. I plan my sermons, but they work out in ways I don’t anticipate. Most all of you know by now what’s been happening recently in the congregation. We spoke of it and prayed about it earlier. Some of it we anticipated and some of it we did not anticipate. West Side has continued for many years to be a strong and stable, healthy, growing congregation even in the midst of changes which have decimated many churches in our day. Part of our strength has been a capable and hard-working staff which was committed for the long haul. I have counted on this for a long time. I know this isn’t exactly what He meant, but I must confess that I’ve often thought of a very different application when God said to Moses in the wilderness – referring to his remarkable “staff” – “don’t leave home without it.” Remember, that was earlier on – make sure you take the staff with you. And I personally would not want to venture to try to do anything God’s called me to do without taking the staff along!

          But suddenly we find ourselves down by (count them) five full or part-time ministry staff at West Side. And those of us remaining find ourselves scrambling a bit to keep God’s people moving through the wilderness without reducing in any way our pursuit of the vision God has given us for ministry. Things are changing for staff; they haven’t changed yet in the program, although without attention things may begin to decline. A sane person (I trust we have some here) would recognize that this is a recipe for “burn-out,” but I think that as insanity approaches, it becomes less and less obvious to the one afflicted – speaking for myself is all I can do.

          Then, in the middle of all that, this week, very timely, a wrinkled, weather-beaten old desert nomad dressed in a tunic and cloak, and wearing a keffiyeh wrapped around his graying head, found his way right into my study. He was respectful and complimentary, but I could see his keen eyes were not missing anything. I guess I should not have been surprised. As it turns out, as unlikely as it may appear, he has been in the management consulting business for something over 3000 years!

          He wanted to know how things were going, and I happily told him about all the ways God has been blessing West Side. I told him about the remarkable people here, I told him about you, about the prayer support we get, especially in times of crisis, but he kept pressing me, and I guess I eventually began to complain – even though I know last week we all promised each other we were going to try stop doing that.

          So he listened and then he said, “Look, I think I can help. I’ve been through this before and I’d be glad to give you a bit of advice if you’re willing to take it.” And I said, I think I’m ready to take it. That’s when he told me the story I have just relayed to you this morning. He said, “What I’m hearing from you is the same thing I heard some time back from my son-in-law Moses, you’ve heard of him. He told me some remarkable stories about how God had delivered his people, sometimes in miraculous and wonderful ways. He told me stories about how God had led his people through some very difficult times and some difficult terrain, showing the way and lighting their path with a revelation of His glory and grace. He told me about how God had graciously and consistently fed his people when the world they were living in had very little to nourish them. It sounds a lot like your story. And he told me how God had intervened to protect his people when they were under assault.

          Then he said, “All that was great, but perhaps a bit misleading. Just because God delivers you, directs you, sustains and protects you, doesn’t mean you don’t have to be wise and conscientious about how you go about His business. There are good ways to do this and there are foolish ways to do this. God is generous to a fault, but He doesn’t put any of his children on welfare, if you know what I mean. It may get you elected, but it’s a dead-end policy to lead your people to believe that somebody, somewhere is going to take care of all your needs without you having to do anything about it. On the contrary, God expects us to step up and learn how to be wise and responsible with the resources and the opportunities He gives us.”

          “It starts, of course, with prayer,” he said; and then he told me the story about the attack of the Amalekites which we just read in Exodus 17. The Amalekites were descendants of Esau. You remember him from the story in Genesis, Jacob’s brother, so they were related to the Israelites, but that had been centuries back and they had lost touch with and had no respect for Israel’s God. This confrontation probably took place in what is known today as the Wadi Feiran, which some of us will be visiting in a few weeks. It’s a great place. We will see why the place was so important to both the Israelites and the Amalekites, since it is a large oasis in the desert with rare grazing land for flocks and herds in the midst of a very arid place, and the Amalekites were not too thrilled that this group of folks had just moved into their territory.

          What is essential to note about this battle is that when Moses stood at the top of the hill overlooking the battlefield – incidentally (I have to throw this in) with his staff prominently displayed – and held his hands in the air in prayer (that was the important thing), the battle went well for the Israelites. Any time he lowered his hands, however, the advantage went to the opposition. Moses himself explains what this was all about in the last verse (16) of chapter 17. He says, “hands were lifted up to the throne of the LORD.” In other words, as long as God was being petitioned in prayer, the advantage was with His people. Whenever that prayer faltered, they lost their advantage.

          Now I don’t think this even requires a whole lot of interpretation. It think we can see the application of it for us – as long as God was being petitioned in prayer the advantage was with His people; whenever that prayer faltered they lost their advantage. That is a pretty significant, and potentially scary, challenge for us in the church. It would be a good thing for us to remember that image of Moses on the hill, not only praying, but with Aaron and Hur prominently supporting him in prayer when he became exhausted. We are all pretty good about saying, “I’ll be praying for you.” But the advantage is not in the intent to pray. The advantage is in the actual, sometimes exhausting, hard work of prayer, of really getting on your knees and doing it.

          Well, that was the foundation for what they were about to do. The word about the Israelite breakaway from Egypt and her successful clash with these Amalekites would have spread rapidly around the Sinai peninsula. Jethro, somewhere on the far side of the desert had heard about it. Somewhere along the line, shortly before or after their escape from Egypt, Moses had apparently sent his wife and young family back home to his father-in-law, perhaps for their protection, I think perhaps because he felt like he was too busy to be very effective as a husband and father right then. Whatever his reasons, hearing of the remarkable success of the venture so far, Jethro decides to bring the family (after all, they are your responsibility, Moses, no matter how busy you think you are) and comes to visit him. And that’s where this great chapter 18 begins.

          He catches up with him, verse 5 tells us, “where he was camped near the mountain of God.” That would be Mt. Sinai. Likely Jethro knew Moses’ destination, because, you might remember, God had told Moses before he left for Egypt that when the children of Israel gathered at Mt. Sinai to worship (which seemed an impossibility at the time), he would know that God’s hand had been in all this. In any case, even without modern means of communication, you can believe that everyone living in that peninsula, everyone living in the area was well aware of the movements of this large crowd of people. So Jethro knows where to find Moses, and he sets out to do so.

          The account of their meeting which begins in verse 7 just rings true if you know anything about those middle-eastern customs. We can imagine the meeting of these two men, not only in-laws, but each now a chieftain in his own right, would have been just like what we see described here, and there’s something that just draws you into that description in the Bible. The desert culture with its all of its customs and its hospitality is on full display here. As the older man, Jethro approaches, Moses comes out of his tent to greet him, bows low, and the two men grip each other by the shoulders and give each other a kiss on either cheek. We see it happen even today. Moses then escorts his father-in-law out of the sun and into the relative coolness and shade of his tent and the activities of the rest of the day and the evening commence.

          I have been personally greeted in just such a bedouin tent in the Jordanian desert, and there is still today a fixed and sincere protocol to those meetings no matter who you are. Guests are invited to sit on colorful woven wool rugs around a small fire burning in a pit just inside the entrance. In our case there was a blackened pot of water heating over the fire and our host used a form of mortar and pestle to beat out and crush some coffee beans. He did this with a wonderful percussive rhythm, and I thought, forget my little electric one; I want to figure out how to do this. The women meanwhile baked flat bread on a dome-shaped vessel over the fire, as we were entertained by their generosity.

          When we had been served, the stories began as we sat there on our rugs around the fire, and what grand stories they were! Here, of course, Moses had no shortage of stories to tell his father-in-law (we’ve gotten a glimpse of at least a few of them), stories of their spectacular deliverance and survival in the desert, no doubt with fascinating and incredible details now long-forgotten. I would love to have been there, just listening in.

          Jethro, we are told, was delighted to hear it all, and we can only imagine sitting outside the tent in the gathering darkness as the brilliant stars began to appear overhead in the desert sky, listening to those low voices, punctuated by great bursts of laughter and expressions of delight and amazement as the stories went on and on though the evening. The last time a group of West Siders were gathered on the flanks of Mt. Sinai, due to a problem at the border we arrived about 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning. We stepped out under a pure, black sky, no moon but blazing with thousands of stars. I expect it must have looked just like that when these two weather-beaten men finally rolled up in their woolen blankets to get a bit of well-deserved sleep before the morning sun tipped the mountain in gold, as we also were privileged to witness.

          But this was not only an experience of getting together and sharing stories, this turns out to be a life-transforming moment for Jethro, who you will recall was a priest, perhaps the high-priest, of Midian. Now the people of Midian worshiped a variety of local gods, and Jethro must have done that as well. Nothing in their religion, however, could begin to compare with the unmistakable sovereignty of this God whom his alien son-in-law, Moses, had introduced him to, this Yahweh, the God who is, as we explored earlier. And Jethro, hearing the stories, seeing the hand of God, professes his own belief in Yahweh as the God of gods, offers burnt offerings in worship, and joins the elders and Moses and Aaron in a great feast which was intended to celebrate their communion with this God who had adopted them as His children, a forerunner of our own communion services.

          These were grand moments, and no one could deny that God was powerfully at work among the children of Israel. He had rescued them from great danger, He had led them in the wilderness, and He had provided for all their needs. But for all that, they still had to get through the demands of each new day. God has delivered you also. He has provided for your needs, He has led you, but you still have to get through the demands of each new day, don’t you? Individually, as families, and as a congregation. That happens here too. The Bible is totally realistic. So the next morning Moses went back to work, and the old desert sage just watches. As you can imagine, there had to be scores of decisions to be made every day about the community and its survival there in the desert. Issues, conflicts and disagreements between the people would have been constantly arising. And think about this, the logistics of maintaining a rather large, mobile urban center under such circumstances defies the imagination! There have to be food services, sanitation, animal husbandry, security issues, health services, priestly duties, military preparation, judicial disputes – you name it – all of which have to be administered and communicated effectively to the group, so everybody knows what page they are on. The survival of the community depends upon all this organization.

          And Moses, who’s in charge, is good. He is in touch with God and the people respect his judgment, even if they spend a lot of time complaining about him. My guess is he probably thought he was impressing his father-in-law. We all kind of want to impress our fathers-in-law. So here he is, rushing about single-handedly, doing all this stuff, improvising as he goes. Everybody’s coming to him. He’s attempting to meet the needs of the entire community.

          But Jethro was not impressed. I’m sure he was respectful, but at the end of the day he could not help but ask: Moses, what in the world are you trying to do here? Why do you think you have to single-handedly micro-manage all the affairs of this community?

          And Moses, coming to his own defense, says, Well that’s my job. I mean, people come to me to learn God’s will. That’s what God appointed me to do. Yes, it’s over-whelming, but what I am doing is indispensable to the community.

          You may think it’s indispensable, Jethro replies, what I’m seeing is that it’s impossible! You are not only going to burn yourself out, you are eventually going to disappoint all these folks. You are a capable, talented, and industrious man, but your very strengths are proving to be your greatest weakness. (How many times is that true of us?) Being conscientious is generally a good thing. But, he says, you are being utterly unrealistic. This is not only “not possible,” it is not good. Trust me, this is a recipe for failure.

          In an Agri-business management paper for Washington State University, economist Ken Duft uses Moses for an illustration of the pitfalls of an overly-conscientious manager. After describing the life of a harried manager, he writes this: “Moses was a fragmented manager. He believed that he, alone, was responsible for the movement of his people. Every decision affecting their movement, no matter how minor, was his to make. Every internal dispute was his to mediate. Every civil transgression was his to judge. Every administrative alternative was his to ponder and select. Moses soon found himself struggling with his executive workload. He had neither the time nor the skill to answer all questions, pass all judgments, and render all decisions.”

          If you like, you might look at an insert in your bulletin of Moses’ organizational chart. I want you to look at figure #1, Moses’ early organizational chart, and see what you see. I think it’s pretty accurate. Do you think it’s workable? God, of course, is the ultimate director. But after that, if you look closely, there are 17 different positions listed, and Moses has taken the responsibility for all of them. Of course, if you want something to be done right, you have to do it yourself, right? You know, for Moses this was not all that unreasonable, in fact perhaps not at all unreasonable. You remember what we said about Moses earlier. He is highly educated, far beyond anyone he is working with. He had both military and administrative training. He had vast experience in everything from Egyptian courts and culture to animal husbandry and wilderness survival. And God had been speaking directly with him, after all, not with anyone else, this whole time. Really, stop and think about this, who among all those down-trodden slaves could be counted upon to accept real leadership? I mean, they weren’t equipped. Moses is the guy. He’s got to do it.

          But Jethro truly is a wise man. He says to Moses, Look, your logic may be impeccable, but the fact remains that what you are trying to do is impossible. I don’t care how logical it is for you, it’s impossible. Your primary job is clear. No argument here. You do in fact need to be clear and consistent in teaching God’s will and God’s law to the people. That is what He has called you to do; it is what He’s equipped you to do. But after that, you have no choice but to, if you will, multiply yourself. Any good manager will tell you that. True, these people may not yet be equipped to discern the will of God on their own. This is something you must continue to teach them to do – that is going to be your job every day. But, in addition to that, you need to select capable representatives from among all the people – and (he defines his terms here) by capable I mean not simply skilled or teachable, although those are important things, but I mean primarily men of character – “men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain” he says in verse 21, “and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens.” It’ll work. Trust me.

          It is really the same principle which informs the early church about the sorts of people they are to select for leadership. You know the early church started with the same thing. These people weren’t schooled. This was all brand new to them. But God’s word says you want to select people of character, who care about their relationship with God, people who are honest, the same kind of qualifications Jethro is encouraging Moses to look for in representatives of the people. There may be demands made of them which they could not have anticipated, there may be responses which they will not have learned, but if they are persons of integrity who truly desire to know and serve and to love God, you can count on them to get it right eventually.

          Jethro goes on to make a distinction between the decisions Moses is called upon to make, and those these appointed leaders are called upon to make. Essentially, when they are breaking new ground for which the will of God needs to be discerned, Moses is their guide, he has to take those cases. But once those principles have been revealed, he has to trust them to begin to apply those principles to their lives. Truly spiritual persons who are in their positions to serve and not to promote themselves and their own agenda (that is what the Nominating Committee, by the way, looks for) can be counted upon to apply God’s revealed word to the activities of the community and to their own personal lives.

          Well, to make a long story short, Moses accepted his father-in-law’s sage advice – that speaks well of him. He took that chart and erased his own name from all those original areas of responsibility he had felt compelled to do, and he began distributing the work load among the people. The apostle Paul would later compare such an organization to the human body, each member carrying an appropriate part of the overall responsibility. It’s ridiculous, Paul pointed out, to ask the eye to do the foot’s job, or to expect the ear to do everything. Only as every part of the body works together under the direction of the Head – Jesus Christ for us, under the direction of God’s revealed truth – only then can the body function effectively at all.

          So that’s where Jethro left me this week as well, as the final verse of our text says, “to return to his own country.” But his sage advice is just as relevant today as it was over 3000 years ago. His counsel is in fact deeply spiritual, but its great value for us is that it is also immensely practical. Spiritual and practical don’t have to be contending with each other, and it is where we are today. We have deep and important spiritual concerns to address and very real practical concerns to address

          Some serious spiritual discernment is going to be required in the selection of capable and effective leaders for this congregation to carry us into the future. But the bottom line is, of course, that none of us can be trying to fill in all the blanks. The responsibility needs to be shared and accepted broadly throughout the entire congregation if we are to survive let alone to thrive. A handful of leaders cannot even begin to carry the responsibility for the care and feeding of this congregation let alone our call to minister to the community around us and to the world. Every one of us needs to be asking the question, “What is my responsibility? What is it that I can contribute?” It will certainly be, I can promise you this, it will certainly be diligent and unflagging prayer as in the first event we looked at. Remember, without that support, the advantage quickly devolves to the Enemy. But in addition there are a myriad of boxes to be filled in on our organizational chart as well, and if one or two or a half dozen names start showing up in most of the boxes, you know we’re in trouble. We need to have realistic expectations both for ourselves and for each other. God is certainly going to supply all our needs as He has promised, but it is going to be up to us to distribute them wisely.

Closing prayer – Father, there are times, I know, when you need to take us deep into our spirits, when your truths maybe are abstract – they just shape our thinking in deep and profound ways. There are other times when your truth takes us to very specific and practical day-by-day concerns. All of these are related and we are glad we find them and that we find them at the right times in your word. So I want to thank you for this passage of scripture that you figured out – I didn’t find it out – you figured out we needed it today, this week, and indeed we do. So help us to think seriously about it. It is not just an old story. It is truth. It is fundamental truth about how we operate, how we function, how we live as individual humans and how we live corporately together as your people. So I pray that you would grant us your wisdom as we seek to apply the truth of your word in our personal lives, in our families, in our corporate response to you, as a congregation of your people here at West Side, for you called us to serve, through Christ Jesus our Lord and the power of your Spirit, AMEN.