Welcome to Resurrection Parish, whether you join us week in and week out, or are joining us for the first time, whether here at our Holy Name campus, or if you are joining us online through our live-streaming service. This is the fourth week of our summer message series, “Moses: Lifelong Journey of Faith.” Moses is one of the most important of the Old Testament figures. While he lived nearly 3500 years ago, we are discovering that he can still teach us valuable lessons for our own faith journey.

During the first week Moses taught us that gratitude is the foundation for greatness. Moses should have been killed when he was a baby, or at best joined the rest of the Israelites as slaves in Egypt. Through remarkable circumstances he was saved from that fate, and raised in the household of Pharaoh.

Two weeks ago we found Moses, having escaped from Egypt, had settled into a good, routine life in the country of Midian. He was married, working as a shepherd, and had become a father. An encounter with God in the Burning Bush, shook him out of routine life. While he wanted the Israelites to be freed from slavery, when God told him to go to Pharaoh, Moses made a bunch of excuses. From that experience we learned while our “limiting beliefs” will try to stop us from acting, if we listen to God’s “liberating truths” we will be able to move forward in following God’s plan for us.

Last week was filled with a lot of action and drama. Moses arrives back in Egypt, and after meeting with the Israelite elders, he goes to Pharaoh and asks him to let the Israelites go. Pharaoh says no, God sends a plague, Pharaoh agrees, the plague is ended through Moses’ prayer, and then Pharaoh reneges, so God sends another plague – ten in all, with the final one being the death of all the first born. Pharaoh agrees after the tenth plague, and Moses starts leading about 1 million Israelites out of Egypt into the wilderness, led by God to the Promise Land. Last week we ended with Pharaoh reneging again, sending his army after the Israelites where they seem to trap them against the Red Sea. But God commands the Israelites to move forward, and He parts the Red Sea for them. From this we learned that God rewards people who move forward, taking the next step, and trusting in Him to act.

From the drama of last week, this week we are turning to the more mundane. The Israelites are following God through the desert. There is a point when they grumble and complain because they have no food, and God provides them manna, the bread from heaven. The Bible tells us that the Israelites travel by stages as the Lord directed, meaning that they would travel for a while, maybe a week or two, and then they would pitch their tents to stay at a place for a while to rest. During this time, Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law meets him, bringing Moses’ wife and two sons. Having heard what God had done in Egypt for the Israelites, Jethro, who was a priest of Midian, comes to believe in the Lord, the God of Israel.

Then Exodus tells us, “The next day Moses sat in judgment for the people, while they stood around him from morning until evening. When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he asked, ‘What is this business that you are conducting for the people? Why do you sit alone while all the people have to stand about you from morning till evening?’ Moses answered his father-in-law, ‘The people come to me to consult God. Whenever they have a disagreement, they come to me to have me settle the matter between them and make known to them God’s statutes and instructions.’” (Ex 18:13–16). 

So each day there is a long line of people waiting to see Moses. This week I went to Motor Vehicles to renew my drivers’ license. The line of people was out the door and around the parking lot, TWICE. There was no way I was going to wait in that line, and that is what some of the Israelites must have felt like waiting to talk with Moses. Moses thinks it is his job not only to tell the people what the Lord is telling them to do (and not do), but to solve their other problems.

Jethro, who has some years of wisdom, tells him, “What you are doing is not wise, … You will surely wear yourself out, both you and these people with you. The task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone” (Ex 18:17–18). Jethro is worried that his son-in-law is going to burn himself out. While his intention is great, it is too much for one person to do ALONE. Besides, Jethro realizes that the people are also going to start to get frustrated by waiting, and like people waiting in the line for Motor Vehicles, they will start to grumble and complain.

Now some people might say, “I’d rather burn out than rust out.” Well, either way you are out. And who said there were only two options. If we want to achieve anything worthwhile, we need to last and go at a sustainable pace and take on what we can handle.

Moses has fallen into a trap of thinking it all rises and falls on him. If it is going to be, it up to me. At this point of the story, Moses doesn’t seem burdened by it, but Jethro who has a little more experience, a little more seasoning, sees that if Moses continues at this pace, it will not be sustained. 

So Jethro gives Moses some advice, “Now, listen to me, and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. Act as the people’s representative before God, and bring their disputes to God. Enlighten them in regard to the statutes and instructions, showing them how they are to conduct themselves and what they are to do. But you should also look among all the people for able and God-fearing men, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain, and set them over the people as commanders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. Let these render decisions for the people in all routine cases. Every important case they should refer to you, but every lesser case they can settle themselves. Lighten your burden by letting them bear it with you! If you do this, and God so commands you, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people, too, will go home content.” (Ex 18:19–23). 

How does Moses respond to this? He could have gotten all DEFENSIVE. He could have said to Jethro well that is easy for you to say but I can’t get anyone to help me. He could have been PRIDEFUL and said, look I’m the only one that can do this job. No one else is as capable as me. Or he could have POWERED UP and said, “Who do you think you are to tell me how to do my job?” That’s what would have happened with a leader who has a huge ego or large amount of pride.

However Moses is meek. He is humble. He is willing to listen and learn. When you listen, you learn and you grow. And not only do you benefit but so do all the people you lead. 

Summer, especially July, is a great time to evaluate our pace of life and the burdens. When it comes to your life, are you trying to carry a burden that is too great for you? Are you trying to do life all alone? With your kids, do you feel like you have to solve all of their problems? At work are you assuming responsibility for everything?

This week, honestly look to see if there is something that you need to delegate in your life. Part of leadership is actually learning to give away responsibilities to others – not just tasks but responsibilities. Being a good parent means passing on responsibilities to our kids. 

Part of the reason we don’t delegate is because we think it is easier to do it ourselves. However, leadership is about getting things done through other people. 

Start with this question: if you could get anything off your plate, what would it be? If you could delegate one task or responsibility, what would it be? Delegate to whom? Maybe it is to your son or daughter, maybe to you spouse. IF YOU DON’T KNOW TO WHOM YOU SHOULD DELEGATE THEN ASK GOD FOR THE GRACE TO KNOW WHO IT SHOULD BE. Some quick advice on delegation: Spend time, be patient, and visualize the desired result. Move from being a doer to a delegator.

Second, are you trying to do life all alone? Is one of the reasons your load is too heavy is that you are trying to do life all by yourself? Make sure you are not doing life alone. One of the reasons why I have been promoting small groups is because I don’t want anyone to have to do life alone. We have been created to do life together. If you find that you have weight that is too heavy for you, maybe it is because you are trying to carry those burdens all by yourself. Consider joining a small group. You may think: I don’t have time on my schedule, I’m already too burdened. The reality is that you feel overburdened because you are all alone.