Connect

Guest (Female): This is Connect with Skip Heitzig. Thanks for joining us today. At Connect with Skip, we're passionate about helping you understand God's word and apply it to your everyday life through clear, practical Bible teaching. That's why we want to invite you to sign up for Pastor Skip's free weekly devotional. You'll receive biblical encouragement, ministry updates, and information about upcoming resources, all delivered right to your inbox. Sign up today at connectwithskip.com. That's connectwithskip.com. Now, here's today's message from Pastor Skip Heitzig.

Skip Heitzig: We're looking at characters in the Bible that are typically overshadowed by major personalities, and because of that, these are overlooked individuals. The first week, we looked at a guy by the name of Baruch, who was the scribe of the prophet Jeremiah. Last week, we looked at the unnamed woman named the Shulamite bride, that's what we name her, that's what we call her, but she had an actual name, the wife of Solomon. Today, we look at somebody in the book of Exodus, chapter 18, named Jethro.

So, turn in your Bibles to the second book of the Bible, that is the book of Exodus, Exodus chapter 18. Now, I always tell people to open your Bibles to whatever we're looking at. That's because this is not a speech that I'm giving. This is not a talk. I used to have somebody come up to me and go, "That was a nice talk." This is a sermon, and in more particular, it is a Bible study. Because it's a Bible study, it's always helpful to have a Bible to study.

So, we have them available in chairs in front of you if you did not bring one, or you could maybe share with the person you're sitting next to if you don't have one, but it's always good to follow along, and we're in Exodus chapter 18. Now, I'm going to guess that you probably don't know anyone personally named Jethro. It's just not a common name. In fact, you may not even know of someone named Jethro unless you, like me, lived way back in the '60s and '70s and you remember this band called the Jethro Tull band from the late '60s and early '70s.

Or you remember the show *The Beverly Hillbillies* and there was Jethro Bodine, who called the swimming pool, remember what he called it? The cement pond. The cement pond. Or you are a football fan and you remember Jethro Pugh, an NFL player for the Dallas Cowboys. You may remember those Jethros. Other than that, unless you're a Bible student, that's not a familiar name.

But we're going to look at a guy by the name of Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, who comes and observes his son-in-law Moses in action and gives some advice that will change the leadership style of Moses from that day forward. The story in Exodus chapter 18 highlights the tendency that some people have to take on too much responsibility and not delegate that to those around them. They don't spread the load.

And I find this a tendency especially among Christian workers. Because Christians are often driven by guilt or the need to get the approval of others or meet the expectations of those around them. So, we as believers sometimes have a tendency to do too much, take too much on, and then what we take on, we worry about needlessly.

One of my favorite stories is about a guy who was like that. He'd always take on too many responsibilities and he'd always worry about them, and he'd look like he was burdened. He'd come to work burdened and worried, and everybody knew this guy just lived that way. One day, he came to work with a smile on his face. He had no load. He was very light-footed. He was very happy, and everybody thought, "What's up with this guy? He's never like that."

So, they said, "So, you're different today. What is it?" And he said, "I finally figured it out. I take too much on, I worry about everything, so I decided I'd hire somebody to worry for me." They said, "Really? You hired somebody. And what are you paying this said individual that you have hired?" He said, "I'm paying him $200,000 a year, but the way I figure it, it's worth it." They said, "Okay, but you only make less than $100,000 a year. How are you going to pay him?" He said, "Well, that's his first worry. That's what he's being paid for."

You might say Moses had a lot to worry about. He had a tall job order, big job description. He was the leader of, conservatively, a group of about two million people, the children of Israel, who had left Egypt. They're going through the desert, so he's leading a band of people on a 40-year road trip, a camping trip, and this group of people complained a lot, making it much harder for him.

I've often wondered if Moses had a theme song, what would it be? It might be "On the Road Again" because he was on the road every day just going from place to place. Or "The Long and Winding Road," perhaps. Or maybe more appropriately, "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" by the Rolling Stones because this boy had it rough.

Now, in chapter 18, where I've asked you to turn, Israel has just won their first battle against an enemy group called the Amalekites. They've won that battle. They're in full swing of getting God's provisions on a daily basis. He's providing manna from heaven like Panera bread, fresh-baked every day at their doorstep when they walked outside. Chapter 18, though, is a family reunion. His wife has been with her father during Moses delivering the children of Israel out initially.

So, Moses' wife and two kids have been with her father, his father-in-law. I'm going to take you to verse 6 where we begin our study. "Now, he had said to Moses, 'I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her.' So, Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, bowed down, kissed him, and they asked each other about their well-being, and they went into the tent.

And Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, all the hardship that had come upon them on the way, and how the Lord had delivered them. Then Jethro rejoiced for all the good which the Lord had done for Israel, whom he had delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians. And Jethro said, 'Blessed be the Lord, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, out of the hand of Pharaoh, and who has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.'"

I don't know what your relationship is like with your in-laws. They may be your out-laws as well as your in-laws, but this is a case where Moses has a very solid, good relationship with his father-in-law. Question is, who is Jethro? Well, we didn't read it, but in verse 1 of chapter 18, he's a Midianite. He's a priest of Midian. Now, you may remember that the Midianites were related to the Israelites.

In that, Abraham and his first wife Sarah had Isaac, hence the children of Israel, but she died and he married a second wife by the name of Keturah. And they had children, and one of the children's names was Midian, and the Midianites come from Abraham and Keturah, so there's a blood relation between the children of Israel and these people, the Midianites. That is Jethro.

Jethro comes to Moses in the wilderness, brings his family with him, they have a reunion, and the next day, we're about to read it in verse 13 where we're really going to start the story, and Jethro observes. He's a silent observer of everything that Moses is going to do. I wonder what it would be like if you had somebody tag along on your daily activities, watch how you do your job and give advice to you of how you could do it better.

Sometimes a fresh set of eyes can see things that people who are doing those things can't see. That is the case here. This is a section on leadership. This is a section, whether you are an executive, you're a boss, you're a manager, you run a family, you're a college student, you're a mother, this is about how to become a leader or shall we say a better leader or even how to survive leadership.

So, I'm going to give you five quick little tips on that that come from the text. These are things that in the observation, Jethro makes a suggestion to Moses. Here's the first: change your approach. Change your approach. The way Moses has been doing things up to this point, Jethro can see, are not optimal. So, look at verse 13.

"And so it was on the next day that Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood before Moses," just get this picture, "they stood before Moses from morning until evening." Stop there. Jethro can tell just by looking at first blush, this is a very inefficient way to do business. Moses, my son-in-law, has become nothing more than a problem shuffler. People are standing in line waiting to have an audience with Moses, the leader. And this bothers Jethro.

Guest (Female): You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Every day, friends like you help connect people around the world to the life-changing truth of God's word through clear, verse-by-verse Bible teaching. And this month, we'd like to thank you with a practical resource designed for the challenges of everyday life. When you give, you'll receive *Biblical Wisdom for Everyday Living*, a collection of four lifestyle booklets from Pastor Skip Heitzig.

Through *Pray This Way*, *Technicolor Joy*, *Unforgiveness: Forgiveness vs. Sweet Revenge*, and *Standing Firm in Unsettled Times*, you'll discover biblical wisdom for prayer, joy, forgiveness, and finding peace when life feels uncertain. We'll send this special collection as our thanks when you give $30 or more to support Connect with Skip Heitzig. Call 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com/offer. Now, let's return to today's teaching.

Skip Heitzig: So, all day long, he notices that Moses is trying to meet the needs of so many people, listening to their problems, social problems, family problems. I don't know what Moses heard. Everything from "He stole my sheep" to "My husband snores so loud it wakes the people in the next tent" to whatever. Now, I know you're not Moses, but if you have a job in an HR department or you're a customer service representative or you work for a hotline or a help line where people call in and they voice their complaints, you listen to this stuff all day long. You can relate. Not an exciting job.

So, verse 14. "So, when Moses' father-in-law saw all that he did for the people, he said, 'What is this thing that you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit and all the people stand before you from morning till evening?'" Very good question. What are you doing? Two questions, actually. First is a question about your priorities. Second is a question about your personnel. What are you doing? What are you up to? And why are you doing this all alone? Why are you making yourself the center that everything else in the camp has to revolve around? That's your approach. You need to change your approach.

So, look at Moses how he answers this, verse 15. "Moses said to his father-in-law, 'Because the people come to me to inquire of God.'" He feels pretty important. When they have a difficulty, they come to me and I judge between one and another. I make known the statutes of God and his laws. Good answer, fair answer, honest answer, but this is unsustainable. Might have worked for you in the past, but this is not going to work for you going forward.

It is unsustainable to have two million people and have them line up, those with issues, those with problems, to meet one person. Leadership can never be about one person because as soon as it's about one person, what happens when that one person is gone? Everything caves in. Also, just an FYI, settling petty disputes is not the best use of time for any leader. Any leader, anyone in leadership who will spend his or her time doing this stuff day in and day out, there's no wisdom in that.

They tried to do that with Jesus, you may remember in the Gospel of Luke in chapter 12. There was a large group following Jesus. He's out teaching. Somebody in the crowd shouts out, completely out of context actually, said, "One from the crowd said to him, 'Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.'" Jesus said, "Man, who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you?"

What I like about that is you have a guy giving Jesus a pretty basic question or issue, pretty easy to settle the dispute, not a complicated case. "I have a brother who's not sharing the inheritance with me, not dividing the inheritance." Jesus could have easily said something to those two brothers. He didn't even enter into the discussion. He said, "Who made me to be a judge or an arbitrator?" In other words, that's going to take away from my mission. I am not here for that. I'm here for something much greater than that.

So, we continue, verse 17. "So, Moses' father-in-law said to him," I love this, "The thing that you do is not good." I'm sure Moses did not expect that. I'm guessing Moses expected his father-in-law to put his arm on his shoulder and say, "Son, I am so proud of you. You are so awesome. You are such an awesome workaholic. You work so hard for these people, taking this burden all on yourself." He just said, "This is not good."

He speaks truth to power, and that takes courage to do that. Moses indeed was God's chosen representative. Moses brings that up. Father-in-law says, "Not good. Not a good approach." You might have something in your mind that you think it would be really smart if the president of the United States heard my opinion. I've got something that would help him and change his trajectory if I could only stand in front of him. Well, let's just say you could go to the White House and there you are giving him your advice. For you to do that would take courage. It might be the best advice he gets, but it would take courage for you to do that.

My mind goes back to an older individual that is now in heaven, but he used to be on my board of directors. And he would meet with me regularly, and he would ask me some pretty tough questions over lunch. He would ask me some personal issues, he would ask me organizational issues, and at first, I kind of got nervous whenever I'd have lunch with him, but later on, I came to relish those times when he would just speak with me and give me very courageous on his part advice.

So, verse 17. He says, "The thing that you are doing is not good." Now, notice his rationale. "Both you and these people who are with you will surely wear yourselves out. For this thing is too much for you. You are not able to perform it by yourself." Key phrase right there. You can do it, you just can't do it alone. You're going to wear out, you're going to wear them out.

Here's the principle: one person, no matter how gifted, can do the work of ministry alone. Likewise, one person, no matter how gifted, can do the work of an organization alone, a family alone, a group alone. It takes others. Moses is playing the part of the judiciary, the legislature, and the executive branch. He's wearing all the hats, clearly in charge. Father-in-law says two things are going to happen: you're going to wear out, you're going to come home in every evening exhausted. You're going to have no time for your family. You're going to be worn out.

But number two, the people are going to grow impatient. You're going to wear them out because they're standing in line all day long to see you and they may not be able to see you because the person in front of you takes a long time to unload. By the way, have you been into an emergency room lately? An urgent care? Isn't it funny that it's called emergency room, and I say that because you know what the average wait in the United States emergency rooms are? Three and a half hours. Emergency room. In Washington, D.C., the average wait is over five hours. There's something terribly inefficient about that system. Jethro can spot that with his son-in-law. He says, "You're going to be exhausted, you're going to wear them out."

Funny how some of us have this idea that exhaustion is next to godliness. We applaud the Christian worker who always walks around with stooped shoulders looking so overworked. "It's because I'm so humble. I'm trying to solve all the world's problems." That's not biblical. The secret, the key, is to manage your life by what is important, not what is urgent. I know you've heard that before, the urgent versus the important. If you've not read this little booklet called *The Tyranny of the Urgent*, you need to download that or get that little booklet. It's by Charles Hummel. It's a life-changing booklet, *The Tyranny of the Urgent*.

In that little booklet, he encourages us to manage our life, to make our decisions based upon what is important, not based upon what is urgent, because there's always urgent things to do. And here's his example: Jesus. Jesus lived around people who had urgent needs, but he always focused on what is important. So, after three years of ministry, Jesus could say, "I have finished the work you gave me to do." And in the little booklet, Hummel says, "Isn't that a strange thing for Jesus to tell his father after three years? I've finished the work you've given me to do."

Okay, he's healed some people, but there's more people that are not healed. He's saved some people, there are many more people who are not saved. How do you say after three years, "I finished the work you gave me to do"? And he says, "Well, there's two things. Number one, Jesus got up every morning and spent quality time with his father. Mark chapter 1, a great while before the day, he went to a solitary place and there he prayed.

And then he points out in John chapter 2, here's the filter that Jesus used in making his decisions: for I always do those things that please him. In other words, I get up every day and I evaluate life based upon what the father has given me to do, what my task is, what my primary task is, not what the secondary issues are." So, change your approach, Moses. That's the first important key.

Second is to instruct the people. Instruct the people. Verse 19, he continues. "Listen now to my voice. I will give you counsel and God will be with you. Stand before God for the people so that you may bring the difficulties to God. And you shall teach them the statutes and the laws and show them the way in which they must walk and the work they must do." Get alone with God, hear his voice, and then teach people, tell people what the Lord has told you. Teach people, instruct them his truth.

That's good leadership. A good leader will never force people to a bottleneck situation where they have to wait in line one at a time to get their needs met by one person. Jethro says, "No, as the leader, teach the entire community. Teach the entire community." Here's the principle: as your organization grows, whatever it might be, church, ministry, organization, high-visibility leadership will still be needed, but that role is limited and becomes more limited because you can only do so much.

Guest (Female): Thanks for joining us today on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we go, remember, your generosity helps share God's word with people around the world, bringing biblical truth, encouragement, and hope to those who need it most. And this month, we'd love to thank you for your gift of $30 or more by sending you *Biblical Wisdom for Everyday Living*, a collection of four lifestyle booklets from Pastor Skip Heitzig.

*Pray This Way*, *Technicolor Joy*, *Unforgiveness*, and *Standing Firm in Unsettled Times*. These practical resources will help you apply God's truth to everyday challenges and grow deeper in your walk with Christ. Give today at connectwithskip.com/offer or call 800-922-1888. See you next time.