Our unbiblical ideas of Ministry, and how Exodus 18 lifts the burden - Torah Portion: Yitro

The Exodus story is fascinating because for the most part, it seems to revolve around the leadership of this one man called Moses, who was miraculously saved by being pushed down a river, raised as a prince of Egypt, and then called out of Egypt, meeting God through a burning bush, commissioned to lead Israel out Egypt. And of course, he finds God on the mountain, receives the law of God, and meets the people as he makes right rulings between them. Moses is dealing with just about everything, big and small. And it is at this moment in the wilderness where Moses, father in law, Jethro shows up, who hasn't seen Moses in a while. Moses tells Jethro about all the things that God has been doing by splitting the sea and so forth. And Jethro is amazed and he praises God. He says, this God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob must be the one true God. Soon thereafter, Jethro sees how the camp of Moses is being run and how Moses is sitting there in the judgment seat, and everyone is coming to bring all of their cares and problems and disputes to him. And Jethro makes an interesting observation. He says, moses, you cannot continue to do this. You will certainly wear yourself out. And suddenly, Moses, father in law. Jethro's advice is taken to heart by Moses, and it changes everything regarding how Israel will proceed going further. You know what's interesting is it took someone from the outside coming into the camp with clean eyes to notice the problem that Moses, you can't do this alone. And so I want to submit to you today that God is walking into our camps. And just as he spoke through Jethro, he is now going to speak again through His Word, by which he is telling us the same thing. You cannot do this alone. For some reason, this lesson has gotten completely lost along the way in believing circles. People are left doing things alone. Let's look at Jethro's advice, and we'll see how through his advice, God lifts the burden not only of Moses, but all of us today. We see in Exodus 18:14, 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 until evening? And Moses said to his father in law, because the people come to me to inquire of God, when they have a dispute, they come to me, and I decide between one person and another, and I make them known the statutes of God and his laws. Moses, father in law, said to him, what you are doing is not good. Think about this for a second. We now are hearing a familiar phrase from Genesis. God made heaven and earth, he made Adam and Eve. He makes everything and he declares it good. Now Jethro comes and he says, what you are doing, Moses, is not good. Remember that the ingredient in the Genesis narrative of the creation that made things good for Adam was when Eve was created for him to be his helper, his help meet, and his Azerkonnecto. And in the same way Jethro says the same, that Moses, you need help, and unless you have help, it is not good. We immediately see Jether's advice lines up with the heart of our Father in heaven. We read further in verse 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. Moses met God at the burning bush. He lifted a staff and a sea was split. Moses had no lack of power of the Holy Spirit in his ministry, and yet he still needed help because God always intended for his people to work together. Now think about this for a second, Moses. Ministry work is solving these disputes among the people of Israel. And for us, it can seem like a far off, strange thing, but each and every one of us have a ministry calling and role this day, no matter what occupation, what profession you are a part of, you are called to ministry. It's interesting because when we think back in history, this whole idea of participation and what it looks like to be a a believer or a Christian has changed radically. As the Roman Catholic Church started growing in popularity and its traditions became adopted very widely. Even despite the fact that there was a reformation and subsequent denominations, many of the same traditions are still being held to as dear without us even realizing some of it. And not all of those traditions are good. In the Catholic model, we have the priest who is the one guy behind the pulpit, who is the head of the church. But not only that, he makes all the big decisions. He solves disputes, he gives advice, he visits those who are sick, and so forth and so forth. All very good things, including teaching the congregation. He is the ministry worker. And then there are a few deacons, perhaps a secretary and a worship leader. And then you have the people who come, they attend, they listen, they observe, they learn, they go home. And until next Sunday, it repeats. And of course, some of this is very good and biblical. God has called overseers, what we call pastors, into church leadership, to lead the flock, to be the shepherds. We should love our pastors. And anything I'm saying in this Teaching is nothing to detract from that rule. But this Catholic idea of a priest is not what the ancient model of the early church looked like. We do see that there were leaders, of course. We see this most evidently in the twelve apostles who Yeshua raised himself, who he called to lead his church. And of course, they raised up other leaders under them, and so forth and so forth. And this structure is taken from what Jethro instructed Moses to consider doing. And that's what Moses did. Moses created a structure of leadership we see in Exodus 18:21. 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, 50s, and tens, 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. If you do this, God will direct you and you'll be able to endure. And all his people also will go to their place in peace. So Moses listened to the voice of his Father in Law and did all that he has said. So we see a leader appointed for every thousand people, every hundred people, every fifty people, and even every ten people, even every ten people having a leader that they can go to for help, for accountability and to learn from. So, of course, leadership, I think, is well acknowledged within the body of Christ today. But then we see more explanation about the role of these leaders. We see in Ephesians 4:11. And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ. So now we see that one of the roles of these different offices, like shepherds or teachers or evangelists and so forth, are to equip the saints for the work of ministry. But hold up, I thought the only thing that a saint needs to do is go to church on Sunday and go back home and go to church on Sunday and. And go back home and, you know, get a teaching and learn and live a better life. And that's all good. But we see that they are actually supposed to be equipped not to just be a better person, but for the work of ministry themselves, that all people, from the moment that they say yes to Christ, they're saying yes to ministry. See, we see this so eloquently shown us when the Holy Spirit is poured out upon the people, because the moment the Holy Spirit is poured out, he equips the person who received the Holy Spirit. For what? For the work of ministry. In the last days it shall be God declares that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. And your sons and daughters will prophesy. Young men see visions and old men dream dreams. Why would we need to prophesy, see visions or dream dreams? Unless it's for the building up of God's kingdom, the work of the ministry. This is ultimately what Moses did. He had his carved out calling and we have our carved out calling to walk in the Spirit in the ways that God has called us. To think about how things have evolved in past times in many of the Catholic and even Reformed circles, where going to church and going home seems to be enough, then it's pretty fitting for a single pastor to be able to do everything because all there is to really do is to come and teach the word and meet with people perhaps who are sick and the typical roles of a pastor. But the moment that God's people are to be equipped for the work of ministry, suddenly one pastor cannot do it alone. That's why Ephesians 4 talks about all these different offices that have important roles. A working together in the leadership with multiple leaders, and then also to equip and raise up more leaders from the rest of the body as we all walk in ministry. But now what has happened is we are in this time and age where God has started to reveal his spirit and his truth to us in new ways. And many of you listening, you're hungry for it and you want to grow in it, right? And many of you are, you've seen incredible things. And now our pastors and our leaders are often left carrying almost all, if not all of the responsibilities to equip God's people, to disciple them, to hold them accountable, to ensure there's order, to teach, and so forth and so forth. And it's become too much for them to bear at times. Not because they do not enjoy serving God's people, but simply because a labor is in their hands that is becoming too much for them because we're still using and may I dare say unbiblical model where everything is laid upon a singular pastor. And yes, we need all of our pastors, but we all also need to start stepping up into ministry together to assist our leaders. There are so many of you with amazing God given talents. Many of you will use those talents to provide for your family, for a noble cause, to work for someone and to put food on the table. But I also would like to humbly ask of you Something today to consider. Leave some for the kingdom of God as well. Find a way to use your talents for Him. Give back some of the blessings that he has given you to him and to his kingdom. He wants to use you to bless others and he made you with such a valuable purpose in his kingdom. I would hate for the world to get all of the attention of your beautiful talents and for you to miss out on giving that back to God's kingdom as well. It's interesting how in the world we see this thing called a company, right? Companies, they are running the world these days, aren't they? People have gotten really good at working together in a company to make money. What about we get really, really good at working together in a body of Christ to build God's kingdom, an eternal kingdom, not a company that's fading away as we speak, as we enter the next age. Why do we struggle so much to distribute the work of God? It's often because worldly advancements for us have taken priority over advancing God's kingdom. And I understand, you know, there is a lot of distractions. There's a lot of responsibilities, even noble and good ones. And we need to work and we need to eat. But consider how you can also build his kingdom. When I was working my secular job as a UX designer, I also applied my skills from my first day of my job to help ministries. I spent my free time on weekends or on weeknights going out and doing outreaches, feeding the homeless or, you know, whatever way I could use my talents as a young man. And in fact, the channel you're watching right now, right, this ministry, Rise on Fire, it started naturally just out of that ministry that I was already doing while I was doing my secular job. Because this ministry just started taking more and more and more of my time until I quit my job and just did this full time. See, my philosophy has always been that I am full time ministry from the moment that I become a full time believer. You can't turn off your ministry even if I have a profession and occupation that is, you know, secular or whatever, because I'm a full time believer. I'm full time on duty with the ministry of my Lord and Savior, whether it's at my workplace with a co worker or a client, or whether it's making room on the weekend or after work, however you can do it. And whatever season of life, whatever season of life you're in, that's permitting you to do what we're all at different places in life with different responsibilities and God has Mercy and grace on all of that. But at the same time, think about, can I do something to sow into God's kingdom with my skills and time? And if I don't have time because I've got a few babies right now I'm trying to raise and I have a job and I have a wife and I have a lot going on right now, then consider sowing into God's kingdom financially. Have a life that is not just about your life. Have a life that is life giving to others. That is what truly brings true fulfillment for us. And so right now, some of you may have talents and you're not sure what to do with them. You know, maybe you're like, how I'm really good at painting rocks. How am I going to bless God's kingdom with painting rocks? Well, perhaps you take some time painting some beautiful rocks. You write a verse on it and you leave it somewhere on a bench or somewhere where someone could find it. So when they pick up that rock, perhaps they experience the Holy Spirit, perhaps they experience the knowledge of God, the fact that he's there, the fact that he sees, the fact that he knows whatever they are going through. See, we can think my talent is not valuable enough. We can think what I can do is not good enough for God. You know, it tears me up because I just experienced that. Our Father's heart hurts so much when his children listen to that lie that tells them that you're not good enough to serve God's kingdom with whatever you think you have, whether it's huge or not, it's not about that. It's not about what you think about how good you are. It's not about how valuable you think your talent is. God has given you your talent. Stop comparing it just to the guy next to you and give him what you have. You have purpose in the least. Even consider contacting some of your favorite ministries and ask them if they could use some help with something or start something in your local community. If there's a need that you see is there. And guys, I'll just be totally transparent with you here. On a personal level, I can kind of connect with Moses. I'm so beyond blessed and honored to have you watch this video or listen to this on podcast. I am beyond blessed with the ministry, the talents and everything that God has given me. I, you know, I have nothing that I could ever complain about. And yet I also at the same time, see the amount of need that is out there and understand why our Messiah said there is so much to do but so few laborers pray that the Lord would send labourers. And I'm asking the same, let us pray for laborers because there is not enough. Our pastors are at times overloaded, our leaders of all types of ministry are overloaded. And the need for ministry is only going to get more as the world gets darker. Just like Moses received the advice from Jethro to institute a working together of the rest of Israel to start solving the problems among them, I'm asking, let us consider doing the same. And it starts with you and your household. We here at Rise on Fire, we're opening up a new part time position for a graphic designer to help us with our YouTube thumbnails and things like that. So by the way, if you're interested in that, you can go check that [email protected] jobs but even if that's not your skill set, pray for us to be strengthened. Pray for laborers, just not for us but into all of God's field. And pray about how you can serve and reach out perhaps to other ministries. I'm also thinking about my friends at the Almond House Fellowship who just recently put out a statement regarding some of the transitions they're going through and how they would like to step in to do more and to fulfill all of the duties of ministry that they believe is been placed in their hands by the Father. But they would like to also provide for their families at the same time, which is a fair desire. And so all this to simply say remember to give however God lays on your heart so that those who are working in ministry as their occupation can devote more time to it without having to worry for what they will Eid or about tomorrow, or looking after their families and trying to balance it with a secular job. If they've been called to ministry full time, or if you cannot help them with your skills yet they are actively serving you, give so that they can hire more workers to help them. 1 Corinthians 9:8 Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the law say the same? For it is written in the law of Moses, you shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain. Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written for our sake because the ploughman should plow in hope and the thrasher thrash in hope of sharing in the crop. Remember, we are all part of one body of Christ and in giving we all together reap in the blessings after all. So I'm speaking for myself first and to encourage you all. Let this be a year where all of us will step forward together and follow Jethro's advice when he said, you are not able to do it alone in a season where the world lives in fear. God's people will not fear, but in faith. We're going to be stepping forward and we're going to witness his wonders, just like when Israel went through the wilderness and there was times where it seemed like they didn't have enough food or enough water. God always provided for his people, but we must show faith in Him. We must trust him with everything we have, whether that's our skills, whether it's with our finances, whether that's with our emotions, whether that's with our trials, whether that's with the confusions of life. Let us put our trust in him today and say, God, I want to lift myself up to you as a living sacrifice so that I can lift some of the burden off of another brother or another sister next to me that you have placed in front of me. My guys, thank you so much for joining me. I hope this teaching is a blessing to you. Consider sharing it and let me know in the comments about what you think. May the Father bless you, keep you, shine his face upon you, lift up his countenance upon you, give you his shalom and his mercy and his grace. I'll see you guys in the next video.