Exodus 18 Bible Study (Jethro's Advice) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Father, we thank you for tonight. We thank you that we can come together in this house, open your word freely, and receive from you. And, Lord, we agree with the psalmist who said, if your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction. I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have given me life. Father, we just pray a sincere request.

Lord, that as we sit here week by week that we may never fall into the trap of listening to your word, but listening with the wrong type of ear, listening for the sake of trying to find a new sliver of insight that we never heard before, listening for some point that maybe we've never seen in our own reading. But, lord, we pray that what we find today, that what we discover, whether privately or in the corporate meeting, would cause us to love Jesus, and that would manifest in obedience and sincere worship. And so, Lord, bring us to that place tonight, even with this chapter. Lord, may we be stunned by the wisdom of almighty God, leaving us in awe of the majesty and of the beauty of who you are through this word. We honor you and worship you in Jesus' name.

Please meet me in Exodus chapter 18. We are going through well, we're trying to go through the entire Old Testament, And we finished Genesis, and we're taking our time verse by verse, and we're here in Exodus. And for those who have been with us in Exodus, in just a couple of chapters, we would reach we're gonna reach the halfway mark in Exodus. Doesn't time fly? And we've learned so much.

And our prayer is that in this chapter, we would learn something as well. And that's the beauty of really just taking the word of God as it is and just going with the flow because we just don't know what the Lord is gonna teach us as we go chapter by chapter and verse by verse. And last week, we talked about this understanding of spiritual warfare in light of how the Israelites fought with Amalek and how that applies to us today. And it seems as though there's gonna be this continuation with the fact that the Israelites are not gonna move forward after they defeated their enemies, but there seems to be this intrusion. There seems to be this chapter that almost seems out of place.

And the purpose of this bible study, of course, is that you would take it chapter by chapter. Every week, you would read it so that you can stay in touch with what's going on, especially in light of this chapter because we're not gonna be reading together. And so I'm just gonna ask this question right off the bat. And you're reading with Jethro and Moses, just right off the bat without reading any verses, is there any observation? Because we've been given tools to know how to really interpret and dig these verses.

And so I'm interested to know right off the bat if there's anybody that's noticed anything particular about this chapter. Yes, Nadin. Jethro becomes a follower of Yahweh. Absolutely. That's a powerful part of this chapter.

Yes. Any other observations? Yes. So we see Moses taking advice, which speaks something of his character, which I believe is the main point of this chapter. What else can we say about this precious chapter?

Yes. That, Moses was testifying all that he has

Yes. That's a huge part. Moses testifies. Remember, this is before he converts. In fact, that's the reason why he will change in just a matter of a verse.

Any other observations? One tool to really grasp whenever you're reading any, whether Old Testament or New Testament, is to to really observe repetition. If you see something resurfacing over and over again, a specific word or a phrase, is because the author, obviously inspired by the Holy Spirit, wants us to know something of that one thing that's being repeated. And to my amazement, reading this chapter, going through it, I realized something, and maybe you've seen it as well, but I think it's so interesting why the Holy Spirit would wanna highlight this one phrase over and over. I mean, I counted I I maybe I miscounted, but from my count, I counted this word appearing 13 times in one chapter.

I mean, I understand if it's mentioned twice, but 13 times is it mentioned does anybody know what it is? Father. Father-in-law. The Bible wants to tell us 13 times that Jethro is Moses's father-in-law. And this is what we have to do with the Bible, have a conversation with it.

Why is the Bible telling me 13 times that Jethro is Moses's father-in-law? Well, keep that thought in mind, because I think the main point is how Moses responds and relates to his father-in-law. And the Bible wants to tell us, hey, guess hey, guess who's taking advice from? His father-in-law. Guess who he's listening to?

His father-in-law. Guess who's he's who's he's at peace with? His father-in-law, his father-in-law, his father-in-law. He wants to tell us something about Moses. He wants to tell us something about his relationship with this man, who is a nonbeliever, who is his former boss.

This is very important in light of what we're gonna find out about this man. And so now we read, verse one. Jethro, the priest of Midian, here it is, Moses' father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel, his people, how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt. Now Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, it's like, we get it, and we're gonna see this 11 more times, had taken Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her home, along with her two sons. The name of the one was Gershom, for he said, I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.

And the name of the other was Eliza, for he said the God of my father was my help and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh. Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness where he was encamped at the mountain of God. And when he sent word to Moses, he sent word to Moses rather, I, your father-in-law, Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her. Let's just stop there, verse six. These are interesting verses, and there's some application here already.

What can we say about what the Lord is trying to speak to us here? Any observations? Beginning from verse one. Verse one has something to tell us already. What does it say about the acts of God in verse one?

In In a day where there wasn't social media, in a day where there wasn't fan pages and all the other good stuff. Jethro heard what God had done. So news spread real quick about what God had done with the Egyptians, and he hears it and it does something to his heart. That's one thing. What else can we say about these verses?

Anybody notice something interesting about verse two? What is Jethro's main mission here as he comes to meet with Moses? What does it say?

What's that? To bring his honor to the

To bring his wife and his two children back to him. Should that not provoke a question to all of us here? What's the natural question? Where were they this whole time? Because we have no idea of what happened to them if this verse had not told us that they were gone.

And so we see that. Jethro is bringing back Zipporah and bringing back the children to Moses. And so what happened to them? Does anybody have an idea of where they went or why they went back home?

During the plagues, maybe he sent them.

During the plagues? Did he send them back during the plagues? Okay. This is a little bit too intense for my kids. They gotta go home.

Is it that?

I just think he needed to finish a mission. So he had to tell him to decide that he'd finish what he had to do, and then when he kinda reached his mission

Yeah. So did he have a mission to fulfill and he said, you know, wife, kids, this is very important. I need all my attention interpretation too? All we're given really is this verse, and the safest thing that we can do is go back to the last time we hear of Zipporah

and the two kids. When is the last time that we hear

of this this family? Two kids. When is the last time that we hear of these this family? Go ahead. The last time is in Exodus chapter four verse 23.

The last time that we meet Zipporah and the two children with Moses is at a lodging place in verse 24 of Exodus four. On the way to the Lord met him and sought to put him to death. Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son's foreskin and touched Moses' feet with it and said, 'Surely, you are a bridegroom of blood to me.' So he let him alone. It was then that she said, a bridegroom of blood because of the circumcision. You don't hear of the family ever again until Exodus chapter 18.

And so we can't make a concrete assumption of why they went back home, but there's two major answers to this or or different opinions with this. Number one is that what Phoebe said is that Moses let the family go back home because the mission was just way too intense. The plagues were way too intense. It's something that he couldn't really carry a responsibility with them and with the nation of Israel at this transitional moment. Secondly, what do you think the other one might be?

That's probably the one of the other assumptions or the conclusions that we'd come to why they went back home based on the text that we just read.

She left them.

She left them. And we were told he sent them back home, but why? Was it on good terms? Probably not. So what we see from Exodus chapter four is that they probably split up split off because of a tension that was there.

And Moses really needed to just give all his attention once again to this ministry, and he couldn't really have Zipporah and the children at this point. And so they maybe this is a possible answer left on bad terms, and here's Jethro bringing reconciliation to in some sense, bringing this family back to them. So those are two people that two different types of people giving two types of opinions concerning why he sent them back home. But there's still principles to this. What are some principles with the fact that his family is coming back to him?

Yeah. Isaac. Oh, that's number one ministry, isn't it? No matter no matter how God uses you, you never bury your family for ministry. Never.

And we've been seeing that a lot in Moses's life because it's something that we need to learn. Why? Because it's something that people do today. And so Jethro has this understanding that Moses, no matter where you go, no matter how big you get, no matter how busy you may seem to be, even with the nation of Israel, you still need to be a father to your children, and you still need to be a husband to your wife. And that is a greater priority than you leading an entire nation in light of biblical scripture.

Sure. Absolutely. I I also see something about the importance of unity in family in general. No matter what conclusion you come to why they went back home, whether it was on good terms to fulfill a mission or bad terms to, once again, fulfill a mission, the principle is still the same. That husband and wife must be in union and in unity, in harmony with one another in order to be effective for the Lord.

Because guess what? Marriage is bigger than you and your wife being happy together. I know that really strikes a nerve with North American Christians and even people in general that have romanticized. Can marriage be romantic? Absolutely.

It should be romantic. The Bible wants it to be romantic. But in all things, God is to be glorified, even in marriage. And so we see that there's this need for always praying, always communicating, always forgiving, always loving for the sake of God's glory. And so we see this now, whether it's reconciliation or re reuniting, that family is number one, that there is a need for partnership in order to be effective.

Because if there isn't that harmony in family, it's gonna be very hard for whether the man or the woman wants to serve god to do it. Sure. And we see the names of their sons and their important names. Look at verse six, though. And when he sent word to Moses, what did he say?

I, your father-in-law, Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her. What do you notice there? Look how look at Jethro's wording here. It speaks of this man's wisdom and his integrity. What does he say?

It's a subtle little thing, but it changes a lot.

Says that his wife collects her kids. Makes that distinction.

Okay? He

didn't say I'm coming to you

with my daughter. Yes. And that

you said something to your wife.

Do you see that? He didn't say I'm coming to you with my daughter and your kids. No. No. He says I'm coming to you with your wife and her two children.

There's an important aspect and understanding of marriage that Jethro gives us here. And here it is, that the alliance between a man and a woman in marriage elevates every other relationship including family. You understand that? That the alliance of a man and woman, the union that comes in consummation of marriage between a man and a woman is number one priority even above the respective families. That's the bible's order of how he has constituted marriage.

This is the understanding here. He recognizes her his daughter as Moses' wife. Is it still his daughter? Yes. But because of marriage, number one, it's his wife and Jethro recognizes that.

Does that does that make sense? This is important for us to understand. It's very important for us to understand because the bible has designed it to be that way. That family, my family say, and somebody else's family or your family and your wife's family or vice versa, no matter no matter how close you are to their families, no matter how close you might be to your parents, no matter your spouse is number one and vice versa. Not that you don't honor your family, not that you don't spend time with your family, but when it comes to marriage, the spouses must honor one another above all.

Even if families want to intrude upon that God ordained partnership. Why? Because the two will what? Become one flesh. That is not said of any other relationship in the world.

You're not one flesh with your family. You're one flesh with your wife. You're one flesh with your husband. And God ordained it that way. Why is that important?

Because there are a lot of people I'm not speak I'm just speaking bible here. Okay? I'm not not experienced. But you see some stuff and you hear some stuff. And the reality is, unfortunately, there are a lot of people that elevate their family above their husband's word or their family above their wife's word.

And that causes a lack of harmony, a lack of partnership, a lack of glorifying God when that is not met and that is not understood by each party in the place. And and we see that in in scripture. We see it in Titus two that older women, what do they ought to do in three and five? They have to teach younger women to do what? To love their husbands.

Right? What else? To love their children. And what else? To submit to their husbands.

Why? That they may not revile the word of God. Now guys, hold up. You're not off the hook. Jesus himself said in Matthew 19 that a man will leave what?

Father and mother to do what? I love the King James. To cleave to his wife. To be glued to her. And so it's this understanding where these two now come together and create a new nucleus, a new family, and they are to honor and respect one another even above the word of those that they grew up with if need be.

And don't get it twisted. It's not once again of dishonoring those that you grew up with. It's not about those things. But this might not may not make sense to you at this point in your life, maybe maybe at this single season, but later on, it's very important to understand, To cherish one another because God has placed that level of authority. That after him, man ought to love his wife, and woman, wives ought to love their husbands, submit to their husbands.

They have to lay their lives down as Christ did for the church. So we see this here. He recognizes Moses as the husband of his daughter, but says your wife. And we see that as he meets with him in verse seven, Moses went out to meet with his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed them, and they asked each other of their welfare and went into the tent. Then Moses told his father-in-law and all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, all the hardship that had come upon them in the way and how the Lord had delivered them.

From verse seven to the rest of the chapter, we're gonna discover something about Moses. We're gonna discover why Moses partly why Numbers twelve three is written about him. Does anybody know Numbers twelve three? Yeah. He was the most humble man.

He was the most meek man in what? All the face of the earth, which is funny because if you think Moses is the writer of that book, he wrote that of himself. But that's why we believe that the Holy Spirit is the ultimate author. And Moses is the most meek, and we're gonna see that in these next verses. Verse seven, he sees him, and what does he do with his father-in-law?

The Bible wants us to know, is this his father-in-law? What does he do? What's his posture? He bows. He bows and he kisses.

Listen, Moses has come a far away from being a shepherd in a wilderness where nobody knew his name. His ministry has reached the ears of those around the world. He is leading not sheep, he's leading an entire nation. And guess what? He doesn't let it affect the way he looks at his family.

He doesn't look down on his family. He doesn't separate from his family. He doesn't elevate himself above his family. No. He recognizes who his father-in-law is in his respective authority and humbles himself and says, he bows and kisses and he inquires of his well-being.

What a man. What a man. His father-in-law didn't come and he didn't send five servants and he had to go through this and that. No. No.

No. He comes to himself. He bows down. He honors him. And in verse eight, then 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 in the way, and how the Lord had delivered them.

So what else does he do here in light of Numbers twelve three? That wasn't the good and the bad. Sure. And ultimately how God brought good through the bad. But look at the way he's sharing the testimony.

The Lord did him.

Oh, look at what the Lord had done. He gives all the glory to God. He gives all the glory to the Lord. He says all this, all the things that you heard, Jethro, every single testimony, that was all God. That was all the Lord.

And that that's the way he shared testimonies. He never forgot to give all the spotlight to him. And Moses also does something which I think is very, very important too. What does he do? It's very simple.

He shares the testimonies of God. To who? His father-in-law. Who's his father-in-law again? He's a priest of Midian.

He's a pagan priest. And we have no indication that Jethro has come to see Moses to hear more about what God has done. Verse one is just a is a commentary on what we hear about through God about what Jethro heard. But from what we see, Jethro comes for what purpose? To bring his wife and to bring his children.

We don't see Jethro coming saying, tell me about what God has done. No. Moses initiates that conversation. Moses is the one who brings it up. Moses is unashamed of testifying to his father-in-law who God is, even though he's a pagan priest.

He shares the glory stories. He's unashamed. He's bold. He's straightforward. He gives God all the glory, which is amazing because he's not sharing things that are inappropriate for Jethro to hear.

He he doesn't share. You know those Israelites? You know those guys that you walk by? Man, they're a pain. I have to deal with these people.

You oh, Jethro, you gotta hear this. He did not make Christ unattractive. People go out and blurt about how this and that about their church and the people and it's like, you're talking to people that you don't even know are saved, and you're making Christ look totally unattractive. You're making his bride totally unattractive just because you wanna vent. Don't vent to Jethro in your life.

Okay? Vent to God. It is our job not to make it seem like nothing goes wrong. We don't go he explains trials and tribulations here, but he talks about how God pulls him through it. And so he's this fragrance of life to Jethro and it does something to Jethro's heart.

Yes. You had your hand up.

And you were you were talking about how he was testifying, which was what I was getting from. Do you think that he was in a way preaching to his father-in-law while testifying and he's saying so?

Sure. I think

he what he was really doing was giving God the glory for what he had done. And in the same in the same way, when we preach the gospel, when we testify of what we are telling people what God has done. Something greater than the Red Sea splitting open. Something greater than manna falling from heaven. Jesus Christ dying on the cross.

That's what God had done for us, and we should testify of that. Now how we deliver that is important. You go see your family at Christmas this season, don't get on the table and step on the turkey and preach to your family. Converse. Talk.

Look at how they did it. They come into the tent and they're having this one on one conversation. That's important. How we deliver and who we deliver and what time we deliver. And Moses had that wisdom.

And I just see here that he was unashamed of declaring what God had done. He wasn't thinking to himself, oh he's a pagan priest, he knows what he knows my roots, he knows where I come from, he probably doesn't wanna hear it. No. He knew when to share and it did something to Jethro. Is there anything else we can say about that verse?

He gives God all the glory and Jethro does something in verse nine. Jethro rejoice for all the good that the Lord had done to Israel. Wait a minute. He rejoices. He He rejoices at what?

He rejoices at hearing what God had done in and through Moses, in and through the people of Israel. He takes joy in it, which I find amazing. Because up to this point, Jethro is really showing a lot of character for a man who's a pagan priest. He really is. I don't know about you, but I can say, and I'm not trying to exaggerate anything, but a lot of time, nonbelievers have more character than Christians, you know.

He rejoices. You know the verse that says, weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice? Which one do you think is harder? It's not weeping with those who weep, it's rejoicing with those who rejoice. Oh, it's easy to put your arm around somebody and say, oh, it's okay.

I I

I know you lost that family member and to be sorrowful. It's another thing when God uses somebody and they're so excited about it and you're there listening to it. How does your heart respond? Does it rejoice with those who rejoice? Do you celebrate those whom God has used?

Or does your heart have a different reflex? Jethro rejoices because this is awesome. This is amazing. Praise God, Moses. And what happens?

The next verse. Verse 10. Jethro said, blessed be the Lord who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh and has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. Verse 11 is glorious. Now I know.

See, he only heard about what God had done, but here is Moses who elaborates and testifies himself. One plants another waters and God brings the increase. Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, because in this affair, they dealt arrogantly with the people. So he knows. He hears, and how will they hear if nobody preaches?

And how will they be preaching if nobody sends them? He hears, and in hearing, he knows. And when he knows does it stop there? Because a lot of people hear, and a lot of people know. A lot of people know that Jesus Christ is the one.

A lot of people know that Jesus Christ died on the cross for their sins. A lot of people understand that and hear that and get that, but it doesn't stop there. We are saved by faith alone, but that faith is never alone. Why? Because it produces something within you.

When you hear and know and it stops there and it doesn't change you, that's concerning because it changed him. Verse 12. And Jethro look what he does here. Moses's father-in-law brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God. And Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses's father-in-law before God.

So what does he do in response to what he hears and what he knows? He worships. And it's a very specific type of worship. He gives a burnt offering. And according to Leviticus one, what kind of offering is that?

What is that kind of offering? You put all of that sacrifice on the altar. No reservation. Out of all the sacrifices, the burnt offering is the one that requires every element of that sacrifice to be on the altar and to be consumed by God. And so he gives that kind of an offering.

In response to what he hears and what he knows, he says, God hears everything. He hears everything. That is the first response to somebody who truly hears and knows and wants to worship and serve this God. He says, here's my life without reservation. Here's every piece of this burnt offering.

When the burnt offering was given, it was given in pieces. So here's my mind, Lord, and here are my eyes. Here's my tongue. You have it all. Here's my heart.

Here's my affections. Here's my meditations. Here's my will. Here's my desires. They're yours, Lord.

Here are my hands at your service. Whatever you call me to do, even though I studied for something else for four, five, six years, it's yours. Hear my feet. Wherever you want me to go, lord, I'll go. I present every part.

See, the problem is people give a burnt offering, but they leave some part out. They leave their wallet out. They leave the tongue out. They leave their ears out. They don't dedicate these ears to listen to holy things.

They don't give their eyes, they don't make a covenant with their eyes, and God says, I want a burnt offering. I want every part of you. And until the burnt offering is laid, there's no fire from heaven that will come. People are wondering, why isn't there fire in my life? Why isn't there passion?

Why isn't the Holy Spirit consuming? Because when you read later on in Leviticus, the burnt offering all has to be in the altar, and then the fire from heaven comes. If you don't give every part, don't expect God to give all that he has. That's why you can look at a majority of Christians today that are frustrated, that are passionless, that don't have a sense of intimacy with God. Why?

Because they have a little piece of the altar. The burnt offering rather that's not on the altar. Until you give it how do I know? You know. You know when everything is given on the altar.

You know. You know there's no reservation. And you've heard this before. The number one question that you can ask yourself to know if you've really given everything is this. If God were to ask me for this particular thing, would I be able to give it up?

If you hesitate with that question, with a specific part of your life, it's not on the altar yet. That's how you know. He gives a burnt offering, but it doesn't stop there. It says Aaron and the elders come to eat bread with him in the presence of God. Now what does that speak of?

Yes. Fellowship and communion with the brethren. So you hear, you know, and what do you do? You give yourself on the altar. You put it all there.

And what else do you do? Now you come with the people of God, and you commune with them in the presence of God, and they ate bread. Don't forget Exodus chapter 16. They were eating manna. They were eating manna together, and we know what manna represents.

It represents Christ. They were eating of Christ, delighting in Christ, being sustained and nourished by Christ in community. That's important because we need to do the same. He does both. We can't divorce those things.

We have to be faithful in each of those things. My personal walk, but also my walk with the community that we eat of Christ together. That's what he does. It's a glorious conversion here. And now everything kinda switches.

I mean, it would make sense if the chapter ends here. But now there's a total shift into this narrative because in verse 13, it tells us the next day Moses sat to judge the people and the people stood around Moses from morning till the evening. 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 till evening? What's Jethro doing?

It's not a trick question. Right? I think everybody's I think everybody's scared. He's giving advice. He's giving advice, which I find great and I find amazing because Jethro saw something that Moses didn't see.

Jethro saw something that apparently a lot of people didn't see. And here's Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, his former boss, coming and giving advice to him. Remember last week when we were talking about generations coming together? We were talking about Joshua and Moses, how they came in marriage together in order to be effective for the Lord. You have the younger generation, you have the older generation, you have the younger generation filled with energy and zeal, being able to advance the things of God, and you have the older generation that does what?

Wisdom and guidance to be able to steer that energy into the right direction. Now we see it on the flip side. We see Moses as the younger generation, and we see Jethro speaking into his life. Which tells me something, that even if you're in your late eighties, you still have to be open to people speaking into your life. Even if you're at that point in your life, even if God has graduated you to the place of leading a nation for his glory, there are still some potential blind spots and you need people to be able to speak into your life.

He has counsel here. He has counsel here. The bible is rich with telling us about why we need counsel, especially Proverbs. Proverbs nineteen twenty, listen to advice and accept instruction. Why?

That you may gain wisdom for the future. Doesn't end there. Proverbs fifteen twenty two. Without counsel, plans fail, but with many advisors, many advisors, they succeed. Oh, it doesn't even end there.

When there is no guidance, a people falls or fails. But in an abundance of counselors, there is safety. Wisdom for the future, plans to succeed, safety. All in light of having people speak into your life. And people say, well, I am led by the spirit.

I have no need of counselors. Well, the same holy spirit is telling you you need counselors. He's telling you to get some counselors. He's telling you to find some people that can speak into your life and be open to it even if you're 85, wherever old Moses was at this point. He has this man speak into his life.

There's a blind spot. Moses is doing something that he does not realize and Jethro sees it, and so Jethro steps in and says something. And what does Moses do in verse 15? 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 know the statues of God and his laws. So stop there.

He responds to his correction. He responds to his advice. But who is he responding to again? The bible wants to tell us his father-in-law. Why is that important?

Because though we are to receive counsel and instruction from people, it has to be from the right people. It has to be from the right people. He has history with this man. He has history with this man was his former boss. And lastly, and I think the most important thing, remember, he rejoiced and celebrated with Moses.

That's a big difference. People that you wanna receive from are the people that rejoice with you in the things of God. It's kinda hard to take advice from people that are envious of you, or jealous of you, or speak against you. But find those that love you enough to speak into your life because they wanna see God's best for you. If you can't find those people in your life, pray and ask God for them because they are so useful.

But be wise in who you receive from because people have a lot of ideas, but guess what? They're not necessarily for your good. So he receives it, but he receives it from who? The Bible wants to tell us for the seventh time, his father-in-law. Somebody that he knew.

He answers and look what verse 17 tells us again. Moses' father-in-law said to him, what you were doing is not good. You and the people with you will certainly will yourselves out for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone. Now obey my voice, I will give you advice, and God be with you.

And what he does now is for the rest of this chapter, he explains does anybody know what does he do? What does he do? What's that? Appoints judges at different levels, thousands, hundreds, and fifties, and the smaller things would be distributed amongst those, and the heavier matters will be given to Moses. That sounds like pretty good advice.

And so Moses is listening. Moses is hearing him out. Moses is open to his instruction. And just just let's just go on a little side note here. Look at the type of men that Jethro gives Moses to look for.

What is it? In verse 21, moreover, look for what? Able men, this is the ESV, from all the people, men who fear God, men of truth, this version says, trustworthy, and who hate a bribe, hating covetousness. So there are four characteristics to look for. And what's amazing is, is that these four traits are for those leaders of thousands, hundreds, and fifties for all levels.

The same type of people. So it's not, for the the one that deals with a thousand, they have to have all four. But the one with fifties, I mean, it's not that many people, so they can be anybody, you know, whatever. They have bad character, that's fine. Yeah, that's fine.

They live unholy on the weekends, that's okay. You know, it's just 50 people. No. No. You wanna know how serious God is about even the littlest things concerning his house?

When it comes to Acts chapter six and people are wondering why people are not receiving service at a table, why there aren't waiters and waitresses, so to speak, you know what the apostle said? They don't say, you know, just find anybody. Just we gotta preach the word and pray, man. Don't bother us. No.

They said, what? Find men of good repute that are filled with the spirit and with wisdom. To preach, to serve tables. Nowadays, we're willing to just take anybody that wants to volunteer. God is looking for holy men and holy women.

Why? Because everything in his service, whether small or big, is sacred. And God Almighty wants men and women who are set apart, whether they preach behind the pulpit or whether they pass out a dish during lunchtime after service. I get uncomfortable. What are you talking about?

I'm talking the Bible. That God is holy, and he wants all his dealings with his house and his ministry to be dealt with holy hands. And so he says four times and this is amazing because these characteristics kind of follow through into the new testament. Able men, what do you think that means? It's very practical.

Able. Men who are able. I mean, I know that's not very spiritual, but it's true. Men who are able to judge. Men who are people persons that can listen and be discern different arguments.

Men who have that kind of attentive spirit, not just anybody. You know, the Bible goes to verse, first Timothy three and was talking about overseers and deacons, and and we think it's all about character. A major part of it is character. But you know there's one little thing that it says about those who want to be overseers and deacons, it says that they gotta be able to teach. Right?

And so he can be he can be an awesome person. He can be great in character. He can be holy, but if he can't expound the scriptures, if people can't understand what he's saying, then it's probably not for them. There's probably a different ministry for them. So there needs to be ability.

He says able men that can do this. Men who fear God. Oh, I love that. I long to see that on a resume application. Looking for somebody to administer, qualifications, you fear God.

Now it seems as though we're getting everything except for that. Men who fear God, why? Why is the fear of God important? It's the beginning of wisdom. Absolutely.

Well, you can guarantee this about a man who fears God, that if he lives wholly in public, he definitely lives wholly in private. That he's not portraying something for people. He's a man of integrity in the dark. When nobody sees him, he's consistent. He's the same person.

That's what you can guarantee with somebody who fears the Lord. Man who fears the Lord, a man of truth or a man who is trustworthy. A man of truth is obviously one who loves truth, who stands by the truth, but I like this translation, trustworthy, because that says something about electing somebody to serve, especially in a leadership position. What is that? They have to have a good reputation.

They have to have a good reputation. And a reputation is only known unless you hear from somebody throughout time. Right? First Timothy five, he tells Timothy, hey, Tim. Don't lay your hands too quickly on people.

And we think, well, it means don't pray for people too quick. No. Laying on of hands, one aspect of that doctrine, which is on the list in Hebrews then of Hebrews five, Hebrews six, one of those things is the doctrine of laying of hands. And what does that mean? Does anybody know what laying of hands means?

One of them at least? When they laid hands, they commissioned somebody to leadership or to mission work. And so when he's saying don't lay your hands too quickly, what he's saying is don't elect somebody to leadership too fast. First Timothy three verse 10, when he's talking about deacons, he's saying, test them first. Test them first.

Watch their life first. Before you bring them to that place, watch their life and let them prove that they're blameless. And so it's this understanding of trustworthiness. They're consistent with their character. The bible even tells us, don't bring up somebody who's what?

New in the faith. Why? Because they'll fall into the same temptation as the devil did. So wait. Let that person prove their walk with the Lord first before they come to a place where they do something and they can do more damage than good.

And lastly, they hate a bribe. Or they're not covetousness. They're not materialistic. They're not ones to alter the truth or alter a judgment for the sake of a little bit more cash flow. No.

People that love to honor God more than the comfort of their living. These are the qualifications that Jethro gives Moses. Moses loves the idea. Right? He takes the advice and they are assigned.

And we see in verse 22, it says, let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. Do we see that kind of aspect or that kind of principle in the New Testament? Yes.

Where?

I know it says that you bring you bring it up to this person Yes. But if they don't, bring two other people and then bring them before the church and then excommunicate.

Yeah. So we see that kind of a principle in Matthew eighteen fifteen. Somebody sins, that person who's been sinned against, go. Bring two others. No?

Bring the church. No? Then bring them to the place where they are ex communicated. So we see that idea. So that doesn't go directly to the person in charge, lest they be overwhelmed with small matters.

That's some pretty good advice. That's pretty sound. And so what happens here? Verse 23. If you do this, God will direct you.

You will be able to endure and all these people will also go to the place in peace. I'm gonna throw a little curve ball here just for the sake of see, with the Old Testament and when it comes to with narratives, you don't necessarily get concrete answers. Do you know what I'm saying? Let me give you an example. When Saul is hiding in the luggage or in the midst of the luggage when they're trying to elect him to be the king, people interpret that differently.

You have some people who say, oh, he's hiding and running away from the call of God. And you have other people who say, no. He's just humble. He doesn't wanna be in the spotlight. That's the the tension sometimes you feel with the Old Testament narrative, is that when you come to stories, it doesn't necessarily say like the New Testament, this is right and this is wrong.

Don't do this and do this. This is the curveball here, and I hope it produces discussion. Was Jethro's advice right? Was it good advice? My purpose here is to provoke conversation.

Why is it right?

I'm I'm just saying yes because I think he recognized that the one who's so dependent on Moses and he could recognize such as someone who's oldest he was, that when when Moses is gone, like, there needs to be people to take his place. So I feel like he has sort of, like, the future in mind as well. And and in a sense, maybe you could see that Moses is like he said, and he's overwhelmed by all these things that he had to judge over and and and rule over as well.

Sure. So he's looking into his future. Absolutely. Yes.

To add on to what Gabriel was saying, these people inherit lands and they they will have cities and, towns that will be separated from whichever. I mean, that didn't only make one place of, refuge city of refuge, but he would he spread them out throughout the land. So this is too

Easier. Yeah. He's seeing the burden. He wants to lighten the burden. Absolutely.

Yes.

I think another reason I see that it's good that maybe it wasn't Jethro's intention was that when Jethro asked why are you doing this, Moses says, will they come and ask me and I make known to them the statutes of God? But in doing this, there's gonna be a a lot more men who know the statutes of god that they're gonna judge.

So he's spreading what he's learned. Sure. Absolutely. Yes.

I think that because Jethro is also a priest and he already experienced, you know,

So you're speaking from experience. Sure. Yeah. Yeah.

Numbers 12. Moses seems to go through that again where he says I'm not able to carry all these people alone. The burden is too heavy. And God gives him the same advice, like, take 70 men and set them as elders over the people.

So we see later on in the book of Numbers where where Moses is overwhelmed and the Lord gives him advice about electing 70 elders to distribute the responsibilities. These are the reason why I'm doing this is because sometimes we can read things and just assume that it's right or we've heard things, and you wanna be able to know why it's right. You wanna be able to know explain why I believe this is true because you might have somebody else and say, well, you know, this and this and that. Right? And that's that's not something to be frustrated about.

That's something that's I I think that's great because it challenges to for you to explore why you believe a certain thing is true. Right? So is this advice right? The reason why I'm saying this is because there's a lot of silence here from who? God.

We don't see some instruction given by God. We don't even see them necessarily seeking God for instruction. It's just kinda between Jethro and Moses. Moses is there doing his thing, and it's Jethro who's suggesting that you're overwhelmed. Moses didn't seem like he was overwhelmed.

He was just doing what he was doing. So I'm just throwing these things, and those arguments were fantastic. The reasons why we believe this is good is because, once again, it's consistent with how the Lord gives instruction. We see how this is playing out for the future, and that's why we see here Moses responding. Moses listened to the voice, in verse 24, of his father-in-law and did all that he had said.

Moses chose able men of all Israel and made them heads over the people, chiefs of thousands of hundreds of fifties and tens. And they judged the people at all times. Any hard case, they brought to Moses, but any small matter, they decided themselves. Verse 27. That Moses let his father-in-law depart and he went away to his own country.

Jethro comes, he initial initially reconciles and brings his family, reunites his family, But I love verse 27 because it speaks of something else. It speaks of how in our lives as well there are people that might come in just to give us something to know. That God places people in our lives to push us a little further towards godliness, to push us a little further towards greater wisdom, to push us a little further into the right place to be effective for the kingdom of God. And we have to pay attention to those kind of people. We gotta be open to those even if it's your father-in-law, even if it's somebody that you've grown up with.

No matter where God takes you, the secret to effective ministry is humility. No matter where you go in life, no matter how much God uses you, remain open to correction. Remain open to instruction. Search for it. Long for it from the right people.

And in doing so, you will see where God will take you. Yeah.

I just wanna say that part of that, I guess, is you can say that this man just gave his life to the Lord.

Yes. And

he's essentially a baby in the faith, and he first thing he does is he gives suggestion, and I'm sure, like, I'm sure Moses was thinking about this, but still, like he said, he was humble enough to recognize that what he said was good.

Sure.

Absolutely. Yeah. You know, rejected simply because he was so young. Right?

Absolutely. I think that's a great observation. I'm gonna end with this new testament example and we're gonna close. Some of us have talked about this already, but does anybody think or or relate this story to any other new testament story about a man who was humble and allowed people to speak into his life in order for him to be more effective? Apollos.

Remember when we talked about Apollos? Very quickly, I wanna speak about this man because I think it's so, so significant concerning even young people that are zealous to serve God. So we'll turn there very quickly in Acts 18, and we'll close with these thoughts. So just to summarize, we have this Jew named Apollos. And look how it describes him.

We talked about this. We won't stay long on it. A native of Alexandria came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man. Competent in the scriptures, he had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus.

This is a well composed, well rounded individual, wouldn't you say? Competent in the scriptures, effective, fervent. He wasn't when he was reading the scriptures, it wasn't like somebody reading the newspaper. He was fiery. He had passion.

He had zeal. He was accurate. He had the right interpretation. And look what it says here. Though he only knew the baptism of John.

He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. Now look who comes in. Here's Apollosos' Jethro. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they heard him, they took him aside. And when they took him aside, they explained to him the way of God more accurately.

Who are Priscilla and Aquila? Tentmakers that at one point opened their house to be a house church, husband and wife that just loved God. And they see this zealous young man preaching, this one going and and accurately interpreting the scriptures with zeal and fiery passion. And they say, that's awesome, but he can be more effective. And they bring him aside.

They speak into his life. Now look at the result of him being open to these people. He could have been like, you're not in full time ministry. Have you heard me preach? I went to bible college.

That's so awesome of you. I'll take it into consideration, but no thanks. No. No. No.

No. He's open. He receives it, and look at the result of it. Verse 27. And when he wished to cross to Achaia, do you wish for God to use you more?

Do you wish for God to open the horizons for you to serve and preach the gospel more or for you to reflect the image of Jesus Christ in a different place? He wished to cross the Achaia, and look what happens. The brothers encouraged them and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. That is the result of humility. That when you have a teachable spirit, guess what?

People will want to work with you. And when he was open to that instruction and he desired to go further for God, he had people that knew about his openness, that worked with him, and said, hey guys, take this man because he is teachable. He is fervent. He is a man of character. It says something about this man.

That if you wanna position yourself to be more effective for Christ, you have to position your heart to be humble. Until you position your heart to be humble, you will not be able to expound and expand in the things of God concerning your service for him. Not just because it's a thing against God, because people we know for God that he opposes the proud. But even on a horizontal level, a person who lacks humility no matter how much knowledge you have, no matter how gifted you are, no matter how many people applaud and like your Facebook page, that does not matter because if you stink with pride, you limit yourself. People just won't wanna work with you, even in the kingdom of God.

But this man has a different spirit. He's a different spirit, and that leads to the next truth. Look at verse 27 again. He goes to Achaia, and the disciples were there to welcome him. And when he arrived, he greatly helped those through grace had believed.

In verse 28, it says, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the scriptures that Christ was Jesus. That would not have been possible if he did not open himself to Aquila and Priscilla. He would not have been able to powerfully refute the Jews. It's because he learned something. And by learning something, he became more effective for the kingdom of God.

The greater your humility, the greater your ministry. The greater your humility. Greater power and effectiveness in your witness for Christ comes through the channel of a teachable spirit. That's what happens through this man. Apollos, Moses, in their service for God had something that we all need, and that's that meekness, that lowliness, not looking down on even those that you grew up with because God takes you far.

That doesn't mean anything. And I'll end with this, Jethro, Aquila and Priscilla, there's a lesson to learn with them as well. Because we gotta turn this on the other side. That if you wanna earn the right to speak into somebody's life, you need a certain heart posture as well. You need that right heart posture as well.

It's a heart of saying, I wanna see God do something in you in greater depth. And I'm here as a brother, as a sister, to speak into your life for you to excel in Christ. And so here, I noticed something. Here, have you ever thought about this? You and I can't speak into somebody's life unless we earn it.

And we earn it by showing first that we love, that we truly care, that we rejoice with them. And I believe Exodus 18 is to show us something, that Jethro Jethro's one little advice there did something for Moses' ministry. It's as though the Holy Spirit wants to show us, this man Moses that so many people esteemed, there was a Jethro behind him whispering advice, and he was open to receive it. May we be the same. Let's pray.

Lord, may we just strive for humility. Lord, to listen to advice and accept instruction. And, Lord, even from you, we open ourselves for chastisement and discipline. Lord, every single person here, every single one of us has blind spots. We need your help.

And lord, may we be a community that lovingly speaks into one another's lives, and may we be people who are humble enough to receive it. Lord, that no matter how far you take us, we still need one another. That there's always room for improvement. There's always room for growth. And, Lord, we wanna have that hard posture.

So, God, if our hearts are hardened to that, chisel us through the scriptures and soften our hearts to see that Moses, men like Apollos, who was named among Cephas and Paul the apostle in first Corinthians three, had a foundation that was a humble spirit. Lord, we thank you for you have included this chapter because this lesson means so much to you. The humility is, in fact, the reflection of Jesus Christ, and we want to strive to be like him. And so, Lord, as we worship you in light of your word, we also pray, give us the spirit of Christ. Fill us and soften us, Lord, to not reject correction, to not look down upon any man, but to say, Lord, I'm walking with you, and I need you, Lord.

Send somebody in my life that loves me enough to speak into my life. Send somebody in my life that's willing to position me into a place where I can grow in you. We thank you, Lord. And Lord, out of all the things that Moses has done for numbers twelve three to be written about him, that he was the meekest man on all the earth, I believe that trumps everything else. May we strive for what matters in your eyes.

In Jesus' name we pray.