Exodus 18:13-27

So we've been looking at a whole bunch of different stories going through this book of Exodus, which is the second book of the Bible.

And so we've been seeing story after story.

In these stories, we've seen this journey of these people, which were God's people is the nation of Israel, the Hebrews, and these are the people that eventually God sends Jesus through, births Jesus out of.

And so these are the people that God decides he will communicate to the world, what he is like, who he is, how he regards us, what he thinks about us.

And so we've been looking at story after story after story and looking at what these stories have to say about God, what these stories have to say about us.

And so we have another story today in Exodus 18.

Great story.

And I'm excited what this story can mean for you.

We get one sort of dominant life principle in this story that just jumps right out.

And this principle is something that can cause actually a lot of pain in our lives if we don't understand it.

It can cause exhaustion in your work, it can cause exhaustion in your parenting, in your school.

It always leads to the same place.

If you don't understand it, all the different roads you can attempt and travel, you'll always end up at the same place, and that same place is exhaustion.

Now we try to work around this principle because we just don't want to believe it's true.

We just don't want to believe that this could actually be true about us.

Maybe it could be true for other people, but surely this couldn't be true about us.

We just don't want to believe it could be true for us and for our ability to parent or our ability to be good at work or our ability even to be good at the Christian life.

And so what also can happen with this, if we don't understand it, is we can live more and more isolated lives.

We can pretend to be fine and we aren't.

We can attend church but never be a part of a church.

Anyone know that feeling?

Anybody done that, right?

Like you attend, but you're never really a part of that community.

Okay, so what am I talking about?

Well, the the principle that's going on here with Moses is nothing groundbreaking.

You already know it.

When I'm gonna say it, you're gonna go, okay, yeah, I know that.

That's not groundbreaking.

Didn't have to come to church to hear that one.

And here's what it is going it alone, going it alone will wear you out.

Pretty simple, right?

You you've probably figured that out in some regard in your life.

So Moses is sitting there and he's resolving all these issues for all these people, and he's like the only one doing the job.

He's the only one doing the deal, and he's going it alone, making all these decisions of all these people from morning till evening.

And he's wearing himself out.

Going it alone will wear you out.

All right, so we're gonna reread some scripture as how we like to do it as as we teach, is I'll reread some of the scripture that Sam read.

It kind of just helps us uh as we work our way through the passage.

So Exodus 18, 14 through 18.

When Moses' father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, What is this that you're doing for the people?

He's like, that doesn't even make sense.

Like you you don't have good organization here, Moses.

Why do you sit alone and all the people stand around you from morning to evening?

And Moses said to his father-in-law, well, 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 statutes of God and his laws.

Moses' father-in-law said to him, What you're doing is not good.

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.

Like, nothing like a father-in-law, nothing like an in-law to deliver that news to you, right?

Like you're looking forward to your in-laws coming to town for Christmas.

That's not what you want to hear.

Like, sweetheart, under your house, you can't do it alone, you're not doing a good job.

All right.

So this week I heard um, I was watching a TV program, and it was a it was an uh alcoholic who's in recovery, and he was he was telling the story about the first time he went to AA.

And he was telling the story about the first time he stood in a group of people and he raised his hand and he said, My name's Randy, and I'm alcoholic.

And he said it was the most powerful moment of his entire life.

Because for the first time in his life, to have overwhelming acceptance, and not judgment, but acceptance for who he was and the struggle he had, and to be able to walk into that group and say, My name's Randy.

I've got a big, big destructive problem.

And that there was no judgment, and there's acceptance of him in that confession.

You know, a people that wouldn't judge them, but they want them to get better.

And I'm watching this, I'm hearing him talk about it, and he starts crying, and I'm I'm watching, I'm going, like, like that's what that's what we're doing.

Like that's what that's what this is.

Like, yeah, we're starting trying to build a student ministry, yeah, we're trying to raise a little more money to get that building going, which by the way, we start some uh demolition tomorrow.

It's very exciting.

We have a dumpster in front of our new building, it's very exciting, as a progress is beginning.

You know, yeah, we're doing those things.

And why are we doing it?

We're doing them so that you and your neighbor can come into a group of people and raise your hand and say, My name is Randy.

You don't have to say Randy, you can say your name.

And I've got a problem.

I'm addicted to myself.

I am bent inward, and I'm selfish, and I'm impatient, I'm lustful, I'm greedy, I have idolatry, I'm a sinner.

I'm apathetic toward God, I have a hard heart, and that there's not judgment because everybody else in the room, they also are holding their hand up, going, I'm rust, and I'm addicted to myself.

And I'm not perfect.

In fact, I'm quite a sinner, and I am wearing myself out.

So a few points to kind of organize this.

Uh the first point, point number one, is this there are things in our lives that we have to get done by ourselves.

Let's just be honest about that.

Like, there are things that we can do by ourselves, and there are things that we should be doing by ourselves.

Sometimes we just need to get something done.

Right?

Like at work, in your family, in a relationship.

Sometimes there are just things you need to do, and you can do them.

Sometimes you just need to do the studying, you need to make the grade.

I'm being very practical here because what Moses was doing in one regard was very practical.

And sometimes we just need to do these things.

Sometimes we just need to wake up and spend time with the Lord.

Sometimes we just need to turn the TV off and go for a walk with the Lord.

Sometimes we just need to do these things, and we can.

But even in that, there's a point, there's a point where we move past being responsible, and all of a sudden, the same things, the same project, the same job, or the discipline, the pressure, the relationship, the same thing can become too heavy.

Right?

So, point number one is that there are things in our lives that we should be doing and we can do by ourselves, but yet there's point number two that can come pretty quickly, and that is that there are times when the things in our lives become too heavy.

Right?

And this is when dad shows up, Jethro, father-in-law, shows up, says, You and the people, you will certainly wear yourselves out.

This way you have this setup for your life.

You're gonna wear yourself out, for the thing is too heavy for you.

You are not able to do it alone.

So Jethro tells Moses, go find a whole bunch of able men, go find these guys, like find great guys, like there's other people other than you that can do things.

Find other great guys, give them authority.

Let them go help, let them help other people, free you up.

So Moses finds these guys and he makes them chiefs and they get organized, and this thing starts to kind of work itself out.

So all the burden's not on him because he was wearing himself out.

See, you can carry, you can carry some things forever.

I was thinking about this week.

I was just trying to, how do I break this down and think about this?

So it's it's toward the end of fall, so most of the leaves are down.

Um and so I on in my little yard, I can handle my yard.

Like I got my blower, backpack blower, nothing like an engine on your back.

I've always said that.

And I mean to have a gas-powered engine on your back, there's just something cool about that.

And so I can handle the leaves in my yard.

That that's not too bad.

I can get out there, you know, once, twice a week, blow the driveway, blow off the grass, blow it into the little islands, not a big deal.

Now, if um, Ted, he's to the left, John's to the right, and Rob, say they call me, said, hey, can you can you blow off our driveways and yards also?

I could probably feel that.

That wouldn't be too hard.

I could fit that into my life.

It wouldn't be a horrible nightmare.

Now, if Bob and Greg also called, they're further down the street, if they also call and said, Hey, can you can you get our yards also?

Okay, yeah, all right.

So that's like Saturday's gone, like just all of Saturdays.

Okay.

Now, if Brad, Brad calls me, he lives down the street, if Brad calls me, and then uh Scott, he's on the corner, say Scott calls me, and Mike, Mike, you live right around the corner.

Say they all call me and they say, Hey, can you also get our yards?

And say Jordan, he lives across the street.

Jordan and Brandon, say they call also.

Now all of a sudden the thing that I could do is starting to be overwhelming.

Now let's say everybody on church street, right?

Like the whole street, they're all like Russ is the guy, just one guy and his blower, you know, and maybe at this point, maybe I could do it.

Maybe I could do it.

Like if I don't, I quit my job and this becomes my job.

Like just to blow the leaves off of all of this.

Maybe, maybe I could do it.

Now, now now let's say Kennesaw Mountain, a little park ranger calls me up.

Hey, can you blow the leaves off all the trail system?

Like, okay, so I got my yard, I got the whole my street, I got all the church street, we got all of Kinesaw trail system.

I can't do that.

I I can't.

There's no, I have no ability to do that.

Right?

Like all of the sudden, something I could do, it goes past what I could do.

There, you hit a point, it's just too much.

That's where Moses is at.

He's hitting a point, something he could do, and he was doing it, but then he's hitting a point, and Jethro sees it, and he's like, No, you you can't you can't continue down this path.

It's too much, it's too heavy.

The weight's too much.

It's gonna crush you.

It's gonna crush you.

Right?

And the lesson is that sometimes you just need help.

Like the thing is too heavy.

And this is where the story can lead us to something very important because there's stuff going on inside of us.

If we let this story lead us to something important just about our natures, is the fact that there's stuff going on inside of us that we were never meant to carry alone.

We were never meant to carry that pressure that you feel from work or that relationship or school or that friendship or that pressure you feel, you were never meant to carry that alone.

That feeling that, oh, surely I will fail at this also.

You're never meant to carry that alone.

That anxiety that is so strong that you wake up at 3:30 in the morning and you can't shake it, like uh the amount of rattle going on in your head and you can't go back to it, you were never meant to carry that alone.

That obsession about eating and what you eat and all the calorie counting and the exercising or the achievement and how well you've done, or even your achievement within spiritual walk and how good you're doing and everything.

All of that obsession, that amount of just manic obsession, all of that, you're never meant to carry that alone.

And the the thought that maybe God could never really accept me because of that thing that was I did back then, that shame, that mistake.

You're never meant to carry that alone.

The thing is too heavy.

So we find a small group.

We find a friend, we find a counselor, we we find a listening spouse, right?

It happens over and over again for me.

This is what it looks like for me.

I relive failures.

I relive some shame, I f I have feel some pressure for the future, for something, whether something's gonna happen or it's not gonna happen, or what's gonna happen, right?

I feel something from the past or the present or the future.

I feel some amount of pressure, and then I wonder, right?

I'm just like you, I wonder, can I let my wife into this?

Like, do I talk to her about this?

Can can I can I let a friend into this?

Like, can I call a friend and just out of nowhere unload this on them?

Like, like, oh man, what's going on?

How are you doing?

I'm good.

Can can I answer, I'm not good.

Not doing good, not a good day.

Not going well.

Like, can I can I answer that?

Is that okay?

Can I let our elders into that?

Or do I smile and just perform?

I see, sometimes we just need help carrying stuff in our lives, stuff that's just going on inside of us.

And that's what the fellowship of believers is for.

So sometimes we need help carrying stuff in our lives, but here's the deeper thing the story can lead us to, and that is that we also need help carrying our lives.

Like the essence of our lives, our lives themselves, the core of our lives.

That's point number three.

Our lives, the essence, the core of our existence is too heavy for us to carry.

So in in our sin, so not sins, right?

We have sins, behavior, all the mistakes we do, the things we do, the lying, the cheating, the stealing, right?

All of that sins, bad stuff.

And then we have sin, the condition, kind of the disease, that the inward bent away from God, that we just tend to be toward ourselves, like that condition in that, we love to self-justify.

So I'm not gonna lean towards what God has done for me and Jesus for my justification.

I'm gonna lean towards what the work that I produce into this world as my justification.

And we can do ridiculous things and go to ridiculous things to justify ourselves and our existence, and then even within religion, our righteousness before God.

And this is us trying to lift something that's too heavy.

We can't carry it, but it's us trying to.

So I read this week, I read this phrase and I loved it so much.

It says that the boys in the basement eventually come out.

The boys in the basement eventually come out.

Here's what this means.

So we like to play hide and go seek in our house, and so we'll start playing, and so I have three little girls, and so out of these three little girls, the middle girl, the five-year-old, she will go find a hiding spot and she cozies up.

I don't know what's going on, but she finds a dark corner and she gets cozy and she curls up.

We can't find her.

I mean, this is over and over and over again.

I mean, she is good.

Not only that, she is patient.

I don't know what's going on in her mind when she gets into that little place, but she can wait it out.

We look, I mean, it gets to the point where you're like, she falls asleep, she like like did somebody kidnap her, like is she still in the house?

Like, where did she go?

Like, we just start yelling at her name, and eventually, finally, finally, she always comes out.

She always comes out.

Right?

The the boys in the basement eventually come out.

Here's what it means: the motive behind that self-justification project.

Like, why do I love getting all those likes on Instagram?

Why do I love getting all those likes from that report at work?

Why do I love getting that nod from that woman or that man or that girl or that boy?

Why do I love all of that?

Well, I'm self-justifying my existence.

And that's too heavy for you to carry because it doesn't end.

It's a terrible burden to wonder if you're really good after all.

And then turning to carry that load on your own.

And our human nature says that we have to carry it.

We need to carry it in order to be accepted, satisfied, forgiven, we have to carry it.

This is the curse of the fallen nature.

That we do this.

Listen to this at Psalm 42, 5, read it this week.

Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?

Well, we we know why.

Because you're trying to carry it all.

That's what leads to this sort of feeling of downcast.

You're trying to carry it all, trying to be your own savior.

Then he answers himself: Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

So back to Moses.

Let's jump back to the Moses story.

Back to Moses.

Moses delegates.

That's what we see in the story.

Any delegators?

Right?

I'm a delegate delegator.

I can delegate.

I love to delegate and then not work and watch.

And I'll just be honest.

I'll confess that in front of you.

I love that.

Like I can delegate and I can supervise.

I love it.

Love it.

Love that.

Because I'm sort of bossy.

It's got that going on.

Got that covered, covered.

Even if I'm quiet, even if I'm quiet, I'm really sure I have the best way to do something.

So, uh, but here's what I'm painfully learning about myself.

You might be like me.

Even when I delegate, I love to keep the weight.

Right?

This is like when you ask your kid to load the dishwasher and you circle back around about eight times because you're so nervous they're gonna drop that dish.

And then once the kid leaves the kitchen, you redo it because they didn't do it right.

Right?

Like you delegated, but you never let go of the weight.

Right?

You carried the weight the whole time.

And we do this in our spiritual lives all the time.

All the time.

This is the tension the psalmist feels.

This heaviness, this downcast.

And here's how we do it.

Every time we nod at Jesus as being our sufficiency, as the soul work to make us beloved and healed and whole, and then we look to our production in the world to feel our anxiety and our fear, that needy place inside of us.

Every time we look for any production that we produce into the world, we're nodding at Jesus, then yet we're really turning to our production of the world.

Whenever we do that, this is our self-justification.

This is us delegating, but never letting go of the actual weight.

And here's what we're learning.

Going it alone will wear you out.

And I just love that this dad, right?

I mean, this is what this is what Jethro is to Moses.

He's like a dad.

He's just showing up.

He's just saying, like, just stop.

Like, this doesn't even make sense what you're doing.

Just stop being a savior to everyone.

Stop being your own savior, trying to make it all happen, trying to solve every problem.

Just stop.

Now, now I'm not your daddy.

Fill you in, by the way.

Just to let you know, not your dad.

But if I could just speak something to you this morning, I'd just be like, just stop.

Like there's stuff in your life you were never meant to carry alone.

Find a small group.

Find a friend, find a spouse, find a pastor, talk to me, find a counselor, find somebody.

There's stuff you were never meant to carry alone.

And furthermore, your life, your very existence, your value, your right standing with God, forgiveness for all that sin, the condition and the behaviors, the shame of that, all of that, you were never meant to carry that alone.

It's too heavy.

There's only one place to find help for this.

Pastor Paul Walker, he words it this way: For God has given us his Son who has loved us in our sin.

Jesus took the deadly wound of judgment on himself so that we could be delivered into the judgment-free world of grace.

We have been given the reward of life that Jesus earned for our sake.

Now here's how Jesus invites us, right?

Like the really busy Moses-like people, we are, that's what we are.

And here's how Jesus words it to us Come to me, Matthew 11, come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon the rest.

Upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

See, this is so good.

See, a a rabbi, a rabbi's yoke back back at this time, his yoke was his application.

It was his teaching, right?

It represented the sacrifices and the burdens required by his followers.

So all these scribes and these Pharisees, they had turned the law, they had turned what it meant to follow God into a bunch of rules and regulations.

It was sort of like get it all right, like get your act together, and then you're accepted by God.

But see, Jesus fulfilled the law.

He lived rightly what we don't.

He took our sin upon himself and gives us his righteousness.

Our standing is secure, our standing secure every day, every moment.

You're always accepted by God.

And this truth, that truth, this gospel is the very thing that creates life in dead places.

It's the thing that creates gratitude and places of apathy.

And it's also the thing that creates pursuit, a desire to pursue God wherever there's hesitancy.

Because he chose to carry the weight for you.

So we don't just nod at Jesus and kind of move on just like into our self-justification projects in the world and religion.

We delegate and we hand over the weight.

So, my brothers and sisters, may you find yourself tired of carrying the heavy load.

May you be meek and humble and ready to receive the rest of the yoke of Jesus.

Let's pray together.

Father, thank you that you know us.

You know our Moses tendencies to just keep going it alone.

And that we will wear ourselves out in areas of our lives that we need to delegate and areas of our lives we need to reach out to a friend.

And even in the core existence of our lives, we will try to carry the load of justifying ourselves because we love to be saviors, and we confess this.

We confess that we are inward bent, sinful, to deify ourselves, to deem ourselves enough apart from you, and forgive us for this.

It leads to no freedom, no peace, no forgiveness.

Lord, would you give us the faith we don't have to turn to you again?

Maybe turn to you for the first time, placing faith in you and not in ourselves.

Would we see the great sufficiency of Jesus?

That He is sufficient for all the righteousness that I am not, and that He is enough.

And may our hearts be forever grateful and changed to live lives that honor you and love people.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.