The Chinese have a proverb that says "You can't ask a fish about water". Why not? Because water is so much a part of the fish's existence it can't see it. It's that way for us as well. We can be so entrenched in how we do things in our cultural setting that we don't recognize what it is we do, till we step into another culture. For example, our stress in Western culture on the individual; we just take it as the given, without question. It doesn't even occur to us that there might be another way till we came to another culture that emphasizes the communal above the individual. So it can be with the way we do church, with our ministry structures. We might get tired and exhausted from all the work in ministry, and we will encourage each other to work harder to get it all done. But we usually don't question our structures, which might be the real problem. This is one of the key issues dealt with in our Vision Statement, with the item on Functional Structures, which says: "We recognize that many of the ways in which we go about doing our church oversight and ministries comes from an historical response to a biblical requirement and that we may need to be led by God, through His Word and Spirit, to think new and creatively in this time and place God has placed us. So we will strive to develop our church life and practice in such a way that we can best proclaim the gospel to our communities, enhance the involvement and ministry of all of us in the church, develop a vision for the congregation with clearly defined goals that helps each of us see our place and calling in reaching for the church's vision, and be courageous enough to cut out things that have become ineffective in our working for the kingdom."

Now, it is a change of structure that Moses needed to learn about here in our text in Exodus 18. Despite being the great man of God, who had led the Israelites out of Egypt, Moses just did not see that the way he structured his ministry to the people was not good. It needed some one outside his setting to see what was wrong and to tell him so.

Exodus 18 is a two-part story about the observations of Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, a priest of Midian. In the first part Jethro observes what God had done. And in the second he sees what Moses is doing. The key line that ties the two parts together is found in :1 Jethro "heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel his people". This is like a refrain and is repeated, or something similar, in: 8 & 9 and in :14. In each case information is coming to Jethro about what either God or Moses has done on behalf of the people. In the first part we see that Jethro has brought Moses his wife and two sons. They greet each other and go into the tent and Moses tells Jethro "about everything that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians¡K" As result of hearing all this Jethro is ecstatic. :9 tells us he was "delighted to hear all God had done"; :10 he "praises" the Lord; :11 he acknowledges the superiority of the Lord- "now I know that the Lord is greater that all other Gods.". Now remember, Jethro is a pagan Midianite, and a pagan priest at that. But hearing of the awesome deeds of God he is convinced that Jehovah- He is God. He sees not only how powerful God is, but how deeply loving towards His people- a power and a love we saw again last weekend as we remembered the love of God in giving His own Son on the cross for us, and His power in raising Him from the dead. In response to what he hears (:12) Jethro offers a burnt offering, which was the old way of offering your life to God. That, in a nutshell, is what happens in the first part of the story. Jethro observes what God has done and is ecstatic. But then in the second half he observes what Moses is doing, and he has a far different reaction.

:13 tells us that "The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening." So consider the setting. Jethro has just brought Moses' wife and two sons to him. So you might think Moses would have some time off with his family. But he can't. There's too much to do. So we can see why it was in :5&6 that it was Jethro who initiated bringing Moses family to him. We are not told why Moses sent his family away. But is becomes clear why he did not initiate the asking for them to come back. He was too busy. He probably had too little time even to think about them. Now, it's not as if Moses is a selfish man, uncaring about his family. He is deeply devoted to God and God's people. But the way he has structured his ministry to the people is overwhelming him. Moses acts as arbiter of every dispute the Israelites has, and not surprisingly this goes on "from morning till evening". :14 tells us that Jethro "saw all that Moses was doing for the people¡K" You notice this is parallel to his observations about what God "had done for the people." So both were "doing" something "for the people." The implication in the parallel language is that Moses is acting like God. Moses had been God's man is bringing the people out of Egypt. But the way in which Moses structures his work with the people the implication is that he is in the position of God. Whereas Jethro was thrilled with what the Lord had done, he is not thrilled with what Moses is doing. That's why he asks, in effect, "What are you doing?"

:14 ".. What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around from morning till evening." Now, to get an idea of the enormity of his task, remember that Exodus 12:37 tells us that there were at least 600,000 men in the Israelite camp, indicating at least two million people. But apparently it had never occurred to Moses to ask even one of them to help him in this huge task. And apparently it had never occurred to any of the Israelites to suggest that someone help Moses. Often with us as church too, it just never occurs to us to do something another way, even if another way would be better. We can't see it. We have always done it that way. For Moses it is the outsider, the Midianite father in law, who sees what is going on, sees it as really being quite odd, and says so.

Now, Moses' response to Jethro' is essentially to say, "Because the people want me to". It's to do with their expectations. : 15 Moses answered him, "Because the people come to me to seek God's will. Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God's decrees and laws." Now, you get the gist of what he is saying, don't you? In the people's mind Moses is the one with the pipeline to God. He is the one who can solve all their problems. Now we might understand this attitude in Moses' day, with a nation of salves, uneducated and Moses being the one God had talked to. But in our day, post resurrection, post reformation, and the understanding of the priesthood of all believers, it is odd that there are those who still insist on having the minister to pray for them and deal with their problems, as if he is the only one with a line to God; that they have not really been visited unless the minister has been. I remember an elderly woman in a previous congregation who asked me to visit her best friend who was in hospital with a stroke. She said that her friend needed some one to pray with her. I said I would be glad to go. Then I asked "But you have already prayed with her too?" "No, she said, "It's better that the dominee does it". And therefore she did not pray with her friend. By having that sort of attitude church folk often deny themselves the greatest gift God has given them- each other- the body of Christ. Are we not all the "hands of Jesus", the "voice of Christ"?

The first part of this story represented a glorious testimony to the greatness of God. But in this second part, Moses, by going along with the expectations of the people, and thinking he is the only one who can do it, is subtlety playing the part of God. But if God is so great and powerful, saving his people, Moses does not have to be so great. Jethro has just told Moses how great God is. If that's so, then Moses does not have to break his back from morning till night to make sure everything is done just right. Things are not so urgent as they often appear. The Lord will take care of things. In the first part of the story Jethro said that what the Lord did was "good". Now he says to Moses :12 "What you are doing is not good." Why? Because Moses is not God. The Lord is. "You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you to do alone". The task is "too heavy" for Moses. This advice is a continuation of what Moses had to learn in the battle with Amalek, when he needed Aaron and Hur to prop up his hands because they were too heavy. Moses is learning that he needs people to lighten his load. But notice it's also a burden for the people. Jethro says "these people who come to you" will wear themselves out. It can be a terrible drain to wait around all day just to be heard. After a while, the grumbling starts. It reminds us of the situation with Absalom when he tried to take the kingdom from David. The same mistake was made then again. All the people wanted to see the king to have their cases heard. But it took so long. So Absalom approached them and promised it would be different if he were king. On numerous occasions when on Church Visitation I hear of people complaining their minister does not visit them, only to discover he is overwhelmed with crisis counselling or trying to set up an evangelism group. When the church folk are worn out waiting, they start talking of getting a better session, a better minister. They don't seem to see, as it was with the Israelites, that it might be the structures that need changing, not those in ministry.

After observing the problem Jethro suggests a two-part solution. But notice, not only is this advice about what is functional, it must fit with God's command. In :23 Jethro "If you do this and God so commands¡K" For us in rethinking how we do ministry, it's not only a question of does it work, but also what do the scriptures say. Now saying that does not mean we just follow how we have always done things, because how we have done it for a long time was based on a cultural- historical understanding of the time. God may want us to take the scriptural givens in a new and creative way in our current time. Now, with Moses the first thing he is to do is to teach all the people "the decrees and laws, and show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform." So Moses' main task is to be the teacher. Not to teach one on one as he arbitrates their problems, but teach the group as a whole. Teach in such a way that the people understand God's laws and can apply them to their daily lives. The result will be that well taught people are less likely to be contentious. In other words "Prevention is better than cure". And further, well-taught people who are contentious are more likely to be able to work things out on their own. It is interesting to note that this advice of Jethro's is the reason we have the first five books of the Bible- the Torah, the law written by Moses. If Moses had continued as he was, where would the teaching have been for his people and the following generations? Jethro's coming was not just a family event. It was part of God providential hand.

The second thing Jethro suggests is to completely restructure how Moses' work is done. Instead of doing it all Moses is to appoint others for the work. Not just any one, but "¡Kcapable men¡K men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain". In other words, people who have the gifts and capacity for the task, are deeply spiritual, have integrity and are not driven by their own gain. Moses had to learn to let go, to share the leadership. He would still have to deal with the hard stuff and to teach. But by letting go he would actually be a real blessing to the people as other capable people do the work. The parallels between Exodus 18 and Acts 6 are striking. There too the apostles were swamped and the Greek widows complained of not being attended to. So the apostle appointed the deacons for that work and they focused on prayer and teaching the Word. If our church is to be one where we provide the right environment for the "seed to grow all by itself", then we too need to look at our structures. I believe we have many ministers close to burn out, and elders struggling because they are to busy doing (all) the ministry, rather than teaching and discipling the whole congregation to do the ministry. Paul says clearly in Ephesians 4:12 "the pastor-teachers¡K are to equip the saints for work of ministry". I believe it is the key issue for our denomination in this new century. We must carefully look at our ministry structures and see how we can do it better. It means leaders have to have the courage to say 'I will stop doing it so much and pretending to be God, being all things to all people', and focus on discipling key capable people, who will then disciple others. And it requires the congregation to no longer accept that 20% of the people do 80% of the work in church (to quote the well know stat). We must be serious about our confession that all believers are spiritually gifted. The wonder of what Jesus did through His death and resurrection is that all God's people are reconciled to God. All of us are thus filled with the Spirit, and spiritually gifted. So let us recognize that we all are "the ministers" in this church, and those called to leadership are there to teach and equip each of us in our ministry. If we develop this structure we will see a real development of the kingdom in our church

Guidelines for discussion at Bible Study Groups:

1. Why can't you "ask a fish about water"? Have you ever experienced that you thought there was only one way of doing things until you came across a different culture or cultural group? eg. Foods, relating styles, community attitudes, sports. Have you ever experienced that in our churches this is how we do things, because we have always done them that way, until you came across another church group? Why is it that we need to step outside our culture to "see" how we do things?

2. Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came from outside the Israelite setting. There were two things he "saw", two things that struck him as he visited Moses at the Israelite encampment. One that enthused him and Jethro described as "good". The other that disturbed him and which he described as "not good". Explain what these two things are. What is Jethro's response to the "good"? What is his response to the "not good"?

3. What is the basic problem with how Moses has structured his ministry to the people? What is its cause? What is the structure subtly implying about Moses relationship to God? Why doesn't he structure his ministry another way?

4. What attitudes towards ministry in our own churches shows that we still have an over reliance on one person, expectations that are too much for one man? How has this been changing over the years? Why has it come about? Do we tend to get critical of the minister and/ or the elders if they do not perform to our expectations? Do we consider the structure might be a problem rather than just the church leaders? How do we go about changing from that approach?

5. Describe Jethro's two part solution to Moses' ministry structure. In what way should Moses structure his teaching program? How did he divide up the work of judging? Is our teaching program structured as good as it can be? If not how might we improve it? How might we divide up the ministry of our church? Are our current structures still "good" or are they now hindering good ministry?