I wonder how good you are at hospitality.
Hospitality is maybe a fancy word for simply having people around
your house.
And we do it probably around here more informally than formally.
People will just pop in rather than waiting on an invitation.
But some, sometimes there's people who we will want to invite
to come along and we want to spend time with them.
And that particularly comes to relatives.
Maybe we invite someone over for a Sunday afternoon for lunch
or something like that.
That's how I grew up with our family, being invited over for a
Sunday lunch and spending the afternoon with cousins.
Or maybe we went to their house, but it was always an invitation
so that things could be prepared and be made ready.
And then whenever we were living overseas, our door seemed
to be a revolving door as we would have lots of people who would
come and stay, some of whom we invited and others who invited themselves
because we simply happened to be near to the airport.
But probably the most nervous we've ever gotten or get is whenever
parents in law have come or are coming.
I don't know if that sends a shiver down your spine of fear.
It thankfully doesn't for me because I get on very well with my
parents in law.
My father in law is a very generous man and in fact he gave
me one of those kits that I had on display this morning.
So it's only one from a couple of years ago that hasn't been opened
yet.
But our parents in law for too long have received a little bit of
bad press.
There's all these jokes have been made up about them, particularly
when it comes to mothers in law.
And as much as I enjoy the company of my father in law, my mother
in law is just as generous and as kind.
And so I am in the thankful position of being able to welcome
my parents in law into our home and enjoy the time that they
spend with us.
But.
But for others that's not the reality.
And maybe Christmas becomes more stress filled because the in
laws are coming around.
Well, today we have a story of Moses, father in law, coming to the
camp of Israel.
Now this simply isn't a visit for lunch.
We're told in verse one, as we'll come to in a moment, that he's
a Midianite.
And we'll recall from earlier in Exodus that he was a priest at
Midian.
Now the Midianites are not of the family of God.
In fact, the Midianites would fight against the Israelites.
So there's no love lost between these two people groups.
And yet Moses married a daughter of Midian.
And so here we have these two cultures now coming together, and
what we see is an amazing grace of God in all of this.
Moses is not going out telling jokes about his father in law.
Moses is not going to simply tolerate this visit.
Moses is a man who respects his father in law.
And as we will see, his father in law provides sage wisdom for Moses
at a busy and difficult time in the life of of God's people.
Now, if you're not familiar with how Moses got to Midian, then
you need to go back a couple of chapters to chapter two in Exodus,
because that's the account of Moses fleeing Egypt after he got
into trouble with the Egyptians and with the Israelites.
And so he fled and he became a son in law to a priest named Jethro.
And before Moses returned to Egypt in chapter four, he asked Jethro
to bless him as he went.
And Jethro hasn't been mentioned since then.
So now the text catches up for us who he is.
And that's why we hear of Moses father in law quite a bit,
because it's simply to remind us who this person is, because he
hasn't been mentioned in quite a while.
So somehow Jethro has heard that the Lord has delivered the Israelites
and he goes to meet them, and he goes to meet them at the mountain
of the Lord at Sinai.
Now, verse two, verses two to four, tells us a little bit about
Moses family.
When Moses left Midian to go back to Egypt, he took with him his
wife Zipporah, and their two sons, Gershom and Eliezer.
And we're reminded of these two sons and the meaning of their
names because they have played an important part in, in the life
of Moses this far and what their names mean.
One son was named Gershom, for Moses said, I have become an alien
in a foreign land.
And the other was named Eliezer, for he said, my father's
God was my helper.
He saved me from the sword of Pharaoh.
Just as an aside, whenever you see any English word in the Old Testament
with E L I at the front of it, that means God.
And so that's where Moses, my father's God, is my helper, or God
is my helper in naming his son Eliezer.
And so through these names, these names that Moses gives his
son, he's reminded of who he was at a certain point in time, particularly
living in the country of Midian.
He was a foreigner in a strange land, yet that land received
him where he stayed for decades.
And as a testimony of how the Lord delivered him from Pharaoh he
named his son God of help, or God My helper.
And it is interesting, whenever we see these names coming
back into the story, we see that they still have relevance and
meaning for the life of Moses.
In chapter 18, they're telling us that he is still a foreigner because
he's not yet home to the land that God promised.
In fact, he'll only ever see it.
He'll never step into it.
But yet he will know the constant help of the Lord throughout
each step that he will take in the wilderness wanderings.
Well, at some point after leaving Midian, Moses sent his wife
and sons back to Jethro.
We don't know why he did that.
We presume for their own safety.
He was becoming a.
A leading figure to the children of Israel, and Pharaoh would
have seen him as a political figure.
So therefore, to preserve and protect his wife and family, he got
them back to Midian.
And so whatever reason, Jethro naturally received them and kept
them and looked after them.
But now it was time for them to return.
And so the children of Israel, under the leadership of Moses, have
made themselves to Sinai.
They've got to the place where they're going to camp for quite a
while.
No longer is it going to be packing up and moving.
They're going to be here for a while.
And so verse five tells us that that's exactly where they are.
And at this point, we know that something is going to happen
at Sinai, and we will know that it is the giving of the Ten
Commandments and the rebellion yet again of the people.
And so, as would have been custom at the time, Jethro sends
word to Moses that he's coming.
He just doesn't turn up.
That's what family didn't do in those times, but particularly
important family members such as Jethro, who is a priest.
And so when Moses receives the message, he goes out eagerly to greet
him.
And verse seven tells us that Moses bows down to Jethro, showing
us the appropriate respect given to his elder father in law.
And as he then, or as they go into Moses tent, Moses tells Jethro
how the Lord fought for Israel while they were in Egypt, and, and
then how he has continued to help them during hardships that they
have faced since leaving that land.
And Moses declares God to be a God who has delivered his people
from evil.
And Jethro's response is a positive one.
He listens and he hears what God has done and recognizes that
it is only the God of Israel that could have done this.
So let's remember what Moses will have told him.
He'd have told him of every single plague one to nine and what
that meant.
And Jethro would not have been ignorant to the meaning of the frogs
and the meaning of the river turning to blood, these life sources
attacking the false gods of Egypt.
Nor would he have been surprised at the angel of death in
the 10th plague, as Moses recounted it in that night, for them
to get ready, because there would have been a knowledge of the
punishment that gods would have brought out upon people who
rebelled against them.
And so Jethro hears it, and this is his response.
He effectively hears the gospel, the good news of God's salvation
of his people.
And his response is this.
In verse nine, he was delighted to hear about all the good
things the Lord had done for Israel in rescuing them from the
hand of the Egyptians.
This is an appropriate response to the gospel.
An appropriate response is to be delighted in what God has done.
And that's exactly what this pagan priest Jethro does.
And what we're seeing is a transformation.
Jethro isn't simply going to pluck the God of Israel and set him
in a pantheon of gods just simply to add it to another one to
whom they worship.
Jethro, as we will now see in these verses, is going to believe
in the Lord.
And so this is simply more than good news to Jethro, because
the Lord is doing something wonderful in Jethro's life.
And in verse 10, he breaks into a song of praise at what God
has done.
And listen again to the exaltation in verse 11.
Now I know that the Lord is greater than all other gods, for
he did this to those who had treated Israel arrogantly.
The Lord had repeatedly told Moses that his miraculous signs of
deliverance would result in people's knowing or acknowledging
his true nature.
And here we see the testimony of that.
Jethro is doing just what the Lord had said would happen.
He's even using the very personal name of the Lord.
He says, yahweh, that name that even the children of Israel
wouldn't utter, nor would they spell out fully, is greater than
all gods.
And whether Jethro is coming to believe in the God of Israel for
the first time, or coming to a higher view of the Lord, we don't
know.
But there is a significant change in who Jethro is now looking
to.
So what is clear is the exalted position the Lord now has
in his view of the world.
And because of this, he just doesn't respond with a song.
But he also presents items of worship to God.
Jethro brings a burnt offering and he brings other sacrifices to
demonstrate who he understands God to be and to demonstrate the
significance of this moment.
Aaron the priest, comes along with the elders of Israel, believing
that what Jethro is doing is appropriate and right.
And they partake in this sacrificial meal.
So Jethro has sung praise of God through exaltation.
He has demonstrated by the giving of burnt offerings that the
proper form of worship of God and people are recognizing it to
be true and genuine.
And so they come along, led by Aaron, and partake in this sacrificial
meal.
And there are three things I want you to notice about Jethro's
saving response to the good news of God's salvation.
And the most important thing, firstly is his faith.
Jethro came to a clear and certain conviction that the God of
Israel was the one true and supreme deity.
Now, the Midianites worshiped gods.
And remember, gods were geographical.
That's how people thought of them.
My God is for my area.
And if we overcome your area, well, it means that our God is better
than your God, that that's how it played out.
But Jethro's doing something different here that is countercultural
to all of the cultures of his time.
He has a conviction that the God of Israel is the supreme deity.
This wasn't some blind response, nor was it a popular cultural
reaction.
There's been no battle done on behalf of Jethro for him to exalt.
Nor is he naturally an Israelite to believe in this.
He is a pagan.
He is a Gentile.
He's not from the family line of Israel.
He hadn't been brought up in the ways of the Lord.
So all of this is new to him.
But when he sees the Lord at work, he responds in faith to believe
that there is no God like the Lord.
The second thing from faith is praise.
And this is the saving response.
It's praise.
You see, whenever God brings people to saving faith, it's so that
they will bow down and worship him.
So, like Moses and like the Israelites, Jethro was saved for
God's glory.
And this is part of the purpose of evangelism.
There are many reasons to share the gospel.
It is a command of Christ, most certainly, and that should be
reason enough.
But it's also part of God's plan of salvation, his way of rescuing
sinners from the wrath that is yet to come.
But the goal of all gospel ministry is the worship of God.
That's why John Piper, whom I'VE quoted before says mission exists
because worship doesn't.
The whole goal of mission is the worship of God.
And so through worship of God, we testify to the good news about
Jesus Christ, so that indeed all, all people will praise him,
just as Jethro did, understanding that he is the supreme
God and Savior over all.
And so our proclamation of the Gospel is for the salvation of the
lost, with a view to their celebration of God.
So ultimately, evangelism is for the glory of God.
So there's faith, there's praise.
But thirdly, an appropriate response is joy.
Verse nine tells us that he delighted or he rejoiced to hear
what the Lord had done.
And this is a natural response, because God gives the same
joy to everyone who comes to Christ.
There is great rejoicing in the knowledge that God has saved
us and will love us forever and ever.
One Christian witnessed this joy when he went to teach English
in China.
He lived in a college dormitory when he often had opportunities
to share his faith about Jesus Christ.
One night, he studied the Bible with the student next door.
Together they read the Scriptures and discussed the meaning
of salvation.
And then later that night, the English teacher heard a strange noise
coming from the student's room.
It was a sign that he'd never heard before.
A kind of gurgling sound from somewhere in the throat.
And when he went to investigate, he discovered that the
student had come to faith in Jesus Christ.
And now that the student knew that there was love in the world
and that there was a God in heaven, and he knew that his sins
were forgiven and that he had received the free gift of eternal
life.
And in those first moments of salvation, the student expressed
such great joy that he simply had to give it utterance of some
kind.
He didn't know the hymns to sing.
He didn't know the prayers to pray.
He didn't know the scripture to recite.
The gurgling was coming from somewhere deep in his heart as he
rejoiced in the knowledge of salvation.
And that's what he bore testimony to.
Knowing there was a change, knowing there was something.
And the only expression in that moment was to simply make some
noise in his throat.
God gives great joy to everyone who comes to faith in him.
So Jethro displays faith.
He displays praise, and he displays joy.
See, in seeing the truth of God before him, of bearing witness
to what God has done.
This is how Jethro responds.
And these are the marks of a Christian, a true Christian.
Because the Christian faith is not for a Sunday.
And the demonstration of outward appearance Faith in Christ
stays with us all the time and is seen in how we live out faith,
how we pray God, and in the joy that we know.
Understanding that joy does not always equate to happiness.
So what about you?
Have you responded to the same demonstration of God's salvation
in faith and praise and joy?
You know the gospel.
You know that Jesus died something no one else could do for
you, just like God was the only God who could rescue his people
from Egypt.
You know this truth, but have you responded to it?
Because this is what is required to respond to Jesus Christ.
As Jethro heard what God had done and responded in faith, praise
and joy, so we have seen something greater.
Not deliverance from Egypt, but the resurrected Savior Jesus
Christ.
The question is not simply whether we admire what God has done,
but whether we will respond in faith and in praise and in joy.
And that's what 1 Peter 1:8:9 assures us, as it tells us, though
you have not seen him, you love him.
And even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are
filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving
the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
We do not have the physical human Jesus Christ walking before
us and leading us.
It would be absolutely fantastic if he was.
But as Scripture tells us, at just the right time, Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners.
So we know that in human form, Christ could only be with us for
a certain time.
But His Holy Spirit is sent the comforter on the day of Pentecost,
so that indeed we would believe that even though we do not
see him, we would love him because of the love he has shown
us, that even though we do not see him now, we believe in him because
of what we understand his sacrifice to have achieved.
And just like Jethro, we respond in faith with an inexpressible
and glorious joy, because we're receiving the goal of our faith,
the salvation of our souls that will lead onto eternal life
and everlasting praise of God.
What about you?
Have you responded in faith, in praise and in joy, not just for
a Sunday, not just for a date in the diary, but for all of your
life.
Because this is what is required of us.
This is faithful Christian worship so that indeed we will have
that wonderful assurance of salvation in Christ and in him alone.
But we do need to move on to the second half of the passage.
And now, with a new understanding of God, Jethro pays
more attention and care to Moses as the leader of God's people.
And as he's out the following day, he sees Moses judge for the
people.
And Moses explains to Jethro in verses 15 and 16, 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, Jethro doesn't challenge the important role that Moses has
as a leader of the people.
He understands that as a leader himself, he knows that he
needs to speak to the people and judge for the people in their
disputes.
But he does see the role as too big for one man.
And he points out that Moses approach is neither suitable nor
efficient because the task is too great for Moses to do alone,
it will wear him out.
An image of the language here is given of a withered leaf, where
he'll simply look like a leaf on a plant that is sad and weary
and doesn't have any strength.
And the same weariness will be true for the people, many of whom
will have to wait for countless hours for the simplest
case to be heard.
And Jethro's solution is as simple as it is wise.
He recognizes that Moses has a unique leadership role to play and
so should continue in it.
That being representing the people to God, bringing their cases
to him, and revealing his statutes and laws so that the people
will know how to act.
But Jethro also recognizes that when a burden is too heavy,
others are needed to help carry it.
And so he identifies ways in which Moses can delegate responsibilities.
And he says in verse 21, but select capable men from all the people,
men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate, dishonest, gain and
appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, 50s and tens.
Moses is to find men of skill and especially of character.
In particular those who have deep reverence of God and and obey
his ways, who are fully reliable and who cannot be persuaded
to pervert the course of justice.
And as always in the Bible, good character is the necessary foundation
for leadership, as first Timothy chapter three tells us.
So Moses is then to arrange the people in groups of varying sizes
and place over them the chosen men to whom the people will go to
first when they have legal cases to resolve.
The appointed judges will then address the simpler cases in keeping
with the laws Moses has already revealed and will leave the
more complicated ones to him.
And this will drastically reduce Moses burden, protecting him
from burnout and also enabling the people to resolve their cases
much more quickly and undoubtedly lowering their frustrations
at having to wait.
In short, sharing leadership responsibilities is Good for both
the leader and those being led.
And verses 24 and 25 tell us Moses response to Jethro's advice.
Moses listened to his father in law and did everything he said.
He chose capable men from all Israel and made them leaders of the
people, officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and
tens.
It perhaps feels as if these are two very separate accounts.
One is about salvation and the other is about leadership.
But they're not.
They're given to us as one chapter and therefore one account.
You see, the story that's going on here is that as Jethro comes
to faith in the Lord, so he becomes concerned for the leaders
of God's people, and then in turn, the people themselves, so that
they are served well by the leaders.
And Jethro offers advice for Moses.
Now, Jethro is only one man.
He's not a team of people, he's not many.
But he's speaking into the life of this leader of God's people.
And God uses Jethro, this Gentile priest who comes to saving
faith but the day before and uses him to bless Moses so the people
would be led as they should.
And our response to this is to understand that leadership in the
church today is first and foremost the leadership of Jesus.
He is the sole king and head of the church.
He has appointed leaders through ministers and pastors, elders
and deacons, who are all fallen human beings.
But yet Christ calls his people to be united.
And that is the thrust of his great prayer in John 17.
And sometimes it is easier to criticize the church and its people,
particularly its leaders.
But ministers and elders are as fallen as anyone else.
And we have all the feelings that are common to the rest of humanity.
But whatever we say about the church, we should remember this.
For all its weaknesses, it is the only institution that God has
promised will last until the end of time.
That's what he assures us when he says to Peter, and I tell you
that you are Peter.
On this rock I will build my church.
And the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
Jesus is here, taking the physical and bringing it into the
spiritual.
That spiritual realm of the dead, of hell, of Hades, will never
win against the physical and spiritual church of Jesus Christ.
And so, for all its weaknesses, the church is the only
institution that God has promised will last until the end
of time.
The church is the only organization in the world that is
governed by God's very own Son.
And because of this, it will remain until he returns.
But often the attacks against it are not from outside, but from
within.
The devil uses God's own people to be his agents of division
and hurt.
And as a local church, we must be aware of this and place the good
of Christ above our own opinion and personal choice.
For if we only look to ourselves, then we will not be caring
of others around us.
You will be aware in the past three minutes that I have read everything
that's in front of me because it is very hard for ministers and
pastors to preach this section without being accused of an undertone
or an undercurrent.
So if you think I'm pointing fingers, I am not.
If you think there is an issue going on that I am choosing to address
covertly from the pulpit, there is not.
If any time God at work in this place means that this can be
said freely, not for the present, but perhaps for the future.
So that I, along with you, will know what is God's way for us
that we may live faithfully understanding.
The sole king and head of the Church is Jesus Christ, and therefore
he is the church's leader.
I told you way back in 2018 that I could only do 27 years here.
And I said that because you had a predecessor who was 36, and
before that 42, and before that again another 32.
Whenever I tell people that I'm only the eighth minister in Anna
long over 200 years, they are shocked.
And they often said they must be treating yous very well.
And I say they do.
But the devil doesn't like that.
The devil is at work.
And whenever we come to our announcements a little bit later,
you will hear a little of that.
He is at work.
He will want to bring us down, he will want to bring me down, and
he will want to bring you down.
And so in this moment, can we please look to Scripture and see
what it says of how God ordains His people to be led?
Not that the one standing in front of you is above reproach because
I am a sinner just like you.
And we all need the grace of God daily.
But yet we must respond as God calls us to.
And that is to look as this local church, that it is a place
for the good of Christ in this community and amongst this people,
that actually Christ is above our own opinions and personal choices
because he has to be above mine.
Otherwise we'd be doing things very differently.
But we must understand as we are different and as we approach
God differently, we are to be faithful to one another so that we
will live more for the unity of Christ rather than the division
that the devil wants to bring in Jethro visited Moses and he hears
what God has done for his people.
Jethro responds in faith.
And Jethro demonstrates a care for Moses and the people of God.
And our calling today is to do likewise, to respond in faith, in
praise, and in joy.
To understand what God has ordained through the leadership of
the church, and that we will be faithful under the Holy Spirit
and led by the Holy Spirit to be a people of unity and not division,
people who are agents of Christ and not agents of the devil.
And as I finish, I draw us to Acts 13, because this is where we
get this demonstrated to us by this stage.
Paul and his companions are heading to Pisidian Antioch, which
is in Turkey.
And it's the third of the great sermons that's preached of
Paul's story and of the story of the Jewish people.
And at the end of it he says this that's recorded for us.
When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word
of the Lord and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.
You see, this is the appropriate response to what this
passage is saying, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and to be
saved.
We know the stories, we know what Jesus has done.
We know the history of the church, we know the great missionary
endeavor into all the world.
And yet we still sit oblivious to the great need of our souls of
a Savior.
And yet look what happens when we respond, when we hear this truth.
Well, we will be glad.
We will have joy.
We will honor the word of the Lord by following it by faith and
with joy, so that indeed we will know eternal life.
And until that moment of eternal life, well, we will live
in the church for how God has ordained it to be.
So what about you this morning?
Maybe there's people you don't like coming to your door, but Jethro
was a welcome sight for Moses because of the encouragement that
he brought.
Christ is the one who comes to you this day and says, trust in me
and live for me, so that indeed we will know great salvation,
salvation that is truly for the glory of God, and we will delight
in all that he has for us.
Don't walk away from Christ.
Don't ignore him and don't ignore his church.
Rather, look to him and him alone, as together we live in this
place, proclaiming this good news and seeing others come onto
salvation.
Let us pray, our Father God for this, your word.
We thank you.
As difficult at times it may be, as controversial as it may seem.
Thank you for the moment in which we're in where we can know
we can speak with freedom, that it's not about finger pointing
and it's not about an undertone.
Thank you.
That we look to your Word to guide us, each and every one of us.
That none of us know the full counsel of your word, nor its full
understanding, but yet eagerly, each one looking to you
for salvation and for wisdom in knowing how we live in this weary
path of life until Christ will take us home.
So may we respond well this day as we look ever to Jesus and
as we seek him, and it's in his name we pray.
Amen.