Enlisting Help

[0:00] Amen. Hey, let's stir you up a little. All right. Enough of that. Let's find Exodus chapter 18. Would you please go back to Exodus chapter 18? And last week we were here and we took a notice to a visit from Moses' father-in-law Jethro.

[0:19] And so we're going to continue that visit here this morning. Exodus chapter 18. And we read through verse number 12 last Sunday.

[0:40] We noticed that first Jethro, before he ever visited, he heard. And then he came and that he saw and experienced some things. He learned some things and it caused him to see the true God, the God of Israel, a bit differently than he had ever thought or heard before.

[0:58] It caused him to worship him and to offer and sacrifice to him. And as a result, he even got to fellowship with God's people. And it has all the makings of a good visit to a local church.

[1:11] But it started with a messenger. And it started with somebody going to him, to his house, informing him of where God's people are meeting.

[1:23] And so that's an interesting outlook there last Sunday. This week now it's going to take a total different turn as we consider the rest of this chapter. Because after arriving and the great visit and the meal and he went off to bed, he wakes up the next morning and Moses has gone to work.

[1:42] And so let's take a look at verse 13 and we'll read to the end of the chapter. Exodus 18 verse 13. And it came to pass on the morrow that Moses sat to judge the people.

[1:53] And the people stood by Moses from the morning until the evening. And when Moses' father-in-law saw all that he did to the people, he said, What is this thing that they'll do to the people? Why sittest thou thyself alone and all the people stand by thee from morning until even?

[2:09] And Moses said unto his father-in-law, Well, because the people come unto me to inquire of God, when they have a matter, they come unto me. And I judge between one and another, and I do make them know the statutes of God and his laws.

[2:21] And Moses' father-in-law said unto him, The thing that thou doest is not good. Thou wilt surely wear away both thou and this people that is with thee. For this thing is too heavy for thee.

[2:32] Thou art not able to perform it thyself alone. Hearken now unto my voice. I will give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee. Be thou for the people to Godward, that thou mayest bring the causes unto God.

[2:46] And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt show them the way wherein they must walk and the work that they must do. Moreover, thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness, and place such over them to be rulers of thousands and rulers of hundreds and rulers of fifties and rulers of tens.

[3:09] And let them judge the people at all seasons. And it shall be that every great matter that they shall bring unto thee, or that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge.

[3:19] So shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee. If thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people shall also go to their place in peace.

[3:32] So Moses hearkened to the voice of his father-in-law, and did all that he had said. And Moses chose able men out of Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.

[3:48] And they judged the people at all seasons. The hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves. And Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went his way into his own land.

[4:01] So there we have the final stage of the visit of Jethro. And the primary thing is here he's giving some advice to Moses based on what he sees.

[4:14] And so there's the chapter, and I think the visit was going pretty well from what we've studied already last week. Everything was normal, like a normal visit. Show up, sit in the tent and talk, go in the house and have a meal and go to bed.

[4:27] Everything was pretty normal there. But the next morning Moses goes to work. And Moses never comes back. And surely Moses will come home for lunch.

[4:39] But he never does. Surely Moses will knock off a little early. I mean, his wife and his sons just showed up. Surely he'd be spending time with them. His father-in-law, the guest in his home is there.

[4:50] Surely he'd come, but no, he never does. He stays at work all day long until evening. And so this is awkward. No Moses. He's busy.

[5:02] He's so busy judging the people from morning until evening that Jethro says, Moses, the thing that thou doest is not good. You're going to wear away.

[5:14] The people, you're making them stand around all day. They're going to wear away just as well. It's not good. It's not efficient. It's not healthy. Surely there's a better way.

[5:27] Now, I don't know what you think about this passage. I've read through this passage so many times, and I've never had a problem with Jethro's advice.

[5:40] It seemed like, yeah, I mean, it seems pretty straightforward, and Moses did it, and it helped. And then I read some commentators. For instance, in my Bible, I have a note here from the Bible, from the editors, and they say that Jehovah ignores this worldly wise organization, saying this is not of God, and God totally ignores this thing and then implements his own later on in Numbers 11.

[6:08] Others say some harder things against this and against Jethro and kind of qualify him as a humanist, saying that this is just of man, and it's man trying to come up with a solution.

[6:18] And I'm not really here to debate or to argue anybody's opinion or angle at looking at the passage. I don't even want to really disagree and pick apart what other people think, but I have to admit that I just don't see this as such a bad thing as some do.

[6:37] And also, I don't see any fallout because of this going forward. It seems like this is the thing that worked, and it also seems, and I can show you from Scripture, that when they go into the land, it seems that God acknowledges this and sets it up that they have judges in their gates and all the hard matters they bring to the priest in Jerusalem.

[6:57] So it seems like the way this thing is set up works going all the way forward into governing the people in the promised land. Now, besides all of that, it looks to me that Moses needed help, and Jethro gave him some advice, and he followed it.

[7:18] When Jethro views the situation, Moses there all day sitting in the seat of judgment, the people coming and standing before him, and he sees where this is going.

[7:28] Now, I'll try to paint the picture from what I just guess or gather as we go forward here to help you see what was going on here in its entirety, or at least just try to get a glimpse of it as best we can.

[7:43] But I don't believe that Jethro's being dramatic when he says, that will surely wear away in verse 18. I don't think he's overemphasizing anything.

[7:53] I don't think he's like, hey, I need to just find some value that I can offer to, while I'm here. I don't think he's looking to insert himself or his opinion into any situation. He actually believes, Moses, going forward, you can't sustain this.

[8:09] You do realize that you're taking on more than you can chew here. This is not good. This is not healthy. And he offers advice. And it seems to me that he actually expects Moses to seek the Lord about this.

[8:23] In verse 23, he says, If thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so, then there you go. If God doesn't command you, then find another way.

[8:36] But it seems that Jethro is genuinely trying to help, and that he's concerned for Moses, and he's concerned for the people, and that he believes a better solution ought to be sought.

[8:47] So he offers him advice. Moses does, in fact, take that advice and implement this system of help mentioned in verse 25, with the heads over the people, thousands, hundreds, fifties, a breakdown, kind of a line of order there.

[9:06] And so what he does is he institutes this system of help. But before he does that, though, we notice in this passage he follows certain guidelines. And I want to take a look at that this morning, and I'll just call this guidelines for enlisting help.

[9:22] And there's several reasons why help can be enlisted in your life, and in this church, or at your job, or in your home, or wherever the case. There's certain reasons, many of them, and we'll get to some of that later.

[9:34] But for now, let's just dig into this passage, and try to outline these guidelines that are put forth. And I believe that you will find application in your own life.

[9:45] I'm not necessarily going to try to make it all for you, but as we hit something, let the Lord just prick your heart, or open your eyes, and say, yeah, you should be thinking that way, too.

[9:56] So let's look at some guidelines this morning for enlisting help in whatever capacity it would be. But before we do that, let's go to the Lord together. Father, as we come before you, it's our prayer that you'll minister the word of God to each heart and each soul, and speak to us from your word.

[10:15] And Lord, may we align ourselves with the truths that this book preaches to us. And may, when we have a situation in life, and we need to make sense of it, or get things in order, teach us to follow your word, to go to your word, and to seek principles, and to align ourselves there.

[10:33] And so, Lord, I pray this will help somebody, or help all of us in whatever capacity, whether it's a family, or a home, or someone in a business, or even in this very church, and the help that needs to be.

[10:45] Lord, may you open our eyes and help us to submit. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. All right, I see a few guidelines. I've kind of narrowed them.

[10:55] I had some, but I narrowed them down to just three. And the first thing I want to point out here is that guideline number one for enlisting help is, first of all, there must be a need for help.

[11:08] There has to be a need. Now, just because you don't want to do something doesn't necessarily mean there's a need for someone else to do it. I need to put that out there. Sometimes you've already gotten responsibilities, and they're your responsibilities, whatever it is, if it's in the home, as the husband, or the wife, or the child, or if it's in a local church, or if it's in your place of work, there's some things that are yours.

[11:32] Maybe it's inherently, or maybe you signed up for it. It's not somebody, I don't need to find a helper to do the job that's mine to do. So let's just push that out of the side and realize there has to be a genuine need.

[11:45] It wasn't that Moses was just sitting here and said, you know, I wish I could just take vacations and have a few days off each week. That wasn't the reason that this advice was offered to enlist help.

[11:57] There must be a need. And so, first of all, don't see this as a way to shirk your responsibilities and get other people involved. But let's first notice there was, in fact, a real need.

[12:09] In verse 13, we already noticed that Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood by Moses from morning unto the evening. Now, if you wanted to vote on Tuesday and do it in person, do you want to stand in line from morning until the evening?

[12:29] Do you want to come back the next day and find out that I wasn't able to get in, you know, they closed it, so I'll come back Wednesday, and then come back Thursday? Do you want to just do this every day of your life?

[12:41] What if Moses, sitting in that seat of judgment, got sick of never having a life? Never having time at home with his wife and his sons?

[12:53] Jethro says, Moses, this is not sustainable for you to be seated in this judgment seat from the morning all the way to the evening. Evidence number one that there needs to be help is because Moses, in Jethro's opinion, is going to wear away trying to do this every day going forward.

[13:11] But evidence number two is that the people we read in verse 13 are standing by all day as well. So imagine you have a matter, and you need to go to take it to Moses, and you find your way over to where Moses is seating at judgment, and you get up there and you say, who's next?

[13:30] Where's the line begin? And it goes, and it goes, and it goes. And so you better get in line now because more people are coming. And so you go get your place in line.

[13:42] And you wait all day. They stood by him from the morning into the evening. And after one case is heard, the next case is heard. And then, and the one matter is heard, the next matter is heard.

[13:53] And people are slowly moving, but finally it's evening, and they say, Moses says, come back tomorrow. I'll hear you tomorrow. Come back tomorrow. Well, what if they can't come back tomorrow?

[14:04] They better get there early, or they're going to lose their place in line. And you can imagine, this thing is just getting out of proportion. Evidence number three, that there is a need, is that this is a large body of people.

[14:17] This is at least, from my calculations, two million. Others estimate it as large as four million, which I feel like that's pretty liberal. I think it's, it's got to be closer to the two.

[14:29] And there's no way of knowing that. There's no number magically to put on that thing. But just as a roundabout figure, one man is governing two million people alone.

[14:41] He does not have captains and, and people in positions. There is not separate tribes with their elders that are actually governing them. If there's a matter, they don't get to take it to the elder or the chief person of their tribe.

[14:54] They have to take it to Moses. One man, two million strong. Now, I, I want you to see this if you can.

[15:05] And I can't, you know, say this is perfectly true here, but in a year's time, in a year's time, what percentage of that two billion do you suppose had a matter come up in their life?

[15:22] Understand, they're not living under the rule of law that we are living under. It hasn't been taught. You didn't grow up in school learning certain laws and things. So, it's kind of brand new.

[15:34] In verse 15, verse 16, he says, I do make them know the statutes of God and his laws. Because God gave them to Moses personally, single-handedly gave them to him.

[15:45] And then he went to make them known to the people. So, how, what percentage of the, of the congregation do you suppose had an issue or had a matter that they did not know how to resolve?

[16:00] That they didn't know what the, the rule of law was? I'll just, I think 10% is a number we can just use. And I don't think it's a too big of a number.

[16:12] I don't think it's too small. I'm not exaggerating here. I just, that's a number I guessed on. I asked someone else and they said, I think 10% is pretty reasonable. I said, bingo, that's my number two.

[16:23] So, let's go with that. In the mouth of two witnesses. So, let's just imagine 200,000, 10% of 2 million, 200,000 people have a matter in the year.

[16:37] And I know you can think in your mind babies or women or you can, but we're looking at a 10% kind of thing. And it's not to say that one person doesn't have a second or a third or a fourth matter come up in the year's time.

[16:48] Some people are prone to that. They're just controversial people. And so you can imagine, oh, here it is him again, you know. So, let's just stay with that number. 200,000 people have an issue.

[17:02] Doing the math, and I forget I did this earlier, I feel like, if I recall, taking the Sabbath day out of it you come up with a roundabout figure of 600,000 people per day.

[17:14] I'm sorry, 600 people per day. Per day of the year. Obviously, that's an average. That doesn't mean every day it was this. It could be less, it could be more. But just trying to get what does this look like?

[17:26] What is Jethro witnessing? The best gauge I'm coming up with is 600 people per day. It may have been less. It may have been more.

[17:36] Let's imagine, though, that this is like a 1v1 situation. He did this, you know, so that narrows the 600, possibly down to 300 matters.

[17:47] And I think I'm even kind of getting very, very conservative all of a sudden. But I'm trying to do it for a point. If there were 300 matters a day, for Moses to listen to that side and to this side or to hear the matter in its entirety, if he just gives it three minutes to each matter, do you know that's 15 hours of his time to just give three minutes to every single matter?

[18:16] So I'm just, you get it, I'm just ballparking this. I'm just kind of averaging and presuming some things. But whatever the case is, I don't think Jethro's exaggerating, saying, Moses, the thing that thou doest is not good, you're going to wear away and the people that stand here all day long are going to wear away too.

[18:37] You've got to come up with something different. So if that makes sense to you, there is a need. So there must be a need. I think this qualifies as there is, in fact, a need.

[18:50] Furthermore, there were small matters and there were large matters mentioned in the chapter. And that means many people waited all day long to get to Moses so that he would hear their small matter.

[19:02] You can imagine that that would get frustrating, that they would say, you know what, I don't care. And the rule of law, the life would not be lived correctly. People would start to not care.

[19:14] People would start to take matters into their own hands and it would fall apart. This is not good. It's not a good setup. You ever go to the DMV and I found out last couple trips to the DMV that they have somebody that's kind of an intermediate before you ever really take a number and get to the window.

[19:35] They have somebody there checking you in, almost saying, okay, what are you here for? And what they're doing is weeding out all the people that don't have the right documents, that don't even need to be here or that could handle this online and they're just turning people away left and right.

[19:50] And what I found is watching them that they rotate that person every hour from what I could tell because it is exhausting to have a line form, two different lines.

[20:03] Okay, what do you want? Your appointment? What time is it? Okay, you're checking. Okay, so what can I help you with? And then boom, boom, boom, you have this paper? Do you have that paper? You need this form? You need to fill this? Okay, next. And just trying to move them through as fast as possible and dealing with their arguing, dealing, well, I called, you know, all that stuff.

[20:18] And they can only sit there for an hour at a time and then they get to go back behind one of the desks and somebody else comes up to relieve them. Why? Because there's so many matters, great matters, small matters, and the line gets further and the people start getting frustrated and we see it in a small scale at the DMV.

[20:36] Consider that this is Moses, two million people. So I think you get the point. Before enlisting help, there must be a need. Jethro saw this as a major need.

[20:47] Secondly, guideline number two, the help must be trained and qualified. I'll put these two together as we notice again verse number 20 and 21.

[20:59] And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws and shalt show them the way wherein they must walk and the work that they must do. That's training. Moses, you're going to train them.

[21:11] So the help must be trained. Moses, you're going to teach them the details necessary for the job description. They don't have to know how to judge God's people. They don't have to know God's ordinances and God's laws and his judgments.

[21:23] You're going to teach that to them and then they're going to go and do the job. That's a very necessary element in enlisting help is training to help. And that's true in all areas of life where help is necessary.

[21:38] And I can think of so many times in my life when in the construction world I worked in for 10 years how it was my duty when they'd hire a new green kid off the streets bringing him in and say, here, he's your helper for now.

[21:53] You know, if he works out, he works out. If he doesn't, he doesn't. And it was my job to train him. I remember one kid, 17 years old, got kicked out of school, didn't know how to read a tape measure. And I'm like, why do I have to, like, we're not going to get anything done today or the next day.

[22:08] You've got to take every moment to teach every step of the way. But that's part of it. If you're going to enlist help, then they need to be trained. And most, well, they don't need to be experienced if they need to be trained.

[22:22] So they all need to be trained but they also need to be qualified. And let's notice this, this is important. Verse 21. And I'm speaking of qualified as far as the quality of character for this job of judging God's people.

[22:34] Moreover, verse 21, thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth-hating covetousness, and place such over them.

[22:45] So he's speaking of the quality of their character. So these men that are going to be enlisted to be helpers have already got to adhere to a standard, personally. They're already faithful men that fear God.

[22:57] That love truth. They love righteousness. That's already present within them. He's not saying we're going to train them to love the Lord and to want to do right. So in Moses' case, putting people in a position of judgment over their peers and over the community, which is kind of what we've been doing here in our little voting thing over the last several months, or weeks, months, whatever it's been, doing that kind of thing.

[23:22] It's an important duty. And then they must be men of character and men of moral integrity. God told King David in 2 Samuel 23, in verse number 3, he said, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.

[23:40] Any man that's going to be put above other men has got to fear God. He's got to, the verse said, be just. When we read the Proverbs, and time would fail us this morning to cite all of the references in the Proverbs that deal with this topic of judgment and ruling, Solomon firmly warned his son against putting men in positions of power that are greedy of gain, or men that are respecters of persons.

[24:10] They would, the judge must be impartial. He must be balanced. He must be just. He must honor integrity and righteousness. There's so many references to what will happen in a land if you have the wrong people in judgment.

[24:28] And so Jethro's advice, it is right on the money, and it works with the rest of the scripture. It matches perfectly. He says in verse 21, the people, they must be able men.

[24:43] Some men can't make decisions. Some men just shirk that responsibility, but if you're going to put somebody in a position of judgment, they need to be able men. They can't be men that the society already doesn't trust.

[25:00] They've already got 17 complaints against them from the people coming to Moses. Those are not men you're going to put in front of the people. Men that have good reputation. They're able men.

[25:11] It says there in verse 21, such as fear God. The Bible says the fear of the Lord is to hate evil. The Bible says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

[25:23] It's the beginning of knowledge. You're going to want to put somebody in front of the people that fears God, that actually fears God. That's a big, big, big, big deal to have somebody in judgment over another.

[25:38] Somebody, it says in verse 21, that is a men of truth, which is the basis of judgment. Truth. What's the truth?

[25:49] Not what's the person before me. Not how rich are they or how likable are they or how pretty are they or how popular are they? No, what's the truth?

[25:59] Let's get down to the truth of the matter. That's the men that need to be seated in judgment. That's the basis. And lastly, he says men that hate covetousness.

[26:11] That will eliminate a lot of corruption. Men that will take gifts and justify the wicked and do it for reward. And so the men have to be trained, but they also have to be qualified.

[26:22] They have to be men of character. That's guideline number two to put somebody into a seat of judgment or a position in enlisting help. They've got to be qualified.

[26:34] There's something else I want us to see in verse number 22, and that is another guideline is that the help must understand and submit to their role.

[26:46] It says in verse 22, and let them judge the people at all seasons, and it shall be that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge.

[26:57] And it says the exact same thing in verse 26, the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves. And I want to point out three quick things from this guideline that the help must understand and submit to their role.

[27:12] Grand standards need not apply to this position because this position, as the end of verse 22 says, they shall bear the burden with thee, Moses.

[27:23] This position is about bearing a burden. This position is you're signing up for this to be a servant. This is not for you to get exalted in the eyes of the community.

[27:33] It's not for you to use this as a step ladder toward a bigger career. You're judging, and what your judgment is, it's not about you. You're just a servant, and you're just to sort out and find the truth so that this nation can be a holy nation to where the truth prevails and to where we live by some laws.

[27:56] And so for the person they need to understand, they're just here to help, and they're here to serve. Secondly, they need to understand and submit to their role that this isn't small matters only. This is small stuff, and you need to be okay with that because it's not your place to handle the big matters.

[28:13] That's something established and put forth. That was Jethro's idea, and that's what Moses followed through with. I'll handle the big matters. I'll take the ones I don't even know how to handle before God, and you see that happen a couple times when there was somebody cursing in the camp.

[28:29] It happened again when some daughters of Zelophehad didn't, he didn't have any sons, and they weren't going to get, you know, their father's name wasn't, Moses had to take that before God and say, what do I do here?

[28:41] I need a judge in this matter, and God gave him an answer. And so that thing followed through. But for the judges that were to be enlisted as helpers, it was in small matters only.

[28:52] The position doesn't require a man of great counsel and deep understanding, but rather a man faithful, dependable, trustworthy. Someone you can trust.

[29:03] Anybody seeking recognition need not apply. Anybody looking for an opportunity to get their name heard, they need to look somewhere else. And by the way, as a side note, if you can find an honest man that's faithful in that which is least, he'll be a man faithful in that which is much.

[29:21] And then the third thought here that to help us understand their role is that they're only here to judge according to what they've been taught in verse 20. Those ordinances and laws that Moses taught them that came from God, they're not here to pass their own personal opinions or their own judgment upon people.

[29:40] They're here to teach what the word of God says. And if you don't have an ordinance, and if you don't have a law, then you move it up the chain. And it'll get all the way to Moses, and it'll get to God.

[29:51] But ideally, you stay in your lane, you judge the matters, you know how to judge. So the help must understand their role, what their lane is, what's being required of them, and no more.

[30:03] Now, if this thing is followed, and there is an official and absolute need, and the help that is enlisted is trained, and they're qualified, they meet the standard, and they live by a standard, and if they understand their role, then they submit to that role, then the result is things are working.

[30:24] And in verse 23, he says, it shall be, if I'll do this thing God commanded, thou shalt be able to endure. Moses will not be wore out every single day of his life, and cranky, and fussy, and angry, and he'll endure some, or enjoy some peace, and the people will go to their place in peace.

[30:42] They'll go back home, and things will be resolved, and they won't be frustrated, and the society will just find peace. Nobody's going to grow weary in well-doing when you follow certain guidelines to enlisting the help.

[30:59] Now, let me show you just a couple examples of this, of following such a thing. Come back to Genesis chapter 2. Genesis chapter 2.

[31:16] Here's one example. Verse number 18. The Lord God said, it is not good that man should be alone.

[31:33] I will make him and help meet for him. So is there a need? God said there's a need.

[31:44] He created a man. He gave him some tasks and some instructions. In verse 20, it says, but for Adam, there was not found in help.

[31:56] The animals came. They got named. But Adam's all alone. So the Lord caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam. And he slept. He took one of the ribs, and he creates, from Adam, he creates a woman.

[32:10] And this is bone of his bones, flesh of his flesh. You know the story. Was there a need? God thought there was a need. So he said, Adam, you need help.

[32:21] That's the word God used two times in the passage. You need in help. And help that is meat for you, that is suitable, a match, that will work well with the man I created.

[32:34] And so here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to make you a woman. And she'll be your help. You know what God said in verse 18? It is not good that the man should be alone.

[32:46] Those are the same words Jethro used. The thing that thou doest is not good. And it wasn't. And so, God saw a need. God made and created in help.

[32:58] The help God qualified in the sense that he made her different than the man. And I can recall as a young man newly married, I think just like three, I don't know, just a few months in, just kids, just married.

[33:14] And I can remember considering this relationship and considering I spent several years of my life as a single young man and just, you know, doing whatever I wanted to do anytime I ever wanted to do it.

[33:30] And considered this new relationship and this woman and just in our innocency and our youth and just inexperience, I still felt this sound and firm connection to God through having this woman united to me.

[33:49] I remember praying over this and saying, God, I feel completed here. It's weird. I can't express it or say it in any other way, but I feel a completion having this wife.

[34:00] It's so much better than being alone. God's help because he even said so. And so God saw a need and God created somebody that would be in help.

[34:11] And I would say that she's qualified. God made her that way. There's a character that's described in the Bible for a woman that's to be a help for a man.

[34:25] The character is that she's to be in subjection to the man, that she's to be of a meek and quiet spirit. To quote the Proverbs a bit here, there's a contentious woman, a foolish woman, an odious woman, but there's also a wise woman, a gracious woman, a virtuous woman.

[34:46] Which one do you think meets the standard as the help that God has called her to be to the man? The qualifications. Not only in this situation where there's a need for help and there's qualifications there as well, and what I'd say there on the side is if you're looking for a help or a mate or a woman or a man, whatever position you find yourself in in life, follow the qualifications.

[35:14] Make sure, just like Moses put it out there, they better fear God. Don't you go looking for somebody who doesn't fear God and doesn't, just has their own ideas of things. You're going to be fighting some battles and you're going to be losing some battles and you're going to be miserable.

[35:28] You better find somebody that qualifies according to the Word of God and that understands and submits to the role. Because in the marriage, there are small matters and in the marriage, there are plenty of big matters.

[35:42] matters, but I'd say probably the small matters are more than the big matters. And it doesn't make the woman that's given the, in this picture, the small matters, doesn't mean she's small or insignificant, but it means that God gave her the role of fulfilling the smaller matters.

[36:02] And he gave the man the role of fulfilling and answering to God for the larger, the great causes. And that's the way God made it. And what I'd say to that is that's the best way it should be for the women and for the men.

[36:15] It doesn't say that you're insignificant, woman. You should embrace that and say, Lord, thank you for not putting all the responsibility on my shoulders. I can just stay in my lane and I can just help the man and take care of the small matters so that he can take care of the great matters.

[36:36] Now, maybe you don't like to hear that. I don't care. That's what the Word of God says. I care in the sense that I hope your heart's willing to receive that, that you have a humble and submissive heart to the Word of God.

[36:47] But just what we showed you in Exodus, this thing is a perfect picture of the marriage and of the home. And those guidelines work and the thing will work.

[36:58] The home will work. The relationship will work if you'll follow through with this. And just not picking on the ladies, but God gave you a role as that help, like we're studying, to understand and submit to your role.

[37:13] And if you'll do that, it's a good role. And it fits you. It fits you just the way God made you. So embrace that. There's something else.

[37:24] Let's go to another place. Look at Acts chapter 6. This will be the last place we turn to in the Word of God. Acts chapter 6. I'm just kind of giving you some variety here how this is able to be implemented scripturally.

[37:42] And it'll fit into pretty much any category where help is needed to be enlisted. Acts chapter 6. And we'll just do this one very quickly.

[37:54] Verse number 1. It says, And in those days when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. So you know what there is?

[38:06] There's a need. Verse 2 says, Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them and said, It is not reason that we should leave the Word of God and serve tables. You realize that there's a need and there's what's considered small matters and great matters.

[38:22] The great matter is the Word of God as they'll say later and prayer. The smaller matter is serving these widows and making sure they're taken care of.

[38:34] It's not saying that's not an important matter. It's just in the scope of things. There's great matters and small matters and we need to enlist some help to handle the small matters so that we don't get taken away and wear away from trying to do it all ourselves.

[38:51] So, verse 3. Let's enlist some help. There's a need. Let's follow our guidelines. Let's make sure our help is qualified.

[39:01] Verse 3 says, Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. You'll notice that there was a multitude of disciples in verse 2.

[39:15] They're only looking for seven men. So, it's not like everybody has to pitch in here. They're looking for the cream of the crop, the holiest men, the ones that are walking in wisdom, and appoint them over this business.

[39:28] Verse 4. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word, the greater matters. And so, as you can see, there's the men listed in verse number 5.

[39:40] Verse 6 says, Whom they set before the apostles when they prayed, laid hands on them. The Word of God increased. How about that? The operation goes smoothly. Things get back to flow in the right way.

[39:52] There's no more fussing. The ministry and the leaders are not distracted anymore over the small matters because they've implemented a system of help. It's a natural thing.

[40:05] And so, concluding this this morning, when these guidelines are followed, if it's in your home, if it's in the church, if it's in the ministries of the church, if it's in your place of employment, this is principles that work for life.

[40:19] And when they're implemented, then the problems are averted and everybody can work together and fulfill their role and their relationship and their responsibilities.

[40:30] But, the problems show up when the system, within the system of help, if it's, number one, if it's not implemented. Number two, problems show up when the help refuses to submit to their role.

[40:45] When the help decides that, you know what, I'm a little bit more ambitious than just staying in this. I think of a guy who is a graduate of Bible school and he went to a church that was an established church and he just was happy to show up and to be part of a good church.

[41:04] And he was so full of zeal and full of the word of God, he decided to start a Bible study without telling the pastor, without telling anybody of leadership, just friends in the church, let's do, yeah, let's study the Bible together, let's study the Bible together.

[41:18] And so they did. And more people came. More people came. They begin to have 25 and 30 people at their house on Friday night. And the wife said, this isn't good.

[41:32] We shouldn't be doing this. This is getting too big. What may have started, what happened was the pastor eventually calls him in and said, you need to get out of here. And it was, you know, long story short, you need to get out of here.

[41:45] And the man was so hurt and so burned because why, you know, you bunch of apostates, all I'm doing is trying to, it turns out, hey, it was kind of like, brother, if you have the gifts and the calling of God on your life, then go do something for God, but don't show up to a local church and start a ministry and start a Bible study.

[42:04] That's just stupid. So go, go preach. You want to preach? Go serve, go start a church. And he ended up doing that. But the system of help was completely out of balance and the guidelines weren't being followed.

[42:18] Now, problems arise when, as I said, somebody gets too ambitious and wants to be something more than he is. Sounds like Absalom over David. Oh, that someone, that there was a judge.

[42:30] Oh, that I could be the one. Oh, that I could be king. Sometimes problems arise in the system of help when the help is lazy or when the help is not faithful and when they don't fulfill their role and the system starts to break down and there's confusion and things don't work the way they ought to work.

[42:50] So pointing this out here because there are biblical guidelines for enlisting help, whether it's in your home, whether it's at your work, whether it's in your church, the Bible addresses everything.

[43:04] It gives, if not, if not direct address, it gives principles that fit and it's up to us and our duty to learn the word of God and to allow this book to guide our decisions as well as our actions.

[43:19] And so that's the lesson here from Jethro and his advice. I mentioned earlier that some people come down on it quite hard and associate him with humanistic ideology and I've studied this out pretty hard because I didn't want to just come out and say some things and lift him up if I was wrong and I could take you to some other scriptures here that I've spent a lot of time on this week to try to be careful to make sure that I think his advice was good and I think it went, I think it worked and I think it went forward all the way into the promised land.

[43:55] And if you want to study this on some other references, there's Deuteronomy chapter 1 that you want to get familiar with and 16 and 17 and you could ask me the rest of them if you want to. But let's close with that.

[44:06] We'll be dismissed and we'll come back tonight at 4 o'clock for the doctrines class. Okay, 4 o'clock. Everybody got that? Said it enough? Please come and we'll have a good time. And in the meantime, if there's a position and a situation, follow the word of God, follow these principles and let the Lord lead you through it so that you can be sure that it works out correctly.

[44:31] Let's pray and we'll be dismissed. Our Father, we are thankful that the book teaches us things and it gives us stories and historical lessons from the past that can apply to our own relationships in our homes and in our churches and in governing different situations.

[44:49] Lord, we'd be lost without this holy book and so we thank you for it. We submit ourselves to it. Help us to submit ourselves one to another in the fear of God. Help us to love one another. Help us, God, to put on charity.

[45:03] Help us to recognize our roles and to embrace them as if it's unto you. And may we not be seeking praise. May we not be seeking to lift ourselves up in pride.

[45:17] God, help us to recognize that, rebuke us for that and put it down. And may this local church work and operate smoothly. May our homes operate smoothly.

[45:28] May we submit ourselves to what you say. And I pray that you could use this time, this lesson, and this help for the sake of Jesus Christ and for us to bring glory to you. And we pray this in his precious name.

[45:39] Amen. Amen. You're dismissed. I believe Mark is back at his spot already. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.