Sermon Tone Analysis
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In one episode of this century’s best sitcom, The Office, Regional Manager Michael Scott asks Dwight Shrute, assistant to the regional manager, a question: “What is the most inspiring thing I ever said to you?”
Let’s watch:
[Play clip] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVVsDIv98TA
Good advice for life in general, that.
Some of my favorite advice, however, is from the incomparable Jack Handey.
Here are a few examples:
"Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes.
That way when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them and you have their shoes."
“If you ever drop your keys into a river of molten lava, let'em go, because, man, they're gone.”
“To me, it’s always a good idea to always carry two sacks of something when you walk around.
That way, if anybody says, “Hey, can you give me a hand?,” you can say, “Sorry, got these sacks.”
“If you’re a horse, and someone gets on you, and falls off, and then gets right back on you, I think you should buck him off right away.”
Jack Handey always gives the best advice.
It’s entirely ridiculous, but it’s so good.
I’ve recieved quite a lot of advice in my relatively short life.
People like to share advice, often unsolicited.
My Uncle Lee is the king of unsolicited advice—some good, some not so good, and some plain stupid.
“Now Barrett, what you need to do is this...” “Okay, thanks, Uncle.”
Some advice is such common sense, it doesn’t really need to be said, but people share it nonetheless.
Other advice serves as shove in the right direction.
I think about my good friends, Frances McDaniel and Kessie Steuck ordering me (and I quote), “You marry that girl!
You hear me?!?!” They were referring to Meghann, of course.
And, of course, I listened...out of respect, a little bit of fear, and because it was really good advice.
Nothing is more freely and liberally given than advice.
Everyone has an opinion, a tip, a suggestion.
Run into a devotee of Dave Ramsey’s, a vegan, or a cross-fit athlete, and I promise you, you’ll know exactly what they are, because they’ll tell you immediately.
And then, they will all give the same advice: “You should try it!”
Advice must be taken with a grain of salt.
And it must be measured and considered properly.
If I took every bit of advice I received, it’s hard to say where I’d be.
You can’t follow all the advice you are given, and you shouldn’t follow some of the advice you’re given.
But when someone who loves you and loves the Lord gives you advice that is in step with the Lord’s will and Word—listen to that advice.
In our text for today, Jethro gives his son-in-law Moses some much needed advice:
If you have your Bible (and I hope you do), please turn with me to Exodus 18.
Our text for this morning can be found on page #115 of the Red Pew Bible in front of you.
If you’re able and willing, please stand for the reading of God’s Holy Word out of reverence for Him.
Exodus 18, beginning with verse 13:
May the Lord add His blessing to the reading of His Holy Word!
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Jethro had come to visit Moses, to accompany his daughter (Moses’ wife) and grandsons (Moses’ sons) back to Moses.
I always loved when my grandparents would travel back to Greensburg with us.
Phillipsburg was about 3 hours away; we’d go to visit them fairly often, and a few times, they’d load in the family minivan with us and come back home with us.
That’s kind of what’s happening here in Exodus 18, save the minivan.
Grandpa’s traveling with his grandsons and daughter back to where their camp is located, back to Moses.
Jethro is coming to visit with Moses, to hear about all that the Lord had done for Moses and the Israelites.
Moses gladly shares everything they’ve been through—good and bad—and about how the Lord had saved the people for their good yet ultimately for His glory.
At the hearing of these things, Jethro delights.
He praises the Lord, Yahweh, the God of Israel; Jethro now knows that the Lord is the one and only God—greater and higher and worthy of praise.
He worships the Lord, bringing a burnt offering and other sacrifices to Him.
And then, Aaron and all the elders of Israel sit down with Jethro and they eat a meal together.
The first half of Exodus 18 records Jethro’s conversion.
It’s a wonderful story.
And here’s the thing: it’s the type of story that’s repeated over and over again as the people of the Lord share the Lord with others and proclaim what He’s done for us.
Pagans (like Jethro) are converted.
“Good people” are converted.
Nice people are converted.
People who think they have no need of conversion are converted, saved, redeemed, rescued by the mighty and merciful hand of God.
>Recently converted Jethro—the day after conversion, delight, praise, worship, fellowship—sees Moses working solo.
It was “Moses: The One-Man Show.”
There were, you remember, more than 600,000 Israelite men who left Egypt, not counting women and children or the many other people who left Egypt with the Israelites (Exodus 12:37-38).
So, the prophet, Moses, was governing a nation of roughly one million people (or more), and this, all by himself.
The workload was staggering.
Someone said, “This might be the first case of judicial backlog.”
Jethro cares for Moses, and as he’s watching Moses, it’s clear to Jethro that Moses might just work himself to death.
My preaching professor at Manhattan Christian College, Mr. Loren Deckard, told us about a moment in his ministry at Joppatowne Christian Church in Joppa, MD where he served for decades before coming to MCC.
Now, he wasn’t ministering to anywhere near 1,000,000 people, but he kept very busy with the myriad tasks a solo preacher has.
As a cautionary tale to the pastoral students in his class, because he loved us and was looking out for us, he told us that while at Joppatowne he worked himself into a heart attack in his early 30s.
The doctor told him it was caused by the strain and the stress of his self-imposed 80-90 hour work weeks.
Mr. Deckard warned us: “If you’re not careful, you might just work yourself to death, or, at minimum, give yourself a heart attack before you hit 40.”
No doubt, that could happen in any line of work, but the warning is a good one to heed.
Moses was working hard; he’s faithfully serving in his role.
When Jethro asks: “What are you doing, and why are you doing it alone?”
Put a couple hundred people in a room and there’ll be all sorts of disputes and arguments.
Heck, 10 people together for long enough will eventually start to bicker one with another.
Put me in a room alone for an hour and I’ll start to argue with myself.
Imagine trying to settle the disputes of one million people plus.
There is no way!
Moses isn’t just settling disputes.
Moses is doing more than giving advice.
Moses is seeking the Lord’s will.
As the people come to him, he’s listening and then asking the Lord what His will is.
Moses is listening to the Lord and then informing the concerned parties about God’s decrees and instructions.
The people aren’t coming to Moses for his opinion; they’re coming to Moses because Moses is the intermediary, the go-between, the representative of the people before God.
Moses is working hard, really hard, and this—as Jethro sees it—is not good, nor is it sustainable.
Moses is in an untenable situation; more than likely, he himself is not going to be able to keep this up.
There’s no way one man—even a called-out, Holy Spirit empowered Old Testament prophet—could ever meet the needs of a group this size.
Moses could not continue the way he was going.
So Jethro gives him some really good advice.
His advice is very wise.
It makes a lot of sense.
It’s practical.
But what makes it good advice is not the practicality of it.
What makes it good advice is that Jethro gives the advice with one very important stipulation; so important, he mentions it twice:
Jethro’s advice, good as it is, practical as it is, helpful as it might be, would be worthless and totally useless apart from God’s blessing of it.
Advice contrary to God’s revealed will is not good advice.
If God’s not in this, it’s terrible advice.
Jethro—even as a new convert to the faith—is aware of this.
May God be with you is Jethro’s way of saying, “Here’s my advice; I know God will be with you and will lead you in this direction if He agrees.”
Jethro couches his advice to Moses upon the sovereignty of God.
“If God so commands, put this advice into practice and it will help you and the people.”
If Jethro’s advice is contrary to God’s will for Moses and the people, it’s terrible advice.
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