Naylor Community Christian Church
Naylor, Georgia
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Exodus 18:1-8
Exodus18:1
Now Jethro, the priest of Midian and father-in-law of Moses, heard of
everything God had done for Moses and for his people Israel, and how the Lord
had brought Israel out of Egypt.
2
After Moses had sent away his wife Zipporah, his father-in-law Jethro received
her 3 and her two sons. One son was named Gershom, for Moses said, “I have
become a foreigner in a foreign land”; 4 and the other was named Eliezer, for
he said, “My father’s God was my helper; he saved me from the sword of
Pharaoh.”
5
Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, together with Moses’ sons and wife, came to him
in the wilderness, where he was camped near the mountain of God. 6 Jethro had
sent word to him, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your
wife and her two sons.”
7
So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him. They
greeted each other and then went into the tent. 8 Moses told his father-in-law
about everything the Lord had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel’s
sake and about all the hardships they had met along the way and how the Lord
had saved them.
-- I’m sure most of us remember the
ministry of Dr. Billy Graham and the evangelistic crusades that he used to hold
across the country and the world – even as a kid, I remember seeing Dr. Graham
come on the television and being amazed at the size of the crowds that would
gather to hear him preach – and as I grew older and moved into pastoral
ministry, I remain amazed at the impact of his ministry and the multitude of
people he reached with the gospel
-- looking at him, it all looked so
easy – it seemed like Dr. Graham would just roll into town, announce he was
having a crusade, and then thousands of people would flock into a stadium to
hear him preach – but after reading his autobiography, “Just as I Am,” I
learned that there was so much more to Dr. Graham’s ministry than that
-- in his book, he humbly points out
that the success of his many crusades and evangelistic outreaches had little to
do with him and more to do with those who assisted him in his ministry – while
Graham was gifted in teaching and sharing the word of God in a way that touched
millions during his life, he never would have been successful without the work
of so many others beside him – people that most of us were never aware of
-- he wrote in his book about the
preparation committee that was part of his ministry – they would come to town
many months in advance of the crusade dates to start making preparations for
the event – they would contact churches and pastors and seek their assistance
in getting the word out and in engaging their congregations to pray and to
offer resources to support Dr. Graham’s team
-- they contacted newspapers to
advertise the event and rented billboards and took out ads on radio and
television to share the word – they rented out a venue and made plans for the
parking and the transportation – they arranged to have food and drink available
for those who would attend
-- they ordered Bibles and other
materials and had them prepositioned in the stadiums before the crusade – and
trained hundreds of volunteers to accomplish a myriad of tasks, from helping
park the buses to escorting people into the stadium and helping them find a
seat to being trained in evangelism and prayer so they could help meet the
needs and pray with those who responded to God’s call through Dr. Graham
-- in other words, when we turned on
the TV and saw Dr. Graham enter a stadium filled with people and begin
preaching the word to them, this was the culmination of hours and hours of
behind the scenes leadership and coordination and the efforts of many, many
people to make it all come together in that moment
-- while all we saw was Dr. Graham
and the results of his message, it was all dependent on the ministry of those
who made the preparations for this event over the course of several months
-- this morning, we are continuing
in our sermon series on the spiritual disciplines and the spiritual gifts – so
far in our study of the spiritual gifts, we have discussed speaking in tongues
and the interpretation of tongues and the gift of prophecy, which we agreed was
not primarily the prophetic foretelling of the future but the proclamation of
God’s word as received by the prophet
-- today, we are looking at two
spiritual gifts that work hand-in-hand to accomplish God’s will and His
ministry in the church today – the spiritual gifts of leadership and
administration
-- and I hope you were able to see
in the story of Dr. Billy Graham and his crusades how the leadership of Dr.
Graham combined with the administrative gifts and talents of many other
individuals to have the world-wide impact that we recognize from his ministry
-- before we dive into our study
this morning on these two spiritual gifts, I did want to share one other thing
with you – as I was looking over my notes and the recent sermons, it occurred
to me that I had been using a term without defining it for you – and I never
want to have that happen, because I don’t want you to be confused or not
understand what we are talking about
-- as Voltaire said, “If you would
converse with me, define your terms” – and I want to make sure that I do that –
in our messages over the past few weeks, I have mentioned the term charismatic
many times – and we have discussed the fact that we have charismatic churches
in our local area
-- so, what do we mean when we call
a church charismatic? -- the word charismatic is derived from the Greek word charism
or charisma, which means gift – in context, referring to the spiritual
gifts that are listed for us in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12
–
a charismatic church is one that places an emphasis on the spiritual gifts,
especially the more visible spiritual gifts such as speaking in tongues,
prophecy, and healing – they are very closely related to the Pentecostal
churches, which emphasize the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the baptism of
the Holy Spirit, which we have talked about before
--
the charismatic movement began as a reformation within established
denominations – and you will still find charismatic Christians in many of the
mainline denominations – but some charismatic believers founded their own
churches, to include Calvary Chapel Church and those associated with the
Vineyard movement
--
so, when I refer to a charismatic church or a charismatic movement, that is
what I am talking about – a church that emphasizes the ministry of the Spirit
through the visible manifestation of the spiritual gifts
--
with that, let’s move on with our discussion about the spiritual gifts of
leadership and administration
II. Scripture Lesson (Exodus 18:1-27)
-- look back at Exodus 18:1
Exodus18:1
Now Jethro, the priest of Midian and father-in-law of Moses, heard of
everything God had done for Moses and for his people Israel, and how the Lord
had brought Israel out of Egypt.
-- as this passage opens, we find
the nation of Israel liberated from their former captivity in Egypt – God had
spoken to Moses through the burning bush, and commanded him to lead His people
out of Egypt and to the Promised Land – and we all remember the story of how
Moses and Aaron went before Pharaoh to seek freedom for the Israelites and how
God poured out His wrath on Egypt through several different plagues
-- God miraculously delivered the
people from the hands of Pharaoh by parting the Red Sea and allowing the people
to pass through on dry land while drowning the pursuing army of Egypt
-- by the time we get to Exodus 18,
the people have been wandering through the desert enroute to the Promised Land
– God has begun to pour out His grace on them by providing manna and quail to
eat and showing His miraculous power by bringing water out of a rock and by
leading this ragtag group of former slaves to defeat the Amalekites
-- skip down to verse 5-13
Exodus
18:5 Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, together with Moses’ sons and wife, came to
him in the wilderness, where he was camped near the mountain of God. 6 Jethro
had sent word to him, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your
wife and her two sons.”
7
So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him. They
greeted each other and then went into the tent. 8 Moses told his father-in-law
about everything the Lord had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel’s
sake and about all the hardships they had met along the way and how the Lord
had saved them.
9
Jethro was delighted to hear about all the good things the Lord had done for
Israel in rescuing them from the hand of the Egyptians. 10 He said, “Praise be
to the Lord, who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh, and
who rescued the people from the hand of the Egyptians. 11 Now I know that the
Lord is greater than all other gods, for he did this to those who had treated
Israel arrogantly.” 12 Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a burnt
offering and other sacrifices to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of
Israel to eat a meal with Moses’ father-in-law in the presence of God.
13
The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they
stood around him from morning till evening.
--
Moses had sent his wife and children home to Midian while his showdown with
Pharaoh was going on, presumably to keep them safe – but now the immediate
danger is over – and we read that Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, heard of
everything that had happened and how God had used Moses, and so he shows up at
the Israelites’ camp with Moses’ wife and children in tow
--
because of everything God had done for him and through him – because of the way
God had used him to bring the Israelites out of Egypt -- Moses is now
recognized by the entire nation of Israel as their leader – and they have been
following him through the wilderness as he began leading them to the Promised
Land
--
as the leader – as the one whom God had called and empowered to lead the people
out of Egypt – the people had naturally been turning to Moses for guidance and
direction in their lives – to include having Moses serve as the judge for all
the people – and trusting in his wisdom to settle conflicts and disagreements
among themselves
--
and every day, Moses would take his seat as judge and leader of the people –
and they would come to him with their concerns and their conflicts and expect
him to solve them – this went on from morning till night and when the next
morning rolled around, it started all over again
--
keep in mind that scholars believe that the nation of Israel at this time had
about 600,000 men, not including women and children – all told, there may have
been as many as 2 million people in the nation that followed Moses out of Egypt
and through the Red Sea on their way to the Promised Land – that’s quite a
number of people for Moses to lead all by himself and it was more than Moses
could handle
--
verse 14-27
Exodus 18:14 When his father-in-law saw all that Moses
was doing for the people, he said, “What is this you are doing for the people?
Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from
morning till evening?”
15 Moses answered him, “Because the people come to me
to seek God’s will. 16 Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I
decide between the parties and inform them of God’s decrees and instructions.”
17 Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing
is not good. 18 You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves
out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. 19 Listen now
to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the
people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him. 20 Teach
them his decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live and
how they are to behave. 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, fifties and tens. 22 Have them serve as judges for
the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the
simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter,
because they will share it with you. 23 If you do this and God so commands, you
will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.”
24 Moses listened to his father-in-law and did
everything he said. 25 He chose capable men from all Israel and made them
leaders of the people, officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. 26
They served as judges for the people at all times. The difficult cases they
brought to Moses, but the simple ones they decided themselves.
27 Then Moses sent his father-in-law on his way, and
Jethro returned to his own country.
--
when Jethro saw the burden that Moses had accepted as the leader of the people,
he realized quite quickly that it was more than Moses could bear – he went to
Moses and asked him why he was doing this – why he was wearing himself out by
sitting as the judge of all Israel day in and day out
--
he told Moses that what he was doing was not good – the work was too heavy for
him and he could not handle it alone – and he gave Moses some great advice that
a lot of us need to consider today
--
Jethro reminded Moses of his calling – in verses 19-20, Jethro recognized that
God had called Moses to be the people’s representative – to be their leader –
to be the one who set the vision and the direction and made sure they made it
to the Promised Land
--
and he pointed out to Moses the tasks that went with this calling – he was to
teach the people the decrees of God – to share with them God’s commands and
God’s instructions – how they were to live and to behave as the chosen people
of God – that was Moses’ calling – that was his purpose and ministry
--
to lead the people – to proclaim the word of God to them – and to show them
what the Lord God commanded
--
Moses had been doing that, but he had also tried to do everything else – and it
resulted in him getting worn out and not accomplishing the main task God had
called him to do
--
Jethro went on and recommended to Moses that he share the burden – that he
delegate the administrative tasks of hearing and judging conflicts and
disagreements – of hearing and meeting the needs of the people – to other men
who were gifted in these areas and who could help bear the load
--
he recommended that Moses appoint trustworthy men who knew God and feared God
and lived for God themselves, and then appoint them as officials over
thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens – so that all would be able to stand the
strain and the needs of the people would be met
--
in other words, Moses was to focus on his leadership duties and engage others
to handle the daily administrative burdens of leadership
--
this is the same pattern that we saw with the evangelistic crusades of Billy
Graham – Dr. Graham was the leader – he was the one who had been called by God
and given the vision and the message of the gospel to share with the world –
but he couldn’t do it alone
–
he couldn’t handle all the administrative tasks and the behind-the-scenes tasks
that were required to rent a venue and get support from local church leaders
and get the people in the stadium and take care of their needs while they were
there
–
and so, Graham focused on leading the event and fulfilling the calling he had
been given while he delegated the administrative aspects to others who were
more gifted in those areas and who could help share the work
--
and this is the same pattern that we see with the apostles in the early church
– if you would, turn over to Acts 2:42-47
Acts 2:42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’
teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone
was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44
All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold
property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they
continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their
homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying
the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who
were being saved.
--
so, this is the familiar passage describing the early church and the ministry
of the apostles – the apostles were the leaders of the church, empowered by God
to preach and to teach and to share the good of Christ with many – they led the
people in this new life – building the church and teaching the people how to
live out the message of Christ in their daily lives
--
but anytime you have people gather together, it is inevitable that there will
be disagreements and concerns that come up – skip over to Acts 6:1-7
Acts 6:1 In those days when the number of disciples
was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic
Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of
food. 2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would
not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait
on tables. 3 Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are
known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility
over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”
5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose
Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus,
Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6
They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on
them.
7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples
in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient
to the faith.
-- so, we just read in Acts 2 that this
new community of Christian believers had begun doing life together under the
leadership of the apostles – and as part of this new life together, they shared
everything, including meals and resources
-- we read here in Acts 6 about the
sharing of food among the community – and how a dispute broke out between the
Hellenistic Jews – those Jews who spoke Greek and lived in Greek communities –
and the Hebraic Jews – the Jews who spoke Hebrew and Aramaic and who lived in
Jerusalem in Jewish communities – concerning the distribution of the food
-- the Hellenistic Jews didn’t think
their widows and members were getting a fair share – so, they complained to the
apostles – and the first conflict appeared in the church – it was obvious that someone
needed to step in and make sure everything was being done right and that the
food was being shared fairly and equally among all the believers
-- the apostles could have followed
Moses’ example and tried to take care of that themselves – but they wisely
realized that this was not their job – this was not their calling – this was
not what they were gifted in
-- they were called to lead the
people – to share God’s word – to do His ministry by preaching and teaching –
and if they were going to focus on their calling and gifting, then they
couldn’t take over the distribution of the food or any of the other
administrative tasks that function to keep the church and the community moving
-- they needed someone else to step
up and do this – and so they prayed to God for wisdom and asked that He would reveal
seven men who were gifted in the area of administration – men who had the gifts
and the talent and the wisdom to fairly distribute the food among all the
believers – and that is what happened
-- seven men were nominated and
appointed to take over this part of the ministry – and the apostles focused on
their part of the ministry – and look what happened
-- in verse 7, we read that the Word
of God spread and the number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly
III. The Gifts of Leadership and Administration
-- so, what do we learn from this? –
some have said that it takes a village to raise a child – I don’t know about
that, but I do know this – it takes a community to be the church of God and to
fulfill His calling and His ministry in the world today
--
as we have been discussing in this series, God has gifted us with different
spiritual gifts and callings so that all the needs of the church might be met –
some are called to lead – some are called to proclaim His word – and some are
called to be administrators – working behind the scenes so that God’s ministry
can be fulfilled
–
if we are going to be the church God intends us to be, it will take all of us
coming together and exercising our spiritual gifts with one mission and one
goal – to further the Kingdom of God as we have been called and gifted
-- this is what we see in the story
of Moses and Jethro from Exodus 18 – this is what we see in the story of the
apostles and the distribution of the food in Acts 6 – and that is what we saw in
the story of Billy Graham’s ministry of evangelistic crusades
-- the work of God is distributed
among His people – with different people fulfilling different roles as they use
their spiritual gifts for the common good
-- as I said earlier, I believe the
spiritual gifts of leadership and administration were designed to function
hand-in-hand – you can’t have one without the other – for Billy Graham or Moses
or the Apostles to be successful in their mission, they needed the help of
people gifted in administration
-- the same is true here – so, let’s
take a moment to think about these two spiritual gifts and their role in the
church today
-- first, let’s consider leadership
– who are the leaders and what do leaders do?
-- a lot of people immediately think
that the pastor must be the leader of the church, and in some churches, that is
certainly the situation – quite often, the pastor is the individual in the
church who has been given the spiritual gift of leadership and is called to
lead the people – but this is not always the case
--
The spiritual gift of Leadership is the Spirit-empowered ability to see the big
picture – people with the spiritual gift of leadership are the people who are supernaturally
empowered to set the direction of a church – to cast the vision for that
church’s ministry – and to help guide the church along the path God wants it to
go
--
people who have this gift are able to inspire other believers to see God’s
vision and to join together to accomplish the work of the Kingdom
--
sometimes that is the pastor – but often, it is someone else – God chooses who
He calls to be the leader in a church and who is given this gift from the Holy
Spirit, not us – and it is not based on the role or position this person has in
the church
--
I know for sure that I have not been given this spiritual gift – I still function
in a leadership role in many ways, but the spiritual leader’s ability to see
the big picture and discern where God is leading a church into ministry is not
something I have
--
and anyone who really knows me, knows that, especially Kim – I am not a big
idea guy – I don’t see the big picture – I am not one God has chosen to cast
vision and set direction for this community – I have a purpose here – a role to
fulfill that is needed in this church – it’s just not the role of a leader
--
I’m a detail guy – I focus on the small details – the steps that need to be
taken – I focus on the tasks that need to be done in order to make the vision
happen – I see the trees and not the forest – and that is one reason why God
has gifted me with the spiritual gifts of teaching and prophecy
--
I can point you to the truth of God’s word – I can teach you His commands and
give you His word – I can take you deeper in the word and in your understanding
of God and His ways -- but I am not the person who takes the details and turns
it into a vision of where God is leading – that is what a leader does -- that’s
someone else’s gifting in this church – and we need the leaders to step up and do
that if we are to be the church God wants us to be
--
if you have been given the spiritual gift of leadership – if this is what the
spiritual gifts survey indicated – then this is your role in the church – you
have been gifted by God to see the big picture – to see where He is leading us
– and to communicate that vision to us – and it is our job to confirm that
vision and step up to put it into motion as we are gifted
--
and that’s where people like the administrators come into play
--
administrators are like cruise directors on a cruise ship – when God gives a
vision to the church – when He calls us to a specific ministry or leads us into
a specific direction – it is the administrators who step in and put things into
motion
--
these are the people who are supernaturally gifted to organize a church – to
steer people in the right direction – to motivate and to coordinate people to
help in these ministries by doing what God has gifted them to do
--
“They understand what makes an organization function, and they have a God-given
capacity to plan, structure, and execute tasks in a way that accomplishes
ministry goals.” – people with this gift can take a vision from God and turn it
into action
--
Those with this gift are able to break large goals into manageable steps –
coordinate the people and resources for a project and get them in place on time
– they can see obstacles that might come up and develop a plan to get around
them – they can see what needs to be done and can chart the path forward
--
these people are the backbone of the church – and while they may not be the
ones handing out Bibles or giving food to the homeless or evangelizing in
senior centers – they are the ones that make sure those people are where they
need to be and that they have what they need to be successful
--
we need administrators in the church to direct the ministry -- Leaders cast the
vision and set the direction – Administrators turn vision into reality1
--
I find it interesting that when we took our spiritual gifts survey, we had at
least two people in here said they scored high on administration – why would
God have the Holy Spirit pour out this particular gift on multiple people in
such a small congregation?
-- I think there’s a couple reasons
for that – first, I think it has to do with the structure of our church – as a non-denominational
congregation, we do not have the structure and support that congregations
associated with denominations have – we do not have a ready-built organization
and structure to fall back on
--
and while there are a lot of benefits to this, it can lead to chaos and
disorganization if we’re not careful – and that’s where an administrator is
greatly needed – somebody who can come in and direct traffic for us – someone
who can make sure we stay on track – who can hear the vision from leadership –
who can discern where God is leading us – and who can make sure that we are
moving forward in a clear and organized manner to accomplish what God wants us
to do – I suspect that one of you in here with this gift has been called to
this role in the church
--
the other reason for having multiple administrators is so that we have someone
who can make sure the business of the church gets done – like I told you early
on in this series – I am not an administrator – I don’t do well with planning
out what is needed to get things accomplished – that’s why we had a cookout at
work one time where all we had was meat and nobody thought about bringing
plates and utensils and napkins – we had food, but we needed more
--
in our church, we don’t really have assigned functions or roles – we don’t have
committees or boards that govern and take care of particular areas – and
because of this, we could easily run into problems in making sure the business
of the church gets done
--
that’s where administrators step in -- administrators are those who work behind
the scenes to make sure the little things that keep a church going are done –
light bills are paid – insurance is paid and kept up to date – tithes and
offerings are deposited and recorded – checks go out – the pastor is paid – the
roofer is paid – the dumpster shows up when it’s supposed to
--
so, I see a two-fold need for administration in our structure – one for the
administration of the church itself – the business of the church – and the
other is to come alongside leadership to implement vision and ministerial goals
--
like I said, God has gifted and placed into this church the people that He
knows we need working together to be His body in this community – and
apparently, He knows we need two administrators to do the work He has called us
to do
--
so, that’s the role of leaders and administrators in the church – and I can’t
stress this enough – we need everyone to fulfill their role and their calling
in the church if we are to be who God has called us to be
IV. Closing
-- I want to close by leaving you
with this picture of how leaders and administrators work together to do big
things
-- several years ago, there was an
outdoor music event in Washington state -- one man stood alone on a grassy hill
at the festival and looked at everyone around him – they were sitting in small
groups on blankets, completely separated from each other
–
each couple – each group – just sat there listening to the music – some clapped
– some nodded their head in rhythm with the songs – but there was no unity – no
interaction – no shared community -- it was no different than if they had been
in their own living rooms watching the festival on TV
--
so, Collin Wynter decided to be different – he decided to do something – he was
tired of watching everyone sit still – and so, he stood up and started dancing,
all by himself
--
some people glanced over and saw him dancing alone and looked away -- Some
laughed – Collin’s roommate leaned in and warned him people were filming him.
-- it didn’t matter – Collin didn’t
stop
-- and then one stranger got up and
joined him and began to dance alongside him – he motioned to a friend – and
then someone else joined – and then another
-- within minutes, hundreds of
people were sprinting from across the field to be part of something that,
thirty seconds earlier, had only been one man dancing alone and being laughed
at in a field.
-- Someone filming from higher up
the hill said quietly: "See what one man can do. One man can change the
world."
-- I like the sentiment, but I have
to disagree – one man had a vision – one man stood up and began dancing – but
the movement didn’t begin until someone joined him and called for others to
come, too
-- Derek Sivers, the renown
entrepreneur, saw the same video and agreed with me – in a TED talk in 2009,
Sivers showed this video clip and said that this is how movements actually
begin – not with the first person brave enough to start, but with the first
person willing to join them
–
that person, I argue, is the administrator that God has called to direct the
vision of the leader -- leaders catch the vision and stand up to be noticed –
administrators see the vision, and move the rest of the church to join in their
specific way – and when that happens, God gets the glory
-- so, today, as we leave this
place, I want to encourage you to look for the leader that you see dancing
alone to the call of God – and I want you to hear the call of the administrator
to join the leader in their vision – as we seek to come together to be the
church that God wants us to be
-- and with that, we will close in
prayer – let us pray
------------------------------------------------------
1 “Spiritual
Gift of Administration,” The Spiritual Gifts Project,
https://spiritualgiftsproject.org/what-are-the-spiritual-gifts/spiritual-gift-of-administration/
