Reflections on “We Need More Help” Exodus 18:13-27; Acts 18: 24-28

I saw a person's bulletin after worship, and they had marked out "We" in the bulletin title and written in "You!"  did that mean the sermon needed help, or that the person was affirming the sermon?  Perhaps it was a joke!   This was perhaps the most difficult sermon to translate beyond the local congregation, but I tried to make the case that our leadership expectation for members in the church applies to our lives in the places where we serve outside the church.

“We Need More Help” Exodus 18:13-27; Acts 18: 24-28 ; SAPC, Denton; August 21, 2022;  Richard B. Culp 

Exodus 18: 13-27  ¹³ The next day Moses sat as judge for the people, while the people stood around him from morning until evening. ¹⁴ When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, while all the people stand around you from morning until evening?” ¹⁵ Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God. ¹⁶ When they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I make known to them the statutes and instructions of God.” ¹⁷ Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good. ¹⁸ You will surely wear yourself out, both you and these people with you. For the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone. ¹⁹ Now listen to me. I will give you counsel, and God be with you! You should represent the people before God, and you should bring their cases before God; ²⁰ teach them the statutes and instructions and make known to them the way they are to go and the things they are to do. ²¹ You should also look for able men among all the people, men who fear God, are trustworthy, and hate dishonest gain; set such men over them as officers over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. ²² Let them sit as judges for the people at all times; let them bring every important case to you, but decide every minor case themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. ²³ If you do this, and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people will go to their home in peace.”

²⁴ So Moses listened to his father-in-law and did all that he had said. ²⁵ Moses chose able men from all Israel and appointed them as heads over the people, as officers over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. ²⁶ And they judged the people at all times; hard cases they brought to Moses, but any minor case they decided themselves. ²⁷ Then Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went off to his own country.

Introduction:  Next week, we have a called congregational meeting to hear a presentation by the officer nominating committee and elect officers to serve in leadership at ST. Andrew over the next few years.

this is the practical application of the expectation we have of members to participate “in the governing responsibilities of the church"  (G.1-0304)

I invite you to reflect with me this morning of our call to participate in leadership.

Move 1:  We need leaders

a.  The biblical narrative tells the story of God’s people through the generations.

1. In each chapter of that ongoing story, we find people answering the call to take on leadership roles.

2.  men and women hear God’s call - Abraham; Sarah; Jacob; Joshua; Esther; Mary; Peter; Priscilla and Aquilla - the list goes on and on.

b. Moses

1. We remember how when God needed someone to lead God’s people out of slavery in Egypt into the wilderness and toward the Promised Land, God spoke to Moses from a  burning bush.

2.  Moses may have resisted initially, but he becomes the leader of God’s people.

3. the one who negotiated with Pharaoh on the Israelites’ behalf;

the one people looked to for guidance;

the one people grumbled about and complained to when they were upset;

the one who led them to new places, literally and figuratively

2. God’s people needed Moses to stand in the forefront and lead them.

3.  We need leaders.

4. Will Campbell, tells about a leadership lesson he learned from his grandfather.

His grandfather was teaching him about the bell cow as they looked for the herd of cattle by listening for the bell.

he told them that wherever they heard the bell, they would find the cow and the other cows with her. 

He went on to describe the process of picking the cow on which to put the bell.   “you know, hon, we always pick the cow to put the bell on with great consideration of her character. All the other cows follow the one with the bell.  So we never pick a fence breaker or a fighter.  She’s the leader.  The bell cow is always the leader.” (Will Campbell, Brother to a Dragonfly, 26)

5. we need leaders, and God provides by calling people like Moses, people like you into leadership positions.

c.  Not just in the church, but we need leadership in lots of places.

1. Principled leaders.

2.  Humble leaders who seek to lead people in ways that benefit the people, not just the leader.

3. the world is looking for people willing to take on the work of leadership.

4. as you look to your community, or state, or nation, or world, look and listen for the places where God might be sending you into leadership.

Move 2:  In the Presbyterian church, we practice shared leadership.

a. Jethro would have made a good Presbyterian!

1. I love the image Jethro gives us of Moses as a leader:  Moses sitting by himself;

everyone else standing around waiting to be heard by Moses.

It brings back images from the opening chapter of Mario Puzo’s novel The Godfather in which Vito Corleone, the Godfather, sits as people approach him to ask for favors.

b. Jethro makes the point that Moses cannot do it himself.

1. he will wear himself out.

2, Plus, he cannot get to everyone.

2. Moses needed help from other leaders.

3.  We need help in leadership.

b.  Thus, the Presbyterian approach of shared leadership.

1. ruling Elders and Teaching elders.

2.  Differentiated from the Catholic church and its reliance on clergy to be the leaders - popes and bishops ruling the church.

3. The Session is made up of Ruling Elders, members elected by the congregation, ordained and installed 

and Teaching elders, and ministers elected to serve by the congregation, then ordained and installed.

the ministers, Dr. Patterson and I, cannot have a Session meeting with the Ruling elders, and decide matters about the church.

the elders, cannot have a Session meeting without the ministers and decide matters about the church.

We are either stuck with each other or called together because we need each other, depending on how you look at it.

4. Take the image of Moses that Jethro offers and reimagine it -  Moses, not sitting alone, but sitting around a table in the Session meeting.

Or, Moses, standing with other leaders, shoulder to shoulder working in leadership.

5. The tasks before the church are significant, so God gives us people in leadership to work together.

c.  Ruling elder story - talked to a colleague recently

1. new Presbyterian, grew up Catholic.

Got involved in a church.  Pretty soon, asked to serve on a  committee planning a redesign.  He was an architect.

The committee comes up with a plan and meets with the session.  His first Session meeting.

Makes presentation to the Session. 24 Ruling elders and a couple of ministers.

 As he looks around the room, he expects the head minister to tell the committee if the proposal was accepted.

Instead,   they vote.  12-12 tie.  

Ministers chose not to vote.   Sent it back.

Committee then spends a couple of months redoing the proposal.  brings it back to Session. They vote unanimously in favor of the new plan.

My immediate response was, “so you still wanted to be Presbyterian?”

“Oh yeah.  what a great thing.  the Presbyterian church had leaders disagree and agree and then work things out - they didn’t have a priest or bishop tell them what to do!”

No, we do not.  So we need members to participate in the governing responsibilities.

Move 3:  Our shared leadership also reminds us that we are all in this together.

a.  So easy to get into “those people”

1.  The session - those people made a decision.

2.  or the presbytery - those people made that decision.

I have gone into lots of churches on behalf of different presbyteries, and typically the complaints begin with “those people at presbytery….”

3. Or, General Assembly.  “those people….”

4. For good or for bad, sometimes in disagreement or agreement, the church is about us.

5. The call to leadership is about us.

b. Notice that when Jethro describes the scene of Moses leading by himself, it is not just Moses who gets worn out - the people do as well.

1.  they need to be involved.

2.  they need to do more than just stand around waiting on Moses.

c.  I promise significant decisions are going to be made in this congregation in the coming months.

1.  We are going to move into the next chapter after Our Daily Bread leaves;

we are going to be asked to address accessibility issues;

we are going to continue to figure out what it means to have a strong presence online;

we are going to listen to God’s call for who God needs us to be as this part of the body of Christ in this particular place.e

2.  Our elected leaders will work with all of us to continue living into our calling.

Conclusion:   one of the strangest stories I have heard through the years when it comes to the Nominating committee was told to me by a farmer in KY.  He was a pretty big guy - not wide, but probably 6’ 3” tall.  He worked hard and sometimes complained about his aches and pains from his hard work.

When he told me about agreeing to serve as a Ruling Elder, he said, “there I was, in my bubble bath with lots of hot water and bubbles, with the phone sitting next to the tub, and I was thinking, maybe God is calling me to serve as a Ruling Elder this year.   then, the phone rang, and it was Jeff someone from the nominating committee.”

A voice from the burning bush; a phone call during a bubble bath.

God calls.  

We answer. 

Reflections on “More Responsibility” Genesis 1; 28-31; Colossians 1:15-20

 “More Responsibility” Genesis 1; 28-31; Colossians 1:15-20; SAPC, Denton; August 21, 2022;  Richard B. Culp 

Genesis 1: 28-31 ²⁶Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” ²⁷So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. ²⁸God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”

²⁹God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. ³⁰And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.

³¹God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Introduction: Because of my somewhat flexible schedule, I chaperoned many of my kids' field trips when they were in elementary school.  

Three times on Earth Day, I chaperoned my daughters and their classmates to the Banana slug festival at the county park, where they learned lots of things about the earth and 

The gatherings included singing along with the Banana Slug String Band.

songs like “the Water Cycle Boogie: “Evaporation….Condensation….Precipitation…the water cycle boogie goes round and round,  The water cycle boogie goes up & down”

Or  my favorite:  “Dirt Made My Lunch”

Dirt made my lunch.  Dirt made my lunch. Thank you dirt, thanks a bunch. For my salad my sandwich my milk & my munch. Cause dirt, you made my lunch 

I am not sure I realized it then, but I was living into one of the expectations Presbyterians have of members and others living out their calling as disciples of Christ.  that is, that we care “for God’s creation.”

Let’s reflect for a few minutes this morning about “caring for God’s creation.” (G.1-0304)

Move 1: Implications of what it means to call God creator.

a.  the first verse of the Bible;

the opening statement of the story we often understand as the story of God’s relationship with humanity, with us,

it all begins with:  “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep,”

and then Genesis goes on to describe how God creates everything, including humans.

1. God is creator of all things, human and otherwise, and God is in relationship with what God has created.

2.  As biblical scholar NT Wright reminds us:  We are not pantheists who see  “God and the world are basically the same thing:  the world is, if you like, God's self-expression.”

2.  We are not Deists, who see “the world may indeed have been made by God (or the gods), but there is now no contact between divine and human. 

The Deist God wouldn't dream of “intervening” within the created order; to do so would be untidy, a kind of category mistake.”

3. No, our understanding of God that traces back to  the ancient Israelite and the early Christian forbearers sees “the creation of the world”  as “the free outpouring of God's powerful love.”

The one true God, whom we know as a Trinitarian God - creator, redeemer, and sustainer -  made a world that was other than God’s own self, because that is what love delights to do. 

 And, having made such a world, God has remained in a close, dynamic, and intimate relationship with it, without in any way being contained within it or having it contained within God’s own self.”  Simply Christian, N. T. Wright (65).

b.   We often hear the Psalmist speak of how all creation gives glory to God, its creator.

1.  For example, the psalmist can itemize how God made the heavens, the earth, the light, the sun, the stars, the heavens - and speak to its glory (Psalm 135).

2.  from a  human perspective, we lay claim to the God who intimately knew us and made us in the womb.

3. that type of care is also understood to be how God made all of creation.

4. We are expected as members or as disciples of Christ to care for “God’s creation.”

5. not the created world, but God’s created world.

6.  to call God creator means creator of all things, human and otherwise.

c.  We also not that God calls all of creation good, not just humans.

1.  God does not creates humans and say “humans are good,” but the rest of what I created is so-so!

2. when creates, God puts all of creation in right relationship.

we read in Genesis how the plants will feed the animals and the humans

We read about humans having dominion over all living things.

We see a picture of creation that has everything in right relationship with one another to support and sustain - and God calls it good.

Move 2: This leads to our human responsibility toward creation.

a. “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”

1. Theologian Shirley Guthrie gives us three ways of understanding the relationship between humans and the rest of creation as described in the biblical text.

2.  One option is to be earth-centered.

in that approach, care for the earth, and the environment tops all other considerations.

All other issues or desires or use of resources is secondary.

Those who think environmentalists go too far might accuse them of having an earth-centered theology.

2.  A second option is a human-centered approach.

In this way of thinking, all of creation exists for the use and support of humans.

How we determine what to do with our environment and other resources is solely determined by what best supports humans.

Environmentalists might accuse those who they think care only about business interests and have little concern about how natural resources are used of being human-centered.

3. Guthrie points to a third approach - God-centered.

This approach begins with the reminder that all of creation, all of our resources, and all of humanity are God’s creations.  

Thus, how we determine the use of natural resources or approach the environment is guided by our role as stewards of all God’s gifts.

Humans are not here to serve creation; creation is not here to serve humans, but we are called to find the right relationship between all things that speaks to the goodness God saw when God created the world.

b.  We humans play an important role in defining that relationship because God has given us that responsibility.

1.  Older sibling being left in charge of the younger sibling while the parents go out.

2.  how the sibling in charge manages the others often determines whether the house will be a wreck or not when the parent returns.

3.  How we use the resources of God’s creation speaks to how we live out the responsibility God has given to us.

4.  Theologian Daniel Migliore:  “Let your faithful ordering of the world image the way in which God the gracious God exercises dominion.” (Daniel L. Migliore, Faith Seeking Understanding, 82)

5.  Being given dominion over creation is a special privilege.

6.  We do well to remember again where Genesis begins - God creating all the heavens and the earth!

Move 3: A final thought - All of God’s creation is part of God’s future and our future.

a.  consider how much of the biblical imagery about how God is at work in the world uses images from creation.

1.  Isaiah describes God’s future as being a time when the wolf  is “lying down with the lamb” (Isaiah 11); 

2. The revelation given to John depicts a “a new heaven and a new earth” (Revelation 21)

3.  Paul describes our transformation as a call to a new life as being “new creations.”

4. We also hear Paul describe how in Christ God was reconciling all the world.

5.  the transformation of creation is more than turning a dead human body into a resurrected body;  it is about God’s transformation of all things.

b.  As we live out our calling as disciples of Christ, we are called to embrace our role as those God has called to care for all of God’s creation.

Conclusion:  finish with a story told about A scientist walked up to God and said, “God, we’ve decided that we no longer need you.  We’re to the point that we can clone people and do many miraculous things, so why don’t you just go on and get lost.”  After listening patiently, God responded, “Very well, how about this?  Let’s say we have a man-making contest.  Winner takes all.”  The scientist quickly agreed and God added, “Now we’re going to do this just like I did it in the old days with Adam.”  “sure, not a problem,” said the scientist as he bent down to grab a handful of dirt.”  “No, no,” God replied, “Get your own dirt.”

God created all the heavens and the earth.

God created humans and gave us the responsibility to care for all of God’s creation.

God is transforming all of creation.

God sends us to be part of that transformation.