Wise Up or Crack Up

Bill Heibos is the senior pastor of Willough Creek Community Church outside of Chicago and the Northwest suburbs. He founded that church back in the early to mid-70s and it was a pioneer of contemporary worship and still continues to be a pioneer in many areas of ministry of church that has about 20,000, 25,000 people in worship every weekend. I once heard him tell the story at a pastor's conference of how in about 15 years into his ministry he reached a point of emotional and physical burnout. He recalled the story of a particular Saturday morning when he was he got into his office about 530 that morning and he was trying to wrap up weekend message at two services on Saturday night, two services on Sunday morning and he's trying to wrap up the message for that. He's got a wedding that afternoon and he said it just wasn't going anywhere. I couldn't get it done. Came about noon time and I'm facing the deadline of that wedding. I've got to get out to and I can't get this message done and and he said all of a sudden it was like something broke inside of him. He said he just dissolved in a pool of tears and just wept uncontrollably for about a half hour and he didn't couldn't figure out what was wrong. He didn't know what had happened and he said I'll figure that out later. I got to clean up this mess and get on with what has to be done and he limped along that way for about six months before he was able to take a break and got some wise counsel and realized that the way he was doing life and ministry was absolutely destroying him. It's a gripping story really of a high profile pastor who almost crashed and burned but he got good counsel. He acted on it. He listened to it and he changed his life and ministry patterns to where he's still the senior pastor of that church. Some 40 years from the beginning of that church. Burnout is a peril for Christian workers simply because of the fact that the multitude of people needs never stops. I sometimes get a little amused. We put in our bullet and every once in a while I see it occasionally a little thing that that gives all the pastor's phone numbers and then tells you when their day off is and I kind of smile at that because there may be a day when we don't come into the office but with cell phones today you're always answering emails texts and calls about people needs. There is no break from it 24 7 365 days a week so it's a peril for burn out but it's not it's not only pastors that have the potential to suffer from burn abs not just the bill highbles of this world that same thing is true of physicians it's true of business owners and educators and home makers and nurses and managers and the list could go on and on really depending on your personality it could be true of anyone in this room that the potential for burn out is there for all of us the potential for physical and emotional drainage to the point that we have nothing left to give is true for everybody at least possible for everybody now it may not sound very spiritual to deal with the topic of burnout on Sunday morning but I can assure you it has serious spiritual implications if you are emotionally overwhelmed physically drained spiritually depleted and exhausted you will be no good to yourself or anyone else you'll be irritable dissolution depressed have a loss of purpose in your life your family will suffer your health will suffer you will suffer and your relationship with God will suffer and so this is a very pertinent and real topic in the crazy lives that we live I know we're in southern West Virginia I grew up here spent the good bit of my life here I know where we are I know most people look at us and say wow what a laid-back kind of life but I also know how the way most of you live and I know that most people just don't know what you do and how you live many of you here today are burning the candle both ends and feverishly trying to light it in the middle somehow and you're just not making it very well you're about ready to crash and burn well when we come to Exodus 18 and by the way we've been tracking with Moses following his sandals through the desert the wilderness as he leads the children of Israel out of Egypt and toward the promised land as we've been following the life of Moses we come to date at chapter 18 and we find that Moses is facing exactly what I've just talked about he's facing the potential for burnout he could have easily crashed and burned at this point in his life but someone intervened someone literally been an intervention with him and called him on it and Moses listened and made some changes that's the story we're going to read and talk about today the man who intervened in his life was his father-in-law Jethro Jethro's intervention and Moses response illustrates for us three steps to avoiding burnout this message is for all of us here today but especially pertinent for those who are keeping the the needle pegged above the red line and continually going the RPMs are at seven thousand all the time and you're just running and running and running and running this message is especially for you how do you avoid burnout what do you need to do some of you need to hear this today you either need to wise up or you're gonna crack up and so how do we wise up how do we avoid burnout well let's look at the story and see what kind of interaction there is between Moses and his father-in-law Jethro the first twelve verses give us the first step toward avoiding burnout and that is share your life with people that you trust look at verse one now Jethro the priest of Midian and father-in-law Moses heard of everything God had done for Moses and for his people Israel and how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt after Moses had sent away his wife Zappura his father-in-law Jethro received her and her two sons by the way not real sure what that's talking about some people think it goes all the way back to chapter four where they were on their way to Egypt and and Moses sent Zappura back but it's kind of hard to imagine that she would have stayed away that long and Moses would not have wanted her to see what God was doing in Egypt so maybe this is more recent maybe as they're getting close to where Midian is and Jethro is Moses sends his wife and two sons to say hey we're getting close kind of like to have a visit and so Jethro comes verse three middle of the verse one son was named Gershim for Moses said I have become a foreigner in a foreign land Moses thinking back to leaving Egypt getting into Midian he is a foreigner in a foreign land he's disoriented doesn't understand what God's doing in his life and his first son's name bears that that impression from that phase of his life but then noticed the second son verse four and the other was named Eliasar for he said my father's God was my helper and that's what Eliasar means God is my helper so by this time by the time of his second son he's beginning to see that God's working and God is is is redeeming those difficulties in his life and giving him a purpose again he says he saved me from the sword of Pharaoh that was the ultimate sense in which God helped him now verse five Jethro Moses father-in-law together with Moses sons and wife came to him in the wilderness where he camped where he was camped near the mountain of God Jethro had sent word to him I your father-in-law Jethro coming to you with your wife and your two sons now look at verse seven look at this greeting 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 well known oriental or near eastern greeting of bowing at one's feet and actually kissing the feet did you know that in in New Testament times the Greek word for for worship literally means that it means to to bow the knee and kiss the feet that's what it means to prostrate oneself in front of someone else and so that's a very common idea in Bible times the the way you greeted people was to to bow at their feet kiss their feet and then to welcome them warmly and that warm greeting is the kind of greeting that Moses has for his father-in-law and then notice what happens in verse eight Moses told his father-in-law about everything the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake and about all the hardships they had met along the way and how the Lord had saved them notice they go into the tent after this greeting and Moses just starts talking he starts he starts unloading his soul and his heart and he explains all the blessings all the good things got done for them and delivering the permission but he also talks about the hardships this verse says he talks about the hard things which I'm sure included things we've seen in the last few chapters the three occasions where Israel murmured and grumbled against Moses and how God gave the manna and God gave them water from the rock and then the battle against the armies of Amalek and just all the hardships they'd gone through and Moses just pouring out his heart he's finally found someone that we're really listening to him that knows his heart remember he's worked with jethro 40 years they know each other very well and so he knows his father-in-law someone he can tell anything to he can rejoice in the blessings and he can just open up his heart share the difficulties and how God's been working and I'm sure that night was one of just Moses who maybe had kept a lot of this in is now just just letting his heart flow and his his burdens come out to his father-in-law and I love jethro's response verse nine jethro was delighted to hear about all the good things the Lord had done for Israel and rescuing them from the hand of the Egyptians he just listens he just listens and he's delighted in what God has done and then verses 10 through 12 talk about how he's brought some animals for worship and they gather Aaron together and they worship God they have a time of just praising the Lord and committing themselves to him he listens to his son and all rejoices in what God's done we all need someone like that we all need a jethro in our lives whether it's a close friend or a family member we need someone like jethro someone that when the going is good you can express that to and and they won't try to match your story in top but they'll just rejoice with you and be delighted in what God's doing in your life and we all need someone that we can pour out our hardships to and they will listen with a sympathetic ear and loving heart they'll listen they'll let you pour it all out we all need replenishing friendships like that replenishing relationships like that and we need someone that we can talk honestly to be open with be real and they will hold us accountable we're going to see in a few moments that jethro also has the opportunity to speak into Moses life and correct him about some things and to challenge him about some things do you have anybody like that do you have a friend or family member that will truly listen to the burdens of your heart and rejoice with you about the good things God's doing and will call you on issues if they see you getting off the outside the boundary lines what do you have anybody like that an interesting story this week it was originally written up by a professor at Harvard Business School professor by the name of Michael Wheeler and he quotes in this article a major David Dixon who was recently retired from the US Marine Corps he talks about the training of Marines and he says from day one Marines are taught to live a life that is worthy of a Marine but they are also taught to have one another's back and to be accountable to hold each other to that standard of excellence in fact this is what major David Dixon said in in if a Marine next to you is falling asleep in class in in the boot camp you must have the mental moral courage to wake him up and motivate him to stay awake if you are caught sleeping in class at boot camp not only do you get in trouble for laziness but the Marine to your left and to your right also gets in trouble for lacking the moral courage because they should have corrected you when you were in the wrong and he goes on to tell a story that is a graphic example of this a unit of British Marine Commandos in the war in Afghanistan came upon an insurgent who had been left behind in a skirmish he was badly wounded but unarmed one of the British Marines who was seething with rage pointed his pistol at the man told him to die and then pull the trigger his parting words were it's nothing you wouldn't do to us soldier then turned to his fellow commandos and said obviously this can't go anywhere fellas I just broke the Geneva Convention but word did get out and that Marine was charged with murder could anything have been done to prevent that major Dixon says yes he said some Marine in that group should have had the courage to come up to this Marine and say four simple words Marines don't do that in other words hold him accountable he's out of control he's seething with rage now you step in you intervene you hold him accountable do you have anyone that will do that for you do you have anyone that will look you in the eye and say believers don't do that children of God don't live that way they don't talk that way they don't think that way they don't treat their families that way you have anybody that has the courage to do that with you do you have someone you can really trust that you can open your heart to that will listen to you but will also call you on what you need to be called on the first step in avoiding burn out as you got to have someone you can unload to you got to have someone you can pour out your heart to just like Moses did jethro was that person for him share your life with someone you trust but that's not where it ends jethro is not done with Moses and the story takes an interesting twist in verse 13 in verses 13 to 23 we find a part of the story that illustrates for us a second step to escaping burnout we're avoiding burnout and that is listen to wise counsel what jethro does is he stays on for a few more days possibly and he watches Moses he just watches how Moses is leading the people and and what he watches begins with a penetrating analysis what he sees really develops in his mind a penetrating analysis of what's going wrong I want you to see that in verses 13 to 18 look at this penetrating analysis of jethro the next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people and they stood around him from morning till evening 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 sit alone why do you alone sit as judge while all these people stand around you from morning till evening so jethro is just watching what Moses is doing and you know sometimes an outsider can see a situation more clearly than you see it sometimes a good friend someone you can open your heart to a family member can see the situation in your life more clearly than you do and so as jethro is watching notice the two questions he asks do you see them first of all I said what are you doing that's a question of priorities Moses stop and think what are you doing and then he says why are you doing alone that's a question of personnel so there's a question of priorities and then there's a question of personnel now hang on to those two questions because they will develop the the framework kind of the outline for the counsel that he's going to give him in just a few moments but right now he's just analyzing this situation notice look look at Moses response in verse 15 Moses answered him because the people come to me to seek God's will whenever they have a dispute it is brought to me and I decide between the parties and inform them of God's decrees and instructions it's pretty straightforward that's honest simple hey hey pop this is the way it is this is the way it is people come to me they ask for advice I tell them what God says that's just the way life is around here very simple straight forward honest answer jethro is not satisfied with that so notice what he says in verse 17 Moses father-in-law replied what you are doing is not good 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 so jethro warns him this is not good you cannot continue doing all this alone you'll wear yourself out you'll wear the people out you see he's not just concerned about Moses he was concerned about the people too Moses definitely would wear himself out but you're gonna wear the people out too Mac can you imagine the scene it's like going to the DMV you know and you get in line and you wait and wait and wait and wait and you're waiting for Moses to finally say come on over it's your turn and you wait all day and you may get sent to two or three other lines so you're gonna wear the people out too Moses this is not good you're gonna wear yourself out and and that's an interesting word by the way the word wear out is a word but it's a little you means to sink or drop down from exhaustion to weather and fall I mean it's a very picturesque term graphic term and it's the word he uses you are going to drop and fall you're gonna wither and sink under this pressure you cannot do it all yourself or you will wither sink and drop down you see that happening in your life you feel that way it was a professor again at harvard this time a medical professor in Harvard medical school I cannot pronounce his first name I think it's syruvinison pelae is his name a psychiatrist assistant clinical professor at harvard who specializes in studying burnout and he particularly studies corporate executives he did one study of 72 executives of the major corporations in America we're talking multi billion dollar companies 72 of these men were in a study that this doctor conducted and he said nearly all of them reported at least one some signs of burnout and that all of them noted at least one cause of burnout at work the article that he wrote goes on to quote one executive chief CEO of a multi billion dollar company who put it this way and I quote I just felt that no matter what I was doing I was always getting pulled somewhere else it seemed like I was always cheating someone my company my family myself I couldn't truly focus on anything that describes some of you here this morning some of you are feeling that right now you feel pulled in so many different directions that you really can't focus very well on anything you are to use the word jethro uses of Moses you are wearing out you you are beginning to wilt wither under the pressure you will sink and drop down from exhaustion you will wear out now remember these two had worked together for 40 years nobody knows Moses better than jethro nobody he knows him inside an out and he's watching what he's doing and he sees some red flags he sees some red lights flashing on the dashboard there's a danger sign here and I've got to warn Moses I can't let this go on that is a penetrating analysis but it doesn't stop there after this penetrating analysis he offers some personal advice in verses nineteen through twenty three basically that advice takes two forms and it's centered around those two questions he asked him earlier the first part of his advice is is Moses you need to focus on priorities look at verse nineteen he says listen now to me and I will give you some advice and may god be with you let me stop there before we jump into the actual advice I love that little expression may god be with you and a little bit later on he'll address again submitting what he's saying to god's will and god's plan and I say that because you'll read some books and commentaries that will criticize jethro and saying this is worldly advice from a guy we're not even sure new god and so really this is not good advice but it's clear that jethro does know the true god if we had read verses ten through twelve he recognizes that and he also is seeking to give godly advice twice he says may god be with you and may god help you to know what to do so he's saying I really want god's best for you so this is good godly advice now notice notice what he says may god be with you and then he says you must be the people's representative before god and bring their disputes to him teach them his decrees and instructions and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave now that is that is jethro saying Moses you need to focus on priorities he's saying in verse nineteen I know you are the representative of the people you are over the people you represent them before god and you bring their disputes to him but you've got to focus on what's the priority for you and that is teach them the word of god you see that in verse twenty teach them his decrees and instructions show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave how in public teaching of the word of god that's what you're to do Moses that is your priority if you try to listen to two million people one on one you're crazy you can't do all that your priority what only you can do in the congregation of israel is to teach them the word give them what god says so that they know how to live and behave and then when they bump up against something they have a question about we'll get to this in a moment there's some other folks gifted godly people who can help them with that but you've got to realize what your priority is Moses and your priority has to be to teach them the word was the personal counseling unimportant no that's very important it's just not the most important thing for Moses and Moses has to recognize you've got to see Moses what's most important for you what's essential and then the other things that are additional for you and there are some other folks who can do some of those things or help you with them this reminds me so much of a very similar situation in the early church and god gives the same solution there in Acts chapter 6 where the apostles are trying to deal with this growing church I mean thousands of people are getting saved at a time and they're trying to organize this thing and keep it going they're feeding people they're closing people they're helping people they're trying to teach the word and it's getting a little overwhelming and finally there's a little problem dispute that arises in Acts 6 where some of the the Greek widows in the church who were being cared for by the church felt like they were being neglected and the Hebrew widows because they're in Jerusalem they're kind of getting favored and so there's a little dispute and disagreement going on and the apostles finally say okay okay they say to the church choose seven men and they're they've got to be men of faith men who are full of the spirit men who are godling in to oversee the feeding of the widows but they say very clearly in Acts chapter 6 and verse 4 we will not leave the ministry of the word and prayer see the apostles under god's direction came to the conclusion we can't continue to do everything there are other gifted people that can do some of these things our priority is the ministry of the word and prayer that's what we are called to do that's what we have to focus on the other stuff very important that it needs to be done but one person or even 11 12 apostles can't do it all and so you've got to focus on priorities some of you need to hear that today some of you are trying to do way more than your capable of physically and emotionally and you need to be willing to to give to some some good people and focus on the priorities of your life because you've forgotten your priority of your relationship with god maybe you've forgotten the priority of what you need to do for your family or what your primary role is in your workplace and you're trying to cover every base and do everything and cover every little detail focus on priority I read something interesting this week about how we spend our time this first was reported in the Houston Chronicle in an article in that newspaper have you ever wondered where all your time goes the average person and I'm assuming they don't define that but I'm assuming they're saying the person who lives an average life span maybe 80 years let's say the average person spends seven years in the bathroom six years eating four years cleaning house now I know for some of you those numbers are going to you know very little bit four years cleaning house five years waiting in line two years trying to return phone calls to people who aren't there three years preparing meals one year searching for misplaced items six months sitting at red lights and eight months opening junk mail now you add all of that you know what it's between twenty nine and thirty years of your life spent doing those things and you haven't even gotten to the important stuff yet of what your family needs what your job requires of you your relationship with god you haven't even gotten to that yet and you've already spent thirty years of your life so my question for you this morning what are you going to do with the other 50 years that's your priority time and you've got to decide what are the most important things for me to focus on with the energy and time that I have the rest of my life focus on priorities that's all jethro was telling Moses focus on your priorities you know what you need to do and what god requires of you for the nation of Israel you focus on that and then the second piece of advice goes along with that learn to delegate learn to delegate look verse 21 but select capable men from all the people men who fear god trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain again these are well qualified gifted people who can do this and appoint them as officials over thousands hundreds 50s and tens 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 now stop there for just a moment is it really possible that god would speak through jethro to say it's okay to make your load lighter it's okay to make your life easier now some of you work a holics that's hard for you to hear because you think spirituality is tied up in doing everything and always having this tired strained look hard driving look and and everything you talk to people about is how hard you're working how long you're working and you think that's spiritual there's nothing spiritual about that what what Moses is hearing all of us need to hear and that is god may if you're in this kind of routine god may want to make your load lighter maybe you simply have taken more than you should take and your own choices have gotten you into trouble or maybe you just need to delegate to someone else make the load lighter he says then look over 23 he says if you do this and god so commands again he's saying I want what god saying here Moses but if you do this and god so commands you you have clear conscience from god to do this you will be able to stand the strain and all these people will go home satisfied so your load will be lighter you'll be able to stand the strain we're all going to have some strain and stress in life but it has to be manageable it has to be at a manageable proportion proportion and he says you'll be able to stand that kind of strain and then all the people will go there needs will be met too so Moses this is my personal advice to you you focus on your priorities you learn to delegate some things to others now all of us probably have stories that we could tell I've got some stories I could tell about this and about some men who spoke into my life back in the 90s Paul van Gorder was one of them with radio Bible class who was here for a series of meetings and he took me out and talked with me and then Wolf Hanford was another we had them back to back I could tell you you don't want to hear that and you got a story too and I don't want to hear that to be honest but you know actually I do we don't have time but we've all got stories we could tell about this but the important thing is that we listen to the word of god the advice from Jethro is recorded in scripture by the inspiration of the spirit as advice for us focus on your priorities learn to delegate if you are withering and drooping under the stress and strain of too much you need this advice but Jethro is not done and Moses is not done because thankfully the last step in avoiding burnout is something that Moses does and it's where we often get sidetracked make changes in the way you live you know Moses could have heard this advice and said yeah you're right I know it and just gone on doing what he's always done and that's what some of you do but Moses listened and made changes notice it if you will verse 24 Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said Moses listened and that took humility I mean he's the god-appointed leader of a nation of two million people he could have said who are you dad-in-law for coming and telling me how to run my business but he listened that takes humility humbled himself listened learned and and changed his his pattern of activity verse 25 he chose capable men from all Israel made them leaders of the people officials over thousands hundred and fifty's and tens they served as judges for the people at all times the difficult cases they brought to Moses but the simple ones they decided themselves then Moses sent his father-in-law on his way and Jethro returned to his own country Moses listened with a humble spirit he said you know I can learn from you Jethro what you're saying is true and you make changes in his schedule and life and ended up being able to continue to lead God's people for forty more years I'm convinced that if he had not taken that advice he may well have crashed and burned right here or soon thereafter but because he took this advice he was able to stand the strain he did not wear out and the people still had their needs met some of us need to make changes some of you need to make changes this morning in the way you're living the way you work you need to take some time off you need to stop neglecting your family some of you need to get right with God because you've totally neglected your relationship with him because you are running so hard and so fast you've neglected your relationship with him let me back up a step some of you some of you may be suffering not only from busyness but from a load of guilt because you're not right with God a load of guilt that comes from sin and you've never come to the cross and never realize that Jesus died to forgive you of your sin you've never trusted him as your savior and so you keep that needle pegged in the red zone high RPMs all the time because you're running trying to escape that feeling of guilt and oppression knowing that things are not right in your life and you just think a little more a little harder I can outrun this you never will my friend you never will you need to get your heart right with God you need to come to the cross and realize that only Jesus can lift that load of guilt and sin from your heart and your life but but others have you you know Jesus and because you're running so hard and so fast you've left him behind you you no longer know what it means to open up his word on a consistent basis and let him speak to your heart you've forgotten what it means to spend any quality time with him in prayer as your closest advisor and friend pouring out your heart to him and seeking his advice his counsel his direction some of you've forgotten that some of you may have kind of slipped in your relationship and commitment to God's work the church and you don't have time for that anymore and you make a occasional appearance on Sunday morning and then you're you're back to your busy life listen maybe you need to get along with God this afternoon say Lord I can't continue living this way I've got to make some changes in the way I live the cost for me will be too high if I keep going this way some of you need to wise up or you will crack up you'll run yourself in the ditch you'll lose everything so why is not before that happens get along with God and ask for his help or go to that person you know that will listen to your hardship your heartache your heart where you are and will speak directly truth into your life let them help you sort it out focus on priorities and learn how to delegate some other things are you tired of the way you're living now tired of that you tired keeping that need will always peg down the red zone just running so fast and so hard you're tired of living that way then you need a jethro you need God's word to come along side you help you avoid the burnout that will destroy your life and leave others destroyed as well let's pray together father thank you for this example in your word that often gets missed when we think of Moses that often I believe gets misinterpreted when you think of jethro but I thank you lord for his wise advice and I pray for those here today who need to hear that advice and need that penetrating analysis to speak deeply into their own hearts because their lives are being lived in an unmanageable pace a pace that is destroying them destroying their family destroying their relationship with you father I pray that you'll help those who are particularly on the edge today to pick a step back to get alone with you to refocus their lives and I pray father especially for that person who may not have realized till this morning that really what they're doing is trying to run away from the guilt and the feeling that things are not right with you when they need simply to kneel at the foot of the cross and trust Jesus as their savior and begin with the most important priority of a relationship with you a pray for them especially today in Jesus name we pray amen