Weekly Sermon

"Going For the Gold As An Olympic Workaholic" - August 15, 2004

The Reverend Anne Benefield

Exodus 18: 1-27, Genesis 18: 1-27

Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for his people Israel, how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt. After Moses had sent away his wife Zipporah, his father-in-law Jethro took her back, along with her two sons. The name of the one was Gershom (for he said, "I have been an alien in a foreign land") and the name of the other, Eliezer (for he said, "The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh"). Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came into the wilderness where Moses was encamped at the mountain of God, bringing Moses' sons and wife to him. He sent word to Moses, "I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you, with your wife and her two sons." Moses went out to meet his father-in-law; he bowed down and kissed him; each asked after the other's welfare, and they went into the tent. Then Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, all the hardship that had beset them on the way, and how the Lord had delivered them. Jethro rejoiced for all the good that the Lord had done to Israel, in delivering them from the Egyptians. Jethro said, "Blessed be the Lord, who has delivered you from the Egyptians and from Pharaoh. Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, because He delivered the people from the Egyptians, when they dealt arrogantly with them." And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God; and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law in the presence of God. The next day Moses sat as judge for the people, while the people stood around him from morning until evening. When Moses' father-in-law saw all that Moses 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?" Moses said to his father-in-law, "Because the people come to me to inquire of God. 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." Moses' father-in-law said to him, "What you are doing is not good. 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. 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; teach them the statutes and instructions and make known to them the way they are to go and the things they are to do. 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 the thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. 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. 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." So Moses listened to his father-in-law and did all that he had said. Moses chose able men from all Israel and appointed them as heads over the people, as officers over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. And they judged the people at all times; hard cases they brought to Moses, but any minor case they decided themselves. Then Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went off to his own country. Prayer: As we explore Your word, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. Every time I read this story, I note that Jethro is bringing Moses' wife and two sons. They were in Midian when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt. He was living like a single person. He could work day and night and not answer to a family. I was single when I became a minister and looking back, I worked all the time, too. It was no problem to run to the hospital or attend meetings every night, but when I met John all that changed. We met on a blind date on a Saturday afternoon. At the end of the date, John asked me when he could call me about going out again. I quickly thought through my schedule for the following week, and told him to call me on Sunday. He said, "Tomorrow?" And I answered that I would be in meetings every other night that week. It was clear to me that if I wanted John in my life, I was going to have to make some changes. In his book "I Take My Religion Seriously!" Charles Schulz, the cartoonist, drew a strip of a boy wearing a long coat that had pins and brooches cluttering the front. He explained his awards to an admirer who was staring in disbelief at his pins: "These are perfect attendance pins - Sunday school, youth fellowship, youth leader training, men's brotherhood, youth Bible camp, city youth camp, country youth camp, state youth camp, international youth camp, and choir practice." And he added, "I haven't been home in three months!" I bet everyone here knows that feeling! And we understand exactly what was happening to Moses. We, too, can become dangerously worn out doing all the good things we believe we should be doing. We need to be careful for in all our goodness, we may not be serving God or others. We may be serving ourselves. When we take on every project as something we alone can do and do right, we are at grave risk. We are in danger of pride-"only I can do this…no one else has the ability to do it as well as I can do it, not even God knows better!" We are in danger of arrogance-other's abilities are dismissed or judged as inferior to ours. And we are in danger of downright stupidity-we waste our time doing too many things poorly instead of prioritizing and doing the right things well. To stop going for the gold as an Olympic workaholic, the first step we need to take is to let go and let God. "Let Go, Let God!" is one of my favorite phrases, even though I don't do it easily. Because I have to work on it, I have a couple of very practical tips. 1) The minute you find yourself worrying about something, pray about it. Stop whatever you are doing and pray. Prayer doesn't need to be long and poetic; prayer is a conversation with God. Some conversations are long, but many are short. Sometimes I feel like I am in a relay race. After I've done my best, I hand the baton over to God. 2) Be open to surprises. Earlier this week, I visited Nina Allen at Shady Grove Hospital. We got to talking about all kinds of things. Finally, we started talking about the hours from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. when many children are home alone. It is a very dangerous time. I was saying that I wasn't sure how we would work through the problem when our children were above the age limit for after-school childcare. I told Nina some of my ideas. Then she got a tinkle in her eye and she said, "You know, Anne, the Lord will probably provide a solution that you haven't even thought of. That is the way God works." She was right. John and I can't abdicate our responsibility to look for solutions, but we must also be open to God's plans. God sees more than our little leg of the relay race. To be sure we are running the race that God has mapped out for us, we must trust God by letting go and letting God! The second step to take as we stop going for the gold as an Olympic workaholic is to prioritize. We must look carefully at the talents God has given us. Moses was working himself to death, but he wasn't actually doing what God had commanded him to do. God had instructed Moses who was supposed to instruct the people in God's laws. Instead, Moses was ruling on disputes. He was neglecting God's commandment to teach in order to stand as judge over the people. Sometimes we would rather stand in judgment of others than teach them a better way. Judging is punitive while teaching is preventive. Years ago, I was wondering if I were doing God's will. In prayer, God called me to be a minister. Soon after that, I took some aptitude tests. The people at Johnson O'Connor Research Center explained to me that most people who are unhappy in their jobs are doing things they don't do well and they are not using aptitudes they do have. I had an MBA and the more I was promoted in business, the more work I did with budgets, where I had some ability-maybe above average according to the tests, but it wasn't the kind of work that set my heart on fire with joy. Interestingly enough, my strongest aptitudes are in logic. I guess that is why the Lord put me into ministry to try to convince you that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life! God has given each of us talents. We need to prioritize our work to insure that we are doing the things God has equipped us to do. When he was chairman of Bethlehem Steel, Charles Schwab called in Ivy Lee, a management consultant, to advise Schwab on how to better manage his time. Lee told him to write down the six most important things he had to do the next day and to list them in the order of their importance. Schwab asked Lee how much he wanted for this advice and Lee said, "Use the plan for several months and send me a check for how much you think it's worth." Lee received $25,000 more than sixty years ago - a lot of money in those days - from Charles Schwab. [Speaker's Library of Business Stories, Anecdotes and Humor 357, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1990] To stop being Olympic workaholics, the first thing we must do is trust God. Second, we must trust the talents and abilities God has given us. Third, we must trust the people God has given to help us. This may be the hardest thing of all. How can we trust others to do what needs to be done, especially in the church? Let's face it, we can be awfully disappointed by the lack of commitment and follow through we get sometimes. Think about how worried Moses must have been. Saving the people was easy compared to organizing them for a long and arduous journey. Drama is much more exciting than routine, but Moses needed to set up routines for everyday living. It's the same thing here in the church. We have so many jobs just to maintain the basic ministries of the church-teaching Sunday school, delivering food and meals, preparing for worship, keeping the building neat and running. The list goes on. Sometimes it seems easiest just to do the job yourself rather than asking for help and being turned down. From the moment Johnny was born, John and I read to him. We both love reading and wanted to share that joy with him. As a baby, we didn't mind that while we read, he played in his crib or on our laps. As he grew older, though, we noticed that he wasn't really listening. We tried all different kinds of books, including the first Harry Potter book. Quite frankly, Johnny told us he would rather just talk at night instead of reading. We liked talking, but worried that he might never become a reader. Then the first Harry Potter movie came out. Johnny wanted to see it even though he hadn't read the book. He loved the movie. On the way home, he said, "Could we read the book?" And with that, Johnny became an avid reader. Up until then, we hadn't offered the right book at the right time. The same thing happens when we ask people to help us in the ministries of Geneva. Sometimes we ask at the wrong time; sometimes we ask for help with the wrong program. We must keep trying to find the right project at the right time. We can't give up and we can't keep doing all the work. We have to find a way to share the work, for when we find the right project, we will be sharing joy. We also need to listen when people tell us what kind of ministry they would like to do. When Johnny said, "Can we read the Harry Potter book?" We didn't say, "No, we tried to read that earlier and you didn't listen." We said, "Yes! We'll read it." Moses had to trust the elders he chose. He couldn't stand over them, criticizing them. He had to give them a little room to grow into the job. He had to turn over the baton that God had given him. It's a hard thing to do, but we can trust God and each other. Together we can run quite a relay race. We can go for the gold as Olympic followers of Christ. Amen.