Introduction: Read Exodus18.

This is a passage which in my experience is rarely preached upon which is a pity as it contains some very important lessons. I am going to divide the description of Jethro's visit to his son-in-law into five sections using alliteration for my headings.

(1) Family ties. See Ex18v1to6.

It seems likely that when the Israelites were in the south of the Sinai Peninsula they were close enough to Jethro's home for Zipporah, Moses' wife, to pay her father, Jethro, a visit with her two sons - his grandchildren.

I think it improbable that Moses would have sent his wife back to Midian earlier. When he left his father-in-law for Egypt with Zipporah he had only one son, Gershom, a name meaning, 'An alien there,' a reference to Moses' status in Midian. By the time of Jethro's visit he had another son, Eliezer, meaning, 'God is my helper,' a reference to God's help in escaping from Pharaoh. This suggests that Eliezer was born and named after the escape from Egypt.

So, if as I suppose, Zipporah paid her father a visit, she doubtless told Jethro all about the Israelites amazing escape from Egypt. Finding his daughter's account of the exodus intriguing Jethro decided to accompany Zipporah back to Moses who was camped with his people near Mt Sinai. In a sense Zipporah brought her father to Moses.

This reminds us of the importance of family ties in bringing men and women, boys and girls to Jesus. At the very beginning of Jesus' earthly ministry Andrew brought his brother Peter to the Master. Timothy benefitted from the godly influence of his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice. When Peter went to talk to Cornelius about Jesus he found that the centurion had gathered together his family and close friends to hear the gospel. The Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the message. Acts10v44.

My parents were instrumental in bringing me to Jesus for which I cannot thank them enough. My friends John and Marion Skull were able to do that for all three of their children and I know of other Grace Baptist pastors for whom this has been true. Sometimes a man or woman from a non-Christian home is converted and they are able to bring their parents to Jesus. What a wonderful privilege this is.

(2) Forceful testimony. See v7 to 11.

Moses told his father-in-law all the great things the LORD had done for his people. He spoke powerfully of God's deliverance from Pharaoh and his help in overcoming the hardships along the way.

Moses' testimony could not be gainsaid. He spoke of what he had experienced personally. The Israelites were a free people by the grace of God. Jethro was delighted to hear about all the good things the LORD had done for Israel. v9. He also acknowledged the greatness of the LORD. He said, "Now I know that the LORD is greater than all other Gods." v11.

A personal testimony is an effective witness to Christ's power to save and transform lives. It moves the heart and cannot be denied. I have just listened to the testimony of Donald S Erskine given at the 2012 Gideon's Convention. There is no doubt that Jesus has made a huge difference in his life. He was an imprisoned drug addict when he first heard about the Saviour from a Gideon evangelist. Back in his cell Donald embarked on an intensive study of his Gideon Bible. Eventually God assured him that he was his father and that Jesus was his saviour.

It is wonderful to hear what God can do through Jesus Christ his Son.

(3) Feasting together. See v12.

Jethro, the priest of Midian, made a burnt offering to the LORD. This was a thank offering to God where the sacrificial animal was entirely consumed by fire. The other sacrifices involved offering the blood and fat to God but roasting the rest of the animal and eating it as part of a thanksgiving meal.

All the elders joined Moses, Aaron and Jethro in a celebratory meal of roast meat and bread. (So they must have had some flour!)

There is no doubt that fellowship is enjoyed sharing a meal together. Jesus told his disciples just how much he valued participating in one last Passover Feast with them. It was at this feast he instituted the Lord's Supper and to this day Christians meet together to eat bread and drink wine in remembrance of Jesus' body given for them and his blood shed for them.

The early church celebrated what were called love feasts. Today chapel teas and luncheons are in the same tradition. Whenever a Grace Baptist Church has a special service it is invariably followed by a meal. My own small church still provides an excellent tea after our Good Friday Service and Christmas Carol Service. There is undoubtedly happiness in eating together and in the shared labour of serving, clearing and washing up. Quite why this should be so I am not sure but it is undoubtedly the case.

One of the happiest hours of my life was spent in a school minibus with three colleagues on a camp site somewhere in the Kielder Forest. It was a horrible wet and murky evening. However, we were relatively dry in the minibus and once we had three or four little stoves alight quite warm. We spent an hour preparing a meal from dehydrated constituents. The first course consisted of mashed potatoes, stew and mixed vegetables and the second course of stewed apples and custard - scarcely a gourmet meal! What fun we had, what laughs, what cheerful fellowship, what unity of purpose - such happiness.

(4) Foolish tactics. See v13to18.

Moses spent all of one day entertaining his father-in-law! In the morning he was back at work - passing judgment on all the disputes that arose among the people. Moses was on the go from dawn till dusk.

Jethro recognised the folly of what his son-in-law was doing:

(a) Moses was overworked. Jethro told him: "You will only wear yourself out. The work is too heavy for you." v17and18.

We need to be careful that we are not too busy. Tim Kreider, in an article he wrote for The New York Times called, 'The Busy Trap,' put it this way: If you live in America in the 21st century, you've probably had to listen to a lot of people tell you how busy they are. It's become the default response when you ask anyone how they're doing: ‘Busy!’ ‘So busy.’ ‘Crazy busy.’ It is, pretty obviously, a boast disguised as a complaint. And the stock response is a kind of congratulation: ‘That's a good problem to have,’ or ‘Better than the opposite.’

Then Kreider goes on to say, Busyness serves as a kind of … hedge against emptiness; obviously your life cannot possibly be silly or trivial or meaningless if you are so busy, completely booked, in demand every hour of the day …. We're busy because of our own ambition or drive or anxiety, because we're addicted to busyness and dread what we might have to face in its absence.” (Tim Kreider, “The Busy Trap,” The New York Times, 6-30-12; www.PreachingToday.com)

I am not convinced that this was entirely true for Moses. The work probably just crept up on him - as it can do - and he had not taken time to think about how to deal with it.

(b) Moses had his priorities wrong. Jethro made a very shrewd proposal: "Teach them (the Israelites) the decrees and laws and show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform." v20. Jethro told Moses it was far more important to teach than to pass endless judgments - many of them on trivial matters.

I am reminded what Jesus said when a young man asked him to tell his brother to share the inheritance with him. He replied: "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" Lk12v14. Jesus' main priority was to teach - not to arbitrate in disputes. He wasn't going to be distracted from the far more important task. On this occasion he told the brothers that a man's life did not consist of the abundance of his possessions.

The apostle Paul in his epistle to the Corinthians told the church members that they were very wrong to take one another to court. He considered that their trivial disputes could be settled by men of little account in the church. (See my exposition on 1Cor6v1to11.) In other words Paul did not think it required much talent to resolve the sort of disputes that troubled folk in the Corinthian Church.

I wonder if we value teachers above lawyers. Do those who teach law in our universities get paid more than the barristers who practice it in our courts? Some would argue that the barristers do the real work - but that would not be the opinion of Jesus or Paul! Christians are prepared to pay solicitors £200 an hour for their advice. I preach my sermons free of charge - in the tradition of Jesus and Paul!

(c) Others suffered as a consequence of the system Moses operated. There were four bad outcomes:

• People had to wait around for hours and maybe even days to get an appointment with him. This must have been very frustrating for all concerned. Things have not changed very much. Today the same problem occurs at the Accident and Emergency Departments of our hospitals. Individuals wait hours for treatment.

• When a person gets fatigued in a job their work suffers. I know from my time as a school teacher that towards the end of a busy term I became more and more impatient and irritable. Routine tasks like marking took longer and longer. My teaching lost its freshness and verve. Mistakes were made.

• In all probability Moses' home suffered. Zipporah and her sons did not see much of Moses. When his work finished for the day he must have been stressed and on edge. The chief complaint of many children today is that their parents are permanently stressed. There is no time to laugh and lark around. It is go, go, go and then more go.

  This week my friends Arthur and Gill Rutterford entertained me for a meal. Hannah was present with four-month-old Isaac. Mary and Tony turned up for a cup of tea prior to going for a Bible Study at Keith's house. None of us had been to work! Mary began to describe for Gill's benefit how she had stuffed a marrow. Little Isaac just found Mary funny. Every time she started a sentence he laughed and laughed. She just had to mention marrow and he chortled. It wasn't long before we were all laughing. We were all relaxed and rested and could take time to sit and laugh with a four-month-old baby. It would have been a pity if we could not have enjoyed that time together!

• The fact that Moses took responsibility for all the judgments that arose among the Israelites meant that able men, well capable of doing this work, were denied the opportunity of doing so.

  This is sorry feature of many churches. On pastor wrote: The first church I served was fun for me. I did everything. I not only preached, I taught, led singing, led the youth group, gave the communion meditations, sang in the choir, mowed the grass, did the newsletter, etc. etc. etc. I had a great time. Ministry was fun for me. But I wasn’t doing my job. I worked hard and a lot of people became Christians and attendance rose. But the church was 1 mile wide and an inch deep. It had grown physically, but not spiritually as it should have. I didn’t effectively raise up Godly men to do ministry as well as I should have.

  The leaders of the early church, the apostles, soon realised that they must appoint deacons to deal with practical matters like the fair distribution of food to widows in the membership.

  The spiritual development of many Christians is stunted because they are not given a role within their church. Some pastors think they must be in control of everything. How they can square this with Paul's picture of the church as a body with all the parts making an essential contribution to the good of the whole is beyond me.

  The pastor is rarely the only one who has anything worthwhile to say to the congregation - but oh how jealously some guard their prerogative.