Sermon Tone Analysis
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*Expanding Christian Community*
*Small Groups Make a Big Difference*
*to a Pastor*
As your senior pastor it is my responsibility to see to it that your pastoral needs are met.
As I reviewed that task this week, I noted that there are about 150 families who are looking to Calvary for their spiritual guidance.
In total there are about 500 people who look to us for ministry.
Some of these are not here every Sunday; but if there were a crisis in their lives, they would come to us for help.
I expect that there are another 150 families or another 500 people living in our community who would become part of this church if they received a warm invitation.
We all need the Lord.
In our opening song Ron sang movingly about that need, "People Need the Lord!"
We need the Lord physically.
In the last months people have had strokes, open heart surgery, back surgery, and a variety of other difficulties.
There are about 25 people in this church who have suffered or are suffering from cancer.
Just as blind and lame people in biblical times needed the Lord for physical reasons, we need the Lord today to heal our bodies and comfort us in time of distress.
We need the Lord *relationally.
*People all around us are alone.
There are people whose relationships are broken.
Relationships at home, at school, or at work are not going well.
They are hurting.
Just as widowed, lonely and outcast people in biblical times needed the Lord for relational reasons, we need the Lord today to give us a sense of family.
We need the Lord *spiritually.
*There are people both in our church and in our community who are spiritually dry.
They feel neither loved nor joyful.
Just as spiritually hungry people in Bible times needed the Lord for spiritual reasons, we need the Lord today to give us salvation and a sense of hope.
When I surveyed all of these needs, I felt overwhelmed.
How are we to meet all of these needs?
We can meet them through listening.
When we have needs, we need someone who will listen.
One of the greatest joys in life is talking to a good listener.
There is awesome power in the listening ear! Lee Gries of Stephen Ministries says, "People are healed by the laying on of ears."
*Listening *is a large part of what ministry is all about.
I would love to spend an hour each week with each one of you.
But we know that an average week does not have 500 hours!
That is impossible.
If I were to have 20 one‑hour appointments per week, I could still only get around to each person only one or two times per year!
So how are we going to care for the people that we have?
And how are we going to care for those in the community that we do not yet have?
*The Dilemma *of Moses Jethro had a solution.
Moses was in a similar situation.
He was out there in the wilderness with 600,000 people clambering for his attention.
They had lots of needs.
They were broken, uneducated people who had just come out of slavery.
They had not learned responsibility.
They were poor.
Their homes had been broken.
They had not learned how to solve problems.
On top of that, they had thrown off the old rules and had not yet established new rules.
They were an unruly bunch!
I can imagine that they stole, they lied, and they committed adultery.
Moses was a busy man.
He was a full‑time counselor with a client load of 600,000.
People were lined up to see him and had to wait all day for an appointment.
There was something wrong with the set‑up.
It wasn't fair to Moses and it wasn't fair to the people.
What should they do?
How were the needs of the people to be met?
Jethro, Moses' father‑in‑law, took one look at what Moses was doing and said, "What you are doing is not good!
It is not good for you.
It is not good for your wife and children.
It is not good for the people.
And it is not good for the potential leaders among the people."
Turn in your Bibles to Exodus 18:13‑26 and let's see what he had to suggest.
Read Exodus 18:13‑26.
A Senior Pastor's Job Description Jethro outlined a job description not only for Moses but for every senior pastor, including myself.
There were three parts.
Notice verse 19, "You must be the people's representative before God."
In other words, you need to pray for the people.
That is one thing that I can do.
Give me an hour a day and I can pray for each one of you every week!
On Sunday morning it is my responsibility to talk to you about God.
During the week it is my responsibility to talk to God about you!
Verse 20 gives a second instruction to senior pastors.
Jethro tells Moses that it is his responsibility to teach the people.
"Teach them the decrees and laws," he says.
"Teach them how to live."
That is also something I can do.
Each Sunday I have the responsibility to open the Scriptures and teach you one lesson on how to live.
This is an awesome responsibility!
I want to take the time to do it well which means that I will need to limit my counseling load.
I need adequate time to prepare.
I want to preach and teach it with the power that it deserves.
Verse 21 gives the third instruction for a senior pastor.
Notice that it begins with the word, "but."
That indicates that there is something substantially different from what has gone on before that needs to be done.
What is it?
Verse 21 says "select capable men from all the people . . .
and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens."
*Name capable group leaders.*
A prominent businessman once told me, "Your Christian Bible has one of the wisest business management principles ever discovered.
It is found in Exodus 18."
One person can only care for about ten others.
In a factory there is usually a supervisor for every seven workers.
Jethro knew how to work with people.
Wherever Jethro's principles have been followed, God has added his blessing.
Jesus began the church with small groups and it spread throughout the whole Roman Empire.
John Wesley started classes of ten in the 18th century and as a result the Methodist church grew to millions.
Andrew Flake of the Southern Baptist Church introduced what has been called the "Flake Principle."
It says that every time you have a regular attendance of ten persons in a Sunday school class, you should start another one.
The principle is the key reason why the Southern Baptist Church has grown to be the largest denomination in the country.
So we see that Jethro advised Moses, and I believe senior pastors today, to pray for their people, to teach them basic principles, and to appoint leaders over small groups of people.
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