A Blessed Burden

Passage Introduction

Turn in your copy of Scripture to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 1. Our text this morning will be Deuteronomy 1:9-18. When we began our study of Deuteronomy, I noted that this is essentially a sermon, or a series of sermons, that Moses delivers to Israel on the verge of entering the Promised Land—a pivotal point in their history! And in these sermons he’s communicating to them a number of things that they need. We saw how they need God’s Word, God’s story, God’s law, and God’s promise.

Well, as Moses begins his history lesson, he gives one more thing that Israel needed, that you need, on the verge of entering the true Promised Land, the heavenly city.

Sermon Introduction

Rebecca and I have been married for 8 years now, as of the beginning of this year. Over those 8 years, there’s one blessing that I’ve really come to appreciate that not everyone gets to experience, and that is the blessing of great in-laws! I’m exceedingly grateful that Rebecca and I both get along with each other’s families. But even beyond that, Rebecca’s family, especially her brother, played an important role in helping me to come to a reformed understanding of Scripture, and her oldest brother is also pretty directly responsible for my decision to attend seminary at RTS in Jackson, and I’m so glad I did!

If you’re wondering what on earth that has to do with our passage for today, well, as it turns out, good advice from in-laws is in the background here! Remember, this portion of Deuteronomy is part of a brief review of the last 40 years of Israel’s history, which is explained in more detail in Exodus and Numbers. The full version of this account that Moses is summarizing is found in Exodus 18. And while Moses doesn’t mention it here, appointing more men to share the burden of leading Israel wasn’t originally his idea. He got it from his father-in-law, Jethro, after Jethro saw the strain that solo leadership was putting on Moses! Of course, it wasn’t really Jethro’s idea originally, either—if you read Numbers 11, there’s a related account in which it’s actually God’s idea, which of course presents no contradiction when you realize how often God speaks through other people! It was God’s idea, communicated through Jethro, to Moses, who implemented it.

Now, this might seem like an odd bit of administrative trivia to be repeating to Israel at this critical moment, when they are poised to being conquering the Promised Land. But Moses is continuing to emphasize to them the things that they will need to be able to experience God’s blessing in that land. And what he’s reminding them of here, is that they need leaders.

Of course, you need to remember the important point from last week that you are in an analogous situation to that of Israel. Israel was the Old Testament church, and the New Testament church fulfills and expands Israel, and you also stand poised to enter your Promised Land, the new creation that Jesus is bringing when he returns. So really, what you need to understand that you, as God’s people, need leaders. And realize that just about everything that I say this morning about leaders applies pretty directly to you and your leaders.

I. Why do you need leaders?

Now, this passage reveals a number of things about the leaders of God’s people, and the first is the why. Why do you need leaders? Why did Israel need them? Well, that need is created by the intersection of God’s faithfulness and human weakness.

God’s faithfulness is primary here. The way Moses begins almost sounds like a complaint—you’re too much for me to handle! But he immediately explains that the reason Israel is too much is because there are just so many of them … exactly as God had promised would happen! The immense size of the people of Israel by that time was the result of God’s faithfulness to Abraham to make his descendants as numerous as a the sand on the seashore, as many as the stars in the night sky. And Moses rejoices in that, and makes it his prayer that God would do it even more than he already has!

Keeping this piece in mind is important for remembering that God’s placing leaders over his people is, first and foremost, a blessing to them. It is a burden, but it ought not be a burden for the people, but for the leaders, and even for them it is a blessed burden.

And yet, it’s not just God’s faithful blessing that creates the need for leaders. It’s as God’s blessing intersects with his people’s weakness. And I mean that in two senses, both of which are at least implied here.

On the one hand, there’s a sense of vulnerability, of military weakness. The way the leaders are initially described—as commanders of companies of varying sizes—is in part a description of a military hierarchy. That’s necessary because the people are going to be engaging in war—some wars that they’ll start, by God’s command, and some wars that will come to them whether they like it or not. And everyone knows that strong leadership, and clear chain of command, are vital in times of war, for offense and defense.

But I think that the other sort of weakness is more fundamental, and that is a moral weakness. A weakness in the people’s ability to live according to God’s laws. That’s why Moses specifically says that he alone is unable to bear “troubles, burdens, and disputes.” The people are troublesome and burdensome because they are constantly living contrary to God’s law, and it becomes especially obvious in the disputes that arise between them, which disputes someone has to adjudicate if Israel was going to avoid descending into anarchy!

And the reason I speak of the intersection of God’s blessing and human weakness is that God’s blessing here consists especially in multiplying the people, but of course, multiplying the people multiplies the number of officers needed for an effective military hierarchy, and even more it multiplies the potential for lawlessness and lawsuits. Sin is so twisted, and so parasitic, that it can latch onto blessings of God and turn them into opportunities for its own spread. That’s also going to prove true when God faithfully drives the Canaanites out before Israel and settles them in the land as he promised, and when he richly blesses them in the land. In their prosperity, Israel is going to forget God, because sin is just that twisted. And so, the more God blesses the people, the more faithful he is, the more they will need leaders. And because God fully intends to continue blessing his people, he must also continue providing leaders for them!

Now, remembering how your situation is analogous to that of Israel, you need to understand that all this applies to you as well. And in light of what I’ve just been saying, that ought to produce in you, on the one hand, a deep humility, recognizing that you share the same weakness as the people of Israel in your inability to live a life of obedience to God, and even just in your lack of knowledge and understanding of what he requires so that you can obey! That’s true for those of us who are the leaders, too—we need each other! That’s why there’s more than one of us, and we submit to one another!

But this ought also to produce thankfulness in you, that God, seeing your weakness, is so determined to continue blessing you, blessing his church, that he has given leaders to his people!

II. What kind of leaders do you need?

Now, knowing why God’s people need leaders, that might naturally lead you to want to ask what the leaders are supposed to do, how it is that leaders meet that need. But first we ought to consider what sort of men these leaders ought to be. After all, that’s where the Bible tends to place most of its emphasis.

And the first thing you notice, as Moses describes the kind of men to be appointed in verse 13, is that the leaders must be wise men. That means, of course, that they must be men of knowledge, especially of God’s law, and also of understanding to know how the principles of God’s law applies in a wide variety of cases that it does not directly address, because God’s Word applies to everything, every situation and decision in life, but it does not, because it cannot, explicitly address them all. And then, of course, they must be skillful in making use of that knowledge and understanding. You know, a lawyer who knows all the case law there is but doesn’t know how to make his case before a judge is useless. A surgeon who has every medical textbook and journal memorized but can’t make a clean incision is dangerous. And a man who knows and understands the law of God but shows no skill in applying it to his own life or to others is no help to God’s people!

So your leaders must be wise men, and what does Proverbs say is the beginning of wisdom? The fear of the LORD! And leaders for God’s people must be God-fearing men. That’s what Moses is getting at when he stresses the importance of right judgment, of impartial treatment, because judgment belongs to the LORD. You see, only a God-fearing man will be motivated to do his job right, because he knows that God will not tolerate anyone perverting his judgment. And only a God-fearing leader will understand how weighty of a task it is to lead God’s own people. They are entrusted with the care of God’s treasured possession. That’s the kind of thing that keeps an elder awake at night, and the kind of thing that will make him take his job seriously!

So leaders must be wise, and they must be God-fearing, and then there’s one last thing to consider, and I put it last because it’s the tie-in between the who of leadership and the what of leadership. And that is that the leaders of God’s people must be close. They must be from among the people, and known by them. That may be what’s intended by the 3rd item in Moses’s list—respected in the CSB—but there’s a translational difficulty there. Regardless, the principle is clearly here in the text, because the people are told to choose their leaders from among themselves. They are to choose men whom they know and respect, because these are going to be the men who will hold them accountable to obey the law of God!

You’ll see the importance of these things emerge more clearly as we consider what the leaders are to do, but even now there’s a very basic but also very important point of application. As presbyterians we are committed to this same principle that people choose their own leaders; it’s one of the only things presbyterians vote on! And that means that you have the responsinility to be careful in your selection! You know, people place a whole lot of importance on making sure we choose the right politicians to hold political office. Whether or not people are sufficiently careful in making their choices is another matter, but if you ask most people, they’ll agree that it matters, a lot. But do you realize how much more important it is to appoint the right men to lead the church? Who your elders are is of infinitely more weight than who your President is, or who’s on the Supreme Court, or who the governor is, or who’s on the school board.

Maybe you’ve forgotten, because it’s been a while, but early last year 3 men were nominated for office in this church, 2 for elder and 1 for deacon. They’ve been in officer training since sometime last spring—it moves slowly because all three of them, and me, talk too much! And when they’ve finished—which will be very soon—the Session will examine them, and then if they pass present them for your approval, but I’d encourage you not to just take our word for it that they are men fit for those offices. We’re a small church, so we know each other better than people in many churches, so really consider, are these men by whom you want to be lead? The Session won’t present them to you unless we’re convinced the answer is yes, but that doesn’t mean we couldn’t have missed something. Select your leaders carefully!

III. What do leaders do?

But now, it’s finally time to talk about the leaders’ job description. What do the leaders of God’s people do?

Well, first, in light of what I just said about the need for these leaders to be close, part of their job is in bringing God’s authority and law close to the people. You see, there’s distance between God and the people, and even between Moses and the people. As for God, they’re terrified of him, and they’ve asked him not to speak directly to them anymore! They can’t approached him! And as much as that fear of God has a healthy aspect to it, it also has a tendency to make God seem … abstract. Remote. Perhaps even, irrelevant. Which is a them problem, not a God problem. And though Moses mediates between them and God, there are too many people for Moses to really be able to bridge the gap for all of them in a concrete way. And even though this problem lies with the people, God is still gracious enough to provide for that weakness, by giving his people leaders who are close, and who bring his Word and law close, but distributing it widely! And I mention that first because it characterizes the rest of the job description of these leaders.

Because the next thing to see is something I briefly mentioned, but that is the military function of the leaders. Again, Israel is about to enter into battle, into holy war as I talked about when we wrapped up the book of Esther, war to judge God’s enemies, and to establish and expand God’s kingdom, and these leaders are going to be at their head in that warfare. And though the New Testament church is not called to wage the same sort of war to take over nations or land, you are still called to fight a spiritual holy war against Satan and his servants, which war you fight as you kill sin in your own heart and as you spread the gospel far and wide, protected by the full armor of God and wielding the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. And the leaders of the church, the elders, are in a sense Christ’s lieutenants in that holy war. We distribute the leadership of Christ, our captain, as we lead you in the fight to expand God’s kingdom in the world by winning souls from Satan’s clutches.

But of course, there’s another job for the leaders to do that’s more front-and-center in this passage, and that is the application of God’s Word. The most direct charge given to these leaders is to adjudicate disputes, according to God’s law, because judgment belongs to God. And though that seems a fairly limited job description, it would necessarily entail enforcement of God’s law, and even some measure of counsel and teaching, because they can’t apply and enforce the law among people who don’t know it! And that that would have been part of their duty in some capacity is further evidenced by the fact that they are all essentially mini-Moseses. In Numbers 70 of them even prophesy! They are bringing the unique authority of Moses close to the people, because they are to ensure that the people obey the law of God given through him.

Now, because of the blending of civil and spiritual authority in the temporary, prototypical situation of Old Testament Israel, I’m not going to argue that there’s 1:1 correspondence between these leaders Moses describes and the elders of the New Testament church. But if the essential job description of the leaders was to bring the authority of Moses close to the people, that of elders is to bring close the authority of Jesus Christ. The leaders of God’s church represent Christ to you—which is why Jesus can make such strong statements about the authority of the church as she bears the keys of the kingdom of heaven!

And you need to recognize that, just as these leaders were given to Israel for their good, so also the elders of the church are given for your good. That’s so important for you to know, for a host of reasons. For one thing, so that you know what we’re here for! We’re here to teach you God’s Word, to answer questions (especially about cases of conscience when you’re unsure what God requires), to hold you accountable to God’s Word. That helps you to know how to make use of us!

But it’s also important because you need to know that we haven’t been given authority for nothing; you are called to submit to the elders’ authority, most clearly in Hebrews 13:7 and 17. And if you’re a member here, then you vowed to submit, either when you joined or when we were ordained. You need to know that submitting is for your good. Especially because submitting is hardest, when you most need to do it.

Conclusion: Leaders are a gift, from Christ!

But most important is that you need to know that leaders are given to the church for your good, because it will lead you to praise Christ, because it is Christ who has given leaders to his church! Moses is one of the clearest prototypes of Christ in the Old Testament, and this is yet another way in which he has foreshadowed Christ for you! Ephesians 4 tells you that when Jesus Christ ascended on high, he gave gifts among men, and you know what those gifts were? “He gave some to be apostles, and prophets, and evangelists, and pastor-teachers.” Those are church offices! Apostles, prophets, and evangelists were special offices for the founding years of the church, but pastor-teacher is just a description of what elders do (all of them, not just me; I just get paid to do it full time).

Of course, Christ is the new and better Moses, in that he doesn’t give leaders to his church because he is unable to bear the burden of us himself. He’s totally able! And yet, he knows that it’s not easy for you to follow someone you can’t see, and while he’s in heaven you can’t see him. Though you have not seen him, you love him, and he loves you, and so he has given you leaders to help direct you in how to love him during your sojourn on this earth, while he yet remains in heaven.

You see, you have a gracious Christ, a Christ who knows your weakness and makes provision for it! A Christ who doesn’t want his people to be like sheep without a shepherd! A Christ who meets this and every other need of yours! So as you consider the leaders that Moses put in place for Israel, let it draw your mind ultimately to Christ, that you might return to him a thank offering of praise!

Let’s pray.