Responsibility in the Church

Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “. . . You will surely wear out, both yourself and these people who are with you, for the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone.”
–Exodus 18:17–18

When a complaint arose in the early church, the apostles prevented a fight by establishing the office of deacon. The congregation approved this idea and selected seven men to take care of practical needs in the church. As a result, the church was more united and more effective.

This story teaches us that responsibility in the church should be divided. We have a saying at the church I pastor: No one can do everything in the church, but everyone ought to do something.

In Exodus 18, we see a good example of what happens when one person tries to do everything. Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, came to visit the Israelite camp at Mount Sinai. He noticed that people were coming to Moses to settle their disputes all day long, and Moses was about to crater. Jethro said, “The thing that you are doing is not good. You will surely wear out, both yourself and these people who are with you, for the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone” (vv. 17–18). Then Jethro gave a suggestion. He said, in essence, “Moses, why don’t you divide the people into manageable groups and appoint leaders over them? If you do this, the people will be happier and you’ll live longer.” So that’s what Moses did. He divided the massive body of Israelites into smaller units and selected leaders to oversee them.

In the same way, God never intended for one person to do everything in the church, or even for pastors and other leaders to do everything. If they did, they would be robbing the congregation of one of the greatest joys in the Christian life, which is being involved in ministry.

God’s purpose for vocational Christians is found in Ephesians 4:11–12: “He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ.” The job of pastors and other vocational Christians is not to do all the ministry work themselves but to equip the members of the church for ministry. We are all to use the gifts God has given us to build up the body of Christ.

Today’s devotion is adapted from “How to Avoid a Church Fight,” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2021.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org.