HOLDING UP HOLY HANDS

A Sermon

by Pastor Walter B. Smith

Note: God has blessed the preaching of this sermon in many churches over the years. My prayer is that he will use it to be a blessing to you and your church family.

The Israelites have been wandering in the wilderness for quite some time now. They are tired and thirsty, complaining of a lack of water. Moses went to God in prayer and in Exodus 17:5-6 we find what God told him. “And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.”

I have had some low points in my ministry. I have become discouraged and probably oppressed by Satan. Ephesians 6:12 says that there is spiritual wickedness in high places and there is no higher office in the church than the office of the pastor. He is the point man in the church. Often, I would have a pity party and usually as I did, God would send someone to me to tell me that they loved me. Christians, we have a ministry to each other! The Bible encourages us to pray, bear one another’s burdens, love, support, and to walk in unity. Why? Because people go through the valley of the shadow!

Years ago I heard about a pastor in Detroit, Michigan. He had an earned doctorate in Theology, was 43 years old, had over 1000 in average church attendance and he enjoyed a warm, close-knit family. He described himself as a fundamental, Bible preacher. No one suspected anything was wrong. Preachers are often professional hypocrites in that we try not to show weakness or discouragement publicly. Church becomes a showplace. We say all is well and that we are doing fine when we aren’t. Early in January, that pastor in Detroit was found hanging by his neck, dead, having committed suicide in his office. In that same year, at least nine other Bible-believing pastors committed suicide! You might ask, “How could a pastor do that?” Let me share with you the why and the how.

Exodus 17 refers to Aaron and Hurr holding up the hands of Moses (vs. 12). That is exactly what needs to take place in our churches! We have ministries to every segment of society—those imprisoned, the homeless, the aged, the mentally handicapped, etc. Most churches have Sunday School classes for all ages. But, who ministers to the pastor, his wife and their family? How many churches have developed an organized plan to minister to their pastor? Here is what the average Christian says: “But he is called to minister to us! He is supposed to serve me!” No! All Christians are to minister and bear each others burdens, not just the pastor.

Moses was ministering and in the process of ministering, he developed a need to be ministered to! Exodus 17 gives us the master plan of God for victory in the church. It has three elements to it.

I) The Provision of God. Vss. 6 and 9: “Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.”

Please notice that Moses did not say “a rod” or “my rod”, but “the rod of God.” That rod represented three things.

First, it represented the Power of God, something we desperately need! Believers need to be filled with the Holy Spirit and His power. This was the same rod that Moses had thrown down and it had become a snake. He picked it up and it became a rod again. (Note - this may be a good reason to have an Assistant Pastor - picking up snakes is not my idea of a fun day!). By the way, Pharaoh's magicians did the same thing. Of the ten plagues, they duplicated three of them. Satan will deceive the world through signs and wonders. Just because a preacher on TV says that God did something, doesn’t mean that He did it. This was the same rod Moses held out over the Red Sea and God’s power separated the waters and three million Jews walked on dry land. It is the same rod Moses had smitten the rock with and out of it came living water.

Moses stood on the hilltop with the power of God! Yet, if the power of God is enough, why did Amalek prevail according to vs. 11? That meant that Israelites died! Moses was on the hill with the power of God and yet he still watched as his neighbors and friends and relatives perished in the valley. The question is, “Is the power of God enough?”

The second Provision of God was the Promise of God. God had given Moses some promises as to what would happen. Thank God for His wonderful promises! There are 375 promises in the Bible for the Christian. Pastors walk into their pulpits with the promises of God in their hand. But, with the power of God and the promises of God, Israelites were still dying!

The third part of the Provision of God was His Presence. Later God told Joshua, “As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee:” (Joshua 1:5). God was there on the hilltop! Yet Moses saw his people dying. Why? Because the Provision of God seen in His power and His promises and His presence has never been intended to be the complete plan of God for any church! The second element in the master plan of God for victory in the church is…

II) The Prophet of God.

God has all power at his disposal. Did God really need Moses? Couldn't he just send an angel to slay the Amalakites? Why then did he choose a man? II Chronicles 16:9 says, “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.” God is looking for a man. Why does He work that way? I do not fully understand it, but I need to believe it - that is how God works!

John 1:6-8: “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.” First, it says he was sent from God. Ephesians 4:11 states, “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;” Why? To perfect the saints to do the work of the ministry, so that the church can be unified in the faith. Moses was sent from God as god’s representative. So are pastors today! Second, John had a holy obligation - to bear witness of the Light so folk would believe. Everything that a pastor does is done to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ. It is priority #1 and it burns within him.

The devil is attacking pastors and preachers today! Many are quitting the ministry. The fastest growing divorce rate among believers is within the pastors and their families. The devil is trying to destroy the confidence that people should have in their pastor. And, in the process of doing that, he is destroying God’s work. Statistics have been developed that show that one out of eight pastors is ready to quit! That equals tens of thousands of pastors! In the last few years, the rate of pastors being fired by their churches has risen by 34%. Preachers are getting discouraged, 80% of pastors surveyed said that if they could do it, they would change churches. 54.9% of pastors wives said they want out of the ministry completely and soon. The #1 problem is personal conflicts with somebody in the church. The 31 complaint of pastors wives is loneliness. All their relationships are professional and personal friendships are nonexistent. In the next five years, 30,000 missionaries that are currently on the field serving will be off the field due to retirement, resignation, etc. “Surely someone will take their place!” Not so! Currently, only 5000 young people are ready to go to the Mission field. Only one Missionary out of every fifty return to the field for a second term. If the trend continues, we will soon have a leaderless church!

By the way, there is a difference between a Pastors’ position and his personality. God wants you to focus on his position! Satan wants you to focus on his personality (weaknesses). Who have you been listening to? I Thess. 5:12-13: “And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves.” I Timothy 5:17,18: “Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine. For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward.”

Thirdly, God’s man (as seen in John) has human limitations. John 1:6 - “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.” According to I Corinthians 1:26-29 (see), God chooses and uses weak people. Thank God for your pastors’ limitations - it probably means that he is called of God! Moses had human limitations. His hands got weak and then the rod sagged down. People then died. Moses probably tried harder and harder as do most pastors, but his arms failed again and again.

III) The People of God - Aaron and Hur.

This is the missing element in most churches. Most Christians expect the pastor to do it all. No, God says that we all are to bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. People in the church, especially the men, need to hold up the pastors hands! Esteem him. Encourage him. Enable him. Help him. He needs that. And, he wants to say it but he doesn’t. If you can fix his car, keep the church clean, give him a stone (a recliner would be great!) to sit on, etc.

When I was pasturing another church than my current pastorate, I developed a real need to get away for some rest and diversion. I had grown discouraged, even depressed, in that difficult and overbearing ministry. My wife contacted a pastor (whom we had never met) in a distant city and asked if he had a guest room at the church there which we could use for a few days, just to get away. He didn’t have one, but sight unseen, he put us up in a nice bed and breakfast with no cost to us and offered counseling time. Due to certain carnal believers in that church, I had to almost sneak away. Why? The belief of those people was that “I was paid to work for them and do as they said when they said to do it.” I got a retired pastor to fill my pulpit and off we went for a few days. When I returned (somewhat rested and encouraged), the treasurer of the church asked to meet with me. He said that my absence was unapproved and that they were not going to give me my salary that week. That was insensitivity at the minimum as well as gross stupidity and ignorance. All the recovery that I had obtained immediately went down the tubes.

Folks, many, many pastors are deeply hurting. They are no doubt hiding their hurt, but they are hurting badly. I hope that churches will see to it that their pastor is receiving double honor. I trust that Christians will esteem their pastor very highly in love for the works sake. I hope that they will love his wife and treat her with deep respect. (Note - it is carnality at it’s peak to constantly criticize the pastor’s wife!). And, please don’t put the pastor’s children in a glass cage and criticize them. Let them be children and teens! Make sure that the church pays for a good long vacation for the pastor and his family, perhaps even twice a year. I believe if churches will treat God’s man right, God will bless the church. Hold up his hands!