The Farmer and His Mules – A Metaphor for Pastors
A beloved and hardworking farmer had only a few animals to help him on his farm. He had a few chickens for eggs, a cow for milk, and a few pigs for meat, and two mules. One was a hefty male-mule, the other was a medium-sized female mule. Additionally, the farmer had to sow seed and grow food for his subsistence.
He worked his two mules pretty much every day, hauling heavy loads, pulling a plow and to pull his buckboard wagon. But the farmer worked the larger male mule especially hard.
The farmer couldn’t afford another mule, and he never mated the two mules because he thought he could not do without both of them for the heavy chores during a pregnancy.
The mules aged. Then one day, the larger male mule sat down and quietly died. He had been overworked.
The female mule brayed in grief for several days. Then the farmer replaced the male with the female for the hard chores and heavy loads. Soon after, she died also.
The farmer now realized that he should have mated the mules and raised up the additional help he would need.
It wasn’t long after, having no help for the hard chores and heavy loads, the farmer also passed away.
The moral?
You should not be so foolish to work your help or yourself to death. Plan ahead and raise up new help while there is time.
Too many preachers and pastors think they can do it all themselves. They fail to raise up Godly men and women to share the heavy load and chores. Maybe it is a matter of trust or an issue of control. Either way, going it alone is foolish and unbiblical.
Perhaps the members of the church body expect too much of one man.
Or, perhaps the ‘farmer who sows the seed’ shouldn’t consider his only help to be a couple of mules?
Either way, it can be just like the story of the farmer and the mules, and it usually has a sad ending.
Why not, instead, take this advice?
Exodus 18:13-16, “Moses sat to judge [the disputes] the people [had with one another], and the people stood around Moses from dawn to dusk. When Moses’ father-in-law saw everything that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this that you are doing for the people? Why are you sitting alone [as a judge] with all the people standing around you from dawn to dusk?” Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to ask [about the will] of God. When they have a dispute they come to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor, and I make known the statutes of God and His laws.”
Jethro Counsels Moses
Exodus 18:17-26, “Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “The thing that you are doing is not good. You will certainly wear out both yourself and these people who are with you, because the task is too heavy for you [to bear]; you cannot do it alone. Now listen to [b]me; [c]I will advise you, and may God be with you [to confirm my advice]. You shall represent the people before God. You shall bring their disputes and causes to Him. You shall teach them the decrees and laws. You shall show them the way they are to live and the work they are to do. Furthermore, you shall select from all the people competent men who [reverently] fear God, men of truth, those who hate dishonest gain; you shall place these over the people as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens. They shall judge the people at all times; have them bring every major dispute to you, but let them judge every minor dispute themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. If you will do this thing and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure [the responsibility], and all these people will also go [back] to their tents in peace.”
“So Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything that he had said. Moses chose able men from all Israel and made them heads over the people, leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens [from the highest to the lowest judicial levels]. And they judged the people at all times; they would bring the difficult cases to Moses, but every minor dispute they judged and decided themselves”. (The Amplified Version)
Try doing it God’s Way – make disciples who make disciples. Let God do the ‘heavy lifting’ through His saints!
Your Brother and Friend,
Mike Young
See THE SPIRITUAL GIFTS FOR MINISTRY
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