What God Multiplies, You Can't Carry Alone

Introduction

There is something deeply moving in Moses' eyes at the edge of the Jordan. The people he led out of Egypt are there, more numerous than ever, and he speaks a sentence that has echoed down the centuries: "I am not able to bear you myself alone." This is not a disguised admission of weakness. It is the truth of a clear-eyed man standing before the work of God.

The service on September 14th opened the book of Deuteronomy. Two passages were read: Deuteronomy 1:8-18 and Matthew 9:35-38. Two passages that, placed side by side, say the same thing from two different angles: what God multiplies, no one can carry alone. It takes workers, it takes sharing, it takes the courage to choose.

This article follows the thread of that sermon. If you are in a church that is growing, if you carry a responsibility that has begun to weigh on you, or if you hesitate to get involved because you are afraid of ending up alone with the task, this is for you. The Lord is not calling you to carry what he is doing, he is calling you to take your part in it.

Article outline

1. Deuteronomy, a book that repeats to anchor

2. Remembering: God multiplies, he keeps his word

3. Moses' burden: when growth becomes a weight

4. Sharing the load: leaders of thousands, hundreds, tens

5. No favoritism, no fear: the character of God in the church

6. The harvest is plentiful: praying the Lord to send out workers

1. Deuteronomy, a book that repeats to anchor

The preacher began with a bit of vocabulary, and it is worth pausing on it with him. The word Deuteronomy comes from the Greek and means "the second law" or "the repetition of the law." In Hebrew, the title simply picks up the first word of the text: words. Two angles, one book, the word that returns, that repeats, that engraves.

Three verbs run through the whole book like a refrain: remember, listen, choose. They are not decorative. They tie you to the central notion of the Bible: covenant. We serve a God who makes covenant, with the people of Israel back then, with his church today. That word testament, which you read at the top of your New Testament, also means covenant. Like wedding rings: it binds you. You too, if you have entered into this covenant through your decision to follow Christ, are bound by it. It is not legal and cold, it is relational.

Deuteronomy recaps the past of the people of Israel so they can face the present. It is not a history lesson to get a good grade. It is a reminder meant to arm them. To be encouraged today by what God did yesterday. And all of this, with an immense task on the horizon: entering the promised land.

2. Remembering: God multiplies, he keeps his word

The title chosen for the message comes from Deuteronomy 1:10: "Yahweh your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are today as the stars of the sky for multitude." This is a verse that struck the preacher long ago, back in his first churches. It encouraged him to see that our God multiplies life, our God multiplies his people according to his promise.

Moses is making an observation here. Long ago, God had begun with Abraham and his family. And now, before Moses' eyes, the people are there, immense. The letter to the Hebrews will later underline this fulfillment. God keeps his word. He does what he said he would do.

The question put to you is simple: where do you stand with the Lord? What has he already done in your life, and what has he already done in this church, maybe just over the past two years? It is not only about "remembering." It is about remembering in order to give thanks, to be grateful before all his blessings.

You may know that old hymn: "count your blessings." It is nice to sing, but you actually have to count them. You have to write them down. Our minds are full of thirty-six things every day. Taking a few minutes this afternoon to go back over what God has done is not sentimentality, it is an exercise that sets you back on your feet. And if you have not yet started down that road, then it is time to choose. That is the other verb of Deuteronomy: choose.

3. Moses' burden: when growth becomes a weight

Second movement, and it is very human. In verse 9, Moses says: "At that time I said to you, saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone." The preacher called this Moses' burden. It is starting to weigh on him, being in charge of this people, this grumbling people, as he says with a smile.

The day's translation was precise: "bear you myself alone" means carrying the responsibility of leading you. That is what is heavy. In verse 12, Moses continues: "How can I myself alone bear your encumbrance, and your burden, and your strife?" It is not only the grumbling, people complaining. It is also real legal disputes between members of the people. Each with their own tent saying: "this is mine, not yours." The weight of conflicts becomes too heavy for one man alone.

And here there is something reassuring. When Moses says he cannot manage anymore, he is not only saying it for himself. He is stating a truth that holds for the whole life of a church: growth brings difficulties. History is not all rosy, neither for them nor for us. And yet this difficulty is not a failure. It is the sign that God has acted. The people are numerous because God has multiplied them. The weight Moses carries is the weight of a blessing. And a blessing is not meant to be carried alone.

If you are on a team, in a ministry, in a family, and you are starting to feel crushed by what you carry, stop here. The preacher is not inviting you to be strong. He is inviting you to do as Moses did: say out loud that you cannot carry this alone.

4. Sharing the load: leaders of thousands, hundreds, tens

What Moses does next is a leadership lesson that has not aged a day. He recalls what his father-in-law Jethro had suggested to him in the book of Exodus. He lets the people choose leaders. He installs them. And he does it according to a gradation spelled out plainly in verse 15: captains of thousands, captains of hundreds, captains of fifties, captains of tens.

The preacher saw in this a very simple principle for today's church: there are small responsibilities and bigger ones, and both are needed. You do not ask everyone to preach right away. You first ask someone to handle specific tasks. The tasks are not the same, but when they are shared, it is far less heavy for those in charge.

The New Testament picked up this same idea with the deacons. Those who take care of meals, distribution, visiting widows. This does not mean the apostles neglect prayer and preaching. It means there is also a place for others who devote themselves to tasks of distribution and organization. Each carries their own load, no one carries it all.

And here is a practical remark from the preacher that is worth its weight in gold if you are hesitating to get involved: in churches, when you are asked to take on a responsibility, you can say, "I'll commit for six months, or a year, and we'll revisit it." That is not a refusal. It is simply saying that this is not a lifelong commitment. And that is far more freeing. The Lord will give you the strength. Every new responsibility has its constraints, but if you think you are stuck in it for life, that is what holds you back, not the task itself.

5. No favoritism, no fear: the character of God in the church

Moses installs leaders, but he immediately sets down rules. Verses 16-17 are a condensed leadership course: "Hear the cases between your brothers, and judge righteously between a man and his brother, and the foreigner who is living with him. You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not be afraid of the face of man, for the judgment is God's."

The preacher stressed two things.

First: show no favoritism. This is a very important rule in the church. Because if people sense that some are given more attention than others, they are hurt. That is human, yes. But that sense of unfairness needs to be avoided. Hearing the small and the great alike means taking seriously everyone God places in your path, without looking at what they have or what they are in the eyes of the world.

Second: protect the foreigner, the vulnerable. Deuteronomy and the whole Old Testament are full of words calling God's people to care for, love, and protect those who have come to live in their land. The preacher said it plainly: hatred and discrimination have no place in the church. We are a people learning to live together, to be, in our own small way, an example for society, knowing there is a richness in being together with one another.

Why? Because this is the character of God. When God asks you to take care of the single mother with her children, of the foreigner, of the most fragile, it is not to please himself. It is because that is who he is. Caring for vulnerable people is his heart. And the Holy Spirit comes to help us live out that same heart.

The preacher also noted something else. Sharing tasks is not a human invention meant to keep things running smoothly. It is inherent to God himself. God is three: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He already shares among himself. We will do the same.

Finally, fear. It blocks people on both sides. It blocks those who do not dare get involved, because they fear the judgment of others. And it blocks leaders already in place, who sometimes feel alone, who do not dare voice their worries and concerns. No one is immune to burnout. It matters that those who carry a leadership responsibility also have someone (inside the community or outside it) to unload onto. This is not a luxury. It is a pastoral necessity.

6. The harvest is plentiful: praying the Lord to send out workers

The second reading of the service built the bridge to the New Testament. Matthew 9:35-38: "Jesus went about all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Good News of the Kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness among the people. But when he saw the multitudes, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and scattered, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, 'The harvest indeed is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore that the Lord of the harvest will send out laborers into his harvest.'"

It is the same image, carried over into the Gospel. The people God multiplies are a field ready to be harvested. And the observation is the same as Moses': more workers are needed. No one can carry this alone, not even Jesus during his earthly ministry, since it is he himself who asks his disciples to pray for others to be sent out.

What changes with Jesus is that where Moses could not carry all the problems of the people, Jesus can. He carries what no one else could carry. And to you, sitting in church today, he asks two things: first, to pray (the Lord of the harvest is the one who sends, it is not you who recruits, it is him), and second, to be available to be one of these workers yourself.

You do not need an extraordinary gift. The preacher reminded us: in a church, there are people with natural talents, and there are charisms, gifts of the Spirit. Some have a beautiful voice, but it needs to be trained. Others have a gift for speaking, but sometimes it needs to be exercised, guided. Raw talent is a starting point, not an excuse. Everything can be worked on, everything can be shared, everything can be put to use for the harvest.

Key takeaways

• God multiplies what he has promised. Counting his blessings is not optional, it is the first act of a believer who wants to move forward.
• Growth brings weight. That is not a failure, it is a sign. The weight of a blessing is meant to be shared.
• Sharing responsibilities is a biblical principle. Leaders of thousands, hundreds, tens: everyone at their own measure, no one carrying it all.
• Show no favoritism, fear no one. Hear the small and the great alike, protect the vulnerable, refuse discrimination.
• Pray the Lord of the harvest. Then make yourself available. The harvest is plentiful, the workers are few.

Personal application

Take a quiet moment this week and ask yourself honestly:

• What are five concrete blessings God has placed in my life over the past twelve months? Have I already named them out loud to give him thanks?
• What am I carrying alone today that I could share? Who could I ask for help this week?
• Is there a responsibility in my church that I resist out of fear of a lifelong commitment? Could I say "yes, for six months, and we'll revisit it"?
• Is there a person (a foreigner, a single mother, a more fragile brother or sister) whom God is placing in my path and whom I tend to overlook?
• Have I taken time to pray that God would send out workers into his harvest, in my neighborhood, in my church, in my workplace?

Scriptures cited

• Deuteronomy 1:8-18 (WEB) - Moses recalls that he cannot bear the people alone and that he installed leaders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens.
• Matthew 9:35-38 (WEB) - Jesus sees the harassed and scattered multitudes and asks his disciples to pray the Lord to send out workers.
• Deuteronomy 17:18-20 (WEB) - The king is to write for himself a copy of this law, referenced by the preacher.
• Psalm 27 (WEB) - "Yahweh is my light and my salvation," sung during worship.
• Exodus 18 (WEB) - Jethro advises Moses to delegate.

FAQ

Why preach today on Deuteronomy, an Old Testament book of laws?

Because Deuteronomy is not just a legal code. It is a series of sermons Moses gave to a people standing at the border of the promised land. Its three key verbs (remember, listen, choose) remain at the heart of Christian life. It reminds us that God makes covenant with his people, and that covenant holds true for today's church as well.

How do I know whether I should accept a responsibility in my church?

The preacher gave a simple, freeing criterion: do not think in terms of a "lifelong commitment." Propose a limited timeframe (six months, a year), and check in afterward. The Lord will give you the strength if the call comes from him, and the constraint will become a space for learning rather than a trap.

What should I do if I already carry a responsibility and feel exhausted?

Do as Moses did: say out loud that you cannot carry this alone. Find someone (inside your community or outside it) to unload onto. No one is immune to burnout, and leaders also need to be heard. Sharing tasks is not just good practice, it is a principle that comes from the very heart of God, three in one.