{"id":3465,"date":"2023-06-30T18:03:43","date_gmt":"2023-06-30T18:03:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/?p=3465"},"modified":"2023-06-30T18:28:27","modified_gmt":"2023-06-30T18:28:27","slug":"the-masters-questions-to-his-questioners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/2023\/06\/30\/the-masters-questions-to-his-questioners\/","title":{"rendered":"The Master&#8217;s Questions to His Questioners"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you could ask God one question, what would you ask Him? This is a key starter question from evangelism training that some of us have attended in past years. It is also a feature question from one of our online courses at Billy Graham. Here are some actual students\u2019 responses from just this past week in the course. (<em>One question for God, what would you ask Him<\/em>?).<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Why is life so difficult?<\/li>\n<li>How do I use my challenges to benefit the world in a realistic and tangible way?<\/li>\n<li>What can I do for my friends and family to know and believe in Him?<\/li>\n<li>How can I forgive without hurting when remembering the incident?<\/li>\n<li>Why was I created?<\/li>\n<li>How long will I be suffering in this world my Father?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These are genuine, raw questions!<\/p>\n<p>How do you think God would answer those questions?<\/p>\n<p>How would you answer those questions if asked??<\/p>\n<p>There will be times in all our lives where not only will we have questions, but we\u2019ll encounter loved ones, friends, neighbors, and coworkers with eternal questions. So how do we know how God would approach these questions and how He\u2019d want us to as well?<\/p>\n<p>One of the great things about the Bible is that it reveals to us, from start to finish, the character of God. In fact, the Word of God is God revealing His own character, so we might know Him, enjoy Him, and rightly worship and reflect Him in the world.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>He shows His character through wisdom literature like Psalms and Proverbs.<\/li>\n<li>He discloses Himself through His words to and through His Prophets.<\/li>\n<li>He makes Himself known through the mighty promises and faithful actions in the books of the Law and with Israel.<\/li>\n<li>He demonstrates who He is through logical conclusions in the letters.<\/li>\n<li>He reveals Himself through the glorious defeat of evil and eternal reign as the King of kings and Lord of lords in Revelation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>But in the Gospels, we see the life and Person of Jesus laid out\u2014the perfect image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15a). Here is truly on display God in human flesh making Himself known. You could look at His teaching, His miracles, His parables, His prophetic fulfillments and see great heights of His nature and the essence of His character.<\/p>\n<p>However, one thing God has laid on my heart over the last month or so is to look deeper into how Jesus answers His questioners. During Jesus\u2019 lifetime, He fielded many questions. I\u2019m still working my way through the Gospels, but I counted 38 direct questions thrown Jesus\u2019 way in Matthew. This won\u2019t be a surprise to many of you, but Jesus answered 11 of those 38 questions with a question of His own.<\/p>\n<p>Think about that. God Himself, who has the answer to every question and is the most loving being in the universe, did not always count it best to initially and directly answer His questioners. He asked questions back to them.<\/p>\n<p>Today we\u2019ll look at three instances where our Savior and Lord, questioned His questioners.<\/p>\n<p><em>I. Change the Frame<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Our first instance comes in Mark 2:18. The context concerns John the Baptist\u2019s disciples and the Pharisees fasting. So some people come up to Jesus and ask Him, <em>\u201c<sup>18<\/sup>Why do John\u2019s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The question Jesus gives in response is the first type we&#8217;ll ponder. Let\u2019s call it, <strong>change the frame<\/strong>\u2014the frame of reference that is. This question rightly notices a difference in behavior between Jesus\u2019 followers and those of John and the Pharisees. However, it wrongly assumes Jesus is on par with John and the Law. Jesus is the One to whom John\u2019s whole life has been called to point to. He is the Giver and perfect fulfillment of the Law. Jesus is other, above, beyond, greater than any prophet, priest, or king and is the perfect embodiment of what a life in obedience to God and fulfillment of the Law looks like. Jesus\u2019 initial question is going to <strong>change the frame<\/strong>. It\u2019s meant to reset the frame of reference for the questioners. It\u2019s meant to lovingly show them someone different is in front of them that they need recognize.<\/p>\n<p>In verses 19\u201320 Jesus says,<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>He uses a picture of a groom and the celebration he brings to help his questioners understand His disciples are acting differently because the One who makes their joy complete is in their midst. He asked a question to change their frame of mind, to see Jesus as different, set apart, and bringing in a new era.<\/p>\n<p><em>II. Turning the Tables<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The second example of Jesus answering a question with a question comes from Matthew 15:1-9. We\u2019ll call this <strong>turning the tables <\/strong>through pointing out hypocrisy. Here the tone from Jesus\u2019 questioners is accusing His disciples of wrongdoing. <em>\u201c<sup>1<\/sup>Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, \u2018<sup>2<\/sup>Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.\u2019\u201d<\/em> Here Jesus question doesn\u2019t seek to help explain or answer where they\u2019re hung up. It turns the tables on His questioners by exposing their \u201cacceptable\u201d sin and underlying hypocrisy.<\/p>\n<p>Hear Jesus\u2019 words in verses 3\u20139:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, &#8220;Honor your father and your mother,&#8221; and, &#8220;Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.&#8221; But you say, &#8220;If anyone tells his father or his mother, &#8216;What you would have gained from me is given to God,&#8217; he need not honor his father.&#8221; So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said, &#8220;This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; <sup>9<\/sup>in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men&#8221; (cf. Isaiah 29:13).<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The Pharisees were making new laws of tradition to pile on others while they were not even keeping God\u2019s Law itself. Jesus lovingly, directly, and bravely calls them on their wrong, knowing that they will be offended. Some of us run to this option too often. We imagine ourselves as hammers and most conversations as an opportunity to nail others where they\u2019re missing it. Others of us are too afraid of offending others. The fear of people has a hold on us instead of the love of Christ. For those of us in this category, we need to prayerfully risk offending others and love them enough to point out the truth.<\/p>\n<p><em>III. Drawing them Out<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Now for a third way Jesus questions his questioners. This a famous one and is a bit different. It\u2019s in Luke\u2019s Gospel, Chapter 24, starting in verse 13 with the two men on the walk to Emmaus. We will call this one <strong>drawing them out<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>Proverbs 20:5\u2014The purpose in a man\u2019s heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Here two disciples are walking from Jerusalem. They are looking sad and talking about the things that have happened in the wake of Jesus\u2019 death. Jesus comes up behind them and initiates the conversation with a question, asking what they are talking about among themselves. Then one of the guys named Cleopas answers, \u201cAre you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>How ironic is this that the One to whom they\u2019re asking the question was the very One who endured all of the betrayal, arrest, whipping, shaming, and crucifixion. What\u2019s more, He had planned this with the Father from the foundation of the world. Nevertheless, our all-wise King in awesome love, humility, and wisdom draws them out by asking in verse 19, <em>\u201cWhat things?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Only after they\u2019ve explained the things on their heart does Jesus give them a rebuke and then the most amazing Bible study that we\u2019ve mentioned many times! By drawing out where they were, He allowed His great lesson of the Scriptures being centered on His crucifixion and resurrection to fully sink in.<\/p>\n<p>So what can we glean from our Savior at times questioning His questioners? A few takeaways:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>It\u2019s a helpful thing to ask questions. It shows other people you\u2019re interested in them. It keeps them engaged. It allows for dialogue.<\/li>\n<li>Of the three, it seems like the \u201cdrawing them out\u201d method should probably be our bread and butter. Unlike Jesus, we don\u2019t already know people\u2019s hearts, or the thing that they need the most to hear. After praying for wisdom and the Spirit\u2019s guidance, drawing them out allows us to better know where someone is coming from and gives us a sense of their worldview. It also shows us areas of common ground to start from and build toward Christ and the Gospel.<\/li>\n<li>All three methods of answering with questions are helpful and useful and called for in different circumstances. Sometimes analogies and visuals can help change the frame of people\u2019s mindsets and reference points to see truths of Scripture and who our God is in a new perspective. Even turning the tables is needed at times to lovingly stand on truth and point others to the most flourishing way forward.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>In all of this, we are called to \u201cspeak the truth in love\u201d (Ephesians 4:15) and follow our Savior who is full of \u201cgrace and truth\u201d (John 1:17).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you could ask God one question, what would you ask Him? This is a key starter question from evangelism training that some of us have attended in past years.&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,15,16],"tags":[482,2766,2763,2764,1024,2765,2767,1273,2769,2768],"class_list":["post-3465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-devotions","category-evangelism-blog","tag-evangelism","tag-luke-24","tag-mark-218-20","tag-matthew-151-9","tag-missions","tag-proverbs-205","tag-questioning","tag-questions","tag-truth-in-love","tag-witness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3465"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3466,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3465\/revisions\/3466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}