Questions Shaped my Life
Do you believe Jesus is the Christ?
Would you preach this Sunday night?
In many ways, those two questions shaped my life from 1984 to the present.
In 1984 Marlon McWilliams asked me that first question as we stood in the baptistry on a Sunday night at the Cloudcroft Church of Christ: “Do you believe Jesus is the Christ?” I answered “Yes!” and Marlon baptized me. That one question gave birth to my salvation.
Later, in 1986, Wesley Lane asked the second question: Would you preach this Sunday night? He wondered if I’d be willing to deliver the Sunday evening message at the services of the Cloudcroft Church of Christ. Barely a Christian a couple of years, but eager to give it a go, I answered “Yes!”
It was my first sermon. I prepared diligently. I hand wrote pages of notes. I was certain it would take up the full 30 minutes I’d been allotted. My delivery was a blur because I was so nervous. When I stepped down, and we sang the invitation song, and I looked at the clock on the back wall, barely ten minutes had passed from the time I began my sermon to the time we sat down after the invitation song. Still, it was my first taste of preaching. Something I’ve done now for 25 years.
That first question gave birth to my salvation. That second question gave birth to my vocation. These two questions shaped my life from 1984 to the present.
Questions have the power to significantly impact people’s lives.
- During a court case, one key question by a prosecuting attorney, defense attorney, or judge can turn the entire case and set the course of a client’s life positively or negatively.
- An insensitively asked or carelessly asked question can often wound a friend or family member and create lasting damage to that relationship. It can take months to recover.
Questions have the power to significantly impact people’s lives.
Two Questions
Jesus knew this. Jesus was an asker of questions. Listen to his question in this text:
35 And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” 36 And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” (Mk. 10:35-36 ESV)
Jesus knows exactly what James and John want from him. He knows what they are going to say. But he wants them to articulate it. Jesus could have responded immediately with instruction. With rebuke. With direction. But Jesus wants to engage in conversation. Jesus often prefers discussion over instruction. So he asks a question: “What do you want me to do for you?”
The same question shows up again a few verses later:
46 And they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. 47 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.” 50 And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 51 And Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” (Mk. 10:46-51 ESV)
Jesus knows what the blind man wants. Everyone knows what the blind man wants. He wants to see! Jesus could have simply healed him without saying a thing. But Jesus wants to build a relationship. He wants to engage in a conversation. He wants this man to articulate his desire for himself. Jesus seems to prefer discussion–so he asks a question: “What do you want me to do for you?”
307 Questions
These two very simple questions might easily be overlooked. Until we realize this was something Jesus did all the time. Martin Copenhaver says that if you take the time to count all the questions Jesus asks in all 4 Gospel accounts, you come up with 307.[1] You also find some other very interesting things:
| Jesus and Questions
(Martin Copenhaver, Jesus is the Question) |
| Jesus asks 307 questions in the four Gospels |
| Jesus answers 8 of the 183 questions he is asked |
| Jesus is 40 times more likely to ask a question than answer one |
| Jesus asks a question at his beginning: “Why were you looking for me?” (Lk. 2:49) |
| Jesus asks a question at his end: “My God, my God, Why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46) |
Copenhaver finds that Jesus ask all kinds of questions. Let’s read these questions out loud together:
| Some of the Types of Questions Jesus Asked
(Martin Copenhaver, Jesus is the Question) |
|
| Questions of Invitation | 1. What are you looking for? (Jn. 1:38)
2. Why were you looking for me? (Lk. 2:49) 3. What do you want me to do for you? (Mk. 10:51) |
| Questions of Identity | 1. But who do you say that I am? (Mk. 8:29)
2. Woman, what does that have to do with me? (Jn. 2:4) 3. What do you think about the Christ? (Matt. 22:42) |
| Questions of Vision | 1. Do you see anything? (Mk. 8:23)
2. Do you see all these things? (Matt. 24:2) 3. Do you see this woman? (Lk. 7:44) |
| Questions of Compassion | 1. Which one of these three was a neighbor to the one who encountered thieves? (Lk 10:36)
2. Woman, where are they? Is there no one to condemn you? (Jn. 8:10) 3. Why do you make trouble for her? (Mk. 14:6) |
| Questions of The Meaning of Life | 1. Why would people gain the whole world but lose their lives? (Mk. 8:36)
2. Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? (Matt. 6:27) 3. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? (Matt. 6:25) |
One of Jesus’ favorite ways of engaging people in conversations about things that matter most was asking questions. Obviously, Jesus taught. He gave sermons. He gave parables. But he also asked a lot of questions. When we wanted to really engage people about things that mattered, he often did so by asking thought-provoking questions.
Questioning Evangelism
The same is true today. Asking questions can be a very effective way of engaging people in conversations about spiritual things that really matter.
Randy Newman is the author of a book called Questioning Evangelism.[2] Newman argues that there are three skills needed in order to share Jesus with people today.
| Three Skills Needed to Share Jesus
(Randy Newman, Questioning Jesus) |
|
| 1 – Declaring | The ability to clearly and concisely articulate the message of salvation. |
| 2 – Defending | Anticipating common questions, acquainting oneself with helpful discoveries from the past, and planning how to deliver this information in a logical sequence. |
| 3 – Dialoguing | The skill of giving and taking – asking questions and bouncing ideas back and forth. |
Newman argues that this third skill is the one most needed and most effective in today’s context. Asking the right questions can often be more productive than giving the right answers. So many people are skeptical about Christianity or have had negative experiences with Christianity that asking questions can help get past those defenses.
When it comes to sharing Jesus, the focus of this current series, in the past we’ve tended to focus primarily on declaring and defending. We’ve tried to come up with the best way to summarize the gospel so that we can declare it to others. And we’ve tried to explore all the objections and questions people have regarding Christianity and then have tried to memorize the right answers to those questions. And those two approaches can still be very helpful. But one simple approach that we may have overlooked is the approach of Jesus. The very basic approach of just asking good questions.
Pushing the Arrow
Adam McHugh argues that what we see in Jesus’ interactions with people, and what we ought to strive for in our spiritual conversations with others, can be summarized in the image of an arrow.[3] Imagine, he says, you and another person engaged in a conversation. Between the two of you hovers an arrow.
There are two important things about this arrow. First, the arrow points at the person in the conversation who is the focus of the conversation. Like an arrow on a compass that always wants to point north, this arrow always wants to point toward the person who is the true focus of the conversation.
Second, the arrow knows the truth. And the truth is that in almost every conversation, we make the conversation about ourselves. Sometimes it’s intentional. Sometimes it’s not. But in many cases, we make the conversation about ourselves. And thus the arrow is constantly swinging back toward us in the conversation.
The key to a fruitful spiritual conversation, one more like the kind that Jesus often had, is to practice what McHugh calls “pushing the arrow.” We want to push the arrow back towards the other person. It’s an act of love. It’s an act of hospitality. And it’s a way of truly getting them to talk about things that matter the most.
One of the ways of doing this is by asking good questions. In every conversation, we want to push the arrow toward the other person by asking thoughtful questions. We want to try to get them talking about what they think and what they believe and what their values and thoughts are. That way we can actually have a conversation rather than just trying to give them some information that we’ve prepackaged for them about God or Jesus or the church.
Some Questions
So, what are some thoughtful questions? Let me provide some examples. These are broad questions that can open the door to spiritual conversations. They are not so narrow that they raise people’s defenses. They are designed to get past people’s guard when it comes to spirituality or God or religion or church and get them talking about things beyond the weather, sports, and work or school.
- What inspires you?
- What surprises you?
- If I gave you a ten million dollar check, what would you do with it?
- What was the most life-giving moment of your day?
- What is God up to in your life?
- When or where are you most aware of God’s presence?
- What do you feel God feels about you?
- How would you answer if Jesus asked, “What do you want me to do for you?”
- What conversation are you avoiding with God?
- Could you tell me more?
These are the kinds of open-ended broad questions that just might keep that arrow pushed toward the other person and just might open the door to richer spiritual conversations.
This week, share Jesus by asking questions.
[1] Jesus Is the Question: The 307 Questions Jesus Asked and the 3 He Answered, Martin B. Copenhaver.
[2] Randy Newman, Questioning Evangelism: Engaging People’s Hearts the Way Jesus Did. Kregel Publications, 2004, 14-15.
[3] Adam S. McHugh The Listening Life, 143-144.
