The Wrong Question?

Those of us that want to walk with Jesus deliberately come into the light so that His truth may search our hearts and prompt us in repentance (John 3:19-21).There is no merit in living a lie or wanting anything but the truth

Source: BibleWordings.com

What follows came in great part from a conversation with a dear Christian brother over lunch not very long ago. The rest is coming as I write from a present conversation with the Lord about tangible things that are troubling me. Let's see where we get to...

When I was in 'real work' (I am retired) one of the constant lessons when helping people with a problem was that they always started with the 'wrong question'. For example, someone with a recurring problem around managing money might say; ‘How do we get the right financial information?’ After further discussion, it might turn out that in fact the problem they were facing was not about the information at all but that they were in fact not very good at negotiating the money that they needed with other people. Or someone might ask; ‘how can I use my computer better?’ when the real problem was that they didn’t communicate their needs and intentions to others clearly enough.

In John 4 there is a good example of the way in which Jesus answered wrong questions with right answers in the story about Him meeting the Samaritan woman at the well. She asks in John 4:9-10 ‘You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?’ (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans). Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water’. The exchange leads to the woman seeing Jesus first as a Jew, then  she called Him ‘Sir’, then she called Him a Prophet and then recognised Him as the Messiah, as Jesus’ true identity was revealed. Like all real conversations, the result was both challenging and joyous. The woman had to face up to who she was; John 4:18 ‘The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband’ and had the joy of meeting the Messiah and the opportunity for a changed life.

In my work examples, when people discovered that their issue was actually different to their initial ideas/questions the result could often be disconcerting and very challenging for them. Often it is easier to think that our difficulties are to do with machines and technical things like money rather than problems with how other people perceive us and interact with us. Realising that we must change the way that we behave towards others can be a shock and a very hard thing to do without help. It can make us anxious or afraid and so we cover up the real issue with something that’s easier for us to cope with. Fortunately for us Jesus is very good at getting to the heart of a problem. We do have to keep listening to Him though – His voice to us as a historical figure in the Bible (a Jew) will appear very different when we own Him as Lord of our lives (Messiah). The woman started out as talking to someone that she had been taught to despise, through growing respect she called Him ‘Sir’ to honour and awe as she experienced His prophetic gift and finally to Lord as she greeted her Messiah. Sometimes we stop in this journey and only hear part of the truth. Its only as Lord of our lives that the full revelation of what Jesus has to say to us is heard.

Source: SlidePlayer

In John 3:1-22 Nicodemus came to Jesus at night. He is a leader and is anxious about being seen in public with such a controversial figure and He knows that being seen coming to Jesus will threaten his reputation, career and lifestyle. He has his approach all worked out – his introduction is well crafted; John 3:2-3 ‘Teacher we know that you have come from God for no one can do the signs that you do unless God is with Him’. Jesus replied, Unless you are born again you cannot see the Kingdom of God’ … Jesus proceeds to show Nicodemus the way to eternal life and life in the Spirit. ‘How can these things be’ says Nicodemus in amazement. Here Jesus not only got to the root of the problem but answered the questions that Nicodemus didn’t know how to ask; John 3:10 ‘you the teacher of Israel and don’t know these things’? asks Jesus.  His words demand a response – a life changing response – repentance – a ‘change of mind’.

King David had taken another man’s wife and God holds him accountable in 2 Samuel 12:1-14 by sending Nathan the prophet to him with a story of about a rich man who had stolen the only pet lamb of a poor servant. David was angry and ready to take action to avenge the wrong and was so blind to the implications of the story that he was oblivious to its true meaning until Nathan says; ‘You are the man’. There is an old saying that when we point at other people with one finger there are three other fingers pointing back at us. It can be that the reality is that it’s us that needs to be sorted out first before we go pointing fingers elsewhere. I once prepared a talk on repentance but even as I prepared it the Lord said ‘you can’t give this until you have sorted out that issue that I have spoken to you about before’. Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:3 that we must attend to the plank that is in our own eye before we go poking around for specks in other people’s eyes. After all, if you can’t see clearly to help remove a speck in someone’s eye you may do a lot more damage than good. Is the answer to our question ‘what’s wrong with them Lord’ for us to look at ourselves in the mirror instead?

Two further scenarios from the gospels; the first is the ‘set up’ that the Jewish leaders had prepared for Jesus with the woman caught in adultery in John 8:3-11 ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?’ This was clearly a setup, pure and simple, but Jesus uses truth to disarm the schemers; Jesus replies; ‘Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her’. There was a preacher I once heard that said at this point in the story ‘Methinks that He (Jesus) wrote some sin in the ground with His finger’. Jesus was not at all interested in the agenda of these false leaders but He still challenged them with the truth and gave them a chance to repent. They were all convicted and eventually left. I wonder when we are judging another in our hearts what sin (forgiven or unforgiven) that Jesus would need to write down for us to be convicted and brought to our senses? We must all be aware that whatever judgement we use will be the judgement that will be used against us (Matthew 7:1-2). I have seen this work in my own life already. I have in the past judged and acted against people who I thought were doing a bad job without understanding what they were up against. It’s only been when the Lord has allowed me to be in that same situation that I have realised why the person had done what they did. I must repent of my thoughts and deeds (and poor witness before the world) with my words and actions. We can be dismissive of scripture thinking that ‘we would never treat Jesus in that way’ without realising that we can do exactly that without being aware of it. It’s not our questions to Him that are always important but instead Him asking us to give an account and His challenge that we need to listen to carefully.

The last story that I talked about with my friend that prompted these thoughts can be found in Luke 20:1-8. It’s when the Jewish leaders asked Jesus by what authority He acted in the way that He did. Jesus replied; ‘I will answer you if you answer me one question – the baptism of John was it from men or from God’. I have always seen this as Jesus giving a ‘clever brush off’ to His critics but my friend pointed out that here again Jesus was attempting to get to the truth and providing a chance for repentance even though the leaders motives were twisted and corrupt. Baptism by John was one of repentance – of changing one’s mind or mind-set as we tend to say today. In repentance, there is God’s part and our part. God’s part is to bring us to a place of conviction and attention and to meet us and renew us when we come to an end of ourselves and give in to Him. Our part is to determine to change our minds and go another way – as the scripture in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke says, ‘bring forth fruits to repentance’ – to demonstrate a determination to change the way that we think. These leader’s minds were embedded in keeping their status, power and wealth and caring little for truth and righteousness. Even though their false question meant only to get Jesus into trouble it also gave them a chance to reconsider. There was only one answer for them; ‘was the baptism of John from God’ – Yes. What was the baptism of John about? – repentance – turning from their old corrupt lives and towards a new way of thinking and living. These men rejected that offer from Jesus which was an eternally foolish thing to do.

What do we do in response to God’s truth? What do we do when we question Jesus and find that He comes back with questions of His own? What do we do when we find that it’s us that needs to change not others? It says in John that those who do evil hate to come into the light because it shows what their deeds are like. Those of us that want to walk with Jesus deliberately come into the light so that His truth may search our hearts and prompt us in repentance (John 3:19-21). There is no merit in living a lie or wanting anything but the truth; John 6:37 ‘All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away’. He will respond to our questions and get to the heart of a matter. Let’s not be afraid of His challenges because it’s all about perfecting us; Proverbs 4:18 ‘The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.

Author: Chris Pearson

May God bless and enrich your life

Please feel free to share this article and other articles on this site with friends, family and others