Do you ever wonder why people do not seem to hear the message of Jesus that we are sharing? More often than not, we answer the question that isn’t being asked when we try to evangelize or share the Gospel message. That is a problem.
We need to learn first to uncover the actual question that the other person is asking, or has in their heart, before we try to answer it. Whatever it is. Wherever it leads. We may need to re-direct the inquiry gently or simply allow the other person to probe their own inquiry by asking questions in response.
The Gospel message is awesome! It is unique. And it is supreme. There is nothing else like it in the world. So, why is the message not received by everyone with gladness?
Because we try to answer the question our neighbor is not asking!
When we are commanded to go into all the world and preach the Gospel, we must be willing to go in deep! We might interpret that command to mean, “Go to some foreign place far away from your home.” But then again, most of us may not be called to go to another country or any other place at all. So instead, we may hear that as a command to get out and speak to our local community, our neighbors, our co-workers. But we think this command is even more profound than that. We all are required to go into the depth of the mind, heart, spirit, and soul—into all the world—where our neighbor truly resides.
Some people can prove to be quite difficult in this. So, we must rely upon the spiritual weapons of our warfare (2 Corinthians 10:4-5)[i] and always remember that the enemy of our souls and their lives is not flesh and blood. Ephesians 6:12. It is a spiritual battle in which we engage. We must approach the unbeliever and one who believes with little faith gently and with respect. Romans 14. We need the Holy Spirit to lead and guide.
That can be tiresome. Even Jesus, during the brief time he was fully man on earth in the flesh, appeared to become weary with people. Sometimes he needed to simply get away. But he is our best illustrator and exemplar of the rabbinic method of teaching.[ii] He asked the questions, or created the question in the listener’s mind, which needed to be asked to get the listener prepared to hear the answer. He started wherever they were. That is why Paul taught that we must be ready in season and out of season. 2 Timothy 4:2. And Peter wrote that we should be prepared always to give an answer for the hope we have within us. 1 Peter 3:15. If a person had a question for Jesus, instead of simply answering outright, Jesus would ask them a question or appear to seek clarification from them or he would make a statement to cause them to question in their minds, “Who is this guy?”
At one point, His disciples recognized this teaching concept. In John 16:30 we read: “We know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you; this is why we believe that you came from God.” They were familiar with the teaching method of the rabbis. Jesus was using that method on the teachers themselves. We see that at an early age. The teachers were amazed at His understanding and the answers He gave. We read in Luke 2:46, “After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.”
Remember, just as any statement can itself be a question, every question is also a statement of the premise upon which the questioner is starting. Remember when Pilate asked, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered him with, “You say that I am.” Sometimes those premises may need some re-focusing. That is the reason that the teachers were amazed at the understanding young Jesus displayed in the questions that he was asking of them. Questions are always telling us something important about the questioner. We would do well to learn this teaching method.
We must discern the real question before we can provide the true answer. Consider Proverbs 18:13. We must listen before we can give a correct answer.
We find the secret to this methodology, both how and why it works, in the Shema. There, the Word says, in Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (ESV),
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
The command is “hear” not simply listen, like you would to a babbling brook or singing birds but hear. That is not to argue or consider or weigh or an invitation to give your thoughts on the subject. It is hear. At the very core and with every fiber of our being, hear God’s word for us. It must, however, start with knowing that for which we must be listening. If like most, we start formulating our replies before we have fully heard the other, we miss the point. We cannot hear if we are listening for a different answer! No one can. When the heart, mind, spirit, or body of a person is distracted by some other question, they cannot hear the Word or the command of the Lord.
We first must be seeking the right answer. Seeking is questioning. A prophet tells us plainly, “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13. That is much like the command of the Shema itself. Peel away the irrelevant questions. Examine the premises behind the questions posed. Remember even angry opposition may be covering deeply troubling questions.
We first must be asking the right questions, i.e., seeking the right answers in our mind, spirit, body, and soul before we can find God’s answer—the Good News of God with us. It takes effort for the individual and it takes effort for the disciple trying to reach his neighbor’s world.
No one can hide behind false premises if we truly want God. After all, He knows where we are hiding—and why. Recall how God sought fellowship with Adam even after he sinned. When God called, “Adam where are you?” do you think for a moment that God did not know where Adam was hiding? He wanted Adam to examine himself and his solitary position apart from God.
People resist the straightforward answer. Anytime and every time someone makes a definitive statement, the listener—whether audibly or quietly within the heart—challenges it, questions it, or asks for its source or the speaker’s citation to relevant authority. We are always ready for some debate. That is usually to justify where we are or to make some attempt at defining our own sense of morality. We like too much the giving of our own opinions, our own take on the subject at hand. Hearing is a lost art. That is why Jesus taught in parables.
To understand a parable, you must think about it. You must examine your presuppositions. You must dig into it. You must understand the question that it is meant to answer. We know we must not attempt to make every parable stand on all fours to answer every question. The parables of Jesus are specifically designed to address specific issues. We first must understand the issue. It takes some effort to seek it first.
The parables were used based upon the teaching from Isaiah 6:9 where the people are hearing, but not understanding; seeing, but not perceiving. Their hearts had grown dull. Within Matthew 13:10-17, where Jesus is explaining the use of the parables to His disciples, we see the contrast of the dull hearts of the people being compared to the “longing” of the prophets to see the things the disciples were then seeing and hearing from the Christ of God. They were seeking God with all their hearts—longing for Him.
In summary, we who love and follow the Lord have an obligation and a deep desire to reach the lost, deceived, and dying with the Gospel of Grace, of Salvation and Peace with God through the finished work of Christ. But our neighbors have different questions, often colored by the deception of the world or lust of the flesh or myriad other influencers. We need to take the time to hear what they are asking.
Even a stated objection or an angry shouted protest can be a question. Then, help them refocus the question or clarify what they mean. When they come to their realization that the real question is, like the woman at the well in Samaria, “How can I worship God?” and they long for or seek after God with their whole heart, mind, soul, spirit, and body, then with the help of the Holy Spirit they will listen and hear the answer. Of course, we may not always get to the ultimate question. We can do only our part of the process on any given day. But we are still sent and commanded to go into all the world.
Let us first figure out the question before we try to give the answer.
[i] All Bible quotations and scriptural references are from the English Standard Version (ESV).
[ii] See, Randy Newman, Questioning Evangelism: Engaging People’s Hearts the Way Jesus Did (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 2023), 19, 33, 36.
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