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ASKING THE WRONG QUESTIONS
Nov 13, 2022
Message by Craig Minke
Our sermon text today comes from Luke 21:5-19, where Jesus doesn't answer the disciples' questions but offers them something better.
Asking the Right Questions
You may have heard the saying, "There's no such thing as a dumb question."
* Most of us have heard questions that might make us want to disagree with that statement.
* Especially if you are in a meeting and you have had a long day and someone keeps asking questions to prolong the meeting.
* But it's better to ask questions in order to learn.
* HOWEVER - It's also important to ask the right questions, or the answers you get might not be as helpful as you think.
Here's an example:
There was a Russian entrepreneur who started a nightclub in New York City.
He wanted the best chef for his nightclub, so he hired a well-known chef who had cooked for a wealthy family for more than twenty years.
It seemed like a perfect match, except the entrepreneur did not ask the question regarding the chef's ability to scale up his cooking for almost 200 people every night.
He also failed to ask about the chef's ability to manage a large cooking staff.
The entrepreneur only asked the question, "Who would be a great cook for the nightclub?"
Because he didn't ask the right questions, his nightclub failed.
The Russian entrepreneur is now a cab driver.
An example of a person who did not ask the wrong questions was Henry Ford in producing the Model T
The automobile was one of the most successful product launches of all time.
Indeed, Ford was widely regarded as a marketing genius.Ford created the modern automobile industry.
He gave people what they wanted, needed, valued, expected, and were willing and able to pay for.
According to Steve Jobs: "If Ford had asked people via a focus group or sample surveys what they wanted, they would've said, 'Faster horses.'"
The right answer to the wrong question.
Asking the right questions is important if you want to get the right answers.
* Our sermon text today shows the disciples asking the wrong questions and Jesus giving them completely different answers than what they thought they needed to know.
* Of course, with Jesus, he turned their wrong questions into a learning opportunity.
Today's message is take from Luke 21 (history)
* Luke wrote this gospel around 85 AD about 15 years after the destruction of the Jerusalem temple by the Romans in 70 AD.
* For Luke's readers this account is more a reflection on the temples destruction not a prediction of it.
* Luke uses the destruction of this magnificent temple to make a statement on the impermanence (temporariness) of human achievement, in response to their wonder at the temple's beauty.
* Jesus attempts to divert the attention of the audience from their fascination with the thing that you see.
* Implying that their focus should be on something else
o Scripture doesn't exactly specify what but
o But perhaps Jesus thinks his audience should focus their attention on the poor NOT on the temple building.
* Jesus here talks about hard times ahead.
* It as easy for the Jews to feel we are God's special people, we have his special temple which no one can harm.
* The people may have felt that nothing bad could happen to them because they were under God's protection.
* Ie We are God's church nothing nothing can happen us we will be spared and not go through tribulation.
* But all of the apostles suffered terrible deaths except John.
* One things we are promised as a Christian - we will be persecuted.
Let read the story of asking the right questions found in Luke 21:5-19 (NRSV)
LUKE 21:5-19
5 When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said,
6 "As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down."
7 They asked him, "Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?"
8 And he said, "Beware that you are not led astray, for many will come in my name and say, 'I am he!' and, 'The time is near!' Do not go after them.
9 "When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified, for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately."
10 Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom;
11 there will be great earthquakes and in various places famines and plagues, and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.
12 "But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name.
13 This will give you an opportunity to testify.
14 So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance
15 for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict.
16 You will be betrayed even by parents and siblings, by relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death.
17 You will be hated by all because of my name.
18 But not a hair of your head will perish.
19 By your endurance you will gain your souls.
In order to fully understand what is going on here we need to understand the context of what was being said.
Notice verses 1-4 of this same chapter
LUKE 21:1-4 1 He looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury;
2 he also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins.
3 He said, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them,
4 for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on."
(NRSV)
In the story of the widow's offering sets the context for for Jesus' apocalyptic message that appears in vv.
5-19.
* Apocalyptic literature uses unsettling language and imagery as a means to assure the faithful that they should keep their trust in God even when facing the most challenging of circumstances.
* Rather than providing us with prophetic timelines or signs, apocalyptic language in the Bible encourages us to think differently about the world by challenging our worldview.
For example, Jesus and his disciples had just witnessed the generosity of the poor widow, but then in v. 5, the disciples were going on about the beauty of the temple and the beautiful stones adorning it.
* They were focused on what seemed to be a solid, permanent structure, one that could endure anything, and Jesus' words about the temple's impermanence were jarring.
* We have seen this in the word today things that seemed so solid have crumbled in front of our eyes.
* The physical things around us are not the true reality - The solid things around us are the spiritual things.
* People have worked a lifetime to amass a retirement only to watch it crumble in front of them.
* In setting up v.5-19 with the story of the widow's mite, Luke may have been emphasizing Jesus' mission of caring for the poor and the oppressed rather than the preservation of a building.
* He also may have been contrasting the impermanence of humanmade things with the everlasting commitment of God to humanity.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
* The disciples' reaction (v.
7) to Jesus' statement about the temple's destruction in vv.
5-6 is to ask the wrong questions:
* Let's read
LUKE 21:5-7
5 When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said,
6 "As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down."
7 They asked him, "Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?"
Jesus here tells about the destruction of the seemly permanent temple.
The disciples' questions are probably similar to what we would ask if faced with making plans, anticipation, or even fear:
* When will this happen so I can prepare for it?
* How can I be involved?
* Or, how can I avoid this?
* How can we avoid the great tribulation
* We may want a wakeup call or a warning, so we are not caught unawares.
NOTICE: Jesus doesn't address their request for times and dates and signs.
* Don't we all want to know times and dates
* When will the end come
* What day will Jesus return
* Instead, here Jesus focuses on the paradox of the world: great sorrow exists side by side with great joy and beauty.
* Believers must learn to hold these two contrasting truths at the same time.
LUKE 21:8-9 8 And he said, "Beware that you are not led astray, for many will come in my name and say, 'I am he!' and, 'The time is near!' Do not go after them.
9 "When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified, for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately."
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