2010 May | Paula Wiseman

Q: Do You Have a Question?

Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said? John 16:19

Mere hours before Jesus' arrest, He gave the disciples one last round of heavy teaching, but not all of it registered. Rather than ask Him, they tried to figure it out for themselves. After all, they didn't want to look stupid…

Don't we do the same thing? Don't we ask for advice from everybody around before we ask God and search out His answer? Aren't we positive we can figure things out if we just have a little more time?

Two simple truths stand out in this short exchange:

1. Jesus knows our questions.

In John 16:19, Jesus quotes the very question the disciples were asking among themselves. He knows the deep issues on our hearts, and He knows the foolish lengths we go to in order to hide our confusion. And He knows why we do that- pride, doubt, unbelief…

2. Jesus has the answers.

He is the source, the author of all truth. He has perfect knowledge and understanding and He knows the possibilities and outcomes for each situation we come up against.

The catch

In today's conversation with His disciples, He answered their question in straightforward, plain language. The disciples even remarked, "Now He's talking plainly!"

He doesn't always do that. Sometimes… His answer is "trust Me".

Jesus promises to provide our every need, not our every want. He will always supply the answers we need.

At Christmas, we are willing to wait to find out what's in those packages under the tree because we trust that they are good, and provided by someone who loves us. It's the same way with the answers God withholds for a time. He loves us, the answers are for our good, but it's not yet time.

Even so, He never says to stop asking.

Filed Under: Questions Tagged With: answers, disciples, Gospel of John, Jesus, Questions

Q: Are You Stalling?

By Paula

Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me? John 14:9

Philip asked for Jesus to show them the Father. After a discussion of death, and denial and departing, (in John 13) Philip needed a little reassurance from Christ. Just show us the Father. Give us some proof that this is the real deal.

We've talked about doubt and unbelief as we've looked at Jesus' questions. Philip taps into another issue that plagues us as believers- the stall tactic. Just a few chapters back, Jesus plainly says He and the Father are one. Philip knew this. But knowing it, grasping it, required action, and Philip was NOT ready for that just yet. So he stalled.

I have already answered that question
There is no more truth. There are no more answers. Jesus Christ is God, complete and undiluted. The Creator God of Genesis? Jesus. The thundering God on Sinai? Jesus. The God of wrath and judgment the prophets warned of? Jesus. The Savior and Redeemer? Jesus.

There's work to do
Jesus then follows the questions with a mind-blowing statement. You will do greater (more) works than I did. You guys are going to carry this message all over, to far more people than I got a chance to talk to in My 3 years. My earthly face-to-face ministry is ending. The rest depends on you.

You have all you need
Jesus assures them that anything they need to accomplish this mission is available to them through prayer. In addition, the Holy Spirit (Jesus again) will not just with us, but IN us.

No more stalling.

Filed Under: Questions Tagged With: Gospel of John, Jesus, Philip

A Parable of Facebook

By Paula

: Image via Wikipedia

My husband hated Facebook. Let me back up a step. He hates computers, not in a Unabomber, anti-technology kind of way, I mean he has one, and he uses one at work, but they are a necessary evil, on the order of the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.

Facebook, in his mind, was a timewaster. He didn't "get" it and quite frankly didn't want to. It wasn't for him. He didn't understand what the big deal was. It was a closed community. People who were on Facebook spoke their own little lingo that was as intelligible as Russian. (Jon could probably understand Greek, so THAT old metaphor is no good here.) It was irrelevant and he couldn't see any use for it in his life.

I tried to be the Facebook apologist. I know Facebook has its issues. It may not be what the designers envisioned and, yes, there are a lot of, uh, nuts there, but I use it everyday. People read my blog because it posts to Facebook. I keep in touch with all the 20-something nieces and nephews. It's a non-threatening way to touch base with folks who used to come to our church. I've reconnected with folks I haven't seen or talked to in 10 or 20 years.

He was not impressed.

So I sent an invite to join Facebook and suggested a couple dozen friends for him. Maybe he just needed a little encouragement, and this way he would have a ready-made bunch of connections, I thought. The friends all responded and Jon was swamped with 20-some emails. He was NOT amused. He was more irritated at Facebook. He was more confused at the "system". I had overplayed and lost him. I wrote him off as a Facebook hater.

I quit mentioning the FB-word. Instead, I'd relay a little bit of news, here and there. A new baby someone was expecting. A nephew's race results. It wasn't long before he asked, "How'd you find out?" Facebook. For weeks, not even daily, this went on. Until one night, after I'd gone to bed, alone at his desk, he joined Facebook.

I found out the next morning as MY inbox was deluged with messages informing me that everyone added a friend I suggested. Then I found him in the kitchen making breakfast. "You joined Facebook!" I said. He said, "Yeah, but I'm still not sure I get it." So I helped him with a few settings to make it more useful for him.

We haven't had that "I love this-best decision I ever made!" moment, but he's in there, working at it. I think he'll like it even more than the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.

Sooooo – (And this was HIS brilliant realization, not mine) How much is this like trying to reach people for Christ? It's a parable/analogy so the correlation is not perfect, but as believers, are we an irrelevant, closed community that outsiders don't get? Are we a bunch of time-wastin' nuts? Do we write people off as Jesus-haters, because they don't buy our pitch? Do we ever quit talking/selling it and just live it? Do we push too hard and annoy people or do we answer 'no' for them and never bother to ask?

Something to think about.

Filed Under: Living Tagged With: Facebook, Jesus, parable

Q: Will You Surrender?

By Paula

Will you lay down your life for My sake? John 13:38

Jesus responds to Peter's claims with this question. Will you? Then He exposed Peter by foretelling the disciple's coming denial. Why did He do that? Jesus requires more than being willing to die for Him. He requires death to self. This is where Peter was fooling himself. Over the next few days, Jesus taught him a painful, yet powerful lesson.

Will you …
Surrender is always an act of will. He could make make us, but He doesn't.

Lay down your life…
Give up your right of self-determination
Give up your agenda

For My sake…
You're not throwing your life away, you're offering it as an act of worship
Is Christ worth it?
Does He deserve all that we are, all that we have?

He asks, "Will you give up this pretense of following Me?"

Filed Under: Questions Tagged With: Gospel of John, Jesus, Peter, surrender

Q: Did You Get It?

By Paula

Do you know what I have done to you? John 13:12

Jesus had just washed the disciples' feet and He was preparing to give them a lesson on servanthood and humility. But rather than focus on service and the example Jesus set for us, I want to look at some very encouraging truths in this one simple question.

Jesus knows we don't get it.
We often fake and pretend like we understand what God is doing. We don't want to look like the only one who doesn't "get" it, after all. Truth is, we know and understand very little, and then it's usually because God explained it to us. Which brings me to my next point-

Sometimes He explains it all.
In this passage, He walks the disciples through what He did, why He did it, and what they should do now. Awesome!

We are worth teaching.
Jesus Christ, infinite Savior and God of the universe, took His time, used His energy to instill a truth in this group of men. He has deemed us worthy of receiving His amazing truth.

He expects us to put the lesson into practice.
Jesus never wastes His effort. Once He's taught us, and we get it, we need to get busy.

Filed Under: Questions Tagged With: Gospel of John, Jesus, teaching, truth