When Your Children Ask You Questions

May 9, 1993

John 14
Deuteronomy 6:20
1 Peter 2:1-10

Introduction

One of the great joys of being a mother or a father is trying to learn how to answer questions. Questions start early, even before children can talk. Then we hear: "Do I have to go to bed now?" and "Are we almost there yet?"

The questions get more complicated later: "Can I stay over at the Wilson's house tonight?" "Can we go hang out at the mall?"

And then even more complicated even later: "Can I have the car this evening?"

Sometimes these questions are amazingly profound. My son John once asked, "If Sam Miller went to heaven, how come you stopped at the funeral home to see him?" Sometimes the questions seem to miss the point altogether. At my first attempt to "explain" something to a VBS class, a little girl raised her hand; I thought, "Here comes proof of the enlightenment!" Her problem: "I'm stuck in this seat!"

[Transition: Our scripture lessons for this morning deal with answering questions. Moses told the second generation Exodus nation that their children were going to be asking questions about their faith. And in John 14, Jesus' final, vital, very important talk with his disciples was interrupted at least three times with questions:]

I. JESUS' FINAL DISCOURSE INTERRUPTED WITH THREE QUESTIONS

  1. This last discourse of Jesus is a message of wonderful assurance;

    "Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe in Me ... I am going to prepare a place for you, and if I go I will come again and receive you unto Myself that where I am there you may be also; and, furthermore, I am sending the Comforter to be with you so you will never be alone."

  2. The message was not un-appreciated; it was simply not fully comprehended. It was interrupted with at least these three questions:
    1. How can we know the way to life? (Thomas)
    2. How can we ever find out what God is like? (Philip)
    3. Why are we the favored ones? How come the Holy Spirit comes only to us, and not to the entire world? (Judas the Less)
  3. I'm deeply thankful for the Last Discourse. But I am grateful for the questions, too. And these three questions, in one form or other, are those we have asked our parents, and questions our children ask theirs!

II. JESUS' ANSWERS ARE A 'PRIMER' FOR CHRISTIAN PARENTS

  1. A. Each generation of Christians needs to know, deserves to know the answers to these vital questions: HOW TO FIND THE WAY TO LIFE! and WHAT IS GOD LIKE? and JUST WHO ARE WE, ANYWAY, THAT WE THINK WE HAVE A CORNER ON TRUTH?
  2. B. There are really TWO ways that Jesus answered these questions— or, if we look a different way, THREE:
    1. 1. BY THE FORCE OF HIS CHARACTER

      We may learn from the example of Jesus when He was interrupted with question or disagreement: He was not bothered or turned aside by these questions at all; Jesus took the time to address them as they came; some with mild rebuke, some with assurance, all with love unmistakable.

    2. 2. BY THE SIMPLE TRUTH OF HIS WORDS (REVELATION)

      We can pay particular attention to the answers Jesus gave to these specific questions: (and also)

    3. 3. BY THE ASSURANCE OF HIS PRESENCE. Jesus stayed with His disciples; and gave them promise that He would always be there for them.
  3. C. Look just now at Jesus' answers:
    1. Question 1. How may we know the way to life?

      Jesus answered this with

      • integrity. Jesus reminded Thomas that he already knew the way! What could this mean? Thomas was saying, "I don't know the way!" But when we seek the Lord all the days of our lives, and walk with Him in honesty, we share that integrity with those we love. When we play games with what we know to be right, how can we expect our children to come to believe in God, or to find "the way"?

      Jesus also (had) answered this question directly,

      • with words, with a lesson. Doctrine IS important! In this pluralistic society, not all sincere faith is true faith! Jesus said, " I AM THE WAY... NO ONE COMES TO GOD EXCEPT BY ME!"

      Jesus answered this question, also, a third way:

      • Jesus was PRESENT to His disciples. I AM with you! I will NOT leave you! Stay in Jerusalem until I send the Spirit— the Spirit will actually make the Father and the Son "at home" in you!

      We need this "presence" to answer the questions of life our children will ask!

    2. Question 2. The second, profound question, was asked by Philip: How can we see the Father God? "Show us the Father and it will be all right!"

      Once again the first answer was

      • You see God when you look at Me! Jesus is the Word, the Incarnate God. God is revealed to all mankind in Him. No one else can say in the same way: "Look at me and see God!"

      Jesus was God in Word, God in Deed, God in Spirit. "He that has seen ME has seen the Father!"

      • Whether we like it or not, our children will get their first ideas of God from their parents! None of us can reflect God's glory as we might like. But if we know Him, it will show!

      Some people have had bad experiences here; we can and must go beyond the vision of God our parents show to us. [Was it Martin Luther who had a hard time praying the Lord's Prayer ("Our Father...)??]

      • We can, and we must point them to Jesus! HE reveals God! Even our little children can learn to pray, can learn to love God! God is GOOD!

III. THE PRIVILEGE AND RESPONSIBILITY OF KNOWING FATHER GOD

  1. The third question that interrupted Jesus in that discourse seems somehow of a different kind. Judas (not Iscariot— Judas the Less) asked it:

    Question 3. Are we a privileged people? How come you will reveal these things to us, and not to the world?

    Did you ever think that thought? I have— unprompted, when I was just a schoolboy, long before I studied philosophy or theology. "How come we think we have a corner on what is right?"

  2. What was Jesus' answer?
    1. There IS an exclusive element in following Jesus: "No one comes to the Father except by Me!"

      I didn't say that. Jesus did! But Jesus did NOT come to EXCLUDE anyone from God's Light and Presence! The Gospel says that Jesus is the light that shines in the world giving salvation's hope to every person!

    2. The very reason that Jesus came was so that everyone who will may find life! The reason, then, that Jesus reveals God to His disciples is so that they can continue to tell people who God is— to carry on His work of love:

      "As the Father has sent Me, so I am sending YOU!"

  3. This concept goes back to the reason God ever called out the nation of Israel. In Abraham "all nations of the earth will be blessed" was the promise. And in our lesson this morning Moses was reminding the people: "When your children ask you "Why these commandments..." "What good are God's laws??" remind them that God formed us, God called us into existence— that we exist for God!

Conclusion

This is what Peter is saying as he answers this third question: "Are we something special? Are we the holders of truth?"

Whether or not we are fathers or mothers with children at home, we share in this wonderful privilege of faith. Peter says: "By God's grace we are something special!" Listen to what Peter has written:

"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God IN ORDER THAT YOU MAY DECLARE THE PRAISES OF HIM WHO CALLED YOU OUT OF DARKNESS INTO HIS WONDERFUL LIGHT." (I Peter 2:9,10)

Only God's grace can help us answer the vital questions our children ask us. God can help us know our true identity in Jesus Christ, that God has chosen us, and called us not so much to know the answers in detail as to live them.

Turn with me in your hymnal to #530. Read in unison with me the first nine verses (ending with the words "marvelous light".)

[here read the passage]

God's call is an inclusive one, and we are to be a part in His plan to bring the world to Him— beginning with our own daughters and sons.

Prayer

Hymn # 338 Lord, Speak to Me, That I May Speak