Questions, questions! Life has
so many questions? Such as: Is there
intelligent life on other planets or solar systems or galaxies? Why did dinosaurs disappear around 65 million
years ago? How did life begin? Is happiness life’s greatest goal? Does the abominable snowman exist? Are ghosts real or a hoax? What came first the chicken or the egg?
Of course we can also think of questions that are a little more down to
earth? “Why is it harder to lose weight
as you get older?” “Where did I put my
cell phone?” “Why is there always one
sock missing in the dryer?” “When is my
baby going to start sleeping through the night?” “Where did I put my glasses?” “When is the pastor going to stop asking
questions?”
Questions are important? I wonder who first asked – is it possible to
fly to the moon? We don’t ever want to
stifle our children’s curiosity and discourage them from asking questions. The 5th century B.C. classical
Greek philosopher Socrates developed an entire approach to learning called the
Socratic Method. It is a form of inquiry
and discussion between individuals, based on asking and answering questions to
stimulate critical thinking and to illuminate ideas. It is a dialectical method of discussion for
examining opposing ideas in order to find the truth.
True, we won't have all our questions answered in this life, for example, questions about suffering and
the death of loved ones. Some people
give up asking questions and pursuing answers.
Some people seek answers all their lives but never find them. And some people find answers to their
questions.
In our O.T. Lesson, Jeremiah, a 6th century B.C prophet to
the Jews in Judah, the southern Kingdom questioned God; he questioned God's
call upon his life. God says: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew
you and before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to
the nations.” Jeremiah questioned
God's judgment. He replies: “O, Lord, I do not know how to speak, I am
only a boy.”
And God responds: “Do not say I am only a boy. You must go to everyone I send you and say
whatever command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you
and will rescue you.” Then the Lord
reached out his hand and touched Jeremiah's mouth saying: “Now I
have put my words in your mouth. See,
today I appoint you over nations and kingdom to uproot and tear down, to
destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”
God called Jeremiah to speak to the people. God equipped Jeremiah for his service as a prophet
to Judah. Jeremiah was to bring God's
prophetic word – Repent or face God's judgment.” Like Jeremiah, we ask questions during the
course of our lives. Here are some
critical questions which people wrestle with.
Who Am I? It's a fundamental
human question, one that's as old as when human beings first developed
language. I can picture it: “Two people are looking at each other after
discovering that they can speak: One
says, “hello, who are you? The other one
answers: I don't know, I was hoping you
could tell me.”
I can answer this question in many ways. I am a man.
I am a husband. I am a
father. I am a grandfather. I am a pastor. I am an American. How would you answer the question?
What is the biblical/Christian answer? As believers, we must first rephrase the
question from a biblical viewpoint: Who
does God say I am? Who does God say we
are? God says to Jeremiah, “Even
before you were born I knew you.” God is the God of all humanity. God has seven billion humans on this
planet. When God looks at humanity,
what does God see, a faceless blob?
No. God who is the author of life
sees individuals.
God knows you and me more intimately than we know ourselves. We are people of utmost value and importance.
We are made in God's image. God
created us, God knows us, God loves us, God sent his son to save us and God
reaches out to us in our lives.
I like the way Pastor Rick Warren puts it: “You must begin with God not with
yourself. You exist only because God
will that you exist. You were made by
God and for God. And until you
understand that life will never make sense.
It is only in God that we discover our origin our identity our meaning,
our purpose, our significance and our destiny.
Every other path leads to a dead end.”
Scripture is unequivocal; in life and in death we belong to God. Romans 14:
“If we live we live to the Lord, and if we die, we died to the Lord,
so whether we live or whether we died, we are the Lord's.” I am a child of God. You are a child of God. We are children of God.
Author Tim Storey in his book, It's Time for Your Comeback,
writes about heavyweight boxer George Foreman.
He says George used to be a very disturbed, angry, mean individual. One day after losing a fight, he was lying in
the back room on a table, when he had a vision of Jesus. Jesus said:
“I'm going to transform your life.”
And George Foreman gave his life to Christ. The happy, smiling face you see on television
is not the same man he was before he met Jesus.
Foreman says he learned to trust in Christ and that since that time his
life has been blessed. He knows who he
is. He knows to whom he belongs. He knows what it is to have hope and
meaning. He knows he is God's child.
A second question is why Am I here?
This too is an age-old question.
People have asked it since time immemorial. What would be your answer?
John Gardner, the founding chairman of Common Cause, a citizen's lobby
in 1970, tells of a cheerful older man who asked the same question of every new
acquaintance he met: “What have you
done that you believe in and you are proud of?” He never asked, what do you do for a
living? It was always what have you done
that you believe in and your are proud of?”
It was unsettling to some people.
This gentleman had no particular answer in mind. He was delighted with a woman who answered, “I'm
a mother and I'm doing a good job raising my three children.” And by a custom cabinet maker who said: “I believe in good workmanship and
practice it.” and by a woman who
said, “I started a bookstore and its' the best bookstore for miles around.” The man said: “I am not looking for any specific
answer, I just want to put the idea into
their minds. They should live their
lives in such a way that they can have a good answer. That's what's important.” How would you answer the question?
Biblically, the answer is to glorify God, to bring glory to God. The lyrics of a contemporary song are: “In my life Lord, be glorified, be
glorified, in my life, Lord be glorified today.” Glorify God in whatever you do, in all of
your activities, in your work, in your leisure, in all the endeavors of
life. What has God willed for you to do
with your life? What is your answer to
God? Jeremiah knew why he was here. God had spoken to him and had given him a
mission to glorify God as a prophet to Judah.
Once again, I turn to Pastor Rick Warren, who writes: “It's not about you. The purpose of your life is far greater than
your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness. If you want to know why you were placed on
this planet, you must begin with God.
You were born by his purpose and for his purpose.”
You were made for God and life is about letting God use you for His
purposes. It's about becoming what God
created you to be.
Third, where Does My Power Come From? Where do you find the energy and the
endurance to serve, to get involved, to follow God's call, to glorify God with
your life? Eating properly helps. Getting enough sleep is important. Taking care of your health is
fundamental. But let's look again to
Jeremiah.
God touched his mouth and empowered this prophet for his task. God always empowers us and supplies the
ability for what he calls us to do. God
chooses us to do His work and then God equips us for the task. Jeremiah immediately thought God had chosen
the wrong man, but how did Jeremiah know he couldn't fulfill God's call upon
his life? Like the man who was asked if
you could play the violin. He answered: “I don't know.
I've never tried.” That's a
good answer. How do you know what you
can or can't do until you've tried it.
Maurice Berquist in her book, “The Miracle and Power of Blessing,
writes about the parallel principle: “If
you pull a copper wire, parallel to overhead power lines you get a transfer of
power. Even through the second wire is
not physically touching the first or connected in any way to a generator, power
will come into it just as soon as it gets parallel.” The Bible declares that when our lives
are parallel to God's purposes we find a power we never dreamed possible.
The final question is what
happens after I die? Where Am I
going after I die? There are countless
answers to this question in philosophy and religion about the After-Life or
Life After Death. One notion is that
death means the end of everything. It
means the total annihilation, the complete extinction of the body, soul,
personality, memory. One's identity and
existence is wiped away forever. There
is no continuing existence of any form.
A typical saying is: “This is the only life you will have, so enjoy
it.” This concept is not biblical.
Reincarnation is another idea.
This too is not a biblical or Christian notion. But it is interesting to ponder. It is the religious or philosophical concept
that the human soul or spirit, after
death, begins a new life in a new body that may be human, animal or spiritual,
depending on the moral quality of one's previous life. Just
like one changes clothes, our soul changes life forms. Reincarnation asserts that all animals
including humans have souls and the soul goes through different life forms
until it is purified and becomes one with God.
Ultimate Immersion or absorption into the divine is another
concept of the afterlife. Think of God
as an ocean and our soul as a droplet of water. The water droplet is separated
from the ocean and its goal is to merge back into the ocean. We are like those
rain droplets; our souls have been separated from God after our being born in
this world. Like rain droplets, the main
purpose of our souls is to merge back with God.
Once a soul merges into the being of God, it achieves salvation, rids
itself of all suffering and pain becomes lost and one in the eternal being of
God. This too is not biblical.
Purgatory is a Christian concept, represented in the Catholic
Church. Purgatory is a temporary realm
where all souls go to be purified or cleansed before they are ready to enter
glory or heaven to live forever in the presence of God. There has been an ongoing debate between
Christians since the Reformation about whether or not purgatory is biblical.
A biblical notion is that death takes believers immediately to be with
Christ in heaven. Nothing can separate
us from the love of God, not even death.
Jesus describes the image of a house:
“There are many rooms in my Father's house, and I am going to prepare
a place for you. I will come back and
take you to myself, so that you will be where I am.” The last verse of the hymn How Great
Thou Art says: “When Christ shall
come with shout of acclamation, And take me home, what joy shall fill my
heart! Then *I shall bow in humble
adoration, And there proclaim My God, how great thou art!”
Another biblical notion is the Resurrection. At the final coming of Christ, our bodies
are resurrected, they become transformed or changed into glorious bodies. Our new bodies are different and yet we
retain our individual identity and we join together with the communion of the
saints. I Peter declares this assurance
for the future: “By God's mercy we
have been given a new birth into a living hope through Christ's resurrection
from the dead, that that hope is an inheritance that is imperishable,
undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. In this we rejoice, even if now for a little
while we have to suffer various trials.”
May you during this Lenten season take time to ponder, to reflect,
in light of your faith, upon some of the critical questions of life and of your
life. Amen!
