The Question of Longing: "What Are You Looking For?" - Jesus Is The Question

Hello and welcome to Trinity Sermons.

Thanks for joining us for our weekly sermon here at Trinity Church, Streetsville.

Trinity is a church in the heart of the village of Streetsville in Mississauga, Ontario.

We are a welcoming family of people who, in our own time, are seeking to love Jesus, live

like Jesus, and lead others to Jesus.

Now this is episode 1 of our new sermon series, Jesus is the Question.

Rev. Rob Hirkmintz will be with us today and looking into why Jesus asked so many questions.

When Jesus asks the question, what are you looking for in John chapter 1, Rob is going

John 1 · chapter mention

to be exploring how we find ourselves so often in the same position of the disciples.

Now before we begin, don't forget to subscribe to our podcast and stay up to date with all

of our upcoming messages.

Thanks for listening today.

God bless.

Normally at this time, I would invite somebody to come forward and do our reading for the

day, but you probably know this by now, a good portion of our congregation actually

join us online.

And so today we thought it would be wonderful if the person who did the reading was one

of our online members, part of our E-family, as we like to say here at Trinity.

And so today I want to introduce you to our reader.

Our reader today is going to be Jack Graham, and he is going to be reading to us from John

John 1:35–42

chapter 1 verses 35 to 42.

The next day, John was there again with two of his disciples.

When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, look, the Lamb of God.

When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.

Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, what do you want?

They said, Rabbi, which means teacher, where are you staying?

Come, he replied, and you will see.

So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him.

It was about four in the afternoon.

Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who

had followed Jesus.

The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, we have found

the Messiah.

That is the Christ.

They brought him to Jesus.

Jesus looked at him and said, you are Simon, son of John.

You will be called Cephas, which, when translated, is teacher.

A reading from the word of God.

There's an old joke, and if you've heard it before, please laugh anyways.

There's a pastor of a small congregation who is sitting down, and he's got a bunch of children

in front of him, and he's going to do a little teaching, a little lesson with them.

As an illustration, what he's going to do is he wants to describe to them a squirrel.

He says, boys and girls, I'm going to describe something to you, and as soon as you think

you know what it is, just raise your hand, and I'll call on you.

So he starts, and he says, the thing that I'm thinking about lives in trees.

There's nothing.

The kids say nothing.

He says, OK, the thing that I'm thinking about has a big bushy tail.

Anyone?

No, there's no answer.

They don't know.

OK, the thing that I'm thinking about likes to collect nuts and likes to eat nuts.

Still, the kids don't say anything.

He keeps going.

It's got beady eyes and on and on.

And he's getting exasperated, and finally, one little boy tentatively raises his hand,

and he's like, oh, yes, yes, please tell me.

And he says, well, listen.

He says, I know the answer has to be Jesus, but it sounds an awful lot like a squirrel

to me.

Oh, you know what?

For many of us, it doesn't matter what the question is.

Jesus is the answer.

You've probably seen the bumper stickers on the cars going down the street that says Jesus

is the answer.

And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

In fact, one of the reasons many of you are here today is because you have found Jesus

to be the answer.

You had a problem in your life, and Jesus was the answer.

You had a crisis, and Jesus was the answer.

You were wrestling with something.

Maybe you were even wrestling with doubt.

You didn't even know if there was a God out there at all.

And it was only when you encountered Jesus did you find the answer that you were looking

for.

So yes, Jesus is the answer.

Many of you are convinced about that.

Others of you might not be convinced yet that Jesus is the answer, but you're hoping, and

that's why you're here today.

You're looking for an answer, and you're hoping Jesus might be able to help you with that.

You've got some problems.

Jesus, do you have an answer to my problems?

Maybe it's a financial problem.

Jesus, do you have an answer to this problem?

You've got some relationship problems.

Jesus, can you give me an answer?

The doctor called, and it wasn't good news, and you're like, Jesus, do you have an answer

to my problem?

So yes, some of us are here because we know that Jesus is the answer.

Others are here because we hope that Jesus is the answer.

But what I want to share with you today is that there's another way to look at who Jesus

is.

And let's do this by the numbers.

So I want to share with you three numbers, and this might change the way you think about

Jesus the answer man.

The first number is 307.

Second number is 183.

The third number is eight.

307, that is the number of questions in the whole New Testament that Jesus asks other

people.

That's how many times Jesus asks a question, 307.

183, that's the number of times that somebody asks Jesus a question, they say, Jesus, I

have a question for you, 183 times.

Eight is the number of times Jesus actually gives an answer to the question that somebody

is asking.

In fact, another study, they read it a little differently, and they said, actually, that

number could be actually three.

All that means is this, when you come to Jesus with a problem, there are 40 times more chance

that he asks you a question than he gives you an answer, the answer that you're looking

for.

He's 40 times more likely, which means that maybe Jesus isn't so much the answer as Jesus

is the question.

Jesus isn't the answer man.

Jesus is the great question asker.

And in this teaching series for the next number of weeks, we're going to look at some of the

great questions that Jesus asked.

And what we're going to see is asking questions was way more Jesus' style than giving answers.

And this all started like way early on in Jesus' life.

There is a story in Luke's gospel, in Luke chapter two, where Jesus is at the temple

with his parents and he gets lost.

And they have to go back and they're looking for Jesus.

And they finally found him like three days later.

It sounds crazy, but they find him and look after three days, they found him in the temple

courts.

He was sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions from a very

early age.

Preteen Jesus is asking questions and his parents are understandably upset.

And they're like, Jesus, come on, you know, what's going on?

And rather than give an answer to how he got lost, Jesus actually asks them questions.

Why were you searching for me?

He asked.

Didn't you know that I had to be in my father's house?

These, by the way, I guess you could say are the first recorded words of Jesus and they're

both questions.

So if Jesus' first words were questions, it might not surprise you to know that so were

his last words.

As Jesus lay hanging on the cross, his life bleeding out of him.

His last words were my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Another question.

After Jesus rose from the dead, you would think finally then Jesus would start giving

us some answers, explaining Jesus.

What was it all about?

What is this?

And he start giving some statements, but actually know the very first words out of

Jesus' mouth in the Garden of Gethsemane when Mary Magdalene comes up to him is he says,

woman, why are you crying?

You see, Jesus' life starts with a question.

His life ends with a question.

The resurrection, his new life restarts with a question and all the time in between, it's

just more and more questions.

Where is your faith?

Why do you worry?

What is your name?

How much bread do you have?

What do you want?

Do you want to be healed?

Why are you so afraid?

Why do you still doubt?

Could you not wait with me for one hour?

Do you love me?

It's kind of funny because I often hear people say, oh, when I get to heaven, I'm going to

have a whole bunch of questions to ask Jesus.

And I think closer to the truth that when you get to heaven, Jesus is probably going

to have a whole bunch of questions he's going to ask you because Jesus is the questioner.

And he is the question in many ways.

But Jesus doesn't ask questions for the same reasons that you or I do.

And that's important to say, right?

We usually ask questions because we want to know something.

But Jesus asks questions because he wants to teach something.

We ask questions to get something.

Jesus asks questions to give something.

We ask questions for our sake.

Jesus asks questions for the sake of those that are looking for answers.

And Jesus, therefore, he's not asking questions because he's ignorant, like, duh, I don't

know the answer to this.

Could you please tell me?

It's not out of ignorance.

But Jesus asks this because I think he's highly intelligent.

Jesus knows the power of a question.

He knows that questions have the ability to inspire people.

I mean, if you've ever been in a workplace and you really want to inspire people, throw

a question in front of them.

How do we solve this problem, team?

A question will inspire them to new heights and new actions.

Jesus also knew that questions can persuade people.

You've ever seen a courtroom trial that sometimes it's actually the question that the attorney

asks.

He says, where were you on the night of the murder?

And that's the thing that convinces the jurors.

Jesus also knew that questions connect people and that when you ask questions, it actually

forges an intimacy between people as well.

Think about when you meet someone, you start asking questions.

Oh, where are you from?

What's your family look like?

What do you like to do during the day?

These are all intimate questions.

These are getting at some of who we are.

And so it actually creates an intimacy to ask questions.

Maybe that's why Jesus asked so many questions, because he wants to create intimacy with us.

Jesus also knew that questions can stimulate thought.

That's why great teachers, both in Jesus' day, even today, they ask a whole lot more

questions than making a whole lot of statements.

You know, class, what do you think will happen next in this chemical reaction?

Class, can you explain why this happened?

Why do you think this happened?

And maybe frankly, as a preacher, I should be asking more questions and telling fewer

stories.

What do you think about that?

And finally, Jesus knew that questions have the ability to disarm us.

I mean, making a statement to somebody like, hey, you shouldn't do that.

We have so many defense mechanisms, we can kind of block those out, the things that we

don't want to hear.

But a question sounds different.

Hey, why do you do that?

That question sneaks past some of our defenses, it catches us off guard, forces us to think

twice.

And I would dare say there are some things in your life, that some changes in your life

that will only happen when you hear a well-timed question.

Jesus often asks questions that we are too afraid or too unaware to ask ourselves.

So just want to take a little pause there because that's a lot to take in so far.

And some of you, you know, well, how do you feel about this, everyone?

How do you feel about all these questions?

Some of you might be saying, you know, actually, I kind of like the idea that Jesus asked so

many questions because I have a whole lot of questions and it makes Jesus more relatable,

makes him more human.

That's great.

Others of you, you might be kind of puzzled or a little bit confused because you'd be

like, I thought Jesus was like the son of God.

And if he's God, why does he have to go around asking questions?

I mean, doesn't he already know the answers to these questions?

So I'm kind of puzzled.

That's a fair thought to have.

Others of you, you might actually be a little bit angry because you might say, I think you're

being disrespectful.

You're making Jesus out to be some some ignoramus who doesn't know anything.

He's this wishy washy liberal who doesn't believe in any truth and doesn't have any

answers.

And I don't believe that about Jesus.

I believe he is the truth.

I think that's a good point.

And others of you, and I think this is where I think we probably should be, is we might

be a little bit anxious that Jesus asks so many questions because what if he asks me

a question?

What if he asks you a question?

Or better yet, what if he asks you the question about that thing?

You know, that thing that you don't want to talk about and that thing you'd like to keep

hidden.

What if he were to ask you a question about that?

That's kind of confrontational.

I'm not sure how I feel about that.

Like it or not, though, this is how Jesus worked.

And it is also, I think, the way that we should work as a church.

I think that we would gain a lot by following Jesus's model of question asking.

It could be so tempting for Christians to go out there and pretend to be the one who

have all the answers, right?

Even we go around pretending to be the ones with the answers to questions that nobody

is really asking in the first place, right?

We sometimes act like we know all the answers.

We behave like we know all the answers.

We feel like we have to have all the answers.

And when we do this, man, oh man, it could be a real turnoff for the people that we're

trying to reach or people who are searching for Jesus.

Also have you ever noticed that just giving answers to people's questions is rarely transformative?

You've probably had an ongoing argument with someone for years and years and years, and

you've made your case and you've made an airtight argument again and again and again, but it

hasn't changed their mind and it hasn't transformed them.

Why?

Because that's not what statements do.

That's what questions do.

Questions get behind our guards.

Questions are what Jesus used to initiate conversations.

Questions are what Jesus used to get relationships going and to lead people into asking the deeper

questions and leading them into deeper knowledge.

So don't try to have all the answers, but actually rather help people ask the questions

they should be asking, but maybe they aren't asking.

Because more than an easy answer, a question opens up all sorts of possibilities.

On that note, today I just want to look at one question in particular that Jesus asked

just to get us started.

And this is no ordinary question.

This is a special question because Jesus asked this question multiple times, like three times.

In John's gospel, he asks a version of this question three times and each time he asks

it, it's at a pretty pivotal moment in Jesus' life.

So it's kind of an important question for Jesus.

And here is the question, all right?

It comes out in kind of different forms and maybe there's different ways of...

But here's the question.

What are you looking for?

Or who are you looking for?

Or even what do you want?

The first time Jesus asked this question was in our reading today that Jack read.

Right at the beginning of Jesus' ministry, right at the very beginning, when his very

first disciples decide to follow him, Jesus turns around and he looks at them and he says,

what are you looking for?

What do you want?

The next time it appears is on the night that Jesus is arrested.

He's in the garden and a bunch of guards come up to him and Jesus looks at them and he says,

who are you looking for?

What do you want?

The third time Jesus asks this question is in the garden of Gethsemane after he has risen

from the dead and the crying Mary Magdalene is there and he asks her the same question.

He says, who are you looking for?

What are you looking for?

What do you want?

See, this question is interesting because on the one hand, it totally depends on the

context how important this question is.

It could be totally trivial.

I could be shopping in a store and looking at sweaters and a salesperson comes up to

me and says, oh, what are you looking for?

In that case, I would just say, I'm just looking for a blue cardigan with extra long sleeves.

It's a trivial question.

It's an easy to answer question.

It's hardly profound.

But when the risen Jesus appears to you and asks you the question, what do you want?

Who are you looking for?

What are you looking for?

Now, that one is not as easy to answer because that is a question about our longing.

What are you looking for gets to that deeper question is like, what is it in life you're

looking for?

What is it you're longing for?

What are you searching for?

What is that thing that you think will fulfill you?

And if you could only get it, then your life would finally be complete.

What's the purpose of your life?

What's the point of your life?

What are you looking for?

No, no.

What are you really looking for?

What do you want?

What do you really want?

That is a probing question that could stay with you your whole life long because it's

so difficult to answer.

You probably remember the hit song by the band U2.

Bono wrote these lyrics in this song.

It's a great song.

It's called, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For.

And in the song, he's talking about his search for meaning, his search for purpose, but he

keeps coming back to this refrain.

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for.

And it's a neat song because I get the sense that it's not just that Bono knows what he's

looking for and he just can't seem to find it.

But it's actually that he's not sure what is the thing that he's looking for in the

first place.

But there's this longing there and there's this deep hunger inside of him, but he doesn't

know what it's all about and he doesn't know what he's really looking for.

Many of us spend our lives exactly like this.

We have this sense that we're looking for something.

What are we looking for?

We don't know.

Well, what am I hungry for?

What am I longing for?

We try all sorts of things.

We say, you know what?

I know what I'm looking for.

I'm looking for a...

If I go to college and get a great prestigious education and get a degree and I can mount

it on my wall, then I'll finally have what I'm looking for.

And you go and you get all that.

And then afterwards you say, I still haven't found what I'm looking for.

And you say, you know, I think what I need is I need to make a whole lot of money.

And many of us have done that.

We've gone out in life and we've made a whole lot of money.

And we say, this is the thing that I was looking for.

That'll finally satisfy.

But actually we do it and we say and we sing, I still haven't found what I'm looking for.

Or we say, it must be a relationship.

It got to get me a girlfriend.

Got to get me a boyfriend.

That'll be the thing that kind of finally fills that void in me.

And then I'll finally have what I'm looking for.

And we do it and we still find ourselves singing.

I still haven't found what I'm looking for.

We get a job.

We get married.

We have kids.

We buy a house.

We go on vacations.

We retire.

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for.

All the leading psychologists of the 20th century recognize there's a longing in us.

Freud said we are looking for love.

Carl Jung said people are looking for security.

Adler said people are looking for significance.

It's possible that we look our whole lives for those things.

We are hungry and looking for things.

King Charles, formerly Prince Charles, said there remains deep in the soul, if I dare

use that word, he says, a persistent and unconscious anxiety that something is missing.

There's some ingredient that makes life worth living.

Sometimes our kids, they'll come into the kitchen and they'll open the fridge doors

and they'll just stare in there.

And they will, they do it quite often because they're always hungry.

They're hungry for something.

And they look in there and they might say, oh, what do I feel like?

Maybe I feel like some cheese.

Maybe I feel like leftover pizza or this quesadilla that's been there for a week or whatever is

in there.

I don't know about that.

And anyways, they're sitting there and eventually at some point I walk into the kitchen.

I'm like, would you close the fridge doors?

Right.

And they'll look at me and they'll say, but Dad, I still haven't found what I'm looking

for.

Right.

And maybe that's, have you ever had that feeling?

I'm sure you've had that feeling.

I think that's the same feeling those first disciples of Jesus felt when they saw him

walk by that day.

We're told the next day, John, John the Baptist, by the way, was there with two of his disciples

and he saw Jesus passing by and he said, look, the lamb of God, you're looking for something.

That's what you're looking for.

That's who you're looking for.

That hunger, that longing, he's the one you need to follow.

That's the person you're looking for.

And when those two disciples heard this, they, they followed Jesus.

And this is when Jesus turned around, of course, and he said, Hey, what do you guys want?

Right.

He says that to you today as well.

What are you looking for?

And this is awesome because it's their chance to finally ask the burning questions that

they have.

Right.

They could have said, Oh my goodness, what do we want?

We want freedom and we want hope and we want to, we want God's kingdom to come and we want

God to return and rule in Jerusalem and we want the world to be restored and we want

the Messiah.

Are you that we want to know?

Are you the Messiah?

Are you the chosen one?

Are you the one who's going to save us all?

We have so many questions, but instead, and I love this, but instead, what is the one

question they do ask?

They say, we, we, we want to know, where are you staying?

It's probably not the question they really, really wanted to ask, but it might, you know,

I think what happens is when you're face to face with the thing you've been longing for,

sometimes the words just don't come out quite right.

It doesn't matter though, because Jesus offers them the perfect response to this question.

And as I mentioned, Jesus doesn't give a lot of answers to questions, but in this case,

he kind of does answer their question, where are you staying?

And it's the same reply, by the way, that he gives to you with whatever question you've

come to church with today.

And the question is this, come, come and see.

Come he replied, and you will see.

What are you looking for?

Come and see.

Jesus doesn't say, oh, I can give you five tips to lead a better life.

He says, no, I'm going to give you an invitation.

Come and see.

Wherever you are today, whatever question you have today, Jesus extends that invitation

to you.

Come and see.

There are some of us here today who I might call critical.

You would say, I don't even know if I believe any of this stuff.

I mean, I'm critical of Christianity.

I'm critical of the church.

I'm even critical of Jesus.

Right there, how could there be a loving God?

How could a God allow all this stuff to happen?

That is some of the questions you come with today to church.

And by the way, Jesus does not say, how dare you question me?

Just believe and do as you're told.

No, no.

To your question, to your question, all those who are critical, Jesus says, come and see.

Come, come, come and see.

Come examine the evidence.

Come and explore this faith.

Come and see.

Others of you, you're not so much critical, but you're curious, right?

You've done a lot of thinking already about Jesus, and maybe you're like those disciples,

but you're wondering, how can I have faith?

Or how do I learn how to pray?

Or how do I read the Bible?

These are some of the questions that you've come with today.

And Jesus says to you, come and see.

Come and see.

Come and see how I do it.

Jesus in this case maybe isn't inviting you to believe, but he's inviting you to follow

him.

Is that where you're at today?

You're curious, but you've never really taken that step to follow Jesus.

And if so, Jesus says, come and see.

It's time to come and see.

Others of you we might call considering.

Maybe you've been coming to Trinity for a few weeks or you've been watching online for

a few times, and you're wondering, I wonder if I should actually take the step and join

this church community.

I think to you, Jesus would say, come and see.

Come and see what it's like to be part of a community of ordinary people who are learning

to follow Jesus in our own day.

If Christianity was just a philosophy, all you'd need is the teachings of Jesus.

But it's not a philosophy.

It's a community.

And so you need to come and see what it's all about.

Be part of the community.

And then finally, I would just say some of you who are committed, maybe you've been coming

to church your whole life and you've been following Jesus for a long time.

I think maybe when Jesus has come and see to you, maybe it's actually an invitation

for you to invite others to come and see rather than trying to be the person out there who's

got all the answers.

Why not follow Jesus' example and invite others to come and see what it's all about for themselves?

So are you critical?

Are you curious?

Are you considering?

Are you committed?

Whoever you are, bring your questions and come and see.

Augustine said, our hearts are restless until they rest in God.

Pascal said, we have a God-shaped void in our life.

And the psalmist said, as the deer longs for the water, so my soul longs for you, O God.

What are you looking for?

I invite you to ponder this question right here with us at Trinity.

Rather than just coming here and sitting in a pew, bring your longings, bring your searching,

bring your questions.

Are you looking for community?

Come and see.

Are you looking for inspiration?

Come and see.

Are you looking for forgiveness and a fresh start?

Come and see.

Come and see that your questions are welcomed here because everybody has the same questions.

If you come here looking for nothing, that's probably what you'll find.

But if you come here with the deepest questions, you'll discover that yes, Jesus is the answer

to your questions.

But even more, you'll also discover that Jesus is the question to your answers.

Well thanks be to God.

Amen.

Thanks for joining us today and we hope that you found this sermon inspirational and encouraging

as you go about your day and your week.

And if you like what you heard today, please make sure to rate and review our podcast so

that we can continue to reach even more people with the good news.

Today's sermon was taken from the July 23rd, 2023 service at Trinity Streetsville, Mississauga,

Ontario.

Thanks again, everybody.