The Importance Of A Question

The Importance of a Question

Mark 10:13-22

Good morning.

Harvard Business Review magazine had an article on the “Surprising power of questions”; part of the article read…

“Much of an executive’s workday is spent asking others for information—requesting status updates from a team leader, for example, or questioning a counterpart in a tense negotiation.

…few executives think of questioning as a skill that can be honed—or consider how their own answers to questions could make conversations more productive.

That’s a missed opportunity. Questioning is a uniquely powerful tool for unlocking value in organizations:

Questioning spurs learning and the exchange of ideas, it fuels innovation and performance improvement, and it builds rapport and trust among team members.

Questioning can mitigate business risk by uncovering unforeseen pitfalls and hazards.”

Please open your Bibles to Mark 10 as we continue in a verse-by-verse study of that Gospel.

Last week in Mark, Jesus set His face towards the cross, but on the way, crowds approach Him and He made time to teach them.

The Pharisees tried to trap Jesus with a tough question in Mark 10:2, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" testing Him.

If Jesus said a man can divorce for any reason, He would go against God’s Word; if He was truthful, it would be unpopular.

Considering all of Scripture, we can say divorce is permitted, but not required. We learned some violations of the marriage covenant are adultery, serious neglect, abandonment and abuse.

Jesus mentioned adultery in the passage in Mark and Paul said:

In 1 Corinthians said that spouses are not to deny each other’s physical needs (7:2-5); they are not to abandon or neglect each other (7:10-16); and they are to provide for each other (7:32-35)

Marriage is two self-centered people, having to consider each other’s needs as more important than their own, while constantly working out differences within the relationship.

In today’s passage, we will learn that immediately after the testing from these religious leaders, some people bring children to Jesus to have Him, bless them.

And then, we will meet a man who comes to Jesus with life’s most important question.

I. A child dedication.

Read Mark 10:13-16

Immediately after the Pharisees tried to trap Jesus; notice Mark 10:13 starts out by giving us a timeline, it says, “Then”.

Then part of the multitude from vs. 1, brought children to Jesus.

F.F. Bruce said, “The word (brought) is commonly used of sacrifices and suggests here the idea of dedication.” (Bruce)

In the Jewish culture at that time, it was customary for parents to bring their children to the rabbis for a blessing. Here we see these parents, bringing children to the rabbi Jesus, for a blessing.

What a great lesson for all parents, bring your kids to Jesus.

As parents, we must realize that it is not the Sunday school workers or Youth pastors’ job alone, to bring them to Jesus.

If we want our children to grow up and know Jesus, we should bring them to Jesus. We pray with them, teach them scripture, and bring them to Church, as we ourselves live for Jesus.

As parents, we need to understand our children can very quickly pick up on all the things we talk about.

We also need to understand that we speak about those things which we are passionate about.

So, as followers of Christ, we must give priority to the things that Mark 10:13 matter. Jesus Christ must be first and foremost in our lives.

The Lord is calling us to be passionate for Him first in our life. Deuteronomy 6:5 And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.

First love the Lord your God with all your heart…

True love is an act of the will, it is not an emotion; so, Christ followers are to place our affections on Him above all else.

Then Deuteronomy 6:5 says we are to “Love the Lord your God with all of our soul.” Our soul represents our whole life.

The way of the flesh is to live for me, a life unto me, and to serve me; as we love the Lord with all our souls, we love Him with our whole life, for Him, unto Him, serving Him!

We cannot have the abundant life if we do not have Jesus as King on throne of our lives, directing us.

Then we are to Love the Lord your God with all of our strength

This is a life whose energy is fully devoted to Christ; we cannot compartmentalize our lives and think we are pleasing the Lord.

We are incapable of living this way in our own strength; it must be the Lord working in us, to choose to love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.