One good question is worth a dozen answers. Nowhere is this more true than in the craft of preaching. To make a point, to challenge the mind, to stir the will, to touch the soul; nothing works like a question.

Jesus was the master of the question. "Whom do people say that I am?" He asked His disciples; then followed up their answer with a second question, "Whom do you say that I am?" (Mark 8:27f).

When an inquirer approached Him with a question about eternal life, Jesus responded with a double question, "What is written in the Law? How do you read it?" (Luke 10:26). He dealt with critics the same way. To those who questioned His authority, He asked, "Was John's baptism from heaven or from men?" (Mark 11:30).

"To what shall I compare the kingdom of God?" Jesus said, and proceeded with a parable (Mark 4.30ff). His most famous story concludes with a question, "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" (Luke 10:36).

Jesus the preacher made effective and varied use of the question. His famous eschatological discourse began with a question, "Do you see all these things?" He asked, obviously pointing to the impressive stones, steps and ramparts of Herod's temple (Matthew 24:2). That same sermon ended with a word picture of the righteous and the wicked asking the same set of questions, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feel you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?" (Matthew 25:27-29, 44).

The Sermon on the Mount includes several sets of questions. "If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?" (Matthew 5:46f).

When driving home the futility of anxiety, Jesus said: "Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes. See how the lilies of the field grow" (Matthew 6:25b-28a). Later in the Sermon, Jesus asks: Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?" (Matthew 7:3); and, "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?" (Matthew 7:9); and "do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?" (Matthew 7:16b).

Jesus demonstrated the power of the question to direct His audience (whether the committed, the critics or simply the curious) to see and understand the truth.

Questions as the Title of a Sermon

Christian preachers have followed the lead of Jesus to great effect and lasting fame. A. J. Gossip preached his well-known sermon "But When Life Tumbles In, What Then?" and in so doing illustrated one very effective use of the question, as a sermon title. The multivolume collection of sermons, Twenty Centuries of Great Preaching gives other examples: "How Can We surrender a Situation to God?" (Samuel Shoemaker), "How Should a Christian View Communism?" (Martin Luther King, Jr.), "Saved or Lost?" (Billy Graham), "Where are the Heroes Now? (Peter Marshall), and "Who Cares?" (William Booth).