Message Highlights

• God is not absent. He is not apathetic. He is not angry with you.
• When you can’t explain what God is doing, anchor yourself to what you already know about who God is.
• Mature faith isn’t only trusting God to change your circumstances. It’s trusting God when your circumstances don’t change.

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Group Discussion

Conversation Starter

• What’s the longest you’ve ever been stuck waiting somewhere, like an airport or a traffic jam? How did you pass the time?
• When you’re waiting on news you can’t do anything about, what do you usually do?

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Core Discussion Questions

Connection Question
What stood out to you from today’s message about John the Baptist asking Jesus, “Are you the one?” from a prison cell?

Context Question
Where have you encountered John the Baptist before, and what was your understanding of him? How does this moment in prison fit with what you knew?

Clarity Question
How did today’s message clarify or change your perspective on what God is doing when your circumstances don’t change?

Application Question
What truth from today’s message can you apply this week to a situation in your life that isn’t changing?

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Additional Questions (Optional)

• Jesus answered John by pointing to what He was doing (Matthew 11:5). Why do you think He answered that way instead of explaining why John was still in prison?
• What makes it hard to bring a doubt to Jesus instead of keeping it to yourself?
• Who in your life has kept trusting God through something that never got fixed? What did you notice about them?

Exploring the Scripture

Main Scripture: Matthew 11:2-6

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John the Baptist had been arrested by Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee and Perea, because John publicly condemned Herod for taking Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife (Matthew 14:3-4). The first-century historian Josephus places John’s imprisonment at Machaerus, a fortress in the wilderness east of the Dead Sea. Meanwhile Jesus had moved north and made His home in Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee (Matthew 4:12-13), and news of what He was doing reached John in his cell.

The church has long attributed this Gospel to Matthew, a former tax collector and one of the Twelve. He wrote primarily for Jewish readers, and his aim is to show that Jesus is the Messiah Israel’s Scriptures promised. That is why Matthew keeps pointing back to the prophets, and why Jesus answers John’s question with the prophets too.

John was the messenger God promised would prepare the way (Isaiah 40:3; Malachi 3:1). He had announced a Messiah who would come with an axe and a winnowing fork (Matthew 3:10-12). Jesus was healing and teaching, but judgment had not fallen and John was still in chains. Read against his own preaching, John’s question makes sense. Jesus answers with phrases from Isaiah 35:5-6 and Isaiah 61:1, passages that describe what God would do when He came to save His people.

The word translated “offended” in verse 6 means to stumble or be tripped up. Jesus names the real danger for John, which is tripping over a Messiah who doesn’t act the way he expected. And as soon as John’s messengers leave, Jesus turns to the crowd and speaks of John with honor, calling him more than a prophet (Matthew 11:7-11). The honest question did not cost John his place with Jesus.

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Questions for Deeper Study

1. Read Matthew 3:1-12. What did John expect the Messiah to do? Which of those things was Jesus doing by Matthew 11, and which weren’t happening yet?
2. Read Isaiah 35:5-6 and Isaiah 61:1. Why would these words from Scripture be a better answer for John than an explanation of his circumstances?
3. Read Matthew 11:7-11. What does Jesus say about John after the messengers leave? What does that show you about how He regards people who bring Him honest questions?
4. Compare John’s question with Psalm 13. What do John and David have in common in the way they speak to God when He seems silent?
5. In 2 Corinthians 12:7-9, God tells Paul no. What does Paul receive in place of what he asked for?
6. Hebrews 11:35-40 describes people who were rescued and people who weren’t. How does that passage shape the way you define a faithful life?
7. Where are you most tempted to be “offended” by Jesus, because He isn’t acting the way you expected Him to?

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Deeper Discussion Questions

1. Some people teach that if you have enough faith, God will fix what’s wrong. How does John’s story push back on that? What does that teaching do to someone whose situation never changed?
2. What’s the difference between the doubt John brought to Jesus and the kind of doubt that pulls a person away from Him?
3. It’s easy to read God’s silence as punishment. Where does that assumption come from, and how does “He is not angry with you” answer it?
4. Our culture treats almost every problem as fixable with the right plan or enough effort. How has that shaped the way you pray about things that won’t change?
5. The message said God is not absent, not apathetic, and not angry with you. Which of those is hardest for you to believe right now, and why?
6. Jesus didn’t change John’s circumstances, and He didn’t shame him for asking either. What does His answer teach you about how truth and grace fit together?
7. What do you already know about who God is that you tend to forget when life gets hard?

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Living It Out

1. Write it next to what you know. Name one situation in your life that isn’t changing. Beside it, write one thing Scripture says is true about God. John 3:16
   is a good place to start. Put it somewhere you’ll see it every day this week.
2. Send your question. John sent his question to Jesus through his friends. Tell one person in your group or your family the honest question you’re carrying, and ask them to pray with you about it before you meet again.
3. Catch the reflex. At work or school this week, notice the moment you start trying to fix or worry your way through something you can’t control. Stop and pray one sentence about it right then.
4. Show up for someone stuck. Think of someone at church or in your neighborhood who is living with something that won’t change. Reach out to them this week. You don’t have to solve anything. Ask how they’re doing and listen.

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Prayer Focus

In today’s message, we were told, “When you can’t explain what God is doing, anchor yourself to what you already know about who God is.” The first thing we know is that God loved the world by giving His Son, and nothing you are facing has changed that. Thank Him for settling His love for you at the cross. Then ask Him to hold you to what you know about Him on the days nothing changes.

John 3:16
For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

Matthew 11:6
and blessed is the one who isn’t offended by me.