Nine years ago, we started a business we knew nothing about. The knowledge gap was huge. So we found the people with the knowledge, and we asked questions. So many questions. And you know what? Not once were we made to feel dumb. Sure, people thought we were a bit crazy to start a brewery, but they didn’t think we were stupid for our gazillion questions. They felt honored to be asked and were more than willing to impart the knowledge they had gained from their years in the industry. Fast-forward nine years, and I am the one who gives all the brewery tours in our place. If I had a nickel for all the times on a tour when I’ve heard people say to me, “This might be a dumb question, but …”, I might be able to sail off into the sunset and close this business down. I make sure to tell them, “There are no dumb questions.” In fact, the absolute worst tours I give are when the people ask zero questions. I’m a teacher by trade. I love to impart knowledge, and I love when people are brave enough to ask questions. Because that’s really what it is: bravery. With a dose of humility for good measure.

We see a great example of this in the book of Acts. In Acts 8:26-39, God sends his servant Philip to teach a humble Ethiopian man. So who is this Ethiopian guy? We are told there is a man riding in a chariot (read: wealthy) and that he is “an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means ‘queen of the Ethiopians’)” (read: intelligent and trusted). He has gone to Jerusalem to worship (read: God-fearing and God-seeking) and is reading the book of Isaiah the prophet (read: important enough to have his own copy of the scroll of Isaiah … and be able to read it).

These days we can find a Bible in any hotel room, every thrift store, and online, and pretty much everyone can read well. But don’t overlook the significance of these circumstances in this story. This Ethiopian man is a smart, important dude. He has no reason to ask for help. He has no reason to be humble. And yet … he doesn’t understand what he is reading. So when Philip shows up, jogging next to the Ethiopian’s chariot and asking, “Do you understand what you are reading?”, the Ethiopian doesn’t pretend that he does. He doesn’t tell his chariot driver to leave this guy in the dust, and he doesn’t say, “I’ll figure it out.” Nope. He admits he doesn’t understand, and he asks, “How can I unless someone explains it to me?” And he invites Philip up into the chariot with him.

As Pastor Mike has said, “Just because you got a Bible doesn’t mean you get the Bible.”

These days we have study Bibles, we have Google and ChatGPT, and we have one very important thing that the Ethiopian man didn’t have: the New Testament. The book of Isaiah is hard to understand, but it makes a whole lot more sense when we have the Scriptures in their entirety. If the Ethiopian man had just tried to fake it and pretend he understood it all, he would have missed out on learning about the God-man who had just fulfilled all the prophecies he was reading.

What could you be missing out on by faking it? Does it seem like everyone else in church or in your small group just gets it? Well, they might be faking it too. But if they aren’t faking it, do you really think they’ll be annoyed if you ask a question? Will they make fun of you? I doubt it. More than likely they’ll be honored and very willing to answer questions to the best of their ability. You and I just have to be brave enough to ask. Humble enough to admit that we don’t know everything. Whom do you need to invite into your chariot (read: Ford Focus or Honda Odyssey.)? There are no dumb questions.

“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” (Romans 10:14).