If Christianity was something we were making up, of course we could make it easier. But it is not. We cannot compete, in simplicity, with people who are inventing religions. How could we? We are dealing with Fact. Of course, anyone can be simple if he has no facts to bother about. – C. S. Lewis

How would you respond if one of your children or perhaps a friend asked, “Why do you believe Christianity is true?”  Would you have an answer, even a simple or basic one?

Christianity is not intellectual suicide as some have accused it of being. Nor does believing the Bible mean we must “park our brains at the door.” 

Since Jesus’ mission for every Christian is to share the gospel, each of us must be prepared to answer honest questions. In fact, God’s Word commands that: always be prepared to give a defense to everyone who asks you the reason for the hope that is in you. But respond with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15). Yet, too many Christians, even those who have been in the Church for years, when asked some of those normal questions, are a bit like Bambi in headlights. Too many Christ-followers have not been exposed to the wealth of evidence and viable arguments for God’s existence and the trustworthiness of the Bible. Under-equipped and weak in their faith, some walk away from the Christian faith once they face questions they’ve never prepared to answer. The Bible though is clear, and the crisis in our culture is great: people of all ages, especially younger individuals, need reasonable answers and help working through what to believe and a basis for trusting biblical truth. 

Over the next few weeks, in our new study, The Biggest Questions, we’re going to be working through some of the biggest questions people have about the Bible and God and Jesus. There are three important things we want you to take from this series. 

Prepared

First we want you to be prepared. As someone said, “Proper preparation prevents poor performance.” Can you imagine someone playing for the NFL and never practicing and being unprepared? You’d soon find a pink slip waiting for you.

It’s soon apparent which teams and players have prepared for any given game. Have you ever had to give a presentation when you’ve done everything necessary to be ready? What a great feeling it is to stand up and confidently present that information! The difference is proper preparation!

There is no substitute for investing in studying and reflecting on some of the key spiritual questions before you engage in conversations about them. That’s what this series and these studies are designed to help you do. After each week’s sermon, please take some time to think through the message. Discuss it with your spouse or with your family. Maybe go out to lunch with a friend and talk with them about the message. Bring them up at work and work through them there with a coworker. As you do these things, your knowledge, confidence, and overall sense of readiness will grow, making you an increasingly effective witness of God’s truth and His grace. 

One other note of preparation, that’s so vital. We must be prepared to listen. Those who don’t know the Lord or are struggling with some of the big questions won’t be interested in what we have to share unless they first know we care. We show we care by listening to their questions and doubts.

Pray

Second, we must pray. It’s important to remember that when we seek to answer someone’s questions, that we’re engaged in much more than just the presentation of information. Scripture warns us that we’re in a spiritual struggle. This isn’t a battle we should try to fight or expect to win in our own strength. We must go to God in prayer and ask Him to work through us, giving us the wisdom, knowledge, and words we need. We should pray for those we’re talking to, before, during, and after actual conversations, asking that the Lord would open their eyes, that their minds would be receptive and hearts humbled so they’d be sensitive to what the Holy Spirit is saying, even as we seek to give answers and present God’s truth. Korean church leader, Billy Kim said, Prayer is my first advice. Prayer is my second suggestion. And prayer is my third suggestion…if I had to do it all over, I would do more praying and less preaching.

Proximity

Yet, we will never reach the lost and those without Christ without proximity. Jesus was the “friend of sinners,” those the “church crowd” avoided. If most or all of your friends are Christians, you need more and new friends. We must first be close to people if we want to talk with them. It’s not enough to prepare and pray, we must get close to people who need answers…family members, friends, coworkers, acquaintances. Whether you realize it or not many of them are starving for God’s truth and desperate for His grace. God didn’t just love the world; He came into it in the person of Jesus Christ. Our Savior didn’t just pray for this world. He went into the towns and villages seeking the lost (Luke 19:10). Those early believers didn’t talk about communicating the gospel, they went everywhere and shared it. They saw even chance meetings as divine appointments. We can’t wait for people with spiritual questions to seek us out. Jesus commanded us to go out into the world and share God’s truth.

Purpose

Finally, purpose – we must be motivated by God’s love. Our goal is not to win arguments. We want people to know that God loves them, and so do we, and to win people to our loving Savior. We want them to know that God’s Word has the answer to some of their difficult questions. We do that by giving them time, showing care, compassion, and concern for them. Even more than the words we say God’s love through us will draw our friends to God. We show God’s love by tearing down the vile idol of “BUSY” and replacing it with the gift of TIME.

The worst excuse for not sharing the gospel is a lack of time. In ways, it sounds so reasonable and valid, especially in a contemporary world like ours with such a busy life and hectic culture. It’s a justification that readily springs to mind, slipping effortlessly off our tongues if we’re asked this question: “Why have you not been sharing your faith or evangelizing?”

We must be intentional. If you never schedule to meet a lost friend for coffee or have them over for a meal, it won’t happen. It falls into those horrible words, “we need to get together sometime” Somehow “sometime” rarely happens. It must be scheduled. 

We must be accountable. There’s something about accountability that helps us prioritize. I’d encourage you to partner with another believer to pray together for ones you’re seeking to reach. Share with each other the steps forward you are taking. And be sure and rejoice with every victory!

Jesus has commanded us to be His light in this dark world. It’s impossible to fulfill His mission, if we don’t know enough to turn the lights on.