Are you religious? That’s the question I was recently asked by a taxi driver. Not wanting to get tangled up in semantics, I said that I was a Christian. He replied that he wasn’t and didn’t believe in God. Let’s look at what he Bible says about this and how it can help inform your response when asked a similar question. We’ll look at his over the next couple of weeks as there is a lot of ground to cover.
Psalm 14:1
The fool has said in his heart,
“There is no God”
Things to think about:
· Have you ever been asked this question
before?
o
Did it make you feel uncomfortable?
o
How did you reply?
· What does the
word “religious” mean to you?
o
How do you think most people outside of the Church think about
this word?
· Many people
equate “religion” with:
o
Laws
o
Judgment
o
Tradition for tradition’s sake
§ what else
would you add to the list?
§ why do you
think they are often barriers not bridges to God?
· Who were the
only people Jesus got angry with? Why?
o
“sinners”?
o
Unbelievers?
o
“religious” people?
o
see John 2:13-17 – story of the moneychangers
o
Mark 3:1-6
· So what
should our response be when someone asks us if we’re religious?
o
the conventional answer is “It’s about a relationship, not
religion.”
§ Have you
heard this? Do you believe it?
o
Jesus said in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think I came to abolish the
Law or the Prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
· As mentioned
in the introduction, there are two paths we are going to look at because there
are at least two places who ask this question may find themselves:
o
Unbeliever – this is my taxi driver; he has made a conscious
decision that he doesn’t not believe in God
o
Pharisee – this person does believe but there is something
fundamentally flawed in their theology
· Unbeliever
o
What’s the best argument you have to convince someone that the God
of the Bible is real?
§ Experience –
how has your life been changed in such a way that it can only be attributable
to God?
· John 9:25 –
“Whether he is a sinner or not, I do not know. One thing I do know – I was
blind but now I see.”
§ Evidence –
what is the most compelling evidence you are aware of to defend the existence
of the God of the Bible?
· Fulfilled
prophecy? Isaiah 41:21-23, 46:10
· The harmony
and integrity of the Scriptures being written over thousands of years by 40
different authors?
· Why would the
apostles be martyred for a lie or hoax?
· Creation - Romans
1:18-20
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against
all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their
wickedness, 19 since what
may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to
them. 20 For since
the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and
divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been
made, so that people are without excuse.
· Conscience – Romans
2:14
14 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature
things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though
they do not have the law. 15 They show that the requirements of the law are written on
their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts
sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.)
There
certainly is a lot here for us to consider why someone who isn’t a believer can
trust in God and His Son. Let’s take a
stand with boldness and confidence.
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