Our world runs on questions. Spend an afternoon with a toddler and your head will spin: why is up up, why is ice cream cold, why are you pulling your hair out. Most questions are small. A few are not. There are questions about God, about the Bible, about death and eternity, about whether there is more to life than getting up, going to work, paying bills, and finding a little enjoyment along the way. The Bible itself holds more than three thousand questions. The first, asked by the devil, was “Has God really said?” The first asked by God was “Where are you?” And the greatest of them all came from a jailer in Philippi who, convinced of his need, simply asked, “What must I do to be saved?” Some questions are a matter of opinion, like the best movie ever made. Others have a definite, concrete, eternal answer. Here are four of them.
Does it matter if I believe in God?
It matters, and here is why. Psalm 100 says, “Know that the Lord, he is God. It is he who made us, and we are his.” We are not accidents without purpose; we are the creation of a Creator, and he made us like himself, in his own image. That is the difference between you and the rest of creation. A tree has no conscience. An animal lives by instinct. But you know right from wrong, you reason and choose, you carry guilt and goodness, because you were made by God. And because you were made by God, you will live beyond this life. We are not bodies that happen to have a soul; we are souls who happen to have a body. Solomon wrote that God “has put eternity in our hearts” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). We die physically, and yet we live. With that comes accountability: “Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess to God; so then each of us shall give an account of himself to God” (Romans 14:11-12).
Does it matter what I believe and whether I follow the Bible?
It does. If God made us and will hold us accountable, then what he has said is not one opinion among many. It is truth, and truth matters to God. Jesus said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). We are simply a group of people who look at the New Testament, see what the first Christians believed and did, and try to follow that same pattern. The question is not whether a teaching is new, exciting, or popular, but whether it is true. On the things that matter most, God has not left us guessing.
Does it matter if I become a Christian?
It matters more than anything. The jailer's question still stands: “What must I do to be saved?” The answer the New Testament gives is to believe in Jesus, turn from sin, and be buried with him in baptism so that, as Paul wrote, we may “rise to walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4). This is not a ritual to check off; it is the moment a person is united with Christ and made new. If you have never taken that step, it is the most important decision you will ever make.
Does it matter if I worship with God's people?
It does, because the church belongs to Jesus. That is all the name “church of Christ” means: a group of people who belong to Christ and are trying to do what the earliest Christians did. Purpose matters. You would not go to the post office to get your oil changed, because that is not what it is for. Paul wrote that Christ gave the church its teachers and shepherds “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-12). A church should be a place where God's word is taught, where Christ is honored, where the hurting are healed, where the gospel is shared, and where believers encourage one another. It is not a place where we pretend we have no struggles; it is where we help each other through them. It is not a time clock to punch; it is a family that shares the journey of faith.
What is your next step?
The acid test of anything is whether it works. In medicine, does it heal? In business, does it profit? In Christianity, does it save? Belief in God, the truth of the Bible, becoming a Christian, and worshiping with God's people all work: they give life meaning now and hope in death. It may not be new or revolutionary, but it is true. So the real question this morning is simply this: what is your next step? Maybe it is to study and learn a little more about what God wants for you. Maybe you have already studied and prayed, and today is the day to be buried in baptism and rise to new life. Either way, we would count it a privilege to help. Just reach out.