"The Law Giving God" by Rev. Kim Salo

This blog is based on my sermon preached on February 12, titled The Law Giving God (please click here if you would like to read the sermon notes).  I incorporated a couple of written questions from the question box.

1. Churches often have rules or requirements for membership or receiving communion and other things. For instance, the Roman Catholic church asks its members to fast from red meat on Fridays, so they often eat fish. Do you prefer a church that is rigorous about such rules, or do you prefer a church that is easygoing about church rules? Which do you prefer, and why?
2. The laws in the Bible about “clean” and “unclean” don’t apply to Christians. Nevertheless, are there things that we Christians would consider holy, set apart for God? Or, do we consider all things just the same?  
3. What was it like when you first read the laws of the Old Testament, especially in the Torah, the first five books? Did you get bogged down? Did you give up and go to another part of the Bible? Or did it go quite easily?
4. Name the Ten Commandments without opening your Bible. How did you do? (The 10 Commandments are found at Ex. 20 and Deut. 5. No cheating.)
5. Which of the Ten Commandments is an “area of improvement” for you? Sabbath? Honoring parents? Coveting? Theft? Lying? Holding God’s name in honor? Murder? Adultery? Having one God? No idols? What would your Ten Commandments “report card” look like?
6. How did Jesus deepen the meaning of the Ten Commandments? For example, look at Matthew 5: 21-22, 5:27-28.
7. Speaking of church rules, in Acts 15: 19-21, at the “Apostolic Council” in Jerusalem, James with the apostles and elders ruled that Gentiles becoming Christians should abstain from four things: meat offered to idols, sexual immorality, meat of strangled animals, and from blood. (James may have been thinking about Lev. 17&18.) Circumcision was not required of Gentile Christians after this. Acts 15:28 says, “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden the church with any further requirements.” Was this ruling a compromise between Jewish law and Christian freedom from OT law? Do any of these requirements apply to the church today? Why?