Sermon Discussion Questions | “Jesus Looked Hard Into His Eyes...And Loved Him”
The preamble to the 10 Commandments in Exodus 20 has two parts: God says, “remember who I am” and “remember what I did for you”……Now, therefore HAVE NO OTHER GODS ABOVE ME. And then comes the other 9 commandments. Luther reminds us that if we could keep this first commandment….we could keep them all. Discuss the horror of IDOLATRY in our lives.
Pastor Buegler showed the picture Thomas Blackshear painted called FORGIVEN. What does that picture say to the rich young ruler that came to Jesus….and what does it say to us? Did you see the hammer in the man’s right hand? Blackshear says that’s the hammer by which we pounded the nails of our sin into Jesus on the cross. And yet, by God’s grace, we are FORGIVEN.
Jesus told the rich young ruler to “go sell everything and give it to the poor”. Yet, this account is not really about money (that’s coming next week). Today we are confronted with self righteousness. Why do even the religious “rules” sometimes cloud our eyes into thinking eternity is all about keeping rules. Isn’t our piety (rule keeping) important?
John Calvin said: “The human heart is an idol factory”. What are you manufacturing? What does society lead us to manufacture? If there is a throne in our souls….how do we make sure our loving God remains seated there through all our daily priorities and decisions? How does God’s Word and Sacrament, worship and fellowship, prayer and devotion help us?
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