Locations & Times

1. What question did the religious guy ask Jesus? (What is the most important rule?)
2. Why did God give people the Ten Commandments? (People were having trouble doing the right thing and going crazy!)
3. Do you remember what they were doing? (worshiping a golden cow)
4. That seems strange, but we all mess up. How many of you have followed all of the Ten Commandments perfectly? (nobody)
5. If we don’t follow all the rules, will God stop loving us? (No.)
6. All of the laws depend on two commandments. What are they? (Love God. Love people.)

Read: Exodus 20:1-17, Deuteronomy 6:1-9; and Mark 12:28-34

Ask an average person how people get into heaven and you’re likely to hear something about being good. It’s in our nature to try to match up behavior with reward or punishment. This is really the question we’re addressing in this lesson about the rules for following Jesus. As Christians, how should we behave? 

The first rules: The Ten Commandments, came immediately after God brought the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. They needed guidance. So, he gave them Moses, the Ten Commandments, and the books of the Law. In Deuteronomy, he told Moses what to tell his son, or future generations, when they asked why they had all the rules. They are: “… for our prosperity always and for our preservation …”.

God always has our best in mind. He wants us to succeed and live a full life. But it’s important to understand that the rules he gave didn’t save people. Salvation has always been a gift from God. Before Jesus, following the laws was a way to connect to God because it was living by faith. When people failed; when they broke a commandment or law, they had to atone for their sin with an elaborate system of sacrifices. Our faith leads us in a similar direction, to follow God’s ways. When we fail; when we break a commandment, or sin in any way, we also have to atone for it. We have to turn from our sin, ask God to forgive, and rely on the grace and mercy of Jesus, and his once-and-for-all sacrifice on the cross, to wipe our mistake clean. Salvation has always been a matter of the grace of God, given to people of faith who believe in him. Whether those people were following Jewish Law before Christ, sacrificing for their sins, and placing their faith in God to forgive them, or whether people now are following Jesus, relying on his sacrifice for their sins, and placing their faith in God to forgive them. The rules really haven’t changed. As Jesus summarizes from Deuteronomy, he still calls us all to: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength …,” and “… Love your neighbor as yourself,” Mark 12:30-31.

But that’s not how we get to heaven, or connect to God; instead, salvation is based on faith, knowing that Jesus did the work of washing away our sin so that we can connect to God. Following the commandments shows that we understand our salvation and are responding to it by loving God back, and loving others with his love.

How would you explain to someone both God’s rules and God’s grace?