Discussion questions

GETTING STARTED  

Before we dig into Deuteronomy 5, let’s start with a few lighter questions about rules, obedience, and the strange ways we humans respond when someone tells us what to do.​

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1. What’s a rule you thought was completely ridiculous when you were a kid, but now you understand why it existed?

2. Are you more likely to follow instructions carefully, skim them and figure it out yourself, or ignore them until something goes wrong?

3. What’s one rule, sign, or warning that immediately makes you wonder, “What happened here that they had to put that in writing?”

4. When you hear the phrase “Ten Commandments,” what’s the first image, memory, movie scene, or thought that comes to mind?

5. Which is harder for you: doing something you don’t want to do, or not doing something you really want to do? Why?

 

DIGGING DEEPER

Deuteronomy 5 does more than give Israel a list of rules. These questions are designed to slow us down and notice what the chapter teaches about who God is, why He commands, what obedience reveals, and why even sincere people need more than good intentions.​

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1. Read Deuteronomy 5:1–6 carefully. What words or ideas show that Moses is concerned with more than simply knowing the commandments? What progression do you see from hearing to learning to living?

2. Look up Exodus 19:3–6. Before God gives Israel the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, what does He remind them He has already done? How does this help explain the order in Deuteronomy 5: rescue first, commands afterward?

3. In Deuteronomy 5:2–5, Moses speaks as though the covenant at Horeb was made “with us,” even though many listening were young or not yet born at the time. What does this tell us about Israel’s identity as a covenant people and the responsibility of the new generation?

4. Look up Hebrews 8:6–13. How does the writer distinguish the new covenant from the covenant made with Israel after the exodus? What does this passage add to our understanding of why Christians should not simply treat the Sinai covenant as though it were directly addressed to the Church?

5. Deuteronomy 5:22 gives the Ten Commandments a distinctive place: God spoke them to the whole assembly and wrote them on stone tablets. What seems to make these commands foundational within Israel’s covenant without implying that the rest of God’s law was unimportant?

6. Consider the first three commands in Deuteronomy 5:7–11. How are worshiping other gods, making an image, and misusing God’s name related? What do all three reveal about God’s concern that Israel know and worship Him as He has actually revealed Himself?

7. Look up Isaiah 42:8 and Romans 1:21–25. What do these passages add to the first two commandments? According to them, what goes wrong when people replace the true God with something created or with a distorted understanding of Him?

8. Compare the Sabbath command in Deuteronomy 5:12–15 with the other commandments in the chapter. What reasons does Moses give for Sabbath rest, and what does the inclusion of servants, foreigners, and animals reveal about the character of God’s command?

9. Look up Colossians 2:16–17 and Romans 14:5–6. How does the New Testament treat special days differently from the Sinai covenant? What do these passages help us distinguish between the abiding moral significance of God’s law and Israel’s particular covenant obligations?

10. The commands in Deuteronomy 5:16–21 move from visible actions such as murder, adultery, theft, and false testimony to the inward desire of coveting. Why is coveting a significant way to end the list? What does it reveal about the reach of God’s commands?

11. Look up Romans 7:7–13. Paul specifically mentions the command, “You shall not covet.” According to Paul, what can God’s law reveal about sin that might otherwise remain hidden? How does this passage deepen the sermon’s statement that the commands both show us how to live and expose how far short we fall?

12. In Deuteronomy 5:27–29, the people sincerely promise to listen and obey, yet God immediately speaks about the condition of their hearts. Look up Jeremiah 31:31–34. What problem does the promised new covenant address that a sincere promise by itself cannot? What is different about God writing His law “on their hearts”?

 

​LIVING IT OUT

Obedience gets difficult when God’s commands collide with our habits, desires, relationships, or fears. These questions are meant to help us talk honestly about what it looks like to trust the God who saved us, and to live and speak about His grace in ordinary life.​

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1. Which is harder for you personally: obeying God when you don’t understand why, or obeying Him when you do understand but don’t like what He says? What usually makes that difficult?

2. The sermon emphasized that obedience is a response to God’s grace, not a way to earn it. Where are you most tempted to reverse that order, to feel that God is more pleased with you when you’re doing well and less willing to receive you when you’ve failed?

3. Think about the final command against coveting. Where are comparison and envy most likely to creep into your life: career, family, possessions, appearance, ministry, retirement, relationships? What makes it difficult to genuinely rejoice when someone else receives something you wanted?

4. Sometimes we sincerely say, “I’ll never do that again,” only to repeat the same sin. How should a Christian respond when repentance is sincere but the struggle keeps returning? What’s the difference between relying on God’s grace and using grace as an excuse?

5. Is there an area where you already know what obedience requires, but you’ve been delaying the next step: perhaps telling the truth, repairing a relationship, establishing a boundary, ending something inappropriate, or asking someone for help? What makes taking that step hard?

6. Suppose a friend, coworker, or family member says, “Christianity just sounds like a bunch of rules.” How could you explain the gospel in a way that takes God’s commands seriously but makes clear that Christians aren’t saved by keeping them? What misunderstandings would you want to avoid?

7. Sharing the gospel can be especially awkward with people who already think they’re “good enough,” and with people who believe they’ve done too much wrong for God to accept them. How would the message of this sermon speak differently to each person? Which conversation would be harder for you, and why?