In 2009 at Buckingham Palace Michelle Obama put her arm around Queen Elizabeth II, breaking a protocol that for centuries had forbidden touching the monarch without her invitation. Guests invited to an audience usually describe two feelings at once: the honour, and the fear of getting the etiquette wrong. That scene opens a sermon about Israel at the foot of Mount Sinai (Exodus 19). God begins by reminding them that he has already rescued them, calls them his treasured possession, and then draws a boundary nobody may cross. Listen if you do not know how close to God you are allowed to come.
Discussion questions
For your small group or for personal reflection after the sermon.
- Before God speaks of the covenant in Exodus 19:4-6, He reminds Israel of what He has already done for them. What difference does it make that rescue comes before the covenant, so that obedience is a response rather than a condition?
- How might the Israelites, who had just heard that they were God's treasured possession, have understood the boundaries around the mountain, the washing of clothes and the three days of preparation?
- The sermon opens with two attitudes: the fear of not being good enough to come near God, and treating God like a buddy. Which one feels closer to you, and in what areas of life does it show up?
- The speaker compares God's holiness to high voltage power lines and to warning a child not to touch a hot oven. How do these images help you see God's boundaries as love rather than hostility?
- Hebrews says we have not come to a smoking mountain but to Jesus, through whom we have access to God. How does this shape your sense of whether and how you can approach God?
- If your life is like a club shirt that people use to judge the whole team, in what specific situation this week do you want others to see in you a picture of the holy God?
