Jesus Enforced God's Limits

What Did Jesus Do?

‘You have heard…But I say to you…”
Matthew 5:21ff

I believe one of the surest signs of the fallen human condition is our obsession with pushing, stretching, and testing limits. Don’t get me wrong, I am very thankful that four years ago doctors were able to take one of my kidneys and put it in my son. Wasn’t all that long ago when such a thing would have been way beyond the limits of medicine. But, for every beneficial advance that has come about as a result of someone pushing, stretching, and testing the limits, there are countless stories of suffering, tragedy, and death brought about by disregard for limits that are in place for our own good. We drink and eat so much more than is good for us that it ruins our health. We so obsess and pursue sexual pleasure that we destroy families, ruin lives, and contract all kinds of nasty STDs. We strive to make ourselves stronger, but kill ourselves with steroids for the sake of building muscle. We note the speed limit, and then consistently drive 5-10 over it even though speeding is one of the top contributing factors of accidents. Why? I truly don’t get it. Here’s the thing, in case you didn’t know this, God is a god of limits. God sets boundaries, draws lines, erects signs that say “Do not go past this point.” The Bible pretty much tells the story of what happens when people obsessively push, stretch, and test God’s limits. Our flaunting of God’s limits began long ago in the Garden of Eden, when we couldn’t help adding to the menu God had given us, and then quickly spread to just about every aspect of our lives. Were God into issuing citations for violation of his limits, all of us would have more summonses to appear before the Judge than we could count. It was so bad, our pushing, stretching, and testing of God’s limits, that the Father had to send the Son. That’s right, Jesus enforced God’s limits.

Not that any of us should try and live by Law, the Old Testament version of God’s limits. No, we’ve been set free from the law of sin and death by the law of the spirit of life to live in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:2). But the free life in Jesus is life within the limits.

Jesus in fact set even stricter limits than those that had been in place for hundreds of years. Sure, people had for generations heard that it was wrong to murder, though they kept right on murdering (Matthew 5:21), but Jesus came to enforce the old limit by setting a new and stricter one (Matthew 5:22). Adultery was never accepted (Well, at least not until recently), that people had long heard that they were to be faithful to the marriage vow (Matthew 5:27), but Jesus came to enforce the old limit by putting a far tighter control on the heart and mind, and eyes of those who are married (Matthew 5:28). Everyone was familiar with the exception God had granted for divorce (Matthew 5:31), but Jesus came to enforce the original limit by establishing a narrower understanding of what was acceptable (Matthew 5:32). False promises, commitments and oaths taken with no intention of ever honoring them, had always been forbidden (Matthew 5:33), but Jesus came to enforce the law prohibiting false oaths by teaching that one should not take an oath at all (Matthew 5:34-37). Retribution had been limited to that which was proportionate to an offense (Matthew 5:38), but Jesus set a whole new limit by instructing that it is wrong to even take offense (Matthew 5:39-42). Jesus even changed the limits of love. Where the limit of love had for years precluded any need, or even possibility, of loving an enemy (Matthew 5:43), Jesus put a much stricter love requirement in place which charges us with loving our friends and our enemies (Matthew 5:44).

Of course, you have probably seen the absurdity in setting stricter limits for people who habitually pushed, stretched, tested the old limits. How could we ever hope to observe the new limits when we have already proven incapable of honoring the old ones? Well, the good news is, the Father didn’t just send an enforcer, he sent the Fulfiller—Jesus Christ. In and of ourselves, we will eat too much and drive too fast. We will cheat, hate, lie, lust, and, well, you name it and we’ll do it. It is only in and through Jesus that we can understand, respect, and observe the totally life giving limits the Father has set.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4