Moral Boundries Questions
Notes
Transcript
We are going to talk about boundaries. God has placed boundaries and we have the choice to either stay within those boundaries or go outside of those boundaries.
When you play basketball and you go out of bounds what happens? When you hit someone’s arm when they are trying to shoot what happens?
Does stepping out of bounds or hitting someone’s arm effect only you?
It effects everyone playing the game.
it negatively effects your team because they have to give the ball to the other team, or let the other team shoot some free throws.
But it also effects the other team right. They get the ball because of the choice you made. So it positively effects the other team.
Think about everything you enjoy doing?
are there rules or boundaries?
What is the purpose of a boundary?
Safety, for you and/or others - Some rules are made so that no one get’s hurt.
You are not allowed to punch someone in basketball.
To enjoy something - Some rules are made in order that you can enjoy something.
They put a border all the way around the basketball and if you pass that line you are considered out of bound. The primary reason for that rule or boundary is so that we can enjoy the game as we know it. Right if we don’t have rules or boundaries we can do whatever we want to do. Its a free for all.
I’ve seen you guys take a game or make up a game and change or add rules. Why do you do that?
You do it because it either keeps yourself and others safe, or it makes the game more enjoyable. RIGHT!
OVERALL IT SHOULD BE CLEAR THAT THERE IS A PURPOSE FOR BOUNDARIES RIGHT?
WHEN I WAS IN HIGHSCHOOL
WHEN I WAS IN HIGHSCHOOL
A) I had a very clear boundary. I would not attend a party that had alcohal or drugs. I wouldn’t even attend a party if…I THOUGHT there would be alcohol, drugs, or sex there. Some of my friends were aware of my convictions and would at times try to pressure me into come to one of those parties. When I attended college in Madison one of my class mates told me that I would be super fun if I would get drunk.
I can’t say I have been disciplined enough to the extent that I never crossed any boundaries. But this is one boundary I have never crossed. I’ve seen the effects that alcohol and drugs have on people and wanted nothing to do with it. How it would tear a family apart. My dad told me stories of his dad, My grandpa, and how bad it was. My grandpa never hit anyone, but he was very passive with his family.
My grandpa made a promise to my dad once that he was going to take him camping. I think it may have been my dad’s birthday and my grandpa asked him what he wanted for his birthday. My dad said I want to go camping with you. My Grandpa said alright we will do it this weekend. That weekend rolls around. they plan on leaving on a Friday night. Well My grandpa didn’t come home.....My Dad went to bed discouraged and disappointed that my grandpa didn’t keep his promise....and he goes to sleep. My Grandpa wakes my dad up at 2am and tells him to get up. So my dad gets up and my grandpa takes him out to the drive way where he opened up the back of the truck and put a couple of sleeping bags and tells him to get in. And they spent the night in the back of a truck. The choices my grandpa made to go outside of God’s boundaries impacted and influenced my dad greatly, even to this day. The choices my grandpa made even impacted me, to this day.
See my grandpa became a follower of Jesus Christ later on in his life, which led my dad to Christ. And my dad led my mom to Christ, and my mom and dad led me to Christ.
When my grandpa, went out of bounds, or crossed over God’s boundaries and got drunk it negatively impacted not only his life, but lives and generations to come. When my GRANDPA CHOSE TO OBEY and stay within God’s boundaries it positively effected his life, my parent’s lives and my life.
Think about sex before marriage. Does that decision negatively impact the lives of those involved? Sure you can say that in the moment it doesn’t feel like a negative impact, but my grandpa said that about drinking alcohol too. Remember the video....... God made sex, it was a gift to us, for pleasure and to fill the earth. The boundary God places on Sex is not “NO YOU CAN”T HAVE SEX!” The boundary God places on sex is, WAIT WAIT! WAIT until your married. Sex is meant to stay with in a marriage........ between a husband and wife in holy matrimony.
-And when you step out of bounds and have sex outside of marriage it effects you, it effects the other person, it effects your future spouse, it effects you and many others in a negative way.
Stay within the boundaries that God has put in place!
What are some of the boundaries that God has set for us?
Let’s jump to Exodus 20:2-17
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
“You shall have no other gods before me.
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
“You shall not murder.
“You shall not commit adultery.
“You shall not steal.
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
SO GOD SET UP THESE BOUNDARIES FOR US IN ORDER TO KEEP OURSELVES AND OTHERS SAFE, AND TO MAKE LIFE MORE ENJOYABLE.
LOOK AT THESE BOUNDARIES OR RULES AGAIN. WHAT DO YOU SEE, KNOWING THAT GOD PUT THESE IN PLACE TO KEEP YOU SAFE AND TO BLESS YOUR LIFE. WHAT DO THESE COMMANDMENTS SAY ABOUT GOD? DID ANY STAND OUT TO YOU?
YOU SHALL HAVE NO OTHER GOD’S BEFORE ME - He is a jealous God. He desires all of you. He will not share you with some other made up god.
2. YOU SHALL NOT MURDER - God VALUES life.
3. YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY - GOD VALUES INTIMACY. AND ADULTERY or SEX is a result or byproduct of that INTIMACY. HERE IS a great image for you. “A Fire in the fire place is a beautiful and wonderful thing, but a fire on the carpet will burn a house down.”
So God places these boundaries and the are ment to keep use safe from sin, hardship, pain, and they also serve as huge blessings to our lives if we stay within them.
SO GOD HAS THESE BOUNDARIES and then Jesus comes a long and he actually does something unheard of!
Let’s look at Matthew 5:27-28
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
So this is the Law of Christ. The Boundaries just got tighter didn’t they! So the boundary used to be, don’t go and commit adultery now it’s even harder to comply with. You must not look at a woman with lust. Don’t even start thinking about a girl inappropriately.
Let’s look at Matthew 5:21-24
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
SO HERE IS ANOTHER EXAMPLE: If you are angry, insult or call someone a fool, you would go through the same process as if you murdered someone. you would be liable to judgement, council, and the hell of fire.
JESUS is really tightening boundaries isn’t he!? And to top it off MATTHEW 5:48
You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
So we go from what looks like a hard set of rules, the ten commandments in the old testament to what now looks like absolutely impossible. What has Jesus truly come to do for us?
It appears that Jesus, in his death an resurrections has this half time effect. At half time you switch sides right. The goal or hoop you were shooting at in the first half is no longer you goal. You are now turning your focus towards the other goal.
In the Old Testament people would be focusing on the ten commandments. And if they broke the law there was a penalty or punishment associated with it. There was a focus on the LAW as a to do list. We as Christians still look at the commandments and say this is a to do list!
However through Jesus’ death and Resurrection there is this NEW COVENANT. It’s like a halftime in basketball. We aren’t looking at the the commandments as a list of dos out of fear and wrath.
We now have JESUS to focus on. Matthew 5:17-20 who has fulfilled the Old Testament Law. HE WAS PERFECT IN EVERY WAY NEVER SINNED! JESUS SAYS
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
So THE law is still there, but we don’t need to focus on the law anymore because everything we have done and will ever do as a follower of Jesus is covered in his blood.
So instead of focusing on the sin, we get to focus on the worship.
Your not following the Old Testament Law, or the Law of Christ because you feel you have too or its a must, You follow the law of Christ because you love him, because he took your place at the cross. You cheated on the test, you stole what didn’t belong to you, you lusted over a woman, you dis-obeyed your parents, YOU CROSSED THE BOUNDARIES. And Jesus took the punishment for you.
ALAN BALLWEG ANALOGY
EVER since that day I have looked at Alan completely different. I saw him as a captain in our football team, I respect him, I did not want to disappoint him. How Alan took my place on the bus is the perfect analogy for how we are to live for Christ. We love because he first loved us. We don’t try to carry out the law, we get to thrive to be more like Christ.