Description of Limitation

Joshua 18:11-28

11 The first lot came up for the tribe of Benjamin according to its clans. Their allotted territory lay between the tribes of Judah and Joseph: 12 On the north side their boundary began at the Jordan, passed the northern slope of Jericho and headed west into the hill country, coming out at the wilderness of Beth Aven. 13 From there it crossed to the south slope of Luz (that is, Bethel) and went down to Ataroth Addar on the hill south of Lower Beth Horon. 14 From the hill facing Beth Horon on the south the boundary turned south along the western side and came out at Kiriath Baal (that is, Kiriath Jearim), a town of the people of Judah. This was the western side.
15 The southern side began at the outskirts of Kiriath Jearim on the west, and the boundary came out at the spring of the waters of Nephtoah. 16 The boundary went down to the foot of the hill facing the Valley of Ben Hinnom, north of the Valley of Rephaim. It continued down the Hinnom Valley along the southern slope of the Jebusite city and so to En Rogel. 17 It then curved north, went to En Shemesh, continued to Geliloth, which faces the Pass of Adummim, and ran down to the Stone of Bohan son of Reuben. 18 It continued to the northern slope of Beth Arabah and on down into the Arabah. 19 It then went to the northern slope of Beth Hoglah and came out at the northern bay of the Dead Sea, at the mouth of the Jordan in the south. This was the southern boundary.
20 The Jordan formed the boundary on the eastern side.
These were the boundaries that marked out the inheritance of the clans of Benjamin on all sides.
21 The tribe of Benjamin, according to its clans, had the following towns: Jericho, Beth Hoglah, Emek Keziz, 22 Beth Arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel, 23 Avvim, Parah, Ophrah, 24 Kephar Ammoni, Ophni and Geba—twelve towns and their villages.
25 Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth, 26 Mizpah, Kephirah, Mozah, 27 Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah, 28 Zelah, Haeleph, the Jebusite city (that is, Jerusalem), Gibeah and Kiriath—fourteen towns and their villages.
This was the inheritance of Benjamin for its clans.

No Trespassing

The sign “No Trespassing” is normally posted on private properties with fences. Perimeter fences are structural enclosures that mark the boundaries of farms or residential lots. Boundaries define and identify the scope of private or public properties.
When the Israelites divided the Promise Land, the boundaries of tribal inheritance were identified. The descriptions of tribal inheritance are more complex to outsiders.

1. Complex

11 The first lot came up for the tribe of Benjamin according to its clans. Their allotted territory lay between the tribes of Judah and Joseph: 12 On the north side their boundary began at the Jordan, passed the northern slope of Jericho and headed west into the hill country, coming out at the wilderness of Beth Aven. 13 From there it crossed to the south slope of Luz (that is, Bethel) and went down to Ataroth Addar on the hill south of Lower Beth Horon. 14 From the hill facing Beth Horon on the south the boundary turned south along the western side and came out at Kiriath Baal (that is, Kiriath Jearim), a town of the people of Judah. This was the western side.
15 The southern side began at the outskirts of Kiriath Jearim on the west, and the boundary came out at the spring of the waters of Nephtoah. 16 The boundary went down to the foot of the hill facing the Valley of Ben Hinnom, north of the Valley of Rephaim. It continued down the Hinnom Valley along the southern slope of the Jebusite city and so to En Rogel. 17 It then curved north, went to En Shemesh, continued to Geliloth, which faces the Pass of Adummim, and ran down to the Stone of Bohan son of Reuben. 18 It continued to the northern slope of Beth Arabah and on down into the Arabah. 19 It then went to the northern slope of Beth Hoglah and came out at the northern bay of the Dead Sea, at the mouth of the Jordan in the south. This was the southern boundary.

Do you find the description of the inheritance of Benjamin too complex? If you have visited Israel, you might identify some of those names of towns and villages. Nevertheless, with such captivating description, picture-taking enthusiast may imagine that the inheritance of Benjamin offer great views. Terms like hill, slope, down, lower, side, outskirt, foot, curve, and pass describe the natural feature and beauty of the land.
It also includes wilderness. A wilderness could be an open field or even a desert. The term Arabah is a Hebrew word for desert valley. Wilderness or Arabah is more of wasted land and most probably used as pastureland not farmland. Benjamin’s lot has valleys or prairies with springs of water. The eastern boundary overlooking the Jordan River and the Dead Sea are beauty of the land.
With such natural complexity of the natural feature of the land, it is much more of charming and not some kind of boring place to be. The beauty of natural features of the inheritance of Benjamin surely made their life more challenging and interesting.

What could be our lesson why God included this passage in the Bible? The life that God gave the Israelites has parallelism to our life as Christians. Not a few would complain about the complicity and challenging life of believers. All of us may have preferences of life but we need to accept that God has given us limitation, too.
There times when feel like our life is full of rocks and thorns. Sometimes, there are ups and downs. Most of the times, we feel like we travelling on an unending boring valleys or hot desert. People complain, “When will this kind of life end?” Nonetheless, the word of God should help us understand the lifestyle we have.

Parable of the Farmer

The Lord Jesus teaches about the Parable of the farmer in Mark 4:3-8, 3 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”

When trouble, persecution, worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things take more of your attention, how did you respond? Ever since you’ve heard the message of eternal life, has it rooted in your life? Did God’s word produce fruit in your life? Did it multiply productively or not?
The complexity of features and boundaries of the inheritance of Benjamin may not be easy for outsiders to grasp. In similar manner, non-believers cannot easily grasp the resiliency of church members in spite of many dramatis struggles we’ve been through. Church life is like hill, slope, curve, pass and sometime desert and valleys which may help our Christian life more interesting, dramatically complex and not simplistic.

2. Simplistic

20 The Jordan formed the boundary on the eastern side. These were the boundaries that marked out the inheritance of the clans of Benjamin on all sides. 21 The tribe of Benjamin, according to its clans, had the following towns: Jericho, Beth Hoglah, Emek Keziz, 22 Beth Arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel, 23 Avvim, Parah, Ophrah, 24 Kephar Ammoni, Ophni and Geba—twelve towns and their villages. 25 Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth, 26 Mizpah, Kephirah, Mozah, 27 Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah, 28 Zelah, Haeleph, the Jebusite city (that is, Jerusalem), Gibeah and Kiriath—fourteen towns and their villages. This was the inheritance of Benjamin for its clans.

When it defines that the Jordan River was the boundary on the eastern side, it become more simply to understand the limitation of the inheritance of the tribe of Benjamin for its clan. With 26 towns and their villages, the tribe of Benjamin had to allocate their inheritance accordingly. What lesson can we learn from it?
The Jordan River as boundary on the eastern side of the inheritance of the tribe of Benjamin is very simple to imagine and understand. And their inheritance is God’s gift. Similarly, when Christ allocated spiritual gift to each believer, it becomes simplistic when we rely upon Christ’s Spirit but if we rely upon ourselves it becomes more complex.

Constitution and By-Laws

The TMEC Constitution and By-Laws defines the limitations of member’s rights.
When one steps beyond established boundaries, it is considered trespassing. It is unlawful or wrongful entry upon the land of another person. Legal problem would not be easily disregarded. Likewise, when the church Constitution and By-Laws are disregarded, it would cause the church possible unwanted problems.

The dramatic life of the church exhibits some kind of trouble that believers may encounter when we intentionally ignore or disregard the teachings of Christ. His word helps us understand that there are limitations of our freedom as children of God.
Christ has given us spiritual gift to help us re-align our lifestyle and career. God has given us freedom to choose what career path to take. But if the path we choose is not in line with our spiritual gift, our life becomes more complicated and complex.
It teaches us in Romans 12:6-8, 6We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

Prophesying, serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, leading, and showing mercy are allocated appropriately according to God’s design for each believer. No believer has received all spiritual gifts. Believers are expected to excel only in their spiritual gift. One may preach and teach. Others may serve, encourage, give, lead, or show mercy.
We often misunderstood spiritual gifts. We expect the Board of Trustees to lead and serve. We expect all believers to give, serve or encourage. Our expectation is proven wrong many times. So, it is imperative. It’s necessary to be sure of our Spiritual Gift.
It says in Psalm 119:105, 105Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

Although there are materials suggested by some experts to identify our spiritual gifts, the word of God would be our guiding principle. God may speak in different ways but the Scripture is our measuring instrument if the voice we heard was from God.

How I came to know I was called to be a Pastor

When I sensed the desire to serve God, I was not sure which ministry I will serve God. I never imagine myself to be preacher. I was an introvert and actually scared of standing in front of many people. My primary purpose of enrolling in the seminary was to know more about God and not to prepare myself as pastor.
As I grew deeper in my knowledge of God, I sensed some kind of greater desire to share what I learned and experienced. I wanted to be a missionary and indeed, I went to the mission field. God removed any doubts. Instead, He gave me confidence that He will take care of me including my family.
God’s grace compels us to keep obeying Him no matter what lies ahead.
It says in Romans 11:29, 29for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.

God has called you to join Him in His work. Realign your Spiritual Gift with the career path you should take to minimize the complexity of life. When we explore beyond the limits God has designed for us, we struggle with Him. Our Spiritual Gift defines the limitation of ministry God wants us to excel. Know your Spiritual Gift.

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