The Freedom of Limits | John Challinor

Morning. I don't know if you caught it, but Austin

referenced that, you know, fifth grade through

where they are now. And I knew Austin in seventh

grade, which makes me feel really old. But you

guys, what a gift to the church. I don't know

if you're familiar with this or not, but youth

pastors, kind of the tenure of youth pastors.

in the current climate of church world. And you're

looking at roughly about two years. Every two

years, they're moving on to something else. And

Austin has been here for the long haul. And it's

just an honor to have him, to watch him continue

to pour out. You just saw the hardest part, or

one of the hardest parts of youth ministry is

the, I have you for this space of time and get

to pour into you. and then I release you. That's

so hard to do when you give your heart and your

soul and everything that you are. And so as a

church family, we're just so blessed with our

youth team and so blessed with Austin and his

longevity. And so I would love it if we could

just honor him real quick, like give it up for

Austin. With that, welcome to the Wild West.

That is how today feels. It has been chaotic.

It has been the Lord has showed up. It has been,

hey, this was our plan and we went this way.

So who knows what's going to happen in the next

30 minutes. Like, I'm excited for you because

God's going to meet you where you are. But I

think one of the things that is highlighted in

this morning is when you look at not just here,

but also it. at Prescott Valley Park Collective

this weekend and honoring our students, but also

dedicating children. And I would just say this,

the need for community is so important. The need

for community to help navigate the seasons of

life is so important. And here's what I mean.

If you've ever raised a teenager, there is a

moment with your teenager that you go, I don't

know who you are. Who did you become, right?

Or you're giving your teenager great advice,

and you walk away kind of high -fiving your wife

like, yes, I nailed it, and they go to youth

and sit with their youth leader, and their youth

leader tells them the exact same thing, and they

come home and go, oh, my gosh, you should hear

about the conversation I had with my youth leader.

Like, listen to what they said, and you're like,

I've been saying this for six months, right?

But the reality is... There is a need in all

of us for community. This conversation around

limits, right? The idea that you think you have

all your limits figured out, you don't. You got

blind spots. All of us have blind spots. We need

community to go, hey, you aren't seeing this

right. There was a number of years ago for me.

It was quite a while ago now, but the elders

at one point came to me and went, hey, you need

a sabbatical. You are not doing well. And I was

like, I'm fine. I don't know what you mean. And

they're like, no, we're pretty sure you do. And

they were 100 % accurate. I was way beyond my

limits. And they needed somebody to come alongside

and go, hey, we need to spend some time and change

this. And so in this conversation around limits,

the idea of community entering into the conversation,

this is why it's important that you are anchored

to a life group. This is why it's important that

you sit down at some point this week across the

table with somebody who knows you and let them

breathe into you where you have blind spots.

Because the reality is we all have limits. And

when you know your limits, you can figure out

your path. This week, I got to do something.

My youngest has been a part of a climbing club.

And my wife's been like, for a little while,

she's like, you got to go, you got to go, you

got to go, you got to go. And I'm like, you know,

I'm busy. Like, I'll figure it out. I'll get

it in my schedule. Well, this past Thursday,

and I think we have a video, I got to go and

experience climbing club. And I didn't know,

there's a whole thing behind this, right? Like

there's a whole, you step up to the wall and

there's little pieces of paper and it tells you

what level that is, right? So my daughter's educating

me on what level she is. She's showing me different

ones and she's like, dad, this is a 5 .9, this

is a 5 .9 plus, this is a 5 .10. And so it determines

if you're gonna use the color, you know what

level that color is before you begin your climb.

And so in listening to this, I'm watching her.

This one is at her level. And so she knows that

as she steps into it, she's done this. She knows

what it is. She's capable of it because she knows

what level she's at. And she made it to the top.

Just saying. Just saying. She made it to the

top. But because she knew her level, she knew

her path. I also watched her go to ones that

were above her level. And as she got to those,

she was unsure of how to navigate the different

steps ahead of her because it was beyond the

level she was at. When you know your level, you

know your path. When you know your limits, you

know your path. And it's really important that

we understand. Now, here's another interesting

thing from Climbing Club. Her limits are unique

to her. Her limits are what she is at, what she

is capable of, right? And I think it's interesting

that culturally we just throw the same limit

on everybody, that if I should be able to do

this, you should be able to do that. Who says

that? What's the assumption that all humans are

exactly the same? I don't play an instrument.

My level of playing an instrument is very, very,

very low. I watched you. We struggle as a church

for some rhythm sometimes. That first song should

have had your hips moving. And you guys aren't

even sure how to bob your head, some of you.

You know what I'm saying? Like there should have

been movement and rhythm, right? You have a limit.

Now, you throw that to somebody else who was

up here, their limit's different. Why? Because

limits are unique. Limits are unique. I think

what's interesting with the conversation around

limits, when you know your limit, you know your

path. But I think sometimes we assume limits

are bad. Sometimes I think culturally, we assume

that limits need to be overcome. They're just

barriers to get around, right? Like if you're

really a high achiever, you just get over that.

I'm curious where we get that from because I'm

not sure it's in the Bible. Here's what I mean.

If you open Genesis chapter two, so we're in

the creation narrative. God is creating everything

and putting it all together, right? And in verse

seven, it says this. Then the Lord God formed

a man from the dust of the ground and breathed

into his nostrils the breath of life. And the

man became a living being. God, the language

here is God is a potter, and as a potter, he

is forming something. He is taking dirt, he's

taking the dust, and he is forming the human

frame. There is limitations to what God is creating.

Humans are limited by the frame they create.

You know how I know? You don't have wings. God

didn't create you with wings. And yet as humans,

we love to what? Fly. But none of you can fly

without something helping you fly. Right? Why?

Because God created limitations to the human

frame. God created limitations. You don't have

gills. We like to make superheroes with gills,

right? Why? Because we're obsessed with living

in places that we're not capable of. You were

created with a... You have physical, physical

limits. The next verse says this. Now the Lord

God had planted a garden in the east in Eden,

and there he put the man he had formed. So the

man he's created, shaped with limits, he now

puts into spatial limits. What do I mean by that?

He puts him into a garden, and the garden had

boundaries. The garden had, his feet were planted

in a specific place. Your feet are planted on

planet Earth, a little blue and green dot floating

in the atmosphere, in the universe, right? Like

you have been put here and we try and get outside

of that. If you get outside of that and you go

to space and you try and exist outside, you need

a suit to be able to do it. Why? Because you

were created in a space that we call home. And

this space has limits for you. You need the oxygen

of this space. God created a spatial limit. If

you look at verse 15, the Lord God took the man

and put him into the garden of Eden. So we talked

about that already, right? Like the Lord took

him, put him in Eden to work it and take care

of it. What is the limit given by God? If you're

someone where you're like, I don't know if I

like work, guess what? You were made for it.

You were made for purpose. You were made for

meaning. Your work is something that is put into

your hands by God. That's what's created here

is that there is a work for you that has deep

purpose. He tells the man after he creates him

with limits and puts him in a spatial, he goes,

okay, there's a purpose. He creates a limit.

What is that limit? To take care to steward what

God has put him in the midst of and around. And

the Lord God commanded the man. So now in the

midst of the garden, the Lord God commands the

man, you are free to eat from any tree in the

garden, but you must not eat from the tree of

the knowledge of good and evil. For when you

eat from it, you will certainly die. What happens?

He gets put into the garden and gets put into

the spatial. And then there are limits. Listen

to this. There are limits to his freedom. There

are limits to his freedom. Freedom has limits.

What do I mean by that? He goes, you can eat

from anything. Any tree. You are free to eat

from any tree. That is grace, by the way. God

gets a bad rap at this point because it's like,

oh, God just doesn't want you to have any fun.

No, no, no. God gives you every single tree,

every single thing for good. And he goes, okay,

inside of that freedom, don't touch this one.

Don't eat this one. Stay away from this one.

Right? So even in the midst of creation, God

creates limits around freedom. We love the songs

that were like, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free

indeed. Right? Like we love the songs about our

freedom. We love messages about our freedom.

We're free in Christ. Very true. In Christ, in

your freedom, you still have limits because limits

are good for you. You may not like that. I don't

like that. I don't want to live with limits.

I like if there's a limit, I want to beat it.

Right? And yet God goes, even in this moment,

there is freedom. It goes against our culture.

Freedom means I can do whatever I want whenever

I want, right? Like freedom means I don't know.

Freedom that is healthy has limits inside of

it. You look down at the verse 24. And at this

point, if you were here last week, God makes

man fall into sleep and he creates a woman. And

when he creates a woman, poetry flows out of

the man. So right before this, the poetry flows

out of the man, and then he says this in verse

24. That is why a man leaves his father and mother

and is united to his wife, and they become one

flesh. Adam and his wife were both naked and

felt no shame. So you got poetry, and then you

got marriage, right? You got poetry, and you

got marriage. Young men in the room, learn how

to do poetry, and you'll find yourself in marriage.

Just saying, right? But what's interesting here

is there's limits to relationship. He goes, when

two people are going to commit into a marriage

relationship, guess who doesn't come along? The

same relationship you had with your mama. Because

anybody who has seen a marriage where mama came

along and is in all the business, or the parents

are in all the business, it doesn't go well.

Why? Because we were created with limits relationally.

When we step into a relationship, it limits other

ones around it. That's the natural thing that

God puts in order. Now, why is this important?

Because this is building a biblical base that

limits our good, not evil. The way that I know

this is because God looks at this moment in creation

and he goes, it is very good. It's very good.

It's good. That humans have limits is what God

says. It's good that you exist in a space with

purpose given by God. That's a limit that you

need. It's good that you exist in a space where

relationships are shaped in limits. We have a

culture right now that says you can do whatever

you want, whenever you want, with whoever you

want. No, you can't because there was limits

given in creation and there are cause and effect.

Right? There are limits to what I can put in

my body and I'll be okay. No, you can't. There

are limits. And God has put them there. And I

think one of the things we miss is we go, limits

are bad. Limits are not bad. They are God -given.

And we have to figure out how do limits work

today in my world? Because there are two different

directions we'll go. One is what happens in the

next chapter. Adam decides, Right? Okay, God,

you set up these limits. You set up all these

trees. I can have all of that. And then he finds

himself hanging out with his wife next to the

tree that he's not supposed to have, right? And

what does he do? It's a grasp for autonomy. It's

a grasp for independence. It's a grasp to be

outside of the limits. When he steps out of the

limits that God gave him, catastrophe happens.

And there's a learning piece in here. What happens

when you step outside of the limits that God's

put on you? Let me give you an example. Been

married to my wife for a hot minute, right? 30

years if I've got my dates right. Still to this

day, what is true? God's united us. If I step

outside of that, there are broken things that

will happen because I have gone past the limit

that God put in place, right? And you'd all go,

hey, that makes sense, don't do it. And yet culturally,

what is happening over and over and over and

over? People look at it and go, there's not a

limit. I don't need to adhere to that. And what

you have is the same mindset that Adam had that

goes, I can have all those, but I want that one.

And so there's a cause and effect to it, a breaking

through limitation. The other version and model

that we have is the person of Jesus. And Jesus

embraced limits. Listen to this. Philippians

chapter two. Let's go verse six. So Jesus, who

being in the very nature of God, did not consider

equality with God something to be used to his

own advantage. Rather, he made himself nothing

by taking the very nature of a servant, being

in. What does Jesus do? Jesus, God himself, limits

himself to the very frame he created. He puts

himself, God who is infinite in power, wisdom,

infinite in knowledge, right? who is everywhere

all at once, puts himself inside of a frame that

is stuck and planted spatially to the earth.

Puts him side of it. This is so stunning, right?

Because it takes such humility. He's God. He

could hold on to the fact that I'm God, right?

And instead he lays that down and he goes, I'm

going to become the God man who is fully God

and fully human inside of a limited frame. He

embraces the limitations of what it means to

be human. He becomes the model for us. I mean,

think about it. This is mind -blowing, right?

That God, who is eternal, takes on a time zone.

Think about that for a second. God, who only

knows eternity. A single day with the Lord is

like a thousand. Right? Like a thousand years.

And that God takes on this. And lives in a time

zone and a 24 -hour day. He embraces the limitations

of what it was. He doesn't shortchange it. Right?

Think about this. God cut molars. Because he

grew like everybody else. He sat in a period

of waiting. So as time is just ticking along,

right? He's born, but when you see him show up

in public ministry, he's 30 years old. There's

30 years there. of waiting. He came with the

purpose. He knew the purpose. The purpose was

still the purpose. He had to grow. He put himself

in the limitations and confinements that we all

experience. I mean, think about it for a second.

This one gets me every time. Jesus limited himself

to the speed of walking. Everywhere he went,

he walked. The average person, I'm told, walks

three miles an hour. I was told this week that

is a brisk walk. So let's say Jesus stays at

three miles. He moved on the planet at three

miles per hour, limited himself to it, the God

of the universe. That's crazy. I'm like, why

didn't you get a horse? Jesus, why didn't we

get a chariot? You could have covered so much

more space and showed everybody and told, right?

Like we're in church growth strategy, you know?

And Jesus is like, no, I'm just going to walk,

man. I'm good. He limited himself to the speed

of walking. Jesus understands what it means to

take on limitations. He limited himself relationally.

If you turn to Mark chapter one. Verse 35. Very

early in the morning, while it was still dark,

Jesus got up, left the house, and went off to

a solitary place where he prayed. There's so

much packed into here, you guys, when you think

of limits in Jesus, right? Like very early in

the morning, which means that he experienced

night and day, the rhythm that was set in creation,

24 -hour day. Jesus experienced the same night

and day that you did. Night and day, night and

day, that rhythm, right? Inside of that rhythm,

he leaves a house. So he experienced the need

and the limitation of, it's not good that I'm

just outside. I need somewhere to stay. I need

shelter. He limits himself inside of this. But

listen to this. Jesus got up, left the house,

and went off to a solitary place where he prayed.

The God who is in... community with himself,

triune God, three in one, Father, Son, Holy Spirit.

They're in community with themselves because

of the limitations of being human. Now Jesus

gets up in the morning, why? So that he can go

and have a relationship with the Father. So that

he can go and spend time with his Father. Here's

where this is so good. Because for you, you have

the same limitations that Jesus did. He has the

limitation of time, which is why he got up when?

Early, because it mattered that much. And it's

fascinating to me. He's not asking us to do anything

that he didn't do. Then he models for us, there's

a rhythm to your life that's so important if

you're going to live inside of your limits. How

do I know? Because look what happens next. Verse

36, Simon and his companions went to look for

him. And when they found him, excuse me, they

exclaimed, everyone is looking for you. You ever

had this moment? Everybody needs you. You ever

had that, like it feels that way? Like everybody's

so needy right now. There's so many problems.

There's so many things to solve. There's so many,

it's too much. That's the tempo of this. Like

he gets away and the boys come, right? And the

companions and they're like, hey, Jesus, everybody's

looking for you. I heard the story of this one

lady, like she came from a long way to meet with

you. She needs you. That's what Jesus says. Verse

38, Jesus replied, let us go somewhere else.

Did he not hear him? They need you. They got

needs. Jesus, you're the only one that can meet

them. Let us go somewhere else to the nearby

villages so I can preach there also. Catch this.

That is why I have come. So he traveled throughout

Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving

out demons. Wait, wait, wait, wait, Jesus, everybody

needs you. And Jesus says, no, they had real

needs. They had people that were broken, that

were hurting, the people that were sick, that

needed healing. Like the needs were real. They

needed the Messiah. But notice where Jesus was

before he gave his answer. He's talking to who?

The Father. And he's aligned with what the Father

wants. And the Father determines what he does

with his limitations. Because Jesus goes, I could

stay here and be beyond my limits, or I can step

into the purpose that he has for me, which is

to go and do what I came to do. I wonder how

many of you are living beyond your limits because

you're answering needs for other people that

aren't yours to answer. Maybe another way to

say it is this. Every assignment is not your

assignment. Every assignment's not your assignment.

You guys, there's studies around this. How many

relationships can humans physically handle? Like,

what are the limitations just in relationships?

They claim from this study that three to five

intimate, best friend, daily relationships are

all you can handle and do well. then you have

an outer circle to that, and it's 12 people.

And 12 people are, if the three to five are,

I will get back to you instantly that day, 12

are, I'll probably get back to you the next morning

or later that week, right? Beyond that, some

say there's a circle of 50 that are like companions

along the journey, that they're the people that

like every now and then you grab, you know, every

six months you grab dinner with or something

like that, and you kind of have a relationship

with them or it feels like you do. then the last

ring, your max amount of people that you can

be in relationship and know well are 150. 150.

I don't know how you feel. There's more than

150 in this gathering. Right? And you all know,

like the touch points, if that's true, you all

know 150 other people. Some of that might cross

over, some of it might not. That's a lot of needs.

Agreed? And there's no way one person standing

up here is going to meet all the needs because

it's not meant to be that way. The idea is that

we are meeting one another's needs, but here's

what needs to happen. You need to be walking

with the Lord. I need to be walking with the

Lord and going, God, what are you calling me

to? What is my assignment? Who are you calling

me to walk with? Because here's what happens.

Otherwise, we're trying to meet everybody's needs,

right? Like, you ever meet somebody that meets

Jesus, and they're on fire, and then they start

serving at a church, and they're like gung -ho,

and they're going, going, going, and then they

burn out, and then they're like, I'm not even

sure if I believe this thing anymore. Because

they were living beyond their limits that God

never asked them to step inside of. Right, and

so now they're questioning the whole faith in

Jesus and the whole thing, and really what happened

is they burned out because they pressed beyond

the limits because God never gave them that assignment.

They just saw it as a good assignment, so why

wouldn't you take that assignment? And I'm curious,

I'm curious how many of us actually slow down

and go, God, what are you calling me to? What

does this look like for me? It's pretty fascinating

within the, Within that study I told you about,

I've had a lot of different feedback from people.

They're like, oh, I got way more than three to

five. Okay, your limit's different than mine.

Oh man, I don't understand. Can I just give you

a model? Jesus had 12, right? Sound familiar?

Jesus had 12. But remember, when Jesus goes up

on the Mount of Transfiguration, he only takes

three. When Jesus goes in the garden and he prays

and he needs people with him, he only takes three.

But then there are other moments where Jesus

has a bunch of companions with him as well. So

he's got the 12 plus whatever that 50 looked

like. But if it was good enough for Jesus, why

wouldn't it be good enough for us? And I think

here's what I believe. I believe that some of

us think that we can have all these relationships.

Why? Because culture tells us we're supposed

to have this deep limit of relationships. You're

supposed to have 1 .5 million followers and keep

up with them all. You can't. You can't even do

beyond 150 well. You know how I know? People

who are not like me, they're extroverts and they're

super relational and they're gifted at it and

they're amazing. You know what I notice? Is the

more relationships they add because they think

they can just keep adding, the worse they do

with some of those relationships and people get

hurt. Why? Because we have limits. And I'm not

telling you what your limit is. You have to experience

that with God. But just maybe, just maybe you're

doing terrible with your family because you're

over your limit and you're putting time into

somebody else that's not your assignment. Your

family is your assignment. Your coworkers, yeah,

you may be called to be in their life, but don't

you replace them with your family. There's this

image that it's not mine, it's somebody else's,

but if you're juggling, right, and you got all

these things you're juggling, you better figure

out which ones are rubber and can bounce when

you drop them and which ones are glass. And in

relationships, you better figure out which ones

are glass. Super important, Jesus goes, let's

go somewhere else. Jesus, Jesus, get this. Jesus

looked at people and said, no. That's my worst,

man. I'll be the first one to go. I hate that.

And you know, what does he do? He goes with his

father and his father guides him by what? This

is why I have you here. Here's your purpose.

This is what I've called you to do. This is your

limit. My wife and I, our younger girls, the

adoption had gone through. It had just been finalized

and we got a call. And the call was, would you

take another placement? And it was a two and

a half year old little girl. And she had some

special needs. It wasn't totally defined what

care was needed. But we're like, we just did

this once. Like we're ready to go. Like this

is finalized. How do we say no to this? And we

took her into our home and it became clear that

what we'd taken on was well beyond what we could

handle. And I'll be honest with you. Love says

no sometimes. But in Christian circles, it can

be really easy to go feel guilty because we're

told to love, right? And how could you not love

in that moment? And so there's just a lot of

weight that gets put. There's a lot of guilt

associated to it. And so we're about eight weeks

in to having her in our home. It becomes clear.

And again, you need community to help you see

blind spots, right? Like we had a caseworker,

our caseworker came in and my wife's health because

of stress and just what it was causing her body

and immune system and all of it, like was not

doing well. And the caseworker looks at us and

goes, I'm gonna do for you what you can't do

for yourself. I'm gonna say no. And we need to

remove her from, I'll be honest, it felt like

failure. It felt like we had not done this right

until you hear the rest of the story. Because

there was a family in our community near to us

that wanted specifically a little girl with special

needs. And when she was in our house, we knew

she loved the outdoors and we did not have a

space that was adequate for her. They lived on

a farm. And she was able to be outside and thrive.

And to this day, the family is still connected

to Heights and attends. And we get to hear these

updates of how she's doing. She is thriving.

And it's beautiful. But what it tells me is every

assignment is not my assignment. And we've got

to learn to live inside of the limitations where.

where we ask God before we take stuff on, before

we let guilt or a false sense of love or the

need or whatever it happens to be, where we go,

God, what have you called us to be? Because in

the Garden of Eden, what you had is you had a

God setting limits and boundaries. And I'm curious.

What does it look like for you to steward your

limits and boundaries that God has given you?

Because what I know culturally is culture is

pushing us all to live way overextended, whether

it's financially, emotionally. One of the reasons

we have so much mental health. I don't know what

the right phrase is. It's 1115, I'm tired, right?

But whatever goes with mental health and the

need. to steward our mental health and heal our

mental health. I think our mental health is connected

to, we are far more connected than we ever were

made to be, and far more lonely than we were

ever made to be. I heard a study this week that

72 % of teens have an actual relationship with

chat GPT, where they have no one else in their

life that they feel like they can talk to, so

they are turning to a bot to share their feelings.

Something is deeply broken. And I think it's

time that we came back to the Lord. I think it's

time we came back and went, God, you gave limitations.

They are good. Would you teach me how to be obedient

just like Jesus? Become obedient even to death.

Teach me how to die well inside of how you've

created me to be. And so I love to pray for you.

This is not easy. This is not light. And yet

on the other side is such hope to live inside

of what he created. So would you pray with me?

God, we are so grateful for you. God, thank you

for just even the concept that you, the God who

is infinite, became limited so that we could

find life through your death. Thank you for dying

for us. Thank you for... buying our freedom back.

Thank you that we have limits inside of our freedom.

Thank you that you are the God who meets us inside

of the waiting and the pain and the struggle

of limits. And so God, would you help us to steward

those well? Would you teach us to ask wise questions

around our emotional and physical and mental

health? Would you teach us? How to live financially

in our limits? Would you teach us relationally

how to honor what you've put in our hands well?

God, would you allow us to make much of you even

in these moments when we get to celebrate the

limited capacity of our lungs and our breath?

And God, we get to take it and lift it up to

you. That we get to even declare it's the breath

in our lungs. The breath in our lungs that we

get to use to say, great are you, Lord. So thank

you for being great today. We need you to be

great. We're grateful. And everybody said, amen.