A Fence Too High & Too Wide to Straddle
If one were to look at my heritage, he would see a family of farmers, of growers, of herdsmen, and of rural-dwellers. As a child, I grew up on a farm in the northern part of Indiana, a place where the blackest-of-black earth sticks to the soles of your shoes and a place where the span of earth can be seen when looking in all four directions. The farms of Indiana are a beautiful place. The briskness of the breeze, the flatness of the land, the pace of the days, and the beauty of crops growing for as far as the eye can see comprised my childhood home for the first eleven years of my life.
However, my dad was a transplanted “Indiana man,” one who grew up on the farms of Kentucky, so like a few other farmers, we lived on a farm containing both crops and animals. It was a shared space. As such, fences surrounded many of the fields my parents farmed, planting row-after-row of crops. Oftentimes, once the crops were harvested in the fall, some of the fields experienced the pounding of hoofs as the cattle moved across the harvested corn field, eating the remaining fodder. Since fences were required, sometimes we needed to cross those fences as we moved from field-to-field, and as such, I learned at an early age how to climb through and overtop fences. The one rule when fence-climbing is that you should not ever attempt to stay in the middle of the fence because my parents strung two types of wire: barbed wire & flat, electricity-charged wire. If my siblings and I attempted to straddle the fences on our farm, then we were sure to experience a totally unpleasant outcome!
- The same is true for the child of God.
- The same is true for the believer.
- The same is true for the Christian.
- The same is true for the follower of Jesus.
- The same is true for the Redeemed, the Justified, & the Sanctified.
- The same is true today, as it was for the early church of the 1st Century.
- The same is true today, as it was for the disciples of Jesus before His crucifixion.
- The same is true today for disciples of Jesus who live in this present place & in this present time.
A Fence Too High & A Fence Too Wide to Straddle separates this world & God’s kingdom!
Do not believe me; believe God’s Holy Word.
On a particular day, some religious leaders who did not believe in the resurrection (the Sadducees) came to speak with Jesus. What they really came to do was question Him, to raise questions intended to silence Him, to trick Him, and to defame His Name & His Mission. They asked a question about a woman who had married a man, one who shortly passed away in death. So this same woman married each of her husband’s seven brothers, one-after-another, one at a time until first one brother then the next brother also passed away in death. Yes, she had been a widow seven times. (She must have been one hearty woman!)
When Jesus was approached with this question, it was apparent that He knew the intent of the hearts of the religious leaders.
Let’s read together to see what Jesus did!
“In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be?
(Matthew 22: 28-40 NASB)
For they all had her in marriage.
But Jesus answered and said to them,
“You are mistaken, since you do not understand the Scriptures nor the power of God.
For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.
But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God:
‘I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB’? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”
When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.
But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.
And one of them, a lawyer,
[a man who was an expert in the Mosaic Law]
asked Him a question, testing Him:
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
And He said to him,
[Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Messiah, the Redeemer, & the Savior spoke these words!]
“YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’
This is the great and foremost commandment.
The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’
Upon these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.”
There is only one choice, one right choice in how we are to live.
That is right—There is a fence.
Yes, a fence separates two places: this world & God’s Kingdom.
This fence is too high to straddle.
This fence is too wide to straddle.
It is impossible to keep a foot in both!
We must make a “DAILY” choice!
It is time for the children of God, for the bride of Christ to stop our affair with the world!
If you are a child of God (like I am), then it’s time we ask ourselves some questions:
- How much of me belongs to God?
- Does my heart belong to God?
- Does my body belong to God?
- Does my mind belong to God?
- Does my strength belong to God?
When King Jesus died on the cross for my sins, did His blood only cover some of my sins?
When King Jesus paid the price with His life for my forgiveness, did He only forgive some of my sins?
- Truly, how far is the east from the west in regard to the Lord’s forgiveness of sins?
- How deep is the PEACE of GOD?
- What does God expect of me (and you)?
- Does God expect me to give my life & you to give your life—to HIM?
- What has God given to us?
GOD GAVE THE LIFE OF HIS SON FOR OUR LIVES—FOR YOUR LIFE & FOR MY LIFE!
“For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the form of those things itself, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually ever year,
(Hebrews 10: 1-4 & 10-15a NASB)
make those who approach perfect.
Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have consciousness of sins?
But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.
For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. . . .
By this will,
[by the will of God that Jesus came to do]
we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time.
Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins;
but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD,
waiting from that time onward UNTIL HIS ENEMIES ARE MADE A FOOTSTOOL FOR HIS FEET.
For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.
And the Holy Spirits also testifies to us; . . .”
- We cannot straddle the fence!
- We are either “all in” OR we are not!
- We are either a child of God OR we are not!
- We are either the Redeemed OR we are not!
- We either walk daily with our Savior OR we do not!
It truly is a daily choice we must make.
Jesus saves us; Jesus is continually saving us; & Jesus will save us until the final breath we take on this side of Heaven!
Thus, the child of God must ask himself: What part of our being belongs to God? ALL OF YOU & ALL OF ME—BELONGS TO GOD!
- OUR HEART.
- OUR BODY.
- OUR MIND.
- OUR STRENGTH.
OUR SOUL BELONGS TO GOD!
- In frightening times,
- In times of questions,
- In times of difficult problems,
- Despite our failures,
- Despite our doubts,
Let us realize the faith and the historical record of those who have gone before us.
Let us remember the faithful saints of God who have already died and gone on to heaven.
One day, we who have accepted God’s eternal salvation, who believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and we who continually confess our sins—One day soon we will step into the glorious place Jesus has prepared for us—a place filled with imperfect people who walked through life with God, and who remained faithful to GOD—the ONLY ONE WHO MAKES ONE COMPLETE & FULLY FORGIVEN!
Let us ask ourselves:
- God, how do you want me to change?
Then, let us ask the Holy Spirit to help us as we do!
“Therefore, since we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let’s rid ourselves of every obstacle and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with endurance the race that is set before us,
(Hebrews 12: 1-3 NASB)
looking only at Jesus,
the originator and perfector of the faith,
who for the joy set before Him endured the cross,
despising the shame,
and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
For consider Him who has endured so much hostility by sinners against Himself,
so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”