Boundaries are good because they were a part of God’s originally good creation. God’s entire act of creation can be characterized as establishing proper boundaries.

But in the biblical story, there is another player, one who disregards these boundaries. Satan comes along and blurs God’s good boundaries in the Garden of Eden. And that’s the way he tempts us, too. He continually blurs and corrupts the clear boundaries God has developed. Even though establishing a boundary is a loving thing to do because it provides us with a sense of safety and security, Satan twists that around and actually tempts us into thinking otherwise. If we listen to him long enough, we will convince ourselves that the boundary is a RESTRICTION rather than a PROTECTION.

That’s exactly what we see happening in Genesis 3.

Genesis 3:1-4

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'”

But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.”

This is when the first boundary was crossed and sin entered into the world.

And there are consequences, because trespassing any boundary always brings consequences. There are always consequences for breaking the law.

I got my first speeding ticket when I was 18 years old. I was going 3MPH over the speed limit. I had picked up Sunny and I was taking her to the mall. I had crested this hill and was coasting down the backside when this officer clocked me doing 33MPH in a 30MPH zone. Can you believe that? But I couldn’t really say anything — because technically, I was breaking the law. My actions were out of bounds. And that ticket was the natural consequence of my action.

So when Adam and Eve violate the clear boundary God had established in the Garden, they likewise suffer some consequences.

One of the principles we’ll talk about throughout this series is that boundaries without consequences are not boundaries. We will really dig in to that one when we talk about boundaries in parenting, but it’s true in all relationships. When Adam and Eve transgress this boundary laid out by God, there are some natural consequences. They have to leave the garden to enter into a world of their own creation, a world marked by sin. By violating the boundary, Adam and Eve “unmake” the good world made by God.

Every time God gives a command in the scriptures, He is establishing boundaries. He does this because good boundaries lead to a flourishing life. Moral boundaries, personal boundaries, sexual boundaries, relational boundaries — each one of these is an essential part of a mature life. This is why God has so much to say about these topics. He’s giving us the guidelines we need to build healthy boundaries.

The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20) are basically a set of boundaries. They mark out moral behavior that honors God and behavior that dishonors God — behavior which pleases God and behavior which displeases Him.

You see the same thing in a less familiar passage: Deuteronomy 28. Before the people inhabit the promised land, Moses lays out the blessings for covenant obedience and the corresponding curses associated with disobedience. Moses commands the people to assemble before these two mountains for an important ceremony. Half of the tribes would assemble on Mt. Gerizim (the mount of blessing) and the other half would assemble at Mt. Ebal (the mount of curses) with the Levites congregated between them. And there the Levites were to pronounce the blessings and curses from Deuteronomy. If you’re obedient, you’ll experience these blessings. But if you choose disobedience, God will bring these curses upon you.

The later captivity God’s people would experience — the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C. at the hands of the Assyrians; and the southern kingdom being overthrown by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. — was foretold centuries in advance when God made these pronouncements through Moses. God lays these boundaries out in very clear terms.

Interestingly, one of the curses pronounced on that day is found in Deuteronomy 27:17, Cursed be anyone who moves his neighbor’s landmark. (Maybe I should share that passage with my neighbor before this month’s trash pick-up!) God makes it very clear that He does not approve of violating the predetermined boundaries, either the boundaries He has established or the boundaries separating one person’s property from another.

And the rest of the scriptures repeat this teaching about the importance of establishing and maintaining good boundaries. God couldn’t be clearer: boundaries are good.